give your friends a surprise

[closewithnewintown]

Who: EVERYONE
What: FAMILY MEETING
When: 8/4, right after school closes.
Where: Student council room
Warnings: Eventually, probably.

["If my friends back home were acting like this, I would've already locked them in a room and forced them to figure out their feelings."

the job puts all of her considerable superspy skills to the test. she knows where every normal kid's locker is; it's easy enough to slip the note into each that morning. if it's someone who she knows would be unable to read the note, she tells them its contents, but keeps her own involvement out of it. lies of omission don't count.

the note reads:]

I have very important information about this place. Please come to the student council room after school ends today.

- Nao Sato

[and if the text looks just a bit girlier than you'd think she'd write, hey, you don't know her. she's got layers.

either way, it's a pretty interesting proposition: the student council room door is, for the first time in seemingly ever, wide open. anyone can walk inside - and, hopefully, most everyone should. because it's only when Stephanie thinks that she's got enough of them inside that she actually enters the room, shutting the door behind her.

click.

it locks. she grins, spins the key on her finger, and slips it into her pocket.

"How are you supposed to do that with grownups?"

the exact same way, she's decided.]

We haven't had any meetings since, um. Well. The last one. But, I'm pretty sure nobody has no more murders to report, so it shouldn't be too bad, and we can all just focus on the most important task: Getting along! All of us are on the same team, but most of us barely even know each other; some of us even hate some of the others! [SHE SAYS, LIKE SHE DOESN'T ACTIVELY DESPISE KOKICHI] So, I figured we could spend the evening fixing that problem. Play some games, talk about stuff we've discovered since the last time...

And, maybe, if everybody does a really good job, I'll unlock the door!

[smiles]

Comments

[crystallomancy]

( noah.........

but hey: )

Wouldn't you say going to the void is simply a type of "leaving this room" to take some time to cool OFF?

[songstressedout]

No, I don't count death as taking time to cool off.

[ She's gone from nervous to exasperated in just a few seconds... ]

[crystallomancy]

That's only if the shadows eat US. TechnicalLY, it'd only happen to those actively in danger of dyING. If you and I were just around when we were pulled to the void SCHOOL, we would be SPARED.

( ? something like that, he paid enough attention to noah when he talked about void school that one time. )

[closewithnewintown]

But then there's being eaten by shadow ghosts.

That's an important part.

[crystallomancy]

( well, yes. )

...Speaking of important PARTS, have you learned anything important from this experience toDAY?

[closewithnewintown]

[considers...]

If everyone listened to me all the time, everything would be better!

[crystallomancy]

( no that isn't the lesson. )

Even if listening to you right now has given us this conversaTION?

[closewithnewintown]

It's very important that we're open and honest with each other about how we feel! Even if how we feel is, sometimes, that we want everyone to get trapped in an alternate dimension and eaten by ghosts because they're being very annoying.

[so yeah that's definitely the lesson.]

[silentabyss]

Just tell me "when".

[Is Noah okay.]

[crystallomancy]

( noah, )

I'd recommend you see Arata-sensei, but he's not available over BREAK.

[silentabyss]

[Shrugs vaguely because he's already gone to the counselor and is probably going through repeat sessions but therapy hard, especially when therapist is not here.]

I guess so. [Sinks down into his chair a bit.] I wander into the void sometimes, though. It's nice, since time is stopped there... it's a break from all of this.

[crystallomancy]

( ...noah. )

He also told me it's better to speak with my fellow stuDENTS, since they're the ones going through the same thing as ME. Technically speaKING. ( he pauses, and ) If you need someone to talk TO, I don't charge for hearing out people's trouBLES.

( limitations may apply. )

[silentabyss]

[He's fine.]

I don't neeeeeed therapy or whatever.

[Also every time Noah talks about a problem he's having he has a breakdown and cries and then gets angry and then leaves. In that order. Unless Clamor is involved, and then they hug it out and cry on each other but also play hot potato with their problems.

So Noah's doing well, as everyone can see.]

...do you normally charge for listening to people? [Like wait hold on—]

[crystallomancy]

( why is that the catch here. )

I was a fortune teller before I became an iDOL, and I'm still one despite that TOO. Of course I charge a FEE... but I've generally settled for snacks or information HERE, seeing as we few stuck in school here don't have access to money normalLY. It's important to market your skills and not let people take advantage of THEM.

[silentabyss]

[That's the catch here because Noah is playing hot potato with his problems again only the potato has completely missed Natsume and is in fact rolling away, never to be seen again... until 5 minutes from now when Noah gets upset about something all over again.]

Oh... yeah, the crystal ball thing. D...do you read the future with that? On top of doing the... [and then he butchers the word,] see-ance?