Persona: Under the Castle of Kings

[amaya]

Daniel nodded in response and she pretended that she never saw him trying to catch her eye contact. She wondered if she was being rude, but side stepped Daniel to enter the classroom.

The rest of class droned on as the teacher admonished them about being bratty kids and so forth. Her eye twitched a little bit. It irked her that the teacher was complaining about them more than half of the time instead of lecturing them about line graphs or a Shakespeare book. Despite her feelings about the teacher, she feigned a smile and eagerly answered every question because that's what Mother would want.

((LASJDLASD Okay sorry about that! It won't happen again. I usually RP on tumblr and they usually don't have any rules. Sorry again!!))

[killerinstinct]

OOC: Um, Amaya, I'm not sure you're really allowed to move on with the RP... especially since not all the RPers have posted (I'm thinking of Griffin here). And besides, Laura's the one who should be in charge of this, something might happen during class just before lunchtime.

[Golden Emblem]

OOC: Yeah, Amaya, I should have explained earlier, but usually the person who starts the RP moves it forward and controls NPCs (with the exception of character-specific NPCs, such as parents and siblings, or friends of characters). We'll be progressing soon, I'm just waiting for one more person to post.

[Griffin]

"Oh shit oh shit oh shit."

This mantra would be repeated dozens of times as Stefan tore his room apart looking for all of his school supplies. Most of them were there, but his backpack was nowhere to be found. He sighed heavily, giving up the search. He instead dashed to his dad's room and dug an old messenger bag with some 60s band logo worn on the front flap. He threw all of his supplies into the bag, jammed his feet into his shoes, and stormed downstairs to the kitchen. He grabbed a cereal bar and a banana and dropped them in his bag. He passed his dad passed out on the couch on his fervent rush out the door.

"Bye Dad!"

Fucking drunk asshole.

Stefan popped the garage door code in and grabbed his bike. Shut the door, get on the bike, blitz to school.

Shit I'm so late.

He parked his bike outside a side door and took a large breath to hide his shaken feelings. He put on a smile and walked into the school. "Great to be back..." he muttered to himself sarcastically. Stefan quickly glanced at the board to see what room to go to. 342. OK. Got it. Gogogogogo.

Taking the steps, two at a time, Stefan reached the third floor quickly. He opened the classroom door with a giant smile on his fair face. "Sorry I'm late! My dog ate my homework, so I had to wait a while to get it back!"

[Golden Emblem]

OOC Note: There are two teachers at the moment. Ms. Johnson is the teacher for 342, and Mr. James for 311.

---

Helen quickly followed Luctes inside the class, taking a seat to the left of Linda and glancing her way for a moment. Linda didn't really seem to talk to anyone much, kind of like Helen. Helen wondered if it was because she was shy, or because she was hiding something. Helen's curiosity was raised, and she couldn't help but want to know what Linda's secret was. She was about to speak, but another conversation caught her attention.

"Hey, where's Mr. James?" a student sitting on the window sill asked another. "He should have been here by now..."

"Maybe he's in the science room getting ready for chemistry?" his partner in crime chimed. "He likes having nice experiments ready the first day of class. Sometimes they don't go so well, but hey, nobody hates his class."

---

"Actually, Stefan, you're just on time," Mrs. Johnson chimed from her desk, a clipboard and pen in hand. She was a small woman, but behind those soft brown eyes was a determined soul that could even get the largest and most aggressive football player to sit down and shut up. "Now, if you could choose a spot and-"

What sounded like a small explosion interrupted what she was going to say, and seconds after, the fire alarm began to ring loudly, prompting students to stand up and begin vacating the school. However, there was an odd sound that could be heard over the alarm, although no one seemed to pay attention.

A screaming man could be heard, even over the alarms. It seemed to be coming from the science room located between 311 and 342, which was 327.

Why wasn't anyone paying attention?

Objective 2: A fire alarm is ringing, but there's also screaming coming from 327. There doesn't seem to be a fire yet, so you have two choices. You can go outside with the rest of the school, or investigate the screams. Some choices are better than others.

[Cetasaurus]

Daniel sprang to his feet and scanned his classmates, who made towards the door in jostling motions. As he'd been trained to do since kindergarden, he abandoned his backpack in order to escape his imminent doom. He didn't run to the nearest exit, however, as it was too crowded for his liking. Suddenly, above the wailing sirens, he heard something distinctly like a human scream. He tilted his head and listened.

He glided soundlessly over to Amaya, not sure who else to approach. He leaned in close so she would hear him over the chaos. "Do you hear that?" he asked curiously, his tone of voice unchanged, as if nothing was going on. He cocked his head sideways again to listen, then frowned at Amaya. "It sounds like screaming..." The rest of the class continued to filter through the doorway.

[amaya]

Amaya's head looked up in utter shock as the piercing alarm woke her out of her daze. She immediately stood up looking around to see the other students crowding toward the exit. Just as she was going to head to the exit herself a horrifying sound drained the blood away from Amaya's face. Was that a...scream....? Screams that came from fear was normal in these surprising situations, but this one seemed more intense than the squeals that came from the other classmates. It was almost blood curdling.

Just in time, Daniel appeared next to her to erase any doubts that what she heard was a figment of her imagination. She looked up at him with a worried look. His voice sounded so steady as if he was asking her about the weather. She nodded not knowing what else to say.

"I think it sounded like screaming too...!" She replied keeping an eye on the exit. "You should go exit the building while you can, I have to make sure everyone's alright." Amaya gave him a slight push toward the door.

As much as she desperately wanted to exit the building, her job as Student Council was to protect the student body...right? Although she did nothing but count money and keep track of checks on a daily basis it was times like these she really regretted signing up for council.

[Cetasaurus]

Daniel leaned back casually and let some other kids slide past him. The room was almost empty, the doorway was clearing. He smiled at Amaya enigmatically, then bid her physical command and followed the last student out into the hallway.

Once clear of room 342 he stood in the hallway and continued to listen. He couldn't be quite sure where the screaming was coming from, but it was close. He looked around, wondering if Amaya had followed him and if she could tell which room held the wailing individual.

[amaya]

She was somewhat relieved that Daniel walked out the door. His unnaturally calm smile made her relax a bit. There were always random fire alarms going off during the school year, it was usually a minor mistake from the science rooms or the cafeteria.

Amaya walked out of class 342 trying to figure out where the scream came from. She thought about it logically. Fires usually started in the science room and the one closest to her at the moment was room 327. She noticed Daniel looking around while the hallway was slowly emptying out. Making her way in front of class 327 she checked if the door knob was hot with the back of her hand. Giving one last gesture to Daniel telling him to go, she paused bracing herself for something she might not want to see.

[Cetasaurus]

Daniel watched Amaya patiently as she deduced the correct room, and he ignored her gesture for him to go away. He noticed her hesitant pause, then was suddenly at her side. The screaming had grown dimmer, perhaps weaker, but it was definitely behind the door to room 327.

He peered at her, his funny black hat shading his eyes. "Relax," he said reassuringly. "Everyone is only human, so don't be afraid of anything right now." As soon as he'd said it, he realized the statement probably only made sense in the context of his mind, but he just shrugged at Amaya with a half smile, wondering if she would even notice the apparent out-of-placeness of his statement, given the urgent situation. He then supposed it might be possible that she knew exactly what he meant. He gave her an encouraging nod , and his eyes darted to the door handle expectantly.

((My character is a little weird... ): ))

[amaya]

She had to hurry. Now that she was closer to room 327, the screams were more audible which confirmed that it was the source. She had been closing her eyes to calm herself down but opened them suddenly when she heard a voice coming from her right.

"Daniel?! I told you to-" She was cut off by his strange statement. She nodded. Despite the fact that she was a bit irked that Daniel chose to ignore her, she was relieved she wasn't alone in this situation. "You're right. Just a human. I-it's not like there's going to be monster in there."

After his encouraging nod, she looked back at the door preparing to open it.

((Haha it's alright I think he's pretty cool. I think I'll stop here so the others can join us before we open the door if they choose to investigate instead of exiting.))

[Cetasaurus]

((Yeah, sounds good. (8 ))

((Also, and sorry if this is already common knowledge and I'm just behind the game, but where is our RP located in the world?))

[Golden Emblem]

OOC: It's not really anywhere, specific, but it's definitely a small North American city.

---

Helen was about to get up and leave the classroom as soon as the fire alarm sounded, but then the screaming pierced her ears, the sound causing her to grow pale. That screaming sounded unnatural, like a scream of pain. There had to be something going on, yet, as the class quickly dissipated, leaving Luctes, Linda, and herself behind, no one seemed to pay the screaming any attention, almost as if they didn't hear it.

"Do you two hear that?" Helen asked, rather professionally, the colour returning to her face. "It sounds like someone's in trouble. Shouldn't we check things out?"

[killerinstinct]

Linda saw Luctes coming in and sitting behind her, and Helen right next to her. She didn't talk often with her, as she always felt intimidated. Linda glanced at Helen and met her eyes. She gave her a quick smile before looking elsewhere. She felt Helen still looking at her, and that made her feel uncomfortable.

"He likes having nice experiments ready the first day of class. Sometimes they don't go so well, but hey, nobody hates his class."

Linda tilted when someone said that, but before she could react, she heard a big explosion. She let out a gasp, and got up suddenly, ready to leave, when suddenly... she heard something. Something that worried her immensely. It sounded like a scream... Linda didn't move, while everyone else left the classroom, leaving her with Helen and Luctes.

"Do you two hear that? It sounds like someone's in trouble. Shouldn't we check things out?"

Linda looked at Helen, impressed by how calm she seemed. "Y-yes... Yes, I heard it too", she responded, her voice slightly trembling. Helen's demeanor calmed her, and she regained her composure. "Someone's screaming. We should go and help."

Linda left the classroom, and stopped outside, trying to locate the sound of the screaming. It seemed to come from a little down the hall, which were empty... except for two people she saw in the distance. Perhaps they also heard the screams and were going to investigate. Linda walked down the hall, and knew she was getting closer; the sound was getting clearer. Soon, she was standing in front of room 327, alongside two other people she had seen before, but didn't know.

"I, um... I-I'm guessing you're here because you heard something, too...?" Linda asked shyly.

[amaya]

Amaya looked over to see Linda. Amaya never introduced herself to her because Linda seemed to be the quiet type and Amaya was never good at keeping up with a conversation.

"Yeah we did." Amaya nodded her head at Linda.

Amaya turned toward Daniel with a serious expression on her face. "I guess we weren't the only ones who heard it." Amaya considered suggesting to Linda to safely exit the building but something kept her mouth shut.

[Admin]

"Do you two hear that? It sounds like someone's in trouble. Shouldn't we check things out?"

It's just a scream... Just... a scream...

Tugging at the back of his ponytail, Luctes shook off any curiosity. Looking at the girls, he sighed and shook his head. "We're not expected to investigate the scream. In fact, it's probably a bad idea."

But before his voice carried onto their ears, Linda had already started walking to the sound of the scream.

Fuckin' a... I can't leave her... Even if I want to...

"Helen, go get help... I'm going to make sure she doesn't get hurt."

And against any good judgement he had, Luctes followed quietly down the hall, behind Linda.

[Golden Emblem]

OOC: If anyone wants an idea of the facial expression Helen had when Luctes told her to go help, here's a perfect image (do note that a swear word is used): s3.amazonaws.com/kym-assets/photos/images/original/000/184/961/tumblr_lnvvueuSsj1qcj56b.png?1318992465

---

"Are you serious right now?" Helen demanded, her voice not going too loud but allowing her anger to show. She didn't go get help, but instead walked right behind Luctes, not only keeping his pace, but walking a step ahead of him. "I was the first one who noted the screaming, and you want me to go get help? That's demeaning, Luctes, and you know it. If anything, you should go get help, and I'll take care of Linda!"

She knew that the police and the fire department would have been called, due to the nature of the explosion, and the fire alarm. The police really didn't have much to do except attempt to investigate the murder, so that meant there would be at least a few here investigating the scene. One of them could be-

I can't go outside.

"Hey, what are you two doing here?" Helen asked, having gotten far enough ahead of Luctes that she had joined the group consisting of Linda, Amaya, and Daniel. "Did you hear the screaming, too?"

[amaya]

Amaya faced Linda unsure of how to deal with the stressful situation with someone she never formally met before. There was someone in danger so this was the worst time for introductions and pleasantries. Before she could muster up anything to say, Amaya noticed someone following close behind Linda.

"Helen?" Amaya wasn't close to Helen either but she knew of her. It was hard to ignore Helen's constant professional attitude. A part of Amaya knew that her Mother would wish for her to be as calm as she was. It was impressive to see that even in a situation like this, she seemed as steady as ever. Amaya looked over her shoulder to glance at Daniel. "Yes, Daniel and I heard a scream too. We think it's coming from here." Amaya quickly replied pointing toward room 327.

"I know it's not a good idea for us to be here instead of evacuating but we have to help."

((I can imagine Helen's expression perfectly with that image. I can also imagine Luctes' angry face in response. ))

[Cetasaurus]

((Are we waiting for Griffin before we proceed into the room?... And... I just realized I may have inadvertently god-modded his character when I emptied the classroom of students. v.v I'm not quite sure how to change it now though...))

[Golden Emblem]

Dec 11, 2011 11:51:10 GMT -5 Cetasaurus said:

((Are we waiting for Griffin before we proceed into the room?... And... I just realized I may have inadvertently god-modded his character when I emptied the classroom of students. v.v I'm not quite sure how to change it now though...))

OOC: Don't worry, Griff can easily roll with it, I'm sure. And yes, we're preferably waiting for his character to make a decision. I'll try to get him to post today.

[Golden Emblem]

OOC: Hey everyone, just to let you know, sign-ups are going to close after my next in-character post, or the one after, for reasons that will become clear when it happens. We've got one person working on a profile right now, and if you know anyone who is interested in joining, have them join ASAP.

[yuuyuukachoo]

Name: Emily Gordon

Age: 17

Gender: Female

Arcana: Fortune

Weapon: Bats, clubs, etc.

Personality: Cheery, chipper, and optimistic. Emily is actually one of the most popular girls at her school...but it's probably because of her wealthy family, rather than her overly friendly personality.

Appearance: A slender youth of 16, Emily is 5"5 and has light brown, shorter hair. The bangs sway to the left (or the onlooker's right), while the sides are much longer; reaching a bit past her chin, only skimming her shoulders. The back is actually much shorter, and is combed down over the top of her neck.

Summoning Method: (Get creative. In Persona 3, characters used gun-like objects called Evokers to mimic suicide, and in Persona 4, they destroyed manifestations of their arcana.)
A pink cellphone with a four-leaf clover charm. If Emily dials 777-7777, her Persona will manifest from the screen.

Persona Sign-Up:

Name: Tyche

Arcana: Fortune

Element: Wind

Special Talent: Primary area of expertise is magic; the secondary being physical attacks.

Appearance: A pale, voluptuous woman wearing an opera mask in the shape of a four-leaf clover. Her dress has sleeves a tad longer than her slender fingers, and her "legs" are like long, thin cones; the bottoms slanted as if they were high-heel shoes.

Shadow Sign-Up

Name: Shadow Emily

Appearance: Perched on a luxurious throne held up by a crowd of smiling (otherwise featureless) uniformed school girls is Emily's Shadow, who is incredibly tiny, almost doll-like in quality. However, her clothes are much too big for her; the lace of her dress draping over the throne. She wears a rusted crown.

What It Represents: (What emotions does it represent? In Persona 4, it ranged from questioning one’s sexuality to resentment towards being treated like a child, to wanting to control how someone felt. This will reveal your character’s evils.)
Emily's Shadow represents how uncomfortable she is with her popularity, as she barely knows any of the other popular students' names; even though she is at the top of the chain. Her over-sized clothes represent her feelings towards her family's wealth, as in, although thankful that her father won such a large amount of money, she feels that it was meant for someone else. Even if her family was originally very poor, the sudden swell in wealth has caused her once very close mother and father to be very distant, leaving Emily alone. The only attention she receives from them is when she is being pampered, an act that, like her popularity, feels strange and uncomfortable.

[Golden Emblem]

OOC: And you are approved! If you could, just ad lib to the point of the fire alarm. Choose either homeroom, as at this point it's irrelevant.

[yuuyuukachoo]

The first day of school...it wasn't quite different from the second, third...fifty second...but somehow it had a sort of elegance to it. New beginnings...Emily had experienced those before.
Room 311 was her homeroom for the year, as she was told by a flock of several other popular students who led her into the room and to her seat as they began to gossip about their vacations, filled with boyfriends, shopping trips, and bad haircuts. Emily listened with a smile, nodding at their stories. "So, Emily, did you hear that Stacy's totally pregnant?! Like, oh my God!" One of the students chimed with a smile and a snicker.

Emily blinked, shaking her head in reply. "No, I hadn't..." She lied with a frown...but she wasn't really paying attention; she had heard the news earlier and checked up on Stacy to see if she was alright a few days before school started.
She was one of the few in the clique that Emily actually enjoyed talking to...but she wasn't at school today...

The group's chirping was silenced by the blaring of the fire alarm following the sound of an explosion, sending the girls squealing out of the room, pushing each other out of the way to get to the door. But Emily stayed behind...was that a scream she had heard after the explosion? Careful not to be caught in the girls' line of sight, she slunk off to investigate...coming across a large group of unfamiliar students standing in front of room 327..."W-What's going on? Shouldn't you all be outside?" Emily asked, still a bit flustered as she slung her purse over her shoulder.

[Susurrous]

I just... fill in the blanks?... o.o


Human Sign-Up:

Name: Quentin Wiles

Age: 16

Gender: Male

Arcana: Lovers

Weapon: Chain

Personality: Taciturn, knowledgeable, and solitary. He has very few friends at a time, but doesn’t mind. He is very close with whatever few friends he makes.

Appearance: Light brown almost blonde hair that is very straight and wispy. Hazel eyes. 5’6”. Dresses casually but without complete disregard to outward appearance.

Summoning Method: Draws the persona with ink and it emerges through the outline.

Persona Sign-Up:

Name: Seine

Arcana: Lovers

Element: Fire

Special Talent: Magic skills (primary). Physical skills (secondary).

Appearance: A stone, dragon-esque creature about 4 feet long from nose to tail-tip. No wings. His eyes are a very dark shade of blue. Otherwise he is mostly grey, though sometimes seems iridescent in mostly green tones.

Shadow Sign-Up:

Name: Shadow Quentin.

Appearance: Still stone and dragon-esque, but attenuated and dark black, with more severe spines, a sharp stare, and a more whip-like tail. His posture places his belly just above the ground like he is stalking something. He hisses and bites out often.

What It Represents: It represents Quentin’s fear that he is not a good a person and that he might do something really bad, even if it’s on accident. It represents how he questions the purity of human intentions, his own included.

[Golden Emblem]

OOC: Oh my God, you have a Persona named Seine. <3 I love that name. And, you're approved!

[Susurrous]

(Now I... make like yuuyuukachoo? I’m sorry guys. x.x I feel like I’m intruding or something...)

“Wiles!” greeted Quentin’s old English teacher. Quentin paused, distracted by his course down the school hallway.

“H-hello,” he murmured. The sudden interruption had scattered his thoughts and broke his steady pace, and he was left feeling alienated from his surroundings, uncertain how to behave in relation to the world. He gave a nervous nod of greeting and glanced longingly at what had once been his path to follow.

The teacher was now walking towards him. “How was your summer Quentin?” the older man asked.

With a repressed sigh, Quentin relinquished his desire to regress into mechanic motions and a morning reverie. Forcing social decency, he smiled and replied, “It was good, sir. How was yours?”

“Oh, it was all right. Always too short, you know?”

Quentin nodded blankly.

The English teacher looked at him and nodded slowly in return. The awkwardness between them was finally jolted into perceptibility. “Well all right then...” said the teacher. Quentin looked up at him innocently. “I should probably... go prepare for the first day of school, eh?” The teacher concluded enthusiastically.

Quentin nodded again. “Yes sir,” he replied. “Um, class starts in a few minutes, after all...”

“Right you are!” said the teacher. “Well, I’ll be seeing you around then.” After a dismissive nod and half-smile from Quentin, the teacher nodded conclusively and shuffled back into his classroom. Quentin found himself staring at his feet, thrust back into aloneness and the unreliability of intent. Inducing an air of passivity about his demeanor, he took a breath and stepped forward again, eventually returning to his comfortable gait towards room 342.

When he arrived, he set his pack down at one of the last available seats along the edge of the classroom. He remained standing, and looked cautiously around at what everyone else was doing. Most were comingling, talking rapidly to each other about all they’d done over the long vacation. He approached the group that looked least intimidating: Gabe, Al, Albert, and Gerry. The four were clearly-marked high school nerds, but those guys tended to be nice enough. Gabe was talking animatedly about some discovery in physics that had been made over the summer.

“Hi guys,” Quentin said timidly.

Gabe paused for just a quick, “Hi,” in response, then returned to his excited explanation.

Quentin listened vaguely as the nerds droned on about hadron colliders, but his focus wandered to the others around them. A clique of girls was whispering in too high a pitch to be discreet. A couple of guys suddenly started laughing too loudly from across the room. “Wait, no,” said Quentin unexpectedly, as he snapped back into the conversation of the nerds. “Bohr’s model of the atom was meant to express the quantization theory regarding electrons as proposed by Planck – not Rutherford’s, though Bohr attended Rutherford’s lectures on the subject of mapping the atom and used Rutherford’s model as a sort of starting point for his own.”

“My point is,” countered Al. “The model was an inaccurate portrayal of the nature of electrons, given the mass of an electron is essentially nothing.”

“Its inaccuracy has little to do with mass though,” said Quentin. “It’s the current agreement that an electron’s mass can’t be measured. The issue with Bohr’s model is that it doesn’t add up to Heisenberg’s proposed principle of uncertainty. Regardless of the quantized nature of an electron’s movements, one can’t depict exactly where the electron will be given its current location has been established. We can’t predict its course, which renders Bohr’s model to a degree of inaccuracy.”

“Dude,” said Al, ending Quentin’s lecture. “We’re hardly talking about atom models – no one cares about them. Who the hell even are you?”

“I... Nobody,” said Quentin, lowering his gaze. “I-I’m sorry. I’ll leave you alone now.” Without looking back up at the group, Quentin turned and shuffled back to his seat. He sat down and stared blankly ahead. You know it’s a bad sign when you can’t even fit in with the science geeks, he thought to himself. His social skills had apparently fallen into quite a chasm of decrepitude through summer’s prolonged neglect.

Just then, Stefan ran into the room and was greeted by Mrs. Johnson. Quentin had a lot of respect for Mrs. Johnson and was contented by the fact that she would be running his homeroom this year. Before she could start class however, a small explosion resounded from somewhere within the building, and the alarms began their screeching declarations. Quentin stood up, startled. He slipped into the crowd as students ran to exit the room.

Once in the hallway, he froze and turned around. Other students jostled past him, but Quentin was sure he could hear someone screaming. A good thirty feet away, he saw some students congregating around a door. Clearly they had heard the screaming as well. He watched them from his distance as the hallways emptied, not sure if he should approach and offer his help.

[Golden Emblem]

OOC: This is an important update. Griffin has been dropped from the RP. Please act as if his character never existed in the first place. An update will take place around 8PM Sunday. Sorry for the delay.

[Cetasaurus]

((Should we wait for the update before we continue into the room?))

[Golden Emblem]

Dec 18, 2011 0:51:03 GMT -5 Cetasaurus said:

((Should we wait for the update before we continue into the room?))

OOC: Yes please!