01 - Blizzard Samba

[selfgodded]

Who: Anant and OPEN
Where: Capricorn - Central Park at Night
Summary: Anant is sharpening their claws - literally - on the demon populace
Warnings: Violence obviously. I'll tone down on the gore, but I can get carried away, ahaha...

Anant had never really seen snow before. It was soft and powdery in some areas of the park, and they simply had to stop and kneel down in it, pushing their hands into the icy coldness and fluffing it up. Little snowflakes drifted down from the sky lazily as well, and Anant would be perfectly content to watch them, sitting in the snow all night if need be, utterly entranced.

But Anant had come here for a purpose, and that was For Exercise.

They were used to being in perpetual movement, in perpetual exercise, and being holed up in one city, bound inside the walls, they felt caged. They felt bottled up. They were unable to use up the power that purred inside of them, and It began to get snappish at them - so Anant went to use it up. The demon populace were allowed to be played with, so Anant chose them as their playmates.

Out in the snowy fields of Capricorn's park, you may see a masked figure wielding glowing, electrified golden gauntlets against a pack of Baihu. The snow had enticed the white furred tiger demons out into the open, and Anant quite enjoyed their lightning quick movements and bellowing roars. If Anant didn't like humans so much, powerful beasts like these would definitely be a close second!

Comments

[forceofnature]

"Ugh."

Given that it was highly impractical to be speaking through a communicator during the middle of a battle, Viridi gives up any pretense about not using her telepathy and speaks directly into Anant's ear.

"Winter is for staying indoors and soaking in a tub with a mug of cocoa. I'm getting cold just watching you frolicking around. What are you even doing?"

[selfgodded]

"Oh, good evening!" Anant chirped merrily, twisting quickly to smash a brutal backhand against a lunging Baihu's jaw. The poor beast went flying several metres, kicking up a flurry of snow, and Anant curled the claws of their gauntlets, little hisses of steam spluttering at the knuckles where it connected with the demon.

They were a lot more durable than mere wolves. Anant could feel the magic recoil go straight to their head.

It was Fun.

Anant watched the rest of the Baihu pack circle them, flexing their claws and causing little sparks to flare up where they scraped against one another.

"I am playing with the demon populace. I need to exercise, and I found these willing playmates."

[forceofnature]

"Weird. We seem to define 'play' differently in our worlds." Viridi is, as always, the epitome of wit as she drily comments on Anant's rather brutal methods for participating in play. Despite her outrage at the callous loss of life so easily inflicted by humans, she doesn't seem terribly disturbed by what she sees.

They were demons, after all.

"Try tae bo. It's easier to clean up afterwards."

[selfgodded]

"Tae Bo? I do not know what that is," Anant replied, sliding back a step when one Baihu surged towards them, forcing Anant to ram their energy gauntlet into its mouth to hold it back. The beast's fangs were sharp and painful, and they ground down on the gauntlet with a powerful force.

With a quiet hissing noise, Anant wrenched their arm to the side and slammed the Baihu into the snow, the sudden shift in weight making them swing their leg over the fallen Baihu's form, half-crouching over the beast to catch their balance. The others were keeping their distance for now.

"Do you wish to join me? It is fun to play with company, and these demons are poor conversationalists."

[forceofnature]

"No thanks." There echoes the sound of a petite sneeze. "Like I said. Hot tub and cocoa." Though given that she was warm and snug in her sanctuary at the moment, it was probably an affectation.

"You go ahead and have your fun. We can do the conversation thing even with me up here. Hold on, though, I'm going to make some popcorn."

[selfgodded]

Anant lifted their shoulders in a 'suit yourself' manner, and wrenched their gauntlet free from the stunned Baihu's mouth. They then curled their claws into a tight fist and rammed it right into the demon's throat, a wet squelching noise squeaking out in the otherwise still, night air.

"Ah, oh dear..." Anant hummed, straightening up as blood sizzled on the surface of its gauntlets, the now dead Baihu vanishing in a crackle of energy. "I accidentally killed it."

[forceofnature]

"Isn't that the point? Collect your EXP and re-allocate your stats and do the same thing a few hundred times over again and we'll have it made."

Viridi apparently doesn't think highly of the RPG genre.

"I should hope these things wouldn't be much of a match for a god. Maybe Pyrrhon."

[selfgodded]

Anant rubbed their claws together, sparks leaping into the bloodied snow below. "EXP? Stats? I do not understand. I was merely playing. I don't like killing things."

A roar tugged at their attention, and they half-turned to see another Baihu lunge at him. It seemed the death of their comrade had motivated them a bit more, and Anant only had time to lift their gauntlets up as a shield before the beast's massive weight slammed into them, sending them both tumbling into the snow.

The Baihu's jaws snapped down, but Anant wedged the forearm part of the gauntlet into the beast's mouth, strangely seeming unconcerned as the Baihu wrenched its head this way and that as if trying to rip off Anant's arm. It probably was. Anant's shoulder was hurting from the abuse.

"Perhaps I should retreat?" Anant thought aloud, their free arm resting on the snow and not moving to assist. The snow was rapidly melting where the glowing gauntlet rested, the grass beneath blackening from prolonged contact to the magic.

[forceofnature]

"...Oookay. Scratch what I said just now; it seems rude in hindsight." Viridi sounds slightly uncertain as the Baihus redouble their assault; still, they were just overgrown tigers, right? A god shouldn't have any trouble dealing with the mooks; it was a bit concerning if such a small group of these demons possessed as much strength as they were displaying here.

"Do you need help or something? Well. Moral support, I guess. I usually send in my forces, but I'm kinda short on troops at the moment."

[bondsofsuffering]

It was only a matter of time before Hizumi would begin snooping around the Dark Hour. He'd heard, of course, of the dangers of the hour. Even just watching from his apartment had been informative as to what kinds of creatures tended to show up during the time.

And yet, all he bothered to arm himself with was the revolver he had arrived with, putting much more priority on obtaining warm clothes so he wouldn't freeze on his night walk. He's not too concerned with getting injured thank to his genetic heritage, but it's only too easy to become frozen without actually dying, and he'd prefer to avoid that if at all possible.

Fortunately, he know how to be at least minimally stealthy. Slipping past the Shadows and demons to the best of his ability, he only stops when he sees a flurry of activity in the park. With one of his usual smiles, he leans against a tree to watch.

[selfgodded]

Although Anant was 'playing' with the Baihu, their movements were nothing short of brutal. The golden claws grasped and wrenched at the lunging beasts, throwing them aside like ragdolls or backhanding them viciously to send them rolling over the snow.

Curiously, Anant didn't use the sharp looking claws in battle - because they were 'playing'. The claws could slice through flesh like butter, and although Anant was being rough with these beasts, they weren't dying. They'd probably leave bruised and with broken bones, but those were minor injuries to demons.

However, while Anant was playing, the Baihu were clearly not, and when they swatted aside one noticably large beast, one Baihu rammed into Anant's back, forcing them both down into the snow - the beasts jaws immediately clamping down on the God's shoulder.

[bondsofsuffering]

He's not exactly an expert on fighting, but he's no fool, either. He can tell when a person is toying with their opponent, and when Anant was apparently downed he didn't make a single move to aid the self-proclaimed god. Instead, he silently rested his thumb on the safety of his revolver; he's more wary of one of the Baihu noticing his presence than any danger they may pose to Anant.

[selfgodded]

Anant pondered while the bones in their shoulder snapped. It seemed that their playmates were a bit vicious tonight, and Anant's shoulder was hurting now as a result. Pain was a rather strange thing to them. It was felt, but not comprehended. It was only really regarded as something mildly unpleasant, an indicator that something was damaged, before being ignored.

The Baihu wrenched its head sideways, almost ripping a chunk out of Anant's shoulder, and they retaliated. There was a sudden smell of ozone, and with a low rumbling crackle... Anant electrocuted the poor Baihu in a similar manner to an electric eel.

The jaws around their shoulder tightened even more before the Baihu released them, the great beast staggering away before collapsing into the snow in a twitching pile, its chest heaving as it let out shuddering, great snorts.

Anant climbed to their feet, the coat ripped at the shoulder with splotches of blood beginning to soak through the dark fabric - and proceeded to ignore the remaining Baihu to pull worriedly at the tears in their coat, letting out a small, inquiring noise.

Broken bones, torn muscle... always painful to heal...

[bondsofsuffering]

Well that had to hurt. For both of them, really. However, he's also not overly concerned about Anant. That person had been doing just fine against the demons, and didn't even seem to be all that worried about their own wounds. And after that display of power... Hizumi wouldn't exactly be shocked if it turned out they had a way of fixing their wounds with a similar ability. This world just seemed to be one of those places where such a thing could even be considered common.

Hizumi turns so that his back is against the tree, watching Anant and the Baihu out of the corners of his eyes. Slowly, he brings the revolver up in front of his face, rather like one of those characters on a movie poster. As he plants his feet a little more firmly on the icy ground beneath the snow, there's a light crunching. Hopefully not enough to alert any of the demons, but even if it did he'd be a little more prepared to fight back.

[selfgodded]

Anant twitched at the crunch of snow, their senses hyperaware, and glanced over their shoulder to see Hizumi leaning against the tree. Completely dismissing the Baihu threat entirely, the strange person turned and raised one glowing gauntlet in greeting.

"Do you wish to join me?" they called.

[bondsofsuffering]

Oops, caught. He gives a small wave before gesturing to the gun in hand. "This is just for self-defense. You can keep at it if you like!"

[selfgodded]

"You are free to join me if you- ah!"

The Baihu didn't like being ignored, apparently, and Anant had to quickly duck and prance away when one of the tiger demons attempted to ram into him, snow being kicked up everywhere.

[andcarryabigknife]

A humanoid monster suddenly rushes in from behind Anant. His... it looks like a green cape draped on its shoulders, but it looks organic as well. Whatever it is, it flutters lightly in the wind as the monster uses the knife-like claw the sprouted between his toes to finish off the must injured Baihu quickly, cutting through fur and flesh as if through butter. His tall head, made of nothing but a crocodile-like jaw sporting massive teeth, clamps down on the Baihu's neck to drag him aside.

"You shouldn't play with food," the monster says in a deep, guttural voice before beginning to methodically devour the dead Baihu.

[selfgodded]

Anant lowered their gauntlets when the other Baihu immediately backed off at the sight of the newcomer, the powerful beasts prowling a few metres away with uncertain growls. Anant was watching the newcomer devour the Baihu, their gaze intently curious.

"Mm? But I wished to play. This is for exercise..." Anant flexed their claws, the golden appendages scraping against one another to cause sparks to fly into the snow. "I do not like killing things, strange creature."

[andcarryabigknife]

"Then why seek them out to hurt them?" Gale/Vayu did not comprehend. Clearly the Baihus were enemies. Enemies were meant to be killed, not toyed with. Gale vastly preferred a swift and efficient attack plan to kill the maximum number of enemy in the optimal amount of time than this wasteful "playing" that this person was doing.

[selfgodded]

"I do not hurt. I play," Anant tutted. "Once we have our fill, I will leave, and they will leave. However killing one of their own would spark emotions of vengeance no doubt. Aaaaah, we will have to kill the entire pack now, if they do not flee..."

Anant pointed abruptly at the newcomer with one, wickedly sharp claw. "You! You must take responsibility for your actions!"

[andcarryabigknife]

Vayu snapped his bloodied jaw at Anant. "Responsibilities?"

[selfgodded]

"Indeed," Anant lifted up a gauntlet, clicking the sharp claws together and sending sparks flying. "Apology will not work, no doubt - oh look, they are regrouping already - so, you must fight them. It will be poor taste for you to murder one, devour it, and then flee to leave myself to deal with the consequences."

Of course, if a human did it, Anant would no doubt be swooning over it and cooing over how ~*free*~ humans are - but alas, Vayu is not human so JUDGEMENT.

[andcarryabigknife]

If only Anant knew who was under Vayu... but now was not the time for this. Now was time to fight the angry Baihus.

Vayu moved in for the kill with a grace that seemed completely out of place for such a creature. Then again, said creature could balance on one foot and dice a Baihu with the other while avoiding attacks from the others.

Lost in the heat of the battle dance, Vayu did not even realize when a god appeared above him, ending the battle by defeating the last Baihu with a Skull Cracker. He stopped in the middle of the battlefield, standing still on one leg for long moments. He did not comprehend this phenomena. Was this "Persona"? It disappeared soon, however, and Gale filed this interrogation in his mind for later. Retracting its blades, Vayu walked to the nearest Baihu.

"I have taken responsibility," he said flatly before he began devouring the fallen demons.

[selfgodded]

Anant dismissed their gauntlets with a shake of their hands, watching the strange creature flit through the group with an unnatural stillness. They 'ooh'd a little at the appearance of a spectre above the other - oh, was the Persona phenomenon they had been hearing about? - and slowly prowled over to where Vayu was devouring one of the fallen Baihu.

"Fascinating! It seems a creature such as yourself possess the 'Persona'! Strange, I presumed only those with enough substance to a Soul could possess one..."