Jun 18 01:42:14 <Knave>	Austin pulls self-consciously at the green blazer he's wearing - with a little bit of paper sticking out of the breast pocket, "PRESS" written on in sharpie. He clears his throat. Then he knocks on Akemi's door, his usual shave-and-a-haircut rhythm, breathing out to calm himself, fiddling with his hair. Other students had it lucky. Akemi was just the unattainably attractive flirt for them - no trauma attached.
Jun 18 01:44:57 <Kioku>	Akemi comes to the door a few moments later - well, an Akemi does anyway.  "Austin?  Hey!  What brings you here?  Athene?  Suzy?  Mary?  Me~?"  As might be expected, a sly smile plays across her lips.  "In any case, please come in~"
Jun 18 01:48:05 <Knave>	"You." Austin says as he comes in, and admitting it seems to pain him. Clearly, it hurts his pride to even hint he might not be immune to Akemi's charms. "I was hoping you'd be amenable to an interview for the paper. You're one of the more popular students, and you've been around since the old days at Sunnybrook, so I figure if anyone's due a student profile-" He pulls out his notepad and pen and clicks it with a small, hopeful smile.
Jun 18 01:49:41 <Kioku>	Akemi raises her eyebrows.  Then after a brief hum and a slightly wider smile, she nods and offers her hand.  "To the couch then~?  Or would you insist on separate seating?"
Jun 18 01:51:09 <Knave>	Austin havers on the spot, then tugs at his collar. Anyone else, and it wouldn't have been a choice, the way would be obvious - either play the lax dork and take the couch seat, or ham up the reporter role and act professional. Akemi messed with his wiring. "Uh, the couch sounds fine." He clears his throat again, then runs a hand through his already-messy hair.
Jun 18 01:52:53 <Kioku>	Akemi lightly takes Austin's arm and nudges the door shut with a foot before leading him over to the couch, then sitting down beside him.  Not as close as she normally would with someone, she enjoys distracting him but doesn't want to /too/ much right now.  "I trust that anything I say will be reported with total accuracy?  You'll check before drawing implications or assumptions from it?"
Jun 18 01:55:06 <Knave>	"Of course." He flashes a smile, "The Enquirer is only interested in the Truth." His face falls slightly, "At least, /I/ am. I'm not sure everyone else is taking it seriously..." He gathers himself up from the slouch he'd fallen into, hand through his hair then hovering with a pen over the notepad, "Okay, let's get started. If you could just give me some background information on yourself, at whatever pace you like - how long you've been here, where you come from. That kind of thing."
Jun 18 02:02:53 <Kioku>	Akemi nods and hums.  "Officially, my name is Kimura Akemi, but either the school records had a mix-up, or my father lied, because at first they had me down by my sister's name.  Asami.  Unofficially, it's... just Akemi.  No family name anymore.  I can write the kanji for you if you want.  I'm from Itoman, Okinawa, which is pretty near Naha on the west coast of the main island in the group.  I was picked up by the GWU in mid December, 2017, so I guess I've been here about... 14 and a half months, or so.  Is that a good start?"
Jun 18 02:07:55 <Knave>	"Very good. Full disclosure, I'm probably just gonna say Okinawa in the article unless I want to beef the wordcount up. Not sure how strong people are on Japanese geography." He jots down names, places, dates with speed, then looks up at Akemi, "Okay. First question. What do you think of life here at Fifth Sanctum?"
Jun 18 02:12:58 <Kioku>	"Mm, that's fine.  All people would need or care to know anyway, probably better that they don't know the exact city."  Akemi gives a bright smile.  "I like it.  It's a place I feel free to be myself, to make friends, to talk to people.  Not to mention it has /way/ fewer stalkers than my old school, which is a nice change since here they'd already know where I live!"
Jun 18 02:18:02 <Knave>	"Huh." Austin mumbles to himself as he writes it down, "Would have thought it'd be the other way around." He looks back up brightly, "How would you compare Fifth Sanctum to Sunnybrook, and what would you say to students who have only ever attended the Fifth Sanctum campus?"
Jun 18 02:21:19 <Kioku>	"It feels more... open.  We're /in/ a town instead of being a mile from the edge of one.  Any of us can go out when we please instead of being sequestered away with curfews and guards deciding that anyone who doesn't look human is confined.  It feels more like a normal school, and a lot less like a prison."  \Even if Sunnybrook was far, far less of a prison than my house was.\  "Those who have only attended here... I'd say they missed out on something, but it wasn't the kind of something a person needs in their life.  They're lucky to be here now, and to not have had to deal with the GWU, even if they do miss out on some of the references we who went th Sunnybrook might make."
Jun 18 02:23:24 <Knave>	"Speaking of Sunnybrook references," Austin says, tapping his pen against his pad, "Would you like to give our readers a few words about your erstwhile shrine?" The tone of his voice suggests he's not 100% certain he's using the word 'erstwhile' correctly.
Jun 18 02:32:54 <Kioku>	Akemi giggles at that.  "A man named Warren Pice occasionally 'dropped by' Sunnybrook for his own reasons.  By his own word a totally ordinary human, but he had a decent understanding of both magic and artifacts, and had quite a few of the latter, I'm led to believe.  In any case, we ran into each other at one point and got to talking - he somehow got a theory that I was a kami, and for some reason ended up building that shrine.  Originally it was going to be meant for me if he proved right, but since the results were inconclusive he got the idea that the school /needed/ a protector of some sort.  And he decided to engage in a ritual with a student that had the right potential, to 'ascend' them to minor kami status with the school as their domain, so that they could fulfill that role.  After a month or so of searching for valid candidates, I was the best possible choice, so he did the ritual and... well..."  She shrugs.  "There we were.  A legitimate, if temporary since I insisted that it be more like a cancelable contract than a permanent alteration, and a shrine that I heard every prayer to."
Jun 18 02:35:27 <Knave>	Austin listens open-mouthed, jotting down names and odd words as she goes, then clears his throat, "Uh-huh. Only in Sunnybrook, huh?" He points with his pen, "Okay, is there anything that people don't know about you that you want them to know?"
Jun 18 02:44:27 <Kioku>	Akemi seems terribly amused by Austin's reception to it all, but sobers at the question.  She parts her lips, then pauses, glancing down and letting her shoulders fall before she finally takes a deep breath to speak.  "I'm... I'm not faking it.  I feel like that matters.  I really /do/ care about each and every one of my friends, I hold sincere feelings and I do care about them all personally.  And... I know what it's like to be lonely.  It hurts and it's horrible and I hate it.  I went through the six years of my life between my sister dying and finally coming to Sunnybrook feeling..."  Akemi shakes her head, tears threatening to come to her eyes.  "Most of the people out there, the ones who chased me or tried to call me friend, they didn't see the real me.  They didn't care, they didn't even try.  Never again.  I won't let that happen anymore, not to me, and not to anyone else."
Jun 18 02:50:26 <Knave>	Austin's pen hand accelerates, and a tongue pokes out as he concentrates. "Sorry." He says eventually, "Wanted to get that all down as right as I could." He reaches out a tentative hand and places it on Akemi's shoulder, if she lets him, then says with care, "Just a couple more questions, if that's okay?"
Jun 18 02:52:17 <Kioku>	Akemi takes a shaking breath, then lets it out with a nod.  "Mm, I'll be fine.  Sorry, please, go ahead."  She looks up and smiles, putting her hand on Austin's while staring into his eyes for a few moments.  As if the feeling that every motion is flirtation weren't already strong enough!
Jun 18 02:54:48 <Knave>	Reluctantly, after a few moments, Austin is forced to withdraw his hand - it's got his pen in it. "Right. So..." /I have a girlfriend and I'm pretty sure Akemi's not single. Repeat it a few times, buckaroo./ He breathes out, then looks up at Akemi with a blandly cheerful smile, "Any advice you'd give to new students here at Fifth Sanctum?"
Jun 18 02:58:29 <Kioku>	"Sure~  Don't be afraid to go out and meet people.  Don't feel like you have to hide, the only unwelcome ones here are those bigoted idiots who think not being human makes us not /people/ - for those few of us who aren't human, since I guess most of the readers are."
Jun 18 03:00:09 <Knave>	"I know I may or may not be." Austin chuckles, then flashes a confident lopsided grin at Akemi, "Last question, and this one you have to answer honestly - do you read The Enquirer, and if so what do you think of it?"
Jun 18 03:02:34 <Kioku>	Akemi rolls her eyes and pokes Austin in the side with a laugh.  "Of course I read it~!  Well, the articles posted online, not so much the physical paper unless someone else has it already.  I think so far it's... a bit mixed.  Some good, some bad, but it's still trying to even itself out.  Give it time.  I've thought about writing something, but I'm not sure who to send it to."
Jun 18 03:04:34 <Knave>	Austin keeps grinning, jumping away at the poke. "Well, we don't have an official editor yet, but, y'know. We'll see. Don't want to jinx it or anything." He snaps the notepad shut and returns it to its place in his blazer pocket.
Jun 18 03:05:13 <Kioku>	"That's it then?  I expected it to be a little more personal.  Ah, well~"  Akemi winks.
Jun 18 03:07:00 <Knave>	"We're not a gossip rag, Miss Akemi." He smiles as he stands up, "And I don't think my girlfriend would appreciate me getting too personal with you, if you don't mind my saying so."
Jun 18 03:08:14 <Kioku>	"I didn't mean that way!"  Akemi giggles and hops to her feet as well.  "I'm just surprised it turned out to be more of an opinion and advice piece than part of a series of micro-biographies or the like."
Jun 18 03:11:36 <Knave>	"Well, I'm no biographer, and I didn't want to cross any boundaries just yet." Austin gives the sense that he wishes he had a press hat to be fiddling with in an officious manner, "But you're a well-known and well-established member of the student body. I think hearing from you is what a lot of students are interested in. So thanks for the interview, if I didn't say already." Austin offers his hand to shake with a winsome smile.
Jun 18 03:13:37 <Kioku>	Akemi sighs at the hand and takes it with her own playful 'you scoundrel' smile.  "Is this the end of you being 'on duty' for the moment, then~?"
Jun 18 03:15:02 <Knave>	Austin gives a little shrug, and says "Sure," as he takes the piece of paper that says PRESS and turns it around in his pocket so that the blank side is showing, "Why do you ask?"
Jun 18 03:16:43 <Kioku>	"Mm, just a couple of things.  I thought about having a new shrine built somewhere nearby.  Not to myself of course, and not even necessarily on campus.  Just... I kind of liked being able to go there.  I don't know.  Do you think people would react poorly?"
Jun 18 03:19:15 <Knave>	"Hrm." Austin rubs his chin, "That is a tricky one. You don't want to look self-centred. And people talk." He spreads his arms, palms-up, "Well, I mean, probably, yeah, but people react poorly to everything. If you want to do it, you should do it."
Jun 18 03:20:23 <Kioku>	Akemi sighs.  "I don't think it would look self-centered or anything, since it's explicitly not 'my' shrine, I'd just... take care of it, I guess.  But then, a lot of people assumed that I made, or even /wanted/ the old one when I didn't... it wouldn't be much of a stretch."
Jun 18 03:22:55 <Knave>	"Like I said," Austin shrugs, hands in pockets, "People are gonna talk no matter what. You may as well do what you want to and give them something to talk about." His smile jerks up on the left side of his face, "And if you want The Enquirer to tell your side of the story, just make sure I'm the one writing the article about the new shrine."
Jun 18 03:26:38 <Kioku>	"Heh.  Sure, I'll do that.  But I'm still going to write... I dunno.  Maybe a treatice on magic.  Get people to understand what it is, since so few here seem to.  It would be a good start, anyway.  Speaking of magic, weren't you going to run a game of some sort?  I even got that hexagonal table made, it's right there!"  She points vaguely behind her and it is, indeed, in the suite's lounge right near the couch.
Jun 18 03:28:36 <Knave>	Austin puts up a defensive finger, "Working on it, promise! Got kind of caught up in this newspaper business. And having a girlfriend. We will play soon."
Jun 18 03:29:28 <Kioku>	"Suuuure."  Akemi gives a slow nod.  "Maybe you're just avoiding me~"  Wink.
Jun 18 03:33:57 <Knave>	Austin tilts his head to one side, "Cards on the table? You intimidate me a little. And it's not just because of that one time a fox demon made me realize that for 15 years of my life, I had never known what 'fear' meant." He looks off to one side for a moment, "I mean, it's partially that." Eyes back to Akemi, "But you're beautiful and smart, and you're a worse flirt than I am." He chuckles, "Basically I can dish it out but I can't take it." He raises a finger as a ward against interruption, because he loves the sound of his own voice, "But that's also attractive, right? And that's no good for me, Austin Silver, known fall-inner of infatuation." He leans against the doorframe, smiling, "Nothing against you. I'm just crazy."
Jun 18 03:39:38 <Kioku>	"Well, if you ever want fear re-defined yet again, I'll try to accomidate you so the next demon doesn't catch you off guard~"  Akemi gives an evil grin, then hugs Austin as her expression softens.  "You really don't need to worry.  I'm not a demon, and I'm not going to seduce you away from your girlfriend, or something."  She lets go after a few seconds and winks.  "I'm also not going to do anything at all to try and prevent infatuation though.  You're on your own for that~"
Jun 18 03:41:42 <Knave>	"Historically, I haven't taken much seducing." Austin says almost to himself, rubbing the back of his neck. He steps to the door, hand on the handle, "Thanks again for the interview. I'll be sure to run the article past you before I send it for publishing.
Jun 18 03:42:36 <Kioku>	"I appreciate that!  Take care, okay~?"
Jun 18 03:42:59 <Knave>	"You too." He smiles, and gives a lazy salute before heading out the door.
Jun 18 03:44:09 <Kioku>	-Scene Interviewful-