2025-11-15: Skulking in the Shadows
- Log: Skulking in the Shadows
- Cast: Noriaki Okaga, Umie Akabane, Tamaki Uchida, Eveline Deschamps
- Where:
- OOC Date: November 15, 2025
- IC Date: August 11, 2012
- Summary: An innocent civilian is forcefully introduced to the Dark Hour by a man with a surprising ability: being able to attract (and enrage) Shadows. Three Persona Users, each veterans in their own ways, converge to undo a potential tragedy. Someone will be able to go home tonight, but will that strange man simply try again another night?
<Pose Tracker> Noriaki Okaga has posed.
Darkness and shadow crawl the expanse of the Dark Hour. This close to the rise of Tartarus, the danger for those who wander the Dark Hour alone is greater -- and even those in a group may on rare occasion meet with serious trouble. Along the stretch just outside Port Island Station, though, all is peaceful and still, if you want to call the chill and otherworldly presence of this impossible hour 'peaceful'.
Tock-tock.
There's a sound, in the darkness. Like someone knocking on something, something heavy and metallic.
Tock-tock.
"Heh... anyone home?" A grin twists the mouth of the figure before the large coffin in the street just outside the station as they -- he -- rolls his shoulders and takes a step back. In the light of the 'real' world, this had been just another person. Now, without a Persona or other means of remaining active in the Dark Hour, they're Transmogrified into coffin. It's a double-edged sword of a situation: on one hand, the person in the coffin can't do anything in the Dark Hour. On the other, they're also safe from the Dark Hour's many threats--
The man reaches over and hauls the coffin's lid open with a loud creak that reverberates through the area. Reaching into the coffin, he drags the occupant, a young adult man, out into the terrible reality of the Dark Hour.
"Rise and shine, kiddo!" crows his assailant. "It's your lucky day!"
The young man, awoken into an actual nightmare, manages a few inarticulate sounds. "Buh-- wh, what's! Who--!?" he finally manages to stammer, goggling at Noriaki and the greenwash horror that he's found himself within.
<Pose Tracker> Umie Akabane has posed.
With Tamaki investigating Tartarus (as well as the Kirijo Group, secretly), Umie thought it'd be a great idea to show her what exactly it is.
Walking down the still street with stray coffins on either side, Umie is dresses plainly, with a light-colored jacket, denim shorts, a red tee, and sneakers, she keeps her duffel bag close.
"Yeah, that's Tartarus, in a nutshell. I'd be your guide inside, but... I've only been in there once." Umie explains it plainly enough in quiet tones. "With it being summer break, I'm sure it's quiet right now with SEES, so." Umie's lips split in a sharply curved smile. ".... Care to do some shadow extermination?"
It's not like they can take a train back, after all.
-----
Staying on the safe side, the two are now in the area just outside Port Island Station. Whether Tamaki agreed to Umie's terms or not, Umie has taken things into her own hands, and went hunting, hugging the shadows as she 'clears a path forward'. Even if it may just be a shadow or two that just happens to be there, in Umie's way.
Tock-tock.
Few sounds escape the hold of the Dark Hour over the landscape; Umie seems particularly ready to be paranoid over the smallest of reasons. "...." Her head jerks up, one hand up for silence (if Tamaki is in sight); her Persona, Badb, emerges.
She points in a direction, towards something that shouldn't be here, be it a resonance, or something visual, supplied through that bird's eye view of the field. She's also pressed a homemade mask to her face; this one a red and white checkerboard, with a yellow peony over one eye (her yukata pattern for the festival was kind of cute, she reasoned).
She's also, in a few seconds, already gone.
----A YEAR AGO-(ish???)---
'Bento-san'. That was the konbini thief's name. Her hair was still dark, in those days, gathered back in in a long ponytail. "Just get the ones on sale," she mumbled, mostly to herself. She didn't get it, back then; it's not about being *forced* to do the wrong thing. Sometimes it just happened.
Like with Tsubasa Seki, Umie failed to ever remember an actual name, and why would she? Even a Persona User is just a customer, just one she had to be extra careful around. After all, at that time--
----NOW----
--Umie didn't want someone to know she *also* possessed a Persona.
Which is why, when Umie emerges from the shadows, ready to somehow correct this horror, she pauses, seeing Noriaki's face.
Bento-san.
<Pose Tracker> Tamaki Uchida has posed.
When Umie had asked Tamaki to come along tonight to see Tartarus, at least just to 'come look at this crazy thing', Tamaki agreed. Several weeks ago, she had promised Myunghon that she would investigate the Kirijo Group and Tartarus -- and while she did take steps to do so, those steps had ultimately led her in different directions than her intended path. From what she understands, going inside would require a larger group for safety's sake, but at least with Umie's company, viewing the building from the outside seems safe enough as a duo.
Before Myunghon had made their request, the one time prior that Tamaki had been in the Iwatodai area during the Dark Hour, she had been inside Paulownia Mall. The Dark Hour had already been a part of her life for years, so the thought to look outside in this particular location simply hadn't occurred to her.
That's the tone this trip had originally started with: sightseeing, factfinding, just finally verifying the massive tower's existence with her own eyes -- with a side of Shadow extermination, as necessary.
Tamaki doesn't hesitate in her response: "I'm in. This is long past due."
-----
Tamaki's outfit for this venture is her usual business suit. If she's wearing that, it's a good sign that she considers herself on the clock, it's a statement of intent.
Now that Tamaki's finally in a position with a view to actually see the damn thing (being outside helps), it does not fail to impress. Clearly visible from the station, the sheer scale of Tartarus dwarfs that of anything which she had seen before. There was once nothing on the horizon, and now there is that. The shock of it nearly causes her to drop her own duffel bag containing her well-worn practice sabre.
She doesn't have much time to marvel over its size. Umie silently raises a hand and points in a direction. Knowing that a Navigator's instincts are to be trusted, Tamaki snaps out of her awe-induced reverie and follows in the direction Umie had left in.
At seeing Noriaki in front of an open coffin, possibly about to assail its inhabitant, she instinctively steps in front of Umie and draws her sword, facing Noriaki. "What's going on here?"
Unlike Umie, she doesn't recognize the man in front of her, though several possibilities flit through her mind. None of them are good.
<Pose Tracker> Eveline Deschamps has posed.
A Hunter has to hunt. Eveline Deschamps is no exception - simply idling away running a bar and being a mom is no life for her.
Therefore, she's patrolling Port Island and the area surrounding Tartarus for information on this fine Dark Hour, her Resonance senses honed to a fine point.
Therefore, when she senses a signal, she turns down an alleyway, heading for the station. There, she sees the two men, one pulled out of a coffin and one who pulled him out.
Her outfit, once she appears in sight range, is unique. She wears a finely cognitive brown leather jacket that screams Old Europe, with trousers, a mantle, and a scarf. Fine leather boots step forward, Eve adjusting her black top hat slightly with a casual flick of a hand.
As she tracks the anguish on the man's face, a cane suddenly appears in her hand, a well-made wooden thing with a gilded knob for a handle. The tip is strangely pointed, like something is jutting out of it, but what exactly is concealed in the darkness.
As Umie and Tamaki arrive, Eveline Deschamps, clearly recognizable by lack of mask and distinct appearance as a foreigner, steps forward towards Noriaki.
"Explain yourself. I will be your judge tonight."
Her words are imperious, that cane head glinting in the green moonlight. There is no Persona currently out, however, and it seems she's willing to avoid a fight if it's explained to her satisfaction.
Tamaki and Umie are already preparing to fight... interesting. Foolish, but interesting.
<Pose Tracker> Noriaki Okaga has posed.
He's a tall one, this man: at six foot even he stands taller than most of the natives. Lean and lanky to the point of suggesting he doesn't get regular meals, his eyes can't be seen in the shadows of the hood of his sweatshirt. The only thing of his face that's visible is that awful grin.
He grabs his victim of the moment by the scruff of his shirt and pulls, forcing the young man to look up at the horrible reality of the Dark Hour's sky. "Take a good, long look, kiddo! Beautiful shit, ain't it? Look at that sky!" barks Noriaki, gesturing with the machete in his other hand as if it were a teacher's pointer. "But, hey, don't get your shorts in a twist about what it means, now. It's the end of the road for you--"
Like a dog that has just caught something on the wind, the gangling man straightens out of his slouch and turns his head. "Eh?"
That gleeful smirk has vanished in the moment as he regards first Umie (who he doesn't recognize) and then Tamaki (who he hasn't before met).
"Looks like we've got company," he tells his would-be victim, before a third, in the form of a woman in an archaic, foreign hunter's outfit steps forth. She'll be his judge tonight, Eve tells him.
"Three of ya, eh? ...Anyone else skulking in the shadows, or is that all?" Lazily, he swings his machete, keeping his grip on the young man's shirt.
"...What am I doing? Someone wants this kiddo dead. So I'm here to kill him," Noriaki explains, shrugging his shoulders as if it were no matter whatsoever. The young man grunts, jerking his head as if to get a better look at Noriaki and his weapon, then tries (to no avail) to escape the man's apparently iron grip. "Who-- I-I-- please! Just let me go!!"
Slowly, that sadistic grin of his returning, Noriaki shakes his head slowly. "Ehhh, no can do. And if you're asking -- or are about to ask," he says, swinging his gaze towards his audience, "who wants you dead and why, well, I don't know and I don't care. Don't blame me, I'm just the messenger!" he declares, swinging his machete wide as if to underscore his statement.
"...But tell you what. Since we've got an audience here tonight, let's make it more interesting. It doesn't matter to me if I'm the one who does it, so-- here!"
And he shoves his victim forward, hard enough that the man stumbles and falls onto his hands and knees there in the plaza outside the station.
In his now free hand, he produces an Evoker, aims it at his own head, and fires.
There is a figure in the great steaming cauldron that appears before him, limned in red flame. Stuffed full of metallic skeletons, there is one shadowy featureless presence within it without. It lifts its head and howls a warcry.
Turning his head as his Persona fades, Noriaki's grin widens. "Here they come. Can't you hear them?" Something is indeed scuttling in the darkness. "They're furious, too! Heh heh... see if you can protect him against them!"
With that, he turns, the Evoker returned and his one had again freed. "This is where I'm off. See how you go, kiddos!"
Taking off at a run, he vanishes into the darkness as the scraping and scuttling sound grows louder and louder. They erupt into the street as a sudden surge: a host of beetle-shaped Shadows, here on a rampage. They'll try to kill anyone they meet in an infuriated state like this, yes but--
Above all else, they'll try to kill the young man without a Persona, there trembling on the street at the sight of them. The horn-like mask of one of the Shadows glows with a pinkish aura; mental power flows in a wave between it and the three Persona-users.
Meanwhile, the others are circling in to attack that civilian...
AS: Persona! Noriaki Okaga has used the Elec skill Mapsi on Umie Akabane, Tamaki Uchida, and Eveline Deschamps! AS: Avoid Worst! Umie Akabane takes 63 Elec damage from Noriaki Okaga's Mapsi. Critical Hit! AS: Block Best! Eveline Deschamps takes 30 Elec damage from Noriaki Okaga's Mapsi. AS: Bind added! AS: Block Worst! Tamaki Uchida takes 46 Elec damage from Noriaki Okaga's Mapsi. AS: Bind added!
<Pose Tracker> Umie Akabane has posed.
Umie takes a look at the other person who's come, and is immediately surprised. Another Mask-san? .... no, she knows who this person is; the slight recognition even registers in Umie's expression, visible through the eyeholes of her mask as Tamaki gets in front.
She fights the surprise down, choosing to be silent for the sake of her next move.
... This isn't the first person Umie's seen in the Dark Hour without the protection of a Persona, but this would be the second she's seen that is still in one piece. With both these incidents happening in Port Island, Umie will just have to assume that, maybe, it's a function of location. Maybe that's what made this man's night just a little luckier than it could have been, otherwise, though it could quickly turn right back the opposite direction.
Especially with Noriaki, whose height and resonance made it very clear just who he is to Umie, along with something more extra. Assuming there isn't another group out there doing the same, Noriaki must not only be a bento thief, but a member of Strega as well. There's a temptation to deliver some sharp one-liner or even to yell at Noriaki, tbut he's already delivered the best line one could give to Umie without realizing it: dragging someone into the Dark Hour.
Stay right there, Tamaki. Umie's the best kind of person for this sort of situation; as long as these two keep Noriaki's attention, Umie could possibly land a surprise attack on the tall scarecrow of a man, separating him from his quarry.
That is, if he hadn't done so already himself, casting the man aside with a particularly troubling comment, producing a gun, and-- wait, no, that's an Evoker. NWO?! Though Strega also uses them too, but still!! Was this man a NWO agent this entire time?! Had to be, if he...
Except. Did he just. No. Wait. _Did this asshole summon shadows with that Persona of his_?
(Or... No, these were nearby, she can feel them, they're coming, and they're very, very mad.)
(This is also where Umie's hesitation gets her the prize of 'Noriaki gets away'. Damn it!!)
"Ignore that asshole and protect that guy!" Umie yells, suddenly visible not behind Tamaki, but in the general vicinity between where Tamaki and Eveline are at, the poor soul on the ground, and the direction Noriaki had split towards. A mental wave of energy nearly throws Umie off her next course, foolish as it may be, as she rushes to the man's side.
Trauma sometimes overrides common sense: a more logical reaction would be for someone else to come and play the 'tank' or likewise get the man off the ground, but the list of Umie's priorities is a mess, right now.
Badb is summoned without a single word or cry from Umie's mouth, appearing over the short blonde in a halo of blue resolving into red, grey, black, and white. WIth a sickle-shaped smile, Badb gestures towards the shadows surrounding the man (and her, if she manages to get there), attempting to rewrite the flow of battle towards her (and likewise their) favor.
AS: Persona! Umie Akabane has used the Almighty skill Hooded Smile on Noriaki Okaga! AS: Ruin: Umie Akabane gains 1 Limit! AS: Umie Akabane regains 3 SP from Invigorate!
<Pose Tracker> Tamaki Uchida has posed.
Eveline's appearance and statement startles Tamaki, and she holds up both of her hands to indicate peaceful intent -- this, despite that she is still very clearly holding a sword in one of those raised hands. Wide-eyed, she asks, "Whoa, whoa whoa whoa! Whose judge are you?" She blinks several times while waiting for a response. The fact that it's the woman who had served her just a short while ago doesn't escape her notice, but the current situation doesn't quite strike her as an appropriate moment to compliment Eveline on her cocktail-mixing prowess.
Maybe she had been too hasty in drawing her own weapon; she had seen an open coffin in the Dark Hour a very short while ago and had a particularly harrowing experience. Between the man who emerged from inside and Noriaki himself, she isn't exactly clear on which one of them is the greater threat, at least at first glance.
All this while she makes sure to stand in front of Umie, blocking her from what may potentially come from the direction of the other three people in front of them. She knows Umie keeps her own presence hidden, but even among other Persona-users, Tamaki's instinct is to make herself the most obvious target in the area.
The nature of the threat becomes more clear as Noriaki announces his intent, machete and Evoker drawn. Probably from that revenge request site ... sounds like Strega. Jun had mentioned to Tamaki that both Strega and Sudou had spoken with him -- so maybe there's something Tamaki and Umie could talk about after this crisis is over. As the Shadows start to converge from the call of Noriaki's Persona, she begins to settle back in from her 'surrender' posture to proper fencing form.
"Understood!" Tamaki calls out in reply to Umie and starts to run, but the earlier confusion still had her flat-footed, and the energy blows Tamaki back, preventing her from standing in front of the revenge target. If she can't intercede directly, she'll fight from range, and manifests "Arianrhod!" to blast the beetle Shadow with a light-green swirling orb of force.
AS: Persona! Tamaki Uchida has used the Wind skill Zan on Noriaki Okaga! AS: Defense: Tamaki Uchida gains 1 Limit! AS: Take! Noriaki Okaga takes 0 Almighty damage from Umie Akabane's Hooded Smile. AS: Charm added! AS: Block Worst! Noriaki Okaga takes 51 Wind damage from Tamaki Uchida's Zan. AS: Blast added!
<Pose Tracker> Eveline Deschamps has posed.
The Dirt Man tells them that he's here to kill this man. At first, Eve isn't prepared to react strongly to that. Perhaps he deserves to die. She needs more information.
Tamaki tosses her hands up. "Does it matter? My judgment will decide the path that I take. That's all there is to it."
But it's when the man tosses him down and summons a Shadow that she sighs lightly, as if dealing with her child doing something bad at school.
And then, the beetle swarm arrives. She considers the situation, and the man will die. It's no longer something she can sit back and allow, not out of nowhere.
"Hunt authorized," she says to no one in particular, as a vial suddenly manifests out of her sleeve, falling into hand.
"Let's make it quick."
She takes the vial up to her teeth and rips off the cap. A noxious, poisonous smell fills the air, something deadly and fatal.
And then, with a practiced motion, she downs the vial, stepping forward towards the swarm calmly as he does so.
Her pupils dilate. Her veins bulge briefly. A rictus grin forms on her face for a moment, as she clutches the side of her head.
"Persona."
It all happens in a telltale flash, as a Shadowy woman manifests, wearing what appears to be a red-and-black tank for armor, with a cannon down the length of her right arm at the same width. She has black boots revealing horse hooves, and a black horse tail - her red hair is made of silk, and instead of eyes, she possesses thermal goggles.
With a flick of a hand, the Persona manifests two flaming screens in front of Eve, as if she was a holographic hacker. She puts a hand to each screen, moving her fingers harmlessly along the flames.
"I don't have your capabilities to properly guide. Therefore, we'll start with violence, and scan if that isn't effective."
The psychic blast washes out, and with a flicker of her cane back into her hand, she *deflects* most of the psychic wave off of her, even as it binds her output and forces her back, skidding on her boots.
"Interesting reaction. Data received."
And then, with a flick of the screen, darkness washes over her cane, as she steps forth, and-
With two rapid strikes, the cane lashes out. One is a regular cane strike, soaked with a dark aura that bleeds into the swarm. The other...
The cane suddenly transforms, a bladed whip whirlwinding with dark danger. It moves to crash into the nearest Shadow it can reach, trying to rend it apart, using whatever effect Umie just put on it to amp her damage.
AS: Tandem! Eveline Deschamps has used the Dark skill Black Blight on Noriaki Okaga! 2 Hits! AS: Eveline Deschamps regains 10 SP from Invigorate! AS: Avoid Worst! Noriaki Okaga takes 67 Dark damage from Eveline Deschamps's Black Blight. Critical Hit! AS: Counter Worst! Noriaki Okaga takes 66 Dark damage from Eveline Deschamps's Black Blight. Critical Hit! AS: COUNTER! Eveline Deschamps takes 33 Dark damage in return for her attack!
<Pose Tracker> Noriaki Okaga has posed.
Who is this man, and what are his alleigances? Given the Evoker, one can make a few educated guesses, but that's about all they can do. He hasn't given a name, for one thing. One thing is certain: the man that Umie had previously only known for his apparent penchant for sometimes stealing the expensive bento boxes from the Lucky Seven not only has a Persona, but he's likely killed before, may still (by proxy) kill tonight, and will likely kill again -- especially if the suspicion that some of them have that he has some connection to Revenge Request is accurate.
He, of course, will be giving no answers: vanished into the darkness of the Hour, perhaps he's watching from a safe distance to 'see how they do'. Or perhaps he's moved on to other matters.
Right now they have a civilian to protect. "W-w-what are those things?!" he shouts, gaping at the Shadows as they advance. It's just as well that he's cowering (as most people would when faced with a giant creepy beetle intent on your demise) because it makes him easier to cover than if he'd tried to book it or even fought back (both would have ended... poorly).
Umie is just in time. One of those Shadows is bearing down upon the civilian who flinches as it starts to charge right for him when the Shadow is instead targetted neatly by Badb's spell. With a fluttering of its (non-flight-worthy) wings, it suddently makes a headlong charge for Umie! ...But she's saved the man from, at least, a serious injury.
Wind, handily cast forth at Arianrhod's call, sweeps one Shadowy beetle that bears too near to the defensive circle up into the air and deposits it onto its shelled back where it kicks its legs feebly. If it weren't such dire circumstances, it might be almost comical: the mind is a plaything of the body, indeed. Alas, it's not the only one: another close at hand has its horn-like mask glow with a sickly pale-pink light, its spell unwinding towards Tamaki in a spiraling burst. It doesn't hurt, but--
It does so at its own peril. Its spell-casting is an advantage that Eve is well-equipped to take: the bladed whip lashes out at it once, knocking it back, then twice! Enraged and with her dark power boiling off it for just that moment, it charges right for her, that masked horn braced for a charge as it comes.
AS: Weapon! Noriaki Okaga has used the Strike skill Bludgeoning Blow on Umie Akabane! 2 Hits! AS: Charm results in party damage! Noriaki Okaga takes 60 damage! AS: Persona! Noriaki Okaga has used the Almighty skill Pulinpa on Tamaki Uchida! AS: Persona! Noriaki Okaga has used the Pierce skill Snap on Eveline Deschamps! AS: Noriaki Okaga: Blast and Charm removed! AS: Avoid Best! Umie Akabane takes 23 Strike damage from Noriaki Okaga's Bludgeoning Blow. AS: You have 1 more attack in queue! AS: Avoid Worst! Umie Akabane takes 39 Strike damage from Noriaki Okaga's Bludgeoning Blow. AS: Nerve Up! Tamaki Uchida's SP +8! AS: Take! Tamaki Uchida takes 0 Almighty damage from Noriaki Okaga's Pulinpa. AS: Panic added! AS: Counter Neutral! Eveline Deschamps takes 46 Pierce damage from Noriaki Okaga's Snap. AS: COUNTER! Noriaki Okaga takes 32 Pierce damage in return for his attack!
<Pose Tracker> Umie Akabane has posed.
Umie's assumptions here were thoroughly selfish: there is someone without a resonance (something she knows can be easily accomplished, as she's living proof), being shown the Dark Hour, by someone who doesn't seem to have that person's best interests in mind. If she had managed to catch an angled glimpse of the coffin from her Badb-assisted sight earlier, it wouldn't matter.
"You're new." This is, indeed, new to Umie. She gives Tamaki a look, mouth drawn in a long, straight line as she tries to communicate, with her eyes (_with a mask on_): '... just run with it.'
'I don't have your capabilities to properly guide.' "Oh, you're already impressed?" Umie draws two splayed out fingers to her chin as she gives an open-mouthed grin. "I'm just getting started~"
(Hopefully no one has to find out the hard way Umie's guidance is limited to simple observation, as well as trial and error.)
'W-w-what are those things?!' Umie manages to dodge out of the way of the first attack, the shadow brushing by her jacket as its chitinous elytron sheath scratches across the lower part of her face. The second strike finds Umie not as lucky, as she's pummeled back, sneakers squeaking as she's pressed back by the blow.
The porcelain white body of Badb projects overhead as Umie attempts to draw closer to the assumed victim, one hand drawing up to direct Badb's flow, the sway of her oversized jacket mimicking the motion of Badb's own sleeves. "Badb!"
Elongated fingers reach out towards the beetle shadows, casting another spell to cloud the mind, as well as a miasma of dark.
If she's able to get to the man, she tries to extend a hand to him.
In her mind's eye, she sees not this man's face, but the face of someone else that she's long etched in her mind, as she extends a hand towards him, her red coral nails slightly chipped.
"I-- _we'll_ protect you," she promises, with a softness that surprises even her.
It won't make things right, but someone make it home tonight.
However, given her actions and manner in battling these shadows, would the man even see her as any safer?
AS: Umie Akabane spends Limit on Exploit! Umie Akabane can use another Weak skill this round! AS: That attack doesn't seem to match one on your list. AS: Persona! Umie Akabane has used the Dark skill Dark Tear on Noriaki Okaga! AS: Ruin: Umie Akabane gains 1 Limit! AS: Persona! Umie Akabane has used the Dark skill Mudo on Noriaki Okaga! AS: Umie Akabane regains 3 SP from Invigorate!
<Pose Tracker> Tamaki Uchida has posed.
'Does it matter?' Tamaki doesn't verbally respond to Eveline, but she shrugs. As she's doing much the same, she can't argue with that, and she supposes it does cut both ways.
"Properly guide? I'm actually pretty flexible -- " Tamaki starts to respond to Eveline, but her sentence is cut short by the fear-inducing spell of one of the Shadows taking effect.
Regardless of how close or distant it may be in reality, death's clarion call rings loudly in Tamaki's ears, and its first wave of panic sets in. It's a familiar sensation -- unpleasant, but all too familiar. Unfortunately, such a call also drowns out revenge target's inquiry about what the Shadows are, only registering to Tamaki as muffled, nonthreatening background noise.
Like her earlier thought about judgement, this, too, cuts both ways. Unsteady and trembling hands may still yet shine in their desperation. Her demeanor shifts -- rather than be cowed into submission with this fear, Tamaki is one to turn back around and fight with wild, reckless abandon.
Her footing still isn't stable enough to avoid incoming harm, but that isn't her aim here. She just needs to get her own body in front of the man they're collectively defending. Tamaki clumsily hurtles forward at full tilt to thrust her own sabre in one of the Shadows, then clutches at her necklace to summon Arianrhod.
With the sound of shattering glass and the flickering of blue flames, the long-blonde-haired wing-armored broadsword-wielding goddess appears again. Towering over another encroaching Shadow, Arianrhod channels the forces hindering Tamaki's feet and senses into something that can be turned against their assailants. With both hands, she holds her broadsword high as it glows with an unholy dark-purple aura.
Tamaki quietly intones, "Absolutely Fatal End."
Arianrhod then brings her blade down through the Shadow in front of her with about as much purpose and as little grace as an executioner would.
AS: Tamaki Uchida spends Limit on Exploit! Tamaki Uchida can use another Weak skill this round! AS: Weapon! Tamaki Uchida has used the Pierce skill Sabre Thrust on Noriaki Okaga! AS: Defense: Tamaki Uchida gains 1 Limit! AS: Persona! Tamaki Uchida has used the Slash skill Absolutely Fatal End on Noriaki Okaga! AS: Tamaki Uchida takes 60 damage from Panic! AS: Tamaki Uchida: Bind removed! AS: Take! Noriaki Okaga takes 33 Dark damage from Umie Akabane's Dark Tear. Critical Hit! AS: Dark_Break added! AS: Block Worst! Noriaki Okaga takes 127 Dark damage from Umie Akabane's Mudo. Weak! AS: Panic added! AS: Block Worst! Noriaki Okaga takes 34 Pierce damage from Tamaki Uchida's Sabre Thrust. AS: Avoid Best! Noriaki Okaga takes 72 Slash damage from Tamaki Uchida's Absolutely Fatal End.
<Pose Tracker> Eveline Deschamps has posed.
As the masked horn deflects darkness back on her, rushing forward, Eve is rammed backwards by the horn, skidding again as she grunts. In exchange, her cane turns back into a cane, and that tip stabs into the Shadow, trying to pierce it in exchange for hurting her, until she can roll out of the way.
"No," Eve dismisses being 'impressed' to Umie. "You're a capable shroud, but that doesn't say much about the whole."
As Umie moves in to attack with darkness, Eve is pretty much ignoring the person she's trying to rescue. Sure, she wants to save him, but that requires her to first deal with the threat. Protection is less necessary than a coordinated offense.
Bringing a fiery screen in front of herself, she taps at it for a few moments. "Enhancement Protocol, engage." A wave of energy washes over the three of them, providing new buffs.
And then, with a flicker forward, she swings that cane again, flicking it into a whip. Pure energy coats it, before it whips out into an intricate pattern, swinging back and forth like an artist who knows the weapon like the back of her hand.
None of it hits the swarm...
Until phantom silver lashes strike in the same pattern, attempting to cut through them with purely mystical power.
If Tamaki gets a chance to pay attention in her panic, she may notice this is definitely a veteran Persona User. Umie could likely figure it out too.
"Keep your wits about you," she chides Tamaki. "Always maintain control on the field if you don't trust your beast."
AS: Eveline Deschamps spends Limit on Exploit! Eveline Deschamps can use another Weak skill this round! AS: Persona! Eveline Deschamps has used the Recovery skill Enhancement Protocol on Umie Akabane, Tamaki Uchida, and Eveline Deschamps! AS: Insight: Eveline Deschamps gains 1 Limit! AS: Take! Eveline Deschamps takes 0 Recovery healing from Eveline Deschamps's Enhancement Protocol. AS: Atk_Up added! AS: Take! Tamaki Uchida takes 0 Recovery healing from Eveline Deschamps's Enhancement Protocol. AS: Spd_Up added! AS: Tandem! Eveline Deschamps has used the Slash skill Infernal Lash on Noriaki Okaga! AS: Eveline Deschamps: Bind removed! AS: Eveline Deschamps regains 10 SP from Invigorate! AS: Block Worst! Noriaki Okaga takes 198 Slash damage from Eveline Deschamps's Infernal Lash. Critical Hit!
<Pose Tracker> Noriaki Okaga has posed.
Darkness roils and curls across the battlefield, but it touches the would-be victim not at all. Dropping flat (good instincts, there) he escapes a probing stab of a chitinous walking leg only barely. Turning its attention upon Tamaki as she proves the nearer target in its riled-up state. With its horn, it stabs for her once.
And Tamaki responds in kind, her blade sinking deeply into its dark carapace. She is a veteran, even afflicted by an ailment: she follows it with blade and Persona in tandem, Arianrhod's power lent to give her that critical edge. Indeed, it is a deep cut against its carapace--
It's just unfortunately not enough to finish the Shadow off altogether. It, still 'alive', lashes surprisingly sharp limbs at her in retaliation.
Umie reaches out to to the would-be victim. He lifts his head as she promises their protection, in the moment he says nothing but nods and takes her hand.
She'll have only moments to make good on her promise: the beetle that had been 'flipped' by Tamaki has at last righted itself; it would be a mistake to call it something like 'revenge' (not that Umie is even the one responsible) even if something like raw untethered emotion can be ascribed vaguely to Shadows like this. But... does it maybe seem like it's a little madder than the others?
Or maybe it's just projection.
Regardless, it comes in for Umie and her charge of the moment at top speed, seeking to tackle them -- or at least her -- bodily.
Nor will it be the only one. As Eveline watches, she'll see that the remaining members of the swarm are preparing for something, their terrible wings fluttering in the crawling dark. Are they going to attack Umie and the civilian all at once? But she is, as she's demonstrated, a veteran herself. Light settles across the approaching swarm, and one might be forgiven for assuming nothing had happened save her assessment of the moment.
Until the light follows in a series of silver flashes. The swarm is Cut.
And unfortunately for Eve in the moment, some of them have survived. Wings flutter: a great wind is being summoned by the wounded survivors, coalescing around her in a whirling vortex.
AS: Noriaki Okaga spends Limit on Exploit! Noriaki Okaga can use another Weak skill this round! AS: Noriaki Okaga spends Limit on Blood! AS: Noriaki Okaga spends Limit on Psych! AS: Weapon! Noriaki Okaga has used the Pierce skill Rupturing Raid on Tamaki Uchida! 2 Hits! AS: Weapon! Noriaki Okaga has used the Slash skill Slicing Salvo on Tamaki Uchida! AS: Persona! Noriaki Okaga has used the Slash skill Mighty Swing on Umie Akabane! AS: Noriaki Okaga takes 60 damage from Panic! AS: Persona! Noriaki Okaga has used the Wind skill Heavenly Cyclone on Eveline Deschamps! AS: Noriaki Okaga: Psych removed! AS: Avoid Worst! Tamaki Uchida takes 31 Pierce damage from Noriaki Okaga's Rupturing Raid. AS: Avoid Best! Tamaki Uchida takes 14 Pierce damage from Noriaki Okaga's Rupturing Raid. AS: Block Worst! Tamaki Uchida takes 50 Slash damage from Noriaki Okaga's Slicing Salvo. AS: Counter Worst! Eveline Deschamps takes 115 Wind damage from Noriaki Okaga's Heavenly Cyclone. Critical Hit! AS: Rage added! AS: COUNTER! Noriaki Okaga takes 58 Wind damage in return for his attack! AS: Take! Umie Akabane takes 0 Recovery healing from Eveline Deschamps's Enhancement Protocol. AS: Def_Up added! AS: You have 1 more attack in queue! AS: There's nothing in your queue by that number or attacker. AS: Avoid Best! Umie Akabane takes 66 Slash damage from Noriaki Okaga's Mighty Swing. <Pose Tracker> Umie Akabane has posed.
Hm. Noting Tamaki's reaction, Umie's eyelids lower. This could be useful later, maybe, if Tamaki wouldn't mind an enraging push. Then again, did she want to be responsible for Berserker Class Tamaki?!
Umie's cheeks nearly bulge out with the comment she wants to make to Tamaki, which is 'but that's implied by the word fatal'. (Please forgive Umie, she does not know it's a perfectly legitimate attack.)
Eveline's comment, thought Umie can see it comes from experience, draws a flat expression from the somewhat prideful Umie. Still, to know what Umie was doing, this entire time... Eveline may even know her from the bar now, Umie realizes, to her dismay.
(This is probably what it's like to be on the other side of her own 'senpai' comments, too. grumblegrumble)
"Don't let my looks deceive you," Umie starts, with a half grin and an impish squint of her eyes behind the mask. "Anyone who doesn't take me seriously is going to be in for a rough night. Same goes for Uchida-san!"
But her pride can't compete with the feel of that scared civilian taking her hand.
Umie wouldn't have been able to give her hand to that man she 'freed' from that coffin, years ago, even if she had the guts to do so.
WIth luck, she'll never see this person, and they'll never remember any of them, masked, dressed up, suited, or none of the above. "Stick by us," she tries to say, trying to keep the shake out of her voice.
It's actually rather hard to project strength like that without the anger or pride to bullshit through it, especially for the sake of someone else.
What's easier is ducking.
Which Umie does, the beetle's trajectory skidding off of her like a pebble across a lake's surface. (It still hurts, damn it.)
"Gogogo!!" Umie says, her unfortunate mask nearly falling off before she has a chance to adjust it back on. "Just a little more, we got this!!"
Badb is summoned in a halo of blue again, giving the beetle shadows another chilling smile, followed by a long, carried out shriek to chill the bones.
(... as if shadows had any)
AS: Umie Akabane spends Limit on Exploit! Umie Akabane can use another Weak skill this round! AS: Persona! Umie Akabane has used the Almighty skill Hooded Smile on Noriaki Okaga! AS: Ruin: Umie Akabane gains 1 Limit! AS: Persona! Umie Akabane has used the Dark skill Pale Shriek on Noriaki Okaga! AS: Umie Akabane regains 3 SP from Invigorate! AS: Take! Noriaki Okaga takes 0 Almighty damage from Umie Akabane's Hooded Smile. AS: Charm added! Panic removed! Explosion! 60 damage! AS: Noriaki Okaga is unable to continue fighting! AS: Take! Noriaki Okaga takes 186 Dark damage from Umie Akabane's Pale Shriek. Weak! AS: Noriaki Okaga is unable to continue fighting!
<Pose Tracker> Tamaki Uchida has posed.
Tamaki's priority is to protect the revenge target. She's got the resilience to take the heat, but the man's a goner if they go for him. She's very clearly made the Shadow mad at her and personally suffers for it, taking the full brunt of the blows and staggering backwards with a pained wince before she steadies herself against a wall and kicks the beetle away, panting heavily. Wordlessly, she gives the man a thumbs-up.
Despite herself and her otherwise wide-eyed, haunted expression, Tamaki grins at Eveline. Through nervous laughter, she replies, "Ha -- ha ha -- s-see, that's the thing. I do trust her. This isn't my f-first rodeo." Manic as she might seem, she's not entirely gone.
Rusty, maybe -- she hadn't continuously fought since she had Awakened, instead wanting to return to a normal life. It's only within the last few weeks that she's been pulled back into these scuffles. She at least remembers what her own limits are.
... Eveline's criticism may still be entirely justified, however.
Her laughter fades, but she still grins. She stares at Eveline for a few more moments. Her eyes don't stare at the same exact spot, but they twitchily shift their focus on different parts of Eveline's form. "D-doesn't s-seem like it's your first, either."
If Tamaki were to ever hear Umie state that complaint out loud, she has a sound argument prepared for the distinction between merely fatal and 'absolutely' fatal. Tamaki's still alive today, for one.
She modestly waves off Umie's boast. "Ahh, that's probably higher praise than I deserve. Not you, though."
Tamaki holds her necklace and utters "Persona," to manifest Arianrhod once more. An armory of ghostly swords fade into view, enough for each Shadow in the crowd to have their own assigned trio of blades hovering over them. Arianrhod plunges her own blade into the earth, and in turn, each of the ethereal weapons swing at their respective target.
AS: Persona! Tamaki Uchida has used the Slash skill Blade of Fury on Noriaki Okaga! 3 Hits! AS: Tamaki Uchida takes 60 damage from Panic! AS: Defense: Tamaki Uchida gains 1 Limit! AS: Take! Noriaki Okaga takes 88 Slash damage from Tamaki Uchida's Blade of Fury. Critical Hit! AS: Noriaki Okaga is unable to continue fighting! AS: Tamaki Uchida spends Limit on Shift! Eveline Deschamps can use another Weak skill this round!
<Pose Tracker> Eveline Deschamps has posed.
"You are a threat either way. The question is how much and if you're one that ever has to be dealt with," Eve notes to Umie.
A wind storm blows forward from the Shadows, and Eve is already moving, She takes a gamble and whips her cane out again, moving to shift the wind back at the Shadows, which does mean it blasts her up and back, forcing her into a tight, heavy roll. She climbs back up to her feet, even as she shifts her grip onto her cane.
Tamaki says it isn't her first rodeo, and neither is it Eve's. "I've been doing this for a long time," she notes calmly, before she strikes twice with her cane, magical energy enveloping it, a ground-shattering force slamming forth onto the shadows.
Then, there's a flicker of a hand, as Guro Rysserova sets her cane alight. Fire washes over it, with Eve rushing forward, flickering the cane at the shadows without shifting it into whip form.
The first strike burns into them, setting them alight. Moments later, Eve turns her back on them, snaps her fingers, and the fire *detonates*, trying to incinerate them in an explosion of flame.
"Prey subdued."
AS: Tandem! Eveline Deschamps has used the Fire skill Twice Burned on Noriaki Okaga! 2 Hits! AS: Tandem! Eveline Deschamps has used the Fire skill Afterburn on Noriaki Okaga! 2 Hits! AS: Eveline Deschamps regains 10 SP from Invigorate! AS: Eveline Deschamps cancels 2 attacks on Noriaki Okaga. AS: Tandem! Eveline Deschamps has used the Strike skill Crack the Sky on Noriaki Okaga! AS: Tandem! Eveline Deschamps has used the Fire skill Afterburn on Noriaki Okaga! 2 Hits! AS: Eveline Deschamps: Atk_Up removed! AS: Eveline Deschamps regains 10 SP from Invigorate! AS: Take! Noriaki Okaga takes 75 Slash damage from Tamaki Uchida's Blade of Fury. AS: Noriaki Okaga is unable to continue fighting! AS: Take! Noriaki Okaga takes 88 Slash damage from Tamaki Uchida's Blade of Fury. Critical Hit! AS: Noriaki Okaga is unable to continue fighting! AS: Take! Noriaki Okaga takes 91 Fire damage from Eveline Deschamps's Twice Burned. AS: Noriaki Okaga is unable to continue fighting! AS: Take! Noriaki Okaga takes 122 Fire damage from Eveline Deschamps's Twice Burned. Critical Hit! AS: Noriaki Okaga is unable to continue fighting! AS: Take! Noriaki Okaga takes 151 Strike damage from Eveline Deschamps's Crack the Sky. AS: Noriaki Okaga is unable to continue fighting! AS: Take! Noriaki Okaga takes 156 Fire damage from Eveline Deschamps's Afterburn. Critical Hit! AS: Noriaki Okaga is unable to continue fighting! AS: Take! Noriaki Okaga takes 156 Fire damage from Eveline Deschamps's Afterburn. Critical Hit! AS: Noriaki Okaga is unable to continue fighting!
<Pose Tracker> Noriaki Okaga has posed.
The man stares at Tamaki for just the moment, and then -- out of stress, out of the camraderie that can arise in these sorts of situations perhaps -- flashes her a strained smile back.
He doesn't know what's going on, if this is some sort of nightmare or if the world's ended, he doesn't know who these people are or why someone wants him dead. But they're protecting him from monsters in of the danger to their own lives and well-being and he appreciates that. He appreciates that a lot! Even if his psyche is buckling a little under the strain, here.
"Y-yeah," stammers the man. There may be questions in the aftermath, once the proverbial dust has settled. In general experience, though, civilians don't remember much once the Dark Hour ends. It'll just be a matter of keeping him safe until then, because while these were attracted (like a roach to roach bait?), others will come to their collective presence.
Right now, though, a Shadow-beetle is diving right for Umie, which, as she ducks under it means it more or less skids over her to then topple and fall, and then--
There is a smile. It's followed by a scream. The Shadow-beetle twitches where it lies but is not yet destroyed.
It's in the aftermath of that attack where Tamaki makes her move. As one, a set of phantom blades slice into the remaining Shadow-beetles. Once, twice, thrice-- of the triplet set, one of them twitches and fights no more, erupting into a cloud of Shadow-stuff and dissipating away as if carried by the wind (there is no wind).
But two remain. Is there not a saying 'kill it with fire'?
Flame erupts from Eve's Persona, flame that's answered by a crack-thwoom from her whip follow-up. There isn't even ash when the brilliance of the explosion fades. There, at last, this part of the Dark Hour is again as still as the grave.
It's over. They've won, though the night is not over just yet.
Still, if there's any blessing to be had, it's this: once the Dark Hour ends, the man will think of all that's happened as little more than a bad and poorly-remembered dream. Yet, there's also room for concern: with his death prevented, is whatever led to this attempt on his life rendered null and void?
Or will that strange man try again?
Perhaps only time will tell.