[Empatheias app] i guess we're just doing this without a cut then
Player: Letty
Contact:
Age: 23
Current Characters: N/A
Character: Minato Arisato
Age: 17
Canon: Persona 3
Canon Point: Postgame
Background: Go go gadget wiki link
Personality: Minato is a quiet, stoic teen, at first glance very distant and apathetic. He doesn't emote or speak much, especially if he isn't asked, so he can be difficult to approach. However, once approached, he proves to be fairly sociable – more of a listener than a speaker, but he won't turn anyone away or judge their flaws. In fact, he tends to be more curious about flaws than anything, shown by his seeking out a shady businessman and a drunk monk, among others, for friends. He is unfailingly kind and selfless, which, combined with his habit of ignoring his limits, often leads to overworking himself to the point of illness. He often doesn't need to be asked to help and usually won't refuse a request.
Because he's only been allowing himself to open up for a year, Minato harbors a deep fear of falling back into the apathetic state he started in, though this has diminished significantly since the battle against Nyx. He's uncomfortable with his vague recollections of most of his life, memories clouded by not caring, and can't stand the idea that he might lose all he's gained. He doesn't fear death, however, provided it's only his own death he needs to think about. Minato's other deep-seated fear dates from the accident in which his parents died – he freaks out if someone is going to die in front of him, or if he knows someone will die and is powerless to do anything. He'd sooner die himself than regress to apathy or be forced to watch someone else die...though by this point, he's begun to want to live, rather than simply not caring about his life.
He's brave and strong, never hesitating to fight Shadows when he needs to. On the flip side, Minato generally won't put up a fight against humans - and even the few he will fight, he doesn’t like or want to come into conflict with. No matter what is said about or to him, he generally doesn't even react. This can even go as far as someone hitting him. He is extremely slow to anger, though with his growing concern for his surroundings, he's become a bit more likely to defend himself in a disagreement. Although he can be very charming and studious, Minato's social skills could use work. He is unlikely to actually express his own opinion (preferring to just go along with whatever the person he's talking to thinks), and can also stumble into one or multiple romantic relationships without fully realizing what's going on. He has a long history of not having friends, so while he usually blends in well with others, he doesn't always understand what he's doing completely. Socially speaking, he’s flying by the seat of his pants.
Regarding his views on life and death, where he used to not care, Minato has come to see life as something precious and important. His own life no longer lacks value, though he still disregards his wellbeing to put others first, but death has never been as scary to him as not really living. He's more likely to view death as a friend. Discovering that Death really was one of his friends and was sealed inside his body for ten years filled him with a deep-seated, unshakable dread. This has since dissipated and in its place there’s pure willpower and determination. He still carries severe guilt for it, though, as he sees himself as responsible for Death's awakening, reunification, and the barely-averted end of the world. Minato also blames himself for being unable to prevent Shinjiro's and Chidori's deaths, and for not catching onto Ikutsuki's plot. Though he acknowledges there's very little he could have done to prevent any of it, he still blames himself for it.
Hand in hand with his lingering guilt is a lack of trust in adults. Ikutsuki’s betrayal may not have shaken him as badly as the truth about Ryoji, but it’s stuck with him more. Everyone in S.E.E.S., his closest friends, is either an orphan or lacks a good relationship with their parents, and his own vaguely remembered experience with his extended family doesn’t help. He doesn’t show or indicate this distrust. Ikutsuki is the closest Minato has to someone he hates. Even Strega doesn’t come close, because as opposed as his team and Takaya’s are, he understands their viewpoint and doesn’t see them as very different from himself.
Minato has resolved and come to terms with who he is and everything that led him to where he is now. His acceptance of his fate took his confidence, will to live, and empathy from budding to blossoming. This doesn’t mean he doesn’t have (and hide) his pains and torments. No matter how he's feeling, being a good companion to others comes first. He's understanding and friendly and good at hiding, and still finds it difficult to believe someone would truly care for him. Being reckless and self-sacrificial is in his nature. Opening his heart is not. Much like he won't talk about himself without a good need, he'll fight for others even without a strong need. Early in canon he fought because he was asked to – now he truly wants to help other people.
On the surface he may be distant, eccentric, and sleepy, but underneath Minato is a complex teen who must cope with rapid development from stagnation over the last year as well as a series of tragic and devastating events. He's implied to not be the sanest person. He shows no hesitance whatsoever to shooting himself in the head even without knowing the Evoker isn't a real gun. He isn't suicidal, despite the somewhat self-destructive workaholism and constant urge to be doing something. That stems from wanting to make up for lost time. He doesn't remember most of his childhood, at least not well, and that gaping void unnerves him now when he looks back, so he pushes himself too hard both to get an extra ten years' worth of living and to keep his mind off how much easier it was to live as though he was dead.
Promises are important to Minato. He works hard to keep every promise he makes. It helps prove he's no longer the emotionless boy he once was, and feels good to make people happy. He's still learning how people work; what makes them happy, sad, angry, how they think, how they react and feel... It's new ground for him, and curiosity drives him to learn everything he can. He seeks out unusual people, sometimes stubbornly continuing to speak to them even if they discourage him. People are his priority – threatening his friends will anger him faster than anything else, hurting other people will make him take a stand.
Sometimes Minato can be a little bit playful, joining in with jokes and shenanigans with his close friends, but he always respects others' boundaries and is polite to strangers. He won't push people to talk about things they don't want to, and if he makes a mistake, he'll brood on it, sometimes for days. He holds himself to higher standards than others. He'll forgive other people for almost anything, especially if they wronged him personally, and usually before they apologize. His own mistakes, be they as minor as saying something to upset someone he's on good terms with or as major as failing to notice a coming extreme betrayal, weigh on him more than he shows. He tries to learn from his mistakes.
He's a good leader, honest and trustworthy. Lacking a family and close bonds for most of his life, Minato becomes extremely attached to his closest friends, eventually coming to see them more as family. He's prone to stress, and his best form of relieving it is to spend time with others. He's more comfortable if he isn't alone with his thoughts, especially since learning of his relationship to Death, and could perhaps be too trusting in his desire for reassurance and acceptance. For all he's skilled at fighting in a variety of ways, his energy is usually applied constructively by helping others or channeling it into hobbies. If nothing else is available, Minato will grow distant and retreat into music and sleep. He dislikes being bored or inactive. Fortunately, he adapts quickly and easily to new situations.
He has come to accept the Universe and all that it means. He wouldn’t change anything, given the chance; this is the deal he made and the end result of his contract. Ironically, only giving up his life really brought him to appreciate it...and while he doesn’t want to change anything, he also ardently wants to be alive. He clings to his memories and bonds tightly. Minato misses his friends, above all else, and facing down Erebus, coming face to face with all mankind’s despair and apathy, is desperately lonely. He endures all the same, is willing to endure forever, because he also sees all the beauty in humanity. It’s both his duty and his will - and he reconciles the circumstances of his ‘afterlife’ by thinking of it as repaying the world for giving him his last year. He doesn’t want glory or gratitude. All of his power comes his own gratitude and love.
For all his dread and fears, Minato has learned there is a lot to love in being alive, and is determined to defend life itself.
Abilities: First of all, he’s reasonably athletic, skilled with multiple kinds of weaponry, and is also a capable boxer. His use of swords, bows, bludgeons, and spears is untrained, but skillful - mostly self-taught. More importantly, Minato is a Persona-user, which means he can summon a facet of his psyche (in the form of some god, demon, or other mythic being) to battle for him. As a Wild Card (which basically just means Fool Arcana), he is capable of summoning multiple Personas. To do this he must shoot himself in the head with an Evoker, which is nearly identical to a normal handgun. They offer many battle benefits - powerful physical attacks, magic attacks (fire, ice, lightning, wind, light, dark, and ‘almighty’ elements), debuffs, buffs, and healing. He is also able to summon two Personas at the same time to pull off a powerful fusion spell. In keeping with the five summon limit, he will have Messiah, Thanatos, Orpheus Telos, Lucifer, and Helel.
He has a more important and far more potent power. He bears the Universe Arcana, which isn’t well defined and mostly means limitless potential. Theoretically, there is nothing he isn’t capable of, limited only by his creativity and not insignificant willpower...but practically, it allowed him to put a seal on Death and, at the cost of his life, prevent the end of the world. He still feels the weight of the Great Seal. It also allowed him to live for a month mostly without his soul, as that was already in the Seal. He is very unlikely to use this power, and then probably only to defend. There are three major conditions that must be present if he’s going to use it. 1) He must fully accept the consequences of using it in that particular moment, 2) The lives of people other than himself must be at stake, and 3) The situation must be so dire that all other options have been exhausted. Use of the Universe will, at minimum, exhaust him for a significant period of time, or, at maximum, kill him with severe exhaustion upon delayed revival.
The Universe is a deus ex machina and thus will be nerfed - if it's alright, I'd like to impose that restriction OOCly only, so it's not an actual nerfing he'll notice ICly. It is extremely unlikely to come up in normal gameplay, and certainly will not without everyone involved agreeing and planning it out. If it ever comes up, I'll limit it to a kind of absolute shield (which will have consequences) unless I've gotten express permission from the mods to do otherwise.
Alignment: Elios. Minato is a messianic figure, and central to his development is his boundless love for the world, life, and other people. He is all but absolutely incapable of hatred because his love is so all-encompassing. Since he's understanding and kind to a fault, any other alignment falls a bit short of the mark.
Other: ruhoiugehrpghwireiefnoae
Remember that we ask for samples that show 1) core character portrayal and 2) some use of emotions, such as environmental effect. You can also use the same sample source for both, just make sure to directly link or quote the emotion portion. We highly encourage using the Test Drive, and you can use prompts from the Test Drives, Intro Logs, and the Task board if you need them. Refer to the main application page for links and more suggestions.
General Sample: [The kid isn't anyone Minato knows, but doesn't need to be. From how he's staring up into the tree's branches, a ball caught a solid fifteen or so feet up, it's clear what's going on. The sky is shifting from gold to red; it'll be dark soon, and well... Minato isn't one to just let a kid go home dejected. Wordlessly, he stuffs his MP3 player and headphones into his pocket so they won't catch on anything and makes to start climbing the tree. He has no reason not to help.
The kid is baffled by a random stranger, old enough (from his perspective) to be an adult, climbing a tree. Asks what Minato is doing. He just looks at him, calm and level as ever.]
I'll get it. [And he turns back to his climb. It's not hard, the tree has a number of sturdy branches. He maybe should have planned a little more, though, because he's almost in reach of the ball when he realizes from this angle, there's no real way to get any closer. He's not about to give up; he only needs another inch or two, and he stretches for it, balanced precariously on a branch, his fingertips just barely brushing the ball--
He slips.
Instinctively he grabs for the branch the ball is resting on with his outstretched hand, but it's much thinner and weaker than the others so far. It doesn't hold his weight. He hears the branch snap and the kid below shout at about the same time. A second later, impact with the ground. He coughs and gasps for breath.
His eyes find the boy staring, hesitant to approach. His hand finds the ball, successfully knocked loose, beside him. Minato is still in pain from his fall, but he smiles, softly. Small points of light twinkle into being, hanging in the air like so many stars, as he offers the ball to its owner.]
Here. [It's a wheeze, but it's all he needs to say. Not really one for words to begin with. He's fine, it was just a fall, no big deal. The kid can go home without worry. He'll just lie here until he's got his breath back and-- his hand, upon return to the ground, finds something rough and fibrous. He pushes himself up a bit.
A bird's nest. There's a pale shine within - eggshell, it looks like - and the spikes of ice that drop into the ground match the cold horror in his gut. He might have-- He pushes himself all the way up, still-recovering lungs be damned. He has to check, has to make sure... Minato gently prods the nest and eggs, looking for the smallest sign of a crack. Thankfully, they're safe. The spikes ghost away into a soft blue-hued mist. He takes just a minute more to catch his breath. Then he scoops up the nest and prepares to climb the tree again.]
Emotion Sample: "Minato is still in pain from his fall, but he smiles, softly. Small points of light twinkle into being, hanging in the air like so many stars, as he offers the ball to its owner."
"the spikes of ice that drop into the ground match the cold horror in his gut."
"The spikes ghost away into a soft blue-hued mist."
Questions: Mmmmmnope, can't think of any.