Questions! Fresh questions, right here! Get'em while they're hot!
-Alright, so we know that the players with the potential will (or have) been approached by the remnants of S.E.E.S. to combat the Death Walker Syndrome, but right now Fuuka is beseeching them to fight the monsters, explaining that they have Evokers. So is this their first meeting with S.E.E.S. or their first battle/dream event together?
-I'm assuming that to the players, this is a normal dream, with Fuuka trying to shake them out of it... but do dream rules still apply to a degree, or are they still mortals in the dream? I'm not talking about flying around with laser eyes playing an awesome guitar riff because the can, but do they appear in what they were wearing when the fell asleep a la Freddy Krueger with similar equipment, or will they appear as they see themselves day to day? Like how someone who falls asleep in pajamas but normally wears fancy suit and tie would experience their dream in a fancy suit and tie? And what of weapons? Will they have them just because they dream that they need them or is it like the Freddy Krueger thing again and they need to enter the dream with them?
-Was everyone on their own program prior to the dream, or was this a part of a plan? Like the first question, did they all meet up and are asleep in one spot or get physically transported into the dream or are they asleep in their beds? Which ties into my next question...
-This is more for all the players to hash out, but who knows who? Did they already have their "I Fight Nightmares" T-shirts made, or will they be somewhat surprised to see the others (barring that this is a dream)? Without a prior meeting (and the part more for the players), do they already all know each other, either closely, as acquaintances, or just someone they might know the name of or recognize?
-So this is Izzy's dungeon, but is she in the group with the others? Will one fight their own Nightmare or does having the Nightmare disqualify you for the participation award?
-With the Personae evolution, will the progression be sudden or steady? Take Izzy, for example, we're doing her dungeon. Nightmare down, dream resolved, she'll get the Mad Hatter from Alice pretty soon. But does she have this obscene jump from Garu to Wind Amp Garudyne, or will her abilities naturally progress as she fights more Shadows, much like how in P3 your party members would learn ever advancing skills with the same Persona and the second tier would unlock more?
-Will the players feel compelled to shoot themselves in the face with the Evokers or will they need to figure that part out themselves? Or will Fuuka tell them they should?
-Do I really want fries with that shake?
Thanks for listening, I know I'm kind of needy, but I like going into world/game mechanics.
For everyone else, who would be rather well-acquainted with the Scary Mari? I'm thinking that the shy, quiet, meeker types would naturally not associate themselves with her, but she's got a bit of a reputation for being a hardcore party girl and a delinquent, so anyone who likes to have a good time every now and again or would need to steer clear of that to protect their image would be familiar with the thug. She'd naturally take to anyone with any kind of status within Akane College, so she'd have at least tried to speak to some of the more popular/infamous students at some point or another. I'll put up who I believe Mari to be associated with, and why. If anyone wishes to argue against that or add to it, feel free to let me know.
-She'd probably be fairly familiar with Justin Case, seeing as they both like to drink. Although he seems a little bit more of the "I drink alone" type. He similarly doesn't use honorifics and Mari might appreciate this to a degree. The extent of their relationship would happen to extend as far as how social Justin happens to be, his conduct in regards to the more grey areas of "harmless fun", what crowds he hangs out with and what bars/parties he frequents. In kind, he doesn't like bullies himself and similarly might not enjoy Mari's presence, but such prickling resistance would make her bother him all the more just because she finds it fun to watch people get frustrated. But then again, that annoying aspect to his personality of not knowing his own opinion of others combined with Mari's sly two-faced nature might lead him to take her as a friend. Another common interest they share is fitness, and Mari happens to work at the gym.
Something gnaws at me though... I went to look up his CS for reference of possible past interactions, and his Arcana is missing. It's Star, is it not? The Star Arcana personifies being positive and optimistic, even in the face of adversity, that everything will work out just fine i.e. looking to the stars. Seems pretty nihilistic to be of the Star Arcana to me, although his Arcana could be reversed to which it would mean the opposite, where he might just fit if emphasis was focused on the despair he hides from others. He similarly could have a crisis of faith indicative of the Star Arcana. Something else, while looking at his Persona I found that Kartikeya has a crap ton of really high level techniques for being a beginning Persona. Maziodyne? Primal Force? In his Strengths he has a block skill right off the bat as well. Actually, based on techniques alone and disregarding Megidoloan, Kartikeya would actually be more powerful than Helel, with block and absorb skills, more powerful physical attacks (Myriad Arrows is pretty high up there, and Primal Force is above God's Hand in terms of power), and High Counter. I know it's a little late in the game to bring this up, but Kartikeya is super OP.
-Tokiko Tsuji might be well acquainted with the delinquent Mari Watanabe, although their relationship would probably be an icy one. She might seek to condemn her for acting like a thug and her devil-may-care attitude, but Mari would find Tokiko to be fun to mess with. Especially because she would consider Tokiko to be one of the few people challenging enough to argue with on a consistent basis. She enjoys playing Devil's Advocate, and Tokiko would be a skilled enough debate queen to be able to rip up Mari's straw man to shreds, and she would delight in toying with the law student as her argumentative stance keeps changing. Tokiko might not think too kindly of her, but Mari would find Tokiko to be rather amusing.
-Jason Ryan would probably know her because of a class they share: Philosophy. While Jason has chosen it has his Major, Mari took it as an elective because she enjoys arguing with and frustrating people and that's pretty much all Philosophy class is. However, I think she won't care for him too much. His personality is one of openness and joking around, and the jokes would wear on her patience and it isn't fun for her to figure him out if he lays everything on the table already.
-Any other characters probably won't have that much interaction with her on a daily unless there's a reason for it, such as sharing a class together or they frequent the same places. But it's possible.
Whelp, it's a bit of reading but that's all I've got to say for now.