Guidance (Mae)

Aria was resting lightly on Hiro’s shoulder looking around at the strange place they were in. Ever since that announcement had gone out it seemed that panic had taken hold of everywhere. They had observed the panic back on Standasen and pretty much managed to get a free ride to San Maralus since the trains were practically running non-stop thanks to people trying to leave or get to family all of a sudden.

It was a mad house in the station and even more of mad house on the streets as people ran here and there to lock up spaces or to collect their family that had been straggling outside to look at the sky. Through all this chaos Hiro had been quiet and made a beeline for the church that was surprisingly empty. Sure there was a small group of people that came here to pray with a priest that kept them all calm, but outside of this there was no one. Aria’s eyes would remain on the praying group for a while before she got up and floated over to hear what they were praying for.

Knowing they could not see her, she would listen as they murmured and tried to make bargains with the spirits to save them and stop whatever was to come. While the demon did not know which spirit they prayed to, she had feeling that this round that spirit would have closed ears. Whatever was brewing was going to happen whether they liked or not, but perhaps the spirit would keep them from harm. A just payment for people that seemed to be loyal to it.

While she observed this, Hiro would remain seated on the pew that sat the furthest from the group. His eyes were focused on the cross that sat above the stage that rested in front of the church while his expression remained unreadable. What was on his mind was hard to say, but it must’ve been something serious for the man had not spoken since they had left Standasen…and Hiro and silence was never good signs.

It worried Aria, but for now she would wait to see if the man could pull himself out of whatever hole he was in alone, so she remained focused on the group before floating off to explore the rest of the church making sure to keep an eye on Hiro in case he fell too deeply into whatever hole he was currently in.

How could things have gone so... wrong? Mae had been on her way back to the orphanage with Kayle after a long day at the park when the Sky suddenly turned purple, and things started happening... Needless to say, the little girl was scared out of her mind, so Mae knelt down beside her, looking the seven-year old girl in the eyes. "Kayle... It's going to be okay... Just stay inside the orphanage with the others..." Mae said, trying not to sound distressed over the situation too much. She had to be strong in front of the little child. As a Survivor of the events two years prior, Mae saw this as her personal responsibility to find out what was going on. The people at the Orphanage were reasonably safe for now... All Mae should do now was... well... gathering the people, and getting them to safety. "Make sure you tell the others to get somewhere safe. Just hide in the cellar, and listen to what the adults say, okay?" Kayle nodded quietly, tears rolling down her cheeks, as Mae hugged the poor girl. "I'll be back soon... I promise."

Once Kayle had gone inside, Mae looked around through the masses, trying to see what was going so wrong. People were terrified, and calamity had soon swallowed the entire archipelago... She didn't have to run very far before she eventually reached the cathedral... Maybe some of her friends were there? She had to get them to safety, no matter what! And Maria was christian too, and quite the believer. It wouldn't suprise Mae to find her there at a time like this. Once Mae opened the doors, she began asking people if they had seen a girl about Mae's age around here... her hair being sand-brown and with a pair of blue eyes... The people there were either too distressed to have taken note of someone's facial features, or had just recently arrived there themselves... It didn't take long for Mae to reach Hiro, as she asked him the same thing as all the others. "Have you seen a woman about my age with sand-brown hair and blue eyes around here?!" Her tone of voice was desperate... Where in the world was Maria Russell...?

Aria would continue to wander about the church for a bit longer before turning back to look at the people inside. Some more people were wandering in with panic on their faces. As new people came in the priest would welcome them to join calling them his children as they came running over to join the group. Honestly, Aria had never seen such strangeness before. Sure all humans were strange, but this was just beyond odd. Did humans really gather like this daily or were they gathering here due to fear? Well if it was the latter, then that was just sad. Why come and start praying when you wanted something? Spirits were suppose to be worshipped daily, didn’t they know that? Puffing her small cheeks at how selfish humans could be, she would shake her head before heading back to Hiro.

As she approached, she noticed the other had his eyes closed making her wonder if he had just fallen asleep; however, upon getting closer she found her first assumption to be wrong.

Hiro’s breathing while calm didn’t match the patterns when the guy actually did sleep and his arms folded across his chest suggested that he was even deeper in thought than before. With a light sigh, she would float down towards his arm and place a small hand upon her friend’s gloved one. In response, Hiro would open one eye as he looked over at her with an unreadable gaze for a second. Maybe he would’ve said something to her, but at that moment, a pink headed girl came into the church in quite the panic.

A bit curious, Aria would float to Hiro’s shoulder and sit as she watched the girl ask about some other girl that looked like her. Was the other girl her twin or something? The pink haired girl did seem pretty upset, so that must’ve meant that the other she was searching for was important right?
While Aria tried to figure this strange behavior out, Hiro who had been actually trying to meditate would open his fully as he heard the girl making such a racket. When she came over to him, he would look at her with a calm gaze as she asked her question.

“No I am afraid, I haven’t. Why?" Hiro would ask as if he did not even realize a crisis was on the rise. Did he simply not care? Or was his calmness a sign of something else?

What was this...? So soon? This one gave of a completely different feeling from all the shadows she had fought in the past. Good thing she had gotten stronger since then. "I don't know who you think you are, but if you thought we'd surrender quietly, think again!" The black naginata materialized in her hand as a white card depicting the Magician appeared in front of her, which she cut in half.

Mae Iharu:

127 SP left.

It seemed as soon as the question left his lips, the inside of the church became darker and the fear level rose. Around the same time from outside it seemed that something was causing the people to panic. Frowning at this, Hiro would push himself from the bench slightly as he turned in his seat to look towards the doors.

What on ea-?

The sound of glass and the actual breaking of glass caused Hiro to instinctively slip from the bench and turn as much away from the windows near him as he kept his head low when the glass went flying. He could hear people screaming and yelling in panic; however for the moment couldn’t do anything for them. As soon as the glass had settled a bit, Hiro got to his feet as Aria flew to his side. Blue eyes would only do a half scan of the area before landing on the form he saw now in the church.

Knowing from experience and scent alone what this was creature was, the man's eyes would narrow at the creature as it spoke. It wanted them to come with it? Fat chance of that! He wasn’t going anywhere…and it appeared the pink haired chick was on the same wave length in that regard as she spoke back and even summoned a weapon. From there she would proceed to use…

Persona User?!

The thought went through the man’s mind for only a split second as he remembered his encounter with these guys in the past. They were powerful and deadly, but it looks like this time Fate had placed that power at his back instead of against him. Making only a small note of this, Hiro would refocus on the demon before him as he held out his left hand summoning Anteria.

Action Box:

Stats:

Edit: Dex =Slash damage

[spoiler="Mae Iharu"]HP: 155
SP: 105 - 12 = 93
PEnd: 41% (16%) Turn 1 out of 3
MEnd: 43% (18%) Turn 1 out of 3
PpStr: 40
PmStr: 64
Dx: 34
Lk: 41
Auto-Tarukaja - Turn 2
Switching to Qilin.

Skills Used:

Edit: Learned something new about the way these turns work, so ignore all damage. Hiro is guarding this turn.