[IC] Shin Megami Tensei: Hand of Time

[PKMNB0Y]

Daisuke panted heavily, kneeling down as his chest heaved over and over. The earthquake had caught him as he decided to walk through Akiba instead of the subway as he usually did on his way to school. Though he didn't necessarily travel through the ever-famous electronics district all that often, he had decided that he might as well get some exercise in on his way to school over in Ochanomizu... Which, in retrospect, had probably saved his life. Regardless of how used to earthquakes that the Japanese were, one of that magnitude would probably have caused massive delays on the train tracks, if not outright stop them altogether. As the initial earthquake stopped, Daisuke rose to his feet as his breathing began to slow down and return to normal. The collateral damage from the earthquake would probably be a bit dangerout to move around, but on the upside he wasn't trapped underground...

Then the second earthquake hit, and the third one soon after. The giant signs that hung above the streets began to creak, which Daisuke immediately knew to be a bad sign. Steadying himself against the shaking earth, Daisuke took a deep breath and immediately broke out into a run. It was still early, so no stores were open... which meant no refuge from the rain of giant metal objects of death coming at the ground.

Daisuke's run, however, was quickly brought to a stop as a sign embedded itself in the ground in front of him. As he turned to see how congested the center of the roads were because of all the panicking people, another sign fell, blocking him off from moving into the crowd of people. Biting his lip, Daisuke turned his head upwards to see a third sign, this one hanging on by a hinge. Turning back behind him, Daisuke found his escape route cut off the by the signs he had been escaping from earlier. No good.

As the quake stopped for a moment, Daisuke heard his phone ring. Probably his parents or something asking if he was okay or not. Eyeing the sign carefully to move in whatever direction it didn't drop towards, Daisuke found that it wasn't his parents that had called, but rather a new app he had obtained... 'Cortensia'. On his screen displayed a single message...

"Are you kidding me? Like I'll die boxed up like a little mouse in a cage!" he exclaimed, hitting "No" on his phone. As he did so, a strange code began executing itself on his screen.

"Oh, of all the times-!!" he began before the sign's final hinge snapped and began to fall. Distracted by his phone for the moment, Daisuke didn't have as much time as he would have liked to dodge out of the way. As he began to move, it felt like the sign was following him... Which, to be fair, couldn't possibly have been true- after all, the weight of the sign wouldn't allow that to happen naturally.

But it did. Though he knew it was futile, Daisuke raised his arms above his head instinctively as the sign closed in on his head. It never did.

Waiting a few moment after his presumed time of death, Daisuke opened his eyes carefully. The sign had crashed into one of the signs blocking the way he had just come from, along with another four or five of them behind it.

"What...?" he asked himself in disbelief before noticing a wolflike creature wielding a mace staring at him.

"Uh...?" he asked himself before the creature swung the mace at him. Flinching for the moment, Daisuke quickly swung his backpack around to cushion the impact. The blow launched him in the same direction as the sign had gone just moments before, and his landing was just as rough as he tumbled over broken pieces of stone and metal debris. Shakily getting to his feet, Daisuke turned around to see if he could run away from whatever this thing was.

Another sign. Just his luck. In the end, fighting really was the only option...?

Gritting his teeth, Daisuke picked up a metal pole- debris from the earlier quake- and held it at the ready as the monster came at him. Though initially a slow, lumbering walk, the beast quickly picked up speed and closed the distance. The creature began to move as it had before to swing its weapon at him, but Daisuke wouldn't fall for the exact same trick twice. Ducking to the ground as the beast swung its weapon, Daisuke took the metal pole in his hands and stabbed it upwards into the monster's head. Through it didn't pierce the skin (or what seemed to be the skin), the monster staggered back, shaken. Taking the opportunity so cleanly presented to him by his enemy, Daisuke followed up by swinging the metal pole like a baseball bat against the side of the beast's head, causing it to slam against the wall. That had taken almost all of his energy, though- the adrenaline rush he had was beginning to wear off. But it wasn't over yet... Probably. As the creature stood up after the blow, Daisuke leaned against the pole as a support. It was over, wasn't it...?

"Ahaha! That was entertaining! I don't think I've ever seen a human fight so hard for his life in ages!" the monster said, laughing. Daisuke stared in disbelief- it was talking to him?!

"I don't really have a name, so just call me Kobold for now. That contract you just set up- seems like it summoned me. Just in the nick of time, too." it continued, walking over to the last remaining sign and launching a swing at it, sending it flying. "Well, I'll be seeing you."

As the monster finished speaking, its body began to dissipate into white light before disappearing entirely. Daisuke simply stared in shock before a beeping from his phone notified him of Kobold's addition to his 'squad' or something like that.

"Enough already! What the hell is going on today?!" Daisuke screamed to nobody in particular before sighing. Well, at least he had a way out now. But what could he do next...?

[Freikugel]

Like a serpent, a thin line of smoke danced in the air, after that, the man put the cigarette again on his mouth as he heard the excuses of a man through his cellphone while standing on a park.

He was an imponent man, weren’t by his always clean suit anybody would think he was a thug or something worst, despite, he had a burrowed frow and an angry face while talking that would made anyone shiver.

“All right, let’s make it this way. I’ll give you ten days to pay and no more” said through the phone at which his interlocutor nervously thanked him.

“You have a mother to take care of right? How old is she?” asked the man.

“It pains me to be so cruel then, I have a certain respect for old ladies, don’t you have a child or a wife?”

“What do I mean? I’ll tell you, I’ll give you ten days, and for each one I’ll be breaking one finger of any of your close relatives, so when the day ten arrive and I find no finger to break I’ll have to play with your neck. So, bring me the money, the count begins today, I’ll be sending someone to break the fingers!” Exclaimed through the cellphone.

A puff of smoke emanated from his mouth again as he readied the phone to make a different call.

The man’s name was Matsunaga Gentarou, regarding this person no one knew anything, however they did know about Genki the weapon dealer, his business name. He was a ruthless man, once a dreamer who was now only interested on making money. He had a big reputation in the underworld and men knew that to mess with him was a bad idea.

He was about to dial the new number when the earthquake stroke.

Tch, what was that? That shit’s intensity must had been huge! Thought the man after surviving the first one amazed at the current state of chaos. It was violent, way too violent, the earth tore into pieces as the buildings collapsed and people ran, fell and were crushed.
Gentaro himself was lucky as he was on the park, yet still felt the chaotic earthquake

Had Japan finally broke into pieces? Wondered while checking the situation only to be assaulted by the earthquake’s replicas. He found himself sat on his butt unable to move after he fell. Even a man of his size was scared.

“Fuck! What’s going on?!” Exclaimed, he was no less desperate than the rest of citizens but knew how to keep his cool.
The man hardly stood up and his sight caught the boy who was about to be crushed by the sign and saved by some sort of humanoid beast.

That boy has some balls… thought the man after he saw the short encounter
But what was that thing? Wondered, yet his thoughts were interrupted when his cellphone ringed, he glanced at it.

“Cortensia? The fuck’s this shit?” said yet soon he would find himself assaulted by a new unnatural creature in the scene…

[Kafka Komedy]

Tai had barely even noticed the first earthquake. His natural blissfulness combined with the fact that his MP3 player was turned up way to loud allowed him to ignore pretty much everything. He had assumed someone was doing construction nearby, or he'd walked onto a rocky road somehow or something, but point was he just wasn't paying attention. He certainly noticed the second quake though, it landed him flat on his face.

"Ow..." Tai groaned, getting up and wiping the dust off of his now scuffed blue jacket, along with taking off his headphones to avoid future accidents. Suddenly though, another quake. Tai quickly steadied himself as best he could, with nothing to grab onto. He succeeded in not falling a second time, but it seemed somethings were not as lucky. The tall buildings of Marunouchi creaked under the pressure. Tai may not have been the smartest, but he knew that meant bad things, generally. He probably should have been rushing out of there. His first thought was the subway, but he quickly remembered why he was walking today; he forgot his pass. Plus, the massive quake would have definitely shaken something out of place, so that was a no go.

His thought train was interrupted by his phone buzzing. A small message appeared on it's screen as a new app was added. Confused as hell, Tai just decided to hit 'no' because that seemed like the right answer. He just stood there, staring at his screen for a moment, before a tremendous crashing sound rang through his ears. He focused and saw that there was a car in front of him. Had it not stopped, he would probably be saddled with a broken arm, and a few broken ribs, if he wasn't dead on impact. That wasn't super important now though, the thing that stopped the car was much weirder than vehicular manslaughter. A small red creature with a lond hair braid and a cornucopia of suction cups all over it's body.

"Hey, human, I'm Obariyon! I need my freedom, so get ready to bite the dust!" It yelled in a, frankly quite annoying voice. Tai stood there dumb struck for a second before snapping out of his stupor. If it's a fight this little demon thingy wanted, Tai was happy to oblige. "Sure." He said. With that, the demon quickly leaped at Tai, who swung around his bass guitar just in time for it to collide with Oba's face. This sent the red creature sprawling out onto the concrete. This gave Tai the time he needed to unzip the bass's case and wield the axe like an axe. Obariyon got up, a grimace plastered across it's red face. The two rushed at each other, Tai's superior range with the bass clearly winning out. A low twang was heard from the guitar as it again hit the short demon, this time right on the top of the head.

With the monster stunned from the head blow, all Tai had to do to wear it completely out was a skyrocketing uppercut type move. When the monster landed back on the ground it held out it's palm as a sign of cease fire. "Hey, you wanna make a contract, right? You need me to do it." He said. Tai, as oblivious as ever, tried to formulate some questions. Before he could even get a word out though, his new red friend disappeared. Tai had no time to mourn however, his phone buzzed as a notification that a new 'demon' had been added to his 'squad'.

"Wow, what a great day to miss the tram." Tai said, with a small smirk. What to do now though...?

[Rune_Alchemist]

~Keiko Yamada~

Well, this was just a great way to start the day!

Keiko thought, as the earth violently heaved and shook beneath her feet. She, had been walking right through Akiba when the earthquake had hit. The Red-head had been on her way to school, deciding to take a detour through the crowded streets of Akiba on her way there. She had wanted to see if there was anything worth buying - she needed a new cellphone which was what she was currently looking at. She had decided to come back later that afternoon by...borrowing, a bit of money from her father, but it looked like that plan was completely shot currently.

Currently, she was on the fourth floor of a building, trying to make her way down stairs. Being up so high was probably not exactly a good idea during an earthquake. Who knows how stable this rickety looking building was? It could fall out from under her feet any second, and then she'd be a little red paste all over the street below....hah, like that would happen. She'd walk out of here - well, run, and everything would be fine. She just had to wait for the earthquake to settle a bit before heading down stairs. Like hell she was taking an elevator in this situation. She had seen too many movies where elevators failed. She already didn't like them enough, but in an earthquake? Hah. Like that was going to happen.

Soon, the first of the quakes had settled, and with a relieved sigh, Keiko stood shakily stood from where she had tripped and fell when the first one had surprised her, gently rubbing a sore spot on her forehead. She was glad no one saw that, and if they had they were too focused on the earthquake to say anything. "Oooh....I think i'm going home after this. School is probably going to be closed anyways..." She sighed to herself, grabbing her cap, which had fallen when she tripped.

After brushing a bit of dirt off the cap - can't have any smudges on her clothes, after all, she placed it back on her head and headed for the stairs, which, in this particular building was a separate section of the building, with tall glass windows running the entire height of the building, save for a few signs placed high up on the building. It was about this time, she had received a text on her phone, distracting her as she took it out of her pocket and opened it. Something called 'Cortensia' was on her phone, displaying a single message. Perhaps, if that had been the end of the earthquakes, she would have been fine, but as fate would have it, it seemed she was destined to have a dance with death.

"What...?" As she looked confusedly at the new app as she walked. It asked her if it believed her death was inevitable. This had to be some sort of...joke, right? However, as she thought - another earthquake hit, causing the distracted Keiko to misstep, and send herself tumbling down the stairs. For a moment, it seemed to her as time slowed. The railing should have been enough to prevent her from falling off of the ledge, plus the glass beyond that, but either extreme bad luck, or fate seemed to want to end her miserable existence. A sign, that had been higher up on the building fell, taking a portion of the railing and glass with it.

Keiko yelled, her hands grasping for whatever they could find to hang on to as she slid over the edge of the building, her body now dangling from four stories up as she barely managed to hang onto the ledge with both of her hands. She swallowed hard as she came to terms with her situation. She really was about to die unless she could get herself back over the edge of the railing...but what the hell could she do? No way in hell was she strong enough to pull herself over. She looked at the street below, already seeing the destruction of the earthquakes, The sign that had fallen had crushed a car beneath her, and it looked like a few other people had been killed as it fell.

Like hell she was going to go out like this. That app on her phone...could it do something about this? Her grip wasn't going to last forever. Her phone had slid to the edge of the balcony when she had, just out of her reach. To get it...she was going to have to let go of the ledge with one of her hands, and make a grab for it. Well, she was likely dead either way, and she had no intention of dying here. If there was a slim chance - even a chance that seemed nonsensical, she was going to take it. If that app could prevent her death, then she'd do it.

With a deep breath, she extended her hand to her phone, her grip lasting just long enough to grab it before she couldn't hold herself up any longer. Staying as calm as she could possibly manage, as she fell she pressed the 'no' button. For a moment, it seemed like nothing had happened, that is until she felt herself suddenly stop falling. Something was holding onto her jacket, making little huffing noises as though it was trying to lift something heavy.

"Oooof. You're heavy lady!" A tiny voice called out. For a moment, Keiko was visibly stunned. Moreso at being called 'heavy' than at the sheer...absurdity of what she was looking at. She craned her head towards the sound of the voice, and was surprised at what she saw. What she saw, could only be described, as a Fairy. It was roughly child sized, wings flapping madly as it slowly lowered her towards the ground. After she was finally lowered to the ground - well lowered until the little creature seemed to lose all strength in its wings and drop her a few feet onto the ground. She landed with an muffled 'oomph' as she panted, regaining her breath, letting out a small laugh as she learned that she was, in fact, alive - at least until she sat up and turned to face her 'savoir' with a somewhat sour look. At least her purse was still relatively intact...she last a bit of makeup, but other than that the contents were secure.

"Hrmph. Calling a lady heavy is quite rude, pest." She replied, standing up as she dusted off her clothes again.

"Hey! I'm not a pest! I'm a Pixie! It sounds similar, but its totally different!" The pixie cried, with a little pout.

"Whatever." Keiko sighed. "I suppose I should thank you for saving me? You are related to that...Cortensia, app, aren't you?" She asked the pixie. Unfortunately, the Pixie didn't seem too keen on answering that just yet.

"Hmmm~ Maybe I'll tell you if you beat me~" She giggled playfully. Beat her?...did she mean fight her?

"And if I refuse?" She asked.

"Then I'll kill you and be free!" She giggled again. Well, that was all the motivation Keiko needed to fight. She had no idea how to fight anything other than with her charm or money, but she wasn't going to let some pest get the best of her. Without another warning, the Pixie attacked her. Damn it, that pest was fast! Small and fast, how was she supposed to defend against that? Well, at least she couldn't do any real damage, could she? She couldn't be that strong.

Well, she was quickly proven wrong. The Pixie landed a solid blow on her mid section, easily knocking the wind out of her. Damn, how could she possibly do that in a single punch?! She knew she wasn't the most physically inclined people, but damn! Keiko attempted to grab her wings, and possibly do some sort of counter attack, but before she could do so, the Pixie flitted away out of her reach, giving her a solid sucker punch to the face. "You're gonna have to do better than that, smelly human!~" She giggled, sticking her tongue out at the Pixie as she flitted back away, out of harms reach.

That statement, made Keiko frown, a low snarl coming from her lips as she looked at the creature. Making fun of her, was she? Well, then she'd just have to do something else. With a confident smirk, she let go of her stomach which she had involuntarily clutched in pain when the Pixie struck her. "Tsk. Alright then, pest. Do your worst." She panted, still trying to catch her breath a bit. With another giggle, the Pixie obliged her request, before zipping towards her again. This time though, Keiko was prepared. As the fairy closed in on her, she swung her purse right at the creature, smacking it square in the face and sending it's flight path, right into a wall. "Owie!" It shouted. Before it could get up though, Keiko walked over, and grabbed the little creature by its wings, holding them together.

"Look here, creature. I don't know who or what you are, but listen closely, pest. You, are going to listen to me now. If you don't, then I'll just swat you like the fly you are, understand?" The fairy folded her tiny arms against her chest, giving her another pout. After a few moments of silence, she sighed.

"Fiiiine. You look like you'll be fun to hang around anyways! Don't really have a name, so call me Pixie! Or Pix, if you're feeling affectionate~" She giggled. "But the contract has been established, I'll do your bidding now. Shall I call you mistress?" She playfully giggled. Keiko simply gave her a blank stare at the remark, causing her to sigh. "Welp, anyways, looks like I'm done here for now!"

"What about my question?" Keiko asked.

"No idea!" Pixie giggled, causing Keiko to let out a small gasp of disbelief. Before she could do anything though, the Pixie disappeared in a white light, disappearing with another little giggle before being gone completely.

...just what the hell had even just happened? With a sigh, she checked her purse. Looks like mostly everything was intact...she was surprised at how effective that smack had been. Either her purse was heavier than she thought it was, or she was stronger than she thought...she was going with the latter. With a sigh, she slung her purse back over her shoulder...what should she do?...she'd keep this to herself for now. Not until she had a better handle on the situation, anyways.

With a heavy sigh, the redhead started to walk, trying to find out what exactly just had happened.

[Freikugel]

"Give me a break" said Gentaro as the creature showed in front of him.

It was a humanoid being of a slender figure and black strips of what seemed to be leather crossing its body, still it seemed to be almost naked. Its eyes were covered by the same black leather and it had a long golden hair, yet its more promiment feature were the wings.

"What's this supposed to be?, an angel? Is it even female or some weird boy?" mumbled to himself.

"I see..." said the winged being with a solemn tone which surprised Gentaro.

"I'm bound to thee until I finish thy life, so be it, in the lord's name I shall smite thee." stated as it raised his right hand.

"Wait, hold on....!" exclaimed Gentaro yet he didn't had time as the being pressed its palm against his body and although slender, it held enough strenght to push him.

"Gaaah!..." Screamed.
In demon's standards the winged being's attack was considerable weak, yet in human's standards even that weakness was strong enough that Gentaro felt as if he was being crushed.

Yet even with that he stood, hardly but he stood.

"Interesting, humans are far more resilient that I thought..." said the angelic being as it raised its hand again, this time however Gentaro didn't wait.

He quickly produced a gun and shot at the being not once, neither two but he emptied the whole cartridge on it, its wings pierced by the bullets, the creature felt while screaming in pain.

Yet Gentaro didn't rest, he rushed against it and without thinking twice smashed the gun on his head. The man was breathing heavily yet he didn't lowered his guard, because the angel had raised once again.

How is that thing alive... and... didn't I shot it? How is it healed again? Thought the man

The angel this time smiled though.

"I see I have no choice to be bound to thee, let's make of this a holy contract then, my services are yours now Master." stated

"Huh? What are you blabbering 'bout?" said the man.

"I've seen through thy heart, thy determination suits me fine, let's see, I shall take rest upon that Comp of thee" said

"Comp?" mumbled Gentaro confused but before he could say more the creature vanished and now its figure popped on his cellphone.

Gentaro still breathing heavily mumbled to himself... "Exactly what's going on here?"

He looked again at the boy that conquered the creature, he walked towards him hoping he may understand something, a hope he felt too slight to be trusted.

[Happy Go Lucky]

A deathly silence slowly filled the air inside the murky and grime filled apartment, one that is always accompanied with a loss of life, the wooden floor beneath Oswald's feet were soaked in a putrid liquid darker than his hair, which morphed around and soaked his black heavy boots, dispensing a malodorous stench around him. The echoing melody of a vibrating cellphone's text ringtone rung behind Oswald's torn and scarred ears, causing the man to look away from the glowing monitor that connected to the PC and stare lazily behind himself, twisting his neck slowly to the sound, and cocking his head, Oswald turned fully toward the sound, 180 degrees behind his pervious position, he walked directly away from the computer at his own leisure, until he came upon a mans corpse which layer sprawled across the floor, the mans eyes diluted of any life, white and featureless, skin pale, mouth lavished with excess saliva, with a knife pierced through the back of the late males cervix, having died a painful agonising death.

Oswald slowly crouched down and examined the corpse, his hand laid gently upon the pool of cold liquids that escaped his mouth, soaking the tips of his fingers in his spit with curiosity. The disturbing man tilting his head with little interest before he slid his fingers toward the hilt of the blade lodged inside and quickly ripped the blade from his neck, a few specks of blood splattering against his hands and chin due to the excess blood building up from the wound that was inflicted.

"No matter how hard people try, people die so easily... All it takes is a simple slice and a life is snatched away from life's hands... its actually quite funny~ But I really wish other people lived with you... A simple taste of your blood sickens me... I need a more... fresh substance, undefiled by your impurities... In this raging chaos... I suppose finding meat that I wish to indulge upon is going to be even harder... BASTARD"

Oswald's expression twisted from bored casualness to a mad, angry sneer, and in this instance, the disturbing psychopath sunk the blade of his knife through the dead mans face, causing blood to continuously splatter with several ticks over his clothes and mouth until he eventually stopped and sat down upon his rump, blood soaking his dark jeans while the ringtone continued to echo, causing the man to clutch his head and whimper.

"My ones are nobody to be seen...! And all these demons are killing them before I can enjoy my time upon them...! It's not fair... NOT FAIR!"

Oswald stabbed his knife into the ground and ripped the corpses jacket, and ripped the phone out of his pocket, which continued to ring until it froze suddenly. A quick jolt of electricity shot through his arm, causing Oswald to grunt in surprise and as he held it, a voice echoed behind him, inhuman and twisted, Oswald couldn't understand its demonic tongue, but could tell it was supernatural. He slowly turned around and met face to face with a demon, his knife hand shaking as he gripped his bladed weapon and stood, smirking with madness bleeding in his eyes, the sight of a murderers gaze meeting the vile demons own... and despite their vast differences... their murderous eyes... met with familiarity...

"What are you...? Another one of those little shits taking away MY things?! NOBODY takes MY delightful friends away from me... nobody~ If you think i'm going to let you walk about freely... your wrong... And if your here to try and kill me... good... I can enjoy your instead of one of my own... You'll sate me... for now."

The demon, fully revealed as it stepped from out of the shadow, showed itself off to be the demon Jack the ripper. It's knife out held in a twitchy, yet experienced manner, cackling with glee before it approached with the frightening charge, Oswald having anticipated such a move, as the two madmen clashed blades, their knifes embedded against each other while both stared longingly into each others gazes. Oswald suddenly kicked the demon away with a brutal right boot before he gripped a glasses case on his hip, which he opened up, revealing not a set of glasses but another knife, wielding both in each hand, Oswald screamed in bloody glee before pouncing atop his prey, both knives sinking into his foe, with one sunk into jacks hand, making him drop his razor knife and one implanted into his chest, missing his vital organs but instituting as much pain into the demon as possible, a screech from the demon made Oswald let out a self satisfied disturbing moan before stepping away, ripping both knives out of the demons body, he smiled as it laid there, unable to move from its injuries.

"Heh... That's all you can muster? You're pathetic... How can you kill anything if you can't kill a worthless parasite like me?! YOU'RE NOTHING BUT SHIT! Heheh... But hey... it's okay... everyone in the world is nothing but a manipulative pathetic parasite... so we're all worthless... most of all the innocent ones~"

Oswald noticed the phone in his hand blinking, without thinking, he automatically knew what to do, as if already embedded into his memory, he clutched the demon by the neck and shoved the phones screen against his face.

"SO BE MINE! Let me use you so we can kill and destroy together~ You're too weak to kill me... and you long to kill forever like I do... so join me, so I can get stronger, and you can serve a much better father... Unlike mine..."

The demon twitched and nodded hesitantly, before its data was automatically absorbed into the cellphone, updating Oswald to having gained the low level Demon: Jack the Ripper. Unable to stop laughing, Oswald slid his bloody knives away and walked out of the house, licking the blood he spilled off his mouth, hands and clothes, he was ready to begin his journey. His beginning into the depths of chaos.

"Soon... my ones will be with their new father~"

[PKMNB0Y]

As the adrenaline wore off, Daisuke felt his entire body aching from the beating he had just taken. Even if it was only one hit, that Kobold or whatever it was called had done to him in one hit what most people could only accomplish in a no-holds barred fistfight. It was scary, of course- he had escaped death twice over the course of less than half an hour, and he was pretty sure most people would be scared out of their minds right now...

But why wasn't he? That incident should, by all means, have scarred any other person for life and turned them into a blubbering mess. Why was he still standing, alive? As he looked around, though, he was met with a disgusting sight.

Dead bodies. Lots of dead bodies, all crushed by debris or wounded to the point of fatality- not a single living person among them. Was this entire section of Akiba completely destroyed or something...?

Not wishing to see the dead and dying bodies and the pools of blood of the newly deceased, Daisuke carefully made his way around the area, using his pole as a support of sorts to check for any shaky areas as well as to keep himself upright. There was no telling when another fight like the one he had just found himself in, and with his body in the shape that it was in it was only a matter of time before things got any worse.

It just so happened, though, that he heard the sound of someone... Or something making its way towards the debris behind him. Carefully turning around, Daisuke readied himself for another fight and readied his pole before seeing that it was simply another person walking towards him. What a relief that isn't wasn't another one of those monstrously strong demons like the Kobold he had only barely managed to defeat. Though the appearance of the man instilled a sense of natural fear and intimidation in him, he wasn't apt to go picking fights with people... Especially not in a time of crisis such as this one. But maybe he had some information that could shed some light on the situation.

"Is... Is there something that you need from me?" Daisuke asked, a tinge of worry in his voice as he tried to steady himself among the debris and stand up a bit straighter... Albeit with little success.

[Rune_Alchemist]

~Keiko Yamada~

Kaiko walked calmly through the street, stopping only briefly to dust off a smudge off of her coat. She had to admit, even for her the destruction she was looking at in Akiba was a bit...much. She may not have cared so much for other people usually, but she couldn't find a word too describe how she felt about the current state of things. Conflicted? Yes, that would do. She was conflicted. Certainly she held no notion of actually feeling bad about those who were unfortunate enough to...die in such a way from the earthquakes - she passed by several dead people currently and didn't even seemed fazed by it.

Uneasy though? Yes, she felt uneasy. About what, she couldn't say, but she hadn't felt so uneasy in quite the some time. She had so many questions, and so very little answers. First of all, was that 'Cortensia' app that had suddenly appeared on her phone. Though she had no solid proof, that definitely had something to do with all of this. That pest of a Pixie, saving her life...maybe even the earth quakes. Second, was the Pixie. Just what was that? She knew it was a creature from western mythology - a playful little trickster spirit that like causing mischief. Was the Cortensia app being snarky or something? Sending a creature like that to her, who was undoubtedly a bit on the mischief maker side?

She shook her head. She wouldn't find answers just by thinking about it. Maybe that little Pixie could give her some more answers? She had said she didn't really know much, but Keiko got the distinct impression the little troublemaker wasn't entirely being truthful. Perhaps it wouldn't be best to summon her again though - no telling if she would be helpful or harmful in this situation, best thing she could do was try and find someone else and get a handle on things. Surely, there was someone else in Akiba that was alive.

With that mind set, she set out, running by a few people who seemed a little worse for wear. She tried to get some information out of them, but most seemed a bit too occupied with something else. Getting someones attention, was proving to be increasingly difficult. Soon, she found herself in a rather isolated part of Akiba - it looked like most people had cleared out of here, leaving only the dead and debris from the earthquake behind. She wasn't getting anywhere fast...with a sigh, she looked for a place to sit.

It took her a bit to find a relatively clean place to sit, but eventually she decided to make a little seat for herself atop a pile of debris. Taking out her phone, she opened the Cortensia App.

"Alright...let's see what you can do." She quietly commented. The app opened with little trouble - it seemed simple enough to use. There were several buttons, although there were quite a few grayed out - namely one named fusion. However, she was more focused on the one named 'demon summoning'. Demons? Was that what the pixie was? Was that little pest a demon? She thought demons were supposed to be horrible abominations...not that...Pixie thing.

"Hrm...What else?" She commented, not pressing the button for now. She had a good idea on what it could do, and she wasn't in the mood for messing with that pest. Instead, she opted to look into the one labeled 'shop'. She could...buy other 'demons'? There were more of those things? She opened the store, and began perusing the goods there. She was surprised to see things - food, water, even...weapons. She would have tried to purchase one, but it seemed she didn't have enough 'Macca' - whatever the hell that was. With a sigh, she continued browsing the functions of the app, still with more questions than answers at the moment.

[Freikugel]

"Hey brat! I saw you fighting with that thing, I must say that I'm quite impressed" said Gentaro with a stern tone that matched his serious looking face.
He raised his cellphone and showed him the pic of his Cortensia app and the Angel within it.

"Which leads me to ask, had you been through this shit before? and do you have any idea of what's this thing?" Asked in a way that almost seemed to be a threat.

I'm probably wasting my time, this brat seems to be scared to the core... Thought while furrowing his brow even more.

[Kafka Komedy]

Tai decided that the best thing to do at the moment would probably be to find his father. The rest of his family would probably be fine at home, but his father was all the way over at Akiba might have been in danger. Especially if there were more demons around. Sure, the one he encountered was small, but they could gang up on people, especially some middle-aged business man. Plus, Tai had a 'weapon' to defend himself with, even if it was highly improvised. Thank god he had band practice today.

As Tai made his way to Akiba, he was astounded by how many people he saw dead. Sure, he saw a few dead bodies in Marunouchi, enough to make him queasy and fear another earthquake, but as he got closer to the famous electronics district, more debris and dead littered the streets. Tai briefly wondered if he was in any danger. Some signs still hadn't fallen, and he'd seen first hand that something odd was going on. He then worried for his father. Certainly none of these corpses were him...? Tai shook the thought out of his mind. Never. He pushed the thought out of his mind as he continued deeper into Akiba. He eventually found someone alive, and asked them about his father. They hadn't seen him. With a sigh, Tai continued deeper into Akiba, now getting completely lost in the district. He should have brought a map, he was always getting lost in this place. So many buildings and flashing signs. At least now the signs were closer to eye level, and not flashing.

Finally, Tai found another person to talk to. Some girl on her phone. Maybe she was contacting emergency services? That was certainly a possibility, though his better guess was that she was on concerto or whatever the app was called. He probably wasn't the only one to get it, there were other people alive so he assumed they had the app too. "Uh, hey, I'm Taidana Wakahisa. I'm looking for my father, you see him? He's got black hair, about this tall, wearing a really nice business suit?" He asked, gesturing a height slightly taller than his own. Hopefully this girl had seen him, otherwise he'd probably just end up wandering the streets of Akiba for the next two hours until he decided to go home.

[Rune_Alchemist]

~Keiko Yamada~

"Huh...Compemendium. Keeps a list of all the demons you've owned, then? Well, that'd be useful..." She muttered to herself, still checking out the app. This...Cortensia thing, was going to be quite useful if she could get her hands on some other demons, or this...'Macca' stuff. Apparently, she had to fight demons do get her mitts on whatever that was. Demon money? Possibly, but she couldn't be sure until she had some. Well, that just meant she should probably go see if she could find some more demons and possibly hunt them...or, rather, if she could also 'contract' them. She wasn't sure how that worked, but having more than that pest around would be beneficial, surely.

"Uh, hey, I'm Taidana Wakahisa. I'm looking for my father, you see him? He's got black hair, about this tall, wearing a really nice business suit?"

The voice had surprised her a bit. She hadn't heard the other boy approach. Keiko looked up from her phone, giving the other kid a brief once over, quickly deciding to put on the charm here. Perhaps, he had some information that would prove to be useful. Plus, if she could...'befriend' him, her chances of getting some Macca would go up too. With a smile, she put the phone in her pocket and playfully leaped down from where she had been sitting.

"...that is like, half the population of Japan." She giggled, giving him a friendly smile. Despite the bit of childishness she spoke with, her tone still carried a bit of formality to it. Really, he was looking for his father in a time like this? How droll. He should be doing something a bit more productive, honestly. Like trying to find out how to tame those so called demons through contracts - whatever those were. She was going to be doing that herself. "But, apologies. I have not seen your father." For a moment, she was silent as she looked around, seeming slightly worried. It was an act, of course though - an attempt to look a bit on the 'weak' and 'helpless' side.

"Uhm..." She hesitantly started. "I-I would not mind helping you look, Wakahisa. I...well, travelling alone doesn't seem like the best idea right now, does it?" She fidgeted uncomfortably on the spot she stood in. "I mean...with those things around, right?"

[PKMNB0Y]

Daisuke tensed up as the man shoved his phone in his face, shaking his head no as he moved to go take a seat near an area relatively clear of debris.

"I'm just as lost as your are on this. Sorry I'm not of any help." he sighed, pulling out his phone and looking at the Cortensia app. Just as the man had (kind of rudely) shown him, he could access something akin to a list of demons, and through Kobold seemed to be the only thing on there right now the fact remained that what had just happened wasn't just an illusion... To say nothing of the fight he had found himself in and how damaged he was, of course. The fact that the man had seen the skirmish only further drove the point home- this wasn't the same Tokyo that he had been used to all his life.

"On that note, though, I didn't really have much of a choice to fight. There was a giant metal sign blocking the way out, and I was boxed in. It was either fight or die..." he sighed, staring at his phone as he flipped through the options. "Given the way you look... You had to deal with something similar?"

Standing up as he had regained enough energy, Daisuke took his pole and tested its weight a bit more. It was definitely a bit unwieldy, for sure...

"Oh, I'm very sorry. I should introduce myself. I'm Daisuke Takeda, college student at Tokyo U... Though, given the circumstances, that's probably not very important." he said, bowing to the man. "I... I'm honestly not sure what to do now, actually. School's probably closed due to the earthquakes, and all the dead bodies means that the people at the hospitals nearby must be busy as all hell..."

[Freikugel]

"Tch, we have no idea of what's going on huh?" Said Gentaro seemingly angry.

He had known of chaos and violence before, once in the past he was part of a famous Yakuza group and had tasted and given violence, it was sickening, disgusting, hence why he decided to let others to do the dirty job, for he, to stay out of the scenery was more comfortable. However, this new chaos was inviting him into a disordered and disgusting violence once again.

And for that he had to be ready...

As soon as the boy introduced himself the man exclaimed "I don't care 'bout your name brat. School? Why do you even think on that now? Listen we'll exchange numbers, I'll rather avoid becoming acquaintance of a kid but you beat one of these things and have the application. Who knows what'll happen now?"

After exchanging numbers Gentaro turned his back to him, he had to reach his storehouse, with a gun without ammo he had no chance to survive if one of these creatures showed up again. Before finally leaving he said to Daisuke.

"By the way, this is hell, really, I've seen nasty stuff, but this is just carnage. Listen brat, go see your family, I can't guarantee they'll be alive but is better now or never."

And then the man left the scene.

[PKMNB0Y]

Daisuke nodded as he exchanged numbers with the rude man (labeling him as such on his phone) and watched silently as he walked away. He did have a point, though... But at the same time his parents lived in Kyoto. Though he would have liked to see them in person, a phone call would have to suffice for now. Quickly pulling up his father's cell phone number and dialing it, Daisuke bit his lip and hoped he could get a response.

...

"The number you have dialed is curr-"

Clicking his tongue, Daisuke immediately cut off the call and looked around. The man had already left by now, which meant he was alone in the middle of the carnage... Again. Looking around once more, he noticed another two people sitting around. At a distance, they seemed to be a bit younger than he was, but it didn't hurt to see if they were in the same situation as he was in. Brushing off whatever debris he could off of his clothes, Daisuke began to move towards the two. Maybe they had some more information than he or that other man did.

[Kafka Komedy]

Tai smiled as the girl got off of the rock pile she was sitting on and responded to him, respectfully putting her phone back in her pocket. He didn't get to see her face that well when it was buried in her phone, but now that it wasn't he could see she was quite attractive."...that is like, half the population of Japan." She joked. Her voice was nice. It was a polite tone, but still one that carried a small amount of fun. Tai laughed, a little awkwardly, at her comment. Trying to describe his father to her further would end in the same stuff. It was kinda funny how generic his father was. Just another business man, he supposed, but ah well, what could ya do?

"But, apologies. I have not seen your father." She said. There was a pause for some reason Tai honestly didn't know, and she looked from side to side. Oh god was he being boring or something? Did she not want to talk to him? Maybe she was looking out for more pokemon or whatever to tame and/or run from? Tai prayed it was the last one. Which reminded him, he needed to see if she had the same demon as him. If they were all as easy to take down as his, than he was sure pretty much everything would be back to normal soon. If some teenager could take down one of 'em, guns would do the trick with ease.

"Uhm... I-I would not mind helping you look, Wakahisa. I...well, travelling alone doesn't seem like the best idea right now, does it? I mean...with those things around, right?" She asked/offered to Tai, fidgeting and stuttering and pausing in a surprisingly cute manner. Oh god, she wanted to help him? "H-huh, hm, really? Thaaaaaaanks..." He stuttered, rocking on the balls of his feet as he thought of what to say. "What's your thi-demon, what's you demon like? Mine's, um, he's like a little red guy, with like a ponytail braid thing. And he's really to the point about stuff, and uh... Stuff." He paused, looking around for an out of this obviously awkward and horrendous conversation. Luckily, another person was approaching, and this time it wasn't a cute girl. "Hey look another person let's go talk to them." Tai mumbled, trying to be loud enough for her to hear even though honestly all he wanted right now was to not speak at all and to go somewhere else.

Tai walked briskly up to the new guy. He looked a tad bit older, probably a class or two above him in school. "Hi, sir, do you have demons?" Tai asked, before quickly realizing what he said. "I mean do you have them in your phone? Well, like, do you have..." Tai paused as he grabbed his phone to see what the app was called. "Cortensia. Do you have that app on your phone?"

[PKMNB0Y]

Daisuke was slightly taken aback at the boy's sudden question. He hadn't even introduced himself and the person had already asked him about demons and Cortensia. So they WERE in the same boat after all.

"Well, I'd think we all have skeletons in our closet by this point in time." he joked before nodding his head yes.

"Yeah, I've got the app-" he began before the ground started rumbling beneath them.

"Wha- Another quake? You're kidding, right?" Daisuke asked in disbelief before taking note of all the corpses scattered around their feet.

"Wait a second..."

Almost as if on cue, portals began to appear from the bodies, bringing forth an assortment of demons like the one he had (and presumably what those two had) fought prior to their meeting. To make matters worse, the corpses themselves began to move, slowly moving what would be impossibly heavy debris off of their crippled bodies and moving to their feet.

"Shit... Zombies?" he asked himself before pulling out his phone and pulling up the Cortensia app. Instead of the screen he had seen before, though, a large red "WARNING" sign appeared on his screen, followed soon after by a small message.

"Enemies detected. Initializing demon summoning protocol..."

A moment later, the Kobold he had bested earlier appeared from a beam that emanated from his cellphone. Since when could it do that?

The Kobold stared at Daisuke for a moment before turning to the enemies coming at them. It had a small grin on its face, and though it was unsettling having the demon there now was beter than not.

"We're fighting?" it asked, readying its cudgel for combat.
"Seems that way."

[Rune_Alchemist]

~Keiko Yamada~

"H-huh, hm, really? Thaaaaaaanks...What's your thi-demon, what's you demon like? Mine's, um, he's like a little red guy, with like a ponytail braid thing. And he's really to the point about stuff, and uh... Stuff."

So he did have one. She ignored his stuttering and his seemingly uncomfortable state. Then it was likely this 'Cortensia' app was installed on more than just one phone, and had aided in the survival of other people too. She didn't know if that was good or bad. Still, it seemed as this Taidana person would be easy enough to...persuade, to do what she wanted. At least, long enough for her to get a bit more info out of them before leaving him for dead with a horde of demons. However, before she got to answer his question, he suddenly turned his attention from her, to another person.

"Hey look another person let's go talk to them."

How utterly rude. Here she was, a helpless looking girl and he just decided someone else was more important. She supposed though, having a third person here was probably a good idea. She turned her head towards the person in question. He looked to be an older man. He looked old enough to be in college - or at least in his last year of highschool. He was carrying a rather large looking metal pipe too - where he had gotten it she didn't know, but it looked like he at least knew roughly how to use it. Perhaps though, it might be better to keep Taidana away from any outside influences. At least, until she had a good handle on her new...'friend'.

"Are you sure that is a good idea? I mean, they might be-" Before she could finish her sentence, however, Taidana had already walked over to the other man. It was no use in pretending like they didn't see him and leave now, so she'd make the best of it. She followed Taidana quietly, giving the man a brief once over as he spoke to the other boy. Taidana really had no idea how to eloquently choose his words, did he? She inwardly sighed, though she outwardly gave the man a friendly smile.

Well, that is until another quake started. He was pretty sure that he had said something about having it, but now wasn't the time. Odd portals began opening around the three of them. Demons spilled from them, like some sort of rift in the fabric of reality was connecting them to hell. Not only that, the dead rose and shoved the impossibly heavy debris off of them. Well, perhaps now was a chance she could get some Macca...and some information on if she could possibly tame these demons...

A beep from her phone however, got her attention. The Cortensia App activated, displaying a warning - something about demons being detected and activated the summoning app. Well, looks like she was going to have to deal with that pest then, but she didn't seem to have much of a choice. The Pixie was summoned from a beam of light that came from her phone. Another thing the Cortensia app was probably letting the phone do. Seconds later, the Pixie was fully summoned, sporting her same blue dress and wings flapping slowly as she floated.

"Aww, I was having a nice nap mistress~" She yawned, but turned around immediately as she saw the zombies and other things around them. "Ooh! Looks like we get to fight, right?" She asked, giving Keiko a more than friendly smile.

"L-looks that way." She stuttered. She was certain she could easily handle these enemies by herself, but she had an act to keep up in front of the boys.

"Alright! Pixie ready for combat! Lets kick these guys butts!" The pixie struck a little fighting pose, placing herself between Keiko and the demons.

"U-uhm, I'm not too good with this whole fighting thing." She quietly said to Taidana and Daisuke, feigning being scared of the demons. "I do not even have a weapon of anything on me. I-it was a miracle I beat that thing in the first place." She was glad the Pixie seemed to not note the change in her personality. If she did, then she didn't say anything. Perhaps she could be useful, after all...

[Happy Go Lucky]

A silence filled the air much like before after oswalds first encounter with these mysterious demons. His cut, sliced hand slowly gripped the handle of the front door, turning and opening it up, and in turn Oswald felt a warm yet icey cold breeze sink into his skin, as all that could be seen of the ruinous Akiba were corpses, fire and blood plastered over every car, window and lamp. The death like sombre serenity of muffled screams set the mans mind at ease, as he strolled nonchalantly away from the house onward toward the direction of the breeze. He slowly crept his hand into his pocket and checked the phone, examining the contents of what it had available.

"Demon summoning... A store...? Who bestowed this little treat to me, hmm? The ability to summon demons... To gain power and rip my foes asunder... I could get away with murder... Much more easily anyway~"

Oswald twisted his expression once more into an arrogant smirk, before he let out a small chuckle and shoved the phone back into his pocket, what a joy it was to him, now he could do what hes always wanted to do and without anyone being able to stop him, it was like his prayers were answered, the years of torment, abuse and ridicule all led up to now, how could he contain his excitement? Oswald gripped onto the bloody knife tightly in his left hand and slowly approached the inner city of Akiba all while his blade sunk slowly into the palm of his right hand, the squelching sound of flesh and skin slipping apart from the pressure of his blade sent massive amounts of pain through his hand like a vibration, causing him to wince and tear up, the long haired demon summoner beginning to weep into his jacket, but at the same time, the man laughed, it was simply amazing...

A squeel knocked him out of his maddening stupor as he immediately removed the knife and glared around himself, until he spotted what looked to be a young male fleeing from a horde of zombie like creatures, no more than three, but still a threat to the boy, and without somebody to save him, there was no doubt he was as good as dead. Oswald flashed the knife and gripped the phone inside of his pocket and used the touch screen capabilities to summon forth the Jack the ripper demon, a smile on his face as the summoning worked according to what he had predicted.

"Aaah, just as I thought... Alright, little man... Those zombies chasing after that weak poppet... We're going to slaughter them with our own hands~ MOVE IT!"

Oswald shoving his demon ahead as the two quickly broke into a run, dashing down the alleyway that the defenseless human had ran down, it didnt take long for both jack the ripper and Oswald to reach their foes as Oswald quickly snatched one of the Zombies by the frail hair upon their head and janked them back, making the zombie groan as it collapsed against the cold bloody ground, but before it could even act, Oswalds knife had already lodged itself inside of its neck, and had completely sliced through the weak rotten flesh, effectively decapitating it after several swings of his sharp blade, causing a disgusting gargling sound to echo as its blood squirted from the open hole in its neck, the first zombie having let out its last decaying breath.

Jack the ripper, ahead of oswald cackled as madly as his master, before it sank one of its razor blade like knives into both their legs, causing both undead to fall on their faces. With one preoccupied by jack the ripper as it hopped onto a zombies back and happily sliced away at its victim, Oswald jumped merrily ontop of the zombie with a giggle and applies his heavy boots pressure into the skull of the other undead and quickly cracked the undeads skull beneath his boots, like a watermelon being crushed with a hammer, both Oswald and jack had slayed their foes, and all that remained was finding the boy, however that would have to wait. In a street at the end of the alleyway, he heard the voices of more demons, along with humans and went to investigate, finding the other heroes in Akibas streets ready to combat against a zombie horde, with jack the ripper still summoned.

The other characters would notice the bloody tall man exit from the alleyway, knife in hand, as he effortlessly sunk the blade into the zombies face and cleaved its head from the jaw in half, sending the zombie onto its back to further decay from its second death. Oswald simply stood there, smiling gently as his vision turned toward Keiko, blood drenching half his face, his knife twitching in his grasp and a gentle but creepy and raspy voice spoke to her, sending the feeling of worms crawling her her spine... He looked uninterested in the carnage around him, as if the zombies and the blood drenching him were non existent as if the new world and his visage blended shockingly well together, one thing to note was that his eyes werent normal... its hard to explain... But they didnt look right, they looked emotionless, hollow and for lack of a better word... Dangerous. A thin smile rested on his bruised and battered face, his knife loosely by his side, dripping fresh with the undeads blood...

"Hello... You wouldnt have happened to have seen my darling son anywhere... Have you?"

[Kafka Komedy]

Tai laughed awkwardly as the man in front of him joked about his poorly phrased question. "Well, I'd think we all have skeletons in our closet by this point in time. Yeah, I've got the app-" He said, nodding his head. Unfortunately he was cut short by another earthquake. "Wha- Another quake? You're kidding, right?" the man asked, taking the words right out of Tai's mouth. Then, as Tai was stumbling and trying to straighten himself, the corpses of the people killed by the quakes started moving the rocks and such off of them, and more demons appeared.

Tai's phone was already out, so he noticed the beep fairly easily. 'WARNING' in big red all-caps text appeared on his screen, probably to tell him if someone was trying to ambush them. Then a 'demon summoning protocol' started. Once again his red friend popped up, though this time it seemed to not want to kill him. "Huh? Oh, we're fighting now. Cool." Obarion said, taking a battle stance.

Tai looked at the other two demons the people around him had summoned. Some fairy thing that could fly, and a wolf beast monster with a club. He felt like he kinda got the short end of the stick about the whole demon thing. The girl got a flying demon, a very helpful ability, and the man got a cool beast man with a weapon. He got a short red suction cup demon. Ah well, he was sure his demon could hold his own.

"U-uhm, I'm not too good with this whole fighting thing. I do not even have a weapon of anything on me. I-it was a miracle I beat that thing in the first place." The girl stuttered. Tai grinned. Sure he couldn't talk to girls, but beating things up for girls was like the opposite of talking to girls. Although he didn't speak, it was obvious in his expression that he was ready for a brawl.

But before he could commence wrecking these zombies' days and making contracts with all the demons, a creepy dude stepped out of an alleyway nearby. He held a knife stained with blood, from a zombie he had just executed, and gave the girl this horrifyingly disturbing stare. Tai didn't like him. "Hello... You wouldnt have happened to have seen my darling son anywhere... Have you?" Creepy man asked, presumably to the girl. "No, we haven't." Tai said firmly, gripping his guitar in as threatening a manner you could hold one. He stepped in between the girl and the creepy man, knocking a zombie out of the way with his guitar to get there. He didn't bother to see if it was dead before glaring at the creepy man.

[Rune_Alchemist]

~Keiko Yamada~

Well, it seemed that statement had the desired effect on the Taidana boy. He was eager to fight, and for her no less. Boys were such simpletons. She stayed back, letting Taidana and the new person take the front lines. She'd support them from behind with that pest of a Pixie. She was pretty sure she read something in the Cortensia app about her being able to heal people and use some sort of 'magic' attack. Whatever that even was...she would like to say magic didn't exist, but with everything else going on, she wasn't going to refute whatever that app said.

She took the moment too look at their demons. The new person seemed to have some sort of...dog thing. It looked strong, and a bit on the ferocious side. She was glad she didn't have such a...unique, looking demon. Then again, a brute would be easier to manipulate and control. Taidana's looked to be some sort of red...Imp thing. These two looked more closely to how she imagined Demons would look. Not the pest pixie. The other two seemed to be fairly...intelligent as well, just like the Pixie. Well, they could talk anyways. She was about to join the other two in this 'fight', when someone...or something came out of a nearby alleyway.

The person was covered in quite a bit of blood. The stench of death seemed to hang onto the person with an unnatural duration. She had no idea who this man was, but he was...certainly not someone she would ever find herself associating with under normal circumstances. However, normal flew out the door when she was almost made into a red splat on the pavement. Perhaps this man could be a useful....tool, should she need it. However, now wasn't the time to try and be friendly to...it. She had an act to keep up around these two. The man then, asked a question. Something about his son. She almost laughed at the idea of some woman having a child with this...man, if she could call it that. If she didn't have better self control, she would have.

She took a step back from the blood-soaked man, hand covering her mouth as she visibly flinched at his mere presence. She was glad that Taidana had gotten in front of him, if only because it meant that her plans were going right so far. "N-no. We haven't seen y-your son." She echoed Tai with a stutter. She took another step back, her free hand tightening around her purse strap, seemingly ready to defend herself with it if she had too.