2026-01-25: Checking Up on a Friend
- Log: Checking Up on a Friend
- Cast: Hyousuke Suzuki, Moriko Kumamoto
- Where: Naganaki Shrine
- OOC Date: 2026-01-25
- IC Date: Sep 15 2012
- Summary: Hyousuke meets with Moriko to check up on her after the battle at Tartarus a few days earlier. The conversation quickly begins to shift in the direction of foxes, helmets, and chairs being a strange weapon to use against Shadows.
<Pose Tracker> Hyousuke Suzuki has posed.
Though summer had long since passed, and the freedom of the break had passed with it, September still had its fair share of nice days. The sunshine of the early afternoon cascaded down upon the shrine, bathing the area in warmth as much as it did light. The only clouds that hung amidst the sky were thin wisps of white, short as they were distant, while the forecast itself had heralded no weather more extreme than the occasional stiff breeze. Indeed, it was an exceptionally nice Saturday, as far as those in the middle of September went.
Yet Hyousuke seemed a little distant as he wandered up to the shrine, and performed the usual rites. He did so with all due accuracy, and made a modest offer he hoped no ruling deities or errant spirits would be offended by, but everything was done with a detached expression and the faintest hint of sluggishness. It was as though he was being dragged through the shrine on strings, with someone else's hand controlling his movements in slowed and repetitive movements. It only came to a halt when he finally found the time to take a seat and decompress.
The past couple of weeks weighed on his mind. The encounter with Shinjiro, the mystery stemming from Tartarus and all those that had been in attendance, his argument with his friends... Just one of those would have been enough to give him food for thought, but each event had happened one after the other. Each one had left him reeling, and each one demanded that he pay attention to them, asserting that they were the thing he needed to figure out most at that very moment. The clamouring grew loud, and he shook his head, as if that would quiet it all. he could consider it later. Right now, he'd agreed to meet a friend, and it would not do to appear distant when they arrived.
<Pose Tracker> Moriko Kumamoto has posed.
Moriko's back on her feet. She's got a few bandages visible at the edges of her simple dark red dress, but otherwise she seems in good enough spirits. Rolling her shoulders there at the shrine, she stretches out, slowly, gingerly. Then settles back on her heels.
After she's done that, she resumes what she had been doing, which is cautiously picking her way around the shrine itself. Exploring, maybe lookign for some kind of answers on her own. Whether the answers are to her own worries, or just the rampant curiosity that does drive some of her odder decisions.
Either way, she has a bag over her shoulder with a little dangling fox plush and she seems a bit lost in thought as she looks things over.
<Pose Tracker> Hyousuke Suzuki has posed.
Hyousuke's gaze drifted over the middle distance, a little absent and a little glassy. Despite his attempts at maintaining some kind of focus, or some veneer of respectability, he couldn't help but drift away and let thoughts of the days before seep into his mind. However, when his eyes caught on Moriko, he snapped back to attention. There was no mistaking the very person he'd called to the shrine to hang out with - she had quite a distinctive air about her, after all. Hyousuke lifted to his feet with all due haste, and strode towards her, his hand raised high in greeting.
"Kit-san!" Hyousuke called out, waving a little as he made his approach. "You're here!" He'd not expected her to flake on their meeting, of course. He was just happy to see her there, as evidenced by his cheery tone and the smile etched into his features. Warm as the early autumn sun, it might as well have been a beam of sunshine itself, for all the relief it spoke of. It faded a little when his eyes caught on the bandage, however, and his gaze flitting down to it was anything but subtle. "You doing alright?" He asked, his head canting to the side a little.
<Pose Tracker> Moriko Kumamoto has posed.
Turning on her heels, Moriko comes to a stop, one leg just off the ground almost playful. Or ready to move, sometimes it's hard to say with her usualy appearance. She does offer something of a cheerful wave though. Albeit slower than she normally would. She isn't immune to pain despite her attempts to pretend like sh eis!
There is, very briefly, a look possible teasing that passes her face, then she decides that would probably be a bit mean. "Im-san!" She snickers, then shifts her weight to the foot she'd had hovering just a moment before. "I am. I like it here." She gestures around, "I kinda like some of the stuff here after I've started reading more. You know?" Probably not.
The smile and cheery look seems a bit beyond her, "Something good happen?" An earnest question. Clearly not putting the pieces together.
"I've had worse." She admits, glancing down at the bandage in question, holding her arm out. "It's why I am so insistent on helmets though." She reaches up, knocks her head lightly and asks, "Are you okay though?"
<Pose Tracker> Hyousuke Suzuki has posed.
Part of Hyousuke felt like he should have been worried about the snickering. It was a very small part that was drowned out very quickly by the parts that were glad to see she was at least well enough to manage that. He even offered a small, quiet, chuckle in return, though he wasn't entirely sure for what reason beyond her laughter being infectious. It was only slight, however, and settled quickly enough that he was able to offer responses to her without having to worry about a laugh creeping in between words.
"I'm doing alright. Got knocked around a bit, but Achilles stopped the big hits, and my skull's thick enough to take the rest." He tapped a finger against his head in light, mocking, response to her own gesture. For once, Hyousuke's claim of being fine - in the physical sense, at least - was completely truthful Some bruising here and there, some scabs on his knuckles that had not had the chance to heal properly, and some signs of exhaustion lingering in his features like a draught in an old house, but nothing that seemed particularly serious. "Besides, I'm more worried about you. Kinda why I wanted to meet up with you here." He said it casually, almost to the point of it being offhanded, but there was no denying that he'd confessed to wanting to check up on her.
Dense though he was, Hyousuke seemed to realise it on some level, and quickly moved to downplay his worry before his tone had a chance to shift to anything outside of politely sunny. A repeat of that day on the roof was the last thing he needed.
"That, and it seemed quiet enough that we could talk about all the Persona stuff without anyone listening. I don't know much about the history stuff as you do though." He presumed that her reading had given her at least a surface-level knowledge of such matters. He couldn't say for certain, of course, being unfamiliar with what she'd actually been reading.
He just hoped he could keep up if she ever started spouting facts about the gods.
<Pose Tracker> Moriko Kumamoto has posed.
Moriko tilts her head, noting the change in demeanor at least. "Everything okay?" She might be a bit dense in some things, and observant in others. Even if they're adjacent. Don't worry too much about it. Though with the hints of laughter, she doesn't seem too concerned. Maybe something just under the surface got her attention.
"I can hear the door knocking from here." As he kncoks against his head. Clearly wanting to tease a bit. "I thought the same thing." She admits. "Then I woke up some time later. I should have kept my helmet on." Which, to be fair, she has gone to Tartarus in biker kit. Because it is protective! Mostly. "Nothing to worry about here. I woke up with the world spinning counter clockwise and convinced I high-sided my bike." She grimaces, "And so soon after I'd fixed my tired." She points to Hyousuke, "Glad it was safe." She's deflecting a bit. She doesn't like losing, but she was reminded of the whole, 'should be taking this seriously. Even if you've been taking it seriously' nature of it all.
She settles back on both heels as her broaches the other subject though. Arms crossed, "Hm. I know most of what I do because a fox popped out of my head. Also researching for other projects." She wobbles her hand.
<Pose Tracker> Hyousuke Suzuki has posed.
"Me? I'm alright." Hyousuke seemed alright. Certainly better than he'd been a minute ago, at least, if only because she'd shown up and seemed to be recovering quite well. He was certainly not also relieved that she'd not caught his little outburst when he'd seen her collapse, and that it seemed nobody had told her about it either.
To be teased about it would have been mortifying.
"Let me guess - the projects are about foxes." Hyousuke couldn't help himself. Between her Persona, the plush dangling off her bag, and their interactions at both the festival and the arcade, he couldn't *not* make the joke. That aside, she had the strangest air about her that he could not for the life of him discern the source of. He knew he only caught it when he glanced at her face, but that was about the extent of his knowledge. It was a mystery for another time, however. Staring intently at someone's face in an attempt to solve a conundrum was, generally speaking, frowned upon.
"Still... Glad to hear you're doing alright. That whole thing was pretty rough on everyone." Hyousuke's expression dropped a little at the memory of the painter and his monster, though not enough to flit into a look of consternation. He was calm, but the smile he wore was a polite one, rather than the beaming one he'd worn beforehand. "We don't even know what that thing is. I'm gonna speak to someone about it later, and your friend seemed pretty familiar with the guy trapped in it, but the whole thing was..."
Hyousuke pulled a face when he tried to think of the words. His features seemed to tumble about on his face like they were being shaken about it, before he finally settled on something vaguely confused. He even tilted his head a little as he thought, resembling a curious hound at first glance.
"All this stuff about Personas and the Joker Killer and Shadows... it's all way over my head. And I don't even have to deal with a fox coming out of it." His lips curled and he laughed a little at his own joke, before returning to business. "Some friends explained the basics, but I'm still trying to keep up with the rest of it."
<Pose Tracker> Moriko Kumamoto has posed.
Moriko will definitely tease him about it later. He doesn't have to worry about that. Unless no one tells her. The suspense must be monstrous!
"Nope." She admits, "Though there is a fox present now. Because it makes me laugh. And they're cute." She holds her hands up, doing the little fox hand gesture with her middle and ring finger touching her thumb, the other two held up for ears.
"I can guess why you'd think that though." She then sticks her tongue out. "Otohime Gitsune's pretty. Why wouldn't I want to look into it?" She adds as an aside, "And I have no idea why such a.. distant myth is popping out of my head."
"It wasn't a good fight, no." She pauses. Thinking on it. "Creepy that the painting had that kind of presence if I understood Yamagishi-san though." As for the guy trapped in it, "Never met him myself. I think I'm in the wrong art circles for traditional painters though. Even if I do sumi-e from time to time."
"That works out. You don't have a fox stuck in your head at least." She grins. And it probably doesn't help her usual features in that exact moment. "I stumbled into it riding my bike home late. Bike died and some dice tried to freeze me. Then I upset someone by offering to help by punching them." She holds her hands up for emphasis, fingers splayed like she finds it amusing. "Then they gave me the evoker and I go chasing problems."
"That is to say, I have no idea waht's going on." She did get some more clues on a beach trip, of which she still has that tan at least, but that's neither here nor there!
<Pose Tracker> Hyousuke Suzuki has posed.
Hyousuke didn't speak in response to Moriko's musing regarding the subject of distant myths, but he did react, and made no attempt to hide it. He glanced downwards, his fingers wrapped around his chin as he pondered the mystery, before realising he had no recollection of the myth. Perhaps he'd heard it somewhere before, perhaps he'd not, but it was difficult to say for certain whether he even remembered the details - let alone how they might pertain to Moriko's life. He could agree on certain things though, and even gave a quiet nod when those point were mentioned.
Foxes were indeed cute, and Otohime Gitsune was indeed quite pretty.
"Yamagishi..." Hyousuke muttered, mostly to himself, when the name was mentioned. It took him a moment to recall which one of the two was her, but his face lit up a little and his brow arched a touch when the memory flashed into his mind. "Oh, right, the navigator. Yeah, she seemed to know a lot more about the artist than anyone else there." He pondered the possibility of asking her about that night in Tartarus, but put the thought aside quickly. Perhaps if the meeting with Tamaki didn't prove fruitful, he could see if Fuuka could provide some insight, but other matters required his attention more immediately.
"I got mine after some Shadows tried to get me in the Dark Hour. I tried kicking 'em first, but that didn't go great. Man, I wish all this was as easy to deal with as just hitting it." Hyousuke shrugged, as if he'd not almost been eaten alive by the manifestations of humanity's darkness. "But that didn't teach me a thing about art. Unless you count someone I go hunting rumours with giving me some wood carving tools." He pondered the point for a moment. Did Shinobu's kind gesture count, in some roundabout way? He wasn't entirely certain, and wasn't concerned enough to figure it out then and there.
<Pose Tracker> Moriko Kumamoto has posed.
Moriko's arms drop to her side, thinking on a few subjects, like the whole art thing. "If I start manifesting weirdness from my art, you have my permission to hit me until it stops by the way." She sounds completely serious about this. "I'd prefer it really."
"Yeah our navigator. One of them? I think she was the one talking about it. I was a bit hazy afterward." She wobbles her hand back and forth. "I think I ate something bad." Which is her way of brushing over it with humor. She hopes.
"Sometimes it is?" She suggests. "Not that I do that as much as I thought I'd being." She taps her foot, "Though I guess the last time I got into a fight it was because I threw a trashcan."
"Do you do woodcarving?" There's a shift in her demeanor, she's clearly curious about that. "Never tried it myself. I was too busy fixing bikes."
<Pose Tracker> Hyousuke Suzuki has posed.
Again, Hyousuke spoke without saying a word. That time, he took on a look of concentration, making a mental note when Moriko mentioned weirdness and punching. Given the situation, it was reasonable to assume that said mental note was something along the lines of 'Whack Moriko in the head if she starts sprouting tentacles and laughing about weird art shows.' He hoped it would never come to that, but it was useful information to hold onto regardless. That short reverie was interrupted when she glossed over her situation with a dash of humour, but he couldn't help but let concern flash over his features. She'd collapsed that night, and even now, she was recovering - though he did not say it, Hyousuke believed that concerned look he gave her to be completely justified.
Still, he thought better of pressing the matter. Hyousuke could worry all he liked, and show - even if only through the look on his face - that he was concerned for her wellbeing, but if she didn't want to talk openly about it, that was that. He certainly had enough experience with it that he hesitated with pushing himself into other people's problems. The trashcan, however, he couldn't leave alone.
"Wait, you threw a trashcan? At a guy, or at a Shadow?" It didn't seem to matter to him much which it was. The fact that she'd thrown it at someone - or something - had been enough of a hook.
"As for the woodcarving, I've only just started that." He brought out his phone and switched it on, before flicking through to the gallery. Were Moriko to pay close attention to his screen as he searched for the right window, she might've noticed a couple of things. One, his itinerary for the rest of the week - largely empty, save for a spot marked out for meeting with a 'Tamaki Uchida,' and one for Julian Marlow. Then, in the gallery, a screenshot of a forum, detailing a coming art show that the artist himself could not attend. The name highlighted on it should have been familiar - it was the one that they'd rescued the other night.
Finally, he came to the picture he'd been searching for. It was a small thing, able to fit within the palm of one's hand, sitting atop a workbench in Kasugayama's (rather neglected) woodworking room. It was a roughly-hewn thing that seemed to have four limbs and, what resembled a head, if one were to squint at it from a distance, but it was clear that effort had been poured into it.
"I've been practising, trying to carve out some basic shapes and animals, but this bear's..." He pulled a face. He was a beginner, and he knew it.
<Pose Tracker> Moriko Kumamoto has posed.
Moriko's going to give that worried look one of her own. "I didn't step in something again did I?" Which... probably shows that her sense of self-concern is a bit iffy. She does try to race bikes. This is probably not a surprise. She does shift foot to foot though, suddenly a bit self-conscious.
Though to be fair, she's usually the one fretting over others. In her way. She's been in enough trouble for it over the years that it's a fairly natural step forward.
"A guy. Hit him in the head with it because he was mouthing off and being weird." She crosses her arms with a humph, "Used to just suckerpunch'em." She's showing her Osakan accent with that one.
"Huh." She lets out, spotting that screenshot. "I missed some of the research side of things." Sounding maybe a bit guilty. "I keep working because I want to be-" she considers her words before settling on, "Mobile. The bike's.. useful for us." And she likes riding it. Genuinely. These days though, she has a vehicle. Not everyone does.
She looks at the bear for a moment, "It's cute in a way." She notes. "Have you ever worked with negative coloring?" Glancing over, "There's a tiny bit of overlap there that might help." She doesn't go into it right away. "You should make a mask for me later." She decides. "I'll pay you for it."
<Pose Tracker> Hyousuke Suzuki has posed.
Hyousuke saw two paths. One, he could let the matter rest, and that would be the end of it - for now. There was always the risk that the matter would still remain present in at least one of their minds, slowly eating away at them until someone said something. Two, he could say something then and there, and risk a reaction that he wasn't equipped to handle. However, at least the offer would have been made, and she'd know that people were concerned about her, even if he kept the true extent of it buried for the sake of his own dignity.
"I'm just a bit concerned about you." Hyousuke eventually said, deciding to settle for path two. "You took a beating back there. A bad one." Perhaps not the kindest way to put it, but Hyousuke was about as blunt, precise, and tactful as a sledgehammer. Him treating the situation with any degree of care should have been the surprise, not him tackling it head-on. "Your friends're probably a little worried too. It's good you're getting better, but seeing you laid out like that's always gonna get people fretting." He spoke frankly, and kept his eyes trained on her while he did so.
He blinked, and wondered why he had the strangest sense of deja vu, before continuing on.
Whatever concern was in his expression evaporated when she mentioned the guy mouthing off, and he offered a smile back in return. Though not the broad and meaning thing he'd taken on before, the grin was no doubt one of abject approval. "Heh, yeah, hitting them with one of those's gonna put any creep off. I probably would've done both just to make sure." He spoke offhandedly again, as casually as one might speak about what shirts they liked to wear, or their favoured brand of soft drink. Did he perhaps have experience with that kind of thing?
He moved on quickly though, addressing what was on his phone. The tone she spoke with and the the sudden gap in her speech did not escape him, but he wasn't quite sure how to address it. He mulled his options over for a little while, before his mind flashed back to the calendar, and he looked as if he'd had the most brilliant idea.
"If it's research you're worried about, you could go ask Uchida-san. She's a PI me and-" He paused, considering some of his own words carefully. "Me and some other Persona users work with. Knows stuff about rumours, and probably the Joker Killer too. I'm gonna see if she knows anything about all that painting stuff that happened... I don't know what the deal with *any* of it is, but she's probably got some ideas. Or knows some people that do." He sounded hopeful, for a change.
"And don't try and give me money for the mask. I'm not taking it from friends, and not when my stuff still looks like this." The remark was made with a light tone and in good humour, but there was no denying that he knew how amateurish his work looked (for the time being). The fact that it was a bear could realistically only be intuited by the fact he'd explicitly stated it. "If you're gonna pay me, just, I dunno... gimme ride on the bike sometime, or something like that." In his haste to figure out a payment method that he wouldn't feel awkward about imposing on someone, he spoke the first thing he could think of. He then remembered how little he liked being touched, and quietly wondered how the hell he was supposed to walk that one back without eating an enormous amount of crow.
<Pose Tracker> Moriko Kumamoto has posed.
Moriko herself seems oblivious to it. There might be more there. Leading into problems when she can. Even on her first night, the urge to run had only lasted a few seconds at most. She thinks. It was clearly just... who she was. If either of them were paying attention, there's probably a decent amount of oblivious overlap.
Her cheeks do go red for a moment. "Why?" Blurted out before she realizes that might.. be taken wrong. "I'm fine." She insists, hands up, palms out. "I haven't done anything THAT risky right?" You know, aside from the everything. "They were." She's pretty sure of that. She did wake up in her room. Which gets a brief grim look. "I really hope they didn't get a good look around while there." Which she doesn't explain there either.
She shifts her weight to the other foot and points, "Then I'm worried about you too. You're just as headstrong. I saw the fighting too." Hah! Deflecting. Sort of.
"I just figure he's a head and change taller than I am. Brawling or not, hanging out with Aomori and learning to fight, or gramps and fighting doesn't always help. So-" She grins, "Even the field."
"PI Huh?" She pauses, "Mm.. I should meet her if she knows the rumor things though." Shifting her weight once again. Contemplative. "There's a few people doing that. And a lot of weirdness." She does admit there's an errant thought. "If I step on your toes do you fall over?" That was Achilles right? Not the.. tendon, but.
It's a joke. Clearly.
"If you're really fine riding a bike behind a girl." Her tone teasing as she says that, "I'm always happy to give bike rides out. Do you know how hard I have to fish for excuses to ride some school nights?" She points, "We'll have to see if my spare helmet fits you though." She's serious about that.
As for the mask itself? "You don't get better without working. I could probably find some way to help." Which is, finding someone else that actually can. Probably.
<Pose Tracker> Hyousuke Suzuki has posed.
A smarter man might have done some scant amount of self-reflection at that point, and realised just how similar the two of them were. A more insightful man might have been able to work with the similarities between them, and work out a response that was precise, elegant, and thoughtful. Hyousuke was not those men. Hyousuke was the human equivalent of a crude club, beating people over the head until his point was made, and the fact that he managed to show even the faintest hint of restraint was nothing short of a marvel.
"Kit-san, you could've died out there." Her attempt at deflection was no match for Hyousuke's ability to bludgeon his way through to the heart of the matter. It was no precise cut that struck at it, but a man simply kicking down the door and saying what he meant. "Anyone's gonna be worried after that. Hell, *I* was worried." Hyousuke figured he could allow her that much, at least. He did not say to what extent or for how long, but there was no shame in admitting the vague details, was there?
"Besides, my Persona's all about taking hits and hurting people back. Headstrong's my thing." There were myriad other reasons why he was headstrong, but he settled for the explanation that he thought least likely to draw ire towards him, and attention from her. "Just... try not to do that kinda thing again. The whole 'getting knocked out' thing. Let me get knocked around a bit - got a thick enough skull to take it, don't I? Gonna take more than stepping on my toes to put me down." He tapped his head once more to emphasise the point before moving on. Whether or not he was aware of Achilles' heel being his weak spot remained unclear, and he seemed disinclined towards clarifying.
It was only when she mentioned levelling the playing field that Hyousuke actually clocked the disparity between them. He'd known she was shorter before, of course, but the man was six feet tall when he slouched. The thought flitted into his head, lingered for a moment, and was swiftly ejected when he realised that there was really no good way to make a joke about that. What he *did* think about for a little longer, however, was fighting things bigger than them both.
"...Even the playing field, you say? Maybe I should start bringing trashcans to the Dark Hour..."
He was only half-joking.
Then came the mention of riding behind a girl, and Hyousuke's composure - already fracturing - cracked just a little more. Not at the thought of riding behind a girl, but at having to just touch anyone. Given his silence, however, few would have been blamed for thinking he'd frozen up at the thought of clinging to her rather than a general aversion to uninvited touching in general.
"We'll figure it out." He said eventually, responding with that and a quick shrug. "The helmet and the mask. You're gonna have to help me model them though, since you're the one wearing it."
He paused.
"The mask. Not the helmet. That's gonna be mine."
<Pose Tracker> Moriko Kumamoto has posed.
Moriko is a bit dense, maybe a bit stuck in her ways. It's fine.
"I could have, but didn't." She retorts, "And you're at as much a risk as any of us are. We're all going to have to accept that." Which suggests... other problems. Probably. "I-" She pauses. "You were worried." She leans forward, giving him a scrutinizing look, "Did I get beat up that bad?" She probably misses any other implications. Clearly.
"And mine is-" She pauses. "Not.. that. She was about helping others." Which, well, she does. "You're going to make everyone else worried if you go down again. How about we just avoid getting knocked out?" That's a pragmatic approach clearly.
She's also sidestepping some errant thoughts there.
"I usually use a naginata. Sort of." She knows it's called something else. It's easier to just call it what others are familiar with. "Also throwing trashcans is funny, but probably not that effective sadly. What's next, a chair?"
She does manage something of a grin at him tensing up. She clearly thinks she got a good playful jab in there. "The visor will hide you. We'll just park where no one can see you getting off and it'll be fine!" Some more good natured teasing.
"I mean if you're buying a helmet, you can paint them. I knew a guy that used to use a custom hand painted job designed to look like a CD cover."
<Pose Tracker> Hyousuke Suzuki has posed.
Hyousuke's mind flashed back - if only for a moment - to the rooftop. To the things he'd said, to the things his friends had said to him, to the rift he had no doubt had begun to form from his actions there. He wanted so badly to address the litany of concerns he had, but - fearful that doing so would only invite further disaster he was not in the headspace to deal with - Hyousuke relented, and just gave her a thin-lipped smile in response.
"You got beat up bad enough to get knocked out. Of course you're gonna get your friends worried." He included himself in that, presumptuous though he thought it may have been to assume she thought of him as a *friend,* rather than just *friendly.* "So, let's... not get knocked out. Both of us. It's not gonna do anyone any good."
Again, he did not specify if he spoke from experience. Not that he supposed it would matter if he did. His plan, he believed, was a solid course of action, the complete lack of details notwithstanding. There was no need to speak of past experiences or old wounds when there were schemes to hatch, plans to make, and bad guys to beat up.
The thought of walking into Tartarus wielding a chair and a trashcan was enough to give him pause, and he shook his head as if to try and dislodge the idea from his mind.
"Yeah, you're right, you'd have to be dumber than me to try and use that kinda thing. What, are you gonna start beating up a Shadow that looks like a table with it?" In the back of his mind, Hyousuke heard the sound of laughing at the mention of a table. Perhaps it was his own. Perhaps it was just the wind. It was another thing that was unclear, and another thing he decided not to pay much mind to.
"That's not the pro-" He realised that explaining his reasoning behind not wanting to ride behind her would take too long and dredge up memories he wasn't ready to share. So, rather than try and sidestep the issue, he just dismissed it altogether. "... Ah, forget it. Anyway, that mask's gonna take a while, so the ride's gonna be a while too. Probably best you just stick to the magic... thing... you guys do." Having not heard the term 'Will of Rebellion' used in any capacity, 'magic thing' was the next best term available to him.
"But I'll get the helmet, and I'll see your guy about getting it painted. A ride might be nice."
Somewhere, deep in the back of his mind, a part of him made another mental note about things to speak to Julian about. He could hardly refuse her when she was so eager to take him out, could he?
<Pose Tracker> Moriko Kumamoto has posed.
"I got beat up bad enough to get knocked out because I made a mistake." Moriko more or less agrees. "It was a bad attack across the board and I'll see it coming next time." As for the others, "It is.. a good plan to not lose though. Yeah." She crosses her arms, rocking back on her heels. "Might have to find some people to practice with or something."
Moriko herself, isn't quite as much prone to chasing death as she could be, but there's a certain flippancy that might be teenage arrogance or might be something else bubbling beneath.
"Why a table though?" She pauses, briefly pulled out of her thoughts. No really, why a table? "Trashing furniture for fun and profit. Or saving the world from errant furniture." Hm..
She is dense, but not completely stupid. "What is then?" Putting him briefly on the spot. Though if he's not answering right away she'll hold the hand up, "It's fine it's fine. I know the jokes. It's why I made them." She still assumes it's a pride thing! Because it kinda usually is.
"I'm patient, if all else."