Persona In The Playground-Getting Serious

[Philemonite]

As you enter the headquarters you are surprised that the girls are not there, and the boys look like they are very nervous. You notice that Alexander is looking at his watch every 30 seconds and Benjamin is occasionally glancing at the Velvet Door. The only one that shows no signs of nervousness is Jarod. The headsets on his head might be a way of coping, but you notice that every now and then he writes something down in his notebook. Neither of the boys pays any attention as you enter...

[Penguinator]

Dorian sat in the corner as inconspicuously as possible. He figured this was not the best time to ask questions.

[Xhosant]

Soga stepped inside the room, quickly taking a whiff of the heavy atmosphere. It wasn't tough to piece together what the issue was: Jessica and Alexandra were across, and were late. Or perhaps they were late and something bad was across, but that was too unlike them. As for Jarod, his guess was getting readings, but he couldn't be sure. He placed himself along the wall behind Jarod, slightly approaching a tiny bit, in hopes of eventually taking a peak of the notebook. Soon after, he broke the silence:

"How long?"

[Morbis Meh]

Levi skips in merrily, a horrifying yet strangely amusing sight, spins around on his heels, and points his fingers like guns in Alexander and Benjamin's direction "Commander's why long faces, you look like teenage boy whose mother nearly caught them looking at naughty websites. Did you break something of Commander Jessica's, you know she will crucify you for it and hiding down here won't save you from her. Better to come clean now, go do that and I will grab popcorn, if anyone wants delicious popped corn I can sell for 300 yen per container."

[Philemonite]

"How long?"

As if he is waking up from a strange dream, Jarod takes of his headsets.
"I'm sorry, did you say something?"



Levi skips in merrily, a horrifying yet strangely amusing sight, spins around on his heels, and points his fingers like guns in Alexander and Benjamin's direction "Commander's why long faces, you look like teenage boy whose mother nearly caught them looking at naughty websites. Did you break something of Commander Jessica's, you know she will crucify you for it and hiding down here won't save you from her. Better to come clean now, go do that and I will grab popcorn, if anyone wants delicious popped corn I can sell for 300 yen per container."

Alexanders doesn't even notice Levi, his eyes are too busy absorbing the data on the screen. Benjamin, on the other hand, offers some response, even if it is not very enthusiastic.

"Knowledge and fatigue, not a good combination. Should we be worried that you are so... jolly?"

[Xhosant]

"I'm sorry, did you say something?"

"How long. How long they've been across, and how long ago should they have been here?"

It wasn't readings, he wouldn't have taken them off. Either he's waiting for something or they're irrelevant...


"Knowledge and fatigue, not a good combination. Should we be worried that you are so... jolly?"

Soga froze to this one word, as he knew it carried weight. "What kind of knowledge, if I may?" He was swiftly starting to feel unnerved.

[Philemonite]

"How long. How long they've been across, and how long ago should they have been here?"

"I don't really know, what time is it?"
Like waking up from a coma, Jarod takes a look at his at his watch.
"The should have been here already, but knowing Alex they probably spent half of the time arguing."
Last part if his answer was swallowed by a yawn, and he makes a short pause before he continues.
"I am in a desperate need for some caffeine. Do you want something?"



Soga froze to this one word, as he knew it carried weight. "What kind of knowledge, if I may?" He was swiftly starting to feel unnerved.

"Just some boring stuff, nothing you need to concern yourself with."
"At least not for now." He muttered under his breath.

[Xhosant]

"But should we really not try to get a look across or something? I mean, we are the Rescue Squad after all."

Soga looked around him.

"Ok, part of it. I guess we can wait for a few more to show up." he said, moving towards the instruments he could make no sense of, and the notebook. He had to try and peek, if nothing else to keep his attention off of the texture of crisis running up his stomach.

[Philemonite]

"But should we really not try to get a look across or something? I mean, we are the Rescue Squad after all."

"Well, Alex said no communication until they return, and the scary part is that Jess agreed. I have no intention of messing with them both."


He had to try and peek, if nothing else to keep his attention off of the texture of crisis running up his stomach.

"That's personal, you know. Not that I'm offended, it just won't mean anything to you."

[Xhosant]

"What? Why would they do that?" wondered Soga, investigating the instruments like he understood what they said as opposed to what Jarod did. So much for a distraction.

[oblivion6]

Brianna was in a surprisingly good mood this morning. She had only gotten an hour of sleep in the past few days and was tired as hell but that didn't bother her. Her copy of Final Fantasy X/X-2 Remastered had finally arrived - unsurprisingly, that was a big part of both her mood and lack of even trying to sleep. Viewing the scene when she entered the room, a couple thoughts occurred to her. "Did Levi kill someone? I notice a few missing faces."

[Morbis Meh]

Levi feigns offense by dramatically holding the back of his hand against his forehead "I am cut deeply, why does one assume something bad has happened if I am simply happy or that if a person goes missing I killed them? What cruel, cruel people fate has paired me with, if I didn't know any better I would say that my presence is not desired. Alas my only form of vengeance is to inflict my company upon you all for as long as possible." Sighing his grin grows exponentially "I thought that in commemoration of our move and new members I would throw a party for everyone, I just finished making several arrangements that shall make said event memorable for years to come."

[White_Knight]

Sam poked his head into the room. "Did I hear something about a party?" he said grinning ear to ear. Looking around at the others in the room, he quickly added "Wow. Doesn't seem like anyone's in the mood for one right now. Something wrong? Anything I can help with?"

[Mono Vertigo]

Lenora enters the headquarters.
"Greetings. Is there a new mission for the Investigation Squad?", she asks, her enthusiasm preemptively sucked dry by the odd atmosphere. Any other day, she would have humorously added 'like investigating why Levi is such an ass?' to her question.

[AnimeKid]

Damian sat next to Brianna as he tried to hep keep her steady. He was slightly tired as well. When he heard that his friend had gotten the HD remaster of two of his absolute favorite Final Fantasy games he actually got down on his knees and begged her to let him play with her. Still while he was a little tired the situation didn't sit all that right with him. It was mostly because he was a natural worrier, but also because he wondered if it had anything to do with the group his squad encountered in their last mission. Deciding that fortune favors the bold the spoke up about his thoughts.

"Hey Lenora, I'm not sure if there are any new missions. We don't know why we've been called her yet ourselves. Plus the girls are gone. Although Commanders, I have to ask. Does what is troubling you so much have something to do with the Rainbow Knights?"

[oblivion6]

Brianna shrugged at Levi's explanation. "Well, you did break your gymnastics instructors arm. On purpose. So no wonder people automatically jump to those sort of conclusions."

[Morbis Meh]

Levi sighs "I told you that event was a complete accident, it is not my fault you choose to view my actions as malevolent. I could give you contact information of former instructor we are still on good terms, his brother was my martial arts instructor." Levi crosses his arms and gazes at Lenora "Comrade Sarg, if we ever need someone to investigate proper accessorizing options for Velvet World, I am sure you will be first person notified."

[Philemonite]

"What? Why would they do that?" wondered Soga, investigating the instruments like he understood what they said as opposed to what Jarod did. So much for a distraction.

"They wanted to investigate without any interruptions. They are experienced enough, they know what they are doing."
He makes a few notes in his notebook and yawns again.
"OK, that's six hours of bad punk music. Only two more to go."


Sam poked his head into the room. "Did I hear something about a party?" he said grinning ear to ear. Looking around at the others in the room, he quickly added "Wow. Doesn't seem like anyone's in the mood for one right now. Something wrong? Anything I can help with?"

"Nothing's wrong, we are just waiting for the girls. They should be back soon."
What Benjamin doesn't say is that they should have been back more than 15 minutes ago.


Lenora enters the headquarters.
"Greetings. Is there a new mission for the Investigation Squad?", she asks, her enthusiasm preemptively sucked dry by the odd atmosphere. Any other day, she would have humorously added 'like investigating why Levi is such an ass?' to her question.

"There are three things you can count on, there will always be death, taxes and another mission. This guys tend to get very predictable."


"Although Commanders, I have to ask. Does what is troubling you so much have something to do with the Rainbow Knights?"

"That is part of it, we have receive a request from Rainbow Knights, we will inform you about everything as soon as the girls are back."

Before he has a chance to finish his thought, the door opens, and the girls come in.
"That is it, I am never going to follow one of your shortcuts again. You really have no sense of direction."
"Come on Jessi, we're not late."
She takes a quick glance at her watch.
"Not much anyway. Besides, now is not the time, we have more important things to talk about."
"There is not much to talk about." Jessica responds as she approaches the boys.
"There are three of them, and they are not ready yet."
"Three? We didn't expect that much." He scratches his head in confusion. "What are we going to do now?"
"Proceed with the mission, what else can we do? Alexandra, how much time do we have?"
"At least 8 hours, so first thing tomorrow would be fine."

[Xhosant]

The information bombardment after all the silence left Soga dazed.

First off, nobody listens to bad music for 8 hours compulsively unless it serves a purpose, most likely the notes. That was one mystery.

And a secondary one at that, since more important stuff happened before he could consider it.

Those 'Rainbow Knights' where obviously another group not unlike the shadow hunters, if an oddly-named one at that.

Second, the huge empty areas of the Velvet World didn't seem like a place you could take a shortcut through. Either he missed something, or his low-light vision was horrendous.

((No, seriously, how's the place? Think I've asked before but either I didn't get it or forgot :P))

But the bomb was the talk of those 'not ready' things. He couldn't help but imagine some sort of huge egg-fruits or something, waiting to hatch and be gathered, but why was beyond him.

"So, uh... what kind of harvest are we looking at? It's something like that, right?"

[Morbis Meh]

Levi regards Jarod with a greasy smile "If you'd like I could replace bad Punk music with some classical, free of charge but only because it's you." As the others finally join up, the big Russian finds a stretch of wall to lean on.

"Enough with bickering I swear you sound like husband and wife, just get on with the briefing all of us have better things to do standing around listening to you two argue like cat and dog."

[Philemonite]

"So, uh... what kind of harvest are we looking at? It's something like that, right?"

"I am guessing an interesting one. I take it you and chuckles here..." he points at Levi "...are going to have some old fashioned fun time."


"If you'd like I could replace bad Punk music with some classical, free of charge but only because it's you."

"That is a very tempting offer, but I don't think they would pay me to listen to classical music. Take it from me, music business is not really that glamorous."


"Enough with bickering I swear you sound like husband and wife, just get on with the briefing all of us have better things to do standing around listening to you two argue like cat and dog."

"Sweetie, we don't bicker, we scheme. Speaking of which, I schemed you something really nice. Benjamin."
"Tareso, Averin, Hepaunton and Maeda. Congratulations, you are special, so you will get a special mission. You get to dispose of something that doesn't belong here. You will report here tomorrow morning at 7, I hope you have a nice rest."
"As for the rest of you, we have two more missions. One is a personal request from the Rainbow Knights. Apparently, a group of initiates found themselves lost on the other side. Unfortunately, their level of technology is not as high as ours, which is logical, because I'm unique. Anyway, they need our assistance to find them. Damian, Tsubaki, Brianna and Rikiya. The four of you will conduct the search. Jessica will be so kind to navigate you, and since they use cards similar to our own we can locate them if they are close enough. We don't really have much time to waste, so you will need to leave very soon."
"That leaves Sam, Dorian, Kyoko and Davis. You will be our representatives in a challenge we received. There is competition that is organized every few months. Our little group has managed a few victories, so it would be a shame not to have any representatives. Plus, it would give you a chance to spend time with other persona users. It can be a nice experience."

[White_Knight]

"A competition? Cool. It'll be nice that my first real fight using Arthur won't be, you know, to the death. Don't know about picking the new kid to represent you, but I'll try to do our group proud." Sam said. "So, how's this competition set up? Team vs. Team, I'm assuming. And how many other groups should we expect to be there?"

[Penguinator]

Dorian folded his arms. He didn't know Kyoko, but he had met the others and they seemed friendly enough. He also wasn't with Levi, so that was a relief. Challenge accepted.

[Xhosant]

Soga nodded. This team was nothing like what he'd fought with before, but the prospect of seeing Levi on the field was intriguing.

"Understood", he said with uncharacteristic seriousness."I don't suppose we'll be briefed further until then, is that right?"

[banthesun]

((Can it just be presumed Kyoko's been here the whole time, it felt silly to make a post that would just be "Kyoko sat there being politely confused".))

Kyoko glanced over at the group she'd been assigned to. Damien had definitely seemed to know what he was doing in there last mission, and she remembered Sam as the boy she'd almost bumped into on her first day. They'd both seemed alright, but she didn't know much about the other two on her team. Davis looked threatening, and she had no idea what to make of Dorian. Was he a transfer teacher here to help look after the boys? She was a bit worried about being in a group with only boys, and foreigners at that. She wondered what made the instructors make that decision. The competition sounded like it was pretty important to her. They should be sending their best to compete with the other clubs, right? Was she just here to make it look like the team they were sending was balanced?

"Excuse me, when is this competition? Are we going to be training beforehand?" she asked the instructors.

[Mono Vertigo]

Slowly, Lenora looks at each of her teammate for this mission.
The comment about being 'special' was probably not meant to be a compliment, but she's not backing down from a challenge. She grins eagerly.
Until her eyes fall on her teacher, and her brain finally processes the name "Rikiya".
Double take.
"Huh. Wait. What? Teacher Rikiya-san?!"
That anticlimactic realization, somehow, registers as roughly a thousand times weirder than fighting otherworldly monsters with the powers of hope and your psyche. The latter of which is embodied by a married French fairy.
The American girl gasps, and covers her mouth. She's going to spend the next several hours obsessing about how awkward that is, and wondering just what to tell him when they come back.

[Mokou-tan]

Tsubaki had been quietly listening in a corner up until now, but on hearing the new tasks she was a bit annoyed. "I'm on rescue duty now? Would've preferred the competition, but fighting's fighting I suppose." She stretches and walks to the door. "Is there anything else I should know? I need to pick up some supplies for the mission." She was using the word supplies to be ambiguous, but she wanted to get some food and drinks for the mission and in case the people she was charged with saving were hungry. People who march on an empty stomach march slow.

[Morbis Meh]

Levi rolls his eyes and smirks "Right away massa! I will be the best delivery man I can be, the Russian Mail system will pale in comparison to my efforts. Shall I put on a uniform to please you as well, since we are not doing serious work I may as well dress ineffectively like Comrade Sarge!"

[AnimeKid]

Damian let out a forlorn sigh as he bent double in disappointment.

"Aw man. That competition sounded like it would have been a lot of fun."

After his small bit of grumping Damian brought himself back up and did a small fist pump at the though of his actual mission.

"Still, no use crying over spilt milk. Those initiate guys are going to need out help. They really sad us on that last mission, so one good turn deserves another. Looks like we'll be on the same team again Brianna."

[Philemonite]

"A competition? Cool. It'll be nice that my first real fight using Arthur won't be, you know, to the death. Don't know about picking the new kid to represent you, but I'll try to do our group proud." Sam said. "So, how's this competition set up? Team vs. Team, I'm assuming. And how many other groups should we expect to be there?"

"Interesting. Do you always equate competition with physical confrontation? Although there is always some degree of combat this competition also focuses on other....activities. Memory, reasoning, reaction speed...
There will be at least three other groups, but there might be more. Last time every member was given a different challenge, with each victory counting differently. They will probably follow the same rules this time."


"Understood", he said with uncharacteristic seriousness."I don't suppose we'll be briefed further until then, is that right?"

"Now where would be the fun in that?:smallwink: Besides, you just need to do some pest control."


"Excuse me, when is this competition? Are we going to be training beforehand?" she asked the instructors.

"There is no way to train, since we don't what will the competition be like. Just give it your best, that's all you can do."


"Is there anything else I should know? I need to pick up some supplies for the mission."

"Not really, the Rainbow Knights didn't really have any information to give. All we know is that there is a group of initiates stuck on the other side. I guess that's what happens when you let lemmings roam the Velvet World on their own."


"Right away massa! I will be the best delivery man I can be, the Russian Mail system will pale in comparison to my efforts. Shall I put on a uniform to please you as well, since we are not doing serious work I may as well dress ineffectively like Comrade Sarge!"

"Don't make light of this, your mission is very important."