A/N: After nearly two years, I'm finally back! I'm unlikely to return to most of my older stories, but instead, I'm ready to flex my writing muscles once more. To kick things off, lets return to one of my favorite things to write: The SYOC. This is of course one for Persona 5, and I'm taking applications effective immediately. This first chapter is just to kick things off.
"It seems your fate is an odd one. Not one of grind, or even one of sorrow, rather one of danger, and with many adventures on the way. Well, then, how might it end? That's for you to see. Welcome to the Velvet Room. This place exists between dreams and reality, mind and matter."
Tobias was jolted by the strange man sitting before him, bald, with a comically large nose. He was short, but had a commanding presence. For whatever reason, Tobias knew to respect him. He seemed powerful, but not exactly evil. Whatever. He'd hear him out.
"I am a guide, here to inform you of your contract, though I find it odd that you're coming to it so late." My name is Igor.
"I am another aid on your path to this heroic fate." Chimed another voice, this one higher pitched and feminine sounding. Its owner stepped out of the shadows, and revealed herself. She was a tall woman with long red hair, and wore a maroon cardigan with black pants and pointed black shoes. She seemed much less intimidating than Igor, she even seemed to be on equal footing with Tobias himself. Though Tobias still couldn't quite process why. "My name is Abigail. I can answer further questions you may have about the velvet room."
"The Velvet... Room?" Tobias wondered aloud, realizing at that point that he had no clear idea of where he was or why he was there. He brushed his long brown bangs to the side, and took a bit more of a look around.
The room resembled an office. It held a desk with chairs along both sides, with Igor seated on the opposite side from Tobias, and a smaller desk off to one side, which Tobias concluded must have belonged to Abigail. The room was shaped like an octagon, with something placed on each side of the room. There were several book shelves, all of which contained books that shifted positions and arranged themselves, seemingly at random. Other objects included what appeared to be a small 3D printer, a normal printer, a copy machine, and a scanner. Tobias thought it best not to ask why any of those were there.
"If anything, I think it would be fruitful to introduce you to the nature of your fate. You may be weak now, but soon, you must become strong, else you may not last long." Continued Igor. "Abigail will show you the ropes."
"Yes sir." Said Abigail, as she took Tobias by the hand, and opened what appeared to be a portal of some kind in the space immediately in front of them. and pulled Tobias through.
"This is the Metaverse." Explained Abigail, as she waved her hand in a sweeping motion, emphasizing the strange landscape before the two young adults. It was oddly familiar, nothing but corn and occasional houses as far as the eye could see, but all of it seemed just the slightest bit off. The sky was full of runes and lines of other things Tobias didn't at all recognize. Additionally, things seemed more intense, for reasons he couldn't describe. Everything was harsh, focused, angry.
"What is this place?!" Tobias shouted, unnerved, and entirely confused as to the metaverse's nature.
"The Metaverse is a world created by human cognition." Explained Abigail. "Every human on earth has a cognitive world, through which they see the physical. The average product of such cognition is reflected here, as are human emotion and desire." As Abigail explained this, a tall humanoid figure with odd body proportions and a strange gray mask on what would be its face, though Tobias couldn't tell if it had a face, as all of its body was pure black. "That is called a shadow. It represents the soul of a human, whose cognition of being a human was lost. In turn, it now believes that it is a demon, one that seeks to serve a master. We'll cover those types of people in a further lesson. For now, I need you to confront this shadow. Take this sword and gun. Abigail handed the two weapons, a cutlass and a very large pistol, to Tobias, and with nary a word, sent him to fight the shadow.
The shadow, upon seeing Tobias, distorted itself. In seconds, it turned from an obscured humanoid into a strange looking creature resembling a snowman, but small, and with a blue hat and collar.
"That is a Jack Frost, a common low-level shadow." Exposited Abigail. "It should be a suitable foe for a first time."
"All right." Sighed Tobias, as he raised his sword, summoning what little fencing experience he had from high school, and charged at the Jack frost, and struck true, straight at the chest.
"That was fast-ho! I'll be more careful next time-ho!" Laughed the shadow, emerging immediately, with its hand outstretched. Tobias suddenly felt a blast of ice, which knocked him back.
"What the hell?! How's he still alive?" Gasped Tobias.
"The cognitive world works differently from the ficitonal. The cognition of being alive in this world can allow those in it to stave off damage. It takes more than one fatal strike to overwhelm most enemies in this world." Continued Abigail. "Try to strike him again."
Tobias Complied, this time firing off a volley of shots from his pistol, all of which hit home, but Jack frost remained standing. "Well then-ho, I need to step it up-ho!" He released a stronger blast of ice, bringing Tobias further down.
"Damn it!" Gasped Tobias, clearly feeling the pain, and desperate to remedy it. "What do I do?" He asked, giving Abigail a cursory glance, before being overwhelmed with a powerful voice.
"What is this?" It asked, rhetorically. "Am I to believe that you will give up so easily? After all, isn't success the most important thing in the world to you?" It chided. "I doubt that this is where you'd like to die, killed by a glorified snowman. Indeed, the hot sun melts all such things. You wish for that power as well, do you not?"
"I do!" Declared Tobias, in a fit of rage.
"Very well. I am thou, thou art I. Call out my name, and the power is thine."
"Aladdin!" Declared Tobias, as a fire burned around his face, and his clothing transformed. Gone were his standard attire of a black t shirt worn under a short sleeved blue plaid button down and jeans. In their place was a regal looking costume, an armor plate on his chest, a large cream colored scarf around his neck, and jeweled greaves. His pants were also plated with armor, and the same shade of cream as the scarf. On his face, he wore a mask. The mask covered his eyes and hair, but exposed his mouth. It resembled a hawk's beak, and flowered out into an irregular plume, with mock feathers in every color imaginable at the tips. Above him stood his persona, Aladdin. It was dressed as a sejulk knight might have been in medieval times, with armor hidden under a flowing green and white cloak, its angular face exposed, with its glowing green eyes and faintly smiling face. Its head was covered by a white turban which transitioned into a hood and in its hands, it held a massive, oversized scimitar.
"Agi slash!" Declared Tobias. which instantly sent Jack Frost reeling to the ground.
"Excellent, you've knocked down your foe!" Declared Abigail, a smile on her face. "Now finish him off while he's down!"
Tobias complied and eliminated the Jack Frost with a quick swipe of his cutlass.
"Excellent work, you've awakened your Persona. I wasn't entirely sure that you would, but Igor should be very pleased regarding your learning in this area."
"You mean I could have died?" Demanded Tobias, though quickly retreating into his normal state of self doubt."
"I did what must be done, I assure you you will thank me later." Responded Abigail, seeing the fear in Tobias' face.
"Excellent. With the birth of this Persona, you are ready to visit the Velvet Room in the future. We will contact you the next I deem it necessary. Welcome to your new life. I hope you find it amenable. I have the highest of expectations. Your education begins now." Exclaimed Igor.
The Fool: Rank 1.
"Tobias?" "Tobias. Wake up." A feminine voice rang out to Tobias' left, and he was jolted awake.
"Mom?" Asked Tobias, opening his large green eyes to find his mother in the driver's seat, their SUV stopped at a gas station.
Saoirse Zain was a shorter woman with bobbed red hair and the same green eyes Tobias had. In most other ways though, her 19 year old son took after his father, with a tall, lanky frame, unkempt brown hair that nearly reached his shoulders, and slightly upturned nose.
"We only have about 20 minutes until we get there. Get ready to move in. After all, we brought all of this stuff from New Jersey, look alive." She laughed.
"That's right" Tobias thought, the daze from his strange dream beginning to fade. They were driving through Indiana, making their way to West Minora, Illinois, where Tobias was soon to start college.
"Hey, don't be too hard on yourself though, I'm proud of the work you put in, 32 on the ACT is something to be lauded." Saoirse reassured, seeing his nervous disposition.
"Thanks, mom." Sighed Tobias, initially appearing annoyed, but hiding genuine admiration and sorrow. Of all the things he'd miss about his home town, his mother was probably the greatest. She was the one he'd mostly remembered from his youth-his father was always working-and she had influenced him a good deal. Much of Tobias' personality, opinions, and wits were developed talking to his mother throughout high school, and she was often the first to hear what had angered Tobias that day. If anything, she was the most important person in his life. Tobias thought back, and realized that their bond was more unique than he'd thought.
The Emperor: Rank 1.
Weston Hall, the dorm where Tobias was to stay for freshman year, was a remarkable looking place. It was a building divided into three segments, with a prominent court yard in the center, and a prominent porch on the yard's far end. The yard itself had a paved basketball court and a sand pit with a volleyball net, where a few students were playing pickup games. Past the porch, there was the cafeteria, and above the cafeteria, the segment where Tobias would be staying.
"Is this it?" Asked Saoirse, looking at the map for what felt like the fiftieth time.
"Yes mom." Sighed Tobias, as he lugged several duffel bags up the stairs, and into the building.
"All right, Tobias Zain, room 327." The RA, a tall woman with blonde hair and gray eyes, and whose name tag read "Annette Jansen" said, looking over the documents. "Good to meet you, Tobias."
"Hello." Tobias mutterd, feeling a bit self conscious, and quietly retreating to the confines of his single room.
The room seemed nice enough. It was small, but manageable, with a normal rectangular shape that featured a bed to to the left along the outer wall, and a desk on the inner, as well as closet space opposite the bed. A heating/AC unit was found higher on the wall, up against a window, and the right side of the room had a prominent shelf.
"All right, looks like we have some work to do." Saoirse laughed, as she and Tobias got to setting up the latter's items in the room.
The room was in better sorts now. The desk was moved to be adjacent to the closet, and had Tobias' laptop and several notebooks stacked on top of it. The shelves were filled with books broken up by trinkets that Tobias had taken a shine to over the years. Additionally, the wall near the bed was now decorated with a few posters, and a small tv was placed on a collapsible stand opposite Tobias' bed.
"Well, I suppose that's my cue to leave." Laughed Saorise. "I remember when you started elementary school and-"
"Mom!" Tobias protested.
"All right." She sighed, as she grabbed her things and left. Leaving Tobias alone.
"So, I have two hours until I have to meet my RA again..." Noted Tobias. "I guess I'll just stay here."
Tobias fired up his game console and set about playing an rpg, one set in an apocalypse. "I wonder if this hero can teach me to be gutsier..." Tobias thought, as he played through the game.
Guts +1.
"Hi! My name's Michael!" Said a boy that Tobias had briefly seen before. He seemed just as nervous as Tobias himself.
"How are you?" Tobias asked, a bit standoffish. He tended to lack confidence, so seeing the boy scared him a bit at first.
"I'm excited, I have so much to do, but what if.."
"Don't worry about it." Insisted Tobias, though he was hardly sure of his own advice. "What are you majoring in?"
"Physics, but I don't feel like I can."
"Economics, and I feel that. I keep thinking I'm going to fuck it up beyond repair." Tobias laughed in agreement. "Anyway, I need to meet the RA.
"All right, I need to inform you of your orientation group. We aren't starting normal classes until next week, so until then, you'll be with a group of fellow freshmen under the guidance of a professor, in your case professor Robert Chapman." Explained Annette.
Tobias was only half listening, most of his attention on a particularly interesting spot on the ceiling.
"Right..." He muttered, as the meeting ended. He was ready for another break.
No such luck.
"God Damn it!" He heard, emanating from the lounge, and upon turning the corner found a fellow student playing a fighting game. She'd just lost.
"Um, are you all right?" Asked Tobias.
"No I'm not, I'm trying to break my record on score attack mode, and I just got my ass kicked." She fumed, standing up, which allowed Tobias to get a good look at her.
She was about Tobias' age, which was to be expected, and had messy black hair that reached down to her shoulders, she had small dark brown eyes and at 5'6" was about average height, but very thin. "I don't suppose you play psi force arena?"
"Actually I do." Responded Tobias.
"How about this, we throw down." The woman suggested.
"Damn it." Shouted Tobias.
"Not so tough now, huh?" She laughed, with her character standing triumphantly above Tobias'.
"Yeah, don't get used to it." Tobias muttered, though he figured she would.
"Anyhow, you seem like an interesting person, I feel like we should hang sometime. My name's Naomi by the way."
"Tobias." Tobias offered in return.
"A pleasure. By the way, there's a party I want to hit up later, say in two hours. You'd better come."
"But-" Began Tobias.
"Nonsense, we're starting college. I say it's high time we find some friends."
The party was conveniently held right outside of the dorm, around the sand pit and pavement, and it was crawling with new freshmen, socializing and getting significantly drunk as the night went on.
"This is awesome!" Shouted Naomi, as she continually ran around the area, talking to every person who didn't ignore her.
Meanwhile, Tobias was having a rougher go of it. He was seated in a corner, not particularly attached to anything that was going on, but terribly overwhelmed by the amount of energy that was pulsating across the scene. In turn, he was soon met by another strange individual. This one about his height, with shoulder length black hair, and wearing a blue button down shirt.
"Hello..." Tobias said, unclear as to why the individual was standing so near him
"Interesting." The man muttered.
"What is?"
"Your reaction to this party. I find it fascinating that you wish to sit here like an antisocial oddball.
"I'm not much one for parties. My friend was the reason I'm here." Explained Tobias.
"Interesting."
"You don't believe me?" Demanded Tobias, starting to get annoyed.
"That remains to be seen." The man insisted. "I'll be seeing you. My name is John Crawford, by the way."
"God, you weren't in that at all..." Sighed Naomi, as she and Tobias returned to Weston's third floor.
"Not really my style." Explained Tobias, keeping a brave face.
"I'm sorry then." Naomi said, sincerely. "I won't ask you to come to parties then. No reason to keep taking you to places where you aren't happy."
"Thanks."
"That said, I still want to hang more. Gimme your phone number, we can chat that way."
"What a day." Sighed Tobias, looking at his phone in bed and assessing the situation. Wait, he didn't remember downloading an app called Metaverse Nav. Curious, he clicked it, and was prompted by a voice telling him to select coordinates. "Damn, between this and that fucking John Crawford guy, today was weird." He sighed, as the app powered up again.
"Candidate found."
A/N: And with that our tale begins. If you want to submit OCs, here are some things to think about:
The main cast will be made up of 8 characters, three of which are already decided. As a result, I will take 5 core cast members.
The Confidants will also be available, At the end of each chapter, there will be a list of confidants still needing to be filled.
Additionally, I need four OCs to be palace holders, and 6 OCs to fill out a group of 8 rival persona users, two of which are pre-filled.
Some other details to consider:
-The main characters are all college students between the ages of 18 and 22, they'd likely have a year and major, but their personalities and pasts can go anywhere from here.
-The college is called West Minora College, and is located in the fictional town of West Minora, Illinois. The town borders Indiana, and the fictional town of Minora, Indiana. It's a town of about 20,000 and is suffering largely from the loss of its industrial base. The town's wealthy largely work in medicine or computer science, and live closer to the border, or on the town's north side. It's located about one hour south of Chicago. The college is small, with less than 1500 individual students. Its student body tends toward the political left, though the town leans right, causing some tension between the town and the campus. Another feature of this campus is the immense political power that student organizations have on the campus. Beyond greek organizations, student clubs are immensely powerful, and select favored members to live in their "houses" which are sectioned off portions of certain dorms that clubs have dominion over. Some clubs are functional and friendly, while others are corrupt, and use their power to lord influence over campus culture and fellow students. The thing is, even the worst of these club members might not quite be considered "evil, " and that is where the overarching conflict emerges from. The cast are disillusioned with these political games, and horrified at the personalities and behavior of some of the more powerful members, but compared to the more expressly evil foes that they might also encounter, the cast questions if they're truly doing good by stealing their treasures. Hence, the conflict involves the cast exploring the implications of their actions with regards to the things they fight. Does merely fighting these people make them heroes? Or are they simply forcing their code on others?
Additionally, here are the confidant Arcanas as they currently stand:
The Fool: Igor.
The Magician: TO BE REVEALED
The High Priestess: ?
The Empress: TO BE REVEALED
The Emperor: Saoirse Zain.
The Hierophant: TO BE REVEALED
The Lovers: Annette Jansen
The Chariot: Naomi Kita.
Strength: TO BE REVEALED
The Hermit: ?
Wheel of Fortune: ?
Justice: ?
The Hanged Man: TO BE REVEALED
Death: ?
Temperance: ?
The Devil: ?
The Tower: Michael Rowntree.
The Star: TO BE REVEALED
The Moon: ?
The Sun: ?
Judgment: ?
The Aeon: Abigail.
Finally, here's a bio for you all. I know in the past I let people review and PM OCs, but for now, please only PM OCs, it's easier to keep track that way.
Name (first and last):
Metaverse Codename:
Age (should be 18-22):
Gender:
Sexuality (if bisexual or pansexual, note whether they tend more toward boys or girls):
Year (in college):
Major(s)/Minor(s) (just for a bit of background):
Country of Origin (Where they were born/Grew up):
Persona Name (Please Name it after a hero of popular culture):
Persona Arcana:
Design of Persona:
Persona Fighting Style (explain how it fights and what its strengths and weaknesses are):
Melee Weapon:
Ranged Weapon:
Appearance
Eyes:
Hair:
Height:
Build:
Standard Clothes:
Metaverse Outfit (include a mask as well):
Night:
Swim:
Formal:
Personality:
Likes:
Dislikes:
Type of person they would…
-Fall for:
-Befriend:
-Hate:
-Respect:
-Rival:
Hobbies/Skills: (Your characters day to day hobbies and unique skills. Like they enjoy creative writing or are really good at cooking. Things like that or more serious things like they're good leaders and teachers. Or maybe their skill is that they are a disastrous cook. Be creative.)
How they would act…
-Towards Romantic Interests:
-Acquaintances:
-Towards Friends/Close Friends:
-Rivals:
-Towards Enemies:
-Towards Respected Figures:
-Towards Family/People in their history:
-Towards Strangers:
-Under Extreme Pressure:
-When Facing Fears:
-When Mortified/Angry/Depressed/Any Emotion that they react different than what would be expected:
Social Stats:
Knowledge (X/5)
Guts (X/5)
Proficiency (X/5)
Kindness (X/5)
Charm (X/5)
Past:
Musical Themes (optional):
Quotes:
All right, Have fun, and as always, Until Next Time!