Persona: Darkness Descends

[Angel]

1:30 PM, April 30th, 2012

Claire found it increasingly hard to concentrate in class, despite it being Calculus 1, which was her forte. She and Ace had just closed a problematic Hot Spot the night before, and unfortunately the two of them and Professor Connors had little luck in determining what the cause was for the sudden spike in Shadow activity. Deciding that it wasn't worth worrying about now, she channelled her frustration into the worksheet she had in front of her, and solved the practice problems with ease. She was a little off-put that Mr. Sanders, her math teacher, had the whole class doing review packets for the AP exam, but then again half the class was not taking her route of moving on to Calc 2, so she settled for a little sigh of exasperation.

As she put the finishing touches (+C's, mainly) on her worksheet, she strode to the front of the class and handed it in. "Is that all for today, Mr. Sanders?"

"Yes, I believe it is. You're free to go, Miss Stones."

Giving Mr. Sanders a warm smile, she grabbed her purse and left the room. As she walked out, she could feel her Evoker, which, against Professor Connors' recommendation, she carried as a security blanket, through purse, and her thoughts turned to Ace.

She had been friends with him ever since they had arrived at JA, and the past three months served to deepen their relationship from friends to partners. While they were excellent students in the Academy by day, they purged the evil Shadows from the streets by night. Despite her exhaustion, she was excited to see him again today and ask if they had any SEES activities planned for this evening.

She stopped at her locker to check her hair and makeup, because no matter Ace's answer for today, she had a free afternoon, and she had to hurry out to catch the latest American Eagle one-day sale. Once she finished touching up her pale red lipstick, she decided that was enough, and as she shut her locker slowly, students started to pour out of the classrooms as the day officially ended. She spotted Ace in his usual spot by the stairwell, strode over to him, and hugged him tightly, but playfully.

"Hey, did we have anything planned for....*giggle* club tonight?" she asked, respecting the agreement the 3 of them made when SEES was founded to make their activities seem as innocuous as possible.

 

[Klom89]

4:45 P.M., April 30th, 2012

The birds chirped quietly as Myde's ears take in the tranquil sound.

He wished he could be like the birds. Free; not a care in the world.

His illness acted up again today, so his parents told him to stay home, though one of his classmates sent him the homework assignment VIA E-Mail. Geography Book, Page thirty-seven. Do problems 16-32; including the pot-chapter questionairre.

"Why do the questionairre if we've already read the chapter five times?" Myde thinks to himself. "Mr. Haman must've forgotten his lesson plans. AGAIN. I told him to sticky-note them, but no...I'm just a student, what do I know?"

He chose to spend his day in Crown Park; the local park just a ways from the school. His house was right down the block too, so he could leave twenty minutes later than his alarm clock and still be in his first class 10 mins. early.

"Hey, Mommy!" A voice yelled from a distance. "Watch me climb this tree!"

With an exhale, Myde opens his eyes as reality takes over his vision. He sees the child climbing a tree a few feet away. Of course, the child was a pre-teen, so he took a shorter tree whose's branches stretched to the ground.

Myde never really had the chance to be a kid. All he could do was lay around while his body was prodded and poked. He couldn't be a bird, but he could certainly pull off being a tree. As such, seeing things like gave Myde such feelings of Envy.

He had to think of something else. In desperation, Myde looks down at the textbook in his lap. "Geography." He didn't wish to do word problems in an environment meant to be enjoyed. Still, it WAS due tomorrow. Good thing the book was school-made, so it could be written in. Myde

Leaning backwards onto the bench he was on and taking out the pencil from his right pocket, Myde begins writing.

 

[Mistearea]

1:50 PM April 30th, 2012

Uriel walks out of the room for his Literature class and stretches a bit to free his muscles from the state of inactivity. He finally looks around the halls as they get crowded from students leaving their classes before he takes out his phone and checks the time. He nods once as he thinks about how he doesn't have to show up for work until about three that day so he decides to take things a little easy for now. It's then that he sees a girl hug a guy standing by the stairs, but he pays them no mind. He simply walks through the growing crowd and until he finally finds himself outside. He takes one look at the sky above him before his eyes quickly start to hurt so he makes his way through the grounds until he passes the school gates.

With his escape nearly at hand he thinks to himself about how to kill the next hour or so before he finally decides to make his way to a nearby mall to get something to eat. With that in his mind he starts walking only to get there by cab. Once inside he looks at the shop that he works at inside the mall and sets an alarm on his phone to tell him when to get moving. With that he makes his way towards the food court and looks at the various things that he's able to eat. For several minutes he stands there trying to decide if he wants to eat chinese or pizza before deciding on the latter. With that in mind he makes his way to the line and quickly gets a slice of peperoni.

With his food in hand he makes his way to an empty table. He quickly falls into the seat and looks around. It's only then that he notices how most of the people there are looking at him as if they just saw a ghost. He mentally sighs at the response from the people before he turns back to his food. He takes a bite out of the slice of pie and pulls out his phone once more. He sends a quick message to his mother and sets the phone down only to be answered by Irony by Claris. A rather unusual thing to hear considering that the song is in Japanese.

 

[Hecxy]

2:00 PM April 30th, 2012

"C'mon, stay," Adrianne muttered to herself as she began walking out of literature class minutes after it was dismissed, Nintendo DS in hand.
She'd long ago mastered the art of playing a video game while walking, while avoiding bumping into things.

She was in a heated battle with Entei, a legendary beast. However, the moment she'd become engaged against it, off it would run until the next random ecounter.
Trying to capture it was tedious but well worth it.

The short girl frowned as the message flashed on her screen, "Entei fled!"

Letting out a sigh, she stopped to look around.
The other students were talking about their daily lives, making plans, laughing--and for some reason it made her feel nervous.
She'd never been good with people, but she tried.

"Hey, Ms.Vice President!" A boy called out to her, approaching her. "Did we have a meeting today? I don't remember..."

She shook her head. "No..."
She recognized the boy from the Gaming Club of the school, but she couldn't attach a name to his face.

He gave her a smile, then opened his mouth to say something but spun around to catch the attention of another boy.

Adrianne decided to go to the mall as a way to kill some time until she had to be back at the dorms.
The internet had been down since last night, so she didn't feel any real motivation to turn in for the night already.

Once there, she made her way into the food court and decided on Mexican food.
"One quesdilla, please--chicken."

Looking around as she waited on her order, she recognized a boy named Uriel from her class, and saw maybe a few more familiar faces that she'd ran into at school
She took a seat in the food court and pulled out her DS, ready to give her hunt another attempt.

 

[Piercing Light]

Sitting upon one of the many staircases in his school Ace held a small book in his hand. It was just some random fantasy novel he'd picked up the other day, he was trying to focus on it however he was passing one page every twenty minutes or so. He just had far too much on his mind, namely the hot spots and his inner shadow. He just couldn't believe that such a thing was a part of him, it made no sense no matter how hard he thought about it.

He let out a rather tired sigh, closing the book. He planted his hands on his knees as he was about to get up, however a very familiar pair of arms wrapped tightly around him, pinning him in place for now. It was good to know Claire could at least cheer him up, her bubbly personality was rather endearing. "No, I don't believe we do Claire, do you want to go to the mall? I hear some new attraction is opening up today." He said, making no attempt to pry her off of him.

 

[Angel]

"Oooo goody what's the attraction like? And oh yeah of course!" She let go of Ace and let out a brief, but hearty laugh before continuing. "Actually there was a sale at the mall I wanted to hit today so I'm glad you asked. Maybe we can pick you up a little something too!"

Even though it was a Monday, a lot of the students were piling out of the school to go the mall. Very few students, if any, passed up the opportunity to explore the city once the school bell rang. At 2 PM sharp, it was a common sight to the Jones uniform out and about in Central Park, Times Square, even Brooklyn. Claire hurriedly rushed Ace out of the school so as not to get lost in the tide of newly released kids.....as well as the fact that there was a pair of skinny jeans she absolutely needed to get ASAP.

Once in the crowds of blissfully ignorant New Yorkers going about their day, Claire decided it was appropriate to be a little less covert.

"Anywhere in mind you wanted to shop after AE and that attraction?" After making sure no one was tailing them on their way to the mall or eavesdropping, she quickly added, "And what is with all these hot spots lately? We haven't been out 4 nights in a row....ever."

 

[Mistearea]

Uriel looks up from his phone and notices someone that he didn't really expect to see there. At first his mind goes to the device held in her hands, but then he looks closely at her face only to realize that she's in his Literature class. With a girl that appears to like two of the things that he loves the most in such an area, even he can't help himself. With that he quickly finishes off the slice of pizza on his plate and wipes the grease from his face with his napkin. He finally takes the paper plate and napkin into a single hand while holding his drink in the other and walks over to the trash can using the opportunity to take a look at what she's playing. He notices that it's one of the Pokemon games, but he can't really be sure which one it is. But he puts that out of his mind and throws his plate and napkin away while taking another look at her face. He knows that look anywhere.

He finally walks up to her table and takes a seat at one of the tables. He knows that this can be considered rude, but he just has to provide her with some information. He finally leans onto the table and says, "Use and Electric type to Paralyze him. That way if he runs again, he should come to the next encounter already hindered. It also helps if you keep the PokeMarch on at all times in the area. I've found that sometimes even if he runs he will still be in that area and you won't have to go chasing him down again." He takes a sip from his drink as he leans back and says, "I could tell from the look on your face that you're trying to catch one of the Legendary Dog Pokemon. I don't know if it's Entei, Raikou our Suicoon though. But if it's Raikou, forget the electric type and use a plant type to use Stun Spore. It'll have a better chance succeed. Or you can go the really easy way and use Mean Look right from the start. Several options if you know how. But I'd go Mean Look and then Paralyze him to lower his speed by two points to capture him with an Ultra Ball. It never fails."

 

[Hecxy]

Focusing on her search, Adrianne hadn't at first noticed her classmate approaching her.
She wasn't someone able to pay attention to things around her when she was so deeply involved.
When she heard someone speaking to her, she looked up and listened to Uriel's advice.

She remembered seeing him in her Literature class and that his name was Uriel, though she couldn't recall speaking to him before.
Then again, her nose was buried in her textbook most of the class, doing the work ahead of everyone else.
Listening to everyone read aloud was boring to her--she could read much faster on her own and start the homework in class.

Adrianne smiled.
Finally, someone who knew what they were talking about and knew about Pokemon other than Charizard and Pikachu.

"Thanks," She pat the seat next to her, motioning that it was okay for him to sit there. "I'm actually after Entei right now. He's the last one I need to capture, so he's being really evasive. I try to keep Gengar in the front of my party to get it with Mean Look, but it's whenever I'm not searching for him he shows up and takes me by surprise."
She laughed a little. She couldn't remember the last time she'd spoken to anyone about Pokemon.

 

[Piercing Light]

Ace's face tensed as Claire made mention of the rising frequency of the Hot Spots. "It has me worried, if it keeps increasing at the rate it is now then... We may not be able to handle it alone." For a while now it had just been the two of them dealing with this problem, even though they were a part of a 'group.' They needed new members, otherwise this would become a very public issue fast. Letting out a sigh he tried to put on a pleasant face, for Claire's sake at least. They soon entered the mall, and right in the entrance there were posters all over advertising the new attraction. They were colorful and quite attention getting. There was something odd about them however.

"Say Claire..." He said, stopping at one of the posters. "You notice anything odd about this poster?" He pointed at it, and read it out loud. "Come one come all, see the greatest event of this century! Without a doubt you will walk away with your life changed!..." He lowered his hand and continued walking. "There's no hint what's so ever as to just 'what' this event is about, and yet if you listen to the crowds here it's all they can talk about." It was true, normally one would block out the many conversations among a busy crowd. However Ace caught on to the fact that nearly everyone was talking about the same thing. Now he was seriously curious. "Let's go see what the buzz is about, the posters say the event starts in fifteen minutes." The poster also had the location set as a new store in the west wing of the mall, just past the food court.

 

[Angel]

"But who else can summon a Persona? Connors would've let us know if she had found anyone else. And it's not like it'd be hard to pick out active people running around the Dark Hour anyway." Claire sighed, exasperated by the conundrum she had just described. SEES did need new members, but as Connors had explained to them, it was a rare occurrence for their potential to awaken, and she nor the people she represented had gained any luck on safely artificially inducing the ability. If anyone else was to gain their power, they would have to do it the hard way, Shadows and all.

She listened intently as Ace described the poster and the effect it was having on the gossipy crowds. "That poster does seem kind of odd. 'Life changed'? That's a pretty big promise to keep." She nervously glanced at the clock on her phone. Ace did have a point in suggesting this event was worth checking out, but Claire wanted those jeans. "Yeah, we can see it, I just gotta make my pit stop first. Let's walk fast!" Claire was on a first name basis with practically half the AE staff after being a frequent customer for the past two and a half years, and she didn't expect that she would have to wait in a long line because of that. After a few minutes of walking towards the west wing of the mall, the store was in sight. Running inside to grab her desired jeans, she quickly paid (leaving a wake of astounded patrons as to how quickly her transaction had been processed), met up with Ace outside, and continued to walk past the food court where she noticed a pair of her schoolmates at a table discussing something.

"What do you think this event could be?" Claire, now undistracted by the sale, was starting to become as curious as Ace. She furrowed her brow as she thought of what it could be, especially in a mall in the middle of town.

 

[sephiroth2]

-----------------------------------------

The entire day passed as quickly as it started for Nilsen, who continued to write something in his notebook even as only the rare few stragglers were left behind in the classroom, the others long having left with the rest of the school. From his seat in the furthest darkest reaches of the room, Nilsen finally closed the numerous open books before placing each one into his bag.

When the young man eventually left the room, the sound of his sneakers screeching slightly against the floor was the only other source of noise in the entire hall. The same could be said for the grounds outside the school itself, still only having the rare few students who remained behind, possibly for friends to meet up or some other arrangements. Checking his phone, Nilsen sighed noticing the time, before running his hand through his hair tiredly.

Much too early to return home, there were only a few other options for him to choose from, almost none of which were particularly appealing to him. Blending with the crowds of people on the sidewalk on one of the busiest streets in the city, a row of posters caught Nilsen’s eye, plastered on the walls of a building in order to draw the best attention from passersby’s.

Nilsen thought he remembered some of the other students talking about this attraction at the school. Apparently while no one absolutely knew what said show would be, it still seemed to have no problem spreading and generating a massive amount of hype for it. Checking the time on the poster to what was on his phone, Nilsen knew he had nothing better to do for the afternoon, before deciding to make his way to the mall.

Soon reaching the mall, Nilsen clearly could see the amount of interest everyone had in this mysterious attraction. Groups of people, many of which were the same students from his school, stood around in their own little crowds, talking to one another loudly on all the things that could happen when the show began, and many of which sounded more ridiculous one after the other. Slipping to the back so he was out of sight, Nilsen made sure he could still see anything that happened when the show would finally begin.

 

[Piercing Light]

As Claire went inside her favorite clothing store to purchase a pair of jeans, Ace leaned against the store's window. He knew she would be out at any moment, the girl could set a shopping speed record if she so desired. His attention was to the crowds in the meantime, and he could see that many of them were headed to the event. Right on time Claire exited the store. "I think you just beat your personal best time there Claire. And Your guess is as good as mine as to what this is event is about." He chuckled, continuing to walk with her towards the west wing. It wasn't long before they made it to the entrance of the event, surprisingly the line wasn't so bad and they were able to get in within a few minutes.

The first thing he noticed was how dark it was inside, there was just enough light to make out the surroundings of what appeared to be a large theater. He might have just thought it was a rather ominous place if not for the crowded atmosphere. "Let's find some empty seats." He said, having to raise his voice a bit to make sure Claire heard him.

 

[Angel]

Beaming at Ace's comment regarding how quickly she had wrapped things up, Claire kept close to him as they attempted to pile into what turned out to be a large theater. Being somewhat easily impressed when it came to new mall attractions, her mouth was agape as she followed Ace in their attempt to find seating among the crowd, which itself was an even blend of non-uniformed young adults and JA students looking for a way to kill an afternoon. Claire quickly found a pair of empty seats, and tugged at Ace's sleeve, pulling him in the right direction.

Once seated, Claire quickly got over her earlier impression in an attempt to make out what the event would consist of in this dimly lit theater. She checked the catwalks above her, the wings to the sides of the stage, even checked to see if there were any staffers present to organize the mass chaos of an almost packed room. Nothing. "Hey Ace...did you happen to notice if there were any mall employees around the entrance? I don't see any in here, and it's a little odd that they'd just leave something this popular to be this unorganized." Checking the room again, she noticed that there were only single empty seats as whole groups of friends plopped in large rows of 4, 7, 10, and everywhere in between. Right as she was done checking the room, what little light was present was shut off, leaving the crowd in total darkness, but panic didn't break out. In fact, the room was silenced, holding their breath as to what would come next, when suddenly a lone spotlight shined on the stage.

 

[Klom89]

7:30 P.M., April 30, 2012

(OOC: Needless to say, Myde doesn't see the show/attraction at the mall.)

"Ummm..."

Moving the textbook from his face, Myde's eyes return him to reality. Then they go wide.

The sky was pitch-black, while birds and crows caw and tweet throughout the serene night. Hurriedly, Myde turns his head down to see his pencil on the ground.

"Oh, wait...The textbook was all I brought today..." Myde thought to himself, sitting up on the wooden bench. "Ugh...I cannot believe I was asleep all day."

That's when it occurred to Myde to reach into his right pocket, taking out his cellular phone.

"8 MISSED CALLS." Said the phone's main screen.

"Matilda must be worried sick." Myde thinks. "She can be too paranoid sometimes. Home isn't far. Calling's pointless."

Myde stands himself up, taking the brown textbook from the bench, knowing where it is despite the darkness of night.

He chose to walk down the left side of the path towards the sidewalk. The mosquitoes were out, so going onto the grass would be like walking into a mousetrap.
--------------------------

After ten minutes of walking, Myde finally makes it home.

A blue Victorian-esque style house nearest the intersection. While that SEEMED fancy, New York had it's share of fancy-looking, overpriced houses EVERYWHERE.

No sooner did he ring the doorbell, the door swung open.

"FINALLY!" Says the woman-caller. "I was just about to go look for you."

Matilda has been the family maid for the longest time. Her services have not only earned her a spot as an actual family member, but have been especially important for Myde, whose illness can hinder him immobile at the most inconvenient of times. (It didn't happen often, but his doctor still noted it VERY highly)

Though considering the red-leather jacket and blue sweatpants which she always swore, Matilda would be saddled with the first impressions of a stripper rather than a maid. Though any unlucky pervert would be immediately turned off by her constant, CONSTANT nitpicking.

"Did you eat?"

"Not yet."

"Are you hurt?"

"No."

"Are you thirsty?"

"Tea, if you would. Earl Grey, Make it lukewarm please."

"Did you do your homework?"

"Yes."

"Did your mom call?"

"I'm not sure yet."

"Did you take your pills?"

"Before I left, Maam."

----------------
8:30 P.M.

After playing Two Million Questions with Matilda, Myde sits on his bed, his window open. Looking outside, he saw the cars honking and beeping for space on the roads, while boys and their friends run past the shops below.

A part of him yearned for interaction like that. People to come visit, friends to have fun with. But Myde chose to forgo bond. His illness would only spawn their pity, which he did not need; nor did he need to burden people's minds with his welfare. No. He would die in solitude. That way, nobody would cry at his funeral.

Matilda no doubt knew. Maybe THAT was why she was so nit-picky. Trying to break down Myde's barrier of loneliness. Bah, no use in dwelling on it.

Taking his laptop from the drawer next to the bed, he had powered it on and logged into Google Chrome. (Incognito Browsing, always!)

He had a user on Facebook bookmarked. SuperSentaiTV. Despite his wise demeanor, Myde was fond of foreign shsows and books. Super Sentai was one of his...secret vices. They had some comedy spoof of it now, Akibaranger.

Speaking of Akibaranger, Maybe the newest episode was up; If the subtitler had uploaded it. Yep, there it was.

For now, he'd let some tokusatsu drown his sorrows.

Leaning back onto hi bed, his eyes stare attentively at the screen.

"A tiny paradise amongst a sea of skyscrapers: Akihabara. There we find three warriors who believe pain is power and who fight battles that exist entirely in their heads. They are...Hikonin Sentai Akibaranger!"

 

[Klom89]

7:30 P.M., April 30, 2012

(OOC: Needless to say, Myde doesn't see the show/attraction at the mall.)

"Ummm..."

Moving the textbook from his face, Myde's eyes return him to reality. Then they go wide.

The sky was pitch-black, while birds and crows caw and tweet throughout the serene night. Hurriedly, Myde turns his head down to see his pencil on the ground.

"Oh, wait...The textbook was all I brought today..." Myde thought to himself, sitting up on the wooden bench. "Ugh...I cannot believe I was asleep all day."

That's when it occurred to Myde to reach into his right pocket, taking out his cellular phone.

"8 MISSED CALLS." Said the phone's main screen.

"Matilda must be worried sick." Myde thinks. "She can be too paranoid sometimes. Home isn't far. Calling's pointless."

Myde stands himself up, taking the brown textbook from the bench, knowing where it is despite the darkness of night.

He chose to walk down the left side of the path towards the sidewalk. The mosquitoes were out, so going onto the grass would be like walking into a mousetrap.
--------------------------

After ten minutes of walking, Myde finally makes it home.

A blue Victorian-esque style house nearest the intersection. While that SEEMED fancy, New York had it's share of fancy-looking, overpriced houses EVERYWHERE.

No sooner did he ring the doorbell, the door swung open.

"FINALLY!" Says the woman-caller. "I was just about to go look for you."

Matilda has been the family maid for the longest time. Her services have not only earned her a spot as an actual family member, but have been especially important for Myde, whose illness can hinder him immobile at the most inconvenient of times. (It didn't happen often, but his doctor still noted it VERY highly)

Though considering the red-leather jacket and blue sweatpants which she always swore, Matilda would be saddled with the first impressions of a stripper rather than a maid. Though any unlucky pervert would be immediately turned off by her constant, CONSTANT nitpicking.

"Did you eat?"

"Not yet."

"Are you hurt?"

"No."

"Are you thirsty?"

"Tea, if you would. Earl Grey, Make it lukewarm please."

"Did you do your homework?"

"Yes."

"Did your mom call?"

"I'm not sure yet."

"Did you take your pills?"

"Before I left, Maam."

----------------
8:30 P.M.

After playing Two Million Questions with Matilda, Myde sits on his bed, his window open. Looking outside, he saw the cars honking and beeping for space on the roads, while boys and their friends run past the shops below.

A part of him yearned for interaction like that. People to come visit, friends to have fun with. But Myde chose to forgo bond. His illness would only pawn their pity, which he did not need; nor did he need to burden people's minds with his welfare. No. He would die in solitude. That way, nobody would cry at his funeral.

Matilda no doubt knew. Maybe THAT was why she was so nit-picky. Trying to break down Myde's barrier of loneliness. Bah, no use in dwelling on it.

Taking his laptop from the drawer next to the bed, he had powered it on and logged into Google Chrome. (Incognito Browsing, always!)

He had a user on Facebook bookmarked. SuperSentaiTV. Despite his wise demeanor, Myde was fond of foreign shsows and books. Super Sentai was one of his...secret vices

Maybe the newest episode of Akibaranger was up; If the subtitler had uploaded it. Yep, there it was.

For now, he'd let some tokussatsu