OOC | Character Notes/Application
PLAYER INFO
Name: Rae
Main Journal: aircrash
Contact Info: AIM @ last laugh blues; gmail.com @ themeansbywhichallisrevealed; or LJ Message!
Played Characters: Beyond Birthday (OU)
CHARACTER INFO
Name: Souji Seta (technically, an unnamed Protagonist given a name by the player at the start of the game; I’ll be using the name given in the manga adaptation for simplicity’s sake).
Age: Never exactly specified in canon, estimated at 17. He’s just finished his second (junior) year of high school.
Species: Human
Series: Persona 4 (video game, with slight, necessary influences from the manga adaptation)
OU/AU: AU
Canon Point: 21 March 2012, after leaving Inaba (Bad Ending)
History: Wikipedia and Megami Tensei Wiki both give excellent writeups of the plot events of Persona 4.
There are, however, three different possible outcomes, depending on which choices are made by the player in-game: Bad Ending, Normal Ending, or True Ending. True Ending is the most satisfying of the three, with Souji and his Investigation Team uncovering the truth of who is really responsible for the events of the past year. Normal Ending leaves everyone on a fairly happy note, only without having solved some of the deeper mysteries of the game. Bad Ending, however ... well, the name says it all, really. The story of the Bad Ending effectively comes to a halt in December 2011, after choosing to push Taro Namatame, suspected of committing the TV World murders, in the TV World to be “punished” (i.e., killed) by the Shadows that dwell there; the rationale for this decision is that since the TV World’s existence is so fantastical and the crimes so hard to prove, this is the only way to achieve justice for what he’d allegedly done. This confrontation comes on the heels of the apparent death of Nanako Dojima, Souji’s young cousin, who had been kidnapped and taken to the TV World by Namatame, and never recovered from the trauma. In this scenario, Souji and the Investigation Team give in to their emotions, at the expense of the search for truth, and the true culprits are never found and defeated, leaving the fog of the Shadow world to set in permanently, which will eventually result in all humans becoming Shadows themselves.
In this AU, Souji chose the Bad Ending path and left Inaba to return to his home in the city. Although the Bad Ending is a valid outcome for the game, it is usually not the preferred outcome - True Ending is generally recognized as the “OU” version of this story. Additionally, for the purposes of this AU, the city Souji hails from, while never named in the game, will be named Meridian. A series of catastrophic earthquakes coincided with Souji’s arrival, and Meridian was completely devastated. The train Souji was traveling on derailed, and all passengers (including Souji himself) died in the wreckage. He will not, however, be aware of the fact that he is dead.
Personality: Souji is a silent protagonist; as such, he is, to some extent, a blank slate - his dialogue and actions are chosen by the player throughout the game's progress. However, there are clues that can be gleaned and things that can be surmised based on what's available.
As a silent protagonist, he tends to keep quiet unless he has something meaningful to say. Souji's manner is polite and friendly but not overly warm - in fact, he can seem a little distant, especially to people with whom he’s not terribly close. (At the start of the game, there are several times he's called out on being "too formal," for example.) Years of being shuffled around from city to city thanks to his parents' work taught him how to make friends quickly but never really deeply - after all, what's the point in making a serious emotional investment when you know you're going to pick up and move soon? So Souji knows the proper things to say (he’s extremely well-mannered), and he knows how to get along with people, but for the most part, it's kind of on a superficial level - or it was, until his stay in Inaba. One of the main things Souji took away from his year in the rural town was how to form an unbreakable, deep bond (Social Link) with people.
That's not to say Souji doesn't care about people - he does! Very much so - who would take up an amateur murder investigation if they didn't care about seeking justice for the victims? (Or truth, for that matter - indeed, the pursuit of truth is Persona 4’s main overarching theme, and it’s not something that’s sought without a significant amount of effort.) Souji is shown throughout the game's events to be helpful and compassionate - it just takes a little effort to break past the distance he places between himself and other people. Generally speaking, Souji might well be classified as Neutral Good.
He's typically a pretty level-headed kind of guy. You won't typically see Souji having huge outbursts or punching any walls (he'll leave that to Kanji), and even in the midst of a crisis, he's (usually) able to keep a cool head and execute a solid strategy. He’s also fairly charismatic by nature; even before he came into his Persona powers, Souji was known to exude an aura of mysterious coolness, as noted by some of the game’s other characters.
Also? Souji has a stomach of what basically amounts to cast iron. The boy will eat almost anything left in the fridge, regardless of how long it’s been sitting there (though he apparently does draw the line at non-food things like alarm clocks).
Changes for this AU: There's both a simple reason and a complicated reason why Souji opted to push Namatame into the TV.
The simple reason was that Namatame was responsible for Nanako's death, and Souji snapped. Anyone in his position could have gone this way. It's a very human response to want revenge for the death of someone you love, especially an innocent child.
The complicated reason, which deals with why Souji snapped, has to deal with his personality. Souji's generally seen as an extremely stable, level-headed kind of guy. He's compassionate, he's a good listener, he's a problem-solver, he deals with things efficiently and Gets the Job Done. It's why he's the leader, after all.
But everyone has limits.
The key point here that becomes relevant is that Souji has a history of being shuffled from town to town thanks to his parents' work. As noted above, moving with such frequency can teach someone like Souji how to make friends quickly but not deeply - it's a survival skill you pick up in order to fit in, adapt in a new environment, and when that mode of living is the norm, it becomes a very basic part of your personality.
Being a Good Kid is part of that survival. Souji knows the proper things to say, and he knows how to get along with people, but for the most part, it's kind of on a superficial level. Souji's manner is polite and friendly but not overly warm - he keeps his distance, and tends to err on the side of formality.
During his stay in Inaba, Souji started to learn how to make deeper, lasting bonds with people (i.e., S.Links). He took a chance, see - he opened up and let people into his heart the way he never really had before, and it was amazing. It was satisfying. It helped him grow as a person, discover parts of himself that had previously been hidden.
And when it all came crashing down - when Nanako died - it was worse than horrible. It was painful, in so many ways, and it was only intensified by the fact that he’d allowed himself to become attached to his cousin in deep, meaningful ways.
Souji couldn't help feeling partially responsible for her death. If he hadn't gotten involved, if he'd only ignored the weird TV World and let the police do their job (ineffectively, yes, he knew that), if only he'd kept to himself and not cared so much about helping people, about unraveling the mystery and finding the truth, if only he’d stayed quiet and under the radar and paid attention to school and waited out the year to return to the city, if only ... if only ... Nanako would still be alive.
So Souji circa the Bad Ending is Souji who's gone back in this shell of superficial relationships and formality. He's quit caring about the truth, and about making lasting bonds with other people, too. Why bother when it's only bound to lead to heartbreak?
Powers: Souji's got the power of Persona, which are kind of like Pokemon, only with guns more based on psychology and ancient myths. Persona, simply explained, are representations of certain facets of an individual that he or she is able to summon forth in order to battle obstacles in life. Most people with this power are able to summon a single Persona, but Souji has been gifted with what's known as the Wild Card ability, and as such, he's able to store twelve Personas and switch among them pretty much at will, even in the middle of battle. (Persona roster TK.)
Souji's also fairly handy with two-handed swords (katanas, etc.) and similar sorts of weapons (bats, golf clubs, etc.), knows a few magic tricks, folds paper like nobody's business, and isn't too shabby of a cook, either. (Better than the girls in Inaba, anyway. D:) He's intelligent, consistently ranked in the top of his class (though not necessarily the top), and plays both basketball and trumpet in the symphonic band with fairly high proficiency. Japanese is his native language, obviously, but he's mastered English well enough to take up translating jobs in his spare time.
Weaknesses: Depending on which Persona he has equipped, Souji is potentially weak to any kind of elemental or physical attack (that is, each Persona has its own particular strengths and weaknesses).
Outside of his Persona abilities, Souji is still completely human, and although he’s already a lot more self-assured than his peers, he is still just a teenaged boy, with all the limitations therein. His main fault is that in his endeavors to be everything to everyone (part of the Good Kid facade), he runs the risk of doing too much and overextending his energies, sometimes to the risk of his own well-being.
And, given his AU history, Nanako will be a HUGE triggerbutton for Souji, so anything involving her/her death/etc. definitely counts as a weakness as well.
Possessions: Just the clothes on his back and a non-functioning cell phone in his pocket.
MISC:
• Souji is unmarked.
Name: Rae
Main Journal: aircrash
Contact Info: AIM @ last laugh blues; gmail.com @ themeansbywhichallisrevealed; or LJ Message!
Played Characters: Beyond Birthday (OU)
CHARACTER INFO
Name: Souji Seta (technically, an unnamed Protagonist given a name by the player at the start of the game; I’ll be using the name given in the manga adaptation for simplicity’s sake).
Age: Never exactly specified in canon, estimated at 17. He’s just finished his second (junior) year of high school.
Species: Human
Series: Persona 4 (video game, with slight, necessary influences from the manga adaptation)
OU/AU: AU
Canon Point: 21 March 2012, after leaving Inaba (Bad Ending)
History: Wikipedia and Megami Tensei Wiki both give excellent writeups of the plot events of Persona 4.
There are, however, three different possible outcomes, depending on which choices are made by the player in-game: Bad Ending, Normal Ending, or True Ending. True Ending is the most satisfying of the three, with Souji and his Investigation Team uncovering the truth of who is really responsible for the events of the past year. Normal Ending leaves everyone on a fairly happy note, only without having solved some of the deeper mysteries of the game. Bad Ending, however ... well, the name says it all, really. The story of the Bad Ending effectively comes to a halt in December 2011, after choosing to push Taro Namatame, suspected of committing the TV World murders, in the TV World to be “punished” (i.e., killed) by the Shadows that dwell there; the rationale for this decision is that since the TV World’s existence is so fantastical and the crimes so hard to prove, this is the only way to achieve justice for what he’d allegedly done. This confrontation comes on the heels of the apparent death of Nanako Dojima, Souji’s young cousin, who had been kidnapped and taken to the TV World by Namatame, and never recovered from the trauma. In this scenario, Souji and the Investigation Team give in to their emotions, at the expense of the search for truth, and the true culprits are never found and defeated, leaving the fog of the Shadow world to set in permanently, which will eventually result in all humans becoming Shadows themselves.
In this AU, Souji chose the Bad Ending path and left Inaba to return to his home in the city. Although the Bad Ending is a valid outcome for the game, it is usually not the preferred outcome - True Ending is generally recognized as the “OU” version of this story. Additionally, for the purposes of this AU, the city Souji hails from, while never named in the game, will be named Meridian. A series of catastrophic earthquakes coincided with Souji’s arrival, and Meridian was completely devastated. The train Souji was traveling on derailed, and all passengers (including Souji himself) died in the wreckage. He will not, however, be aware of the fact that he is dead.
Personality: Souji is a silent protagonist; as such, he is, to some extent, a blank slate - his dialogue and actions are chosen by the player throughout the game's progress. However, there are clues that can be gleaned and things that can be surmised based on what's available.
As a silent protagonist, he tends to keep quiet unless he has something meaningful to say. Souji's manner is polite and friendly but not overly warm - in fact, he can seem a little distant, especially to people with whom he’s not terribly close. (At the start of the game, there are several times he's called out on being "too formal," for example.) Years of being shuffled around from city to city thanks to his parents' work taught him how to make friends quickly but never really deeply - after all, what's the point in making a serious emotional investment when you know you're going to pick up and move soon? So Souji knows the proper things to say (he’s extremely well-mannered), and he knows how to get along with people, but for the most part, it's kind of on a superficial level - or it was, until his stay in Inaba. One of the main things Souji took away from his year in the rural town was how to form an unbreakable, deep bond (Social Link) with people.
That's not to say Souji doesn't care about people - he does! Very much so - who would take up an amateur murder investigation if they didn't care about seeking justice for the victims? (Or truth, for that matter - indeed, the pursuit of truth is Persona 4’s main overarching theme, and it’s not something that’s sought without a significant amount of effort.) Souji is shown throughout the game's events to be helpful and compassionate - it just takes a little effort to break past the distance he places between himself and other people. Generally speaking, Souji might well be classified as Neutral Good.
He's typically a pretty level-headed kind of guy. You won't typically see Souji having huge outbursts or punching any walls (he'll leave that to Kanji), and even in the midst of a crisis, he's (usually) able to keep a cool head and execute a solid strategy. He’s also fairly charismatic by nature; even before he came into his Persona powers, Souji was known to exude an aura of mysterious coolness, as noted by some of the game’s other characters.
Also? Souji has a stomach of what basically amounts to cast iron. The boy will eat almost anything left in the fridge, regardless of how long it’s been sitting there (though he apparently does draw the line at non-food things like alarm clocks).
Changes for this AU: There's both a simple reason and a complicated reason why Souji opted to push Namatame into the TV.
The simple reason was that Namatame was responsible for Nanako's death, and Souji snapped. Anyone in his position could have gone this way. It's a very human response to want revenge for the death of someone you love, especially an innocent child.
The complicated reason, which deals with why Souji snapped, has to deal with his personality. Souji's generally seen as an extremely stable, level-headed kind of guy. He's compassionate, he's a good listener, he's a problem-solver, he deals with things efficiently and Gets the Job Done. It's why he's the leader, after all.
But everyone has limits.
The key point here that becomes relevant is that Souji has a history of being shuffled from town to town thanks to his parents' work. As noted above, moving with such frequency can teach someone like Souji how to make friends quickly but not deeply - it's a survival skill you pick up in order to fit in, adapt in a new environment, and when that mode of living is the norm, it becomes a very basic part of your personality.
Being a Good Kid is part of that survival. Souji knows the proper things to say, and he knows how to get along with people, but for the most part, it's kind of on a superficial level. Souji's manner is polite and friendly but not overly warm - he keeps his distance, and tends to err on the side of formality.
During his stay in Inaba, Souji started to learn how to make deeper, lasting bonds with people (i.e., S.Links). He took a chance, see - he opened up and let people into his heart the way he never really had before, and it was amazing. It was satisfying. It helped him grow as a person, discover parts of himself that had previously been hidden.
And when it all came crashing down - when Nanako died - it was worse than horrible. It was painful, in so many ways, and it was only intensified by the fact that he’d allowed himself to become attached to his cousin in deep, meaningful ways.
Souji couldn't help feeling partially responsible for her death. If he hadn't gotten involved, if he'd only ignored the weird TV World and let the police do their job (ineffectively, yes, he knew that), if only he'd kept to himself and not cared so much about helping people, about unraveling the mystery and finding the truth, if only he’d stayed quiet and under the radar and paid attention to school and waited out the year to return to the city, if only ... if only ... Nanako would still be alive.
So Souji circa the Bad Ending is Souji who's gone back in this shell of superficial relationships and formality. He's quit caring about the truth, and about making lasting bonds with other people, too. Why bother when it's only bound to lead to heartbreak?
Powers: Souji's got the power of Persona, which are kind of like Pokemon, only with guns more based on psychology and ancient myths. Persona, simply explained, are representations of certain facets of an individual that he or she is able to summon forth in order to battle obstacles in life. Most people with this power are able to summon a single Persona, but Souji has been gifted with what's known as the Wild Card ability, and as such, he's able to store twelve Personas and switch among them pretty much at will, even in the middle of battle. (Persona roster TK.)
Souji's also fairly handy with two-handed swords (katanas, etc.) and similar sorts of weapons (bats, golf clubs, etc.), knows a few magic tricks, folds paper like nobody's business, and isn't too shabby of a cook, either. (Better than the girls in Inaba, anyway. D:) He's intelligent, consistently ranked in the top of his class (though not necessarily the top), and plays both basketball and trumpet in the symphonic band with fairly high proficiency. Japanese is his native language, obviously, but he's mastered English well enough to take up translating jobs in his spare time.
Weaknesses: Depending on which Persona he has equipped, Souji is potentially weak to any kind of elemental or physical attack (that is, each Persona has its own particular strengths and weaknesses).
Outside of his Persona abilities, Souji is still completely human, and although he’s already a lot more self-assured than his peers, he is still just a teenaged boy, with all the limitations therein. His main fault is that in his endeavors to be everything to everyone (part of the Good Kid facade), he runs the risk of doing too much and overextending his energies, sometimes to the risk of his own well-being.
And, given his AU history, Nanako will be a HUGE triggerbutton for Souji, so anything involving her/her death/etc. definitely counts as a weakness as well.
Possessions: Just the clothes on his back and a non-functioning cell phone in his pocket.
MISC:
• Souji is unmarked.