{ ooc } application
Player
Name: Lycoris
Livejournal Username: glossological
E-mail: lycoris@gazeta.pl
AIM: vertigo monologue
Timezone: GMT+1
Current Characters in Route: Crow Hogan (usedskyattack)
Character
Name: Chidori Yoshino
Series: Shin Megami Tensei: Persona 3
Timeline: Post the events of November 22nd, 2009
Canon Resource Links: Chidori @ Megami Tensei Wikia
Personality:
At first sight, Chidori may seem... eccentric at the very least. Dressed in gothic lolita fashion, she definitely stands out in the crowd, but believe me when I say that’s hardly her intention. She really couldn’t care less about what people think about her style of dressing -- or, you know, what people think in general. Or, you know, even people themselves -- she doesn’t value human’s life at all, be it hers or someone else’s, which is why she feels no remorse when killing people on request. Quiet and calm, or even stoic for the majority of time, she tends to ignore others and considers them a nuisance. That's why she treats them coldly, brushing them off whenever they try to talk to her. She does not wish for any social interaction and if bothered for a longer while, she becomes irritable and demands to be left alone. Not only that, she also seems not to understand certain types of behavior most people would consider normal, such as when Junpei lied about being the SEES leader to impress her -- to Chidori, such actions make no sense, same for why anyone would care for her well-being as much as Junpei does.
This behavior, however, has much more to it than her being simply antisocial. It comes from her deep fear of “attachment” -- while Chidori is not afraid of getting physically hurt or even dying, she admits being scared of opening herself to and becoming close with other people. In fact, she calls her Persona, Medea, “her only friend” (despite the fact she would often go berserk and try to kill her if not subdued by the suppressants), suggesting she does not feel that way towards the two other Strega members, Takaya and Jin. She does, however, remain loyal to them for the most part, although later on she only rejoined them because she wanted to forget about the feelings she had developed and was slowly becoming aware of. Although she can usually be seen following the two others, she’s not incapable of planning and acting on her own -- kidnapping Junpei was her own initiative, after all.
One thing Chidori truly enjoys is drawing, as it allows her to express her thoughts and feelings freely, although she claims she doesn’t fully understand herself. That’s because she can’t remember anything from the time before she was found by the Kirijo Group and artificially awakened to the power of Persona. She mentions being able to recall “being surrounded by white”, which causes her to loathe hospitals. Her drawings reflect that uncertainty and confusion -- they’re all very avant garde in style, full of dark and red colors and various shapes that do not resemble the surroundings (even when it would seem that’s what she’s drawing). All of this may be the reason behind her not being exactly emotionally stable, which can be seen when her Evoker was taken from her, thus preventing her from summoning her Persona -- that basically lead to her going though a mental breakdown, although it wasn’t long until she managed to collect herself and go back to her usual, stoic attitude.
Over the course of the game, Chidori goes through major development -- as she talks to Junpei, she opens herself to him and begins caring for him, slowly returning the feelings he endowed her with. However, realizing that caused her to become scared -- she wasn’t even sure why at first and interpreted the “pain of her heart” as something bad, and therefore tried to push him away. Although she refused to see him, she couldn’t get him out of her mind -- that’s when her style of her drawing changed completely, and she began filling her sketchbooks with sketches of Junpei, even though she still didn’t understand the nature of those feelings. It wasn’t until Junpei got shot that she realized she had loved him all this time and the pain she felt was the fear of losing him. That why, without a second thought, she sacrificed herself to save him, believing she would live on in him that way and be with him forever, which had been really her true wish for a while.
Overall, Chidori is shown to be a pretty sensitive girl, as she uses her powers to “heal” withered flowers. Unfortunately, she’s somewhat paranoid of losing the people she would grow close to, which causes her to be cold towards them and try to cut any bonds before they grow strong, but after accepting and returning Junpei’s feelings, she may be slightly more open to others, although it definitely still takes her some time to warm up to other people.
Strengths/Weaknesses:
+ SENSITIVE: an artistic soul, Chidori’s quite sensitive in the sense of perceiving beauty -- she uses her power of Spring of Life to “revive” withered flowers, even though it could make her weaker, as it technically means her pouring her own life energy into them;
+ ARTIST: Chidori’s a very talented artist, both when it comes to her original avant garde style, as well as portraits. Had her life taken a different turn, she could have probably become a great painter;
+ LOYAL: when involved into something, Chidori will remain loyal to those she works with. When captured by SEES, she doesn’t let a single word about Strega slip past her lips, allowing Takaya and Jin to act freely without worrying about her revealing any information to their enemies;
- ANTISOCIAL: Chidori doesn’t seek contact with people, and although she doesn’t mind being alone, this particular trait could prove to be pretty troublesome, should she ever find herself in need of assistance;
- TRUST ISSUES: as mentioned in the personality section, Chidori is scared of “attachment”. She’s afraid of growing close to someone, as she would then fear losing them and if it came to the worst and they died, she would feel hurt. Therefore, she believes it’s better not to become attached to anyone at all in order to spare herself that pain;
- LITTLE LIFE VALUE: she cares little for life, both her own and others. She participates in carrying out assassination requests and feels absolutely no remorse after killing people. Chidori states she doesn’t fear death on multiple occasion, which becomes clear when she’s not concerned by her cuts at all and is surprised (and somewhat annoyed) when Junpei tries to help her with one;
Pokémon Information
Affiliation: Team Rocket grunt
Starter: Ralts
Password: Taco Bell
Samples
First Person Sample:
[As the video feed starts, a girl in a long, white dress appears on the screen, a Ralts sitting comfortable on her knees. There’s something inexplicable about her expression -- perhaps a little thoughtful, perhaps troubled... whichever it is, she doesn’t seem in a hurry to address the network -- or even acknowledge the viewers. Instead, she watches the Pokémon play with the frills of the dress for a moment before finally making a rather simple statement:]
Pokémon become attached to their trainers.
[... Well, that’s pretty much Stating the Obvious. Sadly, you need to wait another moment for her to develop the thought.]
… Why? Why do they choose to grow close to a person from a different world, expecting nothing in return? Are they not afraid? Afraid of their beloved trainer suddenly disappearing one day?
[She makes another pause, this time gently placing her hand on the Ralt’s head.]
Are they not afraid of the pain they will feel when they leave?
Third Person Sample:
As the sun began to sink behind the trees surrounding Ecruteak City, painting the sky above it red and orange, people in the town, natives and trainers alike, started heading towards their houses and the inn for the night’s rest. However, one lone figure remained motionless on a bench in front of the Burned Tower, her attention focused entirely on the sketchbook in her hands.
Despite how beautiful and moving the scenery in front of her was, the drawing coming from under Chidori’s pencil resembled nothing of sorts. The page was filled with dark scribbles, among which one could distinguish a tower in the sea of red flames. That, of course, was inspired by one of the city residents telling her an old legend, and even though she hadn’t exactly been keen on listening to it at the time, she didn’t regret allowing him to finish the story. Now that she knew the details, much more accurate emotions could be conveyed by her picture. The picture of that tragic night when three legendary Pokémon perished in fire...
“Dying simply means you don’t wake up anymore.”
And yet, here she was. She woke up. If one think about it logically, she shouldn’t have -- she died, giving up her life in order to save one person she truly loved. Could it be that she failed to protect him?
Her scowl deepened as she slowly traced the flames in the drawing with her pencil. It had been several weeks since her sudden appearance in this world, but it was still confusing. Somewhat annoying, too, since people constantly insisted on trying to talk to her (why did they care, anyway?) and on top of that, several members of SEES were there, but on the other hand... she didn’t seem to mind that much? Honestly, Chidori had no idea how she felt about all of that. Perhaps, once again, she would find out in due time...
A light tug on her dress brought her back to reality. The girl looked down to find her Ralts staring pleadingly at her.
“... You wish to see my drawing, Medea?” Chidori asked, her voice soft, but indifferent nonetheless, “Fine. I don’t expect you to understand, though...”