Mosaic City, located along China's coast, is quite large city sometimes called the Crossroads Between Nations due to its diverse population. While it was once a large tourist spot, the city was placed under a blockade as the military appeared claiming there was a radiation leak. The true hazard, however, is much more sinister.
Post by Sakuya Kyoudou on Apr 13, 2014 2:34:32 GMT -5
Sakuya turned around once she heard someone calling out to her, it was a seemingly young girl with red hair tied into a simple ponytail, and she wore a casual shirt and pants. Sakuya approached her and casually curtseyed, looking down at her as she remained standing while she had taken a seat. "Are you the one? I guess you are the one," Sakuya said, smiling awkwardly. "Since you called me over." Indeed, it would only be complete idiots who randomly grabbed her attention, as it seemed, in Sakuya's experience, not very many people intentionally called for her attention, male or female. Now, she wondered, what would come next from this meeting. Hopefully nothing too suspicious or nothing too shady. Hopefully just an innocent chat or hang out.
So Sakuya hoped.
Profile || City Home Null: Dark/Fire/Ice/Lightning/Wind/Pierce
Wk: Light, Strike
--> Heaven's Blade, Bufudyne, Mediarama, Allure
--> Unshaken Will, Passionate Inferno
P-> Kiss of Lilith
No immediate signs of recognition. Good. That was a start. Keep the advantage, and don't use it until necessary. She wasn't here to make enemies, even if they almost certainly would end up that way in the future. "Am I the one? Hmm..." she said, teasing. "If you mean am I PhantasmMachine, then yes. Otherwise, probably not." She smiled, looking surprisingly at ease for someone who had claimed to have trouble approaching people. But then again, she had effectively had BrideKnight approach her.
"So, how do you want to do this?" Pyxis asked. "Meeting up was your idea, after all. Even if you had me pick a place."
Post by Sakuya Kyoudou on Apr 14, 2014 22:29:30 GMT -5
Sakuya fidgeted and twiddled with her thumbs. "Oh. Right, it was my idea, wasn't it?" she said awkwardly, laughing sheepishly as she soon looked around. "Sorry. I thought perhaps it would be easier to talk things through in person. It would be easier to air out any misunderstandings," she suddenly broke into a more confident demeanor. "You asked me about what happened that night during the full moon. If you weren't there, how was it that you knew to call me over? I don't recall ever giving you any visual hints as to what I might have looked like. Surely, you couldn't have just guessed that the person awkwardly looking for someone she wasn't sure about turned out to be the person you were supposed to be meeting. But perhaps I am just getting ahead of myself~"
Profile || City Home Null: Dark/Fire/Ice/Lightning/Wind/Pierce
Wk: Light, Strike
--> Heaven's Blade, Bufudyne, Mediarama, Allure
--> Unshaken Will, Passionate Inferno
P-> Kiss of Lilith
"Does it look like there's that many people here?" Pyxis asked, gesturing around. There were people, yes, but very few of them. Most of them were also just sitting, either by themselves or in small groups. Those who were walking around were doing so purposefully, clearly with a destination in mind. "Yes, it was a guess. I had no idea if you were actually BrideKnight until just now. That...would have been really awkward, if I was wrong. But you were the only one who looked like they could've been looking for someone they'd never met. I guess I've just gotten pretty good at picking these things out."
Pretending to be human had left Pyxis with a knack for taking things around her and using them to make up stories when she had to. Sometimes they were convincing, sometimes they weren't. This time, at least, she was reasonably confident that it was. "Sorry for not giving you a description, though," she added. "It completely slipped my mind."
Post by Sakuya Kyoudou on Apr 15, 2014 10:40:15 GMT -5
"Ok, well, we can go with that, I guess. It's fine," Sakuya sighed and tried to weasel her way through this, but she failed pretty hard on that front. "Well, enough of that, I suppose. Let's talk about this better. There are some things you obviously want to know about me. I can tell. You have that feeling about you. That feeling of wanting to know things. So, I'll be willing to answer you freely. Just be honest with yourself and what you want to ask. It will be easier on the both of us." Sakuya said, crossing her arms but still standing casually, trying desperately to look cool. She probably failed on many levels.
Profile || City Home Null: Dark/Fire/Ice/Lightning/Wind/Pierce
Wk: Light, Strike
--> Heaven's Blade, Bufudyne, Mediarama, Allure
--> Unshaken Will, Passionate Inferno
P-> Kiss of Lilith
What. Was this girl trying to look cool or something? Was that what was happening? Whatever it was, it wasn't working very well. She mostly just looked goofy. But, never mind that. Pyxis looked stranger half of the time anyway. She passed it off, going back to the girl's offer for answers. Oh, she'd be asking a lot, alright. The only issue was how and in what order to approach it. If she was lucky, she could get through the whole meeting without revealing herself. But, that was probably as likely as finding a shiny in that monster training game.
"Just start with what happened at the shopping center," Pyxis said. "I don't need a play-by-play or anything, just give as much as you can."
Post by Sakuya Kyoudou on Apr 18, 2014 1:25:29 GMT -5
Sakuya just stretched as the girl before her asked her to describe what happened at the shopping center. "Uh, well, I dunno; I was just shopping at the mall late, right, stopped by one of those late night bar establishments, right, so when I saw the regular folks just go up and freeze up, I went out and saw that a fight broke out between some people and these two giant demon thingies, you figured out what they are, right? Ugh, one of them put a wall in between them just before I could check up on my girlfriend who was on the other side..." Sakuya grumbled as she recounted. "So of course, I got mad and started wailing on the damn Shadow demon thingies. Ugh. At the end of it all everybody got pissed at me and I just went up and left with my girlfriend and took her out for a date..." Sakuya continued, sighing.
"But that's the gist of it from my perspective, mostly."
Profile || City Home Null: Dark/Fire/Ice/Lightning/Wind/Pierce
Wk: Light, Strike
--> Heaven's Blade, Bufudyne, Mediarama, Allure
--> Unshaken Will, Passionate Inferno
P-> Kiss of Lilith
Her story checked out. A bunch of Persona users against the two shadow dancers, one of light and one of darkness. And just before Pyxis remembered this girl showing up, the barrier splitting the two sides of the battle had gone up. That was right...the snake shadow had showed up and angrily turned on the sun shadow in response to the barrier. She hadn't understood why at the time, but now it was starting to come together. It wasn't because of any desire to ally with them at all. Instead, it was anger at being separated from her girlfriend.
...Wait, what?!
Pyxis had to replay that part in her head to make sure she had heard it right. That girl she had left with was her girlfriend?! As in, this was a shadow dating a human?! That...what...why...that went against literally everything she knew about shadows. If it was someone she had been feeding off of and had somehow become attached to through that, that would be one thing. But would even a sentient shadow in human form claim such a person to be a girlfriend? If so, why?
One mystery was solved, but several more seemed to have sprung up in its place. Pyxis really didn't know anything about shadow behavior, she realized. Of course, none of this showed on her face. Being a machine had its advantages, and a nearly perfect poker face when she really tried for it was one of them. So hopefully, the shadow girl wouldn't notice her alarm at what she had just said. And...it was probably too soon to ask about it. She wasn't supposed to know that BrideKnight was a shadow, after all. So instead, Pyxis latched onto something else that didn't quite match up with what she remembered.
As she recalled it, one person in particular had gotten upset at the snake woman shadow, and she, along with one of her siblings and Vice, had called him off before he could do anything stupid and incriminating. Certainly not 'everybody'. There had to be a reason she would think so. "Why would everyone get upset at you?" she asked. "Whether it was intentional or not, it sounded like you were on their side."
Post by Sakuya Kyoudou on Apr 18, 2014 2:44:55 GMT -5
The girl in the casual duds seemed to be thinking or processing something about what was just said. She seemed almost surprised. Sakuya tilted her head, but after some moments she asked Sakuya why everybody got upset at her. "Well, first of all, I got into a fight with some old man prior to the encounter, he tried to blow my brains out with a shotgun before, and when he saw me again he thought he could try to take me on. Nope, nope, and nope. Wasn't having any of that. Fortunately the others diffused the situation and everything was calmed down and I quickly left. I think maybe they knew that it would be very dangerous if a fight broke out then and there." Sakuya shrugged and sighed.
Profile || City Home Null: Dark/Fire/Ice/Lightning/Wind/Pierce
Wk: Light, Strike
--> Heaven's Blade, Bufudyne, Mediarama, Allure
--> Unshaken Will, Passionate Inferno
P-> Kiss of Lilith
The old man tried to blow her brains out with a shotgun? Pyxis could see that. He'd threatened the exact same thing back at the shopping center, after all. And then, BrideKnight was right on the mark for why she and the others had tried to defuse the situation. "Makes sense," Pyxis said. "I may have missed this past fight, but I was there for the one before it. They're exhausting. I wouldn't expect anyone to be in any condition to keep fighting after that. Plus, time would have unfrozen pretty soon after the biggest shadow disappeared. After that, having weapons out and pointed at people would just be asking for trouble with the authorities."
She had, admittedly, taken what she'd just said straight from what her and Vice had said when talking shotgun man down. If BrideKnight recognized that, well, good for her. It was pretty easy reasoning for someone to come to, anyway. But now, it was time to start getting to the meat of it. BrideKnight had provided a good opening by mentioning getting into a fight with shotgun man. "Actually, speaking of getting into a fight," she said, "I've been meaning to ask since the first time we talked, it seems like you have some kind of ongoing conflict with Persona users. How come?"
Post by Sakuya Kyoudou on Apr 18, 2014 9:48:40 GMT -5
"Yes, well, you are correct I suppose," Sakuya agreed with the girl in saying that people would probably be tired after the fight so indeed it would be a bad idea to engage in combat. Though, she mentioned how time would have reverted back to normal and people with weapons would probably be a bad idea as well. Hmm. Come to think of it, Sakuya had remembered some people mentioning those things back at that time during the conclusion of the fight but she wasn't a hundred percent sure if it came from her, after all Sakuya had not paid explicit attention to those who were diffusing the situation, so it could just have been her bad memory.
"I have an ongoing conflict with people who see my work as a menace to society," Sakuya said, sighing. "Of course, there are other reasons why I would probably have a conflict with Persona Users more specifically, but I think if with the information I gave you and what you currently know, you might be able to figure it out yourself," Sakuya shrugged.
"Come to think of it, you told me you sat this one out. But I can't help but figure if I saw someone with a pretty face like yours back there... Am I just imagining things?"
Profile || City Home Null: Dark/Fire/Ice/Lightning/Wind/Pierce
Wk: Light, Strike
--> Heaven's Blade, Bufudyne, Mediarama, Allure
--> Unshaken Will, Passionate Inferno
P-> Kiss of Lilith
That was fast. Not unexpected, though. Despite the comments about a 'pretty face', Pyxis was pretty sure it was the hair that BrideKnight was thinking she recognized. There was no hiding it. She could have asked for more upgrades that would have allowed her to perfectly blend in, like color-changing hair or the ability to alter her facial features and look like someone else entirely, but there was no way the lab would have allowed the budget for that. That, and infiltration was never her specialty to begin with. But since BrideKnight had gone for a remark about her face being pretty, Pyxis had an easy way to divert that recognition for the moment.
"Hm? Are you hitting on me, all of a sudden?" she asked in a teasing tone, giving a small smile. "If so, your pickup lines need work." With that out of the way, she went back to what BrideKnight had said before asking that. It seemed almost like...she was daring Pyxis to put the pieces together. And since Pyxis had plenty of reason to suspect what she was before figuring out that BrideKnight was the snake shadow, it didn't seem like too much of a stretch to voice that conclusion.
Certainly not when she was inviting her to try.
"In that case, though," Pyxis said, her tone becoming serious all of a sudden. "I might as well ask you straight out. Are you a shadow?"
Post by Sakuya Kyoudou on Apr 20, 2014 0:15:32 GMT -5
The girl asked Sakuya jokingly if she was hitting on her, to which Sakuya mentioned "Perhaps I might be, but that's not important for me right now, though I must admit I would like some hair management tips," she smiled. Soon though, Sakuya finally eked out the question, though she wasn't sure if this was the response she wanted. Was she a Shadow? Well, yeah, she was. Should she answer? Well, she was kind of caught out now, considering how serious and confident the girl sitting before her was. Soon, Sakuya sighed in resignation and nodded.
"Yes. I am. But, you couldn't have even hoped to ask me that question with that amount of conviction and seriousness without having confirmed your initial suspicions. That means you have to have seen me," Sakuya smiled. "So you were there after all. Though, now that you know this, what do you plan to do? Do you plan to join your compatriots in hatred and hatch a plot to kill me?"
Profile || City Home Null: Dark/Fire/Ice/Lightning/Wind/Pierce
Wk: Light, Strike
--> Heaven's Blade, Bufudyne, Mediarama, Allure
--> Unshaken Will, Passionate Inferno
P-> Kiss of Lilith
Pyxis closed her eyes and gave a small laugh at the girl's response. "Well, I guess both of our covers are blown at this point, then," she said. She reached behind her head and pulled her hair down, then looked back up at BrideKnight. "Sorry for lying to you. I was worried that if I came straight out and confronted you, I'd scare you off. But I did have reason to suspect you even before seeing you, from what you said the first time we talked."
Surprisingly, though, BrideKnight was still calm. Pyxis had expected much more hostility when she was outed. That was good, though. It meant they had a better chance of not resorting to blows. "No, I don't plan on plotting to kill you. And if I did, it wouldn't be out of hatred," she continued. While Pyxis hadn't given it much thought before, she didn't hate shadows, so to speak. She hated the spear-wielding shadow that showed up during the battle at the hospital. She had the potential to hate other shadows that might affect her on a personal level. But everything else? The need to hunt them down was wired into her very core, completely bypassing her conscious mind. It had taken a great deal of practice to get to the point where she didn't feel the need to shoot on sight. Now, it was finally time to make use of that.
"Destroying shadows is my mission. But I think we both know there's a more important things to do than pointing a gun at every shadow I come across," she explained. "I don't think it's much of a stretch to assume you're not allied with the shadows that caused the lockdown. Or else you wouldn't have attacked the dancer shadows. And..." her thoughts briefly turned to the girl BrideKnight had called her 'girlfriend'. "I also suspect that you also have reason to want it gone. To that end, I would like to propose a truce."
Post by Sakuya Kyoudou on Apr 20, 2014 0:47:49 GMT -5
Sakuya tilted her head, but soon sighed. "It's your mission? They employ people for that kind of stuff now? I didn't know that Shadows were such a big deal. If you were employed to destroy Shadows, did the folks ever tell you that Shadows are all over the world?" Sakuya fidgeted, looking a bit grim. "Well, anyway, yeah, I've got nothing to do with the Shadows that caused the lockdown. I came to the city on the run from authorities from another country, yeah, but I honestly like it here so far. I just want things to be calm again so I can continue on my own business and spend time with those I actually give a damn about," Sakuya continued on.
"So, a truce, you say? Well, I've never harbored any hostility towards you, and I don't even know you that well, so suffice to say, unless you go out of your way to make my life hell, I won't lay a hand on you, so don't worry about me."
Profile || City Home Null: Dark/Fire/Ice/Lightning/Wind/Pierce
Wk: Light, Strike
--> Heaven's Blade, Bufudyne, Mediarama, Allure
--> Unshaken Will, Passionate Inferno
P-> Kiss of Lilith