Fight in the Heat [Mission only, Rita and Julian]

Was it really so important for her to be here? This wasn’t the only mission of importance right now… the Velvet Room had warned her of three happenings so far, one of them involving her friend, Alex… still, Rita was much too weak to help now, she had to get stronger and that’s why she was here in the first place, to be able to help out and actually save her friend. Indeed, that was exactly the reason why the desert stood in front of her right now, a mission she accepted simply because she wanted to get stronger. A foolish endeavor, no doubt, going alone into such an ambient, it was almost suicide… regardless, Rita had to do it right now, not only was her school at risk from that Shadow, she needed to make sure no-one tried to rescue that accursed envoy of Chaos from this place.

“Come at me, world, I’m ready.” With that uttered, Rita’s crimson sword simply appeared in her hand as her foot passed through the rift and into the desert beyond, a heating breeze suddenly assaulting her senses as if she was suffocating. To make things worse, there was also a sandstorm brewing close by to the room where she had been placed, much to her despair and hopelessness, Rita didn’t doubt that this journey would be hard-fought…

Regardless, noting the blue door of the Velvet Room, Rita stepped through into the sandstorm and immediately covered her eyes with her sunglasses, still having decreased visibility but at least she didn’t need to worry about her eyes stinging. Also with this, the sun’s rays wouldn’t really affect Rita as much as they might someone else not carrying a pair, though this was subjective, she still wouldn’t be able to see much and the sandstorm already blocked out the sun as it was.

“Are you ready, my Praetor?” That soothing voice belonging to Nero rang in Rita’s mind, a tinge of cockiness in it, as if this was nothing to them… Rita would share that same attitude and give the golden-haired presence a smirk and a nod before pulling out her Evoker just in case, ready to summon Nero at any time if so needed.

Fight in the Heat [Mission only, Rita and Julian] YKeHVAc

“Yeah, I’m really feeling it now.” Quoting only that stupid meme right now, Rita gave a chuckle and held her sword to her shoulder, like Shulk wielding the Monado, and carried on through the sandstorm, no visible Shadows in her peripheral so far.

Movement:

Posts : 708 Join date : 2014-02-01

Oddly enough, Julian had received a rather strange onslaught of text messages recently. All of them were from an unknown number (blocked, actually), and all the subjects ever said was VELVET ROOM. The only reason he hadn't deleted any of them was because the name was extremely familiar to him, and brushing the texts aside as mere coincidence seemed like a stupid move until he further examined them. After all, what were the chances that a random spammer would choose the exact same name as a certain place filled with--and I quote--"helpful people" that apparently knew about all of the weird, otherwordly things going down around Azores? So finally, during a study hall period of his near the end of the school day, the teen plopped himself down on an isolated chair in the library and began scrolling through the messages, his frown growing deeper with each one.

So that place could send him requests or something? Weird. How'd they even get his number? Did Hyde give it to them? ...Tch. The thought only served to make him irritable. Best to just chock it up to otherwordly powers or some other similar shit and be done with it before he got too annoyed.

A particular little mission caught his eye. Fight a shadow, huh? He'd never done that before. Why would he? Going in a portal on his own just seemed stupid, especially since he didn't know what lay on the other side. Not to mention that he didn't have any backup. ...Well, before. Smirking slightly at the thought, it dawned on him that now, he had at least some kind of life-line. Hyde wasn't the brightest, but he was loyal enough. He'd probably come running the first chance he got if Julian called him up screaming "SOS" or something. So why not? This mission seemed do-able for his first shadow fight. No harm in trying, right? It would be good practice anyhow. He made sure to send a text to the list of people Hyde had given him: -+ Not sure if Hyde already told you or not, but you've got a new addition to your team, I guess. I'll be heading to the other side of Zela Academy today; if anyone wants to come along, meet me there. +- He tried to avoid using any suspicous wording in the text, just in case there were prying eyes or Hyde goofed on the numbers. Couldn't hurt to be careful. The text was sent just before the bell for second to last period rang, causing the teen to shoot up and hurry on to English.

So he went about the rest of his day, sending a text to Matthew informing him that he had somewhere to go and wouldn't be back home until late. Once school had let out, Julian waited for the place to clear out before he stowed his stuff away in his locker (no sense in getting weighed down by textbooks) and found a portal, climbing through and popping out in a place that looked hardly anything like the Zela Acadmey he knew.

Were all of the alternate worlds like this, the complete opposite of their double over in Azores? After all, alternate Penecia was pretty much in ruins despite the splendor of the place on his side. Now, Zela Academy is all dust and dirt and deserted rather than green, clean, and populated.

Well, unless you counted the obvious thickness in the air.

Julian couldn't really explain it. It was almost like something dark and...condensed floated through the air, and it wasn't the sand blowing around. More like...darkness? Was that even possible? Solid darkness...huh. Was that what a shadow was? Maybe they were the reason he felt this way, a little tense and on-edge. Of course, being in a completely unfamiliar world could have done that too. Or both. ...Probably both.

Regardless, the oppressiveness of his surroundings spurred the teen to hold out his hand and bring his weapon to his side. Same as before when he'd been in the outpost, the melted metal curled and shifted before solidifying into a gleaming silver knife, again, the same one he'd fought Emmilene with. Once it had fully appeared, Julian shifted the blade to a backhanded grip, keeping it just hidden with his forearm. His other hand stuffed itself into his jacket pocket and felt around for his iPod, fingers clutching the device firmly should Jak need to come out and play. Satisfied that he was now prepared to fight should the need arise, he began walking, only for his eyes to narrow as he spied someone just ahead of him.

// Who the hell-? // White (or was it silver?) hair? That was new. Wasn't everyday he saw someone with that hair color. Of course, it could always be dyed. Or the figure could be older. ...No, hold up, that was a sword on their shoulder. Shit. Alright, probably not a good idea to just walk up to them. That would probably end badly. Tch, damn, what now?

Julian would trail a good distance away from the person, keeping them in his sights without getting too close, maybe about twenty or twenty-five feet away. Hopefully one of those people on the list would text him back or show up; if not, he supposed he was going to have to find a way around this person or find another route.

Movement:

As the sandstorm simply continued to assault the area, Rita coughed a bit to keep her airways clean, hoping that it’d either die down soon or at least be confined to a general area, somewhere that she was able to get out of. Something unusual, though, was the feeling that she was being watched, not sure whether by someone else or by a Shadow, though and that kept her on edge throughout the rest of the walk. Her mood, however, wouldn't alter aside from that little switch being ticked on by the hunch, making her keep herself at least slightly more alert than before, though she doubted she could hear something that was farther away than, at least, 15 meters or less, that was just ludicrous if she was able to hear farther than that.

“Hmm… Nero, you there?” With a quick flick of the wrist, Rita brought her model gun up to her temple and pulled the trigger with a smooth motion, making the crimson-robed Blonde appear by her side, standing with her arms crossed while her eyes simply looked towards the ground, emotionless. “We’re almost there, right? Are you ready for this?” With that inquiry, the Roman Emperor lifted her head up to look straight into Rita’s eyes, her expression one of both conviction and worry, as if the feeling Rita had earlier was shared between the both of them.

Fight in the Heat [Mission only, Rita and Julian] Lw28fLQ

“Just be careful, My Praetor, I don’t want you to end up dying.” Rita’s expression would ease at this, her mouth twirling into a sly smile, one of casual goofiness, to light up the mood. Knowing what Rita thought of her response, Nero simply sighed and looked around the area, investigating it as much as possible.

In the meanwhile, Rita pulled out her phone, remembering it was turned off due to classes and she had been let out for quite some time… of course, her brother wouldn’t be able to reach her when she was inside this place, but she didn’t come here as soon as classes ended, he still may have tried to contact her before then.

Fight in the Heat [Mission only, Rita and Julian] Tumblr_n9kptuV4GB1si4e7ko1_400

To that effect, Rita simply turned on her phone to a message from someone not on her contacts list, reading:

“-+ Not sure if Hyde already told you or not, but you've got a new addition to your team, I guess. I'll be heading to the other side of Zela Academy today; if anyone wants to come along, meet me there. +-“

..what? What was the meaning of this? Did Hyde go around giving her number away or was this just a mistype? No, really, she couldn’t be more confused right now, was this from another Persona User? And they were coming HERE? What? Why? Who? When? Rita couldn’t wrap her head around this right now, why exactly was this in her inbox and now, of all times? In any case, Rita simply gave a growling look as she locked her phone and put it away in her pocket where it was safe from the howling sand.

“Hey! Are you there right now?!” Shouting to confirm her suspicions of whether the person was already here or not, Rita simply put her left hand inside her pocket while her right still held the crimson sword she so loved, keeping it safely balanced on her shoulder. “Are you already here, then?! Well, if you’re a User too, come on out and tell me why the hell someone I barely know gave my number to a stranger!” Rita was obviously mad, having this just getting thrown at her right now was simply stupid… why would Hyde even give someone her number? Did they ask for it or something? No, better question, did this person actually KNOW her? It was a silly thing to ask, most definitely, but Rita’s mind couldn’t concentrate on just one thing right now and Nero would show it, her face turning slightly into a frown as her sword appeared in her hands and was immediately stabbed into the ground, as is she was completely ready to defend Rita at a moment’s notice.

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Posts : 708 Join date : 2014-02-01

For a while, he was just trailing along, careful to keep a safe distance from the figure while keeping them in his sights. The last thing he wanted was to lose the element of surprise should whoever this turned out to be ended up being hostile. Of course, this would've been easier if they weren't going in the same direction he was. That made things much more complicated than they needed to be.

Suddenly, the mystery person came to a halt, prompting Julian to do the same. Did they hear him? No, the wind and the sand should have taken care of most of the noise he would've made by walking. They couldn't have seen him either, since their back had been to him this whole time. ...Unless...damn, was there someone behind him? Clutching the iPod tighter in his hand, he dared to glance over his shoulder, squinting through the dirt and dust in the hopes that, should there actually be someone there, he'd be able to spot them. No such luck, it seemed. If he had a tail of his own, they were good at hiding. If not, then apparently this wandering person needed a break or something.

...Wait. Wait. Waitwaitwaitwaitwait. What the hell? A gun-? Tensing considerably, the teen half expected the light-haired individual to turn around and fire a shot at him. God, how did he screw up so badly- // Huh? // The tension and adrenaline coursing through him at the sight of the weapon shifted immediately to bewilderment as the person shot themselves. Did they come all the way out here for suicide? ...No. They were still standing. How...?

Julian fiddled with the sight he'd just witnessed, blinking once as the blue light around the person faded and another figure popped up. Blue light? That was...pretty close to what happened when Jak popped up. So did that person have a persona too...?

When the person--who he realized was female--began screaming out into the desert, his suspicions were confirmed. So they were a user, just like him. And they were apparently one of the people he'd texted earlier. Brilliant. "I'm afraid you're gonna have to ask Hyde that question. He seems to like doing stupid things like that." He called back, walking towards the girl...s. It was a good sign that they were suspicious. Maybe he'd run into a user with a little common sense. Of course, that caution on their part could be bad for him if he didn't do this right. Julian would walk towards the two at a somewhat leisurely pace, stopping just a few feet before them and giving a slight smile. "To be fair, he threw my number around too." His words hung int he air for a moment before he sighed slightly and shook his head. "I guess he didn't tell you anything, huh?" She called Hyde someone she "barely knew" and him a "stranger". Apparently Hyde didn't tell everyone about his new little discovery. "Basics first, I guess. My name's Julian. And you're...?"

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Well, this was great, at least... wasn't this someone in her class? Rita knew that she'd seen that face somewhere before, though she didn't really catch the guy's name at all. Why bother? Everyone she ever interacted with was someone she either met online or by pure chance, where was the need to get to know everyone in her class?

“Great, so you’re one of Hyde’s friends, then?” She eased up slightly as the tension lifted from her stance. Nero, however, stood still proudly ready as her Emerald-colored eyes just glared at the boy in front of them, her hands sitting upon her sword’s pommel shaking ever so slightly with anticipation. “Well, that’s amazing. Once I meet him again, I’ll be sure to slap him for the both of us, then.” Still speaking in a fairly emotionless tone, Rita took her phone out for a quick second while she simply deleted the message, uncaring to its contents seeing as the sender was right in front of her, or so she assumed.

“My Praetor… how can you be sure?” Nero turned to speak in a low voice, though Rita simply shrugged and kept her laid-back look, still carrying a mostly expressionless face. “How should I know? This guy’s in my class, though, pretty sure, though I guess he doesn't really remember me, despite my silver hair usually attracting so much attention…” With a slight chuckle, Rita just remarked on this in a cautiously low voice, knowing that even still, she didn't really stick out all that often or even did things to make her remarkable in someone else’s eyes. She was just simply that person who hung around the back of the classroom and occasionally spoke up, though pretty rarely.

Fight in the Heat [Mission only, Rita and Julian] HDIAOTg

“Julian, huh? Shino. You can call me Shino, if you want.” Her middle name was one she didn’t use very often, but still one that she liked. To her, that name was one that she wanted other people to use when they were speaking to her with respect, like it was her ideal name to be referred by when you were an Empress. “That’s my middle name, by the way, I don’t really care to throw my first one around all willy-nilly to someone who can potentially harm me.” Seeing as he was in this world, Julian obviously had a Persona, making Rita stand much more on edge than if she were to meet him outside.

Of course, she didn’t forget her objective at all, the place indicated by the mission should be close by here and, apparently, there was supposed to be a clearing right to the South of where Rita now stood, making this journey now much easier to complete.

“Well, whatever. You’re here for that mission too, right? We’ll talk later, let’s just finish this right now and then we can discuss this after we get the hell out of this world, alright?” Tossing him another cautious glare, Rita turned around and walked further to the South without a care in the world, expecting that supposed “small” Shadow to appear at any moment.

Fight in the Heat [Mission only, Rita and Julian] RD4stc2

Nero, however, would stay outside and wait for Julian, giving him an inquisitive stare from her green eyes coupled with a cocky smirk. If he chose to follow Rita, then Nero would walk behind him, ready for anything. If he chose to leave now, however, she’d just remove her sword from the ground and disappear into Rita’s mind, leaving the boy presumably alone in the desert.

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Posts : 708 Join date : 2014-02-01

"Let's go with 'acquaintance'." Regardless of how the redhead acted, the two had only known each other for a short while and spoken only a handful of times. Calling them "friends" was definitely a stretch in Julian's mind. Maybe a friend would actually care if someone claimed she was going to slap the person in question the next time she saw them? ...Nope. Even his closest friends deserved to get hit if they did something exceptionally stupid. Or, well, in this case, horribly naive considering what they were dealing with here.

If they were going to whisper to each other, Julian would have preferred they do it more discreetly. Y'know, when he wasn't staring straight at them? That just made it all too obvious what they were discussing. For now, though, he shrugged it off, taking the time to study both the User and her persona. Of course, there were the more visible similarities, such as the fact they were both girls and had some kind of affinity for red. But looking past those, of course, he could tell that both had an aura of confidence--cockiness, almost--and something else he couldn't quite put his finger on. Just this sense of them being so alike it was almost like they were the same person, except the blonde was more...pure, almost. Everything that this "Shino" was, but more condensed. ...Geez, that almost didn't even make sense to him.

At least she had the decency to pretty much blurt out that she didn't trust him. Understandable. After all, besides watching the teacher call her name--which he was fairly certain started with an R, and there was only one name Hyde had given him that began with that letter--the two didn't really have any interaction. No basis for trust there. To be frank, he didn't quite trust her either for those exact reasons. But starting a fight and growing hostile to one another when they could come to some kind of reluctant partnership seemed pretty stupid to him, so he just went along with it.

"Fine with me." he kept his response short, preferring to move this along before she grew even more irritable. Dealing with that for too long would just put a bad tate in his mouth. So the teen followed the girl, glancing over at the persona and returning her smirk with one of his own. She looked so pleased to be jumping into a fight. The similarities between her and Jak were astounding in that respect.

Reaching Rita, he stood a short distance to her left, glancing around for anything that resembled a...well, anything, really. He'd never seen a shadow before. What they looked like was completely lost on him. so for now he just stood, fingers clenched around both his knife and his iPod, ready to use either at a moment's notice.

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Posts : 6498 Join date : 2013-07-06 Age : 29

As they walked into the block, they would see several dunes around the immediate area, some more larger than others. It would be a few quiet moments before in the middle of one of the dunes, a mass of red erupted from the sand, and turned its head towards the two unlucky enough to walk into its area. It snapped its jaws and dove under the sand, resurfacing closer to the group.

Fight in the Heat [Mission only, Rita and Julian] Deathw10

A Shadow Has Appeared - PvS Combat has Begun

Dune Shadow:

Huh, was this really what a "small" Shadow was supposed to be? How unfortunate for it, not much it could do now that Rita was here... anyway, all Rita could really do now that they were here, seeing as Nero was still summoned, was sit back and watch as the Golden-haired Emperor stabbed her sword into the ground like she usually did, making a magic circle appear by her feet as the Shadow was enveloped in a sort of transparent sphere the color of a rainbow with a grey background to it before appearing as if its skin was much softer than before.

"Good job, Nero, think you can handle the rest by yourself?" At that inquiry, the emerald-eyed girl nodded and readied her stance, digging her heels into the sand to keep herself from falling. "Go ahead and beat it up, Julian, it should be much softer now." Giving a cocky grin, Rita simply let her sword vanish as her hands were shoved forcefully into her pockets and she backed away, letting her Persona do the fighting for now. After that battle against Justine, what Rita least wanted to do was fight by herself; at least until she recovered from the soreness in her muscles.

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Posts : 708 Join date : 2014-02-01

For a second, Julian just stared incredulously. // How the hell is that supposed to be a small shadow? // If the Velvet Room thought this was small, he'd hate to see what their idea of "huge" meant.

Casting a sideways glance at the girl, he pondered for a second as to what she meant by "softer". Her persona had performed a pretty impressive light show...was it supposed to have made this creature easier to hit or kill? Hopefully it was the latter, but both were pretty good in his book. ...Well, just standing here wasn't going to get rid of this shadow. And seeing how his knife didn't seem like it was going to make much of a dent in this thing...

Julian pulled his iPod out of his pocket and glanced at the screen. Like last time, a single blue butterfly icon fluttered in the center. Without a second thought he tapped it with his thumb and looked away as the electronic blared a bright blue light that might've blinded him if he looked straight at it. In the next moment, a weight settled itself on the teen's shoulder.

"Ready to play a little?" Julian questioned, keeping his gaze on the snake (worm?) rather than the violet-tinged demon at his side. The only reply he received was Jak's nails digging just slightly into his shoulder before his persona's touch disappeared.

Jak leapt forwards, hands crooked and nails primed to strike. He aimed for a few of the shadow's eyes, attempting to gouge them out as he pounced on the creature's head. Regardless of whether or not he was successful, the demon would disappear in a blur before landing in front of his owner in a crouched position, a feral grin stretching across his lips as he studied the shadow in front of him.

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Posts : 708 Join date : 2014-02-01

Correction:

Posts : 6498 Join date : 2013-07-06 Age : 29

With a screech and angry snapping of mandibles, the Shadow turned to Rita and clacked its jaws again before rushing through the sand and while burying itself under the sand, taking a moment to attempt to smack her across the face with the end of its tail as it went under, reappearing again, some distance away.

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Dune Shadow:

Posts : 6498 Join date : 2013-07-06 Age : 29

(Changing the damage to 38, but not editing the post and leaving as is)

...really? All it could possibly try to do was slap her? Sheesh, and it wasn't even that forceful, it just made her stagger slightly as she tried to balance herself, it was a pretty well-executed attack itself... ah well, nothing that would make Rita waver.

"Yeesh, that was rough, don't you know how to treat a lady, ya stupid worm?" As Nero rushed forward, Rita righted her position and wiped the area where the thing slapped her, also grabbing something out of pocket. "I thought worms were meant to look up to their Empress, not try to attack her... insolent Shadow, I'll show you who your queen is." Putting a pair of earbuds on, Rita's expression relaxed as the music flowed through her ears and into her brain, both calming her and hyping her up.

"Alright then... let's try this." Relying on her Persona's actions, Rita just watched as the Roman Emperor propelled herself into the air with a forceful jump to quickly shorten the distance between herself and the Worm before giving a twirling slash, very flashy but with about as much power as a normal strike from Rita, just a bit more, maybe.

"Interesting device you have there... so that's what you use to summon your Persona, huh? Never thought I'd see something like that but not shaped like a gun..." Admiring the black iPod used to summon that equally admiration-worthy Persona, Rita gave a cocky smile and a nod to Julian's attack before turning her music down low enough where she could hear her surroundings, making sure not to distract herself from the fight.

Info:

Woop woop, totally failed on the miss and crit chances, I blame being too used to PvP for that.

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Posts : 708 Join date : 2014-02-01

She really liked talking, didn't she? Most people would just stay quiet in this situation and focus on the battle, but she seemed intent on belittling a creature that couldn't even talk back (at least, as far as he knew). So really, what was the point? ...Why was she pulling out music at a time like this? A fight was the last time he wanted cords and earphones getting in the way. Maybe she thought it helped her concentrate or something? ...Ah well. She could do whatever she wanted, so long as it didn't get her or himself killed. Might as well let it slide until then.

"Well, I never thought I'd see someone shoot themselves to bring out their persona, so color us both surprised." He'd retort to the girl with a ghost of a smile flitting across his face before his expression sobered once more.

Jak's eyes glimmered with a strange light as his grin grew impossibly wider and a deep, guttural chuckle erupted from his throat. In the next instant, he jumped forwards again, this time aiming for a pair of eyes on the other side of the shadow's head. If the creature growled or shrieked in response to his attack, he'd just laugh before nimbly hopping away.

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» Exterminate The pests (Mission Nagisa, Julian)
» Mission: Question Lune [Rita, Sharaku and Lune]
» Beat the Heat [Kei]
» Heat [Safi]
» The heat...Is too much! (Open)