The Past Is In The Past [Awakening/Tristan+Johnson]

[Tristan Carter]

Tristan found himself in the outer circle for a while. Of course, he had chose to go there for reason's he didn't fully comprehend. The place that held the most interest to and indirectly caused the death of the human that created the new shadow now was a place of calm and a curiosity to said shadow. It was the place of his birth, if one wished to see that way. Of course, many other factors added into his creation. The feeling of isolation Tristan had for being shunned within the only group he fit in while he was alive; the sense of anger and frustration at being treated like an incompetent fool, even if he was trying to push that point across; and the sorrow at knowing that his own family didn't care enough to find him were all leading contributions to the melting pot that was Tristan.

And none of that would have happened had Isolde not shown him that there were other Users, Tristan mused. He could see this, and his original saw it as well. Yet both held a peculiar sort of gratitude to her. The shadow was grateful in that she led to his creation. The human Tristan was grateful that she had allowed him to meet so many interesting people and gave him a sense of inclusion for his last stint in life.

Tristan was thinking of these and similar topics when he found himself seeing Isolde from a distance. He started an approach before stopping himself. What if she doesn't want to see me? he asked himself. He had left abruptly last time he had seen her. Surely she was offended by that. Still, the only way he could apologize was if he spoke to her.

He approached slowly, not wanting to disturb her. It seemed she was deep in thought. Still, you need to say sorry, he reminded himself.  With a sigh, he disturbed her anyway. "Hi, Isolde," he said sheepishly. "How... How are you doing?"

[John Nicholson]

It was another round of aimless wandering that led John upon the scene. He saw Tristan having a conversation with a girl john only vaguely knew. He was retty sure he had seen her durig Full Moon Events performing feats of great healing. He decided to go over and get to know this persona user that was such a great asset in the war they were fighting. It couldn't hurt to know someone who can heal pretty much anything, right?

He walked in on whatever conversation was beginning, he heard Tristan call the girl Isolde. He decided to go with it. "Hello there Tristan. You two having some kind of secret meet up or something?" John started out with a little joke, humor was always a good icebreaker.

[Tristan Carter]

Tristan smiled when he saw John approach with a joke, but it was a sad, distracted smile. "Nice too see you, John. I actually just ran into Isolde here." He looked at Isolde. "I understand what you mean. You can't get rid of the memories because you treasure them so much, but you can't have them because they only bring pain."

The shadow sighed. He wanted to tell Isolde how he felt, but... He couldn't. If he did, he'd also have to reveal himself. If it was just her, he might have, but... John was a wild card. Whereas Isolde could possibly keep the secret...

Tristan thought about memories that came to the surface in a certain area. He thought of the memories of how Tristan liked Isolde before killing himself and the shadow taking over. "He always did like you," he said without thinking. He realized what he said. "Shit! I didn't mean to say that!"

He suddenly became very nervous. He knew what was going to happen next. He was going to be asked questions he simply couldn't answer. With a sigh, he looked from John to Isolde. "I... I need you guys to understand something. I'm sorry about your friend. He really appreciated you guys." With that, Tristan looked down at the ground. "I can't believe I have to do this... I suppose you two deserve the truth about Tristan."

Tristan looked at the two friends of his original. With a pained look, he transformed into the form of Surtr.

[John Nicholson]

What the?... What the hell just happened?! One moment Tristan was standing there, having a weird lapse where he seemed to refer to himself in third person. Then he said something about some sort of 'truth'. And suddendly, he transformed into the fiery giant that had interfered during the last full moon event. "Oh god! what's going on!" John said in a panicked voice as he scrambled to arm himself, both with persona and firearms. He had not expected anything like this to happen at all. Yet it all made sense now. The shadows masquerading as humans, powerful enough to defeat even the most powerful of users. They were once humans that were overcome in some way by their doppleganger.

As his persona, Edimmu, emerged, it shook the chains that bound it to the mortal world in a frustrated manner. The sounds of shaking chains took physical form as a wave of power that amplified the party's attack power. "Whatever you did to Tristan, you'll be sorry for it!"


action: tarukaja (first stack on user side)

[Tristan Carter]

The two humans had reacted in a way similar to how the shadow had expected. It was sad that their friend had died and it came as a shock. It was perfectly understandable for them to lash out in anger. That was why he simply grimaced when the ice tore through him.

"I'm sorry that he died," the shadow said with genuine sorrow. "But all I did is give him the knife, so to speak. He was already contemplating it. He just did his best so that nobody could tell." Tristan knew he wouldn't get through to the two friends of his original. On top of that, Isolde had already been dealing with something. All he had done was compound the issues. Still, he wanted them to understand. In order to do that, he was going to need to survive long enough. He wouldn't figt them, but he could at least keep from getting hit.

He felt Sukukaja activate on its own, but that wouldn't be enough. He cast another thing of Suku in order to stay alive long enough to help them see.

((Auto-Suku + Activated Suku))

Dodges:
Pierce
rie4gkGE1-5
Ice
1-5
1-5�1-5

[John Nicholson]

He was sorry?! was this shadow trying to mess with them? "Shut it you, how could you feel sorry for him or us?! You aren't even close to human." John was firmly convinced the flaming giant was trying to mock them. This was further compounded by the fact that his enemy seemed to simply start weaving around to avoid attacks, like he didn't think them worth the effort of properly fighting. "If you were truly sorry, you would stay still so we can end the parody of our friend's existence that you are!" John's words were punctuated by gunfire. He was not intending to listen to whatever the Shadow had to say from this point on

action: lvl 3 pierce weapon (no mods)

[Tristan Carter]

Tristan managed to somehow get hit by both his weaknesses even though he had two speed buffs applied. With a scream, the giant flashed rage in his eyes. He couldn't hurt them, but they were starting to piss him off. If they kept up this, he would start doing everything in his power short of physically harming them.

The shadow glared for a moment longer before turning away. If he couldn't get them to stop soon, they would end up regretting it... And he would end up ruining any chance he ever had of continuing Tristan's life. The shadow simply cast another Sukukaja and contemplated his next move.

((Suku third time))

[John Nicholson]

John's attack did more damage than John anticipated. It seemed this shadow was weak to piercing attacks. Normally, John would be overjoyed that his preferred method of attack proved effective, yet there was a niggling feeling in the back of his head. Were the earlier words of the shadow truly meant in a mocking tone? They did sound like something Tristan, or even a vestige of him might just truthfully say.

No, He couldn't let doubt overcome him. Not now, not ever. the shadows were the enemy and the users were the city's only line of defense. None of them could falter in their conviction, not even for a moment. John pumped his shotgun, ejecting a still smoking casing from the loading mechanism, and unleashed another shattering wave of buckshot at the flaming giant.