destinystrings | Masquerade [Open to all]

Masquerade [Open to all]

Who: Everyone
Where: Near Scorpio's Central Art District
Summary: You all did good. Halloween is being celebrated in style.
Warnings: Nothing for the moment. Costumes?
Congratulations!

You've proven your worth to the city of Hinoto-Ri and this year the Masquerade is dedicated to you. You deserve the party, considering you saved the city from the Zodiac Monster! Besides, on the most powerful spiritual days, even the demons take a day off and enjoy a time of frightful good times with the humanoids.

The lights are all colored blue and purple, and the streets are filled with partygoers of all ages, in both fantastic and some-not-that-fantastic costumes. Pumpkins appear to be floating in the air, but once you come closer, you realize they are Pyro Jacks attending around. This is THEIR favorite holiday and they wouldn't have let it gone to waste!

Originally the Masquerade was to be celebrated around Scorpio's art center, but with the rebuilding still in process, it was moved close by, with the office of wands preparing all the charms needed. The streets need to be protected, considering the Full Moon was just a few days ago.

If you find yourself without any money, no worries! The Government has given you a bonus paycheck for your hard work last week. Costume shopping should be no problem, and the are still stores nearby selling their wears for last minute shopping!

With a small secure sector, it's sure to be an extra fantastic celebration of dancing, music and just watching both humans and demons going at it without much care. Candy is floating around thanks to the Pyro Jacks, grab something and try not to ruin your teeth. Hey, who IS that guy just passed by? Hard to tell.

After all, with these combination of Halloween costumes and a more high class masquerade ballgowns and masks, who knows is really human and who isn't?

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"Hnph."

As Sasuke continues down the street, he will walk into someone dressed in a very realistic lion-dog costume as he rounds the corner. ...Hyper-realistic. The eyes blink and everything and man, they must really be scrunched up in there to be going about on all fours. The Shiisaa snorts as it bounds up to the two.

"Hey, kid! You know where the food's at? It's a celebration, so there's gotta be some grub."

...

He's seen talking animals before. And in a place like this? A talking monster doesn't really seem like all that much of a stretch. Yeah, he's pretty convinced this isn't just a costumed partygoer, but hey, if that turns out to be the case, he'll have to ask how they did it.

"There's food... around." It's a vague answer, but also the best he could manage. "If you find a floating jack o' lantern, there will probably be food floating along with it."

"Ehh. Take my word for it; Pyro Jacks ain't worth the trouble. Fussy ol' things pack a lotta heat."

Shiisaa shakes its elaborate mane and licks at its front paw. ...It would be a stretch of the imagination to believe this was merely a costume at this point. As it turns its head to the side, it suddenly perks up.

"Nankurunaisa! Found my meal!"

......And there it goes. Making a beeline straight for Kurou on the wall.

Kurou gives a growl, attempting to leap past Shiisaa. While Sasuke doesn't react quite as immediately as the cat, he's still quick to summon Snake. His Persona does not hesitate to lash out with Double Fangs to try to draw attention away from the cat.

He is of course aware this is probably a bad idea, but he owes Kurou that much after what the cat's gone through for him.

"Tch -- The heck?!"

Shiisaa bounds away from the Persona, its gaping mouth revealing substantial fangs of its own. It's difficult to discern its true expression underneath the permanent grin...

"You've got guts, kid, attacking a holy beast!"

The creature shakes its mane again and lets loose a bellow; this is followed by bolts of lightning that shoot towards Kurou, Sasuke, and his Persona alike.

Kurou at least manages to avoid the lightning, but Sasuke and the Snake are not so lucky. And to top it off, it really hurts - so much that Sasuke is stunned from the pain.

"Ghk-!"

Kurou isn't stupid enough to try to take on a creature like this. But on the other hand, it's not going to just sit idly by while the person who took it in so long ago is fighting to protect him, either. So please ignore the cat running off to grab the attention of the nearest human if you will, Shiisaa.

"Hehehe! You even have a battle before, kid? Don't attack something you don't think you can beat!"

The Shiisaa bounds forward, its attention successfully drawn away from the ~~delicious meal~~ cat now - to be fair, cat was pretty stringy for its tastes, anyway. It heads for what it judges to be the actual threat here - the snake - and lets loose with a Power Hit.

The Snake is thrown back for a moment, but with encouragement from Sasuke's will, it darts forwards again with another Double Fangs attack.

They're drawing a lot of attention though, much to Sasuke's dismay. Escaping from here isn't going to be easy... More as a backup than anything else, he draws a previously concealed dagger, still keeping it mostly hidden as he inches to the side. Attacking the Shiisaa head on was obviously suicide, but if he can slip from its gaze...

Shiisaa is fond of attention. It means more people feed him treats when he's done curbstomping this uppity kid who totally attacked unprovoked out of nowhere. The lightning crackles again as it shoots forth with its Elec-based attack, slamming into Snake as it strikes with the Double Fangs. Though Shiisaa is sent bounding back with some significant damage, a jawful of electricity probably didn't do much good for the Persona, either.

"Give it up, kid! Nankurunaisa! I'll take an apology whenever ya want."

Snake is stunned as a result, and Sasuke isn't feeling too great either after his inner self is assaulted. But he shows no signs of backing down, either.

"I'm not going to apologize for protecting my cat." It's thanks to Kurou that he's gotten out of as many close scrapes as he has, and he doesn't plan to repay the cat by leaving him to be eaten by demons.

...Nor is he going to leave Snake to the same fate. He allows his Persona to vanish, his body tense and ready to run if it turns out he has to. "I don't want to fight. If you would be willing to settle for festival food, I can get you that myself. Just don't harm that cat."

"...........Look, kid, most people say things like 'hey that's my pet' instead of throwing a giant serpent at me." The creature closes its mouth for once and looks vaguely irritated. "If you like the mangy furball, I'll find something else for dinner."

Shiisaa yawns slightly as it shakes its mane again. "Hey, how string would you say you are, kid?"

"I couldn't know if you would stop or not, so that's all I could think of to distract you."

If the Shiisaa is expecting much of a reaction from that second question, he's not getting it. "Honestly speaking, I don't think I would taste very good. Not to mention, devouring a person in a crowded place like this probably won't draw any good attention to you. In the worst case scenario, the other Persona users in the area would respond immediately by taking you on all at once."

An awful lot of effort for a kid who looks to be mostly skin and bones. "I told you, I don't mind getting you some other kind of food if you're really that hungry. But attacking the animals or humans here probably isn't worth the trouble."

"Hehehe! You're too serious, kid. This is a party, lighten up!"

Shiisaa's gaping maw opens once again as it grins. It is not a very reassuring expression.

"Weird how you things think about the world. Cats are cute, but mice are dirty! It's all the same to me - meat."

"If it's that weird, just think of that cat as one of my friends. It's not true of all humans, but some of us treasure that kind of a relationship."

"Nankurunaisa! Fun part of being alive is making new friends! Go find some mice; they're pretty lively friends, hehehe."

It is at this point that black cat has finally found the closest human, who... is dressed in a costume too embarrassing to even describe. The tall skinny Jack Frost comes bounding over, huffing and panting.

"Shiisaa! What've you been getting yourself into?!"

Sasuke glances back, holding out an arm for Kurou to leap onto. The cat seems to understand his intent, finding a perch comfortably on his shoulder. He relaxes slightly to see Kurou's safe; if it comes down to it, they could both make a break for it and easily reconvene.

"...You know this demon?"

"He's one of mine."

Atsuro frowns and prods Shiisaa in the forehead as the demon shifts uncomfortably.

"You look guilty. What happened?"

One of his...? So there are demons owned by humans in this place?

"He tried to eat my cat." He places a hand on the cat's head as he mentions it.

The poking becomes something more like jabbing.

"You don't even need to eat! You're fed by energy from the COMP!"

Before Shiisaa has a chance to protest, Atsuro pokes a few buttons on the game system he pulls out, grumbling all the while.

"I can't go anywhere with these guys..."

Sasuke's eyeing that COMP with interest. He's aware of game systems as Things that Exist, but he's definitely not too familiar with them personally. Still, he has to wonder if he's not simply misidentifying the item - after all, why in the world would you take out a game of all things while dealing with a demon?

"...What is that?"

The Shiisaa vanishes as Sasuke is speaking. Atsuro turns around with an apologetic expression.

"Sorry about that. ...That one actually means well; he's just a little..." He trails off as he scratches at the side of his head. "This? It's how I control the demons."

His eyes widen a fraction as the demon disappears. It looks even simpler than sending away one's Persona... Which would actually make a certain amount of sense, really.

"Where did you get it?"

"Ah... That's a long story." Atsuro manages a smile even as the expression on his face grows a bit somber. "It's from my world, though - same with the demons on it. I don't think it's something you can get access to here."

"Your world has demons?" There really are all types, it seems. "...That demon from before looked similar enough to the ones here, I wouldn't have guessed it was from another world."

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Masquerade [Open to all]

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