maskormenacelogs | february catch-all;

Larger than a building? [ he repeats, eyes swinging around to stare at Ken with new interest and disbelief mingled together. ]

[This sort of reaction is always what makes Ken's eyes sparkle a little, like a boy eager to show off his favorite toy. For all his warnings about the Evoker, Kala-Nemi is one he's helplessly fond of.]

Yes. That was one of the reasons why we couldn't attemp the healing yesterday.

[But he still stays calm enough that he does warn them, taking this moment now to pull out the Evoker and show it to them.]

This is what we call an Evoker, and it's what we use to summon our Persona. I have to point it at myself and pull the trigger, so if you want, you can turn away when I do it. It's not going to hurt me, but some people don't like watching that sort of thing. [Even if practically everyone has watched him anyway]

[ Miles is excited too; it bubbles pleasantly across his link at Gregor in anticipation ]

As long as you are not actually hurt, I think we'll be fine. We've both seen worse.

[ Gregor winces inwardly, because he is not nearly so sanguine or cavalier about watching kids point guns at themselves, but with Miles answering like that he's not going to put up a protest. Miles can probably feel his uneasy reluctance, but as ever, Gregor pushes it aside. At least Ken looks excited about it, so it can't be that bad... it must be another crazy ability.

He nods, and says quietly, ] Thank you for giving us the warning.

I've had people get upset about it a couple times. I still haven't figured out a better way to explain it though. [There is, really, no nice way to go about explaining it.

But here goes, he thinks as he takes a step back from them, raising the Evoker to his head with a familiar motion. The muzzle knocks against his temple, and it's with a soft murmur of Kala-Nemi's name that he pulls the trigger. Shattering glass, a burst of light, and the Persona spins into existence above them. She easily towers over the nearby buildings, poles, and even trees.]

[ Miles is just thinking of it as a tool, really; it's obviously not a real gun. Besides, the effect is absolutely breathtaking. He gasps a bit as she towers above them, fascinated and awed in the same breath. ]

You weren't kidding.

[ Gregor can't help wincing automatically when he sees it, his whole body stiffening, and then Kala-Nemi's massive spinning form is above them and the whole uncertainty of it washes away into awe. Quite like Miles.

He stares up at her with wide eyes, mute. ]

[This is it. This is the sort of reaction that makes Ken's chest swell with pride, and he doesn't hold back the way his grin widens, the almost giddy way in which he just absorbs the awe with which they view his Persona. Where he was more hesitant in voicing his love for Nemesis, with Kala-Nemi he has no reason to hold back. It's definitely to savor the moment that he waits a couple seconds to let them stare.]

This is Kala-Nemi.

[After that there's no need for an incantation or purposeful gesture. Kala-Nemo knows everything about Ken, even things he doesn't know about himself, so all he has to do is think for her to know what she has to do. Kala-Nemi simply raises her hands a little (definitely still showing off a bit) and Miles will find himself surrounded by the warm yellowish glow of Diarahan, quickly and effectively fitting together broken bones and mending torn flesh.]

[ That feels good. So very good ... The glow seems to reach down to very tiny part of him, knitting him together on a level he couldn't even comprehend before now. Even his bone aches cease for a moment ...

The scar on his face seals over, still pink and fresh but no longer one long ugly scab. His wrist too seems to knit itself back together ... he tests it, turning it back and forth.

(Miles doesn't have much HP; a Dia would have served him as well as a Diarahan.) ]

You are very nearly my favorite healer thus far.

[ Seeing Ken's obvious joy at his Persona does actually assuage things for Gregor, in the fading kneejerk alarm of watching a child shoot themselves. Something he's that glowing about can't be bad for him.

Especially not if it's healing Miles like this. Gregor can feel how smooth the healing is through the link, how immediate and whole. Not what he was expecting at all.

(He suspects Miles's only more favorite healer is Lucy, and then just because she is an extremely kind, extremely stately woman who pings just about all of their Barrayaran buttons.) ]

No kidding, [ Gregor echoes faintly. ] I think we'll move you up the list if you don't mind giving us charity.

I don't mind at all.

[He can tell just from Miles' appearance and movements that the spell was successful -- satisfied, he blinks and relinquishes his control over Kala-Nemi to let her fade away, returning the Evoker to its holster as well. Mission: completed.]

I chose a spell that only heals one person this time, but I can heal multiple people at once as well. I'll come if I get called, as long as I'm able to.

[ Alas, the glow fades after a moment; his bone aches return slowly, and the curious aching heat at his sternum continues, untouched by even healing magic. But otherwise all his wounds are scars now. The wrist properly put back together ... He itches to tear the cast off right now. ]

We would be incredibly grateful. I'm so glad that healing magic is so easy to come by here.

... How did you end up with her, anyway?

[ It's nice to see that if someone that young is going to have that much power, they're determined to use it altruistically. Feeling the difference in Miles's wrist through the link is profound-- it'd been shattered. Gregor had felt every bit of it.

He still looks a little awed, but merely listens quietly, curious about this answer, too, and not wanting to interrupt. ]

We awaken to it unconsciously. [It's a simple, possibly lame answer to such a question, but such is the nature of Personas that Ken knows of.]

There are monsters in my world, and a time of day that only they and certain people can see. Of those people, some of us are able to awaken their Personas. Kala-Nemi was born from my subconsciousness, and she protects me and also allows me to fight. I awakened to her after getting involved in an accident a few years ago.

[ Miles lets out a low whistle. He's a bit jealous, despite realizing this surely comes with a cost; fighting evil by moonlight is never as romantic as the holovids make it out to be. ]

Have you been fighting that long as well? Please tell me you haven't been doing that alone.

[ Not even a breath of a comment on Ken's small size - Miles is shorter - but the age does concern him a bit. ]

[ Gregor is not jealous at all. It sounds like a heavy burden, having monsters and a whole time period no one else can see. He can also well imagine that something so psychologically linked would have to be precipitated to awakening by some horrible event... Or maybe that's his own bias. Some wonderful event could be hypothetically possible, too, but in the real world, that's just not ever how it falls out, is it?

He agrees that Ken is far too young to be fighting this early but remembers what Cass had said and declines to comment on that directly. In any case, no matter his age, Gregor would have similar concerns to Miles. ]

That seems far too large a task for one person to handle safely.

It is. [That, he can say without a doubt, and the certainty with which he answers indicates that it's not just reasoning that led him there. Indeed, Ken knows the consequences of a single person taking on the task of ending the Dark Hour.] But there was a team of us. I didn't have the means of knowing what was going on until they found me, and we fought together after that.

[He gestures to the small dog that has thus far sat by his feet without a single fuss and hardly even any noise.]

Koromaru here was one of us, too, although he doesn't have his Persona here.

[ Miles blinks a bit down at Koromaru. Back up at Ken. He'd pictured an eclectic cast at the mention of a team; he had not quite pictured that. ]

The dog? How is that possible?

[ He's glad he isn't alone, but Gregor is similarly stymied at this knowledge of the dog.

He's always liked animals, though, and folds his tall form down into a crouch, with his hand offered out directly. ] Do you miss it, then? [ he asks curiously, wondering how intelligent that must make the dog, if he was granted an ability like this. ]

[Koromaru had been checking out the two of them since Ken started speaking. At the offered hand, he doesn't waste any time sniffing; he leans his head in, pressing the top of it against Gregor's fingers and palm.

It's hard to say he misses Cerberus. It's still there, resting in the back of his mind and always watching, always guarding, but it's impossible to pull it out. Koromaru's response is a small, mourning and almost frustrated-sounding growl as he rests his chin on Gregor's hand.

Ken waits until that interaction is over before answering.]

The only explanation we found is that he's a smart dog. We were surprised, too, but he fights just as well as the rest of us.

Smart enough for that, eh ...

[ Miles leans over him too, curious. Letting Gregor pet him for now, though, not getting in the way. ]

What do you fight? What sort of monsters?

[ Gregor spends a lot more time around horses than dogs, but the principals aren't that much different, and he sets to petting him with a gentle hand and satisfactorily firm scratches around his ruff. ]

I'm sorry, [ he says directly to Koromaru, sotto voce beneath the other conversation. ] It's not right to have limited you.

[This is the first time someone has talked to Koromaru like that. He doesn't blame them; he understands, because dogs this smart usually talk, or dogs are not able to communicate with humans like this. Gregor's kindness is appreciated and his tail thumps against the ground as he wags it. He's fine, though; Personas are not the most important part of his life.]

We call them Shadows. They can take on many shapes; sometimes they look like humans, and sometimes they look like animals. Sometimes tables. But they're all essentially the same thing... they're manifestations of the human psyche. [Er...] Uncontrolled, malevolent human emotions that have taken on physical form.

[ Miles focuses on the tactical situation while Gregor pets the dog and listens. That's about par for the course. ]

Some extremely malevolent tables then. Are they invading? Do they threaten the general populace?

[ Gregor is definitely not expecting him to talk-- he is just translating any Vor's near-reverence for smart horses over to this smart dog, and he isn't prone to baby talk of any kind, so it comes out like he's anticipating a response.

He keeps petting him but glances up, interested in this response, too. ] If they're manifestations of negative emotion, I can't imagine how they could ever be fully suppressed. [ Gregor has a momentary image of what sort of Shadow he could generate, darkly amused. ]

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