One Step Into The Unknown [Setsuna]

[Jaelyn Callahan]

Jaelyn hadn't actually expected Setsuna to call her. Fear of the unknown was a tricky thing, and while she could only guess at the possible reasons, along with those guesses came the assumption that the girl would back out for one reason or another, and never get in touch with her. But no, she did eventually call. And by a stroke of luck, Jaelyn had actually been around when she called. Although...apparently, it also wasn't the first time that she'd tried. That wouldn't be a problem for long, though. She finally almost had enough money for a cell phone.

So, they'd worked out a day and time, and a place to meet. "Meet me in front of the off-limits subway terminal in the Golden Alice District," Jaelyn had said. If there was another easy way into the outer circle, she didn't know it. Besides, that had been where the crazy lady had set up her safe zone.

Jaelyn waited across the street from the terminal, just around a corner where she could easily be seen by anyone coming from the direction of the residential areas. She could only hope that any mundanes who passed by wouldn't get too suspicious of her standing there, but she couldn't think of a better place to meet. Too much of the inner city proper was still unknown to her, and she wasn't going to drag Setsuna around half the city just to meet somewhere that she knew. Besides, as she waited, she caught sight of multiple kids who were obviously high schoolers making their way in with no concern for subtlety. She'd be fine.

She'd come wearing the same black dress she'd worn on the day she met Setsuna, so that she'd be easy to recognize. And also because she still didn't own much else. Four of her new knives were concealed underneath it, in places that were easy enough for her to reach (if a bit compromising, in the case of one of them), but impossible to see without looking very closely. A lot had happened in the short time since she met with Setsuna, and she was a lot more confident than she had been when first agreeing to do this. She was not going to mess it up now.

[Setsuna Hanamori]

Truth be told, Setsuna was very tempted to back out, and almost did a few times even after her initial calls didn't go through. However, this was just something she simply needed to do, even if she didn't entirely know why she was so determined to do it. Of course, a decent-sized part of it was simply that she wanted to see Jaelyn again, although she'd rather die than admit that. At the same time, however, she wasn't just using this as an excuse to see her. There was no way she'd put her life on the line for something like that, regardless of how interested in the older girl she was trying (and failing) not to be.

Either way, she ended up running a bit late, having lost track of the time while getting ready to go, so she didn't show up for at least another fifteen minutes after the time they agreed on. Setsuna wanted to kick herself for being so rude and making Jaelyn wait. Nonetheless, she did eventually arrive, almost immediately spotting Jaelyn since she chose to wear the same outfit that she had on when they met. Almost instantly, she couldn't help but blush when she saw her, and she quickly shook her head, as if that was somehow going to make her cheeks any less red. Unfortunately for her, it didn't. 

As for clothing, Setsuna kept it simple. A simple t-shirt and a medium-sized skirt that was loose and wouldn't interfere with leg-movement. Strapped to her shoulder was a case designed for carrying kendo swords. She had a sinking feeling that she would need a weapon to defend herself with, as she couldn't imagine relying on her Persona to do all of the fighting herself. She didn't know if they'd be very effective, but her bokkens were the closest thing to a weapon she had, and ones she was most comfortable with. Either way, she let out a heavy sigh, hoping Jaelyn wouldn't be too upset with her, then approached her, noticeable out-of-breath as she had rushed the entire way there "H-hey...sorry I'm so late...I ended up losing track of time."

[Jaelyn Callahan]

Fifteen minutes. Fifteen agonizing minutes where Jaelyn was left wondering if she'd somehow fucked up in organizing a meeting place. She couldn't have given Setsuna a place she couldn't find, could she? The terminal had been unsettlingly easy to find when Jaelyn had been looking for a way out of the lockdown, after all. But apparently, it wasn't as easy for everyone else. She glanced toward it while waiting, noting the name on a nearby sign: "Super Hiroshige Terminal." Well, if she'd remembered that at the time, maybe she wouldn't have been in this situation. What now? Did she go back to her room and try to call Setsuna back to redirect her?

...No, that wouldn't work. She didn't have Setsuna's number, and her room phone was a cheap piece of junk that didn't even have Caller ID. So, she was stuck waiting.

Fortunately, it was only shortly after the fifteen minute mark when Setsuna finally showed up. Jaelyn sized her up as she approached. Simple and loose clothing, and a case long enough to hold a couple swords, or similarly sized weapons, over one shoulder. Good. She was prepared, at least. And, interestingly, a blush on her face. What could she possibly be thinking about? And very clearly out of breath, suggesting that she had been running.

"It's fine," Jaelyn said, although she had to wonder how this girl had managed to lose track of time before something like this. She let her eyes linger over the case over Setsuna's shoulder again. Definitely seemed to be a sword case. "Well, it looks like you came prepared, at least. Good, you're probably going to need them." She gave Setsuna a small smile. "I take it you're ready, then?"

[Setsuna Hanamori]

Setsuna let out a soft sigh of relieve when Jaelyn didn't seem to be too upset about her being late. That made her feel a bit better about the whole thing, especially since she didn't want to disappoint Jaelyn. Of course, the moment she thought this to herself, it caused her to blush. Why was she so worried about disappointing Jaelyn? It's not like they were friends or anything...right? Sure, she was attractive, and she was going out of her way to help her out despite having little to gain from it. But that didn't mean anything. No. Of course not.

Either way, she pushed these feelings aside and steeled herself. She didn't have time to worry about that! She was here to learn how to fight Shadows and nothing else...even if she was a little happy to see her and spend some time with her. Only a little though. Either way, when Jaelyn asked if she was ready, she nodded. Now that she had caught her breath, she was good to go. "Yeah, I'm ready when you are...and...um...thanks again for doing this. I'll try not to be a burden." Her heart was pounding, and for more reasons than one. She was actually going to do it. She was going in there to fight those things. Still, at the very least, she wouldn't be alone. In this moment, she was more than happy with that.

[Jaelyn Callahan]

Huh. The girl blushed again, seemingly out of nowhere. Interesting. Just like the last one, Jaelyn could only guess what had caused that, but doing so brought up some very interesting possibilities. Like, perhaps, that Setsuna was interested in her. If so, it wasn't a feeling that she could return so readily. Not with how well things had been going with Sakuya. But teasing her a bit and seeing where things went wasn't out of the question. That wasn't her objective for the day, though. No, all that she definitely wanted to get out of this little outing was for Setsuna to see her as dependable. Anything else was just a bonus.

"You won't be a burden," Jaelyn said. "The shadows where we're going are pretty weak, so you shouldn't have too much trouble with them. But, if anything happens, I'll keep you safe." She beckoned for Setsuna to follow and crossed the street to enter the terminal. Despite being labeled as off-limits, it hadn't actually been sealed off. Either that or any attempts to properly do so were repeatedly undone by the crazy blonde lady, which wouldn't have surprised Jaelyn. Once inside, a short flight of stairs later led into the terminal proper. The inside was mostly intact...at least, on this side of the ticket stalls. "This area right near the exit is safe, but once you go past the ticket stalls there are shadows everywhere," Jaelyn explained. She pointed to a bulletin board hanging over top of an old subway map. "There's a mission board over there, if you ever feel like doing someone's dirty work for money. And the crazy lady running this place and keeping the shadows out will buy anything worth anything that you find while exploring. Although..." She took another glance around the safe house. "I don't see her around at the moment. Probably in a back room. She's usually sitting around out here or messing with the mission board."

[Setsuna Hanamori]

Setsuna nodded as she followed Jaelyn into the terminal, and she looked around a bit. More than ever, she was genuinely surprise that no one had ever stumbled onto this place by accident. Sure, it was a bit out of the way, so it wasn't like it would be a common thing. But still. At the very least, one would assume it'd be blocked off or something. Of course, compared to the hell she had witnessed beyond the perimeter set by the "military", this was barely registered as weird. A little odd, definitely, but that was about it. She was also mildly disappointed that the so-called "crazy lady" wasn't there. Hearing Jaelyn mention her made her slightly curious about her.

Either way, she listened quietly as Jaelyn explained everything, especially taking note of the part where she said she shouldn't have much trouble with the shadows where they were going. Did this mean they were stronger depending on the location? Honestly, that sounded like something out of a video game...but whatever. Additionally, when Jaelyn declared that she would protect Setsuna if things went south, she couldn't help but blush at the thought. Some mental images of the older woman rushing to Setsuna's aid entered her head, but she quickly pushed them aside. After all, it'd only be natural for someone who was experienced in this sort of thing to protect someone new to it. Right?

Either way, Setsuna nodded, then turned to Jaelyn to speak. "So...just out of curiosity, where will we be going?" Having only been in Mosaic City for about a week before the "military" had come in, she barely got a chance to explore any of areas that were sealed off. As such, she knew next to nothing about the part of the city that was now a shadow-infested wasteland. Now that she thought about it, it was definitely a good thing she came with someone else to do this. She would have been wandering around blindly, and once was bad enough. Granted, she would have known what to expect this time around, but still...knowing that someone would be with her helped ease the tension a bit.

[Jaelyn Callahan]

Hm? Where were they going? Ah...Jaelyn hadn't actually thought that much about it. The terminal itself was full of shadows outside of the crazy lady's safe zone, so she had figured that would work well enough. But if they didn't run into anything (shadows were much scarcer in the terminal than they used to be, thanks to so many people fighting them while passing through), then there were a couple of other places they could go. And now that she thought of it, Setsuna would probably want to see more of the urban wasteland that was the outer circle. Jaelyn knew she would, in Setsuna's position.

"Well, we'll probably run into a few shadows just going through the terminal," Jaelyn said after several seconds. "Others like us have made a valiant effort to clean the place out, but there always seems to be a few still lurking around. Although...if you want to see more of the city, there's a couple more places we can go. There's a museum not too far from here that'll work, or else the upper levels of the sewers." Jaelyn cringed at the last one. She had only been down there once or twice, but between the disgusting water and the horrible, horrible smell, it was about as far from her first choice as one could get. For that matter, why would anyone want to go down there? "Speaking personally, though, if I never have to go down into the sewers again, it'll be too soon."

[Setsuna Hanamori]

Setsuna nodded as Jaelyn went over their options. From what it sounded like, it really was like some random RPG where the enemies were tougher depending on where you went. How did that even work? With how chaotic everything was, you'd think they'd just be scattered all over. Not that she was particularly complaining of course. If all of the opponents in wherever they'd go to were weak, it'd sounded like it'd be good for getting Setsuna used to fighting these things. Then, hopefully, she'd be more comfortable fighting on her own.

Either way, as the older woman spoke, Setsuna couldn't help but notice her disdain over the sewers. Of course, considering how horrible sewers already were, she could only imagine how much worse they could be if they were in that abysmal world outside the city limits. Hell, just thinking about it made her shudder "Alright then...sounds like the museum would be the best place then." She nodded quietly to herself, as if confirming her own words, then waited to see what Jaelyn said.

[Jaelyn Callahan]

Jaelyn nodded. She wasn't particularly looking forward to going back to the museum either, but at least that shadow wouldn't show up again this time. It was dead now, after all. And there probably wouldn't be much evidence that she'd lit several paintings on fire before that incident anymore, either. "The museum it is, then. I just have to hope I remember the way there." She wasn't entirely serious with that statement. She remembered the directions the crazy lady had given when asking to retrieve that rose...thing, so those would serve well enough. Even if had taken her a moment to pick out the building once she had gotten there.

"Oh, before we go," Jaelyn added, "Do you remember how to summon your Persona?" A persona's awakening usually wasn't purposeful, after all. Her first time, it had happened in the heat of the moment as an act of desperation, and after that she had had to use an evoker to call it out. At least, until it had transformed into Caligula. She still had the evoker on her, in case Setsuna needed it, but...maybe she was already able to do better than Jaelyn had.

And maybe that was wishful thinking.

[Setsuna Hanamori]

Setsuna blinked when Jaelyn made a comment about remembering where the building was. That...was not promising. Though, from the tone of her voice, Setsuna was able to gather that she might have been fully serious whens he said that. One could only hope so. It was bad enough that she was about to willingly go out to that godforsaken place. The last thing she needed was to get lost out there as well. Especially with all of those Shadows roaming around. Granted, she didn't really know how tough they were, but she had a pretty strong feeling that she wouldn't last for very long against a bunch of those. At least, not on her own.

Then came the question about summoning her Persona. Truth be told, Setsuna hadn't even given it any thought. But now that she has...she had no clue. Was there some sort of trick to it? She just assumed that they came out on their own, so it didn't occur to her that there would be a way to actively summon it. "I'm sorry...in all honesty, I'm still not entirely sure how I summoned her the first time. Is there a secret to it that I should know about?..." She felt a little silly, jumping at the chance to do this when she didn't even know how to summon her Persona...but, as much as she kinda wanted to go home and pretend none of this happened, it was definitely too late to back down now. All she could do was hope for the best.

[Jaelyn Callahan]

No, huh? Well, that wasn't terribly surprising. She had seen some people summoning Personas effortlessly, especially during the incident at the school, but others needed a tool of some sort. Like she used to. "Yeah, I was afraid of that. I can't really explain how I do it now either. I just...will it into existence, I guess. I didn't used to be able to do that though, I needed this thing." She pulled her Evoker out from its hiding place, and showed it to her.

"If you point one of these at yourself and squeeze the trigger, it'll force your Persona to manifest. It's pretty damn morbid if you ask me, but it works, and I was struggling to stay conscious when I got it, so I didn't even question it at the time," she said. "It's definitely not a real gun, though. See?" She turned the Evoker so that Setsuna could see the base of the grip, which was solid instead of having a detachable magazine embedded inside, then pulled the slide back so that she could see the lack of a chamber. Even if the weird, morbid tool had all the working components of a gun, there was no way to feed ammunition into it. "I don't need it anymore, though, so I guess you can hold onto it for if you do."

[Setsuna Hanamori]

Setsuna blinked as Jaelyn suddenly pulled out a gun...wait why did she just pull out a gun?! Of course, as she explained what it was for and how it was used, she settled down a bit. But seriously, a gun? That was pretty morbid. Of course, she wasn't really in the mood to question it herself. Somehow, she had a feeling Jaelyn didn't know any more than what she had already said. Heck, even if she did, Setsuna wasn't entire sure what she'd ask in the first place. Probably something along the lines of "Why is it even shaped like a gun in the first place?", but she had a sinking feeling she wasn't going to get very far in questioning it.

Thus, when Jaelyn offered the Evoker to her, explaining that she no longer needed it, she nodded, deciding to accept it. "I see...well, if you really don't need it anymore...then yeah, I think I'd like that." Strangely enough, she didn't seem all that bothered about the fact that was shaped like a gun, once the initial shock wore off. Jaelyn's explanation was convincing enough.

[Jaelyn Callahan]

"Well, that should cover the tour, then," Jaelyn said once Setsuna accepted the Evoker. "You seemed to be armed, so I won't ask about that." She glanced back at the case Setsuna was carrying again. If that wasn't a weapon of some point, she'd have to have words with her about bringing useless shit with her. With all of that taken care of, she made her way over to the edge of the 'safe' area of the terminal.

"Once we're past here, stay close to me," she said, turning back to Setsuna. "I doubt anything between here and where we're going will be itching for a fight, so next to me will be the safest place. Besides, if anything does attack..." For just a second, she flashed a grin that would probably be unsettling to anyone not used to it. Her expression returned to normal even before she finished with "I'll burn it." She then stepped out of 'The Gap', and took a look around the terminal proper to make sure everything was clear. "I know I already said this, but...try to relax. You'll be fine. I'll see to that."

Yes...just relax, and rely on her. Jaelyn would take care of everything.

[Setsuna Hanamori]

Setsuna nodded quietly as she listened to Jaelyn's instructions, though, truth be told, she didn't need to be told in order to figure that sticking as close to the older girl as possible would probably be a good idea. At the very least, she had no intention of running off and attacking every Shadow that the two of them came across, though she was more than ready to defend her should the need arise...which it probably was going to. Setsuna was under no delusions that what she was about to do wasn't insanely dangerous. But, to be perfectly honest, she had a feeling that she would end up doing this eventually, with or without Jaelyn at her side. For obvious reasons, she was happy that it was with her.

When she saw the rather sadistic grin on Jaelyn's face as she spoke, a small chill went down her spine. However, it was gone before Setusna even realized it, causing the girl to wonder if maybe she had just imagined it. However, what came after it, the part where Jaelyn told her to relax and essentially told her that she'd protect her? Setsuna wasn't even sure why, but something about that caused her face to turn beet-red for just a second, before she snapped herself out of the "knight in shining armor" fantasy she was randomly having. Either way, she strapped the holdster for her new evoker to her belt, then gave a nod to Jaelyn "I'm ready to go when you are" From there, she'd follow her, sticking as close to Jaelyn as possible (without being a hindrance) and essentially doing whatever she told her to.