Intuition

[REIKA HANAE]

It was Saturday. While part of her was happy to be done with school for the week, part of her always dreaded the weekend. That tended to be when Strega was most active and thus when she was forced to be near them and help them with their dirty work. She was the only one in the organization that could find people without having to spend some time digging, so she was a particularly valuable asset. This combined with her hedonistic and rebellious attitude, meant that Strega had to try to control her if they wanted to be able to use her. Reika grudgingly accepted this, mostly because they are scary beyond reason. However, some days her desire to do something (or not do something in this case) overrode her common sense and desire to not get hurt. This was one of those days.

Going straight to her room when she got home from school wasn't unusual. What was unusual was that she didn't come out. Normally she would go back out or head to the roof, but today she just stayed inside. Reika has some stuff she wanted to do on the internet, so she was at least able to procrastinate on her homework. That made staying inside less torturous. She was planning, and it was absolutely essential that everyone thought she was still inside her room. She did not want to have to deal with people looking for her. Even though she was the one that could sense peoples' presences they had an uncanny knack for tracking her down when she "forgot" to be home before midnight. This stunt would certainly reveal her distaste for their murder activities, but she hasn't exactly been hiding that. She can't even go with them on their missions because it makes her squeamish. There was nothing to lose here. Probably.

So Reika waited, quietly and patiently. At 11:00 she slipped out her window and carefully climbed her way down the side of the dorm. There weren't very many footholds and her room was on the third floor, but there was another building nearby that she could potentially jump to if she felt herself slip. It'd be fine. Probably.

With that, she made her way to the school, avoiding conventional routes like the subway or a bus. She didn't think they'd notice she was gone until it was too late, but there was no need to take unnecessary risks. Reika could easily get to Tartarus in an hour. Tonight seemed like an excellent time for that; Tartarus was a place full of money and it'd be hard to follow her. Most people couldn't just run through everything like she could, and during the Dark Hour she's so much faster than everyone else that she hasn't met a human that could match her in a foot race. Even the fastest of shadows had trouble keeping up with her if they even managed to notice her in the first place. She'd run through this place so many times and most of the time no one on her 'team' bothered her, and she could evade any shadow. Plus, it'd net her a huge chunk of cash. It'd be great! Probably.

Reika grinned when she arrived in Arqa. The earlier floors were always easy and reasonably profitable, but this is where the money really started coming. The shadows were more dangerous, but if they were able to hit her in the first place she was doing something wrong. She continued up the tower looting every chest she came across, spending more than a couple of minutes on each floor. That is, until she came across THAT floor.

It looked like any other floor in Arqa, but she was able to tell that it wasn't. A wave of uncertainty and dread came over her. No, this floor was definitely dangerous...but...as she looked she saw treasure and rare forms all over the place. This feeling kept telling her to get out, that being here was stupid, that she needed to leave as soon as possible, but she had been thinking such thoughts all day. She already knew she was doing something risky and stupid, but she didn't care. Reika understood the reason the feeling got worse was because of this floor, but she was able to handle any obstacle Tartarus threw at her. All she had to do was run away right? Everything would be fine. Probably.

Normally, Reika would only spend a minute or two in the floor because she didn't bother to explore every corner of it. It means she missed out on some treasure, but it often wasn't worth the risk of walking down narrow hallways with shadows in them. However, this floor had no hostile shadows; the only shadows were rare forms that she wanted to slice up for money. The floor was also covered with treasure. She really hit the jackpot tonight, her face was practically glowing. That is, until she 'saw' a strange form and heard a strange noise. The sound of clanking chains echoed throughout the halls. It was close, she didn't even need her persona's senses to know that because of the noise, but even worse than that this shadow was very fast. It might even be able to keep up with her. And she was cornered in a larger square room. It would give her some room to maneuver, but the shadow was coming right for her and there was no way for her to get around it.

Reika was worried, but she nearly wet herself when she saw it. It was a massive, cloaked figure covered with chains. It was at least double her height if not more. Just looking at it made her not want to take the time to fully analyze it, but she wasn't sure if she would have much choice. Her legs were shaking...no her entire body was, but the fact that her legs were shaking too much to move kept her in place for a moment as it sped towards her. However, before it could hit her, she unconsciously started sprinting across the room. She still couldn't feel her legs, nor did it feel like she was controlling her body at all; she wasn't really thinking at all. She just knew that she had to get out of here.

"Oh shit."

The words escaped her mouth somehow. Reika didn't hear them, she didn't even know she said them. She hadn't found an exit yet and finding that was all she cared about.

((NOTE: Feel free to grab her or something if it helps you post.))

[KAITOU NAGANO]

Happy Saturday. The afternoon sun was shining directly against the closed blinds of the dorm's meeting room as Kaitou sat reclined on a couch, juggling his knives. A heavy sigh blew out from his lips as he lay down on the couch, resting his knives on his chest and shutting his eyes. Would it be correct to say he was having a bout of insomnia in the middle of the day? The teen cracked an eye open and stared at his Evoker resting in its holster on the coffee table in front of him, recalling last night's trek into Tartarus.

One of Kaitou's sources had informed him that treasure floors were appearing more frequently over the past few days. This would be a good chance to add some padding to the group's funds, but there was a bit of a problem with the idea... The Reaper was never too far away on those kinds of floors in the tower. Not Kaitou, but the real Reaper. A ghastly Shadow whose strength exceeded that of any other he had ever fought before.

Unfortunately for the young leader, the Reaper was exactly who he ran into while raiding a treasure floor last night. He had gotten out alive, but had to ditch most of his spoils. Overall, it was a waste of a good Dark Hour for him, and on top of that, a Ziodyne from the Shadow had left him with a few scars to his psyche. They would heal eventually, but he couldn't get any desk work done as a result, and sleep would not come to his tired body. So instead, restlessness took over and led him to his current state, fidgeting around with his knives. The desire to do any research had died out sometime after dawn, and like hell he would go outside and risk having to interact with the other members of SEES. Even his books were doing little to keep him focused.

"Fuck. Maybe I'll buy a TV after all." After moving into the dorms, Kaitou entertained the notion of adding a plain TV to the rest of the consoles that lined up against the wall of his room. After all, a brand new season of Phoenix Ranger Featherman R had begun just a few days prior to him joining SEES. At the time, he scoffed at himself for thinking he would have the free time to be watching TV when he was about to take on a huge responsibility... But now here he was, lying on his back without a damn thing to do.

---

Somewhere between trying to add his Evoker to the juggle pile and considering taking a TV cable and hooking it into the main computer, Kaitou decided it would be a good idea to just wait until tonight's Dark Hour-- then he could blow some steam and perhaps try to reclaim his loot. At around 10:30, he hopped off the couch, grabbing a set of keys and a collapsible grappling hook (?!)from atop a bookshelf before opening the window and rappelling down the dorm building. For the sake of convenience (read: to further his anti-social tendencies), Kaitou ordered the aforementioned grappling hook and used it to give himself a shortcut out of the dorms when he wanted to go to Tartarus. One quiet commute later, and he was standing before the gates of Gekkoukan High School.

And one grappling hook shot later, he was standing behind those gates. Now he just had to wait another half an hour...

---

The treasure floor was on Arqa, but his initial run through the floors wasn't taking him where he wanted. After the tenth staircase, he was prepared to give up for tonight when he spied a Treasure Hand scurrying away at the top of the stairs. Jackpot. A smug sense of satisfaction took over as Kaitou strode to the first chest in sight, kicking it open as... nothing came out. The chest was empty. Which meant that someone had beaten him to the floor, and was still lingering around.

clink

Lingering a bit too long, it would seem. The Reaper's chains grated against Kaitou's ears-- it was close, but wasn't heading his way. This was the perfect opportunity for him to get the hell out of dodge, but he wanted to see what the Shadow had caught; there was always the improbable chance that one of his teammates had also snuck out only to get cornered.

A few minutes' worth of tracking the chains led Kaitou to the gargantuan fiend and his target. A red-headed girl... He couldn't see too much of her from behind the Reaper, and thus couldn't tell if she was one of Strega's dogs or not... Without that explicit knowledge, the blonde's conscience wouldn't allow him to just ignore her. Besides, maybe he could get her to split some loot with him as repayment for bailing her out.

"Oi! Turn around, you son of a bitch!" Taking the grappling hook into Tartarus was a good idea tonight-- with a swing and a fling, Kaitou had managed to snag its hooks against some of the Reaper's chains, yanking hard to catch its attention. While it whirled around, Kaitou sprinted past it, approaching the girl with a silver sphere in hand. "Run!"

Without a second thought, he threw the sphere to the ground at his feet. As it shattered, smoke erupted from within its shell; the teen had thrown a smoke bomb, and while it seemed pointless, the distraction was doing its job, if only for a moment. Kaitou took off first in the haze, stumbling for a moment to grab his grappling hook off the Reaper's chains while it thrashed around, then bolting out of the room, hoping the girl would be at his heels behind him.

((Or leaving him in the dust. Since she's fast like a Nascar and all.))

[REIKA HANAE]

Another person coming this way didn't even register to her anymore, even though she could 'see' him clearly. That is, until he said something. His words sounded like incoherent mumbling in her ears at first, but eventually they began to sound like words again and she was able to make out 'run.' Yes, she definitely needed to run, she needed to get out of here! The feeling of trying to run while already running was, perhaps, one of the oddest sensations Reika had felt in her life. But if she was already running why the hell was this guy telling her to run? Weirdo. That thought made something click in her brain. There was nothing in this universe that could outrun her during the Dark Hour. Why the hell was she letting herself run so slowly anyway? Reika quickly drew her evoker and pointed it at the side of her head.

"Amaranth!"

A large, red flower began blooming on her back, and a person that looked remarkably similar to Reika emerged from it. Amaranth had light blue eyes, light skin and red hair like Reika, however its hair was much longer and was covered in small red blossoms, much like the one it emerged from. Even Amaranth's dress looked like flower petals. Her persona's expression was completely blank as it took one of the flowers from its hair and held it close to its chest. Reika was enveloped in a bright green light; a light significantly brighter than one would expect from such an ability. Reika had seen shadows try to increase their agility to chase her, but her ability was about four times more effective than theirs. It didn't last long, and she knew she'd be feeling this later, but it was necessary right now.

As Reika began bolting down the hall she realized something and looked back behind her. There was some guy saying something to her, that's why she did all this in the first place. Her senses were beginning to return to her after the initial shock of seeing such a strong, fast shadow. She had to get out of here, but just leaving this guy behind seemed mean. She would definitely prioritize herself, but if she could get this guy out of here that'd be great. Unfortunately, she still hadn't found that weird teleporty thing on this floor, and the direction she was headed wasn't one she had mapped out yet. Her persona sensed life, not walls. She could guess the shape of the area based on where the smaller shadows were normally, but since there were none on this floor she was working blind.

"Don't worry about me, I'll scout ahead for an exit!"

Reika doubted the smoke grenade would distract this shadow for long. She had never seen a shadow like this, so she wasn't confident enough to say it out loud, but she was pretty sure it had an ability similar to hers. It took the shortest path to her, so it must have had some way of knowing where she was. If it had such senses, then confusing its eyes would do nothing. Reika had to find a way out of here fast. Fortunately, fast was one of the few things she could actually do.

With a nod, she continued down the hallway at an impossibly fast pace. At the end, there was a fork and both hallways turned, so she couldn't tell what was at the end of them. She darted left and rushed to the end of the left hall and turned the corner. There was one more bend in it, but it wouldn't take long at all for her to clear this part of it either. To her horror, when she looked around the next bend the hallway ended. There was no teleporter, no stairs, just a wall. Reika swore under her breath as her heels screeched against the ground, stopped, turned around, and started running back towards the fork. However, the hallway was long enough that even at her speed the weird guy and the shadow were almost at the fork as she turned the corner back to it.

"It's a dead end over there, go the other way!"

The smoke bomb certainly distracted the shadow better than she thought it would, but this was a long hallway. She narrowed her eyes and sprinted through it as fast as she could. She couldn't see the shadow yet, but she knew it was close; she did not need her eyes to 'see' it. It became obvious to her very quickly that she wasn't going to make it to the other side of the gap in time, however, this did not deter her from charging straight towards it. She would not run there fast enough, but there was a chance she'd make it if she jumped off the wall and dove across. The chance was better than being cornered. Even if it was fixated on him (which was certainly not guaranteed and not something she wanted to risk) it was only a matter of time before he escaped and it started coming after her again anyway.

She jumped off the ground, angled herself towards the wall and launched herself off of it. This jump was easy compared to climbing down her dorm, so she was able to execute it with no problems. Her head slowly turned towards the shadow and she could feel her heart in her throat. It looked like it was reaching for her. Reika had already escaped one confrontation with this thing and didn't want to get into another, but...she didn't have any other options. She took a deep breath and closed her eyes. However, she felt nothing. She managed to slip past. Perfect, she was able to make it through! Unfortunately, she wasn't expecting to make it, so her body wasn't in the best position to stick the landing. She flew face first into the floor. With the shadow not far behind, the precious seconds it would take her to scramble to her feet could easily end her.

((I need to ask my dice bot what to do more often.))

[KAITOU NAGANO]

So, about this girl. She was fast.

Ludicrously fast. As the smoke began to clear, Kaitou caught a glance of the Evoker and the Persona that manifested itself from the girl's body. It looked as if the Persona cast Sukukaja repeatedly on her User before they both overtook him. She yelled something about going off to search for an exit before she streaked off and down a long hallway. Perhaps she was a scout for the other groups?

clinkclink

Right. No time to ponder trivial things like alliance when the goddamn Reaper was chasing you down. Kaitou chanced a glance over his back and immediately wished he didn't-- the Shadow's grisly face greeted him as it was quickly advancing towards his position. "Don't worry about me, she says. Like I could worry about you when you can run a mile a fucking a minute!" Grumbling, Kaitou continued to flee from the Reaper, bending forward and letting his arms hang behind him as his speed increased significantly. The whole "ninja run" may have seemed silly to try and apply in a real-world situation, but it did its job, allowing Kaitou to gain ground on the Shadow. He had braced himself to take any attacks it would surely be throwing at him by this point, but for some reason it seemed intent with just chasing him.

A few seconds passed with Kaitou just mindlessly sprinting down the hallway before he saw a wall. Or to be specific, a fork at the end of the hall. The redhead banked left and he hoped to all hell that she would find the stairs or a teleporter. There was still about ten seconds' worth of time before Kaitou and the trailing Reaper would arrive at the fork, and the last thing he needed to see right now was the girl running back to the fork to tell him she had missed the exit.

...So of course, she was going to be running back to the fork to tell him she had missed the exit. He wanted to yell at her for having clearly messed up when he had deduced she was a scouter, but that would not only be incredibly boorish, but the compositions of these special floors on Tartarus often screwed with the sensory capabilities of scout-types in one way or another. So instead, he settled on gritting his teeth as he prepared to veer right at the end of the hall. That is, until he felt the chill of one of the Reaper's arms shooting... over his head and at the girl. Suddenly the fact that it had not been attacking him made perfect sense. The Reaper was still intent on catching the girl, most likely because she was the one holding the treasure. And with the sudden burst of speed it gained upon making eye contact with her, the Shadow was indeed going to catch her out.

"Like hell I'll let you! Pay attention to me, asshole!" The disadvantage of Kaitou's ninja run was that he couldn't slow down as quickly and calmly as he wanted to, and in a situation like this, it was better to just let physics break his sprint. Kaitou pulled his Evoker out of its holster inside his jacket, jumping and then twisting 180 degrees, allowing momentum to propel himself straight into the wall with a jarring thud. He hadn't flung himself at the wall hard enough to break anything, so the instant he was back on his feet, he pushed off of it and pressed the barrel of his Evoker to his temple.

"Alastor!"

Blue smoke erupted from his body and floated forward, forming the knight and demon duo that was Alastor. By this time, the Reaper had just about reached the fork and was making a grab for Reika. Kaitou wasn't about to have any of it. The looming form of his Persona rushed at the Reaper, halting its advance by grabbing onto its two arms with his four. At that moment, the girl had jumped off the wall to quicken her movement across the fork. She landed less than gracefully and Kaitou sighed, knowing that it was his turn to contribute to the escape again.

"Hurry up and find the exit! I can go toe-to-toe with this thing for about a minute, so make it fast!" He was sure that he didn't need to bark the orders at her for her to get on her feet and continue seeking out the exit, but at least she would have a minute's relief as the demon half of Alastor ripped itself away from the knight's body, claws glowing blue as ice gathered around the Reaper.

"Shatter!" The command brought the ice together to encase the Reaper in a glacial prison before detonating it and dealing a bit of damage to the Shadow. Now that had gotten its attention, as it pointed of its harrowing revolvers at Kaitou, firing an Agidyne spell at him as their battle commenced...

[REIKA HANAE]

"Fast I can do," Reika smirked as she rushed to her feet. "It's definitely this way. I would have found it already if it was anywhere else. No need to fight it."

Naturally, she was already rushing down the hallway as she said that. Reika sure as hell wasn't going to stick around with this thing here. There were a few off-shoot corridors, one of which lead to the stairs to the next floor. However, she's had enough adventure for one night, so she continued down the hallway to the access point. As much as it broke her heart to leave the treasure in these hallways behind, a killer shadow chasing her was more than enough reason to get out of here.

"Yeah, it's over here! I'm heading down!"

That should be loud enough for him to hear. Probably. A greenish-yellow glow surrounded her when she touched it, and suddenly she was in the main foyer again.

It took her a minute before she calmed down enough to stop twitching. Adrenaline can be so irritating sometimes. It didn't help that her body still felt energized from her Red Capote. She did a quick scan of the area. It was quiet here, good. Reika sighed in relief and leaned against the nearest wall. She might believe this was karma for ditching her team if she didn't think it was a stupid concept. She got lucky. If that thing had actually cornered her she'd be toast. Reika supposed the least she could do is wait for the guy to come out. He did say he could fight that thing, so he'd be okay right?

Well, probably.

[KAITOU NAGANO]

As the girl continued to hunt for the exit, Kaitou was quickly backtracking down the path towards her as Alastor's knight half continued to brawl with the Reaper. The demon half had taken off ahead of both of them, not to keep an eye on his temporary companion, but...

Cackling, the demon came out of one of the dead-end hallways, holding treasure in its claws. Yes, while Kaitou stalled for his life, he decided it would still be worth collecting any last traces of loot that remained on the floor. It was a good idea as long as he didn't die, but after taking a direct hit from a Ziodyne spell, the teen turned around, calling his Persona halves together to make a full retreat. A quick sprint led him past the stairs and to the access point, and none too soon. The instant Kaitou slapped his hand on the teleporter to exit the floor, a Megidolaon spell dropped down at his location which would have surely killed him...

---

Once Kaitou and his Persona were back at the entrance, the demon's arms dropped all the loot it had gathered (it sure knew how to empty coffers in a pinch) into its owners arms. Not a bad haul considering how much of the spoils had already been taken by the girl who was now leaning against a wall on the other side of the foyer. The pair made their way across to her as Kaitou put away the treasure and folded his arms, blowing a long sigh to hide his mental fatigue from his scuffle.

"You're pretty fucking fast. Not fast enough to outrun the Reaper alone, but at the same time I don't think I've met any Users who can run like you. So about..."

He paused, letting out another sigh-- his injuries from last night seemed to be piling on with today's wounds, and his legs began to tremble a little. Sensing his User's condition, Alastor reached over to steady the blonde, who eventually regained his composure. (Ugh... It probably wouldn't be a good idea to try and convince her to split with some of her loot in the state I'm in right now. She could already run circles around me before I became tired. I'll just see about getting her name. Then I can narrow down whether she's with Strega or Nocturne or just a random User.)

"...Excuse me. I must have taken a few more hits than I wanted. As I was saying... About that Shadow. Did it manage to injure you at all?" Yeah, he'd go with that. He had clearly never meant to ask about the treasure anyway. Since he cares so much for the well-being of strangers and all that.

[REIKA HANAE]

There he is. Reika's lips curved into a small smile as he appeared. She could practically feel her mind erupt into a mad cackle. Seeeeee, everything was fiiiiine. Nothing bad happened, and everything will be fine when she goes home! Probably. AHAHAHAha...haha. She was exhausted, and it would only get worse once Red Capote died down.

Reika raised her eyebrows and stifled a chuckle at his first comment. Speed, knowledge and trickery were really the only things she brought to battle, but if these elements were used right she could be surprisingly deadly despite her lack of offensive prowess. She was a little more amused than she would normally be though. He seemed oddly jealous. Maybe she was just imagining things.

"Well, unless you count it nearly giving me a heart attack and me ramming my face into a concrete floor because of it I'm fine." She moved her hand up to touch her nose, but decided against it. It was probably bleeding a little and she did not need to confirm this right now. "I don't think my nose is broken or anything, so everything's fine. Completely fine. Looks like it took more out of you than me man, you need help getting back home?"

[KAITOU NAGANO]

...So, about this girl. She was fast, that was for sure. However, perhaps she was also just a little on the... eccentric side, if there was any way to put it lightly. Did she even realize that her nose was bleeding as she flashed him a quirky smile?

Then again, perhaps this was an act to throw Kaitou off-track. Her Persona's agility buff and her ability to scout just screamed spy; had he given his intentions away so lightly?

Or perhaps she was a scout for the other groups? What if she had somehow led him on to return to the foyer only to be ambushed by her teammates in a genius assassination attemp--

Okay, so she just opened her mouth, and Kaitou decided to stop panicking internally to listen. His initial threat assessment had far too generous-- if this were a trap, he would have deserved to have fallen for it. The girl seemed to almost absentmindedly try and touch her nose, but smartly chose not to. The blonde sighed, and loudly too. He grabbed a slim white box from his coat, opening it up to reveal a small first-aid kit. "Here, take some gauze and pad that up. Broken or not, it could go crooked if you leave it unattended..."

Maybe if he waited long enough, the girl would exhaust herself from fatigue and blood loss and he'd be able to slip a few questions by her.

[REIKA HANAE]

"Shit, it is bleeding isn't it?"

Reika angled her head upward slightly. While this wasn't the correct way to handle a bloody nose, she really didn't want to feel the blood running down her face or, heaven forbid, taste it. She just hoped it wouldn't slide down her throat before she could bandage it up.

"Thanks."

She took the kit, sat down and began bandaging her nose. It was obvious that she had done something like this numerous times. Her nose or her legs always seemed to be the first casualty when she did something stupid like this.

"It's a good thing you showed up when you did, that thing would have killed me. What the hell was that? I've never seen anything like it." She looked at the treasure he collected. "You're insane for grabbing all that while that thing was chasing you. Good work."

[KAITOU NAGANO]

Kaitou observed the girl's actions as she patched up her injured nose. She seemed to be used to this kind of incident... Was she clumsy or just unfortunately always smacking her face into the floor?

"Don't thank me. I was considering just letting it deal with you so I could have the rest of the floor to myself until you died. In any case, that Shadow's called the Reaper. It wanders around Tartarus, and tends to linger on strange floors like the treasure floor we just escaped from."

Looking down at his loot, the blonde smirked, turning back to his Persona. Alastor's knight half was calmly folding his arms and looking away, but the demon half cocked its head around to give the girl a wide, shark-toothed grin.

"This isn't the first time I've had to play cat and mouse with the Reaper. I usually come out with more cash, but things happen. At least I can fight it. You would do well not to forget about the Reaper for your future loot runs." He pointed to her stash with a gloved finger. "That is what you came here for tonight, yes?"

[REIKA HANAE]

So that's what kind of person he was. Interesting. Reika had to resist the urge to go pat him on the head. People that acted tough like that tended to be so unintentionally adorable. Fortunately, despite her impulsiveness tonight, this impulse was pretty easy to resist. The fact that she was feeling post-buff crash also helped.

"Too late, already thanked you. I can't exactly take it back!"

Once she finished patching up her nose she slid his first-aid kit back to him. Hm, being a literal personification of death would explain why it was so strong and fast. The one thing no one could escape, not even her. And it only went for people that stayed in the same place too long, especially if that place was full of treasure. It really did fit perfectly. Shadow metaphors were so heavy handed, it was kind of annoying. While Reika didn't want to run into it again she had to admit that she was curious. Too bad she didn't scan it when she had the chance.

"I see." She rubbed her chin and then laughed lightly. "Yeah, that's why I came here. Why else would I come to a place full of killer blobs? Seriously though, you can fight that thing? And grab treasure while evading it? I mean, that thing was able to keep up with me and just looking at it gave me shivers. How the hell did you pull that off?"

[KAITOU NAGANO]

What a cheeky response... At least, Kaitou thought so. And Kaitou's social skills left a lot to be desired. He at least had the sense to bite back a retort; such would only be an invitation to screw around with him and his tough guy outlook.

As he took his first aid kit back, the girl began to talk again. Of course she had come to ransack Tartarus. It was a logical explanation-- after all, was he not here tonight for the same exact reason? Treasure runs were best done alone. The less people around to bungle the mission up, the better. However, that just played into the Reaper's hands, for it had a tendency to stalk after Users who traversed Tartarus's halls alone. Perhaps Kaitou was expecting more out of her response than he had received.

"I am... used to facing death, you could say." Hm, something like that was as close to a desirable response as Kaitou could give without revealing too much into his old reputation in Shibuya. "My Persona is also well-suited for direct combat-- at least, more so than yours from what I observed. We are used to taking beatings." He still had no clue who this girl was, so he did not want to reveal any more about his Persona than he did about his life before moving to Tatsumi Port Island.

[REIKA HANAE]

"That's ominous." She laughed. "Man, I will never understand you people. Were you here for treasure hunting or for killing shadows? Because I mean, if it's the former then why the hell would you waste your time beating them up? It's so much faster just to run past them, even if you can't run like me! What they give you is like nothing compared to what you could get with an extra seven runs through the place considering the chests just reappear for some reason.

"And well, if it's the latter...I will never understand that. Breaking into someone's house and killing them is just mean even if they are soul sucking monsters right?"

Reika sighed, stood up and leaned against the wall again. So that thing standing near him was his persona? It stayed out longer than hers. Odd considering hers was more or less always active during the Dark Hour. It's a shame that she couldn't discretely summon it and take a loot at his abilities. She didn't particularly care who the guy was, but like much with the reaper and everything else she ever runs into, she was curious.

"Well, in all seriousness..." she said after a long enough pause to hopefully make him think her previous comment was completely serious. "I suppose it's brave to try to take them down, but why risk yourself for such a silly purpose? It's not like taking out the ones here would do anything useful. They're inside, they're not going to attack anyone. It seems like it'd be more productive to hit the ones on the streets."

[KAITOU NAGANO]

Whoever this girl was, she sure seemed to be used to going through the tower solely for the purpose of grabbing treasure. Admittedly, the Kirijo Group made damn well sure to keep funding coming regularly for the group, but if there was an opportunity to raid treasure floors, well, all the better for their wallets. Or if Kaitou were more selfish, all the better for his wallet.

Her second point... Well, it managed to make him stop and think for a moment. On one hand, who was she to try and defend the Shadows? On the other, would they really be such a threat to the human race if all they did was stay locked up in Tartarus? Did it really matter, in the end? Kaitou's-- no, SEES's goal was to eradicate the Dark Hour once again and restore tranquility. Nothing else mattered.

...But why? What reason was there to erase the Dark Hour? Was it because of the 'inherent' threat Shadows posed to all life? Was it to avenge their own personal losses? How did they know that The Fall would even try to repeat itself with the resurgence of the Shadows and Apathy Syndrome?

The blonde's internal conflict was cut short as the girl started to talk again, implying that her last comments were not to be taken seriously. Was she for real?

"...Perhaps it would be more prudent to station myself outside and kill Shadows as they roamed about the island, but..." A pause. How would he word this without blatantly giving his allegiance away? "...I'm not trying to be a hero. If I can't defend everyone, then they can cry to themselves about it. That's not my problem. I'm looking for answers, and those answers can only be found in Tartarus."

[REIKA HANAE]

"Answers to what? It's not like the situation is very complicated." She closed her eyes and cleaned her ear with her pinky. Now she was especially curious. "And if you're not interested in helping people, why do you even care? It's not nice to lie y'know." She laughed. "But hey, you might be well-suited to hero business if you're willing to save a random person you don't even know from the personification of death AND grab all the treasure after. You even did it without asking for anything in return. Well, unless you're being a passive-aggressive jerk about it."