> 01. [text]

[greatseal]

Hello everyone! ＼（＾∀＾） I hope you've all settled in well!

My name's Minako Arisato. I've talked to a few of you already, but for everyone else, it's nice to meet you!

Now that things have calmed down a little I was wondering - how many of us were Persona-users before coming to Hinoto-ri? I think it might be good to meet and compare notes if we haven't yet, see what's the same and what's changed. And maybe we could also make a list of people with experience who can help with answering questions or training, or things like that! Just jumping into using a Persona can be pretty daunting...

For everyone else - what do you usually do for fun? Some of the things I like are music, volleyball, cooking... If we have enough people who like the same things, maybe we could even form a club! I wouldn't mind having someone to play volleyball with again. Or to go out to karaoke! (ﾉ´▽｀)ﾉ♪

Anyway, that's all for now!


[added private text to Shinjiro]

Can I come over later?

Comments

[themortalhalf]

[He can understand that. The kid has one hell of a resumé, including a very long list of references if he's anything like his sister—if perhaps on the quieter side of social achievement.]

It shouldn't have to feel strange at all.

["Shouldn't," being the keyword. He knows very well how things are and what is. It's probably still going to feel strange, and always will in a roundabout sort of way. Even if they had been separated for only a year, there still would have been a palpable sort of distance between the two, because life made separation an alienating force. It's what made distance and time so hard and painful. But how much of an impact that had on the relationship ultimately fell upon the affected. There were some people who could almost start over again as if their final shared memory had been only yesterday.]

[greatseal]

I know. Even if it's been ten years, he's still my big brother. ...But this is still a lot more literal than the usual "he's watching over you."

[It's like her life had been a movie with the sound turned off, only getting half of the whole picture. She got the plot, the setting, the actors... but not the other main character.]

[themortalhalf]

[Shinjiro arches an eyebrow. Minato was the older one? He had assumed the opposite.]

He'll get used to it.

[To doing more than just being the one watching from more peaceful shores. Though in this Minato's case, it was probably more like Minako's statement—wondering if he was being watched over, and imagining every now and again how things could have been if life had gone differently. Shinjiro doesn't bother to say "you'll get used to it," because he all ready knows Minako will—and probably all ready has, in a way—even though she has other things on her plate to contend with, like teammates that don't remember her. It doesn't surprise him that things don't feel as strange to her as they should be, because that's just the way she is.

Minato, on the other hand, probably doesn't know what he's in for. You don't get used to a whirlwind in a matter of days or hours.]

He'll probably forget you were never around to annoy him soon enough.

[He almost pities the fool.]

[greatseal]

[Older, by about one minute. And that doesn't mean Minako won't switch to calling him little depending on her current whim. What's a minute, really?

And even if Minato isn't used to her personality yet, he can't claim not to be forewarned. She may not have been a whirlwind at six but she was at least a decent gust.]

Are you calling me annoying, then? [What in this face could possibly be annoying? She's even going out of her way to keep your lap warm!]

[themortalhalf]

[Nothing, in the scheme of things. Minako probably would have won the race if she had wanted to, now that he thinks about it. Carpe diem and all that shit. Seize the day. She just had to make sure her younger brother was out into the world first. Otherwise, she may gotten to enjoy being the older sibling by a considerably wider margin. Minato had a drowsy look about him. Might have preferred to stay in his corner and sleep while there was no one around to bother him.]

Am I?

[Yes, he is.

And cats do the same thing. They're pretty cute too. And tend to be pretty nosy when you close doors in their faces.

...He thinks he's seeing a pattern, really.

But regardless, he wouldn't have it any other way.]

[fools_journey]

[ Minato sends a brainwave to Shinjiro saying, "You should call her Mineko. I swear it totally was not a childhood nickname." ]

[themortalhalf]

[ he retracts his statement. big brother is always watching

also get your voice the hell out of his head before he makes you

or takes some more suppresents ]

[fools_journey]

[ but shinji... he can't. he's everywhere.

he's

universal ]

[themortalhalf]

[ so's your equally universal sister

get out while you still can.

run

you still have time. ]

[fools_journey]

[ we are all rabbits before sister whirlwhind...

there is no escape

time delivers us all to the same end

...

it matters not who you are

minakat awaits you ]

[themortalhalf]

[ that is a terrible pun and you should be ashamed of yourself.

he also hopes Minako's gusty self pushed Minato down every slide she came across. ]

[greatseal]

[Better a cat than a rabbit. Unlike what a certain protein junkie they both know believes....]

You are. It's not very polite.

[And to make her point better, she decides to turn to face him. Considering their previous position, this involves now straddling his lap with her arms around his shoulders.

Like a cat, if she's going to demand attention, she's going to demand all of it, at the time and place of her choosing.]

[themortalhalf]

[And better a rabbit than a dead little sister.

He'll attempt to stare her down, fighting to ensure that his expression remains completely impassive—though at the moment she's making that kind of difficult.]

Like I said, I ain't a nice guy.

[But if she's going to demand attention, he'll give her a few seconds to reconsider.

He can occasionally be polite.]

[greatseal]

[Her time to reconsider is long past. Months, even.

She stares back at him, fingers now wandering from his neck into his hair. If he's wearing the beanie, she'll end up pulling it off.]

You have enough moments.

[More than he'd admit. But it's not only the soft part of him she likes.]

[themortalhalf]

[He feels her fingers thread through his hair. It's distracting, but he still has the mind to shoot her a mildly accusing look when his beanie is spirited away. That's a bit of his soul she's stealing, you know. He'll be taking that back soon enough, when it isn't such of a damned bother to do so. He all ready has his hands full trying to handle the demanding girl that's in front of him.]

Since when [he says after a long moment, his grey eyes never quite leaving hers as the hand that's been around her waist drifts its way up her spine to the middle of her back] have those ever counted for anything?

[And then, as if it's just as automatic and simple as breathing, he does what he probably should have done a long time ago, and kisses her.]

[greatseal]

[Minako freezes. She'd been planning to do this herself, of course - was about ten seconds away. But him taking the initiative away from her is enough to really make her breathless, for all ten of those preempted seconds.

And then her motor functions kick back in and she returns the kiss as though there'd never been a delay. Ten seconds, three months... it's all forgotten in the face of this present.

She may have dropped the beanie on the floor, though. She'll apologize later.]

[themortalhalf]

[There's a dizzying split-second when he wonders if he should have waited. If he had misread or misjudged, if he should have thought more than felt. Except you can't turn back time to relive a point even two minutes gone, but in a stretch of seconds—perhaps the same ten they're both aware of but not exactly counting—those doubts don't even matter anymore. He feels the sudden equality in warmth and pressure, and it makes it easier for him to give in more fully and let go.

Eventually, however, he breaks contact, slowly pulling away, giving his lungs a chance to breathe.]

See? [he says, as if those last few moments spent were the unquestionable proof of everything he's been trying to say.

That he's not a good guy.

And that, in a way, she has plenty of her own little moments, and maybe (maybe) she's not much better than he is. She's confusing, after all. Annoying, and a pain—the type of pain he's unsure of how to deal with, because there's no way to control it or her (and in the end he probably wouldn't want to).

That she's the type of idiot who would let a meal of his start to go cold, drops his things on the floor, and wastes time looking for old pocketwatches when she could have been spending it more productively elsewhere. And, in spite of everything that's happened, in spite of everything that's gone on that he hasn't been awake for back home, he's not angry, and he'll try to accept everything that will be once he opens his eyes and discovers he's living his old life again.

And that he loves her, against his own better judgment, despite knowing that he's not the type of man she should be okay with. He loves her even though he might not say it out loud, because such words don't come easily or naturally to him, and probably always will.

See?]

[greatseal]

[Her mind is a little too distracted to immediately connect that single word with the previous conversation. But when she does, she knows her answer.]

I don't see.

Show me again?

[Because despite her love of talking... actions speak louder than words. And his communicate clearer than most.]

[themortalhalf]

[His eyebrows lift, face reddening slightly despite his best efforts. Had he been the type, maybe he would have said something clever in response. Maybe he would have settled with ruffling her hair and ending with some inane, random comment about how she should pay more attention. But he's not.

All he can do, really, is give her an almost imperceptible shake of his head (because he doesn't understand her sometimes), allowing his lips to once again find hers.

Sure, he can do that.]

[greatseal]

[That reaction makes everything worth it. She almost ruins the moment by laughing at his red cheeks. But, she manages to get under control, and even use some tongue this time.

When they break apart again she's a little flushed herself, and decides to compensate by ducking her head away and leaning in to his chest. She can feel his heartbeat. Just below where the last bullet had glanced away.]

...That was a little clearer.

[themortalhalf]

Good.

[Because he certainly hopes it was. Hard to persevere when the other half involved has half a mind to cut the demonstration short because she found the decay of his stoic dignity amusing. Don't think he couldn't tell. Idiot.

'Show me again,' huh? How else was he supposed to react to that?

He leans back against the chair a little, feeling the sudden solid pressure against his chest, and keeps his arm where it is. He's almost content to just sit here in the silence for awhile, but silence means having to think.

It's during times like this he wishes more like Iori. It's a sentiment that he has every intention of taking to his grave, but it’s still there nonetheless. The thought exists. He doesn't know Junpei well by any the sense of the word (and hasn't any intention to), but he wishes he could copy Iori's way of pulling legitimate conversation out from thin air. How he could turn around an otherwise unsalvageable conversation (doomed to decay into awkward silence) with a single random comment, usually with a dumb joke or something else equally asinine tacked on. Maybe a complaint no one took seriously. Shinjiro knows that type of person isn’t him, and never could be—Junpei can stand looking stupid and not being taken seriously; Shinjiro can barely tolerate people saying "thank you" (because what the hell do they know?)—but every now and then, in simple moments like this, Shinjiro wishes that he could, even though that kind of talent is something he never thought he’d need. To make people laugh without it having to be accidental.

But he supposes there is something he could do.]

Hey. Feel like going outside for a minute?

[greatseal]

[The request isn't what she expected, but she shifts so she can look up at him again, and then sits up.

The story had taken a while - actually, she's lost all track of time by now, but glancing at her watch (the watch he gave her) shows that the Dark Hour is still a while away.]

All right. [She leaves off asking where they're going, because she knows he won't explain until they get there anyway. That's just how he operates.]

[themortalhalf]

[If she had asked, the answer she would have received would have been "up." He's not about to lead her deeper into the city, especially when he doesn't know the layout of even a quarter of it. And the parts he does know aren't as familiar to him as he'd like. So he's not exactly comfortable with taking her out to anyplace unfamiliar at this time of night until he does—though that isn't saying much, since the night hours blanket Japan considerably earlier than he sometimes feels it should—not with demons how they are. But with it being a New Moon tomorrow evening, perhaps they would have been relatively docile.]

Let me put away the food first.

[He couldn't leave his bowl of food lying there if he had even wanted to. But it's easily packaged away, ready to reheat whenever his appetite decides to resurface, or his conscience in regards to uneaten food does. Afterwards, he picks up his beanie from off the floor (he hopes she feels bad about that), as well as his watch from off the table. He goes into his room, returning his watch to its proper place (hell if he's losing it again), and nearly slips his beanie back on, but decides against it, leaving it next to his coat, because he's pretty damn sure she'd just take it off again and drop the damn thing. And, you know, might as fucking well, considering.

But this is done quickly, and he brushes past her, heading towards the door.]

Let's go then.

[greatseal]

You're not taking your coat?

[Although he was probably right to expect more beanie-theft, she'd still expected him to re-dress himself. It's night and there is a bit of a breeze. ...But if Shinjiro thinks he can handle the cold, she's probably not going to convince him otherwise. Even if he did just get out of a hospital bed.

So she follows him to the door and slips her shoes back on.]

[themortalhalf]

[He shakes his head.]

We ain't going far. Don't need it.

[Might not even be that long either. He doesn't have a damn track record for this sort of thing to judge time by. He slips on his shoes, opens the door, and steps out into the night air. He feels the breeze—damn, the wind feels weird when all you've got on is a long-sleeved shirt and no coat to break it—but he doubts the cold's going to get to him. At least not tonight. Well, not him anyway. Pretty sure the world would make him invincible tonight if they could read his mind. Because it has that kind of stupid sense of humor.

He then looks back.]

But if you think you're gonna be cold, I can grab it.