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

mako | legend of korra

[torching]

PROMPT I
[ this is bad, real bad. mako's on the train, on the way to school when his head starts pounding and his fingers start typing on his phone. he's at least sitting down, but everything around him seems to fade out except for the screen in front of him. ]

anyone else feel their head pounding like crazy when they got this app on their phone?

PROMPT III, A
[ at some point during the day, mako can be found in the library; it's not uncommon to find him there, but it's what he's doing that seems...weird. unusual. there are a bunch of books he's pulled out from the bookshelves and he seems to be skimming the pages rather rapidly in search of something. if you look closely, said books are also on alternate realities, hallucinations, and the like. seems like someone's pretty caught up in research...but he'll spare some words for anyone who needs to talk. ]

PROMPT III, B
[ mako hasn't been getting any sleep. a part of it is because of how recent events have been keeping him up at night; the other part is because he's been getting sucked into fighting off those shadows with his...heart. whatever that means. he can't keep doing this, though, and going to classes on almost no sleep. ]

is there an easier way to avoid getting ambushed by those weird shadow monsters all the time?
either they really like me or i'm doing something wrong. tried sneaking past them a couple of times so i could get home, but at least two or three of them catch up to me every time.

III-A

[plainest]

[ yuuri heads off to the library on his lunch break, leaving a little notice on his door saying, 'be back later'. he feels a little bad for the students he has sessions with, the ones who like to come by just to sit and not necessarily talk, but he wants to ...

well, he doesn't know what he wants to do, exactly. but he thinks maybe the library will have something helpful, to make sense of this weird disorientated feeling that follows him.

once he makes his way to the section of the library though, he finds that a big chunk of what he was looking for is, well, missing. yuuri frowns to himself absently, crossing and uncrossing his arms, before turning around to head back out. maybe he can drop into a bookstore on his way back home, and see if they have anything useful.

his eyes catch the sight of mako hunched over a stack of books though, mostly because it's a big stack of books, and ...

well. those are precisely the ones that he was hoping to find here.

he wavers, slightly. a part of him wants to ask this guy if he's going through the same thing as he is, out of some kind of desperation to be not alone in whatever he's going through. but at the same time, yuuri still doesn't exactly want to talk about it outside the chat room. ]

[torching]

[ mako's never been to the counselor's office before, mostly because he's emotionally stunted and insistent on dealing with his issues himself...but he'll be able to recognize yuuri as a staff member, at least. he's seen yuuri walking through admin doors and students go in and out of his office.

not that he's really thinking about any of this while he's reading, that is, in one of the further corners of the library. he knows that if he's got all of these books with him too far out into the open, people will give him glances, especially since he's flipping through them so hastily. his eyes scan for things about shadows, Personas, night time events...anything of the sort, but...

nothing. nothing on what he's experiencing now.

it's frustrating to be going through something like this without any explanation. mako runs his hand through his hair in aggravation and sighs, blinking up from his book for a second as a short break. he ends up locking eyes with yuuri.

suddenly he feels very awkward. ]

Oh- uh, g-good afternoon, sir. Mister Katsuki.

[plainest]

[ come to his office, he has tea and homemade baked goods from well-wishers.... :') ]

[ oh. so this guy knew his name. even though yuuri has been working as a counsellor here for the last few years, somehow he is always managing to be surprised when other people (students or staff or otherwise) recognise him. of course he tries to remember the faces of everyone he's ever talked to -- it came with the job, after all -- but for that to act in reverse? it wasn't like he was the only counsellor here.

well, anyway. now that he's been caught staring, there's no backing out now.

yuuri smiles a little, brows furrowing together in a way that was both sympathetic and apologetic at once. ]

Good afternoon, --um. I don't think you've ever been to my office, sorry--?

[torching]

[ oh...that's cute...mako does like tea a whole lot u//u ]

Oh--no, you're right. I'm Mako Sakurauchi, first year higher cycle student.

[ he still finds it strange that his last name--sakurauchi--had not been bestowed onto him in that weird series of (false?) memories before awakening. still... he closes the book he's reading, looking sort of uneasy. ]

You might know my younger sister, Riko.

[plainest]

[ mako?

Yuuri's eyes fix themselves on the other's face, before glancing to the books, then back again. He had talked to a mako in that strange chat not too long ago ... could this guy be the same one? it couldn't be, since his own name on it is completely different, but considering the evidence laid before him, yuuri can't exactly ignore the coincidence.

...Well, he can ignore it, because he's good at things like that, shutting his eyes to what's actually real and here, but yuuri is a little desperate. ]

Sakurauchi— Oh, she's your sister? I've seen her performances. Your sister is very talented — you must be proud.

[ idk man I'm just running with this. ]

[torching]

[ omg ty for rollin with it, bless u ]

Yeah, she's great. I'm pretty sure she's hung out in your office at least a couple of times.

[ with her friends and whatnot. i'm running with it too now

anyway, he's fairly sure that this is the yuri he spoke to on the app, but he's not about to ask a faculty member about personas. if he does, yuri might tell the higher ups and they might make a big deal out of this? maybe it's for the best, but what's the likelihood that anyone would believe them if nobody without the app can see any of this, anyway? ]

Uh, sorry if I interrupted you, if you were on your way to look at something. Just thought I'd say hi.

[plainest]

[ yeah because yuuri doesn't have it in his heart to kick out anyone who comes into his office. Also the tea and cookies. And I'm just rolling and rolling. ]

I didn't know she had an older brother. Well, it's nice to meet you.

[ for formalities' sake, yuuri is going to extend a hand for a shake, smiling widely. He's still debating on whether to ask this guy or not — but he doesn't want to sound like he's crazy. ]

Well, no. I'm not really going anywhere.

[ um. He looks down at the books again. ]

Are you a psychology student?

3/B

[unmaking]

I don't know about avoiding them, I'd have to study their patterns more closely to figure that out, but I can help distract them so you can get home safely? or I can at least arm you with better intel and provide support

[ Though it still felt like he knew his students, he knew logically that he didn't. It appeared quite a few of them were caught up in the same predicament as him, though. ]

[torching]

[ oh--galen erso? his science professor, right? mako had him a few years back. huh. mako's surprised that his teachers would end up in this situation...except the fact that dr. erso's here is...not as surprising as it should be. ]

hi, dr. erso. that's alright, i don't want you to go out of your way but thank you for the offer. studying their patterns seems like a smart idea; have you found anything yet?

[unmaking]

not much beyond little details i'm sure many of you have worked out for yourselves. like how certain elements make them vulnerable, or how certain elements strengthen them or are completely ineffective. or how once our energy is depleted, we don't seem to be able to renew it until the next day.

[ he was only recently awakened, it's gonna take time to work out bigger theories. ]

it would be no trouble, my skill set appears to be built around providing support anyhow and I can at least help keep you on your feet.

[torching]

i see. it could just be that there were shadows in places i hadn't seen and they'd spotted me first, but it'd be nice to know where they usually hang around, too. so we know where to avoid...or...where to go to kill stuff, i guess.

i think my powers are like that, too. seems like my persona was able to make the shadows slower, for example.

III-B

[beastfang]

If you manage to find out anything that does not just boil down to 'don't go out at night' I would also appreciate such. Not all of us live close enough to work and school that we can avoid being out at such times.


[The subway tunnels are a literally nightmare now that there's the whole shadow aspect to contend with. Genda did not sign up for that regarding his commute to Green Valley.]

[torching]

i agree. i'll keep you posted. in the meantime,
need someone to walk you home in case of an ambush?

[ the subway tunnels are a menace. one of the places mako's listed as a "hot spot" in his notes. ]

[beastfang]

I don't want to cause problems regarding such. My transfers are not exactly on common routes.

[He takes like three different lines, it's a hot mess just because his parents wanted him to go to a good school.]

Though, perhaps we can at least organize groups that follow the same routes so no one has to commute alone.

[torching]

not a bad idea. it'll make fighting the shadows a lot easier and faster, too. what kind of powers do you have?

[beastfang]

It seems I've acquired an affinity for fire, though I haven't done much with it out of not wanting to cause property damage if necessary. As well as something you do not want to just casually toss about in enclosed spaces.

[torching]

you too huh? my abilities are also fire-based, but i've noticed that i have some electric thing going on, too.

speaking of fire, did you have a weird series of images right when you gained your persona?
kind of like...lost memories or something.

[beastfang]

I haven't notice any other elements regarding my own unless these beings we summon being capable of physically attacking is considered such.

[Also have a small pause before he answers that second part there Mako.]

As if who you are isn't who you may actually be?

iii-b

[clicked]

[ Well, Fushimi's been doing just fine. That's because he's a Navigator. But he's had a close shave with a few shadows, and he realizes he can't avoid them forever.

So, even though he's not too fond of the idea, he takes to the chatroom. ]

What element?

yanaaa!

[torching]

[ likewise, mako's also a navigator, but he's still growing tired of running into shadows when he's trying to go home and study. it's starting to take a toll on his grades. ]

fire/electric. you?

COCOOOOOOO runs towards the horizon with

[clicked]

Ice.
We can cover each other's weaknesses.

[ There are a few Makos in the school's database, but he's the only one on this app so far. Even then, he can't be too sure with how this app changes names. Still... He has a gut feeling. ]

You're at the university too, right?

SKIPS IN THE FLOWER FIELDS

[torching]

fine by me. and yeah, i'm at the university. you live near campus?

[ mako feels like he recognizes the name from somewhere, but he can't quite figure out where he's met this guy. probably a classmate... if he saw fushimi in person, he'd be able to figure it out. ]

makes flower crowns for uwu

[clicked]

[ Subaru Fushimi hasn't been going to school, but Saruhiko Fushimi has. The past few days have been his first in school after a long while. Since all he does is lone wolf it out, school has been a breeze, save for the odd love letter he finds crammed into his locker. He still doesn't know why he gets those. ]

It's a little far.

[ He lives in something short of a mansion, probably. ]

But it's fine.
You can tag along until you get to your place.

[ I mean

Mako asked for help first ]

o-oh....u///u

[torching]

[ if mako ever found out about those love letters. he might just. question the writer's taste, just a little-- ]

i'm a train ride away. i was gonna tell you the same thing, actually.