1/11 training and breakfast

[citta]

[ As last minute prep for the dungeon, everybody has been called to get together for a training session during midnight at Lockdown, with promise of a light breakfast at the clubhouse afterwards and the suggestion that people take it easy during the day before they split up into their respective teams and head to the castle and the mountains.

Training is largely done in the school shrine, on the second floor where there's wide empty space without the maze to account for, where you can practice tactics together, or take on the Minato challenge where he has Messiah blast you apart in half a second and then immediately heals you and asks if you want to go again.

Breakfast at the clubhouse is split between western and traditional styles, whether you crave fluffy pancakes, or are more of a miso soup and grilled fish on rice sort of person. If you want anything in particular for lunch, Kido is on lunch duty and promises to make whatever you want, so long as you go out to the store and bring the ingredients back.

Thanks to everybody's efforts so far during the month, whether it's interacting with the townspeople or talking with the mayor or donating gemstones to the mountain shrine, the effects can already be seen around town, with the townspeople less wary of the Persona users, allowing them to purchase what they want in the stores if they want to have their own supplies to take into the dungeon later.

Now go out there and get along and learn to work together or is2g ]

Comments

[parhellia]

[ Honestly, the Tower being the first part is good, because it can only go up from here. It's a much better fortune than having the Tower as the future card.

rng gives us the next card: ]

Reversed Death.

[ hm ]

[cicadashell]

[Jiro was about to leave, and Sasuke speaking surprises him.]

I dunno. I'm not a weapons guy.

[Should he volunteer more information? That's how these things work...]

Gramps taught me some ninja stuff, but not much. Old geezer thought we'd be all done with fighting by this generation.

[Then surprise, demons.]

[parhellia]

[ This is how Toki's self-fulfilling prophecy of becoming a quack psychic begins. ]

Okay~! The basis of it's really simple! You ask the cards a question, and then choose three. The first brings up elements of the past that might be holding you back, the second card focuses on a present problem, and the third offers guidance on the future. My deck has twenty-two cards, one for each Arcana. Do you know much about them?

[toybombs]

...That's one way to put it, I suppose.

[Host, huh.]

Anyway, I'll keep trying. Someone's got to do it.

[Even if Jiro is a butt!!]

[yokeye]

Like hot soup?

[Toki makes a second attempt, but he's lost any finger positions, so he's half covering some random holes. He blows much more softly into the flute. He's very careful with hot soup.]

[parhellia]

[ Hot soup requires a certain amount of care and gentleness that translates well into flute playing. ]

There, that sounds better. [ Less piercing and more... indescribable. Not any real notes, but also it's exactly how it sounds when Ala plays it, because she doesn't know any real notes either. ]

Now try moving your fingers around to make new noises~

[yokeye]

[It will happen in one game somehow.]

Past, present, future. That's easy enough, because they're in the right order~!

[Despite being here for a few months, doesn't know what an Arcana is to begin with.]

I know there's twenty-two~!

[parhellia]

[ Like a host. ]

How's the progress looking? Think they'll be able to shoot a gun without blowing out their own brains by tonight?

[yokeye]

[He manages to cover a couple holes this time, and takes his finger on and off them. It's just noise, but soon it becomes a repetitive three notes... then two... then one. The one he's decided is the best. He lets the note go long and drawn out, unwavering.

This note is the key to understanding all things.]

[parhellia]

[ It's a good start!! ]

Yep, there's twenty-two! It starts from number zero, which is the Fool, and ends at number twenty-one, which is the World. In order, it's sorta like describing the stages of life, from a fool who doesn't know anything, and they go out and learn all these new things, and at the end of their journey, they understand their place in the world.

[ She fans out her cards to find the Fool, so she can have it out in front of her even though it's pointless, in Toki's point of view. ]

The Fool is the beginning card, like starting new and having a blank slate~ A Fool has no ties, and does what they want because of that. Akira is a Fool. Can you see that in him?

[parhellia]

Ohh, that one sounds full~

[ Tone deafness is hard, but the quality of the notes is still clear, and anything is better than squeaky. ]

It's like how Master Wei does it! You're so good at this.

[yokeye]

[Toki is listening intently, but he already has issues with this. He waits until Ala's done before first addressing the Akira question.]

I can't see that in Akira because he does have ties and that's why he wants to go home.

[He admittedly does not know Akira very well. Now, back to his initial thought at her description.]

Can anyone understand their place in the world? Does anyone have one? The fool is the person who says yes. The fool should be number twenty-two and not zero.

[parhellia]

You mean like with a gun, like Rio, or with your Persona? Who's inspiring you the most right now?

[ Dual crossbow wielding Sasuke ]

[yokeye]

[He'll keep playing that note over and over again until Ala takes the flute away. He can see everything in his mind's eye. All the universes and their contents, spreading out before him and he can almost touch them. All of the questions and the answers and the truth of existence itself.]

[parhellia]

[ About two minutes pass before Ala pulls the flute away again. That isn't insight, Toki. That's oxygen deprivation. ]

[yokeye]

[It's all gone in an instant. The warmth of the kotatsu is back, and the noise of people gathered for breakfast.]

What happened?

[parhellia]

[ That's true about Akira... He starts off as a Fool, but he's a Persona protag whose gone through about three journeys now, so maybe it's about time he's graduated. ]

I believe people have a place in the world, but Akira's also called me a fool~ I don't think most people understand their place, though. It's not something you can really understand, unless you're some sort of priest or monk or something?

[ She finds the World from her set and puts it next to the Fool. ]

But you're right: the Fool becomes the World, and zero is also twenty-two. Souji used to be the Fool, did you know? But now he's the World. Minato was the Fool, but now he's the Universe. People change, because that's what people do. I wonder what Akira is now? I wonder if you're still Lovers?

[parhellia]

You were having too much fun playing the flute, you forgot to breathe~

[ What a dangerous toy! It goes back into her pocket. ]

It looked like you were in a flow state, though. What were you thinking about?

[yokeye]

They change.

[That makes sense, because people never stay the same, even if pieces of them do. Even if you can still see the person they were, there are differences.]

Maybe I'm something different now, and Akira.

[He's getting a headache from all the thinking.]

It's too complicated for me.

[Toki will tell fortunes with a crystal ball.]

[yokeye]

Oh.

[He says it matter-of-factly. He's forgotten to breathe more than once before.]

Flow state? I was... I don't know. I saw things. Like a vision, but not all bright and neon and flashy, just... something.

[The knowledge has already left him.]

[parhellia]

Oh.

[ Like a daydream, she's thinking. ]

You were nice and calm, though. Do you feel good? Maybe you can play the flute next time you're panicking?

[ Can't scream if he's focused on gently blowing hot soup, and he can zone out until he passes out. ]

[lotusroots]

[ What's the worst that could happen! ]

What do you want to try first? We can go over basic sword or archery techniques.

[yokeye]

[Is that what this is? Is this what calm is supposed to be?]

I feel... like I'm sleeping, but not?

[A lack of feelings. Nothing hurts.]

[parhellia]

Hehe, it's a lot to take in all at once~ It's easier for me, 'cause all the Personas have different Arcanas, so I hear about 'em a lot!

[ Maybe one day we'll bring back that school fortune teller so Toki can have a crystal ball. Maybe by then he can actually see it. ]

It's complicated 'cause people are complicated. The Arcana reflects who somebody is, so you can use them that way too. Who's somebody you don't understand? We can try to figure them out with their Arcana.

[yokeye]

Swords! Archery's useless.

[Toki tosses his pike aside. He'll find it later.]

Do you have any that aren't heavy?