Persona: Under the Castle of Kings

[Golden Emblem]

amaya: I've asked ST to reply to this one, as he's explained it to me, but he's better at phrasing it. Hopefully he replies soon.

[Admin]

Hatred of a humanity in the shadow is just an extreme exaggeration of the character's depression and vast distance from himself and others. Not an actual sociopath.

[Golden Emblem]

Human Sign-Up:
Name: Helen Balfour
Age: 17
Gender: Female
Arcana: Justice
Weapon: Helen uses the bar section of a barbell, without any weights attached to it, as a staff of sorts in battle.
Personality: Helen doesn’t talk to other students much, and when she does, it’s in a very professional, serious tone; more often than not the conversation is about school work. However, something odd can be seen if she’s angered. Instead of retorting in her normally calm manner, she often replies with a lot of sarcasm and snarky words, blended with humour. It seems as if she might be hiding something.
Appearance: Helen has very dark brown hair that she has grown to be fairly long, though she nearly always wears it in a knot bun, especially at school. She has sharp brown eyes that are contained behind black-rimmed glasses, giving her a very serious look. Her clothing normally consists of long-cut pants (in black or another dark colour) with a jacket/tank top combination. She might seem well-dressed until you notice the skater shoes. She wears shoes that are varied and bright in colour, for some odd reason.
Summoning Method: Helen pulls a book of matches from her pocket, lights a match, and burns a small offering, such as a piece of ribbon or a piece of paper.
Persona Sign-Up:
Name: Oya
Arcana: Justice
Element: Electric
Special Talent: physical skills (main)/debuffing support skills (secondary)
Appearance: Oya is a woman whose skin is as black as the night sky, with small jaded lines of white resembling lightning snaking over her skin. She is clothed by a sarong that wraps around her entire body, seemingly made of a stiff white material, and that is adorned with copper lines snaking up the sarong. Oya carries a long whip made of lightning in her left hand and a wooden flute in her right. One can see that she has silver hair (tied up with a blue ribbon into a tall form), but her face is covered by a mask that is triangular in shape and made of wood.
Shadow Sign-Up
Shadow Name: Shadow Helen
Appearance: Shadow Helen has a humanoid form, but that’s all that’s human about it. It appears to have been a woman at some point, but the head is mutated by a massive protruding jaw filled with fangs, and ram-like horns. It walks crouched low to the ground, and has grey fur that seems to have been pulled out in spots. It carries a lightning bolt shaped piece of wood, and has a blue ribbon around its next, almost like a pet dog.
What It Represents: Shadow Helen represents Helen’s childhood issues, where, in the discipline her father would use, he called Helen wild, frequently comparing her to an animal (and was treated as such). This resulted in the conservative dress and mannerisms that she upholds, but in the back of her mind, she still worries about acting out. This Shadow reveals her fear.

[Golden Emblem]

OOC: Time for the RP to start! Everyone, you have a message in your inbox, please go read it now!

---

Oldtown District High School did not have a very original name, or a very original appearance. Brick walls, barred windows (after a student jumped to their death many years ago), and security cameras decked the walls with little rejoicing from the student populace. There were four floors, including a basement that housed locker rooms, a weight room, and the staff room, among other random things.

It was a school of approximately 700, which was a small population for the school. This served as a reminder of when the town was once much larger in population, due to mining activity just outside of town. The mining stopped when the mine went dry, and while many families left for better jobs, there was still a decent population.

Students fresh back to school from summer break spoke of many different rumours. A certain student was pregnant, another was sleeping with the captain of the football team... yet, one rumour was prevalent above all. There had been three murders in the past week and a half, and in all the cases, word had spread quickly that there were mirrors in the room where the victim was found.

Word spread fast that, on the nights where there was a murder, if you looked at your mirror at 12:30AM (the estimated time of all the murders), it would go red, stained with the blood of the victim.

But those were just silly rumours.

Objective 1: Welcome to the RP! At the end of important posts, the group will have an objective! The first one: while your character may not want to go to school, they really should be there today. Maybe sure they get there, and have them explore!

[killerinstinct]

BEEP BEEP BEEP BEEP BEEP

"Mrfh..."

Linda's hand slammed against her clock, trying to turn it off. After a few unsuccessful tries, she ended up taking it and slamming it against the floor. That was very unlike her, of course. It wasn't like she minded waking up early, and it didn't mean that she hated school. But this morning, she just didn't want to go back, which can be understandable. After all, Linda wasn't the popular kind, quite the contrary. She's often treated as a nerd, and is thus ostracized.

Linda got up, changed, took breakfast, and left to go to school. She always walked to school, even in the coldest winter days and hottest summer ones. It helped that she didn't live far from her school, Oldtown District High School.

When she reached the school, Linda could see a big crowd of students making their way in. She passed by everyone, unnoticed, and went up to the board to see in which classroom she was going to be.

311, the board said.

She made her way to the third floor, and went to her classroom. Linda wondered if there was someone she knows with her...

[Admin]

Those creepy eyes. Those creepy goddamned eyes. The way they tick slightly when they move, like a rebellious clock out of rhythm. There were so many things to do before the alarm rings, but those eyes are too damned dirty and cunning.

Beep... Beep... Beep...

It's school time already? Shit, I forgot to sleep... again...

Luctes tore himself away from those... those pensive eyes... and dressed himself quietly in the dark. He didn't particularly like dropping his guard, but the eyes never made a move. They were just glaring and dark.

It was still early, but Luctes crossed town on foot every day so he could stop and get breakfast from a small corner store. Plus, he wanted to make sure he left early enough in case he had difficulty finding his classroom.

Now dressed and ready to traverse the town, Luctes closed his front door and left his home in silence.

[amaya]

Amaya's eyes instinctively shot open at the crack of dawn. Her mother woke her up everyday at the first sign of daylight declaring that every moment of the day should be spent doing something. Amaya slid out of her bed and stared out the window. It was still relatively dark outside but there was a light blueish hue pouring into the room from the upcoming sunlight.

Amaya sat in front of her mirror as she prepared for school by combing her hair and braiding a strand of her hair. Every morning was the same. Ever day had some kind of schedule. Amaya scowled at the open planner before her. Every day was filled with appointments, clubs, or extra curricular activities. Her life felt like a ticking of a clock. It was monotonous, repetitive, and always the same.

She rubbed the wrinkles out of her scowl knowing her mother would disapprove immediately. Amaya put on her clothes and decided to have some warm tea for breakfast.

She arrived at school at 6 AM. The school was empty students didn't start coming around until 7:30. She passed the Student Council room and left an envelope for the President on the council, she passed the teacher's lounge and gave a polite greeting to any teachers that were there. Her mother's teachings were engraved in the back on her mind. Greet your elders, arrive earlier than you need to, and always be prepared.

Amaya stopped infront of her classroom. "342." She muttered aloud wondering who would be in her class this year. She opened the door to face an empty classroom. Walking in, she immediately took the front seat of the center row.

Just like her mother told her to do.

The back of her mind wandered as she got tired of waiting. She bit down the urge to walk out and explore the school.

[Cetasaurus]

The beeping of Daniel's alarm clock startled him out of a dream. This frustrated him, and he rolled to face the other direction, doing his best to ignore the persistent machine. Then, quite suddenly, he sprang out of bed and faced the ringing clock. He leapt forward dramatically and slammed his hand onto it. "Ha!" he declared when it fell silent. He stood back and pointed at the clock. "I win! You can't get the better of me." Then he sighed and looked down at himself, dressed in pajamas. He really had not wanted to get out of bed this morning.

Daniel readied himself for the first day of school quickly and in mindless, fluid motions. Once he was finished, he reached for his black top hat, and smiled now that everything was in place. He grabbed his backpack, which had been packed the night before, and headed into the kitchen. It was empty, and dimly lit by the morning sun. He considered sitting down to eat breakfast, knowing he was already too early for school, but decided he really wasn't in the mood to eat. He dropped his backpack on the kitchen table, and returned to his bedroom to recalibrate his alarm clock so he wouldn't have so much extra time tomorrow morning.

Returning to the kitchen, Daniel moved to look out the window behind the table. The sky was already growing bright, and he smiled at the colors. He turned back to face the kitchen. His mother was still sleeping in her room, he figured. He was secretly glad he had not started school from his dad's house, for his dad probably would have been awake already and would have tried to engage in some sort of forced conversation with him. That's not to say talking to his mother was any less awkward, but at least she was more a night person than a get-up-in-the-morning-and-see-your-son-off-to-school sort of person.

Slowly, the morning light spread into the kitchen. Daniel checked his watch, and even though he was still going to be too early, he picked up his pack and walked out the back door, headed towards school. When he got there, he still wasn't quite sure what to do with himself. It would be a while yet before class started. His stomach growled hungrily, and he considered walking back home to eat breakfast, though was sure he didn't want to be late. But now that he thought about it, he wasn't sure he'd had dinner the night before either. He frowned, suddenly quite discontented.

He decided to drop his pack off in the classroom and then explore the school to see if anyone was around. He looked at where the classes were listed, and found he was positioned in room 342 for now. He walked to the room, and opened the door to find Amaya sitting there already. He glanced at his watch again, which read 6:45. He smiled at her vaguely, then moved to the back of the room, setting his pack by the desk positioned in the farthest possible corner from the door. Daniel had always liked the vantage point this seat provided - he could see everyone in the room from here.

He returned to the front of the room, empty hands in the pockets of his darkly colored jeans. He paced a couple steps, looking blankly at the ground. He then glanced up at Amaya again and smiled timidly. "How are you this morning?" he asked, keeping the tone of his voice polite and reserved.

[amaya]

Amaya began to stare at the whiteboard in front of the classroom in boredom. She was just about to stand up and take a stroll around school but the sound of the classroom door opening startled her back into her seat. Oh, it was Daniel. She looked at his dark unkept hair under his top hat. She wondered why he chose to leave his hair in that state if he had enough time to come to school early. She dismissed the thought immediately, when she realized it was probably her upraising that made her think of unnecessary details like that.

She returned his small smile with a nod and a 'Good morning.' She kept her eyes on him as he strode to the back of the class. Typical. She wasn't expecting someone to eagerly sit in the front row with her. He surprised her a bit when he decided to return to the front of the classroom. She wasn't expecting him to have a conversation with her.

She nervously put a strand of hair behind her ear and slightly smiled at him. "I'm doing fine. How are you? I'm surprised to see someone at school as early as I am." Amaya looked at him as he placed his hands on his pocket. She stared at him a bit longer than she would have liked, but he was just so hard to figure out. He seemed to be a bit of a loner, but despite that he was hear striking up a conversation. Amaya didn't know if she should be flattered or wary. She brought her hands together in a fidgeting motion.

She was feeling adventurous today for some reason. Daniel's spontaneous arrival could have been the source of it. "Hey," she paused for a bit in contemplation, "we still have a bit of time left before class. Do you want to walk around school for a bit?"

[Admin]

Walking down the roads felt more tiring than usual. Though, that was usually the case at the start of the semester. The long walks always hurt a little more when the semester started. Always took some time to get used to.

The little store Luctes often frequented was empty, as it usually was at that time of day. He got their cheapest bag of salt and vinegar potato chips. They always tasted refreshing in the morning for whatever reason.

"Oh ho, so school has started up again?"

Luctes looked up from his haze at the elderly woman behind the register. Gert. Mean old Gert. Hilarious woman, and she loved Luctes for some odd reason, but anyone else who ever came in the store often got an earful from her. Whether it was some nasty comment about minorities, or an accusation of stealing, Gert always had a way of making people uncomfortable and angry. Luctes didn't favor seeing her in the morning, despite her kindness to him. She was still a nasty human being, and that attitude may never be punished.

"Yes it has." Luctes replied to her abruptly, feigning a smile.

"Good boy! You -"

And Luctes cut off his attention. He stared at the bridge of her wrinkled nose, waiting for her lips to stop moving. He wondered for a moment what he might be making himself for dinner. Maybe something microwaved.

" -do you promise?" Gert ended with a saggy smile.

"Of course." Luctes replied, grateful that she gave him such an easy opportunity to reply.

The boy began walking to the exit, bowing curtly, apologizing for having to rush off to school. He left out the front door without much hesitation.

Continuing the rest of the walk to school was kind of a blur. Luctes took note of a rather attractive girl in front of him as he got closer to the school. Lovely view from behind. Wink wink, nudge nudge.

There were more than a few students back at school, many of which Luctes recognized (but didn't particularly care for). After first scanning the board containing the room assignments, Luctes managed to find the entrance to his class.

"...Room 311."

[Cetasaurus]

Daniel watched unpryingly, distanced, catching her nervous movements and uncertain stare. He met her eyes then, and he allowed another soft smile. "I'm not usually here this early, be assured," he said. There was something like an amiable purr in his joking tone of voice. "But I would love to walk around for bit, if you would like. Thank you very much." He tilted his head slightly, fixing his eyes on hers and keeping an accommodating half-smile on his gentle expression. His hands remained reservedly in his pockets as he waited for her response.

[amaya]

His soft smile made her feel uncomfortable. She wasn't used to attention like this. Most of her male classmates usually just came up to her for questions about the homework and the council while others just left anonymous unwanted love letters on her desk. She blinked up and he was smiling again. Her mouth twitched up in an attempt to smile back.

"Y-yeah! Let's go" She mumbled hurriedly as she stepped out of her seat. She wasn't sure what to make out of his "be assured." Was her nervousness really that noticeable? 'Mother said to not wear your emotions on your sleeve.' She mumbled to herself like a mantra.

She adjusted her skirt as they walked toward the classroom door. She avoided his face after he tilted his head slightly to catch her eye contact. She decided to talk about something to avoid the awkwardness. She wasn't keen on talking about lowly gossip but it was the best she could manage.

"Hey Daniel, have you heard about the rumors going around school?"

[Cetasaurus]

Daniel watched all this amusedly, following slightly behind her. When they reached the door, he stepped smoothly around her and held it open so she could pass through. "Sure, I've heard them," he replied, waiting for her to step into the hallway. "A little spooky though, aren't they?"

[amaya]

She could have sworn he was looking down at her by being so nice. His saccharine smile was starting to irk her a little bit. Was he always this way? She nodded as a thank you when he charmingly side stepped to open the door for her. She quickly passed through to enter the hallway. She turned around to wait for him and looked at his peculiar hat.

"Yeah, it's kind of hard to believe something like this would happen here." She muttered. "Have you tried looking in the mirror...you know, at 12:30?" She immediately wanted to take it back after she spoke. She didn't want to seem like she was some weak girl that was superstitious. "N-not that it's actually true or anything." She mumbled the last few of her words.

She decided to walk in front of him a little bit so she wouldn't catch him looking at her again. She stopped in the middle of the hallway to see a dark haired boy standing in front of room 311. She couldn't tell if she knew who he was from the distance. Amaya looked up at Daniel wondering if he was going to greet the stranger or not.

[Cetasaurus]

Daniel walked out after her. He casually ran a finger along the brim of his hat when he caught her glancing at it, then dropped both his hands to his sides and allowed himself to be led by her down the hallway. He laughed nervously at her question. "I was going to try one night, then got too scared," he said, whether or not it was true. "But you're probably right, that it isn't real..." his voice trailed off. "Have you tried then?" he went on to ask.

Daniel stopped when Amaya did, still standing slightly behind her. He followed her gaze to the other student near room 311. Daniel's expression became unrevealing, but he made no further movement or comment while they stood there.

[Golden Emblem]

OOC: So, I fail all the RPs, ever. Sorry for not replying myself earlier, ladies and gentlemen, it's been an odd week.

---

Helen woke up at 6:59AM, without the need of an alarm. Her body provided the wake-up call, as she had been waking up that early for years now. She went through her daily routine: she got out of bed, made a breakfast consisting of a piece of fruit (today it was an orange), a bowl of cereal (with skim milk), and a cup of tea. Next, she got ready, quickly brushing her hair and setting in up in a bun before brushing her teeth and washing her face.

The motions came to her so easily, she could do this in her sleep. Her backpack and lunch had been packed the night before, so all she had left to do was get changed into her clothing. She did that in no time at all, and soon enough, she was walking to school. Five minutes later, she had arrived, making it 7:30 on the dot. She didn't search for her friends, as she really didn't have any. Sure, there were people she spoke to at times, to make sure she wasn't alone all the time, but she didn't go out of her way to make friends. She was seen as being too serious to have friends, ad people in her class made sure she knew this.

311... I wonder who will be in my class this year?

Helen quickly put some items from her backpack away, and walked towards room 311. She saw a few students there, including one with a top hat. They could have matched, as she was today wearing black dress pants with a red blouse, under a black dressy jacket. Her shoes were, oddly enough, purple and green, in the style of skater shoes. She wasn't sure to pass by the students or wait, so she leaned by a nearby wall and glanced at her watch.

[amaya]

"Ah, no I never tried it. Mother would never allow me to stay up past midn-" Amaya ungracefully covered her mouth with her hands. Amaya silently cursed in her head as she once again let her usually calm and collected front dissolve away. It was times like this she realized how sheltered her Mother raised her to be. Hoping Daniel either didn't hear that or would be kind enough to ignore it she quickly continued the conversation. "But y-you're right it's probably just some kind of scare tactic."

Amaya noticed Daniel made no move to introduce himself to the student (now two) standing in front of class 311. She decided to do the same and turned to face Daniel instead of the rather intimidating boy.

"This might sound strange," she paused wondering if she was really going to say this. A part of her mind was always curious about the rumors and she decided the only way to settle it was to see it for herself. "But why don't we try it tonight. For real this time."

[Cetasaurus]

Daniel glanced at Amaya with another vague smile when she stopped mid-sentence and covered her mouth, but made no comment. When she turned to face him, he took one step backwards and slid his hands back into his pants pockets, averting his eyes to the floor. He looked up again though, with a playful grin, when she asked if they should try looking in the mirror tonight. "Why not?" he agreed with a smirk. "We'll meet here at the school then? Tonight, before 12:30?" He once again tilted his head to look at her.

[amaya]

Amaya's ears turned an unusually dark shade of red when she blurted out about her mother. When he took a step backward she wondered if he was considering turning down her offer. She prepared herself for him to laugh at her suggestion of seeing the mirror tonight but was shocked when he shot her a smirk and agreed.

"Yeah," she said as she shifted her eyes, "I can probably pretend I have some school activity I have to attend to." She said with a confident smile. If she was good at anything, it was weaseling her way out of her house with her incredible acting skills. "Alright I'll meet you infront of the school gates at around 12. Don't worry about breaking in. My mother has an extra pair to the school because she owns the property." Amaya added hoping she didn't sound arrogant.

When he tilted his head she noticed he was still smirking. She gave him a slight frown. "D-don't get any funny ideas. I'm just curious about the rumors okay?"

[Admin]

"There's nothing quite as stupid as a rumor in high school." Luctes thought to himself. He backed against the wall and glazed over the two perky lovers to see someone that wasn't insufferable, Helen. Helen had a rather stern personality, and she behaved kind of like she had some common sense. Of all the assholes Luctes knew, Helen had been the exception more times than the rule.

Out of forced courtesy, Luctes approached Helen and gave a casual nod. He wore a natural scowl as he spoke.

"Hey Helen, how've you been?"

(OOC: DanielXAmaya fanart is to be made immediately!)

[Golden Emblem]

Luctes was one of those few people Helen appreciated, although his personality left something to be desired. He always struck Helen as a bit odd, but at least he wasn't as wild or out there as some of her fellow classmates, and he could act as if he cared. Helen nodded in his general direction, no smile parting her lips, and replied calmly.

"I'm the same as usual, Luctes, yourself?"

She had overheard some people discussing the rumours going on about the murders, and how mirrors played into it. She honestly hoped no one believed that madness.

[Admin]

"Eh, same. ... Enjoy your Summer?"

Conversation is so difficult. Helen seemed so fluid at it. Same with the lovebirds. Luctes flinched at the clunky predictability of every word he said. Helen seemed well, though. Confident, well-spoken, fairly stern. Luctes liked seeing Helen doing well.

[Golden Emblem]

"It was mediocre at best," Helen admitted, feeling comfortable to say the truth to Luctes. "I did some work for my mother's business whenever I was at her house, and whenever I was staying at my father's, I was trying to get out of the house."

She normally didn't talk about this sort of thing to other students, but Luctes didn't seem to have any other friends. If she didn't trust him completely, at least Helen knew he wouldn't tell anyone else.

"Was your summer the same?"

[Cetasaurus]

Daniel's eyes narrowed interestedly when Amaya mentioned her mother owned the property. He had known her mother had a degree of power, but the bit about her owning the school was news to him. He smiled vacantly again, more to himself than anyone else.

Catching her slight frown to him, Daniel nodded sincerely and glanced at the floor. "Of course," he assured. "And, like we said, the rumor really can't be true. It will just be... an adventure, for some fun, I guess."

[amaya]

Amaya saw the intimidating guy walk over to the other girl standing near the door of 311. She wasn't sure if it was her imagination or not, but she was sure that he had given Daniel and her a rather sinister sneer. She casted her eyes down trying to erase his intimidating look.

She nodded at his answer. A part of her mind wasn't sure she could trust him. He seemed almost too nice. A part of felt a bit uncomfortable, but she was begging for a change of pace in her schedule. Daniel's presence only meant something different in her life. "Yeah!" She piped up. "Uhm I'll bring some flashlights...just in case."

She glanced at her watch after she saw some students finally filling up the hallway. "I guess we can't explore much of the school now, we have class soon."

((@simple tacticianHaha don't know if Daniel and Amaya are a couple yet. He seems to be quite manipulative!!))

[Cetasaurus]

Daniel saw Luctes approach Helen and begin to converse across the hall from him and Amaya. He watched them for a moment with a guarded expression, then turned back friendlily to Amaya, almost feeling happy that she seemed enthusiastic about their plan. "Flashlights. Right. Great idea," he said with a nod.

He stood back passively as she checked her watch, and he nodded at her words. "Yeah, I guess we should head back into the classroom now," he said a bit regretfully, with a glance over his shoulder toward room 342. He looked back to Amaya, of course with a smile, then turned and led them to the door. He once again held it open for Amaya to pass through while his eyes systematically scanned the room, which had filled a bit more since he'd first arrived this morning.

((Pssh... LuctesXHelen more like. ))

[amaya]

She saw Daniel also noticing the other two starting to converse with each other. The back of her mind thought it was quite rude for her to have such a lengthy conversation in front of two other people. Amaya's upper lip quirked up in response to Daniel.

She sent another wary look at the two before walking back to class. She was starting to get used to Daniel's smiles when he turned to face her before leading them toward the door. This time, when he held open the door for her, she half expected it.

Before stepping inside the considerably full classroom, she looked up at him briefly. "Tonight, then." She mumbled under her breath so to the other classmates it looked like a regular 'good morning.' She walked toward her desk and sat down demanding to keep her eyes looking straight at the chalkboard instead of letting her mind wander to other things.

(( I agree. Luctes apparently likes seeing Helen well. ))

[killerinstinct]

Linda had already entered the classroom when she arrived. There were already a few students inside, but mostly everyone stayed out, waiting for the bell to ring. The students in the classroom were chatting together, and they didn't seem to notice her. That was fine by her. She wouldn't need to bear their judgemental stares. Linda glanced out the door, and noticed people she recognized: Luctes and Helen. Seeing as they were hanging out in front of the classroom, she concluded they were going to be with her. She didn't dare go tell them hello, so instead, she went and sat down at the second row, all the way to the right.

Linda fiddled with her hair nervously. A knot was forming in her stomach. She really didn't want to be here. Sometimes she wished she could be homeschooled.

[Cetasaurus]

Daniel nodded knowingly and looked to catch her eye as Amaya mumbled her message and walked past him, back to her seat at the front of the room.

He closed the door behind them and quickly surveyed the classroom once again before regressing to his place at the back of the room. He made a quick check of his belongings, making sure they were all still in place and unrifled with. To his relief, his pack seemed untouched. As he pulled his hand out of the bag, something pricked his finger. He lowered the bag again and looked inside, smiling to himself as he remembered what it was. Left over from last year was a small bundle of sewing needles, held in the confines of an elastic band. He left them where they were, and set his bag back on the floor.

Although class was about to start, he pulled out a notebook and pen for the sake of doodling mindlessly to pass the time.

((Oh hey, so for anyone interested, inspiration for Daniel's needle weapons came when my martial arts master showed us some videos of Shaolin monks using needles. Here's one: www.youtube.com/watch?v=9cgJ3nroZYI (start watching at 2:35, anything before that is random buildup). Anyway, I just think that's super cool!))

[Admin]

My Summer...

"My Summer was about the same." Luctes said in a quick monotone.

Without much of a delay, he nodded to Helen and went into their classroom, taking a middle seat on the right side of the room, right behind Linda, opened a notebook, and started doodling a picture of a robot killing a human.