Shady Meetings (Sakuya)

[Pyxis]

On the run from the authorities? ...No, Pyxis wasn't going to ask. There was a lot of things that could lead to that, and she wasn't going to dig deep. There was very little chance that she was going to like what she saw if she did. While it would almost certainly bother lots of people, especially local authorities, it really wasn't any of Pyxis's concern. She simply nodded at BrideKnight's response. "I would also appreciate it if you would assist us, or at least me, in getting rid of the lockdown. But I understand if that's asking too much. And..." she gave another small laugh, although this one had a trace of a grim tone to it. "Yes, I'm aware that there are shadows all over the world. My employers normally only deploy for major incidents like this one."

[Sakuya Kyoudou]

Sakuya shrugged and found a seat to sit on herself opposite the girl. Soon, 'PhantasmMachine' asked Sakuya if she would assist 'them', or at least 'her', in dealing with the situation. "I wouldn't mind helping you, but I have no interest in allying myself with you Users. I live only for myself and my own interests, and it just so happens that I care about getting rid of the lockdown so there would be peace for my girlfriend and possibly myself, too," she said. "Just keep in mind that I have no qualm in picking fights if they provoke me. People don't like me when I'm mad. Just throwing that out there." Sakuya finished, laughing a little.

"But, good, good that you've been told that. I was actually in the city when the lockdown occurred, doing my own thing. It was kinda weird to be honest."

[Pyxis]

"You don't have to be an ally. Just...not an enemy," Pyxis said. She was probably talking in circles at this point. Oh well. "I will...try and keep people from provoking you, at least. There's only so much I can do, though. I'm not sure all of us even call each other allies, except by necessity." She distinctly remembered that there had been a fair bit of arguing back and forth during the last big fight. From what she'd heard after the fact, there had been even more on the other side of the wall.

"Actually, since you brought that up," Pyxis said, when BrideKnight mentioned when the lockdown happened, "Just how did that happen, from your perspective? I've heard a few perspectives, but they all mostly amount to never noticing anything was wrong until or unless they found their way outside. Hell, most people who aren't Users still think the military's protecting them from wandering into a radiation-contaminated area."

[Sakuya Kyoudou]

"I will try not to be an enemy then," Sakuya shrugged and sighed. "It seems like the whole lot of you don't get along well with each other to begin with." she fidgeted and recalled back to her experience in the fight with everyone yelling at each other and basically being hostile to each other as well as the main Shadow. It was a fair enough point to make; that not even all of them could call themselves allies. The disorganization was truly something.

"From my perspective? Well, honestly, I felt some weird crap going on near the target places. Like the Hiroshige Terminal. You know, the place people would often go to reach the outside and then realize, 'hey, this place became a wasteland! holy shit! what's going on?' and all that jazz. The military, obviously, is lying to them, but I don't know whether it's a front, or a conscious effort to cover-up, or if they're cooperating with some higher stuff, or if it's a Shadow conspiracy, man, I don't think about that shit..."

[Pyxis]

"That's all I can hope for," Pyxis said. She could ask for a lot more, but it probably wouldn't get much of anywhere. This girl was a shadow after all, and unlike the strange tiger kid clearly had no intention of trying to get everyone to believe she was on their side. So there wasn't much Pyxis could do. But that was fine. Her greatest priority was the lockdown and the immediate shadow threat. If she could just reduce the number of enemies between her and that goal, it would still be an accomplishment. "And while I would have appreciated it if this worked like a game and a ragtag band could just come together and work together seamlessly out of necessity, the real world just doesn't work like that."

She let out a small sigh, then listened to BrideKnight's explanation of what happened when the lockdown fell. It was...noticeably different than what humans experienced (which was to say, pretty much nothing). She would have been able to sense exactly when it happened. But otherwise, nothing that answered the lingering questions that Pyxis had. Like why the safe zone was spared, or how a hole in the lockdown like the Hiroshige Terminal had come to exist. Then, BrideKnight brought up the military. That, at least, Pyxis could say something about. "I don't think they're actually military at all. We don't have any record of Chinese military activity in this area before it went dark. Chances are, they're either shadows themselves or just an illusion of some sort."

[Sakuya Kyoudou]

"Ok, well, fair enough you mention that. At the same time, to further add to that story, we've never actually seen the military in action. It's possible they are puppetmasters in a bigger scheme we don't know a thing about," Sakuya shrugged and rolled her eyes. "That's the way these kinds of so-called authority figures work in the first place. I should know, I was placed on some kinda manhunt back 'home,' though I currently consider this city to be my home now, people I used to be friends with turned on me because they wanted money and were probably bribed. They were manipulated by greed." she sighed wistfully.

"Anyway, yeah... The real world is a crock of shit," she hung her head low. "People are just too different for an RPG party to be able to exist in real life. Ideals and interests clash. Conflict brews. Emotions and the turmoil associated with conflict bubble up and become rampant. That's what we higher Shadow beings feed on," finally, she said openly, though her voice was lowered so only the 'PhantasmMachine' could hear.

"...Actually, a random tangent. I don't think we ever got each other's names."

"I'm Sakuya Kyoudou. What's yours?"

[Pyxis]

...Yeah, needless to say, that was not what Pyxis had wanted to hear. The thought that they were feeding the shadows, and potentially making them stronger through their own little issues, was not completely lost on Pyxis. She just didn't want to have it brought straight to her attention. By a shadow, no less. Now that she thought about it, though, the in-fighting had only started when sentient shadows started showing up in full moon-related incidents. And while the people on her side of the wall had left BrideKnight to her thing, she knew from before the barrier went up and secondhand after the fight that the other present shadow, that tiger kid, had caused quite a bit more of a stir.

"I was afraid of that," Pyxis said, sighing. "Makes me wonder if anyone had planned on doing just that. There was that tiger-looking shadow that tried to convince everyone that he was on our side from the start..."

"Ah, right," she added, when the girl, introducing herself as Sakuya, mentioned that they hadn't gotten each other's names. Pyxis was aware of that, of course, although she had been consciously not bringing that up until she was either outed or content that she wouldn't be. "Call me Pyxis," she said, with a completely straight face despite the oddity of her name.

[Sakuya Kyoudou]

"Ok. Well, it's nice to meet you, Pyxis, I hope we could get along," Sakuya nodded as the girl introduced herself as Pyxis. Well, it was a strange, exotic name for Sakuya, but that was fine. A lot was in a name. "If I may interject regarding your problem. That tiger-looking shadow. I met him before. His name is Gin. I don't know why he's trying to ally himself with your people. I don't know what his interests are. It could also be he's just a colossal dumb, I don't really care. I don't try to associate myself with disgusting males, even if they are Shadows taking the male guise. Admittedly, I have to be more careful around those Shadows since they usually tend to be stronger. He would put up more of a fight than the old man, regardless."

"I," Sakuya paused for a moment. "I think our entry may have caused problems for you folks, but it's not necessarily our fault. Your kind are highly emotional and volatile. Both men and women. They don't know how we come to being for the most part; and are secretly trying to figure out how to deal with the unknown. They pin the blame of the lockdown on us. Maybe we might be responsible. But I know I'm not. I can't speak for everyone else, though. You should be careful."

Sakuya shrugged.

[Pyxis]

No comments on the name. No need for explanations, then. Pyxis could safely keep the secret of her nature for a little while longer. At least until she played against Sakuya again. After the introductions, Sakuya commented on the tiger shadow, 'Gin', mentioning such things as him being a 'colossal dumb'. Well, Pyxis wouldn't argue with that. This was the same person who had intentionally healed one of the two shadows they'd faced in the shopping center and called it 'helping'. "Not much I can do but keep an eye out for him, then. If I have any more reason to believe he's not on our side, though, I'm taking him down." She said that with all the assertion of a machine built to destroy shadows.

"I'll say this again, though," she added after Sakuya's last statement. "Your kind, in general, are my enemies. But so long as you're not actively hindering us, you're a low priority. Maybe even a temporary ally. I don't think you caused the lockdown either. Maybe one of you, or a group of you, but certainly not all of you."

[Sakuya Kyoudou]

Sakuya shrugged and sighed. "Shadows are every User's enemy. I can understand that. I'm also going to warn you here and now that if you provoke me, you'd better be prepared to fight back, because I'm afraid I'm not a pushover like the weaklings you're used to facing," Sakuya looked down and looked genuinely upset. "Whether I'm a low priority to you or not, I don't really care. I don't plan on meddling with people unless I have a reason to especially after what happened last month." Sakuya twiddled with her fingers and thought for a moment. She didn't want to start fights very much, but it was getting increasingly difficult to avoid conflict when out and about. She had to think of something, and fast.

"Anything else you want to ask me?" Sakuya didn't look at Pyxis.

[Pyxis]

Well, that took a less than pleasant turn. "Well...I'll try not to provoke you, then. The fewer enemies we have, the better. If not provoking you means not having to fight you for now, I'm not going to do it." That...was probably the best she could do, there. Trying to still be friends was probably a lost cause. Trying to convince her that oh yes, everything would be okay now was definitely a lost cause. Not to mention inaccurate. Someone, somewhere, was going to end up with an unhappy ending from this whole ordeal, no matter how well things miraculously went. Too many things about the incident surrounding the city were irreconcilable.

Finally, after a bit of awkward silence, Sakuya asked if Pyxis had anything left to ask. "I have a ton of questions, but no good way to put words to them at the moment. So I'll just ask this, and leave it open-ended. What do you want?"

[Sakuya Kyoudou]

"Pfft. What do I want?" Sakuya sighed, still not looking at Pyxis. "I just want to be left to my own devices. I live my own life, I want to do what I want to do, I want to live freely, only to deal with the consequences brought about by my own actions. I don't want to be disturbed by people who can't understand what I am or refuse to understand what I am." Sakuya said. "I'm in a good relationship right now. And prior to that, I did something I may end up regretting in the long run. At the end of the day, those things I brought by my own hands. I'll deal with the consequences of those myself. I don't need this whole goddamn lockdown mess looming over me. I don't need to be brought in by your people's meddling. That's all."

[Pyxis]

"I see," Pyxis said, suddenly smiling. "I'm surprised. That's much more human-like than I expected. But I guess it goes to show that humans, even Users, don't know nearly as much about shadows as some of them would claim. Were it possible-" Pyxis stopped herself. She had been about to say 'were it possible to coexist', but that line of thinking wasn't going to get her anywhere. Shadows were still her enemy. Ones like Sakuya here, who just wanted to live freely, were an anomaly. The vast majority, even at least one other suspected sentient shadow, still attacked Users on sight. There was no reason to believe they wanted anything left than humans' destruction. Perhaps it would be better to ask 'were it possible to spare those anomalies', but she would definitely be going against her mission at that point. Finding loopholes was one thing, but direct defiance was still most likely impossible.

Besides, there was no guarantee that Sakuya wouldn't become an enemy in the end, anyway. There seemed to be a much darker side to her that Pyxis had chosen not to ask about. At the moment, there was no need to bring it up. But in the future, who knew?

She shook her head. "No, never mind. Thank you for satisfying my curiosity, at least. That's all I had."

[Sakuya Kyoudou]

Pyxis seemed to be relieved and perhaps a little surprised at Sakuya's response, not expecting her to seem so... Human. To be perfectly fair, though, these kinds of intelligent Shadows took on explicitly human aspects, so it shouldn't be THAT surprising to begin with. Pyxis was about to ask something, something along the parts of 'were it possible to do something,' but she decided against it. Sakuya tilted her head and kept it in the back of her mind before realizing she was in a relationship with Jaelyn and how she was a shadow and Jaelyn was a human. Oh. Well, she can forget about it for now. I wouldn't know how to answer that question.

"Oh, that's a bit disappointing," Sakuya joked, laughing softly. "Well, still, I'm glad this turned out on a positive note for you. Considering your role in this whole mess, I'm glad it didn't turn out into a real conflict. Heh. We'll just have to see how things pan out in the future, then. It was nice meeting you."

[Pyxis]

"I would've tried to avoid that anyway," Pyxis said. "I have a lot of confidence in my combat prowess, even without my Persona, but starting a fight here would only cause problems. I can't exactly explain shadows to resort security or local law enforcement. That aside, I'm also glad this turned out well." Well, well-ish. "It was nice meeting you as well. I guess I'll see you next time I feel like playing Soku late at night. That is, unless you plan on showing up for any more major battles or something like that."

With that said, Pyxis kind of hoped that she wouldn't. They really didn't need any more factors potentially introducing dissent. Not after the kerfuffle 'Gin' had caused last time. But if Sakuya did show up, Pyxis would do her best to keep everyone else from attacking her without reason.