first chapter | open [voice + action]

[thirdarrow]

[ This is the first time Takakage has started a discussion instead of listening in and participating, so it took him a while to find the proper words for it.

Nevertheless, when he finally starts the transmission, his voice is quiet and confident, perhaps even a touch crystalline. ]

Hello, everyone. I am Takakage Kobayakawa, from the Land of the Rising Sun. You may also know me as MINTAKA from the previous Jaunt.

We have quite a few Persona users amongst us, myself included. Thus, I would like to propose that we meet and train together, so that those of us Investigating in future Jaunts will be able to pool our efforts together and use our gifts as a team. It will also aid in identifying Infiltrators, as I have noticed that our Personas also follow us if we take on alter egos. If you are partial to that idea, we can all share our abilities and compare what we are best at. I am aware that a few of us have also been Marked by Trumps, which may also change our Personas to some extent. That can be discussed as well.

As far as I know, I am the only Support Persona user in our midst, so it would be beneficial if you let me know, so I can best support you with what I can do. Noah is able to heal, scan surroundings, weaknesses, and detailed analysis - in addition to providing a psychic closed network which will be useful on stealth missions.

For those who have been Infiltrating with the Miners for the past Jaunt - may I also ask for your assistance? There was another Program with me, SAIPH - do you know if she is amongst us as a Traveler? I have something that belongs to her.

If you need me in person, I will be by the entrance next to the Trump phone. Thank you for your time.

[ True enough, he is seated on one of the stairs, with Noah floating above him in a stance similar to that adopted by guardian angels. ]

Comments

[thirdarrow]

A pleasure to make your acquaintance, Miss Minako. It is explainable, my Infiltrator self seems to have spent quite a good amount of time away from the test d the other Travelers.

May you be a Persona user as well?

[shiroganeheir]

Certainly. At the very least, I will certainly show you what I am capable of. It is not as showy as some of the Wild Cards, but I have my niche.

[thirdarrow]

[ The culprit... ]

I am afraid I am not very well-informed about the Inaba case. Could you explain?

[leftbehindagain]

Long story short, Izanami was conducting a social experiment. To do it, she gave a handful of people the power to access another world using TVs as a window to it. In all of our cases, one of those people used that power to kill people - for most of us, that was Adachi-san, and my sister was the second victim.

In his case, obviously he didn't use it to kill anyone, I ended up one of the victims, there were a lot more than two, and Sis was apparently browbeating him into giving a damn.

[neverfeltthatway]

[Armin blinks, trying to keep up - but though he's been friends with persona users most of a year now, most of these concepts are going right over his head. Fuuka never talked about anything like this.]

...I'm not sure I quite understand. You can acquire your persona by way of contract, or by facing your shadow. But Fuuka... and Ken and Minako, I suppose, they use the evokers. Did they force the awakening of their personas?

[It doesn't seem like the way they use their personas is as dangerous as Takakage seems to be saying - but Armin doesn't understand the distinction. He really is just trying to understand.]

[seestheworld]

Nice to meet you, too!

I was around the rebel base a lot, but I was mainly concentrating on keeping an eye on people in case they ended up getting into trouble along the line. So it may just be that I didn't notice, either.

And yeah - I'm a Persona user, too.

[seestheworld]

[Minako is quiet for a moment, thinking. Then there's the impression of a sigh.]

In our world, most people can't use Personas at all. The ability is... kind of innate? There was an experiment someone did - I want to say ten years ago, but without knowing how time works here, it's hard to tell whether that's true. It was a little over ten years before the time I'm from.

[Or the last time she remembers, anyway.]

Anyway, that experiment unleashed a lot of Shadows - if you don't know what those are, then just think monsters for now - and something called the Dark Hour, which was basically a hidden twenty-fifth hour of the day. Most humans aren't aware of it, and of those who are, most can't handle it, at least not without any sort of training. The only people who can function normally are people who have the potential to summon a Persona, and only Persona users can use an Evoker. In fact, Persona users in our world need to use an Evoker.

[Or dramatic emoting in Takaya's case, but there are other issues there.]

Evokers work through fear. You're basically symbolically killing yourself, and the fear of that, along with whatever existing potential you have, is what lets you summon a Persona. It's not really something that can be taught, and it's absolutely not something that should be induced. I'm not sure if the ability existed before the Dark Hour, but while the Dark Hour existed, that was the most reliable way to find other Persona users.

[fridgeninja]

I'd be honored to train with you and the others.

Although, I might need a day or two before I'm feeling up to summoning my Persona right now.

[thirdarrow]

[ Hm. Most interesting... a world where things unfolded differently. He was familiar with the concept of alternate timelines, but hearing about new ones never failed to surprise him. ]

I see. You trust his words, then?

[ He isn't accusing Naoki of blind trust, though. Mostly just an observation, because he knows that teenagers are a lot more capable than they seem. ]

[thirdarrow]

[ That is a good question. ]

I am not sure. Perhaps it is a question better answered by them in person.

[ There were discussion of people having the potential to summon Personas, but he cannot remember too many details. ]

It seems the mechanics of Persona ownership varies across worlds, in any case.

shall we switch to action?

[thirdarrow]

Excellent. I shall see you hence, then.

[thirdarrow]

[ That would explain it. MINTAKA performed most of his tasks in the Miner Camp or in the Partition. ]

Could you tell me about your ability, then? Are you a Support user?

[thirdarrow]

Take as long as you need. If there is anything I can do to help, just let me know.

[ He hasn't heard Souji's role explicitly, but he could guess from slight pieces of information flying around here and there during the Jaunt. ]

[creativefool]

Alright. I get the picture... I'll see if anyone wants t' give it a go sometime.

[seestheworld]

[Like Fuuka, she guesses he means. She shakes her head, before remembering that he can't actually see her do that while they're talking over the network.]

I'm a Wild Card.

[leftbehindagain]

I don't trust his words, at least not on their own. If he'd led off with the wrong thing when I first met him here, I would have punched him. [Wouldn't have been the first time he tried that, either.]

I trust his actions. We were both helping Naoto out a lot on the last jaunt, so we... spent a lot of time in close quarters. If he wasn't truly a different person than I know from home, he wouldn't have gotten so upset when I acknowledged I might get killed on the bomb disposal mission. He had a lot of work to do to earn that trust, and to his credit, he's done it.

The part about Sis just... sounds like something she'd have done, in that position.

[stophamatime]

[...thank you for making the point about uncontrolled Persona so he didn't have to do it and spill his mompain all over the network, Naoto. ;_;b ]

[thirdarrow]

Thank you. If I discover anything new, I will let you know.

[thirdarrow]

[ Ah. That would make four here already. Souji, Kanji, Adachi, and now her. ]

How many Personas do you have?

[thirdarrow]

[ He listens attentively while Naoki speaks, and his affirmation might have drifted across the psychic link as well. ]

A sound judgment on your part. [ He sees no fault with that, but it doesn't mean he will not be keeping an eye on this Adachi. ]

May I have your permission to contact you with my Persona if the need arises? It will be a psychic, closed connection.

[leftbehindagain]

I try. [Look, just... don't freak the guy out, okay? He already has Souji-san with his back up.]

Absolutely. You never know when you might need to and all that.

[seestheworld]

Twelve.

[Plus Mothman, who is a category unto himself.]

[thirdarrow]

That is rather impressive, I must say. The most I could command was two.

[ But that isn't quite relevant now, so he then continues: ]

If you do not mind, could you give me their details?

[thirdarrow]

Alright, thank you. Hopefully this will not need to be used. [ But he doubts that.

The discussion seems to have winded down now, so he prompts Naoki if the other had anything else to say. ]

If you have any other questions I can answer, just let me know.

[seestheworld]

[Oh. Huh. Well. Minako's not sure quite how to respond to that sort of praise.]

Um, thanks. Really.

I tried to make sure they could cover pretty much anything in terms of skills, so between the lot of them, they can do pretty much everything. Healing, attack, defense, magic attack and defense, status effects... A few of them can do fusion attacks, as well.