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

[juggernut]

[Before he could even take stock of the thing's appearance,, Chesnaught had already pushed himself in front of Guzma. Well, at least he knew things weren't about to get any worse now. ... Or at least things would be, uh. More straightforward.

And even if this thing was a lot more creepy than most of the bugs he'd ever seen, at least a bug was better than a bird.]

Okay... look, I know this is scary, but-- [...Wait. That weird shadow-broadcast inviting people to come by 'for an asskicking' didn't even mention this guy's name, did it?] --whoever you are, just stay behind me, okay? I'll protect you, but...

[He peeked back at Guzma, trying to find the words for it; Chesnaught may have felt what was going on but he didn't understand it... at least, not enough to put it in words. Dammit, why was he the only one who couldn't go to school...]

...this isn't something you can run from.

[The start of a battle was practically ingrained to him now; with all those murmurs of shadows around them, he didn't want to leave the slightest chance that they could leap in when he least expected. A sweep of his arms and a quick shedding and regrowth of that green, platelike armor sent Spikes all over the ground to encircle them.]

And as for you-- [Perhaps only out of his instinct to draw its ire from the more vulnerable captive, he pointed defiantly at the skeletal, insectoid shadow. This was it. Time for HIM to throw out the best insult he could muster.]

...Bugs don't have spines!

[yaboyguzma]

[The chamber fell silent. Then, the shadows filled the air with sound as the Shadow's hollow sockets began to burn brighter. Teeth clenched hard enough to creak as those multiple hands lifted to come together and crack those knuckles.]

You little shit.

[Spikes be damned. Under the rancor of hooting, gleeful shadows, the monster brought every fist it had down upon the Chesnaught in a 0 to 100 assault. Seemed it really was Guzma, quick flash of temper and all.]

[juggernut]

[Was that... being cheered? Hey, he almost never got to do his thing in front of a crowd, let alone to see them reacting to it like this! Maybe this wasn't going to be so b--

OKAY NO HIS TAUNT WORKED A LITTLE BETTER THAN HE EXPECTED. He could only scarcely manage to bring his shield to bear against the barrage of blows; even then, with his haste, he could only manage to mitigate the blows a bit instead of shake them off entirely.

And with that many fists, it stung.]

oofgh...

[That's okay. That was just a bunch of smaller hits... which meant he'd taken bigger hits. Which meant he was okay.

But he needed to start fighting this thing back. And even if bugs weren't his forte, another pitiful glance over to the stunned captive only reminded him that he didn't have the luxury of being able to take this one easy. By the time he regained his footing, he was already twisting his upper body to match, all his weight and motion centering into a balled, glowing fist. Drain Punch would at least help him even the scales a bit.

After all, it wasn't the number of punches thrown; it was how well someone could stand up to them. And as his punch was sent out squarely between a pair of the shadow's eyes, it was time to see if this bug had half the shell he did.]

[yaboyguzma]

[The smaller creature swung in and connected with bone, the vibration of it rushing through to the marrow as the Shadow howled in its rage. But with the vibration came a building heat, leaving the Chesnaught's fist emitting an odd steam... nothing burnt, but a surface that was almost too warm for comfort.

The hollow eyes began to ooze a bright red liquid, and the jaw rattled as the entire structure of bone and chitin reared up before coming down with a bite.]