I'm still learning where my past ends and where I begin

[stavros]

[A: arcade]

[Kokoro needs to take some breaks from either fruitlessly investigating or sighing about it, and halfway through the month, she finds herself wandering into the arcade. It's definitely training, though. Sort of. You can find her either playing the basketball game and... somehow shooting into the other hoop.]

Not again... I will improve my aim this time!

[Or at the claw machines, where she studies the machines before going for what looks like an easy catch. It still takes a few tries, but eventually she drops the prize down and retrieves it! ...And then it hits her that she's just won herself an anatomically correct plush heart.]

...what am I even going to do with this.

[B: meteor shower]

[She'd been wary about the meteor shower, looked it up, and told some people about it. Of course it then follows that when the 17th rolls around, Kokoro will be wandering the meteor shower viewing area, eating a grilled squid on a stick and watching the sky. If she spots you, she'll walk over to you.]

What think you? Will anything happen?

[C: twisted roses]

[Once the flowers take effect, Kokoro's acting strange. Well, more to the point, she's acting normal. So it is you'll find her at the Star Pool, happily eating a snow cone and jumping for any stray beach ball thrown her way.]

Hi! [Wait, no "well met?"] I've been meaning to talk to you, actually! What did you need?

[D: fallen star stories]

[The mysterious book intrigued Kokoro enough to step into the bookshop, but... it's packed. Seems the book's popular. But of course, now that she's there, if your character happens to be reading on a certain page, one of the stories will hit them...]

Comments

c

[shellrender]

I didn't really need anything, but... yer actin' a bit different today.

[ Ushio's not stupid, even if she may act like it sometimes. ]

But ya said ya wanted to talk ta me, right?

[stavros]

[She nods, unguarded.] I just wanted to thank you. I may not normally say it because we feel so different about Starsand, but you've been nothing but kind. Exceedingly kind. I want out, I want to free everyone and never look back, but I also want to have fun here like you keep telling me I need to, and... well. I thought I should just say that instead of pretend I don't.

[shellrender]

[ ................. ]

Are ya really Kokoro and not someone replaced with an imposter?

[stavros]

What do you mean, imposter? I'm trying to be nice!

[shellrender]

I know, but ya didn't seem like the type ta actually say it.

[stavros]

But you've been nothing but generous and forgiving even when I've been... I don't know, unhappy. Or trying to be unhappy because I feel like I shouldn't like it here.

[shellrender]

... Well, you ain't wrong. But ya shouldn't be forcin' yerself ta be unhappy, ya know?

[stavros]

I know, but it's hard. I want to go home and not get attached, I want to have fun here with the people I got attached to anyway, I want to be a dignified hero worthy of my ancestors, I want to be a normal girl who doesn't have to worry about that stuff, I --

...have no idea why I just said that.

A (will also be hitting C in a second thread)

[notquitedracula]

[Soma happens to wander in about the time Kokoro wins the heart plush. He quirks a brow at the tableau - contrary to what might be depicted in games, he and the Belmonts do not in fact collect hearts from candles. (Money, sometimes, but not hearts. Who even came up with that?) But they both do certainly have a connection to them - Kokoro even moreso, given her name.]

Maybe we should try and see if they have a plush stake in there, too? [He's smiling when he suggests it, quite clearly joking. Only one Belmont he knew of ever used a stake, and that was a LONG time ago.] Or maybe a bat.

[stavros]

Just for that. [She tosses the heart in his direction, grumbling.] They put odd things in these sometimes. I saw toilet paper once, though I know not why anyone would try to win that from a prize machine.

[notquitedracula]

[He catches the heart, then cradles it lovingly.] I knew you would eventually give me your heart, but I never expected it would be this literal. [He smiles, producing a more traditional heart plush from thin air and tossing it at her in turn.] Now we have a matched set.

[Soma winces at the toilet paper mention, remembering a time early in his life.] You'd be surprised. I don't know exactly what year you're from, but you might want to start stockpiling essentials around 2019.

[stavros]

[Kokoro sputters and turns red, barely managing to catch the heart he throws at her.]

Soma why do you do this.

[She sighs and turns to the side, holding it to herself regardless.]

Did you just have that there in case you had the opportunity to do something with it?

[notquitedracula]

Ask me no questions and I'll tell you no lies~. [He grins at her and makes the plush she threw at him disappear in a similar fashion. Truth is, he actually did produce that one from thin air - it was the one soul ability he still had access to.]

[stavros]

[She sighs and shakes her head.] I truly do not understand you. At least you're having fun. What brings you here, anyway?

[notquitedracula]

It's my day off, and it recently occurred to me that I spend way too much time brooding or trying to build things we may never even get to use. I figured an arcade would be a good way to work off some of the edge - finding you here was an unexpected but welcome bonus.

[He seems a bit more relaxed than usual; whatever he's been up to in that machine shop, it clearly has been having an effect on his mental state. He definitely needed the break.]

[stavros]

That -- well. [Coughs.] You may be right about the brooding. [not that she can talk] What have you been working on in there?

C

[notquitedracula]

[The greeting, so unusual coming from Kokoro, makes him tilt his head just a bit. But that alone isn't enough to base any suspicions on, so he'll wave and wander over. He's wearing roughly the same attire as the last time they interacted at the pool, a black T-shirt and shorts.]

Aside from some vitamin D and a break from running a machine shop? Mostly just wanted to catch up with you. I'm glad to see you enjoying yourself.

[stavros]

Is it that uncommon? ...well, maybe. I guess I do try not to get too... happy here. Or attached.

[notquitedracula]

A bit, yeah. [He plops down on the nearest pool lounge, making use of the handy umbrella. Pink and purple stripes probably don't fit him very well, but that's what's available.]

How have you been getting on lately? Last time I saw you was at the arcade. You definitely seem... happier, now. Did someone spike your lemonade with happy dust? [He's smiling enough to make it clear that's a joke, having no idea that he's not terribly far off the mark.]

[stavros]

Happier? ...Perhaps. [She sits down on the chair next to it and thinks.] Ushio said things seemed different, too. And that I'm always getting in my own way. Maybe I am. I mean, I'm even afraid of being attached to you, even if you swore you'd be all right coming back with me. Much less Starsand, where I have to keep reminding myself it's a prison.

[notquitedracula]

[Soma looks at her contemplatively for a moment, then looks up at the umbrella-shielded sky in thought.] It is a prison, and one whose walls we're all trying to break down. But we're all still people, too. And people are social animals. We aren't wired for isolation, as a species. And none of us are strong enough as individuals to break down these walls; especially now that whatever force is doing so is starting to take away our powers.

[He takes a deep breath, then returns his gaze to Kokoro.] The Facility is our enemy. That much we know. They want to take away everything that makes us human, and twist us into their attack dogs. The biggest things standing in their way, as I see it, are the local, natural kami. This place is literally powered by love and faith - and the Facility wants to take that away from us.

1/2

[stavros]

[sigh] I know you're right. Half of what they do is to undermine the local authority, and the other half is to make us hate ourselves and distrust each other, when you think about it. And I do like the people here. I like you, even if I don't know how to deal with it. I mean, I even tied a wish on one of those flowers when I knew baiting a Rumour was a bad idea --

2/2

[stavros]

-- why did I just say that.

[notquitedracula]

[That open, free admission, so very unlike Kokoro, makes Soma sit up with a frown. Nevermind what she actually said - he'll process that later - now he knows something is wrong.] You know, I was joking when I mentioned someone spiking your lemonade... but are you SURE someone didn't spike your lemonade?

[stavros]

I am completely certain! I have no idea what happened, and what kind of drug would make someone say that anyway? Even if it is true -- rgh, do you see what I mean?!