Description: While ruminating about things that may have been and a past that never was, Keith watches the students of Taiyo High as classes end. The presence of the large man hanging around just off campus draws some attention, and Namie goes to investigate.
Vibrant laughter. The atmosphere is one that has a bit of peace behind it. It is an ordinary day for many of the students at Taiyo who are milling about dealing with their daily life. However, with the current hour approaching the afternoon, it seems that many of the students would be released. Of course, there is the prospects of staying later or returning for cram school.
However, the students are gathered houtside of the gates of the massive school.
One person is staring towards the facilities from afar. This beautiful school cannot helped but be admired by a figure who seems terribly out of place. His hoodie lowered from his head, the large black male sporting the cornrolls is staring just ahead to see the students pass through. He is looking with curiosity here and there as they leave the school. He is in his simple attire of the black jacket and black jeans. Held in his hand is a coin.
"...Pity, don't think I went to a school like this." He watches the students pass by, observing each and every one of them. A flick of a thumb sends the coin shooting high in the air. Rolling in mid-air, it lands back onto his hand.
"Not sure if I'd miss school life." If he can even remember what his was like.
The students trickle and then pour from the campus as the school day comes to an end. Some head to the mall and others walk downtown, while still others simply make towards their homes to get a jump start on the nights homework. All around enthusiastic shouts can be heard as groups of friends convene and part, greetings and adieus called across open space in the melodious harmony of vibrant youth.
It isn't just Taiyo classes that have lax attendance policies but the after school clubs as well, and today Namie is ditching the Yearbook club in order to walk with some of her friends, the ponytailed brunette standing out amongst her first year peers a little due to her height. The trio walk along at a slow but lively pace, the tallest girl playfully pumping her fist into the air while one of her friends, a girl with short red hair, runs ahead with her arms out and spins, the other two catching up to her.
The third girl is the quietest of the bunch, merely giggling a little at the antics of her friends. It is she, not the boisterous others, that gets an uncomfortable feeling as Keith passes his eyes over her, her eyebrows coming together along with her shoulders, her form seeming to shrink a little as she quietly casts her eyes in the direction of the adult, followed by a brief moment of eye contact.
That might be the sum of it, had her redheaded friend not noticed the change, but an inquisition is quickly made, followed by a quiet whispering discussion and three pairs of schoolgirl eyes casting their gazes towards the unfamiliar black man. The three of them begin to continue on their way shortly afterwards, only for the tall girl to look back over again, taking care to notice it's not just the girls that are being looked over.
As she quirks an eyebrow the other two girls begin to plead with her, only for her to wave them off and send them on their way without her. This they seem reluctant to do, but gazes once more given to the man hanging around the school seems to convince them, and they continue away from Taiyo and into the residential area.
For her part Namie studies the man a little longer, only to walk up. Not to him, exactly, but near him, close enough to be obvious in her actions, humming to herself while looking at him and then the students she thinks he's currently looking at, a puzzled expression on her face.
What is his interest with the students of the school? Truth be told, Keith is not sure. Perhaps it is a bit of mild curiosity to see what the student life is like for others. Perhaps it can give him insight on what his life was supposed to be like. Was his life even like that? Is he even from this place? It is difficult to say. Maybe that clue in Los Angeles will give him better insight.
The brown gaze following each student is not too much of a lingering one, just enough to scan along and move on to the next. However, his lingering presence is one that may draw some attention.
... And there is a feeling of a sudden shift.
Distress?
It is like a tide. Unfortunately, a sudden shift in the tide of emotions is enough to disrupt that peace that Keith had been attuning to. There is a visible wince on his face as he rests a hand over towards his forehead. However, it was not enough to have the Psycho Power-user break into sweats. It was just enough to get his attention. His eyes drift around, studying each student once more.
... That brief eye contact.
Keith relaxes a moment later, just closing his eyes to give a relaxed smile. "...Heh." Despite his intimidating presence, he doesn't push his presence out. Just a guy watching out for something.
And off of the corner of his eye, Keith can see a curious young girl, who was the tallest among the group, moving nearby. The body posture doesn't seem tense up. He is relaxed. However, he does note her presence. His voice carries a deep baritone, loud enough for her to hear.
"It's a nice school." He gives a thoughtful look, "Not sure how envious I should be to see a school like this."
"It's peaceful in a way."
As the man smiles the girl watches after many of the students leaving the school, though in a much less subtle way, her eyes slightly narrowed and tracking each for longer in a misinterpretation. He might notice a bit more distress, though of a more exasperated kind as she stares down her fellow students, one of them lifting their voice to shout, "Knock it off, Namie; you're freaking me out!" at her.
While this doesn't deter her from this experimentation, the deep voice does, her brown eyes moving over to his face as he speaks, only for her entire demeanor to shift into one of confusion.
Peaceful. Taiyo? The school of the boisterous and the hot blooded, full of students with more energy than they know what to do with? Her mind wanders a little.
Justice High... no way could that place be 'peaceful', she thinks not with the heavy emphasis on achievement and excellence.
Pacific- mostly a school full of American army brats, right? Americans are loud and obnoxious, so the stereotype goes, so it doesn't qualify.
Gorin. Maybe they have a synchronized swimming or gymnastics team that could be called that, but as a whole? Too much clacking of balls and sports equipment.
Gedo? Isn't the entire school turning into one giant gang? Rowdy seems more like the term there.
Seijyun; now there's a contender. It can certainly be tranquil, especially the flower garden. But after her last visit there she's become aware of a certain oppressiveness about that stillness- is a forced tranquility really peaceful?
Kuma High: Right out. Do not pass Go, do not collect $200.
So perhaps... perhaps in it's own, feisty way one might consider Taiyo High a peaceful place, a place of normal happy school kids going about their simple lives.
"Then again, it's only a matter of time until someone gets dream-tubed again!" she suddenly states, crossing her arms lightly over her chest and shaking her head towards Keith. She looks satisfied, though not in a smug way, only to suddenly go wide eyed, taking a step back and unfolding her arms in a quick motion.
"...Oh!" she states, looking to the man with a smile that slowly, inevitably widens into a large, mischievous grin.
That distress is stronger. This time, Keith is prepared for it. It is a pity that his presence does tend to intimidate others. He often used it to his advantage, but he figured he would relax that today. It was a nice time to enjoy the peaceful environment.
It won't be long before he needs to be on the move again.
The older man looks over the student as she remains close by. Keith admires the tall girl's bravery. It rewards her a smile. Keith folds his arms while looking her over.
"... Dream tubed?"
This earns a raised eyebrow from the man, who slowly pulls out of his relaxed position. This draws curiosity from Keith.
"What is this about someone getting dream-tubed?" Though, seeing that mischevious grin on the girl, Keith manges to relax to return her grin.
"Nevertheless, you are brave to approach a stranger. It's a good trait to have, sometimes." He pauses, "...If not dangerous."
Bouncing on her heels a little as a seed of an idea takes root in her mind and begins to bud, the excitement plain on her grinning face as flowers into an amazing, but probably terrible, idea. "...you know," she begins, her voice quiet compared to her expression, giving it a conspiratorial cast.
"If you really like it here, I bet you could enroll!" She says this with a beaming smile and full confidence, completely ignoring how far out of context she's probably twisting his words. "The enrollment here is pretty lax, I bet if you put your mind to it you could totally join as a Senior!" Never mind he is -clearly- an adult, and one that towers over her, a tall girl, at that. In the moment, it doesn't matter to her.
Of course she is easily distracted by something else that's been on her mind, and as he takes interest in her words and smiles at her she walks closer in a bouncy step from her previous excitement, ponytail waving a bit behind her. "Yep! It's a pretty enormous conspiracy but I haven't quite figured it out, yet. You see, people keep waking up after having had -almost exactly the same dream-. It's super vivid but... also kinda hazy at the same time, like you can't quite focus on the details. But... you dream you're in a tube and covered in slick, cool ooze!"
She laughs a little, but then leans in a little with widened eyes, "Isn't that -weird-?! I really, really want to find out who's doing it, and how. And why! Especially since it happened to me."
To the compliment she tilts her head slightly, her smile becoming slightly quirky, "It is?" she sounds curiously upon being told it's a brave action. "I do it all the time, but thanks" Namie laughs again, giving a helpless little shrug.
Keith looks over towards the girl as she seems to have some sort of idea in her head. His eyes drift towards her, raising an eyebrow. He is uncertain over her plan, but he decides to give it a listen. It could be interesting. Right now, this young girl is very interesting. She has brought a bit of curiosity to him.
That is amusing. "... I think I shall pass on the enrolling." Keith offers a chuckle, lowering his hand to ruffle her hair. There is a bit of a brotherly nature of affection that he gives the young girl while retaining that amused look. "I am far too old to return to school." ... If he went to school.
She starts to talk about the topic of interest: This dream-tube. Keith listens to her carefully. People have been waking up from a same dream. Dream in a tube...
... Cool ooze.
Dream in a tube.
Dream in a tube.
Dream in a tube...
...
...
~ There he is. Farseer #500. The mechanisms of twisted scientists. The dull hum of machinery as they perform their menial tasks. Red tubes, green tubes, yellow tubes. All of them insert into a large tube. A dull illumination stirs. ~
The darkened man looks a bit woozy, nearly stumbling forth. If the girl doesn't prop him upright quickly, he may end up accidentally bowling her over as he's trying to catch himself from the abrupt trip down memory lane.
Namie's exuberance calms a little, but isn't entirely snuffed out when he passes on her brilliant idea of becoming a high school student 'again'. "That's fine, but just know you probably -could-, even if it'd take some doing," she responds with a little grin, only to blink in surprise and winces as her hair is messed up.
"So that's how it is, I see what kind of man you are!" she declares, reaching up behind her head, grasping at her ponytail and slipping the scrunchy on her wrist while to start twisting it around into a tight bun instead. "Just you try that now," she comments with a grin, only to let out a quick shout of surprise when the large man suddenly starts teetering.
Her dream of perfectly managed hair is shattered in an instant as she steps forward towards him as he stumbles, reaching out towards him with both hands- and seriously yanking hard on her hair in the process with it all wrapped up in the scrunchy on her wrist! She lets out a short scream of surprised and a bit of pain, smacking straight into his chest when her arm does not outreach as she intends, only to completely crumple beneath him as his trip passes him over her.
If she's especially unlucky today her bump might be enough to knock him off balance enough to drop him on top of her.
Uncertainty fell Keith. Why was he so affectionate towards the younger kids? It is probably a paternal instinct. Was he a parent? Did he have an younger siblings? Did anyone look up to him? These are questions that fall under Keith's mind. The older man cannot deny that ruffling the younger student's hair with affection gave him a sense of familarity. It was nostalgic.
Her challenge was amusing, especially at her defiance. However, it fell short as Keith's mind was jolted. That recess of darkness that was hidden. That memory. That feeling struck him enough to send him as a heap.
It was the point that he should had awoken. He should have came out of the state of disorientation. As that haze finally clears, Keith's eyes widen upon realizing that it was too late. Damn.
The moment that Keith came to, the stranger had already crumple beneath him. Keith immediately drops to a knee and drops a hand low to cushion over towards her back to catch her. His head bows low as he remains kneeling, trying to keep her from hitting the ground.
"...Nnggh. ...Sorry about that, kiddo."
Luck is on her side today, and Namie is saved from having to smack butt first onto the pavement with only one arm free to catch her fall, a second one coming to her aid in the form of Keith catching her behind her back. Still, the sudden fall was disorienting, and she ends up yelping a couple more times while trying to extract her scrunchy from her wrist, ending in her hair falling free behind her, the hairband still next to her hand.
"Nngh, I'm going to have to remember this for later. If someone sneak-attacks me while I'm putting my hair up I could be in for a lot of trouble." She looks up at the man now and smiles, "It's okay. You tripped, I tripped, we both tripped! But you caught me, so it's fine." She tries to get back up to her feet afterwards before looking at the man again, her curiosity quickly coming back to her.
"What happened, anyway? I mentioned the tube dreams and you got pretty out of it for a second there! That's pretty weird." She makes an odd, somewhat silly face as she tries to think what could have just happened. "...hm! You know what, I think I know what happened!" Just like before when she got the bright idea of having him join the school her eyes widen, though rather than excitement there's a bit of wonder in her expression and voice.
"A friend found me after I had my tube dream and said I was passed out in the locker room... and I was -trying to make it happen-!" She says this as if this is really important, and quickly starts looking around, trying to see any suspicious vehicles, or random satellite dishes that hay have appeared on the school roof. "So I bet... I bet you were just about to have a tube dream, but you're strong enough to shrug it off!" She reaches out and puts both hands on Keith's shoulders, having to reach up a somewhat comical distance to do so, and she tries to look him in the eyes, "Did... did you see anything while you were dizzy? Something like being stuck in a glass tube with goo all over you?"
Whew.
Keith has a bit of relief on his face as it is revealed that the younger girl is unharmed. While Namie was not hitting the ground, she is rather disoriented. After using the moment to shift himself back upto his feet, he moves his hand to help guide the girl back onto her feet. Though, with her hair freed, Keith offers a chuckle once more.
"Well, consider this a learning experience." Once everything is settled to between the two, Namie brings an important question towards Keith: What happened? It is an explanation that the stranger cannot bring himself to tell a kid. The situation is too close, yet so far. Keith has not gotten a good observation of his surroundings to know what is going on.
While the girl may not be a NESTS operative, Keith is not too fond of taking unnecessary chances.
Instead, he allows the Namie's imagination to get the best of her. Of course, it seems to work. "...Yeah, I was strong enough to shrug it off." He seems a tad nervous, likely due to the fact that his memories overtook him. It left him vulnerable. Even in this peaceful environment, Keith cannot afford that.
But then...
As her gaze lifts towards Keith's own eyes, the older man furrows his eyebrows.
"...Heh, something like that."
There is a brief tinge of the Psycho Power manifesting along his eyes. It gives off an unnatural cyan hue that radiates. Just as it illuminated, it quickly dies off.
The older man moves his hand to ruffle along the teenager's hair.
"'fraid this is where I will have to leave. Thanks for the conversation." He makes his way to walk past her, "Name's Keith. You may want to catch up with your friends."
Though there was a chance she might have stumbled something meaningful today Namie instead lets her imagination go a little wild and take her further from the truth than she already is, unfortunately none the wiser. "So if you're strong enough, then maybe someone even stronger wouldn't even get dizzy? Though I'm not sure how that'd actually help you find who's doing it," she considers aloud while tapping her foot. "It's definitely given me something to go on, so I have to thank you."
She gives the man a quick bow, smiling happily to him once she straightens back out. Of course that earnest smile turns quickly into a look of surprise as her unbound hair is messed up further, "N-n-no fair! Sneak attack!" She squeezes her eyes shut and endures the ruffling, only to put back on her friendly demeanor. "You have to go? Alright. My name's Namie, it was nice meeting you, Keith!" She waves to him, even if he's already walking past her. "Hm? Oh, yeah, maybe I should catch up with them," she comments.
Except when he leaves she starts searching around more, searching for ~something~ that can put dreams inside people's minds while they're still awake. Unsurprisingly she doesn't find anything.
Log created on 06:11:42 02/01/2015 by Namie, and last modified on 21:22:42 02/13/2015.