[center][h3]Barney Rynsburger[/h3]
[@SilverPaw] [@alexfangtalon][/center]

In desperation Barney hoped that by the time he opened his eyes, he would be staring at the wooden ceiling of the gazebo on Stoutland Pier, or maybe that of his dorm room. Already he’d endured not just the shock of witnessing this messed-up netherworld, with its brutish guards and horrific prisoner abuse, but also the attack of the demonic creatures at the hand of the university president’s lunatic doppelganger. Add to that the trauma of getting gaslit and psychoanalyzed by his own evil twin, only to watch it become a twisted conglomerate of scuttling insect legs, and it was really getting to be too much.

If only that meant that Barney’s sudden collision with the cart of offerings didn’t hurt so bad. Thanks to both the force of the abomination’s claws and his own weight, he plowed through both its tribute and its solid wood construction before coming to a most uncomfortable rest, his body awash in pain. He didn’t need (or want) to look himself over to tell it was bad, and as if all the bruises, slashes, and punctures weren’t enough, the smashed jugs of sacrificial wine among the keepsakes and riches left him a dripping mess. Worse still, when cracked open his eyes he could see that [i]thing[/i], that repulsive mockery that claimed to be him. A part of him reacted on impulse, wanting to run, fight, anything, but he couldn’t bring himself to move. Another part of him, louder and clothed in logic, told him that this nightmare was fast, that the doors were locked, all sorts of sensible reasons why he was doomed. The only reason he still lived, he rationalized, was that this hideous wretch wanted to savor its prey. 

But maybe...there was hope? Even the act of craning his neck sideways hurt, but he did so anyway, casting Mila and Caelum a pleading, piteous look. “H-hey...hey!” Yet even as spoke out, his hollow cry for help died on his lips. Not for one second did he expect either or the strangers to actually come to his rescue. How could they, even? They were just human, and this caul-wearing, many-legged monstrosity would rip them apart. No, it was selfish for him even to ask. Caelum had already fled behind a shrine. [i]Good[/i], Barney thought. He was already dead, and in a much, much more immediate sense than how he felt earlier today. If the others could live, that would be the most he could hope for. So instead he decided he’d help them on their way, and gasped, “Run. Run!” Pain, despair, and dread held him in their grip. As the loathsome bug advanced, its countless limbs scrabbling across the tile floor, Barney let his eyes slide closed.

A moment later there came a noise right beside him, and his eyes shot open again. Caelum was right beside him, working to free him from the wreckage. [i]Wait, what!?[/i] Barney wondered, dazed and alarmed. He should have run! “W-what are...you…?” A rivulet of wine stinging his eye cut him off, and as he lifted a hand to wipe it out he took in what the other student said. [i]You can’t stay down.[/i] Well, why not? Hadn’t he suffered enough? No matter how strong, everyone caved under the pressure eventually. But...here Caelum was, risking his own neck in the face of an actual, honest-to-God horror movie monster to help him, a stranger who he didn’t even know. The guy was even grabbing things he could throw, a move that the pragmatic part of him reasoned couldn’t possibly harm the nightmarish centipede, but it meant something. A total stranger was willing to risk his life and even fight to save Barney. It was an act of courage and compassion, showing the very strength of character that he himself aspired to. [i]I can’t let him down,[/i] Barney realized. [i]I can’t let it be in vain.[/i] But that wasn’t all. The reminder Caelum gave him, even inadvertently, ignited a spark of self-reflection. Barney slicked his wine-soaked hair back off his face, grit his teeth, and planted his hands to rise. “I’m gonna live,” he said aloud, offering Caelum what reassurance he could. [i]I want to live,[/i] he repeated to himself. It was time to stop feeling sorry for himself, and start actually demonstrating the strength of will he’d been telling himself about all along. If he died here today, it wouldn’t be because Barney Rynsburger didn’t feel like living.

With a concerted effort he got to his feet, standing alongside his rescuer. “Thank you.” Though six years Barney’s junior, Caelum possessed the fortitude and presence of mind not just to come to a stranger’s aid, but to start coming up with a plan, too. Following his comrade’s direction Barney took a look at the statue, noting both its size and instability, before glancing at the incoming abomination once more. “Maybe if it charges around blindly,” he suggested. Any plan of attack, he knew, would hinge upon how this thing behaved. That nagging rationale insisted that he had no hope, that a couple unprotected, unarmed humans couldn’t beat a grizzly bear let alone an anthropoid horror like this, but something was drowning that voice out. Was it...excitement? Barney couldn’t help but wonder. He was still afraid, sure, but he couldn’t deny that some fiery, primal part of him wanted to crush this thing, to wipe this gruesome bug off the face of the earth and repudiate its unacceptable claims. When Caelum took hold of a broken board, Barney did him one better. He heaved a deep breath and closed his hands around one of the wagon wheels, one in the central hub and one on the outer ring. It was heavy, but the exertion helped mitigate the pain of his injuries, and its weight paradoxically gave him strength. With this, he could do some damage--and maybe even kill this thing.

A moment later the Shadow crawled into range. Caelum started throwing things, quickly working his way through the pile, but one after another the hurled objects glanced right off. The forest of legs stopped anything that flew in between them, while stuff just bounced off that membranous white caul that covered its head. After only a moment the teenager let fly his last ditch attempt, a decently weighty candelabra, but the monster lashed out with its scythelike arm and sent it spinning away. Barney clenched his jaw, wheel at the ready. Time to try his luck.

Before he could charge one more object, apple-sized and shiny, bounced off the monster’s head. Barney paused, figuring that Caelum must have found something else to throw. He threw out that guess, however, when the grenade detonated the next second, staggering the Shadow with its concussive blast of flame. As it reeled, shrieking, Barney looked up to see a familiar figure descend from the second floor balcony of the cathedral, rappelling via the use of a glinting thread. “You again!” he cried as the police girl touched down.

She waved cheerfully at the young men. “Me again!” she agreed, although she couldn’t keep the pain out of her smile. Elation turned to worry in Barney’s heart as he witnessed the bloody scar on her face, crossing right over her left eye. The left lens had been smashed. Her good eye quickly turned to the monster. “Looks like y’all got yerselves in another pickle, huh?”

Amazed at the police girl’s casual manner, he could only give a helpless shrug. “Sorry! Thank you so much for saving us. Uh, again.”

“Ain’t a problem!” she assured them. “I reckon it was gonna happen no matter what.”

“Do you know what’s going on? Who are you?” Barney asked, trying to keep the desperation out of his voice. Even if it wasn’t the best time to be asking, he couldn’t stop himself. If this stranger could make even a little sense of this situation, his mental state would be a lot better off.

“Heheheh, ooh, ow.” The police girl laughed, although it ended in a gasp as she used the slashed muscles on the left side of her face. “Call me Spindle if ya like. We can gab all ya want later, but fer now…” Raising her needle, she pointed it right at the twitching monstrosity as it readied itself to attack. She backed up, and the students around her followed. “This thing’s a Shadow. Your Shadow. Everythin’ aboutcha ya hate ‘n try to hide. If it gets ya, you’ll become jus’ like it. So ya gotta put this varmint down.” She nodded approvingly at his and Caelum’s makeshift weapons. “Ready?”

Though still not totally sure of himself, Barney tightened his grip. “I guess we’re doin’ this,” he agreed, with her words sinking in only after another second. “Wait, you said [i]we[/i] gotta do it?”

“Uh huh!” the girl called Spindle grinned. “Thing is, I kinda, uh, suck at fightin’. No matter how hard I try, I barely even scratch ‘em…” Her smile turned a little self-conscious as she scratched her head.

Barney gulped, staring at the monster coming toward them. “Uh…”

Spindle raised her hand to try and calm him down. “B-but wait, don’t worry, I still got your back! With jus’ a li’l help. Now, come on out...” She span around and slashed the air behind her with her needle, once horizontally, and then vertically. They left behind brilliant streaks of light, and from the rifts a wave of pressure seemed to expand. In the radiance Spindle’s glasses shone, hiding her eyes to leave only her toothy grin. “[b]ODRADEK![/b]”

There came a burst of blue flame, welling up from the streaks, and the pressure gave way to a roaring wind. Barney steeled himself, and in the center he could see something forming between the lines. A moment later a diamond had taken shape, and in its center opened a single gazing eye that dispelled the momentary hurricane. When Barney looked again, he found a huge, [url=https://i.imgur.com/vYOqlYm.png]ghostly kite[/url] woven of thread, its nexus an eye with a shining star for a pupil. Given his nerves, his first impulse was naturally one of alarm. “Another monster?!”

“Hold your horses, this ain’t a monster!” Spindle declared, putting pride into her voice despite her wounds. “This is a part o’ me! Watch and learn!” At that moment the Shadow hauled itself forward, swinging its brutal arm at Barney. He held his wheel up like a shield to block, but the police girl extended her sword arm. “Wrap ‘em up, Odradek!” At her command the kite-looking thing performed a spinning flourish, its eye glowing.

Almost instantly the centipede's arm stopped dead, bound by silken threads like a puppet tangled in its strings. It shook angrily and intoned, [b][i]”You dare oppose me?!”[/i][/b] With a windy shriek it swung its other arm, only for Odradek to stop it, too. Spindle stepped forward and hurled her needle like a javelin, piercing through the caul that covered the monster’s head. With a single, fluid motion she wrapped up the thread in her hand and yanked, tearing part of the membrane loose. A good pull exposed the nightmare’s face, a collection of seemingly randomly-placed eyes inside a cagelike array of mandibles. [b][i]”Lowly worms!”[/i][/b] it keened. [b][i]”You cannot see my face and live!”[/i][/b] It struggled terribly, but Odradek’s strings held firm, even as sweat beaded on Spindle’s forehead.

It was gross, but that wasn’t the first thing on Barney’s mind. Though not an avid gamer by any means, he couldn’t help but feel this looked temptingly like a weak spot, and he didn’t need Spindle to tell him that her threads wouldn’t last forever. He could think about the kite-thing later; he needed to take care of this ‘Shadow’ now. “Let’s do it!” he called, hoping that Caelum would help him out again. With the monster’s face too high for now, he went for the body instead. Holding his wheel by the outer rim, he swung from one side to the other and back with reckless abandon, spurred by adrenaline into a feat of surprising strength. The spiky but stubby insect legs couldn’t outrange his wheel, either. Again and again he plowed through them, tearing several free at a time like shelling a shrimp. Caelum got just as good an opportunity, whether with his board or a better impromptu weapon. 

After a few moments, Spindle’s voice cut through the chaos. “Alright y’all, it’s breakin’ free! Get to safety!”

Barney heard and obeyed, trusting his savior to call the shots. Sure enough, the Shadow lurched free of its binds and scythed across the ground right in front of it with both arms, narrowly missing its assailants. After taking a few deep breaths Barney was surprised to see the destruction he and Caelum had wrought on the abominable creature’s front. “It’s not as tough as it looks! We’re actually doing it?!” He dodged away again when it unleashed a wide slash, and circled around to hit it from the side, only to get whipped by its long tail. “Gaoww!” he grunted, wiping blood from his cheek, but when all was said and done it wasn’t that bad. The monster unleashed slash after slash in a heedless rage, but it just moved slowly and predictably enough that the humans could mostly avoid it. Its final swipe just about bent it sideways, and with a squeaking gasp it leaned back. “Now’s our chance!”

“Nuh uh! That’s a trap if I’ve ever seen one!” Spindle cautioned him. “Keep away a minute and see what he does!”

A moment later, right at the time when Barney would have smacked the horror with his wheel again, it bent forward and unleashed a torrent of neon-blue energy, somewhere between liquid and flame, into the ground. It expanded to fill an area around it, bubbling viciously like acid. “Phew…” Barney breathed, more grateful to the stranger than ever. Seeing the Shadow bent over sparked an idea in his mind. “I’m circling around!” As the attack continued he made his way toward the monster’s back end. Though mindful of his tail he needed to work fast, so just as he’d done with the Shaxes he protected his head as he waited. Finally, when the stream died down, he ran forward and jumped into the monster’s abdomen. “This is crazy, this is crazy,” he breathed, but every fiber of his being was now propelling him forth. Screaming wildly, he ran up the verminous thing’s arched back, planting one foot after another in the sticky caul, until he stood upon its shoulders.

Though the Shadow craned its arms they could not reach, and though its tail struck again and again, Barney endured it. [b][i]”Brainless doormat!”[/i][/b] it piped. [b][i]”What do you think you’re doing?! I am your strength, your pride! You’re nothing without me!”[/i][/b]

“Shut up already!” Barney yelled. “I’m sick of listening to you!” Try as he might to raise his wheel and bring it down on the monster’s head, however, all the bucking and twisting meant he couldn’t keep his balance. Seeing Spindle and Caelum, he called down to them. “Hey! Can...can you give me a hand?”

“You got it!” While Caelum moved to help however he could, Spindle called forth Odradek once more. She jumped, took hold of its spikes, and soared around the side using it like a kite. After Caelum got his shot in, she steered back toward the Shadow and leaped off, plunging her needle into the side of its head. As her momentum stopped held tight, and swinging with her full weight behind the needle twisted the monster’s head sideways, causing its whole body to seize up.

“Good work! Now...” Barney raised his wheel, aiming its bottom straight for the center eye. “...Screw you!”

His makeshift bludgeon struck home, and a sound rang out like many chains, snapping all at once. The Shadow bucked wildly, throwing Barney to the ground, and he landed in a heap with the wind knocked out of his lungs. When he looked up, he saw the nightmare convulsing, black tar spewing from its wounds, but it wasn’t finished. Instead it started mutating explosively, sprouting more clusters of legs and limbs. “This...stupid thing…” The joy that Barney felt for a moment began to slip away, but this time he did not sag down. Instead he got to his knees, reaching for his wheel once again.

[url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cjzQXrUXuHk&ab_channel=Hyrita][i]"What a demanding job you’ve chosen."[/i][/url]

At the sound of a heartbeat Barney froze, struck by a sudden pain in his heart. A voice reached him, both familiar and unfamiliar, from everywhere and nowhere. It was a growly, guttural grumble, and as he clutched at his chest, the voice continued to flow through him.

[i]"Day in, day out, nose to the grindstone. The stresses of your trade, much greater thanks to those carried upon your back, in addition to the problems of education, the worries of insurmountable debt, irregular bad food, temporary and constantly changing human relationships that never come from the heart. TO HELL WITH IT ALL!"[/i]

A cry sprang from Barney’s throat, and he clenched his teeth. With one hand clamped against his heart, the other could not shoulder the wheel by itself. In front of him his berserk Shadow contorted as well, wracked by agony. But every second that passed, the pain became more manageable, the terrible strain feeling more natural.

[i]"...In the end, none are happy. Not you, nor those who glut themselves on your efforts. And not I. Are you really content to waste away beneath debts and deadlines? To cynically discard your longing for good, and idolize your own suffering as virtue!?"[/i]

Barney had grown still. In, out. In, out. He filled his lungs with oxygen, and pumped his veins with blood. His eyes opened, shining gold. “...No.”

[i]"Then change,"[/i] came the voice. [i]"Transform. Squirm and struggle! Become something vile in the eyes of your hangers-on. Disgust those sneering faces, reject those crushing boots. Wallow no longer in the darkness of despair, but call my name, and together, we’ll craaaawl our way back to the light!"[/i]

“Okay.” Standing up before the monstrosity of his own darkness, Barney raised his wheel with one hand. The other sank into his chest, somehow reaching below the surface. When he withdrew it, he held onto a heart-shaped clump of tar, spiky and beating. “Then show yourself...Gregor. SAMSA!”

With a final cry he crushed the heart, disappearing in an explosion of darkness. Even as the maelstrom broiled, however, blue flame lanced through the cloud, until like fog on a rainy day, the shadows dispersed. When they cleared, they revealed a new monster, a cross of centipede and lobster with six spike-tipped legs and two pairs of scythes, and a mouth of sharp teeth beneath a collection of sky-blue eyes. This one, however, wore no caul. Instead, Barney stood upon the [url=https://i.imgur.com/oZ1dd0C.png]creature’s[/url] back like a skateboarder, the fixed-up [url=https://i.imgur.com/7vu4LgA.png]wagon wheel[/url] over his shoulder. His dirty clothes were gone, replaced with crisp, flowing clerical attire: a loose dark blue cassock with iron buttons down the front, over a collared shirt, heavy-duty work pants, and boots, with a dark blue greca complete with shoulder cape on top, and a matching wide-brimmed hat.

Having gotten up from where she fell flat on the ground, Spindle pumped her fest. “Heck yeah! That’s we’ve been waitin’ for!”

As he scowled at the convulsing remnants of the monstrosity in front of him, Barney extended his hand in the way that Spindle did. “Samsa, waste ‘em!” 

[i]”It’s history!”[/i] The creature below him thrashed, a blue power building in its open mouth. A moment later a surge of caustic power burned forth, streaming into the Shadow. A hollow shriek rang out as it was consumed, melting to tar and cinders. Samsa gave an awful smirk and lowered its body, allowing Barney to climb down. Numbly the young man allowed his wheel to vanish, and after he touched down Samsa disappeared into blue flame. [i]”Neheh. You’ve done well…”[/i]

Barney just about collapsed, but luckily Spindle was already on hand to catch him. “Whoa there, hoss!” she joked, fighting to keep him steady. “That was your Persona. Feelin’ alright?”

Blinking, Barney looked around slowly, as if waking up from a dream. He glanced at his new clothes, confused but also impressed. “I...guess? I mean, I feel okay. Pretty good, actually. But I have so many questions.” Realizing that the police girl was holding him, he did his best to right himself, reddening.

“Like I said, later,” Spindle laughed. “First, we gotta help your friends. There’s a buncha you and only one o’ me, so we oughta hurry. I’ll navigate ya from up high usin’ Odradek.” Her own Persona manifested once more, held at her side like a massive kiteshield.

[i]Of course it’s not over, even after all that,[/i] Barney bemoaned, but if what Spindle said meant that the others were going through something like this, he couldn’t let them get killed. “Alright. I’m still kind of out of it, but if I can save someone else with this weird power, I’ll do it.” He glanced at Caelum. “You doing okay?”

Once everyone was ready, they could get going, back into the Prison of Indictment to find the others confronting their Shadows even now.