The Velvet Door~The Crowded Rock

[Xhosant]

Soga eventually made his way to the park, at the cafeteria near the rock. He wasn't quite sure who was to come, what with the hesitant answers and everyone else bringing more. But he'd wait here for awhile, and they'd make their way for the rock's accessible side from there.

[andiemus]

James comes bounding up the hill, bag bouncing off his hamstrings as he runs.YO! Sago! Glad I found the place, I think the old woman I was asking for directions from thought I was asking how to make rock music or something. She seemed really confused. :smallconfused: Whatever. What exactly are we doing out here?

[Xhosant]

We're in a park, but i guess it just got itself a hill near our hangout.:smalltongue:

C'est la worldbuilding!:smallbiggrin:

Hey, James! I've been waiting around for the others, but apparently they're running late. No surprise she was puzzled, the rock we hang out on is kinda hidden. I guess not everyone has noticed it."

[Mistre]

Sho was late, and he knew it. Not only because he got lost, which he did. Not only because he had to do some chores at his home, which he did. No, the main reason he was late was because he saw the limited edition of the DVD of one of his favourites musicals. Totally worth it, thought Sho, while he ran with his plastic bag containing the DVD.

"Sorry I'm late! What did I miss?"

He stopped near them and began to catch his breath.

[andiemus]

Sho was late, and he knew it. Not only because he got lost, which he did. Not only because he had to do some chores at his home, which he did. No, the main reason he was late was because he saw the limited edition of the DVD of one of his favourites musicals. Totally worth it, thought Sho, while he ran with his plastic bag containing the DVD.

"Sorry I'm late! What did I miss?"

He stopped near them and began to catch his breath.

Well we learned not to play guitar when it's raining chocolate sauce and kimchi.

He shudders and whispers. Never again.

[Xhosant]

Well we learned not to play guitar when it's raining chocolate sauce and kimchi.

He shudders and whispers. Never again.

Soga almost chocked from the surprise. "Whoa, you owe me details!", he said between chuckles.

[Chase_D]

Will exhaustion was starting to get to him. Running around, socializing and being nearly killed tends to take a toll on a person. Especially someone who had very little experience to begin with. Maybe I should double up on my coffee...nah...maybe I should wait until next time., he thinks to himself as he makes his way home. The house he was staying at, owned by his aunt and uncle wasn't too far away from his school, to his relief. But it had it's drawbacks as well, specifically the amount of kids that pass by it, loitering, vandalizing it. Not exactly the dream house they envisioned, but still, it wasn't the worst in the world.

Quickly stopping in, the house echoed as he opened and closed the door. Empty it seemed, as neither relative gave a welcome as he walked through the door. Must be out doing shopping or something. Will thinks to himself. Sighing, he quickly grabs some paper and leaves a note, explaining that he would be out until late at night. He was sure that they would understand, they usually did. He quickly takes a water bottle and leaves.

The street still had kids leaving, going this way and that. Will barely knew any of them, most of them were still strangers to him. However there was the odd few he did know, from classes and such. He continues walking, making his way back to the coffee shop.

Before he gets there however, he spots Soga, the teen that took a great interest in Emmerson. Quickly, he recalls Hikaen mentioning that Soga wanted to meet up with everyone after class. He seemed to be talking to Sho, a new- well newer person to all this madness than Will, and another person, Will had never seen before. Interested, Will makes his way towards the trio.

"Hey guys, I was just on my way to get a coffee when I saw you guys hanging out." Grin on his face, he turns towards the new guy. "I'm afraid I don't recall you being with us earlier today, so allow me to introduce myself. My name is Will." he says bowing. "I can also assume..." he says quickly turning to face Soga "That we are still waiting for more people, am I correct." Feeling slightly clever for no reason, he smiles a sly grin at his guess.

[andiemus]

Soga almost chocked from the surprise. "Whoa, you owe me details!", he said between chuckles.

I have seen things that would make lesser men tremble and fought them. Kimchi and chocolate smell terribly when mixed and it gets everywhere and makes the instruments useless later because you can't get over the smell.

[Mistre]

Sho chuckled at James's joke, and nodded.

"Truly, a most useful lesson."

James's joke left a grin on Sho's face, despite his efforts to hide it, as he felt his face got silly with a smile on it.

"Say, Will-san, Soga san, you've been on this whole super hero business for more time than me, right? How is it?"

[Xhosant]

"Well, it's only been two trips, so I'm no expert. There's the uncertainty, and the fear, and the surprises the door never seems to run out of. And I guess there's also the danger, otherwise we wouldn't be here."

"Most importantly though, it is AWESOME! The place dulls the senses, but you feel so alive! "

[andiemus]

James' eyes roll over to Sho a look of confused skepticism in them. Then he jerks back to Soga when he responds seriously.

So, I don't know if you guys are supposed to, like, keep it from me or what, but I gotta ask. Superheroes?

[Xhosant]

So, I don't know if you guys are supposed to, like, keep it from me or what, but I gotta ask. Superheroes?

"Well, of the low end, but superheroes alright. Perhaps "shonen heroes" is more accurate. You've seen that persona creature that got you into this whole deal, right? Well, it comes complete with special talents and a manifested weapon."

"Speaking of, what kind of special talents do you posses? Some of us can heal wounds, and some can conjure the elements. Then there's people that debilitate our enemy (nothing like seeing a Shadow sleeping and drooling in the middle of a fight), and guys like my that are just very good with a weapon in their hands. But all of that come from our guardians, the Personas: a part of your being made manifest."

[andiemus]

I guess we're the same. Like you, I just lay things low. Why bother with the rest when you could just smash them to bits, y'know?

[Chase_D]

"I like to think of myself personally as a hard hitting kind of guy as well. I just like to use the ground and fire to my advantage." Will says, giving a wink. "Good to always have some extra manpower on our side."

"I wonder what we might see next...oh before I forget to ask! Soga, you guys said that you fought Emmerson's Mirror self right? What was it like? I mean it was probably horrible for Emmerson, but did it affect any of you guys?"

Will wanted to know more, because he knew that if everyone has one of these things, then he didn't want to face Levi's or Brianna's mirror self. Most of all however, he didn't want to face his mirror self. It was probably a loathing, hating kind of guy, if he had to take a guess. Not a nice thing to think about really.

[Xhosant]

"Right, the Mirrors. She didn't seem to fight herself, she focused on bolstering her minions. And by minions, i mean two shadows. They were hell-bent on letting nothing go through to her and seemed to obey her commands."

"As for Emmerson, the thing insisted that it was her better half. They had similarities, but it was as aggressive as she was not."

"How about your trip, did you get anything interesting?"

[andiemus]

James makes a time-out gesture with his hands, repeatedly smacking them together.

Hold on, mirror selves? Like, some kind of Darth Vader on Dagobah, thing?

[Xhosant]

"Well, I can't tell for sure, but they're more like Shadow Link. Just more colorful, and talkative in a bad way."

[andiemus]

... and everybody fights these things? THAT'S AWESOME! I've always wondered if I'd be a cool-looking villain.

[Xhosant]

"That's the catch. We were told, a little late, that these creatures do not initiate combat. They will mock you, they will belittle you, they will tell you their mere existence is an affront to yours, but unless you punch them, they won't punch back. So it's best not to punch them."

[Chase_D]

"Ahh, I see. So as long as we don't anger them on purpose we should be mostly safe. At least, I hope so." Will says, with a small breath of relief, however that feeling didn't last to long when he though about how...unstable some people could be.

"As for my team, we ran into a trio of persona users, however...lets just say that they aren't working on the same side as us. I still don't get why they wanted to attack us in the first place." Will says, rubbing at the spot that he was hit by a boulder. Still tender it seemed, and a slight dirt pattern is still on his shirt. "Guess since we're such a small group, you guys won't mind me asking. Do you guys find some of our classmates a bit too...you know...crazy." He says, testing to see if he was alone in his opinion or if they thought so too.

[andiemus]

Truth is, I've met you two and Jessica and Levi so far. Levi drives me up a wall, but beyond that, I don't feel comfortable saying.

[Xhosant]

"Not just angry. They will only fight in self-defense. In theory you can use vocabulary that would enrage a saint and they won't touch a hair of you."

"Other persona-users, hu? Well, I guess we hardly know enough about our group to be able to make heads or tails of what WE'RE doing, let alone some strangers... We should fix that."

"As for the crazy part... Well, everyone carries baggage, and so long as you can ignore them, that's ok. I mean, yes, many of them are really weird, but who isn't, really? As long as nobody steps on another's toes, we can deal with that, can't we?"

[Chase_D]

"Yeah, yeah. I totally understand where your coming from Soga-San. Just thought that perhaps I could solve a question that been bugging me for a while." Will says, giving a sigh of dissatisfaction.

"As for Levi, I'm trying to understand him more, but to me he seems to be...odd in quite a way. Same goes for another person I've been keeping my eye on, Kennen. Man, I hate being the uninformed in these types of situations." He continues, keeping his eyes to the ground.

Will looks back to the trio. "Anyways, I don't think we should keep talking about our classmates, I'm sure they're as able as the rest of us. Do any of you guys mind if I stop by this coffee shop near our school quickly to grab a cup? I'd be willing to bring you each back something."

[BurntDownDream]

"Hey everyone! Sorry I'm late, I had some things to attend to."

Hikaen had his usual semi-fake smile that seemed incredibly real and would cheat anyone. He looks around a bit to see who was there

"Hmm, I know Soga and Will, and I remeber seeing you this morning. But what about the other one?"

[andiemus]

You mean me? Name's James. Just moved here.

[Xhosant]

"Thanks for the offer Will, I'm good."

"James, this is Hikaen. He shares our talents, and has a rather amazing way of applying them. Our first field trip was together."

[BurntDownDream]

"Hikaen Kezu. Glad to make your acquaintance."

Hikaen truns to Soga

"So what happened to your group today Soga? I heared something about mirror-selfs from the instructors."

[Chase_D]

"Well alright, if you don't want anything Soga-san, I won't force you. What about you three, did any of you want anything? It's just a small coffee shop so don't worry about breaking my wallet." Will says giving a small shrug as he waits for an answer.

[andiemus]

James shrugs. Ok, I'll get next time. If they have any shortbread, I'd like some.

[Xhosant]

"Long story short, Hikaen, we met Emmerson's "Evil Twin" over there. Apparently we all have those. The catch is, they won't initiate hostilities."

[BurntDownDream]

"Hmm... Don't initiate hostilities you say..."

Hikaen seemed a bit lost in thought for a moment.

"I also think I've heard someone say that they don't get out of the velvet door unless you drag them out or something."

[Xhosant]

"Beats me, I didn't hear anything about transit. Though, I guess someone must open the door for them, right? I may have a lead that will get us more knowledge soon. We need it."

[BurntDownDream]

"What about apearnace? Do they look exactly like the real thing?"

[Xhosant]

"As much as personality doesn't affect looks, i guess. The other Emmerson looked arrogant, in a way you wouldn't expect ours to, but she was otherwise identical. "

"That said... I'm unsure you can refer to one or the otheras "the real thing". It didn't look any mre fake...

[Chase_D]

"Alright, I'll take a look and see if they have any shortbread. I wouldn't put it past them." Will says, giving a friendly smile."I'm off, sorry slowpokes. I'll get you something next time." He says, walking away from the group of four "I'll be back in like five minutes, don't go anywhere!" he shouts to them as he starts to slowly jog to the shop.

The coffee place was busy, to say the least, with students sitting around, inside and out. A small line up to the counter would delay him around 2-3 minutes at most. Negligible hopefully, since he did promise to take only a few minutes. The talking was loud, however bits of conversation was interesting. "Did you see that group of kids outside the school, near the rock? I didn't think they went to our school". A boy, roughly around 16 to 17 years old says. "Yeah, it's odd how many new students seem to arrive, especially foreigners." Another kid around the same age says. "Yeah...hey it's that weird guys from earlier." The kid quickly points out. Talking about me. "Shhhhhhh, not so loud. He looks like one of those stupid Americans. Probably can't even understand us." The one kid says. Will gives a small laugh. He looks over at the two are quickly says "American? I prefer Canada to be completely honest, but you guys probably aren't going to care what I say, now are you." giving a small wink after he finishes. The two quickly become quiet, but after a few seconds one of them finally speak "Sorry, we were thinking you were just touring, you know. We thought that-" "Hey, don't worry about it, I'm just glad you apologized." Will quickly interjects. A small sigh of relief in his head. He wasn't much of a fighter, at least physically. Quickly he gets to the counter ordering a Medium Black Coffee, along with a few shortbread cookies. Lucky. He begins to make his way back, sipping coffee every so often.

[Xhosant]

As Will came back, Soga figured nobody else was gonna show up. With a shrug, he offered to guide the rest through the thicket and around the rock, right up to its top and its great view.

They'd probably spend the rest of the day there, chatting about this and that.