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

Victor Nikiforov | Yuri on Ice

[decorated]

1
[ a headache on top of everything else that's been going on lately, huh? victor's spent the whole day at the library, barely getting anything done, because everyone and their dog has opinions, and he's happy to hear people out but... hearing people out doesn't get work done. time passes too quickly, and he barely notices when it hits midnight and he's half-asleep at his desk--

when he checks the sudden light from his phone, he's expecting a call from his wife, probably wondering where he's been, and he squints at the screen as he types out a name, instead of the message he'd been meaning to send. he tries again, and doesn't pay much attention to the chat screen, completely unaware how badly the text is misfiring. ]

sorry, still at the library. don't wait up xoxo

3
[ since things went... well, not back to normal by any means, but since things went different, pretending everything was still the same had become a special kind of torment. working at the library was interesting, sure, but victor kept getting distracted-- longing for an old life that was far out of reach. even if he didn't have much competency as a librarian, he'd always been good at pretending, and pretending was enough. ]

I'm sure a lot of you are going to be needing to research whatever, and it's great that you're coming to the library. But FYI! If you steal books it means no one can read them. Please don't steal the books. Request them instead!!

wildcard
[ for non-chatroom prompts! ]

3

[rinkerbell]

got it.
i'll steal as many as i can carry.

[ Yuri is not passing up on an opportunity to be petulant at Victor. He was finally used to having an actual stepfather. Things were going well. But then all of this happened and he remembered so much and now he's not so sure he can stand the guy. ]

[decorated]

[ things are so awkward with yuri. there's a lot to discuss, and they'll need to discuss it soon - so victor is what, yuri's stepdad now? is that real? - but with the way the kid's been treating him, it looks like that conversation is years away. ]

It's fine if it's you! After all, I know where you live.

[rinkerbell]

[ Things really are awkward. They're really tense. But Yuri has already decided to gloss over everything by only letting himself feel angry. ]

so funny i forgot to laugh.
i'll lose them in the incinerator for you.

[decorated]

[ victor frowns at his phone hard enough to think that yuri might feel the frustration on his end, but technology just doesn't work like that yet. ]

You won't. You're not that reckless.

[rinkerbell]

i'd love to prove you wrong.
maybe i'll grab some of your favorite things from home while i'm at it.

[ Now he's definitely bluffing (right now anyways) just to try and rile Victor up, but it sure does sound nice. Especially with him saying he won't. ]

takes the wildcard and runs with it

[plainest]

[ perhaps, for yuuri, the hardest part of it all was just ... well, remembering it all, really. or rather, remembering a specific person. and what happened between them.

it's bad enough that the dual memories overlap oddly in his head; he's never met victor before in his life in Eddan, only hearing snippets and anecdotes from Yuri during their sessions over the years and building up a kind of this mental picture of this odd father figure in his head. it's strange to think that the man in his head, about whom Yuuri has given so much advice to Yuri for, is the same person as the one he remembers, from before this city. it's hard to associate the two, and even harder to disassociate the images.

They've formed a team, of sorts - all of them together. It made sense in a way, because they all knew each other in some way or another before, and they knew how each other were like. They've always been watching each other on the ice, after all. How they moved, what they did, following each dip and spin and jump across the smooth surface of the rink. It made things easier because it added some semblance of familiarity in the mess of confusion, something definite to hold onto in the middle of trying to juggle everything else and survive.

Yuuri tries to not watch Victor. It's hard not to, and sometimes he doesn't succeed, but mostly he just listens to the crackle-static of Otabek's instructions in his ear and moves, and it mostly works out. He can see the edges cracking and fraying between them all with the tension of it, and he knows that sooner or later, something will give, but Yuuri is good at ignoring things that he doesn't want to see. ]

...

[ Yuuri is good at ignoring, but it's a little hard when the person you're trying to ignore is right in front of you in the middle of the supermarket, a basket of groceries in hand. ]

Evening.

[ he finally says, because ... what else can he say? ]

[decorated]

[ victor watches yuuri all the time, when he can, and he knows it's something of a distraction for the rest of their team. but still, he's learning how to fight, and he's pulling his weight well enough, so there's nothing to really complain about at the end of the day.

it's strange, then, for them all to go their separate ways and pretend they've barely ever met.

when he sees yuuri at the supermarket, his mind doesn't jump to yuuri but to the guidance counselor from school, the one who's helped his stepson (really? his stepson?) become less prickly around the edges. ]

Oh, evening.

[ he chances a look at yuuri's groceries. ]

Dinner for one?

[plainest]

[ yuuri smiles, with effort that makes his brows furrow slightly. He glances down at the basket in his hand too, and it's an excuse to look away from Victor. ]

Well, no... But my girlfriend is out with her friends, so..

[ it's crazy how easy it is to slip back into his role, his old life, yuuri doing it almost without thinking, even before he can stop himself. ]

What about you?

3

[soundsofthesea]

Sorry about that!! I'll bring it by tomorrow to check it out properly.

...and sorry for falling asleep in there the other day. I don't know what happened.

[decorated]

Thanks! And people fall asleep in here all the time, don't worry about it. It sounds like no one's getting enough rest.

3

[beastfang]

If need be the threat of being under the ire of academics with thesis papers due could be used as a threat from taking books without properly requesting them.


[Some of those in the advance cycle could be downright vicious if they were coming up on a deadline.]

[decorated]

I like that! I am all for weaponising scholars but it still begs the question of where the book thieves can be found.

[munechika]

[ unfortunately (or fortunately) for victor, midnight's the time of the night when mikazuki is very much awake. and he's pretty sure this text isn't for him. ]

But what if I want to stay up and wait?

[decorated]

[ victor's eyes are still bleary, and when the reply pops up he doesn't think twice about assuming his text made it to the intended recipient. ]

You don't need to get a bad night's sleep just because of me.

[munechika]

[ whoever this text is intended for is p lucky to get this kind of concern. ]

It's all right.
I'm quite used to staying up late.

[decorated]

Really?

[ that seems strange, with what he knows of his wife - even though in the strange ambiance of the evening he can't quite recall her face or her name - but he's tired, and she's probably tired too, and by morning all the strangeness will be nothing but sleep deprivation. ]

I might be another hour at least. You sure you're OK with that? I'll see if anything's open on the way home if you want something.

[munechika]

Pizza, perhaps?
Or ice cream if pizzerias are already closed at this time of the night.
What do you think?

[ ... should he ask if he's actually getting a share of that pizza/ice cream? maybe he should ]