Baby Sitting I [Phoebe/Johnson/Stratum 2]

[Vice Ysal]

It's been said many, many times before but it bears merit to repeat over and over again. Vice, for all intents and purposes, is not a baby sitter. He won't be the type to coddle people or to hold their hand as they go through the obstacles in life. It's how he was raised and it worked damn well in his opinion. It might not have the same effect on others but it's still a very valuable way of teaching. This, however, is in line with his 'No Babysitting' rule because he was going to try and see how people worked together and for the most part act as Back Up. No giving hints, help, or assistance when it wasn't necessary and the adjective necessary was a pretty vague one for the red eyed chinese graduate.

Stretching his arms before rolling his shoulders, the User had summoned Arondight alongside him to continue one of his past times while waiting for the people he had messaged to arrive. As per usual, he had been early, the first one there even, and had some time to kill. The apparition appeared before him and with a swish of its hand, a metaphysical blade almost connected with the user's neck. Again, Vice was too slow. Breathing in, breathing out, the young man continued to practice his skill and reaction near the entrance of the Abandoned Building. He had plans of bringing those two up to the second stratum today to see how well they could fare…and if at all possible, maybe push them higher to see just what they were made of.

There was no pussy footing in this exploration after all.

[Phoebe Minola]

When Phoebe got Vice's message on her phone she wasn't very surprised. Neither was she unduly concerned with his suggestion. A few months ago, she would've been, absolutely. But now she felt like she'd grown into her role as a Persona User. She had survived enough battles to feel more confident. She'd actually gotten a little fitter and stronger, fighting Shadows, and she believed that she'd also grown a bit more of a spine. She had some trouble disentangling herself from work, went home to feed Eliot and get ready.

She packed her sledgehammer and the coat she'd picked up after her last mission for the blonde lady. It worked well for her since the weather had gotten chillier; she had a feeling that once she'd get that strange pin she found after the Scorpion fight attached to it, she'd feel even safe against the cold.

She got to the rendezvous point a little late, and found Vice... doing something quite risky. He seemed to be getting his Persona to attack him. she doubted a Persona would deliberately hurt its wielder but all the same, the sight of it scared her. She had half a mind to storm up to him and slap him for doing something so pointlessly dangerous but she thought better about it. Vice obviously knew what he was doing; she'd always gotten the impression that he was too hardened to worry about little things like that. On one hand that was a bit sad, in her opinion, but on the other hand... this was a war they were embroiled in. It was likely they would all have to end up like that.

"Hey. What are you doing?" she blurted, when she got close. She hadn't meant to come off as accusing or anything. "I got your message. What's your plan?"

[John Nicholson]

John was lurking around the familiar abandoned office building, now wearing the old bulletproof vest he had finally managed to refurbish to the point of actually being worth something with the money he got from that 'little' job he helped phoebe with. It was a familiar feeling, wearing his old battle uniform. he could still remember the cause of every single dent and scratch it had. Still, would it really make that much of a difference against the shadows? The old armor could very well be completely useless against whatever supernatural power the shadows used to power their attacks.

As he was thinking about the question, he came upon a set of familiar faces. Phoebe and Vice were standing in front of the abandoned office building. they were probably planning something and it wouldn't hurt to ask if they needed any help. "Hey guys, I didn't expect to meet you out here. Then again, i should have known it was a possibility you would be out here at the same time as me." He noted that phoebe seemed to have upgraded her combat outfit. Apparantly she too got armor out of the previous ordeal. "So, what are you two doing here?"

[Vice Ysal]

It was taking a lot of effort to keep up with the increasing pace, even if this wasn't even set to the usual difficulty he practiced, but it came to the point that he didn't even notice the passing of time until a voice broke him from his concentration. Having ducked under the last swing of his persona, Vice had to give Arondight an apologetic smile for dodging like that and the fallen king just gave what was his equivalent of a pout. Wiping some of the sweat that had built up on his brow, the biker turned around to meet the familiar face of the wine barrel he had met not too long ago.

Good to know someone decided to arrive.

"Hey there Phoebe, nice to see you too." The smile was a bit strained, but it should be deemed passable for the time being. Just as he was about to explain what he was planning to do to have someone help him later when the others came around, another familiar face decided to make an appearance. "…hey there Old man." Vice acknowledged as he took a step back from the two to get a better view of the duo. Apparently the two knew each other, if the sense of familiarity in the air was anything to go by. Letting the two to go through with their pleasantries first, Vice then coughed to gather their attention in order to catch the attention he needed to explain what he was trying to do.

"Alright, it's been a bit since the designated time for the meeting so I'm going to assume that no one else will be arriving. The reason why I sent the message would be the chance to gather any of the available users right now to try and form some cohesive team work for the next full moon. It wouldn't be too long either so I thought now would be a good time as any to do it. Seeing as Phoebe was the only one to come from the list, it's actually pretty lucky to have you here too old man."

"That said, the plan for tonight was to better our teamwork by testing ourselves against the second stratum of the building. It's been open for a while and I've got the entire floor mapped out in my head as well as this pamphlet here." Let it never be said that Vice was unprepared as he handed the two of them their own maps that was both detailed with directions, hints, and usually safe areas if they ever get separated from the team. "I'll give you guys time to study it after our little introduction. I'm sure you two know each other already but I feel that introducing ourselves again would be rather beneficial."

So with a smile, Vice clapped his hands and ushered the start of today's group exercise before having Phoebe start off. "Your likes, dislikes, name, persona, abilities, strengths and weaknesses, and goals would be a good start."

[Phoebe Minola]

"Hi John," Phoebe said with an awkward smile. "I suppose we're here for a bit of a workout."

As it seemed, she was the only one of the Users who bothered to be punctual-- which made her wonder, was she really the only one who gave enough of a damn about other Users that she showed up when asked to? Still, at least there was John; he was quite the nice old gent, really.

Apparently reliability is not on other people's list. No pride in wielding the power of Persona.

That's harsh, they're probably busy!

...Most of them are children.

Still...!

"That's a damned good idea, Vice," Phoebe muttered. "I checked the calendar and the next full moon won't be far off now. If we do get a big Shadow somewhere in the city, we really shouldn't be running around like headless chicken..."

She listened at Vice's plan and found herself nodding in agreement. It was an excellent plan. The second stratum didn't sound like it'd be horribly tough but it would still be a fair challenge. It'd be perfect for John to hone his skill better and for Phoebe to test her mettle once again. She was prepared for that. She took the map given to her by Vice and her brows bowed up appreciatively. Ooh, he was good. This was much better than her own attempts to map certain areas. She'd done a fair amount of work in the catacomb's first stratum but she could learn a lot from Vice's map to improve her own notes.

Then she looked up from it and blinked sheepishly when Vice addressed her specifically. She groaned quietly and went with it. "I'm Phoebe Minola, I like Coke and I hate spiders, and my Persona is Antiope. She's a decent physical attacker, she can use fire and some lightning, she can shut enemies up and she's a damn good tank. She shrugs off blades and fire but ice and blunt force are problems. Goals... I want find out what the hell is going on, although frankly, I came out here today to beat up some Shadows. I've had a bad day at work..."

Then she eyed Vice. "...You do it too, Sergeant," she joked.

[John Nicholson]

So Vice was planning some kind of training? John was happy to go along with it. It could be a good oppurtunity to test out his new armor. He took the map the young man offered him and studied it. He could already see that a lot of work had gone into it from a cursory glance. John wondered just how much time Vice had spent mapping out the building. Nevertheless, as he was studying the Pamphlet Vice asked for a whole lot of personal information from Phoebe and him. Seeing no reason not to, John followed up on Phoebe's summary.

"My name is John Nicholson, I like video games and fine liquors. I have a dislike for Violence and fire. My persona is Ippon-Datara, he is proficient at dealing large amounts of damage but has lackluster defensive power. He resists darkness but is vulnerable to light. My goal, like Phoebe and probably the majority of the other users, is to find discover the truth behind the current situation. A secondary goal is to safeguard the civilians in the safezone from any possible dangers the shadows may bring."

As he finished up his explanation of himself, he started looking at the Abandoned office building. "So... are we doing this or what?"

[Vice Ysal]

"Heh." Not that he can't go now that he was prompted. "Good, good. " Vice had half a mind to be a dick like Kakashi was in that one Ninja anime he remembered watching. Unfortunately, he was more responsible and actually wanted what was best for the team that was with him to prevent anything stupid, dangerous, or both from happening in the near future.

"Alright then. My name is Lazarus Ysal, though I'd prefer it if you guys just keep on calling me Vice. Don't ask how I got that nickname. I like fighting, and riding my motorcycle all around the town. My Persona…doesn't have a name nor does he have an actual lore. I've taken to calling him Arondight however, just to make things easier for us. Specialty lies with Magic attacks but our Physical Skills and Durability are nothing to scoff at either. I Null both Darkness and Slash attacks, Resist Wind Attacks, and am weak to Pierce. In terms of offence, we specialise in Almighty and minor in Dark."

Nodding, and pretty much happy with the amount of information that he had given out, the young man then moved towards the back of the other two before facing the entrance of the administrative building. Patting both of them on their respective shoulders, the young man once more got their attention to say one last thing before they really do go out there and kick some shadow ass.

"In case you two haven't figured it out yet, I'll be acting as your back up for the duration of this exploration. You two will be making all the decisions, choices, and every other thing for this trip. I won't be coming in to save your lives for every situation nor will I be holding your hands like kindergarden students. I also don't have any Healing Spells. That said, try not to get hit too hard. Remember that our objective isn't to kill as many shadows as we can, though that's a pretty good bonus, but to polish and strengthen our team work."

And with a small grin on his face, his hands pushing the two of them gently forward, Vice began falling back to his back up position and would try to enjoy this trip the best that he could.

[Phoebe Minola]

Phoebe chuckled when Vice gave his rundown. So his name as Lazarus. No wonder he went by Vice. She then smiled confidently. "No worries. I can do the tanking. After the giant scorpion in the catacombs, I'm pretty confident I can take almost anything. I'll keep us in good shape."

She pulled her hammer from the back-mounted holster. "Well then, in the words of the Doctor: Allons-y!"

She marched into the building. She wasn't too afraid since she'd been there before, but she wasn't throwing caution to the wind, either. She walked in and kept her eyes open, knowing full well it wouldn't be long before Shadows sniffed them out and came to attack. They crossed what once had been the lobby of an office complex; the reception and information desks lay forlorn and vacant, a burst water-cooler stood nearby and all the potted plants had withered into brown and black death. It was rather sad.

Of course, not as sad as the sight of Shadows pottering around. In fact, a couple of Hand types were milling around near the doors that led further in and they perked right up when they took notice of the humans. They made a right beeline for the team.

"I've got this!" Phoebe said sharply and moved ahead, summoning Antiope as she did. "Rakukaja!"

Orange-hued light gave away the boosting of everyone's defenses, in preparation for quite some fighting up ahead.

One of the hands paused to float up and snap its fingers, sending out a burst of fire. The plume of flames dissipated almost harmlessly over the Amazon's shield and the next moment the Shadow went flying when Antiope battered it with a few fast stabs. Phoebe went chasing after it, just to whomp on on it with her hammer, almost flattening it to the floor.

[John Nicholson]

Tanking? did she mean going in front and taking the hits so other people could use offensive techniques without being hindered by enemy attacks? John was suddendly quite glad he was such an avid gamer as he probably wouldn't have gotten the meaning behind the term so quickly. He followed Phoebe into the building, trying to remember just what pop culture character she just quoted.

This building was quite familiar to John. after all, this was the place where his powers as a persona user first manifested themselves. He could still remember the night, being chased through the building by shadows, then turning the fight around to the shadows when his persona awakened. He snapped back to reality when Phoebe yelled a warning at him concerning approaching shadows. He readied his weapon but before he could do anyhing, he saw phoebe storming off to fight, casting some kind of strengthening power over the rest of the team as she went. John quite flinched at the ferocity with which phoebe tore into the shadows.

He quickly stopped just standing ther staring at the fight, scrambling to join the fray. None of the shadows really took notice of John as they were quite preoccupied with the amazonian fury swinging a sledgehammer at them. He took advantage of this oppurtunity by conjuring his persona to attack the whole group while they were distracted.

"Mamudoon"

The waves of darkness washed over the shadows, doing moderate damage to them. He would probably not be able to pull this trick again though, as the small hands had now taken notice of John. He took up a position behind phoebe, ready to fire at the enemies from behind the protection of his physically more capable companion. He was starting to wonder what Vice was up to as this was all happening though. Was he just observing from the sidelines? or would he join in on the action?

[Vice Ysal]

There's this thing with power levels that actually makes a difference here in the lower levels of the building. Vice wasn't quite sure as to how far these too could actually go but he doubted they'd be able to safely enter an area where his participation would be actively needed. That said, here in the first floor where the weakest enemies usually resided? The biker needs to be pretty careful with where he stands. It wasn't like he could hide his power from those who were sensitive to it. It wasn't some kind of energy level that you could 'hide' at will anyway. So there he was, standing by one of the corridors where a horde of shadows were being kept at bay. It'd be a good endurance run for the two though if he just took a few steps to the left and allowed them to go for it…but that would be counter productive with how the two were currently fairing.

The shadows of the floor were easy pickings but numbers would be one hell of a problem all things considered. From his position though, his posture belied his readiness and for all the world to see Vice just looked like he was having a break. Hell, the guy looked bloody fucking bored. As it were, he was trying his best to observe and evaluate what the team was lacking right now and what they weren't doing too well on. With that, Vice did take notice that the shadows were now aiming for the old man, thought up of different ways to for him to either be saved or protect himself on his own, didn't say any of it, and allowed things to happen. Not to mention Phoebe's burst at the earlier parts of the fight. Last he knew, Tanks weren't supposed to chase due to their positioning.

Ah well, Vice mused, this was the purpose of the expedition after all. Best they understand what went wrong at the start rather than when shit actually gets serious.

[Phoebe Minola]

With the last of the first wave of Shadows dead, Phoebe lowered her hammer for a moment, to better inspect their surroundings. She had jumped the gun a little bit - well, a lot. Vice hadn't gotten involved; just as well. It was best for him to hang back and act as their escape strategy should things go south. She quirked an eyebrow at their position. They were about to get into a maze of hallways and office complexes.

"Wait a minute," she said suddenly. "We've cleared ourselves a tiny bit of space. Let's have a plan. This is only the first floor and from what I've understood so far, this is all small fry, relatively. But there's probably so many of them we'd get swarmed. I can take a few knocks if I take point but I don't want to get dogpiled."

She studied their surroundings once more. "I don't know whether you prefer to stick around this floor or try higher up. We can do this two ways. We either keep a secure position and lure stuff our way in semi-controlled waves, or we can fight our way across the floor bit by bit. Either way we decide to do this, we should first discuss an escape strategy should stuff go south."

She eyeballed Vice a little. "Also, since you instigated this, your input would be nice," she said coolly.

[John Nicholson]

The fight had gone quite well all things considered Although as Phoebe said, these were just the small runts. they indeed needed to discuss their strategy. Phoebe was indeed quite sturdy although she did expose herself a bit too much. "Maybe we should stick together better, you just charged off into combat back there. I remember my drill sergeant went on a rant once that that's a good way to get yourself killed. And if you are so far away from us we might not be able to pull you out should things go south." With that strategic suggestion cleared up. John thought about the other topics they needed to discuss.

"I suggest we advance cautiously. After all, if we are training for the real deal it's best to train traversing hostile territory while we are at it." It seemed like sound reasoning. "We indeed also need an escape strategy. I suggest we have multiple options as combat situations tend to cause unpredicable circumstances than can eliminate the viability of certain plans" It felt good to apply practical experience to the situation and being an asset to the team. "The fire escape seems viable although we don't know what kind of security it has in this building. For all we know its locked electronically and thus useless as an escape route. Maybe we could consider the elevator shafts? Although if we take that option I would probably need assistance. Me being quite a bit older than you two and all that" John nervously laughed. His growing physica defieciency was a bit of a sensitive topic although he was quite realistic about its downsides.

He noticed Phoebe had turned the conversatin to Vice. It seemed fair that Vice at least should give his opinion. "I agree, speak up son." Son?! Why did he have to say such a stereotypical old man word. Was it something in the air around here?

[Vice Ysal]

There had been a sliver of want to berate the other two but as they continued to sound and shoot off suggestions as well as ideas that actually made sense, the youngest of the trio decided to let them off the hook. He had gotten so used to dealing with people who didn't know the difference from a spoon and a shovel that it just sort of snow balled into him expecting that much from everyone else. At the very least though, Vice didn't need to worry about being disappointed with the other two around.

"I agree with John's reasoning. Phoebe, from here on out, try not to charge off into things. We know that you're a tank but even they can succumb to too many opponents. Also, don't forget that you have a defense buffing spell. I'm sure you already know this but you can stack it up to three times on the entire team before or during battle. It'll last a long time so don't worry about it running out unexpectedly. That way, even if some enemies do manage to get past you and change their aggro over to John, he'll be able to last long enough to blast the thing off."

Standing off from the wall, the shadows who had been building up in the corridor slightly beginning to stir as the overwhelming presence began to move, Vice went a bit closer towards the two before chucking his thumb over at the hall of shadows that were just waiting to sink their claws unto the Users. "I'll be taking care of that horde after this discussion. I was saving it up to to see if you guys wanted to do something dangerous but good choice on hanging back and thinking about things first. Back to the topic at hand, it won't always be viable but since you two do have a pamphlet that contains complete map information of the allowable areas of this shadow nest, I'd suggest going through it again before we start making our way to the higher floors."

"On that note, security isn't something you have to worry about. Two reasons, the first being that with how bad shadows have gotten I wouldn't be surprised to see that the systems are busted and the second being that no one would really care anymore even if you executed quite a bit of property damage. Something to keep in mind would be how much, for the lack of a better term, 'MP" you still have on you. Always make sure to keep some in reserve for escape situations. You guys may not have the fire power to break through entire concrete walls just yet but doors and wires should be easy pickings for you." After having given his own bit of insight, although not exactly feeding them the entire situation to ensure that they stay on their toes, Vice then turned his back on the group to once more face the horde of shadows.

"We'll also be clearing out nests per floor first to get the most amount of team work experience we can out of a floor. We're not here to advance but to polish that particular skill so don't fret if you don't feel like we've gone through enough floors." And with that said, a flippant, almost apathetic wave of his hand had caused the Fallen Emperor to appear from the confines of his thoughts before sending off a wave of blades towards the enemy. Navas Nebula, the skill was called, had more or less ripped through the shadows apart.

"That should take care of things. Any of you guys brought rations with you? We might be staying a while here."

[Phoebe Minola]

Phoebe nearly chortled at Vice's initial expression. He looked like a kid watching two adults trying to play a video game. Well, sort of. She knew she rather sucked.

"Yes, alright, I jumped the gun," she mumbled, but nodded in agreement. "And no, I haven't forgotten I can buff people. But I had no idea it stacked. I'll drop another one on us if I think we need it. We might as well have a look around the first floor and see how we deal with that. If we feel like we're doing fine, we can take a peep upstairs."

She gave a wan smile at the mention of security. "Eh, given the condition things are in, I was never quite worried about property damage. This place is crawling with Shadows and it won't be long before it deteriorates. It already smells of mildew. What security measures are left are in crap condition. I just worry that fire escapes and stairwells will be crawling with Shadows because these buggers look like they like small spaces. Ugh."

Anytime she heard Vice talk she really got the impression that he was a little too good at this for his own good. Then again, she should've expected a certain degree of toughness and street-wise from a biker, but Vice smacked of nearly military expertise. At the very least, he knew how to be a leader. Then again, must of what he went on about was just common sense. Phoebe had just never thought about these sort of things. She simply hadn't needed to. But now, after being thrown into combat repeatedly, she was starting to get the hang of more strategic thinking. The mention of clearing out nests gave Phoebe an idea.

"While we're at it," she said. "We should pay attention to what they're doing. Before they start attacking us, I mean. we know so little about the damned things, we might as well try to figure out if they're intelligent or they just mindlessly attack. The more we know about the blighters, the better, after all."

She shrugged at the overwhelming display of the power of Vice's Persona, contrasted to the lackadaisical and all too casual manner he seemed to deal with it. It was one of those inconsistencies about Vice that both interested and puzzled Phoebe. She couldn't compromise the efficient, experienced mentor and the flippant biker. He just plowed through that mess of Shadows. It'd be a long time before she got that good. But she would, eventually. Antiope and she got stronger day by day. Antiope was always evolving, it seemed, getting stronger and learning new attacks. She wondered if Antiope would ever change, the way she saw Tristan's Persona change. If it took such trauma for that to happen, Phoebe wasn't sure she ever wanted it to happen.

"Showoff," she said with a perfect pokerface at him, then smirked. "I'm Greek, sweetie, I never leave the house without a bottle of water," she said and patted her messenger bag. "Aaaand I've got some mince pies I made last night," she added sheepishly.

[John Nicholson]

Well, Vice seemed to agree with John's reasoning on combat tactics. And the tactic of just blowing any obstacles in the way of to pieces hadn't occured to John yet. Then again, he didn't have that much urban combat experience as his tur of duty had mostly taken place in the jungle. He also noticed Vice was using RPG terms in his explenation. It was just a funny little detail. "Got it, we can jst blast our way through anything in the way. Although I think we would do good to hold back enough to keep the building standing."

Then came Phoebe's suggestion to study the shadows before blasting them apart. It seemed like a good idea. John hadn't had the chance to really observe shadows so far and it semed like a good thing to know what the shadows nature was. "Yeah, I do wonder just what the shadows do with their time with if they aren't chasing people around with murderous intent."

As John finished the sentence, vice casually annihalated the entire rest of the horde of shadows. John flinched from the quite frankly absurd amount of overkill. "Jeez, I knew you had experience with this whole shadow hunting shtick but come on man." It was quite disheartening to John to see such a display of power. How was he ever supposed to match that. On a different level hough, it gave him hope. If just one individual could gain such power, what would a whole team be capable of?

then Phoebe replied to the inquiry about having brought rations. "Mince pie? sounds good. I brought some rations of my own. Mostly canned goods. And no, I didn't forget to bring a can opener. I ain't stupid." He didn't particularlty like canned goods, but it seemed like the  best food to bring out in the field that was available to civilians. "So, shall we be proceeding onwards then?" He gestured to the now empty hallway before them.