Scene #5391: Discussions

Owner	Pose
August Kohler	It's the evening, around suppertime, in Alberichstadt. August was out going for dinner, and a friend wanted to talk, so he texted her an address. It's a small bistro serving Austrian and German cuisine, family-ran, with an outdoor patio. August is sitting outside at one of the tables, looking over a menu, with a second one folded across from him. His eyes look baggy from a lack of sleep, and he seems...almost sad.
Yuna Kagurazaka	When Yuna arrives at the bistro, she mentions that she's meeting a friend, and is quickly directed to August's table. "Hey, August," the blonde says with a friendly smile, taking her seat and looking over the menu. Then pauses. "... okay," she sighs, "I'm gonna need a little help ordering. What's good here? And how've you been doing lately?"
August Kohler	As Yuna comes over and takes a seat, the redhead looks up from his menu. "Kagurazaka, hey." He doesn't say much, instead silently looking over the menu, using one hand to play with a fork and poke his knife with it, until the blonde asks him for help ordering. There's a tint in August's voice, as if a trap was set off. "Alright, so I take it this is your first time with this sort of cuisine. It depends on how much you're willing to spend, and what you like. This place is overall affordable, so the first doesn't need to be worried about unless you're a big eater. Therefore, we move into what you want. If you want soup or stew, the goulash. It comes with rolls, too, so you're getting extra sustenance. If you don't want stew and want something more traditionally 'dinner', the sauerbraten is excellent, and comes in beef or lamb. Their fish is okay, and if you want something vegetarian...hm, potato soup." It sounds as if he's purposely cutting himself off because he has /even more to say/. "I think I'll be getting the sauerbraten myself." And then August finally answers the harder question - 'how've you been doing lately?'. "I'm fine." That's what he says at first...but then he laughs, wearily. before frowning. "But that's a lie, and if I tried to say that, the others would be upset with me. I'm...not good." but August doesn't elaborate. He'll wait for Yuna to poke on it.
Yuna Kagurazaka	"That's not quite what I meant as far as needing help ..." Yuna looks sheepish. "I still have some trouble with languages that aren't Japanese, especially when they're printed like this. Guess I just have to do my best - and just knowing what it should mean helps a lot." She looks at the menu for a few moments, pondering the options. "The goulash seems like it should be pretty tasty, though. The downside to living on Equestria so much of the time is that they're mainly vegetarians - not that I mind too much, but once in a while you want something with real meat in it, y'know?" "And as for the other thing ... yyyyeah," she admits, her voice quieter now, more private. "I've been kind of worried about you lately. It's not so much the Warp Iris, although I wonder if that's a thing, but - what's been happening to you? Is it just Tin Soldier, or is there something else?"
August Kohler	"...Oh." August looks apologetic, and begins reading out the menu/the items he recommended, what's in them, etcetera. Whether or not Yuna knows if the goulash is spicy or not (which it is) is if she recognizes the spices he lists, because he doesn't point that out himself and neither does the menu. "Yeah, meat's usually what I get. Fills you up the most." And then, back to the heavy stuff. August sighs, and looks away as he realizes that Yuna knew as well. "I don't know what's going on. Something's wrong, though. I'm going to have Flamel Parsons do another mind-dive. I know the Tin Soldier was apparently acting weird, but I didn't really notice it. ...Tell me, what did you see? Nobody told me quite yet, besides that I tried to kill Janine, which I clearly remember, but..." A painful expression. It's hard to think about, much more talk about. Luckily, the waiter comes out only after he says those worrying words, and August orders himself a beer, plus the sauerbraten, pulling out his ID briefly to show the waiter before putting it back away. "I want to know what's going on with me."
Yuna Kagurazaka	The translation of the menu's listed ingredients does help a lot - Yuna blanches a little at the spices in the goulash. "Maybe just the potato soup, then, unless they put a lot of pepper in it or something?" the blonde idol says with a sheepish grin. "Thank you." The waiter comes to take their orders before Yuna has a chance to respond to the rest of what August says, though, and she orders her soup, plus apple cider to drink. Presumably they have cider that isn't alcoholic. Once the waiter's taken their orders and gone back to give them to the kitchen, Yuna's attention settles on August again. "I wasn't there in person," Yuna admits. "What I heard was you talking like somebody who isn't the August I know ... you called Janine an enemy to be eliminated, except I'm not even sure it was you. Your voice was ... well, it was you speaking, but the way you spoke on the radio that time was so unlike the August I'm sitting across from right now."
August Kohler	"Sounds like a good choice." They do, in fact, have non-alcoholic cider! Once the waiter's gone, August gets back into the discussion, listening to Yuna. "...The word is 'obstacle', right? I don't...I'm not sure I was thinking. I remember that incident clearly, but at the same time, it feels like remembering a dream. It's hard to...hard to feel. To explain?" It looks almost like August wants to drop the topic, until after a moment, he stops, as if he's realizing something. "A while back, my Persona tried to activate itself, or atleast, that's what it felt like. I didn't mean to summon it, but it tried summoning itself. And then both you and Emily have mentioned my Persona having issues...damn it, what's going on?"
Yuna Kagurazaka	"I don't know," Yuna admits ruefully. "Elner describes Jiina and her 'sisters' as my 'alter egos' sometimes, but they're not really part of me the way Tin Soldier is part of you. All I can really do is guess and try to put the pieces together ... maybe Kotone could help, though. Not Yamakawa - the other one, the Japanese girl with Persona powers that she .... um." She makes a brief finger-gun gesture in front of her, not pointing it at anyone (even herself) before tapping the side of her head lightly. "Still, it seemed like Tin Soldier was at least behaving itself the last time I saw you use it ... but I wonder if that's mostly because of what you were doing at the time, the mindset you were already in about Loci Iris being a threat too great to allow." She's sounds a little down as she talks about it, but it doesn't sound like she's holding an actual grudge or anything.
August Kohler	"Shiomi." August clarifies for Yuna as she tries to figure out the name, chewing on his lip. Drinks are served quickly, and he takes a sip from his booze, speaking again once the waiter leaves. "I know what I was doing and why I was doing it with the Iris. I don't think that has much to do with this." He sort of intones on 'much', since the Iris really did piss him off. "Which, reminds me, I wanted to ask about you. How are /you/ doing? ...It's not easy, fighting your allies. But people have different beliefs of how to change the future, and we can't just tell someone to pick one. That'd make us just the same as the other groups. I don't like it, but I do it because I can't sacrifice my beliefs. Otherwise, what's the point of fighting at all?"
Yuna Kagurazaka	Yuna looks pensive for a moment as she takes a sip of her cider. "It's ... It doesn't really feel like I was fighting you or A2?" she says. "I was more worried about protecting Rhapsody at that point, and ... well, it's like you said. You and A2 were doing what you thought was right, and even if I disagree, I can't be all that angry about it when I was doing the same thing. Just that I thought the right thing was something different. Plus ... well, from what I heard from Elner after the fact, it doesn't sound like Loci Iris will show up again - the way it disappeared when that artifact was destroyed seems like its 'beacon' won't work any more." She pauses, sipping some more cider. "Sorry. For being an idol singer, it still feels like I'm not that good with words sometimes ..."
August Kohler	"I guess that's fair. I didn't aim at you because you didn't aim at me, and I appreciate that you didn't." Awkward, so August takes another drink of his booze, even as he shows slight relief that it doesn't seem the Iris will appear again. "Singing's different than speaking, isn't it? Most singers don't write their own songs to my knowledge, anyways." Food's just about to be there, so August turns and looks towards Yuna. "Thanks, though. You don't need to worry about me, but it shows you're a good person. I'm glad to work with you."
Yuna Kagurazaka	"It's not all singing, or acting," Yuna points out. "I have to do publicity appearances too - greeting fans, doing interviews, things like that. There's a lot of stuff that doesn't have a script ... and I do try writing lyrics sometimes, too, for that matter. Best-case scenario is usually that they still get polished or re-written by somebody who writes songs professionally ..." She shrugs briefly. Then she reaches across the table to try and clink glasses briefly with August. "I'm glad to work with you too, here and elsewhere," she adds with a smile before sitting back down. "Even if we wind up locking horns again, more directly than we have, I want us to keep being friends as much as possible."
August Kohler	"Well, you're the expert, I just watch this sort of stuff on TV." August laughs, briefly but genuinely, and clinks his glass against Yuna's. In a way, this makes him feel better. It's a stressful conversation but...one full of hope. When the food finally arrives, he grabs his fork. "Yeah. Let's...let's keep doing that, Yuna."