destinystrings | Slow Down, You Crazy Child

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Slow Down, You Crazy Child

Who: Maugris and Johnny for the first thread, then Maugris and OPEN
Where: A little restaurant in Virgo near the border with Libra, then wandering through the city back in the general direction of Pisces (so somewhere in Virgo, Leo, or Capricorn)
When: July 12th; just after nightfall, then during the 13th hour
Summary: Maugris finds someone he's got something in common with and has some dinner, then decides to see this whole 13th Hour business is about.
Warnings: Probably nothing in the thread with Johnny. 13th Hour threads will probably involve violence, possibly accompanied by foul language.

Maugris stepped off the tram, grateful that they ran as late as they did. He'd probably end up walking back... but considering his plans for the night after this, that might be just as well. He glanced around, and yes, there was the restaurant.

He really, really hoped this was the right move. But if this Johnny guy was Kindred, he might know if there were others in the city - and how things got managed around here. If he was really, really lucky, there might be some sort of system set up for getting ahold of blood without going after people at all. But he'd just have to see... hopefully they could talk privately enough to manage this.

Oh, well. Nothing for it but to find out. He took a deep breath, a habit he'd never quite shaken, and stepped into the restaurant.

---

Well, that had given him a lot to think about. Maugris whistled to himself as he headed back toward the apartment building. Slow down, you crazy child, you're so ambitious for a juvenile - but then if you're so smart, tell me why are you still so afraid?

He took his time, enough that he was certainly still out when the sky turned red and the buildings changed around him. His lips twisted a little - the changes were an unpleasant reminder of Metatropolis's fate - but he kept going, still whistling nonchalantly. When will you realize, Vienna waits for you? It was still a long walk back; time to see if he could entice something to come out so he could give this Persona thing a shot.

What turned up gave him a bit of a start - a little floating cape with a jack o'lantern for a head. "You're not one of the Pumpkin King's, are you?" he asked. "I don't even have his damn ring anymore." The Pyro Jack just laughed at him and twirled in a circle, and flames spouted from its lantern. Maugris dodged away, but not fast enough - the flames licked at his jacket, and he couldn't help but cry out as the flesh of his arm started to burn.

But the damage - though it was quite nasty - wasn't the worst of it. Vampires feared fire even beyond their ample reason to do so, and while Maugris usually managed to resist, this time the Beast's instincts were too strong for him. He broke and ran, running as fast as he could away from the source of the flame. But the Pyro Jack had found prey now, and it followed. So anyone else out and about would find a vampire deep in Rotschreck being pursued by a laughing Pyro Jack.

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"Oh...!"

Lucas is distracted momentarily as Maugris reenters the fray. That wasn't any kind of PSI he had ever seen... But, of course, different worlds played by different rules. With only a slight pause, Lucas takes another step forward to strike the Pyro Jack again - and throws in a kick or two for good measure. Though it isn't any kind of professional martial arts, it seems he doesn't lack experience in monster fighting.

His combo complete (nowhere near 16 hits; he was a bit rusty), he falls back a few steps and calls to the man.

"Are you hurt...?"

"I'll be fine." It's going to take ages for that burn he got to heal, but he'll live as long as he doesn't get too many more of them. "I don't like fire, that's all."

And now he's drawing his own sword, lashing out with a thrust that shatters one of the panes of the Pyro Jack's lantern. Faced with two people hitting it with weapons, the demon pulls away, moving into an odd dancing motion that sends fireballs arcing up to rain down again - two of them, that both crash down on Maugris. He flinches as one of them impacts on the shield Lucas threw up around him, but recovers in time to dodge away from the second.

"Really? That all you got?" Maugris dashes closer, moving a little faster than someone with a burned shoulder really should be doing, and takes a swing, cutting a gash in the fabric of the Pyro Jack's hat and slamming into the monster's pumpkin head hard enough to almost knock it over and leaving a gouge in the rind.

"Ah... I can help. Hold on for a bit."

Lucas backs up a bit as he assumes the role he's more comfortable taking - supporter, healer, and defense. As Maugris takes the offensive, he closes his eyes and calls forth the light of his PSI once more, holding his hands with palms facing up. The flare of light that erupts forth this time descends around the two of them in a shower of sparks - Lucas's minor injuries are healed completely, but Maugris may find that the PSI is more or less effective due to his... unique physiology.

...Thankfully, his healing has nothing to do with divine power or anything along those lines.

Lifeup cast, Lucas takes hold of his bat once more and edges to the side of the Pyro Jack, looking for an opening.

Well, the sparks startle Maugris a little, but they don't seem to do anything to him. Vampires don't really decompose, but they are pretty much dead. He'll heal on his own, though, it will just take a while.

Maugris isn't bothering to put up his own wards, partly because Lucas seems to have shields handled and partly because he doubts they'd do too much to magical fireballs. That, and he's trying to conserve vitae for now. So he's sticking to the sword, helped along by his unnatural strength. He thinks the sword being cold-forged iron might actually be helping, but he's not entirely sure. That would make this thing fae, wouldn't it?

But even if it's not exactly happy with its current position in life, it's far from down and out, and it launches into a Fire Dance again. It spits out four fireballs once more. This time, one heads for Lucas, but the other three converge on Maugris. His eyes widen, but his hands clench and he forces himself to stand his ground.

And then comes a flash of blue light, and a tall figure in green and blue armor catches the fireballs on its shield. "I am though, and thou art I... From the sea of thy soul, I come... I am Malagi, knight-enchanter."

Maugris just looks up at the manifestation for a moment, stunned by its appearance. Malagi already looks a bit singed - shield or no shield, three fireballs don't make him particularly happy, either. But the Pyro Jack has also paused, watching the pretty lights that accompanied the appearance of the Persona.

Lucas may be psychic, but knowing whether or not his healing has any effect doesn't come as part of the package. It's never been a problem before, though, and he operates on the assumption that healing PSI was universally effective on everything - from sentient Men's Room Signs to Rhinocerockets. Had he taken a moment to think about it, he might have recalled the conclusion he had come to only a few moments before: different worlds, different rules.

Regardless, as the Pyro Jack lets loose with the Fire Dance, the boy braces himself for the strike once more. The reflective barrier before him shimmers momentarily before changing color; he had noticed, previously, that the reflected attack had been less than useless. Better to change the Counter into a normal Shield...

"Look out!"

It is targeting Maugris again - Lucas attributes this to the fact that Maugris had been its initial prey, with the dessert-sized morsel blundering in afterwards. But as he is throwing up his hand to cast another PSI...

"Wha -- "

A slight gasp as he looks on in wonder.

"A Persona..."

Well, that, and it thought Maugris's reaction to fire was ridiculously entertaining. It usually takes it more work to send someone running than one Maragi. Of course, it's not working anymore, and the Pyro Jack has taken a bit of a beating, making it rather less happy. People who run from the first attack aren't supposed to turn around and hit it with swords. And they definitely aren't supposed to manifest a Persona. This is not its day.

It's about to get worse, because while neither of them look all that happy, Maugris now has a Persona. It's just graduated from two on one to three on one, seeing as Maugris and Lucas are probably both on a level with a just-hatched Persona on their own. Maugris and Malagi look at each other and nod, the Malagi casts Garula, blasting the Pyro Jack with a gale of wind as Maugris darts in to slash at it again. "Come on, we can take this thing!" he calls over in Lucas's direction.

Lucas has been too busy gaping at the spirit that had suddenly materialized before them to be of much help in the last few seconds; at Maugris's call, though, he shakes out of his stupor and grips his bat a little more tightly.

"R-Right...!"

Hesitating only a moment longer to wait for Maugris to step out of the way, he follows up immediately on the man's attack with an assault of his own. This one is slightly more energetic - whether or not it was the sight of the Persona that had invigorated him or just due to warming up to the fight, Lucas has a better grasp of the groove of the battle. He begins with another solid swing across the enemy's face, following through with a swift roundhouse kick. The momentum is transferred into a slight hop in the air, upon which he defies the laws of physics and hovers momentarily, drives his feet forward, bounces off the Pyro Jack, and ends with a drop kick and a parting shot from the bat.

None of the attacks save the first were anywhere close to dealing heavy damage, but it would, hopefully, add up.

"...You're not going to win." He bounces back from the Pyro Jack and lands firmly on his feet. "Do you really want it to end like this...?"

Maugris is honestly a little impressed - that's an impressive attack, especially for a kid. Never mind the Matrix physics involved.

The Pyro Jack doesn't seem inclined to stop, though, even if it's definitely looking the worse for wear now. Lucas has definitely drawn its attention, though. The lantern flashes and the demon launches into another Flame Dance, even if its movements are a little more labored now. This time, it spouts two more fireballs, both aimed for Lucas.

Well.

He wasn't totally sure if attracting the monster's attention could be considered a success, but if the man disliked fire that much... Lucas's shield remains in place, but otherwise, he makes no obvious move to defend himself as the fireballs slam into him. He winces only slightly and grits his teeth in pain - this was nothing compared to a round of PK Fire Omegas.

Another flash of sparks and the burns that had blossomed on his face and neck rapidly heal, the dead skin falling away as raw, pink skin inches across and closes the wounds. The sensation is, as usual, terrifically uncomfortable, but he's used his PSI on himself enough times that he can bear it without more than a soft sigh.

Lucas quietly holds his bat out and tries to reason with it one last time.

"See....? You'll run out of energy faster than I will." He glances over to Maugris. "There's nothing for you anymore. Attacking humans won't get you what you want."

Not that he knew what it wanted at all.

Maugris flinches involuntarily as he sees Lucas take the fireballs - and then heal the damage without blinking. What is this kid?

Still, he fixes the Pumpkin Jack with a stare. He doesn't much like Dominate, but he has to admit that it would come in handy occasionally if he'd ever bothered to work on it. If only because he's starting to think it would break the kid's heart if they have to fight this thing to the death, and he wouldn't really like that much either, demon or not.

"Listen, whatever you are. I don't like fighting to kill. But I will if I have to. You know we can take more than you can dish out - and that's if you can hit us at all. If you've got a brain inside that pumpkin, you'll take the chance we're giving you and leave."

He levels his sword at the Pyro Jack in unison with his Persona. "Because it's the last chance you'll get."

He turns to shoot Maugris a grateful smile for this act of support. The vampire will likely notice, at this point, that Lucas is doubling as a human nightlight once more as the soothing cyan light slowly etches its way up and down his body.

Nothing especially exciting beyond that is happening, though. The boy simply stands with his bat outstretched, awaiting the Pyro Jack's answer.

"Um. ...And if there's a Mrs. Pumpkinhead, you know, you have to think about her, too. You shouldn't just waste your life over something like this."

Lucas tries hard.

The "Mrs. Pumpkinhead" line gets a skeptical look from Maugris, but hey, whatever works.

Any reasonable being would be happy to take the chance to escape when it was clear it was outnumbered and overpowered. A normal animal would have already turned and run after taking the worst beating of its life, especially since they in no way have it cornered - they're in the middle of a street, for God's sake.

Unfortunately, the Pyro Jack is neither a normal animal nor a reasonable being - it's a demon, and a quite aggressive and not exceptionally bright one at that. It sees two humans and a Persona - weird and very powerful humans, but humans nonetheless, and that means prey. It adjusts its torn hat and cracked lantern, squares what might possibly be its shoulders, and just outright swings the lantern at Maugris, but Malagi appears to be having none of it - it calls out "Rakukaja!" and a shimmering aura not unlike Lucas's shield blocks the attack.

Maugris nods his thanks to his Persona and starts chanting, casting a spell of his own - and another blade of wind tears another rent in the Pyro Jack's cloak. "I was afraid of that. I don't think this thing's going to be reasoned with." He sighs and looks back at Lucas. "Sorry, kid."

The boy closes his eyes for a moment and shakes his head slightly.

"Ah... It's OK. I try this a lot, but it never really seems to work..." He throws a slight, rueful smile in Maugris's direction as the light shining forth from his body intensifies. "Maybe I'm just not very charismatic..."

He turns back towards the Pyro Jack and speaks one more word, his voice dropping down to almost a whisper. "Sorry."

A few things happen at that point.

First, the familiar sound of cracking glass and the same flash of light that had just marked the arrival of Malagi is heard again. Before the boy appears the figure of a robed woman, head bowed and hands clasped around what appeared to be a globe. Lucas's face is frozen in an expression of shock as she turns back towards her summoner with a gentle smile.

"I am thou... Thou art I. From the sea of thy soul, I come. I am Homonoia, the goddess of concord..."

Second, as time catches back up with itself, the diamond patterns on Lucas's skin flash brilliantly, and a pure wave of... something erupts from his hand, surging towards the Pyro Jack - an attack of almost incomprehensible in form and substance. All that can be made out are cyan diamonds, flickering and darting through the air. Whatever it is, it probably doesn't bode anything good for the creature.

Lucas has stopped paying attention, though. His eyes are fixed on the woman before him, and his face is still frozen in place. She, in turn, appears to be stooping over, blocking his vision and preventing him from seeing the outcome of his attack.

"It's not your fault. This thing chased me-" Maugris stops abruptly at this point, because a Persona manifesting is the sort of thing that demands at least a moment's attention.

So is Lucas suddenly shooting bizarre energy at the Pyro Jack and sending it staggering back. He's definitely going to have to figure out what's going on with this kid... after the fight.

Whether Lucas can see it or not, the attack was well-aimed to begin with, and the Pyro Jack is too stunned by the appearance of a second Persona to dodge in time. The demon vanishes in a haze of sparks that look almost like pixels, not that Maugris is tech-savvy enough to make the connection. All he knows is that the thing finally went down. And he's just going to stand here for a moment and recover, because for one tiny little pumpkin thing that was a hell of a fight.

Lucas's surprise is slightly more exaggerated than one would expect from a simple manifestation of a Persona. He reaches a hand upwards to the woman standing before him - she responds in kind, and for a moment, their palms are pressed tightly against each other.

Then she vanishes, and Lucas is left staring at the remnants of the Pyro Jack.

"Homonoia..."

A few moments of silence pass before he shakes his head and quickly turns to Maugris.

"It's over... Are you OK?"

Malagi vanishes, too, disappearing back into... well, from what Maugris has been told, his Persona is in his head somewhere. Judging by the way they introduce themselves, he's beginning to suspect they live in one's soul when not in use. Which is nice proof that he has one, at least.

He sighs, sheathing his sword again. "I'm fine." He's not, he's still got that awful burn on his arm, but he doesn't want to worry Lucas. "Are you? I'm sorry you got dragged into that mess. You didn't have to help."

Lucas shakes his head slightly as he glances away.

"...Actually." A slight flush creeps over his face. "I... I was almost looking to fight something. I know I shouldn't have, but... I wanted to see about these Personas."

He would be a pacifist if he could, but experience had taught him that what pacifism didn't help anyone survive. There had been a sort of compromise involved - he would look for someone who needed help rather than searching for trouble on his own. Being the aggressor for the sake of something as selfish as learning about his Persona wasn't something he could accept, but he wasn't quite sure if this was much better...

"Are you really sure you're OK? I can just give you another heal if you'd like..."

Maugris sighs a little and adjusts his jacket, trying to make his state a little less noticeable. "I guess we're in the same boat, then - I was sort of looking for trouble, for the same reason. Though from what I've heard these things are mostly trying to cause as much destruction as they can, anyway."

He shakes his head, waving away the offer. "I'll be okay. I heal quickly. This should be gone in a couple of days." Though it's going to take a lot of power to do it... a stable source of blood is going to be a pain to figure out long-term, but if he's going to be healing and using thaumaturgy he'll need to do it. "Speaking of healing, though, I don't think I've ever seen someone do what you do. What is that, some sort of magic?"

The thought of what would have had to happen to a twelve-year-old to make him capable of pulling off the physical attacks Lucas had used on the demon is depressing, but Maugris doubts that conversation would go anywhere good. He still has to admire the strength of Lucas's convictions that he'd still try to talk an attacker down even after whatever he'd been through.

Lucas does not look especially convinced as Maugris waves his offer of help away, but he'll put it on hold for a moment or two as he attempts to explain.

"It's PSI. ...Um. Psychic power, I think you could say. I've heard of magic before, but I never thought it was real... Just something in stories and fairy tales. Is magic what you were doing just now - with the wind?"

It was perfectly possible that Kumatora had just skipped over aerokinesis for no particular reason when she had been learning her attack skills, but he had never seen any of his enemies manipulate the wind, either.

Maugris nodded. There wasn't that much point in trying to hang on to the Masquerade here, not when one of the first people he'd met had been a superhero and he was talking to a psychic. Though he was still a bit iffy on spreading the "vampire" thing around. "Yeah, that was thaumaturgy. Uh, basically the specific kind of magic I do. I don't think I've ever met a psychic before, not one who could do things like that." He did actually know a couple of seers, though. Genuine as far as he could tell.

"I can do shields, too, but you seemed to have those covered. I couldn't have blocked fireballs, anyway." He paused, feeling incredibly awkward about having this conversation with a twelve-year-old. "Uh. I'm Maugris, by the way."

"Thau..." Lucas pauses and decides that he had better wait until it wasn't past midnight to try and pronounce the word. "So a kind of magic... I've never seen anyone have that kind of ability, either. It was impressive!" He was, possibly, being a bit generous with his praise, given the kinds of things he had seen back home, but he was a generous sort of person.

"I can't read your mind or anything like that... I think that's what most people expect. PSI just means..." A short pause. How did you explain something that just sort of happened? Like breathing. "It means using your mind - your willpower - to... change things. Things that need a little bit of encouragement or that went wrong and shouldn't have. ...It's like holding your breath and waiting for air."

He was aware it was a terrible explanation, but it was the best he had to offer. "My name is Lucas. It's nice to meet you, Mr. Maugris." Another slight pause before he offers an embarrassed smile. "Do you think maybe we should go inside and talk? I don't really want to fight anything else tonight..."

"Thanks. It takes a long time to master, though, and it's not nearly as versatile as your PSI looks." If he could heal, throw up shields, and attack... to be fair, his Thaumaturgy was pretty versatile on its own, but it was still narrow, and relied on a finite resource.

"Nice to meet you, too, Lucas. But yeah, inside sounds like a good plan." With the force fields between them and any more flaming pumpkin-headed creatures. He should probably try and steer them toward Pisces, unless he wanted to either end up making a mad dash there later or explaining his condition to Lucas and forcing the poor kid to find a way to get a sleeping vampire there without a fatal suntan.

Something caught his eye in the rough area where the Pyro Jack had disappeared, though, and he stepped over to it and stooped down. "What in the...?" It was a pile of coins, each marked with a symbol - ħ, an h with a stroke through the stem. "It's like a game of D&D. Kill monster, receive cash. Don't know if this would even be any good, here - I think they just use yen, don't they?"

Lucas follows behind Maugris, peering over his shoulder and blinking in mild surprise. "...Oh. It's like Dragon Points. But I remember they said we have, um... things to trade with if we show them our card." The concept of money was still relatively foreign to him - virtual currency even more so. Lucas stoops down as well and pockets one of the coins, if only because it was a curiosity. "I wonder if he was out shopping..."

Did demons need human tools? He supposed a Pyro Jack would want to keep a ready supply of fire extinguishers.

"I live in, um... Libra, I think it was. The other apartment is closer, though, and they're connected..."

"Right, the whole thing's digital, I think." He shrugged a little, not sure why Lucas sounded so unsure, but he didn't bother to pry. Maugris himself was a little uncomfortable with the concept of money that was entirely digital, since he was used to living mostly under the radar, but he'd survive. "Well, I don't know if they can convert these or not, but I guess it's worth trying. If they can it's a little more leeway if getting a job takes some time."

What he was going to use the money for, if the government provided the apartments, was open to question. After all, it wasn't like Maugris ate much at restaurants. Still, it was nice to have money, just in case.

"Right, the portal. I'm in Pisces, and yeah, that's closer. Probably easier if we stick together and you take the portal once we get to the apartment."

"...Right."

Lucas doesn't move to pick up any more of the demonic currency, though; Maugris was welcome to the rest. His thoughts on money would probably be of interest for amateur sociologists and the like, but now was probably a bad time to bring up the evils of capitalism. With another nod, he glances at their surroundings and sheepishly smiles up at the man.

"Do you mind leading the way? I'm not very sure how to get there from here... It all looks a lot different this time of night."

Blood red was a slightly disorienting color to tint the sky.

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