Shadow Event Log

[stringmods]

▼ A Feast of Shadows

 

Who: Anyone
Where: All over the city
When: December 16-20
Summary: The Shadow Event has begun! Follow the link for the event summary and post your threads here if you want. You're still free to make network posts of your own if you'd rather do that, though!
Warnings: Characters' darkest and most shameful secrets within, along with plenty of combat. Please mark any threads that will contain triggering content appropriately, since some characters have darker secrets than others.
Music: IT'S JUST AS BILLY JOEL WARNED

Comments

[prettytamer]

"...Atsuro, is everything okay?"

Yeah, that's definitely weird enough for Midori to comment on. She's worried about him now.

[otakuro]

His motions are stiff and lethargic as he tilts his head up to glance towards Midori.

"Huh...? Oh. Sure. I'm fine..."

There's a certain listless quality to his words.

"I was... wondering something. Midori..."

[prettytamer]

"Yeah?"

Maybe there's a zodiac thing going on again...

[otakuro]

For a moment, Atsuro meets Midori full in the eyes with a somber expression.

"Do you remember... back when we met? Before all this. During the lockdown."

[prettytamer]

It's creepy to see him like that... and his eyes are a little weird.

"Yeah, of course I remember that. How could I forget?"

[otakuro]

"Aha..." He glances away, uncomfortable now, at the faintest hint of what seems to be criticism. "I've just been thinking.... about everything that happened back then - especially... with Keisuke."

Suddenly, awkward.

"...You remember what he did?"

[prettytamer]

"Mmhm." It's hard to talk about exactly, but she remembers as clear as day the fear on the faces of those people who he wanted to 'judge'.

[otakuro]

He nods vaguely to himself.

"Keisuke... just wanted to punish people. He was angry with how they treated you."

He was getting somewhere with this. Maybe. Probably. ...Eventually.

[prettytamer]

"I was scared, I won't say I wasn't 'cause it'd be a lie, but he didn't have to go that far for me."

Talking to Keisuke about this would've happened if they'd had more time, after he'd calmed down a little.

[otakuro]

"Yeah. I remember... You were so angry about what he was doing..." His expression has become thoroughly melancholy now, and the yellow irises seem to gleam more brightly than ever in the night. "I remember... you said you would punish him yourself... if we didn't teach him a lesson."

In another time, in another place... she would have brought Kaido to kill him. Whether or not this person knew...

"It felt like... you had never been friends at all. Midori... Would you think that way about me, too? Are we... really friends? Even if I did something bad.....

"Would you still be my friend?"

There is something twisted about the expression of despair he levels at her now.

[prettytamer]

"Of course we're friends!" Midori is definitely worried about him now - she doesn't know if this is Atsuro, just possessed by some weird effect of the city, or something else entirely. "Even if you did something bad, I could forgive you for it."

Atsuro would never go to the levels of Keisuke, or Kazuya when he chose to side with Naoya.

[otakuro]

Her words hang in the air long after she finishes speaking. The Atsuro facing her doesn't even seem to breathe as he stares at her silently after her emphatic response.

Then the tension suddenly breaks, and he is all smiles, the otherworldly gleam gone from his eyes.

"Y-You... You really will? You promise? We'll always be friends... no matter what?"

[prettytamer]

"I promise!" That's what she'd say to the real Atsuro and that's what she's saying now. "You're a great friend, Atsuro."

[otakuro]

"Thanks, Midori..."

He straightens now, a genuine smile at his face as he stands more confidently. .....Perhaps Midori might take this as a sign that she's successfully battling back whatever it is that's ailing Atsuro oh god midori what have you done turn back turn back

"And... I promise I'll never ditch you, either. You can do anything, and I'll always be there for you. That's... That's what being a friend means!"

[prettytamer]

OOOPS

"Sometimes you have to tell your friends they're being dumb though, so they don't get in more trouble. But you shouldn't ditch them."

[otakuro]

An uncertain flicker of the eyes, but he'll latch onto that last part of the statement.

"Aha... Right. Friends don't leave each other behind, so... we'll be with each other forever." NO "...You wanna go do something for real, Midori?"

[prettytamer]

"What kind of thing?"

He's still talking kind of funny.

[otakuro]

"...W-Whatever you want to do! Sorry - I didn't mean to be overbearing. I just... want to be with my friends tonight. Eheh."

Very funny.

[prettytamer]

"It's not overbearing to have an opinion, y'know. That's normal friend stuff."

Midori is not really good at this not-acting-like-a-JRPG-heroine thing.

[otakuro]

"............Maybe we could go to the arcade?"

Well everything is 100% normal here let's move on.

[prettytamer]

"Sounds fun to me!"

Yep totally normal in all ways.