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Post by mugenginga on Oct 9, 2009 17:36:19 GMT -5
(OOC: Knowledge of Persona and Shin Megami Tensei: Devil Survivor needed. The latter is more important in this particular thread. At the minimum, knowledge of the King of Bel and Messiah routes are needed. Oh, and being invited by FF or me, PMing one of us will work as we can discuss it ourselves.)
Kaini, K2 to his friends and Slider to his enemies, sat on a rather prominent rock outside the apartment buildings. He was actually rather wet. He'd sat down on the wet rock earlier without even thinking that in a downpour such as this it might, you know, be wet.
If Midori had made a comment about it, he hadn't heard her. She'd been chattering the entire way back from the church. Corrupt or not, if Keiichi was his brother he must have the patience of a saint. If they were twins, as the evidence kept piling up to support, it was a nice personality contrast. Kaini wasn't the patient type.
He'd stuck his COMP in his pocket, hoping the machine wouldn't be to damaged by the rain. He didn't really know how long he'd been waiting, and he lost track of how much was going through his head what felt like an eternity ago. It really was like a cheesy soap opera plot, but the concern was rising in his chest. Even if Keiichi was some kind of long lost twin, he wanted the encounter over with. Just so he could know one way or another.
And that encounter the teen thought he wanted was fast approaching. Atem was actually heavier than he looked. Even if you tried to give him Yuugi's body type, he was heavier than just a taller version. Thing was, Atem had some muscular development Yuugi lacked.
And his attempts to help the two teens support him were really only making things more difficult. Damn, he hated feeling this weak. He saw the apartments and looked down at Yuugi, "I think I can make it a few feet."
Yuugi looked extremely concerned, "Are you sure?"
Atem sighed, "I can't rely on you two for everything. K1, mind letting go?"
It was the first time Atem had addressed K1 outside of Yuugi. And there was a noticable lack of honorific. This could be taken two ways, and Atem's personality strongly leaned it towards the ruder way. One, he considered K1 a good enough friend to drop the honorific. Two, and more likely, Atem's ore-using personality was coming through. He didn't tend to use honorifics.
Kaini was so wrapped up in his own mind that he completely missed the person he was waiting to see. He'd know right away when he saw him. You don't exactly miss what could be your clone. Midori, on the other hand...
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Post by Firebreath Fishslap on Oct 9, 2009 17:47:14 GMT -5
The whole walk back to the apartments, K1 had quite honestly felt like his legs were going to snap out from under him, and that was about that time he decided that he needed to get into shape really, really badly. Yuugi hadn't been kidding when he said that Atem was heavy.
When Atem made his request, he gratefully let go. "Careful," K1 said. He didn't need Atem collapsing now.
After arriving at the apartments, Midori had stood next to Kaini, waiting for K1 and the others to arrive. At the sound of K1's voice, Midori turned, and her face lit up. "Keiichi-kun!"
K1 turned to face Midori, and his eyes got wide.
Sitting next to her was what looked like a weird, color switched, carbon copy of him. He stepped back a little. It was almost scary. Correction: it was scary. K1 was freaked out. His face had drained of all color.
Souji turned to where K1 was facing, and his eyes got wide too. There were two Keiichis?!
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Post by mugenginga on Oct 9, 2009 17:55:42 GMT -5
Atem nodded. He actually didn't have the most positive look on his face. Just because he admitted he found himself weak at times didn't mean he needed to be coddled. Actually, the warning was almost a self fulfilling prophecy. Atem nearly fell. Yuugi stepped forward to support him again, but he saw a grim determination in the Pharaoh's face and stepped back. He looked guilty. He had to let Atem do it.
He turned away and with how tired he was over the TV World had no chance to prevent tripping over his own leg, "Yuugi!"
"I'm fine..." he lied, pushing himself up to look at Kaini.
Who, by this point, had noticed Keiichi and was trying to recover from yet another instance of broken mind. Well... Komaki's mistake made more sense. He glanced over towards the robotic woman by his side. He'd been subjected to enough conventions in his time to even come across the thought that she resembled a Drow Elf. At least she seemed nicer than they were often depicted. He wasn't sure if she was an angel or a demon. He forced himself to his feet and turned his eyes away from the odd entity so he could look at Keiichi.
"Um... you're Keiichi-san, right...?"
If he'd had the ability to split his mind away from being broken, he would have facepalmed at himself. That had to be the single least confident question ever. And he should have introduced himself first. But as it was, he was probably lucky he got that out. He was drenched, but that wasn't the reason he was having trouble standing. This... was awkward. He looked enough like him he though even his mother might be confused.
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Post by Firebreath Fishslap on Oct 9, 2009 18:03:32 GMT -5
K1 slowly nodded. "Uh-huh... and who are you...?" He seemed to be slowly recovering from the brain breakage. "Wait, who the hell are you!?" He had no idea who this person was. It was scary how much they resembled each other, down to the clothes. They were close enough looking their own mother would probably get them confused. But that was the thing. K1 didn't have a brother. Not unless you counted Naoya, and that was through the fun conventions of reincarnation. But this... this was just bizarre. It was uncanny.
Kikuri-Hime seemed to have been thrown off balance too. "...Master?" she hesitantly asked.
Souji was already thinking up possibilities. The only one he could think of was "shadow", but most Shadows couldn't leave the TV World. And plus, there were too many small differences. Mainly in the attire.
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Post by mugenginga on Oct 9, 2009 18:07:57 GMT -5
Kaini winced a bit as Keiichi got angry. While it was more likely he was trying to cover up his complete shock with anger, Kaini only got the anger. He tried to speak slowly to avoid tripping over his own tongue, "I... uh... do you have any siblings? That... you wouldn't know about or something...?"
His eyes turned towards Kikuri-hime as she spoke. Master? That... didn't bode well. He knew the Naoya man had a COMP and if his way of holding himself didn't indicate he used demons, nothing did. Midori had a COMP, but he was trying to convince herself she used angels. She seemed awfully nice to be in a deal with the devil so to speak. He looked nervously back towards Keiichi, his hand reaching into his pocket.
And with all of this, he still hadn't answered Keiichi's question. Yuugi glanced over to Atem, who seemed to be trying to observe the situation. As a result he seemed to be slowly losing the battle to stay on his feet.
"Atem, maybe we should go inside...?" he suggested.
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Post by Firebreath Fishslap on Oct 9, 2009 18:15:19 GMT -5
That only seemed to make K1 even more angry and confused. "What the hell kind of question is that?!" he yelled. His own hand reached into his pocket, reaching for the COMP. Who the hell was this kid?!
Souji, seeing that this was going downhill fast, turned to Midori. "Midori-chan, who is this person?" he asked. Midori looked a little nervous.
"Um... K2-kun, why don't you go ahead and introduce yourself?" Midori asked. Souji raised an eyebrow. K2?
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Post by mugenginga on Oct 9, 2009 18:20:21 GMT -5
K2 turned towards Midori and was about to ask how she came upon his nickname, but shook his head and turned towards Keiichi. He was reaching into the same pocket... "My name is Kurosawa Kaini!" he said quickly.
Somehow he thought that fighting the teen would end badly. For him. And not just because he was almost convinced Keiichi was his long lost twin. Somehow... he had a feeling he'd get his head handed to him here. Kikuri-hime seemed like she had quite a bit of power. How did he know this?
He winced as he half expected some devil to jump out at him at Keiichi's command. His own COMP was about half way out of his pocket, and it was not out of the question for somone to notice it.
Atem felt his head spin, and took a step forward. Yuugi was right, he needed to get inside. He still wasn't sure how long he'd been in the TV World, but it had felt like years. He glanced at the door to the complex and managed a scowl. Adachi was still in there. Yuugi seemed like he was hesitating between the door and Atem. The Pharaoh pushed his feet foward, walking around the back of the group. Yuugi was already at the door. He'd pulled it open and was waiting.
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Post by Firebreath Fishslap on Oct 9, 2009 18:37:00 GMT -5
K1 tensed. Kaini? But that shortened to...
"Keiichi and Kaini... K1 and K2. How punny," Souji commented. In any case, it confirmed that K2 wasn't some kind of Shadow. In fact... it was rather likely that K2 was some kind of long lost twin. Which sounded like it was out of some anime he'd watched once...
Minato groaned. It seemed to be a reflexive action to a bad pun of any kind, since he didn't seem to be any more concious at the moment.
Midori had not missed the comparisons to an anime here. Especially the comparisons to Digimon Frontier. Two twins, seperated at birth, and one of them becoming evil! Which one of the two, K1 or K2, was Kouichi and which one was Kouji, though... that was the real question. She didn't want to think that K1 was Kouichi, but with the way things had been going...
Well, if that was the case, then "Kouji" could bring him back to good, then!
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Post by mugenginga on Oct 9, 2009 18:40:57 GMT -5
K2 looked away... that meant... "So... you're the one that turned away from God..."
The angel had neglected to mention the "twin" brother part. But it was what he had to believe until something proved otherwise. He turned towards Keiichi, and he looked rather pained, "Is it that Naoya-san's fault?"
Oh joy. He'd just revealed the other part of the encounter he'd had earlier that day. But it also implied Kaini didn't know nearly as much about the situation as he thought he had. Then again, probably more than K1 had realized. "Turned away from God".
The door shut behind Yuugi and Atem. Yuugi hoped the Pharaoh would be able to make it up the stairs... preferably without running into Adachi.
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Post by Firebreath Fishslap on Oct 9, 2009 18:51:53 GMT -5
Turned away from God...? "I didn't 'turn away from Him.' I never wanted to follow Him in the first place. Not after I found out what was going to happen if humanity failed his little ordeal," K1 growled. Some twin brother of his. He sounded like he was accusing him of... oh no. The angels recruited some long lost twin brother of his to try to get him back to being their Messiah. That explained so much. As for the knowledge about Naoya... well, K1 just assumed that the angels filled them in on him.
"And don't say things like that about my cousin. You don't even know Naoya," K1 growled.
Souji was now confused. What was this about "God?" Were they talking about the Christian God? From the sound of things, this God had wanted K1 to do something, and K1 turned it down because something bad was going to happen to the people in the Lockdown.
Midori, on the other hand, was smiling. K2 thought Naoya was bad too! If K2 could convince K1 of this, then maybe K1 would stop following Naoya around.
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Post by mugenginga on Oct 9, 2009 18:59:15 GMT -5
K2 seemed a bit intimidated here, but he made a point of holding his ground. He didn't know Naoya? Sure, he'd only just met the man. But it was obvious he was a dark person. He shook his head, "How can you say that! He picked you, didn't He? God could have just taken away free will! He didn't! And if He picked you that means you've got to be right for it! Just because we can't understand His motivations doesn't make them wrong! God would never-"
"Never what? Make a mistake?"
Kaini jerked to the side. Naoya stepped out of the shadows of the alley. He'd seen the situation de-escalate. Kaini glared at Naoya as he walked over to the group. He looked between Keiichi and Kaini. Yeah, there was definently a resemblance.
"Just like it wasn't a mistake to tempt Man with the tree? Just like his favorite creation turning up their nose at Him wasn't a mistake? What do you think this trial is for? It's to clean up His mistakes, and throw a hissy fit at humanity if He can't."
It probably shouldn't be too surprising that a bolt of lightning arced across the sky, quickly followed by thunder. There was a pretty heavy downpour going on right now. But the timing was ironic. Unlike Kaini and Keiichi, who seemed to be hesitating about their COMPS, Naoya's was out. And his finger hovering over the confirmation button.
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Post by Firebreath Fishslap on Oct 9, 2009 19:07:48 GMT -5
K1 turned his head. "Naoya..." he said. Midori's face paled. How had Naoya done that?! She hadn't even seen him approach. More importantly, he was preventing K2 from pulling K1 out of the path to darkness.
Souji was starting to realize this was why K1 never talked about his history if he could help it. The way this conversation was going, all of the talk about God and the Lockdown... Souji had read some of the Judeo-Christian Bible for school, so he knew bits and pieces of it, but it sounded like things went a lot deeper than he thought, and K1 was deeply involved.
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Post by mugenginga on Oct 9, 2009 19:12:29 GMT -5
K2 seemed rather angry, but he also knew that he'd be lucky to be a stain on the ground if he fought against these two. He looked Naoya as close to in the eyes as he could manage with the man's harsh gaze, "Are you a demon?"
Naoya... had to fight at not laughing over that "accusation". It was seen in the real world as a slight twitch followed by a slight shake of his head, "No. Do you think you can stand up to one? How much experience do you have? Keiichi has fought numerous demon 'lords' if you will. How about you?"
Kaini turned towards Keiichi, grateful for an excuse to not look at Naoya, "I-Is that true!? If you're against God, why are you fighting His enemies?"
Ah, the joys of dramatic irony. It was probably pretty clear to those with moderate levels of observation that K2 had not been in the Lockdown. Despite the modded COMP.
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Post by Firebreath Fishslap on Oct 9, 2009 19:20:28 GMT -5
K1 gave a slightly evil smile, otherwise known as the "most evil look K1 has ever given ever." "You... you weren't in the lockdown, were you?" K1 asked. That had implications of its own. Kaini had a modded COMP, but wasn't in the Lockdown. So the angels gave it to him for sure. Well, that meant that if K2 attacked him, he could very easily take his "brother" down. Hopefully K2 wasn't that dumb.
Souji was a little surprised at the evil grin. Okay. That had come completely out of left field. As it was, it was becoming more and more obvious that K1 was not the "nice" kid he knew... And Naoya was a lot more than he appeared.
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Post by mugenginga on Oct 9, 2009 19:24:50 GMT -5
Well, if K2 had been having any illusions of pulling a matyr, he abandoned them at Keiichi's grin. He turned back to Naoya, and suddenly realized the two had far more in common than he wanted to admit. Which made saving Keiichi all the less likely. He'd heard of tactical retreats before... he took a step back, noticed neither of them were following, and turned to Midori.
"W-We should probably... regroup or something..."
He didn't answer Keiichi's question. By not answering he'd pretty much given his answer. No, he hadn't been. Which on the cynical side of things made it far easier for God to pull the "wool" over his head. It also meant he couldn't possibly have the painful knowledge Keiichi had been forced into by the events of the Lockdown. Naoya was satisified by the reaction. He could tell Souji was putting things together. No need to bring up the past lives issue and give the silver haired teen the full picture.
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