Persona: Shadows of the Mind

[Pilovv]

Makoto just quietly walked into the Velvet room, or at least what she thought it was. Surely, that Igor guy would have a way for her to get out of here and wake up. Or just leave her to sleep... She was still feeling funny about all of this. It was a long, vivid dream, but it was so rediculous, that she still assumed it had to be a dream. She had no clue what to do if she was to meet anyone that had shown up, and they started talking about it... As if that would ever happen.

[Cassandra's Sister]

Maria took a deep breath. For once in her life, she had nothing to say. She looked across the room, first turning her gaze on Vesta but quickly widening it to encompass everything before her. Suddenly overcome by the reality of what she had just experienced, she collapsed into a sitting position, breathing heavily. Her mind was racing, thoughts spilling over thoughts as she tried to comprehend how this would come to change the way she saw the world. Too frightened and overwhelmed to move, she sat there, staring into space.

[Unionhack]

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Thank you, Cass2! We appreciate your helping Cass in her posting and I'm sure she does too. I hope one day you'll join us on your own too!

The Lonely Ice Rink

As Makoto crossed the boundary into the Velvet Room, her sight and that of the other seven occupants of the Ice Rink went white. They all heard Igor's knowing chuckle as they felt themselves lose control over their bodies, succumb to a sudden exhaustion, and lose all sense of being. The absence of the power of their Personas was a deafening silence, but it faded as they felt themselves return to a familiar sensation; sleep, and the familiarity of the real world.

Day 2: August 21st

Jukebox: Shoji Meguro - Persona 3 - Iwatodai Dorm (The Morning After)

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YouTube Link

Each of the 8 summoners awoke in the morning more physically tired than they had ever felt before. They felt a soreness, as if all in the day prior they had run a marathon up-and-down a mountain while curling weights with each arm. This was accompanied with a pressure in their heads; much like a headache, but without any actual pain.

The most poignant feeling, however, was a sense of clarity. In some way, large or small, they had been changed profoundly. Awakening to their Persona and the confrontation with their deep inhibitions, regardless of their belief in the matter or not, was fresh in their minds down to the very last detail, and with this clear memory came a clear understanding of what made such an event significant in their first place.

A relatively small, but very noticeable change, was that they all became acutely aware that the inner monologue in their minds (the "voice" that "spoke" their thoughts as they thought them) had taken on the voices of their Personas.

Among all else, their personalities and their understanding of themselves, while still retaining shape, had advanced forward in some way.

Throughout the day they each found it hard to concentrate on their current tasks; the seven of the students other than Max attended school as normal, while Max met with social workers walking him through what was going to happen in his mother's absence. The long and short of it was thus; as a legal adult, he was allowed to retain ownership of the house he had once shared with her, and the life insurance among other things would pay for the expenses the building incurred for a few years.

In addition, he was notified by some extended family (all sending their condolences) that the funeral planning procedures were being carried out and were expected to pan out sometime at the end of the month. Lastly, he was notified by the police that his mother's death was still being investigated, and he would be contacted if there was any progress made on the case.

As he wandered the house during his excused absence (which would last until the 26th), he came across several mementos, as well as several items indicating his mother's recent activity; headache medication, hobby magazines, two CDs from local rising star musician Euthalia Nova, new recipe books, old photo albums...

___________

As the school day approached its end, the summoners found themselves still physically exhausted and their thoughts still sounding like the voice of their Personas. Try as they might, 'speaking' to their Persona via their thoughts was not possible, and the act of 'thinking' as it were was the same as always save for the change in tone.

Max was free to do as he liked; remain home, leave to occupy himself, or whatever course of action caught his fancy. Likewise, as the Academy's final bell for the day rang, the other seven summoners were free to do as they wished, as extracurriculars had not yet began.

As always, many other students began to gather at the gates of the school's combination Student Union/Library to meet with each other, discuss plans, or simply loiter.

[Pilovv]

Makoto was the loitering type. She was considering going to the clocktower, since it was peaceful, and kind of required after such an exhausting day. This voice in her head was starting to get on her nerves... She didn't think she'd be so obsessed with a dream, even though there's a part of her that feels like it's very real. There was also part of her that wanted to find the other kids, to see if they would say anything about it... But at the same time, she didn't want that interaction at all.

[Aarah]

After trudging through the school day, Keira was glad when classes were over.
Although the events of the night before were too surreal to be true, she knew in her head and her heart that it hadn't been just a dream.
She could hear Iris speaking her own thoughts, she felt physically exhausted, but at the same time she felt like she could do anything.

While normally, Keira would have congregated at the gates to meet with friends, today she didn't feel like it.
Instead, she stood at the gates with her eyes closed. Thinking for a moment, she then began to make her way alone to The Daily Grind.

[Baloth-Kul]

Max sat crosslegged at the end of his bed, his laptop growing warm on top of him. Aside from his few obligations, he had spent most of his waking hours researching anything to do with the Velvet Room, Personae...all for naught.

I should probably do some tidying up. He took the mountain of coffee cups, plates, and bowls from his room, and began to wash dishes, while making lingering eye contact with a framed picture of his mother.

[The SheoDovah]

Oscar Nigel Tarinson

"AAAARGH!" Oscar Nigel Tarinson shouted as he woke up and recalled every last detail of the events in the Velvet Room, including the family reunion. His mind seemed to replay the mocking laughter and caused quite a lot of unhappy memories to surface. He felt his eyes starting to tear up as he sat up on his bed. "No." He clenched his fist but despite his efforts, sorrow flooded his entire being. He began to sob uncontrollably for the next hour.

Damnit. I am stronger then this. [&@%!] them. I will be stronger. I will master my emotions. I will not let those things use it against me. I will be a wall when I need to be. I will be! I SHALL BE!

Despite being physically exhausted and wanting nothing more then to spend the entire day sleeping, he forced himself to get ready for the day. As usual, he remained quiet during lessons but the events of last night gave him a bit of a spiteful motivation to achieve something. He focused even harder on his work to prove he was much more then his family. To prove to himself he was smarter, better and capable of working for a living.

After lessons concluded and having drank a lot of coffee to keep himself awake, he made his way towards the library. He had intended on working out but his body would not allow it.

He searched the library for everything related to Personas, The Velvet Room and any reports of similiar situations but could not seem to locate it. However, he was aware that in his tired state, he could have overlooked it. So, he elected to abandon his quest for research and went to look for Brendan to see how he was doing. He heard about Max's loss and wanted to try to make an attempt to cheer him up but he felt he was the worst person to speak to Max regarding family matters. He began to hum the William Tell Overture as he walked.

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Hopefully, this is ok. He didn't look that hard due to his tired state thus i feel left a lot of room open for overlooking books on the matter. If not, i will edit that out.

[Aarah]

As she headed to the coffee house, Keira looked around at the people walking by.

From the moment she'd awoken that morning, she'd wanted to seek out the other students from the night's dream. She'd wanted to verify what had happened, confirmation from another person that it was all true.
However, in getting up late and then attending classes, Keira had been unable to search for any of the others, and as the day had gone on, she'd started to convince herself that speaking to them might be a bad idea.
What if they had no idea what she was talking about? What it they hadn't been on the ice rink, and couldn't hear their Persona in their thoughts?
She feared it would mean she was suffering from some kind of mental disturbance.

In thinking all this, Keira had decided, upon the end of the school day, that she would forgot about the others for now.
If she happened to bump into one of them, however, she'd take it as a sign. Signs were a thing. She believed in little signs from the Universe.

[Hissien]

Parvati Maheshwari

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Name: Parvati Maheshwari
Age: 17
Nationality: Indian
Sex: Female
Academic Class: Junior
Campus Involvement: Art, Painting, Art Club
Living Situation: On Campus, dorm
Major Arcana: The Priestess
Persona: Kali the Dark Mother
Strong Element: Darkness
Weak Element: Light
Appearance:

Spoiler:

Parvati is a tall, curvy girl with fair features. Her face is heart shaped, with high cheekbones, a slightly pointed nose, and light brown eyes. Her hair is long and straight with a noticeable sheen. She has big sad eyes with a slight pout to her full lips. She always wears a nose ring, large gold hoops and has a small gold chain that has a dancing, four armed woman depicted.
Persona Appearance:

Spoiler:

Personality: Contemplative, cunning, and secretly sweet. Parvati has a harder exterior than most but once charmed she is fiercely loyal.
Backstory: Parvati was born in Chennai, a small village outside of Tamil Nadu (the southernmost city of India). She was raised in a large house with an even larger family inside. Unlike most western homes, in which it is the immediate family in a home, Parvati’s entire extended family lived with her included the elders, uncles, aunts, brothers, and sisters. Being the youngest of five, Parvati was secluded for most of her life from the outside world due to her family’s conservative nature. Much to the young girl’s disdain.
At the first opportunity, Parvati left for boarding school choosing a place that would make her parents stay as far away as possible: Horizon. Located in Canada and regularly being covered in snow gives her parents little reason to come though she does have to call them every day at 5 pm via skype call. Or they will call her phone, then the school, then the phone again and so on until they work themselves into a tizzy.
Items, Possessions: An Iphone, a macbook, a drawing tablet, several casual outfits including pleather jackets, a few indian dresses (she has to wear them on the skype calls) fine shoes (also pleather), assorted Indian style jewelry, a trust fund provided by her parents, and painting supplies.
Relationships:
Name: Sanje Patel
Age:17
Appearance: Sanje is a slightly paunchy indian boy with a big smile and thick glasses. He has round, full features and calf brown eyes. He has long, black hair that is slightly wavy. He likes to wear it tied back in some semblance of a bun.
Personality: Sanje is a sweet, loving person that tries to be nice to everyone. He struggles with his self image and doesn't let people see it. Part of the reason that he is so friendly is because he doesn't want kids to pick on him for his thick accent of glasses.

Parvati sat alone in the coffee shop at a table in the corner. She had a French press sitting on the table with a single cup that was warm but still empty and her macbook out on the table. She typed on it for a few minutes before pouring the hot coffee from the finalized press into the mug.

I hope Sanje wants to come, I can only do art history for so long alone.. She thought bitterly before taking a sip of rich coffee.

The dark roast had a smoke boquet that paired well with the cream she added. The paradise of the moment vanished when she looked at her screen and had to return to studying. With an inward groan she went back to studying looking for any excuse to quit early.

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Hey guys, sorry I'm late

[Unionhack]

Makoto

Without a destination in mind, Makoto remained at the gates for the time being. She saw Keira pass by, but Keira didn't notice her in turn. Makoto remembered the girl from her dream the prior night.

Max, Oscar

In their pursuits to find anything related to the dream the night prior, Max and Oscar turned up several results. Searches for "Persona" typically led to studies on philosophy and psychology, while inquiries relating to a "Velvet Room" turned up quotes from Edgar Allen Poe's Masque of the Red Death and several tacky interior design choices. Nothing made the mention of quite what they had experienced.

Oscar was unable to find Brendan in his search. With so many students coming and going, it was possible he missed him in the crowds.

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I'm not entirely sure if Spacey is gonna be with us for a while with how he's been busy lately, so I'm gonna go ahead and deter Oscar from that if that's okay. Don't want you having to interact with thin air.

Keira, Parvati - The Daily Grind

Keira entered the coffee house, and as always the wafting scents of espresso immediately greeted her. The place was rather empty for the end of a school day, and the only other customer besides herself at the moment was an Indian girl tucked away in the corner. Keira didn't recognize her, and thus she probably wasn't in her grade.

One of the three grandsons of the establishment's owner looked up from his spot at the espresso machine. "Hi there, welcome to the Daily Grind. Can I get you anything today?"

The messaging app on Parvati's computer popped up with a notification.

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Hissi, this is my fault for not clarifying it with you, but Sanje is her boyfriend I would assume?

[Aarah]

"Hi, yeah, can I get a tall caramel macchiato, please?" Keira asked the young man, giving him a friendly smile.
She glanced up at the menu board.
"Aaaand...a cherry muffin."

[Dirty Spaceman]

Brendan

Brendan went through the day in a very discombobulated state. He kept himself together enough to not seem strange to his friends - and he was able to excuse himself of the occasional slip-up by truthfully claiming exhaustion - but things felt very surreal to him after the events of the previous night, especially with his inner voice now represented by Guan Yu of all people.

He stopped outside the gates and leaned back against the nearest stretch of bare wall, telling himself he just wanted to rest for a moment before heading back to his dorm - but truthfully he wanted to see if he could catch a glimpse of any of the people who'd rescued him the night before. That would truly prove how real it had been.

[Hissien]

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No, just her best friend. They could have the potential for some underlying sexual tension but I wanted them to be just two friends trying to get through life together

Parvati Maheshwaran


Parvati noticed the notification and set her coffee cup down. She moved the cursor down with her teeny tiny mouse and clicked the icon, opening the app responsible for the messaging and reading it.


This better not be another one of those damn chain texts.. She thought bitterly, remembering the woes they promised if you did not send it to ten people.

[Pilovv]

Makoto noticed Kiera walk by, but didn't really think to intervene. She didn't need any reminder of what happened last night, since apparently not even her own brain was letting her forget that. She wasn't sure why she was so obsessed... She huffed, not sure what to do with herself. She was pretty tired, after all... She decided to now leave the gates, taking a few steps out and trying to figure out whether she should go to the Clocktower or just head straight home. She wasn't very hard to see.

[The SheoDovah]

Oscar Nigel Tarinson

Having failed to locate Brendan, Oscar Nigel Tarinson elected to go to one of his frequent haunts, the Coffee Shop. He spent a bit too much time there on some days and despite his British heritage, had a massive fondness of coffee instead of tea. He liked tea but sometimes, he fancied a cuppa coffee. He wasn't surprised by the lack of books on Personas as it was a long shot but couldn't help but wonder why everyone that was there, was chosen.

[Unionhack]

Keira, Parvati, Oscar - The Daily Grind

"Yeah, coming right up." replied the man at the counter, his name tag reading 'Ross'. After getting Keira's payment processed, he went about making and serving up her order in a timely fashion. "And there you go!" he said, almost in a chirping tone of voice.

Parvati opened up the message; it was from Sanje.

hi, i don't think i'm gonna make it today. there was a lot of stuff to go over with my parents about tuition and stuff. you can swing by the dorm later if you want though.

Oscar entered the Daily Grind shortly after Keira received her order. She was the first person he saw upon entering.

Makoto, Brendan - Academy Gates

As Makoto made a move to leave the gates, her eye fell upon Brendan. The two of them noticed each other simultaneously; both were hard to forget from the dream the prior night, given Brendan's central role to the whole event and Makoto's distinguishing eyepatch.

[Hissien]

Parvati - The Daily Grind


Parvati let out an audible groan as she looked over the words, wondering what she would do now. She looked around the cafe as Oscar entered, and watched from afar. She always loved people watching, it was a good pastime.

She pulled out her sketchbook and started to draw the patrons in line with her pens.

[Aarah]

Keira smiled.
"Thanks...Ross." She said, squinting at his nametag.

She put her purse back in her bag after paying, and then collected her coffee and muffin.
Her preoccupation with her items made her not notice Oscar come in, as she sat down at an empty table.

[The SheoDovah]

Oscar Nigel Tarinson - COFFEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!

Oscar Nigel Tarinson arrived at the coffee shop and spotted Kiera. "Interesting dreams?" He remarked as he saw her sit down at an empty table whilst making his way towards the counter. "Afternoon. I would like to have a cappacino with dairy cream on top and with toffee sauce all over it and could I have a prawn sandwich along with a bacon sandwich." He fancied treating himself today instead of the usual cuppa with one sugar as a result of the events of last night. Still, he did ponder why they were chosen.

[Unionhack]

The Daily Grind

Ross blinked from his spot behind the counter as he furiously scribbled down shorthand instructions for Oscar's order. "Ah... right, coming right up." he replied as he took Oscar's payment and then went off to make the order, mumbling the components to himself so that he wouldn't forget. It would take a little longer to make than Keira's order.

As Parvati got to work on her sketches, she felt a slight pulse in her right temple, like a headache that faded just as quickly as it had come. The sudden jolt made her accidentally mess up a sketch line, and she could have sworn she heard a soft whisper; although that may have just been the steam coming from the espresso machine.

[The SheoDovah]

Oscar Nigel Tarinson - Daily Grind

"Cheers." After he paid for his order, Oscar Nigel Tarinson made his way towards Kiera. "Mind if I sit here?" He inquired. It was rare for him to approach someone else due to his nature but last night was rather unique and was curious to see what everyone else thought of their powers. Along with wanting to attempt to get to know his fellow summoners better but he was more then aware that it was quite a large task and probably end in failure. Still, it was better to try then not try at all.

[Aarah]

Keira - The Daily Grind

Keira looked up at Oscar as he first walked by on his way to the counter.
His presence and words made her eyes widen.
Interesting dreams? Holy cow! It was real!
She stared at him as he made his order, then took a quick sip of her coffee.

When he came over to her table, she answered eagerly.
"Yes! No. Sit. Yes. I really wanna talk to you."

[The SheoDovah]

Oscar Nigel Tarinson - The Dreamy Grind

"Yes, you've had interesting dreams or yes to me sitting down or no to the dreams but yes to the sitting down or yes to the dreams and no to sitting down?" Oscar Nigel Tarinson remarked as he sat down. Either that was his idea of a joke and a rather awful one at that, or he wasn't really good at being social. "So, want do you want to speak to me about and don't say about coffee. That would be a dull affair though, i do love a good ol' cuppa of the stuff but after last night, it's rather dull in comparsion." His body language may have revealed how awkward he found doing this or he just really needed a good cuppa. I take it you believed it to be false then.

[Aarah]

Keira - Daily Grind

Keira gawped at Oscar as he sat down. He was prattling on about what she had meant by Yes and No, all of which she let pass and instead leaned closer to him so that Ross and Parvati couldn't overhear.

"Coffee, what? No. Last night, of course. So...that was all real then, right? It all happened? All of us with that snake thing? And our Personas?"
Keira waited for confirmation that they were definitely on the same page.

[The SheoDovah]

Oscar Nigel Tarinson

After listening to the barrage of questions, Oscar Nigel Tarinson rubbed the back of his neck. "Yes." He let out a small yawn. "That or we both dreamed of the same thing and should play the lottery." He informed her with a mild smile. "But the big question that we should be asking is why and what is our purpose?" He noticed that she had leaned towards him. "I did some sleuthing around the library but apart from the odd mention and it seems to be all that philosphocial [&@%!]." He looked at the counter for a few seconds before focusing back on Kiera. "But there is something that we should take note of. These personas."