[IC] Persona - Soldiers of Fortune

[BCTheEntity]

Alina Sanford

Well... she'd lived.

And then remained quiet, doing as told by this Spindle lady. She'd run out of energy to really question the events of today, so she dutifully ate and drank as instructed... and, to be honest, she did feel a bit better. Her ankle wasn't hurting so much anymore- or, eventually, at all. From the sound of it, she kind of had to be in good condition, too - sooner or later, something would come for her. Maybe it'd be her own worst self. Maybe it'd be somebody else's, the Warlords in question. And gee, what a name for the leaders of such a combative place... like the leaders of raider tribes back in Antiquity, but worse in that their mere existence made others do as they did, in both the real world and Metaverse.

Go figure.

Soon, they had to go. Even here wasn't going to be safe forever. As they travelled onward, and in "the trenches" representing everyone's struggles, unheard by one another, Alina wondered what her own nemesis would be. Would some part of her psyche come crawling out of her and devour her alive? Or would her worst self be dragged into full view by that of somebody else? Somebody she knew? But who?

Heh... hypocrite that she was, so focused on herself when the police girl had just explained the Metaverse's state was precisely because of that. She'd never be able to help the way Spindle wanted. She wasn't cut out for it, and the thought almost put a smile on her face. She really was a coward, huh.

But, they found their way through to an apartment building. And, well, the end sentiment that Barney relayed was exactly right. This was creepy. Were these other peoples' shadows, then? Their feelings in real life? Could... could she help them, somehow? But how? It wasn't like she could grab them, could she?

Especially not the children. Not when they were throwing a tantrum, and... oh, good. Something else she couldn't help with. Was that it, then, that was her role here right now? Hide behind the people who could do things? Great.

'Please don't let me die.'

Useless of her. Still, she stepped back for that; Barney's wheel-thing would probably do fine for now.

[Eviledd1984]

@Lugubrious

Lorenzo Pavorotti

The tall punk shrugged his shoulders, “Well that’s good to hear, I thought we’re all gonna be stuck here.” Polishing off the coffee in his cup, throwing the paper cup into the trash near the coffee machine. “So where could be a possible exit out of here? Do you know a way out?” He asked assuming that Spindle knew where the exits could be. Lorenzo was more than willing to help the group as best he could, even without a Persona he was going to whip anything that stood in their way. But the feeling of inadequacy was felt, when she said he couldn’t do any damages to the Warlords without a Persona. This being mentioned to him, made Lorenzo click his tongue against the roof of his mouth in annoyance. “Well how do we find our Warlord, kick their ass and get our own Persona?” He assume that Spindle was getting annoyed by his questions. But he didn't care he was in a dangerous place, and wanted to know how to defend himself. Lorenzo nodded his head when Spindle mentioned they should get a move on, the sooner they left this place the better. Following the group, scanned the area in case there were any demons watching them. Gripping the iron pipe in his hand, it was starting to become reddened.

The whole place creeped him out, there seemed to be nobody around except for those horrid creatures. It reminded him of a horrible dream one would have. Lorenzo was tempted to pick up a discarded weapon, but most of them didn’t look like they could be useful against the shadows. Sticking close towards the group, does not want to get separated and be alone in his hellscape. He was sure glad to have Spindle in the sky watching their back at least. Hurrying along with the others inside of the building. This place seemed more confusing and strange than the streets they were on. “Wonder if there are any of those freaks around.” He was sure there was. Living and doing god knows what to pass the time. The behaviour of the shadows was even more disturbing, “God damn it they're annoying.” He thought for a moment covering his ears.

When they came across the four shadows like children, he wondered if they were human children before turning. Freaking out when they were spotted, strange creatures came forth. “Get out of our way you little shits, we don’t get time to deal with ya.” Lorenzo readied his weapon, ready to fight even though his weapon would not do much.

[MULTI_MEDIA_MAN]

Nick Waller

---

Knowing that there was a specific way out that they were headed towards was a major relief, Nick would have to admit. As nice as a nebulous 'Sure, we can leave!' was, knowing that there was a set destination that would get them out of here was much better. It sucked that they had to traverse a literal and also metaphorical battlefield to get there, though.

As their break ended, Nick joined the others in looking forward to returning to their metaphorically hellish normal lives as opposed to the literally hellish place they'd been dragged into. Looking over to the battlefield as they passed it by, Nick had to suppress a shudder at the things he saw. Spindle's bit about asking for help being just as tough as getting it hit like a truck, as well. He still held things back from the school therapist, though that was for a number of reasons beyond just being afraid of the vulnerability.

Being afraid of getting put on a damn psyche hold being chief among them. Now? That almost seemed favorable to coming back here, so he made no delay in following after the group. A quick thank you to Barney for holding the door to the apartment building saw him jogging inside the place. Looking around curiously at the MC Escher-like construction, Nick nodded appreciatively at the complex. It was certainly interesting, though the Shadows sitting around gave him the heebie-jeebies. This place definitely fit into the uncanny valley. Almost domestic enough to be normal, but just wrong enough that he was on high alert the whole time.

Of course, as they came to what would be their exit, they found it blocked by a group of kids. Playing. Because that wasn't super fucking creepy at all, watching shadow children play with their toys. Nooooo. Not weird at all. Even worse was the fact that they transformed into more of those friggin monster things as soon as the group approached. Sighing, Nick let the pulling inside him do its thing and stuck out his hand in what he hoped was an appropriately dramatic pose. "Dark Watcher!" He yelled, mimicking Barney's calling out Gregor Samsa earlier.

P-90 appearing in hand as the massive silhouette appeared behind him, walking stick brandished like a club, he turned one of to the flying fish-like things and yelled out the word that he just...knew?...was right?

"Eiha!"

And then he opened fire.

[Mistress Dizzy]

Jin was quiet as the group walked through the trenches. They had seen places like this before. Just… half empty buildings with even emptier people. Usually drugs were involved, but not always. Sometimes, people just gave up. Jin had worked their whole life trying to avoid that fate. Walking through this place was a means to an end, and they tried not to let the fear prickling at the back of their neck overwhelm them.

As they moved through slowly, Jin grabbed a dirty plank of wood and gave it an experimental swing as they walked through the bizarre house. Trying to parse the angles of the architecture made their head hurt. Other people had gained weapons from their Personas. From the sound of things, that… thing… that had chased them in the jail cell earlier was probably Jin’s ticket to this newfound power. However, they just hadn’t been strong enough. All they could do was run, run, run. Just like every other time that things went down. But it was so easy, wasn’t it? They had no friends, no family, no connections. It was simple to just bail and start anew somewhere else. That was why they had no intention of getting involved past getting these people’s names.

As those strange, not quite children turned into more Shadows, Jin readied their makeshift weapon. Sure, they didn’t want to be stuck in this situation. At the same time, they couldn’t just do nothing. Waiting on someone else to help was just suicidal. As the Persona users got into gear, they took a hard swing at one of the monsters. It didn’t seem to do more than distract it and piss it off. However, that would leave a very nice opening for whomever decided to attack it next.