[center][h3]Nick Waller[/h3]
[hr]
[/center]

Nick watched with Vincent, holding his portion of the rope as Dakota scrambled, ducked, dipped, dived, and dodged blows from the Gryffon monster in response to noticing the plan. It came pretty damn close there, but he managed to get away from the flagging beast, which continued to taunt and deride his life choices as it attempted to murder him and take his place. How that would work, Nick wasn’t quite sure but hey, crazy mirror world demon, so don’t think too much, okay?

Almost comically, it noticed the array of lights hanging precariously over it just late enough that it couldn’t possibly avoid the inevitable collapse when Nick and Vincent tugged, [i]hard[/i], on their makeshift lasso, sending the whole scaffolding collapsing onto it, weight crushing and live wires electrocuting the monster. Letting out a hefty breath, Nick watched as Dakota approached his twisted reflection and began talking with it, seemingly calming it down and even turning it around to his point of view. 

[i]Slow and steady. It’s not a race.[/i] It was advice that he’d been given a dozen times if he’d been given it once when his demons were acting up. The journey back to a healthy state of mind was a long and arduous one, more akin to a marathon than a sprint. A real pain in the ass, but reality often was disappointing after all. 

Putting that aside, Nick’s eyes nearly popped out of his damn skull when he saw the damn thing start mystically floating, then transform into some kinda bird-person. Like an Aaracokra, but also kind of a biker? Floating on a…mini-harp thing? “Okay what the fuck.” Nick breathed out, blinking rapidly. “Like, I know today’s been insane but there’s like…gotta be a limit, right?” After a moment, Nick just sighed. “God dammit why did I say that out loud?” 

Rapidly wanting to move on from that craziness, Nick agreed with Dakota’s desire to make like a tree and get the hell out of there. The sooner they could move on from here, from what just happened, the sooner they could get out of this crazy place altogether. 

As they exited the building, however, they came across a few of the others. The bigger guy who’d helped keep the door open, that guy from the cafeteria (given their current predicament, Nick couldn’t find it in him to even be a little angry over that incident-it felt like weeks ago by now), and the girl with the leather jacket who’d given him the idea to shield himself with his own earlier. 

And the bigger guy was wearing some…very strange new clothes. He looked like some kind of priest, or cleric, even. Nick let him and Dakota talk, taking the time to try and psychologically re-center himself. All of this was a lot to take in.

Unfortunately, their talking immediately dove back into what the hell was going on, and Nick nodded to himself before paying closer attention. He didn’t want to be caught off-guard and missing some valuable info. He was surprised to hear a disembodied voice from somewhere, but once Barney mentioned somebody named ‘Miss Spindle’, Nick looked around and figured that was the [i]flying Police Lady that he noticed once he looked up.[/i] Huh. Alright, today was just gonna keep going. Apparently they hadn’t reached the limit of insanity just yet. 

Her mention of a ‘Persona’ made Nick’s head cock to the side. That they apparently represented a fighting spirit of sorts made sense, given that Dakota’s “Shadow” (That was a really good way of putting it, and Nick was totally stealing that from her) only disappeared once he’d shown sufficient willingness to fight back against his problems and make strides at improving his life. The idea that they could be corrupted by the ‘other stuff around you’, on the other hand, told Nick all he needed to know about what would happen if they found his. 

A whole lotta Nothing Fuckin’ Good, is what. 

Dakota, meanwhile, was apparently testing something out with his Persona, and with a somewhat awkward and questioning shout, sent a wave of revitalizing energy towards him and Vincent. Nick could feel his aches vanish almost instantly, and as the pain left his body, Nick’s mood lifted a bit. “Holy shit dude that was awesome…” He said quietly, in praise.

Unfortunately, the nifty lore-dump from Lady Basil Exposition would have to wait, as more prison goons were coming for them. If it weren’t for the eye in the sky she was providing, Nick wondered how little time they’d have to run. He admittedly wasn’t thrilled about leaving behind Dakota and the big guy, but if those Personas gave them the power to fight back, Nick wasn’t about to throw himself in their way when they had people better suited for the job. 

Turning and running in the direction Spindle mentioned, Nick waved the others without Personas on. “Dunno about you guys, but I’m not sticking around for another fight!” Barely waiting for a response, he took off at record pace, no longer hobbled by the blows he’d taken earlier. As he ran, Nick turned to his fellow escapees. “Not to sound unconcerned about the whole crazy alternate world, or the giant demon things, or the magical powers, but uh…what are your names? I’m Nick. Figured it might be a good idea to be able to say something other than ‘Big Scary Dude’ and ‘Cafeteria Guy!’” 

He’d purposefully not called Caelum an asshole, on the principle that pissing off the people who just might save your life was not a good idea. Best to play nice.