skippedabeat | Round 2: Test Drive

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test drive

Round 2: Test Drive

Welcome to the second test drive!

Please don't worry too much about using your Personas correctly or following the prompts exactly. They're meant to give you starting ideas, but by all means, go wild and add more options!

The objective here is to try out characters and see who you could have the most fun with in the game's setting. However, feel free to follow this link to request a Persona be generated for you as if you were part of the game. (Please try to limit this to only one of your test drive characters if you can as to not overwhelm us! Never mind generating Personas is a pretty fast process! Request for as many characters away as you like!)

If you have questions about the test drive itself, you can ask them here! If you want to play an AU don't forget this entire post can be used for you to get AU scenarios set up and see who your character might have been related too or know before Awakening.

Now then, let's begin...

Prompt 1 - Flower Festival

The Festival of Flowers is in full bloom in the city! As an inhabitant of Eddan, you're excited to go and attend some of the activities! But unknown to you, something else might be starting to beat in the deepest, darkest depths of your heart.

The festival log prompts can be found here. Please note that you can use these to post in the test drive, but not on the player log itself!

Additionally, if both test drive player and game players agree, the festival test drive threads can also become game canon! As long as the test drive character is played as being completely unaware of what has happened in the game up to this point. Keep in mind that they would NOT have had a message on their phones. Two Test drive players can also make these game canon if they get accepted (and they keep the same requirements as above).

Prompt 2 - From Dawn to Dusk

The city has been abuzz for the past few weeks. A new string of murders is making front page news and serving as a grim reminder why the nightly curfew is so important. As families, perhaps even someone close to you, mourn, pressure continues to rise at the many police stations and at city hall. The people are afraid and they’re demanding answers.

There's not much time for you to dwell on this.. Like everyone else in the city, you have a lot to do, and a tight schedule to do it in. You don't even notice the application that has appeared on your phone's screen. The headache that follows, however, is strange and disorienting, and it brings with it an odd sensation that something is wrong today. You’re just not sure why.

The day passes by and soon, it's close to midnight. Your body, if you're not in bed by now, is completely exhausted. Despite your best efforts, you'll find yourself closing your eyes. Too bad it's quickly interrupted by a strange noise, and movement like something pulsating softly.

It's your phone, or at least you think it's your phone, but it's never glowed this orange before. There’s mist rising above it almost like fire...something's definitely bizarre about this. Despite your fears, you forces yourself to open it, and click on that strange snake-like icon.

It opens revealing a single statement and blank box;

To begin, please write your name.

Your fingers move on their own. Before you have time to really think about it, and as the pain inside your head becomes so terrible you start breathing rapidly and sweating, you've entered a series of letters and pressed enter. Now you're in a large chatroom with many others...but your 'name' you've never even heard of it...have you? It almost feels like you have...

Prompt 3 - Awakening

The last rays of the sun disappeared over the horizon almost an hour ago, yet here you are, walking through the apple orchards located behind one of the campus wings. The strange app that's been sending you strange clues the past seven days now says you're ready to face the truth. It told you to come here tonight, but never to travel alone. Repeatedly, it warns you to make sure to have someone close by if you're to survive…but besides some friends, what else did you bring with you? Did you pack for this, or did you figure you'd make it up as you go? Are you in a position to be able to bring weapons with you that no one would suspect?

Something is out there, and it's getting closer.

Before you can think, you see it: a large, blackish mass, almost like slime, slithering along the ground resembling a vaguely humanoid shape with glowing yellow eyes. When it roars again, it reveals rows and rows of teeth. This was a mistake your brain warns. The strange name from the chatroom, the days leading up to this...you're fairly certain even if you are prepared that you're going to die.

And yet, something inside you stirs. Even as they move closer, you find yourself charging instead of running, as your heartbeat increases. A voice inside is guiding you, each movement bringing forth a surge of memories of a past that you had lost. You’re angry and confused, but your pain, your fears, your rage for all of this… all of that needs to be taken out on those creatures.

All you need to do now is to tear out your heart.

Prompt 4 - A new, old life

Now that you have your memories back, the strange veil of this world has been somewhat lifted. Things that seemed simple now seem strange. You have so many questions, but not enough answers. Then there's the new weapons you wield and the strange creature inside of you...your Heart Persona.

During the day, you are encouraged to continue to live as you did before, but with old and new memories together, sometimes it is difficult to keep acting like you did. Will it cause issues in your job or school life? Will it change your reactions to whatever life you had here? Do you notice others like you who have awakened?

Maybe it would be a good time to send a chatroom message, just to ask others what they are planning to do. Maybe you should set up a meeting to fight shadows at night. Maybe you’ll organize a plan of attack or set up a club to escape the strange looks others have been giving you. Maybe you just want someone's opinion on the best place to have pizza. Hey, no one said you had to use the AppleNET just for serious things, after all.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

𝗔𝗡 𝗢𝗥𝗖𝗛𝗜𝗗 𝗣𝗢𝗦𝗜𝗧𝗜𝗢𝗡

[Living up to its name, the Flower Festival was positively teeming with different kinds of flora, some natural and others bio-engineered to maximize their beauty and efficiency. None, however, were quite so lovely as the matured fruit-bearing trees whose flower petals this time of year had finally begun to fall. In some places, there were so many on the wind that, in their presence, it almost appeared to be snowing...

This was a fact that not only attracted Kouyuki to the cluster of trees in the park, but also seemed to attract many girls his own age to his side. Not that he seemed to mind. He was happy to talk with them about this or that: the flowers, the weather, school, sports. The sky was the limit!

Or so it was until he found himself offered another flower necklace. As if the blossoms already woven through his dove-gray hair and hanging in long, colorful ropes about his neck weren't enough. In an attempt to save himself, he pointed quickly in the direction of the nearest person not already sporting the free florawear being handed out everywhere, not an ounce of shame on his face for pawning off this problem on literally anyone else.]

Oh... But they don't have any yet. Let's give the necklace to them instead.

𝗙𝗥𝗢𝗠 𝗗𝗔𝗪𝗡 𝗧𝗢 𝗗𝗨𝗦𝗞

[That morning had begun like any other, with a substantial family breakfast that was followed by track and field practice at Green Valley, and then homeroom. Kouyuki was always surrounded by family and friends, always having fun, and no matter the state of Eddan or the reasons for the curfew that had been instated, he was happy. His life was perfect.

Or...that's what he should have been feeling, what he should have thought, but the onset of a headache that would not relent, and an inexplicable feeling of wrongness that he could not shake, hung over him like a dark cloud.

Noon came and went. Kouyuki didn't eat. Classes passed, and he could scarcely bring himself to pay attention. By the time that he returned home, he was filled with a strange relief. Perhaps, finally, he could close his eyes and sleep away his exhaustion and his headache?

Well, that had been the plan but, for better or worse, despite his closed eyes, a restful slumber did not come. Instead, sometime around midnight, Kouyuki found the quiet in his bedroom interrupted by the vibration of his phone and the strange orange glow coming from it.

And then there was that app...

He didn't think too hard over the prompting of his name, although he did pause when his eyes skimmed over what he'd written.

Shirou Fubuki

It felt eerily...something. Was it right? Wrong? He didn't know, but he was certain of one thing: this was new and a little exciting. Despite the pulsing ache behind his eyes and the throbbing at his temples, he was determined to see what sort of fun could be had by further investigating the strange app on his phone and the chat room it had brought up. But with the tone of some of the discussions already taking place there, perhaps a little levity was in order?]

Shirou Fubuki: Do you think it's possible that our phones have been possessed?

𝗧𝗘𝗔𝗥 𝗢𝗨𝗧 𝗬𝗢𝗨𝗥 𝗛𝗘𝗔𝗥𝗧

[The app had warned him not to go alone, but the more that Kouyuki had thought about it, the more that warning had seemed like a challenge. What could be waiting for him in the dark of the night that he couldn't handle? And around his own school, no less?

It seemed silly to be afraid, to think anything bad might happen to him. Whatever that app was, wherever it had come from, surely it was all part of some elaborate prank, right? He'd go to the orchard as directed and once he was there he'd find himself swarmed suddenly by his teammates on the track team or perhaps some of the professors around the school who had a more impish sense of humor?

In any case, it couldn't really be as dangerous out here as the app claimed it was, or so he'd thought — and so he'd gone alone.

But there was something there in the blackness with him. He could feel its eyes on him as he ambled in between the trees in the yard, could feel a cold, unrelenting malevolence coming from it. Like a cold he could have sworn he'd felt before, the kind that seeps inside and takes up residence in your very bones. But that couldn't be right, could it?

His mind was just playing tricks on him. The shadow ahead wasn't really moving, didn't really have a mouth...]

Wh-what is that?!

[He should run, he knew he should. But something — no — someone inside refused to let him back down. As the shadow advanced, eyes like twin black holes and just as hungry, but the darkness wasn't the only predator there tonight...]

Big mistake! I'll blow right through you!

𝗪𝗜𝗟𝗗𝗖𝗔𝗥𝗗

[Have something else you'd like to play? Feel free to PP me or hit me up at my planning thread. I'm happy to play pre-Awakening or post-Awakening, and I'll match brackets or prose, whatever is easiest.]

[The victim of the hour passing through just happens to be Michi Yamashita, who isn't really all that into flowers and way more into being here just because it's got interesting things. He's busy looking at a display of flowers arranged into 8 bit characters instead, and only looks up at that snippet of conversation. That's Kouyuki's voice, isn't it-

Well, it would be Kouyuki if he wasn't starting to resemble some shambling flower monster instead. Michi looks from the girl offering the flower necklace starting to be taken in his direction. His eyes dart back to Kouyuki, completely flowered up and pointing to him. It's very clear where this is about to go.

Don't do it.]

You aren't referring to me, right?

Oh? It's Michi!

[Kouyuki raises one hand and waves at the other boy, looking appropriately surprised by this revelation before he smiles. It's almost as if he hadn't actually recognized his fellow track team member in the crowd or even expected he'd run into other people he knew from school at the festival. Except...when is Kouyuki ever not surrounded by others?]

You're not wearing any of the flowers they're handing out, Michi. Could it be you don't want to celebrate? That's not very fun.

No, but it could be that I want to look at flowers, not be turned into one.

[He grins at Kouyuki, making a show of looking him up and down. That could be him if he's not careful. His fate could be a very flowery one indeed.

But that won't happen. He'll make sure of it. All these flowers are really nice, but they can exist not on him. He's got limits.]

Edited 2017-05-25 20:09 (UTC)

[With a sheepish laugh, Kouyuki nods. It seems he understands, but even as he rubs the back of his head, he's holding his other hand out to take the flower wreath from the girl next to him.]

It seemed impolite to refuse...

[Likely, that's how he wound up with a crown and necklace of his own. And if the way Kouyuki looks at Michi afterwards or the way he starts toward him is any indication, it would appear he has no intention of being the only one walking around the park festooned like some kind of float with pretty flowers. This is a festival, Michi. You've got to enjoy yourself!]

[Look, Kouyuki, if you want to go around looking like an idiot, that is your right. Don't drag him down with you. Michi's smile evaporates as Kouyuki starts advancing on him, offending flowers in hand. He knew it...]

I'm okay with being impolite.

[He pauses, then looks over Kouyuki's shoulder suddenly.]

Actually, they'd probably want it more than I do.

[There is no one there if he turns around. It's just a ploy to try to get a head start on getting out of this. Should Kouyuki fall for that, he's going to walk away at a brisk pace - just enough to not be loud, but hopefully fast enough to be lost in the crowd in short order. If he's lucky, it might even be enough.]

Edited 2017-05-25 20:48 (UTC)

Hm?

[He falls for it, because of course he does. Both him and a few of the girls still hanging around turn to look behind them, but the only thing there worth looking at is the flower petals floating down from the trees like snow. Everyone else hanging around is already wearing something festive. Some of the girls have even looped their necklaces around their wrists like large floral armbands. It's an interesting idea, but not one Kouyuki is keen on mimicking.]

There's nobody...

[Suddenly, it dawns on him what Michi is trying to do and he trails off, a little smile tugging at the corners of his mouth. It's going to be like that, is it? Well, that's fine with him.

As expected when he turns back around, Michi is no longer standing there. But he's not out of sight yet, either, and that is his mistake. Kouyuki accepts the challenge and, with a friendly wave goodbye to the girls who've been keeping him company so far, he quickly jogs to catch up to the other boy. Still carrying the offending necklace of flowers.

Game on.]

[He keeps walking, slowly picking up his pace as he gains distance. It'll just be a few more moments before he can turn around the corner. For just a second, he thinks he's really gotten away with that, breaking into a wide grin at his own cleverness. Michi honestly didn't expect that would work-

And at the end of that second, it becomes clear that it didn't. He hears footsteps on the pavement behind him moving at too fast a pace. Michi risks a backward glance to confirm that the now infamous flower necklace is indeed pursuing him and then takes off at a run. Now that he's refused it, he can't just give up. He's officially committed to not having that thing on him.

Both of them are on the track team, but there's not too much difference between their abilities. So that's just how this is going to be; he'll just run until he manages to duck somewhere and hide.]

Michi!

[Making no attempt to hide the fact that he's in pursuit, Kouyuki calls out to the other boy. And when Michi responds by breaking into a run, Kouyuki doesn't miss a beat, either; he springs forward at a greater speed, back straight, and knees hiked high as he pushes off the ground on the balls of his feet.

There may not be much difference between their abilities, but Kouyuki thrills in the rush of the wind against his cheeks, a joy that he's certain Michi hasn't yet discovered on his own. If nothing else, that gives him an edge by allowing his every step to be light as the air itself. Zigzagging like a leaf caught in the breeze, he whips around anyone who wanders in between him and his quarry, that distance between them growing smaller...

...and that necklace flapping around like some kind of baroque lariat.]

[Kouyuki is hot in pursuit. Michi's speed is based on determination, but he's not applying himself the same; he's slowing down to weave around things or dash through people. IT's not enough. He can hear that guy's closing in on him, so it's time to make some desperate decisions.

Michi darts through a line, pushing someone out of his way with a yelled 'sorry!' and wheels around the vendor stand that they're all gathered around. He keeps racing down this line, keeping to random turns and twists through the spread out market place. His plan is that if he can get completely out of sight, he can duck down somewhere, or slide underneath something. He's small. He's very good at fitting into places.]

Shirou Fubuki | Inazuma Eleven

The flowers can't be stopped

Neither can Kouyuki!

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from dawn to dusk

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1 - idk if you want them to know each other so i left it vague

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one day i'll do tags in a timely manner

you and me both

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