towerofanimus | PARTY TIME!

PARTY TIME!

Characters: Marty and EVERYONE ELSE. Start your own threads, mingle, make CR!
Setting: Floor 38, the big lounge floor just under the dorms, BEST STORM VIEW
Format: Your choice
Summary: STORM WATCHING PARTY! So the power is out and there's tons of thunderstorms. But don't let that get you down, WATCH THE THUNDERSTORMS! Also pancakes and coffee.
Warnings: STORM WATCHING ! Lots of thunder

Marty had enough of the darkness in the tower and the creeping monsters, so when he looked at the mass of pancakes the automatic pancake maker had made, he loaded them up along with the coffee maker, coffee, the syrup, and toted them all the way up to Floor 38.

There was no way he was going to let those massive stacks of pancakes go to waste, and this was the closest floor to the dorms that actually had some place to hang out, so he set the pancakes up as a sort of continental breakfast, and sat watching the storm.

What he hadn't expected was the people to start trickling in.

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[This happened to them as kids?

Even Jun hadn't had his own persona corrupted until he was at least in high school, and the Joker persona wasn't quite as...malicious.

He was kind of reeling for a minute, and tried to regain his mental bearings.]

I-- No, don't apologize. It's my fault, I shouldn't have asked...

[He shook his head.] I'm sorry...

... I don't want your pity, or your apologies. It's not your fault, anyway, so you have no reason to feel that way.

[ He really, really does not. His eyes skate away from Jun; he feels bad that this kid is sick because of him, but... ]

But you had to ask, because you're used to being around people with natural Personas. ... Right?

[ Look, even Minato had his limits with being asked about this. It was a touchy subject, and it hurt all of Strega. They couldn't help their situation. They were stuck with it.

He might be being nicer about this than Jin or Chidori would be, and he is very patient, but he has a hard time not being somewhat affected by it. ]

I meant sorry for asking...! [He certainly didn't mean to anger this guy off!!] I don't think it's a good situation, but you probably don't appreciate having to bring it up...

[Espeeeecially if he's already talked to Michel. Michel and Hades probably threw a fit over it.

He lowered his hand out of respect, but still looked away a bit, avoiding eye contact out of shame.] Well we weren't born with them if that's what you mean... But, to be honest... I asked because my Persona is scared.

[ He sighs. It's kind of a touchy subject. But he doesn't want to be TOO hard on Jun, so... ]

I heard something about this from Philemon-san, as well as Mishina-san, yes. Our Personas reject us, so they have to be suppressed or they'll kill us.

[ He pulls a bottle of medication out of his pocket. The pills are innocuous enough, but the side-effects are horrible. ]

... It's probably for that reason yours is afraid, I guess.

[ If he KNEW the actual reason, he might understand it better, but as he doesn't... ]

But as far as I'm aware, at least in 2009, only those with the Potential to wield a Persona can even summon. Even then, not everyone can. I suppose, like Mishina-san, you can summon without an Evoker as well?

[Their Personas kill them?

Now that...is something Jun honestly can't wrap his head around. When he was still the Joker, he could remember an overwhelming desire for chaos and destruction from his Persona, but he could hardly fathom even that being out for his own blood.

He looked up dully at the pills, and took a deep breath to try and contain his anger, fear, despair and disgust. ]

That's right. In 1999, there was no "Potential." And I've never heard of an Evoker before... We're able to summon them on our own, as well as create and summon different ones with Igor's help.

[He was looking at Minato again, but his demeanor was much more... subdued.]

There's just something about your Persona that's.... familiar. [Uncomfortably so.] It's unsettling. Though mine has never gone that far...

[ He just shrugs, and uses the coffee to take three of them. Ha... ha... having to up his dosage since the bullshit here has really sucked, but at least they were available. He quietly shrugs all of this off, puts the pills back into his pocket, and tries to remain as stoic as he can, despite being quite tired of this sort of conversation. ]

... I'm not quite sure why you're feeling any of that. I suppose it's probably because it's a Shadow. Or... it was at one point, I suppose. Our Personas are closer to Shadows than they are Personas. But I can tell you what I told Mishina-san... if you really need to know, at least.

[ Unless Jun had a Persona from that pantheon, he guesses? Eikichi DID have Hades, but the Olympians came far after the Protogenoi, so he can't see a reason why it would be... ]

Having more than one Persona is... extremely uncommon as far as I'm aware. I only know one other person who has more than one, and she's an exception. I've ever heard of this Igor person, either. Most of the time, every Persona user I know could only summon during the Dark Hour, a hidden time between one day and the next.

[ Here, he sets his empty coffee cup somewhere nearby before taking his Evoker off of the holster on his belt. It's been seeing a lot of action today, anyway, so... ]

I've also heard it's possible to summon without an Evoker, I... knew someone who could even do it, but he was... very different. The Evokers were created to evoke the proper trauma response needed in your psyche to call the Persona forth, anyway. Natural or otherwise, only Persona users or those with the Potential could even be awake during the Dark Hour. Everyone else transmogrified into coffins.

[ Then, he holds the pistol-looking object in his hand. ]

This is an Evoker.

Shadows...?

[A look of recognition dawned on his face. More Shadow than Persona meant more a product of Nyarlathotep than a product of Philemon.

That's why Chronos was so scared. Why this guy felt so uncomfortably familiar.] I see...

[Fully recalling those memories just shook Chronos more, and gave Jun an unpleasant shiver that he did his best to hide. He shifted his attention instead to the Evoker, glancing at it with a hint of something like resentment. It was easy enough to figure out it wasn't a real gun, otherwise this guy would probably not still be around to even talk about his Persona.

He knew that a properly traumatic experience could awake someone's Persona-- the first time he had used his Persona was when he was being harassed at school. But that they had to keep doing that...? Forcing themselves to the fear of death every time they needed to protect themselves? And all this nonsense about the Dark Hour? Normal people turning into coffins?

What had Nyarlathotep done?]

The Evoker-- I suppose they work like a normal gun, without normal bullets. [Virtual suicide. Fantastic.] Do you know how they're supposed to solicit the self-preservation response? Is it simply the action of holding something in that shape?

... It's mostly the shape, yes. Anything could have been an Evoker, but scientists who had worked on all of this decided that it had the best impact. It still has the same effect, either way. It's simply that the Evokers give the summoner help.

[ Surprisingly, if it WAS Nyarlathotep, he wasn't aware of it. Really, everything from his end was just varying degrees of... highly artificial. Human-made, human created, human harnessed. ]

As... far as I'm aware, we're basically shooting our psyche. Without bullets. To put it shortly.

That makes sense. [Although he certainly didn't sound like he liked it. Frankly, the very idea was disturbing.]

Where we're from, it takes a dangerous situation to awaken them at first. But I believe that may be where most of our similarities end. You can only use them in the Dark Hour, right?

[At this point he's talking to himself a bit.] A hidden time between one day and the next... It might be a world closer to the Demons, that still allowed him to affect things...

[ ... He is quiet for a moment. 'Him'? ]

Usually, yes. We can summon here, for some reason. Though I've... heard it is possible to summon outside the Dark Hour, I've heard it's extremely difficult, and anyone who's tried was met with failure.

[Jun sounded a tad more...distracted as he continued the conversation.]

All of the Persona-users I've met before have been able to summon it at any time once they knew how. [Although he probably already knew that.] Is it really just the Shadow aspect that makes the distinction...?

[...]

[Eventually he just gave an ever so slight shake of his head.]

Sorry... is there anything you want to know? [He HAD kind of been monopolizing the question-asking privilege at this point.]

... Why are you able to sense other people's Personas? As far as I know, only two people out of a large combined group of Persona users have ever been capable of that. At least, in Port Island.

[ It's confusing. ]

For us, it's just part of being able to use Persona-- they warn us of danger, react angrily at our Shadows, scared at overwhelming danger, and when there are other Personas, they resonant with each other. We can sense that Resonance when we get close to each other. I don't really understand not being able to sense others...

[ He tilts his head. ]

... That's... very odd. For me, it's only when Thanatos or Samael really want to cooperate... and even then, really, the only time they can tell me things are when it's threatening to them...

[ A small laugh escapes him, here. ]

Then again, I spend most of my time trying to ignore him, so I don't know what that would be like. Chidori has Medea, though, and she is capable of sensing both Personas, people, and being used for... other things. Immolation, as well. And she can heal... even without her summoned.

Our Personas are... supposed to be another side of us. Our other selves; when we're in danger, they're in danger, and even though they can seem stronger than us, they can be scared just like us. I... guess that's why the way your persona behaves is so strange to me.

[He allows himself a small frown. Unless someone literally had that much self-loathing in them, but he's pretty sure that's not possible. And he was also...kind...of freaked out by the whole immolation thing.]

We still have to summon our Personas to heal, so you've...got us there....

[ He scoffs, just slightly. ]

... Well I suppose that would be how it works for natural Persona users, then.

[ He might be a little bitter. ]

[His face fell, less from sadness and more of a tired look, with a touch of guilt. Wouldn't be the first time he felt bad for who he was.]

Sorry. I shouldn't have brought it up. I'll... I can leave, if you want. Unless you have anymore questions..

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PARTY TIME!

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