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| Throwing Stones; [closed] | |
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| Tweet Topic Started: Oct 15 2017, 09:27 PM (311 Views) | |
| FirebreathFishslap | Oct 15 2017, 09:27 PM Post #1 |
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[Continued from Let's Talk About Nightmares.] It was thirty minutes after Bethany left her apartment that Nana started heading toward Moonview Street, the note "Fujiko" had given her crushed into her palm. She'd announced her probable delay with a quick group text ("might be late, start w/o me if i don't update"), and then she'd immediately called Daisuke Hino afterward. The information Bethany had given her was valuable -- extremely so, actually. There was a reason Nana had called it "cheating" during their talk; she'd basically told her what to do if she wanted her desired "ending". But Nana wasn't a gambling woman, and Bethany had admitted that she didn't know what came of her "stone throws". So Nana was going to throw some stones of her own. Hino didn't pick up until the third call, which Nana was fairly sure was intentional. By that point, Nana was already at the bus stop. She ran over the basic situation with him -- Kenshin and Chika Nakadachi, a brother and sister, both with dark skin and red hair. She wanted Hino's gang to keep their eyes and ears out for them, and if they found them, make sure they got in contact with Nana next. "You know you don't have any more free favors in me, Samurakami. I do this, you owe me this time." "I'm aware." "So if I come asking, don't go running away. We'll make sure you pay me back." "What the hell kinda woman you think I am, Hino?" They'd agreed easily enough, though. Nana knew exactly what she was agreeing too, but at the end of the day, if it meant more eyes and ears keeping watch for Chika's brother, she didn't give a damn. The bus to Sekaimoto dropped her off on Moonview Street, which was good, because that was exactly where Nana wanted to be right now. She had a sneaking suspicion this convenient bus stop location could also be blamed on the people she was here to see -- compared to the rest of Sekaimoto, Moonview was so clean and middle class it was practically jarring. Score one for gentrification. Nana rarely ever made trips to this part of town personally, mostly because, before getting her Persona, she'd rarely ever had reason to go to Sekaimoto. Not unless she was loitering around or antagonizing Emi's gang, anyways. Now she felt like she was here all the time. But even then, she'd heard plenty of stories from the people she'd stayed in contact with, people who'd stayed in, or whose breaks from a life of delinquency hadn't involved getting beaten up and nearly drowned in the Yumegawa River like hers had. She had a sneaking suspicion she might recognize a few faces in this Etsuko's gang, based on the stories. She walked down the street, checking the numbers on the buildings against the address she'd been given, until she finally reached a building that matched it. She pocketed the note, and then walked up to the door, rapping her knuckles against it twice. "Gooooood evenin'," she called through the door. "I got an invitation t' come here a bit ago? I realize I'm early fer th' meetin' by an order o' days, but..." She leaned in, her voice dropping to a less cheerful octave. "Sorry, but somethin's come up. I need t' meet wit' y'all sooner rather than later." |
![]() Player Characters Itsuki Susaki - Baldr Nana Samurakami - Izanami Aika Ohayashi - Bai Suzhen Emi Kashiwara - Sekhmet Kanon Watanabe - Sarasvati Ren Ikeda - Momotaro Yukio Hino - Icarus Character Logs - Internet Usernames - THOU=I Usernames - Social Links | |
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| The One True Nobody | Oct 15 2017, 10:11 PM Post #2 |
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"...does this clockwork hand follow you... or guide you?"
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Etsuko Sadako, who rarely used her real name outside of this apartment, had been in the middle of a very delicate operation: Learning to cook a god-damned omelette. It was so delicate, it was infuriating. She always ended up with so much brown on the outside of the egg, but in cooking videos omelettes were so silky and pristine in their yellowness! She held the spatula up to her eyes irritably, noting that while there was less golden-brown on the egg this time, it was still far from the perfect television omelette she wanted to be able to make. Then came the knock, and she raised her eyebrows. The voice that filtered in took a bit for her to recall to her memory. While she knew Lady Banchou by her old reputation and a single in-person meeting, the voice wasn't one her brain immediately put a face to and it being distorted by distance and a closed door sure didn't help. She raised her eyebrows at the words, though, and sighed, setting her imperfect egg on a paper plate and turning off the stove. She would clean up later. Plate of eggs-on-toast in hand, she called out, "Be right there!" and munched on it as she strolled casually across the apartment to the door. It wasn't a stock apartment complex. In fact, it was more of a small set of interconnected row-homes than anything. Etsuko lived here with Masumi, but Masumi was rarely home at this hour, so she wasn't averse to conducting the low-risk bits of business right out of the TV room. It was simpler that way. Etsuko didn't really have an "office" or anything, and asking people to meet in random restaurants or dank alleyways felt too close to the kind of street-punk junk she was trying to steer people away from. So when she opened the door, what Nana saw was a girl in casual shorts and a tastefully-frilled blue blouse, in bare feet, munching a piece of toast with a slightly-overdone omelette on it. Etsuko swallowed, grinned, and said, "Hey, Nana! This is kinda out of the blue. Come on in." And she stood aside, providing Nana a full view of a perfectly pristine living room with a flatscreen television, sofa, table and cushions, the works. It was almost sickeningly generic in how nice it was, although if Nana were the type to note odd details she might notice that a set of grammar books was piled on the living room table, along with some paper and a pen. It appeared that Etsuko had been in the middle of doing her Japanese homework or something... except that it looked to be middle school level homework, and the writing on the paper that was visible? It was stiff, large, and stilted, like that of a child who was still learning their letters. Etsuko glanced at the table and blushed, shoving the last of her egg into her mouth before closing the door behind Nana. "Um. Erm. Yeah. Forgot I left that out. So you've got somethin' you want my help with? We don't butt in on stuff that's outside our little slice of Switzerland here, y'know." |
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Player Character Log - Plot Character Log - Social Links - Internet Usernames - Recap Episodes Underlined text is in a different language... English, unless otherwise specified. Regular old dialogue is supposed to be spoken in Japanese 'cause this RP takes place in the land of the rising sun, don'tchaknow. [rotate] [rotate] [rotate] [rotate]Characters and Stuff!
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| FirebreathFishslap | Oct 15 2017, 10:39 PM Post #3 |
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Nana was completely unsurprised to see that the girl who'd answered the door was the same one who'd given her the note to begin with. So on some level, she'd been right about there being a pseudonym involved in that meeting... it was just that she was wrong about what name was the false one. What was more surprising was that the girl had casually opened the door, and was eating an omelette. Which meant that this place she'd been trying to find so hard was... Etsuko Sadako's apartment. Go fucking figure. She glanced around at the apartment as she walked in, lingering on the workbooks on the table for a moment, before looking back at Etsuko. She didn't comment on the workbooks at all as she spoke up, instead putting her hands on her hips and saying, "Western style, huh? I understand th' appeal, but honestly, sofas and tables everywhere just takes up too much space fer my likin'. I always preferred smaller places. But I guess ya didn't pick th' style, yer family did, huh?" Before saying anything else, she pulled her shoes off and kicked them to the side of the door before stepping further into the living room. She took a few steps in, and then turned around toward Etsuko again. "Look, I ain't gonna pussyfoot around. The girl who was there wit' me when ya gave me this note has gone missin'. She's lookin' fer her brother, who's also gone missin'. They're somewhere in th' city, I don't know where they are, and if we don't find them tonight, they're gonna be in some serious danger, 'cause someone I know is gonna go full teenage vampire on a diet on 'em in a few days and tonight's th' only chance we're gonna have t' catch up t' 'em," Nana said flatly. "And I've got reason t' think you can help me wit' both o' those situations. " |
![]() Player Characters Itsuki Susaki - Baldr Nana Samurakami - Izanami Aika Ohayashi - Bai Suzhen Emi Kashiwara - Sekhmet Kanon Watanabe - Sarasvati Ren Ikeda - Momotaro Yukio Hino - Icarus Character Logs - Internet Usernames - THOU=I Usernames - Social Links | |
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| The One True Nobody | Oct 15 2017, 11:15 PM Post #4 |
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"...does this clockwork hand follow you... or guide you?"
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"Ha! Well, the truth is it was one of Masumi's old boyfriends who liked this style... he was a foreigner, and a pretty good cook," Etsuko laughed, looking back at the couch and shaking her head. "He was never really comfortable with the Japanese stylings. Masumi's into a bunch of foreign stuff herself, mostly fortune-telling crap. So she just sort of got used to it and it stuck even after he left. It's not so bad, once you get used to it, and it's about as far from what my family would like as it gets. Which is A-okay by me." This banter was what filled the time while Nana took her shoes off. When Nana dropped the drama bomb, though, Etsuko nearly dropped her toast-crumb-covered plate. "The Nakadachi girl's missing? Her brother poofed? Whoa, whoa, whoa," she said, shaking her head. "That couldn't... no, that can't be right. The yakuza presence is too thick in this town for..." She clamped her mouth shut, then shook her head. "Nah, I'm jumpin' at spooks with that one," she mumbled. Then looked up. "Well, you'll find out sooner or later, but I ran away from my folks when I was small. They're a really batshit-insane yakuza clan way out in Osaka. My full name's Etsuko Sadako... Fujiko Suzuki's just what's on my documentation right now." She shrugged, turning toward the table, walking over it to set her plate down. "Your boy Kenshin got my older sister locked up in prison for the murder o' some green-haired chick who had the same sorta style you've got," Etsuko said casually, though there was strain in her voice as she said it. "Not that I fault him for it. I left her behind, after all, and what she was going through at the time... well, it's no wonder she ended up coo-coo for Cocoa Puffs. But even my dad isn't crazy enough to go this kind of distance to get revenge on some punk-ass street kid. So unless Kenshin got into some kind of trouble locally, he's probably fine. He's wandering around Sekaimoto every other Tuesday, I've stopped bothering to track him. What's this about a... teenage vampire on a diet, though? I mighta heard something about your girlfriend, yeah, but what makes you think I'm the girl to ask about vampires?" She laughed out loud, though there was an unease to her voice. She clearly thought the prospect of vampirism was too silly to contemplate, but considering her own little secret, there would always be a part of her that was willing to believe the creepy shit. |
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Player Character Log - Plot Character Log - Social Links - Internet Usernames - Recap Episodes Underlined text is in a different language... English, unless otherwise specified. Regular old dialogue is supposed to be spoken in Japanese 'cause this RP takes place in the land of the rising sun, don'tchaknow. [rotate] [rotate] [rotate] [rotate]Characters and Stuff!
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| FirebreathFishslap | Oct 15 2017, 11:28 PM Post #5 |
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Nana crossed her arms as Etsuko explained her situation. That was consistent with what Bethany had told her, and filled in a few holes in her perception of the situation. It explained why Chika had gotten a bit funny when she'd seen "Fujiko" for the first time, and why Bethany had told her that it was probably better not to bring Kyo along. If there was a family resemblance, no doubt they both caught that. There was something else there too -- Etsuko apparently thought Kyo was still dead. So even with her wide reach, she hadn't caught onto that. Kyo must have been keeping to the disguise more than Nana thought, or maybe her and Etsuko's paths just hadn't crossed yet. But then there was the subject of the vampirism. Nana straightened up, closing her eyes. This one was going to be a bit harder to bullshit without breaking her promise to Bethany... "Yer group's been keepin' close tabs on th' amnesia cases lately. A bit closer tabs than I'd expect anyone who ain't involved t' be keepin' tabs on anythin'," Nana said. She looked Etsuko straight in the eye. "You're a Persona user, aren't you?" |
![]() Player Characters Itsuki Susaki - Baldr Nana Samurakami - Izanami Aika Ohayashi - Bai Suzhen Emi Kashiwara - Sekhmet Kanon Watanabe - Sarasvati Ren Ikeda - Momotaro Yukio Hino - Icarus Character Logs - Internet Usernames - THOU=I Usernames - Social Links | |
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| The One True Nobody | Oct 15 2017, 11:54 PM Post #6 |
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"...does this clockwork hand follow you... or guide you?"
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Etsuko found herself turning to face Nana at the question, and there was a frown on her face... a suspicious one. It didn't seem that Nana's roundabout logic had filled in enough of the leaps it would take to get from the starting point to the conclusion of Etsuko being a Persona-user, but she didn't look as if she were about to deny it, either. "Yeah," she said slowly. "Yeah, I am. And I've heard a few rumors floating around that had me thinkin' there were others in town... wait, hang on." A shock of realization crossed her face. "When you say 'vampire.' Are you talkin' about what happened to Noburu? There was a guy who was attacked..." she said, speaking quickly, taking a few steps closer to Nana. "He's in the hospital now, and he's a vegetable... also bein' treated for electrical burns. Apathy Syndrome's what it looks like, even if the news just reported that it was a jumper-cable mishap. You know something? What's your girlfriend got to do with any of that?" It was the second time Etsuko had used the term girlfriend and there didn't seem to be any sarcasm or disrespect in her voice when she said it... she genuinely believed the two were in a relationship, after all, it had looked like the chemistry was there, or at least... at a glance, kind of. And Etsuko had heard that Nana might be into girls... "...And where the hell did you find out about Personas?" she asked, the annoyance in her voice seeming to treat this question as an afterthought. "You're right, but that's a jump. We're hardly uninvolved. I lost one of my people to the damned amnesia cases... and Masumi's been visiting a friend at the hospital who lost her memory just two weeks ago. I'd be involved even if I didn't have a buncha demons and a giant dick monster in my brain! So what's the deal with you, then? Are you an escaped labrat, too?" Definite sarcasm there. Etsuko didn't believe for a second that Nana was an escaped test subject. She probably would have remembered someone with hair that loud, anyways. |
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Player Character Log - Plot Character Log - Social Links - Internet Usernames - Recap Episodes Underlined text is in a different language... English, unless otherwise specified. Regular old dialogue is supposed to be spoken in Japanese 'cause this RP takes place in the land of the rising sun, don'tchaknow. [rotate] [rotate] [rotate] [rotate]Characters and Stuff!
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| FirebreathFishslap | Oct 16 2017, 12:15 AM Post #7 |
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Thank god everyone she talked to lately talked way too goddamn much. It made it way easier for Nana to walk around the issue of "how had she made that jump" since, at the end of the day, the only reason she knew Etsuko was a Persona user to begin with was because Bethany had told her she was a Persona user. She probably would have found out eventually anyways, but this skipped a few steps. Outwardly, all Etsuko saw of this as she worked through what Nana had said and the implications was Nana continuing to stare stoicly down at her, giving an amused smile only at the second mention of Chika being her "girlfriend". Etsuko's sarcastic question finally got a response from Nana. "One, me and Chika ain't datin'... Two, I ain't a labrat, tho' thanks fer confirmin' somethin' I was suspectin' 'bout ya fer me," Nana said. "I got my Persona in a dream. Went t' bed, forgot everythin' about myself, and when I remembered who I was, I got a Persona fer it. Yer friend, th' one who's lost 'er memory? She went through th' same thing I did, and didn't make it out wit' her memories back again. And Chika and Kenshin, they went through th' same thing I did, too." There was a pause, as if she was calculating her words, before she continued. "Yer not th' only escapee from that lab in town. There's a couple others I've heard about, tho' I've only met one o' them in person. And th' person responsible fer the Apathy Syndrome case, he's an escapee too. His Persona needs t' 'eat' people, fer some reason or another. He's gonna try t' 'eat' Kenshin Nakadachi in a few days," Nana said. "So yeah, that's what I mean by vampire. And ya know, as temptin' as it probably sounds t' just lock this guy up and throw away th' key because o' this, I ain't th' kinda person who sees that much merit in it. Ideally, I'd like t' get through this situation without him eatin' no one, and preventin' any further eatin' incidents, ya catch my drift?" |
![]() Player Characters Itsuki Susaki - Baldr Nana Samurakami - Izanami Aika Ohayashi - Bai Suzhen Emi Kashiwara - Sekhmet Kanon Watanabe - Sarasvati Ren Ikeda - Momotaro Yukio Hino - Icarus Character Logs - Internet Usernames - THOU=I Usernames - Social Links | |
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| The One True Nobody | Oct 16 2017, 12:48 AM Post #8 |
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"...does this clockwork hand follow you... or guide you?"
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Etsuko blinked when Nana corrected her assumption about what was going on with Chika. "Oh," she said. "Well you seemed to be pretty close before and you rushed out here to find her, so I assumed..." She trailed off, and then shook her head. "...That's not the important part," she said, obviously talking to herself. "Anyway. A dream you lost your memories in. That's... that makes sense. Everything I've been able to find out about the amnesia cases seems to point to it happening in the victims' sleep. So it's got something to do with Personas and Shadows after all... I was afraid of that." A Persona that needed to eat others' though. That sounded familiar. She had never seen him herself, but... "There were rumors at the lab before we launched our big breakout attempt..." she mumbled. "About a test subject that had the same power I did, only he ripped the Personas out of the kids they forced him to fight and those ones were never heard from again. Damn. So when the Shadow Ops stormed the base, he must've been one of the subjects that were unaccounted for..." She scratched her chin, scowling at this realization. She looked back at Nana, raising her eyebrows. "Well, great. So the Illuminati's stupid mess... they aren't actually the Illuminati, sorry, that's just my nickname for 'em... spilled on over into Yumegawa. And here I thought I could just carve out a home and get away from that junk. Well, fan-frickin'-tastic. Okay, we can exchange notes later. It sounds like finding your girl... pal, is important to you, so we should head on out and deal with that. I'll come with you. I know I got a call about someone matching her description earlier, too, so I'll see what Lu knows and we can head out..." There was a pause, a pregnant one, as it seemed Etsuko was trying to work up the nerve to say something that wasn't completely in her nature. "But if I'm going to help you, I need you t' help me," she said. "And if you're involved in Persona-user stuff, it'll be more complicated than I thought it would be. Before I do any o' this, I want your word that you'll agree to my conditions, okay? Things have gotten messy in Moonview lately. I don't have the luxury of taking charity cases right now." |
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Player Character Log - Plot Character Log - Social Links - Internet Usernames - Recap Episodes Underlined text is in a different language... English, unless otherwise specified. Regular old dialogue is supposed to be spoken in Japanese 'cause this RP takes place in the land of the rising sun, don'tchaknow. [rotate] [rotate] [rotate] [rotate]Characters and Stuff!
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| FirebreathFishslap | Oct 16 2017, 05:51 PM Post #9 |
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The story Etsuko told about the subject who was likely Janeway was... disconcerting. It wasn't consistent with the image Janeway had given off to Nana so far, and while the suave and calm and collected rarely were underneath the mask, he'd never struck her as someone so savage. But if he'd done to the other test subjects what he'd done to Nakano, then the teach was in more danger than she thought, just from that description. She frowned as Etsuko mentioned the phrase "Shadow Ops". That was completely unfamiliar to her. Another Persona group from outside of Yumegawa, no doubt, but the description made them sound like military types. When she told Janeway he was leading them into a war, she hadn't meant a literal one... But before she could mull on that too much longer, Etsuko got back on topic. Nana didn't actually look too surprised as she said one of her girls had seen someone matching Chika's description, but as Etsuko tried to put on a tough face, Nana's face broke into a grin, and she shook her head. "Hold on. I ain't just here askin' about Chika. Whatever ya want from me, I ain't doin' it unless I can get yer help on both things," Nana said. "First, I still need yer help findin' th' Nakadachis. But second... I want two week's worth o' Persona suppressants. And don't tell me ya ain't got 'em, 'cause I know yer talkin' bullshit." She unfolded one hand and motioned with it. "Now, if ya ain't got any problems wit' condition two, then ya can start askin' stuff o' me." |
![]() Player Characters Itsuki Susaki - Baldr Nana Samurakami - Izanami Aika Ohayashi - Bai Suzhen Emi Kashiwara - Sekhmet Kanon Watanabe - Sarasvati Ren Ikeda - Momotaro Yukio Hino - Icarus Character Logs - Internet Usernames - THOU=I Usernames - Social Links | |
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| The One True Nobody | Oct 16 2017, 06:19 PM Post #10 |
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"...does this clockwork hand follow you... or guide you?"
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"You don't want two weeks worth of Persona suppressants. The withdrawal alone is a bitch, but taking those meds will..." Etsuko's immediate response was harsh, disbelieving. But then she blinked. And stepped back. "Oh. You mean for one of those others..." she said. "If they're running out... yeah, that would be bad. Hell, you don't even have to negotiate for that one. I don't want someone going monster mode in the public park any more than you do. I'm told that's happened once, and some kid's mother died. Awful stuff. Anyway, I'll get in touch with my supplier and see if he can send some more my way. The ingredients are a bitch, though. Something about some kind of special meteorite with Shadow essence inside of it. Plumes of Darkness? Something like that. Way outside my means to go hunting it down. I don't even wanna know who the Illuminati actually are if they had a steady supply of the shit coming in." She sighed, and shook her head, looking away. "Look, I'm used to negotiating with people whose guts I hate, so I don't want you thinking I don't care of nothin'..." she said. "But what I want from you is just your help keepin' stuff in line. I have some leadership experience, kinda. The other kids, they looked to me like I was the boss, when we were all cooped up in that lab. But kids who grew up on the streets or who're all wrapped up in their own money issues or whatever their teachers at school ain't doin' right by 'em on this week... they're not on my wavelength. I can never seem to... convince them... to do things my way. Always end up having to cut 'em loose, and sending some of 'em back to that makes me feel all... shitty and gross." She looked up, frowning. "But I need more than just a handful of agreeables to do what I'm doing here. Like I said: we're Switzerland. That means the yakuza and the mafia and the other street gangs and whoever else stay well clear. When the shit hits the fan, a giant tentacle chariot demon is a strong argument. But I need something more organized than that, and from what I've heard of you, you might have the kind of experience I'm looking for. I don't need a gang boss girl, though. I need someone who can convince people not to be that kinda person. So you can't get involved with any rowdy stuff outside our territory, either, and if someone makes trouble with you or tries to drag you into it, you bring it to me before you do anything about it on your own. If something's unavoidable I at least wanna be able come up with some sort of plan that keeps it from coming back to bite you or anyone else in our own little Kid Scout Jamboree. You think you can do that? Help me keep these kids clean and stay as clean as you can yourself, while still being the left hand o' the neighborhood and all?" She held up a finger. "Also there's the part where you're a Persona-user, so I want in on whatever you know and help finding out more. But those're two separate questions, there." |
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Player Character Log - Plot Character Log - Social Links - Internet Usernames - Recap Episodes Underlined text is in a different language... English, unless otherwise specified. Regular old dialogue is supposed to be spoken in Japanese 'cause this RP takes place in the land of the rising sun, don'tchaknow. [rotate] [rotate] [rotate] [rotate]Characters and Stuff!
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3:27 AM Jul 11