[Backdated to October 13, at night]

[demifemme]

Who: Shura and Nicholas Reeve
Where: Capricorn Ward, 13th hour
Summary: Shura makes good on her promise to help Nick unveil his Persona
Warnings: Combat, probably swearing


It was already late when Shura knocked at Nick's apartment door, dressed in her combat uniform: shorts, shoes and nothing else. She was still a bit sore from the tournament; not physically, but mentally. She couldn't believe she'd lost. She figured training Nick would be a good way to shake herself out of her funk, and maybe acquire yet another skill for her Persona so that next tournament she could crush her adversary like she crushed her enemies back in her world.

Comments

[ghost_shield]

"No, but let's do this anyway." He grasps the pendant around his neck a bit more. He may need the focus tonight. Even without it, he can sense a distinct shift in the air...

[demifemme]

"Heads up!" The 13th Hour has barely started that a pack of Inugami is heading straight for them, growling and barking, their much too sharp teeth bared. Shura gets into her fighting stance but doesn't do anything yet.

[ghost_shield]

"Yeow!" Nick does the first thing that comes to mind, focusing his energy through the focus and... making a shield. A somewhat flickery shield; it's hard to say whether it'll repel attacks or just dampen them. Better than nothing, anyway.

[demifemme]

The flickering enrages one of the dogs who dives for Nick, while the others focus on Shura. One of them uses Fire Breath on Shura, who has just summoned her Persona. Her weak to Fire Persona.

She screams and recoils, slapping the flames licking her pants.

[ghost_shield]

Oh crap crap crap, this is not going well for a start at ALL. And now one of those things is leaping at him and she's hurt and this is really bad and he just kinda wants to protect...

I am thou, thou art I...

...and wouldn't you know it, there it is. The name "Anubis" runs through Nick's mind, but more importantly, a spell runs through his head -- Marakukaja -- and suddenly that shield he'd tried to make before actually feels more effective, dulling the scrape of claws on his arm just enough, and more than likely making Shura feel a little bit more durable too.

Wow. That was pretty intense.

[demifemme]

With the shield boosting her defence in place thanks to Nick, Shura is able to resummon Matador - "COME!" - and cast Magaru on all the Inugamis attacking them, taking out half of them easily, leaving the rest to try a desperate attack before Shura could summon again.

[ghost_shield]

Uh, um. Okay, uh. Persona are supposed to all be able to fight a bit, right? Nick braces himself and attempts to cast...

...nothing. He can't think of a single offensive maneuver. Oh SON of a BI --

The Persona simply darts in front of Shura instead, taking the brunt of the attack and leaving Nick reeling a bit. He just KNEW it wouldn't be as easy as that.

[demifemme]

That is not what she had planned for at all. "What are you doing?" she shouts before summoning her Persona by tossing her hand in the air and finishing off the last of the Inugamis with Magaru. Good thing they were weak to Wind.

"Are you okay?" she asks as she runs to Nick, her arms still smelling like grilled pork and bleeding teethmarks on her shoulders.

[ghost_shield]

He catches his breath, still feeling the sting of their attack. "Y... yeah... Sorry." He pushes himself up. "I guess... it was a bit much to expect that my Persona would be any better at attacking than I am," he replies, chuckling slightly bitterly.

He looks at her, and blinks. "Hey... you've got this string or something attached to you, did you know that?" he asks.

[demifemme]

"Don't feel bad. That Rakukaja came right on time." She checks him for injury, but he seems to be okay in general.

"A string?" She looks around. "Where?"

[ghost_shield]

"Right here, just..." He sort of bats at where he sees it over her head, then frowns. "That's odd, I don't actually feel it. What IS that, I wonder?"

He looks around, and blinks. "I can see a bunch of other ones extending out of the city, too. This is... kinda trippy actually," he says.

[demifemme]

Shura suddenly chuckles. "Don't tell me I have to marry whoever's at the other end..."

[ghost_shield]

"Well, they're not RED, if that helps."

He takes his glasses off. Rubs his eyes. Puts them back on. Nope. Still there. "Maybe this is something I should ask about later," he mutters. He looks back at her. "Anyway, I wonder if we should retreat for now? If all I can do is throw up a shield and, uh..." He furrows his brow. "'Protect against light' or something, then maybe we should pull back for now." He looks up a bit. "Oh, and apparently I can tell you what Personas you've got. Boy, THAT'S useful."

[demifemme]

"If you want to go back, I have no problem with that. S'why I picked a combat area not too far from the building. But first..."

With a little focus and a sudden raising of her hand, a hideous, tall, orange creature full of teeth from tiny head to pelvis appeared and cast a spell on both Shura and Nick with a spectral groan before disappearing. "Now demons will have a harder time spotting us."

[ghost_shield]

He starts, jumping back a bit. "The hell was that?" he asks.

[demifemme]

Shura blinks. "My Pisaca. It's a dungeon crawling demon and... uh... I guess I should have warned you first. Sorry."

[ghost_shield]

"I see. It's, uh..."

Freaky-deaky looking.

"Unique." He scratches his head. "So what'd it cast, exactly?"

[demifemme]

"The Picasas are ghost of humans who led bad lives. They feed on corpses, so they look like... what you saw." One demon lesson you didn't need, Nick!

"It cast Estoma. It's a spell that suppresses our presence, like our aura and scent, so that demons will be less likely to attack us. We have I think about an hour to make it back home."

[ghost_shield]

"Ghosts who lived bad lives..." A sympathetic look washes over his face. "What a rotten fate. If only they had some chance to atone... Well, I'm not saying they'd take it, but the opportunity should be available at least."

He turns to her. "Anyway, if it's going to take an hour, we'd better get started. Just hope we don't get sidetracked somehow."

[demifemme]

"I'm sure reincarnation takes care of it eventually..." She looks at a Nue passing by and ignoring them completely, waiting for it to be gone before speaking.

"Let's go," and she begins heading west.