Application @ zodion

[homophones]

✖ PLAYER:
Name & LJ: Em (safelybeds)
Birthdate & Age: 20 (02/14)
Characters played in Zodion: N/A

✖ CHARACTER:
Name: Yosuke Hanamura
Canon: Persona 4
Info: History/Info
PB/Image: Expressions & Outfits
Canon Point: The True Ending, the night before Souji leaves.
Gender: Male
Age: 17
Birthdate/Sign: June 22nd, 1994 (Cancer)

Tattoo: A poker chip sized ♋ on the right side of his neck.

Suitability: From the canon point I'm taking Yosuke, he has been through more than most could even imagine. What may have started as almost a game in his eyes -- a way to make something exciting happen -- quickly spiraled out of his or his friend's control. Yosuke doesn't always take the right path when adult decisions arise, but as far as experience in the nonsexual standard of adulthood, he's already had his "virginity" taken and is more than suitable for Zodion.

In a more sexual sense, Yosuke is seventeen and preoccupied with It to the same degree most seventeen year old boys are. That is not to say he will be ready for sex when it comes to him (he certainly hasn't had his cherry popped in this sense), but he has certainly thought at length about it, owns porn, is aware of the mechanics, etc.

Power: Being from a Shin Megami Tensei game, Yosuke has a Persona: Susano-o. When Susano-o reaches level 69 (which resembles a certain zodiac sign now resting on the side of Yosuke's neck...), he acquires the skill Brave Blade. It is described in-game as a 'severe physical attack', and can be quite brutal. It is preformed by Susano-o kicking the buzz-saw suspended around his body towards opponents, presumably propelled by physical force and wind (the latter being Yosuke's elemental affinity).

The skill can be quite devastating, and draws power from the strength of Yosuke's Persona. For a roleplay context, I interpret Susano-o's strength as generally static, save moments of extreme emotional fluctuation on Yosuke's part. Since the persona is another side of the wielder (their 'facade of determination'), that its strength would sway in accordance with the host seems plausible. In times of extreme anger, the skill might be stronger. In times of emotional uncertainty, the skill might fall shortl. When Yosuke first arrives in Zodion, I see his power leaning further from 'generally static/stable' and more directly in line with Yosuke's emotional state. For instance, if unsure or conflicted (or anything less than focused emotional resolve), I would say that Yosuke has a 50% chance of summing Susano-o and a whopping 10-20% likelihood of performing the attack successfully. In the initial weakened period of Yosuke's stay in Zodion, the highest percentage Yosuke can achieve is a 90% chance of successfully summoning Susano-o and a 50% chance of firing off his power. However, these percentages would only be accessible to Yosuke in moments of extreme clarity in focus and absolute control over his emotions. For Yosuke Hanamura, as I'll elaborate in his personality section, this is a very rare state of being.

I chose this skill (instead of one of Yosuke's many wind attacks), due to how it embodies both of Yosuke's battle strong suits: blades and wind. While not technically counting as a wind attack, per se, there are still elements of speed, air manipulation, and force in the Brave Blade attack that I feel sums up Yosuke's battle prowess with more completeness than his other skills. Not to mention the neat little easter egg/pun/what have you of what level Yosuke's Persona acquires the power. An example of this skill being performed in game can be seen here.

Personality:

When it comes down to it, Yosuke Hanamura is a kid who doesn’t know what he wants.

He has some idea of what he should want, sure. Yosuke isn't able to forget what he’s supposed to be doing with his life: get good grades, don’t slack off at work, be responsible and begin the transition into adulthood as smoothly as possible. Be self possessed, sure of himself, and a better man than he could ever hope to be. But unlike those who rise to their cultures’ high expectations, Yosuke buckles underneath their weight. Where’s the thrill in adulthood? What's the happiness in taxes? Yosuke isn’t exactly a free spirit -- far from it, actually -- and his heavy reservations over growing up are based less on personal aspirations and more on a fear of failing those around him by simply…being himself. Shaken together in an insecurity cocktail, Yosuke finds himself desperate to meet a standard that his low self-esteem is positive he’ll never attain (and doesn’t even want to attain, really). He throws everything into winning the approval of others. But even when he gets the validation he’s after, it never comes with the feeling of relief he hopes it will. Yosuke's nerves are always there in the back of his mind, terrified of making even one misstep and sending his carefully constructed happy-go-lucky, takes-being-the-butt-of-every-joke-with-a-smile, will-totally-pay-for-this-one-guys-no-problem persona toppling over. If anyone ever actually got to know him, Yosuke is positive they would have absolutely no reason to stick around.

And, unfortunately, that fear is something of a self fulfilling prophecy.

Though less of a chronic problem after facing his Shadow, Yosuke’s over eager behavior and desperateness to please wasn’t only exhausting for him, but for everyone around him as well. If you sent him a text, he would respond within thirty seconds (and then another ten minutes later, asking if his text went through. And then another in an hour, asking if everything’s alright. And then another wondering if your phone is broken. And then six more apologizing for being such a needy idiot, lol, sry man jst me being stupd!). If you already had plans when he asked to hang out, it was hard for him to read it as anything other than a rejection of his entire existence. No matter how you sliced it, it was difficult being friends with Yosuke Hanamura.

Before moving to the small town of Inaba for the opening of a new Junes location his father is assigned to manage, most of the kids at his school are tired of him and the ones still hanging on are mostly in it for the free meals. Once Yosuke leaves his home in the city (and god does he miss it at first; the lights, the crowds, the noise), responses to his texts get slower and slower until stopping completely. Combined with being dropped in a town that despises what he and his family symbolize, his loneliness reaches a new low. That loneliness and isolation are compounded when it’s revealed that the one person who gave him the time of day in Inaba -- Saki Konishi, whom he had a hopeless crush on -- is killed and shown to have secretly been as irritated and exhausted with him as everyone else.

But things aren’t as bad as they used to be. He has genuine friends now, ones that know who he is and like him anyway. It opens his eyes to the possibility that working and working at making people like him isn’t the necessity he thought it was; that maybe people might actually like him. Although he still has a long ways to go and many maturity hurdles to jump before he really gets there, he is getting there. Slowly but surely.

Despite this, Yosuke still separates “people” and “people who he trusts to like him” in separate categories. Working in retail for his father’s store -- the mega shopping emporium, Junes -- has given him a knack for customer service. It will be an unsettling day when Yosuke realizes just how good a salesman he is. It's this 'persona' that most strangers get; all bright smiles and politeness and how may I help you, sir or madam? Remember, every day is customer appreciation day at Junes! The people whom he’s close to and trusts get a different picture. Yosuke can be solemn, passionate, insensitive, vulnerable, and intensely furious when riled. However, his inherent snark and clumsy inexperience when it comes to being himself around people can lead to (more than) a few a lot of unfortunate foot-in-mouth moments. His ribbing and teasing occasionally goes too far, although being called on it (usually) leads to apology. When it doesn’t, a quick threat of physical violence is a surefire way to send him cowering. If there’s one thing Yosuke avoids, it’s confrontation. Even with all the growing he’s done overtime, the fear of losing all he’s gained still lurks in the back of his mind.

And what does he stand to lose? Only the best friends a guy could possibly luck into. While he has an unique relationship with each of his his teammates -- Chie, almost like a sister (a really annoying sister); Kanji, who triples as his competition, friend and kohai; Risette, the girl of his dreams (while Rise, however, is a good friend who actually seems to like his jokes); Naoto, the detective whose serious demeanor clashes with his own (making her all the more fun to tease); Yukiko, yet ANOTHER girl of his dreams (the girl he'll probably never be as close to thanks to Chie and his own awkwardness); and Teddie, his charge, little brother, bear-thing (one of the only people he feels solely responsible for) -- his closest relationship is with Souji, his best friend. Together since the beginning, Yosuke dubbed them 'partners' early on. At first, this was in relation to the case for the most part; they'd made their promise to Teddie to find the murderer together and they were going to solve it together. But as the case wore on, their numbers grew, and their friendship began taking shape into what would be the most important in Yosuke's life, the nickname stuck. In getting closer and working through the leftover ache of Saki's death, Yosuke is unique in that he takes Souji off his pedestal from time to time. He finds him to be 'special' but being true equals is by far his priority. Partners, in the truest sense. By the end of their social link, Yosuke isn't content to simply act as a leech and pour all his angst onto Souji without giving anything back in return. That may have been enough for him once, but not now; not when he realizes what it's like to truly have a friend.

At the point in his life when Zodion spirits him away, his confidence is on its way to changing for the better. He's more assertive, less of a doormat, and has a hope for his future that wasn't there before. He is still nowhere near grown up, but when faced with an extremely difficult decision, he is capable of making the choice that needs to be made. Well. Most of the time.

✖ SAMPLES:

"Zodion" First-Person Network Entry:

[The feed flickers to life to reveal the inseam of a pant leg. The camera jolts and stutters, revealing a brassy belt buckle and pant fly. The figure appears to be unaware of what exactly he is filming.]

Okay. This is okay. No need to panic. [The voice was muttered, but carried the squeak of an adolescent still growing into himself. The little pep talk he was giving him didn't appear to be working.] Just a dream! In two seconds you're going to open your eyes and see Mom and she'll yell at you to stop leaving your bag in the hall and...y-yeah!

[For a brief moment, as if the communicator was being flipped anxiously from hand to hand, a coppery head of hair was visible. It was fleeting, though. In the next second, everyone was a blur, followed by a sharp crack along one side of the screen and a wide shot of two bright orange socks.]

Shit!! [Whining.] Are you serious!?

[The feed cut completely, right after a boy's cringing face came into focus.]

"Zodionlogs" Third-Person Prose Entry:

The last thing Yosuke could remember before grassy plains and bare earth stretched out in front of him was, well, an alarm clock. Er, or the alarm clock feature on his phone. He'd been setting it for early the next morning, mentally planning out his routine as he scrolled through the numbers. 7:30. Way earlier than he liked getting up for anything, but then again, this was kind of...different.

Once Souji was gone, he'd be gone. There'd be visits, sure, and summer vacation, but this was the first real goodbye. And jeez, it sounded so sappy when he thought about it like that, but he wouldn't really get a do-over, would he? Yosuke could stand to voluntarily wake up early one day of his life.

Only this wasn't the train station. Some kind of dream? Had to be. Only it felt so unmistakably vivid, from the way grass felt between his fingers when he first woke up, to the heat of the sun beating on the back of his neck. Usually his dreams were vague and blurry, with colors and faces, but not beyond those blips of memories. Yosuke's imagination just didn't seem strong enough to create a world like this. Maybe that was the first sign. He should've been paying more attention.

But then a clearing was drawing in, and Yosuke's attention became squarely focused on this new distraction.

"What the...?" He murmured to himself, brow furrowing when he spotted the bright box on a...pedestal? Altar? Shiny white thing?

Yosuke stepped into the clearing, ready to investigate, but that's as far as he got before a sharp pinch hit the side of his neck. He closed his eyes reflexively, wincing in pain while his hand flew up to grip at the source of his new pain. What in the hell was that?

It was a sentiment Yosuke would be repeating often. Especially when he opened his eyes once more, coming face to face with a full length image of his naked body.

"S-shit!" Yosuke shrilled, hands flying to cup his crotch. But...he could feel denim under his fingertips? A quick look down revealed that, yes, this was only half like his recurring nightmare of showing up naked to all his classes. Yosuke turned around, staring at himself in each reflective surface, eyes growing wide as his confusion solidified into panic. Just what was going on? And why was his neck still pricking, as if it had been stuck with a pin?

His answer came when he went to rub at the sore spot again, only to notice a small, pale gray mark when he removed his hand.

Was that...?

No way.

A tattoo!?

Yosuke hoped to hell and back that this was a dream. His Dad was going to murder him and the assign the pieces left over the 5AM inventory shift.

He'd better get used to getting up early.