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

i

[parhellia]

Toki~

[ Ala stands behind him and places her hands on his both his shoulders so she can hold him up and prevent him from slamming his face into his food. ]

Are you sleepy? We're going to be up all night... I wonder if you'd be too excited to sleep?

[yokeye]

[Toki shrieks at the touch, even though Ala's voice came first. He was definitely falling asleep.]

Ala!

[When the words register, Toki stands up abruptly and turns to her.]

Excited!? Excited!? Nothing is exciting here!

[One day, he will get to sleep for a week.]

[parhellia]

[ Yikes! Ala's hands lift slightly off Toki's shoulders when he yells, but she puts them back down after he's turned towards her and gives them a squeeze. He sure sounds excited. ]

I thought it'd be exciting 'cause it's a new adventure, something we've never experienced before! You don't think new things are exciting?

[yokeye]

Not new dungeon things! New exciting things are like new foods, or getting another pet, or like an amusement park, or shopping for cute things! Not fighting!

[Not all new things are equal. Toki calms down in a second though, to maybe clarify for Ala.]

Like, okay... mixing the candy in the bathroom? Exciting~! Getting yelled at because you stole an apple? Also a new experience, but not exciting. It can feel the same, excitement and like, fear and panic and apprehension.

[parhellia]

[ Those are all very exciting things to Ala, food and pets and places to play and fighting is something she includes under the umbrella term of play. ]

Ohh... Yeah, it was a little scary with all that yelling over the apple! But it was also a little exciting, I think...

[ Maybe it was only exciting for her because she faced none of the consequences and never had the danger of it. This dungeon too, there's not much about it she's scared of. Getting "killed" as a Persona isn't the same as it is for a person, but it's also something she doesn't think about, because why fret over your own mortality? ]

Right now, which word are you feeling, Toki?

[yokeye]

Right now?

[It's definitely not excitement. His nerves are frayed and he feels like his skin is crawling, his insides are vibrating, and his brain is starting to melt.]

Panic.

[He admits it only in a whisper.]

[parhellia]

Hmm, the difference between excitement and panic... Physically, it feels about the same, sorta? All this excess energy that makes you want to move, but you can't.

[ Her two reference points are only the usual excitement, versus the panic status effect that causes somebody to not know what to do, leading them to attack a friend or throw away money or do things they wouldn't do in their right mind. ]

But when you're excited, you're looking forward to something, and when you're panicked, you don't know what to think, like your brain's stopped?

[yokeye]

[It's a simplistic explanation, but it's accurate.]

Yes. There's... nowhere for that energy to go, or you can't decide where to expend it and it just builds up until you have to scream or cry just to let go.

[parhellia]

It's okay to scream and cry, though.

[ Kano does neither of those things. Ala screams a lot, though, and she's always able to get it all out before things build up to the point of a breakdown. ]

Will it help if we sing karaoke again? If you're inside a dungeon want to scream, you can do what Minato does when he calls his Persona. He shouts their name, or goes "Persona!" or "Come forth!" or things like that~

[yokeye]

Is it?

[When he resorts to that, which is often, Toki feels useless and desperate and never like it's okay to do. A feeling informed from years of people just wanting him to shut up and calm down.]

Karaoke was fun! But that's a different kind of screaming. Joroko wouldn't like it if I screamed at her either.

[parhellia]

Mmhm! But you don't scream at people, silly~ You just scream! Out loud, about anything that's bothering you! Like—

[ She leans a little away from the table, as if her voice takes up physical space ]

I'M EXCITED ABOUT TONIGHT'S DUNGEON BUT NOBODY ELSE IS, SO I DUNNO IF I SHOULD BE EXCITED OR NOT!!

...Like that! And I feel a little better~

[yokeye]

[Toki screams because Ala does, much like their duet. Only he has nothing to say, nothing that can be voiced. It's just a ragged, wailing scream of terror.]

[parhellia]

[ Screaming is screaming and when Ala has nothing else to say, she just screams too, only it's one of those happy shrieks you'd hear from people hurtling down a rollercoaster, or four-year-olds in the park having a screaming contest. ]

[yokeye]

[It's a reprise of their karaoke scream-off. Toki's next loud, continuous scream ends only when he's run out of air and passes out. At least he'll sleep for a little while.]

[parhellia]

[ Goodnight, sweet prince...

Depending on how long Toki is asleep for, he'll find himself lying on the ground underneath the chair he'd been sitting on. Ala is sitting in the chair instead, feet crossed at the ankles and swinging while she eats the rest of Toki's food or is attempting to play Wei Wuxian's flute. ]

[yokeye]

[Toki wakes to the sound of the flute and he's very confused. What is that noise? He doesn't realize he's under the chair. When he pushes himself up off the floor, he hits the chair with his back and topples it over.]

[parhellia]

Wahh—-!

[ Ala falls, turns into smoke before she can hit the ground, but doesn't reform in time to prevent the flute from hitting Toki on the side of the head and clattering to the ground.

...She picks it up and gives it another toot to make sure it works okay. It sounds a little squeaky, but that's just Ala not having figured out how to make it not squeak. ]

Whew, it's okay! Did you have a good nap, Toki?

[yokeye]

[Toki rubs idly at the spot where the flute hit.]

Ala?

[He finds the overturned chair and can piece together what happened.]

It was good, I guess? What's making the noise?

[parhellia]

Mmhm! It's a flute. Do you know how to play?

[ She slides the flute into Toki's hands— pulls it out and turns it around the other way so Toki would be blowing into the right end- and moves his fingers onto some of the holes. ]

I'm borrowing this from Master Wei, but I bet he'll be okay letting you play with it too!

[yokeye]

Master who?

[He's dubbed Wei Wuxian "Hana-chan" because his name was hard to pronounce. The flute's in his hands now, and Toki leaves his fingers where Ala positioned them. He isn't musically inclined and has never played any sort of instrument. He blows into the end of it with as much force as his screams.]

[parhellia]

Master Wei—AAHHH!!

[ She covers her ears when Toki blows into the flute, and then quickly pulls it away from his mouth so he'll stop. ]

Not like that! You gotta blow softer, like blowing hot soup! If you blow too hard, you're gonna lose all your soup!

[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]

[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]

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.