2025-11-02: Dreams and Desires
- Log: Dreams and Desires
- Cast: Ruzica Crvena, Eveline Deschamps, Kanae Fuyuki
- Where: Kagurazaka, Shinjuku Ward
- OOC Date: November 02, 2025
- IC Date: August 04, 2012
- Summary: Ruzica comes across Kanae Fuyuki on her way back from tidying up after a member of the Wild Hunt. Eve checks in on the both of them.
<Pose Tracker> Ruzica Crvena has posed.
It's another scorcher of a Saturday, even as they're going into August... it's gonna be a while yet before the weather calms down. Today, Ruzica Crvena was headed off towards the Clinic of one mysterious doctor that shouldn't exist yet, and has returned in the meantime with... those are ginormous black bags of garbage in both hands, which she carries despite her relatively slight figure with no particular issue. She's down to just a white shirt with a silver chain dangling off her neck, with her hair tied in a high ponytail as it often is, and black denim skinny jeans... along with a pair of red belts hanging off her waist.
Kanae's met her both as Ruzica Crvena and Ryuzaki Kurama now. The chief difference is the baker's boy hat, which he wears when he's Ryuzaki, to bundle all the excess hair in. ... at least, physically. They wear clothes androgynously, not particularly preferring a masc or femme look either way.
Ruzica looks left and right, like she's about to get ambushed by Isabeau Fontaine dunking bigger bags of garbage and dramatically declaring that she rolled up WAY more garbage than Ruzica did, suck it!! ... but it doesn't happen, so they simply dump the garbage bags into the community bins with a sigh of relief that the task is over.
<Pose Tracker> Eveline Deschamps has posed.
Eveline Deschamps has to go outside... sometimes. You may wonder why, as she stands near the community bins, leaning against the wall in the shade.
It's because she's finishing up a cigarette! She's in her white blouse and black pants, an almost-dead cigarette in her hands.
As Ruzica approaches with trash, though, Eve puts out the cigarette (second-hand smoke kills) and casually glances to her ally. "Ruzica, good afternoon. Helping out again?"
Those square glasses take in everything around her, from the obvious to the peripheral. Her sensory range is pretty well-tuned... especially supernatural. "Those looked pretty troublesome. Need to take a break?"
<Pose Tracker> Kanae Fuyuki has posed.
Saturday...
Kanae also happens to go outside now and then. She's on a walk! The apartment is pretty small, and it's nice now and then to get Out. ...Especially since her plan to go walking in the Dark Hour last night didn't exactly go as planned...
Well, that's then, this is now. Kanae is dressed in a cute dress and some extra light layers, with ankle-socks and tennis shoes. She has a bag slung over her shoulder, and her long, dark hair is down.
She does not have garbage with her, but she happens to be passing by this part of the area anyway. And as she does...
"Oh, hey," Kanae says. "...Worried somebody's gonna pounce on the trash?" she wonders of Ruzica.
Then a wave to Eveline, who almost certainly sensed her coming.
"Um, hi."
<Pose Tracker> Ruzica Crvena has posed.
"... the trash piles up really fast if I don't act quick," Ruzica observes, as if the trash is a living organism with a secret agenda out to kill the mysterious offscreen doctor--!! It's fine, this is Persona things, like if you try to check on Futaba way too early. She looks towards the cigarette for a longer moment. She's asked Eve how cigarettes taste like. She might have even had one secretly at some point.
She decided that this is one of those terrible things people do to themselves.
But Eve isn't the only one here -- Kanae greets them both, and Ruzica rotates in place to face her. "Kanae Fuyuki..." Is she worried someone will pounce on the trash? "You never know... when Isabeau Fontaine is lurking."
A pause, and then she gestures with her now-freed hands. "This is Eveline Deschamps... my mom. She runs the bar down there... mom, this is Kanae Fuyuki from school," as if she hadn't recited her full name earlier.
<Pose Tracker> Eveline Deschamps has posed.
"Don't put it all on yourself," Eve says calmly. When Ruzica asks about cigarettes, she told her 'awful' and then left it to that.
Someone'sc oming, and she's tuning her senses in the direction of...
Kanae! "Fuyuki-san, hello." Eve nods from her position on the wall. Ruzica introduces her as her mom, and while nothing shows *much* on her face, there's a pang of awkwardness. They've never really had a discussion about it, Eve just let her call her that. She isn't sure she'd *mind* but right now it's mostly out of keeping cohesion and not disappointing Ruzica.
"We've met, actually. Fleur de Lis," she names her bar for Kanae's sake. "Feel free to stop by sometime, we have sandwiches. There's also occasional events."
A pause, as she looks between the two. "You also go to school with Yuri, then?" Yuri Wakamatsu is a first-year at Shujin, so not in the same class, though she's likely interacted with Ryuzaki there in public. "I'm her mother."
<Pose Tracker> Kanae Fuyuki has posed.
Persona things...
"Sure you do," Kanae answers Ruzica about Isabeau. "She'll tell you. Loudly. Constantly."
But Kanae sees the introduction happen, and she looks between them. "Oh, yeah?" she asks. "Um, that's cool. But we've met..."
The bar! "I will," Kanae says. "...I like sandwiches and events."
But, "Yes," Kanae answers Eveline about Yuri.
"You don't have to use my whole name," Kanae offers Ruzica. "'Fuyuki' is fine."
"...I was just out for a walk."
<Pose Tracker> Ruzica Crvena has posed.
There's a reticience that is in Ruzica today that's starting to shift back onto herself now that she doesn't have two giant garbage bags to externally channel it onto, as she leans against a nearby power pillar in that Too Cool To Care pose, but she doesn't really have the posture or charisma to really pull it off.
She also hasn't checked with Eve about 'mom'. She started, one day, claiming that it'll be the cover, and Eve seems fine with it, but also, she knows it's not that simple... and yet...
This is one of those small 'selfishnesses' that Ruzica Crvena is organising for herself.
"Oh..." Ruzica pauses, as Eve clarifies that the two've met. Similarly, when Kanae says that it's okay to call her Fuyuki, she admits: "... I forget names a lot. I'll try. Fuyuki."
Kanae's shared experience with Isabeau gets a nod. "... you too?" She considers this for a while, those big, golden, gleaming eyes gazing towards Kanae as if to appraise her and scan her for all the spells she can Draw and Junction from. No, those are not real mechanics here, Ruzica, silly. You'd need to be a Navigator, for one.
"I liked our talk at school... about photos," she quietly brings up after a bit. "I can show you some of my cameras and lenses..."
<Pose Tracker> Eveline Deschamps has posed.
Eve can't help but immediately pinpoint a certain level of reticence in the way Kanae speaks. Nervousness? Distrust? Just how she talks to strangers? She won't poke on it, but it's good to have data points about people of interest.
A nod about Yuri, though. She was curious how Kanae would respond. Instead, however, she pivots subjects to something important.
"How is the night treating you?" It's perhaps not clear exactly what she means, but for a Persona User, it should only have one meaning: how are you handling the Dark Hour?
Meanwhile, she's turning to Ruzica, as if to scan what to Draw and Junction- wait, no- as to ask her a question. "Did the photo of the colorful trapdoor snail turn out well?" Maybe Ruzica will get a bit more animated with that.
<Pose Tracker> Kanae Fuyuki has posed.
Kanae has pretty good posture. And Yuri--well, she's not going to NARC OUT and tell Yuri's mom about what she's up to!!! ...or maybe she just doesn't know her that well yet. It could be either. In the meantime, though, she looks to Ruzica and says, "That's fine. If you forget, I can remind you." It's not entirely fine, but still.
"Me most, I feel like," Ichika says of Isabeau. She considers those big, spooky eyes...
She looks at Eveline for a moment instead. "It's OK," she says of 'the night'. "Kinda awkward sometimes. But mostly fine. I'm careful."
Photos, though, "I like photography, too. ...I'd be interested to see them sometime."
<Pose Tracker> Ruzica Crvena has posed.
It's not fine, no. Ruzica doesn't like forgetting names either, and people usually say it's fine, but on some level it's not fine. No one likes being forgotten. She most of all, when she's already only a plastic, artifical rose to replace the one that's been frozen in time.
That's swallowing her up quietly as she leans on that pillar as Eve talks to Kanae about the Dark Hour. Kanae's interesting. She immediately had the idea to hunt in her own way, despite only having started out. ... what does she have that she doesn't? Where does that drive come from? It intrigues her and draws her towards her.
"I want to go a bit further afield... there's a website I found where people are posting hunts of their own," Ruzica shares, as if asking for permission from Eve.
Eve asks how the trapdoor snail photo turned out, and that does quietly perk Ruzica up a bit as she reaches into her pocket. It's an old-timey photo, developed manually, so it has that vintage quality to it... but the colours are really vibrant, and the photographic choices are very professional, with clear composition and a distinct exposure to separate the snail in the foreground and blurring the background.
"I took the photo from auntie Viv's theatre this morning. What do you like taking photos of, Fuyuki...?"
<Pose Tracker> Eveline Deschamps has posed.
Kanae decided to hunt alone. On one hand, Eve can respect that. The Wild Hunt was unlikely to recruit a complete stranger anyhow, but if Kanae doesn't want their help, that just shows a certain level of drive that's admirable.
On the other hand, Eve thinks lone hunters get killed.
"Careful is good. You'll want to find others to hunt with, however. Our skills are designed to be complemented by a 'pack'." After all, the Wild Hunt only ever had near-deaths from going off alone.
Ruzica, though, is looking for permission. "I've seen it. Go ahead. I can join you, if you'd like. As I just said, better not to hunt alone."
And then, the photo of the snail! "Impressive," she says outwardly, which is a Big word for her, but also, internally...
Ruzica's as good as she was...
And then, she's turning her attention on Kanae. What *does* she take photos of?
<Pose Tracker> Kanae Fuyuki has posed.
She did decide to go alone. Was it just stubbornness? Or was it something else?
"Right," Kanae answers. "Of course. ...Eventually, anyway. 'Allies'..." She trails off, and for some reason it sounds like she used a Proper Noun instead of just saying allies. She doesn't explain that. Instead, "My Persona ability lets me get by on my own for a while anyway. Since I can use more than one."
But the website? Hmm.
It's a very nice photo. "Wow," Kanae says. "That does look great. You're really good at them..."
Jsut this morning, huh?
"Landscapes," Kanae says first. "...People, when they let me."
"Places I want to go, people I want to know... A lot of stuff."
<Pose Tracker> Ruzica Crvena has posed.
It is very dangerous to go alone, Eve says. Ruzica doesn't even have anything to hand to Kanae and say, "Take this with you." Too ruinous. It's not up to her who the Wild Hunt recruits or rejects. Yet, at the same time, that there have been a lot of new Hunters in the youth feel as if the times are about to change...
Eve does give the approval, and also offers to go with her. "I have to speak with the contact first... then I'll update you on the parameters they want us to operate on."
"And... I do... want to test you, sometime, Fuyuki," Ruzica does express out of the blue, to Kanae. Why does she feel this way? It's not dissimilar to how she feels about Isabeau's insistent goading. If she were to just leave it alone, they could've just been classmates. "That ability of yours..." There was such an ability, once, within the forgotten, broken train station that once embodied Laurent's inner realm. Then, time stopped...
Time has, in fact, waited for all of them, all this time. They won't let go, and yet...
...
They've done nothing but reflect on their childhoods...
There's something of a very private little smile, like she has a quota, that vanishes a second later, when Kanae and Eve both compliment her on her photographic skills. "... I can teach you more, sometime." But... why does it feel like Eve has another girl's photographic skills, in her mind?
Kanae speaks of what she likes to photograph -- landscapes, people... places she wants to go -- people she wants to know.
"I see," Ruzica whispers, turning sedate and far-off again, as if she's gazing into a distance no one else can see. "It isn't enough to capture what's in front of you..." Like a dream, in other words, that requires seizing.
There was a girl like that too, apparently. Whose big dream was travel, to see places she hasn't been and she wants to go, to chat up people she didn't even know she wanted to know...
<Pose Tracker> Eveline Deschamps has posed.
Eve notices the way she says Allies, and quirks her eyebrow slightly. But she won't pry. Instead... "A most impressive power," she says simply, not tipping her hand on exactly how familiar she is with it. "I wonder why you alone have it..."
Ruzica, though, is having a Time. "Just let me know," she tells her first. Then, when it comes to photography, Ruzica seems to be going into a daze. Eve considers how to break it, even as she herself is feeling awkward...
"Ruzica. Would you like to have anything special for dinner?"
<Pose Tracker> Kanae Fuyuki has posed.
'The contact'. Kanae is curious, but when she said she wouldn't join them, that meant stuff like this, too. If Ruzica wants to share it with her, she will; she doesn't need to ask. Instead, she looks back to Eveline. "I don't know," she answers. "If you find out, I'm curious." That's technically true... but she also isn't sharing everything she knows.
The coming war...
"You too, huh?" To test her. "All right. Sure. I'll let you."
Time is not waiting so politely for Kanae, she thinks.
"Sure," Kanae says. "I like learning new techniques. ...I'm more into video than still, but I try to keep up my skills in both. You don't know what you want unless you can see it in your mind."
Into the distance...
"Right," Kanae says. "If I only get what's in front of me... That's not enough for me."
Dinner? Well, this part isn't her business much.
<Pose Tracker> Ruzica Crvena has posed.
Ruzica has a quiet nod on letting Eve know about the mission. She's often thinking about missions, because missions are money. And money is rent. ... and anything on the side is Burger Time. Eve wonders why she alone has it... and Ruzica is thinking of why Laurent lost it in the first place. It was because of her...
Is this a kind of fate too?
Kanae approves of letting Ruzica test her. "Without a challenge, a Hunter's blades will dull... though I suppose you have your share of that from Isabeau Fontaine as well." They pause, since they're a little self conscious about still doing that, but they hide it well.
At least Ruzica's a little stimulated about the challenge. But Kanae speaks rather grandly to reaching out for something greater, something further in the distance -- if she only gets what's in front of her...
That's not enough.
"You dare to go beyond your time," Ruzica cryptically whispers.
And then, in an instant: "Cheese burgers..." to Eve.
<Pose Tracker> Eveline Deschamps has posed.
"I'll let you know anything relevant," Eve says, words chosen carefully.
She listens about the video skills... but she's listening more that she wants to get more than what's in front of her.
"Interesting. So what is enough?"
She thinks Kanae might have some naive idealism... or she might not. Only way to know is to ask.
Ruzica, though, is still being in the distance... but eventually answers her question.
"Sure," she replies about cheeseburgers, as if she knew entirely this would be the answer. "We'll get some in a bit."
<Pose Tracker> Kanae Fuyuki has posed.
"That's true," Kanae allows about dull blades. "Mm-hm." From Isabeau, too. "I train a lot. I just do it my own way. ...You have to be more careful, fighting on you own. You have to think a few steps ahead."
But Eve says 'anything relevant', and Kanae gets it. Then again, she's only telling Eveline things that are relevant, so...
The cryptic whisper gets a look from Kanae, and she nods. "If you don't dare, you won't go far," Kanae says. "That's why I ended up at Shujin."
She pauses. What's enough?
"I'll know when I see it," she says. "My dream..."
"It's not something I'll share with everyone."
<Pose Tracker> Ruzica Crvena has posed.
Ruzica is quiet for a moment longer, seemingly intrigued about Kanae's words. She trains a lot -- that, indeed, is the bare minimum expected of a Hunter. But she has to think a few steps ahead, fighting in her own way... is this, too, part of her dream?
It's as Kanae says. She won't share that dream with just anyone.
"... when our blades cross," Ruzica quietly says, "I'll understand a bit better. That dream of yours."
That's... that's not how it should work, Ruzica. And yet, somehow, it does, for her? It's all just extremely genre for her. She finally draws upwards from where she's leaning, her gold eyes gleaming a bit more in the reflection of the sun as she puts one hand to her denim pocket, crossing past her.
There's a flutter of wind, and her dark hair alights upon the wind as she gazes, once more, into the great beyond.
"Then... I'll take out the trash in the bar before we go for burgers," Ruzica affirms.
...
Is this person always digging around in the trash in their spare time?!?!?!?!
<Pose Tracker> Eveline Deschamps has posed.
"You shouldn't. Sharing an aspiration blindly only allows the evil in this world to crush it," Eve muses. But, she raises a hand, shifting from Japanese to French. "Just remember, both of you. `'If, no matter how far you travel, there always seems to be some further place you need to reach, that is a sure sign that the desire is contrary to nature.'`"
As she quotes Seneca, Eve tilts her head over to Ruzica.
"Thank you, Ruzica. I'll text Yuri to join us."
And then, she stands up straight, rolling her shoulders. She can't lean on a wall forever!
<Pose Tracker> Kanae Fuyuki has posed.
"Yes," Kanae says to Ruzica, and in that moment she might seem more connected than she has in the rest of the conversation. "You just might."
It works. Somehow, it does work. But, Eveline has more to say, and Kanae looks at her. "..."
"I don't think you have to be evil to crush people's dreams," Kanae reflects. "And..."
"...What's that from?" she wonders.
She's not sure how she feels about it.
"OK. I'll let you get to food," she says. ...Trash? Hm.
"Have fun. ...Nice to see you both."
She starts away.