[backdated to December 20] my loving heart, lost in the dark

[badluckhealer]

Who: Agatha Sheridan, Shadow Agatha Sheridan, open
Where: Gemini district. 13th Hour. Outside the Mictlan. Heaven or Hell, Let's Rock!
Summary: A really long overdue confrontation - and not just because it's backdated.
Warnings: Frank discussion of a really shitty childhood, probably some talk of violence in there too. Oh, and there's gonna be a Shadow fight. That too....and the Shadow is one chatty little thing.


[She shouldn't be doing this. She knows that. Getting involved is against the rules Mother taught her. The rules of the family, the first rules she ever knew. Don't get involved. Just stay out of the way and don't start anything. And yet here she is, at the only place she can guess her Shadow would be.

And she's guessed correctly, given the other Agatha waving at her cheerily.]

Hello~

...

[The almost puppetlike Shadow seems unfazed by the lack of reply.]

Let me guess - oh wait, it isn't a guess - you're trying not to start anything, right~? The main directives that bitch taught us: neutrality, secrecy, stoicism, aidi-

...Don't insult Mother.

[The Shadow just sighs and shakes her head, throwing up her arms in a very 'whatcha gonna do' way. The real Agatha, on the other hand, just has her fists clenched and her eyes narrowed - subtle hints of anger, but very real.]

It isn't like you're not thinking it! I'm you, you know. And let's face it, didn't you always resent that witchy woman for how she treated you? Like you weren't even h-u-m-a-n. And it never got any better, did it~?

...Be quiet...

You're doing a pretty bad job of this whole "accept yourself" thing! But then, a puppet shouldn't even bother with that, right~? Puppets don't feel, they don't hurt, it's okay to make them bear the wounds of others! It's okay for them to be alone and never learn how to feel anything! As long as it does what it's supposed to do, it's okay, right~? And that's why you just. Can't. Accept. Change. Now can you~? It's just like the Other Ancestor said, you know, there's already a ton of healers here! We're completely redundant, us Sheridans, and you know it! But you just can't accept it now can you~?

We are not--

We are. Totally, totally redundant. There's no point to continuing as you did before...but you can't accept it! Because blah blah, duties of a child of the First City, blah blah, gotta make up for the first murder and all the other bullshit our other ancestors pulled, blah blah blah. I mean really, the Other Ancestor doesn't even seem to care, to say nothing of the one from our world? What's the point?

... Do not discuss things like this wh-

Where other people can hear them, right? That's mommy dearest speaking. Not you. Don't you have opinions and feelings of your own? Well, of course, otherwise I wouldn't be here! [The Shadow grins brashly.] So~? You still don't know anything about yourself, do you? You won't let yourself know, will you? I'm right, aren't I?


... [The real Agatha closes her eyes and takes a deep breath. She knows she's supposed to just accept the Shadow. She knows this. That's what the guy on the network said. She has to just accept it. ... But it's...]

I can't...I can't!

[It's probably the first time she's outright howled in pain in years. The Shadow pauses at that, blinking, before looking...oddly gentle.]

...Wow. All of that pain, all of that misery...It's probably better if you don't have to deal with it anymore, huh? The truth is, you should've just stayed that smiling little girl who wanted to play at being a bird...but life made it otherwise. It's okay, I'll end it for you now.

[And just like that, a ragged, tattered version of Armaiti is summoned - along with the true one, in self-defense.

Round 1, start.]

Comments

[tyrantball]

"Why would Desco want to help someone with a stupid face and a dumb butt?! Desco is here to help Aggie!"

Floating over so she's near Actual Aggie and not Shadow Aggie, and then leveling an accusatory claw at the Shadow.

"Now! As Queen of Evil Deeds and Ruler of Earth, Desco orders you to stop infringing on Aggie's appearance! It is a felony to impersonate one of Desco's hand-picked midbosses!"

[prettytamer]

"Anybody who wants to hurt Agatha gets a punch in the face! It doesn't matter whether you're actually her or not because the real Agatha can decide whether she wants to change herself, not because somebody with her face told her she should!"

Simplified logic, but maybe it worked? Possibly?

[badluckhealer]

"You don't get it, do you...? I suck at making decisions! We're not supposed to do that, we're just supposed to stay out of the way and not get involved. Cursed children should just live and die alone and maybe not get burned at the stake just for existing!"

That actually makes Agatha twitch because, well... "That's..."

"Just admit it already, why don't you? What, afraid that one-eyed bitch will somehow cross time and space just to disapprove? It isn't already fucking obvious that "Mother" never loved us?!"

Another twitch. "...that's..."

"Why does it even matter...? We're just barely this side of human - that's what you've always thought about yourself, so stop denying it!" The Shadow folds her arms and shakes her head. "I've had ENOUGH of people interfering with me! Stop trying to change things!"

Watch out for the pepper spray, guys! ... At least real!Aggie's healing everyone though.

[tyrantball]

Desco is suddenly very happy it is the 13th Hour.

"YOG-SOTHOTH!"

What comes out is not her Persona, Yog Sothoth, but her true form, Yog-Sothoth. (the naming convention is...not the best, but what can you do?) As the fifty-foot tall tentacled horror towers over the battlefield, the titanic golden eye set above the gaping maw narrows.

"Vanish, you faker!"

And with that, laser breath.

[prettytamer]

Laser breath accompanied by a Holy Dance. How dare she call Agatha those things. How dare she. Agatha's always been human to her and even her Shadow saying otherwise can't be forgiven.

[badluckhealer]

There is a loud robotic screeching from all of the attacks, and - is that smoke or steam coming out of her joints? ... Yep.

"EEEEEENOOOOOOOOOUGH!" The Shadow staggers, the crazy smile on her face replaced by a snarl. "You can't defeat me! That's not how it works...that's not how it works! That's not what the rules say...And you're just going to change things?! It's not that easy! It's scary! How dare you do this to me?! I don't want to change! I don't want to get pulled in all these directions! It hurts! Just go away, all of you!"

... She's crying from sheer panic, the Shadow is, even as she heals her wounds.

I can't run from this anymore. Swallowing nervously, the real Agatha asks, "...does anyone have a - a weapon, of some kind?"

[tyrantball]

Desco moves just a little bit closer and gently slips her hand into Aggie's.

"Transform!"

There's a bright flash of light, and when it's over, Aggie is holding a battle axe.

[prettytamer]

"That works. I've got your back."

Exactly what can Desco do? Now's not the time to ask. Midori is ready to heal now that Agatha's ready to attack.

[badluckhealer]

Well, for one...Desco can be a friggin' powerful axe, it seems. Rip and tear!

The Shadow is reacting as anyone would when confronted with an axe. "E-error, error, this situation...it's out of parameters...Why?! I didn't do anything, I didn't do anything!!"

...Or not, considering it just smiled that screwed-up smile again. "Because I'm a coward who's too scared to live! Who doesn't want to live! Why live, right? It's too hard!"

Agatha pauses for a second, holding Desco-axe carefully. She takes a breath, closing her eyes as she figures out how to word it.

"...What the Shadow's saying...it's true, all of it. Exaggerated, but true. For the longest time I did not think I was human, thanks to Mother's teachings. It's still hard to accept it, and if I'd never come here, I probably wouldn't have had to think about it at all. It's difficult to change after being stuck in your ways for that long. It's difficult to start opening up to people after being told to stay closed for so long."

She pauses, opening her eyes to look at the Shadow (who's already healing up) and shaking her head a little. "I probably sound pretty dumb. I know that. ...But I think the people here with me will accept that, you know? If I try to relapse, they're going to drag me back out. I know that.

...I guess what I'm trying to say is that even if you're me, I'm not going to forgive you for hurting my friends and family. Shadow, either go quietly or be killed! Your choice!"


... The Shadow just laughs.
"Prove it, then. Prove that you're a better 'me', or I'll eat you alive! I can still take a few more beatdowns, after all! Tenacity runs in the blood, after all! I hope none of you jerks are plant-based~"

And the fight resumes, with an Agi aimed at the real Agatha and a Desco-axe aimed at the Shadow.

[tyrantball]

One of the two 'blades' of the axe reveals it's actually a mouth as Desco starts speaking.

"Desco is made out of adorable violence, faker! Aggie! Desco has broken the seal on her strongest attack! Use Full Desco Burst!"

[prettytamer]

Midori's demons decide to get the hell out of the way for what a Full Desco Burst is. Midori herself heals Agatha and Desco fully, waiting for the adorable violence to commence.

[the_tv_is_a_lie]

Izanagi and Souji aren't too far off when Desco decides to go all-out, but they're already moving to fall into line with the others. Before long, they can feel their attack strength being bolstered by an outside force; the creator-god's changes bring with it the ability to support everyone that his master's allied with -- namely, everyone that isn't the Shadow Self.

Souji himself remains vigilant, staring down Aggie's other self, and trying to piece together how to resolve this.

thanks Walker for the description of this attack!

[badluckhealer]

The only correct way to deal with it is clearly to allow the Full Desco Burst. At this point, considering how the Shadow's still got MP to burn on healing herself, it'll probably get past that problem! Aggie figures this will probably not be anything too awful. After all, this is an axe. A Desco axe, but...well...axes are for chopping trees, right? "... Let's get this over with! There's a time and a place for running my mouth, and this isn't it!"

> To use Full Desco Burst, please throw Desco up and follow her.

...Uh, okay? This has got to be the weirdest - fine. Agatha throws axe-Desco up and jumps after her.



This is where shit gets weird, folks.

Somehow, Full Desco Burst entails axe-Desco and her wielder teleporting themselves and the enemy into SPAAAAAAAAAAAACE. Shadow Agatha is now on an asteroid.

The asteroid promptly gets blown up with lasers. Somehow the lasers are from the axe and its wielder.

Against all logic, they return to their previous places on the battlefield without any damage from being in space. As in, no asphyxiating, no pressure problems...nothing.

... Though both Agathas seem to need to reboot after this flagrant breaking of the laws of physics. At least the Shadow isn't really doing anything right now, though?

[tyrantball]

The axe sighs happily.

"Ahh, it's been so long since Desco got to bask in the cosmic radiance!"

[prettytamer]

"..."

Midori stares for a second. And then grins.

"That was cool! And pretty weird, but cool!"

[the_tv_is_a_lie]

Souji, on the other hand, is staring at the axe with a massive degree of perplexion, not to mention with a very rare expression on his face -- the expression of someone whose brain just got broken by the sheer trainwreck that just happened.

"...I...uh."

...Yeah, he's got nothing.

[badluckhealer]

"Can we NOT do that again?!"

The Shadow has gone and thrown her hands up in the air in the universal gesture of I surrender!

"There are SO many things about what just happened that are NOT SUPPOSED TO BE POSSIBLE! Augh! This is insane! All of you are insane! That weird move is especially insane! I'm done!"

"...You're me, all right. But I want to protect these people; if you hadn't surrendered, then probably..." Agatha cuts herself off, shaking her head. "You get the picture."

"I'm done, I'm done!"

... with that, the Shadow disappears.

"...We won, right?"