The Persona of Myriad 2

Chapter 1: Grind and Hustle

It was Monday morning, about seven. The sun was up and so was the cat, who was laying on the windowsill waiting for Myriad to wake up. Myriad had a small digital clock set up on the TV stand parallel to the bed. It struck seven A.M. and beeped about three times before Myriad arose and stretched her arms up into the air. She and Ariel had gone out sometime in the summer to get her proper clothes for school and pajamas, considering she was basically wearing a sleeveless shirt and shorts every night. Myriad decided she would repurpose her already existing backpack for school. It was big enough to carry any books she had and small enough to stuff into a locker if she needed. Once she finished stretching, she yawned and squinted her eyes. She turned her head a couple of times trying to pinpoint the alarm clock and she nearly fell out of bed reaching for it. Once she deactivated it, she slid her hand across the surface of the table in pursuit of her glasses. Once she eventually bumped into them, she unfolded the arms and placed them gently on her face. She stood up out of the bed and Cat hopped from the windowsill to the ground. Myriad took a second to look at herself in the mirror and she considered herself not bad looking. After checking herself out, she opened the door to her room hurridley, thinking she needed to be ready as early as possible. She was the only one in the entire apartment awake and lively this early. Not even Ariel, who was usually up and ready early, was ready to start the day yet. Myriad swung open the bathroom door and entered with a clean towel and washcloth and proceeded to take a shower. Meanwhile, Ariel left the room while Vian continued to sleep in. While they were in their room, they had a small minute-long conversation about who would end up taking Myriad to school or whether they should alternate. Ariel decided she would walk with Myriad today and Vian would do it tomorrow, but they didn't get much farther than that.
    Ariel quickly realized Myriad was already awake when she tried to open the door to the bathroom and it was locked, so she decided to change her morning plans to have breakfast first. She made both herself and Vian coffee and Myriad toast. Only about two minutes after she finished breakfast, Myriad and Vian came out of the rooms they were in simultaneously. Myriad was bright and wide-eyed, and Vian was drained and still trying to get acclimated to being awake so early. Myriad hustled out of the bathroom with her uniform, a blue shirt with the school emblem, and a short skirt, which she wasn't the biggest fan of, on and ran into the kitchen, where she picked up a piece of toast and casually put a corner into her mouth and started for the door.
    "Where're you going?" Ariel asked her.
    "To school." Myriad spoke with the toast still in her mouth.
    "It's quite early and I was going to walk with you this morning."
    "I know where it is. I think I'll be fine." Myriad picked up her backpack which was hanging on the coat rack by the door. She also picked up a small lunch box which was prepared and set down by the door for Myriad to pick up before they were going to leave.
    "Are you sure you want to go alone?"
    "I think I'll be alright this time around. Maybe tomorrow?"
    "Oh. Alright. Have fun. Be safe."
    "Will do!" Myriad saluted goodbye and headed out.
    Ariel almost wanted to say 'love you' instinctively, treating Myriad as her own daughter, but she realized that even though she was her legal guardian, she wasn't her mother and she had a bit of a conflict and Vian could see that, even through his squinted eyes. "Y'know, maybe she will be fine on her own. You are a natural at parenting."
    "Thank you, but I think that maybe...I don't know, I might be too good at it." She looked at him and they chuckled briefly.
    The entire trip to the school was a blur. Myriad memorized the path easily, as it wasn't that hard to forget, but this morning she didn't really think about the path. She was more lost in thought. When she arrived, she didn't realize how slow she was walking. Kids her age were already walking around and socializing before class and she was able to quickly discern the different social cliques and who was in what clique. The only people she couldn't find right away were who would be her eventual friends if she was going to get any. Out of everyone she looked at, nobody seemed to be all too friendly to her mostly because she was new. Before she knew it, the bell rang loud and clear and people started running to their classes. Myriad knew which classroom she had to be in, but she didn't put herself in any worried mindset that she would be late. She casually walked to her class while everyone else sort of ran into her and on a few occasions, she nearly got her glasses knocked off of her. Before she knew it, the halls were empty.
    Her first class was art, so she went to the art room, which was upstairs, and opened the door gently. There weren't many people in the room and everyone there seemed pretty relaxed until she opened the door fully and revealed herself. Everyone turned sharply at her. The four girls in the room wondered who she was. Meanwhile, the six boys wondered who she was with, if anyone. At this point, the teacher stood up from her desk and introduced the class to Myriad. Everyone said their own versions of 'hello' and 'welcome to the school' and whatnot that Myriad expected. There were a lot of open chairs in the room, so she decided in her mind to sit somewhere in the back, but her teacher, Mrs. Anderson, spoke up. "Why don't you grab a seat right there?" She pointed to a seat next to a golden blonde, white girl who was wearing circular glasses. She had blue eyes and a personal laptop set up in front of her. "That's Link. She won't bite. She's the highest art student we have, in graphic design, and the only graphic designer we have at the moment. Maybe you could join her."
    "M-maybe..." Myriad wasn't very loud. She was more interested in learning who Link was. She seemed like a generally interesting character, even though she wasn't paying attention to the fact that she just got called out. Myriad pulled out the chair beside Link and she finally turned her head. Link's backpack was in the chair, so she pulled it out and offered the chair to Myriad so she could sit while simultaneously apologizing for taking all the space.
    "Alright, class. For the first week, I want to look at your freelance drawings. No tracing, no direct copying. What you draw is up to you. At the end of the week, I want to see what you have done. Have fun with it!" Mrs. Anderson sat down and began working on a project of her own. After that point, she was mostly fully engulfed in her own work and the class went on to socializing. Myriad took this time to wander a bit in her imagination. She took a sketchbook out of her backpack and a mechanical pencil and began drawing an outline to a fairly standard anime-looking character when she was stopped by Link, who suggested she should use a regular wooden pencil.
    "It's a lot better for shading." Her voice was a little higher pitched and much gentler than Myriad's.
    "Oh. Thanks."
    "Sorry I didn't formally introduce myself earlier, but I'm Link Patton. I'm like you average anime-loving, video gaming nerd, I suppose."
    "Link? Like, from the video game?"
    "No, it was more of a remembrance thing. My dad had a dog named Link who died before I was born, so he carried over the name to me."
    "Oh. That's a pretty cool reason to be named that."
    "I mean...I guess." There was an awkward pause in their conversation before Link started it up again. "So, your name's Myriad?"
    "Myriad Ava Silver."
    "Sweet. Why did your folks name you that?"
    "My mom told me she named me 'Myriad' because she knew I'd bring her a plethora of joy, limitless potential, and an innumerable amount of amazement. She told me to never forget those exact words."
    "Man, your parents must really love you."
    "Well, loved. They aren't exactly here with me anymore."
    "Where are they?" Myriad didn't say anything, but she did look up to the ceiling and Link got the message. "So, who do you live with, then?"
    "I sort of...found them when I came here. The story is interesting. I accidentally came here and..." Myriad took her time explaining out the story to Link, who seemed thoroughly engrossed in the entire ordeal up until the very end. By the time Myriad's story was over, so was class, pretty much. They both continued talking out into the hall and that's when Myriad truly realized she just made a friend. Actually, it wasn't until Link said something along the lines of "You seem pretty cool. We've also got a lot in common. What say we hang out sometime. I've gotta introduce you to my only other friend" when she realized she was going to be alright here. She also noticed she was only just a tiny bit taller than Link.
    Her next class came and coincidentally, both Myriad and Link had the same schedule in the first half of the day. Next was their music class. Myriad was naturally gifted with just about every instrument that she touched—despite humbling herself and saying she wasn't. She could play harp, she could play guitar, she could play all brass and woodwind instruments as well as percussion just fine, so it was a little difficult when she arrived to class and explained to the teacher, Mr. Mars, that she could play virtually everything. The problem was, there was no need for extras in anything. The band was a pretty sizable force to be reckoned with and he figured she wouldn't do much good in any part of the wind ensemble, so he just assigned her to the back where the percussionists hung out. Link was naturally a pianist, so she was around the mallet instruments a lot and didn't really hang out with anyone else. The rest of the section, besides Myriad, consisted of just guys who didn't have much of anything better to do than look at memes on their phones when they weren't supposed to. Mr. Mars rarely needed to pay attention to percussion considering they basically could memorize everything. He mainly wanted to test Myriad's skills and see where she was. He was fully convinced that he wouldn't have any problems with her for the rest of the year when she stated she could play Flight of the Bumblebee almost flawlessly five clicks faster than tempo and in varying keys.
    The entire duration of the class period, Mr. Mars was going over basic instrumentation, refreshing the students of their scales and different keys, sight reading, and a bunch of other things that covered the basics. Most of the class period, though, Myriad and Link talked. Eventually Link said something that caught Myriad's attention.
    "My other friend should be here by now. Maybe she got her classes changed or something..." As she said that, the door to the band room swung open and in came a girl who apologized for her tardiness and explained the reason and she made her way back to the percussionists.
    This new girl walked over to Link and Myriad before stopping and talking. "Morning, Link. Who's the new girl?"
    "Myriad, this is Allison. Allison, this is Myriad. She's new."
    "Nice to meet ya." She stuck out her hand waiting for Myriad to shake it, which she did. Allison was darker skinned. She was basically golden brown with not a hint of makeup. She was sporting an afro that made herself seem taller, her sleeves were rolled up and she was clearly wearing bracelets and a watch, she had in earrings that were little hoops, and she had beautiful brown eyes. "Most people call me Ally. You seem friendly, Myriad. What do you like to do?"
    "Nothing really. I just play video games and stuff."
    "What about your Persona?"
    "Oh, that's right, I forgot to ask you!" Link blurted out.
    Myriad looked at both of them and twiddled her thumbs. "M-my Persona is Lyra." The room fell dead silent after that. Everyone in the room heard her response and then there was a 'no wonder' that came from one of the sides of the room.
    "That means you can do cool stuff, right?" Ally asked her. Myriad nodded reluctantly. "Well, let's see something. It doesn't have to be too flashy."
    Myriad felt a pulse come to her in her chest and she tapped her foot. As usual, the floor sent a shockwave pulse of color around her foot and, even though it wasn't big, it was noticeable for everyone around her to see. Some of the guys in the percussion section took out their phones and started recording, saying things like "look what the new kid can do" and "her name's Myriad and she's got the Lyra Persona. Isn't that cool?"
    The attention bothered her and she soon stopped. She expected everyone to ask for an encore, but, surprisingly, everyone respected her decision and sort of left her alone. She did, however, gain some popularity points from the entire ordeal.
    Eventually, class ended and Myriad expected people to go their separate ways and not bother her anymore, considering they didn't try to bother her in class, however, things escalated and eventually she had a small crowd around her begging to see her use her powers. Allison and Link tried their hardest to keep everyone back because they could tell Myriad was clearly uncomfortable, but eventually she stepped out of her shell and gave a light demonstration to the group of teenagers. She raised her hands and tapped her foot and small controlled sections of the walls, floor, and ceiling moved along to an imaginary pulse embedded within Myriad's soul. No one else could hear it, but everyone could feel it based on her movements and, despite the lack of instruments, there was a loud clapping the crowd gave in time to a pulse they couldn't even hear. From around the corner down another hallway, three girls approached the crowd of kids and once the first person spotted them, everyone else in the hallway fell dead silent. Myriad stopped her demonstration and turned around to see the small posse approach her as the crowd parted like the Red Sea for them. Leading the pack was a somewhat tall, light-skinned, but still brown girl with blonde hair and almost mesmerizing blue eyes. Behind her and to her right was another girl, this time with a whiter skin tone, long, black hair, and brown eyes. Beside that girl was the final member of their little group who seemed like she was from somewhere in Asia, probably Japan, with black hair and dyed blue tips, half-rim glasses, and blue-ish green eyes. The one in the front, clearly the leader, approached Myriad directly and stood as if she was above her, despite being around the same size, only about an inch or two difference in the other girl's favor. The girl placed her hands behind her back and leaned a little to keep her face level with Myriad's and she spoke clearly.
    "So. You're the new girl here?" Myriad opened her mouth to answer, but was cut off. "Don't speak. I didn't give you permission to. Anyways, what right do you think you have to steal my popularity so easily?" Myriad, again, opened her mouth to speak, but was cut off this time by the girl behind the leader and to her right.
    "I think she wants to challenge you."
    "Maybe."
    "To see who can be the most popular."
    "It sure does look like it." The leader rose back up and flaunted her assets, which were obvious, but not revealing, considering she was wearing a school uniform, but it still captivated the attention of the boys especially. "Face it. You just don't have the looks."
    Myriad finally got the chance to speak. "I don't want to upset you or anything, but I honestly don't care."
    "Excuse me? Who gave you permission to talk?"
    "Well...judging by the fact that I have a mouth, me." The hallway fell silent again. People looked at Myriad and then looked back at the other girl, who seemed like the remark peeved her more than anything else ever has.
    "Just who do you think you are?"
    "My name is Myriad."
    "You've got nerve. I'm gonna crack it eventually and then you won't feel so brave then."
    "Are you done being cliche? I've got a class to go to."
    The girl frowned and stomped away, motioning for the other girls to follow. One of them, the one that didn't speak, turned around and looked at Myriad with general curiosity, but continued to stay silent. The small crowd that had gathered realized they were pressed for time for their classes and bolted away to wherever they needed to be. Myriad, Link, and Allison continued to calmly walk to their class. Eventually they came across a stairwell and Allison parted ways, bidding farewell until tomorrow. Meanwhile, Myriad and Link talked, as they had the same class together again.
    "So, who exactly were those girls?"
    "The one that came up to you was Valentine. Most people just call her Val. She's the most popular girl here for obvious physical reasons. Every guy here, just about, loves that body type."
    "Seems too much for me. What about her group of friends?"
    "The one backing her up is Amy. She's a classic follower and really only does the things she does to stay popular. The other one is Miruki-Chan. Her parents are from Japan and she's bilingual. We used to be friends, Allison, Miruki, and I, but she ditched us, more or less, for those two. She's not evil like the others, though, so I'd suggest trying to befriend her. She's really nice and gentle and a nerd and lover of anime and video game culture like me."
    "Mmhm." They approached their next class, their foreign language class. They both enrolled in learning Japanese. Both knew a thing or two about the language, but Link was clearly more advanced, perhaps due to hands-on training and tutoring when she and Miruki were still friends. Throughout the class, Myriad and Link were just having conversations, but when their teacher got on their case about not speaking in Japanese, they changed their language and nobody else except for their teacher could fully understand what they were saying to one another.
    Eventually class ended and it was about noon. Myriad could stay for lunch if she wanted to, but she decided she would rather just go home, considering she didn't have any more classes there. Myriad and Link said their goodbyes and Myriad signed herself out at the front office. After she left, she walked a few blocks down to eat by herself in one of the many parks in Grand Metropolis. Before long, she was back home at the apartment and, as she expected, nobody was home, so she just took time to chill out and play video games, maybe watch some anime, and sleep when nighttime arrived.