Intuition

[KAITOU NAGANO]

"...My questions are my own to ask. They don't concern you! And I..." Well, shit. She had him good. He didn't particularly care about helping others, but if something was happening smack-dab in front of him, what was he going to do? "...You were there. I would feel bad if I didn't do anything. I'm no hero, I just have a conscience!"

Kaitou paused in his retort, taking a deep breath and waving his Persona away in the meantime. Keeping him out only ate at his stamina, and being tired was dangerous during the Dark Hour for several reasons. (Calm down... If you get agitated here, you'll only end up throwing out answers you don't need her to know.)

Her second remark, however, threw him off, and he could not hold back his response. "W-W... Why don't I just ask for half of your treasure then? Even though I'm sure you wouldn't be interested in parting with it, I'll ask anyway! How about that?!" Kaitou's social skills were far from suitable to today's standards, and whether she was aiming for this or not, she was forcing his brain to try and process proper responses to situations it was not accustomed to. Things couldn't have gone further downhill from here on out.

Wait, he just stomped his foot to drive his point in. Scratch that; the incline continued to steepen...

[REIKA HANAE]

Reika tried to keep a straight face, she really did. He may have been threatening her, but this was the dark hour. Threats weren't nearly as effective then if he didn't know where to get her outside of it where she wasn't fast enough to nearly outrun death. She doubted he would even try. It was just another absurd tough guy act because she decided to play with him. The ironic thing is his response made him less threatening to her than he was when he introduced his persona. So easy to prod, so easy to poke, so easy to manipulate...those were the kinds of people she never had to fear.

At first, she just raised her eyebrows and frowned. "Hey, I was just stating a fact and--" but she couldn't hold it in anymore. Her face contorted into an awkward grin and she snorted loudly. "I'm sorry it's just--" She didn't bother to finish that one either, but this time that snort turned into a devilish laugh. "I could be convinced to part with it...uh guy-- what should I call you anyway? -- buuuut since you were already SO kind and saved me I don't think the past will buy you anything. Besides, I could have totally grabbed the treasure you have and left you to fight the reaper alone."

She grabbed her evoker again and recast Red Capote on herself. If he was going to threaten her she really couldn't take any chances. Even if he did manage to surprise her and get close it'd be much more difficult to actually hit her like this.

"Don't know if you're doing it intentionally or not, but uh thinking of hitting a girl is so uncouth."

[KAITOU NAGANO]

She was... Laughing. At him.

Laughing at him.

By now Kaitou was seeing red and about to go on a tirade about how she would do well not to piss off the Midnight Reaper, and then he'd show her--

(Slow down, idiot. You fucking walked yourself into that one. You didn't bring any scouts with you--what if you're surrounded and they're just waiting for you to attack?) Caution reared its head again and proceeded the drill that thought in his mind until he had calmed down enough not to fly into a rage.

"Che! Laugh it up while it's still funny..." he muttered, biting his lip and turning his head away to cover the light flush of embarrassment on his cheeks. It had been a good few days since the last time he talked with anyone in the dorms besides Ringo, and when was the last time he had actually conversed with a new face for more than five seconds?

The teen coughed a few times--clearing his throat, he would claim--and turned his gaze back to the redhead, who was glowing green again. She had her Persona cast that spell on her again defensively, preparing for any hostile movement from his end. Could he blame her? Kaitou had practically threatened her just then. He shook his head, putting his arms up in a dismissive pose.

"...Relax. I may have inadvertently shown some aggression, but I'm not as trigger-happy as I would be outside the Dark Hour. It isn't wise to let your fists do all of the talking here." He had wanted to tack on the fact that he wasn't unfamiliar with hitting a woman who was antagonizing him, but that wasn't going to help his situation any. There wasn't any merit to put her any further on guard unless he knew for sure that she was with Strega. Which he clearly did not.

"I'm Daisuke. Sorry about that outburst. As you can see, I'm not used to socializing with others."

[REIKA HANAE]

So close. He had spilled a few interesting details already and she was sure that would be enough to get the rest out of him. Unfortunately, it seemed like she would have to dance some more and possibly be a bit more cautious with her moves. It didn't look like she was being too obvious, especially since he had the decency to shell out a bit more information to her. Socially reclusive jerk who secretly liked helping people...Hm, she supposed it was unlikely that he was part of any group, but he still seemed to be a treasure trove of information and he was parting with it without even realizing it. Reika wanted to know what he knew.

"Just being cautious!" She laughed and flicked her wrist. "Certainly wouldn't be the first time someone randomly decided to hit me." She shrugged. "Well, I suppose it wouldn't have been random. I shouldn't be picking on you too much, you did save my life after all." She folded her arms and smiled. "You don't have to be embarrassed about it man. There's nothing wrong with being a decent person."

[KAITOU NAGANO]

One of his brows quirked at her initial response. It was a strange thing to point out, but he let it slide-- that could be a doorway into a slew of personal issues that she probably wasn't interested in sharing. In any case, he wanted to furrow his brows and sigh. Perhaps he should try to get someone to help him with his social skills again... If he had been less diligent, he could have given away a lot more than a few indignant retorts.

This wouldn't have been a problem if he were just one of SEES's fighters, but he was the damned leader. The heart of the group. Not only that, but he had so far been successful in keeping his identity a secret from the other organizations. He had to keep it that way for as long as possible or he wouldn't be able to run around so freely during the Dark Hour.

"If you haven't already noticed, I'm not very good at keeping my reactions in check when I'm flustered. Especially with strangers like yourself..." he trailed off, staring at her for a second. "...Right. You haven't given me your name either, miss." Kaitou stopped there, waiting expectantly.

[REIKA HANAE]

He didn't bite, too bad.

"No worries," she laughed, and then it quickly morphed into that devilish laugh of hers. "I was wondering when you were going to ask. You can call me..." she looked directly into his eyes and smirked. "Amaranth."

Reika honestly suspected nothing. She wasn't aware of the spy, she wasn't aware of his position, and honestly, she didn't expect him to be able to hide something that important without it slipping. Plus, he didn't seem like the type that would join the goodie goodie organization. It'd be like screaming that his entire persona was just an act and that he was super insecure to everyone in the group. She just assumed that he wanted something to call her by and she thought code names were infinitely cooler than using her real name. Her real name was dumb. What kind of stupid parent calls you flower when your last name is flower? So stupid. She was still calling herself flower, but this was a badass immortal flower, so it was more acceptable even if it did feel like the universe was teasing her by giving her such a persona.

[KAITOU NAGANO]

Well, what had he really been expecting? Asking for her full name just screamed suspicious to him; the exact reason he used a false name of his own. But still...

"A-Amaranth? The hell are you, some kind of Phoenix Ranger knockoff?" After being initially taken aback, Kaitou scoffed and waved his hand in front of his face, mentally scrapping the idea of getting her name before he paused. "...Wait a minute. Isn't that what you called your Persona?"

Kaitou could not hide his arched brow and slightly confounded expression, which eventually degraded into a look of intrigue. "...I suppose it's not a bad name to go parading around with. Actually, it's got a neat ring to it. I don't think I'd be able to get away with calling myself Alastor in public, though. Maybe if I tried it in English... Hmm, it would make for a good antagonist name. Amaranth seems a bit more ambiguous in that regard..."

What was that? Was that the hint of a smile tugging at his lips? The short answer was yes. The long answer would involve a very lengthy discussion of Phoenix Ranger Featherman R and how it affected Kaitou's life as a whole...

[REIKA HANAE]

Reika arched her brow. Well, so much for trying to be awesome. She was surprised for a moment, but quickly began chuckling herself. It was rather silly, but it just felt so much cooler than anything else.

"Phoenix what?" She paused for a moment and looked up before looking back at him. "Oh, you mean that stupid kids' show? Well, I suppose that's one way to think of it. I just figure if you're thrust into a ridiculous situation that makes you more awesome than you could ever be in...'real life' for lack of a better term then you might as well go out of your way to be awesome."

She didn't answer his other question, there wasn't any need to. He'd either remember, or he'd forget. Either way, it didn't say much about her. He however, continued to delicious. Reika had heard of Alastor before in her post Dark Hour discovery mythology binge, but she didn't remember that. Something about vengeance. Sounded about right so far. She'd be able to look up more once she could access the internet again. It probably spoke more of him than hers did of her.

"Plants just kind of are you know? They can't really be good or evil. I prefer it that way, let's me be more mysterious or something."

[KAITOU NAGANO]

"Hey! It's a good kid's show, not a stupid one!" he retorted, scowling. He would have gone on to defend the new episode that he'd watched in his sleepless state, but kept his mouth shut.

"Mysterious, you say. You mean normal, right?" Kaitou snorted. "When you have to live through the Dark Hour every night of your life, things that are normally strange or intriguing become bland and uninteresting. Not that the entire world's become boring or some stupid shit like that, but... Well, you know."

She knew, right? It was okay to assume that she would know what he meant, right? It meant that he was comfortable enough around him to not have to explain everything in absolute detail, right? The realization struck him as a bit odd. If he had been talking with any of the other members of SEES, surely he would have excused himself to his room, but with Amaranth, he seemed more than willing to prolong their conversation. Was he over-thinking things again? Or maybe...

Was this what it was like to establish a connection with another person? Did this mean that he would come to consider Amaranth to be a 'friend' after their encounter? It was food for thought, filling enough that Kaitou had stopped talking entirely to hold his chin and ponder the possibilities of his current situation.

[REIKA HANAE]

Reika paused for a second. That had actually caught her entirely off-guard even though she felt like it shouldn't. Him liking a stupid kids' show...explained so much. She couldn't even come up with a witty retort for that and felt like she was tripping over her tongue responding to everything else he said. It sounded fine, even the pause wasn't that long. She was good at hiding her shock, there's no way she could be a proper illusionist or informant without the ability to roll with whatever happened.

"Hey, the world tends to be pretty boring if you don't spice it up a little. Gotta keep things interesting right? Can't let yourself be trapped by logic and common sense all the time, sometimes you just gotta do stuff you want and make even the mundane things super awesome!" She winked and gave him a thumbs-up.

The fact that she nearly died tonight and hurt herself regularly because of that belief was irrelevant. If she let how boring life actually was get to her and never did anything fun or cool she'd rather be dead. Probably. She liked to tell that to herself, but really, the idea terrified her. It was more like she just got really impulsive when she got bored, so she just ignored her common sense rather than genuinely thinking she should.

[KAITOU NAGANO]

There was a pause.

Not a long pause, but one that you'd notice if you were the kind of person who made it a habit to study body language and other various mannerisms. Amaranth responded smoothly to Kaitou's comment, but he had already caught the inconsistency. What exactly did he say that had her thinking for longer than she should have?

(Strange. But I won't make a big deal out of it. I'm being awfully lenient tonight, though. I shouldn't let my guard down too much, even if she's... friendly enough...)

"You're going to have a pretty damn short life expectancy if you really live by that standard. Not that I'm trying to admonish you for looking for a little fun, but..." He pointed at her, speaking matter-of-factly. "Don't be so quick to forget how close you were to lying in Death's lap tonight. No thrill or pleasure can hold a candle to the value of one's life... Remember that."

His point stated, the blonde folded his arms, drumming his fingers. Perhaps he had been a bit too gruff with the delivery, but other than that, it was a totally cool thing to say by Phoenix Ranger standards!

And true. Very true. That's what mattered most about the message. Not the fact that it sounded so cool to him.

[REIKA HANAE]

"So I've noticed." She laughed. "Well, in this case I don't see how I could have expected something like that to show up when I've done this like a million times and it's never happened before. I get the sentiment though. That's why I try to make mundane things more interesting, they tend to be less deadly. I'm not stupid man."

Despite the nature of her words she wasn't angry, nor did she sound angry. Reika still had the same stupid grin on that she did before, it only changing to a slightly inquisitive look when she said she couldn't have predicted this before it changed back. He was having fun, this was good.

"Besides, everything turned out fine right? That's the way it always seems to work. ...Maybe it's fate."

Fate such a stupid concept, but it's a useful one. She was curious to see what he thought of it.

[KAITOU NAGANO]

"You don't have to be stupid to be unfortunate," he remarked, looking off to the side. His parents weren't stupid, were they? They were just as innocent as all the other people he had killed as a result of being unable to control Alastor.

Before he could begin to sulk about it, a peculiar word floated from Amaranth's lips: fate. Fate was a very ambiguous subject to Kaitou-- it could be the reason he decided to beat up some thug on the street, the reason the Reaper had chosen to chase after her rather than him, or The Fall itself. Fate was many things, some true, some not so much...

"Fate, or mere happenstance? I can't say I would believe either option completely. Fate could be our futures written down without our knowledge, or it could be a shitty fortune you tie to a fence and hope is disproven." He shrugged, casting a glance her way instead of finishing his statement. "Fate is inconsistent" held too many implications, more than what he may have already given off. So instead, he would throw the question back at her.

"What about you? Is it fate that I managed to save you, or simple convenience?"

[REIKA HANAE]

"I've found that I am exceptionally lucky." She grinned. "The fact that I'm still alive proves that part." In more ways than he could possibly imagine. "I'm not concerned with the why...but I suppose it can be interesting to think about sometimes."

This was a stupid tangent. He wasn't biting and they had trailed off from anything that could be considered even close to important. It was great that she seemed to be winning him over, but that was worthless if she didn't get anything juicy out of it. She could practically hear her brain growling at the lack of tasty information she was getting. But how was she supposed to regain the control she had without being obvious about it?

"But hey, I certainly won't complain that we met. I'd ask if you wanted to come along for more treasure hunts, but splitting the loot is SO lame." She stuck out her tongue. "'Sides, it sounds like there's other stuff you want to accomplish in Tartarus anyway. I think we'd just get in each other's way."

[KAITOU NAGANO]

Another vague response. She seemed more guarded than he in that regard. Or perhaps he was just doing a shitty job of maintaining a distance between the two of them. And thinking back, had she not been the one directing this entire conversation? When was the last time that she had gone off into a long explanation because of something he had said that wasn't a response to one of her comments? He had gained no loot from her, almost nothing in terms to what her allegiance was-- just bits and pieces of her outward personality that she could have easily been faking.

Maybe that threat assessment wasn't as poor as he had made it out to be.

"Heh. Looking out for number one, right? Don't worry, I agree completely. It's inefficient to work in numbers greater than one for treasure runs. The Reaper is the only threat on those floors, and I'm sure someone as fast as you can slip away now that it doesn't have the element of surprise to abuse." He shrugged, smirking at her last question. It was far too late to try and wring any details out of him by now; he would simply play her game until the Dark Hour ended, if he had to. Or...

"Hey, people like us can accomplish a lot during the Dark Hour. Far more than we would be able to otherwise. There's a lot of potential in climbing Tartarus, and not just for treasure hunters like you or seekers of knowledge like me..." His next words were risky, utterly so. But great risks yielded great rewards, did they not?

"...Take for instance the three groups of Persona Users that are currently at odds with each other."