Patrolling 2: The Electric Boogaloo (Jackie/Haru/Takeru)

”If I were to wager, I’d say it was trying to off you quickly. Let’s be careful,” he would say to Jackie and then seeing Takeru get hit by the enemy’s attack, the idol would shift his eyes to him not exactly amused by his horrible joke. Even so... “Still with us?” he would ask, his voice surprising full of concern despite how cold he had been to him before. Even if the guy did annoy him and wasn’t exactly on his best side, the guy was still his responsibility and he wished death upon no one here no matter how irritable they made him, so perhaps there was something human underneath the idol’s frosty exterior at times. That aside, Haru’s eyes became a strange shade of gold as his Tainted persona appeared next to him. As it did, the winged giant would turn to Takeru and release a dark chuckle from under the helmet that covered its face as it pointed an armored finger at the other and unleashed a spell upon him...

Hatsuharu - Level 5 - Main Line:

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Persona Uses/Ammo:

The blows hurt like hell.
Then the healing came.
"Thanks, senpai!" he said.

That was when he got an idea.
"Hey, wait! I got an idea!" he said.

He started to talk to them, seeing if he could negotiate with them.
Worst case scenario was that this went like the incident with the slime.

"Hail Spartans!" he said, trying to sound official.

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"Hello! I'm Takeru, and these are my comrades. We're all fine warriors here, so let's talk out of respect for each other's skills." he said.

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"Alright... you want your salt, don't ya?"
He passed it 200 VC.

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He felt power course through him as the battle began. Using his Persona gave him an otherworldly feeling unlike anything else. But nevertheless, the Cadet fought on. However, a bumbling moron got in the way with a dash of infuriating luck that was on his side. The demons stopped to Joseph's surprise and the negotiations began. Confusion was the first thing that Joseph etched on his face when the enemies began to withdraw. Were demons the kind to be bribed? The matter interested him personally and it retrieved all sorts of opportunities for him. But right now he was a lowly Cadet without much resources at hand. It also confused him that someone like Takeru seemed somewhat savvy in understanding the weird language uttered from the demon's maw. Was there a class that the Cadets taught to understand these gibberish monstrosities? Maybe he'd find out in another day.

Then annoyance was another thing. This guy got out of formation to just talk to these things. Most times it could get people killed for their stupidity if they just leave themselves open like that. While Takeru proved that it was possible to have a moment of negotiation with these things, it would have been better if this loser actually gave an indication of doing something so blatantly risky in the first place. But Joseph didn't bother to say a word to him at all. Instead, he spoke to Haru, "We should push up ahead, Sir. I think I see one ahead of us."

He didn't deign to send his Persona away nor did he sheathe his blade this time as there seemed to be someone up ahead. It was dangerous to not be prepared in this line of work as far as he was aware and educated for this role. Instead, he gave a nod at Haru, as if giving him a sign that he was going to take point again like last time. With blade in hand and Persona at his side, Joseph was ready to take on the next set of enemies that laid ahead of him. He felt power course through him once more and the side-effects of such power threatening to overtake him. Not this time, he hoped. It was too early to have it affect him at this time. He was going to push through. Why?

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Main Line, Level 5 Stats:

"Well, that... ended... fairly well, all things considered." he muttered to himself, recalling the last time he had tried to negotiate with a demon.
That hadn't gone well, to say the least. Between the incomprehensibility of the demon, and then what came after, he felt stupid beyond all belief.

This time was much less incomprehensible in the words.
This time, they had just up and left once he payed them.
He felt a bit dirty inside, but so what?
At least they were gone.

Although he had a bad feeling about this. Maybe this was the reason why he didn't take initiative: because usually, there was some flaw in his judgement that ended up being the death of him.

"Look, i'm sorry if anyone has any issues, with what I just did, okay? I... thought it would go better..." he said, apologizing as a nervous habit.
The train of logic that he had gone through is as follows:
Spartoi are warriors.
Warriors respect courage.
Courage would be deliberately breaking formation to talk, as the sheer stupidity of the act would mean... would mean...
Well, spot the flaw in the logic.

By the time he had realized that sort of flaw, he was already too late, and so rolled with it.
More than likely, the demons had thought him so stupid, they just took the money and left because it would be a waste of time to kill him where he stood.

He mentally facepalmed, cursing himself for making such a logical fallacy. It was unbecoming of him. He wouldn't admit it, but he was scared, and fear clouded his judgement.
Scared that at this rate, everyone else would surpass him.
He remembered the man from before, and Joseph. Joseph seemed... eerily calm. For someone so ambitious, why wasn't he ripping into Takeru right now for effectively doing the equivalent of taking the easy way out, especially since all he had gotten them to do was leave?
As well as his superiors, too. Already he knew his performance record was in the garbage. If it got added on that he was an 'active hinderance to the team...'
Well, he didn't want to even think about what that would cause.
He hadn't even been ranked after last mission, something he felt deeply ashamed of.
Even being Class 3 after that would be better than this.

He had hoped this little jaunt would improve his self-esteem.
Instead, it seemed to be dragging it down even more.

He knew that he shouldn't be berating himself this badly, but he did, and still he pressed on in the hopes of a better future, the same results as if it had gone far better.
It was probably confusing in his head.

But then, what can one like him do? If he revealed he had these kinds of self-esteem issues in the cadets, well, he'd be a laughingstock at best. At worst, he'd be told to simply respond, then he'd deny it, and then... well...

He tried his best not to dwell on it. But then, what could he do?
He simply couldn't vent without someplace to send it to.
Which, at the moment, there was no place left to.

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"Well...I should probably watch out for that...and I guess we just bribe the monsters that murder civilians now. Okay." Sunglasses hid anger, as Jackie turned his attention back to the fight.

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To say the older Cadet was highly annoyed with the situation was an understatement. While he didn’t yell or anything of that nature, when he saw Takeru do what he did, the icy glare he gave the guy was enough to kill to be honest. This wasn’t so much about him being leader or defying an order. No the reason this legitimately made Haru's blood boil was for different reasons altogether. Ones that the cadet made quite clear as the enemy took the money and left.  

“Takeru, the only way things are going to get better is if you don’t do shit like. I understand wanting to take lead, but you can’t do that when you disregard others around you. Take your team members into consideration and at least ask or get some form of agreement before taking such actions. We won’t succeed if we don’t work together,” he would tell the young man in calm cold tones before looking back at the situation at hand. One of the skeletons had left, but there was still one left.

‘Oi. We can’t press on with an enemy before us,” Haru would say would say with a shake of his head toward Joseph, his expression and tone way softer than it had been with Takeru. Focusing on the enemy, Haru would nod at Jackie. “Yeah. It may have other tricks too. Let’s try and get rid of it quickly before it can do anything new...and pray that error won’t happen again.” The very last part was a mutter of agitation barely audible as the Cadet shook his head and just prayed this situation would teach Takeru a lesson. If not....then a creature killing him was the least of the guy's worries  

Meanwhile, his persona would just chuckle amused at all the negative energy around it as its hidden eyes watched each individual with joy and madness. In any case, it wouldn't say anything as it heard a mental command from its Master and moved forward to perform its attack. As the persona moved in for the attack, Haru winced slightly the pain price still something to get use to even after all this time.

Hatsuharu - Level 5 - Main Line:

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