App: Mayfield
Name: Mimi
Personal LJ: anzu-less
Contact Info: email (seerofheart@gmail.com) aim (misquarified)
Other Characters Played: Nunnally vi Britannia (heartfelthope)
Preferred Housing: She'll be living with Abel Nightroad, Esther Blanchett, and Cain Nightroad. They are all applying this round.
Character Name: Nanako Dojima
Character Series: Persona 4
Character Age: 7
Background: Nanako was born as the first child of Ryotaro and Chisato Dojima. From what we can gather, her young childhood was ideal. She was raised by a loving mother and a stern but protective father; Ryotaro worked as a detective for the Inaba police department, and the family made a comfortable living. However, this ideal family life fell apart when Nanako was four years old. One day, on her way to pick up Nanako from Preschool, Chisato was killed in a hit and run accident. From that day forward, everything seemed to fall apart. Unsure of how to raise his daughter on his own, Dojima became distant and buried himself in his work. He had decided that until he could catch his wife's killer, he wouldn't be able to face his daughter. So Nanako was forced, essentially, to raise herself and take care of the household. While her father was away all day working, Nanako took on the responsibility for things like cooking, cleaning, and laundry. However, she enjoys those jobs in her own way, the keep her from feeling too lonely while she's home alone. Other than that, she spends her spare watching TV or doing homework. This lonely life continued on for two years, until her older cousin arrived.
His parents were working overseas, so it was agreed that his uncle Doijma would take him in for the year. At first their relationship was cordial at best, but Nanako is a shy young girl and had a difficult time opening up around this stranger. However, as the two spent every night together, Nanako slowly began to open up. While she still didn’t feel completely comfortable around him, she was able to speak more than five or six words at a time to him. Dojima even decided that during the long weekend, the new family would take a trip together. Nanako quickly became excited over the prospect of spending time with family and eating homemade boxed lunches, but sadly things didn’t work out. Once again work took priority, and Nanako only had a weekend home alone to look forward to. But out of the blue, Souji invited her to Junes (her favorite local department store) so that she could spend time with him and his friends.
They had a wonderful day together, and Nanako was finally willing to open her heart to her cousin, bit by bit. Over the coming year the two of them spent many nights talking, and he helped her understand her father and his actions. She learned that even though he chooses work over her all the time, it’s not because he doesn’t love her. Instead she realized that he was just as lonely as she was, he just showed it in a different way. So she vowed to do a better job to be someone that her father can rely on, and do everything to make him happy.
And as time passed, she kept her promise and grew closer to her father. The two attended local festivals together, and were even able to have fun at her cousin’s school festival. Dojima was still constantly busy at work (especially with a case of serial kidnappings and murders in town), but Nanako still regarded those days as happy days. However, this all came to a crashing halt. Tensions were rising between Dojima and Souji, Dojima believed that Souji was somehow getting himself involved with this murder case, and Nanako fretfully prevented anyone from actually talking about it (she was insistent that there be no fighting in the house). But when Souji got a mysterious letter telling him to stop looking for the murderer, Dojima could no longer ignore the situation. He took Souji down to the police station and left Nanako home alone.
Souji tried to tell Dojima that they needed to return home, because he had reason to believe that Nanako was in fact the next person to be kidnapped by the attacker. However, by the time they returned home, it was too late. The house was dark and Nanako was nowhere to be seen. Dojima quickly chased after the van that had her, but it ended in a car crash. The kidnapper quickly stuck Nanako into a nearby television, and jumped in after her. Souji and his friends followed after him, and managed to rescue Nanako before the TV world killed her, but it was not without cost.
No one so small and fragile had ever been thrown into the TV before, and while most people find themselves tired, or woozy for a day or two, Nanako became gravely sick. She was taken to the hospital but the doctors couldn’t determine what was wrong with her. So she simply lay there for a month in terrible pain, drifting in and out of consciousness. At the end of that month, her condition suddenly became critical, and after saying a few words to her father and Souji, the doctor declared her dead. Full of rage, Souji and his friends confronted the kidnapper who threw her in the TV, and while at first they wanted him to meet the same fate as Nanako, they instead were able to learn that he wasn’t the true culprit behind the murders after all.
With this information, they returned to Nanako’s room to find that a small miracle had occurred… Nanako was alive. No one knows if it was due to her willpower, or some mysterious force beyond anyone’s control, but she was alright. Her condition was still unstable, but the doctor said that there was a chance for her recovery. Souji and his friends went on to defeat the real killer (Dojima’s partner, Adachi) and Nanako was able to go home by Christmas.
Reunited and happy again, the small family spent their last three months together until Souji finally had to return home. Nanako fiercely tried not to cry, and admitted that when she was grown up, she wanted to marry Souji. Dojima joked around and said that was a great idea, but gave Souji a certain ‘look’…. There was no way that was happening.
The next day Souji boarded the train and Nanako returned to life with her father. However she was happier for it, had gained new friends in Souji’s companions, and was now ready to face anything that the future held.
Personality: When you first meet Nanako, it would be easy to assume she’s a shy and serious young lady. She has a tendency to hide behind the nearest trusted figure in a situation of crisis (such as meeting a complete stranger) and stay silent as long as possible. She’ll still be polite, speak when spoken too, but she is not a girl who trusts others easily. This shyness can probably be attributed to being raised by a police officer, and because of his wary nature she also views strangers with extreme caution.
However, if you are to break through her shell, she will trust you without question. There is little middle ground with Nanako, you are either her friend whom she care deeply for, or you are a stranger. This black-and-white mentality is very telling of her age, and as a child she still hasn’t developed a sense of moral gray. The world is very simple to her, there are good people and bad people. Good people are polite, nice to others, do their homework and eat their vegetables. Bad people hurt others, lie, break promises, and act like bullies.
While she is slowly coming to terms with complex ideas like people who do good and bad things, she is making this mental leap with the help of her family members. And it is also important to note, that despite being a child in many respects, Nanako is also extremely mature for her age. Despite her child-like view of the world, Nanako is extremely responsible, and won’t shy away from unpleasant work. She thinks deeply about all of her actions, and doesn’t do anything without significant purpose driving her. She also has an acute sense of empathy that isn’t always common in children her age, and is able to make personal sacrifices for the good of others. She loves helping people, and loves to be useful more then anything else.
This comes from her very unique upbringing. Ever since her mother passed away, Nanako has gained the mentality that she is only as valuable as the things that she does. So, for example, even if someone tells her this isn’t true she would still be afraid that if she didn’t do the laundry, her father might not value her anymore. She doesn’t have a very strong innate sense of self worth, and is therefore surprised whenever people think of her, or invite her to things. She used to the idea of being ignored by adults, and assumes that’s the way that most adults act. This does not mean that she has no sense of self worth, she just has a certain expectation when she meets anyone who is teenager or older; that they don’t have the time of day for her, and she shouldn’t really expect anything from them.
But this doesn’t mean that she does things like chores only out of a sense of obligation, she genuinely enjoys doing things for other people. She likes to see people happy, and has more sense of responsibility than most people twice her age. However she’s not perfect, she can only cook simple things like toast and sunny side up eggs, she’s bad at arts and crafts, and I think she’s generally not very good at things that take finer motor control skills.
The most important thing to remember is that while Nanako is extremely mature, she is still a child. She was raised in a small village, and will always find new experiences that might seem mundane to some, but delight her to no end. She can still be judgmental, and will likely frustrate others when she refuses to condone lying (even if it is a while lie for the other’s sake), or bullying of any kind. It’s this combination of mature and innocent that makes her such a special little girl, who only wants to be loved and accepted.
Abilities: Other than big brown doe eyes, Nanako has no special abilities.
Sample Entry: [Nanako was never very fond of carts when she went to the grocery store. After all, they were really tall, and hard to push when you were four feet tall. No, she generally stuck to buying smaller amounts, only enough food to fill two baskets. That was, it was easier to carry them home afterwards! The same was true here in Mayfield, so she grabbed two metal baskets, and started walking down the aisle]
This store looks different than Junes… [she more murmured it to herself as she looked around, feeling very lost. However, someone had to buy the food, and she didn’t want to make the other members of her ‘family’ do it. She had to pull her own weight, and make herself useful]
Um… we need eggs, milk, butter, and some other stuff. A lot of this food looks funny… do they sell side dishes? [there’s a pause as she looks around. She could ask a sales attendant, but she really doesn’t like talking to drones if she can help it. After hearing all the terrible stories about them, she didn’t want to see anything first hand. So instead she shuffles forward by herself and looks at everything with a scrutinizing eye]
They have… TV Dinners? Maybe those are kind of the same. [shifting the basket so her hand is free, she picks it up and reads the back] So if you microwave it, it’s like real food. [pleased with herself, she puts a few of those in the basket, and sings to herself as she continues walking]
Every day is great at your Junes… [she sings if softly, and there’s a sad pause as she remembers that she’s not in Junes… and who knows if she ever will be again]