Sen

Final Fantasy: Reverence [Spots Open]

Bastien Roussaeu
Valennia, Raelin - The Adventurer's Guild

“Praise be to Ragnarok," Bastien nodded, whispering as quietly as possible to the comrade sitting next to him at a table occupied with other miscellaneous strangers, “and may the winds be in your favor.” The woman swiped the envelope he had slid her while passing her a drink into the inside of her jacket. They exchanged some casual conversation for a bit after, the girl calmly downing her drink as quickly as possible, before she got up and sauntered off into the crowd. Like an ocean, the waves of people coming and going swallowed her in seconds, leaving only an empty mug as a trace she was ever there.

Ah. The Adventurer’s Guild. It’s always just brimming with potential. So many people, so many walks of life, so little attention drawn to individuals. It’s just a letter between friends, after all, why worry about it?

With that handled and out of the way, Bastien rose from his own seat and wandered off into the crowd of people as well. He hadn’t really thought about where he was gonna go from there, so he weighed the options: he could try to find some odd jobs around town, maybe try to do some monster hunting, or maybe he could hunker down on the streets and whip out some magic tricks for some coin? None sounded particularly interesting at the moment, but with the guards on full alert what with the unstable air and the, y’know, serial killer running around, trying some illegal shit probably wasn’t going to fly very well. At the very least, doing it in broad daylight was pretty much a one-way ticket to getting arrested, even in the scummiest, least guarded places in town. Bastien, for a second, considered just doing the most honest thing and getting a stable job, but to hell with that. He was in an Adventurer’s Guild! The place most renowned for breeding heroes and warriors, who’s only job is to kill and maim (and sometimes lift barrels for a wage but whatever)!

By the time Bastien was walking down the stairs, he still hadn’t quite decided if that was what he wanted to do, but it stopped mattering to him when he saw the girl walk in with the big chocobo. It was… beautiful. Fluffy, powerful, adorable, likely pretty tasty. Chocobos were his weakness, and he couldn’t help but think about all the possibilities if he had his own chocobo… He weighed the pros and cons in his head; worst case scenario, she tells him to go away, best case scenario he scores a chocobo in exchange for some coinage. Maybe, at the very least, she’d let him take him for a test drive. Bastien was most definitely in the mood to ride some chocobo. So, with little else to do, he flipped around in the flow of people as the lady passed and started following her up the stairs and back into the Adventurer’s Guild. Eventually, she stopped at the edge of the crowd, staring up at the boards listing myriad jobs and hunts posted around. Seizing the opportunity, Bastien shuffled up beside her and tapped on her shoulder to get her attention.

“Salut, o’ traveller!” He started, giving his classic little sly grin. Hopefully it woo’d her successfully. He was a very charismatic fellow, or at least he liked to think. “I couldn’t help but notice your rather large, uh… chocobo back there, by the entrance.” Hm. Bastien questioned his own wording all of the sudden. Was it creepy to imply that he had followed her here, or would she just take it as a coincidence and that he was just another adventurer likely similar to herself?

“She truly is magnificent, if I’m allowed to say. Such brilliant yellow coloration; wonderful feathers, even despite the wear of recent travel tarnishing them... Where do you hail from, may I ask? I don’t quite think chocobos are awfully common in the big city. Rather cumbersome on the streets. Me, I live here. I’m a rather big fan of the big chickens…”

@Ambra

Final Fantasy: Reverence [Spots Open]

We need the obligatory white mage hero in our lore.

:ICONOCLAST APPLICATION

Jieun Heo

_{(art by Profdaredevil @dA)}

the Radiant Hope
Jieun Heo

Age: 32
Gender: Female
Nationality: Songdaenese
Heritage: Songdae

Biography: Born to a simple family living in Jinsheong, Jieun wasn’t anybody of note to the rest of world. Her only real skill growing up was her dabbling in magic, taught to her by her late parents. They had died in the very beginning of the Eidolan War, when an assault on the capital city resulted in civilian casualties. Jieun found herself torn apart by what had happened to her family and what the world was coming to. She felt lost in an ocean of darkness clouding her heart for years, but she eventually finally found herself in her twenties when she decided to hone her magical skills to help people who had been hurt like her family had been. The one thing she had held onto after losing her family was the magic they had taught her, and in that way, her spells were her hope. And so that’s the only thing she clung to.

Though she was technically taught the basics of all kinds of magic, after the trauma of losing her parents Jieun only wished for nobody else to feel that kind of pain, and expanding her healing magic repertoire as much as possible. focused on becoming She progressed as a mage in her early twenties, working whatever odd jobs she could to fund herself as she travelled everywhere she could in hopes of improving her skills and learning whatever she could. While she mainly stayed in Songdae in this period, the most valuable places to her where the political centers and tourist hotspots which often brought in foreign talent that she could learn from. Through her life-consuming pursuit of knowledge, she became an incredible skilled practitioner of white magic, and by the end of these initial travels, she was a relatively well-renowned white mage and doctor. Over the latter half of her twenties, Jieun slowly became more and more famous for her extraordinary acts of healing and altruism, often showing up many other doctors by curing the incurable, providing care for those who could not afford the affluent city costs, and adamantly standing up for those who’ve been hurt by either the rising political tensions or their own private trauma.

By the time she hit 30, Jieun was considered a cultural icon of hope for the citizens of Songdae, and when the war broke out she was one of the biggest voice advocating for peace and safety for all the peoples of the world. Though many governments despised her for getting in the way of their plans with her following of those who believed in her message of peace, and many times she was never welcomed by the people, she travelled the world trying to instill a sense of hope while also doing what she can to help everyone by working to give relief to all the civilian lives damaged by war and disaster. It is through these worldly travels that she truly honed her magical skills to their utmost limits, and in doing so she eventually convened with the Iconoclasts.

Personality: As a beacon of hope and kindness, one would usually expect her to be a gentle and calm soul who acts in a cautious and pacifist manner. While not necessarily false, many are, while not exactly complaining, surprised when they first meet her due to a flaring temper and the aggressive way she pursues her goals. She’s a very determined woman, often making a figurative B-line for all her goals. In that way, often times her biggest flaw is that she’s very stubborn and uncompromising. It works out usually regardless, due to her humanitarian and inclusive goals and ambitions, but there’s always someone who gets the shaft and as such you either love her or hate her, no inbetween. In other words, she gets shit done and nobody will stand in her way. Maybe she could learn to listen to others a little bit more though...

Class: Radiant Mage
Abilities: Similar to a white mage, Jieun has extremely powerful healing magic that can cure even the most grave of wounds given time and focus. Though she can not bring back the dead as a result of the limits of nature, she can fix any status ailment and keep the party alive with ease. To complement this, she also has a smaller repertoire of buffs and shields that can be used to keep the party going longer before needing to back off. Finally, in cases where her heals won’t be of much use, she has extremely powerful offensive white magic up in her sleeve in the form of various Holy-type spells that can be used to nuke the enemy. Her strongest skill, Radiant Light, obliterates the enemy with what some describe as the power of the sun itself, but using such a spell would either severely debilitate her or kill her if in a weakened state.

Final Fantasy: Reverence [Spots Open]

Post Index

#001 - Bastien: Intro
#002 - Bastien: Adventurer's Guild 1
#003 - Bastien: Adventurer's Guild 2
#004 - Bastien: Southern Fields 1

Bastien Roussaeu

Bastien Roussaeu

Age: 32
Gender: Male
Nationality: Frinian
Heritage: Frinian

Appearance: Bastien stands at 6'0", or 182 cm, and weighs in at a solid 180 lbs, or 85 kg. Mostly muscle. While he has an imposing stance and a relatively unkempt appearance , he moves in a very controlled and calculated way that betrays his otherwise thuggish vibe. His black hair compliments his brown eyes in a way that some might find endearing.

Personality: Vulgar, crude, gross, kind of an asshole. It may sound like people just don’t like him, but people don’t like him for a reason. While he doesn’t seem like an active problem, he acts maliciously and holds way too many grudges. Though he may have his reasons, this guy is a Grade A bitch, and really his only redeeming quality is that he’s usually pretty laid-back (but in the “I’m gonna joke around with you but don’t mistake this for being friends” way). Unless you think that’s two-faced and annoying, in which case you’ll hate that too. Perhaps his dedication to his cause would impress you? It's kind of weird how serious he is about all this chaos stuff. Maybe something messed up his head or something and maybe he thinks making everyone worse off is helping them somehow. Sometimes people are backwards like that.


Biography: Though he was born and raised in Frinia, Bastien currently, uh, “lives” in a city in Raelin after he moved there for, uh, “reasons”. Slightly more specifically, some bad shit happened to him as a kid, he got all edgy, and then nobody really liked him. That’s the basic gist of it, but just know that getting “all edgy” pretty much meant he started worshiping the dark gods of the pantheon presumably because he thought the rest of them were all just a bunch of high and mighty losers. Just a note, though: we're talking about "kids sitting in a basement with a pentagram and a goat" kinda stuff here and for some reason people thought giving the kids a smack on the back of the head was gonna make 'em stop. Ironically... Do you think it might've been all the smacking and hitting and all that stuff that made kids want to summon death gods? The implication was that it started when they started channeling Ragnarok, but that's quite wrong actually. Anyway! That was a slippery slope that lead into dogma, which is in of itself kinda illegal, so if you're committing crimes already might as well go all the way and do Ragnarok's bidding by messing everything up with... uh, crimes and all that. Long story short he ended up selling his soul (literally or figuratively?) to Ragnarok 'cause he was angry at everyone for some mysterious reason... Which is good because it's cool you're doing something with your life but bad because that's considered the wrong god to worship.

Nowadays though, in Raelin, he lives a seedy life dealing with even sketchier people. What he does on a daily basis could be considered “immoral” and “highly risky" and "illegal”, participating in such fun acts such as: conning, stealing, (commissioned) murder, drug trade, minor felonies, so on, so on. Sometimes with other crooks, sometimes doing it to them. And sometimes you piss off the wrong crowd too much and now suddenly even the lawbreakers are after you for breaking the law. It’s a hard life for lil' old Bastien, but he'd do anything for his precious Ragnarok. Such a chaotic life is the only one for Bastien, so he can't really complain.



:COMBAT
Level: 25
Class: Ragnarok’s Hand
A swordsman that uses dogma to deceive and wear down the foe. They worship Ragnarok, a dark god of Frinia, and act under his behalf to bring chaos and darkness to the world. They seek to bring out the worst in the world. While focusing on using Ragnarok’s powers to harass their enemies, they are also highly skilled and excel in sleights to outplay the opponent.
War Lust - For every major enemy or every couple of mooks killed in a battle, a temporary STR buff of +1 is gained. Caps at 2; can make STR go above 20.
Red Mist - After making a significantly damaging direct hit with a skill to start bloodshed, Blood skills can be used for free after. Alternatively, he can also sacrifice his own health to use a Blood skill for free.
Blood Pact - All Blood skills gain additional effects when you fall into low health.

:STATS
Strength: 6
Dexterity: 2
Mind: 5
Piety: 4
Speed: 5
Defense: 3
Soul: 0

:EQUIPMENT
Main Weapon: Soldier’s Sword – As the name implies, a military-grade steel sword used by Raelin soldiers.
Off-Hand: Ragnarok’s Catalyst – A knife with a crimson blade and ornate handle. Great for stabbing, and can used to be summon Ragnarok’s power easier.
Armor: Hard Leather – Basic armor that covers his vital regions well.
Additional: N/A

:SKILLS
:Techniques
Jump [S2] – Not to be confused with the Dragoon one. Grapples with the target (if given the opportunity) and attempts to deal damage with a knife until thrown off. Ease of which he is thrown off depends on difference between strength.
Graze [D2] – Acts as a normal attack with his sword if it’s a complete hit but if it’s blocked or otherwise deflected, he has a high chance to deal minor damage with an invisible blow with his knife. Doesn’t work if he cannot move into very close range.
Backstab [S3] – A powerful surprise attack that deals additional damage if it’s from the rear.
Feint Attack [D2S4] – Feints a heavy, easily counterable strike but instead flips the momentum and attacks from the unexpected angle very quickly.
Visceral Strike [S5] – A strategically aimed blow that aims for the target’s most vital spots. Does significantly more damage if the enemy is staggered or otherwise vulnerable.
Shield Crusher [S7] – A heavy blow that knocks the enemy off guard or otherwise staggers them. Sends the enemy flying if unblocked, otherwise creates an opening through breakable defenses. If the enemy hits something when sent flying, they take extra damage; can also be knocked into other enemies.

:Spellbook
Mirage Step [M2] – Creates a static double of himself in one spot. The double fades when it’s hit by anything.
Blood Puddle [M3] – Lays down a trapped zone on the ground by where Bastien is that ensares anything that sets foot in its area of effect. Blood Pact effect: does damage in addition to trapping the target.
Bio [M4] – Launches a projectile that poisons the target if it hits. Also deals a slow debuff.
Miasma [M5] – Conjures a toxic cloud that corrodes flesh and armor if someone walks into it.

Blood Rush [P4] – Channels dogma to congeal blood, stop bleeding, and fix minor wounds. Blood Pact effect: clears status effects and heals more.
Blood Fever [P5] – Grants a buff to Bastien that increases endurance (tires out slower and is less affected by wounds) and boosts speed/agility. Works as a painkiller. Blood Pact effect: hardens the blood on his body into some kind of armor and increases his resistance/Defence.

Blood Tinge [PM3] – Corrodes flesh and sends toxins into the blood by channeling dogma when Bastien makes physical contact with the enemy. Blood Pact effect: Explodes when used, doing additional direct damage to the target
Red Blossom [PM4] – Launches a medium-distance lance of sharpened blood forward that curses the stab wound it makes and makes it bleed more than usual. Blood Pact effect: Increases range.


:LIMIT BREAK
Flurry Dance [S10] - Launches an assault of sword strikes that overwhelms the target with their power and speed. Does high damage if not blocked.
Ragnarok's Breath [M10] - Causes an explosion of fire and corrosive gas around Bastien. Has a chance to blind if the target is close enough.
Blanket of Chaos [M10] - Everyone withing a medium range (including Bastien himself) is hit with intense rage and can temporarily not distinguish friend and foe.

:OPPORTUNITY
First Blood - Bastien gains a +1 buff to Defense and Soul if he lands the first hit.
Escape Artist - Escapes grapples/traps more easily and flees from encounters more easily.
Contrarian - Bastien gains a +2 buff to Speed and Soul when outnumbered by 4 or more.

Final Fantasy: Reverence [Spots Open]

I'm here with my edgy boy.
Forgive me for how rushed my formatting and stuff is lmao

EDIT: Changed skills around and made it a tad edgier.
EDIT 2: Rewrote some of the descriptions to be less terrible, fixed some things, actually finished the skills and stuff. Formatting is slightly better. Also made a less worse sketch.

Bastien Roussaeu

Bastien Roussaeu

Age: 32
Gender: Male
Nationality: Frinian
Heritage: Frinian

Personality: Vulgar, crude, gross, kind of an asshole. It may sound like people just don’t like him, but people don’t like him for a reason. While he doesn’t seem like an active problem, he acts maliciously and holds way too many grudges. Though he may have his reasons, this guy is a Grade A bitch, and really his only redeeming quality is that he’s usually pretty laid-back (but in the “I’m gonna joke around with you but don’t mistake this for being friends” way). Unless you think that’s two-faced and annoying, in which case you’ll hate that too. Perhaps his dedication to his cause would impress you? It's kind of weird how serious he is about all this chaos stuff. Maybe something messed up his head or something and maybe he thinks making everyone worse off is helping them somehow. Sometimes people are backwards like that.


Biography: Though he was born and raised in Frinia, Bastien currently, uh, “lives” in a city in Raelin after he moved there for, uh, “reasons”. Slightly more specifically, some bad shit happened to him as a kid, he got all edgy, and then nobody really liked him. That’s the basic gist of it, but just know that getting “all edgy” pretty much meant he started worshiping the dark gods of the pantheon presumably because he thought the rest of them were all just a bunch of high and mighty losers. Just a note, though: we're talking about "kids sitting in a basement with a pentagram and a goat" kinda stuff here and for some reason people thought giving the kids a smack on the back of the head was gonna make 'em stop. Ironically... Do you think it might've been all the smacking and hitting and all that stuff that made kids want to summon death gods? The implication was that it started when they started channeling Ragnarok, but that's quite wrong actually. Anyway! That was a slippery slope that lead into dogma, which is in of itself kinda illegal, so if you're committing crimes already might as well go all the way and do Ragnarok's bidding by messing everything up with... uh, crimes and all that. Long story short he ended up selling his soul (literally or figuratively?) to Ragnarok 'cause he was angry at everyone for some mysterious reason... Which is good because it's cool you're doing something with your life but bad because that's considered the wrong god to worship.

Nowadays though, in Raelin, he lives a seedy life dealing with even sketchier people. What he does on a daily basis could be considered “immoral” and “highly risky" and "illegal”, participating in such fun acts such as: conning, stealing, (commissioned) murder, drug trade, minor felonies, so on, so on. Sometimes with other crooks, sometimes doing it to them. And sometimes you piss off the wrong crowd too much and now suddenly even the lawbreakers are after you for breaking the law. It’s a hard life for lil' old Bastien, but he'd do anything for his precious Ragnarok. Such a chaotic life is the only one for Bastien, so he can't really complain.



:COMBAT
Level: 25
Class: Ragnarok’s Hand
A swordsman that uses dogma to deceive and wear down the foe. They worship Ragnarok, a dark god of Frinia, and act under his behalf to bring chaos and darkness to the world. They seek to bring out the worst in the world. While focusing on using Ragnarok’s powers to harass their enemies, they are also highly skilled and excel in sleights to outplay the opponent.
Ragnarok’s Blessing - Can summon Ragnarok’s power to use a Limit Break with no penalty once per battle.
Red Mist - After making a significantly damaging direct hit with a skill to start bloodshed, Blood skills can be used for free after. Alternatively, he can also sacrifice his own health to use a Blood skill for free.
Blood Pact - All Blood skills gain additional effects when you fall into low health.

:STATS
Strength: 6
Dexterity: 2
Mind: 5
Piety: 4
Speed: 5
Defense: 3
Soul: 0

:EQUIPMENT
Main Weapon: Soldier’s Sword – As the name implies, a military-grade steel sword used by Raelin soldiers.
Off-Hand: Ragnarok’s Catalyst – A knife with a crimson blade and ornate handle. Great for stabbing, and can used to be summon Ragnarok’s power easier.
Armor: Hard Leather – Basic armor that covers his vital regions well.
Additional: N/A

:SKILLS
:Techniques
Jump [S2] – Not to be confused with the Dragoon one. Grapples with the target (if given the opportunity) and attempts to deal damage with a knife until thrown off. Ease of which he is thrown off depends on difference between strength.
Graze [D2] – Acts as a normal attack with his sword if it’s a complete hit but if it’s blocked or otherwise deflected, he has a high chance to deal minor damage with an invisible blow with his knife. Doesn’t work if he cannot move into very close range.
Backstab [S3] – A powerful surprise attack that deals additional damage if it’s from the rear.
Feint Attack [D2S4] – Feints a heavy, easily counterable strike but instead flips the momentum and attacks from the unexpected angle very quickly.
Visceral Strike [S5] – A strategically aimed blow that aims for the target’s most vital spots. Does significantly more damage if the enemy is staggered or otherwise vulnerable.

:Spellbook
Mirage Step [M2] – Creates a static double of himself in one spot. The double fades when it’s hit by anything.
Blood Puddle [M3] – Lays down a trapped zone on the ground by where Bastien is that ensares anything that sets foot in its area of effect. Blood Pact effect: does damage in addition to trapping the target.
Bio [M4] – Launches a projectile that poisons the target if it hits. Also deals a slow debuff.
Miasma [M5] – Conjures a toxic cloud that corrodes flesh and armor if someone walks into it.

Blood Rush [P4] – Channels dogma to congeal blood, stop bleeding, and fix minor wounds. Blood Pact effect: clears status effects and heals more.
Blood Fever [P5] – Grants a buff to Bastien that increases endurance (tires out slower and is less affected by wounds) and boosts speed/agility. Works as a painkiller. Blood Pact effect: hardens the blood on his body into some kind of armor and increases his resistance/Defence.

Blood Tinge [PM3] – Corrodes flesh and sends toxins into the blood by channeling dogma when Bastien makes physical contact with the enemy. Blood Pact effect: Explodes when used, doing additional direct damage to the target
Red Blossom [PM4] – Launches a medium-distance lance of sharpened blood forward that curses the stab wound it makes and makes it bleed more than usual. Blood Pact effect: Increases range.


:LIMIT BREAK
Flurry Dance [D10] - Launches an assault of extremely fast strikes that overwhelms the target. Does high damage if not blocked.
Ragnarok's Breath [M10] - Causes an explosion of fire and corrosive gas around Bastien. Has a chance to blind if the target is close enough.
Blanket of Chaos [M10] - Everyone withing a medium range (including Bastien himself) is hit with intense rage and can temporarily not distinguish friend and foe.

:OPPORTUNITY
First Blood - Bastien gains a +1 buff to Defense and Soul if he lands the first hit.
Escape Artist - Escapes grapples/traps more easily and flees from encounters more easily.
Contrarian - Bastien gains a +2 buff to Speed and Soul when outnumbered by 4 or more.

Persona - The True Self

Sato Hashimoto // Sadaomi Beach

Now, Sato felt super cool dashing around and shooting people with a gun. He was weirdly reaaallly into it. To the point where he aggressively screamed at every major firefight he got into, but by the time they were all done with shooting water everywhere, a heavy sobriety hung over him and the realization of what the hell he was doing slowly sunk in as they made a pile of water guns for Megumi to deal with. As she did that, the group decided that they'd go and grab food.

Sato didn't really have any money to buy more food, but he didn't really feel like relying on Kotori and the others for their packed lunches. It felt weirdly skeevy for some reason, so instead Sato turned to Mako and tugged on his wrist. "Come on, let's go check out the shops. I'm wondering if there's anything good here..." He started off towards the market street, smelling all the food the stalls were cooking up for the crowd gathering in front of them. With the hunger rolling over all the people at the beach, though, came those places that were mysteriously empty looking compared to every part of the place.

After grabbing something to eat (for free, for Sato), the two returned to the group, the circle of people forming a beach picnic kinda vibe. "Hey, just..." Sato sighed and looked over at the crowd of people all around them. Watching them all bustle around was weirdly calming to Sato. "I'm just wondering what's gonna happen after this is all over. I mean, school and the investigation team and everything. I'm going to university in Tokyo if everything works out, but... What are you gonna do, Mako?"

@EnterTheHero

Persona - The True Self

Sato Hashimoto // Sadaomi Beach

The whole group seemed to be stuck in a really tense Mexican Stand-off type situation, though it would've been a lot cooler if they weren't using water guns and there weren't children running around screaming in the background. Sato held his gun with a white-knuckled grip, eyes darting between everyone standing around by the weapons pile. All enemies, all targets now. Since both Rui and Ryan insisted it be a free-for-all, Sato quickly realized it was only gonna be him and Mako against the world. Though... could he even trust Mako? He doubted he would ever betray him in like, the Mirror World or anything, but in a water gun fight? It was so inconsequential in the end that it brought the evil out of everyone. They were all wild dogs looking for prey in this kill-or-be-killed game. So Sato decided he needed to strike first.

"Eat shit and die." Sato punctuated his taunt by aiming his water rifle and shooting Ryan straight through the heart. He wasn't stupid enough to stand there and provoke the others further, so he broke away from the group and started strafing away, pumping the gun rapidly to try to get more free shots in before everyone started scrambling. Mako seemed to follow Sato, joining him in his new position between the group and the ocean. The fastest, free-est, and practically only (and free-est?) way to refill their guns would be the sea, so staking out a good position would give them an advantage when they inevitably burned through their ammo.

Persona - The True Self

Sato Hashimoto // Sadaomi Beach

For a while, nothing was really going on, just the sun beating down on a bunch of teenagers looking to enjoy the lack of school. Sato was perfectly fine just people-watching from the cool shade of the umbrella, sitting beside Mako. The stress of his final year of highschool was already giving him grey hairs, and all this mirror world business was definitely not helping. Being with the team on days like this were fun, in one way or another, even if he wasn't really doing anything in particular. He would smell the ocean spray, dig his toes in the warm sand, and relax.

That is, until he heard something about a watergun fight. While it sounded sorta fun, his first thought was those dinky 50 yen things you got from the corner store that worked as well as plugging a microwave into a potato, and if they were gonna mess around with those, Sato would much rather just watch. Curious, though, he zoned back in to reality and looked over his shoulder. To his surprise, Rui and Kazuki dumped a huge pile of impressive-looking waterguns onto the sand. It definitely looked a lot cooler than the first-grader water-ticklers he'd dreaded.

Sato nudged Mako in the side before he got up and walked over to some of the others, who already seemed pretty amped up for it. Some of the more standard weapons were already taken, like the classic rifle or some pistols. Sato also liked the gatling gun thing Ryan had, but it seemed to be the only one of its caliber so Sato looked for the next best thing for him. There were a couple ones that looked a lot better than they worked, but eventually Sato picked up a long rifle with a sniper-like snout. He did a test shot to the side. It was pump-action like most of the other ones, and it had a significantly higher range than the others, but he'd get decimated in the time it took to 'reload' the water pressure for any decent shot.

"You can go solo if you want, but don't come crying when you get shredded in a 4-on-1." Sato said, a mischievous glint in his eyes. He held his gun like a soldier on parade and swiveled around to look at Mako. "I'll keep you covered if you go first."

Persona - The True Self

Sato Hashimoto // Sadaomi Beach

The group discussed their course of actions for a few moments before people started going off on their own, whether to hang out on the beach first or to go change into something more suitable. Sato stared out at the sea, lost in thought about what he was going to do today, until Mako suddenly grabbed his hand and started pulling him towards the changing rooms, where surprisingly few people were out by. Sato tried to break free, but Mako's grip seemed to be a lot stronger than he thought it'd be. Instead, Mako interlocked their fingers and held on tighter. He looked up at Mako, trying to convey his sense of panic. "Mako, I don't--..." A burning sensation ran through his face, but at least it could be explained as already burning from the heat.

Mako started talking, though, not letting go. It's not like Sato didn't want to hold Mako's hand, to be together, it's just... He wasn't an idiot. He knew what people thought. Sure, maybe most of them wouldn't say anything, but there was always the chance. There was always the possibility. And it scared him, like it always had. The chance of people not accepting him, so he'd always just did what they wanted like some puppet of fate... but what was the point? Wasn't that why he stood up against his own shadow, why everyone fought for their lives just to save him? He was really just backing out of that resolve he'd made back then by letting other people dictate who he was allowed to be.

Except he didn't say any of that, and instead he just let Mako pull close and kiss him. It was short and sweet, but that was all it really had to be. After, he said something that, before he joined the team, he would have he never thought he'd say out loud. "Mako, I... love you." Sato looked into Mako's eyes to see if he'd make time stop and they could enjoy the moment forever, but it was cut short when Sato found himself laughing at what he'd said. "Can I say that already? It isn't too soon, is it? Whatever, I guess I'll just take that chance." He gave a warm smile to Mako, letting their hands fall loosely down, together. He sighed. "Let's just enjoy the day and leave all this stupid stuff for another time."

Without saying anything else, Sato started pulling Mako (by the hand!) away to the small boulevard of shops that were nearby, intent on taking Mako up on his offer. Soon enough, though, they found a good place to buy shaved ice, and Sato went up to the counter. "Two shaved ice, please. Strawberry for me." He looked back at Mako. "You, uh, got the money, right?" Well, he said they did, so he better. Once Mako paid the teen that was working the stand, the two started walking back towards the beach. Unsure of what to say while eating ice, Sato scanned his brain for some kind of trivia. "Did you know that the flavors of shaved ice are all just sugar water that smells different? At least, that's what I heard."

By the time they managed to get back to where the group had established a spot for everyone with a couple umbrellas, Matt was already running towards the ocean, except, as he was running, he turned to the side. Presumably, he saw Shizuka coming out of the changing room looked stunning as usual, but apparently she was too stunning and Matt absolutely biffed it. The sight was comical enough, Matt laying face-first in the sand, that Sato couldn't help but burst out laughing. Genuine laughter. He looked over at Mako, with a tear in his eye. He didn't say anything in particular, but he just wanted to.

Persona - The True Self

Sato Hashimoto // Warakuma Train Terminal

Sato stood lost in thought beside Kotori for another few minutes, completely perplexed about whether or not he should have brought certain items when everyone else would bring them regardless, until he noticed more people joining their group. Shizuka and the latest in a series of Persona-users showed up, followed a bit later by an exasperated Matt, who had woken up late, but he decided against trying to talk to them on virtue of waiting for Mako to show up before he really started relaxing. It's not like he wouldn't have a good time if he didn't show, but it'd be good to know how he was gonna spend most of his day. Eventually, though, Sato saw Mako turn the corner around the station terminal, and he gave a wave to him. Sato parted from the group for a moment (which was a bit of a relief, as it seemed a bit awkward with the new kid and whatever was going on between Shizuka and Matt) to run over and greet Mako.

"Hey," Sato smiled, rubbing the back of his neck. What was he supposed to say...? 'Good to see you' or something? It wasn't like they hadn't seen each other recently or anything. Luckily, their conversation was cut short by the crescendo of the approaching train, the speakers crackling into life to announce that it was in fact the train they were taking to the beach. Sato looked over his shoulder to see Rui announcing to the group that they were going now, so Sato turned back to Mako and gave another weak smile. After a second of consideration, Sato reached out to hold his hand, but upon making contact, he felt like he was some kind of E.T. alien and it felt weird enough in public that Sato withdrew his hands and shoved them in his pockets. Maybe later.

Regardless, the whole group boarded the train and found a section of seats next to each other. Sato, of course, sat next to Mako, but the whole train ride was uneventful as a whole seeing as everyone was still waking up and there wasn't exactly much to talk about besides how excited they were for the beach. The sights weren't much new for the most part either, until they came out of a tunnel and suddenly the trees disappeared to reveal a stunning open coast. Sato tried to awkwardly lean over Mako, who took the window-seat, to the try to get a better look of it. The weather was absolutely perfect as well, and they could even see the nearby landmass of China in the distance... The view was stunning.

[. . .]

Soon after being greeted by that view, they were let off at a train station only a couple minute walk away from the beach itself. The train station itself was surprising new, with an untainted appearance and modern design, but Sato figured it was the latest in a long series of urbanization that the area had been going through for the last several years. Kazuki soon explained this very thing to the group, and Sato felt a little smug for having already known this fact, but for some reason Kazuki seemed weirdly bothered by what he told them. Wasn't he a rich kid or something, so did his parents own a company or something that was competing with them...? Sato honestly couldn't really remember if Kazuki had revealed that much about himself, but hey, he went to a ritzy place so it was probably safe to assume.

Once they got to the actual beach strip, Sato surveyed the area. There were quite a few changing rooms and a long line of stands and shops serving presumably any kind of refreshment you'd crave on a perfect beach day, but it only reminded Sato that he had also forgotten to bring any money with him... Maybe Mako would have some? Either way, with Kazuki and Megumi running off to find a good spot to camp out at, the group was left to their own devices to go do whatever. So... Uh. When were they gonna get in the water? That was pretty much why he came in the first place, but Sato guessed they had to get in the mood first or something. Unless someone was gonna make a dead-sprint for the shore, which wouldn't exactly surprise him at this point knowing some of the members of the team...

"So, what first?" Sato wondered out loud, still looking over at all the shops. "Though, I guess some of you guys still need to change into your swimsuits, huh?"

Persona - The True Self

Sato Hashimoto // Hashimoto Residence

The quiet stare Kotori gave for a second shot a pang of regret through Sato, but to his surprise she didn't chastise him for his disregard for skin care and instead started digging through her bag with a strangely mother-esque pride. After a brief moment she withdrew a bottle of sunscreen and gave it to Sato, and after being assured he can use as much as needed, he began to apply it to his skin, starting with his arms.

Sato noticed that Ryan and Samuru had also showed up, and he gave a small wave to both of them, but it was immediately apparent that Samuru was acting a bit cold to them, standing off and avoiding eye-contact with Sato. Was he still upset about what happened in Seto? It wasn't that big of a deal, considering it was Samuru's first time in the mirror world, but Sato decided not to express that again lest he start some kind of drama already. The whole point of the trip was to relax together, not mope over the Mirror World.

It struck him that he probably should have waited until he got to the beach to apply it considering he was probably going shirtless to swim and now he'd just have to ask someone for sunscreen again, but whatever. Maybe they wouldn't dive in for a while. "Thanks, Kotori. I really appreciate it." He said to her, giving a slight nod, but as he rubbed it into his face, Kotori's next words bugged him. "What else do I need though? ...Am I forgetting something? Was my mom right...?"