Persona: Charade of Shadows IC

The school bell rings. Kids yell at each other as they walk down the front steps. The smell of the grass having just been cut wafts around everyone. Many of these kids seem to know precisely who they are at this point in there lives. Of course, anyone could tell you that there are hidden thoughts and feelings behind everyone's known personality. A few kids appear to be arguing, and others gather around. Pure instinct seems to have taken over. On the faces of everyone who gathered around you can read the desire for a fight. High school is without a doubt the perfect example that no matter how hard anyone tries to be civilized, we are all still animals. Finally, after a spectator pushes one of the arguing boys, the fight begins. Everyone wants to compete. Power is what so many desire, but few possess.

Taro takes a deep breath. He shifted the weight of his bag farther toward his back as he walks out the door. The sunlight is almost blinding, and he almost walked right into the crowd that had gathered around the fighting students. He shook his head a bit and walked around them. He smiled when he was able to get around them. The school day was finally over. It was finally time to plot out his physical activities for after school. Skateboarding home only counted every other day when he was taking the long way home. Today just happened to be one of those days. Upon getting home, he was going to immediately use the Exercycle followed by a 10 minute stretch, and end the first part of the day with a jog on the treadmill. Today was starting out just fine.

Nighttime. Usually it's associated with sleep and restfulness. Not today though; At least not for one Josuke Capucci. One unfortunate boy was walking home alone at 11:50 at night after a rehearsal for the school musical, which ran over an hour and a half later than usual. The sky was clear save for a few thin cirrus clouds which wafted about, straggling lazily as they tried to caress the stars with little avail. This lack of clouds also made it rather cold, without a blanket for the Earth to keep in any warmth. Out in the sky was a new moon. A slight, somewhat ominous breeze could be felt around the shoulders. Even so, the crickets still chirp incessantly, playing their little love songs- mother nature's friendly reminder that life goes on.

Still, Josuke felt some something was wrong. Then, as he walked up the street, just two blocks away from the one in which he lived on, he noticed that the televisions on one of the stores wasn't closed yet. Although Josuke was without fear, he still hesitantly walked forward, somewhat cautious, not sure what could be lurking about. Perhaps it was his instincts; It was only natural for an animal such as a human to sense danger, even when it isn't there. Josuke slowly aproached the television, then went forward, knocking on the door of the store, checking to see if anyone was still there. "OI!" He yelled, having waited for a response.

Josuke checked his phone for the time. 11:59. He should be getting home really soon. His parents were probably worried about him. Then again, the fact that they haven't called yet means that they must have fallen asleep already. "Hello? Anyone there? You left the TV on!" Josuke yelled, and once again with no response. He tapped his feet, and murmured to himself, "fuck it." Josuke then leaned onto the glass window, sighing: "What a pain". Then suddenly, as his back touched the glass, Josuke heard a voice, and a feminine one. "The fuck?" Josuke turned around, as the glass suddenly broke, Josuke falling into the TV, ultimately getting sucked in. "SHIT SHIT SHIT!" He cried aloud for the town to hear.

Everything went black. Then Josuke realized that his eyes were completely closed. A bit groggy, he opened them, revealing a strange eerie environment blanketed thickly in clouds. "What a pain", he again sighed to himself. Josuke began wandering about, often bumping into walls, letting out a swear every time he would go into one full force.

After what seemed like an hour of wandering, Josuke found himself in a room slightly clearer than the rest, though still fairly dark. "What a pain", Josuke said once again. "Life is pain", said a somber voice. Josuke leaped back, not expecting a response. Before him stood a figure, roughly his height, but sitting down. "Who the hell are you?" Josuke questioned. The silhouette responded, turning around. Its face revealed a perpetual frown. "I'm Josuke Capucci", it said with the same depressed tone. "The hell? There's no way in hell someone as depressed and sorry as you could share a name with me." The figure tilted its head. "What do you mean? I am you."
"How are you me if I'm me? Haven't you ever read doctor Seuss? 'There's not a youer you that can be as you as you'.".
"What a stupid quote", the shadow responded.
"You can't decide that."
"I don't decide anything. No one does. Life just happens. Then after the big bang, there's the big crunch. Everything ends just like that."
"What the hell is wrong with you? There's no way you can be me." Josuke was becoming infuriated.
The shadow responded. "Everything that's wrong with you. It is because I am you."
Josuke yelled aloud. "No! There's no way I can be that fucking sorry! There's no way! You're not MEEEEEEEE!"

The shadow's shape changed. Rather than human, it became mechanical, robotic. "I am you, and you are sorry. Nothing will ever change that. All this pain is absolute." Even its voice changed into something more monotone and robotic. Suddenly, the shadow lunged toward Josuke, who dodged barely.

"What a pain!" He said, as he jumped off his hands. Josuke ran into the shadow, blindly and hotheadedly. "ORAORAORAORAORAORAAAAA!" Josuke let out a shout as well as a flurry of blows. The shadow didn't bother blocking- the metal plate was too hard. "Damn it!" Josuke said, licking his reddened knuckles.

"Why are you even trying? There's no way to win. Even if you beat me, we all die in the end." The shadow said to Josuke. While it wasn't intentionally so, Josuke took it as though the shadow were teasing him. "I told you! You're not me! No way in Hell will you ever be me! WHO THE HELL DO YOU THINK I AM!?"

Once again, Josuke rushed toward the shadow. "ORAORAORAORAORAORAORA!" Once again, his blows simply glinted back. "There's no point." The shadow said, clasping its arms together, then slamming into Josuke, until his body hit the floor, feeling like it turned into jam.

"Wait a minute", Josuke thought to himself. "I can't beat him with my fists, but there's got to be a way to defeat him. If that thing really is me, then I should be able to read its every move. Likewise though, it should know all of mines. What a pain..." He reached into his pocket, feeling for anything that may give him an advantage. A lanyard with his keys- the keys not hard enough, the lanyard not long or tough enough. In his other pocket... stress balls? "Oh yeah, that homeless guy I met on the street this morning! Right, I thought it was stupid, but I gave him a thousand yen so he could have a meal for the day, and he gave me these in exchange. They're not perfect, but they may just be good enough."

"Hey! Fatty!" Josuke called himself. The shadow turned around. "Eat this!" Josuke threw his hard, metal balls, aimed towards the shadow's eyes. It blocked one, but was hit by the other, allowing Josuke enough time to collect the first, throwing it once again. "ORAAAAAAAAAA!"

After a being hit about a hundred times by the stress balls, the shadow's armor finally seemed to collapse. "It's all so pointless. Fine. You beat me. Then, for the time being, I'll lend you some of my strength. Just be warned, it will return to haunt you.

BEEP BEEP BEEP! Josuke slammed his alarm clock. "Raaagh!" He yawned. "Was it all just a dream?" Getting dressed, Josuke decided to make breakfast for himself. Then, he checked the time on his oven. "I'm gonna be late!"

Too much noise. There was no way he would be able to concentrate. He tied to plan everything out, but how could he do that with all these kids yelling? He was about to yell "shut up" when he heard something that actually piqued his interest. "...him. There was so much about it on the news I can't believe you didn't hear. They say even though the murders have stopped the midnight channel still works. I was thinking of trying it tomorrow since it's supposed to rain. What about you? I know you have..." Midnight channel? Who would believe that garbage? Unless...no. There was no way he was willing to try it. At least, not alone. He was hoping to run into someone who he could convince to try it the same night. But the odds of that seemed to be slowly dwindling down to none. Popping a piece of gum in his mouth he looked up toward the sky. Pfft, midnight channel; what a load of crap.

"Wryyyyy..." Josuke moaned as he dragged himself to school, half asleep. Walking, Josuke tried to cgather what had happened last night, trying to separate reality from dream. Two days ago, he heard rumors of something known as the 'midnight channel' while speaking with a few of his drama friends. Later that night, he stayed awake that night to see if anything happened. To his surprise, there was nothing. Not even a little flicker. Disappointed he went to bed. The next day, his phone vibrated in the middle rehearsal. Luckily he wasn't playing a major role, though he did sing an octave higher as it happened. The vibration was caused by a strange e-mail with a link in it. Naturally, without a way to open the link, Josuke simply ignored it. After the rehearsal was over, Josuke walked home; that's when things got bizarre.

As Josuke arrived, he heard the bell ring, and getting to class it seem he was very late... for second period. He didn't even say anything to his teacher. He simply grabbed a sheet of paper, went to his desk at the back corner of the room near the window, and started writing his standards somewhat mechanically. "Wrrrrrrryyyy..."

(Then I remembered social links)

Later that day, the bell rang signalling time for it to be lunch. Still tired, Josuke dragged his corpse to the vending machines to get a cup of coffee- something which his body wasn't used to. Then, as he put his money in, the selection... was black coffee. "Wrryyy..." He moaned, as he choked down the cold, dark fluid.

Then suddenly, the caffeine kicked in. Josuke ran around talking to people and doing generally bizarre and random things. "Hey there!" He told a boy sitting alone, appearing as though he were trying to study. "Midnight channel? I heard about that! In fact! I fell into a TV just last night!"

A fight had broken out, where was Kyo? Right in the middle of it of course, People had a habit of taking offense to him trying to be peaceful and smiley when they wanted to harass him, and now he found himself surrounded by an excited cheer-squad of just about every student that didn't have a weak stomach for violence, now boredly staring down the pain in the ass who insisted on starting a fight.

"Ugh... Is this really necessary? can't you just kiss your own butt-hurt away and not be a complete waste of my time?"

"Oh you smug little shit, Now I'm definately gonna kick your ass."

The other student charged at him then, telegraphing a terribly obvious 'face-punch' kindof move, getting a little sigh out of Kyo before his body moved suddenly, one hand grabbing the boy's forward wrist as the other wrapped around his shoulder and grabbed the other fist, suddenly glaring at him with a much more suitably 'crazy' grin.

"Well, If you insist buddy, I guess I get to beat the ever loving shit out of you."

"What the F-.."

He was cut off then and the crowd broke into a fresh up-roar as he swept a foot low and knocked one of the boy's legs out from under him, then jerked with one hand while pushing with the other, shoving him face-first into the pavement. "Just remember, you almost literally begged for this." The other student jumped up just in-time to avoid getting stomped on, and pulled a lucky shot, Nailing Kyo square in the eye, and making him stumble back a few steps as the boy gloated a little.

"HAH!, See? You think your hot shit, but you're just a... Huh?"

Kyo did a little mad giggle for a moment before poking his tongue out as a tease to the boy "Maybe I 'like' the pain and just 'let' you hit me, eh?" He was just messing with his head of course, but in the next moment he made a 'sucker punch' move of his own, shift his foot slightly to loosen his shoe, then kicked his leg suddenly, drawing attention to it just as his shoe shot off and nailed the other boy in the nose. He followed up quickly by charging forward, throwing a punch square into the boy's throat, making him gag suddenly, then a knee knocked into his stomach to cause him to bend over, and finally Kyo followed up by using that momentum and wrapping his arms around his waist, throwing all of his weight back and body-tossed him into the crowd, which wasn't that hard because of the tiny space such crowds left between themselves and the fighters in question.


With that done, he quickly slipped his shoe back on, just as the expected event took place, and he heard the shouting of a couple of the teachers trying to break up the crowd and get through, he added insult to injury during his escape as he jumped at the boy who was being held up by several people trying to get him off of them, planted a foot in his back for leverage, then jumped over a couple of other students to get out of the crowd and 'book it' out of there as fast as he could to avoid repercussions of the fight.

________________

[I had to guess some of this of course, ya know, given that neither posts actually described a specific area the other characters were in]

A couple of hours later, ditching class of course to avoid being discovered on campus in the same time-frame as a rather vicious fight that could get him in some trouble, he was hanging around the schools cafe, outside actually. He spotted a familiar face and the also familiar sound of a certain person who turns into a spaz when hit with caffeine, quickly hopping up and slipping through a window to sit on it's edge with his feet in a chair, happening to be a couple of feet from Taro, giving him a playful wave, of course by now a black-eye was becoming very obvious on his face. "Heeey, Taro, How's it hangin? I see Josi the Spaz had got some caffeine in him." then to Josuke's mention of this 'channel' "Heh, you sure you didn't just over-dose on Coffee and Hallucinate falling through a TV? Hahah."

Taro rolled his eyes at Josuke's excitement. The kid was unbelievable, but fun to be around. He still had to smile. Falling through a TV...what kind of person would fall for that? He turned to Kyo and smiled. "So that WAS you who got into a fight. Can't say I'm very surprised, just try not to almost get me involved nexBat time." He said with a smile. "Yeah. Black coffee and all. But this midnight channel thing...I've heard it before. There must be SOME truth to it right? What if....we tried it? Stupid I know, but it could be interesting." He shrugged and thought about what he should do for dinner since his parents were gone till tomorrow.

Josuke stopped to think about it for a second. His brain was still rather hot wired though, the caffeine suppressing the production and counter-acting the naturally occurring adenosine thus tricking his mind into thinking it was perfectly fine and functional. Of course, the body felt slightly different, Josuke seeing things a bit off. Luckily, he didn't have rehearsals until next Monday. Still, he was pretty sure he had been to some weird dreamy dimension that was super dark and foggy. "Yo, I'm pretty sure that I went to some weird dreamy dimension where it was super dark and foggy." He remarked.

Then, as Josuke reached to his back to scratch an itch, he felt a sharp pain. reaching and digging into his skin, he pulled a shard of glass, a small blood stain appearing on his shirt.

See ooc.