The Smell of Dark Coffee [Isolde]

[Seiji Dalton]

Just the fragrance of coffee, the aroma, was enough to give Seiji's tired bones energy. From his booth in the corner of the coffee shop, he could see everyone come and go. There were businessmen typing away on their laptops, other people in the uniform of his school talking and hanging out with their friends over espressos and cappuccinos, and the occasional lone person like Seiji. Perhaps they were also waiting on someone, or maybe they were just lonely people enjoying solitude in a crowd.

This was the place Isolde and Seiji had settled on meeting after their encounter earlier in the day. Just thinking about her again brought a blush to Seiji's face. Everything else about his face beside the flush of his cheek seemed to suggest a certain kind of calmness. For lack of a better way to put it, it was like his body was understanding the affection he was feeling even when he himself didn't. Picking up his pitch black coffee, he took a sip and glanced around the shop looking for Isolde again. There was much he wanted to discuss with her. Not all of it was about some sort of budding princess and the pauper high school romance either considering she was also a Persona user.

He'd made contact with quite a few of them since awakening to his own powers, but something made him feel that Isolde was special. One thing he was thinking of proposing was a trip out into the outer circle. Two swords were certainly better than one when dealing with rotten, evil shadows. Leaning back, he closed his eyes and took another sip of his coffee. Hopefully she'd be here soon...

[Seiji Dalton]

And there the princess was, complete with a crown. People tossed her glances as she moved to take a seat in the booth across from Seiji. "Heh...something tells me you'll be a handful for your security team when you're Queen, m'lady." He said, more playfully now that the tension of the initial meeting was past them. Despite how piping hot his drink was, Seiji drank it with no problem and smiled at the beautiful lady sitting across from him.

"But, I'm good. Thanks for asking. How were your classes today?" He hadn't actually asked Isolde about her academic life but he assumed that she would be a good, studious student. It just seemed like...her to be like that, strange as it was to think that way about someone he'd just met not long ago at all.

[Seiji Dalton]

"I really don't care about being King as long as I get to spend time with you." The frankness of his words and the emotion that tasted so foreign on his tongue took him aback. Thinking introspectively for a moment, Seiji found himself thinking that Isolde was humoring his odd attempts at courtship precisely because it wasn't her titles, positions, or prestige that drew him towards her. She was a kind person, a friendly face in a city where such things could be hard to come by.

Trying to fight off an ensuing fit of bashfulness as she once again called him handsome, he focused on the question she asked. "My classes? Well, before transferring schools, I never did pay much attention in classes but...I'm doing good here. Ironic that I say that in an Asian school setting considering how tough things are. I guess you could say I do well under pressure." Sipping on his coffee, he wondered what Isolde would have to say.

[Seiji Dalton]

...well, Isolde was certainly blunt when she made (accurate) assumptions. Seiji turned his head away from her and looked out at the passing cars and blushed brightly. "And if you were correct in this, uhm...assumption, the one that I have feelings for you that are something other than courtly or platonic, how exactly would you react?" He was never usually this awkward when talking to anyone. Takeda would be having a field day if he could sit there and watch him blunder and stammer his way through this conversation. He had always been too busy with his video games to bother with girls before and now his lack of experience was showing.

As if to cover up the awkward silence that followed, he took a sip of his coffee and said, "So, anyway. Personas...I have a Persona, you have a Persona. We should go to the outer circle sometime so I can show you mine. Something tells me that you'll like Sir Gareth." Oh great, right after he said that, he realized it sounded like he was asking her out on some kind of weird dinner and a battle date.

[Seiji Dalton]

"Surprised?" The thought of Isolde being surprised that someone could have feelings for her was a bit odd considering she was, well, quite a lot of things. "You're beautiful, lady-like, and intelligent. Anybody with two stones in their head would find you attractive." Now that everything seemed to be out in the open between the two, at least Seiji's stammering stopped even as the blush refused to die down even as the air conditioning kicked on. "I really do think you'll like Sir Gareth. I'm sure you're familiar with King Arthur. He was one of Arthur's nephews and went on a quest to rescue a maiden."

He laughed under his breath, never realizing how fitting it was that he'd crush on someone like Isolde with a Persona like his until that moment. "He defeated some evil knights, saved the day, and became one of the youngest knights of the round table. I started looking up the old tales once my Persona's name popped into my head. What's yours like?"

[Seiji Dalton]

"Well, you've already met Sir Gareth, from a certain point of view, just like I've met Penthesilia. They are us, we are them. I'd like to think we have the Personas we do for a reason. Only reason I could see why I got Sir Gareth is that I always pick Paladins in roleplaying games." Hopefully the analogy wouldn't be lost on here, games were something he enjoyed immensely.

"I had you pegged for more of a...Guinevere, but Penthesilia sounds like she's a force to be reckoned with on the battlefield. I'm looking forward to heading out with you. I haven't explored the outer circle with many other people."

[Seiji Dalton]

"It's a shame that things have to be that way though." Being tough was one thing, but being so used to battle that she viewed herself as a 'lady of war' was another. He wanted to spare her, and others if he could, the grief that came with warfare. He'd read lots of books about a whole bunch of battles and the vivid descriptions of tooth and nail fighting were something he'd wish on no one. At least most conventional fights happened between two parties hundreds of miles away from one another. The outer circle was hardly a conventional place sadly.

"So, I'm curious. What exactly do you know about the outer circle?" Come to think of it, he'd never asked anyone that question point blank before. There was usually a lot of roundabout questions but never a direct search for answers. Hopefully Isolde would know more than he did.

[Seiji Dalton]

He thought back to the encounters he'd had with shadows before meeting Isolde. She was right about everything. The shadows responded differently to different attacks. Her question would lead into what he had to say quite well. "A bastard sword. Of course, it's a lot less crude to call it a hand and a half sword, but I think crude works well in this case." Looking away, he muttered under his breath, A bastard for a bastard.

"Anyway, I like it because it's heavy enough to cleave but light enough to slash and be used with one hand. I really don't look that strong, but I've been doing Kendo for a while and it translates to real swordplay well and it honed my muscles. As I said, my Persona is physically inclined and I augment that. Now, onto something really juicy I think you'll like..." Looking around just to make sure no one was looking, he said, "My brother's kind of a genius. You know how you said some of the shadows have different weaknesses? We fought a really tough shadow that possessed one of those old bulky computers from the 90's. A few days before the fight, he modified my bastard sword to run an electrical current that essentially modified the weapon to deal electric damage."

"I'd be willing to bet there's other modifications like that out there, maybe you've found a few. To get back to your original question...I guess you could call me some really weird electric swordsman." A little emotion shined through his stoic facade as he reflected upon the strangeness of what he told Isolde.

[Seiji Dalton]

"Fencing? I'd love to get into that. Boxing as well. The old time boxers were some pretty awesome guys. I think anyone in our situation could benefit from floating like a butterfly and stinging like a bee." He'd thought about that phrase more than a few times when he was in the middle of a pitched tooth and nail fight with shadows.

Then, Isolde had to go and ask about his family. "I dunno...I'm sure they're doing fine, wherever they are. My dad's probably enjoying being back home in America out of the military life. Mom's...being Mom. She was never really in my life, always off with one man or another. But that's fine, if she wasn't the way she was, I wouldn't have Takeda. And Takeda...Takeda is Takeda." That was all there really was to say about his brother. Describing him with too many adjectives did him no justice.

[Seiji Dalton]

"Huh...actually, the more I think about her, I wonder how Mom is doing. It's a shame that all of this stuff with the shadows is happening, it'd be nice to talk Takeda into taking a trip to see her...she's not a bad lady. Rolling stones gather no moss." He didn't know why in the world he was talking about his mother to this girl that seemed to be an almost complete stranger, but there it was and he didn't mind terribly. At least Isolde, like him, was a good listener.

"As for fencing...maybe. I know enough about knights to know that all the best ones weren't elegant. It'd give me something to do and a new way to fight, but the way I've fought thus far's been alright." Leaning back in his seat, he laughed at the thought of his brother meeting Isolde. "If you met my brother, he'd beg me to marry you so he could say he was the brother of the King of England." He smirked, it was amusing to think about his brother's enthusiasm.

[Deleted]

"So, your mother must be worried sick about you. At least, she cares for you, Sir Seiji." she replied with a smile. Perhaps, his mother was not really bad at all. She was just irresponsible with her choices. He was also interested in fencing, but just a little bit. She believed that he will make an excellent student to her as well as her knights. Then, he had told her that if his brother were to meet her, Seiji would have to marry her to actually be the brother of the King of England. Actually, it didn't occur to her that she'll be thinking about marriage yet. She responded with a giggle, "Well, if your brother wants to be part of the royal family, you'll have to propose to me first, you silly boy."

[Seiji Dalton]

Huh, his mother probably was worried about him. Most sensible mothers would be if her boys were at the heart of a supposed radiation leak. "Maybe." Was all he could really say on the subject of his mother being worried about him. That's all there really was to say. Either she was, or she wasn't. "I think most people with family outside the city have someone worried about them. Everyone's loved by someone." Thinking about loving others was odd. The idea of strong emotional ties, man...that was strange stuff. And he felt something for Isolde, even if he realized there were more pressing things once his hormones had seemed to die down.

"Marriage? Proposing? Well, I've still got a few years of schooling left before I'd even think about marrying anyone. Besides, the shadows probably won't wait for his to tie the knot, have babies, and have some happy years before they jump into the city for some assault they can't do yet." For someone taken with Isolde, he sure was being blunt about things. "Besides, we only just met. For all you know, I could turn out to be someone you don't want to marry. We're a little past the forced marriage stage of history, so that wouldn't be any good."

[Deleted]

"Fine, then. We'll get to know each other first before we date and possibly marry by the time you go to college." she responded. At least, arranged marriages aren't around anymore in this age. Yes, it was obvious that she and Seiji weren't ready to take it to the next level, considering that they just met. However, she could tell that he somewhat had feelings for her and he appeared to be quite taken with her. At least, he cared for his parents and brother. Her grandfather was probably worried for her as well. Well, she couldn't leave the city until the barrier was lifted. She asked, "So, do you have any interest in joining the Kendo club? I think you can benefit from there, too."

[Seiji Dalton]

"Don't worry, Isolde. As far as endearing circumstances go, we could do far worse than a city surrounded by a bunch of shadows wanting to devour us. Times of conflict make feelings grow faster, you know." Seiji replied in a matter of fact, deadpan voice. He'd played lots of games and watched lots of television and one thing he always noted was that people fell in love really quickly when there was a big conflict looming in the horizons.

Considering the number of babies born during and immediately after World War II and other major conflicts, history even supported him. "I'm already on the Kendo team. Sadly...there's really no one for us to fight, considering that either going to another school or coming to ours is impossible considering the barricade. We make due with little tournaments between team members, though. It feels like cheating to practice on the shadows and then come in kicking rear against normal folks." Not that he was complaining, it was certainly fun to knock people flat after seeing how smug some of his team mates were.

[Seiji Dalton]

Taking a sip of his coffee and finally draining the cup, Seiji carefully considered what she said. Love? It was such a strange word, especially when he juggled it around in his head. Isolde was a whole bunch of positive adjectives that would make him sound like a kissup if he said them rolled up into one person, but love...that was a whole different ball park.

Love was a whole different league.

Plus, he was mature enough despite being pretty young to realize that what a teenager like him thought of as love was probably anything but. Often, it was lust disguised as love. He liked knights and their idea of courtly love, of women both being an ideal for their men and holding themselves to ideals. Sadly, the world had moved on and what was left wasn't exactly pleasant. "I don't really think anyone can leave, to be honest with you."

Mulling the idea over in his head, he was reminded of an idea that he'd been rolling around in his head. "Although I'm curious. I wanna see this barrier for myself. What would you say to being part of an expedition during the long weekend coming up to go see it for ourselves on the outskirts of the city?" He talked in a hushed voice now, not wanting anyone else to hear considering what he was talking about would sound both delusional and suicidal to someone that didn't know about the outer circle.

"Would you like me to buy you a drink, by the way? I wanna get some more coffee." He stood up and walked towards the clerk after hearing her answer, obviously wanting to give her a moment to think about what he had proposed.