Persona- Burn On, Shining Souls!

[Zincspider]

Izzy Simone

“Eh, I'm not so sure about sparring... heh heh...” Izzy answered, looking slightly away from Mana a fake smile plastered on his face. He had no desire to ever fight up close with anyone. Especially Mana, who he still wasn't convinced was completely sane. Well, were any of them, really? They certainly weren't normal. They'd been touched by fear. They'd learned to fight to survive on a nightly basis.

Just this morning, a student's phone rang in the hallway on the way to class. Izzy jumped at the sound and dodged behind the nearest corner out of instinct. His peers thought it was normal Izzy behavior (or, as most of them knew him as, that Weedy Kid with the Headlights), and in a way they were right. While he didn't duck because of 'seeing a girl' (Honestly, he wasn't scared of women... just talking to them. Damn rumors...), he was running for his life. Like a rabbit. And, honestly, he'd like to keep it that way.

“How about I just... umm...” He glanced over at Mana and realized he had nothing. No way to actually get out of it, instead he sighed. “How about I just go get a training dagger.”

Randy Clopin

All he had to do was run, they said. It's with Lace they said. She's fun they said.

Yeah, all of that was true, but they didn't realize one little thing. He was bushed He's run across almost the whole city earlier in the afternoon. Was it necessary? Not completely, he could have gotten to the guys on time without sprinting. But it sure felt like it. After embarrassing himself and Liza in front of her father he just wanted to get away. He didn't even wait for Liza. She could handle herself.
Nope. He was OUT. He was still drenched in sweat, all the way to his tee shirt.

"I'm tellin' you 'cuz you're the Persona-guy, but, you see that street lamp over there?" Lace pointed over his shoulder to the nearest sidewalk lamp. But on another note, 'Persona guy'?

"Bet if I skate into it with Saturnus and stretch my hand out I can whirl up to the top of that pole and shoot off over the gym gate!"

...Alright, he needed a piece of that action. That sounded badass.

“You're on. You do it, you get my dessert at lunch tomorrow. But we're talking the top of the pole.” He smiled. It was nice to be able to just be carefree like this. Lace was a fun girl. He really didn't notice it too much in the Court... given the nature of it, but she was still all happy, regardless. It's a nice change of pace.

He strode over to where she was bent down and fixed himself into the same position. Hands on the ground, one foot popped back. He wasn't sure if it was completely up to form, but it was the best image of it he had in his mind.

“On your mark!-”

[TheSequelReturns]

~ Miyuki Tachibana ~
- Bellow High Stadium - Evening -

Miyuki fidgeted a bit with the mitts. They were heavier then they looked, and the balance of them felt weird. It was nothing like her shield. And she had two of them. That meant she couldn't brace with both arms like she did sometimes, but she had to work each arm individually. She gave a few practice motions with the mitts, moving them back and forth. They still felt awkward, but orders were orders.

Sigmund told her to get ready, to assume a wide stance, and to let him know if he was hitting too hard, which was very much a possibility.

A wide stance? "Like this?" she asked, her legs spaced out just a bit, one a bit behind the other, as if she were bracing to block an incoming Shadow with her trusty shield. Well, the stance helped her balance a bit. But... Sigmund was an actual boxer. She could tell just by looking at him that he knew what he was doing. "I, I think I'm ready." she said. Miyuki took a deep breath to steady herself. Okay, no problem. Just because Sigmund was a full fledged boxer, and just because he could light things on fire with his fists, didn't mean she couldn't handle this. But he did look a bit off... he was looking at her with a look of uncertainty. Of hesitation. Did she look that unprepared? She fidgeted with her stance again, adjusting this way and that, tugging on the mitts a bit until she felt a bit more... sturdy. "Okay." she said a bit hesitantly. "I'm ready now."

No sooner had Miyuki gotten her stance set than Sig readied a punch. She saw his arm start to rocket forward and braced herself, eyes closed, and felt only a light tap against the mitts, not even enough force to make her flinch. Either she was a lot tougher than she thought she was, or... She opened her eyes just in time to see Sig's second punch stop short.

"Yeah... sure, no problem." Miyuki said. Was she doing something wrong? Was it her stance? Was she holding the mitts the wrong way? She started fidgeting with everything again, just trying to make sure it was all okay... whatever okay looked like with this. She had never actually seen real boxing practice before. "Hey, is this okay?" she asked, checking her newly revised posture and position.

"Nah, you're doing fine," he answered, though he barely even glanced at her. Before she could protest, Sigmund motioned for her to get ready again and she instinctively ducked behind the pads. As she felt the next blow, there was no doubt it was a real punch. She flinched when it hit, but thankfully she held her ground. The mitt he hit was pushed back, so she pushed the other pad up to take its place, and it got hit just as quickly as the first one. This time harder. That one felt like a shadow attack. That must have been a real Sigmund-brand hit. She threw the other pad up, starting to get a feel for the rhythm. But so was Sigmund.

Every time she moved a pad back into position it got hit harder than the last time. She had managed to pick up the rhythm, but the speed was another problem entirely. Sig kept coming back harder and faster. After a few moments, it almost felt like she was having to block his punches, not the other way around as it had started out. "Umm..." she started to say, but Sig's rapid pace made it hard for her to think about anything but blocking. Left, right, left, right, faster, stronger, faster, stronger. He was building up speed and power at a rate that she didn't think she could keep up with. "Hey, Sig?" she started to say, just as she failed to get her arm completely rigid before the next blow. She let out a tiny squeal as her arm was batted away, the pad thankfully taking the brunt of the blow.

"Jeez - sorry about that, you all right?" Sigmund asked as he offered her a gloved hand.

Miyuki felt her arm. Her elbow was a bit sore, as was her wrist, but she was otherwise okay. Still, she couldn't take another hit like that. If she wasn't prepared again, she might actually get hurt. Which was definitely not a good thing to do right before a court. Miyuki nodded, and reached to take his hand before realizing that she still wore the over sized mitts. "Yeah, I think I'm okay." she tested her arm again, wincing just a bit as she spun her wrist. It was sore, but she didn't think it was injured. Thank her lucky stars she didn't use her right arm to hold her shield. She tried to hold out her arms again, but her right arm was a bit twitchy now, her elbow refusing to stay completely still.

"I can keep going." she said. Miyuki was a determined one. "Just, um, go a bit softer on me please? I mean, um, just don't hit so hard... no that's not right either." She took a deep breath. "Nevermind." She ducked behind the pads again. "Okay, let's go again. I can handle it."

"Yeah, I'll, um, do that," he nodded. Sig studied her for a moment, and just when she thought he was going to protest, he said, "If you're sure, five minutes. But then we're getting some ice on that."

"I'm sure, I can handle it." she said. She dug her feet a bit into the ground and braced herself once more as the training continued. She was worried that Sigmund wasn't getting much out of it, but he hit a lot more consistently than a Shadow did, so he was giving her a good workout. Hopefully this wouldn't tire them out before the court...

[GoldenHouou]

Sofiya Mikhailovna Ignatova
Bellow high > Streets Somewhere > Bellow High Stadium
Afternoon > Night

Although JP hadn’t, for whatever reason, accepted her offer to help, it had seemed to her like her efforts had paid off regardless in the end; after having heard what she had to say, JP had practically hopped over tables to get to Mana, and instantly pinned him to a wall! That was what happened in countless movies between lovers. Sofiya had left them alone after that and decided she’d show the pictures later, as she hadn’t wanted to be in the way of young love. Even… if she had still been really worried about JP for being gone so long. She really needed that chance to ask him if he was alright. Brooding all alone was never the answer to anything; she, if anyone, knew.

The rest of Sofiya’s afternoon and evening had been spent wherever her feet and her – in many ways – curious mind had taken her. Part of her had wanted to go back to the dorm building and get some sleep, but seeing how many times she had been late from meetings because of oversleeping, she had decided against it. No matter what, she would arrive on time to the meeting tonight. It was the Russian girl’s next big goal, and whenever she set her mind on something, you could according to her ‘bet your butt’ she wasn’t going to give up on it.

So, around four hours before the meeting, when Sofiya had almost dozed off while waiting, she had instantly jumped up, startled. No, falling asleep would not do. She refused to make a single mistake more, especially after the last court. So the girl had decided to make all the gears in her mind work and come up with a way for her to stay awake despite herself. And any idea that had hopped up, she had tried. She had dipped herself into the local water fountain because water was supposed to make you feel refreshed, she had pinched herself until she had a bruise on her left arm because that’s what people did in movies to make sure they weren’t sleeping and, after coming across a particularly convincing add for energy drinks, she had hopped into the nearest store to get a bunch of them.

As expected, the results were… interesting. The girl certainly didn’t feel sleepy anymore – and suspected she wouldn’t in the next few days – but her comprehension and cognitive abilities sort of fell through the floor to an alltime low. The rest of her day after that had practically consisted of nothing but random passersby making surer she didn’t kill herself – or anyone else – on accident, and trying to explain to her concepts as simple as “walk when the light is green, don’t when it’s ****ing red” and “stairs are meant to be climbed on your feet, not your hands.”

Luckily, by the time the meeting started, the Russian had calmed down quite a bit. There was still some hyperactivity and rambling going on, but it hardly deviated from the norm. She just used more words and gestures than normal, and had an exceptionally hard time staying still for more than a few minutes. She figured it was alright though, and was proud. She definitely wouldn’t fall asleep now. Sleeping felt like such a foreign concept to her now anyway.

And, incidentally, so did waiting. So, the second she stepped into the stadium and found out she was supposed to tell their newest ally about her fighting style, she wasted no time in jumping to a combat pose, knife outheld and form lowered.

“I start like this, see? I go all low, so the enemy can’t hit me, and I keep my knife like this in front of me and all sideways, so then, so then when I slash and cut and stab-,” she demonstrated said attacks with her knife, not noticing the man inching away from her with every slash, “and then the enemy goes all ‘wahhhh’ and I go ‘yaaay’ and Horus goes ‘meh’ – he’s always so boring, you know, you know? So, um… anyway, the enemy can’t hit me because the knife is there and I can block with it and, and and I can stab them if they get too close and I have Horus and he can freeze stuff to death and make them blind so it’s easier for me to go stabby stabby!”

Taking a breath now that she actually remembered she needed one to live, Sofiya quieted down for a while and just nodded.

“And that’s basically it!” She cheered. And, feeling the need to add a few words of encouragement to their new newbie, she continued: “Don’t worry, it might be scary at first, but we’re all here for you, and we’ll protect you! I can’t heal that well, but I’m going to become a doctor so even if I can’t use magic I can still patch people up! I have ducktape at ready, always!”

Sofiya nodded once more and went back into line with the others to wait for further instructions. The training dummies were promising; she really wanted to train a little now that sleep no longer clouded her mind.

It seemed like they were being paired off into training pairs. Sofiya quite liked that thought. Sparring with a real human was a lot better than cutting up dummies and wood, after all. That, and she believed she could not have spent this entire evening without talking to someone some more. It was with much effort she managed to keep herself quiet when the pairs were assigned. Seemed like the caffeine still hadn’t worn off completely, so waiting for her turn was a nightmare.

And so, when the words “Whip him into shape, Commander.” Came out of their teacher’s mouth, Sofiya instantly yanked her hand into an over-excited salute.

“Leave him to me, sir!” She announced. “I will whip him good!”

“So…what do you want me to do?” She heard her newest private ask just then. His tone didn’t carry the enthusiasm she would have hoped, but no matter! She would remedy that reaaally soon! So, turning, Sofiya took a better look at the boy she hadn’t yet managed to talk a lot to. Her eyes were strict and her expression serious as she evaluated the other with her gaze, one hand on her hip and one cupping her chin in thought.

And, after she was finished with studying him, only one adjective swirled around in her mind, wanting to be let out her mouth. One word to describe the boy. One word to say it all.

One word she just couldn’t contain anymore.

“Cuuuuuutttteee!” She finally burst out in a high-pitched squeal that would have undoubtedly been the death to any window near her were there any. She launched herself at the boy – who, she noticed, was even slightly shorter than her – and rubbed her cheek against his, pinching him and ruffling his hair and not being able to stop even when she continued: “You’re so cute! Cute, cutey-cute! I will call you Private Cute! You’re so small, so tiny, oh, oh, do you want to be Private Tiny instead? That can work! How old are you? Oh, wait, how are you in our school..? Oh! Oh, you must be one of those genius kids who are like the best at everything except talking to people right? Aw, it’s okay, it’s okay, I’ll teach you how to talk to people and-“

It was in the middle of her caffeine-induced ramble that Sofiya remembered this was no time for unsightly displays of affection. She wasn’t supposed to be Sofiya now. Testa had referred to her as a Commander, so Commander she would have to be. Mixing work and play was one of the worst mistakes a military man could do! As a Commander, she needed to set an example and be a role model to those under her; what would Mana say if he saw her like this?

So, letting go of the kid, Sofiya took a few steps backwards and cleared her throat.

“I mean…” She began, voice just a tad deeper. “Your cuteness will not do!” She declared, finger pointed. “Not in the battlefield, Private! You can’t hope to woo the enemy with your appearance alone, that is a tactic most defin… delfin… dolphinately to fail! You can only trust your own skills out there! Understood?! If so, drop down and give me fifty! And then do the same but on your fists! And then on your fingers, each one of them, one after another! If a finger breaks, you patch it up and continue! There’s no rest in war and no timeouts in duels! And once you get up-“

Sofiya grabbed her knife and swung it into position in her hand, nodding as she pointed it towards the boy.

“The real training begins.”

[niedude]

<//JP- Lovers Arcana//3
<//Stadium//3

“Oh yes, darling, demonstrate,” Mana drawled. “You know how much I love it when you swing that big sword of yours.”

JP’s face went completely red in a matter of seconds. Whether from frustration or some deeply repressed homoerotic embarrassment is anyone’s guess. Now his big manly pose - and by extension his whole entrance - was ruined, merely the setup for a homo punchline. The big teen felt the ground crumbling beneath his feet, his whole image collapsing with it. Something badass, threatening and imposing needed to be done.

“Well… It’s- umm… Th-…I jus-…
“Your mother likes it, too!”

Smooth, man. Real smooth.

Facepalming at how much his comebacks had suffered from his lack of social interaction over the last month - not to mention the heavy amounts of sleep withdrawal - JP turned his back away and just… tried not to think about how much of an *** he just made himself pass by. Luckily for him, Jones soon insulted him in a completely different way and effectively took his mind off this.

“Josh, you're with JP. If you're both new to being swordsmen, I want you to work together here. But first, I need to talk to JP, if he doesn't mind. It's about something he said earlier today.”

“NEW to swordsmanship? I’ve been practicing martial arts all my life! I was pretty much BORN with a sword in my hands!

“Damn it, Mana, if you so much as hint at another phallic joke I swear to God I WILL pin you down and make you WISH all those rumors were true!”

And with that, he burst off back into the van, signaling for Jones to follow him. Evidently frustrated, he never even looked at Jones during his initial statements, feigning he was too busy looking for wooden practice swords to look at his teacher directly.

“Yeah, about what I said earlier… Remember when you met me, last night? I’d just gone from visiting Terry at the hospital. I imagine Wulfgard filled you in about her, Diego and the other bunch of… casualties?”

JP broke his attempt at some distance by looking at Testa’s reaction to this in between pushing a stack of medieval spears to the side. Ignoring the discomfort in his face, he continued his speech as he reached for a group of wooden swords he felt would do the trick.

“Regardless, while I was there - and don’t ask why I went there during the Court, it was kind of a spur of the moment decision - I ran across Shinai. He… Listen, he’s really not normal. He’d broken into the blood bank and came out with quite a few sacs of blood, and when I tried to confront him…”

JP stopped what he was doing and submissively looked down at the floor, embarrassed of admitting what he was just about to say.

“Well, I only got one sucker-punch in. I took him down, but he stood back up and overpowered me like I… like I was nothing! Seriously! I think that guy did something, I definitely felt a weird vibe off him, and I’m not just saying this cause I’m trying to excuse the fact a scrawny kid like him toppled me. Something REALLY odd happened. Oh, and when I approached him, he was distant, weird, and I could swear I’d heard him talking to himself. Now, unless he’s found a way to awaken his Persona without some sort of Evoker…”

JP retrieved two wooden swords he had been eyeing and made his way back to where Josh was waiting for him. “Well, that’s all I can really tell you at the moment. Now, if you’ll excuse me, I have some sparring to do before midnight.”

<//Back with Josh //3

Once he was within distance, JP threw one of the wooden swords at Josh, secretly hoping he’d botch the catch and embarrass himself from the get-go. He readied his pose, holding the sword with both hands right in front of him, his grip firm, and he taunted the other boy.

“Fair warning: I’m not really in the mood to take it easy today. I have a lot of frustration I need to vent and frankly the Shadows can’t come soon enough. So you better keep up.”

The teen wasted no time in getting serious. He raised his sword high and lunged forward, sweeping down with his sword, being careful to aim at Josh’s torso and not his hands (for all his rage, he didn’t want anyone injured during sparing. He remembered how well that went for him last time).


(OOT: Sorry for the lackluster post, kinda going through writer's block)

[Son_of_Shadows]

Joshua Sands - Tower Arcana - Stadium

"Hey, it's not about being the strongest or most skilled," pointed out Halberd to Joshua, "but about being satisfied with the skills you have. And I personally have seen how much skill you have with that sword." Naturally, Joshua just kind of reddened a little, muttered a quick thank you and slunk off. It was a nice compliment really, but Halberd was a much better fighter than him. Joshua was still fairly lacking in power behind his strikes, though he had agility at the very least.

So with the group having explained their various abilities to Jones, he partnered them up for a bit of training before the Court began. Something of a warm up. Couldn't hurt, right?

“Josh, you're with JP. If you're both new to being swordsmen, I want you to work together here. But first, I need to talk to JP, if he doesn't mind. It's about something he said earlier today.”

Then again... Ah balls. This was going to suck. JP didn't seem enamoured by the idea either from his reaction, though he more seemed to resent the fact that Jones implied he was a novice. So he was about to spar with someone bigger than him, stronger than him, more experienced than him, and probably much more skilled than him with a weapon he was largely unfamiliar with. Wooden swords weren't exactly designed for fencing... He probably should've mentioned that to Jones in hindsight.

So how was this even going to be fair? Hoo boy. As JP headed over to talk with Jones, Joshua began doing a few stretches. No point pulling a muscle over this after all... It wasn't too long before his opponent was back, and tossing him a sword. He came so close to fumbling the catch that he just knew it was a terrible omen. Yeah, he was about to get the crap kicked out of him. Fabulous. Well, then again, it was only training, maybe JP would take it easy?

“Fair warning: I’m not really in the mood to take it easy today. I have a lot of frustration I need to vent and frankly the Shadows can’t come soon enough. So you better keep up.”

Or not. Joshua briefly questioned the logic of beating the crap out of one of the group's main healers in the Court, since if he went down, somebody else might not be getting back up... But in either case, he readied his stance in the same manner as JP. "Fair enough I suppose. Well, whenever you're- WhoamyGod!" Yeah, he wasn't wasting any time and immediately lunged at him with a powerful overhead strike. It was only by luck that Joshua managed to bat the strike away as he ducked to the left, and prepared his own strike, aiming for JP's side.

[Niihyl]

Mana Shizuko
Bellow High Stadium

Mana smiled lightly as JP stumbled over his words. Needling the poor bastard was almost too easy, especially compared to someone like Ciara. Your mom, honestly. It was almost pitiful. JP stormed off, suitably cowed, and Mana turned away, back toward Izzy. He looked about as enthusiastic as a man who had been threatened with castration. It seemed as if that was all too common these days. What a shame. “Ah, don’t look like that, Izzy. It’ll be good for you to get some training in.”

“How about I just go get a training dagger,” Izzy sighed.

Mana just rolled his eyes and followed to grab a training weapon of his own.

***

“Come on, Izzy!” Mana roared. “It’s almost like you don’t want to kill me!”

The smaller boy was on the defensive. He was blocking and dodging well, but his attacks were half-hearted and his eyes were almost dull. Izzy’s heart wasn’t in the training. On the other hand, Mana bore a fierce grin as he fought. Sofiya was eccentric, but certainly a good teacher with the blade. Either you learned quickly, or you lost body parts. Important ones.

Izzy glanced up, his lights blinding the older boy. Mana grunted as Izzy jabbed at his side, the wooden tip bouncing off of his ribs. The blow had been weak, however. Izzy was scrawny, but even he could do better than that. While hurting each other was a bad idea, the total lack of enthusiasm was clearly apparent. This defensive wrangling wasn't going to be much help to either of them at all. Mana sighed. “C’mon, man. If you’re feeling sick, or if there’s some s**t weighing you down, I’m cool with that. But the Shadows aren’t gonna give a damn. You’re a Crimson Beast, aren’t you? Fight!”

As Izzy stepped back, Mana struck low, driving the point of his practice dagger toward Izzy’s thigh with – slightly – unnecessary force. He wanted it to smart, not break anything. Dia was no good for wounds accrued before midnight. “I’m no charismatic leader like Randy. I don’t know what to say to you, Izzy. You don’t have to fight on the front lines, but if something gets past Captain Compensation and co., you might have to. And if you half-*** things, you’ll get someone hurt: maybe you, maybe someone else.”

Mana tensed, raising his weapon. “Survive.” With that, Mana lunged at Izzy, swinging his blade.

[Vivian_Bloom]

Lace Condor
Bellow High - Track Field (with Randy)
Evening - (11/01)

Lace peeked and shuffled over to Randy, getting a closer look at his sneakers when he spoke up. "On your mark!"

"Those look pretty cool, Randy."

"Get set..."

"Is that Featherman on the side? Hey, you still watch that? Coo-"

"Go!" She coughed up the field's turf with Randy shooting off to the first curve. Lace stood up and started to walk towards the shrinking boy. She cupped her hands and started to jog. "'Ey! My lips are sealed!"

She could just make out those goggles Randy had on the back of his neck. Lace really wanted that pair and getting winded was far off until those things were strapped around her forehead. Randy turned the second corner of the field, but Lace was now two bodies away and gaining. For someone who's in band all the time he was in surprisingly good shape. She was just behind him now, close enough to send him a nice kick. She squinted and finally capped her hand over his shoulder. The initial start of the race had set Lace's stamina at a comfortable pace. She shot quick looks about the field, still with her right hand on his shoulder when she tried to get in and whisper. "H-Hey! You-," she stumbled and scrambled back up to his side. "New rule!" she pointed at him, now finally a few feet ahead of him.

"Tomorrow at breakfast! I'm, I'm wearin' those goggles at your table, 'n guess who's buyin' dessert!" Lace slapped him hard on the back and stuck her tongue out at him before ducking down to sprint. The street lamp was posted in the grass just outside of the field's tape. Lace took one last look back at Randy and nearly lost her balance crossing the finish at the half-way gap. Nearly rolling into herself, Lace crawled at the field and kept going. The Star arcana card made its appearance for a moment and was punched into pieces. Lace's stamina was finally catching up when her knees down to her shoes were consumed in flames.

The fire gave Lace the luxury of taking small and gentle steps that were not only fast, but saved her effort. She leaned closer to the ground and off the field, coming to the pole from the side. A small bush she shot by was starting to smoke and Lace held her arm out with a guilty expression. "It's not like they're going to know it was us, right?" Lost in her inner conversation the light from the lamp rushed over her. The light dazed her and with her eyes shut Lace's arm caught around the pole and swung her up in circles.

Ten minutes later, Randy stood next to Lace squating down in the track. She tried her best to brag some more about her eagle-like skills, but the fact that it wasn't a clean jump held her tongue. Too tired to get up she yanked on his leg few until he noticed her outstretched arms. "Help me up?" she pleaded. With one eye still open she clasped his hand and rose partway up. "I don't mind sharing the spoils, but you got to let me put sprinkles on yours, alright? Doesn't matter what kind it is! 'N don't say the rainbow and pink kind are too girly for you or anything," she frowned. Lace brushed off her jacket and stepped behind Randy to wipe him off still mumbling too herself.

[InnerFlame]

Russell Wilton
Bellow High Stadium in the Evening

The freshman was a little happy that Sofiya seemed to be at least taking this training session seriously but more nervous as she appeared to be a little too enthusiastic about taking a commander like role. Russell just stood still as her strict and serious eyes examine him. He tried to mentally prepare for whatever training she may tell him to do…

“Cuuuuuutttteee!” Her voice ear-piercingly shrieked out after she stood there staring; and he didn’t know about anyone else, but he was definitely thrown off. He ended up freezing from the sudden surprised as he was suddenly hit with wave of different actions. Such as rubbing her cheek against his, pinching and ruffling up his hair; actions that normal made him quite angry, but his mind couldn’t keep up. Attempt of mental preparation failed. “You’re so cute! Cute, cutey-cute! I will call you Private Cute!”

“What?!” was all Russell could response to that. The redhead didn’t know if he should be happy that at least a girl called him cute or be insulted at the fact that her cute was more of a ‘that’s a cute puppy’ kind of cute. The boy himself was unsure what expression was being express on his face but he felt like he was embarrassed enough to be blushing. Hopefully that was not the case and if so that it was too dark or far of a distance for anyone else to notice.

“You’re so small, so tiny, oh, oh, do you want to be Private Tiny instead? That can work!” Tiny, but were about the same- “How old are you? Oh, wait, how are you in our school..?” I’m the right age for- “Oh! Oh, you must be one of those genius kids who are like the best at everything except talking to people right?” That’s definitely not the case, I’m not- Argh… “Aw, it’s okay, it’s okay, I’ll teach you how to talk to people and-”

By the end of these statements and questions the boy was definitely fuming on the inside as well as wondering how old she thought he was. Yes, he was short but he didn’t think he looked like he was an elementary age kid… When he thought about it, he hadn’t really grown since around then… That was frustrating, maybe a little depressing. But he didn’t really have much time to worry about that as he was surprised by Sofiya abrupt stopped mid-sentence. Whatever was going through her mind… it seem she might have upset or maybe... disappointed? It gave him a minute to compose himself a bit. Russell was released from the upperclassmen grasp and then she stepped back.

“I mean…” His foreign homeroom classmate spoke in a deeper voice, “Your cuteness will not do!” She suddenly declared and pointed at him. “Not in the battlefield, Private! You can’t hope to woo the enemy with your appearance alone, that is a tactic most defin… delfin… dolphinately to fail! You can only trust your own skills out there! Understood?! If so, drop down and give me fifty! And then do the same but on your fists! And then on your fingers, each one of them, one after another! If a finger breaks, you patch it up and continue! There’s no rest in war and no timeouts in duels! And once you get up- The real training begins.”

The boy ended up staring for a moment. She seemed perfectly serious about the whole breaking his finger thing. He didn’t like that, the redhead wasn’t an expert on exercises but he was pretty familiar with the human body and fingers weren’t made for holding a large amount of weight. He actually didn’t weigh that much but still… Maybe it was the serious glint in her eyes or the way she was holding and pointing that knife, but Russell decided that he would at least attempt.

Doing normal push-ups was easy enough, he been doing it for nearly two month now. They were done in a quick fashion and he barely broke a sweat. On his fist was a bit more of a challenge mostly because he never thought of doing them like this. It seemed to require a bit of balance and it hurt a bit having his body weight on his fist on the hard stadium ground. He could still deal with that and was able to do his fifty there. Then he tried the finger push-up… All he could say after one was ouch. He even gave it a full attempt he felt pressure on his finger that should not be felt. He stopped, moved into a sitting position and flexed the finger; it was warning him now that this was a bad idea. The redhead was certain people could do this but he didn’t know how to do it without risking injury. He looked at Sofiya with a frustrated and angry glance that seem a bit of defiant though he was really just wondering if she seriously expect him to do this.

The seriousness was still strongly planted on her face… Russell didn’t want to test the chance which was the girl’s actions, especially not today when he was feeling a bit off. But then again hurting himself in a warm-up wouldn’t help him any, broken fingers would take a few weeks to properly heal and he would have difficulty doing most tasks. The boy didn’t need things to be more difficult, so he would have to confront her… He would never admit he was a bit intimidated by the glint in her eyes and the shine of the blade in her hand, but he took a deep breath and stood up from his spot on ground.

“Commander ma’am, sir” Russell decided to going along with the whole military thing as he thought she probably respond better to it, “Requesting to replace this exercise for another. I am unable to currently do it properly and I would like it if I didn’t injury myself.” He tried to make it clear that he didn’t want to get out of the exercise more than he simply didn’t want to get injured doing it. “I could continue after injuring myself, sir, but my effectiveness in training will drop and I will fail to show the full strength of my skill when it really matter, sir. I want to be at full strength when real battle begins.”

After explaining how he felt about the whole thing he continue to stand at a bit of an attention. Waiting for her response, he didn’t know what to expect but he thought she would be angry at him. That was something Russell was more accustom to anyways. He just hoped this won’t hurt too badly.

[Kiruria]

OOC: Sorry for my absence... hopefully I'll be more available to post in the coming weeks.
IC:
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Halberd
Bellow High Stadium, Night (but not midnight!)

Halberd was actually happy about the training assignments, because A) he really didn't feel like dealing with JP now (in fact, he kind of chuckled to himself when his homeroom teacher considered him a less-experienced swordsman), and B) he got to train directly under Wulfgard-sensei, which he considered a great honour. It also meant he didn't have to deal with sparring with one of Saint Bernard's immature fans in the fencing club. Of course, he knew Wulfgard was more familiar with kendo-style swordfighting than actual fencing. Halberd saw this as a disadvantage in his case, since fencers spar on a narrow strip rather than having an entire two-dimensional field to work with.

After a proud gaze at Russell for having finally mentioned his aptitude with a rapier, Halberd walked right up to Goofy--I mean, Wulfgard-sensei... gee, he never thought of him as goofy before; maybe that was just Testa's weird way of teasing him. Teachers probably teased each other a lot, right? While facing him, he grabbed a wooden sword from out of the van--it was easy to find, as if Wulfgard-sensei had deliberately brought it out so it was easy for him to grab it. After exchanging a brief nod with the elder sword-fighter, he followed him out into an open space a safe distance away from where the others were practicing, and where hopefully no stray arrows would hit them. Those Annoying Arrows.

The first thing Halberd did was hold out the wooden sword, getting a feel for it and swinging it around a bit.

"This sword weighs about the same as the one I use for fencing," he remarked, "but it seems much more evenly distributed, like holding a stick. I've never used a wooden sword before, or any wooden weapon for that matter. This should be interesting. It also has no bell guard and cannot glide as easily as a steel blade can, so I have to be aware of that..."

And then he turned his attention to his sparring partner.

"So, Wulfgard-sensei. Normally if I was training someone new to fencing, I would start with a bunch of tutorials and side-by-side practice sessions, but since you are also experienced, probably moreso than I am, why don't we get right into the sparring. In fencing we usually shake hands before each bout, but since you're the kendo captain and my elder, we shall bow instead."

And so he did, not too heavily, but enough to have his waist-length braid roll over his right shoulder. After tossing said braid backwards again, he sank into his knees and assumed a fighting stance, placing his left hand on his hip as he would in saber fencing, and entending his sword, not directly at Garret, but just a little off-centre. Halberd remembered stressing this position to beginners in the fencing club, especially since many of them were eager to point their swords directly at their opponent's heart. Halberd usually told them that this presented a bit of a threat, and was a bit of a more advanced stance.

"En garde!" Halberd called shortly after. And then, once Wulfgard-sensei had readied his own sword, "Then let us begin."

As usual, Halberd waited for Garret to make the first move, keeping his arm slightly bent in preparation to do whatever intuitively came to him next.

[Zincspider]

(OOC: Second page? EFF THAT NOISE! I'm going back to the glory days where I wrote you guys a paragraph frequently and you were happy about it.)

Izzy Simone

“You don’t have to fight on the front lines, but if something gets past Captain Compensation and co., you might have to. And if you half-*** things, you’ll get someone hurt: maybe you, maybe someone else.”

'Someone else... because of me?'

“Survive.”

Izzy didn't even notice he'd been hit a few seconds ago. He was lost in thought.
It was true. Someone else might get hurt or worse... because of him. And for some reason, that scared him much more than the thought of he himself being injured.

“Alright... I'll try.”

Recalling the first time he held a knife, he flipped it into a reverse grip. He felt he could make better use of it this way. Maybe this time he trip and fall on Miyuki. She was on the other side of the field this time after all.
Although... for some reason, the idea didn't make him weak in the knees for once.

[Zincspider]

Randy Clopin

"H-Hey! You-,"

Aw crap, she already caught up to him? Fast legs on this one. She stumbled back for a second than came right back.

“New rule!” She wasn't even breaking a sweat, she was keeping up at his pace only so she could grab his goggles... to be honest it was almost choking him. And he was already tired enough.

"Tomorrow at breakfast! I'm, I'm wearin' those goggles at your table, 'n guess who's buyin' dessert!"

At this point, she let go and ran down the track, passing him with ease. It wasn't even a contest at this point.

“Wait, dessert? At breakfast? Who even does that? I'll tell you who, Communists!” Randy shouted as she continued the run, and he stuttered to a stop to catch his breath and massage his neck were she had grabbed the goggles.
She's nuts that's for sure. But it had it's own charm about it. Kinda innocent actually.
But he needed to get back to running... not like he was tired of that yet. No-sir-ee... totally fine with it.

Though as he stood, catching his breath and falling further behind, the hairs on the back of his neck stood up, and he began to shudder. He could feel her stare.
Liza wasn't angry often... he'd only known her two months, but he knew that was true. She mostly rolled with the punches. But he'd done something today that he was positive she'd kill him for.
He'd embarrassed her in front of her father... and she didn't seem to be to happy about him running off on his own, either.

Now he could feel her... like daggers in his neck...

“WAIT UP LACE! LET'S... uhh... stick together, yeah!”

There's strength in numbers after all, right?

Court of Miracles
(OOC:No, we're not actually here yet, but seeing as Lace summoned her Persona, I'm gonna assume that happened at the beginning of the Court. So, don't skip ahead just yet.)

Well, she flew alright... with all the grace of a newborn giraffe. Well, at least she landed in a bush. Probably prickly as all hell. But better than popping on the ground like a water balloon.
And to think the were having such a good time a few minutes ago...
Alright, that was a lie. He was still having one. It was taking all he could muster to not bust out laughing, pointing fingers, the whole sha-bang.

“Well, looks like you won the bet.” He said, walking up to her. “But at least I'm not the one butt down in a big old bush.” Looking down at her struggling, he nearly lost it. Still, he managed to compose himself, stare at the sky in fake thought, and in a babying tone said “Gosh, that has to be really hard to get out of.” With a quick tug at his pants he finally stared down at her.

"Help me up?" She pleaded, raising her arms and staring at him.
Well, there was no way he could refuse that picture. He held out his hand and allowed her to pull herself up with it.

"I don't mind sharing the spoils, but you got to let me put sprinkles on yours, alright? Doesn't matter what kind it is! 'N don't say the rainbow and pink kind are too girly for you or anything”

“You're sill on that. Don't worry, I don't eat my dessert most of the time anyway. Take it any day you want. Watching you fall was well worth it. Funny as hell.”

[Blivsey]

Sigmund Okonkwo
Bellow High Stadium [Thursday Night]

Right straight, left cross.

Double-jab right, follow-up from the left.

"A'ight, let's call it good," Sigmund declared, dropping his hands to his sides. Barring the part where he almost sprained Miyuki's wrist, the two been going pretty much non-stop with the boxing mitts since Wulfgard and Jones had sent everyone off. Much more than the five minutes he'd suggested - Miyu was a total champion. Even so, what with her being much less of a physical person to begin with, he was wearing her thin. And himself, to be honest. Pretty impressive that she was able to keep up with him that whole time.

Speaking of which, what was it, a quarter-hour to the Court or something? Kinda hard to tell without a watch, but it looked like the others were winding down, as well. Might want to take a breather before everything started going down for the night. To that end, he strolled over to his bag not far off and dropped his gauntlets, reaching in to produce two things in succession. First, a water bottle which he took a long draught from before offering it to Miyuki. The second was a blue plastic bag roughly the size of his face, which he promptly struck across his knee. The pouch went cold in his hand by pulling some science-y as its insides broke¹, and he threw the bag to the girl.

"Here. Put that on your elbow. A few minutes and you'll be right as the sun," he said. He twitched his eyebrow as soon as he shut his mouth - that last bit sounded wrong. That wasn't right... "sure as the rain?" Bah. Words. Speaking of which, he hadn't had words with Miyuki in quite a while. Probably due to the fact that they were busy with totally different things most of the time. Now was a good time to fix that. Might as well go for complements. Those had a habit of not backfiring.

"Gotta say, you're way sturdy for your size," Sigmund praised, sticking his wrapped hands in the pockets of his sweater. Then, jabbing, he asked, "So, what's the secret? Been lifting behind our backs? Bones of steel? That's it, you're a robot, aren't you? Knew it." He grinned in spite of himself despite the abysmal quality of the joke.

Man, I've been hanging around Lace and Sofiya too much.

---

¹ Not that he had any clue how the thing worked. He could barely keep up with high school chemistry as it was.

[niedude]

<//JP- Lovers Arcana//3
<//Stadium//3

Josh’s swiftness surprised JP. His blow was swatted aside as Josh simultaneously side-stepped and attempted a blow to JP’s side. In a heartbeat JP hopped back twice and immediately counter-swung the practice sword back at Josh, again in a vertical arc. However, this time, he aimed at Josh’s sword. The teen parried the blow, but JP was getting way too excited and was obviously of a superior build. The sheer force of JP’s attacks would send waves of pain through the boy’s arms, soon numbing them, or worse.

Or so he hoped.

Truth be told, JP wasn’t all that used to fighting a fellow human sized, anthropomorphic, sword-wielding enemy. He was much more used to fighting anamorphous blobs of darkness or odd beasts, or anything not people-shaped. This... was good practice. It toned up his reflexes and would teach him to mind his speed and swiftness more than his brute strength, and would better prepare the next time he’d ever have to face a non-transforming Shadow Self.

And that last thought was what kept him from ever getting tired or even slightly fatigued. The notion that he was practicing and becoming a better opponent against the likes of his own Shadow Self - so far, the only Shadow Self to both not transform into a hideous beast yet still capable of fighting (to his knowledge) - galvanized him and made him restlessly pummel down on Josh.

The poor kid couldn’t have landed a worst sparring partner.

“Keep it up! I don’t want to slow down!” he taunted, ushering whatever shred of primitive violence was buried deep down within the boy. He wished to bring forth Josh’s inner beast, his own momentum exciting him to a state where JP’s inner bull cried out for a worthy adversary, forgetting of the many the proceeding night would surely bring.

JP’s blows themselves changed the longer the fight lasted and the more excited he became. They got progressively more brutal, faster, but less linked. Though one came faster than the other and there was barely any time between a hit and the next, there came a threshold where JP didn’t connect one swing from the next, and simply threw whatever he had at Josh. Luckily, he still had enough mental focus to plan where it was he was hitting, but his excitement was surely getting the better of him.

[Ysavvryl]

Snow
evening, school field

While he and Ciara were doing stretches and some exercises to step aside quickly, Snow was able to get glances at how others were doing. Several seemed to be sparring with each other; Sig and Miyuki were being friendly with it, it looked like. But J.P. and Josh seemed to be getting a bit too into it. Snow worried about that, as they still had the Court coming up before long. If either of them got hurt, he might be able to help for a little while, but injuries inflicted now would linger into tomorrow. Hopefully Wulfgard or Jones would break it up before they got too carried away.

It was odd to think about that, and how quickly things could change. It was just now November, but here they were preparing the nightly battles with the supernatural. Most of them had been pretty ordinary students before that (at least Snow guessed that most of the others had been ordinary students). Thinking ahead, he wondered how things would be fighting during the cold of winter. Since they'd be moving around a lot, it shouldn't be much of a problem keeping warm. Ice and wet clothes might be trouble.

Thinking to the past, he wouldn't have imagined he'd be doing this a year ago. He wouldn't have believed it even a few months ago in summer. It'd be a scary story, but not something he'd think was real. And a year ago...

Right. A year ago, he would have been starting physical therapy to walk again. And he had been really weak at the time, having barely survived a car crash in August and then that mess with his aunt. There would have been no way he could have handled something like the Midnight Court back then. Not just in trying to recover physically, but finding himself alone in the world, without any loving family around. Sure, the nurses had been nice to him, but that couldn't make up for the stunning loss.

Wait, he didn't really want to get into thinking about that right before the Court. It could be trouble. He lightly kicked one of his feet against the other, partly to get his mind more focused on tonight. “Oh, sorry, I was thinking of things,” he said, hoping that she hadn't been trying to talk to him.

[Niihyl]

Mana Shizuko

Mana stepped back, disengaging himself from the fight. He took a moment to catch his breath, eyeing Izzy warily. There was a new flicker of resolve in the boy’s eyes. ****in’ A – pep talk skill up. With a sharp laugh, Mana jabbed at Izzy, dancing backwards all the while. The reverse grip shortened the smaller boy’s reach, making poking him down easier.

Their fight found a steady pattern, and Mana found his thoughts wandering. The Court was tiring, true. It was painful, dangerous, and heartbreaking. But it honed him. It made him better. It was a heady feeling, knowing that if it came to it, he could reasonably pick a fight with anyone. The police officer in his car, the surly looking man on his motorbike, the six-foot-five football player; he could take any of them on! Alright, maybe not, but his bravado was a lot more justified than it was… how many months ago? Mana could barely remember the time before the Court…

A wise man once said something about getting distracted during a fight. That something was “don’t”. An unexpected blow sent the redhead stumbling backward, and he collapsed onto the ground. “Arghgoddammit!” he cried, caught off guard. Instinctively, he hissed a command; “Trafuri!”

Of course, nothing happened. There was no flicker of darkness, no damnable giggle, just an embarrassing tumble into the ground. Mana waved Izzy off, getting to his feet.

“Nice,” he said begrudgingly. “You’re good at this, man. And you’ll keep getting better. We all will.” he paused. “Eh, we should wind down, though. No sense getting too worked up before the Court even begins.”

Mana wandered off, glancing up at the still-normal sky. He glanced at his sadly watch-free wrist, grunting as he double-checked to confirm his state of watchlessness. He felt naked without his Persona, powerless. How much longer would he have to wait until midnight?

[Vivian_Bloom]

Lace Condor

Bellow High Stadium - Night

Lace peeked up at Randy. "Oh?" she twisted, shaking the branches out of her hair. "You disgusting animal! There's nothing that gets you more excited than watching an absolutely sexy princess" she stood up and checked the hair in her eyes, "go splat and make ketchup all over the ground from your gladiator games, huh? Yeah, well I am completely against it!" She rubbed the top of the goggles and looked inside. "You know, I don't think I've ever seen you with your goggles completely off, yeah..." she backed off, shadow boxing at him.

"We're tighter than wet spandex on a cheetah tonight, Randy, and I'm not gonna pop! Huh...” Lace's eyes shot around and landed back on Randy. "That might not have come out right. At all, and-," she couldn't scan a good spot for anywhere to sit. She rubbed the turf and paced around where Randy stood when she stopped and shot a finger at a spot outside the track lines. "Yeah, this is it. Come on, get!" Lace jogged to scoop Randy's arm. There wasn't any strength in those scratched up arms trying to pull him over to sit. "All your running around made my tire myself out, so I'm calling half-time 'fore midnight. You're being benched, and I don't want any crying' outta you," Lace let go and collapsed just outside the turf and stretched out on her back.

Lace started to rub her eyes and patted the spot next to her at Randy. "Tell me all about your band. I think you guys're Free Candy? Heh, Randy Candy." She perked up on her shoulders. "What kind of songs do you play?"

[GoldenHouou]

Sofiya stood and watched her newest recruit carry out her orders, a satisfied smile dancing on her lips. Not only was she happy her orders were obeyed - it always made her feel like a real commanding officer guiding a real private! - she was happy to see her teammate perform so well. They had all gotten so much stronger since this all started, even the latecomers! It was really amazing to watch. Some months back they were in serious trouble facing just one Shadow, nowadays they beat multiple of them a night. And even now the red headed kid in front of her, although small, didn’t seem to have any major problems with the warmups either. That was good. The commander in Sofiya was proud, the friend in her relieved. Despite popular belief she didn’t want her underlings to hurt themselves in her trainings - not too much, anyway. A little pain was all part of the deal.

Around half-way through Russel’s pushups, Sofiya decided - or, more like, felt the burning need to - stop watching and actually do something as well. She was never good at staying still and watching in the first place, and the amount of caffeine still in her system sure didn’t help any. So, dragging the nearest dummy closer to her so she could still keep watch on Russel, Sofiya readied her mindset for a fight. She held out her knife, lowered her pose and focused on the target, not even blinking so as to not let its straw-y body out of her sight for even a second. Blessed with imagination incomparable to most, it wasn’t difficult for her to conjure up a monster to stand in the doll’s place.

Before she could even properly start however, she noticed something from the corner of her eye; her Private had stopped doing pushups. A bit surprised, Sofiya turned to the boy and blinked. There was no way he could be done that fast! The last time she had made someone do finger pushups, they had taken a reaaally long time, and then they’d said they had left their oven on and had to turn it off only to run away and never come back. Come to think of it, he actually had never finished the training... This boy wasn’t about to give up midway through as well, was he? She could not accept such cowardice in her platoon, and she planned to let him know that!

That was, right until her eyes met his, and she almost reflexively slapped her hands to her cheeks. The boy was looking at her, half-careful, half-deviant, and those eyes. He was the cutest cuter who had ever cuteted! She had to actively stop herself from opening her mouth so as to not squeal in excitement and miss hearing what he said.

“Commander ma’am, sir. Requesting to replace this exercise for another. I am unable to currently do it properly and I would like it if I didn’t injury myself.” There was a slight pause. “I could continue after injuring myself, sir, but my effectiveness in training will drop and I will fail to show the full strength of my skill when it really matter, sir. I want to be at full strength when real battle begins.”

Sofiya considered. On the other hand letting your soldiers off easy made them grow weak and undisciplined, but on the other, he was cute and he was asking for a favor. Had she been able to concentrate on her role as Commander Ignatova, she wouldn’t have hesitated for a second; she would have ordered him back down on all fours in an instant. But being mesmerized by the cuteness and still high on the drinks, she wasn’t exactly able to concentrate on anything. Should she consider that a weakness? Being distracted and losing touch probably wasn’t allowed in the army...

“Well, private, I-” she began in an attempt to break the awkward, anxious silence that had formed between the two. She didn’t want to seem like she’d actually need to think for an answer. Hesitation was bad. And she had already started now, so she absolutely had to finish. But with what? What should she do?

In her panic, her eyes happened to fall upon the dummy (which she had yet to replace with a monster). That gave her an idea. One which would both allow her to reply positively to the boy’s plea and keep her reputation. So, she spun to face the boy and pointed a finger (or rather a knife) like she always did when addressing someone.

“Well, private!” She began again, this time a lot more confident, her voice deep and more serious - yet also somehow excited. Make of that what you will. “I’ve decided that I will replace your current exercise! Injuries are bad, especially this early on in the training. I need you in one piece so you can be cut to pieces later!”

That last part came out of her mind before she realized it. Not that she realized she had actually said it aloud even afterwards.

“BUT!” She shouted just then, turning the knife to point at the dummy. “In that case, you will need to take that thing’s place!”

The more Sofiya thought about it, the happier she was things turned out this way. She had been itching for some actual sparring for a while now, and no matter how big and scary she could make the dummy look in her mind, it never compared to another living, breathing and moving being. It couldn’t fight back, no matter what. And she wasn’t one to go after stationary pray. She wanted a challenge; she wouldn’t improve otherwise. And she had long ago decided she would not stop improving, not stop growing stronger until she was powerful enough to stop any of her friends from ever getting hurt again. She was sure the redhead felt the same. All of them did, to some extent; otherwise they would have ran away from the Dark Hour, from the school and the town ages ago. Nothing was keeping them here but their own free will. And that’s what made the team so strong.

Smiling, having almost forgotten herself to her thoughts, Sofiya took a readier battle stance and shook her head. Or maybe everyone just liked punching Shadows in the face and summoning pretty creatures! She knew she did. Horus was the prettiest. She still had a hard time believing he was a boy. He would have made one beautiful girl.

Anyway.

“Come at me!” Sofiya instructed simply, determination and barely contained excitement clear in both her voice and eyes. “Come at me with everything you’ve got! If you don’t, Commander Ignatova will introduce you to a world of paint!”

---

OOC: Yes, that mistake at the end was intentional.