snip snip

[implausibility]

Who: Adachi Tohru (implausibility) and, in no particular order: Jan, Godot, Malik, Isamu, Nagi, Ikutsuki
When: Hours after sirens, forward-dated to Friday evening.
Where: Outskirts of downtown Siren's Port.
Summary: You don't snip the strings of a puppet without it crashing to the ground.
Warnings: I guess it's a little late to say spoilers for Persona 4...

Comments

i hope this is okay?!

[exarticulated]

Perhaps it was somewhat foolish, for him to ignore the warnings that he would be safest cowering in the safety of a building -- but Malik was an Assassin, it was not in his nature to shrink away from danger. And after all, he wasn't out looking for a fight, only flitting about in order to gather information (usually the job of the Informants, who he almost missed at the moment

TOTALLY OKAY aaahhh thanks for coming malik :A;

[implausibility]

With a sound not unlike something large sucking in a great, big, breath, the larger silhouette disappeared into thin air, simply phasing out of sight as if it had never been there in the first place, without leaving even the slightest disturbance in its wake. The man straightened, though it seemed to be with substantial effort that he unfurled himself from where he had been standing, doubled over, and let his hand drop.

"Who's there?" he called, unsurprised and almost lazy, like the question was just protocol, and that the answer was of no actual importance. He took a few steps in Malik's direction - slow, calculated steps, and the soft earth swallowed up the sound of his shoes hitting the ground, but not of the strange, squelching noise that resulted when he took a misguided step into something that was decidedly not dirt. "Augh," he muttered, with exasperation, hopping almost comically on one foot as he tried to get away from the mess he may or may not have created. "That is gross."

Wait, what?

kyaaa anything for my darling hideous officer

[exarticulated]

Silently muttering curses to himself -- he hadn't quite gotten used sneaking around with his empty sleeve just yet -- Malik debated his choices for the moment. To try and remain hidden, or face the enemy. While the former was what the Creed would have suggested, it was now hard to tell -- especially after that strange form had mysteriously vanished

kyaaaa i'm so touched my favorite amputee

[implausibility]

"Hey, hey, hey, pal," he said, chuckling low, and if the voice had been familiar, then the tone certainly was not. There came a scratching sound as Adachi scraped the underside of his shoe against a nearby rock, kicking it free of excess filth before coming to stand on it again. "Technically, you're the civvie 'round here, right? I've got clearance for this thing, and plus, it's not like no one's allowed outside at this time of night. We just recommend it. For obvious reasons."

He swept a hand to their surroundings, but if any of those things had ever been a threat to their well-being, they certainly weren't anymore. Even the other monsters had grown quiet, either having fled the scene or having decided that prey that was actually susceptible to attack were a better idea. Adachi continued stepping forward, stopping only when the light broke past the edge of one of the buildings, casting the ground between them into light. The reflection off the stone was barely enough to make out a form - not who, and not what, but only one,

[tots_prodigy]

Nagi didn't mind being out late as long as the smarter Darkness monsters -- the ones resistant to pure energy blows -- didn't bother him too much. Even they were bearable with a little effort, though, so he killed one by sending a broken piece of wood through its brain when it tried to come after him.

AGI, while good for his paycheck and good for the security it gave him, was a hideously boring, not so great company to work for sometimes. Despite Nagi's power and obvious skill with it, he was a Newcomer and thus missed, not for the first time, an opportunity at getting a promotion and guarding someone actually interesting. It was enough to make him consider doing something terrible to their computer systems.

For now, though, he turned sharply once he heard growling and unhinged laughter. Person or Darkness monster, he needed to be careful. Nagi snapped his shields up quickly, stepped closer, and whipped up a strong breeze as warning. "Who's there?"

[implausibility]

The laughter stopped short, almost as if the sound of Nagi's voice had been a punch in the gut. Adachi gasped, like he was swallowing the very sound, eyes darting around in the dark. Somewhere, an invisible string tying him to the puppeteer in another world, another time, was being pulled taut, in danger of snapping any moment now, and every interruption, every word and sound and presence, was like a wave being sent down that string - one false move, and it'd break.

"I am," he answered, quietly, without really answering at all. "And you're there. What are you doing there? You should leave me alone. We need some alone time. Gotta...I've gotta take it out, that's all."

[tots_prodigy]

He kept the shield in place without really thinking about it; years of controlling his power let him have that sort of luxury. Nagi stepped closer to the voice once the laughing stopped and he heard that odd gasp, pulled there for a reason he couldn't completely explain. Maybe he was just a puppet too, obeying someone else's plans.

"I'm here because I want to make sure nothing else is going to jump out and attack me on my way home from work," he explained. It was true enough, but not the complete truth. The complete truth almost never came from Nagi's mouth. "And who's we? There's only one of you and one of me, but I'm not who you mean." Reflexively, he prepared to attack in case he needed it.

[implausibility]

"I can't really...vouch for the creepy-crawlies 'round here, you know," said Adachi, looking about and scanning the area for a hint of a moving shadow that would indicate the presence of another darkness monster, but either they were smarter or had been thrown off by the scent of their kin's blood, because the environment was awfully still. Adachi tilted his head from left to right, as if trying to make out Nagi's form, but recognition never flashed across his face, and even as he blinked, his pupils kept on darting from brown to gold.

"The three of us, see, we're-" He stopped himself, mouth snapping shut with a small 'clack' as his teeth collided. Frowning at Nagi, he looked up, behind him. "Three...?"

[bitchin_beanie]

Oh, he liked this place. Fucking loved it. It'd marry it and force it into countless sexually deviant acts every night if he could, but he was pretty sure it'd be hard to round up the paperwork for marrying a whole island, so he'd settle for just hitting the streets every night and enjoying the shit out of it. So that was exactly what Jan did.

Sometimes he took his guns, but mostly it was just him and the monsters. And yeah, he knew that somewhere out there was a sentient monster, that fucker with the retarded floppy red hat and the glowing orange glasses, and yeah, that sentient monster probably had it out for him. But Jan? Couldn't care less. Two years in Rivelata had more or less driven home from his mind, and he wasn't about to start in on it now.

One, two, roundhouse, jump away, lungebite -- wet crunch. Another one bites the dust. Jan grinned through a grisly mask, completely oblivious to the street around him. He couldn't smell any other weird lurching abominations in the near area, so as far as he was concerned he was all

[implausibility]

There was a crash first, as sound always traveled faster, and barely audible over that ruckus, was the sound of an animal-like whine, rising in pitch but dying in volume. Something black and covered in matted fur flew into the vicinity, landing on the ground and skidding across the pavement before coming to a rest. When the dust settled, a huddled form inside the pile of landing debris gave a lurching, shuddering breath, its ribcage straining from the effort, before stilling to a complete stop.

"Crap, where'd it go? Can't believe we lost-" A hand, pale and human, emerged at the top of a brick partition, before a head of unkempt hair followed it. Adachi pulled his elbows onto the top of the structure before tumbling over it with all the grace of a elephant on wheels, but thankfully managed to catch himself with a few stumbled steps before landing on his face. Fortunately, it had been a low partition (lower now, because the flying monster carcass had taken its top-most layers clean off).

[bitchin_beanie]

Oh, well -- that was kind of a unique interruption, wasn't it? Jan was immediately on guard and ready again at the sound and the motion, spinning to face -- to face a dead monster? Well that was no fun, was it. Sharp golden eyes where on Adachi next, watching carefully as he pulled himself up.

Just a guy. Fucking lame. So he was straightening almost immediately, adopting the loose-limbed don't give a shit sprawl that he wore around anything he wasn't currently ripping the throat out of.

"Dude, bro, keep your shit to yourself!" he called, sounding decidedly unimpressed. "Being messy and shit's fine, but I don't need you flingin' your trash over here."

[implausibility]

Adachi frowned, looking the stranger down and immediately giving a look like he had just swallowed something particularly awful tasting, with particularly awful aftertaste too. "You own this place?" he asked, imperiously, with the high-handed condescendence that only came form high-handed confidence, misplaced or not. "Gotta see your deed for that. It's all about the paperwork these days, you know."

And as if moving on from a momentary distraction, he turned and skipped back over to the fallen pile instead, circling around it and occasionally bending over to inspect it, but his hands stayed in his pockets like they were shackled there. He never actually touched any of that, couldn't bring himself to hold his hand out to death. What if he got blood on his hands? That was traceable evidence. Then they'd know it was him. Then they'd drag him in, cuff him, throw him behind bars. That wasn't goodThe monster, whatever it was, was deader than a doornail, from what little of it he could still see underneath all that rock and wrought

[ingrate]

It was getting easier. He had his strength back now, and was no longer living on an all liquid diet. His stamina had improved as well. It was nice not to be on the verge of passing out after a few larger spells.

Isamu sat on the edge of a dumpster, the bubbling corpse of what had once been something disgustingly slimy sitting on the ground before him, his yellow eyes glowing faintly in the darkness. Did N--... did the Demifiend know, he wondered, what he got up to sometimes after dark? He'd said nothing - hadn't broached the subject with him even once. Maybe it didn't matter as long as nameless monsters were the only things that suffered as he pushed his newfound abilities to their limits.

Something in the air, the feel of another being no so much unlike himself, had the teen glancing at once into the shadows though it wasn't yet in view. He slid off the bin to the ground, head cocked slightly to one side. Was it his old friend again? No? Something different?

LOL I mistook your icon for Jan's for a second there.

[implausibility]

The sound of someone cursing not-quite-discreetly under his breath filled the small adjacent area. It was dark, as Siren's Port usually was after sirens, but there was a glint of something on the ground near the shadowed figure's feet. The dull metal reflected what little light there was, and the contours of its shape made it obvious that it was some sort of small firearm, though abandoned as it was, it might as well have been a chunk of scrap metal. "-cking asshole, throwing knives 'round. Bet you don't even need a license to be doing that sort of thing where he comes from, probably some backwater who-knows-goddamn-where in the middle of the country. Bet they're just like, 'Howdy there, son!' and then they chuck some fucking knife at

[ingrate]

"Here? Nobody's here but us shadows." Unaware of the irony of that statement, Isamu slowly approached this new... someone, hands in his pockets. The mutterings were amusing, and he wasn't going to just outright attack anyone who wasn't a senseless creation of the darkness. He had more sense than that.

He stopped after a few steps, watching. "I don't suppose you need a light?" He held his left hand out and it suddenly exploded into flame, illuminating the alley around them. The man wasn't quite what he expected, and he wasn't sure whether or not to be disappointed by that. Had he been looking for a real challenge tonight?

[implausibility]

His eyes narrowed at that. Another high schooler with powers - they were a dime a dozen here, substantially more than the half-a-dozen back in Inaba, and while his eyes lingered on the flame - That Amagi girl would have a lot to chitchat with with this guy - Adachi ultimately dragged them away not to look at Isamu, but the space around him - over his shoulder, around his feet, behind his back. "Where are the shadows?" he asked instead, snapping his eyes back on target. "I don't see 'em."

He sounded a little disappointed himself.

[rodeforthefall]

As enthused as Ikutsuki was by watching the Darkness monsters in their natural environments, he still preferred not to be outside alone after the siren's call. Yet, he was well aware that life had a habit of not particularly caring for one's preferences, and thus this evening had found him rushing home after a late day at the university. He had been doing some extra work, now, keeping an eye out for new opportunities: any chance to get closer to his goals. If that meant avoiding some monsters on the way back to his apartment, then so be it. He wasn't afraid of them, not really, and thus he couldn't be intimidated by their mere presence alone

HI THERE SWEETHEART

[implausibility]

Perhaps because it was so dark, it was easier to hear Adachi before it was possible to see him. In general, he was the type of person who was rather sloppy about his entrances but exceedingly careful about his exits, which was infinitely worse than the other way around, but also a bit rarer. Before a name could be put to the face, though, he had one hand on the wall he was leaning on, and he was doubled over as if in pain, coughing loud, dry coughs like he was trying to get something out that was stuck in his throat, except to little success. Between such fits, he was breathing deeply but evenly, and only when the shuffle of some fleeing monster far away from both of them sounded did he snap his head up

HELLO THERE :3

[rodeforthefall]

It seemed that it was not a monster nearby, but another person. Ikutsuki was still cautious in his continued approach; while the monsters were dangerous, there was generally a reason behind their behaviours. People as a whole were a lot less predictable, and he needed to see the other person - man? he could almost make that much out - before he could make any analyses.

If the situation was harmless, Ikutsuki knew that laughing it off would be the easiest way to deal with it and he would apologize most politely; most people would know that caution best be exercised at this time of night, even when not living in a world regularly visited by monsters that everyone could see. No-one could begrudge him for being careful

HOW'S IT HANGING

[implausibility]

A flurry of motion - the laughing abruptly stopped, and Adachi quickly straightened, drawing himself up to whatever meager height by reflex, raising his own gun and naturally seeking out the first form to appear in the dark, slanting his body to make himself the smallest possible target without sacrificing maneuverability, since he had no cover to work with in the open. It was the result of his police training ingrained into him, because he had studied that like he had studied everything else in his youth - like it was as vital as air, like it would guarantee his future, like his life would depend on it - and lo and behold, unlike most other study materials, it almost did.

"Inaba- ...Siren's Port P.D.! Show yourself!"