Paint The Town Red (Open)

[Adriel Sorano]

Tonight was proving to be a good night for Adriel. She had found an especially reprehensible man to kill this time around. Not only was he a drunkard who beat his wife and children on a daily basis, but he also blamed them for anything that even slightly against whatever he had planned, even when it was blatantly obvious that it was his fault. Normally, she didn't care about what happened to the spouse of her victims, but Adriel still felt a little sorry for her. She was just as much of a victim of this man as her two sons were. This, Adriel decided it time to pass judgement on this man, the only way she knew how; end his life as painfully as possible.

As usual, she was both brutal and ruthless. Once she had lured him into a fairly remove alley, she went to work. First, she used the handle of her knife to crush his throat. He would more or less still be able to breathe, but his voice was gone. Not that it mattered, of course. As the man gasped painfully, she used her knife to hack away at him. Each cut was deep, but she purposely avoided his vitals in order to keep him alive through this as much as possible. She wanted him to suffer. Despite his serious injuries, he tried to fight back, brandishing a pocket knife and trying to stab her. With very little effort, she was able to disarm him. Literally.

With a powerful chop that no human girl her age/size should have been capable of, she sliced clean through his arm, causing it to fall to the floor. The man, had he still had his voice, would have screamed from the pain. But this was only the beginning of it. With a gleeful expression, she continued to hack away at his body. With each slash, his ability to fight back diminished, and she started to grow steadily bored of his futile struggles. Deciding to finally end his suffering, she used her knife slit his throat, ending his life. Letting out a relieved sigh, she looked at the mutilated corpse, smiling as she took a moment to revel in a job well-done.

[Ayakura Alisa]

After the masquerade party I was invited to (though I wasn't there for very long) I had received many messages about attending more costume parties, it seemed, and I had visited another one today, wearing such a strange getup. Regardless, it was a pleasant time and many photos were had, and it was a good time for me to relax and generally forget about many things. I was walking along the district when I peeped to the sides upon having a strange feeling. What was this strange feeling? I wasn't so sure, but upon peeking to the side alley I saw a very young girl, armed with what appeared to be a butcher's knife, suddenly lay down the executioner's chop and severed a man's arm. He opened his mouth as if to scream, but no sound came out. His windpipes must be crushed if he cannot scream from such a mortal wound. And, for the first time in a long time, I felt some form of disgust at the bloody sight before me, as the girl continued to effortlessly dismember the man to bits. She stood and seemed impressed with herself.

Just what kind of messed up kid does that? But truth to be told, it doesn't seem like a regular kid would be able to dismember someone that effortlessly. Some power must be backing her up. Sighing, I stepped into the alley and looked at the young girl. "Excuse me, madame? Are you done dismembering that man?" It took a lot of strength just to stop myself from puking, but I wanted to investigate more on this young kid who seemed to take some crazed glee in such grotesque murders.

[Adriel Sorano]

The man was dead, but the routine wasn't over. Adriel still had some things to do, though it was mostly just removal of any evidence that she was the killer. When she heard the voice of another, she was in the middle of pulling off her own blood-splattered dress, revealing that she had nothing on under it. Aside from her shoes, which had remarkably come out completely untouched by any of the blood, she was now completely nude. She paused for a moment as the question registered, and she smiled cheerfully, as if nothing had happened. "Oh, yes! Killing the bad man was beginning to not be fun anymore, so I decided to end it. I'm sorry, but please excuse me for a second. It's kinda chilly."

Moving quickly, she dropped her bloody dress to the floor, and moved to a corner of the alley where she had hidden a medium-sized school bag. From it, she pulled out what appeared to be a damp towel, which she used to wash the victim's blood from her hair, face and hands. Then, she pulled, from another compartment of the bag, a dry and clean dress, almost identical to the one she had been wearing before. Slipping into it, she smiled. Now, by looking at her, no one would suspect that she had just horrifically butchered someone in an alley. Then, she carefully took the towel and dress, and stuffed them into the bag, while being extra careful not to get any of the blood on her or the outside of the bag. Then, finally, she took her knife and slipped it into the bag.

And there it was. As far as anyone would be able to tell, she was just some random girl who was out way past her bed time. Being careful not to step in any of the blood that was splattered on the floor of the alley, she made her way to Alisa, smiling just as cheerfully as before. It was like nothing out of the ordinary had happened at all "Sorry about that, miss. It's not often that people find me when I'm out killing bad people, so you caught me a little off-guard. Anyway, my name is Adriel. What's yours?" Even the tone of her voice was completely normal. No hints of rage or insanity. Had Alisa not witnessed what she had just done, she would have just seemed like perfectly normal girl...albeit, out way too late for someone her age, but beyond that, nothing out of the ordinary.

[Ayakura Alisa]

As I called out towards the girl I realized she was actually in the middle of getting dressed into clean clothes. In an alley way. At night. With only me around. I'm honestly not sure whether to be worried for her or not, even if she displayed strength only possible to be displayed by a fellow Persona User or worse, a Shadow. I tried very hard not to let my embarrassment at seeing her naked be shown, but all I responded with was placing a hand over my own mouth. The girl stated that she was 'killing the bad man' before properly getting changed into a clean dress. It looked exactly the same as what she previously wore, though this one was not in fact stained with blood like the other one was. The worst part was she was definitely prepubescent, at least physically. This made me feel a little dirty, but I wasn't sure if she was aware.

She approached me, being careful not to dirty her feet, and introduced herself as Adriel, completely straight-faced, as if she had no clue about the implications of what she had just done. She did not sound angry or insane, but that calm voice and expression clued me to the exact insanity that one could hold considering how casually she eviscerated that 'bad man.' "I... um. I'm Alisa... You called that man a bad man. What did he do? I'm curious. You seemed to kinda hate his guts a lot if you'd lobotomize him like that..." I tried to play it cool and ask about her motives. It'll be more clear to me about who she is from that. There is no way a young child of her age and stature would be able to simply slice a limb off like that. I'd wager at least a few years on that would do the trick, but... She seemed barely a year older than nine? Eight? Ten?

Christ... This is awkward.

[Adriel Sorano]

When Alisa asked about what the man did, smiled even brighter. "He was a very bad man. I followed him around for a couple days. Every night he would beat up his two sons, sometimes so badly that they'd be unable to move for a couple hours. And when their mom tried to stop him, he did the same thing to her. He also yelled at them a lot, blaming them for things that were his fault, then using that as his excuse for "punishing" them. The one thing I can't stand are parents who do bad things to their children. That's why I saved the two kids and their mother. But, now that he's gone, they can be happy, since he can't hit them anymore."

It was hard to tell what was worse. That this warped and twisted line of reasoning was the sole reason that she did this, or that, due to the pure and innocent tone in which she spoke, it was easy to tell that this girl was 100% sincere about everything she had just said. She genuinely believed that, by butchering this man in such a horrific manner, she was doing his wife and their sons a favor. There was one thing worth noting. It had been all over the news for several weeks that someone had been killing people, and that no matter how much they tried, detectives were unable to find any clues as to who the killer was. All they knew was that they were some sort of deranged vigilante who was targeting parents who abused and/or neglected their parents.

Either way, if Alisa had been paying any attention to the news, it wouldn't be hard to notice. Everything about this fit what few details about this case were known almost perfectly...the method of killing, the lack of any evidence, and the fact that the victims were bad parents. Not to mention that she had obviously done this before, given how expertly she was able to remove any hints that she was involved in any way. Indeed, Alisa had managed to stumble on that very killer, completely by accident. Either way, the girl continued to speak. "So, you see? I did a good thing! I don't know why people keep acting like this is a bad thing, but surely, you understand...right?"

[Ayakura Alisa]

Come to think of it, wasn't there news coverage on a series of grotesque murders going on throughout the city? Detectives had no clue on who they were. Apparently, the common link within the victims is that they were parents (men or women, gender indiscriminate, naturally) who were very abusive, and thus considered 'bad.' Adriel soon explained very sincerely her motives, stating how she had stalked this man to collect evidence that he was abusive, and why he was abusive, before launching an attack on him presumably to "protect the abused children and mother." Well, that was pretty twisted. I didn't know how to react to it aside from the fact I coincidentally found the killer the city were looking for. I could be a good law-abiding citizen and attempt to take her in, but I'm not done with her. I need answers.

"Gotta be honest with you, young lady, what you're doing is pretty scary. Lots of people are terrified you would kill them," I sighed wistfully. "I understand, I think. You're trying to protect them? I mean, the poor folks being abused, of course." I asked her curiously. I had to make sure of this. The amazing strength displayed by this child could help me discover if she was in fact a Shadow. And if she was a Shadow, I needed to study her behavior more thoroughly, and if she was behind bars this early, I would not accept that.

[Adriel Sorano]

Adriel listened to what Alisa was telling her, and while she didn't quite like what she was hearing, Alisa seemed to be at least trying to understand the girl's motives, which came as a pleasant surprise. "Yes, I know. But that's why I don't do it when there's anyone around! That way no one will get scared!" It would seem that she had somewhat missed the point of what Alisa was trying to say. "Anyway, it's okay. I only kill bad people. There were some people in blue suits who interfered, and I had no choice but to kill them as well. But I didn't want to! It was only because they tried to stop me, even after I explained that I was doing a good thing!"

Sure enough, among all of the news about the serial murders, there was occasionally mention of one or two police officers also found dead at a few of the crime scenes. Their deaths were comparatively less brutal than those of the intended victims, which could only mean that they had stumbled onto the scene and were killed after trying to stop the girl. Either way, once again, it was easy to tell that everything the girl said was completely and 100% sincere about what she said. What we had here was a very twisted, yet somehow innocent and pure child...and it was because she was so pure that everything she did was that much more disturbing. Naturally, this girl was living proof that "purity" doesn't always equal "goodness".

[Ayakura Alisa]

Yeah, she wasn't getting it. This young kid legitimately believed what she was doing was right. It looks like she must have had a rough life in the past if she's going to treat parents so judgmentally. She mentioned 'people in blue suits' which could only mean that she also got into a tangle with the authorities, that is to say she also killed some cops. So I guess she was already on their shit-list to begin with. "I see. I guess they thought you were doing something wrong, so you had no choice but to defend yourself, I guess. Anyway, I'm not gonna do anything, so don't worry about me. I'm just curious about your stories." I was pretty damn curious to say the least but I really didn't know what I was going to do armed with this knowledge. I really need to try and figure out if she is really a Shadow. I still think that being able to murder someone like that so calmly and so brutally is a big red flag, but I needed to be sure.

[Adriel Sorano]

Adriel smiled as she listened to Alisa speak. Finally, someone who understood her! Or so she thought. Either way, the fact that Alisa wasn't questioning her methods made the girl very happy. "That's right! I had no choice but to defend myself. Some of them even shot me with their guns. It hurts a lot, so I've been doing my best to avoid them lately. Even though it's a misunderstanding, I really don't like having to kill them. Or being shot at, to be honest." Either way, it pleased Adriel when Alisa said she wasn't going to try to stop her. One less innocent person that she'd be "forced" to kill. Honestly, Adriel was actually beginning to like the older woman.

Of those she had spoken to thus far, she seemed to be the friendliest and most understanding Especially after learning of her rather morbid hobby. "By the way, Miss Alisa...umm...do you think we could be friends? I don't really have any...and you seem really nice, so I was hoping we could. If that's okay with you, of course."

[Ayakura Alisa]

Yeah, it seemed pretty clear to me at this point that this young girl was definitely a Shadow. No sane human being would react to this kind of thing in such a calm, innocent manner. Even a Persona User who was gravely misunderstood would probably be seething mad at being shot at by a cop, not innocently demure and naive about it. In fact, it looked like I'd have to keep up my own innocent charade when Adriel asked me if we could be friends. Well, for now, I wouldn't mind, consdering that I definitely would not want to be on the receiving end of her violent antics. "Uh... Friends? Yeah, sure, we can be friends... Uh, just remember that I'm not necessarily into the same hobbies as you are, you know? I hope you understand." Yeah, that's it. Be diplomatic about it. I didn't want to give Adriel the impression that I was going to help her murder people.