[DAY 0] TDM.

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Error in final launch sequence:
Failed to execute MI command:
target remote localhost: 01633
Error message from debugger back end:
Cannot access memory at address 𝟹͚̽𝚡̰̍̂𝟸̠̯̘ͭͧ𝚌̭͉̺͖ͥ𝟿̳̰̒̇ͅ𝟷̦ͣ̉͌̅𝚋͓͎̈̒̀𝟻ͭ̌͂𝟷ͩ̓𝟾̦
Failed to execute MI command:
target remote localhost: 01633
Error message from debugger back end:
Cannot access memory at address 𝟹̖͇͕̃𝚡͉̹̯͇̻̉̓̂𝟸͚̹͈͓̩͚̲̼͒̾𝚌̱̠͙̝̪͇̈̌̂̃̄ͭ𝟿̱̜̪͓̳̹ͤ̊̈́ͦͥ̑𝟷͖̱̝̀̒̇̂̄̈́̓̇ͅ𝚋̥̯͉̹͛͛̊ͤͦͩ𝟻̬̮̈́̋ͯ͛̉̐𝟷̋ͩ̔̔𝟾̼
Waiting for debugger connection...
Debugger connected
Debugger connection lost.
Waiting for debugger connection...
Debugger connected
Target is not responding, retrying...
Target is not responding, retrying...
Target is not responding, retrying...
Target is not responding, retrying...
Target is not responding, retrying...
Target is not responding, retrying...
Target is not responding, retrying...
Target is not responding, retrying...
Target is not responding, retrying...
Target is not responding, retrying...
Debugger connection lost.
Shutting down...
Rebooting
Download in Progress:
File download complete
Time elapsed during download operation: 00:12:33.131
Rebooting
Launching Demon Summoning Program. . .

You open your eyes to the end of the world, but you do not see it.

Instead what rouses you is screaming and crying, blood and tears: all around you are signs of life. Inside the overturned train, people begin to awaken, sprawled on the ground as if thrown violently from their seats, broken bones and bleeding wounds struggling to rise from the carpet of shattered glass from the windows at their feet. Emerging from the wreck, characters will find themselves at the edge of a dense forest, a towering stone wall at their backs. Bright eyes peer out from the shadows of the foliage, more and more blinking into view like stars in a darkening sky, but despite being drawn to the scent of blood that hangs heavy in the air, nothing steps out of the forest. Not yet.

None of the passengers can recall what happened, what they were doing on a train, where it was going- there's more they can't remember, but overshadowing the gaps of memory are things they have gained in return. A familiar item that is not theirs. A gemstone that feels lighter than it appears, as if hollow inside. And a device that wraps around their wrist (or rests on their head, or hangs around their neck, or however it presents itself to each character) that starts up on its own the moment the character turns their attention to it, as if waiting. Each character's COMP has a "navigator" selected at default, either "A☆L☆A" in bright neon orange, or "K5" in cool slate blue, although the presiding navigator can be freely switched between them.

Heya, boss! My name's Ala, your new navi!

You wanna know something really funny? Go ahead and touch the map on the corner of the screen to enlarge it. See all those little red dots? Those are demons out to kill you. Haha! You're surrounded!

Heya, boss! You can call me Keigo, your navigational AI.

If you touch the map on the corner of the screen, you can enlarge it and see the positions of all your allies. Looks like some of you are already heading out: see those little blue— oh. That one just disappeared. ... Try to stick together.

Along with providing a map with enemy/ally positions, the navigators will walk characters through the demon interaction, recruitment, and summoning processes, with advice varying between the two navigators (click to expand)

Just beat 'em up and force 'em to join! They can't say no if they're dead!

Nobody is immune to bribery, not even demons. What do you even have, though...? No matter what, don't let them get that life stone.

More demons incoming! Ooh, you're screwed. You'd better run! Don't worry, I won't tell.

Let's hide here. We'll wait here until that demon passes, then move!

Look, a body! Are they still alive? Wonder what's in their pockets...?

It's already too late to help. But better them being demon food than you.

Or, you could stay. There is nothing forcing anybody to leave the relative safety of the train. Those who stay behind will find the conductor's cabin empty, save for a small black cat perched on the headrest of the driver's seat that peers out with bright golden eyes at those who enter. Otherwise, there are no signs of a fight or struggle inside the cabin. Elsewhere, there is unclaimed luggage in the overhead compartments with an abundance of clothing and blankets, although characters will not find any of their own clothing except what they're already wearing. The dining cart is still stocked with enough food and beverage to last each passenger at least two days— maybe longer, if people keep leaving/dying... But at the same time, maybe shorter, considering the pervasive hunger that gnaws at the pits of everybody's stomachs, an emptiness that yearns to be filled by something... more.

As minutes stretch into hours, it becomes painfully clear that nobody is coming to help. Everybody only has each other, this town, its inhabitants. The forest is dark and unforgiving, near impossible to navigate even with a map. Strange creatures jump out from the shadows, eyes bright, mouths salivating, hungry. Strong hands claw through the dirt underfoot to grab at people's feet, pulling themselves up, mouths wide open, hungry. Sharp talons swoop down from the skies above, snatching characters up into the air, crushing skulls and snapping spines. Hungry. The demons here seem delighted to see such a feast wandering right into their home; those who are stopped for attempted conversation express surprise that characters are able to see them, but ultimately the hunger wins, and hunger does not listen to reason.

Casualties are inevitable. Blood mist permeates the air, and follows even as characters break out of the forest and across town, all the way to the fraying end of the world. Out in the open, however, the sun rays beat down bright and harsh, and those hungry eyes shy away from the sunlight to remain in the shadows, inside husks of buildings and thickets of overgrown fields. Characters will be able to find refuge in the greenhouse and the church, and some of the standing houses are truly vacant (as opposed to "surprise! there's actually a demon inside!" vacant); the only eyes that follow you are those of photographs hung crooked on the walls, of familiar strangers and forgotten friends. Look, there's a picture of you too.

Other locations require more caution to explore:

The sound of crying can be heard from the upper stories of the school building, thin wails echoing up and down the deserted halls, and human-like shadows peer out from the broken, unboarded windows, as if watching. A barricade inside the front doors makes it difficult to enter from the main entrance, and with most of the windows boarded up, the hallways inside remain dark even during the day. The smell of rot is prominent, heavy and cloying, especially in the auditorium-become-mausoleum that is littered with crushed bones, thin and brittle, every last scrap of flesh already nibbled away. A flock of demons crowd around outside principal's office, where a blizzard blows through the entire hallway, rendering visibility near zero and temperatures below that.

The hospital is also deathly cold, breath visible in puffs of mist that sometimes form into screaming faces, and when all is still and quiet, you look up and see yourself. Shadows form into mirror images of the characters who enter the hospital, silently approaching others and attacking once the person's guard is down. If a demon borrowing your face isn't bad enough, Phantoms go a step further and take the form of people who are close to your character: friends, family, foes. Exploring the hospital may or may not be worth the potential backstabbing, considering the fact that the supplies found are maybe not the most sterile, half the equipment is rusted or corroded, and a lot of the medicine is unlabeled tablets and capsules inside unlabeled bottles (essentially, take at your own risk). Moreover, hordes of all sorts of demon ghosts will bar characters' way down to the basement, gathering in massive numbers anytime somebody tries to descend. Electricity bounces around the top of the stairway down, while bright flames lick the bottom of the stairs; particularly unlucky characters may be hit with a confusion spell, liable to throw themselves headfirst down the stairs to be consumed by the waiting demons below.

Hauntingly beautiful music can be heard from within the concert hall, and listening to their song puts you fast asleep— possibly in the middle of the street if you're not careful— while those who manage to make it past the front doors are immediately frozen in a hunk of ice or electrocuted to a crisp before being kicked to the curb. The concert hall appears to be actively guarded, and it's clear that strangers are Not Welcome. Even the other demons keep clear of this building, drawn to the music but lingering far enough to not be overwhelmed. Characters may have an easier time of initiating conversations with demons from around town or inside the houses nearby the concert hall.

The crackle of electricity can be heard from inside the power plant's upper stories despite the blackout, and the entire building shakes from time to time, as if caught in a thunderstorm, or an earthquake. A slow drip... drip... drip... can be heard throughout the building, of amorphous demons clinging to the walls like mold and leaving puddles of caustic acid Everywhere. Anybody who enters the power plant's front entrance is met with a massive agglomerate of black Ooze that has expanded to fill the entire first floor from wall to wall, floor to ceiling, preventing anybody from going upstairs while it remains. Arms and legs poke out of the demon's body in places, desperately clawing and kicking, weaker, weaker. done.

OOC

»

Welcome to Day 0! What better meet-and-greet is there than everybody being tossed into the fray to fight for their lives? ('': For convenience, here are the game info, locations, and demon compendium pages; please use these as reference for what more can be found in the setting.

»

The characters' COMP will turn on only after they notice and focus on it. If they do NOT activate the COMP, they will not be able to see the demons or interact with them in any way other than being killed. Activating the COMP will allow characters to see demons and somewhat understand their language, with an added effect of allowing physical attacks to harm demons, and mitigating the damage taken from demons.

»

For characters who app and are accepted, please report demon recruitment here. Characters who are just tdming do not have to report. Recruited demons are inclined to listen to their summoner, but are not necessarily friendly at the beginning: if your character shows weakness, the demon may be just as likely to eat them as they are to protect them.

»

There will be no NPCs in this game other than the two navigators and some key demons. You're on your own for now!

»

This first event/tdm is open to the public, and can be used for test driving at any time after the game starts. I'll be keeping a pulse on threads for when characters have gotten their bearings and seem to have a general idea of how they want to proceed into the next day, and we'll go from there.

Comments

Shun'ya Iijima | Soul Hackers 2 (Canon OC) | ota

[foxchild]

✮ i. the train - COMP.

[Somehow, this isn't the strangest situation Shun'ya's been trapped in.

It's still certainly strange, though, and there's a disorientating fogginess to his thoughts that has him certain a demon is to blame for his current predicament. Some kind of illusion, maybe? A pocket dimension trap? Well, whatever's going on, Shun'ya knew better than to run around like a headless chicken, sticking his nose into random dark corners and getting it snipped off.

So, as most of his... fellow captives bumrush off the train in a panic, he calmly seats himself on a (somewhat bloodstained) trainseat and takes stock. He's a bit bruised and has some cuts, but he dismisses them as unimportant. No, what has his attention was...]

Who do you belong to, hm...?

[He's speaking to the odd looking, uh, gun he's turning over in his hands, inspecting it. No magazine port, though it has a trigger and- oh!

The 'gun' folds outwards the moment he experimentally depresses the trigger, creating a holographic screen on either side of it. It's loud, bright, cumbersome - and undeniably a COMP.]

"Heya, boss! My name's Ala-!"

Nope. [Shun'ya promptly closes up the COMP and cuts off the AI.] Not today, Satan.

[Definitely the work of a demon. Sigh...]

✮ ii. the train - looting.

[After coming to the conclusion that the COMP is undeniably his, and his existing demons were permanently locked in their summoning tubes by some mysterious, albeit unconvenient, power, Shun'ya decides to go snooping along the train.

And by snooping, I mean shamelessly opening every single unattended piece of luggage he comes across and picking through it for anything important or useful. Hell, he even liberates a backpack along the way, emptying it out of its useless contents to fill it with more useful stuff: blankets, spare sets of clothing (even if they weren't his style) and some socks. He even lucks out with a pair of trainers his size that he keeps 'just in case'.

And if a fellow captive doesn't stop his unrestrained looting of the luggage, he'll eventually end up in the dining cart, portioning out some of its food rations into his (stolen) backpack. He's not taking more than he needs, really, but he's not being stingy either.

You may want to get in there fast before he takes all the good stuff, though.]

✮ iii. outside - exploring.

✮ a. church.

[Shun'ya can be found in the church, exploring it very intently. The skeletons clearly don't perturb him, and he's paying a lot of attention to the angel statue, as if expecting it to be more than it seems. If anyone approaches him, he's amicable to it, if openly wary - but he'll be more than happy to accept their help in investigating the church...]

✮ b. houses.

[Shun'ya can be found in one of the houses, scoping it out as a potential safezone, though he does become distracted by the photographs on the wall. He takes one off, in fact, gazing intently at the people on it with a semi-puzzled, semi-disturbed expression. If anyone walks in on him, though, he's very quick to set the photograph aside and dazzle with a friendly greeting...]

✮ c. hospital

[The hospital... well, Shun'ya spends exactly five minutes in there before noping the hell out, but he lingers near its entrance, his posture easy and unbothered considering their dangerous surroundings. If he spots your character approaching the building, he'll raise his hand and call out:]

Hey, that place is a deathtrap, just so you know!

[Doing his Good Samaritan duty! ...and also trying to gauge who'd be good to team up with, to brave the hospital for its potential (drugs) supplies...]

✮ iv. wildcard

[OOC: Shun'ya will be wandering around the town trying to investigate his situation, but he also won't hesitate to rush to the defence of any characters who look like they're struggling to fight off demons or just look like they're struggling in general. He's also very familiar with demons, in case anyone wants their character to have an explanation on them outside of the COMP AI.

So feel free to toss anything my way, I'll roll with it! He has an info post here if you want to know more!

(Note: His icons are a little sparse at the moment, so please excuse that. I've commissioned some but I'm still waiting on them haha.]

iiic

[rimingcouplet]

[A burst of bright light flashes in a window to Shun'ya's left (he might recognize the skill as Trafuri), followed shortly thereafter by an IV rack hurled through the selfsame window, which is in turn pursued by Alice tumbling through the hole she just made.

She picks herself up nonchalantly, ignoring the cut on her cheek and instead directing her attention toward the crazed Hare of Inaba nibbling ineffectually at her hoodie's sleeve. With a put-upon sigh, Alice scrolls through her COMP and summons her Shadow to cure the bunny of its madness with Patra.

It's only then that she pays any mind to Shun'ya, affixing him with a flat stare.]

I'm aware.

[foxchild]

You sure are, lady. Damn.

[Shun'ya barely blinked at her, er, dramatic entrance (exit?), one hand resting on the pistol holster strapped to his belt in a relaxed manner as he swept a quick glance over her and her demon servants. She seemed like she had them under control fine...]

You're handling those demons of yours well. Got experience with 'em?

[rimingcouplet]

[Alice glances at the gun.] Sure, [she lies. No sense in telling him that she's even easier pickings than he might think. (Alice is actively choosing not to interrogate why she's been able to keep calm and think straight when by all rights she should be panicking.)]

I'd like to say that I've gotten what I came here for and you couldn't get me to touch this discount theme park Halloween attraction with an eleven foot pole, but... [Her brow furrows.] Something's bothering me about the demons here.

[foxchild]

Ohhh~?

[Shun'ya immediately looks intrigued. He crosses his arms, shifting his weight onto one leg and jutting his hip to the side slightly - a casual, relaxed posture.]

What's bothering you? I may not look it, but I'm something of an expert when it comes to demons. Maybe I can help?

i - COMP (cws in journal!)

[flickerback]

[Yuri cannot fathom why she’s not in a blind panic, but perhaps it’s only the calm before the storm. She’s certainly not throwing herself into the madness (not just yet, anyhow)—and so the moment finds her, too, seated and still. Her attention has been preoccupied by the conflicting AIs on her phone.

[Nothing wrenches it away quite like one of the greetings coming to auditory life. For about a sentence and a half. And then—]

You know this voice?

[The words escape her before she can hold back; from across the traincar, they may sound quiet, but the question isn’t soft-spoken. Curiosity gleams across the gun’s metallic surface. For now, Yuri’s device goes ignored.]

[foxchild]

Not personally, but I can make a good guess as to its nature.

[He sets the COMP down on his lap, resting a hand across its metallic surface as he flashes an easy, relaxed smile towards the young girl. He catalogues her detachedly, his gaze barely shifting as he assesses her threat level...

Unknown, for now.]

You okay? Not suffering from any bad injuries? You seem pretty calm, considering.

[Empathy was not - his thing, but it was easy enough to fall back on rote scripts for disaster situations with potential injured civilians. Are you injured? Are you okay? The basics.]

[flickerback]

[She appears calmer than she’s been in… several days.

[People are dying outside.

[That’s a problem.]

It… may take some time to settle in properly. Hah.

[She doesn’t look forward to it.]

But, ah… no. I’m not injured. [Punctuated with an idle tug at her sleeve. Eye contact is difficult; Yuri’s flicker only briefly to the young man’s smile, but otherwise remain on the weapon.] I’m more curious as to what’s going on.

[foxchild]

Nothing good, that's for sure. It's certainly the kind of situation that'll result in a dead body or two.

[He says it so calmly and matter-of-fact, his warm smile not faltering in the slightest. It's just facts, and he sees no reason to entertain delusional idealism about their situation. Of course, he didn't want anyone to die, but you learned to temper your expectation when it came to demons. Besides:]

Not that I have to worry about that. This scenario is my bread and butter, in a way. Speaking of...

[He lifts the COMP, its blocky, gun-like shape cumbersome as he slowly tilts it from side to side, letting the light glance off its metallic frame.]

You know what this is, miss?

ii

[enteloki]

[Akechi watches.

The guy's stinky fingers catch his attention with luggage moved in the corner of his eye, backpacks zipped and opened every time he turns away from it. There are people wandering the trains, but no one claims ownership over the items available. It makes sense to loot. Logical. Survival is necessary. He doesn't plan to be here long enough to need senseless shit like a blanket.

Food, water - that is needed. A requirement for even a dead man walking. The uneasy ache in his stomach and chest permeating the longer he watches this guy work.

Before the rando can shovel everything into that backpack, he plucks a small bottle of water directly out of his hoarding path. Nope gamer. Not today.]

Do you plan to carry the whole train out of here?

[foxchild]

[Shun'ya isn't even offended by the water snatcher. He just turns to him with a shameless smile, shoving a package of what looks like angel delights into his backpack - all while maintaining eye contact.]

That'd be the ideal, admittedly.

['ZIIIIIIIIP!' goes the backpack, as he neatly closes it up, his ill-gotten gains secured.]

But alas, I'm just one mortal man. Taking what only this backpack can carry will have to do for now.

[He slings said backpack over his shoulder, resting his hand casually on his- holster. Yup, that sure is a glock pistol attached to his belt, with a tanto on the other side. There's also a holster strapped across his chest containing strange looking tubes...]

You should do the same, young man. We might be here for a while, depending on how things shake out. Better to have and not need, than find yourself wanting, eh?

[Smile, smile, smile. That is one- dazzlingly warm smile, all while saying such... ominous things.]

[enteloki]

[A smile met with neutral displeasure - the words rolling off his mind with ease.

Closer now, he notes the equipment on the man. All meant to fight and survive. Akechi has his own weapons holstered - a gun hidden, a sword on his back. All shit meant to kill a maniac. He wonders, briefly, what this dude was dealing with in his reality.

Cares little in the following moments - they're in a bizarre situation and he may not be real at all. Could be a person's fantasy, a cognition acting human.]

Noted.

[Nothing else is looted from Akechi himself - he only eyes the bulging backpack the man's about to abscond with.]

Are you experienced with these kinds of situations? You seem to be, at first glance. It almost makes me wonder if you're involved in this somehow.

[He doesn't think that - not really. His tone doesn't shift or change with the comment or in the way he peels his eyes off the man, back to the train around them.]

But it would be too convenient if you were.

[foxchild]

Haha, right? It'd be nice if the situation was resolved by nabbing the perp from the starting gate, but real life doesn't work like that.

[Shun'ya isn't bothered by the brief suspicion - it is somewhat logical, after all. He is the calmest here, and seemingly unbothered by the situation, anyone would be suspicious. Really, he just saw no point in getting flustered or panicky. It was fine. Shun'ya knew how to survive, and no doubt his mentor will be rushing to solve this... situation, within a few days. He just had to survive, and try to help the others survive, until that happened.]

But yeah, this kind of situation is old hat for me. Not the first time I've been kidnapped by a demon, probably won't be the last! It is what it is for a devil summoner like me.

[He tilts his head slightly, blue eyes assessing.]

How about you? Got any experience in 'these kind of situations'?

iii.a

[compendiem]

[ Minato just wanted a quiet place to close his eyes without the danger of being mauled by demons... A church wouldn't have been his first thought for where to seek refuge, but it's proving to be a good option, if it weren't for Shun'ya staring up at the angel statue and Minato staring up at him, as if waiting for it to start moving.

It does not.

Maybe if they take their eyes off it? He'll go ahead and do that, then, shifting his gaze off the stone face and over at Shun'ya instead. Brief wave of the hand, as if to say hi, but also to say please help him if the statue suddenly springs to life and bashes his head open.

It does not. ]

[foxchild]

[Shun'ya is mostly curious to know if this was a legitimate statue endowed with Holy power - he has encountered such things in the past - or an actual petrified angel - which he has also encountered. Both were effective tools at repelling demons, yet knowing if it was an inanimate object or a demon held in stasis was an important distinction to make...

And if it was the latter, then perhaps he can replicate that effect via spelltag? His current batch weren't working - perhaps the mechanism that brought them here had soured the magatushi within them - but maybe if he made some fresh...? That required blood and ink, though, but-

But he's distracted from his musings by a young man waving at him. He immediately turns towards him with a warm smile, not looking bothered by the interruption. The statue can wait, it's not going anywhere anytime soon.]

What's up? Need something? Food? Water?

[compendiem]

[ The mention of food has Minato raising a hand to cover his stomach, reminded of the emptiness inside, but he drops his hand because hunger isn't anything new, even if this one asks for more than just burgers and ramen. In the end, he shrugs, because he doesn't need anything, never does. He could do with answers, but he's also content not having any, or being made to find them himself- finding and understanding are two different things, anyways, and he's not too confident in his ability for the latter. ]

Just wondering if you know... [ her? him? it? ] this... [ uh ] thing.

[ There's a weak gesture towards the statue. The angel would have smote him on the spot for this blasphemy, if it could, so it's probably not alive. probably. ]

[foxchild]

Nope. Don't have a single scooby on this fella.

[Or lady. Or neither. Gender's kinda a coinflip with some demons, honestly.]

But it's interesting, right? Is this statue repelling the demons from this church, and if so, how? Does it have some inherent Holy properties, or are there spells inscribed somewhere on it out of sight? Or it might just be a bona fide angel, petrified here for reasons unknown! It's interesting... I wanna know how it works, because then...

[He pauses, before shaking his head with a sheepish laugh.]

Sorry, I got carried away. I'm something of a, er, expert when it comes to demons and the like, so this is just a curiousity to me. How about you? You seem pretty calm, considering. Or are you still processing?

iii✮ b. houses.

[devilishkouhai]

Man... [ Casually walks into the home, kind of just looking around wandering. Taking in the sights that there are to see. Finding a way to broach a serious subject in a comedic fashion, she says - ] Wanna tell me why there are a bunch of creeps in this town with pictures of BB in their homes?

[foxchild]

Didn't you know? This whole town is where your fanclub decided to set up shop.

[He laughs at his joke, if only to soothe a bit of his own disquiet, and turns a bit more to better study this newcomer. His hand rests on the holster of the pistol strapped to his belt, with a tanto on the otherside, and a backpack is slung casually over one shoulder.

At a glance he seems totally at ease with the situation.]

[devilishkouhai]

Oh yeah? BB wishes they would give her royalties at least.... [ Far too comfortable with the situation, in the same manner that BB herself is in. That says a lot - ]

You come from here, or something like this place huh?

[foxchild]

Or something.

[Shun'ya is just as aware that this newcomer is suspiciously comfortable with the situation much like him. His expression is still friendly, and his posture relaxed, but his eyes are sharp and assessing.

Fellow devil summoner? A disguised demon? A crazy cultist trying to peddle themselves as a fellow kidnapee? Really, possibilies are endless. Shun'ya's kind of hoping she was a crazy cultist, to be honest. It'd be something new.]

Not as abandoned as this place, though. Usually have more humans to balance out the killer demon population. What about you, Miss Famous? Come from anywhere as scenic as this?

iii c; i'm gonna bother shun'ya everywhere

[enflowers]

[ The mage responds, a light voice from underneath his hood (very conscientiously covering most of his head and, most importantly to him, his pointed ears) despite the dire circumstances. ]

Really, now? Well, irony of ironies.

[ A place of healing and salvation turned to a den of decay and death. He taps his staff on the ground with one hand, and puts his other on his hip, the latter's movement showing off the COMP wrapped around his free arm's wrist, nice and snug, underneath the sleeve of his robes. ]

Still, I can't say I've completed my survey of the land until I've at least taken a quick peek in there.

OPENS MY HANDS!!! MERLIN!!

[foxchild]

[Shun'ya shifts his weight onto one leg, settling his hand on the holster of his pistol in a motion that looked purely habitual. He likes having a hand on a weapon at all times, okay, and considering he couldn't be certain every human he met here was actually human...]

Mm, well, I won't stop ya if you wanna go inside, but... forewarned is forearmed, and all that. The place really wants you dead the moment you step inside, and there're a lot of demons in there too.

[He gives the newcomer a once over, his friendly expression not wavering even though his gaze was sharp - assessing.]

Unless that's no problem for you, Mister...?

[enflowers]

[ He'd be completely correct to do so on that part; it's why Merlin's bothering to go this far to hide who he is. Revealing himself to be one of the more famous demon spawn of legend while others are currently being hunted down by demons doesn't sound like a particularly bright idea to him. ]

You can call me Mister Mystery, or Mister M for short. Or even just "Caster". Terribly original, I know.

[ And he certainly looks the part of a caster, mysterious hooded man with a clearly-arcane staff and everything. All he's missing is some sort of obvious spellbook (although that'd be his COMP in this situation) or some potion ingredients in pouches strapped around his waist to complete the medieval fantasy aesthetic.

He sighs, and shakes his head. ]

The "everything inside there wants me dead" part is, unfortunately, a problem for me as well. Less so for you though, from the sounds of it.

[ First things first in an unfamiliar land/Singularity/Lostbelt: get your bearings, find a friendly local who knows what's going on and is willing to share what they know of it. Such was many of Chaldea's operations. ]

So, what do you say to venturing in together instead?

[foxchild]

["Those names sound like gigolo nicknames," Shun'ya thought but didn't say, the only evidence of his snarky little thought being him blinking slightly faster than usual for a moment. He shouldn't judge...

...

...well okay, he can, but it's perfectly legal to judge within the private confines of his mind uwu ]

Hm, well, if you go inside, I would, of course, be obligated to ensure you leave with all your limbs intact... but why do you want to go in? Curiosity, a secret completionist, or are you searching for something specific? Like, y'know...

[There, his smile turns cheeky:] Drugs?