♪ - Memory - Roar

[skaldssong.livejournal.com]

Who: Devola, her Shadow, and whomever.
What: A Shadow stops skulking around and drops in for some fauxlosophical discussion before the inevitable occurs.
Where: Hotel Lobby/Prospero Streets.
When: November 29th, the Dark Hour
Rating: PG-13. I'd be surprised if it went higher.
Warning: Violence, NieR Spoilers -- like, seriously.

BGM

Though the Dark Hour was in it's beginning moments, and Devola was well-aware that the Hotel's lobby was ill-defended from Shadow incursion, she still felt safe enough to use the room as it was intended and could be found sitting in one of the chairs and jotting away in a small notebook. The recent outbreak of shadowy duplicates -- some going as far as to declare themselves 'Shadows' was interesting, and the cause or reasoning behind it was one worth pursuing. To that extent she'd turned her phone on, video feed active.

"I'm probably a bit slow on this one, but has anyone read up on Jungian Psy-"



The words were harsh, atonal, alien. To hear them one could scarcely believe they came from a human mouth. They were, however, words Devola understood -- words she knew and words that only one other she could think of would be fluent in. One with a voice that matched her own, one with a voice that matched the speaker's. She looked up with a flash of something akin to pure joy in her eyes.

"Sis! -... You're not her. Guess I should've been expecting you, given the recent happenings."

It was a joy that was extinguished when she locked eyes with the source of the voice. Though Devola and Popola were identical twins, that was all the more reason they themselves would be the experts at determining whether they were confronted with an impostor or not. Of course, the glowing yellow eyes of the 'Devola' before her were something of a dead giveaway. The doppelganger lounged languidly in another chair, smiling a cheshire cat's grin all the while.



Devola's eyebrows furrowed, gazing at her duplicate. It was clad in the garments she'd arrived in, loose clothes of a maroon and dull greenish-gray hue. She herself wore more 'modern' garments: jeans, a simple cotton shirt, and a light overcoat to keep the chill away.

A hand slowly moved to shut the phone down, but the damage was already done; she'd never intended on using that language in Prospero if she could help it. The two began to converse, the hotel lobby soon filling with the strange speech the Shadow had used.

Comments

"Freindly NPC" Prompt

[skaldssong.livejournal.com]

((Feel like bothering them while the conversation's still mostly civil?

The Shadow will be speaking in a vaguely , and will not be limited to weird-squiggle-language because I'm lazy.))

Re: "Freindly NPC" Prompt

[nomammano.livejournal.com]

[Miki, going out for a night of Shadow hunting absentmindedly waves and says high to Devola as she passes, then to the other Devola as she passes her and-- wait...]

W-why are there two of you? Didn't this happen last month too?

[skaldssong.livejournal.com]

Devola blinked, then drew her lips into a thin line. That post-resurrection fiasco was embarrassing when it happened, and continued to be embarrassing in recollection as well.

"Errm. No, you just..."

her shadow added helpfully -- for a certain value of "helpful."

"Yeah. You hit your head pretty hard then. I guess you were seeing double?"

She paused a moment before continuing. "Don't think that's the case tonight, as an aside."

[nomammano.livejournal.com]

I-is this your evil alien double then? She's not trying to steal your fluids is she?

[skaldssong.livejournal.com]

"That's. That's a seriously questionable question. Do you want to take a moment to rephrase it?"



At least the two of them could definitively agree on something...

[nomammano.livejournal.com]

I guess it is a bit gross but that's what these doppelgangers do. I'm not sure what fluids they want anyway.

"Freindly NPC" Prompt

[namedforcat.livejournal.com]

[He had been heading down to the lobby because he was in dire need of coffee when he sees poor Miss Devola and her friend. What harm could it be to speak to them.]

Devloa? Is that you?

[skaldssong.livejournal.com]

"I mean 'yes'. It's me. And me as well, I guess. Hi, Gaignun."

[namedforcat.livejournal.com]

[He's rather relieved to see that she's alright for now.] So I see you two managed to catch up to each other then.

[skaldssong.livejournal.com]

"For better or for worse, yes. How'd the business with your semi-friendly neighborhood doppelganger go?"

The Shadow, if only for the moment, seemed content to follow proper etiquette and refrain from butting in.

[namedforcat.livejournal.com]

[He really wants to, but he refrains from making a bit of a face at the mention of his shadow] He's been mercifully silent tonight. I'm hoping he's given up.

Are you two going to be alright?

"Danmaku Bullshit" Prompt

[skaldssong.livejournal.com]

(( Beyond this link lies a Teal Dear, branded with a declaration similar to "You aren't me" (http://skaldssong.livejournal.com/2407.html) ))

BGM (http://tindeck.com/listen/bzzb)



No sooner were the words uttered than the air to the Shadow's right distorted, a shadowy hand flecked with red - easily the size of either Devola or her shadow - writhed in the air for a moment before balling into a fist and hurtling itself at Devola.

A Devola who was, to her credit, not there. In an unlikely display of acrobatics, she'd vaulted off of the chair, flipping backwards a good dozen feet or so, and legged it for the door shortly afterwards. She knew what she was capable of, what she'd chosen to keep the other residents of Prospero in the dark about -- why mention abilities and skills you no longer have, after all -- so she knew precisely how dangerous her Shadow now was.

As if answering her thoughts, the Shadow appeared before her again, rising out of a glowing red glyph in the ground and sending another fist -- a pair, this time, at her. In another display of agility Devola managed to dodge again, but failed to dodge the follow-up, a veritable curtain of magical bullets. Her Shadow slowly walked towards Devola, lobbing the red and black spheres of power without so much as a gesture of incantation or care for aim.

Though she wasn't wounded, merely slowed down, without a Persona fighting back was a losing proposition.

[heavenscorpse.livejournal.com]

"Devola!"

V/V had also been expecting the lobby to be safe, and so seeing a Shadow here was a bad sign. Besides that - seeing someone she liked be attacked was also bad.

Alice was called quickly, an almighty attack not unlike the spheres of power the Shadow used sent towards it.

[skaldssong.livejournal.com]

The shout had alerted the Shadow, who's retaliation was of a self-defensive kind. Magic bullets and almighty spell collided, not with a crackle of power or an explosion, but with the quiet fizzle of mutual destruction.



Devola had frozen in her flight, looking to V/V with an expression halfway removed from the blank state it had been moments ago. The look in her eyes was essentially screaming at the other woman, imploring her to run.

[heavenscorpse.livejournal.com]

"Okay. Can I take Devola with me? I want to talk to her about something."

It was worth a try.

[skaldssong.livejournal.com]

Annoyingly, the duplicate had some skill at multitasking and calculating trajectories, without a motion it sent another wave of bullets towards the redhead, as well as a lesser amount towards the blonde. Interloper butting in, and all.

[techno-logical.livejournal.com]

[When April had seen the video earlier, she pretty much decided to head down there; her experience with Shadows have taught her that they tend to be violent towards their originals.

And her suspicions proved to be correct when she saw Devola getting attacked. So just gonna summon her persona now.]

Iris! [Annnnd just gonna throw a Zio at the Shadow.]

[skaldssong.livejournal.com]

(Knock knock. Who's there? Elemental Weakness. Elemental Weakness who? ZAP.)

The Zio crashes into the shadow with relative effectiveness, a few bullets were sent towards April as a reflexive action, but not nearly as many as there would have been had April used any other type of spell. Yellow eyes looked over the owner's shoulder at April in a quiet fury.



The shadow raises an arm, intoning a few syllables and jerking it forwards. A black lance, easily the size of her arm, forms in the air and is sent sailing towards April.

[techno-logical.livejournal.com]

[Hehehehehe~]

April moves out of the way of those bullets and just shrugs back at the Shadow casually, almost as if she didn't just electrocute it.

"What, you expect to just stand here while you attack my friend? I don't think so."

Uh-oh. This display gets a curious blink out of her, before she realizes that she may want to move out of the way for this. So, she dodges out of the way of the lance before glancing over at Devola.

"Hey, are you alright, Devola?"

[skaldssong.livejournal.com]

"...Well, I'll admit I've been better. Was kinda hoping no one would have to know about thi-"

The sentence was cut off as evasive maneuvers were taken to avoid another black fist, the shadow choosing not to follow the rules of "talking is a free action."

[greyerrant.livejournal.com]

[ Garvi watches from the stairs of the hotel lobby in silence. ]

[skaldssong.livejournal.com]

The view wouldn't be too interesting for long. Left to her own devices Devola, showing off far more acrobatic prowess than she'd previously let on, would dodge the bulk of the Shadow's attacks. With the sheer volume of bullets in the room, avoiding them all was impossible, but she managed to survive long enough to make it to the door, and out to the streets. It was there, she'd hoped, noone else would be drug into this "fight."

The Shadow would remain behind for a few moments, tut-tuting itself in self-depreciation at it's quarry's escape. A scarlet glyph appeared under it once more as it glanced about the lobby. Yellow eyes met Garviel's own, and it paused a moment to study him.

[greyerrant.livejournal.com]

You're one of them. And you tried to hurt her. [ He reaches back, unslinging the hand and a half sword that was slung over his shoulder. ]

By my oath, I shall have your head.

[skaldssong.livejournal.com]

It bowed, dramatically, "dropping" down into the glyph and disappearing with a chiming sound. The same sound, albeit muffled, was heard outside not even a moment later.

[greyerrant.livejournal.com]

[ Garviel knows enough not to make his exit too dramatically, or she'll have the jump on him, so he lifts a table, muscles cording and straining in his neck, and hurls it out the window, then heads for the door, rolling out of it in a low somersault, pistol tracking and looking for the evil devola as he comes up, hoping the table throw was significantly load and noticeable to distract her from his assault. ]