Beachside Poetry (Open to anyone)

"Man, the beach always looks beautiful around this time of day."
Hikaru flopped onto his back as he gazed up at the blue sky. Penecia Island was always a marvel of nature and civilization to him, and he enjoyed finding the small nooks along the beach to rest in privacy. He reflected on the great memories he had of the island. He remembered the first time he saw the island.
"That's right... I was on the ferry, standing on the seat to look at the island. Kumiko had her hand on my shoulder, and I could see that she was also beaming with joy. Dad... I remember how proud he looked."
Hikaru felt something stir in himself. He always did that to himself whenever he had a moment to think. He liked to think, to research, to do things simply for the fun of it. People would have likely thought he was odd, and Hikaru wouldn't think of himself as the philosophical type.
"Well, since I have the time, I guess I could try something artistic."
Hikaru sat up, pulled out his notebook filled with stanzas of poetry, notes, and sketches. He didn't sketch very often; he didn't have quite the artistic talent. He grabbed a pencil out of his bag and began to scribe some poetry. Suddenly, he could see somebody approaching him. He quickly flipped his notebook closed, shoved it into his bag, and turned toward the person.
"Um, hey. How are you doing?"

The person was Alexander. After seeing Hikaru sitting on the beach, he decided to talk to him again, and hoped that the tarot reading wouldn't come up again. After he said "Um, hey, how are you doing?", he sat down next to Hikaru and took a chocolate bar out of his bag, along with a pencil and his notebook. After he opened the chocolate bar and took a bite out of it, he began sketching the ocean in as much detail as he could, even including a few fish and a bit of rubbish on the beach he drew at the bottom of the page. "You done anything interesting lately?" Alexander sighed, trying to make conversation. After he finished his drawing, Alexander put his notebook and pencil on the ground and lay down on the sand.

Hikaru looked up from where he sat to see Alexander once again approach him. After he had to leave him at San Malarus, Hikaru felt that mentioning what he saw would only undermine his sanity as it stood, so he decided to not mention the subject in conversation. He simply smiled at Alexander and flipped through his notebook.
"Hey, Alex. We've been seeing each other quite a bit today. How are you?"
Alexander sighed as he asked him if he was doing anything interesting. Conversation was a bit delicate here, but Hikaru strung it along.
"You could say that. I've just been enjoying the lovely beach right now. I see you found one of my little coves for private reflection. I was just... letting my creativity out for a bit. Gotta fill this notebook with more than just notes. By the way, when we first met, you looked like you were drawing something in your book. Could I see it? Oh, but you can take a look at mine as well! They need a bit of work, but they're pretty good, I guess."

"Okay, sounds like a pretty good idea." Alexander smiled, realizing how relaxing it was being referred to as Alex. He then swapped notebooks with Hikaru, and also gave a chocolate bar to Hikaru. He then began to look through the notebook, reading each poem multiple times, in an attempt to get the most out of the poems. He then smiled as he finished before turning to Hikaru and saying "Pretty good? These are great! And, what do you think of my drawings?" After saying this, he looked at the ocean yawned. He began to wonder what Hikaru's shadow would act like, and what it's true form would be. He tried to push these thoughts back into the dark depths of his mind and instead focused on what Hikaru thought of his sketches. He then decided to add, before Hikaru began to talk, "By the way...the reason none of them have colour is because...well... I prefer to let others decide on the colours they thing would fit...the ones they would want to see." He then wondered if that would sound weird but decided he wouldn't add anything to change the meaning of the statement.

Hikaru flipped through the drawings in Alex's notebook; there were several large detailed sketches of what looked like tarot cards with a butterfly perched in the corner. Despite the fact that Hikaru was getting sick of tarot cards showing up in his day, he couldn't help but remain impressed.

"These are incredible, Alex! I really love all the little details you put into them, especially that little butterfly. Even if they don't have color, you're right in saying I can normally fill that in myself. That's how you know art's good; the viewer can fill in the details himself. I don't really color mine, either. There's only one drawing that's fully colored in that notebook. Let me show you."

Hikaru reached out and flipped across a variety of notes to end on the masterpiece of his collection; a colored, full-page drawing of his older sister Kumiko. He had shown it to Ando before, and he was greatly impressed, leading Hikaru to think that he could do this for a living. His sister's most distinct features were visible; her long, black hair that swooped down to her neck, her purple top, red jacket, and jeans, those calming yet focused blue eyes, and her purple-tipped hands wielding a ring. Hikaru took about a week or two to color it in and fix the minor details, and it remained his best portrait to date.

As Hikaru saw Alex yawn while gazing at the sea, he couldn't help but join him. As Hikaru reexamined Alex's drawings, he pointed to the sketch of the Magician card.
"So, I hear that these cards can represent people's personalities as well as... tell fortunes. You seem well-acquainted with this things; can you tell me anything about this card? Ooh. Or maybe you know which card suits me?"

Alexander smiled before saying "Thanks, those drawings are all a way of passing time...and that one you call your masterpiece...its amazing....to think...anything better than this would be your magnum opus. Everything about this is near perfect!" He then smiled and wondered what Hikaru's sister was like. He was well aware that on some people, beauty was naught but bait to lure their prey in, like a pitcher plant's nectar or an angler fish's illicium. He then turned to Hikaru after he asked the question of what the Magician arcana symbolized personality-wise and muttered "The Magician? It's commonly associated with action, initiative, self-confidence, manipulation and power...well, more specifically, the power to harness one's talents. Apparently that arcana fits me the most."

After hearing the question of which arcana would fit Hikaru the best, he simply said "I would say Fortune. Apparently bearers of the Fortune Arcana are often individuals who roll with life's punches and/or seize their own destiny, regardless of their surroundings. Do you think that fits you?"

"Yeah. Self-confidence, harnessing your talent... all that sounds just like you. As for that Fortune Arcana, I'd say that's right. I'm a pretty go-with-the-flow kind of guy, and I guess I could seize my destiny if I knew where I wanted to go. I feel pretty versed in most things, so I don't exactly know what my future has in store. Kumiko says I could be whatever I wanted, but I have no idea WHAT I want to be. Speaking of Kumiko, I wonder what arcana she would have?"
"Well, why don't you ask me yourself?"
Hikaru suddenly jumped to his feet, turned around, and locked eyes with his sister, who was quietly sitting on the rocky platform behind him and Alex. Her attention had been drawn to her portrait in the notebook resting in Alexander's hands. She smiled and dropped off the platform to sit next to Alexander, unconcerned with sand getting on her jeans. She reclined and held out her hand.
"Alex, was it? My name's Kumiko Ryouichi, Hikaru's older sister. It's good to see you two getting along so well. As for this tarot stuff, well..."
Kumiko reached into her purse and pulled out a gleaming tarot card. She flipped it over for Alex to show him that it was the Empress tarot card.
"I had my fortune read at the amusement park last year, and the guy running it gave it to me, saying it represented me. He said stuff about creativity, comfort, abundance, and overall having the qualities of a mother. Well, I'd say he knew me pretty well. Our family is... um... different from your normal household, so when Dad's away, I'm normally queen of the castle.

"If you don't mind me asking, where did you two meet? School, I imagine?"

Alexander looked at Kumiko in wonder, due to him being a particularly hard person to surprise and couldn't help but look at the picture of her and then back at the real her to compare the two. After she told him about the origin of the card and the reasons it fitted her, he smiled and said "Those are good traits of an older sister, and it is good to hear that that fortune teller wasn't pulling that out of the air. He or she could have though, there are a few in the fortune telling business who know nothing, but come up with random crap anyway." He then wondered who the fortune teller was and then asked Kumiko "Say, what was the fortune teller wearing? What did they look like?" After Kumiko asked about where they met, he decided it would be most important to tell her where he had met Hikaru "Oh, and I actually met Hikaru in Sal Malarus, in front of a takoyaki shop"

Hikaru sat in quiet admiration as Kumiko quietly tapped her chin with her manicured nails as she realized that her memory of the mysterious fortune teller was very blurred; she couldn't even remember his face. All she could remember was his apparel.
"Well, I don't exactly remember his face, but I remember that he was wearing a blue suit of something like with some golden buttons on it. Oh, and I remember he was wearing an odd blue hat with a big golden V on the front. Hey, Hikaru, you were there, weren't you? Did you get a look at him?"
"Not exactly. You were with him while I was on the roller coaster, and I only got to see him from a distance while his hat obscured his eyes. Sorry."
"Not a problem, kiddo. So, you two met at San Malarus... Oh! That was when I asked you to pick up some takoyaki, and I worried that you were getting lost. Was that why you were a bit late? Well, good to see that you two met. If you need me, I'm going to grab a drink. Have fun!"
As Kumiko jumped to her feet and strolled off to the nearby cafe, Hikaru smiled at her before returning to his conversation with Alex.
"It sounds like you may know who our mystery future teller was. Does that sound familiar to you?"

Alexander sat there and thought for a moment or two, before replying with "No, it didn't sound familiar..." Alexander was aware of the fact that he was lying, but there were to many Velvet Room Attendants that had this sort of attire, so it was hard to know who it could have been. After checking that Kumiko was gone, he whispered "I'm sorry to bring this up but... have you had any dreams or anything since when we last met?" He was aware of how asking this could drastically change their friendship by bringing back memories of that day. He decided that even if Hikaru asked for something like a prediction on the time till he met his shadow, he would refuse, due to how he felt like all the tarot reading could do was bad.

He then remembered what he had first come out of the velvet room for today and decided that when he had finished talking to Hikaru, and possibly Kumiko, he would go to a shop that sold phones and buy one for himself, so he could keep in touch with Hikaru.

Hikaru was a touch confused after thinking about the fortune teller's identity. He was easily visible to both him and Kumiko, but neither of them could remember his face. It was as if a veil had covered, but neither focused on it because of his velvet blue attire. But if Alexander didn't know who it was, there was no point in focusing on it.

When Alexander asked him about his dreams, Hikaru gripped his head to focus on what he could remember from the previous nights.
"Well, ever since I had that vision, my memories of my nightmares has started to clear up; that shadow thing always seems to be showing up, yet all I see of him is his eyes. Normally, he's just whispering that whole 'I am thou' phrase. Sometimes I can hear him say things like 'Come, Hikaru, the time is nearing.' or 'Face who you truly are', but I don't understand what he means."

Hikaru could see Kumiko walking away from the cafe and back to the beach. Hikaru quickly leaned toward Alex and whispered to him.
"Alex? If... If that thing gets me, can anyone save me? Can... you save me?"

Alexander smiled as he looked over at Hikaru and shouted, with great enthusiasm, "Without a doubt!" as he raised his fist into the air. As he then lowered his fist and looked at the ground, he sighed to himself an thought "So, his shadow said 'the time is nearing'? I hope I'm prepared for it, when it happens... plus, if the rules of being a Velvet Room Attendant get involved, then I will have some explaining to do." Alexander then found himself wondering what Hikaru's shadow's true form would be and what Alexander's shadow would be like if Velvet Room Attendants could get shadows, despite not knowing if he could have a shadow of not. Alexander then looked around and saw Kumiko and smiled saying "Oh...err... Hi, again, Miss Kumiko. Did you have a nice time at that café?" He was aware of how awkward this might seem, but couldn't come up with anything else to say to the return of Hikaru's sister, who gave him the thought that if she deemed him unsafe to Hikaru that she would prevent Hikaru from meeting up with him.

Kumiko cheerfully smiled at Alex while taking another slurp of her drink, her Empress card being twirled between her fingers.
"No need for formalities with me, kiddo. Just call me Kumiko. You know, you should visit the shops around here; everything around here is just top-of-the-line. I'd recommend the smoothies, especially mango pineapple."
Her eyes lit up for a moment as a thought came to her. She quickly turned to Hikaru.
"Hikaru, can I talk to you for a moment?"
"Yeah, sure. Just one minute, Alex, I'll be back."
Kumiko guided Hikaru behind a rocky mound, keeping a distance to talk privately. Should Alex be able to pick up on the conversation, he would hear Kumiko's concerning voice questioning Hikaru.
"Hikaru, are you sleeping alright?"
"I... thought we talked about this. I've been sleeping fine."
"But you've been getting up in the middle of the night, and I..."
"That's just my body's problem. If it wants to wake me up early, I'll just drink some water before going back to bed. Nothing's wrong with me."
Kumiko's previously happy expression turned into one of concern, looking at Hikaru with the worried eyes of a mother. She hugged him closely.
"I'm just worried about you, Hikaru. I don't want anything bad to happen to you."

"You don't need to worry, Kumiko. After all, I got some pretty great friends. They wouldn't let anything bad happen to me."
"...Alright. I guess I might be heading home. Stay for a bit if you want."
As Kumiko trotted off towards the house, Hikaru sat back down next to Alex.
"Alright, can I ask you something? The Fortune Arcana... can you show me what it looks like?"

Alexander flipped through his notebook, revealing glimpses of drawings of things such as the masks Shadows wore that signified their arcana, drawings of different Velvet Room Attendants, a blue and red rose split down the middle with a blue butterfly on the blue half and a red butterfly on the red, decaying half, a box of takoyaki, and the moon. He eventually stopped at the drawing of the fortune arcana tarot card. Alexander turned towards Hikaru and showed him the image before saying "Here's the image I've drawn up of the arcana card. What do you think?" He then muttered to himself, at a volume that Hikaru couldn't hear, "I wonder what his persona's gonna be like... I wonder what type of attacks it's gonna use in battle." He then sighed before turning back to Hikaru and smiling again, giving Hikaru a chance to speak.

Hikaru scanned the pages of Alexander's notebook as he flipped through them. They were certainly strange and diverse; one page had a variety of strange and frightening masks, various people in uniforms that he swore looked similar to the fortune teller, a divided rose with two matching butterflies, takoyaki, and a detailed moon illustration.

Eventually, Alexander stopped on a card illustration. The outer border looked similar to the magician card, but the image inside looked radically different; it looked like a large wheel with pointed tips at the edge. There were familiar animals spread across the wheel, moving in a cycle. Some animals near the top seemed to resemble wealthy individuals, while other animals at the bottom seemed more like beggars, dressed in rags.

"One's life goes through a cycle of fortune and misfortune, health and illness, happiness and sadness... Change in general. The story of my life. Well... not as smooth as everyone else. No, far from it."
Hikaru had briefly exposed a troubled or sad expression upon reflection on his life, but he forced it to quickly change to avoid troubling Alex any more than he already has.
"It's a good illustration, Alex. I gotta say, this picture alone tells quite the story. No doubt this reflects my life... More than you'd think..."

Hikaru turned to his bag and pulled out his sister's gift to him from Florida; a book compiling the works of a group of people known as transcendentalists. He showed Alex the cover and cracked it open, flipping through a few authors' poems.

"Have you ever heard of the transcendentalists? There were this group of philosophical-like poets and authors who I really found interest in; an urge to return to a simpler life, a reflection on nature's untouched beauty, and the battle for dominance between nature and science. I just wish I was alive when they were; I wanted to learn so much from these guys."

Hikaru gave the book to Alexander, leaving open to the story known as The Birthmark. Should Alex choose to read it, the story would tell the story of a scientific man married to a woman with only one flaw; a startling red birthmark on her face. Concerned with her husband's comments on it, she volunteers to let him attempt to remove it through various scientific experiments and concoctions. Eventually, a special elixir was concocted to remove her blemish; however, though the blemish was removed, the chemicals had begun to poison her, leaving the husband with his deceased wife, free of blemish.

Hikaru read the story over his shoulder, feeling a wave of emotion as he did every time he read it.