destinystrings | THE AGE OF AQUARIUS - ASTROLOGY BOSS BATTLE [CLOSED]

Between the haze of what just happened and the blur in his memories that makes things so hard to comprehend, Souji had one priority before he took everything else into account: to make sure his impromptu companions were unharmed. He'd been searching through the city for whatever was causing time to basically cave in on itself, like it had this whole day, but he wasn't ready for suddenly showing up in complete darkness the way they just did. This was nothing like what a certain goddess did when he was in Inaba; there was something far more nefarious at work.

As soon as he feels that foggy feeling begin to clear up, he takes a deep breath and preemptively summons his frosty friend in the event that something jumps out at them from the shadows, glancing to Dirk and Atoli.

"Can you move?"

Dirk is up to his feet quickly, dusting himself off and glancing between Souji and Atoli.

"Yeah." He says distractedly. His brain is whirring with observations that rapidly turn into budding plans. Why is his head so foggy? There are few things so infuriatingly disorienting. One moment he's drawing on the roof (like he did yesterday and the day before after writing up a comp network post about the repetition), the next he's picking himself up off of the ground in the middle of who knows fucking where.

"You?" Dirk mutters a rap under his breath to get his katana out of his fetch modus and steels himself for whatever is to come.

Souji she knows from school, but the other blond in this party is a total mystery to her. Where is this place?

"Mhm. I'm fine."

She helps herself up with her staff. She's not hurt, though, just dizzy, and she doesn't have anything for that. Yet.

"Okay enough." Not that it'll matter if they get ambushed at a time like this. "I don't think sitting around is the best of choices right now, though." As much as he'd like to get their bearings straight, he's about as in the dark as his companions. It's with that in mind that Souji begins a cautious advance, not moving any further until Dirk and Atoli are right behind him.

There's one thing he's learned in situations like this: If they don't stick together, they're done for.

Well, the kid with the grey hair seems... competent. That sounds lukewarm, perhaps, but from Dirk competence is one of the things he respects most. It's a compliment. It's also promising if the three of them are going to end up having to fight something, which this situation increasingly suggests.

Dirk glances back to Atoli. He can't say for sure what his assessment of her is yet, but that will come soon enough.

He follows, eyes sharp as his shades, putting his attention on sensing just what they are walking into rather than their hypothetical group mechanics.

Right behind Souji is more or less exactly where she wants to be. She may just play a Cleric in a video game but for now she is that Cleric, and she has all the lack of defense and melee power that comes with it. Her Personas - and to some extent her Taillow, still safe in its Pokeball - can somewhat make up for that.

The screams subside as the move forward in the near-darkness. At each few steps, a bright flame appears in the sky and lights up the nearby area, but despite the new light it does nothing to aid in their situation; there still doesn't seem to be much of anything apart from empty space. It just makes them easier targets.

Like the strange red eyes glowing over there--or perhaps they had simply imagined it.

Finally, the flames form a circle, illuminating a...shiny red button?

PRESS TO DEPLOY!
> Press the button? (OOC: this decision must be made with the group!)

It might have been his imagination. It might not have been. The fact remains that Souji is very much on guard as the flames appear, moreso than usual, as they get further into the pitch black. The button, though...it was tempting, but this was something that needed the others' input, considering that this could lead them straight into a trap.

He stops as they come across it, and turns to the others.

"...What should we do with this?"

Dirk feels himself coil like a spring as their journey into the darkness is broken by flames and the button. Both his mind and the feeling in his gut are telling him to be prepared to leap into action at any moment, because that button can spell nothing but bad news.

"That shit looks like a giant neon sign to light up over our heads saying 'we're here, come attack us', if you ask me," he scoffs, hiding the edge of anticipation laced in his words, "I wouldn't jump to press it without knowing more about what we're getting into."

"Then, let's come back here and push it only if we have to to move on."

Sometimes things like that happened, where you had to spring the trap in order to make something else happen. This might not be one of those times; she can't be sure of that especially with how dark it is.

Atoli opens her hearing, hoping to pick up sound from farther away that could be a hint as to what's going on in the dark.

"That's a plan I can work with."

He pauses to make note of this place for later. If they were going to come back here, then he needed to remember where the button was in accordance to where they were actually going...

From the button, he turns to his left and walks, though, as ever, not without waiting on his companions.

Too bad the minute they started to walk away, the button pressed itself on, ignoring the fact they had ignored it. They could hear a click then a faint hum, as stage lights from an unseen studio were lit up. A booming narrative voice spoke all around them.

"Tonight, on the 22nd of January, it's Age of Aquarius! Can our heroes defeat the wicked foe and save Hinoto-Ri from being stuck in a perpetual loop? Stay tuned to find out more, sentai fans!"

Stage cheering and clapping followed. Something descended from the sky; three Featherman suits complete with helmets and battle wear. Blue, Yellow and Pink. A single insignia above it.

Chose your color.

A little farther away, the hint of a stage with a loud, piercing noise of something awaiting them.

...Well, so much for taking that route. And where did that applause come from? Souji stares at the suits now in front of them; if there was something that could describe his expression at that moment, it was 'what am I even looking at?' Sure, Featherman, but his fanboying self is kinda shut off right now...this is a dangerous matter, punctuated heavily by that noise they just heard. At least it looks like the suits are harmless?

One scratch of the head and a shrug later, he's sauntering over cautiously towards the yellow one and taking the suit as well as the helmet.

Edited 2014-02-01 04:48 (UTC)

...Huh? Okay this was not a thing she was expecting in any capacity.

But hey, at least they're bird themed sentai.

Atoli moves over to the pink suit, just as cautiously. Somehow it just feels more right than the blue one. If they'd had green, she'd have gone with that, but oh well.

This entire situation just keeps getting weirder and weirder-- now, they're on TV and are going to look like flying feathery assholes in bright colors. Really, no orange? Some people don't know good palettes when they see them.

Dirk has watched his fair share of Sentai, but he's more sure what to make of the situation they're getting into. Well, they are being forced into a narrative structure of a TV genre, which predicts certain outcomes (extra abilities, maybe? Or hindrances. Could be either), going into fight a monster in a public forum, and all of this will move on whether they choose to be complicit in that decision or not.

With that observation in mind, Dirk ambles over to the blue suit and examines it.

The road towards their "goal" was a long walk in mostly silence. Halfway towards it, a few lanterns lit up small shrines that doubled up as changing rooms (which they would probably know where changing rooms by the giant red neon signs above them, each one with the color they had picked.

Not the most glamorous way to become a super-hero but...

Inside they'd also fight both a sword and a small gun, decorated in the silly motif as their outfits. Snazzy.

Dirk approaches the blue shrine warily, but enters without much trouble and finds himself reluctantly changing into the ridiculous costume that was laid out for him. Whatever shit he'd gotten himself into would only begin to become clear if he continued on this path and gathered what information he could, so he might as well roll with everything until further notice. He picks up the sword and captchalogues the gun before walking back outside feeling like an idiot for wearing this crap.

Indeed not - wasn't this kind of show supposed to be flashier? Especially bad was that swords and guns were typically incompatible with her job class (thankfully, dimensional transport tended to lift that kind of restriction). It was probably a good thing that she could vanish her staff into her inventory, if she needed it later.

However, she'll just keep the gun holstered and sword in hand. She feels silly, but not bad, about it. This city was kind of strange after all and if this was meant to happen, then she might as well let it...

At least whatever is responsible for this mess made it rather obvious instead of letting them stumble around in nothing but pitch black. Once inside the yellow dressing room, Souji takes to the suit like a fish to water, taking note of the weaponry that laid within. As he picked them up and gave the sword and gun an analytical look each, he couuldn't help but wonder. Did these actually work? Or were they just replicas that didn't do much of anything? Would he be able to keep these once all's said and done? If so, it'd probably be helpful at some point.

Though he'd have to make sure to shut off his fanboying again if another situation like this came up. If possible? He'd rather not use the gun at all; but if it came down to the wire, he'd definitely pull it out if necessary. So long as he didn't fire any fatal bullets or something, it should be okay, right?

The gray-haired boy exits eventually, weapons also holstered, and looks around for Atoli and Dirk. Shouldn't be too far off...

"Looking sharp, uh..." Dirk deadpans as he sees Souji exit his changing room. Another suit with a sword and a gun-- standard equipment it seems. He looks around for their third party-member. It's around this time he realizes that he doesn't know their names. He looks to Souji, "...you. What's your name?"

Before either could answer, two other sentai, full in costume land near them.

"Red Hawk, reporting for duty!"
"Black Condor, reporting for duty! We've finally found you, we were worried that you'd been lost to the illusions..."

Before their eyes an episode title flashes:
Episode 19: Believe in Yourself!

Souji may know a little of how that one goes...they are definitely at the part where they've been trapped by the fortune telling monster. But why are they here at all? Nothing makes sense.

No time to worry, however, since the creature looms ahead. The roar is now accompanied by endless clicking like a watch, and something pacing back and forth. That doesn't sound or look like the monster from the TV show at all...it looks like a mechanized gopher that has attached clocks to it. A giant pair of golden wings are folded over the entire form.

The red sentai nods at the others.

"Right, let's go, Phoenix Ranger Feathermen! Let us defeat this monster and restore world peace!"

Atoli finally exits, having overheard everything.

Nothing makes sense is right. Atoli suddenly doesn't understand anything, not that she ever did; she hasn't seen this show. If she's supposed to be acting, what is she supposed to act like? What did Black Condor mean by 'lost to the illusions', and who, if anyone, were in those costumes? What was her own code name, even?

Although, 'defeating that monster and restoring world peace' did seem like it was a good thing to do either way. She nods in assent.

Edited 2014-02-08 19:39 (UTC)

Dirk's usual deadpan shifts just a little into his "seriously what the hell kind of shit is going on here" face. Seriously, this is a freakin' hyperbolic parody of Super-Sentai cliches.

Well, whatever. He could use a good strife. Dirk cracks his neck and twirls his sword in his hand, ready to get started.

THE AGE OF AQUARIUS - ASTROLOGY BOSS BATTLE [CLOSED]

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Going forward!

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Waiting on the others' votes first; if it's a split I'll put mine in.

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Going left from the button.

You can all reply to this without a set order then we can go on

...Yellow? XD

Pink here.

Ok, I'll take Blue.

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