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Let's try this dance again, Skull Kid~!; [Ask First]
Topic Started: Nov 21 2013, 08:30 PM (542 Views)
The One True Nobody
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"...does this clockwork hand follow you... or guide you?"
"I'll keep that in mind if I ever wind up inside you aga--shit, that sounds wrong out-of-context..." Shane began lazily, before cutting himself off in a slightly disturbed voice. He looked down at himself and said, "No offense. But you know, age boundaries and all that."

Swinging Maki's gun so that it came to rest upon his--or rather, her--shoulder, Shane assumed a relaxed stance and stared with narrow eyes at the red-eyed Shadow-girl. Red-eyes, in turn, just shrugged. "Wouldn't guess you'd understand," she said. "But as for what to call me... hrmmmmm... well you're all a creative bunch, what with those 'Miss Yellow' and 'Miss Gold' nicknames. Why not keep with the theme? Hello, I'm Miss Red. Pleased to meet you~"

The Shadow waved cheerily, closing its eyes in an exaggerated way that indicated a smile beneath the mask. Then it opened them, clasped its hands on its knees, and asked, "You? Well, I know who you are." The Shadow turned its eyes on Shane's body and narrowed them, then stopped and said. "Whoops. Wrong body... anyway, I know who he is. Stupid asshole who thinks running around with a physical immunity and beating up 'delinquent' teenagers is some kind of justice. Fucking holier-than-thou bastard if you ask me..."

In Maki's body, Shane frowned. This Shadow knew about that? Then--?
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Nonsequitur
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Yellow Bubblegum
It was hard to see behind the mask, but she just rolled her eyes at Shane's slip of the tongue. He was immature, young and brash, and he found himself in a situation well out of anyone's comfort zone. She waved it off, clearly having taken no offense by it. Hopefully he learned his lesson to watch what he said for the time being.

"Why not Miss Scarlett? It makes it sound more like we're playing Clue." She said, half joking. Surprisingly, not only was she fond of the 1985 comedy film starring Tim Curry, but the board game was her favorite by far as a child.

"Miss Yellow is certainly quite hostile, Miss Gold I am told is somewhat benevolent towards certain people. I suppose you will say you're neutral to the Persona User community at large? Just a bored Shadow looking to kill time, trapped in a dull and dreary complex?"

She was definitely leaning towards her theory this Shadow was spawned from Kyo in some way. If not, why else would it try to conceal it's identity? Charinko is rather popular amongst her peers and easily recognizable. "I understand Spencer-san's quit being a vigilante, so if that were your only grievance with him then there's no reason for hostility now, is there?"

Interactions with Shadows that didn't end with hostilities of some way was new to her. "Actually? About a name again, do you like Miss Scarlett, wish to remain Miss Red or would…The Unremitting suit you better?"
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The One True Nobody
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"...does this clockwork hand follow you... or guide you?"
The red-eyed Shadow's eyelids twitched very slightly at the mention of her online handle, but otherwise she gave no sign of recognizing it. Instead, she leaned back and ran her hands over her hips, a sexy-looking gesture that was somewhat diminished by her present state of dress. "Scarlett suits me perfect, actually," she said in a mock-seductive voice. "I am a bit of what some old-fashioned Western ladies might call a 'scarlet woman,' after all. As for those yellow-eyed people, meh. I couldn't give a rat's ass what they're up to. You've got it more or less right on the money there, lady."

The Shadow's eyes flicked upward, looking to Maki's--or rather, Shane's--face, a glint of amusement in her eyes.

"You didn't tell me your name, by the way," she said. Then, swinging a casual thumb to point to Shane, she added in a lazy voice, "As for this ass... it's not so much what he did, as me just not liking him much. But hey, I can be selectively forgiving, right? I reserve the right to be a complete fucking hypocrite if I so choose. It's my party and I'll cry if I want to, cryyyyy if I want to, cry if I want to~"

Holding both index fingers up and swaying like a metronome, Scarlett outright sang the last words, in English even, and not even badly-accented English at that. Shane looked back toward Maki, frowning and tilting his--or, her--head to the side, as if to ask why they weren't just attacking this thing already. At that moment, the Switching Hablerie stirred a bit. The Shadow paused, and then gave the monster a pat on the side.

"Whoops, getting a bit rowdy. Sorry, baby..." she cooed. Looking up, the masked Shadow grinned and said, "I could Charm this bad boy for you, if you like. Get it to give you two a little licky-lick, swap those bodies back lickety-split! The only question is, what would you be willing to do for me in exchange? Of course, if you're not game for that I could always electrocute it to death and leave y'all to hope it's temporary..."

Shane tensed, but then relaxed a bit. Well, if he had to think about it, being stuck inside the body of a fairly attractive woman wasn't that cruel a fate, even if (when he considered the notion), he suddenly realized he just wasn't interested in breasts for some reason. Or the other parts, for that matter. In fact if he really thought about it, what he was interested in was--

...Okay, thought process aborted. Yeah...
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Nonsequitur
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Yellow Bubblegum
What was good for the goose was good for the gander. Scarlett too had most her face concealed, and it made for a good poker face for her, too. But she thought she got enough of a reaction to support her hunch…

"My name is Maki Yamada. Nagashima Police Department. You know ProtectServe, all that." A badge meant precious little in the ruins, any authority the idea had was surely lost on those that weren't even human. That look of puzzlement. A mostly friendly parley was not what she was expecting either. To allay any fears of trickery she said: "As for why we aren't fighting you now? Personally, my hostility with Shadows begins and ends with threats to human life. If you're not looking to hurt anyone directly or indirectly, I'm more than happy to adopt a live and let live policy with you."

If it was related to Kyo in some way, assume that it had all her memories up until its point of creation. If it existed before she met her then in that case… of course it wouldn't know her name, or recognize her face.

"Eyes forward, Spencer."
…suddenly, a chill ran up her spine, and she didn't know why. But she felt compelled to blurt that out, authoritatively.

"Well, if it's all the same to you? I'd prefer to do that myself, Miss Scarlett. As for the other hand? Well, we could get you clothes that aren't scavenged from the backs of corpses for one. Perhaps find something to amuse you with if you want. Of course, that goes both ways. we'd be disinclined to want to barter if we're stuck in the wrong bodies until we track down another Shadow like that one, correct?"
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The One True Nobody
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"...does this clockwork hand follow you... or guide you?"
Are you serious, Shane thought in flat tones, turning annoyed eyes on the Shadow. The red-eyed creature smiled, then, and snapped its fingers.

"Ah, so you've got Charm magic, too," it said. "Guess you didn't need my help in the first place. Probably would have gotten away from that weird Shadow from before without my help, too, you're pretty good at what you do and stuff. How'd that go, by the way? The Reaper sort of swooped in after that and ahahaha, well... it won't come after me, but I'm not getting in the way when it starts nuking shit."

The red-eyed thing tugged at the bottom of its torn shirt, considering the offer as the Shadow underneath it started to twitch and stir still further.

"Gotta say, I really don't like the grunge look," she added. "A body like this deserves better, wouldn't you say? Mm-hm~! So, something okay-looking in my size, and I know my size well enough so no worries there, that'd be just spiffy. And don't you worry, I don't care about people who come through here, unless well, they're certain people. But I'd never kill them, not even Spencer over here. I wouldn't want to see--"

Abruptly, the Shadow cut itself off. Its eyes went blank, almost as if broadcasting the words DOES NOT COMPUTE. A moment later they refocused, and Scarlett went on as if she hadn't said anything at all.

"Truth is, you're not even the first person I've made nice with!" she said. "I've been helping map out some ruins areas for this other dude, see? I'm a helpful little sewer rat, yes indeed I am~" (The Shadow jumped to its feet, popping off a salute.) "I also chased off this one really annoying Osakan lady in tight leathers a while ago, she seemed like a bad girl and bad girls shouldn't be allowed to 'level up,' am I right? Of course I'm right, bad girls are bad enough without magic. See? Helpful. If there are any other undesirables you'd like given a bit of grief I can help with those, too~"

The Shadow skipped to the side, as the Switching Hablerie floated up into the air, swaying dazedly as it awoke. Shane leveled Maki's gun, settling back into a tense, defensive stance. "Now or never, Yamada!" he said. "Do your thing!"
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Nonsequitur
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Yellow Bubblegum
"Of course."

She cast Marin Karin. Some Personae used their sex appeal and allure to bend other beings to their will. Obviously Xie Zhai wasn't the sort of creature that could get away with just showing a bit of leg to get its way. Instead, he had his own method:

Yield, wretched thing! Yield to the Will of Heaven!

It seemed to be just as effective as a comely Persona making bedroom eyes at a Shadow. at least that was her experience with it. She waited to see if it had the desired effect or if a second or even third casting was going to be needed. She was sure Scarlett would have been more than happy to help, but she also didn't like the idea of being indebted to their 'new friend' at least until she knew if it was worth gambling a bit of trust on or not.

"Do you have any particular preferences for style? Also? Do you eat? Food is not off the table either." She kept her eyes on the Hablere. Until she knew it was charmed, that was prudent.

Hmmm, Nishiyo Sadako seemed to have fit the profile of who she described fully, it only helped to have her to further expect the true source of Scarlett's origin. Her spell set sounded like Kyo's too. More importantly she'd already had friendly contact with another user. "I…see. I'd prefer if you would just keep your eyes open and report these findings to myself or people I suggest you do?" Though she did have something she'd liked her to do, but when she had her little reverie it wasn't inspiring a lot of confidence. Even if she wasn't against them, what if some third party Shadow could have hijacked her body like with the Agent?

"Oh, we all got out of it, more or less intact. As well as anyone could have hoped with the direct intervention of the Reaper."


She hoped badly it worked on the Hablerie. There was nothing wrong with Spencer's body, save that it was not her own.
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The One True Nobody
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"...does this clockwork hand follow you... or guide you?"
The Charm spell...

...didn't work.

"Shit," Shane swore under his breath as the Hablerie swerved around and promptly dive-bombed him, bouncing off his--or, er... her chest, rather, causing Shane to have to back up a step to keep his footing but otherwise causing no damage at all. Shane snapped a finger, discoloring Maki's body for a moment with the casting of Quicksilver, but the red-eyed Shadow went "Ah-ah-ah~!", waggling a finger at the boy, before blowing a kiss the Shadow's way, casting her own Marin Karin spell in the form of a faint pink mist.

The Shadow calmed down, and hovered in place. Scarlett walked up to the Hablerie and gave it a loving stroke along the right side, just above its mouth.

"It helps if your Persona's on-level with what you're trying to Charm, I find," said Scarlett. "Tongue-chan, will you please do the switching thing on those two over there? Pretty please~?"

The Hablerie swayed in the air for a bit, and then flew forward--less a swoop than a cruise-speed glide, really--licking Shane's (or rather, Maki's) face with its tongue. "Agh!" Shane grunted, feeling the slime of its tongue sting on contact. He wiped at it with his hand--it was sticky and gross, like sap or something.

The Hablerie then flew over to where Maki stood in Shane's body, moving to lick her as well. Scarlett stood back, sticking her hands in her pockets and watching. "Food's good," she said matter-of-factly. "I get a bit of that from my other buddy every now and then but more's always nice. As for style, uh... well, it's cold down here, so pants. Boys' pants in case I need pocket space, and... dark colors, so I can hide better if I have to. Some Shadows don't shy away from attacking anything, even other Shadows. No sense painting a big glowing target on myself, right?"
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Nonsequitur
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Yellow Bubblegum
She was more than ready to cast the spell a second time in hopes of it 'catching' but the need to was totally obliterated by the red-eyed Shadow.

The licking a second time wasn't pleasant, but it'd just have to be endured for the sake of returning things to normal. She, or rather Shane's back straightened stiffly as suddenly things returned to their conventional perspective and in her own flesh and blood.

"Ah, good. You have my thanks, Miss Scarlett. I'll have to keep that in mind for next time." Afterwards, she nodded to Shane. "I would also be willing to provide entertainment. So you wouldn't need to amuse yourself with antics against Spencer-san or others? Would this be agreeable?"

If they were going to fight, it would have been a near-ideal time. However, Maki was serious when she said she had no interest in that sort of thing, not as long as everyone was willing to remain civil and peaceable about it. If it came to blows, she was not to be the one to initiate it.

And Shadows that were hostile even to her. It was possible to use that as leverage in future negotiations, if needed.

"Spencer-san? I think that it would be best if we took our leave." It was wisest not to have pushed their luck, even with a potential boon like a non-hostile and even cooperative Shadow one could communicate with around. Besides, she did have her end of a bargain to keep, did she not?
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The One True Nobody
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"...does this clockwork hand follow you... or guide you?"
And then suddenly Shane was back in his own body, wearing a completely different mask. Maki was back in hers, although by a freak accident, she might have noticed her perceptions had sharpened: her body was still under the effect of Shane's Quicksilver spell, which was identical in every way to a standard Sukukaja save that Shane couldn't use it on anyone but himself.

"Gah," he grunted, pulling off Maki's mask and flicking his hand, summoning the blue-tinted sunglasses back to their rightful owner--pop, like bad movie editing, suddenly they were just gone from Maki Yamada's face and in his hand. With the cool air of someone who knew they should be thankful to someone but really wasn't, Shane slipped his shades back on and said, "Well, that was an experience. You know how fanfic writers always write the body-swap as sexually awkward? It's actually not. I almost felt like I'd been a woman all my life for a few minutes there... kind of disturbing, actually."

"Fascinating," Scarlett said dryly, eyes about as deadpan as they could ever get. "Might want to deal with this thing before you go, though. Wouldn't want it switching anyone else's bodies! Could be a problem."

Turning toward the Switching Hablerie, the Shadow extended a hand, hesitated for a moment, and then shot a bolt of purple Zionga at the Hablerie. The lightning struck, but seemed to have no effect at all. Scarlett stared for a few moments, and then she said, "Oh. Well, that didn't work. Handy intel, though! Nulls lightning. Great. Wonderful."
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Nonsequitur
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Yellow Bubblegum
Maki grunted as the Hablerie proved to be impervious to lightning. It made her previous threat moot. Then again, it already was: Everyone had walked away from that negotiation with something that they wanted.

"I see. It appears to be somewhat resistant to physical attacks, as well."
She attempted to attack it with a Garu spell then. It was already a bit wounded from before, and while it was docile, she hopped to take full advantage of it and eliminate the threat of it switching their bodies again.
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