The almighty persona play thread

Hikaru said nothing, walking directly alongside Evan, pace for pace. Her head hung, she heard Lance perfectly, yet decided responding was too much of a bother. Instead, she gritted her teeth, grabbing her bag and holding it tightly to her chest, and walked just a bit closer to Evan. Admittedly the idea was interesting, for sure... something to fiddle with when she's feeling a bit more up to things. Although she wasn't exactly tired, and she wouldn't be able to focus on her schoolwork... maybe, if the others wander off to test this theory, she'd tag along, but... it didn't matter. She'd be back to her usual self soon, and everything would be fine. It always was.

Evan begins to sigh, but catches himself. Come on, at least he could distract himself somehow.

"...Not sure...Mm. I guess that's an interesting idea, actually. Every time I've summoned mine, it's been like... On instinct, I guess? I'm not sure I could do it without actually intending to fight." He paused. "I guess we could use a target dummy?"

He thinks to himself for a moment, momentarily pulled out from the funk by this idea. ...Oh yeah. he thinks, as he notices Aiden walking up behind them. ...I need to tell them about...ugh. "So... Uuh... Did you guys see anything weird this morning when you were leaving the dorm?" he asks. Why'd he end up doing this... Explaining this twice was just about the last thing he wanted.

Lance took the risk of giving of a small smile at the positive response towards his idea. He had the right to feel happy about contributing something of value, right? He finally took note of Aiden walking up behind him and gave a small nod, the smile drifting back to his standard neutral albeit slightly frowning expression. He returns his attention to Evan's suggestion and nodded an affirmation, then the conversation continued to strange sights.

"Hm. No, I haven't SEEN anything strange, but I did overhear a couple of guys at swim practice taking about some ghost by the bridge..." if he had been in the mood and had the others not looked like they had been through their own ringers for the day he might have made a snappy comment about the absolute python he layed eyes on in the locker rooms, but would that really surprise anyone? He continued on with his explanation.

"The rumor I heard mentioned either a student who lost her love our a teacher who died before he retired, presumably he would have died on campus, maybe even on the bridge." He took a small pause, and as if realizing how weary his audience was quickly added "I'm not sure which I would believe more, if either."

"Well with everything going on here, a ghost wouldn't surprise me at all. As for seeing weird things on the way out of the dorm? No weird things. some shitty things, but nothing weird."

It quivered in fear, these humans are INSANE! They beat each other senseless with gloves until someone can't stand! Then two of the humans, the taller one and the veteran beat each other using some kind of magic, though it couldn't figure out what.

Not only that, but daemon's were going to be summoned on Monday!? Who is the world would do that? Only someone very stupid or very powerful would attempt such an act, and it hoped it was definitely the first...

"Only three more days to go..." it muttered to itself as it slinked out of the angry small one's window and into the night.

"Friday, 6:30 AM" The alarm clocked buzzed off on Ivan's nightstand. He groaned as he turned it off and got out of bed. His body actually feeling sore for once in a long time. He stretched and headed off to shower, finishing a few minutes later and making breakfast.

He quickly ate before leaving for class, walking towards the side walk before taking a quick moment to enjoy the view of the drop. He enjoyed the sun rising in the distance and how the rays shone over the water. What he enjoyed most had to be the way that the sun seemed to make the girl's hair appear to look almo- Ivan shook his head, looking at the figure floating 10 feet away from him, floating over the chasm. The figure smiled and winked to him, before 'running' below the bridge and out of sight.

Ivan turned and walked stock straight into the building.

Hikaru woke up earlier, wandering down to the kitchen after finishing her morning routine. Walking up to the stove, she paused, then gathered various ingredients, throwing them in a pot and making a big pot of miso soup - with an awful lot of things added for funsies. Often she didn't want a lot of food, but considering her previous few days, exhaustion - physically, mentally, and emotionally - had settled in, and when that happened... well, she could put away a whole herd of horses.

She mumbled a 'morning' to Ivan as he entered the kitchen. "I made soup, it's on the stove," she explained, lifting her bowl and tapping it with her spoon. With a wave and a shake of his head, he began making his own breakfast, and she shrugged, returning to her own bowl. He left the building as she picked up her bowl, slurping down the rest, before beginning to put the rest of the pot in the fridge for later - and leaving a note for the others in case they wanted some. She stretched, picking up her bag and beginning to head to class... and bumping into him as he walked back through the door. "Oi, forget something?" she asked, pinching the bridge of her nose and wincing. Despite the boxing match the previous day being wonderfully fun, her... well, her everything still ached rather badly.

Lance rolled out of bed feeling somewhat neutral for once since he'd been here. He scratched his stomach absent mindedly, staring at his wall and considering a yawn and stretch. Finally giving in to the temptation he walked up to the window in his dorms and looked outside. The singed trees in the back yard jogged his memory and his face went grim for a small moment. It reminded him all too well of the power that they could wield not only against those monsters... but other people.

"Hmm..." he hummed to himself, another yawn and stretch. That was actually a pretty serious point to make. Given an opportunity the Persona's power could be used against a human assailant. That thought actually concerned Lance more than it comforted him.

He walked down the stairs to the kitchen, Hikaru's pot of soup cooling on the stovetop and Hikaru sitting at the table looking her usual - albeit weary - self. Without a word Lance stepped up to the soup and looked into the pot curiously. The light brown liquid smelled innocuous enough. He quickly grabbed a bowl and doled himself a portion, sitting at the table kitty corner from Hikaru and taking his first spoonful. A small smile played at his face as he continued to mow down his liquid breakfast.

"... Hey." He started tentatively. "... This is good." He was about to go on when Ivan walked back through the doors.

"Oi, forget something?" Hikaru asked. Lance glanced up and saw the look on Ivan's face and cocked his head to the side.

"Something the matter?"

Ivan looked towards Lance as if just realizing he was there. For the brief moment that Lance got to see his face, he saw something he wished he hadn't. Ivan had a look of pure worry on his face as he turned and walked up the stairs.

Lance chased after Ivan, the look of worry he caught mirroring into place on his own face.

"Ivan!" Ivan didn't answer and continued moving. "Ivan! Stop! What's wrong?"

Ivan continued to walk up the stairs, his attention solely focused on one thing. Lance, against his better judgement, followed Ivan up the stairs. 'What could be up with him?' As Lance followed him up, only a dozen or so stairs behind, Ivan turned and walked straight into his room. As the door neared shut, Lance could only hear the phrase, "How can it be?".

Lance notices the door is not latched to Ivan's room.

Lance hesitated at this point. He didn't want to interrupt Ivan, but he desperately wanted to get to the bottom of this. It wasn't often he saw Ivan truly concerned, and that concerned him all the more. He inched closer to the door, listening intently for any external monologue that may be going on. He had mixed feelings about eavesdropping, but giving the circumstances and knowing the person he was eavesdropping upon, it was the most likely method of getting a straight answer.

It sounded like papers were being shuffled about, before Lance heard the click of a small latch or lock. "How could she be? I know she can't be because I held her, dammit." Lance overhears as he feels things hitting the walls and floor as they are moved/thrown about.

"What the hell is going on here? Why is she still here after all that happened that night..."

Lance hears the bed creak as the door is pushed closed.

Hikaru cocked her head, following the boys as they walked up the stairs. As Ivan walked into his room, she stopped, watching Lance gather his information. "Pssst," she hissed, waving to him before mouthing 'what's going on?'

Lance jumped soundlessly, unaware that he had been followed. He cocked his head to the side trying to read her lips as she mouthed her question and silently but quickly skirted his way closer to her so as not to be overheard by Ivan. In a low whisper he said:

"He sounds like he knows who that mystery ghost thing is... I think it might be someone from his past or something?" He furrowed his brow in concern. On one hand he didn't feel the greatest eavesdropping on someone who is supposed to be his friend, but on the other hand he was frustrated with not being involved with important information. If Ivan knew who this ghost was he could have at least mentioned whether or not he considered it to be a threat or not. Lance didn't need a life story, just a simple answer to the question 'do we need to worry about this thing?'

Hikaru shifted her gaze to Ivan's door, lifting an eyebrow. "Is that so?" she muttered under her breath, turning and moving quietly back to the stairs, gesturing for Lance to follow her.

As soon as they were safely out of earshot, she slowly raised her volume back to normal. "Mm. If that's the case he could explain the damned thing... although..." she shuffled a bit, glancing dismissively to the side, "...it is hard to talk about some sort of loss, which is what I can only assume happened, considering the circumstances. Ruling out extremely unusual cryptids and supernatural creatures, our best guess as to what the thing is is a ghost." She turned back to Lance, explaining, "Hopefully when the shock wears off, which again, is only an assumption of what's going on, he'll tell us what we need to know." She paused for a moment, then scoffed. "Although considering his fuckin' penchant for sitting on his hands when it comes to useful information, don't know how much we should hope for that. If at all."

She shrugged. "Can't be incredibly pissy with him, though. He did save me from that crowd of shadow things when we had to deal with the tower situation..." she started, adding in a mutter, "...can still be pretty fuckin' pissy though." She grabbed her things, pouring herself a thermos of her soup for later in the day... then pausing, picking up another and filling it, grabbing a sticky note from her bag and writing, with large, blocky letters, with her largest marker, 'EVAN'. "Did you want one? I've got a few. Used to use them to bring stuff for the gang back home." she explained, pulling yet another out of her bag, waving it in Lance's direction, "Probably gonna bundle some up for everyone. If we're stuck together I suppose I can be nice once in a while."

For what seemed like once in a very long time Lance smiled. There was no sarcasm, no icy or distant coating to it, it was a genuine smile.

"I'd appreciate that. Thank you!" He watched Hikaru fill up another thermos, and happily reached out for it as she continued to fill a couple more thermoses. He quickly slid it into place in one of the side pockets of his backpack (since he was already on his way to class before being interrupted by Ivan's sudden appearance). He politely waited for her to finish doling out portions and dealing with any leftovers before heading out to class, and in the interim a thought came to mind. He silently congratulated himself on the plan forming in his thoughts.

Quickly he turned to leave the room and head to the school before classes began. He rushed past Evan, gave a quick nod, and continued on his way. Outside of the front doors he pulled his cell phone out and started pressing buttons, filling in his mother's phone number and hitting the send button to start his call whilst walking along the pathways away from the dorm and towards the large school in the distance...

Evan walks groggily downstairs, apparently having just gotten out of the shower and put his school clothes on, judging by the wet hair.  He's got an odd look on his face, apparently having overheard some strange noises from Ivan's room.  "Mmm, 'morning... What's up with-  Actually, I don't think I want to know until after I've had some coffee, or..."  he pauses, staring at the thermos, then over at the pot on the table.  "...Soup?"  

He examines the note, clearly in Hikaru's handwriting.  He walks over to the pot, examining it closely... Then back to the thermous, popping the lid off and taking a close look.  He looks suspiciously at Hikaru, then back to the soup.  "It, uuh.  It looks good.  Thanks."  He looks more closely, and then takes a tentative sip, the delicious smell apparently getting the better of his suspicion..

"Well I'd fuckin' hope it's good, I made it," Hikaru quipped, not necessarily in a spiteful or angry tone - in fact, almost more like a joking one. She'd have to give more consideration to the boxing club, as it seemed that the match yesterday sated her hotheadedness... although for how long was anyone's guess. Her tone sobered, however, as she explained the events of the morning. "Ivan's in some sort of mood, apparently. Might have seen that ghost thing. Apparently he knows something he's not telling us," she scoffed, shaking her head, "not like that's anything new though, right?"

"Hey, how're you doing? You really caught onto that summoning thing quickly. I'm impressed," she said, changing the subject. She smiled, a crooked little thing, also with a far, far less amount of malevolence to it than usual - although a certain amount of malevolence seemed to be required with almost any expression of hers. "Hell, maybe we should do some more training later, if you're up for it. Seems a handy little skill to have, considering the situation we've found ourselves in. Although with the noise we made summoning, we'd probably have to find a training area a bit further away from the school..." She shook her head, apparently temporarily losing herself in plotting and scheming ways to master their abilities. "But I suppose that's later. This is now," she turned to him, gesturing to him to follow her. "C'mon, I'll walk you to class. I've gotta pick up a classroom snack first, though - you mentioned something about coffee?"

Evan sips his soup thoughtfully.  It...actually wasn't bad.  Huh.  "Ivan knows something about the ghost?  Not surprising, I guess, but..."  He paused, thinking.  "Funny, isn't it, that he's up there making a bunch of noise instead of telling us about it.  It's like he doesn't even trust us!"  He smiles.  It's not a particularly nice smile.  "But, no, seriously, I'm gonna make a motion to put that aside until after class.  We'll ask him about it then."

He listened to Hikaru, nodding along as he drank the soup.  "Yeah, I guess we should train.  I guess maybe Ivan could let us use the boxing club room?"  He closes the thermos, stuffing it into his backpack's pocket. "I mean, it doesn't look like we're gonna be out of this mess anytime soon. Frankly, this business with ghosts has only made things worse. We're shadow killers, not exorcists. What are we supposed to do, give it its last rites?" He scowls at the floor for a moment. "...Honestly, I'm getting pretty tired of being messed with. Especially when the supernatural creatures aren't even the ones that I'm worrying most about." He stands there for a moment, before his gaze pops back up again, looking a bit more composed.  "Coffee sounds awesome.  Lead the way." he says, managing to convince out a smile.

"Eh, I can see the possibility of shock if he recognized the ghost, but now that you mention it... he hasn't been really too helpful, has he?" Hikaru mused as she held the door open for him, letting him exit first, following quickly to take the lead again, "Yeah, we'll bother with it after class. Not gonna get anything out of him now, are we?"

"And on the topic of the ghost... honestly I'm not too sure. Ghosts usually hang around for a myriad of reasons, so it might not even be a last rites thing - for all we know this ghost is just saving people to convince people it's good, then do some sort of... I'unno, heel-turn or some shit later on-" she pauses, glancing over at Evan, "-although I suppose that's not the point you're making, is it?" She pauses a moment, studying his face, then turns forward, eyeing the store they were closing in on. "Mm, fair enough. You don't seem like the type for fighting, you probably were none too pleased with the idea of that match in the first place. At least." She pauses yet again, pulling the strap of her messenger bag up her shoulder a bit, then throwing open the door, holding it yet again for the boy behind her. "...you're not one for using powers to win, either, are you?"

Evan thinks. "To be honest, a ghost isn't really our problem. Sure, it's our only lead right now, but unless it has something to do with the shadows, we probably shouldn't concern ourselves with it. If we're lucky, Ivan will handle it himself... Knowing him, he might just slink off and do that when we aren't looking." He paused. "Actually, that... now that I think about it, maybe we should have someone keep an eye on him. I've got this weird feeling he might get in over his head."

He can't help but frown the moment that she mentions the boxing match, following her inside. "Ugh. I can't stand how smug he was about it; Not only did he cheat, but he thinks he's too damn clever because he "taught" us a new trick. After all, it's alright to beat us to hell as long as its for our own good, right?" He paused, considering buying her something as a thank-you for the soup. "Hey, are you getting anything? I'll pay, it's the least I can do."

Hikaru nods. "Yeah, it's very well he could. Someone probably should keep an eye on him, if even just for his sake." She paused, however, listening to his opinion on the events of yesterday. "...Evan..." she sighed, even dropping her fake accent, instead falling back to her natural, relatively heavy Japanese accent, "...I admit, I come from a different background than you do. The places I ended up back home... that was exactly the idea." she began, turning to him.

"I didn't have any friends when I was younger - at least, none that stuck around. We moved around a lot, and eventually I just didn't make connections, because I knew eventually we'd move and I'd never see them again. That's why, when I moved to Inaba, the friends I made there... we bonded over exactly that - dishonesty and violence. Yeah, looking back on it, even with it so recent, it was unhealthy, but... it's the only way I know to prove to be a real friend - to have your back in a fight. And sometimes you have to beat some things into each other. You're right, though, it's... it's not right. Even for me, I know that... it's just a bad habit that I can't break." She trails off, her gaze now towards the floor, and her foot kicks at an imaginary pebble. She quickly shakes her head, turning back to him, her fake accent returning. "You're right though, absolutely. There's sparring and then there's that. I'm used to it, but... well, your view isn't tainted, I suppose."

She waves her hand dismissively at his mention of paying. "Bah, keep your chump change. My parents could buy a bag of that kopi luwak shit a day for a full year and not make much of a dent in their profits. How it should be, considering all the pachinko parlors Father owns." She pulled a wallet out of her bag, pulling out a plain black credit card with a red symbol on it, almost like a flower on top of... a dragonfly, maybe? "My parents couldn't give a damn about what I do with this thing," she laughed, her smile fading for just a moment as she added almost to herself, "...or with anything else, for that matter." Her face screwed up in an expression of half-mock anger as she waved the card in his face, grabbing herself a couple sandwiches and an energy drink. "It's on me, and don't you fuckin' dare challenge me on that, got it? Now get yer shit, 'cause I'll leave your ass here and make you pay for your own, I swear to god."

Evan's eyes grow wider and wider. Hikaru was... a lot more self aware than he had figured. He supposed he had misjudged her, he knew she was smarter than she let on, but... He considered her words carefully for a moment. "Well, I'm not gonna say that way of bonding is entirely wrong, either. It's not like it means that Ivan's a bad person because he makes friends by punching them. He's a bad person for a lot of other reasons." He pauses. "That, uuh, that was a joke. Anyways, the point is that, I don't think that the fact that you make friends... the way you do, it's not an awful thing if it works for you, and I think I've seen that you know when to draw the line. And you are really good in a fight, so there's that." He's not really sure if he made much sense there, but he forces a smile anyways.

That smile drops as he watches her pull out a card and explain her money situation. "Wait, what? You have that much money, and you spend it on-" he paused, realizing that there were any number of ways he could finish that sentence, and every single one of them was a terrible idea to say. "Ok, fine. I'm not proud enough to turn down a free meal." he says, grabbing a bottled ice coffee drink... he considers momentarily getting the cheapest brand out of politeness before remembering that this was Hikaru, and gets his usual flavor. "Remind me, are you a fan of coffee? I've never honestly had the time to get a coffee maker or learn to make it myself."

Hikaru makes a face at the mention of coffee. "Blerg, hate the stuff. The only time I can tolerate coffee flavor is when it's not coffee I'm drinking. That reminds me, though... if we're gonna train later I'm gonna need more than this." She quickly hustles back to the energy drinks, grabbing three more and shuffling them into the pile of food she was slowly gathering. "And as for the other stuff... eh. It's something... I'unno. I'd like to get better about it anyways - after all, there's people out there who don't like making friends that way. Like you," she explains, poking him in the chest - perhaps a bit more forcefully than she meant to. "But... honestly, at this point, not sure I can. If it happens it happens, I suppose, but... well. The currents of fate have a strong pull..." she trails off, spending a few moments with a solemn, almost sad look on her face. She quickly recovers, however, and rushes away, coming back with an excessively large bag of candy. Multiple excessively large bags. Of varying kinds. Plopping it all down at the register, and prodding Evan in the rib to remind him to get his stuff up there or so help her. She shoots the cashier a glare when they raise an eyebrow at the small mountain of candy. "Oi, got a problem?" she growled, turning to Evan. "Last chance, want anything else? Candy? 'Cause you ain't gettin' any of mine. Actual fuckin' food for later?"