110/A Shrine is a Terrible Thing to Waste

A Shrine is a Terrible Thing to Waste
Date of Scene:	29 June 2015
Location:	Pikarigaoka/Uminari City - Hikawa Shrine
Synopsis:	Kurota and Shiori meet outside a shrine and discuss strange happenings.
Cast of Characters:	Shiori Sato, Kurota Aizawa

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Kurota Aizawa has posed:
    It's late afternoon, after school. The street near the shrine's gate isn't terribly busy, but cars do whoosh past every few seconds, people starting to make their way home from work as the sun sinks closer to the horizon. Walking down the sidewalk along the street, near to the turnoff which leads to the gate and the stone steps beyond going up to the shrine, comes Kurota Aizawa.
    The tall young man looks much as he always does, in his hoodie and slightly baggy pants, with the hood drawn up and big headphones covering his ears, pulsing blue light from underneath the hood. His hands are stuck into the pocket at the front of the hoodie, wherein the wire from the headphones also vanishes.
    It may not be terribe interesting or unusual to see him walking down the sidewalk, but he does seem to be making for the entrance to the shrine, which is something of a surprise perhaps. He doesn't seem the type to be religious or superstitious.

Shiori Sato has posed:
    Shiori isn't exactly the type to be superstitious, either.

    ...Okay, maybe a little. But that thing that happened at the masquerade? That was just... yeah that was weird. Black clouds grabbing girls? What even the heck WAS that thing?! Shiori had no idea. But if there's some evil moving into his area, he wants to get some sort of protection charm so he's not next on the listof young people grabbed!

    Anyway, as he heads to the Shrine, he looks up... and sees Kurota. Hey, wasn't that they guy from the Pineapple? He smiles, and heads over in Kurota's direction. Once he's within earshot, he offers, "Hi there. Didn't expect to see you out this way."

    He doesn't say the name yet. Mainly because he's only met the guy like once and Shiori's not that great with names.

Kurota Aizawa has posed:
    Kurota doesn't seem to be paying much attention to his surroundings as he's walking along, lost in whatever is playing through the oversized headphones over his ears. But appearances can be deceiving- he's been walking around that way long enough that he's developed a sort of sixth-sense for when people are trying to talk to him. So when Shiori greets him and starts talking, it only takes Kurota a moment to tap the button on his MP3 player to silence it, so he only misses the first few words.
    "Hey.. what's up?" He greets the other guy, his tone cordial although his smile is perhaps just a bit polite. Perhaps he realized he doesn't really know this guy's name either, despite having run into him a few times now. As to being out this direction, he simply shrugs. "I live near here. I like to come to the shrine before I head into town for gigs. It helps me find my center."

Shiori Sato has posed:
    Shiori nods. "That makes sense," he replies. "I've heard of sports players coming out to a shrine or praying before big games. I guess performers'd do that before a concert, too." And then he realizes it. Suddenly he looks sheepish. "Er... I just realized I don't actually know your name, do I? I'm sorry. Things have been weird lately." He nods. "I'm Shiori Sato. Pleased to meet you."

Kurota Aizawa has posed:
    "It's cool." Kurota responds, not seeming phased. "We've met a couple times, but I think saying we've had a conversation is a bit of an overstatement." He pulls his hand out of his pocket and offers it. "I'm Kurota Aizawa. It's cool to meet you officially, Shiori." He says, his tone still cordial. He shrugs at the same time, continuing with the previous thread of the conversation. "Well like I said, I live around here.. grew up here too. I have good memories of this shrine from when I was a kid, y'know, so when a need a few moments of zen, you might say, I tend to come here and sit for a bit. I wouldn't exactly say I'm religious but you don't need to be to appreciate a few moments' peace, even when you make your living off of causing controlled chaos."

Shiori Sato has posed:
    "That's also true," Shiori replies to the mention of not having officially had a conversation with Kurota. He chuckles though. "Ironic. But yeah, good to finally meet you officially." A nod to the words of having grown up around here. "Yeah, a shrine is a great place to be near. If only because people for the most part respect it and don't do stupid or horrible things there. Surefire escape from the rest of the word, you know?"

Kurota Aizawa has posed:
    "People'll do stupid or horrible things anywhere." Kurota says with a wry expression, betraying his rather prominant cynical side. "But you're right in that they /usually/ know well enough to keep it out of a shrine." He shrugs his shoulders, turning to take another few steps towards the gate which marks the entrance to the sthrine from the street. "Are you heading into the shrine also? Or just passing by?"

Shiori Sato has posed:
    "Yeah, usually," Shiori emphasizes. "Never underestimate the propensity of people to be weapons grade stupid. Or just weapons grade mean." Shiori seems to be headed to the Shrine too, confirmed when he nods to the question and replies, "Yeah. Gonna see about a protection charm. You remember that masquerade? Something really weird happened there and I have no idea what it was. Honestly scared me though. So I'm gonna see if I can get something to ward off evil. Maybe that sounds silly, but hey... can't hurt, right?"

Kurota Aizawa has posed:
    Some might expect Kurota, worldly musician, to scoff at the idea of such things, but he merely shrugs. "There's some bizarre s- happenin' around this city recently." is his only answer. "I skipped outta that party right quick, or else I might have seen what you were talkin' about. My parents didn't mention anything but hell, s'not like I usually have actual conversations with them anyway." He gestures for Shiori to walk along with him then as he starts to climb the stairs up towards the shrine. There are a lot of them, but it shouldn't be too hard for a couple of relatively active young guys to walk and talk at the same time.

Shiori Sato has posed:
    Shiori nods. "Yeah, I noticed you'd left pretty early," he notes. "I don't even know what it was I saw, or I'd describe it. I just know it was scary. And somebody got put through a wall. Possibly several, I don't know. Also the punch was spiked." He conveniently doesn't mention exactly how he knows the punch was spiked.

    It's true, Shiori is pretty healthy, at least for normal people. So no, as long as Kurota doesn't take off up the steps at a dead run, Shiori shouldn't have a lot of trouble following him. The purpose of climbing the steps of a Shrine, after all, is to think on the way up, right? He'll walk alongside Kurota on the way up.

Kurota Aizawa has posed:
    "Sounds like my show last tuesday." Kurota says with a bit of a smirk, though he isn't mocking the kid's story or anything. The way which he says it indicates he is making light of it, but not calling Shiori a liar or anything. "I'm tellin' you man, weird stuff is going down in these parts of late. I won't go into specifics but I don't think you're wrong to seek out some kind of protection." He says, with another shrug of his shoulders as they climb the steps. "I have a feeling it's only gonna get worse before it gets better, but hell, I've always been a pessimist."

Shiori Sato has posed:
    There is a single slow nod from Shiori as Kurota mentions 'weird stuff' happening. "I dunno what it is, either. I guess that's the scariest part, I Don't know how to explain it. I don't know what it is, so I don't know how to fix it. Or even if I can." As for getting worse first? "No, that sounds about right. Everything gets worse before it gets better. That's the way it works with most things, so I can believe it'll work the same with this, whatever it is."

Kurota Aizawa has posed:
    As is the way with most superheros, Kurota knows more than he says, though he can't really talk about it. He's still a beginner at the whole 'magical warrior of peace and light' thing, and he feels like he'd probably get smacked later if he went back to his teammates and told them he casually spilled their secret identity to some guy he met on the street. He feels kind of bad about it though- not because anything he could tell Shiori would actually reassure him. Quite the opposite really. But rather because he knows how it feels to be 'out of the loop'. Sometimes you'd rather know the truth, even if the truth isn't comforting.
    Still, there's not much he can do about it other than shrug again as they reac the top of the stairs. "If you ask me," he says, choosing his words carefully, "You'd be smart to keep your head down, know what I mean? Sometimes you just need to duck and cover. Everything passes in time, right?"

Shiori Sato has posed:
    Shiori is indeed blissfully unaware of the depth of Kurota's knowledge. Truth be told, no, most of what he might learn if Kurota was keen on spilling the beans would probably NOT reassure him. It would do little more than let him know stuff is WAY out of his league! However, as the pair reach the top of the stairs, Shiori also nods to that advice. "Good idea. I'm no hero. To paraphrase an old sci-fi show I watched, 'I'm a small-time guy with small-time ambitions, one of which is to stay alive'." He chuckles. But he's quite serious about his words.

Kurota Aizawa has posed:
    Kurota claps Shiori on the shoulder, again demonstrating his penchant for showing affection through physical blows. "Ain't nothin' wrong with that man. Take it from somebody shooting to be big-time, both in music and in.. other areas. Sometimes it ain't all its cracked up to be, and it certain't isn't safe." He quirks his lips to the side in another wry expression. "I have a feeling you'll probably outlive me by a few decades if all you do is try /not/ to get into trouble." He chuckles, not seeming very distressed by his prophecies of his own doom as he removes his hand and shoves it back into his pocket.

Shiori Sato has posed:
    Shiori smirks at th eclap to his shoulder. He doesn't seem upset by it at all. Though the prediction of doom? "Oh, don't say that. There have to be ways you can manage your risk, even if you don't just run away from it all. Keeping out of it is keeping safe, sure... but 'nothing ventured, nothing gained', right? I'm sure you guys can stand up to the big competition." He doesn't seem to be putting anything together from the weird phrasing aside from Kurota's music. Which may seem odd, actually.

Kurota Aizawa has posed:
    "Well it's nice of you to say that." Kurota says, shrugging again, although he seems to mean it. "All I'm sayin' is, like you said- if you don't put it all on the line, you can't ever hope to win big. And sometimes puttin' it all on the line just ain't safe." He laughs. "But if I wanted to play it safe, I'd still be playin' classical piano like my parents wanted me to, so I think that bus has long since left the station with me flippin' it the bird from back at the stop."

Shiori Sato has posed:
    "Oh I get that," Shiori replies. "But there's always backup plans, right? And people to back you up. Putting it all on the line is one thing, but if everyone's putting a little bit forward, it's exactly the same amount in the end, just shared amongst several people so the burden on any one person isn't too great."

    Though the mention of classical piano gets a blink. "Huh. That's pretty interesting, I play piano too. I'm not that great, though. I guess if I practiced more I'd get better, but I don't really see a need to."

Kurota Aizawa has posed:
    Kurota smiles at that. "Oh yeah? I knew there was somethin' I liked about you." He says, chuckling. "Yeah, I used to play competitive piano, when I was a kid. Competitions and all that jazz." He shrugs his shoulders making a face. "Piano I like. The whole competition culture, not so much. It's different when you're makin' music just to make music, y'know, to please the crowd and to express yourself. It's not the same when you're being judged on how accurately you play somebody else's work, even if that somebody else was a classical genius." He shrugs again. "I still like to play piano, but I wouldn't go near a competition if you paid me a million bucks."

Shiori Sato has posed:
    Shiori shakes his head. "Nah, I'd never make it in the competition circuit," he admits. "I'm not competitive enough. And I really don't think being completely accurate to someone else's play style is important enough to be a snob about. Isn't finding your OWN style the point of music? I don't really see how learning to play exactly like someone else can help you find your own style." He smirks a little, the expression a little self-depreciating. "Besides, I'm just an amateur."

Kurota Aizawa has posed:
    "That's exactly it." Kurota agrees, nodding his head. "Finding your own style is everything. Unfortunately that's something some people, like my parents, just never understood." He shrugs again, then chuckles. "We're all amateurs, man. I don't have a recording contract yet, so I'm no more a pro than you." Though he does play actual shows, which puts him at least a step up, but he's not about to point that out. "Anyway.. I think you'll want the temple shop, which is over that way." He points off towards the left. "I'm gonna go chill out for a bit before my show later. I'll catch ya around." With another final wave, he turns and begins heading off.

Shiori Sato has posed:
    "I guess imitation is the highest form of flattery..." Shiori reasons. "But if that's all you have, you're a little empty, right?" the mention of the temple shop is made, and Shiorir nods. "Thanks, I haven't been here before. See you later." And as Kurota heads off, Shiori heads in the direction of the shop.