In the midnight hour [Open]

[zero_to_herooo]

Who:Eiji and open
Where: Scorpio District
Summary: Battling some Shadows, getting some grinding in.
Warnings: None.

The 13th Hour, Scorpio District -- Today, Eiji was going to scope out these Shadow monsters that apparently came out at night and forced the city to go into lockdown. He rarely stayed out this late, of course, but it was still weird to see everyone just packing up and closing their doors at a time when movie theaters, clubs, and the like should still be open.

Actually, it was a little eerie, too. Seriously, no one was around. He looked at his watch. 11:58. 11:59.

12:00.

Was that a sound? The slithering, sneaking, suspicious sound of something heavy being dragged along paved stone?

Eiji snapped his medals into the OOO Driver, just in case; the belt's voice echoed loudly in the now-quiet night air.

"Taka! Tora! Batta!"

"♪ TaToBa TaToBa TaToBa ♪" it sang.

A moment or two later, Eiji stood in the gloomy light of a nearby streetlamp, fully transformed. But sheesh, it was still kinda creepy around here. He almost felt like he needed a fedora or whatever, just to match the mood.

Something moved out from the shadows pooled at the end of the street. Something clearly not human. But not Imagin or Yummy or Greeed, either. Was this one of the Shadows? It looked like some kind of black ooze with a human mask on it. And it was oozing toward him, so he figured it was now or never.

He activated his tiger claws, snapping the long weapons into place over his fists, then charged. Time to find out what these guys were made of! P.S. Medals would be nice.

Comments

[sky_child]

What in the world is this thing? A boss? Sheesh! He pulls out another bomb, this time holding it as the rope burns down and throwing it just so it would explode upon impact.

[zero_to_herooo]

Yes, a very obnoxious boss. And while Link was waiting for his wick to burn down, Eiji was busily swapping out more medals.

"Lion! Tora! Cheetah!

♪ LaTa LaTa LaToraTah~ ♪"

A bright flash of light and heat erupted from the air around Eiji's new form, burning many of the lesser Shadows to ash within moments. When he saw what Link was doing, however, he had An Idea. He drew the OOO Scanner across his belt just as Link started his throw.

"Scanning Charge!"

A series of golden rings appeared, lighting a path straight to the back of the beetle's shell. He'd hit the Shadow from behind as Link hit him the front GREAT PLAN. Eiji dashed forward, slashing at the Shadow with long, golden claws wreathed in heat and flame.

Only to awkwardly stutter-step as the Shadow half-dissolved, half-exploded around him, finally done in by the dual assault. He stopped himself just before he could accidentally barrel into Link. "Whoops. Sorry about that."

[sky_child]

Link does step back for a moment, but then-- "What are you wearing?"

Now that he has the guy's attention.

[zero_to_herooo]

"Wearing?" Eiji looked down. "Oh, this is OOO. And I'm Eiji. Thanks for the help back there, by the way."

He pulled the OOO Driver loose, reverting back to his normal appearance.

[sky_child]

Eiji, Eiji, Eij...oh.

"...um. I... Sorry, I...hit you...back there."

[zero_to_herooo]

"Huh? Oh, it's okay. You probably just weren't used to using that new power, right?"

Speaking of which, Eiji motioned to the air to his right, where a large black bird appeared. It cawed loudly, then cast a healing spell over the both of them before fading away.

"Don't worry about it. I've been hit by worse."

[sky_child]

BIRDIE

Which is to say, he looks at Eiji's persona with piqued interest. "So you have a bird, too?"

In other words: BIRDIE

[zero_to_herooo]

"Uh, yeah. Is it that unusual? I mean, I thought it was actually kinda plain. Especially if you look at some of the other Personas people have..."

Eiji's life was being surrounded by birds.

[sky_child]

"I haven't noticed. It's just...I guess my persona's a bird because...it's my bird. The one I have back at home."

[zero_to_herooo]

"Oh. Well, it's a pretty cool bird!" Eiji missed his bird too :c

"Uh, and maybe it'll show up here someday, too! Right?"

[sky_child]

"Maybe. But I don't know where I'd keep it."

Which is why his bird is a persona and not in the game.

[zero_to_herooo]

"Oh." Eiji had to think about that one for a second. "Well, maybe he can stay in your apartment? Or you could move into an attic apartment some place. Or if there was like a rainforest-themed restaurant or something, maybe they'd let you keep him there..."

[sky_child]

"It's...kind of a big bird."

[zero_to_herooo]

Hmm. "There's a big open area over near Mt. Usugi, if you can call it over."

[sky_child]

"I don't think I can. But if I find a way to get home..."

[zero_to_herooo]

"Oh. Actually, someone told me you can go home. It's just that that Philemon guy pulls you back most of the time." So basically, Eiji was here trying to straighten things out so he could go home for good. Terrible, trying to do hold down a job when you kept disappearing.

"Maybe if you went back for just a little while, though, you could finish stuff off."

[sky_child]

"You can go home? How?" Funny how his whole demeanor changed from dopey to focused.

[zero_to_herooo]

"Well, you choose to go home. ...But then you wake up the next day, and you're back here again, basically. Not too useful, and apparently you forget all about here while you're away."

Eiji paused. "But... if it's something you were gonna do anyway, maybe you'd still have a chance to do it. I don't know how useful that's going to be in your case, but I guess if it was just locking up your apartment back home or something."

[sky_child]

He shakes his head. "No. It was more important than that. If that guy will let me stay long enough to get that done..."

[zero_to_herooo]

Eiji frowned a little, shifting on his feet. "I don't know. But I mean, the worst that could happen is that you could get sucked back here too soon. If it's that important, I think it's worth a try."

[sky_child]

"It is that important."

Just savin' the world.

No big.

[zero_to_herooo]

"Then you should try it tonight! Tell me how it goes, okay?" At any rate, it seemed about time for Eiji and pack up and head back to the old apartment.

"Anyway, I gotta go. See you around!"

[sky_child]

He nods. "Be careful. And, um. Sorry about hitting you. Again."