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

[NETWORK] Training recap

[vessel_ken_amada]

[Locked to team members.]

=== SUMMARY OF WHAT YOU NEED TO PRACTICE BEFORE OUR FIRST TRAINING SESSIONS ==

1. Build up stamina, especially summoning stamina. You will need to have your Persona out at all times during both our training sessions and the actual battle.

2. Figure out a method of flight. You do not need to have found it for your first session, but have it early.

3. Build up your defenses as much as you can. We'll do some tests together to figure out if they meet the minimum level needed for you to be deployed in the fight, but don't stop at that minimum.

4. Prepare a list of your strengths and weaknesses as well as your intended combat role. If you are on offense duty, come with your strongest magical attacks. If you are on support, come with your intended support skills.

sometime after training with Drake

[vessel_ken_amada]

ABOUT HIS BARRIER

I mentioned it earlier, but he and I have an ability to erect a protective barrier that shields us from harm. We have done some testing on my own barrier (which can be a little different from his, do not assume it will be 100% identical for him).

Here are some initial results:
- At full power, it seems to stop all harm whatsoever. We still don't know how to deal with that and are working on it.
- If we manage to weaken it, it's still extremely dangerous:
-- First, we need enormous power to do an initial piercing. We'll probably need our strongest damage dealer to do the honors.
-- Then, it will adapt to elements that brought the user most harm. It cannot adapt to an unlimited number of elements however, so we should be good with an element rotation. But that means we cannot rely on almighty only.
--- For my own barrier, it will completely stop the element that most recently brought me harm, and severely weaken the precedent one, so a three element rotation is necessary.

What this means for team members on an offensive role: we need a variety of elements! We'd like coverage for every magical element except Light and Dark (for which no method to suppress elemental resistances exist, although if you have a special Light or Dark skill that pierces resistances then that'd be great).

This also means that Break skills or other means to suppress elemental resistances will be critical.

[willowandoak]

1. The Amenities

Early in the lifespan of the training room, Ren attaches a corkboard to a wall near the door. In the center of it, he pins two pieces of paper with handwritten messages on them. The first one reads as follows:

GENERAL INSTRUCTIONS

if i hear from our ally Amada that anyone's been missing too many training sessions, you're off the team unless you have a real good excuse. "I had a cold" won't cut it. "I had pneumonia" maybe or "i got turned into a fish"

on the other hand, don't spend too much time in here. take breaks. do not roll your eyes and ignore this, you fucking know who you are. i'm not concerned with your mental health or whatever, I'm concerned with team members not collapsing on their ass from exhaustion or stress the moment the other Amada presses us. this is too serious for any of us to fuck around and leave weak links in the chain because of the velvet Room mental breakdown of the month. if I think you're becoming a liability instead of an asset, i will kick you off the team just the same as if you're not training enough

Once we've all trained with our amada, the next stage is group training so i can see how people work together and we can make sure we don't get in each other's way. there are almost 20 of us, much more than most of us are used to fighting with

The second sheet reads:

SUPPORT TEAM
Frog (leader)
Briar
Crow
joker
Spades
wild

frog is your leader, he understands what I want from you and how to get you to mesh with offensive combatants. all of you should be able to do all of the following: healing injury, healing ailments, strengthening us (ESPECIALLY defense if you have to choose), weakening Amada

that said, I want the following specialists:
- someone with a group heal that removes ailments with the same skill
- someone with group ailment cure
- TWO people who focus on strengthening us
- one with a focus on weakening amada
- a generalist dedicated to keeping the support team standing, who can split attention to focus on the rest of you wherever you're stationed and heal/strengthen/cure ailments as needed

Decide between yourselves who's best suited for which role

There's a good amount of space left on the board, in case anyone wants to leave notes of their own instead of using the network.

Near the board is a box full of nonperishable snacks that restore health and energy, as well as a cooler of drinks that do the same. The organization of both leaves something to be desired, but they get refilled frequently. Someone has thoughtfully left a few camping chairs and a folding table next to them.

---

2. Leadership Sucks Actually

2a. Work, Work, Work

Ren is in here a decent amount, watching people train or doing training of his own with his new Personas. He also, of course, has to stop by a couple times a day to refill the snack station. You could easily run into him emptying a bag full of snacks into the box, or filling the cooler with fresh ice. Or maybe he's collapsed in one of the chairs, chewing on a pen and glaring down at a small notebook.

2b. Fight, Fight, Fight

It's also not unlikely that you could find him training by himself in his unnerving Black Mask outfit, obliterating the dummy Shadows with Caradoc's devastating attacks or figuring out how one of his new Personas works. He's always interested in a sparring partner, or maybe you just want to talk?

2c. Okay, but Actually, What the Fuck (closed to Ken)

He has training sessions with Amada, just like everyone else. One day, he shows up with his bag, wearing a small frown. "Hi," he says absentmindedly. "Gimme a sec, I need to refill the box."

He dumps some new snacks in the snack box and sweeps the accumulated trash into his bag.

2c

[vessel_ken_amada]

Ken looks... well, first, it probably takes a little time to get used to his new wings, each of them longer than his entire body. But besides that, Ken looks mentally tired. Less tired than he might have looked before the training was setup, as now Raven and Wagtail and Jay and all his friends make sure he takes breaks. But still.

He watches Drake arrive and greets him with a nod. While he's refilling the snack box, Ken says with a soft, quiet voice: "Thank you for everything you're doing."

SECRET DOOR NUMBER 3

[pancakeboy]

We have a situation. Meet me ASAP.

[Fuck you too, Drake. He assumes he doesn't need to (and shouldn't) specify "in the training room".]

[vampirethief]

A. Arrival
Ren arrived with a list as requested before getting into training. The main thing that sets him apart from other Jokers is that he wears what looks more like a cloak than a coat (which certainly gives vampire vibes), and he has a white cravet around his neck.

The list is as follows:
Strengths: - Have Satanael, my strongest persona. No weaknesses, absorbs curse (dark), resists everything else except almighty. Has Maeigaon, Megidolaon, Black Viper, and Riot Gun.
- As a vampire, I can withstand a lot more hits than normal humans, and I can heal much quicker than humans (not instantaneous).
Weaknesses: - Garlic? Unless he has some kind of attack that uses sunlight that does more than give bad sunburns, I'm not sure that applies here. May need to break habit of sometimes shifting to bat form to dodge attacks.
Intended Combat Role: Offense

Hopefully that's exactly what Ken needs to know. He can answer questions if need be.

B. Solo Training
After that, he gets started. First by practicing having Satanael around for look periods of time as well as having his persona carry him by hand (he's not in full skyscraper building size, but Satanael is still quite big as a person).

He also tries to practice trying to get himself to fly under his own power and not just float or rely on bat form to do that. Unfortunately, that's proving to be a huge problem.

He tries to make himself fly but he doesn't move fast enough for it, and then ends up falling and crashing against the ground.

"Ow."

Yeah, this might take a while. Unless anyone has any pointers on it.

C. Sparring
Anyone wants to spar with him? He's cool with that, and maybe practice using his other personas, even if he plans to stick with Satanael for the fight.

D. Wildcard
Want something else? Just post a prompt here.

A

[vessel_ken_amada]

Ken visibly relaxes a little when reading the list.

"I'm seeing a lot of good things here. I don't think he'll exploit your weaknesses, and your vampire abilities are a big deal: one my headaches here is to deal with how fragile humans are... Plus you seem to have extra mobility which is great. My only question is: do you have things to boost your attack power like Concentrate?"

[vampirethief]

Well that's a good sign. Seems Ren understood the assignment. That said, it's true that his vampire nature actually helps here. Especially since unlike in a lot of media, he can't get killed by sunlight, just get a really bad sunburn, and he's immune to crosses and most likely holy water.

"Satanael does have Heat Riser."

He does have other personas, but again, he's mainly focusing on only using Satanael due to both how strong it is, and also because there's nothing except almighty that can do any real damage.

[vessel_ken_amada]

"Buffs will be handled by the support team, so you don't have to worry about that. Abilities like Concentrate however are individual which is why I asked if you had it."

Ken closes his eyes and takes a few seconds to think.

"You probably won't be one of the main damage dealers then, but you can play harassment. Using your offense combined with your superior durability and mobility to keep pressure on him and force him to play defensive a little, putting momentum in our favor. Does that sound good to you? Should we train with that role in mind for you?"

[vampirethief]

Ren nods. "I'm fine with being distraction. Training with that role in mind does sound best, though I do plan on practicing keeping my persona out for as long as possible and work on flight."

Floating won't be much good and he can't rely on bat form for it either.

[willowandoak]

k

ASAP is very soon indeed. He shows up after just a couple of minutes, his overshirt somewhat rumpled and his expression harried. He meets Magpie's eyes expectantly. He took the message seriously; this had better be good.

[pancakeboy]

Magpie turns to greet him, such as it is. For all his barely-veiled hostility, there's something else there too. Chagrin, almost.

"Thanks for coming." It's cursory politeness. "We have an issue with Falcon. I take it you've been monitoring him."

[willowandoak]

Ren is already sighing as soon as Falcon's name comes up. Since it's Magpie, he doesn't say more than, "Yeah, I have. What's going on?"

[pancakeboy]

Fucking Drake, sighing as if Falcon's some kind of inconvenience. Magpie says nothing. At least, nothing other than....

"He has a dungeon. In the Inaba TV world."

[willowandoak]

He blinks. He hasn't heard that very often. "Someone has to," he says, but only after a fairly conspicuous moment of stillness. "Better me than Suou. ...Imagine that. Fuck."

He drops his newly trash-laden bag on the floor and turns to face Amada, giving him a critical once-over. The wings are whatever, he's used to them by now, but the fatigue...

"Long day?"

In other words, Are you taking a break soon?

[willowandoak]

...Ren resists the urge to press his hands against his face. The dungeon explains a lot, actually. You'd think it would make Ren more sympathetic, too, given what he went through here, but the extra understanding fails to materialize.

Okay. Okay. This is barely anything, compared to some of the other shit he's had dropped on him over the course of the mission. First question first. "Can he still use his Personas?"

[pancakeboy]

"Oh, he can use them." He might be discussing the weather, if the weather had him really pissed off, and set on not showing it. "In fact, he's doing nothing but use them. He's obsessed with training for this mission. It seems as if he thinks of nothing else."

His mouth twists, despite himself. Who is he to condemn Falcon for how he's reacted? "He's not open to communication. Without wanting to be sentimental, I feel it's—important that he's part of this mission. But if he can't take instruction...."

[willowandoak]

"It's not about sentiment," Ren says restlessly. "If I drop him from the mission, he goes to challenge Amada on his own, maybe blows up the mission, definitely gets himself killed again. It's a huge risk. If I thought he'd just sulk on his own, I might have done it already, but as it stands..." He gestures with one hand. "The risk of keeping him on has to be bigger than that for me to kick him.

"Do you have a reason to think he won't take my instruction? 'cause that's not the same as if you tried to get him to do something."

[pancakeboy]

Frankly, if Magpie couldn't get Falcon to listen to him, he'd like to see Drake fucking try. He can't summon a smile. "If you think you can make him listen, then by all means try. He knows I'm here."

Drake is right, though. Magpie knows what obsession can do. The mission is sustaining Falcon, right now, deafening him to everything else. Removed from the team, he'd be even more of a ... well, call it a loose cannon.

[willowandoak]

"I'll test it," he says. "Not right now. When we do group training. He's more likely to realize it's a test now, if I say something right after you tell him you're talking to me." He is a little annoyed about that, yeah. But he moves on.

"You know him; would it help to have him around people he gets along with when we fight? ...Who even are those people?"

[pancakeboy]

"Myself." Which is why I gave it to him straight, you piece of shit. "Raven. Rose and Lyssi, who aren't involved. And Crow's Shadow. Those are the ones I know of. As to whether it would help..."

He doesn't exactly sag, but something shifts, something that veils his hostility further. "I wouldn't be talking to you if I'd been able to get him to listen to me."

[willowandoak]

"I don't need him to listen, I just need him to remember you exist. Would it hurt, to do that? 'cause if not, I might try it anyway."

Like, why not, at this point? If it doesn't hurt, and it might help?

[vessel_ken_amada]

He chuckles a little. "Long... week? Month? Today wasn't that bad, it's just mental fatigue slowly settling over time."

He then sighs. "In any case, you're my last session today, so I suppose I can rest a little afterwards."

[wicked_plan]

As instructed, Ren arrives with a list of his Personas at the ready, all written down on a piece of paper. He likes to think he's pretty versatile, so he can fill almost any duty as needed, and yeah, usually he's the one calling the shots, but he'll defer to Drake and Frog, this time around. Doesn't mean he won't give his input, though, or that he isn't willing to hear what his fellow support duty teammates have to say.

B

[wicked_plan]

Ren- Wild, that is, enters the training room just in time to watch the vampire fall on his ass, wincing at the impact. Funny thing, he came here to practice the exact same thing... clearly it won't be as easy as he expected.

"Yowch, that looked rough," he comments, leaning against the wall. "You good?"

His vampire self looks fine, but it doesn't hurt to check.