2025-09-09: Dance the Night Away
- Log: Dance the Night Away
- Cast: Niko Kirisaki, Kurou Ryouhara
- Where: Club Escapade, Tatsumi Port Island
- OOC Date: September 09, 2025
- IC Date: July 08, 2012
- Summary: Niko makes good on her promise to invite Kurou to go out clubbing at Escapade. Time flies when you're having fun - before they know it, midnight falls, and they learn something new about one another...
<Pose Tracker> Niko Kirisaki has posed.
Receiving a bit of bad news doesn't tend to be too big a deal for Niko. So what if Shinjiro is rejoining SEES, something which Strega as a whole is gonna have a problem with? Her philosophy is 'I'll deal with it when it comes up', and it probably won't come up for a while still. Not like it really changes much for her personally. This shouldn't bother her very much at all.
And yet, she feels bothered, and can't really think of another explanation why. Not much she can do about it though, so that only leaves one option. She needs to go do something fun, and make sure it's going to be a solid distraction. What if she called in some assistance? She just about literally does that, except instead of call, she sends a text Kurou's way.
escapade 2nite? meet @ paul ftain
Those are words. Surely Kurou can piece together she meant 'Paulownia Fountain', that's right out front where she previously told him Escapade is. Otherwise he can ask - he'd probably need to reply first anyway, it's not like she remembered to include a time.
She would've gone by herself had that not worked out, however having lucked out, she does indeed meet him at the fountain, immediately waving him over to the club entrance. Where there's a muscular, sunglasses-wearing bouncer waiting outside. This is where you need that Guts - but Niko's already passed that check. She directs fingerguns towards the guy.
"Yo yo yo, it's ya girl Niko!"
Though he doesn't physically move an inch, you can just sense the bouncer mentally facepalm.
"...Hello, Niko. I assume I don't have to repeat the rules?"
"Don't worry, don't worry! You know me, always on my best behavior!"
There is... somewhat of an understanding here. Enough of one to get Niko in, which is all that matters. Well, not quite, this time. This time, there's the matter of Kurou to consider, whom the stone-faced man in shades regards next. Niko preempts the obvious question.
"Oh he's cool, he's with me."
"...Also twenty years old, I presume?"
"You know it!" Nothing suspicious here. ...Right?
Niko glances to Kurou, assuming he knows how to play along and can Guts his way through from there. Totally prepared to cover his mouth if he even thinks about correcting the claim about his age. You gotta work with her, here.
<Pose Tracker> Kurou Ryouhara has posed.
Kurou has his own tasks he's been in the thick of researching and executing. He thinks himself a person happiest when he has concrete goals to focus on, and there is a promise dangling in front of him that fuels the fire. But Kurou is still only human, and he cannot go without rest no matter how much he may fail to remember otherwise.
Getting a message from 'Niko-chan' (it's that way in his phone, too. it's what she said to call her, after all) reminds him of something Umie said. Think of himself as a blade, and try not to rust.
ok comes the return text, but it also comes with three moon emojis. This might be a signal of otherwise understated enthusiasm. It also might be a signal that Kurou's not great at texting.
He doesn't even ask a time! And yet, there he is at Paulownia Fountain, greeting with a simple nod and his usual lack of expression, and letting Niko take the lead on getting entrance into the club. They don't even have to sneak in...
They do have to lie. Perhaps surprisingly, Kurou, mirroring the stone expression of the bounce himself, nods.
... Though he does not offer any additional backup to the story. Perhaps it can be considered a blessing he keeps his mouth shut in the situation.
<Pose Tracker> Niko Kirisaki has posed.
Who cares about time, anyway? If Niko cared about time, she'd be wearing a watch! Probably more than one! It's fine to play that by ear, they both got clubbing experience, they should know the sensible time for it.
That being the case, Kurou only gets three musical note emojis in return. One might get the sense that these should come out of the phone along with some kind of sound effect, but that's not how texting works.
Though she didn't give him any instruction, Kurou can play along well enough - that is, just let Niko handle it. And so, the bouncer responds to that nod from the quiet boy by looking at him a moment longer with narrowed eyes (not that anyone can tell), until Niko jumps in again.
"So, we good? Don't wanna be holding up the line here."
The bouncer just grunts, and jerks his head back as a sign to move along.
"Cool, later~"
Niko just goes ahead and grabs Kurou by the hand, pulling him on in after her. "Nice, nice, easy peasy," she comments, seeing nothing to complain about with Kurou's non-actions. "Just between you and me, that guy? Big ol' softie. It's always super easy to get in when he's the one out front."
Easy for her, anyway. She's worn the man down so much that he's stopped arguing anything. Twenty years old? Sure. Call her by her first name? Whatever. As long as she gets what she wants, she won't keep talking.
Besides, it's not like Niko was lying - well about her age, sure, but that's the only thing. She's never caused any trouble for the club, so far. She's not stupid, she'll play by the rules if it keeps her from getting kicked out of a place she likes to hang out at.
Talking becomes harder past the entrance - the electronic dance music is loud, and the beats heavy. Niko singles out a few faces, greeting people with hand signals as the only viable way from a distance, notably including a shady-looking man seated at a table in the back. But she doesn't spend too much time on that, she has a guest, after all.
Niko wastes no time in indicating the dance floor, raising her voice to invite Kurou, "Show me your moves!" Surely he's got some moves, he's gone clubbing before.
<Pose Tracker> Kurou Ryouhara has posed.
Kurou does tap his finger to those musical notes a few times. But phones don't have that feature. :( But he does know clubbing hours, and this serves him well enough. Niko serves to get them through, and Kurou led by the hand with only that first moment of resistance before he realizes he is being taken along, like a dog that doesn't realize its leash is about to go taut.
"... You're good with people, Niko-chan," he observes, once they're safely through the threshold, in that moment of quiet before the club becomes noise.
He probably isn't aware that this might be through attrition. He probably wouldn't change his opinion even if he did. It's twice now he's seen her seemingly effortlessly dissolve the tension of a situation...
But then the club, as all clubs must, does become noise. Lights and noise and rhythm. Kurou's gaze pierces through it, curiously noting who Niko identifies within the club, and that table in the back... They don't go there, they go to the dance floor.
"Mm," Kurou agrees, though it might be nearly impossible to hear such a response under a beat throbbing this loud. He stretches his neck back and forth a moment, taking a deep breath in, and out, and goes still. It's like he doesn't hear the music at all, acting like he's gone through a stroll in the park and is simply absorbing the atmosphere.
Then, he finally moves.
Kurou's face doesn't do much. Neither does his voice. Blank faced and monotone. Subdued in all he does. Polite but to the point, and some might even say meticulous in manner. His dancing is an entirely different animal altogether: he moves with fluid, but forceful steps to the beat, and tosses of his head to even get his hair a part of the rhythm of it. Hardly shy, it might be better called aggressive.
They may have lied to get in, but Kurou did not lie, evidently, about clubbing before.
<Pose Tracker> Niko Kirisaki has posed.
Niko, predictably, smiles brightly at being called 'Niko-chan'. "You might say that," is her slightly enigmatic reply to the assertion that she's good with people. She's certainly good at getting what she wants from them. But if there is some kind of trick to it, she doesn't seem about to go into any further details. Secrets...
But all that ceased to matter the moment they pass the threshold into laser beam central. Verbal skills don't matter here, it's all about the groove. Niko never assumed Kurou wasn't telling the truth about clubbing experience, but she absolutely has been curious about his game. Which is why she doesn't move onto the floor herself right away, but watches on from the sidelines with interest. He's hard to read normally, with how little he reacts to things... how would he go about an activity like this, where the point is to let go of your inhibitions?
Turns out, he DOES know how to do that. Somehow, he manages to still look like businesslike as he does it, but there's no denying, there's a lot of feeling behind those moves. Which Niko absolutely approves of, though her exact words are lost between the beats. Those don't matter right now anyway, right now it's time to dance!
It is likely no surprise that Niko's style shows similar aggression. Her moves are so sharp and deliberate, one might describe it as a storm, bottled in a human frame. Limbs that slice through the air with precision, hips that don't sway so much as strike with the beat, owning the ground beneath her with heavy footwork. She's not dancing with the music, she's attacking it, carving through it, and making it her own. She doesn't dance to entertain, but to dominate the space.
Her smile, so commonly present, is absent, now. Her face is set, expression focused, and eyes locked on Kurou's, as if daring him to meet her gaze, challenging him to not look away. For a time, it's as if there's a genuine dance battle going on.
Until suddenly, she starts to - in a word - drift. Abruptly breaking eye contact, she moves out from in front of Kurou, as her dance sees her moving across the dance floor, in a seemingly randomly manner. She doesn't look back, not seeming to expect Kurou to follow, and may in fact have stopped looking at anything. She seems almost in a trance, losing herself in the music. Yet she must on some level still be aware of her surroundings, otherwise she would be bumping into things and people all over the place, which never ends up happening. The fact that few people pay much attention to this speaks to the fact that this doesn't come as much of a surprise, to anyone who knows her.
In this way, time passes...
Niko's worked up quite a sweat by the time she was ready for a break. But she still doesn't look tired, and is perfectly fine with a position at a standing table rather than needing a seat. Though no place in the club could be called 'quiet', it's at least somewhat easier to talk here.
The first words out of Niko's mouth being, "Dude, that was amazing. Got me all fired up with your moves, you know your stuff!" Sure, she wasn't really paying attention to Kurou anymore after a point, but that doesn't mean she didn't appreciate that. Though after all that, the next order of business is obvious. "You want a drink? My treat!"
<Pose Tracker> Kurou Ryouhara has posed.
She's a very animated person, Kurou thinks. It's all bright and seems to come easy. Maybe that's part of the secret to being good with people. It isn't something he could pull off, though someone might find it entertaining if he tried.
But then he's set loose to dance, where his body speaks easier than his mouth and face do. When Niko joins in, he doesn't consciously recognize it in the moment how similar it is... each explosive in their emphasis, moving with the spirit of being on a battlefield instead of a dance floor.
However, they aren't here to think consciously. Instinct understands. Niko meets his gaze, and Kurou's amber eyes are vivid with fiery intensity. The fight begins now in earnest, momentum and energy building. Kurou matches her energy when he isn't trying to spark its escalation by increasing the rhythm and savage force of each punctuated movement.
Then she... drifts away. Kurou falters, only for a moment, as the tempo they were trading is interrupted in this way. He does not stop, but he slows, watching curiously the way she weaves through people in her space without of slicing through them. He doesn't know what to consciously make of that, either. But once again, something in his instincts latches on and wonders.
Eventually, as all things do, it ends.
Kurou's breath is more labored, and though he has the training to mask it, it's not possible to fully hide in this proximity. He leans against the standing table slightly, one foot resting on its toes so he can roll his ankle. He switches to the other, after a moment.
But other than that, he's otherwise back to his blank looks and monotone speech. "... I forget how relaxing it can be..." Drinks, though. Kurou glances toward the bar. "Mm... I don't know the menu here. Anything with ice would be fine."
<Pose Tracker> Niko Kirisaki has posed.
Niko is absolutely the kind to push her luck. Why wouldn't she, when it causes things like this very night to happen? Having now displayed its merits, she might just encourage Kurou to do the same. This could get very entertaining indeed.
As for the dance... she doesn't comment on it otherwise. She was just dancing the way she wants to, the same way she does everything the way she wants to. It's the only way to be, the only way that makes sense. The only way to keep her mind off things that she doesn't want to think about. For this to be relaxing to Kurou... might it be the same for him?
Whatever the case, she would have to admit... she underestimated how much it could add to the experience, having someone else there who could match her, step by step. Looks like she made a good call in getting Kurou involved. No surprise there, of course, her calls are usually good, ask anyone.
Somehow, even after all that time, Niko still looks like she could go another round. Where does she get all that energy? At least she's not immune to her throat getting parched. She answers Kurou's vague drink request with, "Got it, I'll get you a cold one!"
...Presumably she doesn't mean beer. It may be easier to believe that when you consider that beer doesn't usually come with ice, rather than pondering whether the claims about her age could get her that far.
However... there is an unforeseen issue. Niko wouldn't have believed it if you told her, but they got so into it back there that they were, in fact, dancing for hours. And if either of them would check the current time, they would see...
23:59
Niko isn't going to, though. She's only just gotten to the bar, trying to get someone's attention, when...
23:59:57
23:59:58
23:59:59
The world goes green.
And Niko finds herself staring at a coffin behind the counter. She doesn't need to turn around to know that the entire club is going to be filled with them. Her astonished look quickly makes way for a grimace of frustration.
"Ahh, fuck!" In an impulse, she grabs the nearest glass off the counter, stealing whatever random person's random drink that was, and downs it in one gulp. It burns on the way on the down. She doesn't care.
Slamming the glass back down, she continues her tirade, "Can't even fuckin' dance the night away without this bullshit, now what am I supposed to do for a whole fuckin' hour!?" Not suspecting, of course, that anyone might still be able to hear her...
<Pose Tracker> Kurou Ryouhara has posed.
It was a good call on Niko's part. There is something beyond Kurou's stone surface... it it smothered? Trapped? Held back? Whatever the case may be, it was able to escape here, and Kurou was content to let it without reservation. He thinks on it, what he thought Niko dancing would be like, if he'd stopped to ask himself before. It's hard to do, now that he's seen it: Niko-chan is Niko-chan, the way all things simple are themselves.
Niko thankfully accepts his vague request. Even if he does not say it, perhaps he enjoys the added element of surprise...?
She has more than enough energy to spare. Kurou has to wonder, then, if it's her that has too much, or if it's him that's struggling, as he tries to get the pins and needles out of the soles of his feet. It didn't feel like hours. He hasn't checked the time, either...
And then the Dark Hour reminds him.
Kurou feels it before he sees it, his breathlessness ceasing and the discomfort he built draining out of his limbs. He looks up over the coffins and sees --
Well, he sees Niko. Who is not in a coffin. He also hears Niko, who has some colorful language about all of the coffins. At first he's tense, but then her complaining takes a turn for griping on a familiar problem. Not her first time, then.
He lets out a breath. And then he approaches, complexion far brighter than it was before the Dark Hour began.
"... It will be harder without the music," he says behind her.
<Pose Tracker> Niko Kirisaki has posed.
If Niko were on the outside, seeing her own reaction, she might find it comical how abruptly she whirls around, back to the bar counter, with that dumbfounded look on her face. But she isn't, so it's anything but.
Kurou is... still there. She didn't even hear his footsteps before she heard his voice. More than that - even though it should have been obvious in such a loud place, she hadn't even taken particular notice of the sudden quiet when the music cut out. Has she gotten this used to it? To the Dark Hour in general... as well as being alone at this time?
But she's certainly not alone this time. Kurou somehow strikes a different figure in the green light... but that only stands to reason, doesn't it? She's looking at him in a different light in more ways than one. She made the reasonable assumption, before. Now that it's been proven wrong, how does she feel about it?
Slowly, the corners of her mouth elevate, taking the shape of the kind of smile she most commonly bears.
"...Well well well. Guess there was more to you than meets the eye, huh? I'm glad, Kurou-chan, I really am. It gets real lonely when reality falls apart."
Skirting past a coffin, she grabs another glass off the bar counter, then takes a step forward, holding it out to Kurou. "You want this? It's got ice." She squints, examining the unknown liquid, unable to be sure if it was originally green or not. Then she shakes her head, concluding, "Don't know what it is otherwise. Don't matter though, right? Not like anyone'll get on your case if it turns out to be..."
She pauses for effect, before whispering in a way that still easily carries through this silence, "An Adult Drink."
<Pose Tracker> Kurou Ryouhara has posed.
Kurou's well practiced in moving silently, especially when it comes to the Dark Hour. He isn't trying it now, but it often happens unconsciously. Move without sound. Mask his breathing. It doesn't have to be that way now, nor even right now. Niko is here with him in this strange stillness and silence, when all the world sleeps like death.
He awaits her response, showing none of his own surprise. She's here now, so that's the truth of it: Niko sees the Dark Hour, and though it annoys her, she does not seem afraid.
"It does," he agrees of loneliness. A simple response, if a little quieter.
Being alone in the Dark Hour is how Kurou knew it for a long time, too.
He accepts the glass of ice, taking one of the cubes out to inspect. He doesn't really need it during this time, under Gashadokuro's vigil... Though it isn't as if all the sensations fade. He presses the cube against his shoulder, just at the base of his neck, while sipping the drink with his other hand.
There's a pause as he consider the burn of it.
"It is," he confirms.
He takes another sip. It seems, at first, like this entirely too casual situation will continue despite their odd circumstances, but he finally speaks again.
"... How confident are you if we encounter Shadows?"
<Pose Tracker> Niko Kirisaki has posed.
Really, she should have suspected something from the beginning. People don't normally act the way Kurou does. All quiet, and going along with everything you say, looking confused at the most simple things. Normally takes effort to get people to see things her way, and the confusion is usually directed at her. It would all make sense if she's dealing with someone like her. She only wishes she wasn't so intimately familiar with the kind of things that can... warp someone.
Which begs the question... how much does he know, about this whole thing, in general? But that's a question she won't ask. Asking questions will get you asked questions in return. It's all but certain she would be confronted with the very things she'd been trying to avoid, by engaging in activities such as the one tonight. She's not gonna harsh her own buzz after such a good time, especially now that she's getting more than she bargained for, in a good way.
Still with the terse responses, that hasn't really changed. He's also still agreeing with everything she says. Though she somehow gets the impression that this might not be as absolute of a guarantee as before. Whatever the case may be though, he does accept the drink, and--
Niko openly stares, the way Kurou handles that ice cube, and casually sips the alcoholic beverage. Her hand goes to her neck as she awkwardly looks away. "Damn. Somehow makes it worse, knowing that you're not even doing that to act cool."
She is not elaborating on that, returning to her previous bearing in short order. There's that smile again. "What are you doing though, with those baby sips. C'mon, you're supposed to chug that shit." Like she did, just now. She definitely isn't regretting that a little bit.
Asked about Shadows, she makes a 'pfft' noise, waving a hand like it's no thing. "Shadows ain't even interesting as target practice." Which is not a direct answer to the question, but she doesn't exactly sound concerned by the idea of that happening. "Why you asking? Planning to go take a stroll out there, or what?"
<Pose Tracker> Kurou Ryouhara has posed.
Maybe he should have noticed it, too. But Niko seems so normal to Kurou. She can smile and laugh and talk to people. She's friendly and she knows what she likes and what she doesn't. It wasn't until her dance that an intuition suspected something off.
Dots are starting to connect. The loneliness when reality falls apart...
The loneliness when everything around you shatters, and the person you used to be dies.
"... Worse than what?" Kurou asks, obliviously taking another sip. But she's giving him another one of those smiles that reminds him of a cat that's noticed something moving.
"Will that make it taste better?" Kurou asks when she suggests a big chug. This suggests he may not be enjoying the taste of it. (Then why does he keep sipping it?) He does not wait for an answer before throwing it back all at once like a shot.
After he swallows, he considers it for a few moments with a flick of his tongue over his upper lip for the residue still clinging there. He looks back at Niko. "That didn't make it taste better." A simple observation and verdict.
Kurou's ice cube gets melty, so he crunches it between his teeth before to replacing with a fresh one. It's easier now that the glass is empty of the rest of the drink. Some of the water gets absorbed by the neck of his hoodie, but it's more than thick enough to keep this from feeling overly damp.
"It depends on how long the Hour lasts," he says. He's known it to, on rare occasion, last longer than a literal hour. "You seem like someone who would prefer the front line, but... sometimes people selves are... different here." Persona, he means, but he also means something a little more. Something harder to articulate: how someone's nature can shift when the rules around them change.
"I wanted to know what to prioritize if one found its way in."
<Pose Tracker> Niko Kirisaki has posed.
Niko would sure find it hilarious to know that Kurou straight up thought of her as normal. Proof positive there's something wrong with him, if he couldn't immediately tell there's something wrong with her. Of course she's aware of that, people are right to say it, she's not bothered by the truth.
But that's fine. He's still pretty funny right now, still doing exactly what she says. Fair's fair, he chugged it like a champ, but he can't be serious. Did he actually think that would go down better, or even literally improve the taste somehow?? She busts out laughing, holding her stomach as she does so, needing a moment before she can speak again.
"Ohhh, Kurou-chan, you're adorable." She can't manage anything else before groaning. "...You're not one of those iron stomach kinda dudes, right? Don't make me suffer alone here."
If it somehow all makes sense to Kurou if suffering were to be the point of all this, Niko is giving up trying to figure this guy out. At least at this point it should be obvious enough to even him that she isn't feeling well.... right?
Having not had the same observation about the Dark Hour, Niko lets out a short chuckle in spite of herself. "You're wondering how long an Hour lasts? Gee, lemme think about that one." She shakes her head, in regards to how things might be different. "Eh. I'm pretty 'what you see is what you get'."
The muscles, she means. She can throw and take a punch. It's different on the inside though. "Ughh... gonna be sick."
<Pose Tracker> Kurou Ryouhara has posed.
See, there she is, laughing again. Normal-like. It's a nice sound, Kurou thinks. Not as gratifying as the other laugh when he first called her 'Niko-chan', but close. Even if, once again, he's not precisely sure what triggered it.
Adorable... His head tilts a little at that. Like a matching umbrella handle...? (Kurou, no.)
"Sorry. I probably won't feel it until after this is over." He gestures to the Dark Hour around them. It's implying more about the quirks of his own Awakening than Kurou might ordinarily give away freely, but Niko is his friend now, and he doesn't see a need to keep secrets. Not that he sees fit to elaborate, either.
It's one of those things, he figures, will speak for itself in time. After this, Kurou suspects they'll be seeing even more of one another.
But at lease he's not so obtuse that he hasn't clued in on Niko having a bad time of it. "Did you eat anything before we came here?" he asks. That actually is a foolish question, he realizes belatedly. They were dancing for hours without realizing it. It may not have mattered if they had. Kurou vaults over the counter of the club and begins looking around. Not above crime, this one. Unfortunately, bars don't often have much in the way of carbs.
He vaults back over, handing her a bottled water he found instead.
"I think I did see some vending machines outside. I can bring you something."
<Pose Tracker> Niko Kirisaki has posed.
Well granted, Niko's reactions are pretty normal, the way she sees it. Any normal person would laugh at what just happened, right? Look at him, he doesn't even realize his expectations were totally weird, you can't help but laugh. Even when you wish that laughter was the only reason your stomach's hurting.
And he doesn't even have the decency to suffer with her, tch. She's not going to think too deeply about that oddly specific phrasing right now, though she might wonder about that later. Not that Iron Stomach doesn't parse as a believable ability for a Persona to grant.
"Man, why're you asking about food?" is the only response to that question. Food is about the last thing she wants to think about right now. And she's not actually aware of how it might matter. What a way to learn that alcohol on an empty stomach is generally a bad idea.
She does take some of the water, though by the way she grimaces, and covers her mouth shortly after, it may not have helped much. She rapidly shakes her head when he mentions getting her something from vending machines. Hopefully he won't be so dense as to not understand why she suddenly starts to head for the exit. And why she doesn't vocalize too much about the reason.
"I-I gotta go," she states initially, turning after taking a few steps to urge Kurou, "Don't... follow me," before she breaks into a run to make it outside in time. She'd really prefer him not seeing what's about to happen.
<Pose Tracker> Kurou Ryouhara has posed.
Even the stomach hurting is a pretty normal reaction. Kurou might strike as someone who can handle eating or drinking that which one shouldn't, given how he doesn't seem to be picky about... anything. But in this particular case, he is operating at an unfair advantage. Poor Niko... her misery goes without company.
"Because..." he trails off, wisely sensing that Niko may not be in the mood for his explanations. It might be too late for food to help. But if that is the case, it's better she purge it than to keep the poison in. And what else do you call alcohol but recreation poison? (Kurou no one calls it that.)
"... Was this your first time?" Kurou asks instead with a blink of uncertainty. After Niko tries the water, she looks a little worse. Would a Patra Gem help in this situation...?
It would be a problem, if she were targeted by a Shadow right now. Kurou would want to act fast, in the worse case scenario. He doesn't quite understand why Niko needs the privacy for how her body is going to solve this problem, but does at least pick up that she wants it. So instead, he waits by the entrance, one hand inside his vest, feeling carefully over the handle of a hidden blade...
... And the other holding a Patra Gem.