[OOC] Persona: Lost to Darkness

[Lionheart]

People are disappearing. Normally I wouldn't think that much of it, just some people wanting to go off the grid except........

This city is usually quite peaceful, quiet. I work to keep it that way....... But this, this is just bizarre. There's no pattern, no profile, just a string of random disappearances as if the victims were abducted by aliens. The crime-scenes are all spitting images of the others, door ajar, pool of the victim's blood, TV displaying static, and worst of all....... A bloody serpent manipulated to consume it's own tail, nailed to the door. What's going on? Where are the victims? Are they still alive? Is this the work of some cult? The flashing red lights of the squad cars illuminated the dark, empty front lawn around me, the sound of rain pattering against the rooftops permeated the moist air. One final thought struck me.

..............What do those high-schoolers know that I don't?

---

OKay, here we are the OOC! Without further ado information dump! But first some obligatory rules.....

Rules

Of course there are rules, but I run a pretty laid-back operation.
-Obligatory no godmodding, metagaming etc, etc, you guys know that one.

-This is Casual so no one-liners please.

-If you disappear for more then two weeks without a word to anyone I will continue the RP without you, so if you have a vacation or something coming up just let me know.

-And finally if you guys start fighting, settle it like adults. If I have to get involved things will get ugly.

The place this RP will take place is the city of Hirameki, which I've made up. Hirameki is a large metropolis and it's entire Eastern side is beach and pier space. Most transportation is done by train or car, walking from one side of the city to the other would take an entire day. All of the PCs will be highschool students aged 15-18 most likely, and you all attend Satoru Highschool which is one of the nicer, higher end schools in the city. Hirameki City has a few large mall complexes as well as a few prominent parks and an amusement park which is on the pier.

As for Arcana, I will allow a max of two of the same Arcana. All of them except Jester, Hunger, Judgement, World, and Universe are available to players.
You can also make original Personas so long as they are based off of a mythological figure. Also no original Skills aside from special circumstances later on (*Ahem* Social Links*Ahem*)

There will be Social Links, in a manner of speaking. You will obviously interact with each other and various NPCs throughout the RP. My plan was that as you interact with one another and with these NPCs, you will learn more about each other, grow closer, and become friends. The further along this path you tread, the more benefits will be conferred. These benefits ranging from new abilities for your Persona, maybe stronger elemental resistances, or if the growth is between two PCs, something more. These Social Links are each individual and are only limited by the amount of PCs and NPCs, meaning you can form these bonds with anyone that it makes sense to.

Shadows. In this RP your Shadow isn't what you repress per se. It's what you desire most in the whole-wide world. Think what your greatest desire is, the thing you would give anything to be or have, then subvert and pervert it to the extreme. That is what your shadow is, an extreme manifestation of your desire. Also for all Shadow stuff I would like you to PM them to me and don't post them with the rest your Character Sheet.

I think that's about everything except for the CS which is right here.

CS

Name:
Age:
Gender:
Birthday/Birthplace/Nationality:

Clubs/Extracurricular activities:(Optional)
Occupation: (If Any)
Weapon:

Appearance: (A description please, you may have a picture in addition but a written description is a must.)
Personality:
Backstory:
Likes:
Dislikes:

Persona:
Arcana:
Skills: (Three basic skills to start.)
Strengths/Weaknesses: (For instance Strong to Fire, weak to Ice.)

Shadow Personality: (These three get sent straight to me)
Shadow's True Form:
Shadow's Human Form:

Character List

1st Year
Rika Tachibana
Tsukiko Yamamoto*
Tim Wolfe
Naganori Tadayoshi

2nd Year
Alexander Masters*
Celeste Watanabe*
Miki Nagataki*
Tetsuo Amaya

3rd Year
Nanase Suzu
Yamataga Mihari*

*=Hasn't posted in this OOC long enough that I've determined them inactive.

[Kumori Master]

Character sheet! ^^

Rika Tachibana

Name: Rika Tachibana
Age: 16
Gender: Female

Birthday/Birthplace/Nationality: March 19th, Tokyo, Japanese

Clubs/Extracurricular activities: None at his time

Occupation: High school student 1st year

Weapon: Dual Daggers

Appearance: Rika has a small, slim figure as well as a pale complexion. She's right around 5' 2" with red eyes, and long white hair usually hanging freely. She is albino, that is the complete or partial absence of pigment in the skin. This causes her unatural hair, skin, and eye color.

Rika often perfers wearing more masculine clothes. Partially because of her skin, but mostly as a personal preference. She mostly wears long sleeves, unless she is going to be indoors. She absolutly hates skirts and will avoid wearing them as much as she can.


Personality: When you ask just about anyone what Rika is like. You'll usually get a one word answer, wierd. Which is rather true as she is incredibly eccentric and zealous. She's very unuasual in her way of interacting with people. Mostly, it's because her way of handling things is different than most. She hardly ever gets embarresed or flustered. Not to mention, she's an incredibly bad judge of personal boundries. As such she will usually speak her mind or ask an innapropriate question without thinking on it much. She actually enjoys messing with people in this way to some degree. Albeit, usually only in a teasing manner as she is never outright cruel or malicious.

Rika is honestly a good person, you just have to get to know her. In fact, she treats her friends very kindly and holds them in the highest regards. However, most are put off by her odd way of acting. This is only accented by her physical appearance. Many deem her the "strange girl". Which she actually doesn't mind most of the time. That is, unless it turns to mockery or outright cruelty. She'll then bite back vicously at those who mocked her. She hates this about herself, but she can't help it.

Backstory: Rika grew up with two elder brothers, her and her siblings always made a competition out of everything where Rika usually ended up the loser. Partly due to the fact that she wasn't quite as healthy as a young child. She often times had to stay in the house and read, or play on the computer.

As she grew older she started becoming more and more healthy and resilient. This allowed her to begin activly participating in clubs and extracaricular activities at school for the first time. For awhile she joined club after club, switching to a new one about after a week. But what her newfound health also gave her was the ability to stand up to those who bullied her mercilessly while she was weak. She began pranking, mocking, and tricking all of the people who picked on her most. Due to this she was labled as a trouble kid and her parents had to remove her from school.

Soon after, her family had to rellocate due to her father's job. They moved to the city of Hirameki. Her parents only allowed her to go to school under the condition she not cause trouble. Rika readily agreed as she herself was unhappy with the way she acted. Her parents were strict with her for awhile and she worked to curb her troublesome ways. Nowadays, her parants have lightened up, and she's much better about it. She's rarely as extreme in her vengeful ways as she used to be.

Likes: Rainy days, pop music, tofu, anime, manga, video games

Dislikes: Dogs, sunny days, hatred of any real kind, solitude, skirts

---

Persona: Kitsune
Arcana: XVIII, Moon
Skills:
1. Bash - Deals light Physical damage to one foe.
2. Agi - Deals light Fire damage to one foe.
3. Tentarafoo - Chance of inflicting the Confusion ailment on all foes.

Strengths/Weaknesses:
-Resist: Fire, Physical
-Weak: Dark, ice

[Makatsume Haru]

Clicky here!

Name: Yamataga Mihari

Age: 18

Gender: Female

Birthday/Birthplace/Nationality: April 20; Sakai City, Osaka Prefecture, Japan; Japanese

Clubs/Extracurricular activities: Swim Team.

Occupation: N/A

Weapon: Nagimaki, a katana with an extra large handle. The handle and the blade have approximately the same length. The handle is black with golden details, while the blade is your plain ol' silver. Mostly used for large swipes against big shadows, to compense for her height.

Appearance:


She has short, bowl shaped brown hair and deep blue eyes. She stands at 1.50 m, making her quite short for her age, in Japanese standards. She prefers not to disclose her weight and can be very sensitive about it, but it is estimated that it is around 50-60 kgm. He build is quite petite, since many things about her are as short as her height, and she is also very self-conscious about both her build and height, so telling her so can upset her. She is often mistaken for a middle schooler.

Personality: She has a heavy accent from her region, and she also talks in Kansai-ben, the distinguishing manner of speech of the Kansai region, referring to herself as 'uchi'. Some make fun of her because of this, but she doesn't really mind it. In fact, she has been bullied since she was a little girl, but with time she has learned how to deal with bullies, often letting insulting things slide. Getting her upset is something really, really hard and one of the few things that accomplish so is calling her 'short' or 'a kid'. While she can withstand being bullied herself, she cannot accept that someone bullies someone else, even worse if that someone is her friend and she will often meddle in, not caring too much for whatever may happen to her, as long as she can see others safe.

This kind of thing happens very often, not only when she sees someone being bullied. Mihari will also help you if you have been appointed to cleaning duty or if you have to go carry something. Whatever it is, she will help you, even if it seems impossible for her. Mihari is someone who prefers to sacrifice an outing with her friends than letting someone do something on their own, so she is the go to person if you ever find yourself in a fix. Mihari is selfless to a fault, not knowing when to stop or who to help, as long as she can lend a hand, even if it is dangerous, she is happy. She has grades better than average, due to her constant studying, since she also helps those with low grades to study.

While her overall personality is of someone calm and smiling, she often leaves her own things at last and prefers to do what others want to, often adapting her likings to what others like so they can have fun together, however, the only thing she won't ever change about her and the only thing she is certain to like on her own volition is singing, and it is also the only way with what she can let out the stress she builds up.

Backstory: She was born and raised in Sakai city, where she acquired her manner of speaking, but, due to her parents work, she moved to Hirameki city. Growing up in a place where everyone made fun of her because of the way she spoke was harsh, there was a time where she even thought of secluding herself from society, become a shut-in where no one could hurt her. At the very least, she knew that that wouldn't solve anything, so she tried to make a change in tactics, to ignore whatever hurtful things others would say and prove them that she wasn't the same as them, and so, she started helping them with everything she could, trying to befriend them rather than making them her enemies.

It worked better than she would expect, to be honest. Many of the harsh comments subsided and she made friends from where one would less expect it. After that, her constant helping of others turned into an habit and she continued doing it.

Lately, she has her head full of things. She is in her last year of high school, but the question remains, what should she do after it? Her parents have told her that she should go to college and inherit the family profession, however, she wants to go to a special college in which she can study her favourite thing in this whole world, singing, but she knows full well that her parents wouldn't let her and that to do so, she would need to leave her house and start working. While the latter isn't something worrisome, she is indeed worried of what her parents may think, since she doesn't want them to get mad at her, after all, she was raised by both, no matter how much work they had, they always found time for her, and she is grateful of it.

Likes: Books, music (Both listening to it and singing it), cats, helping others.

Dislikes: Others helping her, bullies, insects.

Persona: Siren

Arcana: Hanged Man

Skills: Bufu, Makajam, Ice Boost

Strengths/Weaknesses: Resistant to Ice, Dark. Weak to Fire, Light.

Imma be leavin' my CS here.

[Crimson Flame]

The place this RP will take place is the city of Hirameki, which I've made up.

They speak English there right? The last time I did an American exchange student in a Japanese setting, the whole no one speaks your language thing made life difficult. >.<

Name: Timothy "Tim" Wolfe
Age: 16
Gender: Male
Birthday/Birthplace/Nationality: March 15/United States/American
Clubs/Extracurricular activities: Cooking Club
Occupation: Student, Occasionally volunteers at an animal shelter
Weapon: Shield



Appearance: Tim is somewhat short for a young man his age. It upsets him a bit when someone points this out. Despite seeming weak and fragile, he is actually stronger than he looks. He has an athletic build and is physically fit due to having lived in a small town all of his life, and spending a lot of time running around outside. He spends a good amount of time in the sun so his skin is lightly tanned as a result, not pale but not bronzed either. He has messy black hair on top of his head, and his bangs go to his eyebrows. He has big brown eyes, a small nose, and a round "Babyface", which give him a youthful appearance. His face is clean-shaven, and his upper body is free of any hair except the top of his head and eyebrows.

Tim prefers to dress simply and casually. He doesn't want to have to fuss with his clothes, or worry about ruining them, as well as being comfortable in them. His usual outfit usually consists of a T-shirt, shorts, and sneakers. His favorite shirt is a loose-fitting dark blue and white striped T-shirt. He wears a pair of khaki cargo shorts on the bottom that are held up by a black leather belt. His footwear of choice are a pair of comfortable grey sneakers and short white socks. He carries a blue backpack to store whatever essential items he might need to have at the moment.

Personality: Tim is a shy and quiet individual by nature. He was always this way, and being bullied as a kid didn't help. He is very sensitive, and he fears being bullied. He usually speaks with a quiet voice, and occasionally a stutter when he's nervous. He also becomes very apologetic when someone shows any hint of being upset. He has a thing for animals, and he usually prefers being with animals than with people. Animals will listen without judgement, and only expect a little kindness in return. He is gentle and softspoken, which seems to be the reason why he has such an easy time with animals. He gets scared easily, his worst phobia being stage fright. He gets really nervous when having to speak or perform in front of an audience. He really wants to be the brave, but it's harder than it looks.

Despite being shy, he is by no means antisocial. If you talk to him, you'll find he's quite friendly, and polite. He can laugh and make jokes like any other kid. He is always happy to have to new friends, because his shyness makes it difficult to make them. He is very affectionate and loyal to those he likes. He hates it when people are angry around him, so he tries his best to keep the peace. In conversations, he is usually more of a listener than a talker, and he has no problems being a sounding board when someone wants to vent (As long as they don't hurt him.) Tim is very kind to others, often to a fault. He is very trusting of people, and is willing to give them the benefit of the doubt.

Tim is usually very difficult to anger, and is very quick to forgive someone when he does get mad. However, during the times when he is not in a good mood, he can be quite scary if you do catch him at a bad moment. He doesn't want to burden others with his problems, and he fears being made fun of, so he keeps his feelings to himself. This causes him personal frustration. When it gets to be too much, he'll lash out at the target, and let out his pent up rage. He dislikes bullying (towards himself or others,) as well as people being needlessly cruel to animals. Doing one of those things is the best way to get him upset.

Tim is very careful and calculating, and although he doesn't like to brag about it, the boy is intelligent. He always thinks before he speaks, and prefers not to wrecklessly jump into danger. However, due to his insecurity he is often uncertain if the choices he makes are the right ones. He can easily be convinced to change his mind. This leaves him with some anger when the plan fails and he knew his original idea would have worked. He also doesn't like violence all that much, having been a victim of it most of his life. Although he doesn't look like it, Tim has a big appetite. He likes eating many different kinds of foods, and has the cooking skills to match.

Backstory: Tim was born in a small town by the ocean somewhere in America. His mom was a veterinarian, while his dad was a meteorologist. Tim's parents weren't rich, but they did all they could to give their son a good life, and give him every advantage. While they expressed having high hopes for their son's success, they tried not to put too much pressure on the boy. Tim's father was shy and bookish, and Tim seems to have gotten those traits from him. For the most part, his life was normal. Tim was often a target of bullying because of his shyness, tendency to get scared easily, and because he was clumsy. No matter what he did to get them to stop it, it always failed or they found something else to give him crap about. It gave him self-esteem issues, resulting in him becoming even more timid. As a result, he had very few friends growing up. He didn't tell anyone about the bullying, lest it become worse. He saw other kids get beaten up much worse after they snitched, and he didn't want that to happen. So he kept it all inside and let his resentment build.

While he takes after his dad as far as his temperament is concerned, he inherented a few things from his mom besides her looks. From an early age, he always had a special talent for caring for animals, just like her. They seem to be fond of him due to his softspoken nature. He often finds sick, or injured animals and cares for, plays with, and feeds them when no one else will. His mother often brought her work home with her, so the boy practically grew up around animals. Around animals, Tim felt much more like himself. He found relief from the stresses of life, and he's found they are the best friends he could ask for. He always knew he wanted to do something with animals when he gets older. He just wasn't sure what. Life continued as normal for the boy. Although the bullying has stopped when he started high school, it still had an effect on him, which is why he didn't talk to other students all that much.

His mother thinking it would be a good idea to broaden her son's horizons, and help him meet people, decided to put him in a foreign exchange program. When Tim found out what his mother did, he was completely against the idea, (although, he didn't voice that. This was his mom after all.) Now, he's currently living in the foregin city of Hirameki, and attending Satoru High School. He's finding it to be not as bad as he thought it was going to be, but he still prefers to keep to himself.

Likes: Animals, cute things, food, nature, nice people
Dislikes: Bullies, jerks, large crowds of people, scary things, excessive violence

Persona: Dryad



Arcana: High Priestess
Skills: Dia, Tarunda, Rakukaja
Strengths/Weaknesses:

Resists: Light, Lightning
Weak: Dark, Fire

I'll get back to you on the Shadow stuff...

[Noel]

Just popping in to say shes writing up a character~ While the guilds not down...

[Lionheart]

Okay, for the purpose of language, it doesn't matter. You can all understand each other perfectly fine for whatever reason, don't worry about it.

Also, I'm not familiar with P1 or 2, as such I would like to limit skills to P3 or 4 as those are what I know. To fit with your Persona's theme I would recommend Buffs, Debuffs, and Healing. If you really want some magic I would recommend Light or Wind, alternatively I would be willing to allow Almighty.

For future reference, this is a list of skills. Skills

[Crimson Flame]

Lionheart said
Okay, for the purpose of language, it doesn't matter. You can all understand each other perfectly fine for whatever reason, don't worry about it. Also, I'm not familiar with P1 or 2, as such I would like to limit skills to P3 or 4 as those are what I know. To fit with your Persona's theme I would recommend Buffs, Debuffs, and Healing. If you really want some magic I would recommend Light or Wind, alternatively I would be willing to allow Almighty. For future reference, this is a list of skills.

Changed the skills. He'll get an actual attack move later on. xD

[Kumori Master]

So, I finally got my character sheet finished. Edited my first post as I intended to. Probably would have finished it sooner. But I was writing it in a wordpad document, I was almost finished. Then my computer was all like "restart now for updates!". And I didn't think about it too hard. So, It didn't save the progress I had on the CS and I had to retype the whole thing. ;_;

[Noel]

Quick question, is everyone just gonna have one persona that gets stronger through the game, or evolving personas?

[Lionheart]

Ahahaha, good question. Looks like I forgot that, yes there will be Persona evolutions so you might think on that while making your characters.

[Noel]

Thankya, heh, needed that little tidbit to decide on a starting persona. Also, she might take a little longer than intended to get somthing up. She was gonna have a kitsune persona and somehow didn't notice someone else already did that, heh. /fail

[Lionheart]

Well, I was hoping a few more from the Interest Check would have made it here, but I guess not. I'll give them until the weekend, if they're not here by then I guess we'll start.

Also I still need the Shadow info from you Crimson

[Crimson Flame]

Lionheart said
Also I still need the Shadow info from you Crimson

Working on it. I know the personality, just not what it looks like.

Edit: Done. Hope I did it right...

[Lionheart]

CRimson your shadow stuff is perfectly in order so now, I can say with pride, that I accept your CS.

Also Noel I'm still waiting in agonizing anticipation to see what you've got for me.

[Rultaos]

Is there still room in this RP? If so, I'd like to get a piece of the action =). But just so you guys know, I'm a newbie to the Persona universe, as I just recently got into it after watching episodes of an LP on Persona 4. So I'll try my best to fit in if you'll have me, but please correct me and help me out if ever I make any mistakes (and I probably will)

[Lionheart]

Yes of course you can join! Just read the OP if you haven't already and start on a CS.

[Rultaos]

Already did, and am also partway done with my CS. Just a note though, but I'm not Japanese (nor do I have extensive knowledge of their culture), so if I make any mistakes in that regard as well, please feel free to correct me, haha XD

[Rultaos]

And... here he is! =)

Naganori Tadayoshi

Name: Naganori Tadayoshi
Age: 16
Gender: Male
Birthday/Birthplace/Nationality: March 8 / Tokyo, Japan / Japanese

Clubs/Extracurricular activities: N/A
Occupation: N/A
Weapon: Yari. More specifically the Sasaho Yari. A Yari whose blade is shaped like a bamboo leaf. Has red streaks on the pole along with a crimson cloth tied at the part where the blade meets the pole.

Appearance:


His eyes are more hazel (as opposed to the picture). He usually wears his hair in a spiky, downward fashion. He has a light skin tone, and an average body build (that can be borderline skinny). He tends to wear hooded jackets during cold seasons, but settles for regular shirts (but usually also with a small hood) during warmer days. He always wears pants, and rarely ever wears shorts when heading out.

Personality: A quiet type of person, Naganori usually doesn't speak unless spoken to. However, this doesn't stop him from speaking up if he feels the need to, as he will still speak his mind if he thinks he must. Due to this, he does not make friends very easily, and doesn't draw attention to himself. He treats any insults or mockery towards him with disdain; ignoring them as well as the person doing it. Though it doesn't mean that he is unaffected. If the target of said insults are people close to him however, it is a different story.

Naganori is very caring towards his family. He will do what he can to lighten the burden of his parents, even to the point of sacrificing his own wants and needs. He tries his best to solve the problems that affect them and himself, even if most would say that it is beyond his power. Naganori denies those sorts of claims, believing "everything is possible with the right actions". He behaves the same way towards friends who have become close to him, devoting much of himself to help them. This is because he believes that someone should first do things for others before others will give goodwill to them. Though this does not mean that he expects rewards for his actions, only that he does not expect others to care for him before he shows his care first.

However, his zeal to help those close to him can sometimes put others (whom he is not as close to) in the line of fire. He is often oblivious to the pains and struggles of those whom he does not know, which can sometimes make him seem thick or insensitive. But once he knows someone better, he gains sympathy for them as well.

He is also a fairly logical person, with a tendency to not do anything that he thinks would be a waste of time. He knows time is limited for everyone, and does not see the point of doing anything that isn't worth the time to be put into it. This has usually made him ignore things that many kids consider "fun" (though he can still have fun, but only under the right circumstances). Helping his family and friends are one of the few things he sees as worthwhile.

Backstory: Born in the capital city, Naganori spent most of his life as an average, though reserved child. He did not easily get along with other children his age. The people he talked to and shared his thoughts with were his parents and elder brother. He and his brother (Sonoda Tadayoshi) were inseparable. They would always go to school together and go home together as well. Being the smarter sibling, Naganori often helped his brother excel in his studies, while his brother (who was a more popular athlete) helped make sure that Naganori wouldn't be bothered by anyone, as well as keeping him as popular as well. Aside from that, the two of them had mutual bonds in many other ways.

Unfortunately for the Tadayoshis, tragedy struck when Naganori was 14. Naganori had went home from school alone that day because his brother was off playing one of his basketball games. His father had gone to pick up Sonoda, but on the way home they were hit by a truck. Their father survived, but became crippled in one leg. However, Sonoda died before he reached the Emergency Room.

With his brother gone, Naganori became a more distant person, though his attitude has not changed, he is more quiet than he was before. People also started picking on him more, now that his brother was no longer there. Meanwhile, with his father crippled, their family had trouble making ends meet, with the mother doing most of the work to support them. They steadily lost more and more money, to the point that they were considering selling their home in Tokyo and moving somewhere else. Naganori did not want to go somewhere different, but he knew that his parents would not be able to make enough to keep the house. So he told them that he had no problems with moving, in order to convince them to go somewhere they could afford.

Thankfully, a relative living in Hirameki City, offered them a place to stay which was much cheaper than their old home. So at the age of 16, Naganori and his family moved to Hirameki. In a new place, this time without his brother by his side, Naganori felt a little lost and scared, but he steeled himself to not let those emotions show, so as not to make the burden of his parents any heavier. With their bags recently unpacked, and still adjusting to the new and smaller home, Naganori is enrolled into Satoru Highschool as a new transfer student. His parents at least wanted him to have a quality education even if they had to sacrifice other luxuries.

Likes: Music, story books, video games, pet animals, excelling in things, assisting those close to him
Dislikes: Wasting time, The Wilderness, being mocked, Insensitive people, people erroneously judging him

Persona: Romulus



Arcana: Emperor

Skills:
-Skewer: Deals light Physical damage to one foe.
-Zio: Deals light Electricity damage to one foe.
-Elec Boost: Increases Electricity damage output by 25%

Strengths/Weaknesses: Strong/resistant to Electricity and Physical. Weak to Ice and Wind

[Noel]

Shes still working on it, ended up taking some time off to try and get over some writers block, heh

[ShadowInfinity]

*character deleted*