Empatheias App 2017

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⌈ PLAYER SECTION ⌉
Player: Bree
Contact:amabree / amabree
Age: 26
Current Characters: N/A.


⌈ CHARACTER SECTION ⌉
Character: Shinjiro Aragaki
Age: 18
Canon: Persona 3 FES
Canon Point: On the day he dies, specifically when he falls down after saying his peace to the others.

Background: Even if his appearance in the game is a brief one, Shinjiro still plays an important role to the overall story. He was one of the first members of SEES when it was originally formed, alongside his highschool classmates Akihiko and Mitsuru. SEES was created in order to combat the shadows in the Dark Hour, and only those with the Potential to use Personas were applicable. However, during one of the group's missions, Shinji lost control and ended up killing the mother of Ken Amada.

This, in return, made him quit the group and begin to distance himself from people as a whole while resorting to using Persona Suppressors to keep his Persona in check. The latter of which he kept secret from his childhood friend Akihiko, among others, because of the fact that it was slowly killing him. It likely didn't help, that he also had to work with a sinister group by the name of Strega in order to have a constant supply of it.

Eventually, Akihiko convinced him to return to SEES upon hearing that the shadows were slowly getting more stronger, and that Ken Amada had joined the group as well. Having spent the past few years feeling guilty about taking the child's parent away from him, he was ready to accept whatever fate Ken had planned, as he didn't have much time left to live anyway.

Thus, when the anniversary of the woman's death came around, Ken confronted Shinjiro at the place where she was killed with intentions of seeking revenge. That was until the leader of the Strega group interrupted their conversation, and promptly attempted to shoot the younger child for reasons of his own agenda. He would have succeeded, if not for Shinjiro stepping in to take the bullet instead, much to the surprise of the boy (who had intentions of dying himself after taking Shinjiro's life).

The rest of the SEES group finds them, causing the Strega leader to quickly take his leave, while Shinjiro urges Ken to live on. Believing that "this how it should be", before collapsing to the floor unconscious.

Personality: At first glance, he seems like the kind of guy one wouldn't want to find late at night in a dark alley (which isn't completely inaccurate). Often times coming across as ill-tempered and remarkably blunt in his comments, Shinjiro tends not to leave a very good impression on those he meets for the simple reason of not caring about what anyone thinks. It likely doesn't help that he's so used to intentionally pushing people away, and refusing to allow anyone to get close to him, that he can come off as somewhat standoffish to even the most friendly of people. That is, on the surface anyway.

Underneath all the rough edges and glowering looks, there's a person who deeply cares about those around him and will go to extreme lengths to make sure that others are out of harm's way and in some cases, happy. Even if that entails putting himself in danger, and more often than not that's exactly what he does. Given that he doesn't want to become responsible for seeing someone else hurt or worse because of his inaction or inability to do something about it.

It's also why he decided to take Persona suppressors (without telling anyone), in order to further prevent something like that from happening again. Having little faith in being capable of controlling himself after the death of Ken's mother, and not really caring about the lethal side effects it would have on him, Shinjiro decided that his own life was not worth protecting if that meant others were at risk.

He'll often get extremely agitated or embarrassed whenever someone starts to show concern for his own well being, casually brushing away such comments with an "I'm fine" or "Don't worry about me" nine times out of ten. Which usually works, unless it's Akihiko, who Shinjiro commonly butts heads with anyway. Many of their conversations turn into arguments over the smallest of things - ranging from competitions on who's better at doing something to which one of them has the healthiest eating habit (or lack thereof). The fact that neither one of them likes losing, and are incredibly stubborn about admitting defeat, means that both tend to get a little out of hand and often end up fighting with their fists rather than their words after awhile.

A constant that Shinji is ever grateful of, as Akihiko was the only person that he made a point to stay in contact with over the few years he kept his distance from people (since his friend stubbornly refused to leave him alone). The fact that they've known each other since they were orphans, and have gone through many hardships together, means there's a lot of trust and respect between them that Shinji doesn't truly have with anybody else. Even going so far as to request that Akihiko watch over and take care of Ken, in his moments before passing away.

Of course, that doesn't mean he didn't care about the other members of SEES while he was still alive. If anything, he took on a slightly "mom-like" role during the short time he lived with them. Often chastising and scolding the group when their eating habits weren't up to his standards, and going so far as to occasionally cook everyone's meals while he was living at the dorm. Though it helped that cooking was actually one of Shinjiro's favorite hobbies, and he would often spend his time learning how to make new dishes by watching step by step instructions via cooking shows. Something he tried to keep secret from others, as he felt that it would ruin the otherwise "serious" look he attempted to portray (along with his love for animals - particularly dogs).

Abilities: Shinjiro has the ability to call forth a Persona (by the name of Castor) with an evoker (that looks exactly like a gun but not) to fight with him in battle. Though powerful in nature, and with no specific weaknesses, it leans more towards using physical attacks rather than magical. The downside, however, is that not only is using a Persona's abilities mentally and physically draining, there are times where his Persona can summon itself and lash out at him and those around him. For this reason, he makes a point to not rely on it too much if he can help it.

Alignment: Daimonia. I imagine his first reaction to Empatheias will be to treat it like it's the afterlife, considering what happened prior to waking up there. So in some ways 'bittersweet' is an accurate description of his overall feelings, as he's content with knowing that he gave his life in order to protect the child of the mother he killed, as well as avoid putting the burden of taking someone else's life on Ken's shoulders. However, the fact he no longer has his friends by his side, and that his Persona is still around, will likely make things a bit difficult for him to adjust to.

Other: Not quite sure if this is where I should place this - but I was thinking about having it where Shinjiro, though no longer taking Persona suppressors, could still have some of the linger symptoms of when he did take them. Mainly the occasional coughing fits, as well as his body temperature still being completely out of sync, though physically he'll be perfectly healthy (and you know, not dying).

That and maybe having it where his Persona is still as unruly as it was before, expect instead of needing to take the suppressors, his own positive emotions will be what keeps Castor from acting up. Meaning any negative emotions he starts to have, if they're serious or frequent enough, will make it more difficult for him to control his Persona over time. Which I hope is fine? I kinda felt like it would be more interesting to keep that aspect of his character intact.


⌈ SAMPLE SECTION ⌉

General Sample: Test Drive meme!

Emotion Sample: [The slow crawl of frost edging it's way up the back of his coat, was enough to snap Shinjiro out of his thoughts and send a heated glare up towards the grey cloud above him. Snow was already starting to form and gently swirl down to where he was sitting. Which only caused the huddled teenager to give a short sigh and curl up further, as his breath began to crystallize in front of him. The air had gotten considerably colder during those few brief moments he'd taking the time to reflect on the events prior to arriving here.

Something he found to be far more annoying than he'd like to admit, and though he'd been doing his best to keep his emotions under control, there were times like this where he couldn't quite stop himself. Luckily, he picked a rather reclusive spot this time and out of the way from most people - given not many would wander down a dark alley in the middle of the night.

He was considering going back to more populated areas, when a sudden 'meow' was heard off to the side of him. Immediately that cold air reverted into something a bit warmer, as attention shifted to the sight of a kitten currently staring up at him with large, bright eyes.]

Sorry. This spot's taken. [There's silence, until the kitten meows up at him again. It's enough to cause a tiny smile from underneath his coat, as one hand reached outwards to lightly pat the animal on the head.] What? You want to share or somethin'? Or you lookin' for food?

[The questions receive only a purr, as the animal happily accepted the attention and moved closer to where Shinjiro was sitting. The chilled atmosphere already reverting into a much warmer, acceptable change in temperature, as the frost and snow disappeared along with it. Now there was only vivid sparkles of light to take it's place, as the kitten hopped into his lap and curled up with a light 'mew'.]

... Heh. You're kinda pushy, aren't you?

Questions: No questions, just wanted to add that even though he's from P3FES, I also take some canon tidbits about his personality from other Persona games that he shows up in (primarily Persona Q and the one with the female protag). Doesn't really change much, since it only expands on what's already known.