Daedalus Flight [Amane]

[Anna Myers]

Anna was just flying around on Thunderbird's back at the moment, humming to herself. After messing around in the massive pit for a bit, she decided to take off and go check out the castle that Alisa had mentioned. But that was still a ways off. She could see it in the distance, looming out of the fog, but it would still take her a few minutes to get there. In the meantime all she could do was keep flying and keep herself entertained-oh hey, an airport.

It probably wouldn't hurt much to take a break. This was still her first day, after all. So Anna drifted in for a landing, trying not to stir up any localized storms as Thunderbird touched down at the edge of a runway. That would do for now. She could rest here for a bit, or maybe look around. It couldn't be that bad. It was empty, after all, and even ruined it was probably still better than Atlanta's airport.

She stopped her train of thought as she sensed a shadow approach, turning towards it. It was...a bird. A small one, though, nowhere near Thunderbird's size. She raised her umbrella, pointing towards the bird, and squeezed a trigger underneath the folded canopy. A shot rang out, and the bird dissolved.

Not likely to be anything particularly strong here, then. Oh well. Dismissing Thunderbird, Anna wandered over to a now useless solar panel and sat down on it, humming a jazzy tune all the while.

[Amane Mana]

It took Amane a few days but she finally found it in herself to explore deeper into the stratums again. Her grip on her staff was slightly tighter than usual. She looked left and right as she explored the air field. Numerous planes that are no longer functioning. It wasn't her first time here...so Amane found it absurd that she was this nervous.

Pang

Amane quickly covered her mouth to cover the shriek she nearly let out...only for her staff to drop on to the ground. She quickly bent down close to her staff as she looked over at the source. She arched an eyebrow at a girl with short green hair...and of all things a parasol. Wait...was the tip smoking...UMBRELLA GUNS EXIST?! Amane honestly shouldn't be surprised. She awkwardly waved hello hoping she wouldn't shoot at her.

[Anna Myers]

Anna grinned as she heard something clatter to the ground. She turned after sitting down, to see a girl with a staff nearby, looking rather shocked at what had just transpired. Or rather...there was a girl, and a staff on the ground. That must have been what clattered to the ground, then. Then the girl waved at her. Rather awkwardly, at that.

"What?" Anna asked, waving back to the girl. "You act like you've never seen a real shotgun before." Actually, there was a decent chance that that was exactly what it was. The girl looked Japanese. Civilians weren't allowed to own guns in Japan, were they? But even then, if this girl was anywhere near as experienced as Alisa was, she should have seen a few firearms by now. So what was it, then?

[Amane Mana]

"What?" The woman said. "You act like you've never seen a real shotgun before." Amane withheld any and all statements she could say about a lady who decided that an umbrella would be a practical design for a shot gun. Amane slowly reached for her staff and got up after she picked it up.

"I-I've seen a shot gun but I've never seen one in such a unique...construction." That was the most polite way Amane could put it. "I take it you're another who is familiar with this." Amane's eyes glowed blue as she presented her Persona card.

[Anna Myers]

"Hmm?" The girl was clearly nervous, from the way she talked. But from what she said... "Come on, don't tell me you're more scared of the umbrella part than the shotgun part. The shotgun's the part that can actually kill someone." She laughed, but it was a soft, benevolent laugh. More of the gentle teasing than the mocking sort. "Relax, it's a shotgun with an umbrella canopy. Not an umbrella with a shotgun for a tube."

Then, as though trying to distract away from the weapon, the girl mentioned being familiar with something vague, then produced a very familiar card. Ahh, she remembered that. It had been years since she summoned her Persona in such a way. Not since Horned Serpent, in fact. "You tell me," Anna said, then focused her mind to re-summon her Persona. The massive form of Thunderbird materialized behind her, letting out an eagle-like shriek accompanied by a thunderclap.

[Amane Mana]

"Hmm? Come on, don't tell me you're more scared of the umbrella part than the shotgun part. The shotgun's the part that can actually kill someone." Amane didn't know why but the laugh that left the lips of the green haired lady only served to unnerve her. "Relax, it's a shotgun with an umbrella canopy. Not an umbrella with a shotgun for a tube." That...doesn't make it much better.

"You tell me," Amane's eyes widened when she saw the lady summon her own persona, a large bird that let out a shriek. Amane lowered her hand as her persona card disappeared. She could really only summon her persona like that when she is in panic.

"I see." Amane started to think and then remembered Alisa's words. "You seem experience with your Persona...have you by chance...hunted any demons?" Amane is making a huge leap here. Though with her nonchalant reaction to everything around her she could assume she is at ease. She is more powerful than everything present here. Though there could also be the possibility she is just a newbie with a few screws loose but the power Amane felt from her persona shot down that theory.

[Anna Myers]

Oh? This was a surprising and interesting question to suddenly be asked. Had word spread about her already? Anna visibly perked up at the question, suddenly intrigued. Thunderbird vanished again as Anna shifted herself into a more relaxed position and answered. "Now where did you hear that one from, I wonder? You been talking to someone who knows about demons? Or maybe you ran into one yourself? I heard there was one at the shrine last full moon. Big wolf thing or something like that?"

Given the timing, the girl had most likely just run into Alisa sometime between when they'd talked and now. Even among the people coordinating...well, some of the organization's movements, there was just rumors and secondhand reports. As for the ones who actually had a decent amount of experience with demons, Anna suspected she was one of the first to arrive. Maybe there'd be one or two others. And if she hadn't had enough time to make many connections yet, they probably wouldn't have either.

Which meant that it was most likely Alisa. Well, no matter. With the current situation the way it was, Anna had no plans on keeping anything about it quiet. People needed to know what was going on. "Yeah, I've hunted demons. Quite a few, actually. Don't run into 'em as much as shadows, but I've been doing this seven years. Plenty of time to find a huge mess every now and then."

[Amane Mana]

. "Now where did you hear that one from, I wonder? You been talking to someone who knows about demons? Or maybe you ran into one yourself? I heard there was one at the shrine last full moon. Big wolf thing or something like that?" The more she spoke, the more Amane is starting to believe that this is the person Alisa spoke off.

"Yes...so it seems you were told of those as well." Amane's grip on the staff lightened. This lady is no longer a threat. "Saves me the trouble of explaining."

"Yeah, I've hunted demons. Quite a few, actually. Don't run into 'em as much as shadows, but I've been doing this seven years. Plenty of time to find a huge mess every now and then." Amane thought to herself. Seven years? If she estimated her age to be 18ish, then demons were around. Amane didn't want to think about the implications that maybe Personas, demons, and shadows and such have been around longer than she has been alive.

"I see...any common characteristics? Aside from the fact that apparently demons are stronger than shadows?"

[Anna Myers]

The girl didn't seem too surprised by Anna's question. Seemed she'd hit the mark with one of them. Possibly both. Then the girl asked about common characteristics. Common characteristics? Did this girl mean between each other, or between them and shadows? ...Well, either way, the questions overlapped at some of the more important points. "They fight in more or less the same way as shadows. And can be fought in the same way. They just tend to be harder to kill and better at killing us." She said this with all the casual attitude of talking about her day. "As for demons themselves, they're as varied as shadows, but most of them tend to attract stories. You probably already know of quite a few. You just don't realize that they actually exist."

[Amane Mana]

"They fight in more or less the same way as shadows. And can be fought in the same way. They just tend to be harder to kill and better at killing us." Oh wonderful. Amane placed a hand upon her chin in thought as she processed this information. "As for demons themselves, they're as varied as shadows, but most of them tend to attract stories. You probably already know of quite a few. You just don't realize that they actually exist."

"So...urban legends...rumors...tales passed down through the generations have some merit?" Amane suddenly didn't want to think about the idea of Kappas. It looks like she is getting some cucumbers when she is near bodies of water. "Well this was something I needed." Amane said as she looked down. She then looked back at the lady. "I'm Amane. Who might you be?"

[Anna Myers]

"Some of them. Not all," Anna answered, still completely nonchalant about what seemed to be a very unpleasant thought. "You don't have to worry about running into them wherever you go, though. Actually seeing one is pretty rare. Although in a place like this, that doesn't mean much. I'm sure you've figured that out by this point." It wasn't really Anna's intention to scare the girl. But, given the subject matter, actually doing so was way too easy. The very existence of the anomaly surrounding Mosaic City was worth several horror stories on its own. Or at least, one particularly bad one. There was no good way to add demons to the mix without causing someone to freak out.

Certainly not with how calm Anna was about it all.

But finally, the girl introduced herself. Amane, was it? Better than cementing herself in Anna's mind as 'easily startled girl' or something. "'Name's Anna," Anna replied. "Nice to meet ya."

[Amane Mana]

"Some of them. Not all," oh good, Amane's going to have fun guessing which are true and which are not. "You don't have to worry about running into them wherever you go, though. Actually seeing one is pretty rare. Although in a place like this, that doesn't mean much. I'm sure you've figured that out by this point." Amane started to think on the matter. "Name's Anna, Nice to meet ya." Anna huh?

"By the by..." Amane needed to ask this question. "You were outside this lockdown correct? I need to ask you what's going on outside these barriers." Amane was curious what it looked like on the outside and if the world is doing anything about it.

[Anna Myers]

"Outside, hm?" Anna asked, pondering what to say. She didn't know the full details of what was going on outside. Jumping from mission to mission then going on vacation afterward didn't do wonders for her ability to keep up with current events. So should she just answer with what she did know, or spin it into something more interesting?

Had to be the latter.

"It's pretty bad. The Chinese government flipped their lid after this place went dead and started putting pressure on everyone who could potentially have been responsible. Eventually they all just started shooting." She said this with a calm smile on her face the entire time, but once she was done she raised a hand to hopefully head off any potential panic. "I'm joking. Last I heard, nobody has a damned clue what to do about this. Nobody's done anything stupid yet to my knowledge, except maybe try to get a bunch of people inside the barrier. We're the only ones who've managed to actually succeed, though."

[Amane Mana]

"Outside, hm?" The lady took a moment to think about her answer. "It's pretty bad. The Chinese government flipped their lid after this place went dead and started putting pressure on everyone who could potentially have been responsible. Eventually they all just started shooting." Amane's eyes widened in horror. Well that's one way to wash her hands of the political bullshit that is her family background but she would've preferred something else. Great the fact that disasters keep happening one after another, it's like Amane's going deeper into hell instead of out of it...Amane then took notice of Anna's raised hand. "I'm joking. Last I heard, nobody has a damned clue what to do about this. Nobody's done anything stupid yet to my knowledge, except maybe try to get a bunch of people inside the barrier. We're the only ones who've managed to actually succeed, though."

"...what are you?" Amane asked. "More specifically, what organization are you from? The idea of the government having an organized force of Persona users is something of a curious subject..." Amane looked over at her umbrella. "A facility to keep their users armed and that means plenty of sources to research them."

[Anna Myers]

"Special Circumstances," Anna answered. "No, that's not our real name, but until I'm sure I can just say it, that's all you're getting. But yes, we're a loosely organized force of Persona users. Not owned by any one government, though. We're international." That much, at least, was probably safe to say. At least a few people here probably knew that much anyway, from the first group of IBSE agents to show up. It was the name that was in question. 'What's in a name', sure, but the moment the barrier went down and any of the Users who didn't immediately get recruited had internet access again, they were going to go straight to Google. Anna knew from firsthand experience that federal and even international agencies were not safe from an all-encompassing search engine.

Of course, it was entirely possible that all the secrecy wasn't even necessary in the first place. They were Persona Users as well, after all.