pti | Action - Woodrow's Palace

Misora has been raring to go since the minute she volunteered for the incursion, so it's not all that long after Terra sends out her message that she too arrives on the campus. Immediately upon entering the Metaverse, she cringes and covers her ears, thrown off balance by the Shadow Woodrow's verbal assault. Almost without thinking, she wanders forward to catch a proper view of the so-called parade.

For a moment, the young Japanese girl can only gaze out in clear horror at the grotesque spectacle, clutching the microphone stand that is her weapon tightly. Once that moment passes, she steps back and returns her attention to the entrance. Forcing a smile full of all the confidence she suddenly doesn't feel onto her face, she moves to greet her fellow thief.

"Hey!"

Oh...someone actually showed up...Terra closes her eyes, takes a deep breath, and fixes up her determination.

"Hello."

Trance greets her fellow thief coolly, nodding in greeting as she does.

Roll nods back, if more animatedly, but before she can formulate a response she finds herself distracted by the continued refrain of bigotry coming from the Palace's owner.

"...He sure is a loud one, huh?", she remarks conversationally, as if she were talking about a particularly yappy dog rather than a white supremacist spewing bile.

Trance grumbles indistinctly.

"He never stops talking, it's like diarrhea of the mouth..."

Despite the circumstances, Roll can't help but snicker at Trance's words. "Yeah, it is, isn't it? And the contents are just as unpleasant, too."

A long sigh. Seriously, this place is unpleasant.

"Well, while we're waiting to see if anyone else shows up...did you bring any tools with you?"

"Oh, um, lemme see..." She reaches for a small bag on her belt and begins rifling through it.

"Goho-M, Vanish Ball, a few lockpicks..."

The dizzying distortion of the Metaverse gives way to a cacophony of noise and hatred. Yuuri prefers the transition from reality to Metaverse, frankly. The blatant racism surrounding him sets his teeth on edge, eyes narrowing within the frame of his silver domino mask. He smooths out the hem of his jacket, then starts toward the two other Thieves already gathered. He doesn't recognize the women, but that doesn't matter. Maybe he hadn't volunteered online, but seeing the general call on the BBS has him determined to help.

He isn't obviously armed, though. That might be strange to anyone who notices.

"I'm Frost. I know we haven't met before, but I'm here to help however I can." He bows formally.

Frost...how straightforward.

"I'm Trance."

"It's good to meet you, Trance, though I wish it was under better circumstances."

Frost glances around with a deep scowl. Every line of his body is tense, though certainly not from fear. He's angry.

"Do we have any idea how many people are showing up?"

Edited 2018-01-13 22:11 (UTC)

Trance brushes her bangs back behind her mask as she answers, more for something to do with her hands than any need to clear her vision.

"Three more, I think."

"Three sounds right, yeah..." Roll concurs, tilting her head thoughtfully. After a moment, she snaps up, and offers Frost a friendly — if slightly unsteady — smile.

"Oh yeah, I'm Roll, by the way! Nice to meet you... both.", she adds, realizing that she hadn't actually introduced herself to the other girl.

Edited 2018-01-13 22:19 (UTC)

"Hello, Roll." And another bow for the other girl. If either of them follows winter sports, they might recognize something about Frost: his eyes, his voice, or the familiar but somewhat altered outfit. But of course, there's no using real names in the Metaverse.

"Six sounds like a good team. I can't heal, but I'm fast and I can fight fairly well. This will be my first real venture into a Palace, though."

His first time in the Metaverse was when he Awakened, and the aftermath was... less than ideal.

Trance nods.

"I can heal...if everyone shows up, I'll stick to my sabre and save my energy for that."

"Good idea." Roll claps her hands together. "I can't heal either, but my Persona's pretty flexible. I can attack with magic or give some support, whichever we need."

"I've only used mine once, it's ice-based. I'm still getting a mental feel for what else it can do." Frost touches his temple, just behind the edge of his mask. "It's really weird, feeling that presence in my head."

"It's...comforting. Like I'm...never alone."

There's a slight pause as Terra shrinks in on herself reflexively before taking a deep breath and reassuming her (social) persona of 'Trance, the capable Phantom Thief'.

"Maduin can also use fire and punch things really hard."

"I get the never alone part, but...."

Frost bites the inside of his lower lip, just for a second.

"It's angry. Controlled, but really angry. But I guess that's my anger, isn't it?"

"...Anger isn't necessarily a terrible thing to have.", Roll murmurs.

Where would she be now if she had denied her anger? Would her Persona have ever awakened? Would she still be stuck in a job she hated?

Edited 2018-01-14 00:21 (UTC)

"We wouldn't be here if not for that, right?"

Mato joins right in on the conversation as she walks up, waving to the others and giving a little grin toward Roll. It's a bit of a cover for the uneasiness she feels right now, but she knows this is something she needs to do.

"Besides, if any of us loses control, that's what the rest of us are here for. We'll back each other up."

She's really trying to convince herself of this as much as she is the others, but it's a genuine sentiment. Her Persona awakening was a pretty frightening experience, after all.

Oh hey, only two people left. That's good.

"Mm. Anger's powerful. I won't ever think of it as a bad thing."

Despite this is fourth time entering the Metaverse, Augustine still felt dizzy as he arrives at the Palace entrance. Yet the dizziness isn’t the only thing he is uncomfortable with. Just looking at himself in his Phantom Thief outfit is very awkward enough considering his profession and his kind nature. Regardless, if this is what the Metaverse perceive him after his Awakening, then he might try to get used of it.

As he walks to the entrance, he can see several thieves are already there, which is a good sign. But just the sight of their weapons is enough to make him little comfortable, especially that he’s the only Phantom Thief who has a non-combat Persona so far.

“Looks like everyone is all here.” Augustine said with a smile as he approaches the group. “I’m Lifegiver and I am looking forward to working with you all.”

"I'm Trance. We're actually waiting on one more."

When Mato enters the scene, Roll returns her expression with a smile that's somehow more genuine than the ones she's been wearing thus far.

After Lifegiver, in turn, introduces himself, she nods in agreement with Trance. "Yeah, maybe we should save the introductions for a little longer?"

"Oh, right, haha..."

Mato scratches her cheek in mild embarrassment. Her smile is a little softer too now - allies are one thing, but friends are even better.

"I'm Rainbow Crow. Or Raincrow. Or just Rainbow, or Crow."

There's a small sigh, and she shakes her head.

"I should've picked an easier name."

There's a pause as Trance processes this before speaking to Raincrow.

"Ah. Thank you for telling me how to turn capslock off."

So far, the group seems to be in an uplifting mood as the young girls introduced themselves after Trance. Even seeing Rainbow Crow’s soft smile is enough to see a small sign of happiness despite their real intentions in this Palace.

“It’s alright. I think Rainbow Crow has a bit of je ne sais quoi.”

Still, with one more person remaining until they can start the reconnaissance, they might a small talk until them.

Shadows prowl the streets as racial hate and slang spew from the broadcast of Woodrow. The words strike an unsettling familiarity Leo has sometimes found in his father.

His schoolbag leans against his back, full of various supplies for the infiltration. Clinging to his belt is his weapon of choice. He keeps a hand on the hilt as he walks towards the entrance.

"Apologies for keeping you waiting," he says. "I did bring some medicine in case we need it."

Trance nods.

"Thank you. I'm Trance, the organizer."

Roll's countenance brightens with the arrival of the last team member. She opens her mouth to greet him, but is cut off by Trance. She frowns briefly, then once Trance is finished speaking, picks up where she left off.

"And I'm Roll..." She continues on, pointing to each thief as she names them. "...he's Frost; he's Lifegiver; and she's Rainbow Crow."

With a cheeky smile, she concludes, "Now that that's out of the way, how about we get this show on the road?"

Upon seeing the last thief arrived at the entrance, Lifegiver gave a small smile as Roll called out his codename before they can start the mission.

"I agree. We have no deadline for this operation, so we might do a recon slowly until then. There might be traps and Shadows along the way. For now, we should lay the land before we can find our intended target."

"Got it."

Time to put on their game faces. Rainbow Crow nods at the others, trying to hide her nervousness behind a mask of determination.

"Be careful, everybody."

Trance takes a second to consider.

"We probably shouldn't try to cut in front of the tanks."

She tenses, her legs coiling underneath her before she jumps, cape streaming behind her, and catches onto the edge of the closest tank before pulling herself up on top of it.

Considering how these Shadows marched around like in a real parade, it is best that he should follow what Trance said. After all, he doubts that just sneaking into a backdoor won't help in this kind of Palace.

Using the current strength of his legs and the wall behind them, he jumps up and quickly grabs the edge of the tank next to the one Trance is on as he quickly pulls himself up to the top. Now all that's left is to wait for the others to join in before they can proceed.

Mato follows the two of them up in fairly short order, feathered cloak billowing out behind her. She winces slightly as she lands, and an ankle brace is briefly visible under the edge of the bodysuit she's wearing. Noticing it, she quickly pulls the fabric down over it, hoping no one caught that.

"Glad to work with you all. I'm Sorcerer."

After Trance's suggestion, he follows suit and approaches the tank. Sorcerer waits behind Mato, but he catches sight of... an ankle brace? He's truly curious as to what happened and it's doubtful that would be part of her costume.

He approaches. "Will that slow you down?"

Frost notes the wince as well, though he doesn't interfere in their conversation. Once he's up on the tank with a surprisingly powerful leap and a graceful landing, he turns to Rainbow Crow and hikes up his left pant leg.

There's surgical scarring around his knee, which is also supported by a brace. He releases the fabric without a word, nodding once to her in solidarity. He understands.

And then he's back to following the others across the tank.

Roll has followed shortly behind Trance, her movements nimble and just a little flashy. She looks back just in time to see Raincrow's little misstep.

With Sorcerer raising the issue she doesn't intrude, but her brow is knitted in obvious concern, which doesn't lessen at all at the sight of Frost's own injuries.

Raincrow is all set to make excuses when Sorcerer points out her injury, but between the silent shows of concern from both Frost and Roll, she's feeling a little more composed by the time she answers. Taking a breath, she nods, steeling her gaze.

"This is nothing compared to the pain this guy has caused. I'll fight through it."

While Lifegiver isn't much of an athlete, he managed to land on the tank after flinging himself from the edge without any slips and tumbles. He was even surprised that he even make that jump despite his physique.

However, it wasn't long as he notices Raincrow's fabric at the edge of her bodysuit. He can worry about it later, but he needs to make sure she won't hurt herself. "Just try to watch yourself. The least you don't want to have is an injury."

He then focuses his sight on the parade itself as he says to the others, "I may try to scan this whole area first, but I don't know if any Shadow might detect us while Xerneas is out."

Trance tilts her head to the side a little, violet eyes narrowing in thought behind her mask.

"Do what you can. We have a good vantage point from here, and we can look for a good point to dismount as the tank moves."

With Trance's approval, Lifegiver nods at her before his mask disappears in blue flames, which a giant blue deer appears behind him as it's light blue antlers began to glow golden yellow as it grows more horns with rainbow-colored lights.

As it did, a tree-shaped barrier enveloped Lifegiver as he begins typing on his holographic keyboard to scan the entire area.

Standing near one of the edges of the tank's surface, Roll draws her mic stand and holds it at the ready, looking out for any nearby hostiles.

The parade of tanks forms a series of shifting walkways that vanish and reappear, making getting through a matter of timing. Shadow soldiers patrol through the empty areas, although none of them seem to be interested in the procession of the Parade, meaning it's safe for them to stay on top of the tanks for a while.

None of the Shadows feel particularly strong, but there does seem to be a stronger presence in the direction of Royce Hall.

From the eyes of his Persona, he can see that most of the Shadows including the soldiers on patrol didn't detect the thieves' presence. This allows him to sigh in relief as he turns to the others.

"Looks like no one saw us here and so far, I feel these Shadows are not very strong to take us. Guess it's a good idea for us to stay here." However, something bothers him as takes a closer look at the holographic screen.

"Although I do sense a strong presence at the Royce Hall."

"Royce Hall, huh..."

Mato raises a hand just above her eyes to look into the distance, squinting her eyes to try to get a clear view.

"I guess we probably can't just snipe him from here, huh. Not even Black Rock Shooter is that good a shot."

"Which means a ranged attack from the tanks is out of the question. Still, we may try to check the Royce Hall just to confirm our suspicions. If we find some strong security there, we may be in trouble in our infiltration mission without a strategic plan."

He then types in another set of keys in his holographic keyboard in an attempt to scan more of the area.

"It makes sense that he wouldn't be easy to reach from outside. He's arrogant and delusional, but he's not stupid. If his Shadow isn't under heavy guard, I'll be shocked."

Frost jumps to a higher spot on the tank, his trained balance keeping him from tumbling off the turret.

"It'd be nice if we could run a zipline from here to Royce Hall, but the distance is too great. Anybody see anything else we could use as a shortcut?"

"Maybe a shortcut isn't what we need, so much as a distraction."

She's just thinking out loud at this point, looking around the scene to try to see if there's anything they could do to draw the guards off.

Action - Woodrow's Palace - Casing The Joint

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Just going to reply next then...

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