APP for Route 29
Mun
Name: Bear
Livejournal Username: naturalcyber
E-mail: realisticfakefish@gmail.com
AIM: Naturalcyber
Timezone: EST
Current Characters in Route: None
Character
Name: Naoto Shirogane
Series: Persona 4
Timeline: Post True End
Canon Resource Links: Wiki Other wiki, on Naoto
Affiliation: Trainer
Personality: Naoto is at first glance a serious, confident, and very professional teenager. Naoto is extremely intelligent and driven to the point of near obsession and being a workaholic at times. Aiming to become a detective like her parents, Naoto has devoted all her effort to pursuing this goal to the point of actually becoming a “Detective Prince” even at such a young age. In addition to having this goal, Naoto has rediscovered a love of solving mysteries and puzzles, and the joy of helping people.
That is merely the surface, and underneath, Naoto does have doubts and confusion. She is extremely sensitive about her age and the fact that she is discounted at times because of it. Her sex is also something she has issues with. When she first appears, she is dressed and acts very convincingly as a boy and it isn’t until her suppressed side--her shadow--reveals her sex that anyone realizes she is not male. Naoto gives her reasons for presenting herself as a boy as a way to combat the misogyny of the police department and also that being female didn’t fit the image of the detectives she idolized. She wants so deeply to be the perfect detective that she shuts inside other aspects of her personality, such as her need for understanding and companionship, her emotions, and things she deems as childish. These issues culminate in the appearance of her shadow, who is very emotional--often swinging from one extreme to another-- and takes the form of a child playing at being a mad scientist. Her shadow wants to perform a body-alteration (sex-change) to make her more like her ideal. After a battle and some soul searching she is able to accept that these things are a part of her too and her shadow becomes a Persona.
As time passes, she forms what are the first true, deep friendships of her life. Her friends accept her exactly how she is and don’t push for her to change to fit any ideal and through them she is able to accept herself, as she puts it, “as herself,” and before the roles she has taken on or has put on her by others. Through her forming friendships with the group and her social link, Naoto learns to relax and have fun (a little) and is able to recapture her true desire and reason to become a detective and that her sex doesn’t matter. Perhaps most importantly, Naoto states that she has found a home and that’s a reason to stay.
Naoto’s basic personality is more masculine than feminine. She has something of a temper and prefers to discuss facts over feelings. She confesses that even as a child she enjoyed games and toys associated with boys and she likes building and putting together gadgets. She also has a not-so-secret liking of super-heroes and science fiction, as well as detective stories. Solving mysteries and puzzles is one of her deepest joys. She likes to feel in control of things and being in situations where she has less control is likely to fluster her. However, under her controlled exterior she has strong emotions. As a child she was very lonely because she had trouble socializing and spent her time reading, so her friends seeing and accepting all of her sides is very important to her. She does have a propensity for logic, though, and admits to having a hard time perceiving and understanding others’ feelings. She tends to remain slightly distant from strangers initially because of this and in the past this led to her becoming isolated and a loner.
She has a strong tendency to talk like a scholar and her speech patterns are formal and either gender neutral or masculine. In addition to her speech, though she has come to terms with and accepts her sex, she continues to choose to dress and act in a masculine manner all the way through the true end of the game. As one of the main themes of the game is accepting oneself and being true to that self, this continued choice is likely internally motivated self-expression rather than an affectation.
Strengths/Weaknesses:
Strengths:
Naoto is a trained detective, very intelligent and logical. She is skilled with a gun and also very accomplished at making and modifying gadgets. About non-emotive things, Naoto is very perceptive and is able to spot patterns and inconsistencies. She is brave and most of the time, aware of her abilities and limits. She is also capable of great focus and persistence.
Weaknesses:
Naoto is not very good at dealing with emotions, both hers and others’. She also has difficulties socializing with others her age, though she has gotten slightly better at both of these things. Her focus and persistence can work against her and cause her to fall into workaholic tendencies. She can also be very reckless with her own safety and has trouble confiding and trusting in others at points. Lastly, she hasn’t had a full education in sciences and forensics due to her age, which limits her effectiveness as a detective.
Physically, she is very short, and also binds her breasts which is both a cause of discomfort and restricts breathing and motion to an extent. She is also incredibly body shy, and does not like to wear revealing clothing at all.
Pokemon
Starter: male Natu, nicknamed “Watson”
Password: salmon riceballs
Samples
(Please note that both samples must take place in Route_29’s setting.)
First Person Sample:
[Voice]
Good afternoon. I am detective Naoto Shirogane for those receiving this message that I have not previously met. It has come to my attention that I am far from the only person that has unexpectedly arrived here. My preliminary investigations have revealed that none of the residents of the town I arrived in are aware of my hometown, and also that attempts to use my PokéGear as a means of contacting home are futile. I am still looking into other possibilities but for the moment, let us assume that there is no means of contacting our homes.
I can’t deny that the prospect of training and battling with my new partner is...fun, as I am sure it is for many of you, but we shouldn’t forget that we have been brought here via some as yet unknown mechanism for an unknown purpose. If we investigate together, we may find a commonality between us that will lead us to the solution. To that end, I propose we gather as much information about each other as possible. I had begun drafting a survey but I realize that it would be difficult to transfer over the PokéGears so I am opening the airwaves to suggestions.
Third Person Sample:
The bird was staring at her. It was, Naoto concluded, a capstone to the unexplained events that had happened so far this morning. Naoto blinked, and the bird was suddenly closer. She had better watch it more carefully. It was very...round and the wings looked too small for flight.
She was certain it didn’t blink either, but this time she saw it hop forward. “Naaatu?”
“Er... hello?” Naoto winced inwardly. She couldn’t let this little bird, or the rest of today’s events, unsettle her. She was a detective; she would figure out what was going on. Quickly, she reviewed the facts.
She had been woken by “Mom”--true identity unknown--and hurried out the door in spite of her protests and questions. The pack of supplies was innocuous, for the most part, and contained essentials along with what appeared to be toys. She had recognized the PokéBall instantly and put it aside. The other items turned out to be directly related to the game on inspection. It was confounding, except... Well, it had been perfectly reasonable at the time to assume there was a clue hidden in the PokéBall.
The bird was very much alive and not a clue. It wasn’t possible for it to be an actual Pokémon either; they didn’t exist. On the other hand, it also seemed to at least be able to mimic certain sounds. “I apologize if I frightened you. I wasn’t expecting a... bird inside.”
“Tu~”
Naoto frowned at the bird. The response was positive, that was for certain, but it made the possibility of speech capabilities less likely. She remembered that Pokémon only spoke the syllables of their species names, and in that case, “Natu? Are you a Pokémon?”
The hopping and chirping its name could only be interpreted as a positive. It left Naoto with the task of reconciling the fact that she was indeed faced with a creature from a game. It was no natural species, spoke only what appeared to be its name, and had come from a PokéBall. There was no other solution Naoto could think of, even as improbable as it was. Improbable... “Whatever remains, however improbable, must be the truth.”
The familiar quote made her smile. There was an explanation to this whole scenario, and she would find it. She turned to the Natu. She couldn’t continue calling it bird, or even Natu; it clearly needed a name and she had just thought of the perfect one. “Come along, Watson. We have a mystery to solve!”