Skull was....feeling harassed after that particular match. If he wasn’t evading the close-range weapons, he was most certainly evading the other charger, who had been a little ankle biter snipping at his heels. It had been enough to chase him out of the lobby for a quick breather-- he was looking to vent some stress, not generate it! God damn upstarts.
He reached into his pocket and withdrew a small packet of sweets. His E-Litre was leaned against his side, the muzzle digging in slightly.
Tired.
He’s tired. Not in the emotional sense entirely but more in the sense that Morgana woke him up multiple times the night before, the first two times had been to share important research findings with him, and the third time had been on accident, he’d woken up when the book Morgana was fetching from the shelf had toppled to the ground in a whirlwind of pages and the final heavy thump of impact, Morgana had apologized of course, when Joker had thrown himself out of bed, had nearly toppled the nightstand seeking the weapon he keeps there.
You know.
Normal reactions to a falling book.
But the damage had been done and while Joker had insisted to Morgana that it wasn’t an issue and he had been mostly awake anyway, the truth was that now his pulse was simply thrumming too hard to simply return to sleep. So he had left Morgana with a shallow dish of cream to continue reading and had himself emerged into the back alleys around Leblanc from his apartment. At first, it had simply been about taking a walk to clear his head, but now as so often happened, he had slid almost without thinking into the world of Mementos.
Mementos wasn’t safe by any means, it hadn’t been before it had been destroyed and it wasn’t after it had come back. No place for a nap, but it wasn’t about that, it was just about the walking, he could deal with shades, shades wouldn’t ask him questions or stop him on the darkened streets to see if he was lost. So Mementos made for a good place simply to wander.
Sometimes, that wandering brought him to fascinating places. Rainy cities or warm forests. This is not one of those times, or rather it is neither of those places, though the damp air and occasionally droplet of water which falls from the earthy tunnel ceiling might certainly make him think it could be the former for a moment. This isn’t the same however, it has a sort of odd scent to it.
An arm extends, hand out, to catch a droplet upon his fingertips. No, it isn’t water. His face scrunches slightly at the scent, just a little, a movement of nose and corners of eyes.
‘Paint thinner?’
It’s a scent he recognizes offhand only because he has spent so much time around Yusuke while the artist paints, either way he shakes his hand once to clean the glove off, and decides to make a decision; turn back, or emerge? He won’t stand here and let himself be dripped upon by anything foul smelling, that’s for sure. Luckily it’s so sparse, it’s not likely to drip upon him unless he’s clumsy and Joker is not, by nature, clumsy.
He is curious however.
Between dream and reality; mind and matter, he finds the thin seam and emerges, the idea of a city is familiar, but it certainly isn’t a city he’s familiar with. His eyes trail down to examine his own outfit, no longer the same as the uniform he bears in the Metaverse; black jeans, black boots. Those are normal, he owns those. The shirt is unfamiliar though, black button up, sleeves rolled up to the elbow, the dark struck through only by a violent, vibrant splash of red across his chest, it gives a cartoonish illusion of having been struck through the heart.
When he reaches up to run his now ungloved fingers through his hair, he immediately recoils. Not violently, but his fingers jerk away from his own not-hair at the semislick feeling of tentacles. He would rank himself as not a fan of that. He’s used to changing to match the worlds he emerges into; those changes are not always pleasant, but he doesn’t like to be taken off guard.
They’re short, dark a black as his hair always is, the undersides are so dark a gray as to only barely be different, cut through with the red ringed circles of suction cups. He’ll try not to think too hard about it.
Instead he tucks his hand in his pockets, and wrinkles his nose just slightly against the overwhelming smell of paint and underlying tone of sea. He’s certainly had more pleasant entrances to universes before, but he’s had less pleasant ones as well so he figures it evens out.
That said, the overall oddness of this place puts him on edge, being tired doesn’t help. It’s why he’s immediately aware of sounds which approach him, and though he does not whip around anxiously to face incoming footsteps, his smoke gray eyes are piercing in a way usually only a hunting falcon’s eyes are piercing when he turns to face the source...
❛ i’m not on a high horse. i’m not even on a horse. i’m face down in a ditch on the road of life ❜
“Well, you know what they say, Akira. When you fall off that horse, you get right back up, and you eat that horse. Come eat that horse with me, Akira!”
[[ @agentheft ]]
The day had been dragging on, with her classes feeling like they had all but reached a standstill by the early afternoon. With the temptation rising she found her gaze drifting away from her notes and out the window in a subtle motion; only to snap back each time she heard another student’s name called upon. Letting out a silent sigh she scribbled in the margin of her notes against the monotonous droning of the lesson just to spite it all; only lazily keeping up with what was going on. This carried on for quite some time until her name was called upon to answer about the themes of the lesson so far.
When called upon she hesitated to answer, wanting to feint any semblance she had been paying attention remotely, but at the second call of her last name by the teacher she groaned and stood up slowly. With a lazy look of disinterest on her face she only briefly glances down at her notes before speaking up as instructed to relay a decent enough synopsis of what the lesson focus had been so far. Once finished with the hassle of it all, and given the permission, she sat back down in her seat to sink back away from focusing entirely on the dull topic of the class. This just wasn’t in her interest but it wasn’t like she had much of a choice other than to stick it out.
She needed to pass these classes and get good grades; that was all she treated this academia as.
Reaching one hand up she covers her mouth to hide a yawn before moving it up to push her bangs off her forehead for a moment. With her eyes hidden briefly from the teacher she took the chance to check the clock on her cellphone as it peeked out from the tray of her desk. At least the period was almost over. Still she pulled her hand away from her forehead, letting the thick tentacle bangs fall back in place, before rolling her neck lightly. In that motion she took the chance to glance about again before her gaze landed on that so-called trouble maker exchange student, Amamiya, and she couldn’t help but smirk as the teacher called his name.
It had become a fun event to see him get a eraser thrown at him by the teacher, and see it pelt him in the forehead, all because he wasn’t paying attention. Of course he could be like her and just disinterested in the class but still retaining the information. The answer to that wasn’t something she knew for certain though; she’d never tried talking to him ever since he arrived. With everything that had happened since his arrival and the rise of the Phantom Thieves she’d had her focuses elsewhere from the new ink in the school.
Still she told herself that maybe today she’d actually give a try to say hello.
After all she always seemed to see him going the same way when she was heading to Leblanc to relax. If he was going there then he certainly had to have more to him that what she’d only seen so far in their classes together. That thought waited until the end of the day; and her gaze on him was subtle as she packed up her bag once that final bell rung. If she didn’t catch him before he headed over to Mishima or Sakamoto then that notion she’d held onto all day might disintegrate.
Taking a breath the rather diminutive girl called out to him while making a hasty approach, “Kurusu.” Calling out his name was as good a start as any, right?
『⚔』” My,my I must say...We have the most interesting creatures living in the Valley....You however are one of a kind! Do you happen to work for Treasure Knight? You look like you would be one of his minions! ”
