Day 47: Sun Room [4th Shift]

[forgot_it_all]

[For Yuna!Fish and chips weren't his favorite thing ever, but he did make sure to eat it all. He just liked to think of the fish as the Filet'o Fish without the bun and it made it easier to eat. The french fries had been pretty well cleaned off and he'd even managed a bit of fruit, although he avoided the oranges and other sour things his nurse

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[idontregret]

"Heat." The demon had been about to hold out his hand, as he'd become used to as a method of greeting now, but the girl did something else. She was... bowing to him? As far as he knew, bowing was some sign of respect. He wouldn't have minded that if he knew what the hell he'd done to deserve the gesture. Rather than return it, he just stood there awkwardly and rubbed the back of his neck with the hand he'd intended to hold out before.

"Uh. If you mean where on a large scale? Don't know. They just call the place Landel's or something." Landel's Institute, though that just made it sound like someplace decent when it clearly wasn't. "And if I knew how to get back I wouldn't be here either."

He said as much, but in the back of his mind he wasn't certain. He'd been prepared for whatever was supposed to happen to him right before they arrived here, but now that he was alive again things were just... different. There wasn't that same feeling of being at peace with the world; the world had been slammed back up into his face without much warning.

[no_dont_go]

"It is a pleasure to meet you, Heat-san," Aigis said, straightening back up. She was relieved he has willing to pardon her rudeness from before. Not only was she having trouble with her sensors but even her pre-programmed responses were slow. Perhaps her new body had already short-circuited before her transfer? It would also explain the severe drop of input data she was now receiving.

"My nurse had mentioned the name." She had also mentioned various other things Aigis wasn't sure what to think about. Something about her having anxiety? The papillion heart may have given her a sentience similar to the human soul but even that had its limits.

"I do not simply wish to be back home. If I do not return to fulfill my duty within two weeks time, where we are will no longer be an issue."

[idontregret]

There was that adding of an extra word to the end of his name again that he didn't understand. Heat frowned. "Just Heat." He already had the Institute staff trying to call him something he wasn't, so he didn't need patients doing the same. It was a simple enough name - just the four letters. (And he was willing to bet his tribemates had used it as a replacement for certain other four-letter words over time.)

Then she went on to say she had something important to do. He would have understood the feeling, had he been taken from just a few minutes prior to when he had been (if time even moved the same in that place as it felt it had). There wasn't much he could tell her, though. "What do you mean?"

She looked far too harmless to be a savior of humanity, but then he could have said the same about Sera.

[no_dont_go]

"Oh, a... alright, then." Aigis bit her bottom lip and hoped she would be able to fight against her own knowledge of etiquette. Maybe if she added -kun to his name... but then, he had said "just Heat" so perhaps it was best to just obey instructions in this area.

Now the question was if Aigis could tell him the truth of the matter. Most likely he would not believe her, or even worse would be if he were on the side of the cult. Of course there were precious few people who had not cared for the preaching of Takaya and his "salvation." From Heat's rather terse words and quiet ways Aigis was reminded of Aragaki-san. But that did not guarantee him to be of the same mind. Could she trust him not to turn on her or scoff at how ridiculous the end of the world might sound? She desperately didn't wish to harm him or force potentially painful knowledge on him, but she had to get some information.

"What I mean is I am part of a team opposed to the Doomsday cult's form of salvation. I am needed to counteract the coming of the Fall." Aigis felt her body tense, a strange feeling she had never experienced in her previous model. It felt like locking up to prepare for a blow. "You may be of the mind to wish for Nyx's coming but I firmly believe that humanity is still worth fighting for."

[idontregret]

Heat didn't understand the situation at all. Hadn't they just fought for humanity's survival? It was already being threatened again? Or was this a threat they were unaware of that occurred at the same time as the one they fought against? Unsure of how to respond, the demon just shifted his stance and stared thoughtfully at his feet. Aigis's words reminded him of Seraph's.

"I'll take responsibility. I know people make mistakes... and they probably always will. But they do their best! Please, you can't destroy humanity!"

He rubbed at his eyes, knowing Seraph wouldn't have wanted hir efforts to have been wasted by some new threat called... wait. "Nyx?" Frowning, Heat's eyes shot back up at the girl. "That's just a regular demon, isn't it? How could you be having trouble with something like that?" Then again, if she wasn't a demon herself he could see how that would be problematic. "I don't know what cult you're talking about, but something like that's not going to bring about the end of the world."

If he was there he'd just devour it for her.

[no_dont_go]

Aigis felt a strange feeling grow in her chest when Heat recognized Nyx, but when he spoke of her as if she were just a run-of-the-mill monster she felt that feeling deflate within her. What a strange sensation...

Aigis couldn't let herself focus on how she felt, though. She had to correct him, to tell him what Nyx really was. If she isn't stopped... but Aigis' thoughts took another turn and she was suddenly curious as to how he could know about Nyx in the first place if he hadn't been told of her by the cult. She frowned.

"Nyx is no ordinary Shadow that can be destroyed. She is a goddess of destruction. She's amassed great power through her control of human emotion and is going to strike within two weeks"--Aigis hoped she hadn't been sleeping for very long, she could no longer be sure how much time until the appointed day--"and inflict the world with death."

Aigis looked into Heat's eyes and tried to judge if he had Persona. It was strange. Normally she could feel if someone had the potential. She could sense various attributes of a person's Persona and had noticed right away when the Personas of each of her friends had undergone their transformations. But this man...

"Tell me, Heat-sa-" Aigis stopped herself, correcting the name. "Heat, how do you know of Nyx?"

[idontregret]

"A shadow?" Was that just another term for demon? People gave them all sorts of names, so he supposed it was fitting enough. Sounded better than tuners, anyway. "Nyx is a demon, right? Reddish-purple skin, sings a lot?" He knew she could cause plenty of status effects, but there was mantra for blocking those. Even Cielo could counter his weakness to them after a while.

"Just create some anti-death shields and take her out." The way she spoke of her made her sound like some special case, but he knew he'd seen more than one among Angel's soldiers. Why some tuners had such similar demon forms he'd never know. "Are there no other tuners left to help you?" If not, he'd need to make sure he and the other Embryon got out within two weeks as well so they could help her.

As for her being a goddess, there were plenty of demons that might have considered themselves that. He'd even heard somewhere along the line that his demon form was named for some god or another. It could mean they were powerful, but he only knew of one actual God with the power to crush humanity as a whole. This Nyx sounded false to him - a stronger demon trying to scare their way into power.

She didn't even look all that threatening.

"I'm a demon," he answered her question with a bit of a smirk and a tilt of his head. "An Asura. And I've fought lots of others like me. What's so special about this one?"

[no_dont_go]

His description of Nyx was certainly not what Aigis had expected, and his advice was nothing short of strange. Anti-death shields? Tuners? Aigis couldn't stop the confusion from showing on her face. He certainly wasn't talking about the same Nyx. But this man knew something.

"You say Nyx is a demon. But you also call yourself one as well. You say you fight against your own kind." Aigis took a breath--another strange sensation she just couldn't get over--and challenged Heat's smirk with a serious glare.

"You have such confidence in yourself. I once had confidence, and then I faced Death..." Aigis had to stop for a moment, wincing at the reminder of her utter failure. She continued, her voice lower but insistent. "I do not know of your Nyx or what you mean by demon. I only know what Death could tell us of her, and he said she could not be beaten. I glimpsed just a portion of her strength when I battled him. I know he spoke the truth. She will bring the Fall to mankind if we do nothing to stop her."

Aigis didn't let her own insecurity show, her own knowledge that no matter what they did she could not be stopped. Even if she did get back home in time to fight winning would be...

[idontregret]

"Yeah. Fighting against your own kind is pretty commonplace where I come from." At least he hadn't mentioned the cannibal part. She would be grateful for that, probably. It seemed like all he'd ever done was fight, right up to the end. ...And the end beyond that.

Her glare hardly phased him, and he placed one hand on his hip. She spoke of Death as though it was some sort of living being, which only made the way she referred to everything else more confusing. "Everyone faces Death. I have. All my comrades have. Death only takes your life. It doesn't take your being - the data that forms you." He snorted. If they could fight God, they could fight some demon who thought she'd take advantage of things now that the Karma Society had crumbled. He'd thought they all would have been gone at this point, but apparently he was wrong.

Aigis might call it confidence, plenty others would call it worse things. Fire didn't crumble. You had to smother it or let it burn itself out. That's just the sort of creature Heat was. "So we'll stop her."

[no_dont_go]

Fighting was all Aigis had known until she met the members of S.E.E.S. She had been created to fight, to destroy Shadows. If these demons were anything like Shadows then... Aigis felt herself lock up again, the pieces beginning to fit together. If demons... if Heat were a Shadow... but he couldn't be. She knew she would have felt the same danger as she had with Ryoji-san. However, Aigis felt no need to let her guard down completely.

His outlook on death was interesting. It wasn't a human's version of death, where one's life ended and could never be replaced. He spoke of data. Aigis knew she could also be replaced--rebuilt, refurbished--if she ever broke down completely. Her soul, her papillion heart, would need to be replaced, but she was not living. She... had no life to speak of. And Heat...

"I did not mean "death" in the literal sense. I was speaking of the Shadow, the physical form of the Death Arcana, the harbinger of the Fall." She shook her head, a very human-like movement that had never seemed so smooth before. "And while I understand that I myself cannot die that is not what I fear. I..."

Aigis though she might be able to say more, but Heat surprised her with his last comment. "You... would be willing to stand with us and fight her?" She frowned, looking away. If Heat really was a demon, a Shadow, then... "I'm afraid that isn't possible."

[idontregret]

Now she'd lost him again. He wasn't following. What was an Arcana and what did it look like? Was it a machine? A specific sort of demon? And then she said that she herself couldn't die... but what did that mean? "I don't even know what you're talking about anymore, then." Heat growled, crossing his arms over his chest.

But the way she denied him the opportunity to fight with her - he didn't like that either. Sure they'd only just met, but Seraph had fought for the survival of humanity. If he'd been brought back for some reason, and if the world was once again threatened, then he would have to help in the place of those who couldn't be there. If his leader did appear, ze would want to do the same. "Why isn't it possible? It sounds to me as if you can use all the help you can get."

There was nothing real special about her, was there? She looked human enough, smelled human enough. What harm could there be in offering his aid? She should be grateful he was doing so.

[no_dont_go]

"I am sorry." Aigis just didn't have the conversations skills to paint Heat an accurate picture. How could she explain Death and the Fall to someone who had not seen the same things she and her friends had?

He didn't look happy when she refused his offer. Aigis turned back to him and tried to keep her gaze in contact with Heat's but she found it increasingly difficult.

"While I think we would appreciate the help, this is not something you should decide lightly." Aigis wondered if it really mattered now that she had already burdened him with the knowledge of that Goddess Nyx's inevitably arrival. Should she have agreed to let him join them? To make him face such a merciless, dark fate? Certainly he had his own reasons for fighting but she had no way to judge his strength. Her friends had made their choice. Cleaning up the mess they had brought on themselves was their responsibility. Not Heat's or anyone else's.

"Please," Aigis said, really hoping she could get through to him. "Fighting with us will only bring you suffering and pain. And..." Aigis found herself pausing, even though she knew she should just speak the truth. Aigis looked at Heat once more. Really looked at him. Demon or Shadow, whatever Heat was he looked human enough. However... "I find that I do not entirely trust you as of yet."

[idontregret]

"There's nothing to decide." The demon grit his teeth, his aggravation poorly checked. "If the world is in trouble then I'm going to be doing something about it rather than sitting around and dying or waiting for someone else to do it for me."

Heat scoffed and turned away from her in agitation, a feeling not unlike that of being a caged animal falling heavier on him than before. Suffering and pain... as if he hadn't experienced that before, as if he didn't know that it was required to get past almost any real obstacle. Who did she think he was talking to? Who did she think he was?

Someone she couldn't trust, obviously, and he couldn't blame her for that. He'd never been the one that got along with others the easiest. He needed one of the others for that. Any of the others. Hell, even Gale had a certain presence about him now that demanded some sort of respect. Heat didn't go around making friends with anyone.

"Whatever," he scowled, turning back. "You do what you think is right." And he'd figure something out on his own if he had to. Somehow.

[no_dont_go]

Aigis winced in response ot his harsh, frustrated words. It was true enough that Aigis didn't know anything about who Heat really was but... his argument was just the same as the others when she had begged them to kill Ryoji and just forget. Even though they knew it would bring them a terror that would never fade until the very end. They would rather fight, struggle in vain against a goddess. It was ludicrous, unnatural. Why did everyone around her seem to have the desire to place their lives, the very thing that could never be replaced, on the line? Would it not be better to just... live the rest of their lives to the fullest, without a worry or a care?

I cannot understand it simply because I am not alive. The thought was enough to remind the android where she stood in the whole affair. She would support them with all her might because she wished for them not to die. She also... had hope, albeit the tiniest bit. What did she have to lose? Just a titanium shell and an artificial soul.

"Please, Heat-sa--Heat." Aigis forced herself to slow her speech and said his name deliberately. "I am trying my best to understand humans and their way of thinking. It is... difficult for me to comprehend anyone's decision to face terror and death without considering their own life's value."

Aigis wondered if she were making an impression at all or if he would ignore her words of caution like before, but she just wanted to be clear. His life, what he had left to live, could be put to much better use in Aigis' opinion. "I sense great sincerity from you despite your claim that you are a demon. However, I ask that you do think your answer over again for a day or two."

Something sounded over an intercom and out of the corner of her eye Aigis saw her nurse unwillingly leave a conversation with one of her peers and start to head her way...

[idontregret]

...Despite your claim that you are a demon. Heat 'hmph'ed at that comment. Since when were demons incapable of being sincere? She obviously just hadn't met the right ones. Of course, the irony of him referring to himself as one of these 'right ones' wasn't lost on him. Still, he could show as much sincerity as any human.

"Aigis." He addressed her in a similar manner. Her name was strange. In his opinion it sounded more like something that belonged to a demon than his did. Many names were strange to him still, however, since he was used to the ones of the Junkyard. He hadn't even known other languages had existed until he'd arrived in the real world. "What are you gonna do in those couple days, huh? That's just a waste of time. My standpoint won't change."

Heat knew the signs of an incoming shift change when they began, and he scowled in the direction of the approaching nurses. Sometimes he felt as though they timed things with the intent of interrupting important conversations.

The girl received one final defiant look and the demon swept an arm to the side dismissively. "We're not done, you got that?" he growled as he was led away.