ooc ☠ A P P L I C A T I O N
OOC:
Name: Rowan
Personal LJ: carnimirie
Email: heart_of_rowan[at]yahho[dot]com
Timezone: EST
Other contact: AIM: foundthepenguin; rorofightdapowa
IC:
Character name: Kanji Tatsumi
Fandom: Persona 4
Timeline: October 30th, the second day of the school's Culture Festival, during the "Miss" Yasogami Pageant
Age: 15
~*Magical*~ abilities and strengths: Kanji has the power of Persona, an ability he gained after he was forced to find the courage to face his inner self, or Shadow, so to speak. In Jungian psychology, the Shadow is the part of the self that contains one's repressed weaknesses while the Persona is the mask one wears when dealing with the world; in the world of the game, these aspects of the self are given shape. Kanji's particular Persona is called Take-Mikazuchi and uses the lightening element, as well as physical attacks. As far as he knows, he can only summon his Persona within the world of the T.V.
When it comes to the real world, Kanji has no magic. What he lacks in that he more than makes up for with physical strength; he's notorious throughout Inaba for having fought and won against an entire biker gang by himself. Suffice to say, boy's got muscle and then some. Even his weapon of choice reflects this: it's basically the biggest, most flat piece of metal he can wield and still run with.
How would they use their abilities?: Kanji would only ever use his powers to help others, especially the people he cares about. Despite his appearance and reputation, Kanji has a good heart and good intentions, he's...just not so bright when it comes to the execution. For example, the reason Kanji challenged the biker gang in the first place was because they were making too much noise at night and his mother couldn't sleep as a result. But as a result of the fight, people began to think he was part of a biker gang himself.
Appearance: Kanji is the tallest member of the Investigation Team, measuring at 6'3" (189cm). He's got slicked back platinum blond hair, deep-set eyes and a prominent brow that gives his face a look as though he's glaring at you all the time. The small scar across his left eyebrow coupled with his piercings and skull-n-crossbones tattoo on his upper left arm give him the look of a real tough guy. He favors shirts with a similar skull-n-bones design, and brown boots. He's most often seen in his school uniform, which consists of black pants and a black blazer in winter, which he wears draped across his shoulders. When he's in casual dress, he still prefers dark colors.
Unfortunately for Kanji, the world ended during the "Miss" Yasogami Pageant at his school's Culture Festival. This is unfortunate because someone signed him up, and so he arrives to the S.S. Thor in a white wig and white cocktail dress, heels on his feet. He looks like a bad imitation of old Hollywood/Marilyn Monroe.
Background/Personality: Kanji is Inaba born and bred, used to life in the small country town where everyone seems to know each other. As a child, he grew up in his parents' textiles shop and learned to love fabrics, arts & crafts. But a few bad experiences where he was teased for his hobbies and gentle, cute nature as a kid, coupled with his father's dying words about being a "strong man" changed Kanji into the young man the protagonist, Souji, meets.
Souji, Yosuke, Chie, and Yukiko encountered Kanji when the clues regarding the recent series of kidnappings and murders led them to suspect that Kanji would be the next victim. They tried to warn him beforehand, and asked him about whether anything strange had happened to him lately, but they found him scary and difficult to approach. Despite being a year younger than them, he was taller and bigger, with a shady reputation of being a biker gang member. Separately, a young detective also met with Kanji to ask him some questions about the case. Unfortunately their efforts to warn him failed, and, equally unfortunate, their hunch proved to be correct; Kanji was kidnapped soon after their encounter with him.
It was not a normal kidnapping: Kanji was thrown into the television. He woke up inside the world inside the t.v. only to find another him. His surroundings were that of a bathhouse and his duplicate was accordingly...undressed for the location. But what was worse than his double's appearance was what he said, announcing the start of a televised program to an unseen audience. What Souji and the others saw on the Midnight Channel (a mystery "program" somehow connected to the case) was his duplicate advertising a "scandalously sneak-in report" on the bathhouse, where just about ~anything~ could happen~ When the others entered the bathhouse to rescue him, things just went from bad to worse when it was made explicitly clear by his double how gay his dungeon was - literally. Luckily for Kanji, they eventually made it to the top, where they found him and his double (or Shadow). After his Shadow revealed some rather embarrassing insights, stating that he preferred men over women, and how scary he found women to be, Kanji denied all that his double said and declared that none of it was him. That made his Shadow upset, and forced the others to fight. Even after defeating it, though, Kanji still struggled to accept it as part of him, until he knocked it down himself. Then he admitted to knowing his Shadow was a part of him; that acceptance gained him the power of Persona.
Once they returned to the normal world, Kanji confronted the others, looking for answers about that world, and why he was picked by the culprit. Kanji was accepted onto the investigation team, and, as it turned out, provided them with a clue: a list of names and dates that they realized corresponded to the dates each of the victims had been featured on t.v. (a few days before Kanji's kidnap, he had been part of a report on the local biker gangs, being especially memorable for telling everyone to "get bent").
Soon after, there were rumors that an idol, Risette, would be returning home to Inaba. With the clues they had, the team deduced that Risette, whose real name was Rise Kujikawa, would be the next victim. Souji, Yosuke, and Kanji went to warn her, and soon after, her image appeared on the Midnight Channel, confirming their suspicions. But when a stalker found outside Rise's home was arrested under suspicion for the crimes, the group relaxed...and Rise was kidnapped.
Rescuing Rise was Kanji's first experience on the other side of things, encountering Rise's Shadow throughout the dungeon. He found it pretty unbelievable some of the things her Shadow said, but the others "reassured" him that his Shadow had been like that as well. They managed to get to Rise in time, only to discover her Shadow to be impossible to beat. Teddie took a near-fatal blow for everyone, allowing Rise to accept her Shadow...only to have Teddie's Shadow be awoken. They fought him as well and Teddie gained the power of Persona. Unfortunately for the bear, he was somewhat out of shape, so the others let him be so that he could regroup. When another dead body showed up in the shopping district, however, they went to meet Teddie only to find him outside the t.v. He had been hollow before, but had somehow managed to create a body for himself, so he joined them in the normal world. That day, Rise also joined the investigation team.
As the group tried to puzzle out the meaning of this newest victim (the previous two had both been inside the t.v. prior to their deaths, according to Teddie, but no one had been in there before the appearance of the third body), they were told not to bother with the case anymore by the young detective who had questioned Kanji before he was kidnapped. The boy's name was Naoto Shirogane, and according to him the police already had a suspect. All they had to do was bring him in and the case would be closed.
But the suspect, Mitsuo Kubo, went missing before the police could arrest him. The team found him inside the t.v. and battled their way to his Shadow. Once he was defeated, they brought him back, where he was put into police custody.
That should have ended the case, but Naoto was not convinced, and decided to use himself as bait to lure out the true culprit, relying on the investigation team (with whom he had formed a tentative report after a school field trip where they tried to include him in the group) to rescue him should the plan succeed. He didn't actually tell them the plan beforehand, but when Naoto appeared on television, first on the news and then on the Midnight Channel, the others got the message. Kanji was particularly upset by Naoto's risky idea, and was determined to find him if only to let him know what an idiot he was.
When they found Naoto and his Shadow, they all got a big shock: he was a she! After they rescued her, the team realized that the true culprit was still at large. Naoto joined the team to help them get to the bottom of the mystery.
But of course their lives were not solely driven by the case, and soon the school's culture festival was upon them! One of the events was a pageant, for which Yosuke signed up all the girls. When they discovered this, Chie retaliated by signing the boys up for the "Miss" Yasogami pageant, from which they could not withdraw. Unfortunately for Kanji, the world decided to end the day of the pageant.
Perhaps Kanji's mother says it best when it comes to Kanji's personality: "He may be stupid and short tempered, but he's a strong and gentle child." Kanji is a person with good intentions but often poor execution. As a child, others described him as being a good kid, someone gentle and relatively quiet. But as he grew older, he found out that
his hobbies made him appear strange to others, and brought him ridicule. So he changed his appearance and attitude and became someone others feared. However, as the year progressed, Kanji learns more about himself and realizes that he made himself into someone scary because it was easier for everyone to hate him than for him to face rejection by others.
Kanji truly loves to sew, and is skilled in arts and crafts. But even though he has that side to him, his easily angered side is also a part of him, and he can be genuinely scary when he gets pissed off. He regrets those moments, though, and strives to become a person who doesn't make trouble for others. He hates it when his actions cause trouble for other people he cares about, and whenever someone gets mixed up in his mistakes, he goes out of his way to make it clear to others not to blame his friends. He's not the best when it comes to expressing himself, though he does seem to find it easier to do around Souji, but his heart is in everything he does.
Because it is an issue that comes up for him during the course of the year, Kanji's sexuality is still up in the air for him. It's a sensitive subject that he cannot stand to be teased over. He honestly doesn't know what he likes, but a big part of that has to do with the fact that he's still learning to accept himself, and learning to put his true self out there in terms of getting to know others. He's getting better at this, becoming more open about his hobbies, but he still worries someone will call him queer because of it. The more confidence he gains in accepting himself and opening up to others, the easier it will become for him to give his sexual orientation some proper thought. But for now he's really not ready for that.
It's worth noting that there are a few things that can leave Kanji flustered and about which he will tend toward denial. Kanji is not used to people thanking him (as most people tend to be afraid or suspicious of him), and will blush and try to brush the thanks off, though he has admitted to Souji that he likes the feeling of being thanked for something, especially when in conjunction with his plush creations. He will also grow flustered whenever someone suggests or hints at his feelings for Naoto (though he does kind of admit to the attraction himself, from time to time). Also, when his mother shows care, affection, and trust in him, he tries not to let her know how much that means to him, even while blushing and stammering his indifference.
Kanji also has a weakness for cute and/or soft things. He especially wants to pet Teddie's fur. He also used to have a complex about being called "weird" or "strange", but he's gotten better about that.
1st person sample: [video]
[The screen shows a young man with a pissed off expression on his face. There are red smears across his cheeks and around his mouth and that just might be a halter top he's wearing. His eyes are dead serious however, and they give the screen a look that simply dares it to laugh.]
...hell, where do I even start here?
[His eyebrows draw down in frustrated thought.]
Uh, 'lo, I guess. So, just to make it clear, if I coulda picked a day for the world to end, it wouldn't of been the one where I was dressed up like this. This [and he indicates his general appearance] it ain't a choice, s'don't go getting funny ideas, alright?
[He sighs heavily.]
That's right. The world ended, or something like that, anyway. Guess I'm pretty lucky to be here, all things considered. Still, wouldn't hurt to know how everyone is, so... Ma? Hey, yeah, it's really me. If you're here, you gotta let me know, 'kay? Also, uh, does anyone know a Souji Seta? I figure if anyone of 'em made it here, it'd be Senpai. That 'n he'd probably get the others together too, if any of 'em are here.
[Muttering under his breath as he gets up, the view shaking and pointing to the floor as he moves. It catches a good shot of bared legs and white heels.]
This is some kinda dream, right? Shit, I hope so...
...damn, I didn't even get to see her in a skirt.
[The screen comes back up to his face. He pauses, gathers his thoughts, and speaks again.]
Uh, also, help findin' my room'd be great. I'm kinda attractin' the wrong sorta attention like this.
3rd person sample: [sample from my app for elegycity]
Kanji Tatsumi was jerked awake. When he had fallen asleep, he could not recall, but as he woke up, wiping the thin trail of drool that had run past one side of his mouth, there was no doubting that asleep he had been. He didn't even recognize where he was, though at first he figured (in the way one does when one is still wading through the fog of sleep) that was merely due to his sudden departure from dreamland. But as his eyes cleared and that mist of fatigue dissipated -if only the fog back home were as accommodating- he realized that the reason he did not recognize his surroundings was that he did not know them. In fact, he could barely remember boarding the train at all.
The train was slowing down, he noticed. Looking around him, he found the car strangely empty. Had he really slept that long? He must be nearing the train's final stop, then, and that couldn't be good. If he was on the train, he couldn't have intended to go anywhere further than the next town over, probably to go to the hospital to see Nanako-chan with the others. Shit, if that was the case, why hadn't they called him? He had his cell on, at least last time he'd checked it was on. Checking his pockets reassured him that he had both his cell and his wallet with him; checking the wallet told him that he probably had enough to make it back. Checking his cell phone told him that the battery had died while he was dozing. "No freaking way," he cursed under his breath, shoving the useless gadget back into his pocket with a frown.
The train had finally slowed to a near halt, and a moment and another jerk later, it came to a complete stop. Kanji got to his feet and crossed over to the doors, waiting impatiently for them to open. There was a pause and then the doors pulled away with a low hiss.
Kanji stepped off the train, onto the platform, and was momentarily struck dumb. When he finally untied his tongue, all he managed was a stunned and stupefied "...the hell?!"
Kanji had grown up in Inaba, and beyond one or two trips with his mother on the train, had never gone farther than two stops away from his hometown. And even those trips had never taken him to the end of the line. Still, the railway that ran through Yasoinaba Station was nothing particularly special, just a country train that connected Inaba with its fellow country villages. If one wanted to go to a major city, like Tokyo or Kyoto, he'd have to switch trains at another station. The fact of the matter was, even had Kanji slept to the end of the line, he should have wound up in some sleepy country town like his own.
He had never been to Tokyo or Kyoto. If he had, this place would have seemed small in comparison. But the only "large" town Kanji knew was Okina City, and the city in which he now found himself dwarfed that large town considerably. How could this place possibly be on the same train route as Inaba and Okina City?
Faced with such stark unknown, Kanji considered not even bothering to purchase a return ticket. If he could, he would take the first return train home, and fuck the ticket. He turned around toward the train he had just left, expecting it to still sit behind him; after all, he hadn't heard it pull away from the platform, so logically it should still be there.
It wasn't, and there was no evidence that any train had been this way recently, nor that any train was expected to do so in the near future. No train, no tracks... there was nothing to suggest that five minutes ago Kanji had been deep asleep on a train headed for this place.
"You've gotta be shitting me," he said out loud, his voice loud with incredulous disbelief.
Name: Rowan
Personal LJ: carnimirie
Email: heart_of_rowan[at]yahho[dot]com
Timezone: EST
Other contact: AIM: foundthepenguin; rorofightdapowa
IC:
Character name: Kanji Tatsumi
Fandom: Persona 4
Timeline: October 30th, the second day of the school's Culture Festival, during the "Miss" Yasogami Pageant
Age: 15
~*Magical*~ abilities and strengths: Kanji has the power of Persona, an ability he gained after he was forced to find the courage to face his inner self, or Shadow, so to speak. In Jungian psychology, the Shadow is the part of the self that contains one's repressed weaknesses while the Persona is the mask one wears when dealing with the world; in the world of the game, these aspects of the self are given shape. Kanji's particular Persona is called Take-Mikazuchi and uses the lightening element, as well as physical attacks. As far as he knows, he can only summon his Persona within the world of the T.V.
When it comes to the real world, Kanji has no magic. What he lacks in that he more than makes up for with physical strength; he's notorious throughout Inaba for having fought and won against an entire biker gang by himself. Suffice to say, boy's got muscle and then some. Even his weapon of choice reflects this: it's basically the biggest, most flat piece of metal he can wield and still run with.
How would they use their abilities?: Kanji would only ever use his powers to help others, especially the people he cares about. Despite his appearance and reputation, Kanji has a good heart and good intentions, he's...just not so bright when it comes to the execution. For example, the reason Kanji challenged the biker gang in the first place was because they were making too much noise at night and his mother couldn't sleep as a result. But as a result of the fight, people began to think he was part of a biker gang himself.
Appearance: Kanji is the tallest member of the Investigation Team, measuring at 6'3" (189cm). He's got slicked back platinum blond hair, deep-set eyes and a prominent brow that gives his face a look as though he's glaring at you all the time. The small scar across his left eyebrow coupled with his piercings and skull-n-crossbones tattoo on his upper left arm give him the look of a real tough guy. He favors shirts with a similar skull-n-bones design, and brown boots. He's most often seen in his school uniform, which consists of black pants and a black blazer in winter, which he wears draped across his shoulders. When he's in casual dress, he still prefers dark colors.
Unfortunately for Kanji, the world ended during the "Miss" Yasogami Pageant at his school's Culture Festival. This is unfortunate because someone signed him up, and so he arrives to the S.S. Thor in a white wig and white cocktail dress, heels on his feet. He looks like a bad imitation of old Hollywood/Marilyn Monroe.
Background/Personality: Kanji is Inaba born and bred, used to life in the small country town where everyone seems to know each other. As a child, he grew up in his parents' textiles shop and learned to love fabrics, arts & crafts. But a few bad experiences where he was teased for his hobbies and gentle, cute nature as a kid, coupled with his father's dying words about being a "strong man" changed Kanji into the young man the protagonist, Souji, meets.
Souji, Yosuke, Chie, and Yukiko encountered Kanji when the clues regarding the recent series of kidnappings and murders led them to suspect that Kanji would be the next victim. They tried to warn him beforehand, and asked him about whether anything strange had happened to him lately, but they found him scary and difficult to approach. Despite being a year younger than them, he was taller and bigger, with a shady reputation of being a biker gang member. Separately, a young detective also met with Kanji to ask him some questions about the case. Unfortunately their efforts to warn him failed, and, equally unfortunate, their hunch proved to be correct; Kanji was kidnapped soon after their encounter with him.
It was not a normal kidnapping: Kanji was thrown into the television. He woke up inside the world inside the t.v. only to find another him. His surroundings were that of a bathhouse and his duplicate was accordingly...undressed for the location. But what was worse than his double's appearance was what he said, announcing the start of a televised program to an unseen audience. What Souji and the others saw on the Midnight Channel (a mystery "program" somehow connected to the case) was his duplicate advertising a "scandalously sneak-in report" on the bathhouse, where just about ~anything~ could happen~ When the others entered the bathhouse to rescue him, things just went from bad to worse when it was made explicitly clear by his double how gay his dungeon was - literally. Luckily for Kanji, they eventually made it to the top, where they found him and his double (or Shadow). After his Shadow revealed some rather embarrassing insights, stating that he preferred men over women, and how scary he found women to be, Kanji denied all that his double said and declared that none of it was him. That made his Shadow upset, and forced the others to fight. Even after defeating it, though, Kanji still struggled to accept it as part of him, until he knocked it down himself. Then he admitted to knowing his Shadow was a part of him; that acceptance gained him the power of Persona.
Once they returned to the normal world, Kanji confronted the others, looking for answers about that world, and why he was picked by the culprit. Kanji was accepted onto the investigation team, and, as it turned out, provided them with a clue: a list of names and dates that they realized corresponded to the dates each of the victims had been featured on t.v. (a few days before Kanji's kidnap, he had been part of a report on the local biker gangs, being especially memorable for telling everyone to "get bent").
Soon after, there were rumors that an idol, Risette, would be returning home to Inaba. With the clues they had, the team deduced that Risette, whose real name was Rise Kujikawa, would be the next victim. Souji, Yosuke, and Kanji went to warn her, and soon after, her image appeared on the Midnight Channel, confirming their suspicions. But when a stalker found outside Rise's home was arrested under suspicion for the crimes, the group relaxed...and Rise was kidnapped.
Rescuing Rise was Kanji's first experience on the other side of things, encountering Rise's Shadow throughout the dungeon. He found it pretty unbelievable some of the things her Shadow said, but the others "reassured" him that his Shadow had been like that as well. They managed to get to Rise in time, only to discover her Shadow to be impossible to beat. Teddie took a near-fatal blow for everyone, allowing Rise to accept her Shadow...only to have Teddie's Shadow be awoken. They fought him as well and Teddie gained the power of Persona. Unfortunately for the bear, he was somewhat out of shape, so the others let him be so that he could regroup. When another dead body showed up in the shopping district, however, they went to meet Teddie only to find him outside the t.v. He had been hollow before, but had somehow managed to create a body for himself, so he joined them in the normal world. That day, Rise also joined the investigation team.
As the group tried to puzzle out the meaning of this newest victim (the previous two had both been inside the t.v. prior to their deaths, according to Teddie, but no one had been in there before the appearance of the third body), they were told not to bother with the case anymore by the young detective who had questioned Kanji before he was kidnapped. The boy's name was Naoto Shirogane, and according to him the police already had a suspect. All they had to do was bring him in and the case would be closed.
But the suspect, Mitsuo Kubo, went missing before the police could arrest him. The team found him inside the t.v. and battled their way to his Shadow. Once he was defeated, they brought him back, where he was put into police custody.
That should have ended the case, but Naoto was not convinced, and decided to use himself as bait to lure out the true culprit, relying on the investigation team (with whom he had formed a tentative report after a school field trip where they tried to include him in the group) to rescue him should the plan succeed. He didn't actually tell them the plan beforehand, but when Naoto appeared on television, first on the news and then on the Midnight Channel, the others got the message. Kanji was particularly upset by Naoto's risky idea, and was determined to find him if only to let him know what an idiot he was.
When they found Naoto and his Shadow, they all got a big shock: he was a she! After they rescued her, the team realized that the true culprit was still at large. Naoto joined the team to help them get to the bottom of the mystery.
But of course their lives were not solely driven by the case, and soon the school's culture festival was upon them! One of the events was a pageant, for which Yosuke signed up all the girls. When they discovered this, Chie retaliated by signing the boys up for the "Miss" Yasogami pageant, from which they could not withdraw. Unfortunately for Kanji, the world decided to end the day of the pageant.
Perhaps Kanji's mother says it best when it comes to Kanji's personality: "He may be stupid and short tempered, but he's a strong and gentle child." Kanji is a person with good intentions but often poor execution. As a child, others described him as being a good kid, someone gentle and relatively quiet. But as he grew older, he found out that
his hobbies made him appear strange to others, and brought him ridicule. So he changed his appearance and attitude and became someone others feared. However, as the year progressed, Kanji learns more about himself and realizes that he made himself into someone scary because it was easier for everyone to hate him than for him to face rejection by others.
Kanji truly loves to sew, and is skilled in arts and crafts. But even though he has that side to him, his easily angered side is also a part of him, and he can be genuinely scary when he gets pissed off. He regrets those moments, though, and strives to become a person who doesn't make trouble for others. He hates it when his actions cause trouble for other people he cares about, and whenever someone gets mixed up in his mistakes, he goes out of his way to make it clear to others not to blame his friends. He's not the best when it comes to expressing himself, though he does seem to find it easier to do around Souji, but his heart is in everything he does.
Because it is an issue that comes up for him during the course of the year, Kanji's sexuality is still up in the air for him. It's a sensitive subject that he cannot stand to be teased over. He honestly doesn't know what he likes, but a big part of that has to do with the fact that he's still learning to accept himself, and learning to put his true self out there in terms of getting to know others. He's getting better at this, becoming more open about his hobbies, but he still worries someone will call him queer because of it. The more confidence he gains in accepting himself and opening up to others, the easier it will become for him to give his sexual orientation some proper thought. But for now he's really not ready for that.
It's worth noting that there are a few things that can leave Kanji flustered and about which he will tend toward denial. Kanji is not used to people thanking him (as most people tend to be afraid or suspicious of him), and will blush and try to brush the thanks off, though he has admitted to Souji that he likes the feeling of being thanked for something, especially when in conjunction with his plush creations. He will also grow flustered whenever someone suggests or hints at his feelings for Naoto (though he does kind of admit to the attraction himself, from time to time). Also, when his mother shows care, affection, and trust in him, he tries not to let her know how much that means to him, even while blushing and stammering his indifference.
Kanji also has a weakness for cute and/or soft things. He especially wants to pet Teddie's fur. He also used to have a complex about being called "weird" or "strange", but he's gotten better about that.
1st person sample: [video]
[The screen shows a young man with a pissed off expression on his face. There are red smears across his cheeks and around his mouth and that just might be a halter top he's wearing. His eyes are dead serious however, and they give the screen a look that simply dares it to laugh.]
...hell, where do I even start here?
[His eyebrows draw down in frustrated thought.]
Uh, 'lo, I guess. So, just to make it clear, if I coulda picked a day for the world to end, it wouldn't of been the one where I was dressed up like this. This [and he indicates his general appearance] it ain't a choice, s'don't go getting funny ideas, alright?
[He sighs heavily.]
That's right. The world ended, or something like that, anyway. Guess I'm pretty lucky to be here, all things considered. Still, wouldn't hurt to know how everyone is, so... Ma? Hey, yeah, it's really me. If you're here, you gotta let me know, 'kay? Also, uh, does anyone know a Souji Seta? I figure if anyone of 'em made it here, it'd be Senpai. That 'n he'd probably get the others together too, if any of 'em are here.
[Muttering under his breath as he gets up, the view shaking and pointing to the floor as he moves. It catches a good shot of bared legs and white heels.]
This is some kinda dream, right? Shit, I hope so...
...damn, I didn't even get to see her in a skirt.
[The screen comes back up to his face. He pauses, gathers his thoughts, and speaks again.]
Uh, also, help findin' my room'd be great. I'm kinda attractin' the wrong sorta attention like this.
3rd person sample: [sample from my app for elegycity]
Kanji Tatsumi was jerked awake. When he had fallen asleep, he could not recall, but as he woke up, wiping the thin trail of drool that had run past one side of his mouth, there was no doubting that asleep he had been. He didn't even recognize where he was, though at first he figured (in the way one does when one is still wading through the fog of sleep) that was merely due to his sudden departure from dreamland. But as his eyes cleared and that mist of fatigue dissipated -if only the fog back home were as accommodating- he realized that the reason he did not recognize his surroundings was that he did not know them. In fact, he could barely remember boarding the train at all.
The train was slowing down, he noticed. Looking around him, he found the car strangely empty. Had he really slept that long? He must be nearing the train's final stop, then, and that couldn't be good. If he was on the train, he couldn't have intended to go anywhere further than the next town over, probably to go to the hospital to see Nanako-chan with the others. Shit, if that was the case, why hadn't they called him? He had his cell on, at least last time he'd checked it was on. Checking his pockets reassured him that he had both his cell and his wallet with him; checking the wallet told him that he probably had enough to make it back. Checking his cell phone told him that the battery had died while he was dozing. "No freaking way," he cursed under his breath, shoving the useless gadget back into his pocket with a frown.
The train had finally slowed to a near halt, and a moment and another jerk later, it came to a complete stop. Kanji got to his feet and crossed over to the doors, waiting impatiently for them to open. There was a pause and then the doors pulled away with a low hiss.
Kanji stepped off the train, onto the platform, and was momentarily struck dumb. When he finally untied his tongue, all he managed was a stunned and stupefied "...the hell?!"
Kanji had grown up in Inaba, and beyond one or two trips with his mother on the train, had never gone farther than two stops away from his hometown. And even those trips had never taken him to the end of the line. Still, the railway that ran through Yasoinaba Station was nothing particularly special, just a country train that connected Inaba with its fellow country villages. If one wanted to go to a major city, like Tokyo or Kyoto, he'd have to switch trains at another station. The fact of the matter was, even had Kanji slept to the end of the line, he should have wound up in some sleepy country town like his own.
He had never been to Tokyo or Kyoto. If he had, this place would have seemed small in comparison. But the only "large" town Kanji knew was Okina City, and the city in which he now found himself dwarfed that large town considerably. How could this place possibly be on the same train route as Inaba and Okina City?
Faced with such stark unknown, Kanji considered not even bothering to purchase a return ticket. If he could, he would take the first return train home, and fuck the ticket. He turned around toward the train he had just left, expecting it to still sit behind him; after all, he hadn't heard it pull away from the platform, so logically it should still be there.
It wasn't, and there was no evidence that any train had been this way recently, nor that any train was expected to do so in the near future. No train, no tracks... there was nothing to suggest that five minutes ago Kanji had been deep asleep on a train headed for this place.
"You've gotta be shitting me," he said out loud, his voice loud with incredulous disbelief.