Embrace Your Isekai Fantasies // Locked to mountainfoggedlotus

[fogboundcrow]

This is it! Raven's chance to help the younger Ren experience his powers as a Persona user. They can fight together. Explore together. It's going to be great.

But the Metaverse is too unpredictable, and the Dark Hour fairly dangerous. So, naturally, the TV world is the best bet.

Thus, Raven leads his young compatriot to the Junes Electronics Department. How convenient that there's a little rack of glasses near the flatscreen TVs with a cute Teddie cutout nearby.

Raven glances at the selection. "You'll want to take one of these before we step inside. It'll help you see through the fog."

Comments

[mountainfoggedlotus]

Ren takes a pair of glasses; the coolest plain black pair with the little TV logo on the side. "Is this why my older self wears glasses? Or does my eyesight just take a nosedive at some point?" He keeps forgetting to ask.

cw sa mention

[fogboundcrow]

"He wears them to look less threatening, since he got a false conviction." Raven shrugs, trying to play it off as a smaller deal than it is. "I believe he made the right choice, as he tried to protect a woman who was being sexually abused by my... 'sperm donor,' let's just say."

[mountainfoggedlotus]

Yeah...Ren doesn't know how to respond to that. "Uh." He puts the glasses on. "Do these look good?"

[fogboundcrow]

"I think so. You look rather sharp." Raven gives a reassuring smirk. "So, shall we?"

Raven guides him to the correct TV. "The first landing is always the hardest, so you'll want to brace for impact."

[mountainfoggedlotus]

"S long as I won't need braces afterwards," Ren flashes a confident grin over his glasses, trying to do that Cool Thing that Older Him does. "Let's go on our adventure, High Wizard!"

[fogboundcrow]

Grinning back, Raven steps partway into the TV and offers a hand, even though technically Ren doesn't need it. "Come on. We'll go together."

It'll probably make the landing easier, anyway.

[mountainfoggedlotus]

Ren takes one more look around the yellow TV display, then takes a deep breath and takes Goro's hand. It's...been a long time since he's held a hand...

He focuses his eyes ahead. He's not blushing! "Y...yeah! Let's go!"

[fogboundcrow]

Raven sees that lil' blush, and his own cheeks heat up a little. No matter! With a firm grip on Ren's hand, he pulls him through the TV...

And they fall through rippling white and black until they hit the ground in a strange place.

Grunting, Raven looks to Ren and tries to help him stand. "Are you all right?"

[mountainfoggedlotus]

Ren's mind goes fuzzy and wobbly as he's pulled into the TV. Which is just...wow.

And the wow means he's far too disoriented to stick the landing, falling over on his face when he tries to hit the ground in some sort of pose. "Gah!"

[fogboundcrow]

...Oh.

That was... cute, actually. Raven tries not to let it show just how cute that was by clearing his throat and attempting to retain his composure. "If you need a moment, that's all right. My first landing was hardly glamorous."

[mountainfoggedlotus]

Ren pops up and shakes himself off. He's fine! Not embarrassed by the blunder at all, nope. "I'm good! So uh..."

And now, he's seeing the place through his glasses, and. "Who spilled a shipment of yellow paint on this place?" He pushes his glasses up his nose.

[fogboundcrow]

Pfft. Okay. That earns a little laugh from Raven. "I believe it's merely part of this world's aesthetic, though I assure you that not every location here is so garish."

He does a little stretch, looking out at the various catwalks. "In any case, I believe our best option to hone your Persona is to visit Yukiko-san's castle." And so he gestures toward one of the catwalks. "It's not too far from here."

[mountainfoggedlotus]

"Sure." Ren's not blushing! He follows the Grand High Wizard of Nerdiness down the catwalk. "You mentioned something about cards to summon personas, right? Where do we get those?"

[fogboundcrow]

"Well, if we manage to successfully exploit Shadows' weaknesses and perform All-Out attacks, we're more likely to get Shuffle Times, which in turn can provide you with new Personas."

At first, they walk along the catwalk over more garish yellow, but in time, the sky shifts to a rippling, red and black hue. The metallic floor beneath them shifts to solid stone, and in time, a castle draws near.

[mountainfoggedlotus]

Ren takes it in, ears picking up how the sound of their footsteps change. "No. I mean like. In battle. I don't have a mask here."

[fogboundcrow]

"Well, all you really have to do is call out for your Persona and seize the tarot card that appears before you. No need to tear off a mask or fire a fake gun at your head." He guides Ren closer to the castle's entrance. "You can also use your weapons to deal direct damage to Shadows, although typically a Persona's skills are stronger."

[mountainfoggedlotus]

Oh, right! Weapons. Ren takes out the daggers he got from Older Him, and a glowing toy short-sword. He's trying stuff! "Any tips?"

[fogboundcrow]

"Well, you'll want to try and sneak attack Shadows whenever possible. That will give you the opportunity to strike first. If all else fails, simply striking them to initiate a battle before they can strike you will prevent them from gaining an unfair advantage."

Raven places a hand on one of the doors. "Also, keep in mind that the floor layouts change each time you visit a dungeon. We'll be dealing with rather labyrinthine corridors once we step inside."

[mountainfoggedlotus]

"Like a minimentos, got it," Ren nods, determined, by Goro's side. "I need to practice my flips..."

Have you seen the way bigger-him ambushes enemies? Super cool!

"How does ammo work here?"

[fogboundcrow]

"I suppose I ought to work on my acrobatics as well, but Magpie helped me get a head start when we navigated to the lower levels." They had to dodge trains. It was dangerous, but very exciting!

As they step inside, they find themselves in an elaborate hallway with pillars, sprawling red carpets, and huge archways. Raven doesn't make an immediate move, however. "Ammo should work identically to the Metaverse. You don't even need a real weapon." To prove his point, he draws his Proof of Justice.

[mountainfoggedlotus]

Ren nods and draws his own model pistol. "Alright..." A generic-looking Shadow appears off in the distance, and suddenly, Ren's struck by an idea. He grins. "First one to defeat a Shadow wins!"

And off he goes, charging headlong into the castle.

[fogboundcrow]

"You're on!" Raven races behind him. "But do try to strike it before it sees you."

He'll give Ren the head start he deserves as the less experienced Persona user, but he'll want to move fast before the Shadow catches on.

[mountainfoggedlotus]

"Yeah!" Ren shouts back. He's within striking distance of the fish-like...thing, so he holds out his hand -- and his heart. A tarot card flickers in front of him.

"Come--"

--he lunges for the card--

"--persona--"

--and it vanishes, whooshing away from his swipe.

Well...butterfingers. Ren stumbles forward, having thrown wayyyyy too much of himself into that grab, nearly bonking into the fish thing. Panicked, he jumps back and slices with his dagger, landing a clumsy normal hit on the thing.

[fogboundcrow]

Another one of those pesky Pesce attacks Akechi, but all it takes is a shot from his Proof of Justice to eradicate it, which is good because his goal is to draw the other Shadow's focus away from Ren.

"Hey! Are you ready to die?" He aims his blaster at the Shadow, but doesn't fire.

[mountainfoggedlotus]

Shoot. Darnit. Ren forgot how good Goro is...he puffs out his cheeks at Raven getting the first kill. "Yeah!!" He backs up Raven's threat, going in for another lunge with his dagger. "Ready to be part of our fish fry?"