Round 1: Test Drive

[cordibus]

Welcome to the first 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 - 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 2 - 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 3 - 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.

Comments

KATSUKI YUURI ⚫yuri on ice

[plainest]

#1⏩DAWN TO DUSK
[ it feels like vertigo.

it feels like he's held suspended over the edge of a gaping precipice, strung together with wires too thin to see and too strong to break, but maybe it might. it's a curious sensation that follows Yuuri all day, and he makes more mistakes and stumbles over words more than usual during his sessions with the students. most of them don't seem to notice, some of them look concerned, but he doesn't mention anything. it's probably nothing. he's just feeling a little under the weather.

What happens that night, though, is not nothing. it's everything at once, too fast to take in or maybe it's his head, and Yuuri squints in the half-darkness at the glowing screen of his phone. this was a dream, right?

and since it's a dream, Yuuri doesn't have to think about it too much. he will wake up the next morning and he won't remember anything. ]

Look, I don't know what's going on, but I am trying to sleep here. Some of us have a proper job to go to in the morning.

--

#2⏩AWAKENING
[ Yuuri comes alone. There are some others around him, some that he recognises but plenty more that he doesn't, but Yuuri keeps to himself out of the way, preferring to not be involved in what's going to happen. If anything is going to happen. He is curious to see what's going on, but not enough to actually stick around, when it does.

Maybe he should have left. Maybe he should have just stayed home.

His heart is beating so fast and hard it feels like it's going to burst its way out of his chest and Yuuri nearly doubles over, sweat running down the side of his face. It hurts. Was it a heart attack? Was it some kind of shock? He has no idea, but what Yuuri knows is that it can't be good. But something inside him knows what that strange creature is, and something inside him is telling him to go. Move. Survive.

Yuuri hasn't got time to think; it's completely different to when he is on the ice; on there, his thoughts chase him across the flips and the loops, constantly calculating, worrying, looking at the blur of faces and camera flashes and of the gleam of the spotlight across the smooth surface of the ice. There, he thinks too much.

In this life, in this moment, something tells him he doesn't have to.

Yuuri's hand is against his chest, pressing down on it like he can physically hold down his jumping heart, like he can stop it. When his fingers sink in, he screams. ]

--

#3⏩A NEW, OLD LIFE
[ it takes him a little while to adjust. In fact, Yuuri doesn't know if he will ever adjust to it. The new skin of this life fits him oddly, and he feels like he's back in his teenage days, confusing and strange, trying to go about doing normal, daily routine in a body that doesn't entirely seem like his own.

Yuuri is in his office, with a steaming fresh cup of tea, staring out the window at nothing. His hand strays to the phone laying on the stack of paper files, and he hesitates, looking towards his phone, then to the closed office door, then back to his phone. ]

How is everyone trying to adjust? For me, it still feels really surreal. It's hard to take it all in. Are you all feeling okay?

--

#4⏩WILDCARD
[ wanna do something else? PP me! ]

#1 im sorry

[eyeofcute]

do u think someone poisoned the canteen food

[Because, you know. An app causing this makes no sense.]

someone DEFINITELY poisoned the canteen food im gonna die

DONT BE!!

[plainest]

[ it doesn't make any sense, no. ]

do you think it was the yogurt,
because I had that for lunch. I usually pack my own, but I didn't have time last night. Oh no.

Are you feeling okay?? Headache? Nausea?

this girl literally has no frowning art just accept that she's smiling like a maniac through this

[eyeofcute]

i'm DYING

dying
ˈdʌɪɪŋ
adjective
on the point of death.

[THAT DOESN'T HELP ANYONE]

i ate the yogurt too shit. this is what i get for eating dessert while trying to watch my weight

someones out to sabotage me i know it

[plainest]

I KNOW what dying means.

It should be okay. I ate it too, and I'm still alive.

[ probably. ]

Just calm down and try to not think about it, okay? Do you have someone else in the house with you that could help?

3

[myownpearl]

[It's...it's just bizarre. This shouldn't be happening and yet, it is. She isn't sure which aspect of her life or her previous life is more fantastical and strange. She hasn't found any solace in dance, and yet she wants nothing more than to lose herself in something.

Her eyes drift to the phone, picking it up as she wipes tears from her eyes.]

Surreal hardly does it justice in my opinion. I can't tell which part is a worse nightmare.

[It was probably obvious...but she wasn't feeling okay at all.]

[plainest]

I'm sorry.

[ he ... really doesn't know what else to say to that. ]

If you want to chat, I'm here to listen. I have a private office we can talk in,
if you'd like.

[myownpearl]

[Sorry to be a mood killer.]


It's, well, it isn't fine. But I'm not sure I'm ready to talk about it out loud yet.

How are you? Do you need to talk?

[plainest]

[ no, yuuri understands. That's perfectly fair enough if — whoever this is — doesn't want to chat. Everyone processes things differently. To be honest, yuuri isn't even sure if he wants to talk about it out loud, either. ]

like I said, I'm still ... processing. I don't really know what to think, to be honest.

SCREAMS a yuuri! #3

[torching]

'surreal' is kind of an understatement. i'd like to know how we were all selected for...whatever this is.

[ he's been thinking of calling a meeting of some sort, but with the amount of people on the network, he's not sure if that would be a good idea. might as well talk to one of the ones who seem...nicer among the bunch that are taking this seriously. ]

/touches your eyebrows

[plainest]

From what I've seen, there's not really any rhyme or reason to it. Some of us ... sound very young.

[ that's putting it mildly. ]

It would be nice if we could find a common thread.

[torching]

or they're just desperate to recruit as many people as possible.

[ ... ]

how often do you find yourself fighting those things off?

[plainest]

For what kind of purpose, though?

... I don't think I'm all that suited for this sort of thing, whatever it is.

Especially not that.

pre-awakening wildcard

[rinkerbell]

[ Though he hates the fact that he has to go, Yuri actually kind of likes the councilor himself. It took a few years for it to happen but he's warmed up to him all the same. (It helps that the sessions are pretty casual.) Enough that when he takes the time to cook, he tends to set some aside for him.

Today is one of those times.

At lunch hour he heads into Yuuri's office, not bothering to knock on the door before tossing it open and letting himself inside. He just kinda marches right in and tosses a paper bag on his desk before making himself way too comfortable on the couch, bringing his feet up onto one arm. ]

I brought more of the meat pies you liked last time. I'm getting better at pastry dough.

[ He then looks at him very, very expectantly. ]

Tell me what you think.

[plainest]

[ wow, Yuri. Have you never heard of privacy??

Yuuri is just about to sit down for lunch himself, and he turns around from the sink at the corner of the office at the sound of the door opening. He already knows who it is even before he sees Yuri — nobody else would open the door like that, brash and unassuming and completely sure that he would be welcome anytime. ]

Good afternoon, Yuri.

[ he answers easily with a little smile, turning back once more to pour hot water into his teacup. ]

Feet off the couch please, if you don't mind.

[ the first time Yuri had surprised him at his office like this, yuuri had been ... well, apprehensive is an understatement. the fact that he'd brought him food was another whole different issue altogether. but now, as yuuri turns back with an extra mug of tea in hand and sets it down in front of the boy before taking a seat on the chair opposite, he is as comfortable as if it were one of their usual sessions.

His face positively lights up at the sight of the paper bag, and again when he opens the bag to pull out one of the pastries. ]

Oh! Um, what were they called again—? I know I've had it before too, from Otabek.

[rinkerbell]

[ Yuri shifts back so his shoes are not directly touching the couch, just his ankles are. Compromise. ]

Belyash. ... His mom's are probably better, she's had more practice, but I put in a secret ingredient.

[ That ingredient is hot sauce. He's still watching Yuuri expectantly. ]

3

[seasonsofdeath]

It's difficult. I think I keep saying the wrong things in front of my parents.

[because what is being ten with no filter and also being... a death shadow with no filter.]

[plainest]

What do you mean, the wrong things?

[seasonsofdeath]

They said something about a pet dying at work and they were upset and I just said death was inevitable so it was going to happen eventually and they looked at me weird.

[he thought it was just logical!]

2

[kokuyoyo]

[Yuuri isn't the only one who's been keeping out of the way, but, knowing Chikusa as he does, perhaps the counselor wouldn't be surprised. The youth is quiet, observing and taking everything in- because seriously, what kind of strange gathering is this? The entire while, he keeps his fingers wrapped around the strap of his bag, kneading at it in quiet uncertainty.]

[This is how people in horror movies die, he thinks. Murders plaguing a city, a strange app plaguing his phone, going out after dark against the curfew... It's taking some willpower to keep the boxcutter he'd managed to slip from one of the classrooms in his bag and not in his hand.]

[Yet even with such common sense paranoia buzzing in the back of his mind- surely what's making his heart try to break through his ribcage- he can't possibly expect the strange shadowy mass hauling its bloated self along the ground. Chikusa goes stiff, wracked with indecision from two powerful but opposing urges. Fight! Kill it! You've done it before! versus Run! A boxcutter isn't enough!]

[It's the scream to the side that snaps him out of it.]

[That gets him to twist on his feet, heart still pounding so hard that he's out of breath and dizzy, but somehow he manage to find himself besides Yuuri with his eyes wide in half a dozen different emotions.]

Counselor Katsuki!

[plainest]

[ nothing makes sense. this shouldn't be happening. this wasn't actually happening, right?

he doesn't hear his name being called. he doesn't hear anything except for the sound of his lungs trying to take a breath in, the sound of blood rushing through his ears. yuuri is on the ground on his knees, his hands clutched to his chest and there's one long scary moment where he can't breathe and can't move, and--

between one moment of sheer terror to the next, between the span of two heartbeats, yuuri's arm shoots out in front of him and he yells something out; a garbled and wordless cry of something, and there's something else there now, beside Chikusa. it's vaguely humanoid just like the shadow that's approaching them, but upon closer inspection there are crystal shards dotting the dark skin of the creature, a flash of bright crimson as it moves an arm forward in a gesture that's too similar to yuuri's.

the shadow howls and shrieks in surprise more than pain as a mist of frozen air surrounds part of its body, freezing it solid to the ground. ]

[kokuyoyo]

[As a general rule, Chikusa isn't really one for swearing, although he's a teenager so it's not unheard of. However, in the moment as he jolts from the sudden appearance of something strange and inhuman besides him, only one phrase can really sum up it all: ]

[ what the fuck ]

[He's still dizzy, like he can't breathe, is about to faint, and he sways in place even as he tugs at the man's shoulder. Whatever's going on, he can't focus on it, only the instinct that says protect. That much is the only thing that breaks the stalemate between his heart and mind.]

Counselor- you have to get out of here- come on!

[Attack or run, he can't figure it out, but getting someone else out- that's enough.]

the wildest of cards

[bikeride]

[ What Otabek wants - what all of them want, really - is the truth.

It's hard to determine how fighting may factor into that. They cut down enemies, advance, endure - but to what end, he can't say. The life he remembers is a straight arrow by comparison. There were no blanks to fill in, only goals to work toward and intentions to make known upon the ice. Skaters achieve or fail to achieve. Life in Eddan is murkier.

His single certainty is that they must survive. The truth can only come to them if they're alive to receive it, and to survive, they have no choice but to fight. Efficiency in battle, then, seems a good a goal as any.

As the group's Navigator, Otabek sees to it that their progress is measured. He's been noting the flow of their battles, the things they struggle with and the things they do well. It's a bit like being put on the other side of the glass - he's far more used to his own strengths and weaknesses being assessed by a coach or choreographer. The task is one he appreciates, though. It steadies his focus.

He intends to speak to their group as a whole, each skater from the world they all recall, but they have their false lives to account for and the duties that come with them. Getting everyone assembled is easier some days than others, and besides, talking to each of them one on one gives them time to think. He'll start with Yuuri.

Sat in his office at the school, he wastes no words. ]

Thank you for having me in. I wanted to talk about our battles lately.

[plainest]

[ his office is really the perfect place to talk -- it was built for that function, after all. yuuri's put up a do not disturb sign on the whiteboard by the door just like how he does when he has a session with one of his students, and really, in a way, it kind of feels the same.

it's the similarities like that, that yuuri wants to desperately hold on to. it's taken him a little while longer than any of them to let go, to accept that this -- all the stuff that he remembers -- isn't really who he is. that this is the actual and only reality, the fact that they are in this city where they don't belong, with these powers to fight. they've gone through a few battles now, but yuuri is only just starting to get used to the idea. ]

That's not a problem. Thanks for taking time to come and see me...

[ yuuri sits across from Otabek, nervously turning the teacup around and around in his hands. ]

What do you want to talk about?

[bikeride]

[ He glances briefly at the teacup. The nervousness in Yuuri's manner recalls his previous reputation, one that Otabek had heard in passing in their true lives: "glass-hearted", the skating world once called him. There may be some truth to that.

By that same token, he's seen Yuuri fight. Glass hearts don't survive what he has. From where Otabek stands, Yuuri has begun to outgrow his title.

He goes on. ]

Our battles. It may benefit us to go over our results so far - our strengths, our weaknesses. I'd like to do it as a group, but until we can meet again, I decided to seek out everyone individually.

[ He pauses, meeting Yuuri's eyes. ]

Do you want to?