2025-12-23: Invitation

• Log: Invitation
• Cast: Yua Ooshiro, Umie Akabane
• Where: Ebisu Beach, Konan Ward, Sumaru City
• OOC Date: December 23, 2025
• IC Date: August 30, 2012
• Summary: A chance encounter on the beach leads to an invitation to a wedding. In any other circumstance, it'd be a pleasant, normal situation. However, the beating thrum of the Crawling Chaos lies underneath it all, so who can truly be trusted?

---

<Pose Tracker> Yua Ooshiro has posed.

    Once Yua's done at the police station, she finds herself... in Konan, with little to do. She has had little to do for many days; there's not much work for a teacher during the holidays, at least not one who's faking it. It feels uncanny, to be wed in days and just to walk down the street... as if nothing were happening.

    She wonders if it's how her victims feel -- like the one she hurt last night, when everyone was occupied with their fireworks.

    She's found herself, in her wandering, back at the scene of a much earlier crime" -- Ebisu Beach. She doesn't walk so far out that she finds a cove, though; she walks onto the sand, crunching under ankle-supporting boots and compression socks which were absolutely not built for the sand.

    ... or for her, because she was built for the sand, too.

    Yua finds a place between the tourists and day-trippers to sit, on the sand; the black skirt of her leotard fans out against it, and it's not impossible to mistake it for a particularly fashionable bathing suit, out here. (The thought's certainly occurred to her.) She takes in a deep breath of that sea breeze, and sighs; the guilt clings to her, here, but it's bittersweet for a different reason today.

    "We'll take you to a lot of beaches," she murmurs, as if to herself.

    "I promise."

<Pose Tracker> Umie Akabane has posed.

    A vaguely familiar silhouette makes its way across the sands, the body of a pale grey windbreaker hanging slack from either end of her lower arms. The blonde hair may not be recognizable by itself, as many sport such hair colors, whether naturally or, in this case, bleached. No swimsuit here; just denim shorts, a pale blue tank top, and her sandals dangling from her left hand, which sports a red woven charm bracelet.

    Yua would have first met this person on this very beach, in fact, if not directly, and possibly not in a manner that would make this person memorable.

    After all, there's no Persona user here, right? Just an ordinary, normal adult, wind casting off strands of ash blonde hair as she steps her toes into the surf idly. That's what most would see, if they didn't have access to a wider amount of talents.

    Or, perhaps know, whether intrinsically or through the NWO's coffers, the few Mark bearers that have been allowed, so far, to exist in an illusionary world where they are in control of their fate.

    But when that person looks up, red brown eyes tracing over Yua, her eyes widen slightly, recognizing.

    What does this person know, about Yua?

    "I didn't realize you were--" DAMN IT UMIE, YOU WERE IN MASK MODE WHEN YOU SAW HER AT THE SCHOOL, HOW BAD AT THIS ARE YOU ".... Er."

    "I didn't realize... it'd be such a great... day, today."

<Pose Tracker> Yua Ooshiro has posed.

    Yua is not privy to much of the NWO's information; she is not a player in their game.

    (No: she is a piece on the board.)

    Her eye -- just the one -- is red, as she turns her face, to Umie; and she may receive, as she looks over the eyepatch across her other eye, the sense of being seen thrice over. A flash of recognition, as Umie addresses her directly -- it widens her eye, too -- before it fades, leaving her visibly unnerved.

    "Um..."

    She doesn't sound like a monster. She sounds a little frightened, actually.

    "I... like the water?" She says, though the rising tone of her nerves makes it sound like a question. She turns back to the waves, pulling her knees up to her chest. "When the breeze comes in from the ocean, it's... really nice?"

    ... Yua has no idea what to do about that terrible feeling, either.

    But there's a fabric decoration, stretched over her right hand, from ring to bracelet...

<Pose Tracker> Umie Akabane has posed.

    Reset the clock, let the bone pieces fall across the board.

    The Bride that appeared on the beach, as far as Umie is concerned, is not here.

    All that's here is the teacher she saw when Seven Sisters High was attacked: someone who is not a danger, but was, in fact, once *in danger*.

    The sense of being Perceived draws Umie further inward, as well as outward; both wanting to retreat, but also wanting to force herself forward, in pursuit of a mystery, a new locked door to overcome.

    Neither approach is wise here; even if this person may have some insight to some mystery, or even to what fueled Sudou's attack on Seven Sisters, she's also pregnant.

    "... You..."

    How can someone ask this, when they're pulling their knees up to their chest like that?

    "You felt that as well, didn't you?" Umie treads delicately, instead, seeming almost empathetic, approaching halfway, but stopping. There's a decoration over Yua's right hand. How did Umie miss this earlier...?

    Dual impulses duel over Umie's attention; she gives Yua a half smile instead, eyes half hidden by her eyelids, squinting against the ambient light.

    "The breeze," she says, almost as an offer for Yua to agree to. A parachute.

<Pose Tracker> Yua Ooshiro has posed.

    Yua doesn't know that Umie knows she's pregnant, of course; she doesn't realise that people were listening in, when she and Remi and Miho went out to celebrate her gold medals.

    (She doesn't realise that, in her mood-swingy excitement, she was louder than she thought she was being.)

    "Mm..." She hums, biting at her lip.

    If she's one of 'them'... this is a different conversation, isn't it? But, she doesn't seem like... then, Para-Mind doesn't much seem like one of 'them', either, does he? What, then, should she say? Rather: what is she permitted to say?

    Rather... rather, rather...

    (If they gather enough of them, can they reach the truth?)

    "The... the breeze is nice," she smiles, a little unsettled, still; hardly the picture of a scheming businessman, ready to end lives without remorse. (If she were scheming, she'd be positively unbeatable; it is so much easier to oppose someone when you're the one being aggressed, not the one who seems to be frightening someone else.)

    "But, ah..."

    Yua smiles, up to Umie. "Would you like to sit with me a moment? I know the beach is a little crowded... right now."

    She doesn't have a towel to sit on; she evidently didn't plan on coming here. Still, she looks perfectly comfortable, as her tawny fingers curl in the sand, turning to face Umie a little better.

    "I had... a strange feeling," she confesses, her voice quieter. "Could it be, um... you're someone with a special gift? You know... the gift to change the feeling of a place?"

<Pose Tracker> Umie Akabane has posed.

    And really, Umie's assumption is still largely spectulation, as Umie herself...

    ... also refused to drink. (For different reasons.)

    Hardly the scheming businessman, indeed; if anything, Umie's own demeanor is suspect more than Yua's. It's a dance (no pun intended) of words and intentions, things left unsaid, and ways to retract and retreat.

    Such is the social face of Umie Akabane, a normal, boring person.

    (Which is why, Umie suspects nothing about Yua's background.)

    Yua invites Umie to sit with her, and Umie, like a vampire, only comes when invited in.

    (In truth, Umie just wants to not freak someone out over something they may not realize even exists within them. But, wouldn't it be a natural fit for her to be the bearer of bad news?)

    Towel or no, Umie just sits in the sand, legs half bent.

    Yua asks if she has a special gift. Umie's lips turn down, a breeze whipping the loose halo of hair around her face.

    "I know to not do it. It's best you don't, either."

<Pose Tracker> Yua Ooshiro has posed.

    Umie is suspicious, certainly, but... without Resonance to match to her face, there's no way Yua could know just how suspicious.

    (No anti-navigators walked into the bar... at least as far as anyone else knows.)

    Still... Yua must realise, at least, if she's asking a question like that. Umie says it's best not to do it, and...

    "... does that mean you're someone who can make that decision?" Yua wonders, looking to her. She raises a hand, palm-up -- her left palm, so there's that expensive engagement band, on her finger -- as she hurries to assure her: "Please -- don't be frightened. I'm not speaking on anyone's behalf. Rather -- there are some people like us trying to -- to make those decisions for ourselves?"

    Yua looks a touch frustrated, as she glances down. "Sorry... talking like this isn't something I'm very good at. I wish Mimi were here... she'd know how to say it. But I'm really not trying to frighten you... you're not the only one I know who escaped. Er... that is... if you escaped at all? Or -- did you perhaps come about it naturally? Oh... oh, bother...!"

<Pose Tracker> Umie Akabane has posed.

    A normal, boring person, with no Persona, but with a Mark.

    Of course, Yua registers to Umie as the same, with an asterisk over the last part.

    To know that an Anti-Navigator exists means to assume that everyone could be a Persona User, regardless of what Umie's senses tell her.

    Can someone have a Mark and not a Persona?

    (There may be a way, Umie thinks, if the introduction does not induce a fear response. Surely, that could happen, right, if someone _wasn't a child when it happened_?)

    '.... does that mean you're someone who can make that decision?'

    The question seems to bewilder Umie. ".... Ultimately, yes." Unless Yua meant...? No, even if there was a 'voice' behind a decision, even Sudou's crimes are his own, no matter how fallen he's become to the voices inside his head.

    "I'm not frightened." Her lips curl upwards; her lower eyelids raise, hiding a coy glint in her eyes. "Should I be?"

    Perhaps, this is the providence of being 'That Girl'-- the example of things not being what they should be.

    "There always has been." For better or worse. "If you received yours from a certain source, I suppose there's a reason they'd like for you to think otherwise." She rolls her shoulders, adopting an impish air to her grin. "But if it's something else... that's a different story."

    Yua's frustration is given a soft huff of breath from Umie. "What, you're expected to know how to talk about this in public with someone you barely know? That's a tall order."

    (MEANWHILE: Wait, what was Yua's name? Think, Umie, _think_. Damn it, if Akechi was here, he'd know. Shit shit shit, why did she decide to lead this person on like this? She barely knows what she's doing!!)

    "Wait. There's others?" Umie tries to fight that urge to pursue that thread, as Yua presents yet another to ponder. "... Not naturally... no. I... don't think so."

    Umie frowns, finally displaying some confusion in her expression, if just over what exactly she *should* say. "It was by being placed in front of.... something, right?"

<Pose Tracker> Yua Ooshiro has posed.

    "Oh... it's just, I would be," Yua admits, though she offers Umie a small smile in response to her own. "I'd be thinking they have agents everywhere, even housewives... though, I'm quite fortunate that my wedding has nothing to do with anything like that. B-but I'm really not... speaking to you for that kind of reason, you know...?"

    She shakes her head, though that motion is small, too. "No, I... I know there are people who received it on their own. M...mm, someone I care about very much, she received it all on her own... so she knows that the Powers that Be are lying." And that's one way to refer to the upper echelons of the Order, certainly.

    "Still... I guess it's hard to talk in public, like this..." Yua glances, furitively, at the tourists around them; their eyes are everywhere. "Sorry," she says, looking to Umie again, her expression slightly pained. "I really didn't expect something like this to happen."

    Which, if nothing else, probably checks out: even the most dim-witted evil agent would surely elect to talk cloak and dagger somewhere other than a crowded beach.

    "I... was brought to audience with... something, yes," Yua frowns, glancing down. "And I did choose to do that of my own free will... but they said they'd let me see Mimi if I did." She heaves a great sigh, as she adds: "They lied."

<Pose Tracker> Umie Akabane has posed.

    'I'd be thinking they have agents everywhere, even housewives...'

    "They do." Umie tilts her head, brown eyes quiet. "You may even be one of them yourself."

    They're all parts of the same hydra.

    "But I was the one who approached you, so... I doubt, if this is the case, you really were expecting me to be here." She tucks one of her sidebangs behind her ear.

    She could go a step further, and indicate the inability to use Personas right now as another reason she feels content to approach, but that... would indicate she has one, wouldn't it?

    Maybe she should lay off the vague threats, Umie thinks.

    Especially since Yua reveals something else of note. "This person, who received it on their own, can you tell me more?" Umie tries to keep the thirst for that next bit of knowledge out of her voice, overlaying it with a relaxed casualness that could, to an outside eye, also be flat out sinister.

    Or ridiculous.

    Such is an Umie Akabane.

    "That's the way these things go, though, isn't it. Sometimes, I wonder if these sorts of interactions really are chance." Maybe.

    Yua means Gozen. She has to. Umie commits the cardinal sin and assumes, leaping over questioning what Yua may have meant the same thing. ".... I wasn't forced to go there, either."

    "Like lambs to the slaughter..." she mumurs, bitterly.

<Pose Tracker> Yua Ooshiro has posed.

    She may very well be...

    ... though Yua's only reply to that is to glance away, her eye shadowed by her lowering eyelid.

    Still, she looks back to her, with another of those thin smiles. "I can," she says, "and I wish I could, but... out here, when I was surprised... that's a little more difficult. Things like this are delicate... you know?"

    She shakes her head, as her fingers flex and fan in the sand, idly. Nice texture... good texture. Sand is very calming. "Maybe they're not all random," she says, though her tone's uncertain; she's guessing. "Since I had a sense... that you were like me, but it's not like I've had that kind of feeling every time."

    Yua looks to Umie, with concern. "I'm sorry," she says, and sounds quite genuine. "I won't ask how they got you there... but that audience was unspeakable."

    She doesn't like Gozen. She escaped the Order. She has the Mark, though she's presently unwilling to use it.

    What does it all mean? How does this come together?

    If only Miho were...

    "Oh!" Yua gasps, as a thought strikes her. "I know how to do this!" She takes a breath, and lifts her hand from the sand, to gesture to Umie. "Would you attend my wedding, in a few days? My fiance's not that kind of person," she has no idea, "so it shouldn't be too dangerous for you... and you'd be able to speak to Mimi, there. Ah -- Miho," she adds, with a light blush. "Miho Ijuuin... she's my fiance's cousin. You really won't miss her, she's one of the biggest women I've ever met, she's so strong... if you can connect with her, she'll be able to tell you more than I ever could. Okay?"

<Pose Tracker> Umie Akabane has posed.

    "Yes, but they can always be worse." Umie begins to smile, but the subject has her venturing into Kurou's 'Scary Smile-san' territory. "I'm able to connect those dots, all without you having to say anything."

    Can someone really escape from the Mark? Is it better for such people to be under the umbrella of something like the NWO, where they'd be watched and monitored?

    What is really being controlled: the person being Marked, or the Mark itself?

    "Not all," Umie admits. "But I never intended to meet you, even now. I can say that much."

    It's better not to ask.

    'Oh!'

    "E-eh?" Oh, the mask has broken.

    Umie sits there, eyes wide, as if Yua asked if she wanted to attend a business meeting that could have been an email. "W-well... uh..." Umie stammers.

    There'll be information there.

    "... Are you... sure? I... don't think I'd know anybody..." Blinkblink. "Uh, what's the dress code? I suppose..." She has *diamonds*, she can get a dress!!

    wait, no, don't get carried away, Umie, this is a wedding, _you'll be bored silly_ no matter how much you'll enjoy picking out a nice dress.

    _But there'll be information there_.

    "If your friend'll be okay with it, then... I guess it's fine?" Umie's eyes are looking towards the sand.

    _how did this happen_

    At least she's going as _Umie_, not as her _Persona_. Badb can't be bad luck if she's not summoned!

<Pose Tracker> Yua Ooshiro has posed.

    "Ah... you can tell that easily? I guess you're probably too clever for me to be talking to like this," Yua admits, with a rueful smile, "but I need to be a little brave, too."

    They have eyes everywhere... Yua expects she'll meet with some correction or another, speaking so freely like this. But she wanted to go to the festival with Miho! She wanted a special day, and they made her work! They made her work so hard, she even had to go to the doctor to make sure her baby was really okay...!

    "I never intended this, either," Yua promises. But then --

    Umie stammers, though, and Yua's fingers veil her lips as she gasps again. "Oh -- I'm sorry, was I too forward?" She asks, sympathetically. "Um, there'll be a lot of people there...! Kimi-san wants a public ceremony..."

    But Umie stammers out an agreement, and Yua offers her another small smile. "Well, I never asked her, um... but I'm sure she'll speak with you!" If Yua tried to do something, she's sure Miho would move heaven and earth to make sure it wasn't fruitless. ... apparently, finding someone like Umie wasn't part of any plan, though. "Ah... and it's a traditional Shinto wedding, so a yukata is fine?"

    She sighs, looking down at her dancer's leotard. "A normal yukata is fine for our guests, but the Ijuuin's shiromuku and iro-uchikake come from the Edo period... ah, wearing something like that is so intimidating. What if I spill something on it...? Mother would be beside herself!"

    ... she still wishes she could wear mama's ryuso, but...

    "Oh," Yua realises, a moment later, looking a touch embarrassed. "Excuse me, I started rambling a little anxiously... um, I think it would better if you left first, in case someone's watching. It would be... suspicious if we left together, right?"

<Pose Tracker> Umie Akabane has posed.

    'I guess you're probably too clever for me...'

    "No," Umie interjects, as sharply as a whip snapping, as she sees that smile on Yua's face.

    It's a bad habit of Umie's, even when someone is simply self-deprecating due to their style of humor. She, with her own wry sense of humor, would be better to appreciate it.

    But she can't. She's too scared to let any instance go, until she knows someone better.

    Maybe Yua is truly the brave one here.

    "... You didn't," Umie agrees. All signs point to it not being that way. "... I'm just paranoid."

    Umie never intended Yua to feel bad about inviting her, either!

    "O-oh, no, it's fine, it's fine." Umie waves a hand, though the hand motion slows as Yua mentions the traditional garments.

    Makes sense, if this is in any way related to the NWO, with their tendency to wrap everything up in traditional Japanese wrappings to an extreme.

    Perhaps, that's why...

    "Don't worry about it," Umie murmurs, her general manner relaxing. "Sometimes it's easier to say these things to someone you know can't judge you. I'm simply a guest, right?" She stands up, dusting herself off. "I'm Umie Akabane, by the way. Let me give you my number; that way you can throw an invite my way when you know there's room."

    "Be warned," she adds, with a mischevious smile, as she holds up a red nailed finger. "I've been told I look like a completely different person in a yukata or kimono. Perhaps you may not realize I'm there at all~"

<Pose Tracker> Yua Ooshiro has posed.

    "Ah -- of course," Yua allows, with all the gentleness of someone who is used to acquiesing. "Excuse me."

    (But then, she would, wouldn't she? Housewives in Japan... they're of a sort.)

    ... it isn't really that Yua suddenly believes she's clever enough to navigate things like this, though. She just... doesn't want to upset Umie, that's all.

    "It's all right," she assures her, gently. "If it's anything how I've imagined it... you must be right to be paranoid." She thinks of Yanagi, again, and the risks she's under. Is it right to put this young woman at risk, just because they need the power of the Mark...? ... but Miho will need all the options available to her, if she's to challenge the Powers.

    Yua did say that her fiance had nothing to do with Them -- this is not, apparently, an NWO wedding. Not all imperialist traditionalism is rooted in the conspiracy. Still, it's hard to blame Umie for not believing her, when she's wearing wedding robes close to two hundred years old.

    "Ha ha... you're right," Yua laughs, lightly, to chase away that tension. "Ah -- Yua Ooshiro," she adds, bowing her head, "though I'm soon to be Yua Ijuuin... of course, I'll be happy to take your number."

    She smiles, and adds: "I'm sure you'll look wonderful, Akabane-san," and housewives are of a sort: somehow, she manages to make that sound supportive despite having never seen it.

    She will make her exit after Umie does; she knows enough about cloak-and-dagger to know not to leave together, at least.

    Besides, it's almost time to start dinner... and hope that Miho will be home at a reasonable hour.