| Chronicles of a Middle-Aged Housewife, Act II; Eri Charinko's Awakening [Open to those who participated in the Bedlam thread, all others Ask First] | |
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| Tweet Topic Started: Oct 22 2013, 01:58 AM (945 Views) | |
| Nonsequitur | Nov 5 2013, 12:55 PM Post #21 |
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Yellow Bubblegum
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She was in a most awkward position. Maki had to keep fighting. But prolonged exposure to the very sight of what she was fighting made that increasingly difficult. So she had tried to find a functional workaround. She tried to use her Persona's Senses, hoping to use Xie Zhai to filter out the worst of the sight of the Shadow. What she discovered, aside from the obvious and shift in perspective, was that her Persona saw things in strictly black and white. Not surprising, in retrospect. Before she could have considered commanding it to attack with more fire, she noticed the Gale Slash coming her way. She opened her eyes and tried to move out of the way but…too late! Luckily even after being softened and degraded by the Mamudo spell, she was wearing a piece of body armor designed with slashes and stabs in mind. It might as well have torn open like a pillow against the Shadow's attack, but her own guts were light, shallow and tolerable despite the blood. Her respite was enough to break the increasing tension. She had to act then, before her own body rebelled against her intentions and she took flight from that horrid thing in obedience to primal self-preserving instincts. Quickly, decisively she risked the juggling act of aiming at the Shadow and firing a double tap that was coordinated with her Persona's Agi spell. It was extremely taxing on her, and against a target that could move freely and wasn't caught off guard, there was a high chance she was just wasting ammunition and her own spiritual reserves, but they couldn't afford to draw it out any further. Who knows what else Eri Charinko or Shouta Kimura ran into in the mean time while that thing wasted their time? |
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| The One True Nobody | Nov 5 2013, 02:24 PM Post #22 |
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"...does this clockwork hand follow you... or guide you?"
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The Bundle opened its maw wide, casting Sukukaja upon itself, ready to press its advantage, to descend upon these pathetic creatures and squeeze the life out of their mangled, bleeding bodies in the most delicious way possible... And, through sharpened perceptions, it was afforded a magnificent, unnaturally sharp front-row view of bullets on a crash course for its face, and with that clarity, it also had time to notice the Agi spell before its brains splattered through the air behind it. It also lived long enough to feel the fire of that Agi spell, because through the wonder of Sukukaja, it jerked its head to the side and avoided a direct, instant death shot to the head--instead taking headshots of the more painful, indirect sort that would have lead to its death anyway. It was blown backwards, backwards and to the side. It spun around with the force of the gunshots and smoked with the searing burn left in the fire spell's wake, and lay twitching upon the linoleum, twitching... twitching... ...Dead. --- Eri felt her motion halted, and for a moment panic reflex almost took over. If it had, she would have shoved Kaya away. She managed to still herself, looking into the other girl's eyes. A girl. A girl no older than Kyo herself, couldn't be older than Kyo. Down here with a chainsaw, fighting these things? Fighting them like Kyo-- This laboratory, this stain on the Earth, the result of grown men and women playing with forces that ought not to be trifled with-- Kyo had said, Kyo had said some kind of human experimentation had happened here, that only "Persona-users" could get inside to learn about. What kind of experiments? Why was her daughter one of the ones who had to fight these things? Why this girl, this daughter of some other oblivious mother? Why-- Eri felt herself pushed to the side. Into the arms of a boy, a young boy, cavalier, cocky, flirting as if this harrowing situation were routine, and for Kyo it was routine, Kyo had spoken so casually about attracting the ire of a serial killer and hiding at a friend's house why that terrorist Watanabe man had been running around as if threats to her life didn't even mean anything anymore-- --why should it be our children, my daughter, that must clean up after their mistakes? She saw Callahan. She saw Penitent Gretchen. These things were like that winged woman-thing her daughter had shown them, Persona, masks, masks--they were wearing masks, summoning these things, these children and hers, with these spirit-things at their beck and call. Eri jerked away from Harkens. In any other situation she would have chided him for such an uncouth remark, but now-- When Callahan fired a blast of wind into the room, Eri let out a little gasp, and clapped her hands over her mouth--it looked almost the same as what that monster from before had used to break that Shouta boy upon the ground. The Frivolous Mayas both had time to let loose exactly one spell apiece: Zio spells, directed at Kaya's Persona just before the Wind spell was launched. But electricity is no impediment to air. All four monsters, vulnerable to the element, were flung backward by that single blast, flopping away, slamming with slopping noises into cubicle walls, or into overturned chairs over which they tumbled messily. Masks cracked, one of them, a luckily more direct blast than the other, finished off one of the two Haughty Mayas, leaving only three Shadows in the room alive, and in no state to immediately fight back. Eri closed her eyes, and backed up against the wall, feeling her heart thumping in her chest. A loud banging sound echoed from the distance, from back the way she had come. Eri barely noticed the sound. It seemed like an impotent background hum, disconnected from what was happening before her very eyes... and inside her very own head. This isn't right. "No, it's not," Eri whispered. These kids are going to get themselves killed being so cocky and impulsive, killed like that other boy, they're going to die horribly and it will all be because of them... "They shouldn't be... this shouldn't be..." This laboratory, that butterfly-- "Dragging my daughter into this stupid mess... it's..." And that was when Eri, whispering inaudibly into her hands, realized there was some sort of fabric between her fingers and her lips. She pulled her hands away, and stared at what she now held there. It looked like a Western-style wedding veil. Or it would have looked like one, save that it was black instead of the traditional white. A veil... ...or a mask... This can't be allowed to go on. You have the power to intervene, now. You need only take the first step, the voice in Eri's head whispered. Take the first step... leave the safety of home and routine... be the mother your daughter deserves... Eri looked up, first at Gretchen, then at Callahan. This was her mask. This was her power. With this, she could... |
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| Prince Arjuna | Nov 6 2013, 07:37 AM Post #23 |
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-insert something witty here-
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When Isoroku saw Kyo's mother holding the mask or the veil that would allow her to summon a Persona, she smiled at her, as if telling her that it was normal. Then she looked at the survived Shadows before she lifted her gun and fired two shots, aimed at one of the Shadows. Isoroku used her wind spell to guide the bullets towards the target, so avoiding the shots would be highly improbably for the Shadow. "Charinko-san..." Isoroku glanced at Eri as she lowered her handgun. "Can you hear a voice inside your head? If you can, then you can probably summon your own Persona. All you have to do is to put on that mask..." she told the woman. Then she looked at the remaining Shadows and unleashed Magarudyne. She had to focus the wind blast so she wouldn't accidentally hurt others and she only aimed the wind spell towards the remaining Shadows. |
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| CDYoung | Nov 7 2013, 03:18 PM Post #24 |
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It took her a moment to get to her feet, but Rozen wasn't the worst for wear, she was cutup, yes, but not terribly so that she needed to waste a moment healing herself. Rounding the corner to get closer to Maki, she glanced over at the dissolving shadow's corpse, then back to Maki. "You ok?" She asked. A second later, she looked down the hall. "You think she's this way?" |
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| Vect | Nov 8 2013, 03:25 AM Post #25 |
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Illegal in five countries.
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Kaya noticed how effective the Magaru was. It seemed that another one would do nicely. Still, the lightning attacks threw her off and managed to knock her on her back. As she recovered, she saw Isoroku enter the scene, blasting the Shadows with an even bigger wind blast. Much bigger, in fact. "Huh..." Nonetheless, she casted a Dia on herself as she got back on her feet. She held her ground, trying to see if anyone else was still left standing from the attack. ---- Meanwhile, Harkens shrugged as Mrs. Charinko pushed him away. "Alright alright, I was just kidding..." However, as he heard her trying to cope with her first time, he hesitantly tried to reassure her. "Look, whatever problems you're having at the moment, you need to save it for later. That girl's right. You've two options. You either take this chance or you sit and die. All or Nothing, ma'am." Taking out his pistol, Harkens twirled it a bit as he made his way towards the shadows. Turning his head towards her, he gave her some final words, "Your choice, lady. For what it's worth, I think your daughter went with Option A." Edited by Vect, Nov 8 2013, 06:45 AM.
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| Nonsequitur | Nov 8 2013, 02:24 PM Post #26 |
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Yellow Bubblegum
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"I'll live…" she stumbled to the side, and reached out to lean against a wall as she pressed forward. She repeated her mumbled assurance. "I'll live…" "I would appreciate a healing if you'd like." The stress of dealing with the Shadow and combat was slowly starting to loosen it's grip on her. Her mind was beginning to run on it's full faculties again. That's right, they didn't just have to worry about Eri. It was probably prudent to at least look into the room that she'd fled from on the way… "Oh, goddammit!" There was a corpse, that was always the last thing one wanted to find in the ruins. But when she went in closer, and checked just who it was, the situation went from bad to worse. If she'd never convinced Noburu to let his friends get involved… Then what? Pray tell? For all you know, the best you could have hoped for was another mangled body found in this accursed place in stead of this one. At worst, she would have employed thugs that would have succeeded in their misdeed before it even came to this. You or no one else can predict the whims of the butterfly that drags people here. She had a heavy sigh. It didn't absolve her of her own share of the blame, but it was true. Nishiyo Sadako had given the order that set these events in motion. "I know this young man. He is, was…nevermind. That's a police affair." After she'd confirmed the worst, she got up. "We have to hurry the way Charinko-san went." They still weren't too late for her, at least! |
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| The One True Nobody | Nov 8 2013, 05:40 PM Post #27 |
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"...does this clockwork hand follow you... or guide you?"
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The sweet-sounding girl's words, the cocky young man's words. They drifted across Eri's brain, barely leaving meaning behind but registering in their own weird way all the same. She gripped the veil a little more tightly in her hands, and closed her eyes for a moment, taking a breath. Feeling the subtle tremor in her fingers. The pounding of blood in her ears. The chill touch of air on moisture across her forehead. "I know..." she said. "Kyo-chan told me. My daughter told me. She told me... everything." Then why do you tarry...? As it happened, the landscape thwarted the Magarudyne spell that Isoroku launched into the room. Three of the four surviving Shadows were simply wiped from the face of existence, reduced to black liquid smears amidst the debris. The forth, however, was not struck by the wind magic directly; a desk between it and Isoroku kicked up into the air along with the windstorm, and it was that, not the wind, that laid this final Maya low. At first it appeared that the desk had smashed the creature into sludge between its own mass and that of the cubicle wall behind it... ...But then the black ooze seeped out and began to re-form, three-quarters of a Haughty Maya mask still solid atop it. As devastation was wrought and monsters were slain, Eri set about putting on the black wedding veil. It fell over her blonde hair and, once she fastened the face-piece, covered all but her forehead and eyes. She opened them, and took a few steps to the side, peering into the room. The single lone Maya slurped slowly, in a pained, crippled-looking way, toward the door. In that moment it looked more pitiable than horrifying... "This is called 'Persona...' is that right?" Eri asked in a quavering voice, holding up a hand toward the open doorway. "And to use it, I just..." Wake up and face yourself-- "--do... this...?" Blue light began to radiate around Eri's body. She allowed this to distract her for exactly one moment, glancing down and to the side in surprise. But she could feel it rising, as though bursting to be let out. Tingles everywhere. Her hands and feet, her torso, like something had been trapped inside her all along and the lock keeping it in had just finally rusted off and it had been waiting forever, forever-- It appeared without much fanfare, however, simply faded in between her and the Shadow: a slight, slim woman, draped in semitransparent black, beneath which garments of pure white could be seen. One hand slipped out from under the shroud, one perfectly smooth hand with perfectly manicured nails, slipped out and extended toward the Haughty Maya. The Persona's head tilted up, for a moment revealing lips curved down in a bitter, dissatisfied frown. Then it clenched its hand, and the dying Shadow seemed to implode, inward, simply snapped with a slurping sound, its mask breaking in two pieces. The Persona lowered its hand and the monster began to melt, and Eri Charinko heard her Persona's voice in her head, as was the norm, as she now understood was what she'd been hearing all along. I am thou. "Me, right..." muttered Eri, reaching up to push the heels of her hands into her eyes. Thou art I... "Well if one's one, then the other's the other," Eri said with a breathly laugh, stepping backward to lean against the wall. Do you know my name? "Penelope," Eri answered, breathlessly and in a very flat voice. And then she let herself slide down along the wall until she was sitting down, and put her head on her knees, still shaking and feeling blood pumping through her body faster than it had ever gone. "I want to leave now. I want to see my daughter. Please take me to my daughter. Just--get me out of here..." ---
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| Prince Arjuna | Nov 8 2013, 05:57 PM Post #28 |
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-insert something witty here-
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Seeing that Kyo's mother had finally summoned her Persona, Isoroku went to her side and smiled at her. She held out her hand to her as she spoke to her in reassuring tone. "Yes, we'll bring you out of here. Don't you worry about it..." she said. "Kyo wants to see you too..." Then, she glanced at others and nodded. She wanted them to know that it's time for them to get themselves, including Eri, to go out of the ruins to escape this hellhole. "Let's get out. There is no time to waste," Isoroku said, reloading her handgun. |
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| CDYoung | Nov 8 2013, 06:32 PM Post #29 |
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Rozen summoned her mask and placed it on her face. Above her, the three faces of Brighid appeared and spun around till the one holding a Lyre and wearing a blue tunic was facing Maki. Strumming a silent tune, the Facade channeled healing energy into the sightly injured policewoman. She then followed her into the room the monster apparently scurried out of, and spotted the corpse on the floor. Raising a hand to cup her mouth, Rozen closed her eyes and looked away. 'A waste, always a waste." Two of Brighid said. 'I never met him, and apparently he was in on Eri's kidnapping. Still..." Rozen thought back. |
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| Vect | Nov 9 2013, 01:20 AM Post #30 |
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Illegal in five countries.
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Dispelling Callahan, Kaya looked towards Eri and gave her the usual stilted smile. Hearing Isoroku's comments however, she gave a quick nod and answered, "Y-yes. We should. Hold on for a moment though: Mr. Harkens?" From the other side of the door, Harkens answered back with, "Yeah?" "You seen my helmet?" After a moment or so, Kaya's biker helmet was tossed through the door. Catching it with her free hand, she proceeded to put it back on. With a simple pat on the head, she then answered, "We can leave now." Edited by Vect, Nov 9 2013, 01:21 AM.
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