Training

[vessel_ken_amada]

[Backdated to an indeterminate number of days ago. Context here.]

After the apparition of the training room and the elaboration of the schedules, all those part of the team to take down the evil Ken Amada are surely spending a lot of time in it. If you are one of those members, the question is... what are you doing in there?

A. Solo training

There are plenty of reasons to train solo. Maybe you are building up stamina so that you can have your Persona summoned at all times. Maybe you are working on your defenses. Maybe you are trying to get one of your Personas to make you fly. One thing is for certain: there is a lot to do!

[Toplevels using this prompt are ideal to invite anyone to join your character, maybe even with their own subprompts so people can walk in on different kinds of training!]

B. Sparring

Combat readiness involves, well, actual combat. It is not surprising to see team members spar with each other to ensure they are in top form.

[You can have open toplevels to invite anyone to spar, or you can lock them to specific characters.]

C. Training with Ken

Everyone on the team has scheduled training sessions with Ken, to be able to see and learn how to face the deadly abilities he shares with his evil counterpart.

[These ones are necessarily closed threads. You can come solo or in small groups of characters, indicate this in the toplevel.]

Comments

[vampirethief]

Thankfully this Ren is pretty tough, and he's had his share of falls before. He gives a thumbs up, then he gets back up. Dusting off his cloak a bit.

"I'm fine. I figured it would be good to see if I can fly without my personas or be in bat form."

Yes he has a bat form if he hadn't mentioned it before.

[wicked_plan]

God, a bat form is so fucking cool. Ren almost wishes he had one himself- like, come on! So many possibilities...

Regardless of that, he hums.

"Yeah, that would be useful. I don't think most of us can pull that off, but having someone around who can should be a decent trump card."

Already thinking like a leader again, even though he isn't, for this operation. Old habits die hard.

[vampirethief]

"It would, which is why I'm trying to make myself fly and not just float."

Which he proceeds to do so and starts to float in the air. And just to show off, he then shifts to look as if he's sitting on an invisible chair.

"Took me a few months back home to figure out how to fully control this. Not just when I sleep or when I feel upset enough. I do still float in my sleep though." So if for some reason, Wild stays over at his apartment, at least he'll have some warning.

Then he stops floating and lands on his feet. "Plus I can't just rely on Satanael carrying me the entire time."

[pancakeboy]

He doesn't want to get into this. But he pictures Raven's disappointed face. And Crow's, and even Crow's Ren, and—well, he's not sure Hiro can be all that disappointed for long. All of them in danger, if he doesn't commit.

"Unless something changes, I suspect my proximity would be—counterproductive. And putting Raven in that position is...."

He breaks off. His instinct is still, far and away, to protect Raven. But if the kid isn't to become a true member of the team now, then when?

[undyingcrow]

Arrival:

Karasu arrives, a tad disgruntled, with a serrated saber on hand as well as a gun. More to the point, however, he prepares a list of his current abilities, via his single Persona:

At the moment, I've only one Persona to work with: Hereward. He has a wide range of offensive capabilities and minor support, but lacks proper healing or charging abilities. His skill set includes:

- Riot Gun - Severe gun damage to all foes.
- Laevateinn - Colossal physical damage to a single foe.
- Megidolaon - I feel as though this one speaks for itself.
- Eigaon - As does this one.
- Rebellion Blade - Colossal almighty damage to a foe, dealing even greater damage if the foe is downed.
- Debilitate - I'm not certain how long it'll hold, but weakening him even temporarily should prove quite useful.

Additionally, Hereward grants me a resistance to status conditions and an automatic attack boost at the start of every fight. His trait may lower the cost of using support and almighty skills.

With the St. Hermelin ring, I needn't worry about his Bless weakness, either.

After pinning the message on the board, he makes his way out to train, unsure of where to begin.

Sparring:

Anyone interested in challenging Karasu will find an eager combatant. He's still rather sore over the duel, after all, and he needs to stay sharp.

Training with Ken:

When no one else is looking, he approaches Ken, his gaze sharp. "So. Show me exactly what I need to do."

He could be more polite about it, but his desire to excel burns like a whirling inferno. He needs to make progress.

[dweebtective]

When Katsuya arrives, he comes in rolling a portable table topped with... cakes. Very pretty cakes, adorned with various colored icings and toppings. Some bear lovely arrangements of fresh fruit. Others are topped in elaborate chocolate. There's even some small cookies and cupcakes thrown in, along with dishes to serve and eat with.

You may be asking why he'd bring these things to a training mission.

The answer is simple: It's good energy... and a peace offering.

A very sweet peace offering.

Surely this won't backfire.

[vessel_ken_amada]

[DO NOT ANSWER. Reserved for future updates.]

[fogbornphantom]

Arrival:

Crow arrives with a note of his own, though rather than listing his own abilities, it contains other useful insights:

If we're going to make the most of our Personas, I highly advise gathering Skill Cards. These can be obtained within the TV world or Tartarus through Shuffle Time if you're a Wild Card, though I'm most familiar with the TV world.

The highest level skills can be obtained in the dungeons Magatsu Inaba, Yomotsu Hirasaka, and the Hollow Forest, though I cannot advise using the latter due to its built-in handicaps. In short, you cannot use any equipment beyond what the dungeon provides for you, and your SP will drain with every Shadow you fight.

Magatsu Inaba can be found by entering a hole in the wall through the twisted hotel room of Mayumi Yamano. Do be forewarned that the room has haunting imagery, including a noose.

As for Yomotsu Hirasaka, ask Sagiri-san, and he can probably lead you there, or ask for me, and I'll do what I can.

Form parties with a Wild Card if you are not a Wild Card yourself, and perhaps they can share the spoils.

Additionally, you can duplicate Skill Cards at the Inari Shrine in Iwatodai.

With his note pinned on the board, he looks aimlessly out at his surrounding. Hiro materializes at his side, planting a supportive hand on his shoulder.

"It's all right, Goro. We're all doing our best."

Training:

Anyone who wishes to spar can find Crow going about, alternating between sparring and taking breaks to refresh himself and snack on some of the offered sweets. Hiro is also happy to volunteer, since he's going to be spending most of the time in his more human-shaped form.

[wicked_plan]

... Man. Being a vampire is so cool. Sure, it comes with drawbacks but- come on, floating? Just- floating without the need for any external force? Ren's almost jealous.

"I'm gonna have to improvise a little myself, I think," he says, "I've got Raoul, Sataneal, Metatron and Beelzebub who can fly natively... but I haven't exactly kitted them out as support Personas."

(Well, technically Raoul is, but beyond his auto-skills, he doubts ailments are going to be very effective against Doomada.)

Maybe he needs to figure out how to summon two at once? It can't be that hard... can it?

"... I wonder if I can just cling to Maria and have her float around..."

First of all, though, he needs to practice flying, and keeping his Personas out long enough to do so. The logistics can come after. He reaches for his mask.

"Here goes... Persona!"

Raoul appears in a blue blaze, and hovers behind Ren, reaching down to pick him up. He's tried this a few times before, and he's slowly starting to get the hang of it, clinging to his Persona's arm as he's held.

"Phew..."

[vampirethief]

It may seem cool, but being a vampire does suck, to excuse the pun, sometimes. Hopefully for Wild's sake, he never sees Ren dangerously hungry.

The first name he doesn't recognize, but the others are familiar. "Haven't heard of Raoul, but I do have Satanael, Metatron, Sandalphon, and Kohryu that can fly naturally too."

He also has Yoshitsune, Maria, Mother Harlot, Alice, Odin, Mada, Asura, and Vishnu.

"Ah you have Maria too--?"

He sees Raoul and his eyes widen. Although he hasn't seen this one before, it felt familiar. Very familiar. Much like...

"...Arsene?"

How?

[willowandoak]

"Is it worse than not doing anything about Falcon and just hoping for the best?"

The question is genuine. Ren is fully in leader mode, barely even thinking about the fact that it's Magpie he's talking to. If he stopped to notice it, he would be so unnerved that it would fall apart, but he hasn't yet.

[pancakeboy]

Indeed, Magpie shoots him a half-hearted ugly look, not trusting the ground he finds himself on. He answers reluctantly.

"If anything will remind him of his humanity, Raven will. Right now, though, I'd say that if you were to give Falcon an order he doesn't like, he'll ignore it. He's bent on proving himself and, though he doesn't have a Palace, he's behaving as if he does."

And yet leaving him out of the fight would destroy him. Magpie has contemplated far worse betrayals, but this one hits home.

[willowandoak]

"That's not... the worst." Like. It's pretty bad. But it definitely could be worse. He looks thoughtfully into the distance, tapping his fingers restlessly against his leg. "I can just put him in positions where he gets to prove himself and beat the shit out of Amada, and maybe it'll be... manageable, anyway. I'll watch him in group training to make sure it'll work. But I'm gonna be real, dude, I don't wanna bench him unless I know for sure having him on the team will seriously endanger everyone. 'cause I'm pretty fucking sure benching him will put everyone at risk, too."

[pancakeboy]

"You're not wrong." Bile rises, twisting uselessly in different directions, with no outlet. For some reason, he wants to run.

"It isn't an issue of sentiment," he adds, more smoothly. "If he's removed from the team, he may do anything. He might well alert Amada at once, getting himself killed again, or worse. He might get all of us killed. I just—"

He breaks off. What's wrong with him tonight?

[willowandoak]

"Rest a lot." If he has anything like a co-leader in this fucking nightmare of a mission, it's Amada, but you wouldn't know it, listening to his firm, flat tone of voice. "Do something chill. Eat a pizza, watch a movie. Mental fatigue is one way he could get us."

This is breathtakingly hypocritical of him, but never mind that.

"Anyway, here's this." He pulls a piece of paper out of his pocket. His handwriting is... it sure it something. But the words are legible, if only barely.

note: all personas are as powerful as they can get, I try to feed more fodder Personas to them to make them stronger and Igor is just like "sorry, it won't do anything :)"


Caradoc

no damage from bless or lightning spells, heal from curse damage
no flight

powerful almighty attack that hits 4 times
some other less useful stuff (ranged physical, bless, curse)
group spell to help w/ speed/dodging
when active, i can dodge better


Satan

repels ice and curse spells
flying Persona. can carry me around

powerful almighty attack
spell to empower my next magic attack
constant healing and energy restoration when active (only for me)
less vulnerable to ailments
spells take a lot less energy
when active, I get hit way less hard but can't dodge


i'm gonna be doing damage because it's what I'm good at. but I should be able to pick up the slack for anyone who falters if i'm telling them all what to do, so I'm working on a real good support persona currently

I expect to have Satan out most of the time since he can fly and I've been trying to craft him for this specific fight. if he sucks, i'll mess with him some more

[willowandoak]

Ren waits, neither sympathetic nor judgmental. It probably wouldn't have been possible before his Palace, or before he ended up responsible for the safety of every single person in every reality. But now there are, in fact, more important things at stake than his opinion of Magpie. If Magpie has something to say that can impact the mission, he wants to hear it.

[vessel_ken_amada]

Ken squints a little while reading the paper, but to his credit, he doesn't say anything.

"Your Satan has a lot of qualities. Mitigating damage is much more important than dodging, he has some unavoidable attacks. Reducing vulnerability to ailments is good, conserving energy is really good especially in light of his unique ability, and being able to increase magic attacks is also really good. Plus it flies and repels dark... the one area you need to focus on if you can is blocking light too: you don't want your survival to be up to chance. But overall this seems solid."

He then stops looking at the paper and starts looking at Drake himself.

"Want to test if all of that is enough to survive a hit from him?"

[pancakeboy]

But it's not relevant to the mission, and saying it would just make him look pathetic. I just wish I could have made him hear me, really? To Drake, of all people?

He looks away, confecting an alternative. "I just think his presence will make the situation more unpredictable all around."

[willowandoak]

Ren takes a deep breath and lets it out in a heavy sigh. What a question. Wanna see if you fucking die? And it only has one acceptable answer.

"Yeah, let's go." He rolls his shoulders and steps away from the wall, into the open area where you can actually fight. His Metaverse outfit flickers into being. But he doesn't do anything, just waits for Amada. If he dies, then... well, he dies. The Velvet Room is right outside. And he'll know he has some work to do. He let Akira-senpai seek out information that might have killed him; he can do the same himself.

He hopes he survives, though.

[vessel_ken_amada]

Ken moves too, to stand in front him.

"All right. I will now fully channel my power, which is necessary for us to do this test. As a consequence, this will create an aura of fear, death, and helplessness around me. I will ramp up my power slowly. If at any point you feel like you cannot handle what is going on, please tell me immediately."

He sighs when thinking that Drake may not be honest with him about that, so he looks intently at him around where his eyes should be and stresses the important of an honest answer.

"The worst case scenario if you let things happen without being able to handle them is that you develop Apathy Syndrome. We really want to avoid that as this is a fate worse than death, especially here. So please actually tell me immediately if anything wrong happens and err on the side of caution."

[willowandoak]

Ken has read him right—he already has his mouth open to give an empty agreement when Ken starts talking about Apathy Syndrome. Even after hearing that, he has to think about it for a long moment.

"Sure," he says at last. "No Apathy Syndrome." He even means it, which is why it took him so damn long to say it.

[vessel_ken_amada]

Once he has confirmation from Drake, he nods, and he slowly starts channeling.

At first, the aura isn't too bad. It's similar to the one that was present in the fight against Falcon. A creeping feeling that death is here and you should run. It is by no means trivial, but people used to life-or-death scenarios, like most Persona users, can readily handle it.

But as the aura grows and grows in strength, its nature starts shifting. It starts becoming a very strong you will die right now feeling. It starts being about the terror of certain, inevitable death. There are creeping thoughts in those within the aura's influence that unless they run away in terror right now, they will die. It requires great mental fortitude to recognize these thoughts as foreign and manage to push them aside.

[wicked_plan]

Ren grins at the other.

"Something like that. You know how everyone's Personas evolved? Ah, for a second time, I mean."

He pats Raoul's arm, looking up at the Persona, who seems to grin a little wider himself.

"Raoul's sort of like that for Arsène and Satanael. Uh- I got him after I'd reaffirmed my bonds with everyone in January and February."

[vampirethief]

He nods at that. His friends did do second awakenings after apologizing to him (or in the case of Akechi, after deciding to fight Maruki, and Sumi reaching her own growth the next day).

"Huh. The others did do second awakenings too, but I never did."

Either some part of him is still bitter about what happened, despite chosing to forgive the others, or some other trigger needs to happen for Satanael to evolve to Raoul instead.

Granted, he's been gaslighting himself into ignoring any potential bitterness. Hopefully he doesn't end up with an Inaba dungeon, or a palace, of his own at some point.

He decides to summon Sandalphon to try the same thing, and luckily it goes easier, him clinging to Sandalphon's arm. Likely because of his floating ability.

[willowandoak]

Behind his mask, Ren snarls silently. His hands clench into fists, and his posture shifts as his muscles grow rigid with fury. In his mind, he holds onto memories of Goro, during his Palace and just afterwards, refusing to let him crawl away and die in a ditch, no matter how much he tried to insist. Dragging him kicking and screaming back to survival. That journey started more than a year ago, in the belly of Mementos, with Akira-senpai speaking in a low voice as Ren lay on the grimy floor, stared at the ceiling, and realized he'd reached the end of the line. He'd run from his own death as far as he was willing to go.

That was real. That, and the years of running beforehand. All of that happened, and it sucked, and no punk-ass kid channeling an edgelord moon god is going to fake it for him. He doesn't speak, but his body language screams defiance.