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

eikichi mishina | persona 2

[bossed]

[ ooc: for the sake of the tdm, eikichi's "name" will be kousuke toriyumi. he also will not be wearing makeup or have his hair dyed for the time being, so keep that in mind when replying! he has black hair and brown eyes. ]

PROMPT 1
[ to say that he was in his right mind was a massive oversight. the truth of the matter that kousuke was suffering from a great deal of pressure, and not just of the figurative kind. his head felt like it was going to explode and now there was a strange app on his phone he didn't recall downloading. did it really have to be so bright? it was making his head worse.

before he knew it, he typed in a name without a second thought. a name that... wasn't familiar to him. where did he come up with that? staring down at the chatroom he'd entered, kousuke (or, was it eikichi?) decided to take a shot at it. he had nothing better to do. ]

Eikichi Mishina: uh so like, is this some kind of malware or some shit?
Eikichi Mishina: did one of you plant this shit on my phone??? that's fucked

PROMPT 3
[ eikichi didn't know what to do. everything had flooded back into his head, a deluge of information and repressed memories he wasn't sure he wanted to regain. no, that wasn't right. he wanted to remember; that was what he'd told tatsuya, wasn't it? he had been determined to find him, to find the others, again. but remembering what happened to maya, what philemon had told him and his friends... was this the world that he'd been talking about rebuilding? if that was the case, did he regain his memories for a reason? he recalled philemon saying that in order for the world to be rebuilt, he and the others would have to forget ever having met... that remembering each other would cause significant risk to not only themselves, but to the entire planet.

so, what now? would his memories be the beginning of a chain reaction, causing the world to circle back to the start of the end? he had selfishly told himself, told tatsuya, ginko, jun, that he would remember them, not even thinking of the consequences that might follow for doing so. guilt started to compound upon itself as he walked through the streets, a slender palm pressed to his chest.

and this ... persona he had... it wasn't his. what of hades and rhadamanthus? he couldn't hear their voices, nor the voices of any of the other personas he had claimed back then. the one that thrummed in his chest was foreign and unknown... was this some kind of anomaly caused by the rebirth of the world?

as he was lost in his thoughts, eikichi recalled the app on his phone. he stopped walking and leaned against a nearby building, flicking through the pages to find the chat again. if those people were in the same boat as he was, maybe they'd know something? without thinking, he started typing: ]

Eikichi Mishina: does anyone know a guy calling himself philemon?

[ as he stood there, he glanced up, catching a few people looking his way. any of these people could be dealing with the same thing... ]

WILDCARD
[ ooc: come at me! for the second prompt, anyone can either respond to his message or approach him directly! if these don't work, throw your own ideas my way! ]

1

[ex_mayking571]

Robin Hood: yeah, i did
i got bored and hacked your phone
then i made everybody get a headache and put in some kinda fake name probably because i really need a hobby! like i'm some kind of comic book super villain!
ha! seriously? you think anybody would just admit it on here if they were responsible?

[bossed]

Eikichi Mishina: yo there's no need to be a dick about it!!
i figure if some asshole is brazen enough to put shit on my phone they'd be hella proud about it and wanna brag

[ex_mayking571]

Robin Hood: are you kidding? what makes you think you're so special?
there's probably 50 people here who had the same thing happen to them.
whoever did it brags about it? they're gonna get their face punched.
they'd be stupid if they just let us know who they are just because some guy asked.

[bossed]

Eikichi Mishina: for a guy who calls himself "robin hood" you sure ain't super personable, are ya?
besides, maybe they are that stupid!! you don't know!!

3

[princessofsociallinks]

HHTwilightSparkle: I'm familiar in passing with Carl Jung's writings that mention a Philemon.
HHTwilightSparkle: ...which, given the Persona and Shadow connection, means that other things Jungian are worth study.
HHTwilightSparkle: Why do you ask? Were you a Persona evoker before coming here?

[bossed]

Eikichi Mishina: uh
idk who that jung guy is but if they know about philemon ...

[ wait, what? how the fuck... ]

Eikichi Mishina: um i mean
yeah
i had a few of em before all this shit happened
how did you put that together??

[princessofsociallinks]

HHTwilightSparkle: Carl Gustav Jung was a psychologist, the heir to and great critic of the legacy of Sigmund Freud.
HHTwilightSparkle: His idea of the persona and the shadow is the basis of not only modern theraputic psychology, but of modern screenwriting and storytelling as well.
HHTwilightSparkle: He spoke of dreams about a butterfly, a guardian spirit he called Philemon.
HHTwilightSparkle: I doubt it's a coincidence that these ideas are connected to this school of magic.

HHTwilightSparkle: It was an educated guess based on that and some magical theory. I'm a magician back home, but not a Persona invoker.

[bossed]

Eikichi Mishina: woah
that's
pretty on the nose, actually

[ this is fucking him up a little, excuse him. ]

Eikichi Mishina: oh i see
well uh do you have any clue if philemon is like... hanging around or whatever?

1

[forsteri]

Jirou Sakuma: If someone planted this on people's phones, they sure did it to a lot of them. I feel like it was kind of a waste of time...

[bossed]

Eikichi Mishina: well judging by how many people are in this chat i'd say so
what the fuck is the purpose of this garbage anyway

[forsteri]

Jirou Sakuma: Marketing, backdoor hacking... a publicity stunt of some kind?

[But that doesn't explain... the headache, and the name he'd inputted. "Jirou Sakuma" means absolutely nothing to Yoshio Koutarou.]

[bossed]

Eikichi Mishina: huh
what kind of marketing though? what is this supposed to be advertising?
and like what about the weird usernames?

3

[aceofalosthand]

Joker: Why do you ask?

[It's best to be cautious. If Akira remembers his own past, there might be others here who do, therefore he could be in very deep trouble.]

[bossed]

[ uh................. UHHHHH...

how the fuck is he supposed to respond to a guy with that name?? ]

Eikichi Mishina: ...jun??? is that you?

[ ... like an idiot, clearly. ]

[aceofalosthand]

Joker: Sorry, guess again.
Joker: I'd prefer this alias to having my real name all over this app.
Joker: I have my reasons.

prompt 1 wildcard o999 using AU names because I can

[probablynoteren]

[Knock, knock, CRASH, go the ominous sounds currently coming from the stretch of balcony just outside Kousuke's room. It's not particularly unusual for it to be occupied at various times of day, given his neighbor, but it is uncharacteristic for Haruka to be outright clumsy about it -- especially given how late it is. He's usually careful about that.

There's a long silence after that, and no more movement, which is also a little unusual -- they have a tendency to invade each other's balconies rather than bothering with front doors when it's late or just whenever they feel like it. After all, they're on the second floor and what else would you do with a long-time friend just next door?

Eventually, though, Haruka slides the glass door open a crack and pops his head in. It's just a little into early morning, and he looks both very ruffled and a little sheepish.]

... Sorry. I-- [a pause, as he cocks his head at some far-off noise] I hope I didn't wake you. Or your dad.

[He'd feel really bad about any of the above. The Toriumi household is quite rowdy at all hours, so he tries not to rock the boat on the occasions he is over. Usually, it's the other way around, but...]

There's something I have to show you.

beautiful

[bossed]

[ for kousuke to be alarmed by any sort of loud noises meant that he had to be in a fairly deep sleep. otherwise, it was all par for the course; loud noises were pretty normal when it came to kousuke and his father's interactions. so this time, there was a startled yelp in reaction to the cacophony of sound that rattled the walls for that brief moment when haruka made his entrance. kousuke clutched the sheets of his bed before wobbling upright, realising quite quickly who it was.

the worst home invader ever. ]

Maa... you scared the shit out of me, dude!

[ kousuke was on the verge of going through the classic "do-you-have-any-idea-what-time-it-is" type of tirade until he noticed his friend's purposeful appearance. it had to be something important if he clambered over in the dead of night. or morning. whichever. sliding out of the bed, kousuke met haruka halfway. ]

What the hell could it be that you had to scramble over here like that? Like, it can't wait til morning? Is it something wild?

[ he didn't even know what it was yet and already he was getting pumped. ]

[probablynoteren]

Sorry.

[Haruka ends up repeating himself automatically at the yelling anyway, even as he slips inside properly and shuts the door carefully after him to prevent their noise from disturbing any other neighbors or anyone in the street. He's soft-spoken when he isn't crashing into balcony doors, but Kousuke is naturally loud, and...

He hesitates, one hand in his pocket, probably the reason why he was out there for so long (besides checking that he hadn't roused the block). Shakes his head briefly.]

It's something. [faint emphasis on the last word] It's faster to just show you.

[He passes his phone over, and it's obvious at first glance why he's disturbing the peace at this hour: it's glowing an intense, poisonous orange and coughing up little billows of mist like the smallest stage light in the world. It's an open app stamped with a strange logo, and the chat is scrolling by almost too fast to read.]

3!

[1in_perfection]

There's that app in her phone, beeping away again. Deleting it, or rather, attempting to delete it, has given her no results. And trying to ignore it is proving to be a fruitless task as well, with how often the notifications spring up. She's half tempted to abandon this phone entirely, if she could only be certain she'd have secure funds for purchasing a replacement...

In the midst of her thoughts, her fingers end up fishing the very object causing her vexation. She only just catches a glimpse of the message.

"Philemon..." Mitsuru tests the name out loud, voice pitched at more volume than originally intended. Enough to draw some attention from those in the after-school crowd.

[bossed]

Eikichi hadn't even thought to try to delete it; his brain was, quite frankly, fried from the sudden information dump that Awakening had brought with it. Smartphones were a strange thing, anyway. It was a good thing he hadn't tried to delete it, too, since it clearly ending up being useful in the end.

Somehow, above the sounds of milling people, Eikichi heard a voice rise up. It was that girl... Eikichi's eyes narrowed on her, watching carefully. She spoke Philemon's name, so that meant she must have seen his message. And that meant...

Eikichi pushed from the brick wall, sauntering over with the typical swagger of an overconfident punk before he realized what he was doing. Wait. That's not very inconspicuous, is it? Halting partway, he straightened his posture and proceeded toward Mitsuru as casually as possible. Nailed it. Once he was close enough to her, he cleared his throat, staring down at her with an intense gaze. Well, somethings were harder to change than others.

"Oi... you got that app thing?"

[1in_perfection]

"As an accident, but yes. And it has stubbornly remained in place on my phone since then." Mitsuru raises her head at the voice, just catching the saunter. It's brief, but there's something about it that puts her own back up. She was already holding her head up high before; now she seems incredibly stiff, rigid... and above everything else, in control.

"...Why do you wish to know?" Mitsuru stares at this newcomer, eyes narrowing and turning her head by a touch; trying to measure and mentally record everything she sees. Maybe she's a few inches shorter than he is (and dearly, dearly missing her high heeled boots) but she does an admirable performance of meeting his gaze.

3 also I'm sorry

[cantforget]

[It took a while for Tatsuya to even think about replying back, despite how much he wanted to.

If Eikichi felt some guilt about having regained his memories here, Tatsuya's were absolutely burning up his insides. He'd seen the consequences. The payment of his Sin of remembrance and his stubborn refusal to let his memories go, and then and then the chain of events that followed afterwards. Having to take over the body of the Tatsuya from the other side, trying to make things Right, involving adults that included even his brother. Seeing Eikichi there again, trying to protect others even without his Persona. Then Lisa.

Then Jun.

Even as he returned back to the city of Sumaru, knowing that his friends would be safe with Nyarlathotep finally defeated, even then a small part of him just wished he could say goodbye...but knowing Maya was alive and the others continued their lives was good enough for him.

...and so, the weight of that message before him was like a hard punch to the gut.

How did Eikichi remember Philemon? They had made sure he hadn't woken up when he was kidnapped. Did it mean something else? Would it cause issues for both of them if they even spoke?

Maybe it was the fact it wasn't Apollo inside of him, but a much more brutal Persona that finally spurned him into sending something. By that time it would have been close to an hour since Eikichi's initial message.]

Tatsuya Suou: Yeah

[He really didn't need to write more, honestly.]

YELLS don't apologize!

[bossed]

[ though there was some innate expectation for someone to know who philemon was, just due to the nature of the situation itself, eikichi still didn't think it possible. he was setting himself up for disappointment like this, for certain; before, there were only a handful of them that knew of who philemon was, so what were the odds of anyone else knowing? nevermind that weird app; so far, most people either ignored his message or replied back with a dismissive "nope" or "who?" maybe they really weren't in the same boat, after all.

after standing around outside for about twenty minutes, eikichi had started back home. he probably looked like a dumbass, standing there for as long as he did. by the time he was upstairs in the sanctity of his bedroom, he heard the app go off again. eikichi wanted to roll his eyes; it was probably another person either trolling him or acting oblivious.

when he opened the page, eikichi could have sworn that his heart stopped beating. ]

What the... fuck...

[ was this real? eikichi's instinct was to bumrush the message with shouting and jubilation and relief, but then a part of his mind piped up with that familiar doubt. that other guy went by "joker" and claimed he wasn't jun... so could this just be a coincidence? could someone else just so happen to have tatsuya's name? eikichi's hands were shaking before he even realized it. slowly, he sat down on the edge of his bed and tried to formulate a response that wasn't... obnoxious. ]

Eikichi Mishina: you're not fuckin with me right now are you

[ he couldn't think of anything to say that wasn't a jumbled mess of emotions. eikichi bit down on his lip as he sent the message, anxiety crawling up his chest. that persona he'd gotten seemed to feed off of it, making his heart pound all the more erratically. ]

I am a bit rusty with him I will do my best

[cantforget]

[Yeap, that message sure read like something Eikichi would write. It took a much shorter while for Tatsuya to get back at him, maybe at maximum ten minutes, but they probably felt like the longest ten minutes for the both of them.

Tatsuya wasn't exactly as free-flowing with his emotions than Eikichi was. He tried to embrace his manly image but only those close to him knew that facade could crumble under the right circumstances. Right now, part of him trembled at the idea this might just be another trap set up by Nyarlathotep - like those golden statues of his friends. Yet there was something...he couldn't explain how he knew, but it couldn't be that bastard. Still, he just had to make sure he wasn't being fooled either.]

Tatsuya Suou: I'm not

[A few seconds after that, another message pops up, that probably provides him with more proof that he at least knew who he was.]

Tatsuya Suou: joining your band

[It was as much of a 'joke' he could do that moment. Truth be told, if this was the Eikichi from his side, he'd join in a heartbeat.]