August catch-all ♫

[traceofeffort]

⭐ Who: Lisa and you! Yeah, on your phone in the front row! Get up here!
⭐ When: August! Waterpark threads will be on that log, but she'll be busy the rest of the month too.
⭐ Where: Mostly in Koubai and Kihada, but maybe also Akabeni? All over the place, really. See individual top-levels.
⭐ What: After taking a bit of a mental health break earlier in the year, Lisa's ready to put her life officially back on track! Part of that's going back to school, but her social life seems to be developing too... If you don't see anything you like, swing by her plotting top-level and we'll hash something out.
⭐ Warnings: Probably nothing, but while Lisa's mood is more positive than usual it's also a little more swingy. Lisa-typical poor self-image, possibly.

Comments

various universities across Koubai and Kihada | first half of August

[traceofeffort]

[Lisa isn't entirely sure what to think as she's exploring campuses; she's smart enough to be able to go, so that's not the issue. But even the short amount of time she took off - and her headspace during that time - have been a little disorienting. The campus tours have gone well enough, but once she'd been taken around, she'd walked around a little more before going home, rather than just following the crowd out. Her tote is over her shoulder for these, application packets and notes and flyers making it surprisingly heavy as she roams; her major being "undecided but probably art-related" means she's got a wide variety of information. She looks like she fits in well enough, professionally dressy but not stuffy sleveless top and undamaged jeans presentable for being around people that might be important to her future, but her head being on a swivel probably gives her away.

She does run more than a little bit on vibes, and she needs to feel like she can gel with a place she's choosing to go before she's willing to sign on for a couple years. That leads Lisa to explore for a while... which is fine, until she can't remember which door she came in through and winds up lost in the student union looking at club flyers; or in the library, browsing resources to make sure she'll be able to find things if she needs more help; or even in the dining hall, as much to pick up on emotions and opinions as she is looking at what she can expect for lunch. Eventually, though, she gives up and turns to you, wherever she's ended up, and with only a little desperation in her voice, asks:]

So hi, I might be a little lost, I got separated from my group. Mind if I ask directions? I mean, I have other questions too, but if you're busy-

[Oh, Lisa. Easy, girl.]

Tsubaki Department Store, Moon Bunny Market, and TOKOROEMO | August 7-15, or whenever really

[traceofeffort]

Hmm... I dunno, is this a little too flirty? Or maybe this one, but I don't wanna be super plain?

[If casually approached, Lisa's out shopping for Obon stuff and window shopping while she's there, as their hallway gets just enough wind and rain that their lantern needs replacement this year, and if she puts it off too long stuff will be sold out. But she's really clothes shopping; she needs something for the pool party next Friday, and she... well, she's not sure if she wants to buy something for her date, or if she wants to look for something in her closet that speaks to her. Honestly, she's a little nervous about it, which isn't helping her choose, but her desire to put her best foot forward - at either event! - is stronger than her fear of making a fool of herself. That, in itself, is a positive change, and she recognizes that much. So she's doing her best to push herself and actually give it serious thought instead of going home and burying her head under a pillow.

She starts off looking at the department store, which by nature has the best selection but also is the stuff everyone is looking at; by Monday she makes a trip to Moon Bunny to see if one of the little local places has a nice dress or something, and Wednesday she makes the trek to TOKOROEMO to see if there's something vintage that would be cute, although her height makes upcycled stuff hard to work with sometimes. By Thursday she buckles down and makes a decision, and winds up at all three for whatever else she hasn't bought yet. Thankfully, it's too hot to bake in earnest, so her ingredient budget is getting shuffled into fashion. Otherwise her trip would probably have ended at the department store. As it is she's having to give the designer place by her apartment a wide berth - she likes looking good, but until she either gets a job or starts Dreaming full-time, she can't justify that. As it is, she's trying not to look at price tags first, but that doesn't last terribly long. Instead, she'll hold things up in front of herself and, occasionally, strike cute poses in the mirror. Hopefully nobody's passing by while she's doing it; she's just self-conscious enough it'd maybe be a problem.

Between stores, or maybe when she's done for the day, she settles at Camellia for a nice glass of something cold and sweet. Her bags are perhaps telling of what she's been doing with her day - her tote isn't with her today - but it's nice to be doing something other than obsessing over crafts for a little bit. She's careful to sit at a table with an open chair across from her; she won't mind company. In here in particular, she really never does.]

Slumbering City | August 20-31

[traceofeffort]

[Ostensibly, Rhodonite's come to the Dream Sphere to help patrol; yes, the City is secure, but something in her will never truly trust that the City is safe again. It's a depressing loss of innocence, in a weird extended-metaphor way, but she's doing her best to ignore the ramifications. Instead, she's responding to the research call regarding the repairs and the remaining materials. It all looks like normal rubble... but maybe she can do something with it? She's no architect, but even she can visualize and shape. The problem is that she's got half a dozen ideas she'd want to materialize. What would she want-]

-no, that's not a question. Let's see...

[She doesn't strictly need it for this, but to help her concentrate - and for what she's planning to make - she calls up her bass. With a single long note, eyes closed, she starts dumping a little bit of magic at a time into a small block of fallen office building. After a brief moment, she opens her eyes... and there's a small, sparkling red stool there, just tall enough that her feet sit flat on the ground when she's on it. Which she promptly, gingerly at first, sits on, hoping it'll hold her weight. When it proves to be fine after several seconds and some experimental shifting - followed by a hard strum with her whole body, which doesn't cause it to so much as creak or rattle - Rhodonite lets out a breath and settles more properly on it.

And begins to play. Not for the lyrics, no, just for the rhythm. Something simple, but profound enough that she can focus on; she knows the lyrics and might get caught humming along at points, but she's not ready to sing quite yet. And as she lets the low, slow melody flow, she reaches out with her magic, gathering some of the nearby rubble and letting it take shape around her. She slowly rises off the ground as a platform is erected under her, but the rest goes behind her, spreading out to the sides bit by bit.]

((Lisa's going to be building a small, temporary bandshell as a research specimen, channeling magic through her music as usual; please feel free to influence the shaping though. For science.))

Yumemigaoka Aquarium | August 10

[thestarknows]

[Junna said she would do the research for the date. Which she did! She said she wouldn't overplan for it too much. This didn't quite happen and she spent a lot of time weighing different options, pacing back and forth, and fretting. But if she didn't do that a little bit, she wouldn't be Junna Hoshimi.

Besides, she is going on a date. And despite the fact that makes her nervous, this is a good thing. A great thing!

So she sent out the texts with the suggestions -- ironed out a couple of details -- and settled on, in the evening of Saturday the 10th, going to Yumemigaoka's aquarium. And then, as a nod to not overplanning, deciding on where to go for a meal after that. She arrives early, when they're meeting at 6:00 p.m.

She dressed up a little for it. She has a button-up, long-sleeve light blue shirt on, with dangling silver earrings shaped like five-point stars. She also has a black skirt and flats, and her bag is over her shoulder. She has her glasses on, too, of course, and she's just managed to not play with her hair. She stands near the entrance, looking down at her phone, and...

And she's not really managing to read the news article on the screen. Nope, too nervous for that. The words are just a jumble in her mind.]

uh, around | August 25th

[traceofeffort]

[It's been an exciting month. She's putting her life back on track, she made some time to take a break with her friends, and she got herself drowned in a ruined city by a huge Nightmare. She's been complaining about tentacles and water for the last couple weeks, but she feels... better, now. She'll push herself to keep it from happening again in future, but for now, she's content. And today, in particular, she doesn't want to let anything else get her down. Today, she's going to go out and have a good day. In a light, airy, vibrant red top, a dark, sensible skirt, and with her bass guitar bag slung over her shoulder, Lisa ventures into the city.

She hits most of her usual haunts: she goes shopping for a little bit, visits Camellia for a quick cup of (sweet and cold) coffee despite it being a bit out of her way, and then swings back to Koubai. But rather than going home, she heads to the Dreamer Union. And once she's there, she heads for a practice room. Taking her bass from its bag, after she spends a moment tuning it, she warms up, the rich sound a little muted from not being amplified. But she doesn't need that. Not just now. Instead, slowly, she starts to play a piece from memory that she doesn't really need accompaniment for. She's still a little rusty on this side - more than a few times, something sounds off, and she has to stop and reestablish herself, find her chord progression again. But she gets more sure as she plays, not willing to give up, and she scales her speed back up toward what it should be.

And eventually, after fifteen or twenty minutes, she manages to get to a high enough percentage of live speed that, despite her insistence that she isn't a vocalist, she softly starts to sing. She's not used to it as Lisa rather than Rhodonite. Music feels like... something someone else does, that happens to be in her dreams at night, that feels like her but at the same time feels so far away. And yet, in this moment, she doesn't care. She can reach for that feeling, borrow it from Rhodonite for just a little while, and maybe make it her own again. She feels like someone's hand is on her shoulder, silently giving her support. She... she can do this. She can do this-!]

If everything could ever feel this real forever... if anything could ever be this good again- ♪

((It's Lisa's birthday! If you want to find her anywhere in particular in Yumemigaoka, go for it, but she'll end up in the Union's practice room by the late afternoon.))