Sanctum Application
Player Information:
Name: Leca
Age: 31
Contact info: lecanis @ Plurk, lj, aim, skype, gmail
Characters currently played at Sanctum, if any: N/A
Character Information:
Name: Shion
Canon: No. 6 (based mostly on the light novels)
Canon point:
Age: Canon 16, aged up to 18 here.
Appearance: http://s287.photobucket.com/albums/ll156/lecanis/Shion/?action=view¤t=Sion-no6-25082860-828-466.png
http://s287.photobucket.com/albums/ll156/lecanis/Shion/?action=view¤t=sion___no__6_by_discoveringreality77-d41xhhn.png
The exact placement of the ‘snake’ scarring that winds around Shion’s body changes slightly between mediums, as do a few smaller details, but I will be using mostly manga colorings for icons! His basic appearance is the same: white-haired, light-skinned, wide-eyed, with expressions that are open and easy for anyone to read.
Background: When Shion is first introduced in the story, he is living with his mother Karan in essentially the lap of luxury. While his father is a mystery - he’s mentioned by Karan as having been free with money and irresponsible, but that’s it - his mother is obviously quite loving toward him, if a little inactive and seemingly bored with her life. It’s revealed that Shion’s intelligence is to be credited for their easy lifestyle; after testing well at the age of two, he was enrolled in the best schools and entitled to live comfortably on the state’s money and be raised to become a model citizen.
In a life like this, it would seem he has no reason to feel restless, and yet... he becomes quite excited over the prospect of a hurricane, opening his window and yelling into the wind, emotional energy that has nowhere else to go exploding into the night. Afterward, rather than closing the window and engaging the environmental controls, he leaves his room open to the elements, experiencing the weather as fully as he can.
It’s this opening the window that welcomes in the driving force of change in his life. Through that window comes a young man named Nezumi, twelve years old just like Shion, but from a very different background. This boy - smaller than Shion, fragile-looking, wet, and injured - comes into Shion’s room looking for a fight, but finds only a strange acceptance. His unwitting host offers to stitch up his gunshot wound, feeds him, lets him wear a sweater given to him by a friend, and then even goes so far as letting the stranger - who he learns is an escaped criminal - sleep in his bed.
This is the Shion that we first encounter, making a snap decision that afterward changes his entire life, without stopping to consider anything beyond his empathy with the figure before him, and the curiosity that springs to the forefront as he learns just how different they are. When he wakes to find his nighttime visitor gone, he is soon confronted with the consequences of his actions - questioning by authorities, being taken out of his special course of school, having his privileges stripped from him, being kicked out of his fancy free housing and sent to live in an area called “Lost Town”.
The story picks up four years later, with Shion living in a very small home shared with his mother. Shion himself works as park maintenance, while his mother Karan has started her own bakery. Amazingly, it seems the change was good for Karan, as she seems far more vibrant and pleased with her life, enjoying the opportunity to create things with her own hands and have work of her own to do. Shion, on the other hand, seems resigned: he neither regrets what he did nor is particularly happy with his work.
While it seems that park maintenance is usually a pretty non-eventful job, a very big event happens one day while Shion is on the job. One of the robots that picks up trash finds something rather different: a human corpse. This particular corpse appears ancient, though it is revealed that the man was only thirty-one years old, and Shion himself voices many questions about both that fact and the handling of the case by authorities.
He considers his feelings about the city of No. 6 itself while talking to his old friend Safu, who asks him why he didn’t enter the special course four years ago. While he doesn’t explain the situation that happened then, their discussion about the city and its views on life shows that his ideals have changed quite a lot in the intervening time. On a personal level, this meeting ends with Safu asking Shion to have sex with her - though originally couched in a request for his sperm - and though he turns her down, he does promise that in two years when she returns from study abroad, he’ll give it thought.
Their meeting ends with a mouse appearing and conveying Nezumi’s voice to him, causing Shion to run off without a second thought. A short phone conversation with Safu afterward conveys his apologies, but the focus is lost: as soon as Nezumi comes into the picture, Shion can think of nothing else.
Back at work, Shion is about to see the cause of the strange death himself when his coworker is struck down in a similar fashion: appearing to age rapidly and then having a strange black bee fly out of his neck. Before Shion can even properly recover from the shock, the authorities are on him, taking him into custody and making accusations. It becomes obvious quite quickly that no one is going to listen to him, and the fact that he is again contacted by Nezumi only confirms that something is very wrong with the picture.
The escort car Shion is riding in stops suddenly, and then the action begins: an escape carried out by Nezumi, in which Shion himself is dragged along, always a step behind and struggling to follow the orders he is given. The small feminine-looking boy he rescued has become a young man, taller than Shion himself, and confident enough to take everything in stride as they blow up the escort car, hijack a Park Administration truck, and swim through sewage at a waste disposal plant to make their way outside the city.
During this time, it’s revealed that Nezumi has been watching Shion for quite some time, and Shion’s understanding of his situation begins to take form. When he says that he can’t move, Nezumi harshly insists that he can, and points out to him just how close he is to dying at any moment, just how much danger he is in.
The sewage comes out into West Block, where it turns out that Nezumi has been living. It’s an area on the margins of No 6, not seen as part of the city, which is treated as a garbage dump by the city itself. Nezumi’s home is a basement in an old warehouse, filled with books and containing such amenities as an old shower with temperature control problems, a kerosene heater over which to cook. It was a far cry from both the luxury in which Shion had lived as a child, and even his home in Lost Town with his mother.
But reaching Nezumi’s home doesn’t mean that Shion is safe: before he even properly manages to get settled in, he’s having problems with a blister on his neck. It doesn’t take him long to put together just what the blister - and the pain he’s feeling - are, and he tells Nezumi to cut it open, in hopes of saving his life. The ordeal that follows is one in which Shion is quite ready to give up, but pushed and pulled along by Nezumi’s taunts and insistence that he can’t possibly be ready to die without having done anything, he struggles through.
In the aftermath, Shion feels guilty for living although Yamase died, and doesn’t immediately have a chance to fully investigate the legacy left behind by the bee that failed to emerge from his own neck. He goes outside without stopping to look at himself or think about it, and doesn’t see until a small girl looks at him and screams “snake.” It’s a pretty good descriptor for the scar that the incident has left Shion with, a red band that winds around his body, from his face all the way down to an ankle. White hair is another part of the legacy of the strange parasite, and Shion’s overall appearance is quite a bit changed. The panic that follows is interrupted by Nezumi, who forces Shion to admit that he wants to live, despite everything.
Then comes the standoff that will last for quite some time: Nezumi’s wish to destroy No 6 against Shion’s wish to save it. Upon realizing everything that has happened, Shion’s first thought is to create a defense against the parasitic bees using his own blood, and Nezumi tells him that it would be impossible to get the city to listen to him or accept him again, even if he has that to offer. The realization that the two of them might become enemies begins here.
They’re interrupted in their first argument over the issue by a note from Shion’s mother, brought by mouse, in response to Nezumi’s contacting her to tell her that her son was alive. She offers the information of a contact of hers in West Block, which Shion will act on later.
Settling into his new life takes quite a bit of work for Shion. It’s not just organizing Nezumi’s books, but also reading them, beginning to build an understanding of all the things about the world he’s never known, that No. 6 has shielded him from. The two teens are constantly at odds, fighting over Nezumi’s lack of interest in revealing things about himself to Shion, about Shion’s naivete, about Shion’s insistence on saving the life of a child whose sister knocks on the door asking for help. Everything that Shion believes and does is out of place in the West Block, and Nezumi is constantly scolding him for openly showing his vulnerability to everyone.
In fact, as soon as he’s taken out for a proper look around, he manages to get himself in quite a bit of trouble. His interference with a merchant taking aim at a thief ends with a gun to Shion’s own head, and the ensuing fight is something that Shion just barely gets away from. His arm is caught by a prostitute who drags him further away from the melee, but though he has been ‘rescued’, the woman herself becomes a problem, kissing him and then insisting he pay.
For Shion, who has never been kissed by anyone but his mother or Safu (on the cheek at that!) it’s quite an eye-opening experience, and even more of one when Nezumi interrupts and claims Shion back, claiming the white-haired boy “belongs to him.” He’s even more shocked when Nezumi kisses the woman as ‘payment’, and the whole encounter leaves him a little rattled.
The little expedition becomes one excitement after another, from Shion learning how dead bodies are dealt with in West Block to being propositioned by the cleaning crew that deals with them. He runs again, comes out outside the market itself, and is rejoined by Nezumi to be brought into what he learns is a hotel, just not one like anything he’s ever heard of or seen before.
At the hotel, he meets up with Inukashi, who runs the hotel and rents dogs out to the customers as heaters and guards. Inukashi has another business, however, one of information. It turns out that Nezumi has asked Inukashi about the whereabouts of Shion’s mothers contact in the West Block, since the place Karan had listed no longer exists.
Acting on this information, Shion and Nezumi are able to find the man named Rikiga, who used to be a newspaper reporter. The situation they walk into at Rikiga’s place is a dangerous one involving a violent girlfriend, but a bit of acting from Shion and Nezumi defuses it. This also allows Shion to find out from Rikiga what Nezumi’s job is: he is an actor who uses the stage name of Eve! Though Rikiga starts out a fan of Eve, he soon decides that the real thing isn’t any good, thanks to Nezumi’s rough personality. However, upon learning that Shion’s mother is his old love Karan, he immediately begins to be fond of the boy, and shows him a picture taken with Karan.
Rikiga quickly finds himself on Shion’s bad side, however, when he suggests that Nezumi come to work for him in part of his current business: prostitution. Shion is so upset by this that he launches himself at the man and tries to choke him, proving that he’s quite capable of violence when he’s more angry than afraid. It takes Nezumi prying him off to keep him from killing the man, and Shion bursts into tears afterward, still angry and offended for Nezumi. It’s also revealed here, before the two leave, that Nezumi had ties to the founders of No. 6, as he recognizes the faces in one of the pictures Rikiga has.
The next argument between Shion and Nezumi about No. 6 comes quickly, and results in Shion creating his own plan for the city: to tear down the walls that separate it from the West Block and the rest of the world. When confronted with the fact that Nezumi’s desire to destroy No. 6 and his to save it make them enemies, all he can do is look for a third solution, and this is it. They’re interrupted in fighting over the issue by Inukashi’s dog, who brings an offer of a job for Shion, washing the dogs that Inukashi lends out as heaters.
It’s while Shion is on his way out to his job that Nezumi receives a message from Karan saying that Shion’s friend Safu has been taken away by the Security Bureau. Nezumi chooses not to share the information, and that fact that he doesn’t want to tell Shion reveals a lot about their growing friendship, even though Nezumi himself refuses to call it that. Nezumi’s decision not to give Shion this important piece of information stems from a desire to stop the boy from running off and dying trying to mount a rescue.
It’s also while doing his dog-washing job that Shion manages to walk in on Inukashi and Nezumi plotting together. He doesn’t find out at that time what is being plotted (that Nezumi has asked Inukashi for information about the Correctional Facility) but he does find out from Inukashi that the way Nezumi deals with him isn’t anywhere near the young man’s normal behavior.
Learning how to live in West Block isn’t an easy thing for Shion, and one of the hardest things to handle is watching other people suffer, especially children. He always wants to give them food, and yet, he can’t afford to feed everyone, and Nezumi informs him that helping some and not others doesn’t really do any good, it just creates more inequality. One instance in which Shion tries to help a hungry child leads to him being attacked by a group who takes his food. The dog with him chases them down, and Shion manages to salvage a small amount of what he had bought, but the encounter drives home even more the conditions in which he now lives.
Just after this encounter, he runs into Rikiga, who insists on helping him, and asks Shion to come live with him. Shion, of course, has no interest in leaving Nezumi’s home, but after much protests allows Rikiga to drag him off to a store to buy a warm coat. This becomes another turning point, however, when Shion finds a coat that belonged to Safu in the shop. After much argument (and threatening!) the shop owner lets slip that the coat came from Inukashi, who is known to sell things taken from the Correctional Facility. Thus, despite Nezumi keeping the information from him, Shion finds out the fate of his precious friend.
That evening, he confronts Inukashi to verify the origins of the coat, and later interrupts a fight between Inukashi and Nezumi, though he doesn’t see Inukashi leave. He treats a dog bite of Nezumi’s from the fight, and during the bandaging process, the two talk about another time Shion treated a wound of Nezumi’s, the fateful night they met. Shion claims that he has never regretted that time, and the discussion ends with him speaking of heartfelt gratitude for Nezumi, for teaching him just what kind of person he really is, and allowing him to become the person he is now.
The conversation ends with a kiss that Shion claims is a goodnight kiss, but he’s a terrible liar. When he tries to leave in the morning to head to the Correctional Facility on his own, Nezumi intercepts him, and the two trade blows, each punishing for the lies told and information hidden from each other. In the end, however, it’s decided that they will work together to infiltrate the Correctional Facility, with the help of Inukashi and after proper plans can be made.
As a way of getting information, a plot is hatched to dupe one of Rikiga’s clients, having Inukashi meet with him pretending to be one of Rikiga’s prostitutes. Nezumi and Shion crash into the room before things can get very far (though Inukashi is still quite upset that they were late!) and knock the man unconscious. There’s an argument about Nezumi’s nature, in which Shion defends his friend and claims that he’s the one who knows Nezumi better, not the two claiming he’s a demon.
Whether Nezumi is, he’s certainly a torturer. He spares no effort in trying to get information out of their captive Fura, though he doesn’t have much luck. Shion, who steps in with a gentler approach, manages to get information out of the man, and finally the man tells them all about a new facility under the Correctional Facility, which is staffed by many doctors. Once they figure they’ve gotten everything they can out of the man, Shion once again steps in to prevent Nezumi from killing him, and Fura gives them detailed layouts, as well as location of all the traps and alarms.
Back at Nezumi’s house, a discussion about the parasitic bees ends with Nezumi collapsing, hearing a song and having a dream about grass, trees, and insects buzzing. When he wakes, Shion checks to see that he’s all right, gives him water, and launches into a lecture about taking care of himself. Nezumi interrupts to say he’ll teach Shion how to dance, but the distraction is momentary. Shion immediately launches into telling Nezumi why he is worried about him - how his care for Nezumi is a way to escape the pain and fear that would come with losing him. The whole encounter drives home for both of them just how close they have become, and Nezumi is left contemplating how vulnerable Shion has made him.
Another one of these collapses happens at Inukashi’s place, during a discussion about the manhunt coming, and then... the manhunt arrives. It’s the worst thing Shion has ever seen at this point - armored cars blocking the path while houses and shops are blown up, everyone killed indiscriminately by troops that aren’t even supposed to exist within No. 6 - and his way of reacting is to save a baby, taking it from the arms of the mother begging for it to be spared and sending it along with one of Inukashi’s dogs.
Shion and Nezumi are herded into a large truck, where Nezumi sings in a beautiful clear voice to sooth the panic of the others with them. They arrive at the Correctional Facility and are forced to walk, many of them being picked out and separated for unknown reasons. The ones who remain are sent into an elevator, along with Shion and Nezumi, and sent down to what is presumably the new facility.
When the elevator floor opens under their feet, they arrive in ‘Hell’, landing on piles of bodies. On closer inspection, some of these bodies are still alive. After a while of climbing over the bodies, they reach a small corridor where they can rest, but are confronted there by a man in pain, begging to be saved. Shion tries to choke him, but his hands are shaking too badly, so Nezumi covers the man’s nose and mouth and sings a song as he dies. While Shion claims that Nezumi ‘saved’ the man, it is Nezumi who claims the action was only murder.
They have an argument while resting about Shion’s nature and whether he is like No. 6, during which Shion proves his physical strength by clenching down tight on Nezumi’s wrist. It’s not a strength that he’s shown often, and it surprises even him. But before too long, other wounded people stumble into their hiding spot, and Nezumi and Shion move on. When they encounter more bodies, they do the only thing they can... climb.
Shion tries to say that he can’t continue, but Nezumi asks if he wants him to kill him, and then turns the question into whether Shion wants him to continue murdering people. Of course, Shion can’t accept that, so he’s forced to continue climbing after all. They eventually manage to reach a cave, where they are attacked by a man who claims that Nezumi ‘can’t come back’. Nezumi tells Shion to run, but instead Shion takes a superfiber rope and uses it to try to strangle the man attacking Nezumi. He’s stopped by Nezumi, who claims he isn’t fit to be a killer, but Shion says that if the man tries to kill Nezumi again, the same thing will happen.
Instead, they get an audience with the man Nezumi was seeking in the first place, who is in another part of the cave. However, once they enter, the man Shion strangled before sneak attacks and ties both Nezumi and Shion up. Though he claims that Shion must be destroyed and tries to kill him, Nezumi escapes and says that can’t happen, after all the trouble he went to for Shion. Shion escapes the ropes as well, with the help of rats that are supposed to be under his attacker’s control, and then... talk happens.
Shion is asked to show his scars and tell the story of the parasitic bees, and afterward, the man - who is the creator of No. 6 - speaks the name Elyurias, who he says is a great queen. Upon hearing the name, Nezumi collapses again, hearing the same song as before. Nezumi describes his vision and sings the song, after which they’re given more information. They’re told all about the forest people that existed before No. 6, and who were wiped out so the city could have the land they lived on. Nezumi is one of those people, and the massacre that wiped them out is the source of the burn scars he has.
The Elyurias the old man mentioned was something worshipped by the forest people, and part of the reason for the massacre was the city’s wishes to get their hands on it. The old man himself turns out to be a survivor of the parasite bees as well, though instead of his hair turning white, his legs suffered necrosis. He tells them that once he realized what the city had done to get their hands on Elyurias, it was too late for him to do anything about it, and he came to this cave to live, hiding away. He gives Shion a computer chip that supposedly has all the information that he has on it, before they leave. They make their way on to the special facility.
Inside, Shion leads the way, and they knock out a couple of people to steal lab coats and ID cards. They are able to make it to a control room, where Shion examines all the maps and screens and then finds a ladder they can use. There are some alarms tripped here, but they’re able to get moving again before the barricades close.
Nezumi outsmarts a group of soldiers and is able to get their guns and disable them, and the two move onward again, finding the ladder that Shion spotted earlier. They go up, and though Shion’s leg is grazed by a bullet, are able to make their way up into an air vent. They block the door with the body of a knocked-out soldier, and move onward, blowing the wall up with a small bomb and coming out into an office, where they surprise a bunch of workers.
What Shion sees there shocks him. There’s a conveyor belt full of bodies, all with the upper part of their heads cut off. They were all experiment samples, and the workers are just chatting casually while watching them go headed off for disposal. It takes Nezumi slapping Shion back to his senses to get him moving again.
When they encounter more soldiers, one of them turns out to be the man who questioned Shion way back when he helped Nezumi in the first place, before he was cast out. He shoots the soldier that Nezumi takes hostage, and then proceeds to shoot Nezumi, once in the shoulder and again in the foot. The gun is pointed at Nezumi’s heart, and Shion wraps his arm around Nezumi, which leads Nezumi to think that they’re going to die together.
But Shion has other plans. Instead, he shoots the man holding a gun on them, but not to kill, not yet. He stands over the man, questioning him, and when begged to ‘save him’, tells him about the man down below who had said that same thing. In the end, Shion says that he can’t save anyone, and shoots the man between the eyebrows, neatly.
During the time that Shion is making this decision, Nezumi has another one of his singing-visions, and afterward, Shion breaks down. Though he didn’t hesitate at all when killing the man, he freaks out over it once the moment has passed, and Nezumi has to force him to deal with it and move on. They realize that some traps that were supposed to go off haven’t, and an empty elevator comes to greet them, leading them to think that they’re being helped.
Shion seems to know exactly where to go, and both the boys hear voices - one Shion is sure is Safu, and another that speaks in Nezumi’s mind, causing his head to hurt. Inside they find a room lined with columns, each one holding a brain floating in liquid, as well as finally, Safu herself.
There’s a touching reunion between Shion and Safu, and then Nezumi says that Safu was the one controlling the computers and helping them. But Safu says that instead it was Elyurias. They speak about this Elyurias, and finally Nezumi asks Safu to take them to the ‘mother computer.’
Once there, they discover a number of things. Elyurias speaks in Safu’s mind, and wants the mother computer destroyed, but requires human will to destroy it. Shion and Nezumi agree to destroy it, but Shion insists on finding out more about Safu’s situation first, because she’s refusing to physically come near him, and not answering all his questions. She finally admits that she’s physically only an illusion - her real body doesn’t exist anywhere anymore. She insists that they destroy the mother computer and free what is left of her. And though Shion balks, there’s nothing else he can do, not really.
They run away, and while the illusion of Safu leaves them along the way, Nezumi picks up Shion and takes him to the elevator. Shion and Nezumi have another fight after coming out of the elevator, about Shion’s regretful feelings over Safu, and then are shot at by soldiers. Nezumi takes a bullet for Shion, and Shion carries Nezumi to a medical room. He manages to give emergency treatment, but says that he’ll die in a couple of hours if they don’t get to a hospital, so they’re running on limited time.
Nezumi tries to talk Shion into leaving him behind, but of course that isn’t happening. Instead Shion carries him to a trash chute they had previously discussed as a possible escape route, kicks the dead body of a soldier out of the way, and shoots the door open. It turns out that Inukashi and Rikiga have come to help as well, and they get a message from the mice and pile cushions down to catch Shion and Nezumi when they fall.
They all four - Shion, Nezumi, Inukashi, and Rikiga - run away from the Correctional Facility, trying to find a place to treat Nezumi. No. 6 itself is in the midst of chaos caused by the parasitic bees, so Shion figures that the guard posts should be unmanned, and they should be able to get inside to a hospital. They crash a customs post in Rikiga’s vehicle, and see flames within the city as well. The group heads to a hospital in Lost Town, headed by a doctor that Shion’s mother knows.
At the hospital, the doctor immediately treats Nezumi. Shion gets a bit of a shock while hugging Inukashi - he finds out she was boobs, after thinking of this person as a boy all along - but it’s quickly set aside in favor of worry over Nezumi. They all rest for a while, and then Shion uses a computer to analyze the chip that the founder of No. 6 gave him.
The doctor comes out to tell them Nezumi will be fine, and a friend of Karan’s who is working against No. 6 pops in to talk about the fall of the Correctional Facility. Shion is focused on Nezumi, who wakes up and then immediately starts giving orders and telling everyone to turn off the lights and stay silent. It turns out that his intuition is correct, as the Ministry of Peace is downstairs shooting people. The doctor is dying, but he speaks to Shion briefly, and entrusts the future of No. 6 to him. The group manages to escape, and Shion and Nezumi tell Inukashi and Rikiga all about what has happened up to this point.
They all arrive at the city hall, where Shion shows everyone his scars, explains that he wants to make a vaccine since he’s a survivor of the bees, and asks everyone protesting to just wait a little longer, and that he’ll take care of things. They go in and find the mayor - who seems to have given up - and head out onto the balcony. Nezumi sings the song from his visions, and the giant image of a bee appears before them.
Elyurias.
Nezumi speaks on behalf of humans, asking for another chance and saying that he wants to see what kind of world Shion will create. Elyurias agrees, conveying to Shion a message from Safu entrusting everything to him, and then disappears. After they leave the mayor, they hear a gunshot from inside, presumably him committing suicide.
The story ends with Shion seeing Nezumi off on a journey, a parting kiss, and a promise to meet again.
Post-Canon History: N/A
Previous Game History: N/A
Personality: Shion is, essentially, a sheltered child who threw away his shelter in a single act of both defiance and compassion. His story is one of a human being who moves from being inside a society that protects and cares for him in exchange for his loyalty to one that offers no such protection, but allows him to think and move freely. He confronts all of the terrors of real life: hunger, violence, and death... and then comes out the other side with both strength and compassion still existing within him.
Despite everything that he has been through, there are still many ways in which Shion manages to be ‘naive’. His first inclination is still to help anyone who needs it, and his thoughts of protecting himself only come after the threat is shown. While he will react to a direct threat with violence (especially if that threat is against Nezumi) he would never dream of committing violence for its own sake.
His movements, also, haven’t exactly become more graceful or controlled. He is inclined to both dawdle and rush, moving in fits and bursts of energy instead of with any particular efficiency. Once unlocked, his emotions became a driving force in his life, and he continues to listen to them above his head, most of the time. While his brain is a force to be reckoned with in terms of both logic and memory, the necessity of getting his heart to shut up long enough to allow it to be heard is still an issue.
Also to be considered is his strong passion for learning. While he was kicked out of the special course for his harboring of Nezumi, he never really lost interest in learning, and continued to study what he was able to. Once he moved to West Block, the things that he studied changed: the classic books that filled Nezumi’s room, the world and people around him. But he never stopped learning, and won’t stop now, you can bet on that.
When encountering new people, he will likely be kind and cheerful, speaking to everyone equally, regardless of apparent wealth or station. He’s never lost that habit of regarding all humans as the same humans, and won’t ever lose it. So expect him to be anyone’s friend... at least unless they prove themselves to be a threat, or make the mistake of insulting Nezumi.
Sexuality: What we know about the sexual culture of No. 6 is this: that artificial insemination is a common method of reproduction, and that it requires permits and such. Shion himself doesn’t seem to know anything at all about sex on a personal level: he reacts strangely at age twelve when his friend kisses his cheek, asking why she did the same thing his mother did. Four years later, at age sixteen, he certainly doesn’t seem to know how to respond to her request to have sex with him. That he knows the scientific basics of reproduction is likely, but his understanding of it on a personal level is much less.
After moving to West Block, things change a little in this respect for him. He encounters the realities of prostitution, both in the woman that approaches him and in Rikiga’s business. And Nezumi himself tells Shion that he needs to learn about sex before he can die. The relationship between Shion and Nezumi (which involves a couple of kisses along the way) does seem to involve sexual tension, but it’s never in the course of the story acted upon.
Based on all this, I’d say that Shion has no sexual experience, and doesn’t know anything about the less scientific aspects of sex. Things such as kinks would never really cross his mind, and he doesn’t think or wonder about other people’s sex lives, nor does he think of sex on a regular basis. As for sexual orientation, I don’t think it’s something that really crosses his mind: he speaks of being drawn to Nezumi and loving him without ever seeming to question their respective genders.
Skills and Powers: Shion’s skills of memorization and his intelligence are both strongly emphasized in canon. He has a sharp mind, and was considered part of the elite in No. 6 based on intelligence, in the best schools from a young age and winning many awards for his schoolwork. Though his education was cut short, he still has a strong understanding in many scientific areas.
He’s quite skilled at first aid and emergency medical treatment.
His physical strength is more than would be expected, and his natural reflexes in a fight - if he’s surprised into acting in anger rather than fear - are quite strong.
Items: Shion will be coming in with nothing but the clothes on his back and a mechanical mouse.
Writing samples:
Action: [The young man on the screen is smiling sweetly, his entire expression open and friendly. He sits on a bed with his legs folded underneath him, and even waves at the screen.]
I was wondering today if anyone here might have a recipe for cherry cake?
[After all, his mother isn’t here to make it. And he’s been craving it for quite some time... maybe it will just make him sad, or make him miss home. But maybe once he’s satisfied the craving, he’ll be able to stop thinking about it.]
I’ll gladly pay you for it, if you have some idea how to make it.
[He could stop there. After all, his intention was to ask the question, and nothing more. But of course, this is Shion, and he’s faced with something that isn’t talking back to him or cutting him off, so he must ramble on.]
You see, my mother used to make it. And I haven’t had it in quite some time, and I don’t really know when my birthday falls here, so I suppose it doesn’t make any sense to wait until that day, now does it? No, I don’t think so.
[Here, the screen is suddenly blocked for a second, tilts, and then goes black. It seems the mouse has decided it’s time for the video to end, whether Shion thinks so or not.]
Third Person Prose: It’s with much trepidation that Shion moves through the entertainment district. The clustered-together buildings are far too close to be evocative of No. 6, not orderly or neat enough in the least. And yet there’s none of the dilapidation that he’s used to seeing in West Block, either, no feeling of despair and ruin. The faint scent of smoke and alcohol and pheromone is there, yes, but there aren’t any whores to be seen along the streets, nor any beggars pressing themselves forward, reaching out thin hands and trying to meet his eyes.
He’s been told that one can buy pleasure here, but no women throw themselves forward, wrap their arms around him, and steal his kisses. (Perhaps that’s best, as he’s without his friend’s protection, this time.)
He runs fingers through white hair, then shoves both hands into his coat pockets, more nervous about what he’s seeking than about any form of attack. After all, the thing he is after this evening is the most taboo of all, far more unnerving than any drug or sexual purchase that he might make.
He takes faltering steps through the district, moving past the drinking houses, strip clubs, and brothels, past the art gallery with the display of sculptures in the tall glass windows, past the movie theater and the dance hall and any number of other places he’ll probably never bother entering.
His goal stands straight ahead, and he pulls a hat on as he steps closer, as if to bring less attention to himself. His white hair does stand out everywhere, after all, and for this, he needs to be unseen. Just in case.
He steps up to the dealer of the forbidden fruit that he is chasing this particular day, swallows thickly, and asks in a quiet tone - afraid of being overheard, being caught - for the one thing that he’s wanted for quite some time now.
“I need a ticket to see Eve’s play, please...”
In the Rift sample: He’s not alone, in this place. There’s no real concept of a body, of his body, being here... but there’s something. It’s a whisper of a voice, at first, and then a darting shadow. But there’s no fear at all.
Is this how Safu felt, he wondered, with Elyurias in her mind? How Nezumi felt when he listened to the songs? But he’s not in his mind, it’s not someone else in his mind, it’s himself... elsewhere. And whatever fills this space around him isn’t one mind but many, he thinks, as he picks out voices and pictures from the floating mass of thought and memory.
It’s just a tidbit here and there. It’s a young man making his way to the first day of his first job, standing fidgeting in the hallway before being introduced to his new boss, failing miserably at his first attempt at impressing coworkers, speaking in awkward tones to a cute officemate. It’s a young woman making her way down a long hallway - it feels so long, miles and miles long - toward a presentation that will determine the rest of her college career. It’s the way she straightens her shoulders - he can feel that movement - and makes eye contact boldly, hopefully.
It’s a young man driving a car for the first time, and stepping over the threshold to the first home that he calls his own, and learning to care for himself. It’s a young father holding the hand of his child as the little girl toddles along - that hand is slightly sticky, like Lili’s when she grabs him right after eating a treat - and leaning down to speak encouraging words when she trips herself with her own feet.
It’s just bits and pieces of experience, but they fill his heart up, somehow, roll over him and carry him along, seep into him and settle in alongside his own memories, his own life. He breathes, and it’s only now that he’s aware of his body, himself, but he’s not struggling away from the invasion, not at all.
No, Shion, ever compassionate and hopeful, reaches out, embraces every moment and every thought and every memory, for now, for this immeasurable moment in time.
Plans: My major goal for Shion is to experience something in between the false utopia of No. 6 and the desperate poverty of the West Block. A nice place that isn’t a lie, but also isn’t perfect, and a place where he can continue to experience more artistic expressions that No. 6 didn’t allow. I’d also like to explore his reactions to the sexuality of Sanctum, as again something between the two places that he knows, a place where he can experiment and learn without feeling pressured or threatened.
Any questions and concerns go here: