bah, humbug

[meaningdies]

Who: Naoya and OPEN.
Where: Near the border of the Gemini and Cancer districts.
Summary: Naoya hates Christmas. He decides to take it out on some demons during the thirteenth hour.
Warnings: Naoya being a jerk is always a warning. Devil Survivor spoilers, if you care about those at all.

Naoya hated Christmas. He hated all of the fuss around it and most of all he hated the fact that he was so conflicted about it. On the one hand he couldn't help but smirk that the religious message had gotten lost in the consumerism, but on the other hand the religious message that still stuck bugged him.

He'd never been fully able to figure out exactly what was going on with Jesus anyway.

Rather than spend the night sulking at home though, he decided to sulk outside. He had his coat with him in case the weather took another sudden turn, and he summoned Coyote to walk alongside him once he reached the edge of the Gemini district.

At the thirteenth hour, he grinned, turning to look at the demons starting to wander the street. A few fairies made a move as if to attack him, and he nodded to Coyote, who leaped forward with an Arm Chopper.

There was no guarantee that the rest of the night would be so easy, however.

Comments

[bondsofsuffering]

"Waah, scaaaary!" Hizumi, you don't sound scared at all. "Today hasn't been a cheerful holiday for you, I'm guessing?"

[meaningdies]

Yeah no you're not convincing him. "I don't like this holiday very much."

[bondsofsuffering]

"Aah, really? Why's that? Nobody got you the present you wanted the most?" Since that's definitely the biggest reason why you wouldn't like Christmas of all things!

[meaningdies]

"I don't want any presents for this holiday." The only present he wants is God's death, anyway.

[bondsofsuffering]

Too bad God's so darn hard to kill, right?

"...So you're a Scrooge, then?"

Logic. Hizumi is using it.

[meaningdies]

"Heh. Well I'm not underpaying my factory workers, no."

As if he'd trust anyone else with the work he does.

[bondsofsuffering]

"So you don't care about presents, and you're not an old miser..." Hmm, what on earth could the reason be?

"...You got me. What's so bad about Christmas?"

[meaningdies]

"The religious aspect o none hand and the commercial aspect on the other. I hate both of them, and also the fact that when people get shiny new electronics in my family they come running to me for the most basic problems."

Being the technology authority in the family is suffering.

[bondsofsuffering]

"Well, that's how it goes. People do like their religious celebrations, even if the ones we have now didn't originally start that way. And even more than that, people like excuses to get things."

There's a very brief pause before he adds in a lower tone: "Then again, it's also human nature to want to take over and claim dominance, too."

But he shrugs it off, his voice brightening again as he addresses that very last part. "You're handy with electronics, then? Heeeh, your family is really lucky!"

[meaningdies]

"Of course it is. That's how it's always been."

He chuckles a bit at the last statement, though. "I went to Tokyo Institute of Technology for university. It's a specialty of mine."

[bondsofsuffering]

"Whoa, that's pretty impressive! Hey, if you did that, does that mean you can figure out how these things work?" Hizumi taps the side of his head, near his ear. He's indicating the glasses-portion of the COMP, of course.

[meaningdies]

"In some ways, yes. The coding is still a bit unusual, so it's taking a while." At least it's a challenge to keep up with.

[bondsofsuffering]

"Unusual how? Like, unlike anything you've ever seen before unusual?" Not that Hizumi's ever really studied coding much, if at all.

[meaningdies]

"It's a bit different than the programming languages I've seen thus far. It takes time to learn a foreign language, even for me." He can see the similarities, but he's still experimenting with what he can do with it before saying that he truly understands it.

[bondsofsuffering]

"Well, if you can ever figure it out, I'd be interested in seeing the results! They said the technology here uses magic and science, didn't they?" Well, maybe if you asked. "I don't know about you, but there's probably no way to do anything like that in my world. It could be exciting!"

[meaningdies]

"It's quite possible in mine. I've done it before." It's not as if he's keeping that a secret, after all. The information in his world was even there, if anyone cared to look hard enough.

[bondsofsuffering]

"Hoo... So your world has both magic and technology? It must be an exciting place to live!"

His expression begins to resemble that of an excited puppy. "Hey, hey, what kinds of things did you make in your world? I bet they were really cool!"

[meaningdies]

"Not usually. Recently more so, but hmm." Things he's made... well. At least in this lifetime.

"Heh. Most of what I've made is fairly boring, but I did create the demon summoning program in my world."

... Speaking of demons, he summons Coyote to attack a nearby Hua Po.

[bondsofsuffering]

Meanwhile, Hizumi continues sitting like a lazy butt who doesn't fight. Naoya seems to have a handle on the situation anyway, so no big deal, right?

He does tilt his head at that however. "Demons? You mean like the ones they've got here, or like... the real deal devil?"

[meaningdies]

"Hmph. Well, he's similar to the ones here. If you defeated him in battle you could likely form a contract and summon them. So both, I suppose."

Hey, he's not going to judge. That's what he did for most of the Lockdown anyway.

[bondsofsuffering]

"That just sounds scary!" For a couple of reasons, really. "Did you have to give up something for the contract? Like, your soul, or whatever? Hmm, how do those deals with the devil usually go, anyway?"

[meaningdies]

"No, nothing like that. The fuel for the summoning is emotional energy drawn from the largest available source I could find - the internet."

It totally makes sense.

[bondsofsuffering]

"...You did what."

No, seriously. What.

[meaningdies]

"It worked."

That's all that's needed, okay.

[bondsofsuffering]

"So wait, you summoned a devil... using the Internet?" He doesn't even have to pretend to be incredulous here. "I would've thought the process would be a little more... well, y'know. Mystical."