Peeking: The Continuation [Tristan]

[Shizuka Konaya]

The battle distracted Shizuka for a moment.  The monsters weren't as strong as before, but they were still pretty strong.  The hits she was taking from the scales were aggravating her wounds from last week, so she knew she had to finish this quickly.  However, her mind kept drifting back to the other person.  Was he okay too?  He looked just as nervous about this as she was, not that she could blame him. 

When she looked over, for a moment, she was horrified to see that he was being attacked by a different monster.  Upon closer inspection though, he was clearly winning.  Not just winning, he was completely slaughtering the thing.  It wasn't him though.  There was another person there, but he was acting like that person wasn't there at all.  With the way he was moving it was more like he was commanding it.  More than that, the attack it was using looked familiar.  She was pretty sure a monster used something similar and left a pretty nasty gash on her chest.  Though, she didn't remember that night very well, so maybe it was just her trying to find similarities where none actually existed?

Her thoughts were interrupted by the scale ramming its scales into the side of her head again.  Shizuka shook her head.  How could she let herself get distracted when such a dangerous thing was around?  A few more shots was enough to take it out, but by the time she looked back over to the other person the monster that was attacking him was gone.  It looked like it had been gone for a little while even.  The other person that was there before attacking was gone too.  Shizuka blinked a few times.

"Th-that was amazing!  I'm not quite sure what happened, but that was you right?" she started approaching, her weapon safely tucked at her side.  "How did you do that?"

[Tristan Carter]

When the girl approached him, Tristan wished he could heal her in some way. It looked like she had simply tried shooting the creatures, with no help from her Persona. But wasn't that how Blue was when everything started? Now, Luka was one of the strongest fighters in the group. Of course, Tristan could say the same about himself, if he was to be honest. It was scary how something like that happened, but it wasn't as if anything was normal anymore.

Tristan decided that right now, amazement would be the best thing to show. "I-I don't know," he said with wide eyes. He felt bad about lying to the girl, but he wasn't really lying. He had no idea how the process of using a Persona worked. All he knew was that he summoned it, it used magic, things died. Honestly, it felt super simple until he really thought about it. He looked to the ground, thinking of how he could explain everything without declaring he was outright lying. So far, it seemed he had talked himself into a corner.

"All I know is, I heard somebody say something like 'I am you, and you are I,' and then this guy shows up in armor and starts cutting the monster apart." He looked at the girl, realizing that he never introduced himself. "I'm Tristan. It's... It's nice to meet you. By any chance... would something like that happen to you? The... Guy, and the talking, and all that?"

[Shizuka Konaya]

Shizuka just blinked a few times at his explanation.  Normally she'd be worried about someone hearing voices, but given how weird the situation was maybe it was okay?  She furrowed her brow and started tugging on her lower lip.  It really did seem bad, but it also seemed rude to call him crazy.  There was also clearly a person there, so it was like, there was a person living in his head?  That didn't seem healthy either.

"Um..." she shook her head.  "No, I haven't had anything like that happen."  She paused and thought some more, but how to go about this still wasn't coming to her.  "O-Oh!  My name is Shizuka.  It's um, nice to meet you."

She bowed her head slightly, and winced as she remembered she was hit in the head and chest a few times.  She probably shouldn't let those sit, so she pulled out a small first aid kit and started patching herself up.  This may not have been the best place for this, but she was pretty sure her parents wouldn't appreciate bringing a stranger into the apartment, and breaking into someone else's house would be bad, so this would have to do.  As she started disinfecting the small wound on the side of her head, she realized that this guy might be hurt too.

"Oh, are you okay?  You should probably clean any cuts you have so they don't get infected."

There was a bit of a double meaning there given he was hearing voices, but hopefully he wouldn't catch that.

[Tristan Carter]

Tristan felt really perplexed out the girl's words. If she hadn't 'awakened' to a Persona, she was in an unimaginable amount of danger. There was also the fact that she was able to experience the effects of the dark hour. She clearly had the potential to awaken; but, until then, she would be in a life or death situation. Not that the others weren't in the same situations, it was just that the girl had even less in the way of protection. Suddenly, Tristan had an overwhelming urge to be the girl's protection. No, he stated mentally, before he could continue down that train of thought. I refuse to mother hen the poor girl. Best I would do is keep her from dying. She'll need to figure out a way to help herself.

He hadn't disregarded her offer, he realized. He could heal himself over time with the Fang Fist, so first aid wouldn't do much good. But he still needed a way to say that without letting on too much. "I'm fine," he said, his eyes still wide. "I think I'm in shock. Seeing monsters, hearing voices, and somehow not dying? I don't think first aid would do too much. I'm going to the hospital in the morning, see if I can get a shrink to look at me. Maybe I'll get some doctors to fix up whatever injuries I do have." He realized how rude that sounded and, without thinking, he blurted out, "not that I doubt your abilities, or anything." He sighed. He felt he was going to end up 'Mother Henning' the girl, no matter his attentions. At least until she could realize her Persona. Of course, before he could do anything to protect her, he still had a few questions for her.

"Shizuka," he said quietly, still trying to work out his role. He needed to play the part, but improv wasn't really his best work. Even so, he was determined to pull it off. "How long have you been seeing these.... everything?" He gestured towards the sky, street lights, and where the shadows had been. Hopefully, she would get the gist of what he meant.

[Shizuka Konaya]

Shizuka nodded at his response to her offer.  It would be better to get professional help indeed.  She would do the same if her parents would let her, but right now they think suffering through it is an appropriate punishment for setting things on fire.  None of that was even her fault, but it's not like she could explain what really happened.  That was more likely to get her in even more trouble.  Though, his reassurance that it wasn't because he thought she was incompetent made her feel a little awkward.  Of course, going to a professional was better, that was a given.  So why did he feel the need to say that it wasn't because of her skills?  Was it because he really didn't trust her and he didn't want to make it look like that?

"Um..." she thought back to the first fight.  "About a week I think.  They came into my family's apartment the first time, but I haven't seen them go back in since.  It's just kind of...um, weird seeing them out the window.  I'm not sure if they'll ever make their way back in, so I thought I'd try to get some before that could happen again."

[Tristan Carter]

Tristan almost nodded when Shizuka gave an answer. Almost. He realized that it may not be the best way to proceed, given how he had set himself up. Of course, what was the best way to proceed? He had almost lied himself into a corner. The way he saw it, he had two, very distinct options. The first option was to continue lying, and pray that nothing happened to the girl before he got a chance to explain anything. The second option was to come clean, deal with the consequences, and possibly scare the girl into making some sort of mistake. Either way, they weren't very good options. It seemed far more likely for something bad to happen from them than good. There was also the problem of, were he to come clean, Shizuka may not believe him. Not right away, at least. 

There was no good option, but Tristan realized it might be better to make the morally better choice. Besides, better to come clean now than to let her catch him in a lie. With a sigh, he looked the girl in the eyes. "I may not have been... Entirely honest with you." He gave a weak smile before summoning Odysseus behind him. The Persona appeared in a flash of light, with almost no warning. Tristan realized too late that such would happen before cursing himself. He wished someone else was here. At least someone else would be able to do a good job. "I maybe sorta kinda lied a bit. In part about being scared, a lot about any plans to see a psychiatrist. Also, about doctors looking at any injuries. They sorta... heal themselves over a short period of time." He sighed again. He had no idea of where to start explaining anything. He supposed a good way to start would be to see what Shizuka wanted to know about first.

"I'm... Somewhat knowledgeable about our current situation. As knowledgeable as anyone else is, I guess. So, if you want to know anything, just ask. I guess."

[Shizuka Konaya]

Shizuka blinked a few times.  He was making it all up?  He had actually fought these monsters a lot so far?  Why was he afraid to share any of that?  She knew that honesty was one of those really weird things when it came to morality.  Everyone said they preferred honesty, but when you were actually honest with them they'd just get mad.  She wasn't quite sure why he thought that she would get mad over something like this though.  Though, when she thought about it, was the situation really so bad that he didn't want to talk about it? That it would just make her so unhappy or scared that talking about it was that difficult?  Shizuka furrowed her brow.  She had several questions, but most of them were about why he would lie about something like this.  However, asking those questions would probably just make him feel bad, and she didn't want to make him feel bad.  If he was that insistent on hiding it then...well she could probably figure out the details on her own.

"Um...How many are there?  We took out a couple, but I think I can still hear more moving around a little further away."

In the end, that was all she really cared about.  As long as they didn't go inside her family's apartment anymore, as long as they weren't a threat to her family, everything would be fine.  

[Tristan Carter]

Tristan could see that the girl didn't really like what he said, but Shizuka took the information in stride compared to what he expected. Did I misread the situation? he asked himself, then realized something. She was probably more confident in the situation now. She had just killed a strange monster with a gun. It made sense. Then, she asked her first question, and Tristan understood that he may be right. She still didn't know that there were more than just the ones around her house.

"We have no idea," he said quietly. "There's more than the one kind of creature, for one thing. There's the things that we just fought, creatures that bear resemblance to common objects or creatures, usually. Then there are demons, creatures that are strikingly similar to things from mythology. Those are found in a mirror world, almost. There are portals, and places are similar, but it is clearly a different place." He sighed and thought for a minute before continuing. "Then there's the fact that they are everywhere. All over the city, and all over the other world. I estimate that there could be millions, total. And that's just in the city. We have no idea- or, rather, I have no idea- if there are more outside of Tokyo." He took a sweeping look around the area. There were some further away, but they weren't really approaching. "I don't think there are going to be any more near here tonight, though. So you should be fine."

[Shizuka Konaya]

Shizuka nodded as he spoke.  It was a lot to take in, but overall it didn't seem that complicated when she really thought about it.  She didn't have a TV or a computer in her household, so it was difficult to keep up with the news like a normal person, but it was impossible to miss people talking and gossiping about current events.  There had clearly been something going on for some time.  People had been going missing, getting mysteriously hurt, all kinds of bad things.  There was no way all of that was unrelated to what she was experiencing now.  It seems like she could have very easily been one of thos missing people if that first night had gone differently.

"So...for right now we should be prepared to fight forever," she stated simply.  "Okay.  Um, but you said 'we' though.  How many of you are there?  And do the um...demons," she frowned a little as she said that, "typically leave the um, portals?"

So the ones smart enough to communicate were literally demons?  Somehow she wasn't surprised.  This whole thing was very sinister.  Though, she hadn't heard of portals to Hell coming up anywhere in scripture.  Typically demons had to use other means to get to people.  Were the portals just for humans then?  This could be really bad.  The next time she was allowed out of the house for more than a little while she would have to investigate.

Granted, the idea of a being a real demon hunter did sound a little exciting.

[Tristan Carter]

For a moment, Tristan didn't know how to respond. How many of the Users were there, exactly? It was clear that there were more than just the number he had met, but how many were there that he had encountered? And as for demons leaving, it seemed eerily possible for it to be a common occurrence. After all, it wasn't exactly as if they had all found every portal, most likely, and there was no way to keep a constant eye on the portals they had found.

"If I'm to be honest, I have no real answer. I know of a handful of people with Personas, but there are obviously more than just the ones I've met," he said with a sigh. He looked up at the gigantic moon overhead as he continued. "As for demons leaving, it seems extremely plausible. They aren't stupid, in most cases. Or, at least, they don't seem to be dumber than your average human. I've personally not seen any of them walking the streets of Tokyo, but it's a big city. Plus, it isn't as if we would hear about it from normal people. They can't see the portals or our Personas, so I doubt they could see Demons."

[Shizuka Konaya]

He didn't even seem to notice how strange her question regarding the demons was.  The very idea that they could walk around the world and be noticed was silly.  They were able to communicate with humans, but the only way to actually influence the world itself was to possess humans.  This confirmed in her mind that, at least on the other end of the portals, the demons were likely in their true forms.  It was a little scary to think about.  On the bright side, it meant that he was probably not possessed himself, and that the creature he summoned was probably not a demon.

"So, some?  Hm, it's going to be hard for so few people to cover everywhere.  Though, I guess some areas won't have people at night, so maybe it'll be okay?  Do you have set patrols?  Is that why you're here tonight?"