Our House is Condemned [Kaitou, Akira/Mission]

[Ariane Ivers]

♪_{Our lives are condemned}♫

Going out to some stranger’s ‘haunted house’ so soon after injuring her arm probably wasn’t the best of ideas, especially with her never going this far out since the barrier went up. It was bandaged well and soaked in aloe, so as long as she tried to avoid straining it too much there shouldn’t be a problem. Even if it was a bad idea, nothing could keep her cooped up for long, even an injury. Besides, if that woman wanted her to go here perhaps she could get some information about this whole incident. After all, that blonde seemed to know more than she let on. That could be just something Anne’s overactive imagination talking, of course. Either way, it was something active that involved more than sitting at home reading.

Stretching her still bruised hand with her other in her pocket, Anne approached the eerie house. She remembered hearing that there would be others accompanying her, which was oddly enough exciting. It made sense that there would be others who were aware of the shadows, but it wasn’t like she could run through the city asking about it. Unless she was fond of spending her days in a padded room, of course. Or worse.

Even if she could be a ditz, she wasn’t stupid. Trying to see who else knew about this was a delicate business. Investigating a haunted house wasn’t how she expected to, but hey, no meeting was perfect. Should she wait for the others? It may be the smarter route, but what if they were already inside and she was the one that was late? Looking around for a moment, she turned the doorknob, pushing the door inwards. A huge part of her hoped the others would show soon, or that she would at least run into them inside. Exploring this thing by herself wasn’t something she was looking forward to. If it apparently meant ‘certain death’, then who would take care of her cats?

[Akira Nakajima]

Akira was not a sadist. Far from it, in fact! He was a charitable and loving individual that had enlisted in the "Haunted House" listing purely out of concern for his comrades with slightly-possibly-hopefully similar goals. Yep! No ulterior motives there. Nope, nosiree. He certainly wasn't going along solely because he was interested in watching other people get scared! Nor was he- how could you even think it?!- planning on potentially doing something to further instill fear in their souls. After all, he was just a normal, upstanding young man that was looking out for his fellow man!

. . . okay, bullshit aside, Akira had every intention in screwing with the heads of those that had enlisted in the mission. One he didn't recognize, but the other was the name of a guy he had sold some earlier armor to. He wouldn't go so far as to call him a friend just yet, but Kaitou seemed like a nice enough person. What kind of face would he make when he was afraid? The boy's cheeks flushed slightly as numerous ideas went through his mind. The other person, some Ariane or whatever, was a wild card through and through. Hopefully, she would not disappoint.

Akira had come in drag, though. That was a given, though, since everybody he dealt with in the ruins knew him as Ran as opposed to Akira. Minus the special case that was his assistant-turned-girlfriend. Black pumps housed his feet. From within, thighhighs- black, with fluttering white bats as a design- reached up into his skirt. The skirt was pleated and sported a checkerboard design of maroon and black. A pure white blouse was tucked into said skirt. Over it, a sleeveless crimson vest was zipped up. Finishing up was a short-cut, but long-sleeved, jacket of black, left unbuttoned. His hair was left untamed, as was usual, and his face was framed by his glasses.

As the boy in drag approached the site of the quest, he noticed a stranger slowly pushing open the door. Oh, such gold had been presented to the boy. With a wicked smile and light steps, the boy closed the distance quickly. He took care to not make a sound, watching where he stepped and how, and made certain that there was still enough distance between them that he was in no risk of being hit following his joke. The crossdressed would have laughed, but it would ruin the surprise.

"Join us." He uttered the whispered demand- faint, yet powerful enough to be heard. Naturally, it was feminine on the tone scale. With a playful smile that bordered on demonic, he tilted his head to the side, taking a step back, just in case. "Seems like we're in this together, Miss. Were you attracted by the hopes of entertainment? Or. . . perhaps you felt as though you were drawn to it by some mysterious force?" Without giving, or asking for, a name, the boy in drag went on, putting the index finger of his left hand to his lips. That smile still lingered. His right hand was at his side, holding those giant shears at an angle. It was nice to be prepared for any trouble. Sound Splitter, as well as his hidden Evoker, would be acting as his insurance in the case of something nasty appearing outside of the script.

Or after the festival had concluded.

[ChromaticTruthsayer]

The two of you enter the haunted house, allowing you a quick glance around the immediate room and any rooms adjacent. For the most part, it looks like your typical decrepit house. Cobwebs, dust, and old furniture litter the area. There also seems to be a staircase leading to the upstairs. Unfortunately, you don't explore any adjacent rooms nor do you go upstairs because the whole damn floor collapsed on you. Have fun.

After falling for a good deal of time, you finally land in what seems to still be part of the house despite being quite a bit underground. Your fall seemed to be cushioned by a bunch of extremely soft mattresses like this was some kind of cartoon. There is only one pathway past this point of course, with a simple sign right in front of it.

"Boo~"

Putting the Blonde Woman's odd humor aside, a group of shadows with masks and chainsaws burst out of the walls. You can only imagine that this is what the sign must have been referring to.

Ripper Gigas

• Heaven's Blade
• Power Charge
• Death Chill

Absorb: Repel: Null: Dark Rs: Wk: Light
Massacre Gigas x2

• Viper Smash
• Brave Blade
• Power Charge

Absorb: Repel: Null: Strike Rs: Wk: Pierce

[Ariane Ivers]

The door opened slowly, and she held her breath as it moved. She kept wondering where the other two were supposed to be, there were supposed to be strength in numbers, right? So where were they? Anne had no idea who they were supposed to be, but the idea of going in by herself did not sound fun. If anything, she wished she had scavenged up at least some information on her future companions, but she hadn’t thought of it--not to mention, she highly doubted the woman would have told her much anyway.

Just as she was about to hurry the process along and push the door open end completely, it stopped moving for a second. Right before she heard a voice behind her. Before she could help it she let loose a mortifying screech and spun around, fists at the ready to fight off whatever spook it was… not. Turning a terrible shade of burgundy she shook herself off, slowly bringing her arms back down from her stance. “Good gracious you scared the absolute crap out of me.” Turning an even more sickly color at her silly choice of words, she cleared her throat, looking at who it was to join her.

Her new company seemed to be a girl, with an absolutely evil smirk on their face. Scowling, Anne huffed again, shaking her head. “Oooh, you’re rotten. You definitely got me, though, I guess I had that coming standing like a dweeb in the doorway.” Sighing, the initial scare-factor wearing down slightly, the frown started to turn the other way. Even if the newcomer already played dirty, the fact that she wasn’t alone anymore already made her feel better.

Pondering the question for a moment she shrugged, shaking her head. The way they worded the question gave her goosebumps, and she couldn’t help but look at the pretty terrifying looking blade at their side, but she eventually got her mind working in gear to answer. “The former, I guess? Perhaps even both… I still know next to nothing about what’s going on, you’re the first I’ve really seen to even know who the woman is. I figured hey, maybe I’ll get some know-how here, and if not, there’s not much else I have going on.”

Anne rolled her shoulders a bit, trying to limber up the best she could, she tilted her head. “My name is Ariane, by the way. What about you? What made you decide to check this out? I can only assume by your choice in introduction that it’s for amusement.”

As she talked, she went ahead and took a step inside and looked around. It very much resembled a stereotypical haunted house, cobwebs, rotted wood, the whole nine yards. There wasn’t much time to examine her surroundings as much as she would have liked, though. Barely a few steps inside and the aforementioned rotten wood collapsed beneath her feet and she yelped once again in surprise. ’This is becoming a bad pattern tonight, isn’t it? Maybe I should just duct tape my mouth shut.’ Her thoughts of frustration were pushed aside and quickly replaced with thoughts of ‘oh god we’re going to splatter on the ground after all that’. Before she could try to think of a way to break her fall she landed. For half of a second she caught her breath, sure she was dead and broken, when she realized the ground was soft. Squinting her eyes open slowly she looked around, seeing all of the huge mattresses around her.

She blinked in confusion before sighing deeply. After all that, there was a television-esque landing to break their fall. Not that she wasn’t grateful, of course. She wasn’t dead after all. Getting to her feet and brushing all of the dirt she now had on her off, Anne looked around. A creepy room with one exit full of mattresses. Because that was super normal, of course. Then again she was by no means expecting normal when she walked into the building. Flexing her knuckles to relieve some of the tension she was now holding she glanced over to her companion, raising an eyebrow. “I guess we don’t have very many options.” Just as she started to walk towards the marked door, however, they had visitors.

Anne braced herself with her arms in front of her as the shadows suddenly burst into existence. Well, here was the ‘haunted’ in ‘haunted house’, she guessed.  If it was shadows, she could manage it.  As long as there were no real spooks.  Her face was plastered with a scowl as she took a fighting stance. As she flexed that ‘muscle’ in the back of her mind she brought the Cerynitian Hind into existence and took a deep breath. She focused on giving them a little bit more speed, flexing her right hand as she did so. The Hind mimicked her moves, and Anne instantly felt lighter on her feet with Sukukaja giving her a boost. As she did so, it looked like a couple of the shadows had the same idea. The bigger one and one of the smaller two revved their chainsaws, seemingly glowing for a second. Anne gritted her teeth, looking at the smaller one. It would probably be smarter to get the weaker looking ones out of the way, and the one that charged its attack would probably be worse to keep alive.

She really didn’t like the look of that chainsaw, though. “Cery, go ahead and see what you can do about that one.” As she spoke, she partially mimed with one hand throwing a blade, followed shortly by the Hind actually throwing both glowing blades at the smaller one that previously charged itself up. It reared back in pain, and Anne had just a moment to grin at her luck when the other small one charged at her. She hardly had a moment to throw her arms up to try and defend herself when its fist shot straight forward at her.

That hurt. She groaned, backing back away from the thing as best she could before turning to the one she attacked before, pointing at it. “Once more, Cery--lets finish that one off.” The Hind seemed to nod below it’s mask, throwing her blades at the thing once again. They both landed spot on, one through the heart and one through it’s mask, glowing sharply. Perfect hit. Grinning in success, she kept her eye on the larger one. It was about due to attack any second now.

She inhaled, focusing on quickening them again with Sukukaja. Chances were she had no chance of getting in an attack and she didn’t even want to attempt to counter whatever it was plotting. Sure enough, just after she boosted them up again the larger one revved it’s weapon. It glowed brightly, enough that she had to squint to see it. At the last second, given the extra kick she needed from the Hind, she managed to tuck and roll out of the way as the huge saw came down, slicing through a huge handful of the mattresses like they were just whipped cream. The redhead gulped, counting her blessings. She liked being in one piece, thank you very much. Unfortunately, the other smaller one prefered her pummeled. Just as she pushed back up to her feet she was promptly knocked off of them and into the remaining mattresses behind her, wind knocked out of her.

Gasping for breath, she couldn’t even yell to her Persona. She managed to gesture, wincing and holding her chest as she lazily mimed with one hand towards the last small one. The Hind spun her blades, and as they were thrown Anne’s head started to throb. She hoped they landed, though she trusted her persona’s aim enough that she was sure they did. Looking around for her companion, she hoped they were faring better. Anne had managed to take out one of the smaller ones and attack the other, and give them a few boosts. She wasn’t sure how much more she could take, though--she just hoped the other was managing better.

[Akira Nakajima]

The combination of a screech and a sudden call to arms ended up being the woman's first “response” to the crossdresser's appearance. How delightful. And the woman seemed. . . fresh. New to it all, and all that stuff. And then the woman turned the question around. Simple, and fair, enough, really. If not given out of social etiquette, then the fact that he had some degree of fun at her expense was enough of a reason to give the information. People relaxed a bit more easily when around those that they at least had a name for. Ariane made an assumption, and she nailed the head in one shot.

”I go by Ran. And your guess is spot-on. Certainly, I was wary about letting others go into a nightmare house with questionable restraints on the danger, but. . . I'd be lying if I said I wasn't interested in watching people flail in fear.” Despite his words, the crossdresser's lips were curled into an absolutely angelic smile. Well, one's mileage would, ultimately, vary with issues like that. His partner seemed to be quite vocal in regards to surprises. The floor gave way and the two sank into the pit. He honestly wished that Kaitou had been around to display his fear. Well, Akira was honestly curious if the man would show fear or play it straight. Even if it was the latter, it'd still be a great deal of fun.

A small message from the crazy blonde woman, as well as a sudden surge of giants, made for all the fun the boy could have hoped for. Still, they were only giants. Nothing extraordinary. If the woman were as fresh as she seemed, then her perspective were likely drastically different from his own. Not that he could blame her. He had to claw his way up through the echelons of power to get where he was. Calmly, he extracted his Evoker and planted it to his temple. From the opposite side of his cranium, Alpha Elma thrust her arms out and pulled herself free from the boy's head. Space-manipulation mechanics were in play, obviously, since a full grown succubus- wings and tail included-simply did not fit in an androgynous young man's head.

His partner killed one Shadow, damaged another, and put down two layers of Sukukaja. Unfortunately, those Sukukajas would be wasted once his Heat Riser pushed that enhancement to the limit, but it was still nice to know what she was capable of. Reacting to the boy's will, Elma unleashed a Heat Riser, pouring an empowering wave of energy over the boy and Ariane. That capped off the speed boost, but it only started the offensive and defensive enhancements. While his Persona reacted to his will, the boy shot in. His speed could have been considered ridiculous, but with his reflexes and general speed enhanced to the literal limit of his potential, it really wasn't that odd. The larger of the Shadows was focused on charging itself. That, along with the fact that Ariane had already weakened the remaining “small” Shadow, kicked it up on the crossdresser's priority list. Half-twirling, the boy opened his scissors with just his right hand, angling it and effectively clipping the smaller giant's arm off while dashing by. If it could have screamed, it likely would have. However, oddly, the Shadow made absolutely zero noise- not even what could be expected from a Shadow under normal circumstances.

That was because his Sound Splitter had utterly consumed the Shadow's “sound”. The effect was temporary, granted, but the enemy wouldn't last long enough to recover. Elma unleashed a second Heat Riser. The boy's strength and endurance had further improved. A quick twirl and a forceful two-handed slash cut the smaller giant down. All that remained was the bigger, nastier mass of blackness. He could have addressed it directly, but there was no telling exactly what else the two could expect in that house. It would likely be best to see to their wounds all in one go, then replenish his energy, just in case.

”Well,” The boy in drag started, seemingly unphased by the fact that there was a wild giant preparing to cut him down, ”I have to say, I'm a bit disappointed in the 'scares'.” With a sigh and an exaggerated shrug, the boy shook his head. Then, with the enemy's approach, he dove down between its legs, rising to his feet calmly behind the wannabe chainsaw version of Jack the Ripper. The attack left the giant completely vulnerable. Elma unleashed the third and final Heat Riser, maximizing the two's battle potential. A good bit of setup for the rest of the mission- no telling when quick feet would prove to be a nice thing. The boy skipped from one foot to the other before twirling. Diagonally up and to the left, right to left, and, finally, diagonally down and to the left, the boy unleashed the triple slash combination while spinning. The Shadow let out a gurgly growl before spinning and slashing at the boy. The crossdresser giggled like a giddy school girl as he dropped to the side, spreading out on the mattresses, to evade. The chainsaw buzzed over his form ineffectively. The Shadow then tried to charge itself up. Well, that was the end of its life, the boy figured, as he kicked himself up and straightened his clothes out.

”I'll go ahead and heal us now.” The boy in drag noted lightly as the dominatrix succubus, that Persona of his, unleashed a Mediarahan to heal them both. Meanwhile, the boy slashed the Shadow diagonally up and to the left before immediately slashing from left to right. His feet were firmly planted- well, as much as they could be- in the mattresses as he did so. Following that, he lightly hopped away, the Shadow howling. While its attention was solely on him, it did not notice the succubus that crept up behind it. The boy giggled as Elma's tail elongated, quickly multiplying its length exponentially, before coiling around the Shadow and effectively immobilizing it. Her body shifted around to its front, tightly constricting her victim, where she smirked and ripped away its mask.

What followed was probably not safe to be described in words. The cleanest way to describe it was “a passionate French kiss”. Either way, Alpha Elma unleashed her signature move, Dominion. Not just once, mind you, but several times. No, even that was incorrect. Rather, instead of “individual uses”, the succubus was “continuously using” Dominion. The draining kiss of death did not finally break off until the Shadow began to turn an ashy white. Actually, even then, it didn't quite break free. A slight jerk as the body began to gave way to her tail's constricting coils disrupted it, but the succubus latched right back on, continuing her drain. Eventually, the giant dissolved into ashy blackness, seeping into the mattresses. With that, they had effectively replenished their “magic” reserves.

”Now then. I do believe that's all for the time being. You seem fine. Are you a lady that believes in using doors, or would you like to try that hole they made?” The crossdresser tilted his head to the side, smiling pleasantly. Never mind the fact that his Persona had just literally sucked the life out of a Shadow. Nah, that was perfectly negligible. The fact that he could appear so calm about it suggested that he was either twisted (perhaps not incorrect, if one knew all the details) or just very experienced with Shadows and all the shenanigans that revolved around them.

[ChromaticTruthsayer]

With the enemies defeated, you proceed a little further into the tunnel-like path. Not far from your landing site, you spot another sign.

"Pretty scary, huh~?"

Naturally, this must be the blonde woman's odd sense of humor at work. Proceeding onward, you begin to feel the floor give out a bit. Could it be another pitfall? Nope. Instead, a large quantity of foul smelling black liquid begins to pour out as it fills the hallway up to the point where the next door is located. Oh, but even better? Large slimy tentacles begin to slither around under the water and occasionally, out into the air a bit. Several of them begin "feeling" you, but are otherwise not aggressive in any way. Though a little grabby, they don't seem to impede your progress either. It seems you simply have to wade through this water(?) that is now waist deep to the other side which is. . . a considerable distance away. Well, you better get to it!

[ ] Wade to the other side of the water and proceed to the next room.

[Ariane Ivers]

So, their name was Ran. It was nice to know who she was talking to, and they even admitted to having ulterior motives. Watching their expression as they spoke just made her narrow her eyes, raising an eyebrow. It seemed fishy, but hey. They were upfront about it, and as long as it didn’t put her in danger in the process it shouldn’t matter too much. Still, knowing her reactions would be scrutinized, and possibly poked fun at, made her nervous. It most likely wouldn’t have been so terrible if the third showed up to take some of the heat off of her, but that’s how life worked. especially as of late; expect the unexpected.

In the end, as long as she could try to keep a good attitude about it she should be fine.

~~~ 

As she sat like a lump while her partner went to work, she was quickly realizing how far out of her league she must have been. They seemed to have little to no problem fighting what was left, even the big intimidating fricker. In fact, they almost looked like they were enjoying it.

Their persona turned out to be a giant, sultry looking succubus. Her method of summoning was interesting if nothing else, but Anne couldn’t help but grin a little in amusement. The blade she saw earlier turned out to be less sword-like and more ‘hot damn those are huge scissors’-like. She didn’t even think they made scissors that big. Chances were they didn’t, especially since when the shadow was mutilated with them it went absolutely eerily silent. Once again the redhead was reminded of how badly she needed a new weapon.

Her partner continued on with ease, dodging and attacking at all the right times. Even through Anne’s slightly blurred vision she was in awe. Sure she could fight, but as her current status proved she still had a ways to go. One critical hit and a dodge during a fight does not a great fighter make. Then, to further prove how much stronger they were, they announced their intention to heal them. Heal? Not only were they a provenly effective fighter, but they were a healer too? Surely with those attacks that meant the heals would be pretty ineffective then, right?

Nope. As it happened, their heals were just as powerful. As hurt as she felt just moments ago, it was gone. Her vision cleared, and she took her arm off of her stomach, flexing her previously sore muscles. Just like that she was in tip-top shape again. Grinning in relief she looked over to thank them--even if they were here to essentially pick on her, at least they wouldn’t let her get seriously hurt, apparently. “Hey, I apprecia..te.. it…” Partway through her thanks she had taken note of what the other persona was doing, and frowned in confusion.

If her moderate knowledge of MMO monsters told her anything it was that she really shouldn’t be surprised. It was a succubit--erm, succubus--after all. Still, she had never thought of something like that working on such a huge shadow so… easily. She shuddered briefly then looked back over to her grinning companion, raising an eyebrow. “Remind me to never get on your bad side. Not that I should need reminding, but just to be safe.”

Turning to look at their options she ‘hmmm’ed to herself briefly. “I’m sure she wants us to go through the door… so why not through the hole instead?” Turning, she headed on through it, noticing the other sign. She sighed, shrugging as she looked back over her shoulder. “Well, so much for that assumption. Guess we may as well keep going though, right?” It wasn’t more than two steps further when she felt the ground shift and hesitated, thinking for sure she was about to eat her words.

In a way, she did--her nose was instantly assaulted with the stench, and she almost wished she had gotten punched by another shadow instead. Trying her best to avoid breathing through her nose she hurried her pace through the rising waters, when to her left she saw something move briefly under the water. Practically jumping a straight out of the water she turned, adrenaline from the fear making her heart race in her ears. What was that? Snakes? Shadows?

Oh no. Her face turned about ten shades of red and purple as what was happening hit her, and she picked up her pace the best she could through the casually grasping tentacles through the water. “Nope, nope. Nope nope nope nopenopenope.” She continued her rambling as she hurried along, trying to get to the other side as fast as possible. A part of her mind was very, very grateful that she had chosen to wear jeans and nothing more open. Anne had been on the internet enough to know tentacles were a terrible sign.

The rest of her mind was just focusing on getting the heck through the hallway. Was she really that far away? They weren’t doing anything too dodgy, yet, so she didn’t want to chance attacking them to get them away from her. It was possible if she did they would get angry and goodness knows what would happen then. She could make it, really, she could. If she wasn’t tunnel visioning on getting out of there she would be concerned with her companion, who was after all wearing a dress.

That did hit her finally, but she didn’t stop her pace, instead calling over her shoulder. “I hope you’re okay back there. If not say something because I’m not stopping otherwise.” It didn’t help that the water smelt so terrible, too. As she hurried along she thought to herself that whatever was on the other side better not be worse than this.

[Akira Nakajima]

Seemed that his partner was more afraid of the skills he and Elma possessed than the scenario they found themselves in. Well, maybe not afraid, per se. Either way, she was unnerved. Was it really that odd? Or was she really just that fresh? Either way, that batch of baddies was done with, and the two of them were set. Plus, with Heat Riser setup in its full glory on both of them, anything else that might have appeared would be easy game. At least, that was how it should have been. Often enough, the things that went down in the ruins, or wherever Shadows and other things were involved, typically ignored all reason and hopes and opted to just make the day a real shitshow.

The boy in drag ignored the crazy blonde woman's messages, opting to just follow the lead of the young woman. He nodded politely when necessary, but otherwise remained silent. At least, he did up until the stinky, foul fluids filled the hall. His clothes were simply too nice to ruin over that crazy woman's pranks. With a light hop, the boy stretched his body out, allowing Elma to scoop him up into a bridal carry. Any pesky tentacles that tried to reach for his clothing was casually batted away by either the blunt side of the crossdresser's scissors or the succubus' tail. The scent, while bad, did not bother him too much. He'd dealt with a few odd fetishes that dealt with foul scents in the past, so he had a degree of tolerance for it. However, his partner showed concern. That single bit brought forth so many reactions within the boy's heart. It warmed him up and made him feel fuzzy. It amused him. Most of all, though, it made him want to tease her.

”Oh, I'll be quite fine. Don't worry about me.” The boy in drag giggled light-heartedly. Truly, so long as his clothes were fine, he could handle almost anything that was thrown at him. ”You, on the other hand, I'm worried about. You don't seem to have much experience with tentacles. Well, I'm sure, if you keep at it, you'll have all the experience a human could hope for after another couple of months, but, I digress. Are you quite all right? I could float a little closer and give a few of them a little. . . trim off the tops. That might persuade them to keep to themselves.”

The boy spoke so casually of dismembering things. Granted, they were likely something Shadow-related, so that could be entirely dismissed. Kind of like how botanists didn't hesitate to snip a pesky plant or uproot a weed.

[ChromaticTruthsayer]

Crossing to the other side of the water, you reach the other side of the hall and go through another door. Any clothes that made contact with that water seem to be coated in the strange liquid. And just in front of you, you see another sign.

"And that liquid is going to stain your clothes! How terrifying!"


Ignoring the sign, you find yourself at a dead end room with two large treasure chests. Each one has one of your names written above them. You can only assume that this is your prize. Of course, before you do anything, the chests begin to get up on their legs that all normal chests have and charge at you. Oh yeah, they have razor sharp teeth and claws too.

"Akira" Chest

• Bufudyne
• Mind Charge
• Gigantic Fist
• Heat Riser

Absorb: Repel: Null: Rs: Wk: Pierce

"Ariane" Chest

• Agilao
• Fatal End
• Phys Boost

Absorb: Repel: Null: Rs: Wk: Pierce

[Ariane Ivers]

She chanced a half-glance over her shoulder as her companion responded and noticed their new method of travel while they lazily batted the nasty things away. Anne scowled to her masked familiar. Why hadn’t they thought of that? The Hind’s red eyes gleamed mischievously from under the skull, and Anne’s frown deepened. She didn’t need her own subconscious mocking her. While she tried to brush off her own self-deprecation, the other user decided to add flame to her already painful discomfort. It wasn’t as though it should have been a surprise. After all, they said from the get-go that was pretty much their reason for coming.

Still, even knowing that it was just to taunt her and that she shouldn’t let it get to her, Anne felt her face redden. She managed to mutter something along the lines that no, she was good, but it was hard to hear as she mumbled it so quietly. Clearing her throat, and ignoring her flushed face, she watched the slimies out of the corner of her eyes. “I think I’ll be alright. I don’t want to chance infuriating them and making matters worse. Besides, Cery has some pretty handy blades too if they try any funny business. We’re almost there I think, anyway.”

Sure enough, they finally reached the door, and Anne rushed through it as fast as she could. The second she was on dry land she tried to shake off as much of the liquid as she could. Instead of dripping off of her, it seemed to cling to every fold of fabric she wore. Groaning, she looked up to read the next sign their tormentor left for them. “Well, that’s great. I really liked these jeans, too. I wonder if dry cleaning would work.” Her face contorted with puzzlement as she looked down at the now discolored clothing. Hey, it was possible, wasn’t it?

Continuing past the taunting sign, her eyes perked up. She hadn’t expected the ‘trial’ to be nearly this easy, but here they were! Was that really all she had to throw at them after all this? Her scowling finally turned it’s way around as she started towards the one with her name on it. It probably wasn’t anything super big since they had such a short visit here, but hey, loot was loot. It seemed to be getting taller as she approached it though. And… growling? Anne slowed her pace as her eyebrows knitted together, and eventually stopped altogether as it suddenly towered above her, and she groaned again.

“Oh boy, mimics, because that’s what we wanted to see. I didn’t even know shadows came in a mimic variety. That’s definitely going to make me feel more confident in exploring alone.” As she spoke her arms came up in front of her in a battle-ready pose. Ignoring the liquid sticking to her jeans she hopped backwards, wanting to stay as far away from the sharp teeth as possible. Pointing at the one with her name on it, she mimicked shooting a gun. The strength from Ran’s buffs earlier gave her more ‘oomph’, and she could feel it. No sooner than she ‘shot’ did the Hind’s twin shot hit their mark, the chest cluttering in what seemed to be pain.

Hmm. Well, that could work out for the best. Just as she started to grin, it was quickly wiped away as the chest started to glow red. “Crap, not good.” It opened it’s fanged mouth, a pillar of flame headed straight for her. She had been targeted far too often with her weakness, and she didn’t plan on letting it happen again--improved defense or not. As it hurtled toward her, she dove out of the way, landing in a roll and crouching on her feet. “Cery, give it another. It didn’t seem to like the first one very much.” The skull-clad persona spun it’s blades around in it’s hands, throwing them again at the Mimic. They hit their mark, and the chest seemed to be on it’s last ‘legs’.

Still, it didn’t seem to be done quite yet. In a last ditch attempt to be rid of the person whose name it bore it charged, claws raised. Anne dodged to the side, the speed giving her a boost she needed but not enough to move completely out of the way as it’s arm managed to just graze her. She flinched, but thanks to the defence Ran gave her earlier it didn’t feel like more than a flesh wound. “One last time, Cery.” On command the blades flew forward into the shadow, dispatching it in a cloud of smoke.

Proud for not being quite as pathetic this time around, she turned to her companion. She was sure they were doing much, much better, but Anne was still proud for not being curled up in a ball this time around. Progress!