Scene #3422: The Travellers and the Beast

Owner	Pose
Hoshi Amakasu	As lunchtime rolled around for the day, Drachenblatt's many students took a collective sigh of relief and rushed out of their classes to partake in whatever sustenance was available to them. Sadly, not everyone was so excited for the lunch period to start; Hoshi Amakasu couldn't help but feel a bit nervous as she watched the clock move towards the meeting time that August and herself had set up with Ira. When the bell rings and everyone goes off, Hoshi goes a little more slowly, pulling on a blue hoodie over her sailor fuku as she made her way up to the roof as quickly as she could. It was starting to get cold, after all. Thankfully the door is still open--no need to steal the key from the poor janitor this time--and Hoshi makes sure to set her bag down to hold it open as she slowly started pacing along the length of the roof. No doubt everyone would be here soon, but for the time being Hoshi had to entertain her thoughts. Mostly, she was worried about Gudako and Ira. What precisely had that crazy girl told Ira, anyway? "Why is that woman always getting involved," she mutters quietly under her breath, her breath exhaling clouds of vapor into the sky.
Ira MacNally	Lunchtime. Officially, it was Ira's favorite part of the day. Why, she even liked it better than the afternoon when class wasn't in session and she could do as she pleased. Though today a dark shadow hangs over her lunch period-an obligation to meet with people and /interact/. Ugh. People. Words. Interaction. Hoshi will hear a heavy series of thumps before the door to the roof swings open, the infamous Ogre of Drachenblatt stepping through. Her appearance is unmistakable because there are very few six foot girls around with the build of bears. She seems to take up the entirety of the doorframe as she steps (squeezes?) out of it. "Hey." she grunts, looking around as she crosses to the halfway point of the roof. "Guess August isn't here yet."
August Kohler	August Kohler was nothing if not timely. On the ring of the bell, he would grab his bag of food, look through the halls for the path of least resistance, and take it. He wouldn't need to grab the key today, which is fine with him; getting caught would be a pain in the ass. As he arrives up the roof, he immediately moves to alert the others of his presence, before taking a spot next to the edge and opening his bag of food, pulling out a sandwich and a paper towel to eat it on. Only then, does he speak. "Guten tag, Amakasu. MacNally. How are you doing today?" August's eyes move between the two as he takes a small first bite of his sandwich, waiting to finish chewing before speaking again. "Am I late?"
Hoshi Amakasu	Hoshi spins around quickly as she hears voices behind her--was a bear tromping up the stairs? Ira's appearance doesn't necessarily make her wrong, either. As the Irish girl made her way out onto the roof, Hoshi bowed respectfully from her waist in greeting. "Good evening, Ms. MacNally. It's nice to meet you in person. Kohler isn't here yet, but no doubt he'll be here very soon. He's quick." Just then, as if summoned, August made his appearance. Hoshi gives him a bow, as well, but she frowns as she watches him upack his food instead of saying hello to either of them. Rude. "I'm alright, Kohler, thank you. You're not late, but we should probably get to it as quickly as we can." Turning to Ira, Hoshi clears her throat. "We have a lot of information we can offer you about what we've noticed in the Forest, so I guess the best place to start is to answer any questions that you have."
Ira MacNally	Ira lifts an eyebrow, "Nice to meet you?" It's half a response, half of a question. Typically, the reaction she receives to her presence is not joy. It is never 'nice to meet her'. "Hm, well..." she continues to cross the roof, heading for one of the building's edges. August slips in and she turns to look at him though she seems more interested in his sandwich than the boy himself. "Yeah, let's get right down to it. I wouldn't mind information. What I really want to know is what the goal of your group is before I decide to join it at all."
August Kohler	August is a perceptive fellow, and notices Ira eying his sandwich. So he puts it back in the bag, because eating it right now is probably not very polite. (A scholarship student is not going to offer his food freely, are you mad) "Well, we know people are being tossed into this world. This world is incredibly deadly and /wrong/. Our goal is to find out who is tossing people in, why, and put a stop to them, likely forcibly. We have several leads, but I wouldn't say we're close to a culprit." August looks up at Ira as he speaks, analyzing her face. What is she thinking? Can he read her? "Would you like some information on what we have so far?"
Hoshi Amakasu	Simple enough question, and August answers it quickly enough. Hoshi nods along with him. "There seems to be an active enemy presence in the Forest somewhere, a 'Queen' of some sort. If you remember Alexis Eberhardt's disappearance... We found her after going through some strange trials, and we had to fight a Shadow that looked like her, the Countess. After we beat the Countess, something... whispered something. 'I just wanted her to notice me'. Right now, we don't really know what that means, just that there's a hand guiding these attacks." She sighs and looks out over the school grounds. "We've also come up with a theory, that all the cases of Lost Children may have been caused by the Forest, or maybe the Shadows inside." Ira gets a long sideglance. "... I'm not one to tell you who you can and cannot hang out with, but I'd ask that you not tell Ms. Ordria about our more important info. I can't help but feel that woman is trying to come up with an idea to capitalize on our misery, here."
Ira MacNally	Alas, delicious sandwich is removed from Ira's sight. This is probably for the best-Ira would have grown annoyed to have someone eat in front of her when she doesn't seem to have anything to eat right now herself. Maybe she already finished lunch. "How do you know it's someone tossing them in? They could have entered through their own challenges like us...but failed." She looks August in the eye as she talks. It might be a little unsettling to see. Hoshi instead brings something to the table that she doesn't seem to have known before, "Queen? Hmmm...interesting. First time I've heard anything about a queen. I haven't pulled people out like you two have though." A laugh follows, "Gudako is an interesting person. So let me get this straight, your goal is to pull people from the forest and figure out who this Queen is?"
August Kohler	"Because it doesn't match up with the Persona Game. Hell, even us who played the Persona Game got tossed in. We're still looking for that Woodsman. Apparently he's been spotted in the city." Glancing off the rooftop briefly, August turns back to meet Ira's glance again. She's not going to intimidate him. He's not going to let her. "We know for a fact that someone led the last victim through the forest, and we know that this Queen is bad business. If somebody isn't doing this, then why is it happening? There's a lot of signs but nothing to tie them all together." "More or less. We have some people from this wider...Multiverse pitching in to help, and we've got a potential headquarters planned as well, to enter from. We could really use your help, MacNally."
Hoshi Amakasu	Hoshi clears her throat slightly, trying to end the silly staring match between the two. "When Eberhardt was taken, we had allies with us. Don't ask me how, but some of them can sense and see things. They said a jester-looking person lead her into the Forest, or had kidnapped her. We also might've met a Shadow fitting that description. The Pied Piper. Add to that the queen... Though we still need to test if a Shadow can come out into our world." As well as a few other things, admittedly. The mention of the wider Multiverse causes Hoshi to blush a bit, rubbing at her forehead. They'd forgotten to tell her. "Yes, there's that. There's also something else. Kohler and I joined the Union, and they've promised to help us out. In fact, that's where we've been getting all of our help from, aside from Ms. Ordria and Ms. Park. That being said... He's right. So far we're the people with the most information and best position to deal with this threat. Besides, our Personas are tied to the Forest in some way, anyway."
Ira MacNally	"/Has/ he now? How interesting." Ira, at least, seems intrigued enough to keep asking questions, which might be a small relief to August. "There is always the possibility they did it to themselves the way we sort of did this to ourselves to get where we are today. But if not...wel..." Her thoughts of the group are confirmed and, then much to her surprise, August /asks/ for her help. "Well, well, there is a first time for everything, isn't there..? Hmmm." She doesn't even flinch at the mention of the Union, merely nodding and adding, "I'm not surprised. But there is..." she seems to grudgingly admit, "..strength in numbers, isn't there? I have been giving this some though. I haven't been back since I received my persona but it does seem wisest to return as a group." There is a long pause as she threads her hands behind her back. "I'll join your group. Just keep in mind that I might not always be around to help. I have things of my own to do. Scheduling conflicts. But when you need to go into the Mirror Forest, I will try to come."
August Kohler	August nods in response to Hoshi, adding. "I'm working on a checklist of what we need completed. There's a lot of questions that need to be answered, and /we're/ going to answer them." He grips his hands together, nodding again, this time to himself. "It's incredibly dangerous in there alone! We can't go on solo expeditions if we want to survive." As Ira agrees to join, he sighs in relief, as he finally lets out a smile. "Awesome. I'll send you our private frequency in a bit. Don't worry about making it every time, just try your best. We're going to get this done, together." Now, the big question: Will Ira be able to get through the cabin door without bringing the walls down?
Hoshi Amakasu	Hoshi frowns slightly at Ira's interest in the Woodsman. Her last memories of the Woodsman weren't exactly pleasant. In truth, if she ever saw him again she'd probably not feel safe even if she had all of the Union with her. These sorts of figures are easy fodder for a horror story. With an irritable shake of her head, she gets back to Ira. "We don't think so. Eberhardt didn't seem to get her Persona despite being in there. And it doesn't look like she was ever hunted by the Wolf, either. There's enough evidence to support the claim that her kidnapping and the Persona Game aren't the same." Hoshi waits with bated breath as Ira seems to think carefully about their proposition. When she conceedes, a relieved smile comes to her lips. Stronger and stronger. "I think we're the only ones who can solve this. Our Personas have to be a key to something aside from the Forest itself, I know it." August gets a quick nod and a wry grin. "Together means not going off on your own to torch things too, Kohler." With all of the tense stuff now over, Hoshi goes over to her messenger bag and pulls out her bento. She opens it and smells the inside with a smile--then glances at Ira and coughs. "Have you eaten? You can have some of my lunch."