A Foray into the Survivor's Mind (Open)

[Ayakura Alisa]

I limped about the general outside area of the circle, looking for clues this time around. I had decided that maybe going inside a Shadow infested area wasn't exactly the smartest idea around, so maybe building up some inventory, or if all I can find is junk, perhaps cashing it in for a quick buck might work. Anyway, I didn't carry any bags or anything on me, so any large objects would have to be carried on my person, and smaller things would have to get shoved in my pockets, meaning I might need to do some washing in the near future. My shocked arm and leg still hurt a lot, meaning my movements were quite slurred and quite slowed, so I hoped that they wouldn't get in the way of my exploration and... Er, I guess I could call this scavenging... Anyway, I was starting to gather some things that I thought might be interesting. At the same time, I wondered if there was anyone else out there that might be doing the same thing as me. Maybe so. I hoped so. It would be nice not to be alone out here. Seemed kinda eerie. On top of that, the purple sky looked very ominous. Everything was literally just so dead, it kinda gave me a bit of the chills... Alright, I gotta keep going...

[Chidori Tsukino]

Her first dealings with the shadows had been utterly frightful, and even with her newfound abilities & confidence, Chidori was hesitant about journeying back into the outer circle. Oh, she knew she had to - her own sense of responsibility refused to let her simply sit by and watch when she could do something to investigate and uncover what was obviously some kind of conspiracy. Still, she had to be careful with how she went about exploring the shadow-infested areas. It took practice to develop any sort of system about it, but she was getting there, slowly.

Nevertheless, she knew she needed to get a hold of better gear if she was to be serious about her 'mission'. The only way someone of her salary could do that would be to scavenge, and hence she was out here, in what she hoped was a slightly less dangerous area. Still, the purple sky overhead was unsettling, and the chance of being jumped at any point of time had her on edge. Even so, the presence of her persona's voice in her mind gave her that same calmness that allowed her to deal with her very first battle. And so the brunette marched on, eyes mostly glued to the ground, searching for bits and pieces she could take back in her pack to sell. In fact, she was a little too focused on scavenging, and would likely be in for a nice surprise should someone else happen to be in the area.

[Ayakura Alisa]

I looked around as I continued my search for any useful clues, and while I marched around I saw a young girl with twin ponytails also looking around and scavenging. I seemed to be encountering a fair amount of young girls recently, though I suppose I was also running into boys and the occasional man. At this point, I'll be acquainted with a good deal of the population. I limped and shuffled my way slowly over to the girl who seemed more concentrated on searching for usable (possibly damaged) goods for her own advantage rather than looking for others, which was similar to my own reasoning for coming here. However, I would always accept looking for others. As I made my way slowly I realized I must have looked like a walking, nearly-dead woman, but it was too late as my mouth opened and I softly hailed the young girl.

"Excuse me? What might you be looking for?"

[Chidori Tsukino]

Poking about gently amongst the ruined buildings, she was having little luck finding anything of even remotely valuable. Yay for scavenging in the midst of nowhere. Still, she wasn't going to give up any time soon either; it was meant to be something a little challenging after all. It also kept her rather distracted, and with her focus elsewhere, it seemed another scavenger had no trouble sneaking up on her without Chidori noticing in the slightest. Letting out what sounded close to a mangled gasp, the brunette visibly jumped and wheeled around to the source of the new voice, a hand reactively sliding beneath the widened sleeve of her coat, fingers curling around some of the needles hidden inside.

Then her mind processed the fact that a shadow was very unlikely to talk, especially not in such a courteous manner. Shoulders un-tensing a little, she kept her guard up, just in case the person became hostile. Still this was the first person she'd seen in the outer circle, other than the faux military at the border. Part of her was elated - could this person be another persona user too? Or heck, anyone at all to help her in her investigation would be nice. However, for now, she needed to converse....which was slightly difficult. Slowly bringing out the hand that had retreated inside the sleeve of her coat, Chidori brought it up to her neck, miming speaking by opening and closing her mouth, followed by a sharp shake of her head. Hopefully, the message would be clear enough - Can't speak.

Which of course, made responding a tad difficult. But alas, the mute came prepared! With a swift flurry of her hands, she pulled out a small notepad and pen, scrawling in an elegant script on the front page. Just poking around. Maybe there's something valuable to find out here. That was all she could reveal right now - she'd only just met the girl as it were. Still, with her heart racing from the sudden encounter, mixed with the elation of possibly finding an ally, Chidori wished, not for the first time, that she could speak.

[Ayakura Alisa]

Judging from her exaggerated physical movements, she seemed she was unable to talk. I thought I heard her gasp, but it was just my imagination. She seemed to hide something in that coat sleeve, I don't know what, but she probably would have thrown them at me if I were hostile. Of course, I wasn't, so I wasn't afraid. She seemed to look relieved upon finding out that I wasn't actually a Shadow. Phew. She started to mouth her words out and shake her head in response to my initial prompt. She said that she could not speak. Oh dear. She was mute. Literally mute. This could be a problem. Fortunately, I could read lips. Mother trained me to do so. It helped in interrogations and interviews. As long as she could express her thoughts, that's fine with me. I looked around her general area and found out she was definitely scavenging for something, just like I was. "That's fine. Just express yourself how you need to." I soon saw her take out a notepad and scrawled down what appeared to be... Just poking around. Maybe there's something valuable to find out here. It was written very neatly. She didn't need to expend that effort, but if it was easier, then so be it.

"...Yeah. I'm poking around as well. I'm looking for clues and stuff to help me search for what took away or what killed my parents, and how that relates to... well, everything else. I do not know if they are alive. All I know is that they disappeared." I winced as I spoke and I still smelled a little burnt. "Maybe we can help each other out and get to the bottom of this Shadow situation."

[Chidori Tsukino]

Well, for what it was worth, the girl seemed nice enough. Not that that really meant much, but it gave her hope. Apparently the other girl was also searching, though more so for people - her parents. A brief flash of sympathy washed over her face and she nodded firmly at the proposition of working together - she had been hoping for much the same anyway. Still, there were a few matters to be concerned with when working together, one of the basic ones being able to actually refer to one another. Another question came to mind as well though, as it made for a much easier method of communicating - a long shot in most situations since very few people could read lips fluently, but it was worth a shot. Scribbling onto the notepad in the same script (as it was the usual way she wrote, as her new ally might learn), the mute posed two questions.

Can you read lips? and then, I am Chidori. Is there a name I can call you by? Just to be on the safe side, she'd left out her family name - it'd make her harder to find if something went wrong here. If such an alliance looked to be working well though, she'd also need to consider how to communicate regularly - they needed to co-ordinate their efforts to be successful. But that was a thought she would leave until much later. In the back of her mind, Lucia reminded her to be alert - just because this encounter had not been a shadow did not mean the next would be the same.

[Ayakura Alisa]

I coughed and looked around for a moment. I looked at the notepad again as she scribbled more writings on it, asking if I could read lips. Yes, I can read lips. She introduced herself as Chidori and asked me for my name. She was smart about leaving out her surname. That's fine by me. I nodded in response. "Yes, I can read lips. Good to meet you, Chidori-san. I am Ayakura Alisa, owner of the Ayakura Information Network," I introduced myself briefly, I end up wincing and shuffling a bit. "Are you also trying to find out what happened around here, with the Shadows?" I coughed and held my head for a bit where the bandage was. It was starting to hurt again. Ugh. I looked at my hand again as I removed it from place. No blood, good. But now my bandage was clearly starting to go red again.

[Chidori Tsukino]

Chidori had to stop herself wiggling in delight when luck came back into her favour; her new ally could lip-read! That made things so much easier. Her introduction made the brunette wonder just who said new ally was though - oh, she had a name now of course, but 'Information Network'? Something she'd have to look into when she returned to her apartment. Hopefully there was some local details about it, since only information based in Mosaic City locations still worked when she accessed the internet. Again though, something to put on the back burner for later. Mouthing Nice to meet you too in return, she bowed her head slightly before listening in.

Now that the initial anxieties had started to wear away, Chidori caught notice of the odd way Alisa was moving; shuffling, coughing. Then her gaze darted upwards, noting two striking details - firstly, this girl possessed heterochromia, something relatively rare. Chidori had only ever seen a few others with such a condition. Secondly, there was a bandage wrapped around the girl's head...and it was reddening. Her innate instinct to help overwhelmed everything else - especially since she'd discovered her ability to heal. Without thinking things through fully, Chidori didn't hesitate to summon her persona. A little unlike the first time, the light that accompanied Lucia's appearance came more slowly, a little like a sun rising from within. Safely tucked inside the bubbled-front of her persona, the mute focused on the other brunette, a single command echoing in her mind.

Dia.

This time, the flash of light was brief, blinding and warm. Even as a first-tier healing magic, it would likely help whatever head wound lay beneath the bandage, and possibly erase a little of the pain from any other underlying injuries. Or so Chidori hoped, anyway.

[Ayakura Alisa]

Hmm? Strange. Chidori was a Persona-user, as well! ...She... I felt something warm... And it felt like my head wound got a little better. Of course, it was still there, and I shuffled and limped a bit, but it was much less painful. I'd still keep the bandage on for safety's sake, though. "...Thank you... Whatever it was you did. ...I got into a fight the other day with someone... Smacked my head real good. Just when I thought it was getting better, I started exploring alone and got beaten up real good by a pair of Shadows before I took them out... It's really tough out here when you don't have a Persona, it seems... All I have is my knife." I sighed. I looked around, before shuffling through my pockets and giving Chidori a card. It had the URL to my website: ayakuchi.mirrorsaic.net/ain_crad was listed there. "If there's anything in my information network that could help you, please check it out. It's hosted in Mosaic City, so you can check it out without any problem."

[Chidori Tsukino]

As the elation of healing wore off, Chidori suddenly realised that she'd just revealed herself as a Persona user, to someone she barely knew. Craaaap, she really needed to be more cautious with these things. Hoping for the best, the brunette simply waved of the thanks, mouthing that it was just something I could do to help before she tilted her head to the side a little. From the sounds of things, Alisa had really been through the ringer - a fight and then shadows pouncing would be tough, even for a persona user. For someone without that? With only a...

The mention of a knife made all current trains of thoughts stop, and she visibly tensed up. In fact, she became even more rigid when the other woman began fishing around for something in her pockets - what if she was grabbing said knife? What if she was simply playing at being nice, and what she'd just said was a veiled threat? Only upon thoroughly inspecting what was drawn out did she slowly come back down to normal, tentatively reaching forward to take the card, examining the URL briefly before putting it away in one of the inside pockets of her jacket. Annoyed at herself for her reaction, she tried her best to be calm and collected about things, and attempted to steer the conversation in another direction before too many questions were asked.

Once again mouthing, thanks to the convenience of lip-reading, Chidori thanked her for the card, and then quickly suggested they begin searching anew, looking out for both clues and valuable items.

[Ayakura Alisa]

"Thanks. Hope I don't spook you or anything. I need to defend myself as well in these harsh lands... Well, anyway, shall we get cracking? Maybe if we look together we can find something of interest or something useful." I nodded and refrained to extend my hand to give her a pet. She looked pretty adorable, actually. Hum. Anyway, I should forget about thinking of such things. Chidori already started to look for things, so I followed suit and shuffled about, scavenging for possible clues or goodies I could use or sell for money. My movements were a lot less strained and I found myself wincing less. That was some healing sorcery she used, huh? I feel quite a bit better.