12 February 2010

Minatodai Dorm, 3rd Floor, Aigis' Room

Evening

Midori looked around at the equipment surrounding her. "Um, you sure we can't do this in my room?"

"No, I require all this to more properly analyze Black Frost during his temporary existence." Aigis noted calmly as she tweaked the last of the gear she had available. "And besides, this time I won't have to catch you when you collapse."

Examining the reclining chair she now sat on, Midori was thankful for that small consolation. "You know, I didn't intend for this to happen. I mean, I just wanted to practice with Frosty!"

"Unintended consequences. And I may not need to do this again."

"Gee, that's a comfort. Is this revenge for beating you in practice yesterday?"

"No." The denial was very specific and very suspicious to Midori's ears. "Ready?"

Holding up the card in hand, Midori nodded. "Zero point three seconds? Let's do better this time." She closed her eyes and focused on the card, using the feelings of her magic use into it, giving it power and shape. "FROSTY!"

She woke and looked at the clock. "20 minutes?"

"Yes." Aigis replied as she handed her a drink that looked pink and smelled of fruits. "Black Frost maintained cohesion for approximately the same duration before de-manifesting. I am still analyzing the results, but it appears that my initial theory was correct. More energy is required."

"But I wasn't asleep for as long this time."

"No. I have two more sub-theories to tell you."

Midori sat up, drinking the fruity thing in her hands. "What are they?"

"First is that you are trying to summon Black Frost as powerful as he was when we faced The Appraiser and Nyx. It may be easier on you if you tried to summon him at his more basic level, like back in September."

"Uh. That makes sense. I think." Midori expressed her confusion as Aigis helped her to her feet. "What about the other one?"

"Not so much a theory as an observation. The reports from the fight against the Hermit on September 5th indicated that Black Frost was quite large in comparison to his current form." Midori knew that was because she had summoned the real thing, the demonic Black Frost, and not the Persona that Igor had made for her. Aigis continued, unaware of her thoughts. "I theorize that was because you put the same amount of energy into the summoning at that moment during the Dark Hour as you did when you summoned him during the daytime of the Lockdown. This, for lack of a better term, overcharged your Persona. I suspect that only calling Frosty forth during the Dark Hour for the last few months has atrophied your abilities in that regard. Regaining them seems to be a good thing."

"So, what? More practice?"

"That would be correct. Once an evening seems to be a good trend until we can establish a better baseline."

"So, what about you and Athena?"

"I have decided to postpone that experimentation until you have properly succeeded."

Midori's eyes narrowed. "You just want to experiment with me, don't you?"

13 February 2010

Minatodai Dorm, 1st floor, Kitchen

Afternoon

In the end, it was only Fuuka, Yukari, Aigis and Midori who occupied the kitchen for chocolate making. Thankfully, Fuuka had taken charge early on and they hadn't blown anything up yet. Or burned anything that shouldn't have been.

Midori only had one set of chocolate to make, and she made no secret it was for Akihiko in thanks. Fuuka kept her mouth shut, while Yukari accepted the fact that Aigis was also making chocolates for Minato, while at the same time the two of them shared a heated and intense discussion about the specifics.

"It's nice to see Aigis out and about more often." Fuuka mentioned to Midori as they worked at mixing some sugar powder. "She was just so quiet last year."

Recognizing the signs that Fuuka had forgotten about Aigis' real identity, Midori found herself playing along. "Well, I can't say much about that. I mean..." She realized she didn't know exactly what to say, so she tried to let Fuuka fill in the blanks.

"Well, both of you must have had a tough time in Tokyo, and she spent so much afterwards by herself."

Mixing in some more sugar, Midori parsed this information. She hadn't really tried to figure out just what the new truth of the world was now that the Dark Hour was gone. It seems that was a mistake, and now she was playing catch up simply because she wasn't personally affected.

Some more prodding and half answers led her to realize that Fuuka, and by extension, the rest of the Dorm thought that Aigis and Chidori were like her, expatiates from the city due to the terrorism. That surprised her as Aigis was already in SEES when those events happened, and it just never occurred to Fuuka to question that; Midori wasn't about to start either, suspecting that the removal of the Dark Hour was a bit more fragile than she thought.

She would have to let Aigis know about this sooner, rather than later.

14 February 2010

Paulowina Mall, Back Hall

Afternoon

Midori stood in front of the space where she knew the door to the Velvet Room was supposed to be. Naturally she didn't see anything. Looking back and forth to make sure no one was watching her, she produced a small box of chocolates from a bag. "Igor-sama? I'm not sure if you can hear me, but this is for you and all the help you gave. Thank you." She put down the box and walked away.

Minatodai Dorm, 3rd Floor, Aigis' Room

Evening

"How did it go?"

Aigis didn't look up from the screen she was looking at. Apparently the results from this evening's attempt to summon Frosty were pattern-building, and thus quite engaging to the robot. Munching on some leftover chocolate from the cooking yesterday, Midori looked over Aigis' shoulder and saw nothing any human could possibly understand. Wavy lines and hordes of numbers flashed by, causing her to give up after a mere blink.

"Aigis?"

No response. Whatever it was completely occupied Aigis' thoughts. Not knowing when she would get a response, she slipped out of the room and down the hall to her own domain. She really needed to do a Valentines Day special and upload it. Step One: Find Fuuka.

"HELLO EVERYONE!

It's Dolly again!

So, today is that very, very, vewy special day when all you girls out there give chocolate to the boy you like. Now, obviously I'm uploading this in the evening so you should have all done it by now.

Except for those of you planning something extra! kyaaaa!

Oh? Who did I give mine too? Well, I can tell you that I obviously gave some to the boys in my class and in my dorm. But a special someone? Well... Iwonttellanyofyou!

So, now the far more important question is this: How many of you boys are going to do White Day properly? Huh? I better hear good things from the girls who gave you something precious!

It also coming up to the finals and everything, so I won't be as free to talk to you all as much as I'd like. But don't worry! I love you all!"

18 February 2010

Minatodai Dorm, 3rd Floor, Aigis' Room

Evening

"You know, someone is going to start asking questions if they see me coming in every night." Midori complained slightly as she put on the measuring patches for Aigis' machines. "I mean, studying only gets us so far when we're in different years."

"And yet my math marks are consistently higher than yours." Aigis replied. "It is within reason that I would tutor you." She raised an eyebrow at Midori. "Do you need one?"

"Oh, no, please!" Midori lay back on the seat and waited for Aigis to give the signal to begin. "My marks are good enough."

"Mitsuru-san says they could be better."

"Nothing less than 100% is 'could be better' in her opinion. I have a more reasonable view of the capacity of us mere mortals." She gave Aigis an evil eye. "I'm not certain about you though."

"Anyways, have you made your preparations?"

"You mean trying to figure out how to not overpower things?" Thinking over the past few days had made Midori realize that she had been entrapped by everyone elses' suppositions and mistakes. All because she wanted Frosty, and had to recruit Aigis to help! "I figure I'll envision it like pouring tea. I'm the kettle, the card is the tea filter, and Frosty is the cup."

Aigis stopped what she was doing, looking up in surprise. "That seems like an apt analogy. Do you think it will work?"

Holding Frosty in her hand, Midori shrugged. "I don't know. Let's try it out!"

Holding true to the images in her head, Midori gathered up her strength and this time slowly fed it into the card. She had to fight her natural inclination to simply dump everything she had into the artifact, even though she knew the response. It was hard.

Finally, she felt like she had reached a breaking point of sorts, she crushed the card and released the energy into the real world. For a moment, it felt like she was going to be dragged along, her own essence pouring into the form of Frosty as he was made manifest.

But then the pressure stopped, and she looked into the happy glowing red eyes of her Persona.

Then she blacked out.

23 February 2010

Gekkoukan High School, Teacher's Lounge

After School

With a final stroke of the pen, Midori was officially the new Captain of the Tennis Club. Well, in six weeks after the new school term started. For now, Rio was still captain in practical measure, and would be spending the time to catch Midori up on all the requirements of her new position.

Leaving the office, she saw Mitsuru and Aigis both standing there. "Congratulations are in order, Komaki-san." Mitsuru said, bowing politely. Aigis mirrored the action. "If you require anything from the Student Council, feel free to see me." She turned and left to go back to her other business.

Midori leaned in to whisper to Rio. "How much of this was me being good for the job, and how much was because I had an in with President Kirijo?"

"Oh, just a little bit. Besides, you're also friends with Chihiro-san, and she's running for Vice President next year." The soon-to-be third year smirked. "You have lots of qualifications!"

"I hate you."

"Excuse me," Aigis said as she came closer. "but we do have practice to go to."

"Oh! Right!" Rio started to head towards the gym. "I'll go ahead and prep the girls for the good news. Don't be late!" She ran off, leaving her last words in the air.

"I don't know if I'm ready for this, Aigis." Midori confessed once she was sure anyone who would have cared was out of earshot. "I'm not much of a leader."

"You'll do fine." Aigis reassured her. "Anyways, I was processing the data from our experiments, and I've come to some conclusions."

"You couldn't wait to tell me after supper?" Midori was quite surprised, not only at the timing, but the statement itself. "I mean, now you'll have me distracted for hours!"

"I know!" Aigis smirked. "It'll throw you off your game, making my victory much easier. And I do have things to tell you."

"You... you...!" Midori stood, mouth agape as Aigis walked calmly away. "I'm so PROUD of you!"