Persona: Gardens and Graveyards (R)

[InnerFlame]

Romulus 'Rome' Caesar
The Star
*~ Location: Off-Campus, MeteorCash Coffee Shop ~*

Rome stared into the doorway... it was an empty hallway with only a door on the far side. It was a white and sterile-looking place that he thought that he might see at a hospital. It gave the teen an unsettling vibe, and his brain immediately marked this as precarious. But as his only means of escape from his peculiar space, he was considering taking a stroll down it. Rome's investigation was interrupted by a sudden sound in the once quiet coffee shop. It sounded like someone drinking something... but he was positive everyone was fixed in place when glanced around previously. Rome twisted back to look at the source... the person making the sound was... him? It was unbelievable for Rome, he rubbed his hazel-colored eyes, but the person was still there.

“Look Rome,” This monotone version of himself suddenly and weariedly addressed him. The only amount of color in this grayscale being was a pair of tired-looking golden eyes. As the shadowy teen stared directly at Rome, he took another sip of the coffee he had taken from a nearby shop worker and continued. “I’d rather not make this complicated. I kill you after I finish this drink. Easy, right? You don’t have to do a thing, just the way you like it.”

The wicked toothy grin on his face sent quivers down Rome's spine as that ominous threat was so casually thrown to him. The Shadowy Rome kept his exhausted gaze locked onto him as he drank more coffee. The brown-haired high schooler could feel his heart fiercely thumping in his chest... this had to be a nightmare, right? He must have fallen asleep at some point. Reaching up, he gave his freckled cheek one hard pinched. Immediately rubbing his new stinging red mark, everything remained the same. The frozen people, muted sounds, and that dark version of himself were all still there. His eyes met the golden-eyed being, amused at his antics. Astounded that his nightmare was still persisting, Rome took one step into the frame of the mystery door. A trembling hand rested on the inner doorknob.

"I-I...Wh-why..." Rome was struggling to get words out, with his voice wavering and his panicked brain attempt to form sentences. The teen had never been more alert without the assistance of coffee. Was this all just a forewarning illusion? A sign that his lackadaisical, slothful ways would be the end of him? Was this an affirmation that he should completely remove this from his life or just embrace it? All the going around in circles in his mind wasn't getting him anywhere. The Shadowy Rome just carry on drinking the coffee and watching him like a predator would do so to its prey. Rome swallowed hard and took a few breaths in an attempt to recollect himself. These actions helped him recover his voice.

"It's more than I want to do in a day, but I don't dislike doing things..." Rome began to defend himself without the quivering in his words. Though his confident tone was blended with fear as he studied at the other him. He forced a smile and gave his other self the best gentle expression he could muster. "There must be another way to resolve this without violence. We can figure this out together." Rome offered hoping there was some other option rather than having to be murdered... he prayed there was anything else.

 

[Skillfulness]

|~ Romulus Ceasar ~|
'~ Location: Off-Campus, Coffee Shop ~'

The shadow self barely musters the energy for a condescending smile your way. It glances in the cup and takes a slow sip, eyes on you the whole time.

“There’s nothing to talk about, unfortunate for you. The only way this goes is you die and I go about my way. Easy.” It lazily hoods its eyelids and gazes around the room, leaving a gap of silence between the two of you. It sighs after a tense moment.

“Just think of it like this, buddy--you won’t have to do anything once you’re dead, right? No more endless expectations to live up to, no more people to let down.” It swirls the drink. “Not much left, I’d enjoy your final moments instead of worrying about it.” Almost immediately after this, you hear someone speaking to you from your mind, strong and authoritative.

“Do not fall for it's lies, call upon me and I shall support you.”

~~~~~~~~~~

|~ Raven Desposito ~|
'~ Location: Outside Cantillion Academy Boys Dorms ~'

As you rush at your shadow self after the outburst, you notice the immediate confusion on its face. It’s brief, but undeniable. It looks at you and the expression changes to disgust as it delicately steps aside from your would be punch. When you crouch to attempt the leg sweep, the shadow laughs aloud, a hint of mania behind it, and leaps over your head. It’s swift and strong, far more than you expected. Before you can react, you feel a solid force against your chest and slide back along the floor a few feet as the strange being kicks you with incredible force.

“Oh you ridiculous boy!” It locks eyes and there’s an untamed rage there. “To think you would ever have a chance in standing up for yourself. Pathetic as always.” And though you feel the phrase is meant to rile you up or make you upset, the shadow person also seems to be affected by. It shakes, clenching and unclenching random muscles, brow knit in frustration. You have a sudden realization that this thing could easily end you and seems very motivated to do so.

“Please, allow me to prove myself and come to your aid.” The voice invades your head, urgent and warm. There’s comfort and power behind it, and in an instant, you know what to do.

~~~~~~~~

|~ Celes Desposito ~|
'~ Location: Cantillion Academy Gymnasium A ~'

“Talk things out?” the shadow person responds to your statement, followed by a bark of a laugh. “Since when have you ever been good with words? Your foolish words are as dangerous as your rash actions.” The shadow rushes forward and throws some punches at you. Each hits hard enough to cause you to break your footing, but since it spaces them out you recover just in time for each strike. It grins and shoves you playfully before jumping back out of your range.

“I won’t even give you the chance to fight back in a fight, so just lay down and let me kill you. You already know I’m stronger. What’s the point of dragging this out? Unless, do you like the pain?” It smirks at you. You can tell from the punches that the shadow thing is right. There’s a chance it makes a mistake allowing you to escape or stun it in time to get away, but only a chance. You also didn’t expect this thing to make a mistake so easily. That’s when you hear an eager voice echo in your mind.

“Aha! Let us do battle against this villainous creature!”

 

[TheCharredDragon]

Celes Desposito
The Chariot
Unknown: White Room

Celes didn't have to wait long for her faded double to answer...and the answer it gave?

“Talk things out?” the other her said, tilting her head just like she does, before she barked a loud laugh. “Since when have you ever been good with words? Your foolish words are as dangerous as your rash actions.”

Then she rushed forward and strted to punch her, leaving no time to dwell on the pain and truth in her other's words. It was only thanks to both her own previous wary stance and the spacing between her enemy's punches did she not fall over but...oh boy did they hurt, forcing her to grit her teeth to not shout. But, as she expected, the double was observant as her and noticed her pain even with her putting up a brave front as she smiled, wicked and cruel, before jumping—jumping?! That looked like a freakin' backstep from Dark Souls!—out of her immediate range.

“I won’t even give you the chance to fight back in a fight, so just lay down and let me kill you," her seemingly evil double said, smirking like a villain. "You already know I’m stronger. What’s the point of dragging this out? Unless, do you like the pain?”

Damn it. Her previous analysis of the situation still holds true. Even if she was on even ground with her, which she wasn't if those punches and backstep were any indication, there was no way she would win a battle of attrition. She wasn't exactly at full strength—well rested, just finished a meal and completely clear mind—while her doppelganger could very well be. If it was like her, she could make a mistake, but that applied to her as well, and she knew she would do her absolute best to not allow a mistake.

Damn it!

There had to be a solution. There just had to! There was always a solution...especially when fighting evil. She would never give up.

So of course she jumped when all of a sudden, a voice said,

“Aha! Let us do battle against this villainous creature!”

And just as sudden, she felt some sort of feeling in her chest, ready to burst, like when she wanted to scream or shout, and one word about to surface but asked permission to do so, like a waiting dream trying to reach her conscious mind. Logically, she had no reason to trust the voice, especially with the strange copy in front of her, and she had no reason to allow this feeling to overtake her. And yet...

Her heart told her this was her chance.

So she closed her eyes, took a deep breath and said,

"Come, Persona."

And it all went loose.

That feeling left her chest and instead surrounded her, light filling her sight as well as laughter that, once again, sounded like her own and yet distinct from her before that laughing voice said,

"Ha ha! Good good! I knew you could do it."

And Celes felt a large and comforting presence behind her. On instinct, she punched and hit air. But the one behind her? She shot forward and hit her other self, sending her skidding back a few feet, before returning by her side.

"Ha! As expected. Clear orders even without all knowledge," this giant of a woman said.

A name came to mind.

Sunna.

But that would have to wait. They still had an opponent to face, so she took a boxing stance again, feeling Sunna smile and mimic her, and said,

"Still wanna go? I could do this all day."

Obvious reference was obvious but she couldn't help it. Not when Sunna's shield reminded her of the comic book hero but also to lighten her nerves.



Raven Desposito
The Priestess
Unknown: White Room

One, two, three.

That was the number of counts it took for his attempt at catching his other self off guard to absolutely fail. With almost practiced ease, it not only leaned away from his punch, but jumped over his sweep like a parkour athlete. Once he landed, he was kicked straight in the chest, much faster and stronger than he ever could, right onto the ground.

“Oh you ridiculous boy!” his other self said, his brief confusion gone as it glared at him with a wild rage and derisive disgust. “To think you would ever have a chance in standing up for yourself. Pathetic as always.”

Even if there was a slight tremble and constant hand clenching betraying the effect the words had on his doppelganger, his manic and hated look remained, absolutely ready to kill him. And it wasn't as if he was wrong. It was true. He knew it. He wasn't strong enough. He was too weak. He couldn't do anything by himself...
The conclusion was clear. He was going to die. That was it. He was going to die.

And the worst part was that his family would never know he did, his identity replaced by a doppelganger.

And he hated that.

He wished he had a chance to even try...

...when a gentle voice washed warmth and power over him.

“Please, allow me to prove myself and come to your aid," he said.

For a moment, he thought he went mad. It sounded like his voice and yet...the comfort and confidence it gave him... It reminded him of his mother, his father, and his sister, and he couldn't help but laugh at himself. He knew what to do.

Understandbly, his copy was confused before he said, smug and assured,

"Have you decided to give up, you waste of space?"

Raven smiled, eyes closed as he said, "You're right, I am an idiot." Then he opened them. "Persona!"

His copy flinched as power rippled and pushed the air around them. Raven felt a new presence appear and he glanced to see a tall "viking" man, literally half armored and half not, holding a staff, one which he swung immediately. The faded double of him got hit by it and skidded away to the copy's right. With that done, the man—Máni, a part of him whispered—offered his hand to him.

"Here," he said, his voice like his own, just like before, yet somehow different.

Clutching Blacky with everything he had on his right, he took it with his left and stood. After a couple of breaths and turned to the other him, setting his jaw even as fear and worry welled within him, staring at him with determination.

"Maybe it's true I'm a waste of space. Maybe I can never do anything by myself no matter how I much I try to improve," he said. "But I do know one thing: my family wouldn't want me to give up. So if you want to kill me, you're going to have to give it everything you got."

Just like he would, no matter how small that effort would end up being in the end.

 

[InnerFlame]

Romulus 'Rome' Caesar
The Star
'~ Location: Off-Campus, MeteorCash Coffee Shop ~'

“Just think of it like this, buddy--you won’t have to do anything once you’re dead, right? No more endless expectations to live up to, no more people to let down.”

That statement struck Rome and stuck in his mind... He didn't want to admit it, but he was drawn in by the idea. Not always be the outstanding person others expected him to, or being on edge that he might do something that would make someone feel disillusion by him. Is this what he really wanted deep down? He honestly did feeling tired of it all... His eyes half-closed exhausted. As he was considering just give in, he heard someone calling out to him.

“Do not fall for its lies, call upon me and I shall support you.” The powerful and encouraging voice told him. That moment of weakness, that moment of giving in to his own darkness vanish. Staring back at his monotone self, he had more determination in his eyes.

"I cannot just give up just because I'm tired," Rome declared to himself resolutely. While he didn't recognize the voice that called out to him, it seemed familiar... A name popped into his head. Taking in a deep breath he yelled out the name, "Kartikeya!"

In an instant 'he' appeared, a tall fair-skinned man with long black hair sitting upon a large peacock. He emitted a regal air of a powerful man as he held bow and arrow in hand and took his place between the two Romes. His piercing green eyes firmly locked onto the other Rome as the bow moved to a ready to fire position.

"I advise you to retreat," Kartikeya calmly demanded the monotone Rome. "If not, prepare to battle it out with me." There was an intense resolve on his face that he was going to fight his utmost best.

Jamie Austin Moore
The Emperor
Waikiki Cafe in Maine

Jamie's directness finally reaches the curly-haired teacher and she gives her and the rest of the girls an explanation. First about the Shadow Self, which basically is a being of her negative personality traits, and by overcoming them they awake her Persona. Then she speaks about there being another dimension that Shadow runs wild within. That when people lose to their shadow it opens some kind of doorway that she vaguely describes causes terrible things to happen. She finally adds that Persona users have to protect the world from shadows. That a sudden change in someone's personality could be the effect Persona or more likely an indication of shadow interference. So it would to ideal to take note of odd behaviors.

It is quite the informational dump and it gets Jamie's wheels spinning... The blonde rested her chin on the knuckles of her gauntlet and look down as she thinks. As questions popped into her head and she wonders if Curly Bob even knows the answers to them. Her eye snapped back up as she looked Ms. Dyson in the eyes once more.

"What do the shadows gain from opening these doorways? It causes bad things, yes, but what is their goal?" Jamie inquired confusedly as she thought about it more. It didn't appear they just want to mindlessly cause chaos in their world, so what did the shadows want to accomplish? While the tall girl has some other questions, the talk of sparring catches her attention. She stares curiously as the teacher pulls out her swords.

"Huh? Are you going to spar with us?" Jamie conveys her shock for a moment. Glancing around the other choices, however, the manly girl figures that Teach is probably the only one in this group that remotely knows how to fight. "Sure, I wouldn't mind sparring." Jamie knows how to fight already and highly doubted that putting gloves on her hands would screw her up. But, Jamie believes it would good to get some more experience fighting against someone using a longer-range weapon.