Noyo Yogi Bear, Just a Pair of Kids (Ariane)

[Akira Nakajima]

Seemed the other end of the battle had been taken care of. Even if they were “riff-raff” of the park, especially compared to the Spriggan, the fact that the redhead handled herself just fine was evidence enough that she would've managed without his presence. She was nice enough, at least, it seemed, showing gratitude over something minor like that. And then she showed concern. A nice enough person, yeah. Though he wasn't dismissing that concern, he did believe it was wasted. He looked at the blood on his arm before lightly shrugging. He lightly patted Hayagriva's neck with his right hand, and, like a trained pet, the Persona released an intense healing aura that stopped the bleeding and closed the mild injury. The blood, it seemed, automatically dried up against his flesh.

”Something like that is fine, so don't worry. As long as it doesn't outright kill me, I'll be just fine.” Well, to a certain point. If he reached his limit with Hayagriva, it might have been a little difficult to keep that as a true statement. Still, he didn't tend to continue fighting once he was that exhausted. ”On the other hand, you look as though you took a hit or two. Should I? Or do you think you'll be fine?” Unlike the other occasions he found himself with someone else, this young lady seemed to be mostly fine. Healing was something he'd offer at her discretion. The other times? Well, Seiji was half-dead. Takeda? Not quite as bad, he supposed, but still pretty roughed up. This one reminded him somewhat of Luka. No real major wounds. No huge need for healing if they rejected it.

”I'm Nakajima Akira. It's nice to meet another actual human being in this place. We seem to be sprouting up all over the place. Good to know, considering some of the things that wander around. If it's not being too presumptuous, may I ask your name?” Contrary to what would typically be seen in a scene like that, though, the young boy was being entirely honest in his desire to simply know her name. It was difficult to talk to a person, simply calling them “You” or “Girl” or whatever. He wasn't the sort to try to flirt. Not unless he was in drag. Then it was teasing.

Fixing that mixture of blue and red on the young lady, he tilted his head slightly. He waited not just for her name, but also verification on that healing.

[Ariane Ivers]

Just as Anne was wondering what she might have on her to help bandage that up, the soft glow of light caught her off guard.  Right as she watched, the wound she was concerned about closed up, the only sign that it had been there to begin with being the flaking blood.  Her emerald eyes widened with a sparkle.  They could heal.  Before she could stop herself she spoke out in amazement, "Wait, some of them can heal?  And here I thought Cery was only good at stabbing things.  I have a feeling healing is outside the realm of things I'll be able to do, but that's still pretty dang interesting."  She watched the horse persona with renewed interest.  

It made sense now that she thought of it, of course, but it was still curious.  After all, from her only other battle in this area she had learned that some with Persona's could scan the enemies for weaknesses.  Other abilities like this only made sense.  It did make her feel a twinge inadequate, though, considering her skills pretty much only lie in punching things and getting out of danger.  Just what did that say about her?  

Blinking back to the present as her associate spoke again, she looked down at herself for the first time.  Anne was plenty singed and scratched up, but she'd manage.  She knew from experience how tiring casting spells with your persona could be.  It would be pretty crappy of her to ask them to tire themselves out just to heal a few scrapes and bruises.  Shaking her head and trying to ignore her electricity-fried hair as it brushed against her face she smiled, "No, I'll manage.  Thank you though."  

She was glad to hear him introduce himself finally, especially in the wording he used.  While she felt terrible in thinking it, he was very... well, pretty, even in the outfit he had chose to explore in.  Ariane would've been mortified to assume he was a he and find out the opposite was true.  She had seen plenty stranger things in New York than a woman dressed like he was now without makeup, so it was better safe than to stick her foot in her mouth.  Him introducing himself did make her realize something else, however;  she had never done the same.  A fact he politely reminded her of.  Whoops.

Laughing at herself she nodded, "Oh, no, of course.  Sorry for not introducing myself sooner,  I'm Ivers Ariane,"  she hesitantly said her name, the sixteen years of saying her name the other way around still a hard habit to break, "But Anne is fine too.  I agree that it's nice to see some other people around here, for a little while I was beginning to think I was the only one who knew about this nonsense."  Although 'knowing' was said loosely.  While she knew that things were going to hell in a hand basket, that was about the extent of her 'knowledge'.

[Akira Nakajima]

"Ah~ Don't stare so long. You'll make me blush." Now that was a tease. The horse lowered itself slightly and the boy winked as he slid off his mount. He didn't approach the young lady, though. At least, not specifically. He closed the distance between himself and the nearest wall, which, coincidentally, had been near the young lady. Hayagriva followed suit. While he wasn't too worried about what came out, getting attacked while trying to talk was not exactly in his list of things to do for that afternoon. Truthfully, it would have been better to leave outright, but he had had limited success with that in the past. Instead, minimizing the danger while conversing functioned just fine.

"It's a pleasure to make your acquaintance, then, Anne." He opted to drop honorifics, given the name pretty much verified his suspicions. Foreigners often had issues dealing with honorifics. And the language, going by fiction. Anne was doing plenty well, though. Odd how he was meeting Westerners only after the world stopped being worldly. His expression was soft enough, outside of mild flickers of annoyance as he used his free hand to brush hair back behind his ears. Longer hair had its disadvantages, after all. At least it wasn't like the Gandharva's wind blast. The curls in his hair at that point had been an absolute bitch to get out. It was embarrassing when his younger sister actively started calling him cute because of a "style change". Seriously.

"I count a good five, myself and you included. I imagine there's more out there. It's just managing to stumble across them, like we did just now. To comment on that earlier bit, though, I think it's safe to assume that most people will fall under classifications that you see in video games- assuming you play them. So far, I'm the only one I know of that has healing abilities. Additionally, healing is all I currently have. Others, like you, seem to have offensive abilities. I don't know about you, but, while healing is great, I'd love to have a little something other than a spear to fight with. Something tells me that I won't be getting lucky there, though." He lightly shrugged, hefting that spear up slightly. It wasn't leaving his hand, though. The moment he let it go, something nasty would appear. That was what his gut was telling him.

"Have you found anything interesting out, besides the obvious presence of the portals and that extra hour?" Information sharing was the next major thing. With any luck, contact information could be shared. Organized excursions needed to become a thing very soon.

[Ariane Ivers]

It took Ariane a long moment to even notice she was being teased.  Her eyes widened as she pursed her lips, glancing away, "Ah, no I didn't mea-" and that was when the penny dropped.  Really, she hadn't realized she'd fallen so far off of the path of being able to associate with people.  Before she had moved it was an almost everyday occurrence.  Frowning she looked back, red tinging her cheeks in embarrassment.  With a sigh she rubbed the back of her neck, "Har har.  It really is impressive that you're a healer though.  I do know a decent amount of games, although I can't say I'm as a die-hard fan as some I've seen."

Her brow furrowed as he said he counted out five, but announced the others he'd seen were all offensive.  Well, that just didn't add up to what she had seen.  With a nod she verified his suspicions, "I was about to say I counted only four, but at least one I've seen can't be the same you know─she was completely a support.  While she didn't attack anything herself, she gave us the upper hand on the handful of baddies that jumped us."  It registered that he had avoided any honorific with her name, which she was grateful for.  They were something she still managed to botch once in a while, much to her Uncle's disdain.  There were just so many that were so specific.  Goodness knew how easy it could be to accidentally offend someone if she used the wrong one.

Seeing his annoyance with his unruly hair, an eyebrow over one of her emerald eyes raised.  She knew that pain only too well.  Reaching up to her mess of singed braids, she fought one of the many ties out.  It wasn't like the braid was going anywhere now anyway, and even if it did one loose braid was the least of her appearances worries.  "Here, if you need a tie.  I've got plenty; an upside of a very annoying braided hairstyle.  At least it looks good under normal circumstances."  

The last question dropped her rising mood, though.  Shaking her head in frustration she answered him in a negative, "Sadly, I can't say I know all that much outside of what I'm sure you do.  Well..." she shrugged, "You've seen the weird train during that extra hour, right?  It and the woman on it pretty much saved my life the first night I wandered into it.  She wasn't very much help with answers, but hey, I got a snazzy gun out of it too at least."

[Akira Nakajima]

The boy's lips were curled into a playful smile as the redhead managed to piece together she was being teased. While being praised was nice, he wasn't one to really give it much credence. Someone would have had healing abilities sooner or later. If these Personas were really embodiments of their “selves”, then someone much more nurturing and caring would likely have ended up with similar capabilities. A low “Hm” echoed in his throat as the woman went on about speaking about a purely support-based member she'd had with her. If two of her four were herself and Akira, then was either six or seven humans with the power of Personas. That was certainly interesting. Well, the more they had coming together was better.

”Mm? Ah. Thank you for the consideration, but I'll have to decline.” He half-lowered his head while raising his free hand in an almost prayer-like gesture. ”I make a point to not bind my hair. It likely sounds inconvenient, and it can be, but I do have reasons.” In truth, he would occasionally wear his hair in a ponytail when out as Miki^3. It wasn't the most popular hairstyle by far, but it was definitely one that some of his fans had noticed. The last thing he wanted to deal with on his return was a panting no-neck trying to get his attention. Not all of the otaku were like that, but an unhealthy fraction of the ones that were his fans were. It was honestly a little disturbing.

”Can't say I've bothered with the shining train line yet, though. If there's an odd lady at the station, I'll have to make a point to go check it out. Can't say I find the idea of a woman openly handing out guns here to be that safe of a deal, though. So at least six people for sure. Possibly seven, then, for Persona-users? That's not terrible. I'd kinda like more of us, though. Four to five times that would be nice. You never know when those sort of numbers would be necessary for what might go on. If nothing else, an organized sweep of an area like this might become possible.” He sent a gaze to the young lady, red and blue focusing on her. Then he simply smiled.

”Well, can't complain about what might not be there, or what hasn't been found yet.” He nodded. No need to share certain details with her just yet. He couldn't use it as a bargaining chip, and, while he figured she was probably a little more sane than others he'd met, telling people that their magical ghost powers equated to invisible tools was a little dangerous. ”Do you intend to continue venturing around the place? Or are you thinking about leaving after that skirmish?” He tilted his head, trying to figure out his social partner's itinerary.

[Ariane Ivers]

With a shrug, she pulled the hair tie onto her wrist.  She wasn't even going to attempt wrestling that back onto the braid it once belonged to.  "Hey, no problem, to each their own.  I just know the pain of long hair and didn't want to just stand around without offering to help when I've got plenty of these suckers on my head,"  she chuckled a bit, sticking her hands into the pockets of her jacket.  To say Ariane didn't know much about the whole idol scene would have been an understatement, so she couldn't even say Akira so much as looked familiar to her.  Not even that absent 'hey I swear I know you from somewhere!' feeling, let alone the possibility of piecing together who else he may have been.  Which, hey, was good for Akira at least.  Then there was the matter of his eyes, on top of that.  No matter what, surely she'd be able to remember someone with eyes like that a mile away.

As Akira mentioned the woman, Anne nodded in agreement.  "It certainly seemed like she knew something, at the very least.  But it also didn't look like she was in any hurry whatsoever to dish out any information, either."  The mention of handing out guns sounding like a terrible idea made Ariane laugh lightly, "Yea, that's very true.  The ones she hands out aren't real guns in the technical sense, at least,"  She hesitated, pulling it out of it's holster to hand to him to see.  Even if she didn't know him well enough to trust him a real gun, the evoker was about as deadly as a water gun.  "She called it an Evoker, and don't worry, I tested it not on myself first before using it.  It can be used to summon a Persona, and sure, they can be summoned other ways, but this is still a handy little tool."  As she thought about how many people like them there were, and how many more he felt they needed, she let out a long whistle.  "Well, that's certainly better than being the only one like I was thinking for a while now."

Sighing, she looked off into the mess that was the jungle.  "Yea, that sounds about right.  I feel like doing nothing but pummeling these small fries aren't going to do much of anything.  They're good enough practice, sure, but they're certainly not giving us much in the way of answers."  Pondering his question for a moment, she bit her lip as she thought.  "Well, like I said; as fun as it is punching their faces in, I don't think the little guys are going to give us much of anything.  A big guy─a 'boss', if we're still using the video game lingo?  Sure, that might tell us something.  But otherwise, I think we really should try to do a concentrated sweep like you suggested more than anything.  So I guess for now until I can figure out a better plan I may head on out of here.  What about you?"

[Akira Nakajima]

For a moment, the boy had remained silent. Hearing about the woman that distributed what was to be called an Evoker, he had to wonder. What was she? Why did she have them? Of course, those were natural questions. Anybody would have asked them if they had a healthy level of curiosity. He wouldn't hassle her over them, though. After all, she already said she didn't know. It was very likely, even if he made an effort to observe and interrogate the strange woman in question, that he'd end up with about as much to show for it as Anne did.

”So the Evoker is a means of forceful extraction.” He commented after a moment, reiterating the purpose. It did have its uses. Getting one for himself, for emergencies, did have its merits if he could look away from any possible long-term drawbacks to its use. However, for those that couldn't reliably summon their Persona, it was likely a lifeline when that extra hour rolled around. Very briefly, he considered Takeda. Then, he wondered about Luka. One suggested he couldn't quite get a hang on using his nameless Persona. The other claimed to have only seen it once. Its viability per User probably varied just as greatly as one's abilities. Case in point, if her were to compare himself to Anne; she was offensive, and he was supportive. Still, maybe it was because he was a born Japanese, but he really didn't feel completely comfortable dealing with things shaped like a firearm. Maybe it was a sign that he wasn't as mentally matured as he believed? Or maybe it was just the stigma guns seemed to have. He wanted to say the latter.

”It's true that there's few answers to be had from the. . . small fry, yes.” She had a good head on her shoulders, and she had a degree of confidence to consider spell-flinging creatures small fry. ”And fighting the same opponents continuously won't yield the same rewards over a long period of time. While it'd be nice to not have to engage a boss, I can't deny that there's a chance that a situation like that might yield some information. As for myself, to my knowledge, we lack the numbers and resources to do a sweep. Even if we had the numbers, there is, unfortunately, no guarantee that everyone will work together long enough to get that done.” He wasn't completely without faith for humans, but he did believe it was a valid concern when working with a group of large people.

”For the time being, I think I'll persist in searching around. There's an extremely small chance I'll find something noteworthy.” He slightly shrugged before fixing Anne with another gaze. ”It would sound like we'll be splitting up, but, before that, would you be against exchanging contact information? Establishing a means of communication between Persona-users will likely help out, even if organizing them all might prove difficult.” He understood fully why one person might refuse another's request of that nature. More so for a woman to refuse a man's. However, he had already made his argument for the situation's sake. If she declined, then that was that. He wouldn't force it, though it would be unfortunate.

And, if she said yes, he could always prep his little notepad. He doubted phones even worked properly in that park, anyway.

[Ariane Ivers]

For a brief moment, Ariane wondered if his silence meant she had said something wrong.  She did have a tendency to speak before thinking, so it wouldn't be the first time, but going over what she had said she couldn't think of anything out of place.  When he did finally speak she realized it was nothing more than him taking in what she said.  On top of speaking before she thought it out, she did tend to babble too, that was true.  

Tilting her head as she thought about his much simpler explanation, she finally nodded.  "Mhm, that about sums it up.  I haven't been able to figure out the inner workings of it, but if I were to find someone a little more mechanically gifted maybe we could think of something."  She thought back to his comment of the woman handing out guns and glanced to the Evoker before holstering it again and continuing,  "It may be useful for some people if they could find a way to make it... you know... not gun shaped. While I may be amused by it, I'm sure others wouldn't be.  That could just be thinking crazy, though."  For a split second Anne had to resist the urge to say ''Murica' during that whole sentence.  While she would have laughed at her own joke, she didn't know the boy well enough to goof around like that.  See? She could think before she spoke once in a while.  The whole reputation of Americans and their guns wasn't lost on her, but at least she could make fun of herself for it.

 At the comment of how difficult it could be to even organize a group like that, Anne sighed sadly.  That was very true, and she hadn't thought about that.  From her brief stint playing a certain popular MMO, she knew how hard it was just to organize people in a game like that.  Goodness, dungeons were a struggle, don't even get her started on how awful getting people to listen in a raid group was.  There was a reason she didn't play that game for very long.  "I hadn't thought of that, but you're right.  It's hard to get people to work together, at least initially.  Maybe if we can at least get a small set group working together, going from there wouldn't be too terrible."  At the very least, that was always what had the best chances of success during her gaming history.

"As for communication... hm. Maybe a closed forum board? Like, an invite only or password protected one?  If it's closed, then we wouldn't have to worry about civies stumbling across it and thinking we're all mad, but we could try to gather any others we can and direct them to one convenient means of communication."  Surely it couldn't be all that difficult to construct.  She had seen plenty of boards online made sometimes overnight.  If they went that route, it wasn't as though they needed anything fancy.  Just something to bounce ideas and coordinate plans would be handy.

When asked about exchanging contact information she shook her head, "No, not at all.  Erm.  That is to say, I wouldn't be against it at all.  It would be silly to lose the chance to work together with others through all this."  After giving him her phone number and e-mail─just in case─she continued, "Just drop me a text when you're done exploring and I'll add you to my contacts too.  If you ever want help in here, just let me know.  I think I'm going to go see if I can't salvage my hair for now before grabbing something to eat.  Be safe in here, okay?  We can't go loosing a good healer this early in."  If this was early in, that is.  That brought the question of when this exactly happened... When people started disappearing?  Or even before that?  Anne pushed those questions onto the ever growing list to be looked at on a later date.  

[Akira Nakajima]

”I like to pride myself in being fairly adaptive with technology, but I can't say that I've done too much with forums. If it turns out that there's enough of us to utilize something like that, if someone else can't provide it, I may have to look into it. If we could document what works best on what, and what not to use- a database of these things' affinities- then that'd help everybody in finding the best areas to train. Well, that's a thought for then. It'll be difficult to organize that until there's sufficient manpower and ability to do such a thing.” He concluded before slowly nodding. Once given permission, the boy took out a miniature notepad, scribbling down the information and nodding after making sure he had written it down correctly. He flipped the page over before preparing another sheet, this time with entirely different information. He cleanly ripped it out before handing it over to Anne.

”Thank you for that. In case there's something you need, or if something comes up before I manage to get in contact with you, feel free to send me a text or mail. I'll see what I can do to respond in a timely manner.” He flashed her a confident smile. ”Stay safe on the way out, as well. As for me, I won't take any unnecessary risks. There's too much important stuff I need to deal with in reality before I can allow myself to die. Plus, if I am the only healer, well, that just means I'll have to not-die even harder.” With a light chuckle, he pushed himself off the wall and leveled his spear. The notepad had since found its home in a pocket one more. That spear might not have been too impressive, but he was certainly refining his skill in using it during his “outings” in the park.

”I will check in with you once I get out of here, though. If only to make sure you don't worry. With any luck, I'll even be able to introduce you to others soon.” He scanned the environment once before nodding. ”I'll go ahead and break off, then. It's still clear here, but no telling for how long. It was a pleasure meeting you, Anne. Let's hunt together sometime soon.” Another brief, boyish smile curled his lips before he ushered Hayagriva onward. The duo moved forward with a decent bit of speed, but they were clearly doing so as quietly as possible. After all, if he was alone, his only ally- barring his Persona, which was, in fact, himself- was stealth.

Still, he was pretty gung-ho about it, or he could have come off that way. Not many would call it “hunting”.

[Ariane Ivers]

The more he spoke about it, the more it sounded like it would be super handy.  Of course, he still had a valid point.  "Yea, without the manpower it wouldn't be much use.  But, dang if that doesn't sound helpful if we could get that up and running.  Maybe I should start keeping a journal at the very least of what I come across, more than just trying to keep a running tally in my head at least."  Lost in the fantasy of a nice organized bestiary for a moment, she almost hadn't noticed him handing her his own contact information.

Accepting it with a polite thank you she nodded,  "Sounds like a plan.  And I will, don't worry.  I can be hard to pin down if I want to be."  Laughter bubbling out at his intentions to not die harder, she couldn't help but shake her head, "Yes, not-dying sounds like the best of plans.  I'll hold you to that, too.  If you die, I may just have to find you and kill you." 

Pulling her her hands out of her pockets she stretched and gave him a quick thumbs-up.  "I'd appreciate that.  If I don't hear anything in an appropriate amount of time, I'll come back and make sure you held up your bargain of not-dying.  It would be nice to meet some of the others too, absolutely.  Just let me know; as long as I'm not working or here, I shouldn't really have anything else planned.  It was nice to meet you, too.  Stay safe out there."  

With a wave as he dashed further off into the jungle, she turned the opposite direction back towards the portal she entered by.  He certainly seemed determined, and while he looked ready to take on a whole swarm by himself she was glad to see he was being as quiet as he could be.  As she left she counted her lucky stars that this portal wasn't too far from home, so at least she didn't have to travel very far looking like a crazy homeless bum.