| The Devil; [Kyo Charinko - Single Post] | |
|---|---|
| Tweet Topic Started: Jan 21 2014, 08:17 PM (123 Views) | |
| The One True Nobody | Jan 21 2014, 08:17 PM Post #1 |
|
"...does this clockwork hand follow you... or guide you?"
|
This post occurs the evening after Letters from the Heart and happens in parallel with The Hanged Man. --- Shane's map was crude: a hand-drawn network of pencil-lines with many an eraser mark, and only explicitly marking those hallways that would lead her to the memorial her Shadow had chosen as a landmark to call her out to--the rest of the picture scan on her phone's screen was just blank white empty spaces and little openings to indicate where the intersections were. It would do the job, but Kyo would have appreciated something a bit more in-depth. She kept having to duck into corridors that Shane hadn't bothered to chart, so as to avoid Shadows on her way in, and she couldn't even take her time getting there, so she kept having to duck out of sight really fast. This memorial that "Scarlett" wanted to meet at was pretty deep in--Kyo kept Death's Compass out and in hand at all times. It would be really, really bad for her if the Reaper came to call when she was this far from an exit, but with this, she would have advance notice of its approach and direction, she would be able to flee before it got to her, that would give her time to get away before it could get into spell-slinging range. Kyo wasn't sure why it had to be a specific location, though, or why the hell her Shadow-doppelganger thing had explicitly picked a place that Kyo wasn't aware of. It made no sense to Kyo. If her Shadow wanted to meet with her, why hadn't it picked a place significant to her, like... the room with the mini-fridge, where she'd stashed her booze once! Ah, yes, them was some good times. The night she and Hiroko had first hooked up. He had been such an... amateur. That felt like forever ago! The green-haired girl wasn't about to take any chances with this, so she had donned her Archangel armor for this trip. Her two kodachi were strapped to her back in an "X" pattern, and the only part of her angel-script-patterned armor that she hadn't deigned to wear was the helmet-mask. Her own mask, studded black leather and vaguely punk-rock styled, was already on the upper half of her face, suspended there by a whole lot of nothing. Some masks, Kyo had noticed, needed a strap or some other kind of physical means of attaching to the face, but some just sort of... stayed on. She wondered if that was significant at all or if it was all just kind of random. Probably random. Who the hell knew with this place? Kyo had to take a few detours, but eventually she neared what she thought was the room her Shadow should have been waiting in. The girl paused just outside it, listening with all her might. Her own movements had been speedy, but relatively quiet--her armor was light, and had customized by Aleksandria to come off with ease in the event that she should revert to Monster Form again. This also meant she could move without any clinks or clanks, so her approach had been near-silent. There were slow, quiet footfalls in that large room, just around the corner... Kyo approached, expecting her Shadow to stop its impatient pacing and call out something to the effect of You can stop sneaking around, I know you're there... But such a taunt never came, and when Kyo rounded the corner, she saw that the person standing in front of the makeshift memorial was not the living embodiment of her own Shadow after all. It was the former paranormal journalist, Toru Motou. He looked fairly odd without his professional clothes or over-shined shoes, but she had seen him in practical wear before. Jeans, boots, a jacket, and a satchel at his side. The rose-etched custom revolver that was his trademark hung limp at his side in his right hand, finger outside the trigger guard. He seemed to have acquired both a limp and a cane since their last encounter, though. Kyo, momentarily perplexed by his presence there, almost didn't notice the trail of brown-red stains leading to the paint cans, or the four paint cans themselves, or the pile of flower bouquets inside that semicircle of paint cans in the corner of the room... or the partially completed painting on the wall in front of it. Toru paced slowly before the memorial, tapping his chin, his expression unseeable from Kyo's place behind him. The green-haired girl gritted her teeth at the sight. It was possible that her Shadow was having her on, but it was also possible it was lurking out of sight, waiting for this asshole to leave. "Oi," she called irritably, prompting the journalist to stiffen (she noticed his finger smoothly slip into the trigger guard). "Are you the one who put this thing up, then?" The silver-haired man turned slowly to face her voice, and fixed her with a chill regard that was almost unreadable, almost, but there was a hint of conflict there. Toru obviously wasn't pleased to see Kyo, and while he wasn't outright hostile, he made no attempts to be his usual polite self, either. This was such a radical departure from their last one-on-one encounter that Kyo felt blatantly wrong-footed by it. "No," said the man simply. "At a guess... since she was apparently a graffiti artist... my first guess would be that this memorial marks the place where Kanon Watanabe died. I could be wrong, though--I have been slightly obsessive on the subject of Samurakami-san's escapades of late, I admit." Kyo twitched a bit at that, stepping out into the open. Her eyes, clear of any costume lenses, both glinted unglowing yellow in the gloom, and remained slightly narrowed. She didn't draw her weapons, but she was on edge all the same. She let her gaze drift toward the memorial. Kanon Watanabe's, huh... that might explain how Nana had known that Unremitting was talking about the ruins, if so... Toru, after a moment, took his finger out of the trigger guard and turned back to the memorial. "What brings you here, then?" the journalist asked. "If you didn't know whose memorial this was, I assume you're merely passing through, as I was?" "I was called out here," Kyo said vaguely, folding her arms over her chest and stepping up next to Toru to get a better look at the arrangement. The flowers on top were fresher than the ones below, but they looked like they'd need replacing soon. And that painting... what was it supposed to be? "Y'oughta roll along there, Shoeshine. It ain't got nothin' t' do with you." "Nothing ever has anything to do with me," Toru said dully, reaching up and massaging his temple. "I have become the very sort of nuisance that began my own troubles. A nosy good-for-nothing seeking to uncover other people's strife and deception for my own good feelings. It is fortunate you came along, Charinko-san. I have been meaning to ask you a question..." "I don't feel like answerin'," Kyo said waspishly, giving Toru a sharp glare. "You threatened my friends and I got no reason t' think you're not still eyeballin' 'em wishin' death on 'em and shit. Why should I answer any question you might have?" Toru gritted his teeth. For a moment, Kyo thought she might have seen a flicker of yellow in his eyes. But then, a look came over his face. One of painfully forced humility, and he ducked his head, pressing his lips into a thin line before speaking again. Kyo almost thought she knew what was coming, and unfolded her arms in irritation, almost succumbing to a reckless urge to turn her back on the man just so she wouldn't have to look at him. "Charinko-san..." Toru said evenly, eyes on the floor. "My Persona has been--unstable, as of late. It has been changing." "Oh, is that it? You're goin' for the old 'The angel in my head made me do it' excuse?" Kyo asked flatly, but Toru held up the finger of his left hand, signaling the girl to let him finish. "No," said Toru. "This began very recently, after I had already wronged your friends. While I confess I've suffered at least one bout of control loss before this... it has become particularly bad these past few weeks. It began the day we met in the ruins last. You remember that occasion, yes? When Inspector Imoto saved us, and those... doppelganger Shadows waylaid us at the exit..." Kyo bristled. Of course she remembered that occasion. Not only had that been the day they'd first discovered the same skybridge that she'd crossed when the Arrogant Qlippoth had made its appearance, it had also been the day when one of those fucking Mistress things had blown her secret friendship with Aleksandria Fyodor wide open in front of fucking Inspector Shin Imoto, of all people... "Yeah," she said grumpily, her eyes flitting to one side, trying not to remember the image of the illusory Shin that had been conjured by the Qlippoth. "I remember. What of it?" "That was when it began. When the first changes happened," Toru said, turning his back on both Kyo and the memorial, walking a pace away, and pausing for a few silent moments before walking three more paces. "And even now, the voice in my head screams distrust of you. But I understand now. This is not my Persona..." "What're ya talkin' about, then, your Shadow?" Kyo asked in a bored voice, turning to keep her front toward Toru as moved. The journalist came to a stop, but did not turn to face Kyo again. "No. 'A' Shadow, but not 'my' Shadow," Toru said, his tone grim. "That day, there were three Shadows... one of them looked like a mass of hair, yes? Tell me... do you remember how that Shadow met its end?" Kyo shrugged her shoulder. "It didn't." Toru turned around to look at Kyo, and his expression looked almost as though he were expecting to hear exactly that. "It didn't?" he echoed. "What happened to it, then?" "I dunno, I was busy watchin' my own ass! One moment it was there and y'were down, and the next time I had a chance t' look, it was gone, okay?" Toru, leaning heavily on his cane, closed his eyes and expelled a very audible, heavy breath. "That," he said, "is what I was afraid of. Charinko-san, may I show you my Persona as it is now?" Kyo's eyebrows went up. "What, y'wanna show off your shiny new ascension?" she asked incredulously. "Fuck off. I toldja, I got my own busin--" "It's not an ascension," Toru cut in sharply. "My Persona is rotting, it is decaying, its appearance is unrecognizable and its voice screams maniacally of all my darkest thoughts, but it still identifies itself as Raphael of the Lovers Arcana." Kyo blinked, and her eyebrows scrunched up skeptically. Toru sighed, and slowly bent down, placing his revolver upon the stained floor. "Please," he said, "let me show you." At the word rotting, Kyo flinched. It brought to mind the face of her boyfriend's Persona, Kitsune, when it had appeared and put its hands on his throat. Its mask had cracked and broken off, completely revealing the rotting fox-face underneath. A symbol of how much more obvious Hiroko's mental condition was becoming, both to him and those around him. Kyo bit her lip, and then said, "Gun, over here. Then y'can summon your Persona, sure." Toru straightened up, and with his injured foot gave the Thorny Rose a light kick. It skidded over the floor, where Kyo caught it with her foot. Keeping her boot's toe lightly atop the weapon, she considered Toru for a moment before nodding. "You will recall my Persona's appearance from the time you and your boyfriend accompanied Sanjuro-san, Shiori-san, and I into the ruins some time ago," Toru said quietly. Holding out his hand, he summoned his mask to his hand--a smooth, perfectly-sculpted porcelain, etched with roses around the edges. Carefully, he placed this mask against his upper face. "The armor was flawless, the sword shining, the wings bore fantastic plumage. Now..." Blue light, the textbook harbinger of a Persona manifestation. It appeared next to him, and Kyo took a step back, the heel of her boot kicking against one of the paint cans and causing her to stumble a bit. She glanced over her shoulder--she'd knocked one of the cans a bit out of alignment, but that was all. More importantly, the journalist's Persona. It was ugly, it was decaying, it was rotting just as Toru had claimed, but it was still the same face, the same armor, the same angel--just zombie-like, corroded, sunken-skinned and with skeletal wings... The Persona hovered there, baleful eyes glaring at Kyo. Toru pinched the bridge of his nose irritably, looking as though he'd come down with a sudden headache, and ducked his head, suddenly very interested in taking deep, even breaths. "You see..." he said shakily. "My Persona--no, that Shadow from before, I am sure of it. My Persona has been infected, or supplanted. I do not know... I do not know what to do, Charinko-san. Ascension may be my only way out, if Kaerunuma-san is right, but I don't know how to--ascend." So many thoughts flashed across Kyo's mind at that moment, so many of them. First and foremost was horror: a Shadow, Toru had said, that Shadow that had so conveniently disappeared when it could have easily finished Toru off, but no, it hadn't disappeared, it had taken residence in Toru's mind. On her watch, when she was supposed to be looking out for Toru, and when she had very deliberately decided to watch her own ass instead of having his back when he was down. When she had given him up for dead, and he had luckily survived. Yes, his behavior when he'd woken up had been weird... The second thought was that he needed help. She took a step forward, opening her mouth to speak. The third thought was a wary one, swiftly suppressed: this man who'd been threatening her friends with death, as if he weren't bad enough by himself, now had a monster in his head worse than a Persona. This thought, this wary thought, was swiftly suppressed. BANG! But no sooner had it occurred to her than a gunshot blasted through the silent gloom around them, and Toru's torso snapped to the side, a hole suddenly and inexplicably appearing in the right shoulder of his jacket. He staggered, let out a yell, and spun around in a quarter circle as he tried in vain to keep his feet. Kyo's heart stopped. A gun--someone was shooting a gun--but the rose-etched revolver was still on the floor under her foot. Who--?! "Oh, whoops. One bullet left in the damn thing and I had to go and miss," grumbled a voice, a distorted, inhuman voice. Kyo's eyes snapped to the source, where a figure had crouched in the dark. That figure stood, slowly, and stepped out of the gloom, tossing the still-smoking police revolver aside. "Another policeman got snatched up by the butterfly, but this one got nom'd on by a giant blue lobster thing before he could awaken. Too bad. Shin could use more co-conspirators, but it looks like this one just didn't make the cut. Wish he hadn't been so haphazard with his dying gunshots, he almost took my eye out. Again." Toru clutched at his bleeding shoulder. Raphael immediately turned its rotting hand toward its owner and cast Diarama--the flesh and bone regenerated, pushing the bullet out. He felt it exit the wound and removed his hand, just long enough for it to fall out and to the ground, then replaced it over the wound, which continued to bleed--one healing spell wasn't enough to close it completely. Kyo barely noticed this, barely noticed Raphael turn its sword on the red-eyed, masked figure. "Who are you?" snapped Toru. The journalist's eyes scanned the figure's state of dress, the torn shirt, bloodied jeans, the shredded strips of cloth that were wrapped around every inch of its face and hair, exposing only the glowing red eyes. "...Whose clothes were they? Victims of yours?" Kyo slowly walked to the side, drawing her two kodachi. The red-eyed girl, "Scarlett" as she had called herself, put a hand to her mouth and giggled. "Oh, Shoeshine, I haven't killed anyone," said the Shadow, her left hand drifting up to the mask. "I just borrowed clothes from the recently deceased. It's not like they were using them anymore. As for who I am, you know who I am. I'm Kyo Charinko..." The green-haired girl's discolored eyes narrowed, as her double unraveled the mask, slowly uncovering the same face, the same hair, the same nose and mouth... Kyo's own face, her own head, grinning sadisticly, eyes fixed on her original. The shreds of cloth it had used as a mask fluttered to the floor. "...and Kyo Charinko is me~" Kyo was aware that her foot was still atop Toru's gun. She moved the tip of her boot to the side and gave a sharp kick--the Thorny Rose skidded across the floor, back to where Toru stood. The journalist, leaning on his cane, glared at the red-eyed monster. "Ah... I see... most interesting," he mused. "I play host to a Shadow that has entered my mind, using me as a vessel to escape the ruins... and you, you have birthed a creature that gained access to our community's information base. It seems the both of us constitute significant security risks, then." Kyo's Shadow rolled its eyes. Kyo herself clicked her tongue in irritation. She'd been hoping for a one-on-one talk, dammit. "I'm not a security risk to anyone but myself," Scarlett said waspishly, turning disdainful eyes on Toru. "I might even have been doing the community a favor if I managed to hit that glittering silver bullseye you call a head! What kind of good guy pesters teenage girls with death threats, anyway? Really..." "He ain't your problem, though, is he, 'me?'" Kyo snapped, as Toru grimaced. His Persona shedding a few more feathers from its wings at that moment. "Y'called me out t' talk t'me, right? So let him go and let's talk. Come on. C'mon and have at it! Tell me what it is I'm missin'." Kyo felt strangely aware of her surroundings at that moment. She and Toru had their backs to the memorial. If Shadow Kyo attacked them now, it would probably be damaged... Kyo didn't want that. Wouldn't have wanted it anyway, but this memorial was Nana's, and Nana came down here to maintain it, was still working on it, even with the Reaper running around-- When she got out of here, Kyo would have to lend-- "--lend Nana your compass so she doesn't get herself killed?" Scarlett cut in irritably, a hand snapping out toward Kyo, palm-open as if to cast a spell. "Oh, will you pay attention for five minutes, you stupid cunt?! You say you came here to listen to me, but you're still obsessing over her and them and everyone and I wish they'd all just DIE--!" Kyo tensed, lowering her stance into a crouch. Toru likewise tensed, knowing he couldn't hope to dodge in time if a lighting spell was cast, not with his bum leg. But no spell was forthcoming. None, nothing-- No. Wait. She could feel--something--behind her-- She looked back, and what she saw spurred her into action the moment the image passed through her optic nerves and into her brain. A black circle of Mudoon on the floor around the memorial, and the flowers withering, and the first signs of corrosion forming around the bottoms of the paint cans-- "OI! BITCH! YOUR TARGET'S STANDIN' RIGHT HERE!" Kyo's own hand thrust out, almost of its own volition, a bolt of purple lightning striking her Shadow. It screamed, and staggered back, twitching, face twisting in hate. Toru looked back, and saw the dark magic disperse. The damage to the memorial was negligible, but the flowers, even the fresh-looking ones on top, were dry and rotted... Toru turned his eyes back to the Shadow. It backed away, hunched down in pain, glaring hate at its original. "You know, I feel kind of cheated," it said in a loud, gasping growl. "Because Nana told you half the shit I was going to say. But it doesn't matter. Even after she told you, even after Naoya went over shit with you, even after your other self practically spoon-fed you the answer, you're still clinging to this empty, directionless whining. 'Look at me, I'm pathetic. Please tell me I'm not...' and then when they tell you you're not, you insist you are, just so you can hear it again..." "That ain't--" Kyo began, and then she shook her head. "No, dammit, that's not it at all. I just--" "You 'just don't feel like you deserve it,' yeah, yeah..." Shadow Kyo said derisively, folding her arms over her chest as she slumped against the wall, looking away. Kyo still stood with her arm outstretched, ready to cast another Zionga spell. "Fact of the matter is, you just want people to try and fix you the same way you always try and fix them... because it's not enough that you feel like they need you, is it? You need to feel like you need them, too." "...What didja say--?!" Toru slowly moved to the side, gun leveled at Shadow Kyo, who barely paid him any notice now that her obligatory attempt on his life had been made. The empty police revolver lay on the ground. The barrel had already stopped smoking. Toru supposed it had intended to put a bullet in his head, as much because doing so would wrack Kyo herself with guilt as because that impulse was buried in Kyo's mind somewhere--her fear of him, her fear that he would one day deprive her of a friend. And he had planted that fear there in the first place. His intention had simply been to scare Suzume away from her revenge, to provoke some kind of reaction out of Nana, but Kyo had taken his threats seriously. And he-- "Toru, get the fuck outta here," Kyo growled. "Get outta here. This ain't your problem. This's between me, myself, n' I." Kyo glanced irritably at Toru's leg, and added: "You'll just be in the way." Shadow Kyo threw back her head and laughed. "Yeah, Shoeshine! Your prissy little light magic won't work on me anyhow, you'll just be in the waaaaaay~" she taunted. "Go hide in the corner, why don't ya? Let us have our dramatic face-off! Ooh! And go find one of those winged radio things so it can play 'Duel of the Fates' in the background, kyahahaha~!" Kyo began to walk in a semicircle around her doppelganger, who tilted her head to the side and began to strafe in the opposite direction. It seemed to be quite over the pain of that Zionga spell. Toru didn't need telling twice--he quickly limped toward the passage Kyo had taken to get there, taking cover behind the wall, peeking out. The two stopped circling each other only when they stood at opposite sides of the room, where none of their crossfire could strike the memorial. "I feel you," the Shadow said softly. "And your other self. Parts of me. Parts of you. All ensnared by the Devil's chains. I hate it..." And then, Toru saw something he couldn't believe: blue light flaring up around the Shadow, the light of a Persona summoning. Flapping black wings began to emerge from nothing, bats flying out of the darkness from all directions, converging, solidifying, taking humanoid form--feminine form. It was Kyo's Persona, Nevan the Lightning Witch, but with skin that was ghastly grey, and hair that was sheet-white. She hovered behind the Shadow amidst a towering skirt made of bats, and spread her arms wide, as if inviting the world to savor the sight of her exposed form. Kyo could clearly hear its voice, identical to Nevan's reverberating in her head: But I, I am the mistress of those bonds. All of their darkness, and all of their glory--I will never give it up. They belong to me alone, and once you are gone, they will be mine, forevermore... "Really," said Kyo evenly. "We'll see about that, eh?" The original took a breath, and closed her eyes, willing the mask to appear exactly where she needed it. Once she could feel the studded leather upon her face, she called out to it. The same light enveloped her, and the true Nevan appeared behind her, arms likewise spread apart, its stance mirroring the other. I have no mistress but myself, silly girl. Now come, little one. If you want to play... Her Persona paused, and then giggled. Then let me show you how the big girls do it... At exactly the same moment, the two Personae struck at each other with Zionga--and the two bolts of purple lightning collided in mid-air, sparking and deflecting off each other, leaving mean scorch marks on the floor and ceiling, new scars on the already bleak chamber. Toru twitched backwards, retreating further into cover, his jaw tight. He had his revolver. He could shoot the Shadow while it was focused on Kyo, perhaps... ...But would that be a good idea? It seemed Kyo had come here explicitly to confront her Shadow one on one. To face herself, directly. Perhaps she was hoping that, since her initial ascension had been triggered by a Shadow doppelganger, facing this one would fuel another? The journalist drew back, slipping his gun into his jacket, and fishing his phone out of his pocket. He needed to call in help from Bedlam. He could provide Charinko with support from here--healing, Sukukaja, a diversion if she needed one. But if that thing turned on him he was dead certain he wouldn't be able to survive. Another part of his mind--and not just the screaming part--told him that he had nothing to benefit from helping Charinko here, that she was still a threat to him, that he had been foolish to expect her to take his side in the first place-- --he silenced that voice, and the louder one that echoed it, and pressed himself against the wall outside. As the sounds of further spellcastings filtered out into the hall, he typed rapidly, holding his breath, knowing this to be the only sound option. Charinko would need help, and he himself was not enough. He would post a message to the Blotter... and hope this fight didn't take a bad turn before help got there. |
![]() |
|
| 1 user reading this topic (1 Guest and 0 Anonymous) | |
| « Previous Topic · Mysterious Ruins · Next Topic » |
| Track Topic · E-mail Topic |
1:28 PM Jul 11
|







1:28 PM Jul 11