cityofcoba | I come at the end of the long road.

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I come at the end of the long road.

WHO: Shura and YOU.
WHAT: A demon has found its way into Coba!
WHERE: Anywhere you like.
WHEN: Day 7?

This is quite a place Shura has found herself into. It looks like a normal, modern city at first glance, but if she stares long enough, she can see ruins and desolation everywhere. Is this an illusion? It was hard to tell. Both the modern city and the rubble looked equally real. She walks around the shopping district and stops every few steps, trying to find a clue as to what this place really is, why she is here, and whether she can find any drinkable water for her parched throat. As she travels, her stench lingers in the air long after she has left, a mix of dirt, gore, and sweat that makes it difficult for others to breathe. Maybe someone should tell her, as she seems oblivious.

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It's definitely the scent that catches the young Summoner off-guard. It's not unlike the tunnels of the Tento Lords, though less stale and more freshly raw in it's potency. She crinkles her eyes a bit, quietly displeased. It's the Pixie who pipes up first.

"It smells like a battlefield out here!"
"... Indeed."

It's not hard to find the source but Nagi is nowhere near so blunt to say as much to the woman herself. Now the High Pixie on the other hand... hopefully Shura has some forgiveness in her heart for the little demon in her blue kimono as she buzzes ahead in front of the woman.

"Where exactly have you been? You smell like you've been fighting for days!"

A cry of "Pixie!" comes from somewhere just behind the pair.

Oh wow. Is that like a retro Pixie? Or maybe a weeaboo Pixie? Regardless, Shura is fascinated, and not just because she loves kimonos. She knows for sure that Pixie is a demon, so are there more around here?

She turns around at the cry, blinking as she saw Nagi. "Your friend?" she asked, pointing at the Pixie. She's never seen a human befriend a demon before, but if that was the case, it'd take a weight off her shoulders.

Once Nagi has caught up she gives a vigorous nod. "She is, yes." There's no denying that Nagi doesn't quite think of her demons as simply summons after all.

Shura smiles, just a tiny bit, as if she lost the habit of doing so. "You gotta tell me where to find Pixie-sized kimonos. It looks good on her, I think it'd look good on mine."

"Eh? Well... I've always had a kimono really..." Not that all Pixie's did but ones like her tended to.

"Oh... that's interesting." Shura looks between the Pixie and Nagi, back and forth. Wait a minute, where are the woman's markings? She does have beautiful hair, though...

"Are you a demon too?" she asks Nagi.

At that Nagi shakes her head. "Not at all. I'm a Summoner. One may call demons my friends."

Or so she thought of them at least.

Shura raises a hand to scratch the top of her head, and it doesn't help the stench one bit. Careful, Pixie, your wings might wilt from the stink.

"A summoner... I can't say I've ever met one. But if you are a friend of demons, then we can get along."

It's enough to make the Pixie back off, that's for sure. She ends up holding both hands over her nose. Nagi on the other hand is a bit more polite and ends up wrinkling hers.

"I'd say you'd get along with most people here. With a bath first!"

Shura stops, then hurriedly puts her arm back down. "Even with a bath..." Even with a bath, she would still be a demon who killed the world. But a bath sounded great, to be honest. She hasn't seen water or soap, for that matter, in forever.

"Is there a place to get clean?"

There's no need for a lot of deep thought. Nagi had been there herself after all.

"Mmm, there's one that appears to me somewhat more modern than the ones I'm used to here. It shouldn't be far actually."

If there's no reluctance then Nagi and her Pixie will happily lead the way.

A lesser demon than Shura might be reluctant to follow an unknown Summoner to... anywhere, really. Shura? Shura has killed God. She fears no Summoners.

"I'd take anything right now. Lead the way."

The bath Nagi leads her too is much more modern than most the Summoner herself is used to. The general idea is the same though and she's had little trouble navigating it so...

Leading the way indoors, she talks as the pair gain access to the women's changing room. It seems like most things around are either very low cost or completely complimentary at the moment.

"I have yet to introduce myself. Forgive me for that. I am Nagi and this is Pixie. Though you seem to recognize her already, yes?"

Shura nodded, already getting out of her stiff, filthy clothes. "Yes. When I became a demon, I encountered a Pixie who joined my side. We have been together ever since." She straightened and turned to look at Nagi, bowing at the introduction out of habit. "I am the Demi-Fiend. People have called me Shura. Feel free to do so."

Towels, shampoo, soaps... better too much than not enough. Especially if she stank as much as Nagi and her Pixie seemed to think. Naked, it was obvious she was marked absolutely everywhere, from head to toes. She waited for Nagi politely. "I hope there aren't too many people in the bath already."

The Demi-Fiend? It certainly sounded like something demonic. If she had the ability to form contracts though, Shura must be something like a Summoner. She spoke of them as demons after all and not the Persona that Souji-san, Rise-san or the others spoke of.

Her own clothing is a good deal cleaner and laid aside with the same care. Towels, shampoo, soaps, all of it gathered up as the pair head inside. There are one or two others milling about but at midday it seems that most are out busy with other aspects of the town.

The more obvious question on Nagi's mind floats up then as she finds one of the stools, settling her own items in front of her. She looks the other woman over curiously. "You became a demon?"

Shura settled at the cleaning area right next to Nagi, putting down her items and filling a bucket of water to start by dumping it over her head. She looked amazingly relieved after doing that. Forgive her, she hasn't seen water in a long time.

"Yes. I used to be a human girl, but... it's a long story. The end of the world happened. And Lucifer, too." Ah, soap. She has missed you too.

Ah, the end of the world. The idea is a somber one for the young woman and for a moment she falls silent. Water follows, though it takes a bit for her hair to finally dampen all the way through. She combs her fingers through it as she searches for words, then reaches for the shampoo first.

"In theory I know of Lucifer, though he is not someone I have met." Not in any of his forms which Nagi is still largely ignorant of. "Raidou-senpai would likely know more than I." She says that with an air of confidence.

Shura let out a small chuckle as she worked the grime, gore and other pleasant things off her skin, revealing soft human skin rubbed red and raw.

"Better never to meet Lucifer. He's not exactly... a nice being. Then again, God is much worse."

Nagi's hands end up more or less buried in sudsy hair. For now her Pixie has apparently elected to wait around outside the baths, wary of much larger humans and closed environments perhaps. Nagi herself mulls over that idea a moment.

"Is God very malicious?"

"Yes." Shura empties another bucket of clear water over her body, washing the dirty suds away.

"God put in place a game to play with humans when the world ends. It thrusts the survivors into a world-in-waiting filled with hostile demons and orders them to conceive a Reason. An idea for the next world to be build upon. But the world drives humans completely mad. They start coming up with horrible ideas. But God loves it, because God built that game to take away humanity's free will. He hates that we have that."

She grabs the shampoo. She seems calms, but inside she is shaking and her stomach is in tight knots. "God's angels helped the most vicious Reason conceiver massacre the most gentle and defenceless people in that world-in-waiting because they were deemed too weak to deserve to live."

The splashes from other attendants at the bathhouse seem ever louder now, ever clearer in the silence that follows from the Summoner herself. She had begun to rinse out her own hair but now the task is largely stalled, her bucket gripped between her hands. She doesn't blantantly stare at Shura at the very least but Nagi isn't near as good at keeping her feelings out of her outside demeanor as Shura is.

Eventually her gaze drifts down to the bucket itself, now settled in her lap. She can't really fathom the world Shura describes in her mind but she can comprehend humans driven mad to some extent. The brides of the Tento Lords had come to that end themselves, hadn't they? She would ask for forgiveness for even bringing up the topic but it seems a pointless gesture and the information is useful as well. In the end she nods slowly, adding in a bit of a murmur. "I cannot comprehend such a world, in theory or conjecture."

A long pause and then she finally moves back into action, draining her bucket with one hand as she works suds from her hair with the other. Once she seems to have gotten it all worked out, she offers with a somewhat more somber smile than before: "Would you like me to wash your back for you?"

Shura nods slightly at her whisper. "It's okay. I might be crazy too." And she rinses out her hair as well, though it doesn't take nearly as much time as Nagi.

She had not dared asking, but she was relieved when Nagi offered to wash her back. She's glad she hasn't scared the Summoner away. A bit of company other than Lucifer can only be good for her. "Please."

Once Shura's back is to her, Nagi lays a washcloth against her back and talks as she scrubs. Not too harshly of course.

"I wouldn't theorize you as crazy. You seem very coherent in that regard."

With her back turned to Nagi, Shura lets her head hang, unintentionally showing off that fin shaped horn on the back of her neck. She let out a small chuckle.

"Thanks for the vote of confidence."

Nagi smiles a bit to herself at that. "You're welcome." After that she continues on in silence for a little while, at least until she feels she's done a sufficient job. She's even careful about the horn on the back of Shura's neck.

Her words are gentle and lack careful measurement. She's speaking as casually as Nagi ever does more or less. "I have experienced many things over time that were difficult to comprehend. It certainly did not make them untrue however."

I come at the end of the long road.

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