Persona: Imagine

[Jehanne]

Void: Why exactly would Ivy [and Dezmond] know Sette's real name? I suppose Sette could identify with Ivy [abusive paerents and all that], and I guess Desmond may get more insider info as the oldest member / funds provider for the group.

Astro: Does the group [they really need a name for reference] as a whole even know they've started making moves. [in whatever is going to be accomplished] aside from Seth and Heat? If not, a meeting not be a bad idea at this point. [unless the Boss doesn't operate that way].

[Astro_B0Y]

Eeeeh, I know they REALLY need a name. But I'm against it, because the boss just doesn't roll that way. He's quite the character. As for the meeting, I was going to have him hold one as soon as tomorrow's (RP Time) events are over. Which will be the first conflict.

Our group could give them a name however, once they all bump into each other.

For now let's just call them Shadow, for...obvious and bland reasons.

As for if the others know that they're starting to make actual moves, yeah, they should be aware.

I just saw a movie yesterday and I could swear I saw a Xavier in it, it was impressive the movie shows what PROBABLY will happen with him in the rp. If it happens I will say which movie it is... :P (jojojo)

Last note. Forget Aigis rocks... she owns the game! "I wish to be always be by his side"

LOL seriously? I'm interested now.


And truthfully...Aigis kind of...bothered me XD Mostly because I felt like she was stepping in on my Yukari time XD.

Glad to hear that Belladonna and Nameless are back to stay, because they're awesome, and a Night-club Velvet room is fantastic. Demon Artist doesn't need to be anywhere or anything; just given how he's a tribute to Kaneko, he's pretty awesome himself. Thanks for clearing stuff up about the Velvet Room and Demetri though; as a new face, it's really helpful to me. And first Psychonauts, now Paprika? Excellent taste! :) I'm a huge fan of Satoshi Kon's work, he died way too young. The ending is a shocker, but really good imo. It's worth finishing up sometime if you get the chance; one of my favorite movies regarding dreams.

No prob, it's my GMly duty.

I found Paprika on total accident. Was looking for an Andre 3000 song, and clicked on some AMV (Anime Music Video) with a mystery anime accompanied by the song I was trying to find. After that I went on a hunt for the anime...and found the movie!

Trippy as HELL. But that's what was so awesome about it. And the dream sequences were epic. Oh so epic.

[VoidSun]

Void: Why exactly would Ivy [and Dezmond] know Sette's real name? I suppose Sette could identify with Ivy [abusive paerents and all that], and I guess Desmond may get more insider info as the oldest member / funds provider for the group.

Well Dezmond would know as you say for being the oldest member, maybe the big boss told him or he discovered it. Same with Ivy she heard it or discovered it, but as I wrote "probably" and "if she cared" your call as you wish, just don´t call her by her real name. Cause she is not going around saying her real name to anyone (have a good reason to do it like that).

@Astro: Yukari seems like a good heroine, yeah her way of answering after hearing Aigis was great. I just hope her story is good when dating her (I lack the charm sadly...)

[theloneliestmemory]

Go off to make some heuvos rancheros, clean some things, and read a bit, and come back to find everything amplified by the power of 5! Today has been a good day. :)

Void - sounds like you've seen and heard some good stuff. And I can certainly relate to thinking that a post is a certain way, and then posting it prematurely or posting it twice, or not posting it... sometimes i think that it happens just to spite us. T_T but we must carry on!

Astro - Shadow is a fine name, plus there's no pressing reason to come up with one - or rather, the group doesn't reveal it until omnious happenings occur or something? I realize it's not the most fluid solution in terms of mnemonics and stuff Jehanne, but if it's only a quicktime event away, then we should be good. Er, again this is with my status as the ooc-board guy, so all opinions are worth five pounds of flax and little more. xD Also, Andre 3000 for the win! Although I'm curious what the mystery anime was...

The dream sequences in Paprika are some of my favorite interpretations of dreaming besides Alfred Hitchcock's Spellbound and The Sacrifice by Tarkovsky.

And now, for something completely different - although I enjoyed pretty much every storyline in P3 (enjoying p4 more only because, as a country boy through and through, it really hit home), a lot of the storylines I enjoyed most were kinda peripheral. Why isn't there another add-on, FES-PSP+ or something, that add's eighty pages more dialogue to the social links? xD

I feel like i'm forgetting something, tho- did I start a train of thought that i haven't completed? Hrrrrrrrmn. just lemme know if I have, for it shall not be left cloven and dried as seaweed threshed against the shore!

Shit, realized what I forgot. I need to go. I'll see you all tomorrow, most likely.

[Tanman]

Ugh, neck cramps. Spent way too long reading OOC posts to try and get a grip on the IC posts considering that horrible glitch. Wouldn't have been so bad if I didn't get sucked into reading the philosophical interpretation and such - That was practically the length of the 13 or so pages before then, albeit, much more interesting.

Oh right, I suppose I better introduce myself. Hopefully I'll be kicking into this sometime soon as well, as I'm all up to snuff on my character, which can be found if you trundle through my profile and such. You'll have to bear with my lack of Persona knowledge though; I'm basically winging it off of hearsay. At least I'm not going to ask for a synopsis, since I'm pretty sure it still hasn't moved from the last one a few pages back. Jumping back a bit to the introduction, I'm completely new around here, but I think I've stumbled through the interface enough to get used to it. I won't bother with the formalities of my name and interests and such, as basically everything should be in my profile, and I've got a nice social gathering with my friends to get to.

So yeah, just popping my head in. Hope to get into things with all of you soon.

[theloneliestmemory]

Welcome to the board/game Tanman! Sorry if our philosophical babblings caused a neck cramp - but loved to hear that you enjoy reading them. Looking forward to floating ideas around with ya sometime! Looks like we'll be joining the action at roughly the same time, and it's always good to start the session with someone. ^^

It's okay to have a lack of Persona knowledge; the people here rock, and for what it's worth i'll be glad to help if you don't mind bearing with my, er, loquaciousness. read about Jam - she seems like a very good character, feels like P3 (Persona three, most people like to start with this one; it's both the most accessable, as well as one of the tightest gameplay/storywise. Not my personal fave... but it's very, very hard to choose a fave when it comes to the series!) meets The World ends with You vibe. Also, Durga! <3 Will post a more thoughtful analysis/post later if ya'd like - but this has been one of the shittiest days of my life due to some social constructions in the place I live and the hiearchy of civilization - or perhaps it's my sleep-deprived delusions making the world so hard for me to deal with, ha. so i'd bet anyway. :] :| :\ ( :P )

So, hope you enjoy your time here and again - will talk later! Hope that gathering and such turned out awesome!

[Tanman]

Heh, above average overall. At least, that's the conclusion I come to after a brief mental tally of our team's ten-pin bowling scores. Still, given how poorly things seem to be running for you at the moment, thanks for taking the time to have a read and welcome me aboard. Much obliged. And yes, that was a horrible pun back there, but I'm going to roll with it.

Moving along, I'm happy to accept any help/analysis on your part once you've got yourself all chipper, for lack of a better word. It's always interesting to see personal interpretations of characterisation and representation for insight into whether or not what was intended to be conveyed actually got across, along with the opportunity to highlight inconsistencies or just things that weren't even considered. If there's one thing I've learnt through my brush with literature class, there's alot of variety in perceptions. Sure, alot of consensus too, but some people weren't just outside the box; they were halfway down the street to crazy town.

Alas, I digress. Well, less digression, more procrastination. Really need to knuckle down and focus on this Lab Report on intragroup and intergroup perceptions... Interesting subject, but the write up is always so tedious. Anyway I'll likely just lurk around on this OOC thread a fair bit, so I'm sure there'll be plenty of time for chatting. Especially considering neither of us are actually into things yet ^^;

Still, hope things pick up for you in the world of reality, and chat again soon.

Oh yeah, forgot to mention I've had a squiz at The World Ends With You, but found that having stopped playing it at somepoint and having just come back to it, I was so lost as to the story and lost all semblance of strategy for that game that I may as well give it another crack from the start. Or actually scale the difficulty down. Out of curiosity, am I the only person who found it impossible to consistently perform well on both screens?

[theloneliestmemory]

Bowling, hellz yeah! Honestly, it's been way too long since I've gone bowling. Ah, and it's no problem. Generally when things tend to fall apart in my own life, it's my own fault - and if I didn't take responsibility, i'd be avoiding things, which doesn't lead to any growth or new information at all! After some hasty work over the last couple of hours, I've made things better, for now at least. to everyone here - if i'm not around quite as much, sorry. this economy is a killer. T_T Not that's an excuse, and a plus side it'll stop my from chatting all o'yer ears off, heh.

Back to better news! The pun was much appreciated, anyone who can crack one that terrible and still chuckle about it is groovy in my book. When I'm talking about analysis, I don't mean any heavy writing critique kinda stuff - I'm self taught, so i'd hardly be good at that sort of thing, and i'm divided if critique actually makes characters better or not. Besides, it's more fun to pick apart dreams and mindscapes! What i more meant in terms of analysis is, I guess... like, stuff that I found interesting, or'd like to know about, non-icly? Perceptions, like you said. Blah, not phrasing myself too well today, hopefully you'll be able to pick apart my sentances and make sense out of them. sensetense? Also, as a word of warning - it's quite possible I'm one of the crazies, ala Romero, bwahaha!

Oh, do I detect some paperwork on yonder end? My sympathies; even if it's interesting, I tend to be more interested in reading ideas then writing them down - unless it's for a book or something, and even then i need inspiration. Hope it's going well; even though it's terribly late here, I'm probably going to lurk around. my attempts to go to sleep and try to remain asleep were interrupted by the weirdest dream about backwards music being some sort of stairway that led somewhere. i think there was a revolving door at the top, and someone had jammed a red sash in it, so it was caught between revolutions.

Anyway, tho- first thoughts are CROW'S CLAW YEAH~ rocked me right out of my funk. More on Durga is that reading Jam's profile more in depth instead of skimming it, I noticed the list of attacks/items that Durga has and that seemed awesome. the megaten/persona games are all about unique twists on the realm of mythology; Persona literally involves the Personae relating to the image their summoner has in their mind's eye about what their Persona should look like or be. They might not even know the entity they summon, but it always seems the Personae relate to the depths of the unconscious, and their faint recollections of how things should be. you've probably read enough about that in the last few posts going on though! xD

Imagery is really good, too, especially when it loops back into one's Persona. And Jam seems like the sort of person who cultivates her raaaawker image, intentionally or no. Would she get involved in any of the clubs in Olympus? Derr, I don't even know offhandedly what clubs there are besides asking about photography/video club for Kaz. :/ Sorry 'bout that. Seems like you've got plenty of fun ways to have her interact with people though, so that's great. and again, plenty of motifs that'll draw folks in!

Thanks for the well-wishing, have lots more on my mind, but am going to try the new strategy of cutting myself off before i end up talkin' until everyones ears bleed. T_T My closing thought is - not only did I kinda suck at TWEWY, but when i played it, i actually did not own a DS, and so had to blitz through it in about a week on my sister's. I enjoyed it plenty though, and that's what counts, right? :p

[Tanman]

Well, since last I yacked at ya I got down 600 words or so. Still not enough to make me comfortable with a looming deadline, but breaks are important, no? And if it's just getting down into things, dragging out the inner workings of a character is always fun. Sorta like posing hypothetical situations and musing on how said character would react. Or maybe I'm just strange like that. Either way, crazy isn't always a bad thing. If everything was normal, there'd be nothing interesting. Besides, I'm pretty sure everyone has a bit of weirdness in them. Whether they decide to let it manifest openly is another matter.

Man, that seems like a pretty interesting dream. I kinda envy that you can remember it - when I sleep, I'm out like a log, and I don't remember a thing about it. I'd try and analyse that myself, but I've noticed that our responses seem to mirror the length of the previous post and then some; and I'd hate to give someone else a neck cramp after I just complained about one. I am curious though that you didn't elaborate on what you thought it meant, considering your own fascination with dreams and mindscapes.

Heh, yeah, Crowz Claw are pretty amazing. Kinda lazy by me not to pull from more musical sources, but they just seem to fit things so well. As for the persona, a little birdy told me that they all pull from some god or other, and is representative of the individual in one way or another. Some google-fu later, and Durga seemed so appropriate to the character. That, and I just liked the idea of having ten arms in which to rock out with. Heh, for a second there I thought you were talking about night clubs; but as for school clubs, band is an obvious choice... Either that or one of the likely many sporting clubs. Looking over everyone's character though, for the most part Jam should be able to relate in one way or another though, which works wonders for an introvert like her once she hits some common ground.

My, this certainly is turning a little self-centred towards the character. Let's drum up something that I'm curious about in your chracter profile... For one, is that the guy from... High School of the Dead? I haven't actually watched anything of it, but I believe my friend was watching it in class one time... Moving on to the persona, I can't help but think of steam punk, which is just downright amazing; definately an interesting aesthetic approach. The irony of the differences between her and her legend somewhat seems to mirror that of Kaz's real and online per- Hah, I see what you did there. Another bad pun too, I should really stop drawing attention to those... Either way, I definately liked the description for Tammy, really sparks alot of neat imagery.

Gee, now I feel kinda selfish for not bothering finishing TWEWY despite having a copy and a DS. ^^; Ah well, maybe after completing this report I'll go back and finish it... Well, I suppose I'll end things here. We're expanding on everything the other says, so it's just getting larger and larger. Seems we'll both have to show some restraint on the chatting. Pent up hype for getting into the roleplay, perhaps?

Oh, and I bet I can make your ear drop off before mine =P

[theloneliestmemory]

Woooo, ear-dropping contests! XD Well, given that there's no way I'm getting sleep - well, not until i conk out on the keyboard and make a post consist entirely of qwerty - but until then, let's get to talking! ^^

Breaks are of the essence - very few people i know can 'manage' without them, and generally they're pulling too much weight, and unless someone takes some of that work off their shoulders, it collapses on them. Knowing when to step back, and let Team Power Activate is extremely important. Anyway, what you said is exactly what i'm thinking about; getting to the inside of the head of a character, trying to figure out what's going on their head and how they'd react to things; maybe it's the amateur quantum theorist in me, but I feel that my characters deserve to be portrayed as accurately as possible, and so i love any chance to get a better grip on their thought processes.

lucid dreaming is a habit of mine; i used to have no recollection whatsoever, but forced myself to write out the vaguest memories in a dream journal. what started as sensations like 'brass' or 'danger' quickly became sentances and full-on stories. it sounds ridiculous, but writing them down does seem to affect dream recall; or at least it's helped me. please feel free to appraise, analyse, or comment away! an orthodox dream interpretation would hold that a revolving door means listlesness or a belief of going nowhere; the sash can represent a facade, and red is usually strong emotional residue. my interpretation was different though - i felt nothing so much as a deep sense of dread, but not fear; like a dread of realization. it seemed to hint at something out of reach or inaccessable to me; like a room i could never enter; perhaps something i fear i don't have? :? Anyway, don't worry about my neck; it's permastrained from too much reading, anyhow, heh.

Your little birdy is correct, and don't feel about pulling from one source; if something fits, it fits. You're right on about Personae; it's a very interesting concept drawn chiefly from Jungian (and early Freud, when he was a contemporary of Jung) psychology and theory. if you're interested, there are some great books/works relating to either the Persona series, or by said authors who can be fun to infodive into. amusingly, i'd figured you were familiar with Durga or might even be a Shaktist. She'd approve of the incarnation, i'm sure. :] agreed - Kaz's an introvert in name only. I basically wanted to run with a character who seems familiar, and kind of dash the concept all to hell. Speaking of that, was i right in assuming Durga rocks out during battle? Not only is that totally Persona-styling, it's very cool imagery. again, I feel that for coming in fresh to the series, you've done a great job there.

aw, characters need love and I don't mind focusing on Jam for awhile. :p Her actually joining a baseball club and stubbornly playing even without knowledge of the outside sport ought to draw a few stares. But, you asked a good question! Yes, Kaz's icon is Kohta Hirano from High School of the Dead. I really wanted to like it; it had zombies, an interesting plot - but the level of fan-service just threw it for me. I've always had a problem with it, especially when the characters all look like they're probably suffering massive back pains. :\ Hell, watching Rebuild of Evangelion was hard, due to the extra-fanservice. It's not that I'm a prude, so much as it just seems immersion-breaking for me. So why Kohta then?... It was really hard to find a slightly chubby anime character that'd work. I'd wanted to use Shogo Ushiyama from Paranoia agent, but he was too young. and i just couldn't think of anyone else. :/ curse generic cuteness! {and my lack of drawing ability, gaaah}

thanks for the comments about Tammy! That is now her new nickname, bwahaha! i'd been inspired by steampunk, Heian-era iron foundries, and the fact that she is soooo demonized as being lustful, but also as being 'cold' and 'steely'. so it seemed natural that Persona!Tammy'd be iron-skinned and have a firey tongue, hurr hurr! Puns for the win! And again, thanks - glad to see ya liked it!

Finishing up, don't feel bad about not finishing it; some games call, others don't. If you have a choice between TWEWY and, say.... Strange Journey, you should definately grab Strange Journey and play it endlessly, choosing the gray or red path every time! XD Not that I didn't enjoy it or anything, but it was more of a Square-Enix game, and I missed my demons and psychobabble. :p But yes, enough hype. i should TRY to sleep. or perhaps write, siiigh. Well, it's been swell - talk to ya later!

[digs]

Hi there, folks. I just got through skimming the majority of this topic and the first page of the actual roleplay (since I can't go beyond that due to the glitch), and since I've submitted a character and am in much the same place as Tanman and theloneliestmemory, I figured I'd go ahead and introduce myself and try to get to know the folks here.

Anyways, I joined this RPG mostly because it's the prime (and at the moment, only) roleplay that immediately caught my interest. Ever since Persona 3: FES came out, I've been a huge fan of the series, both the Persona spin-offs and the other games that bear the Shin Megami Tensei name. So far I've played through Persona 3: FES, Persona 4, and Nocturne, with Digital Devil Saga 1 and 2 still waiting in the wings, whenever I feel like getting to them. Funnily enough, while the stories are always enticing, what really drew me to the series was its difficulty. For example, beating Elizabeth is probably the highest RPG achievement I've ever done, and getting the true ending to Nocturne was a real treat. Still, I've developed a liking for all the lore behind the games, and find it all incredibly fascinating, even if it's a bit over my head at times.

I suppose there's nothing more to say for now, unless someone asks me something. To end, I'll explain that I'm mostly just using this whole site to stave off my grad school application. I still have an open Word document as I attempt to write my Personal Statement, but I'm failing miserably. Good thing I have until at least December to finish.

Oh, and one more thing. I'm that little birdy Tanman mentioned. =P

[theloneliestmemory]

Haha, yeah - that bug's a killer. I'd love to be able to backtrack, but that's just how things roll, I suppose. Anyway, let me be the first to say: welcome! Good to see another face, and meet the illusive little bird that guided Tanman o'er yonder. ^^

Being a huge fan of the lore of the games, I can also understand why the difficulty'd be a charm point. I tend to be a pretty patient person who doesn't view much as difficult do to going at things slowly and ponderously, but the amount of stuff to do, and the cleverness the AI can display in Nocturne and P3 is pretty impressive, to say the least! It feels good to conquer a tough challenge, and that's something Megaten can offer in spades.

Let's see- although i'm kinda tired and not operating at full capacity, let me just say that looking over Alex, it's a real treat to see Perun there. Мой богиня! не зли Перун! He's a pretty badass deity, to say the least. Alex seems a good character with lots of possibility for interaction, especially with that cavalier attitude. Glad to hear the place got your interest, and just let me say - I totally empathize with the grad school thing. procrastination can be a good thing when it keeps you from adding stuff at tired times; if you try to force your way through it, it won't be at maximum power! xD True, though. Hope we can offer a good distraction and a place to recline at in between works. ^^

[Tanman]

Super Power of Teamwork in a solo assignment? I think that's called plagiarism. ^^; But yeah, I’d totally enjoy getting into character ‘science’; as forming a consistent profile is also very important to me, as is the sense of development of a character through situations. As fun as it is to crack the shell of the conscious and slip into the mind of someone else, you can’t help but impart the slightest aspects of your own self into them, but in a way, the uniqueness of that imprint and the variety of forms it can arrive in is always interesting.

Huh, my interpretation of it, considering it was backwards music making a stairway, would be the chance to go back on something, a choice, path or decision. The way the door is jammed however, may indicate that that opportunity is being blocked, or might require some slight effort to go back on. Of course, this is just a random musing, so I wouldn’t pay it much mind.

Give me a reference list and I might make a trip to the local library and make that my summer reading. Being a psychology student, most theories interest me to some degree, provided I understand them; and if I get an assignment that’s somewhat related, then I can maybe put it to good use. Heh, nah, I’m not into religion too much. My parents didn’t instil any real faith into me, so I’m pretty open to most people’s views and such. To be honest, I mused over Kali and Shiva and only found Durga in relation to those two; which was handy. Old school TV show Mighty Max was what lead me to remember those first two though. Anyway, yeah, Durga does rockout during her beatdowns, tossing her hair about and really enjoying herself, as naturally, having 10 arms means she’ll likely be playing an instrument while pounding an enemy and such. Heck, Durga could even be a one goddess band should she want to. If it wasn’t for the triviality of it, Jam’d definitely summon her just to give her someone to mix music with. Wish I had it in me to draw Durga, but I doubt I could do it justice – Plus that’s a lot of hands and items and a tiger.

Heh, Jam does understand the rules a little, it’s just she’s never played, nor is she exactly that well versed in the realm of team play. We’ll see how it goes when we get into it though – all this talk and such makes me wish we could just start posting even day-to-day normal life in the topic… On the topic of perviness, I don’t mind the general kind, but when it becomes more of a focus then the plot, and is terribly recurring rather than once off, it really detracts from what could possibly be really interesting without the attempt at sex appeal.

Well, that certainly is interesting enough. I suppose I’ll make a throwback and ask what drew you to learning about the legend of Tammy. I am curious though as to what sort of back and forth bickering she’d have with Kaz though. Duo interactions have to be one of my favourites, especially odd-couples.

This chat’s been swell, but I don’t want to clog it too much more. Nice to see you’re around ‘birdy’. As a way of drumming up conversation… What’s everyone got planned for their shadow selves? Assuming we’ll have to unlock our personas in a similar fashion to the others.

[digs]

Thanks for the warm welcome. ^^;

I'll agree with you on that front. I can understand the slow approach, especially since it's sometimes necessary. Take the first wake-up call boss in Nocturne, Matador, for instance. You basically have to go ahead and power level yourself so that you can learn one of the buffer or debuffer moves (I used Fog Breath) in order to combat him after he ups his agility, or else it's curtains for certain. In Elizabeth's case, leveling to 99 was essential, but in addition, it also took the careful crafting of a few key Persona that had strong resistances to each of the elements AND had High Counter to skip the whole healing bug-a-boo she does when she gets below 10000 HP. Not to mention the move that makes you invincible so that you don't die on the 8th turn, and the necessity of Armageddon. Yeah. Good times. Though, I imagine it's easy to tell I'm an engineer now by all that tedious explaining of those details and such...

Oh, and to also give you an example of just how masochistic and terrible I am to myself, I absolutely loved (and beat) I Wanna Be The Guy. I'm a huge fan of platformers, and this one was no exception. It's throwback moments to all the classic games were priceless, if you could get to them, at least. The difficulty was incredible, and I dare say it's probably the most difficult game I've ever played. Still, in my eyes, there's something to be said about making a game that difficult, yet hugely fun. The level design is simply amazing. I hope someday more games like that come out.

I feel a bit silly saying this, but other than what's on Wikipedia, I'm not too familiar with the deity. Granted, I loved what I read about Perun, but I had originally wanted to go with Thor. However, wanting a bit more originality, and wanting to reach far back in my family tree (I'm probably some percentage Czech), I decided to go with Perun instead. As you put it, he seemed just as badass as Thor, if not more so. Additionally, not being worldly versed in languages, you'll also have to inform me of what was posted there. I are a engineer, so I have difficult with the English sometime, much less foreign language. Hehe...

Alex has been a character that I've messed around with in the past, and his personality is pretty set, though there are some things I might need to add to his profile later, looking back over it. Anyways, this is my first time doing the whole forum roleplaying thing in a long while, so I figure bringing out a character I'm fairly familiar with would help me out in the process of knocking off whatever rust there might be. Still, this method was something I tried with Alex when playing Shadowrun, and it went terribly for the poor guy. I'd expand on the details of it, but I'm sure this post is going to be too long as it is.

Now, looking over your profile, it almost makes me seem like I'm out of my league. You really paint a nice picture of both 'Tammy', as Tanman put it, and of your character Kaz, and of their personalities. You can tell you're a writer that knows what he's doing, unlike a certain engineer over here. The character himself reminds me of a little geekier version of Frank West, if only because his attacks mainly consist of using a camera, just like Frank does in Tatsunoko vs Capcom on his assist. Additionally, I'll be interested in seeing how he ends up interacting with the group, considering his desire to stay out of people's way and all. It almost seems like it'll take someone real persistent to crack his personality and make him come out of his shell. Still, such an act seems totally worthwhile, given his kindness. Should prove interesting for sure. ^^;

Well, now that this post is entirely too long, I'll try to keep my reply to Tanman's post somewhat short. First off, <3 Jam. She's always interesting to roleplay with. Then again, I like all your characters, so it's a bit redundant to say so. Other than that, I'll move on with the Shadow-self deal.

...Or maybe not. I haven't really thought about it at length. I can already think of the personality flaws the Shadow will draw on in Alex to force him to deny it, but I can't really think of the monster that will emerge from it. As for any sort of plan, well, I haven't come up with that either. I could imagine his Persona 4 type dungeon, but I'm not quite sure if that's how each Shadow-self is revealed. Perhaps my skimming wasn't as thorough as I'd like it to be, since I caught the Shadow-self mention, but not the how or when. Ah well. I'm sure someone will clarify. ^^;

Enough of that textwall. The word count isn't really helping either. This post is already longer than what my Personal Statement will be. Tiredness really makes you babble on and on and on. Sorry about that. I'd better sleep soon now...^^;

[theloneliestmemory]

Sorry for the slow response guys - I've been fighting my computer the better part of today. xD literally, the poor old thing is having it's last throes of life... well, i'm sure I can milk a few more years out of it, but we'll see how long I can ride this monstrosity of glue and duct tape down the rabbit hole!

Tanman - Bwahahah! I had meant super power of teamwork as in some sort of cheerful encouragement, but whatever floats yer boat! ^_- consistent profile's are awesome, and at times I'd love to work as a character designer or something like that. given how much stuff i generate and throw out, though - well, that might be a slight barrier to conductivity, haha! Also, interesting thoughts on the genesis of characters and their relation to the self. They are we, and we art thou...

No, do continue - I love random musing. Besides, my own interpretation is based on a few dead guys one of whom is kinda important to me; there's no right or wrong way to look at things, that's for certain!

Now, for the obligatory booklist: Man and His Symbols is a must, although finding it can be fun. I'd also heavily recommend Memories, Dreams, Reflections, and any of the Collected Works - especially those that deal with Archetypes and the Shadow Self. These are all by Jung, Carl Gustav. Oh, and Dreams is good too! What else... That'll whet the tastebuds a bit, but i'm gonna go through my library and see if i can't find any other psychology-related stuff that'd interest you. Also - my view on faith and religion is very unique and nuanced; you could say I feel that the inherent and random chance in every day makes me confident about life. =) I love literature about religion and myth though - even just as stories, to me it seems incredibly complex and riveting, probably the appeal some people have for reality tv, I have for musty old goddesses and gods and spirits. MIGHTY MAX, YEAH- that show was the bomb, haha. Also, that moment you described - with Jam and Durga mixing music? - a totally good down-time moment. I don't know if it works or not with the way the setting works in Imagine, but it's a great snapshot of Jam's character. ^^

Good point - currently, Astro is in a video production(!) right now though, and we're in the process of cleaning up character slots et all. It shouldn't be too long, and in the mean time, there's science! to be done! To finish a slew of thoughts and still have room remaining for section two - yeah, HOTD lost it for me when every other second turned into gravity-defying jiggle physics, Tammy's always been a favorite of mine - she's a real jerkass in mythology, pretty much being the stereotypical power behind the throne; I read about her when I was reading up on Shinto and Shingon Buddhism, and i felt it was amazing that she was a 'beautiful woman of no small intellect' who had no real motivation for being evil, besides the lulz. It always seemed there'd be more to it than that- so in my interpretation of things, she feels quite wronged by the whole ideal, and is more sharp-tongued than outright villanous, although she certainly has her moments. Like you'd said; she and Kaz are kind of opposites and in a very dualistic struggle, which hopefully'll mean she can snark about any move of his she disagrees with, his battle strategy, his taste in figurines... Whatever comes to her mind. For his part, Kaz can usually give as good as he gets, and I can't wait to see what i can throw together, hehe!

As for Kaz's shadow self? Sore wa himitsu desu!

Digs - Heh, thanks! In video games, I'm like creeping kudzu - nowhere in one moment, overgrown the next. Actually, I value the break down of details; one of my favorite sites (though alas, I am not trained/smart enough to *be* an engineer) is the excellent cooking for engineers which gives some truly awesome recipes broken down into the core components. Not only is it a huge help when organizing the cooking, but it's also quite nice to see the charts and know what you require for any given recipe. And I can't agree more with you about the measures taken for Matador, let alone Elizabeth!

Bizarelly enough, I actually love I Wanna Be the Guy and find it quite relaxing; if you take it as a given that you will die at any given time, the game becomes a charming homage to games past- but again, that's slow and lax me talking. It's also very hard! xD Glad to hear of another person that loves it though - by any chance would you also find this particular gem of fortress-y gaming enjoyable? And again - I cannot agree more. I Wanna Save the Kids is fun, but I'm waiting for the real sequel, heh. Honestly, games that are both difficult and charming, things that challenge the psyche and the soul - that's what I crave.

Thor is cool, and my Norwegian side of the family'd revoke my lutefisk privilieges for saying this - but Perun is crazy radical, possibly even badder-asser! Originally, Rod was the sort of Divine Father of most Slavic cultures (I say most, because Slavic paganism has a bazillion different branches - Czech paganism probably started off with Perun as the head honcho), and Perun was basically elevated to the position, because he was the strongest. That's all there is to it - he wrestles giants and kills bears with a single look. ^^; Although one of my jokes is that my family is 1/38th anything that moved, I've got a good percentage of east slav in me, and can speak russian decently, at least better than my horrible accented french. That was - Oh my Goddess! Don't mess with Perun! - and it's all right to have trouble with languages, imo. I've been trying for years and I still fail most o' the time, haha!

Maybe you can tell me about that Shadowrun game later; indeed these posts are ultra long, but my inbox is always open, guys! xD And I don't inted to clog the place up with my thoughts. It just... kinda happens, haha! Thanks for all the praise though - i tend to feel very self-confident and unsure of what I write, and it means a lot to hear that. And even more to hear that Kaz reminded you of that guy who covered wars, you know! Hopefully, a few characters'll share interests with him, which'll give a good wedge to take to his shell - and from there, it should be a nice downhill struggle. Which is good, because Kaz doesn't like biking up hill. ^^;

Thanks for the textwalls, guys! I hope i provided some laughs, thrills, ideas et all! now i am off to go partake of the delicious salmon, greens, and scallops over saffroned rice i have made. it is delicious and is now probably in need of a reheat, but posting is worth it!

and i really hope my computer doesn't eat my post this time, because unlike eating good food, eating posts is noooo good! {/sonic}

[Dziva]

Hey guys, sorry for postign slow and lame responses :/ Been busy. I guess I should at least check in with the OOC now and again lol

[digs]

It's not like you missed much more than lots of textwalls between Tanman, theloneliestmemory, and I. Plus, it seems everyone's have that sort trouble, so no worries.

In any case, I'm going to go ahead and take my conversation to PMs, as to not clog up this with too many words. Still, if I get more on the subject of characters and this roleplay, I'll post it here instead. Like the fact that I had before contemplated making Alex's persona Miu from Tales of the Abyss, but decided against it since I wanted him to have lightning, and I wanted to be a little more original. Still, the relationship between the two of them would've made for some hilarious commentary. Ah well. ^^;

[VoidSun]

Woah... Another impressive length conversation I wasn´t able to join (some part of me appreciate it since I lack some [a lot] knowledge )... SO! Once more the site is kicking me after changing pages or after a login in. Strange glitch is strange, so I will post after doing the whole thing in word... It seems we are getting more people interested good ,good *grins* the more the merrier.

[theloneliestmemory]

S'awright, Dziva! Life happens, and the only reason I've been so busy is that... Well, walls o'text always interest me, and hopefully they haven't been too intimidating. xD Word salad!

Digs - Miu? If i weren't so tired right now, i'd be laughing so hard my cheeks hurt. That would've been something, for sure. Probably wiser to go with Perun, but that deserves to be post-it-noted away somewhere for future use in something.

No problem Void! i think the same problem is happening to me, too- do you log in, click a board, your message inbox, or pretty much anything except return to previous page, and then get booted out? anyway, glad to see you glad - and if it helps, keeping things in word is how i keep my mind from forgetting most things! ^^;

As an aside to turn the topic back to persona/oocishness, I was recently playing P2 (Eternal Punishment), and just thought I'd share some tunes. Sin and Punishment are two o' my favorite Persona games, and with the resources that on good effort I hear are out there, might i strongly suggest taking a gander? Always a good time!

[Dziva]

Normally I'm more active lol Glad you guys don't seem to mind xD

Although I must admit that I don't mind missing huge walls of text x.x I'm all fro a debate or large conversation but I have a feeling I would simply be confused by this particular one lol