[ His eyes brighten, and he becomes a bit more animated. She understands! ]

Yeah, that's it exactly. A Persona is a manifestation of a part of myself, though you could say it's a manifestation of my bond with another person. Most Personas are born out of the user confronting their Shadow, actually, though I never faced mine. It's usually pretty hard to explain that, though... most people get tripped up on the "piece of myself" part. [ He says it with a bit of a laugh. ]