voidtreckernet | [Video] Kazoo 1

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[Video] Kazoo 1 - Early Afternoon

[Ken's in the training gym and he looks... displeased. He huffs in annoyance, the orange-clad preteen with a look on him that seems more solidly 'angry teenager' than anything else.]

I've had to explain this a number of times so I might as well just tell everyone so people can stop being surprised and freaked out.

[He holds up a - well it looks like a gun.]

I know what this looks like. It looks like a gun. It isn't a gun. No bullets.

[He steps back so there's a better view and he aims it towards a dummy, pulling the trigger. Not even really a click from the 'gun'.]

It's called an Evoker, it lets me use my powers. I'm not shooting myself. I'm just going to start hanging a sign in the hallway near the entrance to the car when I'm going to be training so people stop trying to save me from my own abilities and probably hurt me while doing it.

[He holds up a neatly handwritten sign that says 'NOT A REAL GUN IN USE'. He puts the paper down and grumbles.]

It makes a gunshot noise, but it's not hurting me. I'm just saying this so I can actually practice.

... I mean I can show whoever if you want, but I'm just tired of explaining.

[And the ICP message finishes.]

[[If you want to hit him up in the training gym you're more than welcome to make an action tag!]]

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"It's called an Evoker. I don't really know how it works... but only certain people can use it. And you have to use an Evoker to call it. ... Everyone has a different one."

She doesn't pretend to understand, but knows that, within the rules of the boy's world, that this process makes sense to him. "Is it your own personal guardian?"

"Basically. Personas are... basically a part of your 'self' that you can call to help you fight. They take the names of creatures from myths and legends, even if they don't always look like the descriptions."

Hmm... "So, in taking the time to train the... Personas, you said? What you are effectively doing is training your 'self?'" Otherwise, what would be the point of training a machine? It would do what it was instructed to do, with only outside adjustments to improve its output and performance.

"Basically. Normally I have a spear, but... it didn't come with me." He huffs in annoyance, crossing his arms. Now he has to save up for one, and he just had to spend points on stuff.

"Understood." She pauses and appears ready to end the conversation. She's convinced that this training is good and is glad for the demonstration, but another thought came to mind. Now she's mostly curious and wants to ask questions so long as the boy was open to them.

"Would it be possible to improve the strength of the 'self' with tasks outside of combat? If the Personas is tied to your will, then would not any form of self-improvement improve the effectiveness of your guardian?"

Edited 2021-03-04 06:39 (UTC)

"I... guess? Mostly we just get better from fighting the monsters that appear in my world at a certain time of night." He's not sure that any of them in Strega are ever going to be good at self-improvement, aside from Koromaru. And Koromaru is a dog.

"I see. That is a method that you have not explored." That's fair, but it seems kind of strange that a being of the self would not alter and change in that way.

She decided to share a little bit of her culture as a fair exchange for this knowledge. "Octoweapons somewhat work on that principle, only it is the flesh of our flesh that is being used to create versions of ourselves with immense power." It was not a perfect analogy, though. The weapons were often irreversibly changed as a result of that alteration, and far inferior in mental abilities and reasoning in exchange for the power and might to serve as weapons. They also needed an immense amount of energy to use their armaments, or else they would stay in one location, useless and helpless.

"May I ask your age?"

Flesh weapons? That... sounds gross. "I'm... eleven. I don't know how that translates to... what your species is."

They were. Even in a society that grew up around them, Eight found the weapons... unsettling.

"Octarian. And you would be regarded as a young sprout among my people." And yet, strangely, his physical form would be more like an adolescent. "Is it normal for humans your age to be so dedicated to combat?"

"No. I mean, most people don't know the monsters exist. But someone killed my mother two years ago, so I escaped from the hospital and from normal life to survive on my own and track him down. About five months ago a group who also fights monsters and lives on their own took me in. Some kids take martial arts, but that's for like... exercise and stuff like that, not actual combat."

Eight nodded. Though his reasons was far more personal, the tragedies of their youths made combat a necessity.

"While I do regret the tragedies of your fate, I do sympathize with them. We are similar in this way. One hundred years ago, my people lost a great conflict on the surface. Since, we have been forced to go underground. Life was hard, but we made do. But five years ago, our resources was stretched to our limit. We made ready to retake the surface once again."

She stood up, hands folded across her chest and giving him a measured appraisal. She could not deny that he had a fighter's spirit. "I too was trained to serve. From as far back as we could fight--younger than you, in fact--we prepared ourselves for war. There is a lot of good in such training. Discipline. Order. Self-mastery. You learn more about yourself in the crucible of adversity." And, at the time, she was proud. She knew no other life. Could think of no greater honor.

"Yeah... people my age aren't prepared for combat or war at all. You only start thinking about joining the Self Defense Forces when you're in - when you're maybe five years older or so than I am now. And then you have to train for years. ... Not try to fight off monsters with a piece of glass jammed into a pipe."

He hurt himself pretty badly making that, but he was in an emergency and had to shove Shadows away so he could climb a fire escape. "My group and I... we don't have formal training. Our Persona each have elemental strengths and weaknesses, so as a group we can cover each other."

So there's more to the group than him. That was good. They could watch out for him and keep him safe. "Is your group on the train?"

He shakes his head. "No. They grabbed just me. I'm probably the youngest in the group. We don't know how old Koromaru is. He's a dog, but he can fight like we can."

Eight nodded. "You have spirit, I will grant you, but on your own you are vulnerable." But even among her people they would have reservations of using Ken. His age and ability would make him more of a liability and would require other members of his company to support him or to leave him to perish. "I am sure there are others on the train that would support you as your group did where you come from, once you seek them out and find them."

But... all of that is also unnecessary, now that he is on the train. "What drives you on this train? Is the person you seek vengeance on here as well?"

... He does, and he knows it, and he doesn't want it. He's fine on his own.

(He's not fine.)

"No. He's not here. He... someone shot him before I could kill him. And I learned he was dying anyway. ... And the guy who killed him also tried to kill me, and the guy I was trying to kill threw himself in front of me."

It's all very frustrating and it's been two weeks and he still doesn't know how he feels about it.

That... was a lot. Far more than anyone should have to endure.

She doesn't say anything, instead just... quietly looking at him. Waiting for him to come to a conclusion she knows is not forthcoming.

After a long while she breaks the silence. "Then the question now is, what are you going to do next?"

Ironically, that was the question she had no answer for herself.

"... I don't know. See what the first mission I'm going on deals with. Then go from there." He looks down at his hoodie and shrugs. "I'm on red team, I just traded hoodies with someone. I like orange better."

Eight nodded again. It was not fair for her to pass too strong of a judgement on someone to answer a question she was grappling herself.

"I'm on the purple team. I go by Eight." She extended a hand. "Although I do not know what the next trial will be, nor the mission objectives, or whether we will be near each other to achieve our objectives, if you wish to seek me out, I will provide you what support I am able." She could promise at least that much.

"Um. Sure. I'm Ken." He reaches out to shake her hand, a little bit curious what it's going to feel like. That hair looks like tentacles, so...

"And if you need healing, I can handle some of that if you need."

Her hand feels like skin! Damp and clammy skin, but skin nonetheless.

"I certainly will." She nods, not wanting to discourage him by informing him that her body heals itself if it doesn't perish immediately.

Welp. Not so bad. He pulls his hand back.

"No problem." It saves him the magic though, so all the better.

"Um. This is probably rude but... what are you?"

She smiled. There was nothing rude of curiosity.

"I am an Octarian. An Octoling, specifically."

There was no danger in letting him know. If she didn't know what she was before asking, then there was no threat in something so basic.

"Oh. Is that like a an octopus?" It was a little bit weird to see different species on the train, but it's kind of fun to discover.

[Video] Kazoo 1 - Early Afternoon

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