[MONDAY | THE DARK HOUR | MARCH 10]

[windsome]

Who: Yukari, Mikio, and Tamon
Where: Dorm to around the town
When: March 10, during the Dark Hour
Ratings: none?
Warnings: \O_o/
Summary: ... I'll think of something once we actually thread this out.

Comments

[sociallysilent]

Tamon was a little surprised at the sudden activity. Yukari coming down in the middle of the night was strange enough, even if she hadn't been in her full battle gear. (Though the occasional sleepwalker wasn't that odd, Yukari seemed entirely lucid.) It had been sort of...well, terribly awkward when he noticed that a lot of the...popular people were in S.E.E.S. The people he was terrified of, as a matter of fact. But he could force himself to think of them as normal people...as long as they weren't directly talking to him ohgod.

A space is a spade is a spade, even if it joins the diamond club, don't you know. And a Tamon is a Tamon is a Tamon.

And, well...he had planned on getting a good read done tonight, he really had. Tamon often read, and had piles and piles of novels he'd recently eaten through, though he'd only finished...about three since coming to the dormitory. It was a slower pace than normal, but really, with moving out for the first time, and graduation to finally becoming a third year (sort of?), a lot of stuff had been happening. Not to mention discovering that he had the potential to summon magical powers. That was kind of a break in the monotony, yup.

And he noticed that guy...Mikita, was it? Mikio? Tamon wasn't ever terribly good with named...though he never forgot a face. This was getting to be a regular night party down here. He quietly slipped the bookmark from the armrest of his chair to his current page, saving the tale for later, and closed the thick novel, placing it back on the lounge table.

"It's not usually this busy down here so late. Did I miss something?"

[windsome]

"No, no," Yukari insisted with haste, darting looks that clearly conveyed her unspoken right? at the both of them. "Nothing is going on."

She hoped they'd believe her, at any rate. She didn't expect easy convincing, though-- one did not simply walk down with both their Evoker and weapon of choice to go out and do 'nothing', especially when it was so close to midnight. There weren't any clocks on the walls (everyone these days depended on their cell phone or wrist watches), so maybe they hadn't noticed that much, either.

"... I was just going out for a while," she continued, leaning towards answering Mikio's question. Then, suddenly, her tone switched on the more defensive; "I'm allowed to, aren't I? Nobody ever said I couldn't."

True, she expected them to reply with. And with that, they'd leave her alone and let her go her merry way. Did they have to bother her like this? Some time by herself would be nice, even if it's time alone taking out creepy freaks. That was okay though, because unlike the first time she tried this, this round she was strong enough to go solo-- and she wasn't going into Tartarus, but that was a different story entirely...

"I mean it, don't say anything."

[myhero_mikio]

Mikio sighed, and stared at Yukari for a good while. Did she really think someone was going to believe her? If that was the case, perhaps he had overestimated her quite a bit.

"Honestly, now." He begun to speak "Do you really think anyone would believe you're not up to anything, when you're leaving with your evoker and weapon at this hour?"

Once again, he sighed, then shook his head. He walked for a little bit, just long enough to cover the distance between himself and the girl. He stopped in front of her, then stared at her eyes.

"I don't care about what you do, Takeba, but I'm not going to lie or keep my mouth shut about this."

[sociallysilent]

Hmm, this was turning out to be quite a drama. Sure, it was obvious that Yukari was up to something. Anyone with half a brain could have seen that. But wouldn't most people just, well, let it slide? He would, at least. If she wanted to go, she probably had a good reason. Far be it for him to intrude on, well, anything, especially the private affairs of others. Then again, he was about as passive as a sheep on copious amounts of narcotics,so that was something to take into account.

He kept his eyes trained on the two, however, and kept very, very quiet. If Yukari and...Mikino(?) were using the natural instincts of fighting predators in an argument, Tamon was exhibiting flawless mimicry of those of...a rabbit. Namely, to stay silent and make absolutely no sudden movements.

Was it any wonder he didn't have a whole lot of confidence?

[windsome]

Uhg, how embarrassing. The last thing she needed right now was to be cornered like this.

Yukari frowned in return of Mikio's stare, obviously not happy about the outcome of this situation. "... Fine," she let out a sigh in defeat, drawing her eyes away from his. It was clear nothing in her favor was about to happen if she kept it up. She took her foot off her spot on the step, walking past Mikio before turning back towards him. With a lowered voice, just audibly loud enough for Tamon across the room to hear in the otherwise silent dorm, she continued; "I was going to go out during the Dark Hour."

There, she admitted it. Was that good enough?

... Probably not.

"Let me do this, Mikio," Yukari said, as more of a request above all else.

[myhero_mikio]

Mikio remained silent for a good while. Of course she was going out during the Dark Hour, he already got that much. But was it really his place to try and stop her?

He sighed, then finally talked again.

"Fine. I'm not going to stop you, if you want to go."
It wasn't going to be so easy for Yukari though. Mikio gave Yukari one of his brightest smiles, and quickly added "However, both me and Cole are coming with you".

He turned a little, just enough to start looking at Tamon, with the very same smile. He wasn't really going to allow him to say "no".

[sociallysilent]

Um what what what whaaaaaaaaat

Tamon quite audibly spit out his mouthful of Mad Bull when he heard...Mikita's(?) proclamation, whipping around the face the two and waiting for a second, to see if it was a joke. It must have been a joke. It had to have been a joke. Tamon figured taking him along would me a hindrance more than anything, as he'd never worked up the nerve to use his evoker, and was...not a particularly good fighter. He had a weapon, sure...but it was a seven-foot metal pole. He wasn't trained to fight with it, just twirl it around.

"Um. Um, er, I, ah..." Dammit. Dammit! Whenever he had something important to say, only that would ever escape his mouth. It was kind of sad, because he had every intention of proclaiming his disinclination to go along with this, or at least saying why it would be a terribly bad idea. But, well, that would be confrontational. And being confrontation is rude.

And being rude means people wouldn't like him!

So instead he just looked at Yukari for some sort of answer. It wasn't like...the red-haired guy was going to let him say no, even if he managed an inch of backbone to say it anyhow.

[windsome]

"What?" the surprised reply was instantaneous, and similar to the other boy's; she was expecting him to rat her out, at the most, not invite himself-- and Tamon!-- along for the ride.

Somehow, Yukari didn't think she had any say in the matter. And if she turned and left now, she bet on them following her regardless.

Well, it wasn't that them accompanying her was a bad thing. It was always a good idea to go out in groups, especially since it was always at least a little dangerous out there. The stubbornness in Yukari believed that as long as she avoided Tartarus, though, she'd been doing this long enough to handle herself fine in the long run.

And all she really wanted was some time to herself-- to sort out her thoughts. If she wasn't going to sleep, there was no use sitting around in the darkened dorm, with no lights during the Dark Hour.

That plan seemed to fly out the window faster than she could hope for it to happen.

"Alright," Yukari reluctantly agreed, her voice flat. "It's almost time, so... hurry up and get your stuff. I'm ready."

[myhero_mikio]

It wasn't a big task, really. He knew both Tamon and Yukari weren't going to protest at all. Still, he couldn't help but let a satisfied smile on his face.

"Thank you" Mikio said, without really meaning it. "I'll go take my evoker, it'll takes only a few minutes. Oh, I hope you won't try and go alone while I'm away, you see, I would be forced to talk with Kirijou-sempai about this if you do."

He smiled once again, and then got back to his room to take his evoker. He wasn't going to bother taking hiw weapon with him, after all he couldn't use it properly, no matter how many lessons he took at the kendo club.

After a short while, he was finally back, still smiling cheerfully.

"All right. I guess we can go now, unless Cole needs to take care of something as well?"

[sociallysilent]

Tamon...really still didn't know what was going on. He was being randomly dragged into this little drama, and, well...he was far too passive to do anything about it, wasn't he? Well, he could stutter. A fat lot of good that did him, anyway. It never did him any good, but somehow it felt better to do so than to do nothing. It felt like he was at least attempting to stand up for himself, and...well, it was like that old saying, "it's the thought that counts", wasn't it? That was what he liked himself to think, anyway.

He slowly opened the latches on the case that held his evoker, shakily taking it out. Even though he knew it wasn't a real gun, well...that didn't make it any less terrifying. Especially since he would have to...shoot himself with it. Even if it was only symbolism, it was still horrific. Like something out of a horror movie.

He'd never really imagined casting magic and battling demons would involve symbolically killing himself, anyway.

Click-click went the holster as Tamon strapped it onto his belt, and he slid the evoker in and stood, making his way to the corner of the room to fetch his (now flag-less) pole before turning to face...Mikichi(?). "U-um, I guess I'm ready."

[windsome]

He was always the quiet, unspoken kid in their class-- it was unsurprising to Yukari when he was the same way here.

She knew what it was like to be nervous. Oh, how she knew; the strain she put on herself just to invoke the Persona inside her for the very first time was almost unbearable. It was almost shameful, and wouldn't dare ever fully explain the true extent of it to anyone else.

However, Tamon was new and needed that extra push. Details weren't necessary, though if he were to make it through the Dark Hour and being in SEES, she'd have to help with her own words eventually.

Yukari glanced up, and, as if on cue, the lights flickered off, signaling that the world changed around them. Their only light now was the eerie, green brightness of the moon shining through the windows.

No matter how used to it she was, it was a change that never failed to unnerve a small part of the young girl.

As if this didn't affect her, Yukari walked towards the entrance of the dorm, pulling the door open and then looking over her shoulder. "C'mon."

[myhero_mikio]

Finally, the dark hour arrived. Mikio took a deep breath, looking slightly worried, before going back to his usual smile.

Following Yukari, he walked past the door, without saying or doing anything else.