Persona: Shadows of the Mind

[Aarah]

The affirmation from Oscar made Keira hold her breath for a moment.
She continued listening to him, but her brown eyes roved around the coffee house as if searching for someone to share the news with.

Turning her attention back to the Brit, she nodded along as he spoke. She definitely wanted to know why and the purpose of it all.

"What d'ya mean, 'take note'?"

[The SheoDovah]

Oscar Nigel Tarinson

"Take notice." Oscar Nigel Tarinson replied. "They seem to represent something and quite handy but there must be a purpose to us being able to use them. Though, whether we can do it here or in our beds is another matter altogether." He informed her. "But if that thing was just the begining, I think we may have a major role to play in well, whatever the [&@%!] this is."

[Aarah]

"Yeah. It's wild." Keira leaned back into her chair, deep in thought. She absent-mindedly chewed on her bottom lip, her hands messing with her tie that formed part of the school's uniform.

She suddenly smiled at Oscar.
"Man, it's such a relief to talk to someone about this! I've been wanting to all day, but then I didn't see any of you guys in my classes and then I kind of started to think that it might be a bad idea, cos, you know, like, what if non of you knew what I was talking about? So then I come here for coffee and then I run into you and it's just like we were meant to run into each other, don't you think?"

"Hey, can you hear your Persona as your own thoughts? It's really weird, mine's been doing it all day."

[The SheoDovah]

Oscar Nigel Tarinson

Oscar Nigel Tarinson got the feeling that Kiera wasn't quite interested in what he had to say until she suddenly smiled. "I tend to keep to myself in class." He informed her whilst maintaining his mild smile. "Maybe or I just happened to love this part of the campus and spend too much on coffee instead of doing what I am bound to do and spend too much on tea." He remarked before being asked about his thoughts. Do I... wait, i do. What the [&@%!]!? Why does this sound like Ares? What the [&@%!]? This is odd. In fact, how did I not [&@%!] notice it until now? Oh, right, busy. At least it's just me and not constantly being [&@%!] lectured by him. That would be quite annoying and inconvient. Fuuuuuuck, that sounds odd. [&@%!]! "Come to think of it, yes."

He replied after a few seconds of staring at Kiera during his pondering. "It's a bit odd and I am reminded of the opera. Shiiit, it feels like Ares will suddenly break out into a rendition of a song. I mean, a long hour one. My......." He bit his lip and clenched his fist underneath the table. "At least it's just our thoughts. If it was them commenting on everything, I think I would end up trying to kick my own arse just to get Ares to shut up."

[Aarah]

Keira laughed at Oscar's mention of Ares singing.
"Yeah, that would be annoying."

"So that's what your one's called then? Ares? He was the guy that shot the arrow after I threw my fan, right? Mine's called Iris. She's pretty awesome."
Her expression suddenly looked concerned.
"Hey, I never picked up my fan before I left the rink. Hope that's not bad."

Keira drank some coffee, "So. What do you think we do now? Do you think we could ask...umm...Igor in that Velvet Room some more? He wasn't very helpful last time, but we need to know more about all this."

[The SheoDovah]

Oscar Nigel Tarinson

"What?" Oscar Nigel Tarinson remarked as Keira laughed. "It would be and i am doubtful that having a booming voice constantly sing to you all day is good for one's mental wellbeing." He saw her facial expression change to a look of concern. "Yeah, Ares, the god of war and shoot of big arse [&@%!] arrows." He commented as he ran the palms of his hands against his red hair. "If it is, I will protect you." He promised Kiera before she drank some coffee. "Assuming that doing it requires a bed, we are likely to encounter him tonight and if last night was just the begining, I suspect we shall learn more and likely have to fight again."

[Dirty Spaceman]

Brendan

Unlike Makoto, Brendan was not one to shy away from a potentially awkward situation - he would rather take charge of it. He left his spot by the wall and began to approach her. On the way over, he tried to think of an opener generic enough that she wouldn't think he was insane in case last night's events had been mere imagination.

"Hey," he said to her as he closed the distance, assuming she didn't try to slip away. "Sorry to bother you but - aren't you one of the people I met last night?"

[Aarah]

Keira

"Thanks, but I think I'll be okay. I know how to kick some ass." Keira remarked after Oscar stated that he would protect her if need be.

"But that's what I don't get though." She glanced over at Parvati for a second before continuing. "Why is it all when we sleep? I mean, is it some other dimension that we go into? And what are we actually doing? Why can't people from that dimension help out?"
Keira shifted in her chair and pulled a chunk of muffin off of the main piece.

"Didn't that imp guy say that people were in danger or something? Who? What people? Are people getting killed in their sleep, in their dreams, or what?"
She let out a sigh and put the piece of muffin in her mouth.
"And I'm super exhausted today. I don't think I can hack fighting monsters every night." She said while slightly covering her mouth with her hand to prevent Oscar seeing her chewed food.

[Hissien]

Parvati - The Daily Grind


The young artist pulled out her sketch pad, the real one not the tablet and took to the page. Abandoning the realistic for the surreal world, Parvati began to draw something she did not think about very much. She began to draw three heads, each facing in an opposite direction. One, facing left, depicted a woman with deep waterfalls, trees, rocks and flying birds. Her hair was a cascading waterfall and her crown the mountains. Shakti, in the form of mother earth.

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IC: She's just drawing the outline.

[Pilovv]

Makoto had noticed him, and had even considered trying to talk to him, until she heard him speak, making her freeze up and clench her hands. "E-Errr.." She blinked, taking a look of him up and down... She tried to look like she wasn't freaking out because someone had said words to her, so she brought her hands up and pushed her index fingers together... "You're going to need to be more specific than that." She had a terrible feeling in her gut that they had probably experienced the same... "Dream".

[The SheoDovah]

Oscar Nigel Tarinson - A social encounter at the Daily Grind

"I think we all know how to kick some arse." Oscar Nigel Tarinson remarked before Kiera spoke about why they did it in their sleep. He let out a yawn. "Could be that they are selfish [&@%!] if they have the power to intervene or could be staying out of it or could just be a set of physical rules that prevent our reality from affecting theirs and vice versa." He saw her cover her mouth and wasn't fussed. "Good!" He exclaimed with glee. "I mean, it's not but i'm glad that i'm not the only bugger that feels like they've done a 12 hour marathon with a ton of 8 kilo weights attached to every part of their body." He rubbed his left eye afterwards. "But we'll get used to it but going back to what you said moments ago, I'll still protect you." He began to wonder if his order was ready. "I'll protect anyone. Oh and don't think we introduce ourselves. I'm Oscar Nigel and unfortunately, Tarinson." He extended his hand. "But don't ask me about my family, it's quite a.......sore topic and well, if you heard me last night, there's a [&@%!] good reason why I went mad with rage."

[Aarah]

Keira

"I dunno. That girl with the eye patch didn't look like she would say boo to a goose." Keira replied to Oscar's arse-kicking comment.

"Do we want to get used to it though? Sure, it's incredible and exciting, but...it's pretty scary. And at the moment it's kind of making me feel like a bit of a freak. I mean, my friends won't believe me if I tell them. No one will. But I'm not that good at keeping secrets."

Keira rubbed her hands together to brush off any muffin crumbs, then enthusiastically shook Oscar's outstretched hand.
"I'm Keira Swanson."

"That's okay. I won't ask you about them. But those shadow things, they were meant to make us get [&@%!], right? They, like, weren't really saying what the person is thinking."
Keira half told, half asked.

[The SheoDovah]

Oscar Nigel Tarinson

"That's one of the perks of having no friends or family." Oscar Nigel Tarinson remarked before shaking Keira's hand. He may have accidentally crushed her hand due to him not being used to handshakes and had a bit of a tendecy to squeeze hard. "But don't worry, if you need someone to chat to about this summoning [&@%!]. You have me and no, you are not a freak. Anyone that says that is a colossal arsehat and can kindly go fornicate themselves with a rusty nail." He smiled at her and frowned when she mentioned the shadow things. "Seems like it but if that is what they want, then they can [&@%!] deal with a bunch of [&@%!] off summoners with personas." He growled before going back to smiling at her. "However, I do wonder why I got a katana on a chain. I mean, what am i meant to do with the chain? Throw the [&@%!] like a spear and pull mysel... actually, that's not a bad idea."

[Aarah]

Keira

If Oscar had squeezed her hand too much, Keira didn't show it.

"You don't have any friends? And no family?" She looked at him sympathetically. "That sucks."

Though she appreciated the sentiment, Keira pulled a face at Oscar's crude comment.

She shrugged at the mention of the boy's katana.
"Maybe. You could strangle something with the chain?"

More of her macchiato proceeded to be drunk, followed by another bite of cherry muffin.

[Dirty Spaceman]

Brendan

Makoto's response seemed a clear indication that she knew what Brendan was talking about, but he hadn't expected her to be so shy about it. He figured he may as well humour her, though.

"Oh, you know," he said, keeping his voice low enough to not make passers-by think he was weird for what he was about to say, "Nightmare ice rink, giant shadow monster, Greek gods appearing in front of people to help them fight. Ring a bell?"

[Pilovv]

Makoto's dumb look turned into an irritated one. The worst possible thing that could be happening was happening. She looked around to make sure no one was listening in, because she still didn't believe the situation or conversation herself. She wasn't sure how to react to this, especially in her tired state... "I... That's a bit specific. I'm sure it's just shared dreams, or something... People have those, I think." She was sure tonight was going to disappoint her with how things were going, though.

[Unionhack]

The Daily Grind

Hidden:

Hissi, that looks lovely. Did you draw that yourself?

Jukebox: ATLUSxP5 - Sentimentable (Euthalia Nova)

Hidden:

YouTube Link

Oscar's order had finally been prepped and delivered. It looked like it had been prepared with painstaking detail; probably because of the complexity.

As Parvati sketched, she could hear the red-headed boy and the peppy girl at a nearby table discuss some things. She couldn't quite hear much detail (the sound of milk steamers and blenders tended to drown that out), but she was able to hear a great deal of Oscar's profanities.

The bell of the coffee house dinged again as yet another customer walked in. Into the establishment stepped a woman in her mid-20's, draped in a loose leather jacket and with waist-length black hair tied up and splayed about in each direction. Either she had just woken up, or it was part of the punk fashion; maybe both.

Keira immediately recognized the woman as Euthalia Nova; a rising local music star that was garnering national attention with her recent home-produced solo punk album Graphium, and whether Keira liked punk or not, it was hard not to hear about the woman. Euthalia Nova was a stage name, but Keira didn't quite know her real n-

"Euthalia, it's been ages! Where've you been?" asked one of Ross' brothers, named Alan.

The musician smiled and shook her head. "Boys, boys, please, it's just Sara to you lot. Save the stage name stuff for the shows and get me the usual, yeah?" she asked in a distinctly British accent.

The third brother, name tag reading 'Jordan', nodded and made his way to grab the ingredients for the 'usual'. They seemed to had skipped the payment as well.

Euthalia walked slowly to the bar with her hands in her jacket's pockets, but turned to Keira and Oscar to give a friendly wave and smile.

[The SheoDovah]

Oscar Nigel Tarinson - Daily Grind

"Bah, don't need family or friends." Oscar Nigel Tarinson remarked as he looked at the counter to see if his order was ready. "I could but that seems rather complicated when I can just thrust my katana through their neck." The order was ready and was delievered. "I usually don't deal with fancy [&@%!] like this but after last night, why not?" He picked up the prawn sandwich and studied it as if it was on full display at a cooking contest. He then proceeded to delicately nibble on the crusts for a few seconds before taking a huge bite out of it. He savoured every single part of the sandwich that was inside his mouth as he gently chewed on it whilst keeping it closed to spare Keira the unjustly sight of food being bashed by teeth. The woman that walked in gave him a wave and smile. He responded in kind with a basic side to side wave. Unlike most of his peers, he was not up to date with music aside from knowing a few classical songs, Queen, Metalica thus he was unaware of who the woman was.

[Aarah]

Keira - The Daily Grind

Keira felt sorry for Oscar. Despite him saying he didn't need family or friends, she didn't believe him. In her opinion, everyone needed at least one of those things. If she had neither, she didn't know what she'd do with herself. Life would be so lonely.

Oscar's prawn sandwich made her wrinkle her nose. She thought prawns were gross; they looked like giant pink maggots.

The sound of the bell made her look to the door, then her eyebrows raised in surprise.
She discreetly watched the woman talking to the baristas, slightly eavesdropping on their conversation.
When Euthalia waved, Keira gave a large smile and waved back.
"That's that singer, Euthalia Nova!" She whispered to Oscar.

[Dirty Spaceman]

Brendan

Brendan frowned. "I didn't think those existed," he said. "I mean, not that I thought that... whatever last night was... existed either, but it felt real. And, like, so many people sharing a dream? I dunno, for me it'd almost be harder to believe that this is all logically explainable." He gave a halfhearted chuckle at that.

[Pilovv]

Makoto frowned too, shrugging. "Whatever it is it should stop soon. I'm so tired..." She looked to the floor for a second, and back up to Brendan, still not sure what to say to the fact that they had experienced the same thing, especially something as insane as that. "It's scary..."

[Hissien]

Parvati

Parvati giggled at the sight of the popstar, though she had no idea who the woman was. She set down her sketchbook and watched, wondering what would come next? Would her heroes return to the cashier to pay for their things? She would find out in part two it seemed.

She imagined the scene before it happening, picturing it as a scene to be captured by the brush. Being so lost in the glory of her own creation; she was lost to the outside world. I bet they'd make a good comic, or an anime maybe... Parvati thought as she felt it start to take shape, the seed.

The young artist sat at her table in a daydream and was unable to move this turn.

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Yea, I did. Thanks

[The-Shadow-One]

Kieran had a long day to say the least. The tiredness clinging to his eyelids and making them like lead stayed throughout the school day. His lips were slightly torn and marked from him worrying it all day, chewing it between his teeth. After school he was slow, taking his time to get to the Daily Grind, perking only at the thought of getting coffee into his system, late but better late than never he thought. There he saw two people from his 'dream' last night. "..Hang on." He muttered, frowning and leaning in, blinking before he walked up to Oscar and Keira. "..Did you guys have a weird dream last night?" He asked, rather quiet.

[The SheoDovah]

Oscar Nigel Tarinson - Daily Grind

"Wmofh?" Oscar Nigel Tarinson remarked with a mouthful of prawn sandwich. He swallowed. "Who and why should I care?" He bluntly stated as he grabbed the cup with both hands and studied it for a few seconds to determine the best way to tackle it. His eyes rapidly scanned the drink from side to side then up and down as he thought about how to drink it without spilling anything or getting it over himself. He decided on a course of action and began to scoop small chunks of toffee cream portion with his fingers.He licked them afterwards. "Mmmm." He uttered with a face filled of apperication.

"Yes. Now, take a chair, sit down here and discuss the [&@%!]." He half-joked to Kerian as he focused on his toffee cream.

[Aarah]

Keira - The Daily Grind

Oscar's manners did little to impress Keira. She pulled a disgusted face at him licking his fingers.
Eww.

She was about to explain more about Euthalia, when Kieran came up to the table.
After Oscar spoke, she added, "Hi! Yeah, we were just talking about all that."
Someone else from last night. I wonder if all us are going to end up in the coffee house. Like something is drawing us here.