Slice of life [Takeda]

[Seiji Dalton]

Seiji was out of his house before the sun had even properly risen. Exiting the foul smelling apartment, his nostrils flared as he breathed in fresh air. Neither he nor his brother had a penchant for cleaning sadly. Stepping down the steps, he found himself admiring the view of the rising sun, the navy blue light of the night giving way to the orange glow of the morning. The illusion of normalcy cast on those trapped by the blockade was a sweet thing. A few cars passed by them on their way to various places around the city. Stepping into the back alley for long enough to check their clothes that had been drying since the previous night, he said a silent deadpan prayer to the underwear gods for protecting their clothing from thieves in the night. His favorite pair of boxers had been stolen not two nights after his arrival in the town. "I'm going to cry." He remembered saying to Takeda in an emotionless voice. Taking down a clean shirt, he pulled his old one off and changed. With his old shirt slung across his shoulders, he walked towards the back entrance to the shop. Takeda had mentioned something about a new shipment of manga coming in from one of the local printing presses. Where they got the actual material inside the manga was beyond him. It was one of those mysteries that caused amusement upon pondering them, yet one that seemed pointless to pursue further.

Unlocking the back door of the shop, he decided to look through the wares. Perhaps there'd be a game for him to pilfer borrow. Working at Manga-Max seemed to be a horrible job, but one perk was that the actual owner didn't seem to care when a game or two showed up missing from the inventory. Another such perk was that the owner was the type of man who gave his workers a day off on Sunday. Today just happened to be Sunday. Both Seiji and Takeda could relax. Seiji had suggested catching a movie the previous night, but he'd find that plan was down the drain when a package was pressed against the inside of the door. He didn't know how the weapon people down in the Golden Alice district did it, but they somehow managed to deliver his order to the interior of a locked building. He gulped at how that skill could be applied. Picking up the package, Seiji walked back up the stairs looking every bit as fishy as a mobster on the way to a hit. Throwing down the package on his cot, he grabbed some box cutters and tore down the middle. The bastard sword inside, well...she was a beauty. Seiji had dreamed of owning such a weapon since he was a small child reading tales of valiant knights. Grabbing it up out of the box, he toyed with the sword in his hands, trying to get used to the weight.

"Now I just need to run an electric current through the weapon. We'll never have to fry our chicken with grease again, and we'll save a fortune." The seriousness of the statement, as always, was questionable at best.

[Takeda]

Whilst Seiji was heading down the stairs, undoubtedly to go check on the laundry laid out the night before, Takeda laid upon the ratty sofa that he called his bed. Sunlight began to stream through the formerly white, now beige blinds that covered the only window in the tiny apartment, and it's beams struck beer cans, pizza boxes that had laid in the floor for months...and finally Takeda. Not known as a morning person, Takeda's first instinct, naturally, was to simply roll over and face the back of the sofa. Last night had not been exactly pleasant for him, but then again, what nights had been? All in all, it was not the warm beams of sunlight upon his face that woke him from his slumber, but rather the ancient alarm clock that sat on the coffee table next to him. Surrounded by beer cans, he always had such trouble hitting the snooze button, so this morning, when he finally arose, he simply threw it at the wall, shattering it into little plastic bits. Time to wake up. Rising groggily from the couch, he found that he was still dressed in his clothes from the night before, a bonus, since there had been times where he returned without his shoes. Whilst Seiji was downstairs, Takeda stumbled towards the one bathroom of the cramped apartment, and looked at himself in the mirror. His head ached something fierce, but then again, that was his fault for going ten rounds with Jose Cuervo. His dyed hair was standing up all which ways, and his eyes were bloodshot, not to mention the dark circles beneath them...average day.

By the time that Seiji had made his way back upstairs, his brother had just finished applying deodorant and combing his hair, because he'd take a shower later in the day, after a change of clothes. For once, his hangover didn't seem too severe, which was a welcome change of pace, so when Seiji opened up the door and began cutting into the package, Takeda didn't instantly find himself grinding his teeth in agony. Rather than that, Takeda spoke out to him from the confines of the bathroom. "They shipped it in, huh?". Takeda reached for a towel, only to recoil back as he saw a cockroach skitter across it. This place disgusted the hell out of him, but he couldn't simply bring himself to clean it...I mean, after all, what was the point? Blockaded by the military, forced to share his apartment, and his life in the shitter, why even bother? Once more, he leaned over the sink, clipping a few errant bits of facial hair, and ran the water. The sink was chipped years ago, and if someone tried to fill it up, the water would get all over the floor. After completing the daily routine, he managed to catch Seiji saying "Now all I have to do is run an electric current through the weapon." He stepped towards the cot and spoke before leaning down to glimpse at the weapon. "And all I need is to catch a damn leprechaun, Seiji."

It was a quip of course, but in all due honesty, he at first didn't have the slightest clue in how they'd manage to do it. Sure, Takeda had some experience in jury-rigging certain things around the apartment to run when they honestly should've shorted out, but he didn't have the supplies to pull off something that...that crazy! "Wait...you're serious?" For a moment, Takeda looked down at Seiji, and gripped part of the sword's blade. "Look, there's no way in hell we're doing it here. Don't have the equipment for that...but...if you're serious about it, we both know a place that does." Whatever semblance of the day being typical was thrown right out of the window the moment the Seiji had suggested they do something completely stupid...and kind of awesome. Of course though, he was talking about their school...and already, he knew the kid was thinking of ways to smuggle it in.

[Seiji Dalton]

"Assuming there are other people like us, there's bound to be an Irishman who wakes up and finds himself the proud papa of a leprechaun hiding in the sea of his unconsciousness. Kind of like our other half brothers." Of course, to the knowledge of either bachelor, they had no other brothers. They were it, and presently they both had the other's back given the circumstances. "We'll take the car. No use trying to rob a bus driver at sword point on a Sunday." Seiji set off around their small apartment, totally undisturbed by the words he muttered. For someone attempting to figure out how to sneak a sword inside a school, he looked surprisingly calm. He was allowed to come and go on Sundays due to his membership on the Kendo team. Some of the members liked to get some extra practice in on their day off. Usually, they brought their own sparring partner. Seiji doubted Takeda had ever practiced Kendo, so it was good they weren't going to actually practice. Tucked off in a corner of the room was a long, slender box that was meant to house his wooden kendo sword. Delicately removing the wooden weapon, he placed it on top of a counter. Hopefully the rats, cockroaches, and homeless men wouldn't nibble on it while he was out. That wooden sword in particular had proven Seiji's 'lucky' weapon. Despite being in numerous matches, it had never broken. As such, he always used it in practice matches.

Of course, that might have had something to do with being imbued with semi-special qualities via exposure to the outer circle, but Seiji wasn't going to let technicalities ruin a perfectly good streak of good luck. "Besides, it's the only safe place to talk about the circle. Too many ears otherwise. I'd prefer we only have four." Replacing the bastard sword in the box, he walked out of the apartment and down to Takeda's beat up car. He'd rode in it once before and it was an...interesting trip. The passenger side window had been busted out, probably by some junkie passing through the fairly affluent area looking for a good fix. Sitting himself down in the car, he waited for his brother to join him. The cars in the city seemed to be American in that their driver's seat was on the left hand side. Seiji wondered how his brother was going to adjust to that. When his brother entered the car, he stayed quiet at first. He had a feeling that his brother had something to say about their situation in the city. He preferred to let others voice his thoughts and bounce them back onto the other person. It had been an effective conversation tactic with Takeda so far.

[Takeda]

For but a moment, Takeda raised an eyebrow to the thought of having even more illegitimate half-siblings...and his skin crawled. However, that was leaning more towards revulsion at the thought of their horrid mother still getting her freak on, than anything else. Over the course of the months that they had spent together, Takeda had warmed up to Seiji a bit, and it showed. With what was going on in this city, he was sort of glad that the kid had shown up. Shoving his hands into his jacket's pockets, as per usual, he listened to his half brother talk about how taking a damned sword onto a bus was probably not the best course of action..."Nah, I figured we'd drag a claymore on there, become fucking Braveheart bus-bandits." Takeda uttered without so much as a change on the look on his face. Typically, Takeda took the bus almost everywhere. Part of that was to avoid having to pay for gas, and part of it was due to the fact that he didn't know if the old clunker could even make it down the block without spontaneously combusting. The whole idea of modifying a hefty sword like that to make it electrified was downright crazy, but...well, Takeda had nothing else to do. Couple that with the fact that it seemed like Seiji was dead set on the whole matter, and you had a recipe for disaster. As Seiji moved to head downstairs, Takeda searched up and down for his keys, eventually finding them nestled between a box that once held what looked to be ramen noodles or maggots, and  the dish rack. Quickly, he moved to the bathroom and the medicine cabinet therein, prying the metal fixture from the wall. Between the apartments, Seiji and Takeda had worked together to  make a hollow space to store their weapons.

Takeda reached through, and found a small metal box, unassuming in it's dull coloration, and covered in worn old stickers. With a deep breath, he unlocked it with one of the keys, and there she laid...his pistol. A few clips worth of ammo were stuffed into the box, and the pistol itself was clean, at least...he locked it back, and placed it back into the crawlspace, sealing it up once more. It was a routine of sorts, checking on the damned thing to make sure the kid, or whatever junkies lived in the other apartments, didn't manage to find it. Takeda rushed out the door, locking it shortly after, before heading down the stairs, and hastily making his way through manga max. If there was one thing on this earth he wished he could torch, it'd be that abominable little store. All the glassy eyed anime posters, all the recitations of the word nii-chan without the whities even understanding what the hell it meant...it was enough to drive a sane asian to suicide.

Upon heading out into the day, having rushed by the the clerk that took his shift in the meantime, Takeda moved around to the back, and saw his old clunker sitting there, with his half brother in it. With a sigh, he crossed parking lot and opened up the door. The whole thing had gone to shit years ago. For starters, the damn thing backfired whenever he would start it up, so there were calls given about gunshots in the area. Second, the thing was a two door, so he couldn't store anything due to the trunk being filled with empties and the spare. Last, the old compact was on it's last legs, with the shocks giving out, you could feel all the bumps on the road. Looking over towards Seiji, he cranked the car up, heard the bang, and looked at the other window. He'd never tell Seiji, but there was a funny story about that thing being busted out. Now it was just covered with a garbage back. Revving the old monster up, his eyes were on the road, and he pulled out of the lot, headed for the school.

"Got it in my head how to do it, Seiji. You get us in. Hopefully we don't get stopped."

[Seiji Dalton]

Whenever Seiji found something amusing, people seemed to think he was mocking them when his 'haha' seemed devoid of real joy. Seiji enjoyed older movies and Braveheart was a classic. Factitious thoughts raced through his head, like Takeda and him storming into a bus station in full celtic garb and blue face paint. It would be oddly fitting considering the nature of their Personas. The car shifted into mainstream traffic, Seiji turning to his brother and making the first move to communicate for once. Such a thing was reserved almost solely for his brother at the moment. "It's not just me trying to be odd, you know. Wanting to rig the sword to have an electric current." Pausing to catch his breath after the short statement, Seiji continued as they somehow avoided being smashed by people filled with road rage. Internally, he wondered how long it would be before a fuel shortage hit the city considering they were blocked off from the rest of the world. "You play RPGs, yeah? It's a weird thing to ask I know given the context, but the different shadows have different weaknesses. Some of them react strongly to a particular type of attack, some resist others. If the weaknesses made anything approaching sense, it'd be like a game of rock paper scissors. Or at least a poorly rigged game of probability. Instead, it's kind of like playing the ufo catcher. You just press down and hope something works."

Seiji found his explanation to be a little long-winded, but he doubt his brother would mind that much. He disliked going out into the outer circle alone, especially when it seemed like the stronger shadows required group efforts. Educating Takeda on the things he'd found out so far would save them both some trouble. "My Persona seems to be a holy knight. It has both a means to channel light and attack an opponent as well as sword slashes. A third way of harming the shadows would save us both some headache." He stopped himself just short of adding and heartache as he thought back to the strange way that a shadow made him feel during his latest outing. A shiver ran down his spine again. The effects of the love spell still hit Seiji from time to time. His type was usually cute, petite girls with long hair as opposed to swirly, mask wearing mages of ambiguous gender. "If we're going to break the barricade, we need to be prepared." He wished that someone had told him that before his first foray beyond the barricade. Sometimes, he'd still get a shivering fit from the barrage of ice spells launched at his persona that first night in the dark tower. "I wish we had more money. We could both use some armor. At the very least, expensive leather jackets." Along their route, they caught sight of the Executive Building, or at least the illusion of it from within the inner circle.

"They could have come up with a better story than a radiation leak, don't you think? I feel a hand growing out of my belly button."

[Takeda]

Traffic seemed to be on the low side ever since the quarantine was imposed on the city. It felt like it had been ages since Takeda saw a traffic jam, or an accident...the whole situation felt as if it was getting worse, and nobody seemed to care. Rarely did he pull the old junker from the parking lot, and it was rarer still for him to head out on a Sunday morning...he shared Seiji's sentiment about the supply shortages to come fully. People wouldn't start questioning the blockade, or the military, until it actually started to impact their everyday lives. By then, whatever the hell those shadow things were would be ever closer to the city...maybe they'd overwhelm it. They seemed fond enough of the underground, so their spread would be almost unchallenged. He snapped back to the real world once a car horn blared behind him. Responding with the appropriate finger out the window at the asshole who honked, he heard Seiji speak. "Look, spare me. I know those things are different on a fundamental level, okay?" Whilst his hands were at ten and two, his eyes seemed to be elsewhere, and his thoughts drifted to the incident in the sewers. "Some of them took bullets like champs, others dodged...but one or two of them, they were hurt." Flashes in the darkness of the sewers, the resounding sound of brass clanging against the concrete...he remembered it well. It wasn't out of fear that he drew back on that night. It wasn't out of some paranoia. It was to keep his mind focused on the goal, on getting out of the city, and reminding himself of what they were up against.

To Takeda, all the streets seemed to blur together on this boring journey to outfit his half-brother with something only describable as extraordinary...the monotony was broken up the the badass idea however, though he'd never tell Seiji that. "The entire idea of a city being blockaded in because of a radiation leak is stupid as hell, Seiji. They'd evacuate us, not wall us in. Nobody gives a shit, no, no...but, there's gotta be more people like us, trying to get out." A slight grin crossed his face, though more as a gesture than anything, as he responded to Seiji's quip shortly thereafter. "If you do grow a third hand, the way things are looking with our financial state, we're going to have to lop it off and eat it next week." The statement had a bit of truth to it. Soon, they'd have to find some side-work to keep afloat, and also outfit themselves better for their grand escape. Pulling into the school parking lot, he shifted the car into park, and stopped for a moment after undoing his seat belt, staring at the dash but for a moment. "Look." He finally uttered before looking over at Dalton, his dull, bloodshot eyes staring with intent. "We're stuck in this shithole. We do whatever it takes to get out. Since you don't talk, I'll say it here. We're gonna leave this place, after that, you go to your dad, or to mom, alright?" Something seemed to have shifted during the drive...it wasn't that Takeda wasn't appreciative of Seiji's presence, but it seemed like this was Takeda being brutally honest.

With nary a word after that, he opened his door and then Seiji's, seeing as the damned thing  was so rusted on the inside that Seiji usually had to move the bag. He stuffed his hands into his pockets as per usual, with no cigarettes or a flask, it was going to be a rough day...maybe that was it. As if to kind of ease away from what he said, as they stepped towards the doors, he uttered to Seiji one last bit. "I know how to rig this thing up, just hope you can shoulder the motherfucker."

[Seiji Dalton]

"I'm sorry, Takeda. I didn't know you sneaked out of the house and battled monsters every night." Of course, Seiji wasn't being serious again. His tongue having a bit of a barb was also something reserved (almost) exclusively for his brother. Running a hand through his hair, he watched the road in silence as his brother talked. It was nothing that he hadn't expected his brother to say. In the time they'd been together, Seiji had noticed how his brother pushed almost everyone except his drinking partners away. Those men weren't exactly the best friends, either. Most of them were older men too far gone on life to care. He didn't want Takeda to end up like them one day. There was still a distance between the brothers that neither of them could seem to bridge. When Takeda said his piece about going to live with his parents, Seiji placed a hand on his brother's shoulder. "We're on the coast of China, Takeda. The only people I know are back in Japan and I certainly can't afford a plane ticket to get back there. Dad's back in the U.S. and depending on what the outside world thinks about this place, he might think I'm dead." However, he left what he said at that and got out of the car, wedging the box containing his sword between his armpit and arm as they walked into the school proper. For a time, it seemed as if they'd get away without even running into anyone. Of course, that wouldn't have been any fun for the brothers.

"You two, what are you doing here?" One of the school's Sunday security guards asked. Turning around, Seiji regarded him with the same warm calmness that everyone else was given. The man was chubby and of Asian descent. Although Seiji would never dream of voicing the thought to the man, he wondered how well he handled actual delinquents given his...robust nature. The man seemed more at ease when he saw the younger man's face. He'd seen Seiji practicing a few times. "Oh, Mister Dalton. Here to get in some Kendo practice?" Seiji nodded. "And this man is your partner?" He kind of had an idea of why there was such a negative tone used when talking about Takeda. His brother had it out for the world and groomed his appearance so that everyone else knew it, too.

Seiji nodded. "He's my brother. Born and raised in Japan, a pretty good Kendo practitioner in his day. But I'm better." Lying wasn't something Seiji usually did, but telling a security guard the blunt and honest truth about what they were doing would be unwise. The guard waved them off and went on with his patrols. After that, things got a whole lot easier for them considering he radioed in and told the other guards they were there and not to be worried about them. If they got in and out fast enough, no one would even notice. The school's workshop wasn't very far away, and the teacher was rarely in on Sundays. Closing the door behind them and turning the lock, Seiji looked at Takeda. "How are you going to do this?"

[Takeda]

"You two, what are you doing here?"

Thousands of comebacks came to mind for Takeda the moment he heard the portly official's voice, but he kept them to himself. Turning about to face the rent-a-cop, he nearly snickered at his appearance, before adopting the same patronizing smile he wore at work. Though it took most of his self control to keep from laughing at the security guard's appearance, he kept a straight face, and took his hands out of his pockets to seem a bit less shady. Takeda was more than used to getting looks because of his appearance, in fact, most of the time he did groom himself in a manner as to get a rise out of people, so he wasn't bothered by the negativity in the guard's voice, and he even made a slight interjection into the conversation between Seiji and the guard. "Back in Japan I was part of a kendo club myself, figured I could try help him out, since the kid couldn't drag his friends out of bed." The little quip seemed to put the guard at ease, and meanwhile, Takeda was wondering just how this place managed to avoid getting shot up like the schools in the west with security guards that were big targets like the pig in front of him. As they finished the small talk, Takeda's grin grew a bit wider out of tension, but as the guard radioed the others, he was relieved...they could get to business. Walking away, he turned around and spoke to the guard whilst moving backwards, "Anyway, thanks officer, knew you'd understand. You do look like the type that's handled a Chinpoko or two in your day." He grinned maliciously as the guard just grinned and waved them on, oblivious. It took a bit, but once they got down the hallway, Takeda whispered to himself, "Knew that fat fuck was Chinese."

Whilst on their way to the machine shop, Takeda had but one last little quip, reserved for his half-brother before him. "You know, I'm willing to bet he's a twinkie like you. That could be why you managed to talk us out of that." However, there was no more patronizing smile, nor the faked jovial tone in his voice, things were back to business as usual. Upon entering the shop room, Takeda spun about to ensure that Seiji had locked the door, then went a step further by closing a blind in the main room...he didn't know how to deal with the noise, but he doubted that security would really be rushing them anytime soon. All of the machinery was located further towards the back of the rather typical school-room, towards what looked to be a built on section separate from where the teacher would talk about safety, and wiring, and etc. etc. etc. Stepping towards the back end of the place, he found it to be devoid of windows, and flicked on the light switch. Glimmering saw teeth, pneumatic tools, drills, copper wiring, all laid before him in the somewhat roomy space in front of them. With a bit of a grin once more lighting up his face,  he looked over his shoulder at Seiji. "I'm going to jury-rig the hell out of this thing..." He turned back to the shop and started gathering up copper wiring, along with a metal drill. Of course, he also was on the look out for wiring that was thoroughly protected by a coat of rubber, or perhaps plastic.

Within no time flat, Takeda had the tools before him on one of the work benches, and now waited for Seiji to place the sword in front of him. It was then that he grabbed a spare piece of graphing paper, and took a discarded pen to it...Takeda began to draw up potential ways of rigging the sword in a manner that would provide the most concealability to his half-brother without frying him to a crisp. Each of the drawings seemed almost extraordinarily detailed, drawn with a realistic, yet utilitarian edge for the situation. From a mere glance at the sword back at the apartment, Takeda seemed fully capable of drawing the weapon down to it's exact detail. Hopefully, for once, the weapon was an imitation sword, with a hilt and pommel that could be easily disassembled through unscrewing several components, otherwise, the work was going to take all day. Looking at all of the would-be schematics, Takeda spoke with his back turned to Seiji, "I'm not exactly Mcgyver, but I think we can take the shit from this shop and make your sword. Don't have much engineering experience either. Get me a small battery, something out of a car, lawnmower, doesn't matter what...I'll try and see if I can round up some rubber cables so you don't end up getting smoked using the thing." With that, Takeda left the schematics at the table, and set off searching the corners of the room once more...he had plenty of copper wiring, but not nearly enough that was insulated...at least he could sneak some of the wiring out and sell it somewhere. That's what one of his friends did when he was low on cash...

[Seiji Dalton]

Keeping a straight face as Takeda made his remark to the guard proved very difficult, even for Seiji. When the guard grinned in response, Seiji had to bite his lips to keep from laughing. That guard was the only one he ever saw but he knew there were quite a few more. The school board took protection of its students and property quite serious, afterall. The young half-breed regarded his brother calmly after the remark about him being a twinky. "If your internet search history is to be believed, you know all about twinkies, Takeda." They didn't even have a computer truth be told, but it was still a funny way to think about things. As his brother got to work on the schematics for their new project, Seiji watched with awe as his brother drew the sword from memory down to the last little detail. He never understood why people rejected his brother's style of art. Back home, pictures of their Personas sat looking more vivid than they did in real life. Even for a casual observer like him, he knew that his brother's art was something special. Maybe he just liked believing in others though. If only to give his brother some music to listen to, he pulled out his MP3 player and found a song by Queen that seemed fit for a workshop montage, Another one bites the dust. Turning up the volume loud enough where they could both it comfortably, he sat it down far enough away that his expensive headphones wouldn't be hit by a stray spark. The thought of his headphones catching on fire was both amusing and horrifying considering how long he had to save up to get the headphones.

"Why aren't you in art galleries again?" The best part was how he wasn't being condescending with the comment. Placing the box containing the bastard sword on a nearby table, he took it out and examined the weapon more closely. Takeda's assumption that it was a fairly cheap model with screws and all that was correct. Despite being ordered from someone boasting of authentic forging techniques, the blade looked like a product rather than a weapon meant for actual use. Good thing he had an idea to turn it into an effective weapon or else he'd be doing only mild damage to most shadows. Listening to his brother's explanation on what he needed, Seiji nodded and went about searching the shop. It was their good luck that no one else was here. Despite how much of the school seemed Asian, there were certainly American elements such as how the shop class worked on cars for extra credit. Making his way into an adjacent room, Seiji saw a number of cars with keys hanging on a nearby rack. Off in the corner was where he saw a scooter. A note on the seat said 'free to a good home'. There must have been something wrong with the scooter or else it A. wouldn't be free and B. wouldn't still be there. For some reason, the key was still in the ignition. Turning it on, the scooter purred and took on a life of its own. The battery seemed to be good in the scooter. Since it was free, at least Seiji didn't feel like he was committing theft. He noticed that it had a full tank of gas as well.

Finding some tubing and an empty gas canister nearby, he opened the tank and sucked until he saw the gas start to pour out. While he figured out how to get the battery out, the gas drained into the container. It was his way of paying Takeda back for the trip. Taking the seat off, he saw the components that made the scooter run. This was something he had absolutely no experience with, but he somehow managed to wrestle the battery free. Unfortunately for whoever actually wanted to use the scooter, he felt like he'd done something to mess it up. Taking the full gas canister and the battery back to his brother, he sat them down and said, "I hope this'll do. It's small, it doesn't weigh much at all, and it's concealable. I found us some gas, too. Don't ask where...just take it as payment for the effort."

[Takeda]

Scarce few things could cause Takeda to genuinely smile, but the moment he heard Queen playing in the background, he inadvertently cracked a grin to rival that of the chesire cat. After catching himself and quickly changing his expression, he set to work by taking the sword onto the table with his tools. Now, if there was one thing that Takeda frequently questioned in the back of his head on liquor filled evenings whilst seated on the couch, it was why people would even bother buying these cheap replicas. Well, thankfully Seiji was smart enough to use it well, and he had no doubt that the kid could make some modifications of his own to make the thing cut through the monstrosities he seemed to frequently run into. Taking out a screw at the bottom, Takeda managed to take apart the hilt with relative ease. Most of these replicas would be replaced with customized hilts by some teenager with raging hormones, and others would simply take up wall-space, so thankfully, they were easily taken apart. However, a daunting challenge presented itself once he laid eyes on the hiltless weapon...a metal rod ran deep into the handle of the blade. Much too thin to drill a hole into without risking making it fragile, and causing the blade to snap when met with enough force. As he was pondering how to overcome this, he overheard Seiji speaking to him. Seiji's question actually struck a bit deeper than it should've, for some reason. Takeda had sketched their personas a while back, and even had an older painting of his hanging over the couch...after a bit of silence whilst examining the grip, he spoke. "To put it like they did, I'm antiquated." His answer was curt, and though it was true, there was much more to it than that.

For a moment, Takeda remained completely silent, before it seemed like something switched on in his head. Quickly, he took the guard of the sword in his hand and stared down into the empty space once more. The hilt wasn't completely hollow, only enough to hold the metal bar in.  Carefully, he began to hollow out the grip enough to fit in the unprotected wiring to touch with the blade. The twisted length had to make direct contact with the bar the comprised the base of the sword, hell, that was the easy part. Wire after twisted wire went carefully around the metal bar at the base of the blade, and it managed to fit snugly into the hollowed out handguard. A grin crossed the would-be technician's face, and he drilled a thick hole in the bottom of the circular pommel. Taking some of the protected wiring, he joined the cables and twisted them together around the pommel point...the protected wiring would keep Seiji from frying himself, whilst the unprotected bit laid within the sword. Fortunately, the pommel seemed to be made of incredibly thick bakelite...and though he knew Seiji would not be pleased, Takeda reasoned that fashioning the guard out of a similar material would be to the boy's benefit. Most of the hilt seemed to be comprised of wood, coated with leather for a poor man's imitation of medieval quality. Looking about the shop, he pondered for a moment what he should construct the guard from...and then inspiration struck him.

As Seiji returned from raiding the scooter, the sight before him would've made a redneck knife collector cry, and other folks wonder just how the hell two relatively young men got it in their minds to make it...the sword's handguard had been replaced by a crude wooden fabrication of the real thing, presumably from a shop project left lying about. Whilst Seiji was gone, Takeda tested the voltage with a small nine volt battery left in the supply closet...and the damned thing actually worked. Though he didn't smile, there was a bit of pride in Takeda's eyes that was obvious to anyone that knew him. "Thank god you bought the cheapest thing on the market." He said before noticing that Seiji had a canister in his hand as well as the battery. Placing the sword down, he grasped the gas can and sat it on another table, before muttering the words "Damn straight it's payment." under his breath. The battery itself was...underwhelming. Takeda took the old scooter's battery, placed it next to the sword, and connected the protected wiring to a short stint of unprotected bits, capping the scooter's contact points so that it wouldn't be exposed. "So this is it?" He said before staring at the relatively ineffective battery that he had just hooked up to the blade. "The joining point's in the pommel. You detach that, the thing turns off. You'll have to lug the battery around on top of that, but it should at least give them a shock alongside the massive gash."

"We won't be cooking chicken with it, but it'll do."

[Seiji Dalton]

Watching his brother work was a pretty fun experience given that Seiji gave him a basic idea and then worked it into something he could actually use in a battle. If he came up with any crazier ideas later, he was sure his brother could make them work. Picking up the sword after the work was finished, he found that the weapon's weight was even more manageable due to how lightweight the replacement parts were. Carefully picking up the care battery while it wasn't connected to the sword, he placed it in his backpack and sipped it up so that the wire was just barely able to nudge out. Putting the pack back on, he connected the wires to the pommel and heard the sound of an electric buzz. Smiling, he picked the bastard sword up and moved away from Takeda into an open space. Giving a few practice swings, he found that the blade sparked as it sliced the air. His attention turned to a half broken chair that no one had bothered to move yet. Probably around the same time his brother would be thinking 'oh no', Seiji moved to hack in a fluid downward motion, cutting the chair and sending sparks flying that just barely avoided his hands. Unplugging the weapon, he replaced it in its scabbard and breathed easy. Returning it to the box and putting the wire back in the backpack, Seiji and Takeda left the shop behind after putting almost everything back in its proper place. Seiji had a sense of right and wrong, but he understood desperate times called for desperate measures. If the shop teacher knew what lurked outside their fleeting circle of light, maybe he wouldn't mind them borrowing a car battery terribly.

On their way back to the car, they saw the chubby officer again. Waving to him, Seiji spoke in fluent Japanese while giving the man a warm smile. "I had your mother three times last night, Chinese dog.[/color]" The security officer asked Seiji what he said and the boy replied, "I wished you good fortune in my native tongue." That seemed to please him enough to wave them along despite how they hadn't really been at the school for very long. Getting in their car, Seiji turned to Takeda and said, "Let's go to a burger joint, we can afford to hog out a little given our generous friend the junk lady." The eccentric personality that ran the safehouse bought salvaged goods for a very pretty penny. It certainly helped give them a little more spending money.

[Takeda]

A sense of pride filled Takeda as the air was filled with the crackling of electricity, and not the anguished cries of his half brother being electrocuted to death. Lightening the blade was one thing, ensuring that it wouldn't kill him was another. Gathering up the schematics that he drew in the event of the sword ever breaking, he looked over his shoulder just in time to catch Seiji give a hefty downwards swing to the wooden chair that had been sitting back in the shop. For a moment, he looked to be opening his mouth to say something in protest, but then quickly, he shut it, for the simple fact that the display would show if the blade was durable enough to withstand a solid impact...and it was damn cool. Splinters filled the air for a moment, and Takeda was assured that the weapon could work in a practical situation, provided that the creatures held still. And weren't stronger than wood. The two half-brothers set to work placing the materials back in their places, save for a bit of copper wiring that Takeda stashed away in the hopes of turning it in later for a bit of profit from this little outing. After the two had finished fixing the shop up to be nice and tidy so that the teacher would be none  the wiser, they began the relatively short walk back to the car.
As fortune would have it, the two brothers managed to run into their new friend, the greasy Chinese security guard that Takeda had joked about earlier, and as he readied himself to say another hidden insult to the rent-a-cop, he found himself beaten to the punch by Seiji.

"I had your mother three times last night, Chinese dog."

The very moment that the two got outside, Takeda snickered at the thought of the guard falling for that shit twice. "Well, can't say I'm not proud of you." He uttered under his breath on the way to the old hatchback. Pouring the gas from the canister into the tank, he cracked a smile at the mere thought of that fat pig strolling on his merry way after that. With the spare wire going into the back from Seiji's backpack, Takeda started up the old clunker and began the drive back home before Seiji suggested that they go get something perhaps a bit better than buttered toast and ham. "After today, I think that we could stand to have a tasty burger or two." He uttered as he shifted gears and turned off of the road towards home. Driving was always the worst part of the two's outings together, seeing as the radio was missing after the car was ransacked one day, and Seiji's tendency to wait for other people to talk before speaking himself.  After about ten minutes of silence, they arrived at a rather old burger joint in Mimoza that had been there since this part of the city was regarded as one of the worse parts of town. The place was packed to the brim with all sorts of characters, everything from the typical Japanese immigrants that seemed to flock to the city, to the locals, and a few English speakers. One thing that didn't seem to elude both Seiji and Takeda was the fact that Mosaic was definitely multi-cultural in a lot of ways, and it showed here...everyone equally was angry about slow service, their orders not being right, or that they wanted their food for free. Ain't life grand? After what felt like hours in line, Takeda found himself staring down one of the locals of the city, in a visor cap and their typical garb. Grease permeated the air along with the smell of fatty foods, but hell, anything was better than the apartment.

After dealing with what could be described as less than stellar service, and shortly thereafter checking his hamburger for spit, Takeda found a booth close to one of the windows their their apartment, and looked out whilst opening up the wrapper of his burger again. "About that salvage place, they have a board pinned up, all sorts of shit over it. We should look into that next time we go in." Turning back to his food, he took a massive bite, feeling absolutely famished. After a bit of chewing, and staring down at the burger like a wolf would a non-decomposing body, he turned his attention back to Seiji. "Look, about earlier. Can't leave my job, the salvage doesn't pay rent. Otherwise I'd at least try to get out there and take a few down." The meager few fries the value meal afforded him didn't last but a second as he continued speaking, making sure to have finished chewing first. "I wanna know something though." His tone seemed to shift for a moment, kind of expected, for the conversations they had been having in-between things.

"What do you think they are?"

[Seiji Dalton]

Negotiating to have bacon put on his burger without having to pay extra proved difficult for Seiji given the stubbornness of the employees. The branch of the fast food chain on the other side of the city was Seiji's preferred eating joint. "I hate WcDonalds." Seiji cursed as he joined Takeda at their booth looking out at Manga-Max. Whenever they had money for anything more expensive than instant ramen or low quality pizza, they could come across the street and have a nice meal. Sure, there was the occasional shooting at 4 a.m. over some stupid matter, but that was just part of the experience of living in the supposedly refurbished, clean shopping district. Taking a bite out of his burger, Seiji chewed meticulously as he listened to what his brother had to say about the salvage and the board outside. He'd wondered what the deal was with that as well. "Hopefully we'll go by there one day and see some work. If not, we'll just keep bringing her salvaged toasters, those weird nihil things, and knick-knacks."

Pausing for long enough to chew up another bite of his burger, he savored the taste. He paused when Takeda posed him a question in his semi-native tongue. Looking around to make sure the other people at the restaurant were just minding their own business, he replied in kind. "I do not know. I have theories but proving them would be hard. We both should be able to assume they're related to Personas since their presence is what triggered our awakening. Checking on the internet...just made things strange. Lots of philosophy talk. Was not expecting that." That was more or less all he knew. Some relevant pages were out of reach to him. There were plots within plots to their predicament.

[Takeda]

Seiji's explanation of the creatures only managed to rouse more curiosity in Takeda as to the origins of their new peculiar little "gifts" and those that held them hostage. Taking a deep bite into his hamburger, he looked over at Manga-Max, a ways down the street. When he finished chewing, he sighed a bit to himself over how he would have to go back tomorrow, to the same damn counter, with the same customers, and the god damned anime bullshit. Mondays weren't too busy, but it was still a pain to have to sit there and wait for the adult ones to come in, smelling like bacon grease and hand lotion. For all it was worth, the renovated district wasn't so bad, just the occasional shooting from the hold-outs of the district's past. As he turned to look towards Seiji, and possibly strike up a bit of a conversation to kill the tedium of just sitting there, munching away at food, he noticed something. One of people that stepped through the door to the joint was one of Takeda's drinking buddies. Ducking his head a bit lower, he tried to stay out of the man's sight, at least for now. However, it did absolutely no good as the man sauntered over after putting his tray down on a table away from the two. "Takeda! How you holdin' up man?" Oh god, he just had to talk to him, didn't he? Truth be told, Takeda rarely associated with any of the folks he drank with outside of the bar scene. It didn't take a rocket scientist to figure that whatever definition of friendship one followed, it rang pretty hollow for Takeda. "Hey, Zhang." Now that he was closer to the table, the man known as Zhang's features became much clearer.

An older man, Zhang had lines of gray hair going every which way through his ill-groomed hair, and wore a shirt bearing the logo of one of the city's motorcycle manufacturers. Of obvious asian descent, he also had a scruffy beard that one would typically associate more with a homeless man than anything. Other than that, the guy was plain, save for a strange blemish on his cheek. "Haven't seen 'ya in a while, Takeda, how've you been doin'?" Zhang seemed to ignore Seiji for a bit, and Takeda obliged the man with an answer, "I'm doing fine, Zhang. Just making it, nine-to-five." the tone in Takeda's voice was simply out there. Much like he was around Seiji, he kept a semi-emotionless face as the two continued ton converse. "Still with Lian?" Zhang scratched the back of his dandruff laden head, and retorted with a curt reply, "Nah.". The two spoke about trivial matters for a while, with Takeda waiting for Zhang to do most of the talking. After a while, the older man went back to his table as Takeda spoke once more, before taking a bite, this time, in Japanese. "Old codger can't see I'm eating? Guy'll talk your ear off about absolutely nothing."

After polishing off the rest of his burger, Takeda waited for Seiji, and leaned back into his seat. "Didn't get a good look at the lady running the place, myself. Got half a phone number from the board though." One last thing crossed Takeda's mind to fill up the silence, and he asked, in plain english, "How's school?"

[Seiji Dalton]

"How's school?"

Now that was an interesting question. The build-up to it was one that led Seiji into a doldrum as one of Takeda's drinking buddies showed up and started making small talk with the young shopkeeper of Manga-Max. The man looked interesting enough but Seiji turned his attention to his meal. With Takeda preoccupied, he managed to finish the small value meal that he'd been able to afford. Hopefully the two of them could get some part-time work so they wouldn't be on the dollar menu for the rest of their lives. Sipping on his drink as the older gentleman wandered away, Seiji glanced blankly at his brother as he muttered in their native tongue about the man. "Call the number, Takeda. I'm sure shadow 1-900 numbers are lovely." Pausing at his brother's question, he couldn't help but wonder how school was going for him. It wasn't going bad, his grades were good...his kendo club valued him as a tenacious fighter, and he was even thinking about joining a few other groups...

But he was always tired at school. He felt out of place there now that he had a Persona. The other students were happy and content with their normal lives despite being in a city blockaded by a force beyond their imagining. Seiji was driven towards the outer circle like a moth to a flame, trying as best he can to find an answer to the questions plaguing him about the situation they'd landed themselves in. Yet despite all that, he merely looked at his brother and remarked, "Alright. Still don't have a girlfriend but that's not such a bad thing. I doubt she'd stick around too long once she realized we have the world's biggest cock...roaches." Living a life free of the drama that came along with girls was also nice, come to think of it. No pressure, no dates, free to explore the outer reaches of the city without a shadow being alerted to his presence by a text message, but it was a lonely life. Part of his isolation from his peers meant he couldn't connect with others romantically. Having someone to help shoulder the burden would be nice. Some hint of turmoil or sadness must have flickered onto his face for he noticed another patron look at him with concern. If a random person could notice it, chances were that Takeda could as well.

"You know, for burgers on the value menu, these are pretty good...they don't beat the burgers on the grill back at the base though."