2026-10-19: After The Atelier
- Log: After the Atelier
- Cast: Isabeau Fontaine, Kanae Fuyuki
- Where: Aoyama-Itchome Station
- OOC Date: October 19, 2026
- IC Date: January 27, 2013
- Summary: In the immediate space after Shinichi's Atelier is brought to a conclusion, Isabeau and Kanae meet--as Isabeau finds she can't get back in, and Kanae explains why. Then they talk about what they saw within, and some other things besides.
(|========================== Aoyama-Itchome Station ==========================|)
-==================================================== Tokyo/Aoyama-Itchome ====-
A crowded train station leads to sunny streets and colorful businesses, but this
is an illusion of freedom. Your perspective narrows as you continue to walk, no
matter whether you turn down the main walk or cut through the alleyways. Darker
shadows line the way, past the temptation of vending machines, as the gates and
higher walls of the building come into view.
March along with your fellow students to your destination, some few of whom
understand that society forces them to consign themselves each day to
imprisonment. The kanji for 'Shujin' in local prep school Shujin Academy means
'Utmost Excellence,' but it also sounds like the word for 'Prisoner.' That
wordplay is all too apt, concealing in plain sight the fact that you are a
prisoner here for six days a week and the majority of your waking hours...
And then you go home.
<Pose Tracker> Isabeau Fontaine has posed.
OST: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=taK9g-KPm2U Witch Hunter Robin - Half Pain
When Isabeau rouses, it's in the internet cafe where she entered Shinichi's Atelier, a crowded, miserable coffin just about large enough for a comfy chair and computer. There she slumps, alone and very much not together, eyes half-lidded as she dozes in a half-sleep.
No longer does she wear the vest and greatcoat of her armaments; a green blouse over jeans and a denim jacket, rather, cover her broad arms, one slung over her chest as the other lists, not quite grasping the mouse which has been knocked from its position over the Atelier Network.
She does not quite realise that it's all been done, as she tries to rouse her focus to grasp the blasted thing and force her way back in.
It errors, of course, because the Atelier is no more.
"Nh," Isabeau grunts, eloquently, as she slumps in her chair again.
<Pose Tracker> Kanae Fuyuki has posed.
Kanae has logged out of the Atelier Network properly, and she has a few things to keep track of now--but before she can worry about Shinichi and Coin and the others, she has a priority. Isabeau's the one who went down shielding her, and so Kanae quickly rises from her chair, steps out of the closet (not that closet) and walks right over to--
"isabeau?" she asks, checking in on her. Unlike Isabeau, Kanae's still in uniform for the day.
"You OK?"
<Pose Tracker> Isabeau Fontaine has posed.
From somewhere, a transmission...
In her own closet, Isabeau's eyes flicker, and close again.
"Nnnh," she grunts, a touch more emphatically, such that it might even dimly transmit past the door.
That's her voice... for some reason, that's important. Feeling her afternoon clothes against her skin, and... Kanae is calling to her, and...
Nope, it's gone.
<Pose Tracker> Kanae Fuyuki has posed.
That noise...
"I'm coming in!" Kanae opens the door to Isabeau's internet cubby and--
No, actually, she's not coming in. It's much too small for that. But Kanae--a little worse for wear to look at her, though thanks to Persona power it's mostly fatigue--but intact.
(Mostly; the cut on her clavicle may scar, but it's covered over by her turtleneck right now, and stopped bleeding thanks to Persona healing.)
"Isabeau?" she confirms. "YOu took that attack for me..."
<Pose Tracker> Isabeau Fontaine has posed.
"Hein?" Is the eloquent response Isabeau gives, before --
"Hé!"
The door opens -- slides open, it's that kind of closet -- and Isabeau jerks upright in her chair, the mouse clattering beneath her palm as she spins her chair to face the girl in the doorway. "You!" She barks, pointing at her, which just about plants her finger on her chest with how cramped things are in here. It's all in French, of course, the way she accuses her: "What's the meaning of this?! Why are you here?! The mission's not done! Rrrhhh -- forget it, I'll do it myself!!"
Spinning around in her chair, she spends an angry moment grabbing at the mouse where it dangles to plant it firmly down on the mousepad again, clicking into the --
ERROR: ADDRESS NOT FOUND
-- Atelier again --
ERROR: ADDRESS NOT FOUND
-- "Do you think I'll accept that so easily?!" Isabeau snaps, at the computer, as she tries five more times in rapid succession. "As if I'd accept another Futaba Sakura! YIELD!"
She doesn't remember what happened after she got knocked out at all, huh...?
<Pose Tracker> Kanae Fuyuki has posed.
Her! Kanae understands the French accusations, of course. "Isabeau--"
She can't explain before Isabeau is already starting to put the login bak in. She's still working on it. And Isabeau--
"It's done!" Kanae says. "We rescued him while you were unconscious," she explains. "...A lot happened, actually. A 'mature' Homunculus showed up and chased Peacock Silk off, and then left, and we all got out..."
"I was gonna check on the others in a bit, but you were hurt, so I'm checking on you first."
Pause. "Who's Futaba Sakura?"
<Pose Tracker> Isabeau Fontaine has posed.
In all her flurry of activity, it takes a moment for Isabeau to absorb Kanae's own interjection. (ERROR. ERROR. ERROR --) When she does, though, she swings back around, grasping the armrests of the chair in her hands.
"What do you mean, a mature Homunculus?" She asks, those jealous green eyes narrowing. "You don't mean... there's one they didn't catch before it consumed its host?"
Her hands tighten, against the armrests, as she draws a dark conclusion.
"... how many people in this damn city... aren't really people?"
Imagine learning that the problem with your trust issues is that you don't have enough of them.
"I'm not hurt," she snarls, as she goes to push herself up -- only to remember the pain of being thrown like a ragdoll across the room, and sink back down into the chair with a long, stifled hiss. "I'm fine," she says, again, "I just don't see any reason why I ought to get up for you."
Isabeau can probably sell a bridge if she's climbed it herself, too, right?
Her expression darkens, as her arms fold across her chest. "A damn failure," she spits out, scowling. "We went to save her, but a Shadow got in our way... and then those damn Phantom Thieves, and when we'd taken care of them, a damnable giant sphinx showed up! That monster flung us away so grievously we were forced to leave the Palace where that girl was trapped... and no matter my efforts, I couldn't force our way in again. We didn't even know if she'd survived until a week ago... papa saw her at work, so I suppose at least those wretched Thieves were good for something. But I'd already decided I wouldn't depend on something like that... I can't let it happen again."
She's still scowling, as she scrutinises Kanae. "So you're sure he's him?" She issues her, sharp. "You rescued the right one? You're certain?"
<Pose Tracker> Kanae Fuyuki has posed.
"I mean a really scary woman who felt super wrong," Kanae continues, still in French. "There's at least one they didn't catch. ...But like..."
"Trust me, if you'd met one, you'd remember."
But Isabeau insists she's not hurt, and Kanae gives her a level look that says 'i do not believe you'. However, since Isabeau was hurt helping kanae...
"If that's how you want it," she settles on.
But... Futaba. "I see..." She nods, thoughtful. "Well, at least she lived," Kanae says. "I'm not sure I'd want to rely on 'somebody else' either," she admits. "Even if the Phantom Thieves do seem to be the real deal."
But, Isabeau scrutonizes her--
Kanae has nothing to lean on, but she does rub her collarbone with a hand, idly. It still hurts.
"I'm sure," she says. "I watched the other one die. His eyes got taken, and then he died again. Then, the real one manifested a Persona..."
"...his sister doesn't want anything to do with him, though."
<Pose Tracker> Isabeau Fontaine has posed.
"I'd remember, huh..." Isabeau's scowl isn't going away any time soon, as her fingers rap on her arms.
It's the same kind of irritation that carries her into her dismissive, "bah," when Kanae settles on an answer.
"They say they 'steal people's distorted desires'," Isabeau explains, of the Phantom Thieves. "That celebrity detective mascot was talking about it on TV. Those kinds of shortcuts aren't acceptable at all!" A light pause, and she adds: "Oh, but perhaps I'm being harsh on that Akechi... he is quite useful in a crisis. There's certainly a reason why the television keeps showing teenaged 'Detective Princes', though..."
(Akechi ain't even the first.)
Kanae rubs her collarbone, though, and Isabeau points again -- at least a little more mindful of the cramped space this time. "You're hurt," she accuses her. "Damn it... was I still not strong enough?! That aegis should have warded you completely! Tchah... I'll double my training again!"
Mortals like Kanae might have 25 hours in a day, but truly elite warriors like her can easily fit 50 hours into a day through STRENGTH AND DISCIPLINE!
(It also helps that she can barge through the thick Tokyo crowds with the full freight force of a fat foreigner.)
But then -- Shinichi manifested a Persona. "Again?!" Isabeau demands, slamming a fist down on the armrest of her chair. "Damn it! Why didn't you protect him?! That's a burden you can't take back, Kanae! He'll carry that weight until he's dead and gone!" As far as Isabeau knows, there's no way to retire one's Persona... if there was, why wouldn't her father and his friends done so between then and now?
... is tiny Mielikki really such a heavy weight on Isabeau's shoulders?
"And... his sister, was it?" Isabeau scowls anew. "There's something wrong with her... perhaps it's a blessing in disguise. I can't quite figure it out, but... people shouldn't act like she does. There's more to that story, I suspect... perhaps the peacock's put her under a spell..."
Well, it started out as a pretty good guess.
<Pose Tracker> Kanae Fuyuki has posed.
Pause. "...Well, maybe not," she allows after a moment, remembering what Isabeau didn't remember. "She stands out, though. ...I don't even know if 'normal' people would fail to get it with her."
Stealing... distorted desires? "I'm glad they got Kamoshida," she says. "But I'm not planning on signing up for their website or anything."
Pause. "I dunno," she says. "He's cute though," of Akechi.
Then, "A little," Kanae admits. "It was from earlier. Your shield worked fine--the magic didn't even touch me. ...But I didn't ask you to shield me at your own expense, either."
Strength and discipline...
"Because he has a right to stand up against stuff like this," Kanae says. "It's going to happen whether he pays attention to it or not. ...Besides, he did it to protect Nagisa-san. His sister."
Then, "...I was all for her idea of freedom... until I saw what it cost him. I don't know. I think she's just weird, not like, brainwashed or something. You'd probably be weird too, in her shoes."
Does that mean Kanae thinks Isabeau isn't weird???
"...Anyway," Kanae says, "That's how it happened. The Homunculus came up for one last strike, and Shinichi-kun saved her from it. Nobody else could've gotten there in time."
"Then that other thing showed up, and made Kujaku-san really mad... They and the peacock and the rest of them ran off somehow."
<Pose Tracker> Isabeau Fontaine has posed.
"She didn't give a name, did she? Well, what did she look like? I can hardly just report there's a thing which looks like a woman..." ... is Isabeau really thinking about her report at a time like this???
(Of course she is. She matters! She's a valuable part of the team! Take her seriously, damn you--!!)
"Kamoshida..." Isabeau scowls. "I don't much like leaving criminals to do my work for me. I should have told papa about him in the first place... he'd have put a stop to it." ... what could Laurent do to someone in the real world like that?
(Wouldn't you like to know?)
She unlaces herself to scratch at her cheek, though, when Kanae talks about Akechi. "He can be a little charming, I suppose," she mutters, glancing aside, and that ghost-white skin does nothing to hide the reddening of her cheeks. "Even if I owe him a throttling..."
Wait, she knows him--?!
Isabeau scowls, when Kanae says she didn't ask for her aegis. "That's because I didn't ask you," she snaps, all that harshness returning in force. "I already decided I'd protect you from an enemy like that -- bad enough you insisted I give it access to you that night!" When Kanae took the false Shinichi on a date to leave his apartment unattended, she means. She shoved Kanae right over when she heard the plan... "I just didn't account for it possessing a power beyond Megido... I have to work harder to attain it!"
The skill differential is more complicated than that, but she's found something to latch onto and she's not going to let go any time soon.
"Now he has a responsibility to do so," is what Isabeau says, to Shinichi's rights. "He can't fail to pay attention to it any longer... that's the curse we've given him."
He did it to protect her, though. "And why couldn't you have?" She issues, accusatory. "For all this talk of teamwork and togetherness -- you're telling me there was no way?! Don't abdicate your own responsibility by throwing up your hands and declaring there was no other way! Having to do it yourself is a symptom of the sickness of the scenario!" With each alliterative beat, she smacks her fist into her palm. "Do you think I'm content with the fact of the matter that no one's coming to save you?! We have this power, so we have the responsibility to do something about it! Why do you think I embraced Mielikki to begin with?!"
When Kanae Awakened to protect Isabeau, only to find herself overwhelmed by the force of the Quarry alone... until Isabeau Awakened and stepped up to join her in the fight.
Is that why she feels so strongly about this...?
<Pose Tracker> Kanae Fuyuki has posed.
"Itami," Kanae rattles off. She describes her--dark-haired, a middle-aged woman... "Don't go after her. Just don't. ...You should probably warn the others though, eyah."
And, "What would your dad have done?" Kanae asks skeptically. "All the other parents went along with it--and those that didn't, nobody believed because of all the others. ...I mean, I guess we could've just killed him," she says dubiously.
Still... A little charming? Hmmm. "Do you?" she wonders. "hmm."
"Isabeau..." She sighs. "Nothing happened," she says. "But... fine. Thanks. It meant I could see what came next, for one."
But still... responsibility. "You can call it a curse if you want," Kanae says. "But I'd rather know."
"Because the Homunculus already had its hands around her throat. Nobody else could have reached it in time--we could've killed it, but not saved Nagisa-san." She scowls. "Don't call it abdicating, I'm just being realistic."
"Something you aren't always good at."
Kanae remembers, but...
"If I'd known how to use my power, maybe you wouldn't have had to," she says. "But would you really trade it? ...Knowing your family, knowing them?"
"It's not a bad thing, having this power. These things are going to keep happening whether people know them or not. Just like..."
She frowns. "...They shouldn't ahve done that to you," Kanae says. "Back then."
<Pose Tracker> Isabeau Fontaine has posed.
"Itami..." Isabeau nods, her expression grave, as she pulls a notebook from the breast pocket of her jacket and notes it all down. "... all right."
She frowns, though, as Kanae shows her scepticism over whether Laurent could have helped with Kamoshida. "I don't know," she admits, "because I did not... rely on him." In all her fierce self-sufficiency, she still struggles to account for having a father who supports her, now. "Even now... I... also bear the responsibility for failing Shinichi Nagisa," and her loosed drill curls tumble over her face, as she looks down, her hands curling to fists in her lap. (Her ponytail was undone, in that final assault she endured... her hair is much more wild, when it's not pulled back like that.) "I was ashamed of my inability to best the Homunculus... so I didn't tell the Hunt I'd begun another. I covered up the things happening at school, and so, papa wasn't able to respond to it... if he'd used his power, would things have gone differently...?"
... what effects would the Silver Bullet have had on that battle, anyway...?
She takes a breath, and shakes her head. "Euh, but Akechi... I met him when the Aerospace Museum burned. We shepherded some schoolchildren to safety," and for everyone keeping track at home, yes, she does use all those oratory skills reflexively, all those singing lessons aren't going to waste, "but... a feeling weighed on my shoulders quite heavily, as if... oh, it's hardly a mystery, they couldn't have been older than eight, I expected they would inhale smoke." She shakes her head, again, tongue clicking to her teeth. "But that show-off really hammed it up as he went off to fight that 'Joker Killer' and left me to watch them! He very almost kissed my hand! The lout!"
Isabeau's all embarrassed about someone kissing her hand??? She's so open about this and that, but she really doesn't have much experience, does she...
"At least you didn't look away," Isabeau will give Kanae that much. "... but don't you call me unrealistic! My positions come straight from reality!"
Not that she's told Kanae what that reality is.
Still... Kanae focuses on her own lack of mastery, in her way, and Isabeau folds her arms again. "I might have found him even without this power," she insists. "Alain's daughter didn't have it either, you know... papa would have been happy to find me even if I was normal." Is she sure about that, though...? No, she must be. Laurent values family above all else. He wouldn't fail her, the way the world has so often.
"And the cost... there's something I had to admit to grasp it." Her fingers tighten, around her arms. "Though I still don't accept it... even now..."
Mama died, that day, blue beneath the water.
But the spirits of people live on after they die... Isabeau knows that better than most people.
If she can just find her free spirit... if she can just reach her...
She could tell her, or...
... is she satisfied with that?
"I was given this power for a reason," Isabeau settles on, darkly. She is quiet, for a moment... before she looks aside, again.
"... I didn't remember a thing," she says, softly. "Even though I was born at a high frequency... he must have thought I was so stupid. And that whole time... the whole reason Mielikki's rule of the wasps is brought forward so much with me... it's because that monster thought I was funny."
She shakes her head, and those curls tumbling over her face don't entirely hide the way she bites at her lip. "I'd encountered them now and then, in Sumaru, you know... those Pixies. They said we had a deal, and it was never a good time to challenge it... oh, that's what I told myself, but I really was fond of them. Even the price-gouger, Trish... despite her wealth of scams and poor attitude. If I'd just thought a little harder... when would I have made a deal with a monster...?"
<Pose Tracker> Kanae Fuyuki has posed.
At least Isabeau isn't going to go charge after her right now. That'll have to do. Isabeau explains, though... and Kanae looks a little more sympathetic. "So we were on our own..." Because Kanae had no one to call in, and Isabeau didn't call them in. "I see. Well, we still made it. I don't think he'd complain--if he wants to look into wahtever's going on with his sister... He'll need that power."
Would it have gone differently? Well, maybe.
Still, Akechi and Isabeau... Kanae is thoughtful. "So he was back there, huh...?" Then she grins. "...Charming, huh?"
But, she didn't look away. tThat's true. "Which reality?" she can't help but ask.
"That's true," Kanae says. "But you wouldn't have the same relationship with all of them. ...Maybe it'd be just as good with your dad, though." And the cost?
Given this power for a reason. Isabeau explains further. Born at a high frequency.
"...It's OK," Kanae says to Isabeau. "You didn't remember. It's hard to remember stuff like that, from way back then. Shinichi-kun remembering is a weird fluke."
"You should never have been put into that position. ...But since you were, you adapted as best you could."
"I'm glad you did."
<Pose Tracker> Isabeau Fontaine has posed.
"Something's certainly going on with his sister," Isabeau can say that much, though she can't say he'll never complain.
She flushes, though, as she insists: "Don't get the wrong idea! I just wouldn't respect anyone without the strength to take some initiative! If you want to flirt, you should do it plainly instead of playing stupid games!" Well, that explains her, at least...
And -- "This reality!" She snaps, frowning at Kanae. "What other reality is there?! The freaky reality behind that blue door that pops up everywhere? I can tell you for sure I've never set foot inside it!"
Never having heard the spiel from Igor might explain a few things about her...
"Of course it would be as good," Isabeau insists. "There's nothing more important to my father than family. If he'd known about me, things would have been different!"
And if she'd known...
"I don't know how I feel... owing my life to a monster," Isabeau admits, rubbing at her arm. "We hold it self-evident that these creatures are sent to destroy humanity, and oughtn't be seen by mortal eyes... but even one as bloodthirsty as that ensured I wasn't destroyed. It's..." She pauses, for a moment, and shakes her head. "There's a way to make sense of it," she insists, then. "I just have to -- figure it out."
<Pose Tracker> Kanae Fuyuki has posed.
Something, all right. But--Hmmm. "I kinda like the stupid games," Kanae admits with a shrug.
But--this reality. "Are you sure?" because Kanae sure isn't sure Isabeau is seeing the same reality that she is. Regardless, though, the blue door--"That's the same reality as this one. I've been in there plenty of times--and they'll help, if you let them. How do you think I keep getting new Personas? I don't just take whatever i find; I work at it."
But of course.... Hmm. "Yeah." She's not arguing that one.
"It's rough," Kanae agrees. "...But that 'self-evident' truth just isn't true. Demons eat humans, sure, but it's not because of some grand design--they're just dangerous, like lions or tigers."
"It makes sense to me, anyway," she says. "Take Coin. She's not human, but she only wants to help. She has her own thoughts, hopes, dreams, desires... She's just curious about humanity--she's not out to destroy us."
"...Frankly," Kanae says, "I'd rather deal with the people in the Velvet Room than most of our classmates. Wouldn't you? Just because it's 'natural' doesn't mean it's good."
<Pose Tracker> Isabeau Fontaine has posed.
"Hmph... is that so?" Isabeau fixes Isabeau with a scrutinising look, when she says she likes stupid games. "You like to guess?"
She says it like she's scornful, but...
Well, no one had better catch her being interested in it. Isabeau might have been the 'girl next door', but there's no way anyone's calling her Beatty.
"I don't need help," Isabeau denies the Velvet Room, flatly. "I can take care of myself!" Does she not remember being carried in Kanae's arms...? (No, to all the world's regret.) Still, her Personas... "Tchah... that's how you do it, is it? Create all those Personas you use? Maybe I ought to visit, one of these days... and claim that power for my own!" That's definitely not how it works, Isabeau.
Still... Kanae calls it normal. "So you'd call them beasts of nature? Bah! Plenty of things in nature are dangerous! We hunt tigers so those tigers don't hunt us. Besides, there is a natural place for those monsters... in the subconscious, where they belong! Euh," she adds, her tone softening slightly, "but... why has this so-called helpful monster come to the waking world, anyway?"
It's more curiosity than she ever extended Pernelle, when she went to ASSAULT HIM IN HIS HOME!
(It's okay, Pernelle had fun.)
<Pose Tracker> Kanae Fuyuki has posed.
"Yes," Kanae confirms. "The guessing is part of the fun. Sometimes you want somebody to be direct, sure, but other times figuring it out is half the game. If I just told a guy what I wanted outright, he wouldn't usually have a good opinion of me. ...And honestly, kinda same, sometimes; 'it' was way too direct."
And a girl? Don't worry about it.
But Isabeau denies it, of course. "Sure," Kanae says. "But that's how, yeah. I can gather them up from demons and Shadows, but if I lean on the Velvet Room, i can turn two Personas into another, stronger Persona. ...It's my special power." She doesn't go into all the details; she doesn't trust the Wild Hunt with the knowledge of the coming war, just yet...
Still--
"Oh, they're dangeorus," Kanae agrees. "But they're not just dangerous. I agree that most of them ought to stay where they are... but sometimes they're just people who came from a different place."
Why has Coin come...?
"I'm still finding out," Kanae says. "Part of it is that she's curious about humans. She only sees the weird stuff from Foraines and Ateliers and stuff--not regular humanity."
"Somebody who just wants to 'learn'... Sure, I'd let them hang out. Now, if she wanted to eat people, yeah, I'd send her packing. But like--she even leaves money at convenience stores during the Dark Hour. She's nice."
<Pose Tracker> Isabeau Fontaine has posed.
"That's true," Isabeau sighs. "That thing demanded far too much."
Regardless of her own curiosity, there's some things she just can't fight her on.
"So you sacrifice two Personas to gain the strength of a third... quality over quantity, is it?" Isabeau huffs, hand to her chest. "I only need the one. That fey woman was right on one thing in her madness -- Mielikki is a stalwart defender, elite warrior, and cunning warlord! I can handle any situation, all on my own--!"
Strong words from a girl who still hasn't gotten up yet.
"Ask anyone around here," Isabeau suggests, darkly, "and people from a different place are as unwelcome as assaults on reality." Still... there's an uncomfortable feeling, saying that, that she might understand where something (someone) like Roger is coming from.
"But what if she wants to learn so she can destroy us?" Isabeau issues, and at least uses her proper pronouns in her suspicion. "Though... it is strange she's a Hunter. A beast hunting beasts... it bears more scrutiny, anyway."
Isabeau shakes her head, and plants her hands on the armrests of the chair -- this time, to brace herself up. "... there's a lot I need to put in this report," she concludes, as she stands, and after the time she's spent sitting down she manages. (If with a wince she can't quite keep off her face.) "I need to get started... since that thing's dead, I've honoured my vow. You'll be fine from now on."
She's leaving, just like that...?
<Pose Tracker> Kanae Fuyuki has posed.
Kanae and Isabeau agree on that much.
"That's right," Kanae says. "I can only carry so many at a time anyway." But Isabeau... only needs one. Kanae looks at her. "...You do pretty well," she allows.
But, Isabeau's suggestion... Kanae's expression goes distant. "True. But I wouldn't say they're right. Just that they're jerks."
But Isabeau issues a suspicion, and Kanae shrugs. "It is unusual," she agrees. "You should talk to her for yourself sometime."
But there--Isabeau gets up. The wince... Well, she won't accept Kanae's help more than that. They did...
"So you did," Kanae says to Isabeau, and steps back, to let her go. "...Thank you, for that."
"...i've got to go check in..." On Coin. She hasn't seen her come out like she might've seen the others in the corner of her vision.
"But you know..."
"We could talk again sometime. Just saying."
<Pose Tracker> Isabeau Fontaine has posed.
"I excel," Isabeau insists, and the fact that she's answered Kanae's allowance with a rhyme is another thing she doesn't call attention to.
Aside from the way her entire thing is calling attention all the time.
"So am I," Isabeau points out, when Kanae calls them jerks.
"Still... I might." Talk to Coin, she means.
She thanks her, though, and Isabeau shoves her hands in the pockets of her denim jacket. "... don't mention it," she shrugs. "It will just confuse the people out there the next time I challenge them... they don't deal well with ambiguity."
Even if Kanae apparently likes it.
She takes a few steps forward, before she pauses, speaking without looking back. "But I'm sure we'll talk again... one way or another. Besides, I'll see you at practice... and now, I've no need to play nice any more. You'd better bring your A-Game, Kanae."
That's when she glances back, between those wild curls, to say: "I'll see you again."
How does she manage to make that sound vaguely threatening, even when her voice warms up?!
And she's off, barging her way out of the net cafe with no regard for where anyone else is walking.
That explains where she gets some of her extra hours...