Making new friends

[all_wound_up]

Who: Nano Shinonome and her Personas, Pinocchio and Chirashizushi.
Where: Out and about in town
When: The 13th hour between December 2nd and 3rd
Summary: Nano hasn't had much call to use either of her Personas, so she's taking each of them out for a spin.
Warnings: Nothing, really. She's not fighting terribly difficult demons here.  Open to all who want to help her fight things.

Nano hadn't managed to be very useful at all the last time something bad happened in Hinoto-Ri, and she's been feeling rather badly about it ever since.  After all, everyone in the town was in the same situation, being suddenly ripped away from their homes and loved ones, so there's no reason she shouldn't be trying just as hard as they are.  To that end, even though she's afraid, she's finally resolved to venture out during the 13th Hour to try to get stronger.  It's the only way she's ever going to be able to feel like she's earned the power she's been granted in this place, and certainly the only way she'd feel right going back home after meeting so many nice people.  To that end, she's out tonight in the streets immediately surrounding the Pisces District housing looking for demons to fight, but also hovering reasonably near the apartment building in case things get too dangerous.

"I hope we can get along and work well together, Pinocchio-san," Nano says with a smile, folding her hands in front of her and bowing her head politely to the smiling ethereal puppet-boy floating behind her.  The Persona smiles back, wordlessly nodding its head.

"Matarukaja!  Marakukaja!"

As Nano's words ring out through the air, Pinocchio performs a stringless dance behind her before holding its arms out.  Energy washes over Nano, bolstering her attack and defense against the demons she's about to fight.  Glancing back behind her, she gives a small smile and another nod before dismissing Pinocchio and calling out Chirashizushi, the new Persona she'd fused in the Velvet Room only a few days before.

"Let's be friends too, Chirashizushi!"  The little angel enthusiastically grins as it materializes into existence, looking happy as anything to be serving its new master.  And with that, Nano and her Personas venture out into the night to fight for the safety of the citizens of Hinoto-Ri.

Comments

[otakuro]

".........Huh?"

Alright, so the dreadful enemy was screaming his name. Atsuro squints a little closer in the darkness and blinks.

"Oh! ...Hey, er. Nano, right?"

Enki stares placidly at Atsuro for a few moments before vanishing. Atsuro appreciates the restraint his Persona shows in not rolling its eyes.

"...Sorry about that."

[all_wound_up]

Nano lets out a breath, slumping up against the building they're standing next to. She hadn't realized at first that she was looking at Atsuro's Persona, but it's quite a relief to find out that she wasn't about to be destroyed utterly by some roving king of demons stalking around the Pisces Ward.

"Atsuro-san... you scared me."

[otakuro]

"Hah... Yeah, I was a little on edge there. Sorry."

A pause.

"Hey! ...What are you doing out here? You know this is the time when the demons start to come out, right?"

[all_wound_up]

"I thought I would practice with my Personas, but I didn't know how dangerous it would be..."

[otakuro]

"That... probably depends on what you run into." Atsuro shrugs. "There are a few enemies around that you could take care of easily, but... you probably don't want to wander around like this on your own if you don't have any experience."

He neglects to mention the time he had run into a 30-foot-tall Oumitsunu.

"I was actually going to do some training myself - do you want to come along?"

[all_wound_up]

It's probably a good thing that he didn't mention that - it's taken Nano long enough to come out here by herself to begin with. A story like that would send her skittering back into her apartment with little chance of ever venturing outside at night again.

"Could I? I'd like that very much!"

Nano smiles and nods, her Persona mimicking her every motion. The two really look like they're pretty well in synch with one another even though she's only had this one for a relatively short amount of time.

"I'd like to get some experience using Chirashizushi, but I can support you with Pinocchio too. He can heal us both after every fight."

[otakuro]

"Chirashizushi...?"

Atsuro blinks for a few moments at the angelic creature, his catlike sclera narrowing slightly. Come to think of it, he was getting a bit hungry... Might this Persona be the embodiment of delicious delicious raw fish platters?

He licks his lips and decides that it would be impolite to try to take a bite.

"So Pinnocchio's a Support and this one here is an Attack? ...Well. You can only use one at a time, remember, but I'm sure we'll run into enough demons for you to get plenty of experience."

...Wait that sounded kind of ominous...

[all_wound_up]

Atsuro's stare is met only with a small, confused tilt of the head. Otherwise, the little angel looks as enthusiastic and happy as ever.

"That's right," Nano answers, nodding. "Which one do you think I should use? Yours is an attack type, right? Would you prefer if I supported you from behind?"

[otakuro]

"Ah... Go ahead and use whatever you think is most comfortable!" Atsuro turns back towards Nano. "If you'd like to stay back the first few fights, go ahead. Otherwise, we can stay clear of the tougher enemies..."

[all_wound_up]

"I'll use Pinocchio for now, then."

Nano turns to Chirashizushi, dismissing her in a burst of light before drawing out the little puppet boy once again. He seems equally pleased to see Nano, and she giggles a bit before looking back to Atsuro.

"All right, let's go!"

[otakuro]

"Right! I've done enough of these that I think I know where the weaker monsters usually show up... We should go to the border between Capricorn and Sagittarius; there's a little copse of trees over there..."

Atsuro nods to Nano as his own Persona reemerges from the 'sea of his soul'.

"You ready?"

((Do you want to NPC some demons or shall I?))

[all_wound_up]

"Ready!"

Nano smiles confidently, balling her hands into fists in front of her and lightly bouncing in place.

((You can go ahead, I'm not all that good with that kind of stuff.))

[otakuro]

And then suddenly a twenty minute walk was condensed into the space between posts because nobody wants to write twenty minutes of walking. Atsuro comes to a halt as they near the area he had pointed out.

"We have around... forty five minutes, I think, before the 13th Hour ends. We can definitely fit in a few battles. They'll probably attack us before we can spot them - so make sure you keep an eye out."

He tries to speak in a reassuring manner as Enki holds out its staff.

"Enki can Diarama you, too, if you get hurt. Any questions?"

[all_wound_up]

Huzzah for moving at the speed of narration! Literary devices certainly are convenient methods of transportation. Nano stops next to Atsuro, surveying the area a bit.

"I'll be careful. Pinocchio can help us to take less damage in fights, too."

[Marakukaja, Matarukaja, Healing Wave, and Relaxing Wave are great for that.]

[otakuro]

"Alright! Then let's -- "

Atsuro doesn't finish his sentence because there is no Atsuro. In the blink of an eye, even the light shining from the eerie moon overhead is snuffed out as Nano and her Persona are plunged into pitch-blackness.

There comes, as is mandatory with this kind of thing, an accompanying ethereal chuckle in the darkness.

"Hehehehe~"

[all_wound_up]

"Atsuro-san...! What happened? WHere are you?"

Nano is already starting to panic and lose her cool over this sudden turn of events, turning in place in desperate circles and keeping one arm draped protectively over her chest.

[otakuro]

"A-Tsu-Ro-U-San~ Where-Are-You-A-Tsu-Ro-U-San~"

The creepy giggling sounds again as Nano flails about in the darkness. The sing-song voices echo through the night, seemingly from all directions - probably because Nano keeps turning round and round.

"Na-No-No-Hi-Mi-Tsu~ Na-No... He's-Left-You....... He-he-he~"

In the darkness, a sudden glint of light flashes as something is thrown in Nano's direction.

[all_wound_up]

Thankfully, Nano's Persona reflects Physical damage, so even though she wasn't aware of the source of the attack, it bounces off harmlessly and goes winging its way back toward the source. The little robot whirls around to face the darkness, clenching her fists and calling out in as steady a voice as she can manage.

"C-come out here!"

[otakuro]

A disturbing squelching sound echoes through the night as the knife sails back towards its assailant. In the darkness, something splatters, unseen, to the ground. ...And yet, without the quality of the darkness changing at all, patches of shining, crimson red slowly become visible before Nano's eyes. Though she stands in an open field, the pools of what are obviously meant to be blood decorate the surroundings on all sides, sliding down the unseen walls.

"Ehehehe..."

In the distance, something begins to staggers forward.

"Come out here... Come out here......."

Several somethings. They are small and doll-like, with strange, stilted movement.

"Your turn to hide~"

The lead creature suddenly lifts its head to reveal dully glowing red eyes. Protruding from the front of its chest is the knife that Nano had reflected. It revolves slowly in a clockwise motion.

Crrrrrrrrank.

The sound... What a familiar sound...

[all_wound_up]

"W-what...? N-no! Stop it!"

In reaction to the fear and confusion she's feeling, Nano's own key begins to spin at a feverish pace as her breath quickens.

"D-don't come any closer!"

[otakuro]

The Nightmares pause for a few moments, though the sinister grinning continues unabated.

"You asked us to come out."

Crraaaaank.

"We're lonely, Nano."

Crrrrrrraaaaaank.

"Let's be friends."

The Nightmares proceed to break the cranking pattern by throwing themselves towards Nano with knives outstretched. The one with the knife embedded into its chest, however, merely stands in place and giggles.

Unfortunately for Nano, these demons have learned their lesson. Their blades glint not with light, but rather, become wreathed in the inky miasma of Darkness. Eiha was a weak attack, but even four weak attack stacked on top of each other was bound to be painful...

[all_wound_up]

"No! Stop it! Be quiet!"

Apparently, 'be quiet' was enough to cause Nano's Persona to react. Pinocchio springs into action, a joint at the end of one of its arms opening up to fire a shot toward the Nightmare with the knife in its chest. The Muzzle Shot attack isn't very strong, but might at least inflict some Silence on the ringleader if Nano is lucky. Unfortunately, that isn't going to save her from the coming onslaught of dark blades.

"No... no...! Atsuro-san, where are you!"

Nano's scream echoes through the air as the first two blades pierce through her robotic skin, digging in deeper than a normal knife ever could, even considering the materials she's constructed from. Pinocchio is busy fending off the first demon, and it doesn't look like Nano is in much of a position to do anything about these four. She braces herself grimly for the remaining two attacks...

[otakuro]

"Enki!"

A tear rips through the nightmarish vision - literally. Reality tears asunder as the darkness is illuminated by a hole displaying the sight of the familiar Capricorn district and a boy with a floppy white hat with an irate expression on his face. The sight is quickly obscured, however, by the flood of water that rushes through the illusion and catches a few of the Nightmares in its depths.

"Nano! Are you OK?!"

[all_wound_up]

There are a few gashes in Nano's arms where she got slashed with the Eiha blades, but otherwise she seems all right. More than the physical damage, though, she seems to have been rather badly affected mentally by the Nightmares' assault. By the time Atsuro reaches her, she's already hunched down half-collapsed, hugging her arms around herself and desperately trying to cover up the wounds from the attack.

"Atsuro-san..."

Tears well up at the sides of her eyes as Nano gasps for breath, still obviously pretty freaked out by the illusions she was shown and what the demons seemed to know about her. She desperately hopes he didn't hear any of that, and is terrified deep in the pit of her circuitry that he'll abandon her here.

[otakuro]

"Aw, geez."

Behind Atsuro, Enki quietly raises its staff high, releasing a gentle light that shines forth through the darkness. The illusion is banished in an instant as Patra clears the status effect from the board. All that remains is a group of five dolls standing in the forests of the Capricorn District... A considerably less threatening foe.

Atsuro will try to help Nano get to her feet.

"I'm sorry. I didn't think they'd be so clever... I didn't understand what was going on at first, either." Thankfully, the slightly genre savvy Atsuro had realized soon enough that the images he had seen had to have been the product of his own mind. As for what illusions he had fallen thrall to... that would be something to be saved for later.

A short distance away, the Nightmares shuffle uncomfortably for a moment or two before they decide that they don't need the mind games to hunt their prey. They slowly begin to spread out to surround the two...