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 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."

Shura nods slowly before speaking, in a soft, genuine voice. "Yeah... thank you. Really. I am touched." She looks down at the pattern in the palm of her hand, rubbing it a bit with her fingertips. Despite the vigorous scrubbing, they are as clear as on day one.

"Life sure is weird. I am... not like a god, but... in my world, I was insignificant, and look at me now. Must be like you in a way. You're a Summoner, right? Some people must revere you as a god."

For a moment Nagi can only blink almost blankly at Shura, though the other woman had her back to her. Revere them as gods? She takes a bit to fathom her reply, then draws away to finish up her own bathing before the pair as head to the tubs to soak.

"... In theory there may be some who think of Summoners are something like gods. If there are however I have not met them. Summoners are not unknown in my world but they aren't quite common either. And those who can see demons... it's best if they don't speak of such abilities aloud."

Had that been one of the reasons she was teased as a child? Possibly. That had more to do with her eyes and skin tone though. It certainly hadn't helped when she did speak of the 'people' in the forests around them.

"Oh... makes sense," Shura says after settling in the hot bath and sighing in contentment. She missed hot baths. "I'm sorry, I would have thought..." On the one hand, she thought Summoners could have used their powers over demons to influence normal humans. Maybe even control or enslave them. Not that you look like the type, Nagi! Shura is just so used to everyone being a shithead. On the other hand, thought, humans fearing and hating summoners was also in line with what she knew of humanity.

"There was a man I'd call a summoner in my world. He triggered the end of the world."

"... Eh?"

Well now she looks surprised. Frankly it's not that far off from what almost happened at home though, was it.

"The end of the world?"

Shura nodded, sinking a little deeper in the bath water. "Yes. My world actually ended. It's dead. Gone. Forever."

So that was what she had meant by the end. Perhaps Nagi ought to have realized it but the weight settled on her even heavier.

"... I can't fathom such within the bounds of my conjecture."

Shura saw Nagi's shoulders sink somewhat and immediately felt bad for her. Shura, stop burdening other with your shit.

"Worlds reincarnate! Just like people. And then more people are born. Mine is just... shit happened." A Demi-Fiend happened.

At that the Summoner quickly waves a hand, looking sheepish once she notes Shura's words.

"There's no need to apologize. It is simply a very... heavy idea."

That seems the right way to put it. She leans further into the water as she murmurs.

"Where I am from we had a similar incident. The world didn't end but it was close enough to such a conclusion, at least as far as I understand it."

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I come at the end of the long road.

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