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 Posted: Sun Aug 06, 2017 7:27 pm
[12/14 - After School, Workshop of the Damned - B2]  
Usaji Azai, aka "Soma", Kaede Kuzuyama aka "Zen"
"...I will take everything! My friends, my family, my future...we'll take all of them together!..."Saji had never really given much thought to how he was going to die; when he was young, he often answered people who would flippantly ask the question of how he thought he would die, or how he wanted to die, with a similarly casual response of 'In my sleep, next to someone I love.' It wasn't entirely a joke, however, but it was hard for him in some days to imagine being so lucky as to choose such a beautiful way to die. Few people had ever moved him or cared for him enough that he could imagine such a thing ever becoming a reality. Few people had ever made him happy enough to imagine that someone like him, just an unwanted street trash artist was even allowed such a happy ending.
But Tamao Uehara had...
...And though he hadn't imagined that he would die against some monster in another world by any stretch of the imagination, he would tell you all the same that if it was his fate to die trying to protect her against the horrors of a life she never wanted nor asked for, that he would consider it an acceptable substitute. His life had never amounted to much anyway. And he'd sell every last minute, every day, every year he had left to save her life. Now, it seemed he'd do just that.
His vision began to fade as he struggled against the choking grip, and his fingers loosened just a touch against the blade he'd dug deeply into the creature's side as he struggled. Vaguely, he thought he heard her voice cry out across the room...or was it a voice in his ear...?
"It can't be..." the voice, Kaede's, was it? Seemed to call out in amazement. "Uehara...has a Persona?!"
And then the world was fire, erupting heat below his dangling feet. The beast's hideous cry rattled his eardrums and the grip on his neck suddenly loosened for just a moment! Oxygen filled his lungs and life returned to his dying limbs as he gripped his blade and pulled it out of the beast's side, pressing with his foot sharply against the Tyrant's chest to force himself with all of his half-spent strength out of its hands and onto the ground in front of it! He landed in a crouch and leaped back like a startled cat to a distance, skidding back to his feet and standing to his full, lanky height with a somewhat thoughtless rub at his sore neck. He was sure there would be bruises there in the morning, but that was neither here nor there...because over the monstrous beast's shoulder he saw something that he had never imagined...something that he could only have dreamed or hoped for...but something that made his heart swell with pride, with joy, and with something else entirely that made him feel...strong again. In the end, they had come to save Tamao...but when her back was against the wall, she had saved herself. Damn right.
"Soma! Marvel! That's it! It's weak to Fire!" Zen cried out over the buds in their ears, renewed hope and vigor filling their hearts as Shiori wasted no time slashing away at it and reducing its fighting capacity even further. Nodding to the disembodied voice of their mentors, Saji smirked and scanned the room, spotting a wayward table of surgical tools loose on the floor, not yet overturned...rushing forward, he leaped and lashed his foot into the underside of it, scattering the tray and its contents at the face of the undead thing with a distracting impact that covered for him as he landed in a crouch near its feet. All they had to do was keep its attention and pour on the pain...and Tama-chan would do the rest, right? Now he was in full Soma Mode, his confidence, that lick of cockiness about him returning with style. He tore away his mask and let the power flow through him as he smirked up at the monster from below...an underdog embracing the moment of a crowning achievement.
"One-Shot Kill."
Again, the ethereal gunshot splashed into the chest of the creature, but this time in its weakened form blood and viscera splattered out of the back of its chest! It had been severely hurt by the fire and weakened by the Debilitate of Shiori...and now, the damage was finally beginning to add up! A hole in its chest accompanied the mechanical arm that pierced through it, and it boiled at the burns that lingered along its body from Tamao's fierce awakening. His blue eyes found his childhood friend across the room, on the other side of the monster, and they were filled with a cocktail of emotions that threatened to spill out of his body...but more than anything, it was pride.
Pride that she had done this...pride that she had found the strength within her to fight...pride because he could feel it, that somewhere inside of her that strength had been there all along.
"I've had enough of this thing," he quipped as he held her eyes in that moment, "Black Hag, finish him off!"
...They'd have to talk about the impromptu Code Name, later, probably.
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Posted: Sun Aug 06, 2017 8:08 pm
Tamao Uehara
 It was funny how the body could react on pure instinct, and rely on abilities it didn't know it possessed until that very instant. That was how Tamao Uehara felt in that moment, as she leaped out of the monster's way and fell into a defensive stance a few steps away from the more seasoned fighters. She wasn't thinking, her mind was silent, in some strange peace that she hadn't felt in a long while. Warmth was all she felt. A fire that burned deep inside of her...a flame that roared inside of her chest, and it wouldn't be snuffed out. She wouldn't let anyone snuff her out anymore.
Her gaze followed the pink haired girl and her warrior queen...then went back to Saji as he nimbly crossed the room, creating a distraction. For a second, Tamao thought that he looked so different right now...so purposeful and strong and decisive...but the fleeting thought was gone as soon as it arrived,
her own mind bringing her attention back to the fight.
His attack was powerful, and it practically destroyed the monster in front of them. And then...he was turning his blue eyes to her, nodding...smirking at her.
Then he was addressing her with some strange name.
"B-black Hag!??! Is that supposed to be me?! Rude!" the girl blurted out,
stomping her feet on the floor, her puffed out cheeks flaring up. "Alright, Adelita! Let's do this!" Tamao turned to face the enemy and tore the mask away...almost as if she had done this for years. Like she knew exactly what she was doing. Like...it was a part of her that she hadn't seen in so long and was just reconnecting with...so familiar and warm.
"Agi!"
Once more a fiery explosion hit the Tyrant, throwing him off balance as its horrifying roars filled the room. She saw it stumbling to a knee...and the girl knew it was almost done for. And with a swift movement of her wrist, Tamao produced a small trinket from apparently the thin air. "Go!" She threw the cat amulet in the air, an amulet that Saji might recognize from all those years ago... and as it flew, the trinket shifted, transforming into a monstrous black cat. The familiar swiped at the monster for the final attack, leaving a long and deep gash on the creature, before it returned to Tamao and took its original shape.
The shadow stumbled once. Twice. Then, it collapsed, crumbling into some dark dusty substance...leaving nothing behind.
And it was then...and only then, that Tamao Uehara let herself fall to her knees, her body trembling as the aftermath of all that adrenaline rushing through her veins. She had never felt this tired. Not even at her line of work. She was exhausted, and her muscles ached, protesting after every little movement. She was afraid she wouldn't be able to stand up after that. And... She...had no idea what had just happened.
A sigh escaped her as she nursed her headache...noticing then the clothes she was wearing. "H-huh!? What...what is this!?" Her face turned a bright red as she covered the deep cleavage and very translucent fabric covering her chest. There were runes and marks on her wrists and arms...and rings of different materials on her fingers. An obsidian pendant hung from her neck,
and the girl took it in her hand, observing the craftsmanship. An upside down crecent moon. Just...what was going on? She hadn't changed clothes.
"Why do I look like a witch?" She then traced the mask over her eyes...a frown on her lips. "And what's up with the mask? And...what is this place?
And...what where those creatures? My power? Saji?"
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Posted: Sun Aug 06, 2017 8:33 pm
[12/14 - After School, Workshop of the Damned - B2]
Usaji Azai, aka "Soma", Kaede Kuzuyama aka "Zen"
"...I will take everything! My friends, my family, my future...we'll take all of them together!..."There was a long pause in the room as the monstrous, familiar cat lashed across the room and left its ragged slash streaks across the chest of the Tyrant; it wailed for just a moment before its voice was completely gagged, choking, filled with viscous red fluid...before at last it was reduced to dust, melting away into the remnants that all shadows became when they were defeated. And as Tamao collapsed to the floor in a mixture of exhaustion and relief, Saji finally allowed himself to stand back up and take a single, deep breath; his arms were bruised, his neck was bruised, his face was still stained with drying streaks of blood and breathing was a hazard to his health...but against all odds, the quartet of teens had survived. He twirled his sword with a practiced hand and let it slip into a sheath at his side, tired legs slowly plodding across the room until he found himself at the girl's side and he knelt down beside her...his gentle hand setting itself upon her shoulder as he looked her over to be sure she didn't have any lingering wounds or damage that they needed to take care of right away. Eventually, he and Shiori at least would be up and running at full capacity with their healing abilities, but he didn't know that the others possessed the same thing that they did. Taking their time and making sure that the damage they took was tended properly was just as important as anything else right now.
"Tama-chan...you did great." Saji smiled gently...and it was right about that time that he fully began to process everything that had changed about his childhood friend in the midst of her transformation. The runes, the rings, the pendants...the hat, the clothes...the clothes...oh, oh my. Suddenly his hand felt like it had touched scorching fire, the burn spreading throughout his entire body until he was beet red and breaking out into a cold sweat at the same time. She was...that outfit, the clothes, they were very...um...suggestive? His mouth practically wiggled into an uneasy smile as he looked away and coughed very obviously, trying not to make a big deal about it...but obviously failing to hide it spectacularly. "Ah...you look..." he fumbled for the words, before scratching his cheek a little nervously...and if there was any doubt that this masked, roguish hero that she had watched fight so elegantly a few moments earlier was still the dorky young artist she had grown up with, then they were put right to bed by the way he looked right now, "...you look great, Tama-chan."
The rest of her questions would have to wait; in his ear he heard the voice of their support member calling out to him, asking that they return to the front of the lab for a quick debrief on what they had experienced so far. And all the while, the monstrous doctor slinked off through a hidden door in the lab, deeper into the facility...cursing the team as they took a few moments to convalesce before continuing their journey.
...
Letting the newest Persona-User lean on his shoulder as they made their way back to the elevator and to the first floor, Saji's cheeks remained a pale pink the entire time they walked...only barely visible under the fabric of his X-Shaped Mask. By the time that they passed through the front doors of the lab, Kaede was waiting for them with a package of healing items meant to help bring them back up to fighting shape in addition to their own abilities. Even if he couldn't fight, he would support them in any way he could...as the variety of medicines, poultices, and salves made evident.
"Welcome back, everyone," the young scientist-turned-principal greeted them with a relieved smile, "And you, Uehara-san...it's nice to meet you. I'm sure you have a lot of questions to ask, and I'll do my best to answer them. But first, you probably want to know who we are, don't you? ...You can call me Zen. You already know Soma, of course. This is Marvel...and this is King...and Demon Lord. And we...are Illa Phasmas, the Phantom Thieves."
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Posted: Mon Aug 07, 2017 2:59 pm
[12/14 - After School]  Shiori Niko, aka "Marvel"
She wasn't sure how on-guard the guy was going to be, but at the very least, they could expect more traps and troubles on the floors ahead, even if they did seem to be pretty safe for the moment. (Although she did have a brief vision of a swarm of zombies bursting out of the evil lair to blanket the world... ugh, she'd probably seen too many zombie flicks. She didn't even like bad movies.)
"Short version... physics don't work the way we thought, and problems like Doctor West back there are what we're here to solve." she added after Kuzuyama-sensei introduced them. "You, uh, you get used to it. Are you still hurting anywhere?" she asked Tamao, looking over the other girl's body for signs of wounds, treatments, or other problems. Medb's spell seemed to fix some things but not always others, and she had no idea what kind of logic or principles it actually used.
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