[open] And as you know I have a gigantic heart

[pseudonyms]

Who: Rise Kujikawa and OPEN!
When: 7/19-7/23 (IC) aka event-time!
Where: Various prompts
What: It started with a goat. Then it all just went downhill from there. AKA Rise Kujikawa and the mysterious memories event.
Rating/Warning: N/A for now, will update if needed



[It started with a goat. Honestly, at first she thought that she'd dreamed it, that maybe it was just an extension of the white feathers she saw in her dreams recently but no. She wakes up and there sure is a wispy little goat at the foot of her bed. She stares…and the goat bleats flatly at her. It's a sad-looking thing, but as she tries to get closer it seems to disappear immediately.

Wow. That's weird.]

A.) is for Academy

[It's a normal school day. With everyone back from the dead and her worries a little more at ease, she can concentrate a little easier. It's quiet in the Study Hall period of the day and she's working on some homework when she spots the goat out of the corner of her eye…approaching a wastebasket. She hasn't realized it can't change much of the world around them, but she'll get that memo as soon as she gets up and stealthily tries to approach the animal.

Of course, the goat suddenly moves and it startles her and her arms suddenly pinwheel as she yells, trying to balance on her high heels so she doesn't bite the dust. Are you going to catch her? Let her fall? Fall with her? Sorry about all of that.]

B.) is for Bad Places Rise Shouldn't Wander

[This goat is seriously way more trouble than it's worth. She's not sure where it came from or why it's in such poor condition, but she's taken to following it around the colony to make sure it doesn't get too far out of her sight. It's for that reason she doesn't even realize she winds up right in the middle of the Pleasure District. The goat's paused, and if it's possible it gives her a knowing look despite its lack of real expression.

(Is it possible that this goat knows about her dungeon?)

She ends up in a staring contest with the goat, narrowing her eyes when she realizes she's standing in front of a love hotel.]

Don't even think about it. [She sure was talking to the goat, but it's not that hard to overhear her.]

C.) is for Cafe

[Everything is exhausting. She's sprawled over a chair almost ungracefully and that goat hovers around near her feet, but at least its not moving. On occasion, she'll be writing neat lines in a notebook and sipping her tea, though she frowning in concentration. There's an extra chair at her table though. Feel free to ask if you can join her or even be nosy about what she's doing, she won't mind.

On the other hand, if you're a friend or even someone she recognizes, she'll look up and smile brightly before pushing the chair out with her foot.]

Hey, over here!

D.) is for Dancing Games

[Sometimes Rise likes to play games. Sometimes Rise likes to use the game station to practice and when she gets bored of dancing in her room this is the next best thing. However, she's found at the game center today in front of one of the dancing games, and as she watches the colorful arrows fall across the screen she's continually missing and whines in frustration.]

Ugh, come on! This should be really easy! [And it would be…if she actually remembered how to dance. It's like all memories and coordination have left her and she's left trying really hard to fix that. Help her? Challenge her? Question her?]

E.) is for Everything Else!

[If you want to run into her while she's out shopping, at work as a model/karaoke star/tofu connoisseur, or if housemates want to do apartment shenanigans here you go!]

[ooc: ALSO if you have a preference on your type of memory please let me know! Otherwise I will be randomizing. Thank you!]

Comments

[pseudonyms]

Anything else I should be worried about? You seem to know a lot about this place. [The goat's occasionally shuffling forward, but Rise's hoping she can keep an eye on it and keep it from touching the other girl as she turn again as if she's looking down the street, body shifting to move in the same sort of arc the goat had.]

[mombastic]

[ Come to her goat, she's a perfect nice doctor mom who won't kick. ]

I hope so too, but from what I've heard, this isn't the first time people have been separated into groups like this and gone missing.

[sortileges]

[ Always, Rise, always. That's what friends do, right?! Though he's kind of in the same boat. He just hasn't had much time to catch up with everyone yet, but he was on the way back from his poker dealing job which is spread out across various venues when he sees her. ]

Riiiiiight. Because this would be the first place I'd think of going after everything that's happened.

[ Don't be sassy to your friends, punk. ] Did you get lost?

[beaconed]

[ Just this look. ]

Are you... stalking someone?

[ More weird implications!! But no judgement, at least. Wonder why... ]

[niceguypose]

[Lee remains oblivious to the goat's approach as he contemplates her question.]

Is that so? I am proud to achieve that! Ah... but it was just this morning when she first appeared!

[sunnymerc]

( The sensible part of her is saying 'no', but she hasn't been one to pay much attention to that. Besides, this is a game and not real dancing, right? Maybe she can pull this off without embarrassing herself.

Besides... )

Well, alright. I've never been one to say no to a request from a pretty girl. You're going to need to show me the ropes, though.

( She hops onto the console, looking it over in confusion and curiosity. )

[discard]

[... Where is he headed?

He has no idea. He came here to check on her, and now that he's done that, he doesn't know... he fumbles for a moment, before clearing his throat.]

...Elsewhere. That is none of your business. [Nailed it.

Naturally, he doesn't notice the goat either.]

D

[babermetrics]

[Who doesn't like a good round of DDR? Or whatever CERES offers along those lines. Leon definitely does; he loves the Game Center, but there are times when a guy doesn't want to just stand around in front of a screen all day. You've got to get some motion going sometimes!

At first, at a distance, Leon doesn't realize the girl currently occupying half the machine is Rise. He does realize she needs some serious help with her moves, though. It's . . . pretty obvious. Hey, he was headed over there anyway to burn off some energy—what better secondary incentive could there be than a girl to be impressed at his moves? She looks like she'd be impressed by just about anything, with coordination like that . . .

And then he hears her voice, right around the same time he's close enough to the machine to start suspecting who this is. The voice clinches it:]

Kujikawa?

[He sounds . . . pretty disbelieving, as he widens his stride to close the distance between himself and the game area.]

[youraffection]

[ Yosuke is...actually doing fairly well once he gets into the groove of it! Maybe in part because he's played games like this before, even if it's not this specific song, or maybe because he's actually not a total klutz in some arenas. Who knew? But he is surprised to see his score climbing hiring that Rise.

You know. Rise Kujikawa? Stage name "Risette"? The megastar idol? Who he's owning in DDR.

What a strange turn of events. ]

Not quite like being on stage, huh, Rise-san?

[ He has to rub it in a little, he can't help bit. Of course, he has no idea where this goat is hanging out, so if he gets a little too close to Yosuke's stepping...then there's gonna be one squashed goat in about five seconds-- ]

[pseudonyms]

[Her shoulders seize up the moment she hears his voice and she doesn't turn around just yet as she gets herself together. What if she just never goes out in public again until she figures out what happened to her rhythm? But he's already there and when she turns she looks fairly humiliated that Leon has to see her like this. The goat also turns with her, checking out Leon closely to determine if he's worth getting excited about.]

This isn't what it looks like, I swear!

[pseudonyms]

[She makes a face at him because yeah, don't be so sassy! But considering, she can forgive him for it.]

You could say that. It's been a pretty weird morning. [She looks up at him though and smiles slightly.] It's good to see you...are you doing okay?

[pseudonyms]

Walking's fine, it's only when I hear music. It's crazy isn't it? I can move just fine but trying to string together any choreography's totally failing. How am I supposed to go to work like this?

[pseudonyms]

I don't know if I want to think about our code being broken. But we have to be able to fix them! Why else would they show up now?

[And with that she stops, laughing slightly because whoops, right.] It wasn't anything like those drinks if that's what you mean. There's been other places in the colony that people have seen other people's memories but...a few friends and I have these things that are a part of us that usually can only be seen inside the TV world back home. We can summon them here and everybody can see them. I wonder if the animals are maybe something like that. They're called Personas.

[pseudonyms]

[She can't see the fox and it's strange she can't sense these things. She's more focused on the goat that's stomped away and seems to be standing in front of the love hotel again. But when Ankh describes the memory, vague though it may be, she seems to understand.]

With...a bunch of monsters? [She's not ashamed of telling people about her Persona and her friends after knowing what kind of place Cerealia is, but the explanation's always a little tricky. So much so that she ends up shifting a bit and stepping forward...right through that fox. Sorry, fox.]

[pseudonyms]

Nobody else seems to know either. [The poor skittish fox stumbles right into Rise's foot and she doesn't quite know what's happening at first, but she feels a shift and there's a startled "hey!" from her. That's about the time the goat side-steps. It doesn't clomp over to Stahn just yet, but it's getting closer.

But nothing weird will happen because the fox has touched her...right? She's almost sure of it.]

[pseudonyms]

[She shakes her head and it's a little sad then.] I asked Yu-senpai when I first got here and he said there wasn't a way for us to access the Nexus when people get pulled out of the colony. People are still looking into it but so far nothing. The only way people can get back into the colony is through ViViD...it's why we check it for new people every month.

[It was how she found Johnny, after all. And Teddie and Yosuke.

By now, that goat is curiously sniffing Johnny's chair, trying to get a better sense of what it is. Rise's eyes drift toward it and she shifts her foot, trying to nudge the goat away. If anything, it looks like she's kicking thin air.] That happens about every month, but people can get pulled out at any time.

[pseudonyms]

And she's followed you everywhere since? [What the hell does all of this mean?] Mine's not a cat, but it appeared earlier today, too. I don't know if it's a boy or a girl but it's been following me around for a while. I just wish it was a little cuter.

[The goat's not too thrilled with that assessment, but alas. It's approached Lee by now, and it stares to see what the boy will do.]

[pseudonyms]

Why would I stalk someone to a place like this? [Stalk someone, sure, okay, but not to someplace like this!!!] And it's more of a something than a someone. [She pouts.] You don't see anything weird about this do you? [She even gestures right to the goat.]

[pseudonyms]

[She actually seems to perk up when there's a reference to a pretty girl and she preens just slightly, sliding over to allow Soleil room on the console. The problem is that her goat's now more curious about the newcomer and approaches the console, blinking slowly to try and understand what's going on.]

We can even take it slow for the first game. [She's leaning forward to fiddle with the settings and turn the mode back to "beginner."] See this screen? When the arrows are falling in time with the music you have to step on the ones on the dance pad in the right order to get a high score. That shouldn't be too hard, right? [And really, can you say no to such a cute smiling face? Even if she herself was doing pretty poorly until Soleil showed up...]

[pseudonyms]

[It takes a lot of energy not to sigh in exasperation at Leon's behavior, typical though it may be. She does shake her head though and seeing how she's busy talking to him she's not paying attention to where her goat is. At this rate if Leon tries to turn he'll run right into it.]

Even if "elsewhere" is the same direction I'm going? [She giggles a bit. At least this she can handle.] You never know.

[sunnymerc]

( No. No, she cannot say not to that face. So much so, in fact, that even if that goat weren't invisible, Soleil would be too distracted to notice it. The smile is all she needs to get over her doubts and give this a shot. )

Uh, hmm. I can handle that. It sounds too easy, honestly.

( Ignoring the fact she is still coming to grips with 'technology' and is a bit overwhelmed, Soleil actually does feel she can handle this. She keeps telling herself this is more of a game than actual dancing...probably. )

I'll do my best for you, so cheer me on, okay?

( She gives Rise a wink as she does a quick stretch. )

I'm ready.

[dereban]

I had to come here for work... related reasons before. [ She also came here for when they were doing a newbie hunt, too. But that was a while back. ]

But uh. . . I would warn against trying to find things under the shrine around here. At least, not without a group of people. Noooot that I've been to this one. I had troubles with one of the other ones.

[niceguypose]

That is correct! [He nods.] She has been a stalwart companion.

Ah... You should be careful, Rise-san! Your animal might have sensitive feelings!

[Lee then stands up, his leg now practically right beside the spirit goat.]

Where is your animal right now? [Even if no one's seen anyone else's animals, Lee still wants to try!]

[majinken]

[nothing weird at all. you know, if you ignore the fact that this is a memory sharing situation and that leads directly into... a memory being shared.

which is why a scene begins to play out. it's one of the first conscious conversations between stahn and dymlos, and the first time he's properly having the situation explained to him. it's hardly a bad situation—one that's just alarming and surprising.

stahn has grown a lot since this conversation—he understands much more about the world around, about different kinds of people and situations, and just how bad things can really get when there are threats. but here, he's still a bit more innocent and sheltered; he's never experienced hardship and the events that led into this memory were the first ones where he'd actually felt fear for his life. so while so much is alarming, there's also a sense of warmth and relief that accompanies it.

when woodrow, the third party, enters the room and interrupts their conversation, the memory will fade out.]

[adornmental]

[A SAD LOOK OF PITY...]

Y'might wanna just call out for a little while. I'm not sure if it'll get better... Uh - well. I mean, it probably won't if you forgot about it if- [He holds up one finger!!] -you have some weird little animal following you and- [A second finger!] -it's bumped into someone.

[Still not speaking from experience or anything.]