[open] i don't have a clever title like haki's but whatever

[reveilation]

i. 7/17 (bgm)
[ How did this happen...

Kido loves cats. She really does. But she does not like this one specific cat chasing after her with a knife in its mouth and unrelentingly following her for the past four blocks. Is this karma for not stopping on the street to give it head scratches?? ]

Ugh, stop it!

[ She turns on her heels to confront the cat, stomping her feet on the ground in an effort to scare it into dropping the knife or running away, but all the cat does is prance closer and make stabby moves at her ankles. ]

Drop it right now, cat! You're going to trip and hurt yourself and—

[ slice up her ankles, cool cool cool ]

ii. 7/18-7/21
[ Anywhere around town or the outskirts near the forest or the lake, maybe you're out here enjoying some quiet and alone time watching the crows fly overhead, and then all of the sudden something falls from the sky and it's not quiet and alone anymore and Kido appears out of thin air holding her head and screaming at the sky.

This just sort of happens throughout the next couple of days, an unusual number of crows circling the town and Kido suddenly appearing where there definitely was nobody standing there before, trying to fend off things falling from the sky. Some of them are cool, like an mp3 player or a charger cord, but then there's also an umbrella and after that, Kido starts carrying that around to protect her head from falling objects. It sort of helped with the dartboard except that was really heavy and still hurt, and the three darts that accompanied it punctured the umbrella and now it's useless in the rain.

Another crow lands on her shoulder and drops a stack of bills amounting to ¥10,000 onto her lap. ...The bills get stuffed into her pocket and this crow gets a head pat before it flies off.

But not this last one, who keeps trying to deliver Kido a pair of glasses that she immediately turns and yeets into the middle of the lake. The crow flies over and plucks it out of the water and brings it back before Kido can run away. Maybe it thinks they're playing fetch. Kido does not want this. ]

iii. 7/17-7/22, Lockdown
[ The only reprieve that Kido gets from the weirdly aggressive animals in the town is during Lockdown, when the only birds she has to worry about are the Shadows overhead. Unlike her first few days here, she's much less scared of them than before— not that she's gotten any better or more confident at fighting, but because she does not need to. ]

Hey, let's team up.

[ She makes this request at the school gates, a key swinging on her finger. No more hopping fences. ]

I can guarantee you that we can walk through to the end of this place without being noticed or attacked. If you want to fight, I can guarantee the first strike. But either way, I need others around to discuss what we should do.

[ It's late into the month. Everybody else in the town seems to have slowed to a crawl, this place has not disappeared yet, and a there's also that gate at the very end that they can't get through. They have to do something about this. ]

wc.
[ Contact me at birdseed for anything you need!

For prompt iii: this can be either a one-on-one thread, or a group of two characters + Kido! Essentially she's getting them through the dungeon by using her canon ability to make them unable to be heard or seen, and then leeching off their kills bc her Persona has growth 3 and can gain experience doing nothing haha ]

Comments

[overstrain]

[ To add onto that, Terry couldn't react fast enough to minimize the damage either, so that really hurts. Anyway, they're visible now and all the monsters suddenly focus on them. Without a second to waste, Terry makes sure that he has a firm grip on Kido's hand and then bolts it out of there. He figures this would be fine, and not as reckless, since they were planning to leave anyway. He would have summoned Vassago, but he's still... wary about summoning his persona right now. He can think about that later. He is certainly not interested in fighting the horde of tengus and chimeras, so... it's better to run. ]

Kido, are you okay?! Does it hurt a lot?! I can carry you if it hurts too much to run!

[reveilation]

[ Her mind is completely blank out of shock, but her feet are moving and the shot of adrenaline keeps everything from hurting for now and she supposes that's the best she can manage on autopilot— it's hard, though, when the wind starts to pick up all around them as the Tengus take flight, and the Chimera comes in for the kill.

At least it'll be quick death, if its claws hit their target. ]

[overstrain]

[ It hasn't even been a day, but he suppresses his Panic Reaction somewhat. If they get hit, the two would suffer major injuries for sure, if not an outright death. Terry has no time to think, and he was never the type to think too much into it when the need arises, so he shoves his hand to his pocket and pulls out his omamori. It's do or die now. ]

Vassago! Tear them apart!

[ Desperation sure is English.

Vassago immediately dives towards the chimera with a Cornered Fang, and crunches on its head. It wastes no time in using Makajama on several Tengus, disabling the wind and making sure they explode into pretty colors with Psi. Anyway, the dragon sure is on a killing spree while Terry flees further with Kido. He figures that Vassago will disappear once he's out of range. ]

[reveilation]

[ If she weren't running fast enough before, seeing Vassago emerge gets her to, a veil of fear falling over her that's so hard to shrug off, remembering the last time she'd seen the dragon. But she can't just let him do all the fighting, Nekogami appearing with a touch of her omamori and blasting the ground behind them with ice, its range reaching far even as it rests on Kido's shoulders. The Tengus like to mob but they're not that big a deal to take down; it's the Chimera she's afraid of, but if she can just- oh. ]

Terrence, wait!

[ She digs her heels into the ground and whips around, but even if he keeps running and pulls her off balance, it doesn't matter, because Nekogami hops off her shoulders and in the next instant, a thick pillar of ice shoots up from the ground to cut them off from the Chimera—- the ice is shattered immediately with a lazy swipe of the paw and the Chimera

stops short, looking around, and then heads back to the gate. ]

[overstrain]

[ As expected, Terry kept running even after Kido told him to stop, though the speed decreases sharply to a point of stopping completely when he sees the Chimera turn away. Vassago has been killing the smaller tengus left and right as if venting out stress, but does eventually disappear too.

Terry collapses on his legs, breathing heavily. He's not sure if he wants an adrenaline rush like that again anytime soon. ]

I... I can't believe that worked...

[reveilation]

I'm relieved it worked...

[ She can't help but sink to the floor to sit either, feeling like her lungs are going to explode along with her legs. ]

As long as we could draw its attention away for just one second, I can hide us again. [ Thank god her Persona came out this time, and ] Thank god Vassago came out to help us as well.

[overstrain]

That's... really convenient. [ He's still wheezing. ]

Thanks.

[ He's pretty sure that Vassago did kinda listen to him, or maybe his persona was just eager to kill stuff because he couldn't kill Terry before. He'll... try to forget about that thought. ]

Let's take five. I think Vassago did a little too much...

[reveilation]

[ It was convenient in this situation, but annoying in most others. ]

Let's get back to the stairs before taking a break, just in case. Vassago is really strong, huh... He really is a "reflection of the self."

[overstrain]

[ ... ... ...

Terry just glances over at Kido for a moment and looks back at the floor. ]

If you wanted to diss me, you can do it directly, you know.

[reveilation]

...Yeah? I never hold back on dissing you.

[ She's pretty sure she calls him an idiot at least five times a day. ]

That wasn't a diss, though. I said you were strong.

[overstrain]

[ Well, he'll take that. ]

... Thanks.

[ Though the "reflection of the self" just went on a gleeful monster killing spree back there, so he'll just. Try to ignore that part. ]

Could be stronger, but that got revoked too.

[reveilation]

[ That gleeful monster killing spree literally saved their skins, Kido has no room to complain about that. ]

Does that come with the whole demi-god package? Omnipotence and super strength?

[ It's difficult to imagine, since she's the one always punching him. ]

[overstrain]

Got a bit of everything.

[ He breathes out quietly one last time after catching his breath. He's no longer wheezing. Thank. ]

But I'm a botched up clone, so I'm not as strong as a real one. I heard something went wrong along the way, but I don't know much about it.

[ ... ]

... Before you say anything, that's not why you think I'm messed up in the head.

[reveilation]

[ Kido had her mouth open about to say something but she closes her mouth again as she's being called out.

Botched up clone... what the hell. ]

I dunno anything about that, but it's not like he's real and you're not. You're already crazy strong anyways, trying to pick people up... You remind me of a friend, actually. He's also messed up in the head.

[overstrain]

Yeah? You sound like you have a lot of friends back home. Sounds nice...

[ Not that he doesn't have friends, but. Still. ]

But I know that we're both real. I've never been hung over that. I just don't want to be like him, that's all. He was a colossal asshat, and you'd probably hate him.

[reveilation]

I didn't really...

[ Not until recently, anyways. She had her family, and the numbers kept dwindling even as she tried to cling on all the harder, but making new friends again was a nice experience, not unlike now. ]

If you don't want to be a colossal asshat, you've got that down pretty well already. It's hard imagining you being like that.

[overstrain]

[ There's a weak laugh coming from him. ]

I tried really hard to get to what I am today. I tried my best not to be like him... I...

[ He trails off, as if lost in thought, but refocuses a short moment later. ]

... just wanted to be my own person, even if I'm just a bundle of qualities that they didn't want. I don't think I'd ever be able to manage a war either, much less someone else, so... guess that's that.

[ He thinks he got enough rest now, so he'll stand. ]

Ready to go?

[reveilation]

[ The break in the explanation makes Kido pause, but she doesn't try to goad any more out of him, about that. Nor any of the other stuff, even though she disagrees with parts of it. Terry isn't a bundle of bad attributes, after all. He's just stupid sometimes. Everything else has been pretty okay. Aside from him being dumb, it's really hard for her to think of anything bad...

So she just sighs and pushes off her knees to stand again, hoping for an uneventful way back. ]

Yeah, let's go home.

[ She holds her hand out for him to take again. ]

[overstrain]

[ Terry grins this time--sincerely, meaningfully--from ear to ear. He feels happy, even if it this isn't the best place to be showing that kind of emotion, and takes Kido's hand without hesitation. He doesn't seem to think much of it, but once the hands are together, he intertwines their fingers too. ]

Yup, let's go home!

[reveilation]

[ It takes her by surprise when he does that, but after a moment, she squeezes his hand back, even though she looks away so she can walks slightly up front and lead the way. It's fine. Holding hands like this is more secure than the normal way, so it'll be harder for them to get separated or something. ]