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]

...Like when you're sick with fever.

[ All you want to do is be unconscious, but you're mind's racing at 234059839093 thoughts per second, and you just can't calm down. Or like the panic from before where your mind won't stop and all you want to do is lie down and cry.

These aren't great experiences to associate with lying next to the person you love. ]

[parhellia]

[ Oh, gross... Ala blips out of existence and then resummons herself out of smoke, her clothes and hair and everything else good as new. ]

The lake is right outside of the school. Let's go there~

[cicadashell]

I had enough.

[Except for the three days of paranoia bonus, Jiro ate the Kano turnip soup. He probably had Seto's portion too.]

I'll have a lot of the breakfast when we get back, okay?

[yokeye]

Um... I guess it's kind of like that!

[He can see the connection.]

[reveilation]

[ God... The two of them are just going to have to be those toddlers who play in the yard and eat dirt and build up a strong and healthy immune system that way. Rei's immune system could use a workout after being locked up in a hospital all those years. ]

Right... I'll be home in case something happens, so you can always call for me or anybody else if something happens.

[reveilation]

She won't always be by your side, though, will she? In terms of physical distance, I mean.

[ Nekogami's always out there doing his thing, and she sees other people's Personas jump into the fray while their hosts remain in the back. There's always people screaming. It gets noisy. ]

[reveilation]

[ Buff Rei can throttle everybody in the dungeons later.

"just lots of pockets" but Kido's still going to fix that hem. It'll just be rolled up and pinned to stay off the ground, while being able to be unraveled at a later time if needed, preserving the tattered bottom. ]

Sounds like a plan. Can you drop it off in my room later?

[yokeye]

I'll keep the phone close~!

[It doesn't occur to Toki that Kido could mean just yelling at her from the bathroom and not using the phone to "call". His phone will now also sit on the floating tray and he'll accidentally destroy phone number four in Cetana alone.]

[parhellia]

That sounds miserable~ Shuuya always just slept while he's tired, so it's kinda weird imagining somebody lying there doing nothing. It's a big day today, though, so you'd better get into a real bed and stock up on those dream hours!

[ Up we go, off the floor! ]

[yokeye]

[Toki tries to stay close to Joroko, but Kido's right. Sometimes it's safer for Joroko to climb things and be out there in the fray without Toki.]

No... So, trying the link is good, even if it's not perfect.

[reveilation]

Leave it outside and just shout through the door.

[ We have to save these phones somehow... maybe they should just remove the tub entirely and have only a shower. ]

[yokeye]

[A real bed sounds good. He'd forgotten where he was. On the floor by the kotatsu in the clubhouse. After breakfast.]

Yes, time for bed!

[He gets up slowly; it's such an effort. But the comfort of a bed calls to him. Or the couch if he can only make it that far. There's also the possibility that he'll fall asleep in a snowbank on the way to the black cat house.]

[reveilation]

That's right. You and Joroko should keep practicing. Minato would probably be able to help you out more there, knowing different types of problems you might face and how to manage them.

[ He would put Toki through a 1001 Ways to Die training scenario, but it might be helpful, given Toki doesn't take the option to run that Minato always leaves, so he doesn't waste time with people who don't want to learn. ]

[parhellia]

[ Ala trusts him to make it just one house over all by himself, so she leaves him to freeze to death outside until later in the afternoon when Kido has to search for him and dig him out of the snow to go grocery shopping with her and Rei. ]

[yokeye]

Oh! Yeah, I can do that!

[Of course she meant that, not calling her from within her own house. Toki is an idiot; and he changes the subject in hopes Kido will forget this.]

So, when are we shopping!?

[flowerclips]

[ Toki's so kind and understanding. People can judge all they want for their rushed marriage. Rei doesn't regret it and she definitely won't leave him for Zen. She will still love Zen for all that he's done for her, but her heart now belongs to Toki and she wants to spend whatever life she has left with him. ]

Mm. I love you.

[ She reaches out to hold his hand, squeezing it tightly. ]

After this dungeon, let's go into the mountains and find somewhere nice for our new house.

[reveilation]

[ Kido will probably forget this, but only because it's one of many incidents that cement in her mind that she needs to spell things out for Toki sometimes. ]

Later in the afternoon. I need to do the dishes first to clear out the sink, and then I'll grab you later. Take some time to yourself for now.

[yokeye]

[Toki's starting to get a headache thinking about different potential problems they might run into. He has such bad luck, he expects everything to go wrong. For now, he slides his plate away and lowers his head onto the table.]

I hate dungeons.

[yokeye]

I love you too.

[He squeezes back, and smiles brightly.]

We'll find the perfect spot.

[Even as the words leave his mouth, he doesn't believe them. All his experiences have lead him to think that planning for the future like this will leave him disappointed. They may never make it out alive. But he wants Rei to have this dream, so he says nothing to the contrary.]

[reveilation]

[ ...Kido sighs softly, because, yeah. She hates them too, always being terrified out of her mind and having the pressure of being on the front lines just because her Persona is strong, the expectation and reliance on her being there because she's one of their strongest tools, so she can't be selfish and say she won't go. ]

I hate them too. But I have to fight if I want to keep everybody safe, so I force myself to go. Most everybody here are like that, I think.

[ Except Minato who is just bloodthirsty. Terry too. ]

Isn't it the same for you?

[flowerclips]

I will, but they should be honest with me too! If they have questions, they could just ask!

[ Communicate with her!! ]

[yokeye]

Yeah...

[He knows he can't keep everybody safe, and doesn't have that pressure like Kido. For Toki, it's more keeping certain people safe, and to prove that he isn't totally useless. He used to give up so easily, and sometimes even now he wants to, but he doesn't. He's trying so hard every day and nothing significant will ever come of it.]

I don't want to be a burden. I want to contribute, even if for now it has to be fighting.

[flowerclips]

Let me help so then we can leave faster!

[ There will always be fish for sale in a grocery store. Frozen or not, Rei will take it. ]

[flowerclips]

[ Minato needs to come with her right now to get her rope so we can say that it's just in Rei's backpack, just like her crossbow. ]

Wh-- that's a horrible reason to wear black!

[ Oh my god, is that why Zen wears all black? He truly is Death... ]

[reveilation]

[ Hirajiro doesn't have an ocean but Kido will always be cursed with fish... ]

Thanks, Rei. I'll wash and you dry, okay?

[ Soap will be washed off so it's less of a slip hazard... Sometimes Kido has to remind herself that Rei's around her age, only a year or two younger. They'll be fine and they can start on the dishes right away before they get piled up too high. ]