09/14/12

[bythewall]

WHO: Lynne, Lindsey, Lillian, Ama (COMBO BREAKER), and Oscar.
WHERE: The Auditorium
WHEN: September 14th, right after classes end for the day.
WHY: Because teenagers are stupid and deserve detention. Also personas.

Comments

[alalma]

Lindsey wasn't the only one cursing, though Amalia's own thoughts on the matter were in a burst of rapid Spanish that hardly anyone would be able to make out, let anyone translate. Where Lillian had been calm, almost nonchalant-seeming (even now she'd sprung into action, from what she could tell), Ama was livid.

And Amalia Escobar when she was livid never boded well for whatever had made her angry. This point was made when she conveniently forgot she had a Persona to do the fighting for her and, at the sight of Lindsey grappling with the beaver thing and trying to "persuade" it to move off of him, she moved into action. Namely, she threw herself at the afanc, knocking it off the senior's chest though the headphone cord remained looped around its neck. The broom clattered off to her side, and Amalia winced as the creature clawed both at her and the cord, bucking in fury and desperation.

Huitzilopochtli emphasized very strongly that he was available and willing to fight and how was he supposed to do that if she got herself killed first-- all of which, Ama thought vaguely, was impressively wordy for mere fluttering and pissy hummingbird noises.

"Fine, fine," she muttered with a groan, and shoved at the afanc with a bleeding hand. "Garu already!"

It was already thrashing about in an attempt to free itself from Lindsey's cord, the wind would hopefully keep it from doing so and get it a safer distance away.

Because even Ama knew better than to get into an all-out physical brawl with a killer beaver.

[pen_vs_laptop]

As the figure -Nephele - rose above Lily, scattered pieces clicked in some distant, rational part of Lynne's mind. That's why -

Nephele's attack gave Lynne a chance to stop moving, legs burning and chest hurting. Her eyes went wide at the awesome display until Nephele finally released the goblin from the black cocoon. She tensed, expecting it to charge again. It didn't. Lynne was almost freaked out more when the goblin collapsed into a whimpering mess. Like a wounded animal. An uncomfortable stab went through Lynne. Lynne's gaze shifted to Lily and was surprised to see wide-eyed surprise mirrored on the other girl's face. Did she not know that'd happen?

The huntress stirred eagerly. She could see her prey's weakness, see the opening. Lynne felt it too. If she wanted to attack, now was the time. That thought seemed to be enough permission for the huntress. The huntress spun her bow again and Lynne thought she would strike the goblin again but the huntress outstretched her bow arm and a stream of water slammed down face-fit on the goblin.

[lancelotless]

What the-- Did Amalia just tackle that thing? Some part of his mind dimly made a note never to piss her off, provided they survived all this.

Lindsey scrambled to his feet, moving away from the rushing wind and the noises of the struggling creature. They had it down and distracted, now was the best time to act, even if it did cost him a pair of headphones in the process.

"Lancelot!" He hollered over his shoulder- maybe later he would take the time to realize how ridiculous it was that he was hollering for someone named Lancelot, of all things- but for now there were more important things to worry about.

The knight leaped into action, dropping to one knee and driving his sword into the ground. What followed nearly sent Lindsey stumbling into Amalia- rocks suddenly sprung up from God-knows-where, viciously battering the monster. He didn't know how much more of a beating this thing could take, but they had to be getting close.

[azuranthine]

Lillian cringed at the stream of water that shot toward the goblin. It was already down. It couldn't hurt them while it was like this but it was too late. Whatever Nephele had done to it wouldn't last forever.

We must end this, Nephele murmured, sounding almost apologetic. Lillian simply nodded. She was right. They had to end it as quickly as possible before any of them got hurt worse.

Nephele quickly shot a stream of her own to meet Artemis's just as it touched the goblin. Just as they had done during fight with the demon at the museum, the forces merged and molded into a new form, this time into a geyser-like blast of water that sprayed droplets everywhere around it. The force of it would have sent it flying up in the air only there was nowhere for the goblin to go because of the downward angle.

Lillian heard a sickening crack that sounded like a bone, or maybe several bones, fracturing at once under the compressing force of the water. The whimpering continued for a few seconds before it abruptly stopped, leaving only the sounds of the rushing water and the commotion where Lindsey and Ama were struggling.

[alalma]

She didn't like this; Ama could jump into a fight with ease, and she was pissed, sure, but destroying - killing - demons had always left a dry taste in her mouth. She didn't know the story behind their being here, but it was true that the group had attacked first. But the beaver thing didn't look as if it could be calmed now, and between Lindsey running into her and the bites and giant claw marks that had made a home on her skin, she was left with no choice.

"Ay Dios, lo siento," she whispered, barely audible over the shaking of the floor and the roar of the water from further away. A single thought yanked the wind forth again to drive the rocks up into a howling tornado of jagged earth that plowed mercilessly into the afanc.

And when the wind and the shrieking died down, there was nothing but silence.

Ama took a deep breath, punctuated by short gasps for air, and wobbled over to Lindsey to help steady him. It was better than dwelling on what had just transpired. And then, tiredly and to the group--

"Detention completed, si?"

Because surely the auditorium was sparkling clean after that. Surely.

[lancelotless]

Was it over? It had damn well better be over, because he was bleeding, bruised, and exhausted. Not to mention confused, but that was still a distant sensation- his mind was still reeling.

Amalia clearly hadn't gone far, because suddenly there she was, trying to steady him. He actually leaned on her a little, but not too much since she sounded just as bad as he did. "I really fucking hope so," he replied with a weak grin. He just didn't have it in him to do any more cleaning after this.

The grin didn't last long, however, since his brain was rapidly catching up to the rest of him. He cleared his throat. "So... questions. Where's my cane? Are my headphones still intact? And, oh yeah, what the fuck was that?"

[pen_vs_laptop]

That was what Lynne wanted to know.

The huntress had disapated from above her when the goblin had died. She couldn't say she imagined it, not when she felt that calming presence settle in her mind and whisper, 'You may call me Artemis.'

'Artemis'...Persona...goblins and gigantic beavers...she wasn't panicking anymore but she wasn't settled either. Instead, questions were piling up in a heap in her mind but hell if she knew how to voice it, not at that moment at least. What she could do though was pick up Lindsey's stray cane (she winced; her arms hurt) and hand it off to him.

"Here's one thing at least," Lynne said, "dunno about the other two though."

The headphones could have been scattered around like the cane or destroyed in the fight for all she knew. As for what had happened...she looked over at Lily and Ama. They definitely knew some answer to that one, or at least much more than Lindsey or her did: those two seemed way more familiar with this.

[azuranthine]

Now that the adrenalin had left her, Lillian sank to her knees on the stage. She was tired, her back hurt terribly. She always bruised so easily and the goblin had been stronger than anything its size had a right to be. Lillian would be okay for the moment, hopefully, until the principal decided to release them from this death trap he'd so irresponsibly placed them in when he'd locked the door. Regardless of whether it was a demon attack or a fire, Principal Ivors had endangered them all by giving them no way out.

Lillian looked around for something to distract her, anything before she worked herself into a fury. The last thing she needed today was to lose her temper with the principal. While her parents would be on her side, so would lawyers and this situation added enough stress as is. She spotted the headphones in question and picked them up. They looked like they'd been damaged in the fight but hopefully, they still worked. She stood up again and walked over to Lindsey and Ama and stopped.

"I found your headphones," she said, nudging his hand with them.

[alalma]

They were all tired and injured in some way, shape, or form, and Ama didn't really feel too excited about having to explain exactly what happened-- but she still remembered how she'd felt on that night a few months ago, how bewildered and upset she'd been. Lindsey and Lynne deserved an explanation, even after she and Lillian had tried to avoid getting them caught up in this.

So Ama straightened up as best as she could while still supporting a blind guy (her pride wouldn't allow further slumping, as much as everything ached), took a deep breath, and let it fly. At a quick, no-nonsense pace, at that.

"There are demons out there, and some of them attack you and some of them want help, and we've got these things called Personas, they've got the names of mythological things and they don't really shut up, but they'll fight for you if you call them. Me'n Lilly have had ours for months, and a few other people. I don't know how it happens or why it's just us, but that's about it. So! Congratulations, and bienvendios to crazy. Can someone call the General so we can get out of here?"

[lancelotless]

Lindsey took his cane and headphones when they were offered with a small nod of thanks. He was still looking for an explanation, though, and was surprised when Lilly didn't offer one. She seemed like the more no-nonsense of the two.

He seemed to have misjudged Amalia's ability to be no-nonsense. When she straightened, or tried to, under his weight, he pulled away to allow the girl her space to explain as she saw fit.

The explanation was quick, but it covered all the bases. His first impulse was not to believe her, but after all that had happened, he really didn't have much of a choice. That... thing, that demon had been real- he had the injuries to prove it. Not to mention the annoyingly real, yet somehow reassuring presence of Lancelot in the back of his mind.

Lindsey frowned. "Demons. And they just live here, or what? I mean, a shitty auditorium is not the first place I'd choose, but I'm not a demonic mutant beaver."

[azuranthine]

"They only came here this summer. In search of aid, presumably from us," Lillian interjected calmly. "We've been trying to find out more, if there have been any other cases in Abaton's history but so far, we've turned up empty. We fought a demon in the Museum of Natural History a month ago but we have yet to figure out its origin. I don't know if it came here with the others or if it was already here waiting for us."

Lillian took a breath before continuing to speak.

"There are others besides us, here in this time. There are others with power like ours living in a different time. In the attic, there are mailboxes that transport letters and packages through time. To 1934, in fact. The Persona users there have been facing similar problems as ours. It's so strange, though. They lived in this city then yet I can't find any record of the people I've written past 1934. There is no trail of them, whatsoever, beyond that date."

[pen_vs_laptop]

"Wait, through time?" Lynne asked, eyes widening slightly.

Following Ama's explanation was a bit easier. It was a lot to swallow and every rational part of Lynne wanted to deny it but with what had just happened, she was only left with the options of accept what she'd seen and felt as real or accept she'd gone crazy and this was some mass delusion. Lynne could accept the former, to some degree at least. She could see other people at another time may've run into what they had without much of a stretch. Time travel was stretching. And mail boxes did it? In the school's attic? That was something straight out of one of her books.

"That's...I want to say impossible but everything else should be too," she said. "How would that even be possible?"

[azuranthine]

"We don't know yet," Lillian answered, sighing. "There are so many unanswered questions about this. All of this. It only started a couple of months ago. How or why any of this is happening now continues to evade us."

Toward the end of her short speech, her calm started slipping, revealing her inner confusion and fear about everything. Just for a moment, she sounded vulnerable, like the frightened teenager she actually was beneath her mask. Lillian steeled herself before going on.

"If we're going to find out more, we have to be more pro-active in our efforts. Perhaps with the addition of you two, we'll be more successful."

It'd become apparent beyond a doubt that if they were going to make it through this in one piece with their sanity intact, they needed a stronger union and more cooperation and coordination between them all if they were to accomplish anything.

"If you would like more answers, you're welcome to join us in our search," Lillian said. "We'd welcome you but ultimately, it's your choice whether you work with us or not. You still have a chance to walk away though I question whether or not that would wise given the current state of Abaton."

[lancelotless]

"Whoa, whoa, whoa," Lindsey said, holding up a hand. "You have time-traveling mailboxes? That's a little far-fetched, even considering I've got a Knight of the fucking Round Table taking up residence in my head. Somebody could be playing you- you said it yourself that there's no record of these people past 1934. Could be that they didn't exist at all."

He shrugged, craning his neck a little to work out the soreness that was creeping its way up to his head. "I'm not saying that doesn't make what happened here any less real- I've got the wounds to prove it- and I am all for finding out what the fuck is going on, but I'm having a really hard time with this 1934 bullshit." If someone was playing them via the mailboxes, maybe subtly guiding them to some unknown goal, he didn't like it. They were kids with superpowers, for Christ's sake, what better way to make them do what you want then make them think you're one of them? Maybe he was just being paranoid, but it seemed they could do with some paranoia in this group.

[azuranthine]

"I already considered that possibility. Hard evidence changed my mind," Lillian said flatly. Between the photograph Jimmy had sent her and the letter and package she had received from Locrine, most of her doubts regarding the authenticity of the correspondences had been erased. "I can test something. The assistant librarian in 1934 lent me some books from school library. I have every intention of returning them as soon I've finished reading them. Perhaps there are still copies in existence here. To make certain, they're the copies I have, I can discreetly mark them before sending them back to him."

Of course, that hinged on the huge gamble that the books managed to remain intact all these years and they weren't sold or donated to anyone in the meantime.

"Or you could just try it and see for yourselves." Lillian shrugged. Maybe she'd mark the books anyway for her own peace of mind if no one else's.

[pen_vs_laptop]

Lynne absently fiddled with her hair. She was curious about a lot of things and the heap of questions only got larger the more Lily and Ama explained. Those mail boxes were gaining their own stack of questions but the biggest one of all was whether they actually worked. Most of her questions about the mailboxes wouldn't be important unless that was proved.

"I'll give a shot," Lynne said. "I want to get answers too but I don't think I could fully believe all this unless I had my own 'hard evidence'." She had an idea for testing too. It wasn't perfect and it wasn't as solid as Lily's idea but it'd cut down the chances of it being a hoax for her. "So you just put a letter or package in the boxes and if it disappears, it means someone on the other end took it, right?"