Difference between revisions of "Shinjiro Aragaki"

"Everything we do has consequences."

Shinjiro Aragaki is not your average Persona-User. One of the founding members of SEES, he nonetheless distanced himself from the group for three years after an incident in which he lost control of his power and accidentally killed an innocent bystander. A rather infamous member of Darkside, he has a wide array of contacts of varying legitimacy, though he makes a point of keeping his own activities beneficent. He blames himself for the death he caused, and tries to avoid using Personae because of this... even though he has rejoined SEES as an active member. Many of his underclassmen have come to see him as a mentor figure, despite his obvious issues.

Killing Glare, Lecture, I Have A Particular Set of Skills, Best Senpai, Kohai Army, Gangland Hero(?), Self-Loathing 101, Angry Young Man, Skipping School, Don't Be Like Me, Knowledge: Underworld, Knowledge: Cooking, My Feelings Will Not Be Repressed, SEES 'Nam Vet, Less Doomed

• Weapon: Heavy axes, maces, hammers, zweihanders, flamberges, stop signs. Anything that looks like he shouldn't be able to wield it one-handed the way he does. Current choice is a double-bladed axe about half his height.
• Body: Dark red peacoat. Sometimes, a leather jacket. More rarely, whatever ~*trendy clothing*~ the ojous make him wear.
• Feet: Boots. Well-worn, with a slight heel.
• Accessories:
  • A badly-made twine bracelet, worn hidden under his sleeve on his left wrist. He doesn't talk about it.
  • A heavy copper-and-steel braided ring given him by Ran. It is occasionally worn on the hand, but more often worn on a chain around his neck (due to not wanting to break it on someone's deserving jaw).

• Courage: 5 - Fucking Iron
• Diligence: 5 - Suicidally Stubborn
• Expression: 0 - Goddamn Rude
• Understanding: 2 - Depends On Topic
• Knowledge: 2 - What's 'Attendance'
• Street Smarts: 5 - Undisputed Alpha

• Intimidate: Armor-piercing glare.
• Ignore: Walked away five minutes ago.
• Lecture: "Back in 'Nam, we didn't TALK to demons..."
• Dere: "Fuckin useless goddamn... hey you. C'mere."

Andrei Sokolov (Magician Reversed): Estranged father. Former KGB, now a mercenary with ties both to the Russian Mafia, and to an organization with an eye towards the control and use of Persona-users. Something of a soldier of fortune.

Miyu Aragaki (Star Reversed): Mother. Committed suicide a few months after her abandonment by Sokolov, when Shinjiro was about one.

Inaba Midnight Channel:
OOC Date, April 2010. IC Date, October 2009.
Shinjiro and Ran Itoh were pushed into a TV in Inaba. Terrible Shadows happened. (Log)

Kidnapped:
OOC Date, December 2010. IC Date, June 2010.
Shinjiro and Naomi Suzuno were kidnapped by a group of Russian scientists attempting to tap into and study Personae via shared dreaming. Also, his dad was there. (Part 1, Part 2, Part 3)

• Shinjiro attends Fra Mauro. ...Somehow.
• Shinjiro has charge of the SEES armory (where all the weapons gotten from Officer Kurosawa are generally kept and maintained). It can be generally assumed he will provide rudimentary training on their use to SEES members who ask.
• Due to the TV experience, Shinjiro no longer needs his Evoker to summon Castor (though he still requires it for any other Persona).
• Shinjiro isn't full-blooded Japanese. His mother was Japanese and his father was a Russian. It's not obvious in his features, they're more Asian than anything else, but nonetheless he still looks 'different' enough (especially in bone structure, eye color, and height) to make his life more difficult than it strictly had to be (being teased, not being adopted because he was visibly not a pure-blood, continuing discrimination, etc.).
• Due to his time in the street, Shinjiro is preoccupied with cleanliness. Having seen and endured some of the most horrible conditions possible, he's gotten somewhat freakish about keeping clean now that he's returned to proper civilization. That shit isn't something he needs to experience again, now that he can avoid it. It drives him crazy to see people living in untidy squalor, not taking full advantage of their posh living environments. As such, he can't stand Junpei's room.
• He supported himself doing the absolute bare minimum in order to stay alive. This included working(??) just enough to have money for food: whether legitimate work, illegal work, or supplementary gambling on the side (it is typically unwise to play mahjong against him). Life was fairly horrible early on, but after hitting a stride and cleaning up a little, he was able to get work in kitchens. He's known (and generally well-liked) by many proprietors along Iwatodai and Paulownia. This is also how he got quite so good at cooking; he always had natural talent, but working in kitchens and watching the cooks helped refine it.
• His connections with local businesses also helped in terms of basic shelter, cleanliness, and necessities. The more kind-hearted of his erstwhile 'employers' eventually came to trust him enough to occasionally help him out. Some have even let him grab a shower and a spot on their floor to overnight when it was cold or raining.
• Shinjiro also haunted a lot of net cafes over the past two years. It's how he got to know about Darkside.
• Shinjiro gets migraines occasionally, usually caused by lingering dissonance between himself and his Persona.
• Shinjiro's Evoker holster is a black leather concealment holster, designed to be worn at the hip. It was a gift from Mitsuru back when Shinjiro first joined SEES. It's one of his more treasured possessions due to the fact of who gave it to him.
• Shinjiro fucking loves Pochacco. Shinjiro will also kill your fucking ass dead if you ever find out he does.

Shinjiro will fuck you up.

Castor, the mortal son. One of the Dioscuri, sons of Zeus and Tyndareus. Castor was fated to die, having been born a man, but his immortal brother Polydeuces opted to share his immortality. This allowed both brothers to live one day on Olympus as gods, but the next day as shades in the underworld.

Though Shinjiro now has control over Castor due to events within the TV, and some frank self-assessment with those who are closest to him, his lingering tendency to suppress his true nature and personality has yet to leave him. It may never leave him. As such, he still has to work a good deal harder than others in order to keep his control.

This lingering problem stems from that lack of internal harmony between what he is, and what he believes he should be. There is a sharp divide between the face he consciously presents to the world and his actual nature; nowadays, the latter can only find unrestrained expression in the form of Shinjiro's Persona.

Castor's appearance has altered, in view of the the fact Shinjiro's psychology is healthier as a direct result of IC events. In the past, the instability and suicidal self-destructiveness of Shinjiro's mind manifested itself in Castor's incomplete, lamed appearance. With a little more mental stability comes a reversal of that degeneration, and a complete horse and rider. Castor changes from day to day, as befits the myth:

Some days Castor is a red-eyed, black horse heavily armored in blackened barding, bearing a rider impaled upon a spear. The head, shoulders, back, and haunches are largely intact, albeit mostly covered by saddle and armor... but the flesh is stripped from the majority of the beast's chest and legs-- exposing bone-- almost as if the creature had accepted a scourging mortification of the flesh.

On other, better days, Castor is a living white horse, lightly armored in silver barding, obeying a living rider that carries a long spear. Seafoam, water, and wind wreath its legs, mane, and tail in long and streaming trails. St. Elmo's fire courses above the rider's head and through his hair.

• SENSE: Wild, destructive, violent-- and controlled. Here is a person who remains calm, because he dreads what would happen if he is not. The first (and for most people, the /only/) thing "felt" is the impression of a fully-armored warhorse, higher at the shoulder than most men are tall, violent-eyed and only barely reined in. Those with stronger senses, however, might be able to look past the beast to see the beneficent rider astride it.
• SCENT: Rushing horses in wet steel-and-leather tack. Sea foam, a salted wind, and the electric tang of St. Elmo's Fire.
• SOUND: Surf on the shore, broken up by the regular four-beat gait of galloping horses and the rustle of honed steel.

• RP logs are slowly being put up here.
• Cutscene explaining The Accident and the reasons for his long-term lack of Persona control.

• O - THE FOOL
  • Tohru Adachi: The unlikeliest of BFFS.
  • Minako Arisato: DDDD:

• I - THE MAGICIAN
  • Shiki Ichimonji: One of the first kohais Shinjiro took a personal hand in mentoring, Shinjiro is quite proud (in a near-paternal way) of how far Shiki has come.
  • Andrei Sokolov: Shinjiro would be OK with never seeing this man again. ...mostly OK, anyway.

• II - THE HIGH PRIESTESS
  • Fuuka Yamagishi: Shinjiro is quite fond of her due to her devotion, and her sweet and quiet disposition. Ever since her disastrous attempt to bake him a birthday cake, however, he has promised her his assistance in learning how NOT to kill people with cooking.

• III - THE EMPRESS
  • Mitsuru Kirijo: One of Shinjiro's oldest and best friends. His feelings towards her alternate between devotion, protectiveness, and gratitude; but he is also one of the very few people who is not afraid to occasionally interact with-- and advise-- her as an equal; particularly as he has slowly left his apathy behind and taken on more and more responsibility in helping her administer SEES. He is one of the few who will outright defy her, if pushed. There is also nothing peculiar or borderline-Freudian about their relationship in the least.

• IV - THE EMPEROR
  • Akihiko Sanada: G=(e_eG)
  • Akatsuki Enda: Shinjiro doesn't understand Akatsuki very well. Though he respects the other boy, he finds Akatsuki's sensitivity and emotional preoccupation difficult to navigate.

• V - THE HIEROPHANT
  • None of note. Unless you count Ryotaro Dojima, the one male adult who can get Shinjiro to ._.;

• VI - THE LOVERS
  • Tohya Kidzuki: Shinjiro doesn't know Tohya well, but from what little he's seen of her (and what he has heard of her) he believes she must be a decent sort, even if she does like Kandori for some incomprehensible reason. He is relieved Tohya is no longer with the NWO.

• VII - THE CHARIOT
  • Aigis: Though Aigis may be a deadly battle bot, Shinjiro treats her with the same gentleness and guidance he would give any flesh and blood kohai.
  • Chisaki Tohsaki: Another of the kohais Shinjiro has taken a personal interest in (and who has taken a personal interest in him, in turn), Shinjiro is very fond of Chisaki's upbeat, frank attitude and way with weapons. They also have in common certain issues with their Personae.

• VIII - JUSTICE
  • Ken Amada: :(((

• IX - THE HERMIT
  • None of note.

• X - THE WHEEL OF FORTUNE
  • Ran Itoh: Ran has been the greatest constant in Shinjiro's life, ever since she first entered it as a frightened blonde looking very out of place in the Dark Hour. Though he initially attempted to push her away, not wanting her to be hurt by pining after his suicidal self, she never once wavered in her support or her faith. Ultimately, her refusal to let him sink alone saved his life. The closest Shinjiro has ever come to losing control, and breaking his steadfast beliefs against killing, was upon seeing Ran's life threatened.
  • Takaya Sakaki: Shinjiro hates and actually fears Takaya as: 1) a reminder of his miserable existence in the streets and his former dependence on the suppressant drugs, 2) being responsible for the attempt to kill/enlighten him and Ran by pushing them into the Inaba TV. More than the actual man himself, Shinjiro hates the dirty feeling of remembering that he was once dependent on anything-- or anyone.

• XI - STRENGTH
  • Enoha Koinose: Where Shinjiro lectures kohais, Enoha lectures Shinjiro. Enoha is the closest Shinjiro has to an elder sister figure.

• XII - THE HANGED MAN
  • Rui Onishi: Shinjiro first encountered Rui Onishi while the latter was attempting not to bleed to death in a Sumaru street. Her strange and defensive behavior led him to pity her... something for which Rui has yet to forgive him.

• XIII - DEATH
  • Seiichi Miyamoto: When Seiichi appears as his normal self, Shinjiro has no significant problem with him save to be wary of him (since apparently things are Tense between him and Naomi), and to be somewhat competitive/threatened/protective about the way Seiichi is apparently wooing Mitsuru!! Lately, however, Shinjiro has to admit that Seiichi has done nothing particularly untoward (other than that Lovers incident), and in fact seems to genuinely care for Mitsuru. Though he's still an asshole!! When Seiichi appears as his masked self, Shinjiro basically wants to beat him senseless and drag him home for interrogation and neutralization.

• XIV - TEMPERANCE
  • Miwa Saitou: Despite being the same age (or year, at least) as Miwa, Shinjiro tends to think of her as 'another kohai.' Though he isn't foolish enough to think that she doesn't have an inner strength of her own, he certainly thinks of her as someone who needs protecting.
  • Naomi Suzuno: What began as a tense relationship-- with Naomi highly unsettled by Shinjiro's strong Resonance, and Shinjiro scornful of what he assumed to be another spoilt princess-- has become a trusting friendship. Naomi is one of the few people in whom Shinjiro will confide. She also brings out the teasing, rakish aspects of Shinjiro that have not seen use in years.

• XV - THE DEVIL
  • Itsuka Mizuhara: If Shinjiro regards Shiki as something almost like a son, Itsuka must certainly be the well-loved daddy's girl. He is aware of her devotion to him, and a desire to avoid hurting her was a predominant reason for his decision not to die. Though he can occasionally be a little troubled by certain of her tendencies, they spur him to care for her more as opposed to pushing her away.

• XVI - THE TOWER
  • Thora Kobayashi: Thora and Shinjiro's relationship started off highly antagonistic, both of them being alpha personalities quick to leap into conflict. However, after seeing Thora trying to make her own bento in the wake of her mother's murder, Shinjiro's empathy was stirred enough for him to show her a kindness that Thora has not forgotten. Gentle treatment being such a rare thing in Thora's life, Shinjiro has earned the right to be the only person Thora will address as 'senpai.' It is highly likely, given Thora and Shinjiro's reputations, that no one would EVER guess this respect was won not through brute force, but through kindness.
  • Himeru Namikawa: Shinjiro-- in his typical gruff way-- cares for Himeru as one of his underclassmen. He sees in her an unhealthy amount of emotional repression to rival his own, and though he is hardly an adept at navigating emotional waters, he would like to relieve her of some of her crippling guilt. Recent events have only revealed just how deeply her guilt and emotional damage run... though Shinjiro is likely to have some difficulty in coming to know and trust her again. At least, at first.

• XVII - THE STAR
  • Kasumi Horie: A girl who had not necessarily wanted to Awaken and become involved in all things Persona. Shinjiro had fully-- perhaps even zealously-- supported her reluctance to be dragged into all the crossfire... but now that she is here, he has resigned to simply teaching her as best he can so that she can survive.
  • Hinata Itoh: Ran's little sister. Possibly... a future sister-in-law?!

• XVIII - THE MOON
  • None of note.

• XIX - THE SUN
  • Tatsuya Suou: Though their surface personalities are rather different, Tatsuya being more given to even, direct bluntness and Shinjiro more volatile and prone to moods and passions, at heart they are rather similar: delinquent gentlemen committed to the protection of others. This means they are able to get along effortlessly and communicate by delinquent telepathy. They have made a silent sort of pact to look after their respective ojousans, knowing that without some good and solid delinquent guidance, the ojous will end up doing ridiculous things like being put in jail, or attempting to draw lots on who gets to martyr themselves if the world goes to hell.

• XX - JUDGMENT
  • Kanon Itoh: Ran's elder sister. Also possibly a future relative e_e;;

• 40 Miles From the Sun - Bush
  • I need to lose to make it right / I'll confront the stars tonight
• Fell On Black Days - Soundgarden
  • Just when everyday seemed to greet me with a smile / Sunspots have faded / And now I'm doing time / I'm a search light soul they say / But I can't see it in the night
• Show Me How To Live - Audioslave
  • Someone get me a priest / To put my mind to bed / This ringing in my head / Is this a cure is or is this a disease
• Like A Stone - Audioslave
  • And on I read / Until the day was gone / And I sat in regret / Of all the things I've done
• Rooster - Alice In Chains
  • Ain't found a way to kill me yet / Eyes burn with stinging sweat / Seems every path leads me to nowhere
• Would - Alice In Chains
  • Into the flood again / Same old trip it was back then / So I made a big mistake / Try to see it once my way
• We Die Young - Alice In Chains
  • Another alley trip / Bullet seek the place to bend you over / Then you got hit / And you shoulda known better
• Citizen Erased - Muse
  • Wash me away / Clean your body of me / Erase all the memories / They will only bring us pain / And I've seen all I'll ever need
• Ruled By Secrecy - Muse
  • Repress and restrain / Steal the pressure and the pain / Wash the blood off your hands / This time she won't understand
• The Gypsy Meets the Boy - W.A.S.P.
  • The tarot is fate, said the Gypsy Queen / And she beckoned me, to glimpse my future she'd seen / She said, do you see what I see? Be careful to choose / Be careful what you wish for, cause it may come true
• Man in the Mirror - Savatage
  • In a childlike illusion of life / He imagined the things yet to be / But they all disappeared on this night / Carry on among the forsaken
• Medication - Garbage
  • I don't need an education / I learnt all I need from you / They've got me on some medication / My point of balance was askew
• Love Is Here - Starsailor
  • I've got to leave the girl behind me / You can't love what you have not / So hold on to what you've got
• Under the Bridge - Red Hot Chili Peppers
  • Under the bridge downtown / Is where I drew some blood / Under the bridge downtown / I could not get enough / Under the bridge downtown / Forgot about my love / Under the bridge downtown / I gave my life away
• Unintended - Muse
  • You could be my unintended / Choice to live my life extended / I'll be there as soon as I can / But I'm busy mending broken pieces of the life I had before
• Bad Place Alone - Alice Cooper
  • I know about the pain / Dyin in an alley with an air-conditioned brain / I know, it's for real / Flatlined in an ambulance without a pulse to feel
• What You Live By - Harvey Danger
  • We could talk about the lives we’ve led / And count the reasons we’re not dead / Or maybe we could talk instead / About the ways in which we are