thenearshore | 009 | Where Your Demons Hide

009 | Where Your Demons Hide

Who: Everyone!
What: Emergency demon fighting
When: Late May 5-Early May 6
Where: Just outside of Tokyo
Summary: The demon from the school has reared its ugly head again and needs to be taken down.

On the evening of May 5, the Heavens suddenly receive an influx of prayers from people in and around a certain town just outside of Tokyo. There seem to be a lot of people in the area that have suddenly stopped responding normally (or at all). The situation continues to spread as the night goes on until not only is the whole town suffering from this malady, but the neighboring towns are starting to become affected as well.

With so many gods and shinki on hand - including new ones that have just appeared - the Heavens have issued a request for any available gods and shinki to go investigate what might be happening down on the Near Shore. New gods and shinki will be given the low-down on what's happening, but not much more than that.

The situation will continue to expand until just a little before dawn, when the demon finally has enough power to revive.

Drained Humans

Many humans in the affected areas are walking around despondently. Oftentimes, they are just walking into things or getting hit by things. There have been a few car-related incidents as well. Anyone who was present for the high school incident will recognize these symptoms as something that was happening to people in the school. The glazed looks, the spiritless responses and reactions. So this should be fairly familiar to some.

No One's Safe

Unfortunately, being in the town will start to wear on anyone who is there. Gods and shinki alike will find themselves growing more despondent the longer they spend in the town. All of their energy will be slowly sapped from their bodies, and shinki in particular will feel almost like their existence is draining away.

Hellish Circle

There is a large park in the center of the town. Drawn all around this park is a magic circle, large enough to encompass the whole park. There are candles around the edges of the circle, and in the center there is a cup filled with blood covered by a mask with a swirling eye pattern on it. Stepping into this circle will not only make you extremely tired and suddenly drained, but it will also bring bat-like ayakashi bearing down on you.

The Demon

The Demon itself rears its ugly head just a little before dawn, springing out from the center of the magic circle and looking right pleased with itself. It stands about 5'8" tall, so it is largely unimposing, but there is an aura about it that makes it undeniable that it is powerful. The demon will gladly fight anyone who comes at it, though most he will just shove out of the way without a second thought.

In Summary:

Help the drained people
Try not to get drained yourself
Be careful about being corrupted
Fight the demon
Have fun~

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[ Sephiroth is always a man on a mission and despite the tiredness tugging at his limbs, at his very sense of self, he refuses to stop moving. Whoever, whatever is doing this has no pissed him off and he won't be satisfied until they are very dead.

His eyes narrow when he sees Sora and Sephiroth stops for the moment. ]

So this affects the gods as well.

[Sora is startled awake at a familiar stern and low voice nearby and he jumps up from his spot on the bench quickly and looks around and even readies for an attack of some sort (Sephiroth you can't sneak up on him like this!). On habit he brandishes his keyblade and the weapon blinks into his grip with a flash.]

Who the-

[When his gaze falls on Sephiroth and the reality of the waking world catches up with him he relaxes and his energy feels drained again.]

Uhh.... Yeah it looks like it.

[He just wants to yawn a lot.]

[ Is that a giant key? Sephiroth looks at the...weapon(?) and then back to Sora with a purely quizzical expression. Shaking his head and leaving his contemplation about what the key is supposed to do, Sephiroth looks on towards the shambling humans. ]

Then you should leave.

[ Sephiroth himself will not admit to being tired. Besides the fatigue doesn't bother him as much as feeling as if pieces of himself are being plucked away one thread at a time. That sensation makes him angry and now his attention focuses on one solution - finding the culprit and obliterating them. ]

Leave?

[Sora follows Sephiroth’s gaze and looks at the humans walking around like a herd of zombies. No. He’s not going to leave. He’s here to help out and to keep them safe. There is no way he’s going to leave early even if his body feels a hundred pounds heavier.]

No, I’m not leaving! I was just closing my eyes for a second. These people need help, and I’m going to be there for them.

[Sora looks down at his weapon and dissipates it afterwards. It’s still weird getting used to Sephiroth being around. And you know- not being crazy. Kind of.]

The last time this happened, a giant ugly jello attacked a school. My bets are on something like that. Do you have any other info?

[ The unimpressed look on Sephiroth's face probably hints at the words he doesn't say. If Sora couldn't see that exhausting himself wouldn't do these people any good, Sephiroth isn't going to tell him. Really, some blinded themselves to reality. Though the mention of another incident does catch Sephiroth's attention - even if an attack by jello sounds laughable. ]

There's a strange circle in the park. However, any attempts at disrupting it do not seem to impact the effects we're witnessing.

[ He won't speak of his own tiredness or the more disturbing sensations that keep increasing the longer he stays. Of course, Sephiroth fails to realize his own hypocrisy. ]

[He could care less what Sephiroth thinks of his exhausted state and willingness to stick around. Sora didn't really care much if he was tired so long as he could help the people around here. He'd seen enough at the school the first time around.

Sora crosses his arms and thinks.]

It probably has something to do with the ayakashi causing this. I wonder if it's a kind of magic barrier?

[In which case Sora might be able to dispel.]

No, there doesn't seem to be one. You can cross into the circle and send things through it. Disrupting the items within produced no change. [ Sephiroth sounds idly curious if annoyed at the same time. This sort of thing doesn't ring at all familiar to him. ] However, should a person breach the perimeter, ayakashi arrive.

[ Ah, there's that anger back. Though it is quieter and held to just a sharp gaze towards the center of the park. Fighting those damn things to a standstill hadn't cooled Sephiroth's temper. Now, he was just tired and stubbornly unwilling to admit it. ]

[Sora looks puzzled. A circle that if disrupted called around ayakashi? That doesn't sound good at all.]

Guess that rules out-

[There's a sudden crackling nearby. Something like the sound of wood breaking or snapping. Sora's attention is directed to a nearby tree where he spots a pair of girls sitting at the base. The look like they're sleeping but...

There's several little ayakashi littering the trees and look to be sucking energy from them.]

Get away from them!!

[He won't wait for Sephiroth to help or anything. He's not too concerned if Sephiroth wants to be involved or not. But even without his shinki here, Sora summons his weapon and takes off towards the girls and ignores his lack of energy weighing his shoulders.]

[ The sound catches Sephiroth's attention and he turns enough to look. Those slitted-green eyes blink, but nothing like concern enters them. Instead, he watches and studies the tiny creatures, how they feed, and how they react to Sora.

Would they be different towards a god than a shinki? Would they run or attack?

To him it's nothing more than a chance to study the nuisance he considers ayakashi to be in the hopes of gleaning information valuable to eradicating them. Sora is not his god. Sephiroth has no interest in fighting because he already knows that he can only beat the damned things with his god.

Glancing at the odd key-sword again, Sephiroth wonders if it's Sora's shinki and if not, what the god means to do about the creatures.

So have a mildly interested audience, Sora. For now, he won't say anything disparaging. ]

[For the most part Sephiroth goes unnoticed. Sora is far more concerned with getting the energy sucking squirrels balls away from the girls before they do any permanent damage. A god didn't need his shinki to be able to beat them back enough that they back off or scatter.

Sora leaps in right away and with fluid easy movement attacks the round ayakashi and they start to chitter and scatter about. He targets one, two and three, knocking each one away with a Slapshot and Flash Step.]

Back off!

[His weapon might do little damage to the things but it proves effective in pushing them back. Two more try to get near Sora and make strange cackling noises and seem to have set their sights on him instead.]

[ Sora isn't a slouch - Sephiroth will give him that much - even if the sword Sora wields doesn't look for the job. Both of those things are not his primary emphasis. What he does take is the damage Sora deals and how the ayakashi react to it.

Sephiroth might accept, grudgingly, that he can't kill the damned creatures without his god. What he won't accept is the lack of suitable explanation as to why. 'Because that's the way it is', simply will not do.

When Sephiroth intervenes it's for that reason and to test this Borderline technique that Yukine had taught. His voice rings out with mild interest when he speaks the word - ]

Borderline.

[ - and the barrier rises, but only between one of the ayakashi and Sora. ]

[~~Awww Sephiroth-Senpai you do care!~~

Sora doesn't have time to react to the borderline just yet. He readies himself as the second little ayakashi ball comes directly for him and he swings his keyblade like a baseball bat and smashes it into the distance. Somewhere it makes a cittering noise of distress.

He looks up to see Sephiroth near and helping and he blinks.]

Th...Thanks!!

[He turns again to take out a few more little ayakashi, smashing and attacking until they start to scatter. He gets a few stinging blight burns up his arms but it's nothing he can't handle.]

[ When the tiny ayakashi goes flying, Sephiroth's lips actually twitch. It's almost like he might have a sense of humor buried way down. Though he doesn't react to the gratitude. The actions he'd taken were for his own benefit.

When the rest begin to scatter, Sephiroth approaches with the Masamune drawn just in case they decide to make a second run. He glances at the marks on Sora with curious expression. ]

The Blight?

[ He has not seen it yet. ]

[Before he answers Sora glances at the long weapon in Sephiroth's hand with unease. Familiarity flickers in his eyes as he has flashbacks of previous battles with the man. He has to remember that this is Sephiroth. And any help that he gives is probably not as intended.

He looks down at his arms and registers the stinging burns with a sudden wince. They burn like fire but it feels like ice.]

Yeah, I'll be able to wash it away later.

If you don't, will it get worse, or does that require another incident?

[ The Blight is one of the few oddities of this place that confuse him. Why can shinki Blight their god the same way an ayakashi could? Sephiroth's eyes flick to the retreating ayakashi to see if any of them change their minds and come back.

They were small and almost not worth the effort, but his frustrations still bubbled close to the surface. ]

It gets worse.

[Sora looks away for a short moment. The sting of blight is a very distinct kind of pain. Sora knows it well. He'd almost died from it once.]

It's important to get rid of it quick or it can really hurt a god.

[He looks back up at Sephiroth.]

Sephiroth, who's your god?

[ Upon the question, Sephiroth eyes move from the marks to Sora's face. Those slitted pupils focus sharply in suspicion. Then he decides that it must be a common enough question.

Who's your god?

Who's your shinki? ]

Zack. The name they gave him is Hephaestus. [ And then: ] I never told you my name.

Zack, Huh? Okay well- ...

[Did he forgot to.... UHHHHHHHHHH. Whoops. Crap. What he'd do for Cloud to be around right about now.

He didn't mean to slip up, now he had to make some sort of excuse to the most skeptical guy in the entire universe.]

I heard it around? You're not exactly the kind of guy who blends into a crowd, you know.

[Yes good. Smooth.]

[ If Sora were Cloud, there'd be less talking and more swords if we're all honest. ]

Hnn. [ Sephiroth doesn't sound entirely believing, but he doesn't press either. Whatever this game is, he won't lose it by becoming an ayakashi. ] You should find your shinki before they come back.

[ Sephiroth eyes flick back towards the park. A part of him itched to return and try again even though it would him nothing. A better strategy would be to find Zack. ]

[Sometimes flashy giant sword fighting makes way more sense!

But wow does Sora ever let out a tiny breath of relief. Okay, if Sephiroth isn't going to press him then he isn't going to elaborate. Not that he was going to in the first place.

Maybe one day someone will be around to tell Sora that this Sephiroth is not the same Sephiroth he knows...]

Well, can't say you're wrong about that. Thanks again for the borderline assist.

[Still feels strange saying thanks to him. But he's glad that he got to find out which god is partnered up with Sephiroth. Maybe he should say hello to Zack sometime.]

Don't get eaten alive by energy draining squirrels, big guy.

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009 | Where Your Demons Hide

No One's Safe

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