[Game Opening, Part 4 : Mission 1 - Take Out the Bull by the Horns]

[stringmods]

Who: Yu, Akihiko, Kanji, Minako, Guybrush, Link (Ocarina of Time), Shinjiro, Margaret, Yosuke, Kotetsu, Barnaby, Daichi, Gentarou, Mitsuru
Where: Middle of the F1 in Taurus; Nyx's Night Club.
Summary: Taurus Sector Mission
Warnings: Drinking, Smoking, Swearing, Brothels, Naughty Persona, Implied Everything.


You might feel a little out of your league. After they took you into a room where a series of robots cleaned and dressed you up, you were all put inside a limousine together. There appears to be a lot of drinks inside, but go easy on the rum! You need to keep your wits about you soon. Your driver is one of the many men in black from the Government. You are all members of a rich family; it says so on your fake entrance cards. No need to wait in line like the other peons, oh no, you get to come in as guests of honor.

Your mission is Calculated Infiltration.

And not just anywhere, but Nyx's Night Club! The hottest nightclub, it also requires a strict dressing code. According to the Government's Task force, the source of the disturbance detected in the sector is in the lower levels. Unfortunately, it is heavily guarded and with a lot of civilians nearby, quite possibly drunk, you cannot just waltz in. First step will be locating your double agent and contact who will supply you with a password. Using your COMP system, you should be able to locate them in the large crowd that has gathered tonight. No name, and no clue or idea who they are. Simply that your audio function will register a match when you do find them.

Of course, this is Nyx's Nightclub! Like everything else here, it's got a rather shady side. The Brothel and Drug Cartel below are your true targets. Word is that one of the heads of Anoli is a honored guest, and that the bar's owner is a sympathizer.

As in every city, there is a fine line between tolerance and allowing your foes to go around as they please. Whatever they are conducting down there, it had the sirens going off. You need to find out why, exactly.


Lucky you.

As you enter the Club, music starts blaring into your ears, as lasers, lights, drinks, and people dancing in cages surround you in a visual and audio orgy. It's hard to see, but you need to stay in character, and find your contact. Once one of you does, you can proceed on.

[OOC : For now, you can start threads trying to find their contact, OR there reaction to being there. MINGLE AS A TEAM IF YOU WANT :3. As with every log like this, ONCE THEY GET TO THE LOWER LEVELS, you are free to start your own thread and have your characters stop swarm of monsters on your own. Don't forget to write your character's Persona awakening later on as well!]

Comments

[themortalhalf]

And he hopes she's the only one who does tonight, and that Minako attracts the same amount of interest.

If that happens, he'll be able to leave this place in a reasonably better mood.

He's about to reply, when he feels an entirely unwelcome presence hanging on his arm. His muscles stiffen at the touch, and his head jerks to the left. His eyes narrow as he stares at the woman responsible for the intrusion, evaluating her. How are they supposed to find their contact again? Voice recognition? So all they have to do is wait for a confirmed signal match from the COMP system, and that's it?

"Yeah?" he says, eyes flickering over to Minako briefly, before drawing them back, looking the older woman in the eyes. "Hope you have something to offer. Otherwise I'm taken tonight."

[greatseal]

Now normally, Minako isn't the jealous type. Her own personality is way too flirty to worry about that sort of thing. But the way this... woman? Is she even human? latched herself onto Shinjiro when she'd clearly made the first move rubs her entirely the wrong way.

"Very taken." It's just short of catty.

[naughtynightclan]

The sound waves registered as negative. Oh but Minako! Don't be jealous, you had to learn to share.

"Oh don't worry, I do have something to offer..." with her free hand, she indicated the entire bar itself. "You are in my nightclub, in fact. I suppose I shall have to scold your Family superiors for not telling them about me! Very, very, naughty." Before he could speak, she had disappeared in a small cloud of smoke and reappeared before them, a well-manicured clawed hand touching her lips, grinning.

"Now there's something about you, my dear, that almost feels familiar..." Again, without waiting for permission, she ran her hand into Minako's hair...before giving her a kiss on the forehead.

"You two play safe, hmmm? There's a full moon tonight. While the demons here such as myself are much more classy than the fools outside, it is...oh quite an empowering night for us. Especially for me." A man passed by and she ran her fingers in his neck, and he instantly fell to the floor from her touch, beaming.

>Nyx's Kiss will protect Minako from Charm Status Effects throughout the night.

[themortalhalf]

...Well, that was sufficiently disturbing.

He stares at the incapacitated man on the floor, surprise creeping into his expression for a few long seconds before it melts back into the same stoic mask as before.

His eyes carefully drift back to Minako, making sure she didn't have the same, star-eyed, dopy look on her, mouth thinning into a hard line. "We'll keep that in mind. Unless you'd like to tell us who else to avoid so we can have a good time tonight without ending up as someone else's entertainment."

[greatseal]

The kiss leaves an odd tingle and Minako is sure it's had some effect, but there's other things to think about. The owner of Nyx's Night Club.

...It can't really be the same one, right?

...She collects herself, smiling again and banishing the earlier touch of jealousy. "Yes, thank you for the advice. We'll be careful."

[naughtynightclan]

"Ahh, there's my charming co-owner Lilith that you might want to stay away from, if you're looking to be a little more quiet." She crosses her arms, ignoring the man that gets dragged away by the bouncers and pushed outside of the bar.

"And remember...mine is the night, with all her stars. Don't drink too much."

[themortalhalf]

He frowns, logging the name away. "We'll try to find something else to do."

[greatseal]

"But we'll be sure to have fun."

...Now come on, Shinji, let's get away from this woman without causing a scene. Minako is still latched on to his arm.

[themortalhalf]

She's the boss.

The demon-woman is not someone hs Shinjiro feels he should turn his back on, but he nods, pivoting on his heels, and waits until they have moved far enough out of earshot before turning to Minako again.

"You okay?"

[greatseal]

"Of course, why shouldn't I be?" She's not letting go of his arm, though. "She just gave us some interesting information."

[themortalhalf]

He just gives her a withering look. A demon just kissed you on the forehead, idiot, and seemed interested in you besides. What do you think?

"If it's true." Or, rather, how much of it is.

'And mine is the night, with all her stars.'

The last bit sounded like a code word. It was fancy enough. ...But the COMP would have gone off if she was their contact. And wasn't she under suspicion for being a sympathizer with, what was it, Anoli? To hell with politics.

[greatseal]

Oh, she knows what he was thinking. She just doesn't care. She doesn't feel sick, so...

"...I meant what I said earlier, though. You look nice."

[themortalhalf]

Well, he cares. Get used to it.

"T-Thanks."

It's not much of one, but there's a slight flush in response to her words, and he immediately looks away. For all you know, it could just be because of the damn suit.

"...So do you."

That's what he's supposed to say during this kind of thing, right? Damn it, he's bad at this.

And it's not a lie. She does look good—or whatever fancy adjective you'd want to replace it with. It was hard enough to look at her during the limo ride over. Certainly a prime time to discover one's hormones were still working and had survived the transplant from one realm to another. Makes him feel like a a stupid kid just hitting his teens. He just needs to slide his mind back into the game, slide back into that familiar mindset, and search for whatever magical voice they're supposed to be finding in this crowd.

But how was she even supposed to fight in that dress, anyway?

[greatseal]

The same way she fought in the maid dress or the battle panties. He'll probably see her later tonight when the fighting starts with a strategic tear in the skirt, for mobility purposes....

Completely not because she's enjoying the blush she brought to his face.

"It's a little too bad this doesn't look like the right place for slow dancing." Because she wouldn't mind teasing getting him to dance with her for a song or two.

[themortalhalf]

This is going to be one hell of a long night.

"I don't dance."

[greatseal]

Wrong answer. "Have you tried?"

[themortalhalf]

What do you think? You have three guesses, and the first two don't count. "I'm not that kind of guy."

[greatseal]

"How can you know if you won't try?" Shinji you're working your way into a bad situation here.

[themortalhalf]

"Like I said, maybe it's because I know what kind of guy I'm not. I'm not"—elegant or refined or someone you'd want to be seen dancing with if you would just take two minutes to think about it— "like that."

He'd probably step on her feet and shit.

(Even though he wouldn't.)

It isn't his way. He's got calluses on his hands from working nightshifts sometimes at the Port's docks, unloading supplies that come in, sometimes until the first hints of sunrise, working with people who don't give a damn how old you are, only that you can work.

They're not hands that lead a girl gently along the dance room floor. That's reserved for people who are from a softer world than he is.

[greatseal]

"I wouldn't mind if you stepped on my feet."

It's not reading his mind, just reading his expression and going from there. In her view he's treading the line now between 'I'm just not interested' and 'I'm afraid to be.' As long as reality falls into the last category, she finds it her duty to keep pushing.

[themortalhalf]

He arches an eyebrow. That's good of an observation as any, stuck somewhere in the road in-between the dichotomy. In the middle of the answer he's always falled back on and refined and the perhaps more honest one that lies beneath.

"Yeah?"

Let's see how good you are at hearing the words spoken in silence then.

Because he would.

[greatseal]

"Mmhm... But I think you'd learn fast."

She knows he doesn't like hurting her even if she asks for it.

[themortalhalf]

"...It ain't that simple."

His eyes dart forward, scanning the crowd. The demons. People. Picking out faces, reading them. Checking every now and then if a voice registers on his device. After a moment, he chooses a direction, to cut through the thick of the crowd and weave.

"This way."

[greatseal]

Well, now she can't predict what he's planning anymore, so she does what he asks. Weaving through the crowd in his wake, also keeping an eye on his own device. This evening is definitely about business even if she's been having as much fun as she can. Being taller than her he's at least easy to spot, so she doesn't get lost even when they cross the thickest part of the room.

[themortalhalf]

Not so much planning as falling back on an old failsafe, leaning on it like a crutch. When he needed to clear his head, he moved; when he needed to escape Aki's worried, nagging eyes, he left the conversation. The impulse ran deep, almost like the electric undercurrent of noise pulsing through the nightclub. It also helped him concentrate and worry less. It was better when his mind wasn't left to wander and brood.

And they did need to search. The sooner they were out of here, the happier he'd be.

But he notices, after a minute, almost guiltily—when he looks back to check on her after confirming negatives on his COMP, seeing that she's just behind but keeping up—that in a way he's almost left her. Maybe it's strange since he's the one leading the way, so used to following. That's how dancing works, too, doesn't it. One leads while the other follows? Tch.

He stops, and half turns. He then offers her his arm—almost his hand, but thinks better of it—as they still need to get through the other half. "C'mon." The less savory creatures here might get ideas if she's alone.

...Not that she can't handle herself, mind.

"Why dancing?"