Gathering the Group - Part 1 [Cyrus/Oact]

After the events of Lux's birthday, Cyrus spent most of his time researching his own power, and the remainder sleeping and eating (very little, mind you). The bags under his eyes were painfully visible, his normally clean hair was an unorganized mess, his nails were slightly long, his clothes were wrinkled and stubble had started to form on the bottom of his chin. But Cyrus didn't care, all he cared about was finding answers. First he went out into the fields where no one would see him and tested his abilities, recording and examining their every property. After that he'd stayed up all night evaluating and comparing data: Hell he even tried to start a conversation with Darwin; he wasn't very talkative, but he replied when spoken to.

Unfortunately for poor Abby, all Darwin was willing to tell him on the subject of himself was his name and what he was. But that only raised even more questions. The fact that these "Personae" were manifestations of one's inner psyche threw all the theories Cyrus had produced down the god damned drain.

So Cyrus, with consent, experimented on Darwin himself. Nothing illegal or immoral, just a few physical tests and reaction to different materials. And alas, after many painfully excruciating hours of soul-rending work, Cyrus reached a conclusion:

He knew absolutely nothing.


But back to thee present, Cyrus was stepping (stumbling, rather) Out of the Quantum Magazine office building, having recently gotten yelled at by the editing staff for not having an article ready for this week's issue. And by the way he looked, if he hadn't been wearing clothes that, although wrinkly as heck, had no tears on them, people might've confused him for a hobo.

Having practically given up on his research, Cyrus decided to head down to the nearby bar owned by his friend Angatsa and sit down to have a drink. A non-alcoholic drink mind you, but still something to get his mind off things.

After a while of eavesdropping on people (a bad habit of his) he decided people had nothing of interest to say today. Everyone was talking about the events of the Maiden's birthday, but having been in the eye of that storm, he found the information boring and a painful reminder of his most recent failure as a scientist. He also heard something about the bar owner being arrested for harassing someone, but he just assumed they were stupid rumors, Angatsa wasn't the kind of guy to do that.

He looked down at the gun replica strapped to his waist, then back up to his drink, and then finally he rested his chin on the table, having burnt all energy and morale. He wondered if he'd look bad if he fell asleep on the table.... maybe.... maybe a few minutes won't hurt...

Unexpectedly, Cyrus didn't get much shuteye as the sound of words and a shaken shoulder woke him up. He groggily lifted his head and rubbed his dry and sore eyelids to greet the sight of... that girl from the other day... huh... she was a Persona user too, wasn't she?

"Hehe, You really shouldn't be sleeping in public."

"Oh, uh... sorry you had to see me like this, I've been having a bad afternoon.... a bad day, really.... actually, a bad week..."

"I was just looking for you. We need to talk."

"Huh?"

Cyrus took a few seconds to process that. "Look, I know I was enthusiastic about the whole situation that day, but... if you haven't noticed, I'm not in the greatest condition right now. I'll listen... just don't expect me to be gung-ho about anything"

"Oh, and before I forget..."  He extended his hand towards the girl for a handshake. "Cyrus, Cyrus Abaddon"

Cyrus quickly finished the rest of his drink.

"So, what's up?"

Cyrus was happy that this girl was so friendly, it was a nice change of pace from the atmosphere he had been immersed in for the past few days. He noticed how firm her hand was when they shook hands, he deduced she either had taken some sort of defensive training, used physical force in her line of work, or was just born with an unnaturally strong grip. Also, he noticed she was rocking a beret. Nice touch.

"Danielle? That's a lovely name" He said sporting the most sincere smile he could manage, which in his current state was a slightly raised lip. "Do you want anything to drink? My treat."

"Why are you so tired?"

Cyrus grimaced a little. "I've been running experiments on my Persona- you know, those creatures we can summon?- to figure out how he works, but... I've been trying for six days now, the only rest I've had were three two-hour naps and I have nothing to show for it. I figured early on that he runs on magic or mana, but even then those have scientific explanations, they don't just work on miracles. So you can see how a literal, physical incarnation of one's identity that seemingly defies a total of four laws of reality could drive a scientist to.... uh.... to put it bluntly: damn near insanity."

Cyrus could swear he heard Darwin apologizing.

"I need to know a couple of things from you. I know you and Haruo went with that... man to find the Maiden... What happened there?"

"Oh, that. Haruo and I helped that army general and royal scientist escort Lux to her castle. We ran into some monsters, but a soldier squad found us and took it from there. The only thing hurt was my ego." He chuckled honestly.

"And secondly, I wanted to ask you if you would have the time to meet up with the rest of us who fought those things back then... We have a meeting scheduled for 7PM tonight... Think you can make it?"

Cyrus thought about it for a second. If he rushed his article a little bit he might be able to catch a quick nap, a shower and a change of clothes before attending.

"Ok, sure. I'll try to be there, but... I might arrive a little late. I run the Quantum Magazine's "Did You Know" Section. It's basically an article near the end of every issue where I detail a scientific subject of my choosing. This week's issue's deadline is tonight at 10 and I'm a tiny bit behind on my article, the last thing I want right now is to lose my job, it's not very exciting but... it pays well."

Ironically enough, Cyrus doesn't think he's ever published anything regarding the quantum sciences.

Cyrus scanned Danielle's features and clothing. Upon closer inspection, she sort of resembles what that woman on the ferris wheel described...

"Hey, you wouldn't happen to be related to one Katherine Tennfjord, would you?"

"Oh, so you live in the Tennfjord mansion? Then I know where to show up, just make sure you let whoever's on guard duty know I'm invited."

Cyrus ran a hand through his messy hair, he seriously needed to fix himself pronto. He turned on his phone to check the time and winced internally at the numbers displayed on his phone screen.

"Well, I should get going, that article isn't going to do itself and neither is that shower. It was nice to meet you Danielle, I suppose I'll see you tonight. I'll bring chips and a large soda, just in case. They always go well with meetings." Cyrus smiled internally; having a meeting without some grub was like a sin to him.

Cyrus stood up and left enough money on the table for Danielle to pay for her coffee, then walked away with his hands tucked into his jacket's pockets.

[Cyrus has left the scene]