It's a normal morning for anyone who's managing to sleep a standard schedule- up until a mass text goes out, that is. Everyone will find the same thing from either Mafuyu or Aerith's username:
... Simple enough. And should you choose to attend, both your hostesses will be pleased to see you once it's time to head over.
As they said, the aquarium is largely empty save for the group, and it's definitely worth it. A serene song plays overhead while attendants give tours or explanations as needed. The variety of aquatic life is surprisingly vast as well, and spacious halls give way to plenty of opportunity to explore.
Come nightfall, certain rooms dim the lights but the tanks stay lit- or black lit as darker enclosures like the jellyfish hall and the octopus tanks remain- and only a few staff remain to keep an eye on things- so... stay on your best behavior. The two restaurants stay open- a regular fast food joint with kitschy island cabana theming, and a much more upscale lounge where Aerith plans on corralling the adults for fun this evening.
Once it's time for the age groups to split, Aerith will lead the adults to a pleasant lounge with more tanks, large couches or more private tables, and a view overlooking one of the main rooms of the aquarium- wave to the kids if they're there! Or don't. Bouquets of flowers are placed around the room, and it looks like Aerith has a few ideas already, though she won't stop anyone from going out to review the different sections again.
Contrasting Mafuyu, who is content to let the fellow teens do whatever- though if they do congregate, she's not really the social sort and will simply be content to enjoy the vibes. Even if you just want to take a nap somewhere, there's plenty of dark secluded areas to do so.
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beathollow) wrote in ![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png)
linkingup2024-10-07 02:44 pm
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Neither have I. My parties were... different kinds. Dancing. Wine. Threats and alliances made over dinner.
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She wouldn't usually keep talking, but there really is something about the floaty, otherworldly lighting in here and the illusion of closeness.]
I'm... [She slows. They are still in public, though, after all. Like her conversation with Aerith, it's not really great conversation for a "party."] ... Not exactly what people wanted around, ever since I was a kid. Even when I got older, there were a lot of reasons for me to stay away from group occasions.
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[Honor amongst thieves and all. Schneider curls up a little, leaning a little closer, her voice dropping a little. No one is paying attention to them]
No...? As gorgeous as you are...I can think of plenty of reasons to want you around. What sort of people were they...that they would reject you?
oblique references to interphobia
[When there's always a gun pointed at you, you get used to that, too, but you learn what to expect from people.
The compliment, like the first one she received from Schneider, tries to slide off like a drop of oil. It's nice. It means something. Does she really believe it? Whatever Kainé says is going to be like digging the point of a sword into the fleshy lump of growing trust and making it bleed. She looks away, her gaze fixed on a specific animal struggling to swim.]
... My body wasn't born right. Normal. The people in my village didn't want somebody like that bringing misfortune. That was before part of it became free real estate for a monster.
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Believing in things like curses and misfortunes brought by the devil or those that didn't fit their ideal when the real monsters were staring them in the face all along]
Places like that always have such stupid superstitions...as if they are so good and holy that they can cast judgements without being damned themselves. What is normal anyway? My heart is not where it should be, but it still beats, no?
[Schneider scoffs, her lip curling in disgust, and leans in a little more. her hand brushes against Kaine's while her other fiddles with her cheap fake pearl necklace]
...your body was possessed by something?
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Whatever's going on with Schneider's heart isn't exactly the same - not the visible difference that drove people like her and Emil to want to hate parts of themselves - but Kainé has to wonder if it was used to make her feel shameful. If she still fought to prove she had as much right to live as anyone else.
Then Kainé glances at her hands, the one at her throat followed by the one brushing hers, and she shifts a little bit.]
It's a long story but not exactly an interesting one. I was gonna die, but... I wasn't finished yet. So after that son of a bitch moved in, I fought like hell to not get totally taken over. It's my Persona, now...guess that's who I always was. [There's a little ruefulness in Kainé's voice. By the end, they'd become more a part of each other than either of them would even admit.]
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See? My heart isn't in the right place.
[Schneider listens intently, her brow furrowing] So...the villagers forced you outside, and then that thing came and tried to take over.
[She knows Kaine is a lot softer than she lets on, that her heart is more easily moved and hurt than someone like Schneider. It must hurt, not to claim ownership to anything, to fight desperately for every last part of yourself]
It does not seem there is much reason or logic behind personas...but you are indeed a strong person.
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... What, do you feel sorry for me now? Hold onto that for someone who can use it.
[There has been plenty of hatred in her heart - there still is. But filling the hole left by revenge made things more...complicated. Meaningful. Whatever.]
Sure, I can fight. At least I never needed that guy to know how. He kept me going, and I could use magic... but I was dogshit at it. [It's remarkably like her relationship with her Persona now, actually. Even if it's just a part of her, it seems to echo whatever hollow the Shade carved out of her.]
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I'm afraid my heart is stone and is not easily moved that way. Pity has never been something I've been able to offer anyone.
[ Ruthless, dispassionate...these are all traits Schneider is used to. But under that is a yearning that wants to reach out and hold someone close.]
...what did you intend with your strength? Revenge on the villagers who condemned you? The one who cursed you?
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It's stone, too, huh? Thank fuck. [No pity for her.] Pretty remarkable heart. It's made everything about you.
[And her hand does drop, then, so she can fold it guardedly across her waist.]
Nah. I needed to kill the bastard who put me in that position in the first place. It was for my grandmother... but for me, too.
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But she does not. She catches that glimmer of something that Kaine pretends not to have.]
Did you manage it in the end? Or...
[Are you still hunting and looking for answers?]
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["We," she says, that line made even more blurry by the dream she's been having nightly - the dream where Maika recently took the position of the mysterious we. But Maika couldn't have been there, and...
Feeling a little worn out just thinking about it, Kainé rubs at her face, trying to be as dismissive and matter-of-fact about getting her revenge as she should be.]
I didn't care about what came after, so I'd never thought about it until it happened.
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[Would Kaine pursue that dream more intently? Or would she deny it, and pretend it didn't exist?
It's an odd feeling, 'after' for someone like Schneider who didn't have one.]
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[The library door, the Shadowlord, Emil, Yonah... and yet in the wake of everything, has she changed since then? The future is much shorter for her than Schneider seems to think; Kainé just doesn't know what will happen or when. Like her dying world, she has nothing to fight the stagnation.]
Before, it was all I cared about. I don't really know why I kept going. I think... I wanted to be a sword for someone else.
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[Schneider means 'to cut, to tailor'. She had adopted that identity and threw away her birth name for that very reason. She would be the one to cut down the brambles and shield her family from the falling rubble.
Not that it amounted to anything in the end]
Have you thought about being something other than a sword? When the battles are over...swords lose their purpose.