Persona! Gosei High

[Roguewolf]

Chrétien Dumas breathed in the heady scent of the trees’ blooms and the Spring Festival’s food stalls. It felt like the light breeze was tousling his hair playfully — inviting him forward into the flow of conversations that he could mostly understand. The mixture was more intoxicating than the wine he would have to forego while studying in Japan. It was a sort of sacrifice but the adventure it brought was more than worth such a small cost — especially since he would be getting the occasional reprieve when visiting his uncle in Tokyo.

He surveyed the scene before him. The world had been sharpened by the newness of the place and culture and everything felt more vivid than it would have seemed in Troyes — although after a few months here, his home city might take on such freshness.

He broke into a smile as he stepped forward to enter the fair, glad that his brief time in Tokyo had permitted him to get over his jet lag and adjust to the time difference. He didn’t want to miss anything.

Chrétien had been to similar local celebrations in France. Such affairs could be found everywhere in the world, marking important dates in the local seasons and calendars. But this was new and he could lose himself in a kind of anonymity. Yes, he stood out but he appeared here without the baggage of personal history or reputation.

His eye caught the glint of sunlight on a nearby koi pond.

Perhaps not entirely anonymous, he reminded himself as he walked up to it. That is, if such gateways could be opened from any place and it had not all been part of his imagination.

The scene here was beautiful enough to be worthy of her so it seemed possible — even if the strange trees and architecture made it seem less likely.

But La Demoiselle followed her own rules — rules he could not even guess at.

Nor was it his place to guess.

He knew he was in her service and subject to her call. That was enough to be getting on with.

But until she called, a new adventure beckoned before him in this faire — the Spring Festival.

“Tres apropos,” he observed quietly to himself. A new start to the year here and a new beginning for him.

Arata grins widely, hearing the comment of Chrétien, assuming that it was a mention of approval. A hand clapped on the Frenchmen's shoulder from the boy assigned to be his guide.

Then again, Arata needed more friends and was glad for the opportunity. He never mentioned it to them, but he volunteered for the spot.

“My French is not that good, but I'm hoping that's along the line of, ‘very good’.” He chuckles a bit.

“We do have all day as well, so feel free to check out everything you like, we've also got permission to show you around the school too.”

He was torn from the thought as Sakuma wheeled around with his camera and sighed.

An Inauspicious Start:

Sakuma Matsuyo walks up on Arata for the fifth time in as many minutes. He holds his piecemeal camcorder in one hand, and a glint of aggravation in his eyes. "I give up. If the wind's not blowing in the right direction, someone walks right through the shot, if it's not that, they bump into me, or the sun's behind a cloud."

He sighs and opens the flap of his satchel and carefully places the 3rd-hand camcorder in it's foam-padded socket and draws out an equally hodgepodge DSLR, several brand names are visible across it's various components. With his free hand he adjusts his tie - the same shade of red as his hair, and then reaches up and adjusts how his hat sits as well.

"I think you should be grateful it's as long as it is, shouldn't you Arata-kun?"

The photo-hobbyist crouches down on his haunches, bringing the camera up to his eye and bracing his elbows on his knees as he takes a few shots of the takoyaki stand.

"Another year and summer breaks are over forever." Sakuma says with a smile.

He goes down to one knee and twists at the waist, whipping his camera around to try and catch a snapshot of Arata's expression. His grin is visible, even if his 'all-seeing-eyes' aren't.

He just shook his head at first, still with a grin. “Just the dangers of filming in the moment I suppose. We’ll get some posed ones too before the day is done.” He looked around a moment.

“Actually, there's a decent spot over by the pond where you’ll be able to get the crowd and speech of Gosei-Sensei when he gets up there.”

Akikio had also surprised him with the chiding as well.

As a sakura petal falls onto her dark hair, Igarashi Akiko absently shoos it away with one hand. With all the pollen in the air she was glad she wasn’t allergic, unlike her dad and—

She stops the thought, instead focusing on Sakuma and his attempting to get a few good shots with his camera. While she’d never gotten into photography, she knew how hard it was to create a composition you liked.

“He’s right, Arata-kun,” she says as she comes up beside the taller boy. “Next year we’ll have to start worrying about our college entrance exams, if you don’t go straight to work, that is.”

She reaches up to her necklace and fiddles with the guitar pick there before she mindfully pulls her hand back down so her mood can’t take a downturn. She was determined to try and enjoy today.

Akiko’s gaze moves to the intriguing blond foreigner she’d seen a few times in the dorm. She couldn’t remember his name, other than it being hard to say. Her face gains a tinge of pink as he smiles and she gives herself a mental pinch. She already liked one guy that wasn’t interested in her. No need to make it two.

He sighed. “You're right, you're right. Just wishful thinking. Which, it's been a bit so how were the breaks on y’alls end? I know we haven't had a lot of time but, Akikio-chan, Sakuma-san, this is Chrétien-san. He'll be with us in the dorm for this year, and maybe next if he is able to. Also looks like we're all in 2-B this time so makes things mildly easier.”

He looked around a bit as he awaited Chrétien's first choice in what to see. The people were passing by them, blocking Sakuma's shots every now and then.

Akikio would see a few fellow band mates passing and waving as well.

“Maybe we can find the others and get a full dorm photo,” he said off handedly as someone had passed by.

A group of third years walks past you and you each overhear their conversation.

“Did you hear they brought in a fortune teller this time?”

“So lame!” One of the girls responds with a laugh.

“Yeah, maybe some warning about not playing the Persona game, or even just a fake card drawing about love and friendship.” They start cackling after the mocking tones.

Arata scowls a bit. “Shouldn't knock a practice until they try it….” He said shaking his head. "Though, am a little interested to see what that teller has to say later." He grins a bit.

Of the options, multiple carnival style games, food stands, and random vendors line the courtyard.

OOC: Arata will be listening to all the suggestions at first and devise a plan for maximum fun for his dormmates.

Options include, aside from the various food,
Darts games with rather cheap prizes, goldfish game to get a pet, a ball lotto game for a gift card to Sakuma's pawn shop buddy, target game by the local airport shop, and spooky maze set up in the gym. Gotta find my notes when I get on campus for the other stuff.

Also live music from 3 local bands, one jazz, one rock, and one aspiring pop idol.