And now…FOR THE DREADED FILLER EPISODE! Hell, cause all of Persona 4 that's not plot related is nothing but filler!
/= [DAY 01] =/
She yawned as she looked out the window for the day. Ever since yesterday, she couldn't help but have a strange sense of dread. It should be normal, considering the fact that she's dealing with a mass murderer. But nonetheless, she'll have to deal with it.
And what was the deal with those cards that she had earlier? She quickly recalled the ones that she had held before: [FORTUNE], [HERMIT], [FOOL], and [HIEROPHANT]. Where had she heard an assortment like that before…? She was getting extremely confused right now.
Ah, oh well~! I can look it up in the library during lunchtime! She stretched her arms. All right…let's do this!
/=+=/
Here's the database…
She went up to the computer and started to type up all of the words in her head. Nonetheless, not one of them seemed to have all four of them in common. She grumbled and sighed. She was going to have to do this the old fashioned way. What joy.
"What are you doing?"
She turned her head around and saw a blond man standing behind her. He had blond hair and the Europe class outfit, pretty emerald eyes, and what she had to consider the THICKEST eyebrows that she had ever seen in her life. And she had seen THICK (think Li Xiao for a minute). Of course, she had to hold back a chuckle.
"Um…I'm just…looking something up, that's all." She answered, holding back her laugh.
"What about…?" He seemed annoyed.
"Oh, um…something small." She gestured. "Like…something to do with cards and fortunes and hermits and stuff…"
"Do you mean the Tarot Cards?"
She stared at him in surprise, who seemed surprised as well. Obviously he wasn't thinking that she was bringing that up. After a few minutes of verifying that she wasn't kidding, he grinned and pointed her to a table, allowing her to sit down and watch him pull out a deck from his pocket.
"Have you heard of Tarot Cards before?"
"Um…maybe once or twice. But we don't really use them." She answered, amused. "Why? Are they some type of magic or something?"
"Popular among the humans…not much us, since we usually know our fate…" He drew a card. "But these Tarot Cards are said to predict the future…if you believe in them."
"Is that so?" She blinked.
"You don't believe me?"
"No, it's just that the deck that you're holding seem a lot different than the one I had." She blinked. "But go on."
"Ah, you really don't understand. Here, let me show you."
He grinned as he pulled out five more cards from the deck and laid them all out. She watched as he pointed at one card (the one in the middle) and flipped it over with a simple snap of the wrist. It was then that she realized what it was: it was her.
"This is the card that represents you right now." The man smiled. "The Fool."
"What, are you calling me an idiot?"
"In some context, yes that's what it's referred to…but not here." He stated. "In this case, the Fool represents one unlearned, a newcomer still trying to learn about the world around them. In other words, they look like fools to those who know their surroundings well."
Well, seeing as how she hasn't seen many of these countries (except for a couple that she had bumped into during history), that would make sense. She watched as he flipped the card next to it, revealing the Moon. However, it was facing him and not her.
"The Moon in this position states that you're undergoing a mystery, right?"
"Mystery?" Is it talking about the murders…? "Um…a little bit. Just trying to get around, that's all."
"Usually, those mysteries are minor like that. Let's see…"
The man looked at the card in front of him and realized that he had flipped a card with a skull on it. She knew what it meant, anyone would: it was Death. He looked up in startlement before the bell rang, telling everyone that it was time to get to class. He panicked before he collected the cards and hurried out.
"Hold up a sec~!" She jumped. "I never caught your name!"
"It's Arthur! Now hurry up and get to class!"
She sighed about that for a few minutes as he left, rubbing a finger up on her head and realized that there was a card grazing her forehead. She looked at it in confusion and realized that it was a pair of eyes with hands holding up a black flame. Charice looked up in confusion and turned her head around to see a figure behind her. He looked aged, yet barely passing out a beard and was dressed in very old mage robes.
Who the hell is…?
["I AM THOU, AND THOU ART I."]
He sounds like Arthur…wait, he kinda looks like Merlin from those old European legends…
["AS THE MAN WHO STOOD SIDE BY SIDE WITH THE WISEST KING OF EUROPE, I AM AT YOUR COMMAND."]
The image and card both vanished, leaving her confused. She looked around to make sure no one else saw that and realized that no one was in the library, leaving her in a huff. Seriously, no one respects books anymore. It was then that she realized that she was going to be late for class. So she ran like the wind.
/= [DAY 08] =/
Class was going to annoy her now. Seriously, a week on Pre-Calculus and she was going to punch someone on the face…again. And by the way, Yong Soo was looking quite tempting. Fortunately, lunch time rolled around and she was out of the class faster than most of them can stand up.
Ugh…I just realized that it's been a while that I've been going through these lunch breaks without any lunch… She sighed. I need to eat something.
She walked down the pathway until she found herself back outside, feeling the crisp warm air around her. As she was walking down the area she couldn't help but notice that she fell upon a garden filled with vegetables…more importantly, tomatoes.
Tomatoes? Pasta, pizza, garden salads… *Grumble* GOD DAMMIT…
She stared at them as they tempted her toward them with crazy smiles on their faces, beckoning her to pick one. Besides, it was probably a national garden, right? What's the harm of picking just one of them…?
"Oi! Get the hell away from there!"
OK, that…
She turned her head and saw a man walking toward her with a semi-mad look on his face. If it hadn't been for the curl on his head and the familiar baby-looking face, she wouldn't be able to tell who he was. Once she did see them however…um…
"Oh my god FELI-KUUUUN~!"
"GAH!"
Yeah, five seconds later she's clinging onto him for dear life and was cuddling him like a teddy bear. However, instead of "ve~ing" cutely like he would originally, he was fighting to regain his use of his arms. Confused, she let go, allowing him to move away and grumble to himself.
"Geez, crazy bastard…" He sighed.
"Ah~~~but I thought you liked it when I cuddle you, Feli-kun…"
"I'm not Feli-kun, or whoever the hell you're talking about, stalker!" He screamed. "We've never met!"
"NO?" She was surprised. "But then…how in the world do you look so much like Feli-kun?"
"WHO THE HELL is Feli-kun?"
"Um…Ita-chan! You know, Italy!"
"Wha-? I'M Italy!"
"But you're not Feli-kun!"
"No, I'm not!"
"Well then WHO THE HELL ARE YOU?"
"Romano, dammit! Italy Romano!"
…
"Ohhhhh…" She giggled and rubbed the back of her head. "I thought you were…the other Italy. I think he's named Veneziano?"
"Argh, seriously? You mistake me for my damn brother?" He spat. "God, you're just as dunce as the tomato bastard…"
"Hey, I'm sorry if I was vaguely told that there were more than one Italies running around the school!" She spat back, trying to defend herself. "Who knew you needed more than one guy running a country, eh?"
"You are just horrible, you know that?"
"What? Don't blame me! Look, now that we know that the other one exists…let's tell each other our human names!"
"Why would I do that?"
"So that I don't forget you, dur~ :D" She laughed. "I'll start! My name's Charice~! I'm the sister of the Philippines~!"
"I thought the Philippines was a freakin' guy!" He stared at her. "That's what I heard!"
"Oh, that's my brother! He's also the Philippines!" She waved her hand to him. "Though he's more of the central island and stuff. But yeah, we're half and half!"
"…" He immediately looked embarrassed. What was that about? "…Lovino."
"…what kind of name is Lovino?"
"N-nothing like Charice, dammit!"
"I know…it's so…foreign." She chirped. "I LIKE IT, LOVI-KUN~!"
"Say WHAT?"
*tackle glomp*
"I like foreign, Lovi-kuuu~~n~ ;D"
"IT'S LOVINO!"
"Aww…Lovi-kun sounds cuter…"
"Will you PLEASE…?"
"Ahahaha…there you are!"
The both of them looked up to see a man walking toward them with a tomato basket in his arms. He had semi-curly brown hair and green eyes, yet looked extremely tan. It was those green eyes that made Charice shiver and Lovino sigh, calming her down…somewhat.
"God dammit, you took your time you BASTARD…"
"I met up with a couple friends, Lovi~! I'm meeting up with them later after school!" Antonio stared at Charice. "Oh…you got a girlfriend! I'm so jealous, Lovi~!"
"SHE'S NOT MY GIRLFRIEND~!"
"I know. He's such the denying type." She joked. "I think he's better off with you!"
"Are you promoting something?"
"Yeah~! YOU!"
"My god, you really are insane!"
"Why, thank you~ :D"
"THAT'S NOT A GOOD THING, YOU JACKASS!"
"No? Awww…"
"THE HELL IS WRONG WITH YOU?"
The argument had been going on for a few minutes before Lovino just gave up trying, making Charice today's winner. Lovino grumbled to himself as he darted out of the way to go toward the tomatoes (maybe he likes tomatoes more than people?) as Antonio walked next to Charice.
"He's a loud man, isn't he?" She stated.
"Yes…that's a common trait for him." He grinned. "He used to be like you, you know."
"What, a colony? Spain, I'm pretty sure that all countries were colonies at some point."
"No, no, no…I mean he was one of my colonies."
She paused.
"And he turned out like that? Wow, I thought he'd be a little more…insane."
"Yeah, well…unlike you and your brother, I've raised that boy with all the love I can give him." She heard him sigh. "I was young back then…I was so obsessed with him that I didn't notice that I was neglecting anyone else of that same love."
"Loving only one person…geez, here I thought you knew how to spread your love around." Charice shrugged. "Guess I was wrong, huh Spain?"
"We were all wrong at one point. And this is the 21st century…you don't have to keep to formalities." He smiled. "Just call me by my human name."
"So…Antonio, then?"
"Yeah…Antonio. Am I allowed to call you Charice?"
"Yeah, you can call me that. I…don't know about my brother, though." She sighed. "He still has the grudge, you know."
"That's Rizal…the past is all that he can focus on."
"I just wish that he can let that go, you know? Focus on the now." She looked at Lovino. "He'll be happier that way."
"That's the thing…I don't think Rizal can ever let go of it. It's the only thing keeping him alive."
Charice looked at Antonio in confusion when Lovino called him over to help him with the tomatoes. She sighed at them as Antonio chirped at Lovino, causing the other to yell at him. As she walked away, she found a card bearing a figure of the moon sticking onto her hand. At the same time, a figure appeared behind her. It was a huge, black dragon. She had to keep herself from screaming.
["I AM THOU…AND THOU ART I."]
Hey, that's Lovino's voice…
["AS THE ONE THAT HIDES IN BOTH SHADOWS AND LIGHT, I AM AT YOUR COMMAND."]
The figure vanished from her sight as the card faded from her hand. She looked up at the two of them playing around in the tomatoes and couldn't help but wonder just what kind of secrets any of them could be holding. Then again, would she want to know?
/=+=/
Merlin is the famous magician out of the legend of King Arthur. A lot of stories had him as Arthur's faithful advisor, yet a few said that he was actually his biggest enemy. Everyone does agree that he's a powerful sorcerer in his own right. [Arthur Kirkland- Magician]
Seth is the Egyptian god of chaos and deserts. He's well known for being the one who killed Osiris out of jealousy. Why would I choose this guy for this man…? Well…figure it out yourself~ :D [Lovino Vargas- Moon]
Odd enough, you guys have just met one of the next victims~! All I need now is input from you, the reader. Since this is usually a game of input, I'm going to ask you a simple question. What should Charice do in her spare time in the next chapter?
- Go harass the Newspaper Club
- See if she can hang out with the Music Club again
- Jump Antonio again at the tomato gardens
Pick wisely! What choice ends up winning out determines who the next victim is and who else might end up getting involved. But most importantly: if certain choices are made, certain characters will end up falling off the list of Charice's potential soul mates. But that's a minor factor, really.