[ooc] Application
CHARACTER'S NAME: Nishihara Shun
AGE: 26
OCCUPATION: Teacher (Japanese Literature)
GRADE: N/A
CLUBS: N/A
SEX: Male
PLAYED BY: Orihara Izaya from Durarara!!
WEAPON OF CHOICE: Knife
PERSONA: Raphael
WEAK; Darkness
STRONG; Ice
NULL/BLOCK; Light
REFLECT; N/A
ABSORB; N/A
HIGH-EVADE; N/A
PERSONA ABILITIES: Dia, Sukukaja, Hama
ARCANA: Lovers
PERSONALITY: Shun is...to be blunt, a metrosexual guy with a smidgen more image-consciousness. He's decidedly vain about his appearance and takes many steps to maintain it - it's not the most important aspect of a person, but he knows that giving a good impression counts for a lot too. That said, Shun is friendly, vibrant and chatty. Especially chatty. Give him an interesting enough topic to start with and he will talk, talk, maybe go off into a tangent or two, and talk. He's all about socializing and getting to know people.
By which I also mean he's incredibly nosey. Rather like a housewife or teenage girl, Shun loves gossip, and especially likes being in the know. He makes a habit of listening to gossip and “overhearing” conversations, particularly in school and the area he lives in. He makes other people’s business his business, basically. It’s simply too irresistible to not seize the chance for some juicy piece of information, to him. Fortunately, he’s not normally malicious and isn’t likely to intentionally spread hurtful rumors - embarrassing ones, maybe, but nothing meant to be mean. Really, Shun is an embarrassing person to most people he knows - he doesn’t seem to have many qualms asking or talking about things most people might find too personal to ask in public, and can gush about how “cute” a person is if prompted. Or without any prompting, even.
Shun is smarter than his personality seems to imply, though it often sits quietly in the background, the way he prefers it to be. Maintaining a specific balance of competence and incompetence was essential for not being caught up in family politics, and now that he doesn’t have to worry about that anymore he simply lets himself act more naturally. But it’s a habit. He admires his older siblings a lot, often following their example or otherwise taking what they say very seriously, even if they didn’t mean for it to be “advice”.
Deep down, Shun has a genuine desire to help people better themselves, even if it is partially for his own self-satisfaction. He’s a bit of a romantic too - he likes to believe in happy endings and idealistic things, though he’s fully aware that life isn’t always like that. If he sees a chance for his students to achieve happiness or otherwise grow as people, he won’t hesitate to nudge them towards that direction. Or try to, at least.
BACKGROUND: Shun is the youngest child to the Nishihara family head, who in turn is the president of a large and influential company based in Fukuoka, born out of his grandfather’s sheer perseverance, determination and being-a-manipulative-bastardness. In fact, the Nishihara family has a reputation for producing shrewd and highly capable (if often eccentric) businesspeople.
Being the child to his father’s second wife; both of whom already had a child each from their first marriages, Shun grew up in a slightly awkward position, watching his half-siblings’ own unusual circumstances within the family. In a family that prized skill and competence, while emphasizing and promoting competitiveness, family politics tended to be messy, tense, and occasionally cut-throat.
Shun was fortunate that he didn’t face a lot of pressure to excel, since he was the youngest. No one expected him to be able to best his sister Sadako, who climbed her way to the top of their generation’s food chain with frightening efficiency, and his brother Masafumi was alternately ignored or looked down upon for being the stepchild of the family, so Shun didn’t have to worry about competing with him either. In fact, Shun looked up to both of them as role models. Their father was at best distant from him, and his mother didn’t have much force of personality compared to his siblings.
In a way, taking an information-obsessed sister and a long-suffering brother as role models probably wasn't the brightest idea, but Shun was young and impressionable and strapped for guiding figures in his life. And so he grew up following their example, whether or not they actually meant for it to be that way. Shun developed a penchant for gossip and information gathering, because it was important to know what was going on with their relatives (so said his sister), and he learned to keep his head down just enough so that they would not see him as another potential rival (because that was what brother did for his own sake).
Still he'd never really thought about straying from the generally accepted “family business” - corporate jobs, entrepreneurship, shady under-the-table dealings. Shun wanted to become a teacher for his own reasons, which included finding business to be boring and him being utterly smitten with the idea of “passing on information”, but he didn't dare voice his ambition or give it serious thought. Doing so risked incurring his father's displeasure, and while Shun did not know him well, he did know his father would have no problems revoking privileges or withdrawing any support he may have had.
Then, while Shun was still in high school Sadako abruptly left shortly after her university graduation, withdrawing all her savings and falling off the grid. It was her way of announcing that she had no interest in their father's plans for her, as Shun would realize later. Sadako's disappearance was shortly followed by Masafumi's own departure, having decided he'd rather not stay involved with the Nishiharas in general. His father's hopes and ambition were suddenly placed on Shun instead, who didn't like the demands or responsibility thrust upon him, more so since he believed he simply wasn't cut out for what his father expected of him.
So, he took a leaf out of his siblings' books once again. Once he graduated, he pulled a similar trick, transferring whatever savings he had to another account and enrolling in teaching school instead. He swiftly proceeded to cut himself from nearly the entire family, with his siblings and his mom being the only ones he bothers contacting.
He has since finished his course and started teaching Japanese Literature at Gekkoukan High School.
AGE: 26
OCCUPATION: Teacher (Japanese Literature)
GRADE: N/A
CLUBS: N/A
SEX: Male
PLAYED BY: Orihara Izaya from Durarara!!
WEAPON OF CHOICE: Knife
PERSONA: Raphael
WEAK; Darkness
STRONG; Ice
NULL/BLOCK; Light
REFLECT; N/A
ABSORB; N/A
HIGH-EVADE; N/A
PERSONA ABILITIES: Dia, Sukukaja, Hama
ARCANA: Lovers
PERSONALITY: Shun is...to be blunt, a metrosexual guy with a smidgen more image-consciousness. He's decidedly vain about his appearance and takes many steps to maintain it - it's not the most important aspect of a person, but he knows that giving a good impression counts for a lot too. That said, Shun is friendly, vibrant and chatty. Especially chatty. Give him an interesting enough topic to start with and he will talk, talk, maybe go off into a tangent or two, and talk. He's all about socializing and getting to know people.
By which I also mean he's incredibly nosey. Rather like a housewife or teenage girl, Shun loves gossip, and especially likes being in the know. He makes a habit of listening to gossip and “overhearing” conversations, particularly in school and the area he lives in. He makes other people’s business his business, basically. It’s simply too irresistible to not seize the chance for some juicy piece of information, to him. Fortunately, he’s not normally malicious and isn’t likely to intentionally spread hurtful rumors - embarrassing ones, maybe, but nothing meant to be mean. Really, Shun is an embarrassing person to most people he knows - he doesn’t seem to have many qualms asking or talking about things most people might find too personal to ask in public, and can gush about how “cute” a person is if prompted. Or without any prompting, even.
Shun is smarter than his personality seems to imply, though it often sits quietly in the background, the way he prefers it to be. Maintaining a specific balance of competence and incompetence was essential for not being caught up in family politics, and now that he doesn’t have to worry about that anymore he simply lets himself act more naturally. But it’s a habit. He admires his older siblings a lot, often following their example or otherwise taking what they say very seriously, even if they didn’t mean for it to be “advice”.
Deep down, Shun has a genuine desire to help people better themselves, even if it is partially for his own self-satisfaction. He’s a bit of a romantic too - he likes to believe in happy endings and idealistic things, though he’s fully aware that life isn’t always like that. If he sees a chance for his students to achieve happiness or otherwise grow as people, he won’t hesitate to nudge them towards that direction. Or try to, at least.
BACKGROUND: Shun is the youngest child to the Nishihara family head, who in turn is the president of a large and influential company based in Fukuoka, born out of his grandfather’s sheer perseverance, determination and being-a-manipulative-bastardness. In fact, the Nishihara family has a reputation for producing shrewd and highly capable (if often eccentric) businesspeople.
Being the child to his father’s second wife; both of whom already had a child each from their first marriages, Shun grew up in a slightly awkward position, watching his half-siblings’ own unusual circumstances within the family. In a family that prized skill and competence, while emphasizing and promoting competitiveness, family politics tended to be messy, tense, and occasionally cut-throat.
Shun was fortunate that he didn’t face a lot of pressure to excel, since he was the youngest. No one expected him to be able to best his sister Sadako, who climbed her way to the top of their generation’s food chain with frightening efficiency, and his brother Masafumi was alternately ignored or looked down upon for being the stepchild of the family, so Shun didn’t have to worry about competing with him either. In fact, Shun looked up to both of them as role models. Their father was at best distant from him, and his mother didn’t have much force of personality compared to his siblings.
In a way, taking an information-obsessed sister and a long-suffering brother as role models probably wasn't the brightest idea, but Shun was young and impressionable and strapped for guiding figures in his life. And so he grew up following their example, whether or not they actually meant for it to be that way. Shun developed a penchant for gossip and information gathering, because it was important to know what was going on with their relatives (so said his sister), and he learned to keep his head down just enough so that they would not see him as another potential rival (because that was what brother did for his own sake).
Still he'd never really thought about straying from the generally accepted “family business” - corporate jobs, entrepreneurship, shady under-the-table dealings. Shun wanted to become a teacher for his own reasons, which included finding business to be boring and him being utterly smitten with the idea of “passing on information”, but he didn't dare voice his ambition or give it serious thought. Doing so risked incurring his father's displeasure, and while Shun did not know him well, he did know his father would have no problems revoking privileges or withdrawing any support he may have had.
Then, while Shun was still in high school Sadako abruptly left shortly after her university graduation, withdrawing all her savings and falling off the grid. It was her way of announcing that she had no interest in their father's plans for her, as Shun would realize later. Sadako's disappearance was shortly followed by Masafumi's own departure, having decided he'd rather not stay involved with the Nishiharas in general. His father's hopes and ambition were suddenly placed on Shun instead, who didn't like the demands or responsibility thrust upon him, more so since he believed he simply wasn't cut out for what his father expected of him.
So, he took a leaf out of his siblings' books once again. Once he graduated, he pulled a similar trick, transferring whatever savings he had to another account and enrolling in teaching school instead. He swiftly proceeded to cut himself from nearly the entire family, with his siblings and his mom being the only ones he bothers contacting.
He has since finished his course and started teaching Japanese Literature at Gekkoukan High School.