2025-12-09: Up for a Game?
- Log: Up for a Game?
- Cast: Ririka Kawase, Suzume Fukura
- Where: Iwatodai Dormitory, Iwatodai
- OOC Date: December 09, 2025
- IC Date: Thursday, August 23, 2012 (Midday)
- Summary: Ririka's got a copy of the newest Night Parade, and she invites Suzume over to her dorm to take it for a spin. They talk about Ririka's concert, Operation: Babe Hunt, Aigis, fashion, and a smattering of other topics.
<Pose Tracker> Ririka Kawase has posed.
It's not such a terrible secre that Ririka's familyu is decently well off--her father's a doctor, after all, though Ririka does try not to bragadocious about it. Still, it's hard not to be excited when you pick up certain things sometimes...
A few moments ago she'd knocked on Suzume's dorm door. She's dressed in a black Master Koto t-shirt and a pair of plain blue shorts (Master Koto is her Night Parade main, and shorts are comfty and easy to wear.) She'd offered a smile and held up a newly-purchased copy of the latest Night Parade release. "Hey, Fukura-san. Wanna try this out with me?"
Of course, she's got the relevant console in her dorm, so it's off back there to play it! Her dorm is... pretty tidy, honestly.
Over her desk she has a wooden practice sword for Kendo, a bokken, mounted on the wall, there's various band posters, of course. Her desk is particularly organized, with supplies all placed in particular places, squared off nicely. There's a couple of stuffed animals (including one clown), and of course you can't fail to notice an electronic keyboard, electric and acoustic guitar, and amp all stood up nicely in one corner. Her closet is just as organized, and in one out of the way corner there's a small, low table, currently covered with a cloth.
And of course, a TV and a newer game console, with a couple of wireless controllers waiting to be put to use. "Come on in, Fukura-san." She grabs the chair from her desk to reposition it for the TV, seeming intent to take the bed for herself as she gets the TV and console set up.
<Pose Tracker> Suzume Fukura has posed.
While Suzume has been occasionally hard to find over summer vacation - she likes to go out, even if it's just 'around town' - today, she was not; she was in her room, doing something on her battered old laptop. It takes very little persuading to convince her to come out and do something else.
Unlike Ririka, Suzume's family is not particularly well off. She has a good collection of retro electronics that she's put together from secondhand shops (including the laptop) and maintained or repaired; she does not get the latest and greatest stuff as a general rule, either.
"Nice," she says, as she enters the room. It is both neater and better-appointed than hers is, which has most of her stuff thrown any which way (tidy she is not) and certainly doesn't include three musical instruments, among other things.
Suzume is wearing shorts too, along with a black T-shirt that probably had a sports logo on it once, but it's mostly worn off by now. It's not her better baseball shirts that she shows up in the dorms frequently in - she wasn't expecting to go out today, so she's not exactly at her neatest.
It's Suzume's first time in here. Honestly, it's her first time in pretty much anyone's dorm room that isn't hers. She looks a little awkward as she steps inside, though it passes. "You played it at all yet?" she asks, focusing on the game at first. "I didn't expect you to run out and grab it or anything..."
<Pose Tracker> Ririka Kawase has posed.
It might not be as evident from her room, but if Suzume's ever watched Ririka get up for studying... she's kind of fastidious, at times. She kind of has to be, or she'll get sidetracked or misplace something quite easily... but that's the kind of thing easier observed, as Ririka doesn't talk about that part of herself as much.
"Nope!" Ririka declares, and indeed, she's just now removing the shrink-wrap from the game. "Aside from the little bit that I've played at the arcade, that is..." she still feels bad for how she handled the arrival of both a Homunculus and Niko, but... she's also apologized to everyone there that night, so it's a little easier to think back on now.
She shrugs a little. "I wasn't planning on it, but... I passed by a store while I was out, saw it and..." She shrugs a little. "... figured now's the time, while we're still on break."
The game boots up, and Ririka hands Suzume a controller. "HeyWant something to drink? I've got some water, soda, canned coffee... I think I've got some snacks stahsed away, too."
<Pose Tracker> Suzume Fukura has posed.
Suzume is exactly fastidious enough to avoid leaving trash lying around. She's scrupulous about that. But when it comes to her clothes, sometimes they end up on the floor, and when it comes to her bookcase, the organization is 'the order I put them in on, maybe'. Her desk is where all her school supplies live, in mostly random piles.
Look. It works for her.
Suzume hears 'canned coffee', which is something she doesn't *usually* buy for herself, but: "The coffee sounds pretty good," she says, because she likes it better than fresh. "Thanks," she says, as she takes the controller.
Suzume actually has only played this game in the arcade, so she takes the opportunity while Ririka is getting drinks to check what the buttons are on a controller. She doesn't have a stick that hooks up to this kind of system. "You got lucky," she says, though she doesn't mean finding it - she means having enough money to buy it on a whim.
"Did the buttons at the concert sell that well?" she asks, curiously. She's not going to say if she bought any...
(She bought some. They're not on her, though.)
<Pose Tracker> Ririka Kawase has posed.
Ririka is fastidious enough to keep her dirty laundry corralled, and her dresser is actually neatly folded and arranged. And the music on her bookshelf, well...very meticulously arranged by author first, in alphabetical order, followed by title.
Yeah, she's kind of like that. And she runs off a checklist of school supplies every time she heads to class, too.
"Sure thing." Ririka grabs one for herself and for Suzume. And she's even got a couple of coasters so they can put them on a conveinetly placed side table. "Welcome!"
She settles in, and she's checking the controls, herself. "Well, they had a decent number of copies." Ririka pauses. "... and I had some money set aside for it," she admits. "I'd been waiting, but... I just kind of need a distraction, you know?" She told everyone in SEES what was up with Eiji's Palace, after all, and how that relates to her sister... even if she's not discussing her go at the Palace.
It went badly. She needs some comfort video games right now.
"Yeah! People seemed to really enjoy them, which makes me glad. All that hard work paid off..." There were six button designs available, one for an instrument of each band member, and one with Polychord's logo, 'P/C' rendered in a sharp, crisp font.
"The CDs sold a little better, but that's fine. It just means we can save the rest for later." She's navigating through the menus now looking at the settings and then the new modes. "Mmm... wanna jump straight into Versus, or mess around in Training Mode first?"
<Pose Tracker> Suzume Fukura has posed.
Lies! Nobody is that neat! Except a lot of people.
Suzume opens the can of coffee - yup, it's coffee, but since she likes it that's no problem by her. "Yeah, makes sense..." Ririka's had a worse summer than she has, after all. It went badly.
But the concert didn't. Suzume bought the P/C button, though she's not entirely sure what she's going to do with it; she doesn't really put buttons on her backpack or her jacket and that's the two most obvious places for it. Well, she'll figure it out eventually. It's got to go somewhere...
"The concert went pretty well though," Suzume says, before grinning. "I didn't know what to expect from it, honestly. Never been to one quite like that, but hey, it worked. You're pretty good, actually. I mean, I knew that already, but - you know what I mean. And you didn't even practice up at Yakushima... that much."
(She actually never caught Ririka practicing, but she has to assume she did SOMETHING.)
As for the question, Suzume's answer is immediate: "Versus. Training's great if you're on your own or if you want to learn how to nail a specific combo. But if you just want practice, better to go straight into it."
<Pose Tracker> Ririka Kawase has posed.
However bad Ririka's summer is... she's pretty sure her sister's summer is worse. (And that thought might also have her trying to minimize her own problems in favor of trying to support other people.)
(This is probably fine.)
Ririka definitely put one on her backpack, because why not.
Ririka brightens up a bit as Suzume gives the concert a favorable review. "Glad you thought so! Sorry I couldn't talk long, just had a lot of people to talk to, you know?" She grins as Suzume calls her good. "Thanks. We all put a lot of hard work into that, so... I'm glad it all showed."
Ririka did bring her guitar--but just her acoustic. "Eh heh... Well, we were on vacation, after all..." (She did play it on the ferry ride over, though!) She scratches her cheek a little. "... the trip really didn't turn out how I thought it would, though."
... which reminds her. "So... what was that thing about Operation: Babe Hunt?"
"Versus it is!" Ririka navigates to that menu option and starts a new game. The game's characters' portraits all slide on screen in offset rows as music fills the room. "Let's see... who's new..."
She's gonna pick Master Koto at some point, but it's nice to experiment, too.
<Pose Tracker> Suzume Fukura has posed.
The concert wasn't entirely Suzume's style of music but it wasn't entirely *not*, either. And it was fun. So it was fine by her. (Suzume is, perhaps, not the most musical of people.)
But the trip didn't go the way Ririka expected...
"Me neither," Suzume admits. She leans forward slightly as if into the game - when Ririka picks a character she doesn't know, Suzume goes over toward 'random select', figuring that since she has more experience she can be hampered by not knowing the character at all. And it'll teach her, too.
"The Shadows coming from *that*? An actual *robot*? I don't know what I was going to expect - I mean, I barely expected the trip at all - but none of that was any of it! Have you talked to her since, except in the big group? Aigis-san, I mean. I haven't run into her, but it's probably only a matter of time, given she lives here too..."
Suzume realizes she's rambling and changes tacks. Especially with the question.
"...oh, yeah. Babe Hunt. I didn't mean to bring that up," Suzume says, scowling at the screen. "Some of the guys - uh, Junpei-san, Reiya-san, Minato-san was there, Aragaki-san was there, even Katsuhiro-san - decided they wanted to hit on girls. And I mean, they're allowed, but they kind of made idiots of themselves."
...
"Katsuhiro seemed surprised I was a girl at all! I mean, what's up what that? OBVIOUSLY I'm a girl, I live on the girls' side!" Suzume raises her voice without meaning to. "Anyway, they came up and hit on *me*... except Iori didn't even ask until *after* he'd already failed at every other girl there. Including Aigis-san, though we still thought she was Hiwa Komi. And Arisato - he said 'let's engage in the frontiers of romance', or something. I thought I was gonna die of second-hand embarrassment."
Minor advantage for Ririka right now: Suzume is not playing the game very well because she's too busy and definitely not giving it her full attention. So there's always a chance to take a round or two off her.
<Pose Tracker> Ririka Kawase has posed.
Ririka will freely admit to having a broad taste in music.. plus her band (okay a lot of it is her but not all of it) likes to experiment. But as long as people had a good time, Ririka is content.
"Random, huh? Cool. I try to learn more characters than just Master Koto, but... Sometimes it feels like I can only hold so much in my brain, you know?" She keeps busy with a lot of things, after all.
"Yeah... surprises on top of surprises. The trip, the revelations, Aigis-san... the Chairman said she had to be person shaped, right? But... do you think there's a reason they had to make her look like a cute girl?" She tries to say 'cute' casually, like an objective fact.
Ririka shakes her head as the round begins. "I haven't had a chance. Between... everything going on..."
But she pauses, looking to Suzume as she explains. The guys decided to hit on girls. "Like, what, all together? And they gave it a name? Uggggh."
Ririka is a little jealous. She will never admit it, though.
"What!?" Oops. Ririka's totally distracted from the game now. "How...? Ugggh. I like him and all, but between what he said at Aragaki-senpai's birthday party and that... sheesh." Rirka facepalms at Iori's actions. "Oh come on, that's just insulting, isn't it?"
And Minato's actions... Ririka bursts out laughing a little. "Thaaaat's not something I expected Arisato-san to say," Ririka admits. Beat. "... or anyone, really? Who says something like that?"
Another beat. "... it was probably Iori-san, wasn't it? After everything he said about us the first day..."
<Pose Tracker> Suzume Fukura has posed.
"The secret is that fundamentals are the same for pretty much everyone," Suzume says, before correcting herself: "Well, at least two thirds of the characters. Like, the exact *tricks* are different, but moving and blocking and poking is something just about everyone does."
Why does Aigis have to be a cute girl...
"Beats me," Suzume says, with a shrug. "Maybe they originally made some each way... you'd think it would be easier to get more stuff in a bigger chassis, though. She's pretty slim. And those arm and leg joints look way more delicate than they actually are, to watch her fight."
Suzume makes a face. "Yeah, all together. I don't know whose idea it was. You're right, probably Iori's. And I mean, I like Junpei-kun, don't get me wrong, but asking AFTER he got blown off by every other girl he asked... at least Arisato-kun asked *first*. And I mean, Iori's cool, but... ugh." She still thinks about it. Should she have said yes? Does she misunderstand what dating feels like?
She keeps rambling. "And as for Katsuhiro, I dunno. I don't... I mean, I don't look like a boy, do I?" Suzume is currently in a loose, comfortable T-shirt and denim shorts, and has cut her hair since coming back to Port Island; it is still floofy but not really shaggy or quite as long anymore. "Just because I don't like skirts or whatever. I mean..."
Suzume is torn between what she usually wants - to be treated like one of the guys - and being insulted. She's not sure which one was winning then and she's still not.
...so quick, change the topic!
"You want to know a secret? You can't tell ANYONE this one," Suzume says, suddenly grinning. She barely waits for a response: "I'm pretty sure one of the 'girls' Aragaki was going to hit on was Reiya-kun's mom. He got distracted before he went over there, but I saw him looking..."
"...hey!" That was because Ririka got that round off her when she wasn't fully paying attention. It's her own fault really.
<Pose Tracker> Ririka Kawase has posed.
"Oh yeah, all of that stuff is fine," Ririka agrees of the fundamentals. "It's just like... memorizing all of the combos and stuff, you know? Like, Master Koto can stance shift and copy a lot of the fighters, but he doesn't get all of their tricks, so there's still stuff I don't know."
"Yeah, you've got a good point about the chassis... but just getting that stuff working at all is pretty incredible, isn't it? And you're right, she's pretty durable... and that's not even counting her Persona..."
"All together... ugh. Boys." She shakes her head. "He asked you after Arisato-san did? That's kinda... I dunno." Desparate? Maybe that's too strong a word. But it sure is something.
Ririka is prone to rambling herself. She will not stop Suzume. "I mean, Katsuhiro-san's into music, so, you know. Liiiitle biased, probably," she admits. "But I mostly meant, I've chatted with him before and it wasn't that bad."
Does Suzume look like a boy? "What? No, of course not! Hey, so what if you don't like skirtS? I say, wear what you like. I like skirts and dresses sometimes, but, well. You've seen me when I'm skateboarding, right? And you should see my sister--she's got that whole sukeban thing going for her. She wears cargo pants even more than I do."
"So wear shorts if you want. Or pants. Heck, try a suit. I've seen it work for some girls."
A secret though, and Ririka leans in. "Sure." She listens, and then has to cover her mouth to keep from bursting out laughing. "No way. Seriously!?" She does allow herself to laugh a little. "But didn't you say Aomori-san was there? There's no way he lets that happen."
Despite the distraction she pulls out the round. "Hey, not bad. But that was a close one. Ready for round 2?" Ready or not, the game is advancing to it anyway.
<Pose Tracker> Suzume Fukura has posed.
Suzume is very excited about robots. "Right?" she replies. "Like, I don't think anyone in the whole world has a working robot like that - I mean, ignoring the whole Persona thing, most of the robotics labs can't even make something walk around on two legs that fast without falling over. And then she's got - a brain, and a Persona, and everything!" Suzume is more than a little impressed by Aigis, apparently.
"I think he was too surprised to object." Suzume seems amused by the whole situation. "And like I said, he didn't actually; that's when we all went over to talk to Aigis-san. Hiwa-chan." Her brow furrows. Wait, does this mean Aigis is a -chan too for her?
He asked after Arisato did...
"Way after. Arisato-kun did it when he first walked up. Then I hung around and watched them for a while. Then after Iori-kun had struck out with eeeeveryone else he decided to ask if I wanted to go out." Suzume pauses. "I kinda yelled at him," she admits, a little sheepishly. "Maybe I shouldn't've done that, but I think he's over it by now."
Suzume is not good at apologizing.
She looks at Ririka thoughtfully. "Your sister's a sukeban? Well I'm not doin' that either." Suzume can't imagine herself in that. "And I don't own a suit, why would I? I don't need to dress up like that!" The very concept is a little worrying... "I guess I'll just stick to what's comfortable. I know I should try to figure out what's more fashionable, but... eh. I did get a couple new tops, at least..."
She's trying, okay? A little, anyway.
"Round two," she agrees, as the message pops up on screen. Suzume does snag some more of her coffee before she starts, though.
<Pose Tracker> Ririka Kawase has posed.
"Yeaaah, that's true... she can talk, and everything--did you catch the way she stood up for herself, too? Badass move for her, for sure. ... You know, on top of all the weapons and stuff."
"So she was there too, huh... and the first day... and didn't she say something about the Arisatos...? Kind of weird nobody can say why that's important, isn't it...?"
She catches the honorifics but doesn't comment.
"I mean, that's kinda insulting to be his last choice, isn't it? Did he even have a good line?" Not that.. Ririka would really know what a good line was.
Ririka shrugs. "I'm just saying, wear what feels comfortable, that's all. Like..." She sighs a little. "You know, I get it, girls are supposed to be cute, and demure, or... whatever, and I like dresses and skirts, but I also, sometimes, just like... cargo pants and skateboarding. Why does it have to be a big deal to wear stuff like that or do stuff like that?"
Ririka looks to Suzume and offers her a smile. "Welll... I think you don't have to go more fashionable if you don't want to... but if you want to try, I could come along for non-judgmental moral support? Like, maybe separate from taking Aigis shopping, keep it low key."
Ririka nods firmly as the next round starts, immediately trying to come in with a crossover hit into a combo, though she fumbles her input into the special move.
<Pose Tracker> Suzume Fukura has posed.
...
"Yeah, but..." Suzume isn't sure how to put this, entirely, so she doesn't, for a moment; she focuses on pulling off a particularly impressive combo. (Which, she is currently playing someone who is very much NOT like her normal character, she has to actually work to convert.)
"Kirijo Corporation's suspicious, isn't it? They hide things. I'm not entirely surprised... I dunno. I want to know more. But I don't think I'm going to get it just by asking." She scowls. "There's a few people I need to talk to, though..."
But not tonight. She's pretty sure they're not in.
Did he have a good line? "Absolutely not," Suzume says, a little morose. "It was literally 'So any chance you'd wanna go out with me sometime?' After I'd just gone up and talked to Hiwa - Aigis-san - and Minato-kun was having a bit more of a conversation with her, until she had to go..." She'd made a joke about being a wingman (wing-girl?) and breaking up the testosterone a bit. ANd she's gotten that.
"And I don't like skirts." Suzume's objection is almost reflexive. "My parents - well, my mother, really - told me I had to wear them if I wanted to be - ugh. Never mind." She's getting mad just thinking about it. Fortunately she's not the sort to throw a controller... though her grip might be a *little* tight, it's not enough to damage it.
About shopping... "I'll think about it." Suzume isn't sure what she thinks about that. She went out with Hitomi to do shopping, but that's Hitomi, who's... well, she's known Hitomi a while. It's not the same, for reasons she doesn't entirely understand.
"But for now," she says, dead serious, "I'm going to kick your butt." Or at least try. In the game, though, where it's fine.
<Pose Tracker> Ririka Kawase has posed.
"But...?" But she's also distracted by the combo, attempting, and failing, to break out of it. "Oh, nice one!"
"Yeah... they gave us a lot of info, but... given how long they've been at this, there's no way it can be all of it, right? And if they've got connections to the NWO and Strega... these problems are gonna be a lot messier to clean up, aren't they?"
But that line... "Ugh. That's basically not even a line. He could've put some effort into it." She just shakes her head. Just because she's not interested in guys, doesn't mean she can't respect effort.
But she can get Suzume getting upset. "... hey, Fukura-chan. It's okay. Nobody's saying you have to wear them." Well, nobody here, at least. She focuses on her game for a moment, before adding, "... wanna talk about it?"
"Sure, no problem," she says, as Suzume says she needs to think about it. "Just let me know and I'll make some time."
Ririka grins again as Suzume talks about kicking butt. "You're on!" Even if she loses, she's still enjoying spending time with a friend, so it's still a win.