2025-09-10: Is The Gun Absolutely Necessary?
- Log: 2025-09-10
- Cast: So-young Park, Yukari Takeba
- Where: Shibuya Ward, Tokyo
- OOC Date: September 09, 2025
- IC Date: July 08, 2012
- Summary: Sometimes it's important to ask the question. Sometimes it's important to take some time for yourself. Sometimes it's important to stuff your face with sweets.
<Pose Tracker> So-young Park has posed.
So-young is not, thankfully, in the Big Bang Burger. This is not to say she's never been in there - she has certainly had days where she's mildly tipsy at 11pm and the nearby convenience stores have sold out of half-price bento. But this is not that day. With Myunghon on the mend and things seemingly settled in Sumaru for the time being, and with her being between performances, she's allowing herself a lazy day off, and for So-young that means 'elegantly lounging some place I can be seen'.
The cafe she's picked is very pretty - airy and open, with light furnishings and a very large window overlooking Shibuya some few stories below. There's gentle birdsong playing over the speakers, together with a soft piano that So-young is gently drumming her fingers along to. She's seated at one of the window tables, alternating between gazing out over the city for inspiration and down at the things on her table. She's not actually looking for inspiration, she just wants to look the part and draw as much attention as possible her way.
Her two-tone and mostly white hair tends to draw the eye regardless, but just in case she's decided to be extra vain today, wearing a particularly gothic dress straight out of Harajuku fashion with possibly a bit more frill than a twenty-seven year old ought to be wearing. A cup of hot chocolate is in one hand, and a slice of something darkly sweet and peppermint laid out in front of her.
Honestly, So-young is actually pretty bad at lazy days off. For her, it's just a chance to direct her endless attention towards something else instead, so she's already worked through a bunch of enquiries for her next string of performances, she has a few sheets of staff paper laid out on the table in front of her, and she's just waved goodbye to a local newbie idol who's commissioned her for a composition. She's making kind of a name for herself by offering quite the discount to solo performers who need to get a start.
<Pose Tracker> Yukari Takeba has posed.
It's a Sunday in Shibuya, and Yukari Takeba is here in Tokyo. The reason is ostensibly to shop, and shop she has. Just... not as much as one might think for a day trip to Tokyo to shop.
The real reason?
Well. That's why she has her an evoker with her. Not that she wouldn't bring it anyway with knowing there are Persona wielding lunatics out there. Just - she wants to make sure that feeling is gone from Shibuya.
That buzz of wrongness, the glimpses of another world beyond the veil in her mind's eye. A piece of trash remains a piece of trash, and not a yen bill. A man selling jewelry at the front of the alley doesn't become an ATM.
That weird static...? It's not there. The true test comes when she places an Evoker to her forehead in a restroom stall as she focused on Kaneshiro's smug face and his weird UFO bank and...
Click
Nothing happens.
Part of her slumps with relief, but a nagging suspicion remains. "Why did that world collapse after he vanished? What exactly did they do there?"
Well there she is, thinking of grabbing a meal before the train ride back to Tatsumi Port Island and, checking reviews, before she finally picks, "Okay. That one. And I'm making today a cheat day. I'll just... avoid Azuki Arai the rest of the week. It'll be fineeeee."
Several stories later, she's entering and- catches a glimpse of So-Young in profile.
"Wait... don't I know her?" Then... "Ohhhh... right." The context with which she knows her is pretty embarrassing right? Someone saw her weakness. Someone talked straight to that vulnerability, and talked it down.
Furthermore...
She can't even remember what her name is! Were they not ever introduced!?
Mortified, she was torn between her sense of gratitude versus that teenager embarrassment, before she sighs, "I really should try to thank her at least."
This led to her approaching, with a bag from SOLOQLO being held by a hand over her shoulder, her purse hanging off it just below. Yukari is wearing a pink halter top, with flared ankle jeans that offer a contrasting slightly vintage look.
"Hey there. I can't say I expected to see anyone from our little... trip here today, but it's a nice surprise. How are you doing?"
Okay. Fake it until you make it. You don't need askkkkk for her name. There's sure to be other ways to figure that out!!!
(She hopes)
"I uh, just wanted to thank you for... you know, with all that happened in there, and what you said. It really helped me hold it together."
<Pose Tracker> So-young Park has posed.
One day So-young will manage to reconcile the idea of teenagers shooting themselves in the head with guns, even ones that as far as she knows are fake, but thankfully it doesn't have to quite be today. She's still humming under her breath along with the light music as Yukari walks up to her - but she turns suspiciously quickly, like she's all but ready for someone to come up to her and offer a compliment.
Instead, her eyebrows raise on her head. There's a _very_ similar pause where So-young has to spool her memory back, has to put context to why she's being thanked, has to realize she doesn't know this young woman's name - but she's got a lot more self-assurance and overinflated poise than Yukari does, and nothing about that long pause stops the dazzling smile on her face or the way she immediately waves Yukari to the chair opposite her.
"I'm very well, thank you! I thought I'd indulge a little after spending so much time in Sumaru recently. It's a fascinating place, but sometimes nothing can beat being in familiar stomping grounds," she beams. "Plus, I've been eating far too responsibly lately. I'm not about to try doing a high tea by my own, but I can at least consume half my weight in sugar. Try a bit," she adds as she nudges the sweet Yukari's way without any reserve.
Busying herself with cleaning space on the table, she pauses at the hesitant thanks, and her eyebrows raise high on her head again. "No, no, no! You don't need to thank me at all! Truth be told, it was only my second trip," she admits with a wink as she at least shuffles the staff paper together, lines of music neatly filling each sheet though not fully, like she's bouncing between a few different ideas.
Her smile is tinged ever so slightly with that same sort of quiet understanding. "I can assure you, I'm still figuring it all out myself. I've just got a lot more practice when it comes to stage fright." A beat. "That, and being righteously furious. That does help a lot," she winks again.
<Pose Tracker> Yukari Takeba has posed.
This is in a sense the difference between a teenager and an adult. As popular and adept as Yukari may seem at handling herself when say - a boy at her school is asking her out, it doesn't mean that she has it together.
Nor too does she realize that an adult is simply a teenager who is better at the whole 'fake it until you make it' part of life, being more experienced enough to perhaps - for a lucky few, earn some measure of confidence and poise.
"Oh! I'm glad to hear that..." Before she smiles, "Eating responsibly huh? Yeah, that's been me lately. So I thought I'd be a little irresponsible myself."
She blinks in surprise at the offer, "Oh! Ah- you really don't mind?" She hasn't even sat down yet, really, but taking that as an invitation, she places her purse upon the table once a space is cleaned, and loops her shopping bag over part of the chair.
And then she does try a bite, "Mmmm...! Oh geez, it tastes almost too good after a week without any sweets..." But she really doesn't have to thank her.
The wink she at least realizes is her playing along, "Well... even so, I feel like I should..." She admits to the idea she doesn't have to thank her.
Then she admits she has a lot of experience with stage fright which suddenly takes Yukari aback, "Stage fright?" Her mind tries to grasp the context of what kind of stage fright she's had to manage, only coming up with, "Oh I- didn't realize you had that much experience performing. Aha... though... I'm not sure I could think of it the same way as, getting up on stage..."
A fingertip brushes the side of her hair in a nervous gesture. It's just, the deadly context...? She can't really consider performing as her brain taking it... quite that seriously.
<Pose Tracker> So-young Park has posed.
"A little irresponsibility is the responsible thing," So-young states as if she were some sort of sage, before puffing out a breath. "Not to make myself sound old or anything, but I'm fully aware of how easy it is to reach a breaking point if you don't treat yourself every so often."
"Of course I don't mind! I'd be delighted. I'm done with all my business for the day, and I was just taking it easy on my own. Hanging around in a pleasant cafe doing a bit of socializing is probably going to be a lot better for me than hitting the arcade." That's... hard to picture, especially the way she's dressed right now, but the confidence in her smile speaks volumes. She's probably prepared to terrorize a bunch of gamers at any given moment.
With a satisfied nod at Yukari's reaction to the peppermint slice, the conductor tilts her head. "I'm not so humble that I won't turn down thanks, of course! I suppose my point is just that I understand. I've had to do a great deal of catching up with things that I never knew about in the past few weeks, let alone the grenades!" She drops the last word in there like a keystone falling into place. "So I suppose you could say I had already had my trial by fire."
The confusion over stage fright is what truly makes her shine, though, and there's some relish in her smile. "Oh, I've met a few actors who would think it were the end of the world if a prop was ever so slightly out of place," she sniggers. "So wound up you could power a watch with them, that sort of thing. I suppose you're right that it's not really the same, but it's the closest I've got."
She does pause a little, not least because she wants to let the waitresses get well out of earshot before she continues. "I was, truthfully, rather worried. I can at least recognize that side of Sumaru is full of allegory and metaphor and fantasy, but--..." she lowers her voice with a glum frown and a huff, losing a little of its flair as it gives way to exasperated confusion. "...--is the gun quite necessary? Surely there are healthier forms of self-expression??"
<Pose Tracker> Yukari Takeba has posed.
"So you say, but I'm not sure if my scale will agree in the morning." Yukari replies with an awareness of what her actions will wreak. The back and forth struggle, the battle for even just a few pounds.
Not that she's an unhealthy weight or anything, really the opposite. It's just she wants to keep it that way.
"Well then I'd be happy to join you. And really, I prefer the cafe myself." There's a long-suffering sigh, "I hang around too many gamers lately who'd definitely disagree with that, but I just don't see the appeal really. Give me a good meal and some nice conversation any day."
The act of accepting it despite the attempt at humility causes her to smile, "Yeah, same really?" She says, taking another small slice of peppermint.
"Like I knew something of it I guess, it was just, very different from what I'm used to? Like verryyyyy very different."
So different you might as well change the genre in her mind? Then there's a smile at the thought, "Oh I bet, so you're an actress then?" She asks, hoping she's getting warmer on her journey to figuring out her name without her finding out.
"I mean, I get that there's pressure but... compare it to a... giant pig thing, and trying to keep everyone alive?" She realizes what she's saying, and tries to hush up before someone thinks she's being a Chuuni three years too late, "You get what I mean."
Then she brings up...
"Ah. Well..." Her expression changes to one of unease and mild embarrassment, "I can't exactly say I like it either, you know? Who wants to do that? I even had a cop think I was..." She makes a gesture that dismisses her actually saying it but it's pretty obvious what happened when someone sees a teenager putting a gun to their head, "... I didn't actually realize there was any other way until recently though?"
There's an exasperated sigh again, "It's just, the only way I can do it apparently? Since I didn't play some weird ancient game when I was a kid. Like... I'd definitely wish it looked differently, but they kinda implied if it's not that, it wouldn't work the same?"
Yukari offers a weak shrug, "I don't even know... it's not like I know how they're made. Just that... I need one."
<Pose Tracker> So-young Park has posed.
"Your scale is a philistine which only wishes to hurt you. Ignore it." Okay, that's definitely So-young being a hypocrite, given how vain she clearly is, but she presents the argument with an ironclad self-confidence that brooks no dissent as she takes a long sip of her hot chocolate.
"Oh, I don't play games _with_ anyone," she airily grins when she looks back up. "That just leads to trouble. I simply have a pair of noise cancelling headphones and a personal vendetta against every rhythm game that I haven't yet completed, or else a deep hankering to hammer on some drums until I get blisters. Don't-- do that last part," she adds quickly, catching herself. "It is not pleasant the next day, they will be between your thumb and your index finger. It is terrible. Bring gloves."
See, this was supposed to be a 'lazy' cafe trip, and here she is practically motormouthing. She settles back in her chair, and beams all over again - this time wistfully - at the idea of being an actress. "Once upon a time, maybe, or in another life. My mother dearest is an actress, actually, and I always thought I'd go the same way. Thankfully, I managed to figure out what I actually wanted to do was music."
"Well," So-young hums thoughtfully. "I will admit that I never really thought that far past the end of my nose. All I can really say is that the results speak for themselves - everyone did, in fact, stay alive. Stage fright is inevitable, and I've found the best way to deal with it is to simply accept it and look back at your performance afterwards. From that side of things, it often seems like a very minor thing."
If So-young were better at understanding, she might be able to intuit something about the Evokers representing a death of the self, or maybe a very direct facing of your fears. As it is, she simply grimaces and has to accept that for what it is. "Bleh," she even goes so far as to say. "For some reason, it doesn't phase me when Shinjiro does it, as if it perfectly suits him. But anyone else? I would like to tell the inventor how distasteful it is."
<Pose Tracker> Yukari Takeba has posed.
It's simply a variant of what she said just a moment ago in a sense but- "That's easy for you to say." Yukari says, like she doesn't believe she could ignore it if she tried, "It just helps me to discipline myself I guess? Because it forces me to actually think about it."
Then So-Young reveals her form of gaming and- "Eh? O-Oh! Like... those dance games. Yeah I know some of my classmates who got really into 'Drug Dog Revolution'." Yukari does seem a little puzzled perhaps by it, but she's just not a gamer kind of person.
Drums though? She files that part away.
It's another clue, MAYBE!
"I'll keep that in mind."
Though perhaps she still seems a little confused! She's just not that much of a gamer. And part of it is that she's gender poisoned in her brain so hard in this respect.
"Oh wow! That's super impressive." She says, seeming genuine about that, "I mean I love music of course, but I've never had any real talent for playing an instrument. Though... the only one I ever tried were those dumb recorders we were required to play in music class in elementary school."
She was far, far too happy to throw that thing away at the end of the year. But jealousy does creep in, in a weird sense. Her mother being an actress, her thinking she'd go the same way...
It says something of her relationship with her mother. "Did your Mom take that pretty well? You know... I can imagine there being a lot of pressure."
Accept the fear and look back afterwards? There's a moment where Yukari looks down, like she's trying to work through it.
"Yeah... that makes a lot of sense."
Still, she doesn't try to say too much about her feelings on that matter, because it's embarrassing!!!
Then she brings up Shinjiro and she grimaces, "Honestly - it seems too on the nose even in his case. You saw what happened there on the platform that night..."
With him getting in the way, demanding the cop shoot him. "...Iiii would prefer it be anything else for him too."
A beat, as she second guesses that.
"Well not anything else- but you know what I mean."
<Pose Tracker> So-young Park has posed.
So-young grins brightly. "Well, I'll dance too, but I'm mostly up for the ones you play like a piano, of course," she mimes the motion after putting her cup down, two hands following the music along as she closes her eyes to better place it. "Don't think of it as playing a game, think of it as losing yourself to the music. Or just hammering out your frustrations. Whatever helps you unwind!" she beams happily.
For a moment it looks like she might save Yukari her angst and actually reveal her business card, the way she suddenly fishes in her purse, but instead she takes out a slim case. Inside it is a small spike of metal with a handle on one end, and So-young telescopes it out into a length of about a foot - a conductor's baton.
She conducts along with the music instead, one hand marking the time and the other directing the notes. "This is my personal speciality," she admits with another wink. "But one of the things I like about the field is that any musician will end up blurring the lines. Piano players who dabble in the drums, violinists who pick up guitars, flute players who could take that recorder and make it sing, however ridiculous it might sound. I think it might be because I'm headstrong. The idea appeals a lot more than playing a role."
"Talent is helpful, but practice works too. Ultimately, though, the best thing is just to find something you like," she grins, because she's clearly puffing up as if she's an overly pompous teacher, or perhaps her mother, playing it up before she abruptly stops to add: "You are allowed to still be figuring out what exactly that is."
Her enthusiasm cannot survive a reference to That Night without having to take a backseat for a bit, and she sighs out a faint breath. "Yes. I do agree. Honestly, the biggest thing I can say is that neither of you should have to be in that situation, as far as I'm concerned, but I also understand there is sometimes not a choice. You know, I got _pulled_ into that place my first time? I was just minding my own business snooping on my newfound sibling, and suddenly a flying bank."
There's... a lot to take in in that last speech, despite So-young bulling her way straight through it.
<Pose Tracker> Yukari Takeba has posed.
"Huh." Lose yourself to the music, huh? "I never thought of it that way." Then again, she's mostly listening to music in private, not public isn't she? Or at least with headphones at the store...
... Yukari just can't imagine herself 'letting go' like that. She's the type of person who needs to keep control over herself, all the time.
When So-Young fishes in her purse she wonders if this might be it, then-
"You're a Conductor? Wow! ... And I heard it was really difficult for a woman to be one too."
Because so many male musicians are just personalities that don't like to take direction for women.
"I didn't realize that I'd come across someone who did something as amazing as that." She said, almost apologetically, like she was taking her too lightly or something.
The idea of crossing specialties, blurring the lines in music, well, she can't imagine. After all, her Persona was especially suited towards... support. It's not like she can't do other things, it's just it's what she does best.
"Aha... well mostly I just like listening to music, more than trying to make it. Though maybe I never gave it a fair try too? I think in school we all just kind of resented it because we were forced to do it."
Allowed to still be figuring out exactly what she likes? Well... she's never heard it put that way, but at the same time, there's something that feels off about that, like shouldn't she just grasp what she likes too?
There's something frightening about putting yourself out there just to figure out what one likes.
But the conversation on Evokers, well?
"... Well. I mean, I didn't have a choice to wake up in the Dark Hour the first time." Yukari says, in agreement, "Butttt... as much as I don't like... that thing. It's my choice to put it to my head and pull the trigger."
A beat.
Then about HALF of that is processed as she recoils a little, "Wait a minute did you just say snooping on your newfound sibling? What exactly happened there?"
<Pose Tracker> So-young Park has posed.
"'Difficult' is not the half of it. You also have to deal with aged directors who think that anything under fifty counts as 'young and untested'," So-young points out with some amount of sharp teeth hiding in the back of her grin. "Fortunately, I am both extremely rude and extremely willing to ruffle people's feathers until I get results. Besides, they can't deny how many people I've brought in to the weekday concerts at the Bunkamura." The Bunkamura itself isn't far - just a few streets away, a large concert hall and theatre space in the middle of Shibuya.
"Still, I am only the person at the front of the audience waving a stick around. The musicians are just as much a part of the whole proceedings." So she says in a friendly, upbeat way that tries to downplay the praise... but you can see her nose threatening to lengthen to a self-important size as she drinks it in anyway. It's not very hard to spot that one.
She blinks back as Yukari relates her early experiences with music, and drums her fingers on the table again. "Ah... no, I think that's fair to say. If you turn it around, that's what happened to me and becoming an actress. Everyone was so sure I would follow in my mother's footsteps, that was all I could imagine for the longest time."
Pausing, she beams towards a waitress to flag her over to the table, taking the opportunity to order a fancy-looking sandwich from the menu. It's so small! The crusts are cut off! And yet they're calling it a club sandwich? Still, she's here for the experience.
When she looks back, she's terribly pleased to get that reaction from Yukari. "Oh! You wouldn't know, of course. That was what brought me to Sumaru in the first place. About a week before that whole business with the Palace, I learned Myunghon was my half-sibling. It is a very short story that starts and ends with 'Motherrrrr...'" she abruptly drops her voice to drag the name out like it's a cartoon villain. She doesn't elaborate on who 'Myunghon' is - it says a lot about what So-young thinks about their reach and recognition.
<Pose Tracker> Yukari Takeba has posed.
"Whoa..." Yukari says, impressed at the idea of her rudeness and willingness to ruffle feathers, "...Yeah I'm pretty sure it would drive me up a wall, working in a profession that's dominated by a bunch of old men. That just only makes what you do that much more impressive!"
Bunkamura? "Oh dang, that's a pretty big deal isn't it? And... here I am taking tea at a cafe with someone who performs there pretty much daily..."
While she tries to say it's all the musicians who do the real work, "There you go being all humble again over something incredible. I guess when you do this sort of thing every day it's easy to take that part for granted, huh?"
She nods slowly, not asking who her Mother is, not because she isn't interested, it's just she wouldn't expect 'Actress' to be 'celebrity'.
Since she's taking advantage of her generosity here, she mostly just grabs another small piece of the sweets.
"Eh? Myungh- OH! You mean Merry! I'm just not used to calling her that."
Yukari isn't intentionally misgendering of course, she just doesn't know there are more than two options that exist.
"Uhhh..." That villain tone makes her wonder on the context. "... Did your Mom like..."
Pause.
"...I'm not exactly sure how to take that?"
It's like halfway through the sentence she decided, 'better not' and made it more on them to explain!
<Pose Tracker> So-young Park has posed.
So-young only looks more quietly smug with every mention of 'incredible' or 'impressive' and may explode soon. This is the best cafe trip she's been on in some time, she thinks privately to herself, and the small SD So-young inside her head is giving one hell of a fistpump.
Still, something that Yukari says brings her back to the present, and she blinks slowly. "Oh, don't worry about that," she cuts in with an easy wave of her hand and a more genuine smile. "I'm certainly not about to put on airs about who I do or don't spend my time with, or else I'll end up as bad as the people I'm supposed to be pushing back against. Or-- well, if it helps you feel better--"
This time she actually does take out her business card, thank goodness, and slides it across the table: So-young Park, Guest Conductor, Tokyo Philharmonic. "--I'm always on the lookout for new guest performers to showcase, and I've just convinced the theatre to give me a bit of gallery space to go along with the shows. If you know of any up-and-coming artists at your school, feel free to pass my information along to them and I'll see if I can't give them a boost."
She looks serene at the thought - which is a shame, because she immediately hunches her shoulders, almost dropping to the table as she sags. "Yes. Neither am I," she confirms in regards to her mother. "I am _absolutely sure_ it will not be _incredibly awkward_ finding out the reasons why. Anyway, I couldn't just leave something like that alone, could I? Especially not when Kaneshiro showed up, and then they were skulking around Shibuya, and then-- well." The Palace.
<Pose Tracker> Yukari Takeba has posed.
Yukari of course cannot see So-young's interiority right now swelling and swelling beyond it's normal capacity. She might only realizes it when she takes the explosion point blank.
Yukari actually takes the card with the proper etiquette, before leaning back to look upon it.
'Oh thank God'
She thinks internally, reading it, but also upon the realization of who she's been talking to is in fact - a real person.
But an offer... of up and coming artists?
"Uhhhh..."
There is someone in SEES who is a musician, Ririka but at the same time, the two of them reallyyyyy don't get along?
So she's not about to stroll up to her and offer her to So-Young. "I see! You know what? I don't know them personally but there are a few super impressive artists at Gekkoukan... I'll look into it and if I find anyone suitable, I'll pass their names your way?"
She knows there's Madarame's ex-disciple, for example? Not that that's not complicated...
... and she thinks Fuuka's in the art club but probably not thattttt impressive, her thing is more...
But the moment that their Mother is invoked again and her role, "Ah, that's gotta be..." She trails off, then there's an awkward look to the side, "... but you did say she was an actress, from what I hear they kind of..."
And then...
"... Oh! You mean she's a Persona User. Yeah, for real. I'm not sure what I'd think about that."
If her Mother turned out to be a Persona User and showed up at a Palace... well, first of all... she'd die.
But also if she found out she had a half-sister out there because of all her Mom's been doing lately, she'd ALSO die... because that half-sister couldn't be older than four... yeesh.
She hopes not! But at the same time she can't rule it out.
<Pose Tracker> So-young Park has posed.
So-young bobs her head encouragingly. "Of course! There's no pressure at all - just keep it in the back of your mind, and that way I can pick up the bill as thanks for the help," she looks proud of herself for that much, folding her arms like she's trapped Yukari in a devil's bargain.
So-young breaks into a sudden and amused laugh at the idea her mother might be a Persona User. "No, no, there's no chance," she beams. "I just mean that she's a terrible meddler and probably only told me now because she had some evil plan to bring us together rather than, you know, the normal family reasons. Knowing her, it's--"
She stops short because Yukari has essentially just short-circuited her brain. The idea that her mother might have ended up with two separate children thanks to a one-night stand - So-young doesn't really want to interrogate that thought _too_ closely but she's not so naive as to pretend it wouldn't ever happen. If it did, then it did. That's fine, as far as So-young is concerned. It doesn't change who either of them are.
The problem is that one sleepy little neuron has finally fired for long enough to whisper in her ear: "Yeah, but Myunghon knows their father." Oh, god, that thought's definitely going to wake her up at 4am.
Clearing her throat, she forces a helpless grin onto her face. "We will find out together. In the meantime I have gained a new sibling and a whole different understanding of the world, so that certainly made for a fun weekend," she snorts pleasantly.