Application to heroesparadise

[deadexmachina]

Character Information

Name: Shinjiro Aragaki
Age: 18
Fandom: Persona 3 FES
Appearance: Shinjiro stands tall for a malnourished Japanese teen. 5'10", with a dark red peacoat, cowboy boots, a beanie, and enough attitude to go around, as far as teenagers go he's not the kind of guy you'd mess with. He usually looks kind of shifty, with his shoulders up, his hands stuffed into his pockets and his head lowered like he's ready to charge right at you, or through you if he needs to. The kind of guy who's used to being blamed whether he did it or not. His eyes are steely grey and his hair is a roughly shoulder length brown mess underneath the beanie.
History: A wiki entry!

Canon Point: post-death.
Personality: Shinjiro does his level best to come across as a jerk. He succeeds in this about 78% of the time, too, but in reality, he's just a teenager with precious little left to lose and very, very big guilt issues. So big that he spent two years hanging around town in the area where his lapse in control ended up killing an innocent woman, reminding himself of his guilt and his fault day after day. So big, in fact, that he started taking persona suppressant drugs that would eventually, inevitably kill him, because in his eyes him dying was better than having that kind of power. Instead of taking a positive approach, trying to train and gradually learn to control it, he chooses a much more direct and drastic one. That it's ultimately a drawn out suicide is a side effect he doesn't especially mind either.

...if this doesn't show that he has a conscience, I don't know what does. He's good at heart, really, under all the gruff act and tough talk, he means well. He likes animals, and kids, and probably cute things too, enjoys cooking, most likely for others, and ultimately his reasoning for taking suppressants is that he wants to protect people from what his Persona could do. Unlike others who relish in their power, who seek meaning in being special, he's seen the bad things that this power can also cause, making him more mature in some ways, despite his taking it to extremes of self-loathing.

Shinjiro also likes to pretend he doesn't need other people, that he doesn't care. It's clear that this is pretense though, if one looks past the obvious, because his staying away from everybody didn't do him any good, and because no matter how much he tries to pretend not to care, all he wants is for the tragedy that happened because of him not to repeat itself, in any shape or form. Still, in general, he keeps himself distant and tends to be rather antisocial: knowing he's not going to live much longer one way or another does nothing for wanting to get close to people after all, so he sets himself up as an example of How Not To Do It.

Despite his caring for people he is still undeniably tough, and spending two years basically on the streets didn't lessen that any. How many malnourished teenagers do you know who could weild a battle axe with one hand? ... Yeah, didn't think so. He's strong, and with all the clichés involved, yeah, where he hangs out, he needs it too. Taking shit from people he doesn't care about or respect is not on the agenda, and Shinji doesn't just act proud or confident, but he has his protective moments too, despite turning around and going back to his pretense of not caring at the drop of a hat.

His best friend Akihiko is the only person who really managed to put up with him over the years, and while you'll never hear him say as much, he's grateful for that. ...even though he thinks Aki is an idiot for sticking with him, more so for trying to convince him to return to SEES. He finds Aki's sincerity and dedication admirable and irritating by turns, the irritating turn mostly coming around whenever Aki tries to strongarm him into rejoining the team again. Ultimately though, they're best friends, even family for one another, the kind of bond where you could say "They go way back" and it'd be true, because growing up together as orphans, and somehow managing through Aki's sister Miki's death on top of it all can have that sort of effect. There's an understanding between them that goes deeper than most friendships, likely established throughout many comfortable silences and most likely the occasional brawl. This is also further emphasized by their matching Personas which are named after Polydeuces and Castor, the twins of roman myth that gave their names to the parts of the Gemini constellation.

That also plays part in why he seeks out Ken Amada, suspecting that the boy harbors plans for revenge. Not for a moment did Shinji attempt to run away from that, staying fairly calm despite having his life threatened. Even when the boy fully intends to kill him, Shinji doesn't judge him for it, acknowledging his own deeds and merely cautioning Ken to think about the consequences of his actions. In the end he sacrifices himself for the one who wanted to take his life, even going so far as to say that's 'how it should be' and asking Aki to look out for Ken. It's apparent at that point that he simply doesn't value his own life, considering himself irredeemable and wants to give others who are better than him a chance of living on in his stead.


Game Specific

Suitability: He has already fought and killed a lot. Granted, most of the time he fought Shadows and not people, but that doesn't change that he hefted an axe and went out there with every intention of ruining shit.
Weapon: A beam-powered battle axe!

Samples

Log/Third Person Sample: He'd thought Iwatodai was bad. He'd thought, between SEES and the Shadows and the Dark Hour, Tartarus, Strega, suppressants, and the worst people could manage to make themselves when they thought nobody was looking, he'd seen messed up. He'd been wrong.
He'd thought he knew pain, too. Being hit or stabbed or cut or burnt or zapped. He remembered fighting the Shadows, when he had Castor as a protection, and he remembered other, cruder fights in back alleys or dark corners, a knee to the stomach and an elbow to the back. And then another kind of pain altogether, cramps and shaking and being violently ill, refusing to crack from the strain. Being shot in the chest. Yeah, he'd thought he knew pain, but he'd been wrong about that too.

Shinjiro had lost count how many times since his arrival he'd woken up in his own bed with the memory of dying fresh on his mind, still imagining the taste of blood in his mouth. The surreal feeling of having been put back together no matter what had happened to him earlier. Impaled, dismembered, crushed by debris - and then waking up after. Maybe that was the worst part.
And each time he got back, he found himself staring up at the ceiling blankly, a little more hollow than before, a little more jaded. Ignoring that, he dragged himself up, made it to the bathroom spiting the wave of nausea, (withdrawal always kicked back in after another death, since they put him back together the way they'd brought him here, precisely) until he either got to splash cold water in his face and clear his head, or empty his already empty stomach whereever he got to. Another day in Santa Destroy. Another life he hadn't asked for. Nothing to keep going for, and no choice but to.

Basically, hell. But then, he deserved that, didn't he?

Journal Entry/First Person Sample: Old threads from back in Johto.