Persona AU meme

[rikimaru]

Personas are manifestations of the soul, a mask worn by the wielder to face life and its hardships. Those with the ability to summon their persona are able to do battle against shadows, which embody the negative aspects of the heart. Shadows, much like personas, can take countless forms based on the person themselves. Despite the distinctions, both are derived from people, typically with shadows representing the part of yourself you deny and personas the parts you accept.

Both come from you. How you deal with both is entirely up to you.

NOW THAT WE GOT THE FLUFF OUT OF THE WAY, it's a generic persona AU meme. Borrow elements from the games, make up your own shit, it's your life; shape it to what you want it to be. The games generally mix slice of life with RPG shenanigans and both allow your characters to draw strength from their personas, from their true selves. Have fun with that.

A better summary of personas
Arcana alignments since every persona has one. Your call if you wanna bother with these.

How much you wanna AU your characters is up to you! Literally canon but with personas, suddenly high school setting with magical spirit monsters, whatever as long as you're having fun! Find your characters' arcana, make or borrow personas

SOME PROMPTS I GUESS:

1. Awakening: Sometimes, people gain the ability to summon personas after a crucial moment of intense emotion. A desire to protect, a yearning for revenge, maybe even the will to live. What's just as important as what brought on your awakening is who's around for it and who's about to get their asses kicked?

2. Shadow self: Those who have difficulty accepting who they are may have to deal with their shadows, their "darker" selves. Shadows emphasize (even exacerbate) the traits the person denies, growing violent and murderous when denied and potentially becoming personas when accepted. If you find your shadow, chances are you're in serious trouble. This could end in a fight if talking doesn't work. Just be careful about fighting a being that represents part of someone...

3. Dungeon crawling: Maybe this'll lead to a shadow confrontation, maybe it won't. Good on you if you're honing your fighting skills! Regardless, you're probably not alone in doing this, so take your pals and go beat up shadows. Dungeons shape themselves after a person's desires and personality, much like the shadows that inhabit them. If you're gonna go to a friend's dungeon, at least make sure they're okay with it; it might be too personal for them to deal with.

4. Social links: As most of the persona and shadow stuff happens behind the scenes, there's still the rest of your life to deal with. School stuff, work life, personal problems, it's all here. These are people you ride into battle with, so it's good to know who's on your side. It's as if actually being friends with someone will make them stronger allies or something!

5. Persona vs Persona: I mean. No one's stopping you from fighting. Maybe shadows aren't enough training for you. Maybe you're practicing tactics. Maybe it's a social link thing, maybe one or both of you are really pissed at each other. Your personas are doing the talking now, so hopefully you remembered your opponent's weaknesses you're unquestionably giving it everything you've got.

6. Mandatory smut option I guess: It doesn't count if we touch personas, right?

7. Wildcard joke goes here: I'm not your dad; make up your own damn prompts if you want!

But Riki, I want more details than this! What about a setting, better prompts or less vagueness on your part?

Comments

[topgun_textiles]

Cold, actually. Ya wanna make sure bread dough's warm so it rises from all the yeast eatin' up the sugar in the mix!

But if we want a flaky, really gold-brown dough for cookies n' pies, it's gotta stay chill.

[He reached out to check her hands. His were far warmer, which probably worked great in the winter. He turned and went for a pair of objects with handles and three wires horse-shoeing from both ends to connect.]

No sweat, though. I got pastry cutters! These guys can cut butter and stuff into the flour so we can make some mean dough. So let's get some flour into the bowls and get goin', yeah? Uhh... let's see, recipe says... two and a half cups! If we each do that, we'll be makin' two pies.

[bornofhope]

(Madoka nods as she listens to all of this. Already, it feels like she's learning so much! She may not be that great with cooking, but she definitely tries her best! And will today, with Kanji here to show her how it's done.)

Okay! I have the measuring cups right here!

(Dad helped her get everything out, but the measuring cups are neatly laid out on the counter for their use. With the flour in hand, Madoka's careful to use the exact amount the recipe says. She learned a long time ago that there's a balance to maintain in cooking.)

What's your favorite kind of pie, Kanji-kun? I like apple pie; it makes me think of winter. It's a cozy dessert for a cozy time of year.

[topgun_textiles]

[He got started with his batch, measuring without much of a thought before starting to chop the butter into pieces. He liked a 50/50, himself...]

Aw, man, I dunno... I just like pie. Apple n' cherry are good, though, since you can throw ice cream on 'em and it's perfect like that. But I dunno if I've had too many other kinds, neither.

I mean, is there a bad pie? Does that kinda thing exist?

[bornofhope]

I don't think so. Pies are always baked with love and I don't think anything can be bad if it's made with love!

(That's said matter-of-fact, as if love and hope are the kinds of things that make anything better.

Which they totally are.

Madoka's taking her time cutting up the butter, trying to be precise even if she likes a buttery crust. She giggles.)

Oh, and ice cream. That's another good one.

[topgun_textiles]

Right, but it ain't somethin' I found I could really debate. People get real fired up about their ice cream choices. Watch- your brother n' your parents come in here, I'll ask 'em what they like and I might start a war.

[He peeked. Those pieces were the perfect size.]

Whatcha think- should we get the cookie cutters later and make some shapes on the pies?

[bornofhope]

Oooh, that's a great idea! Maybe we can do stars and stuff!

(Madoka claps her hands together eagerly, setting the mixed pastry dough to the side for now.)

If we have a skull one, we should use that, too! So everyone will know that you made them.

[topgun_textiles]

We'll take a look when we get to it. I think bunnies'll be pretty cute for these, too.

Okay, so we're gonna ball up the dough, wrap it up in plastic and stick 'em in the fridge so we can make our filling. We're gettin' to the messy part!

[bornofhope]

I have the plastic wrap right here!

(The pink-haired girl holds up the box of plastic wrap triumphantly with an enthusiastic smile. She sets it down on the counter for proper use.)

I'm so excited, senpai! Dad says a good pie has both a great crust and a great filling, but the filling's my favorite part, even if it's harder to make.

[topgun_textiles]

[He puffed his cheeks and fumbled with the dough as he divided it and wrapped it up. S-stop calling him that...]

Y-yeah, well... at least here, we can taste test the stuff, make sure it's not poisonous before we fill up the crusts. We can make sure it's a great filling!

Whatcha think- spicy or sweeter? We can play with the cinnamon or focus more on the apples.

[bornofhope]

Hmm... (Madoka's visibly weighing both options with her palms.) I really love sweet fillings, but cinnamon is really good, if you know how to use it...

(After a moment, she nods confidently. With her decision made, she goes back to wrapping the dough up and sets some room aside in the fridge to store them.) I haven't tried spicy before, so I'd love to learn, if that's okay! I bet it's trickier since cinnamon is such a strong spice...

[topgun_textiles]

Exactly! You gotta balance the sugar with the cinnamon so it ain't somethin' that'll send someone runnin' for water. But with the right levels, you got somethin' that tastes like a warm apple cider with a crust.

We'll head to Fall a little early.

[He rolled out the apples and went for the knives.]

You hear about that thing where if ya peel an apple in one go without it breaking, ya get to make a wish? I kinda wonder if it's true.

[bornofhope]

(Madoka's had apple cider all of...once, maybe? She remembered liking it, so to concentrate that into pie form...the thought alone is getting her to smile.

The question does have her pondering the possibility. She's enjoys the little practices that give you good luck or grant a wish.)

Oh, like getting the larger part of a wishbone? Except that sounds a lot harder. I bet that one works more; it takes a lot of practice to peel an apple like that.

(She smiles brightly.) But that means you earned your wish, doesn't it? For working so hard to get it.

[topgun_textiles]

Got it in one! So just in case, we'll think of some wishes and see what goes.

[With an apple in hand, the paring knife in the other, he set to work from the top and slowly worked his way to the bottom, turning her way to demonstrate.]

Trick's to go slow and make sure the peel ain't too thin so it breaks. I think I've done it like, once, but I didn't know about the wish stuff.

[bornofhope]

(Madoka pays attention to Kanji's demonstration, letting him proceed for a moment before trying it out herself, taking an apple into one hand and a paring knife in the other.)

Okay, I'm ready! Time to start with the first one.

(Carefully, Madoka puts the knife to the apple's peel, starting to push into the fruit itself...

Sadly, she lacks the precision to get this right, at least on her first try. Instead, a strip of the apple's peel flops onto the counter with Madoka looking a little surprised at it.)

Oops...I think I was too forceful.

[topgun_textiles]

Ain't surprised. These knives are pretty swanky, Madoka-chan! I'm used to the ones I got back home... they need a visit to the sharpener, but...

[He stiffly shrugged.]

I get the feelin' I can't just walk to the market with knives in my pockets.

[bornofhope]

Yeah. That'd look really suspicious.

(Madoka shakes her head, looking through the kitchen's utensils for something in particular.)

My dad takes really good care of our knives. Maybe he can show you how to sharpen them. He has the tools to do that himself, but I don't remember where he keeps them...

[topgun_textiles]

Oh, seriously? Yeah, if the old man can show me how I could just do it all at home and not hafta get a cop on my butt about stuff again!

Sheesh, I always just bought new knives and threw the old ones away. I committed a friggin' kitchen sin!

[bornofhope]

(She laughs a little.)

It's okay, senpai; I didn't know what to do with them either until dad told me. It might help save money since you won't have to buy new ones all the time!

He always seems proud when he does it. Maybe it's like taking care of your favorite drawing pencil?