nanako app; cape&cowl

[unversed]

[PLAYER INFO]
NAME: Ame
AGE: 21
JOURNAL: unversed
PLURK: starknaked
E-MAIL: striderisms @ gmail
RETURNING: n/a

[CHARACTER INFO]
CHARACTER NAME: Nanako Dojima
SERIES: Persona 4
CHRONOLOGY: Post true ending.
CLASS: Hero.

BACKGROUND:

Being a supporting character along with her being still young (she's really only seven years old - six, at the start of the game), a good chunk of Nanako's history is hinted at during the course of the game, mostly through her social link development with the Protagonist. What is known is that Nanako was born as an only child to Chisato and Ryotaro Dojima in Inaba, a relatively small and quiet town in the country side of Japan. She had a very happy early childhood - back then, there were no serial murders and Inaba was a relatively peaceful - her dad was at home more often, and both her parents loved her very much. She tells the Protagonist that she used to pick flowers at the Samegawa Riverbank with her mother and that Dojima often accompanied them after work; it's a very special place to her and when she gets upset at her father later in the game, it was the place she ran away to.

Shortly after, Chisato died in a car accident and the suspect was never caught. Dojima takes full responsibility for not having found the driver and though the case has gone cold, he still keeps the file with him. It's also because of this that Dojima had difficulties facing Nanako as her personality and appearance reminded him a lot of Chisato; as a result, their relationship became strained and Nanako withdrew into herself. With her mother's death, Nanako had to take on more responsibilities but she deals with them diligently without complaint, almost engrossing herself into her new chores. It wasn't long before Dojima ended up staying at the police station for longer periods of time, leaving Nanako at home by herself with only the television to keep her company.

When the Protagonist arrives in Inaba, Dojima takes him in readily like his own son, though Nanako was particularly distant with him. However, as he gets to know her, she opens up to him more and even starts trusting him with her problems. Through her interactions with the Protagonist and his interactions with Dojima, the Protagonist helps Nanako understand her father and his feelings about her mother's death. At the end of their social link along with Dojima's, Nanako has accepted her father's mistakes and his motives behind them. Along with this, the Protagonist introduces Nanako to the rest of the Investigation Team and through them, Nanako's days become more eventful; instead of her staying at home by herself all the time, she occasionally spends dinner with the Protagonist and his friends, and other times they invite her along on their trips to the Junes (pronounced Ju-nehs) Department Store which happens to be her favorite place to shop for groceries and everything else.

A critical point in the game for Nanako is towards the end when a political figure visits her elementary school. During his visit, he asks various students about their thoughts on the fog and their worries in general. He was most impressed by Nanako's answer, admiring her innocence yet genuine outlook on life and it later becomes featured on the local news. Though her image was not shown on television, her quotes were printed in the newspaper along with some personal information, which provided Namatame with an opportunity to kidnap her. While the Protagonist and Dojima were at the police station, Namatame visited their house and Nanako recognized him as the delivery man. From there, he kidnapped her and subsequently pushed her into the television he kept in the back of his truck. When the Midnight Channel airs on the television set in the Station, the Protagonist and the rest of the Investigation Team discover that Nanako is the next victim and quickly take action. Half of the Team head to the station to attempt to free the Protagonist while Naoto leads the rest to Dojima's house. After regrouping in the Station, it is revealed that Namatame is the suspected culprit behind the murders and Dojima immediately takes off to rescue Nanako, however, Namatame quickly loses control of his truck and slams into Dojima on the highway. The Investigation Team catches up with them and Dojima is taken to the hospital while they head into the TV world.

Inside the Midnight Channel, Nanako's world is a typical child's view of Heaven: sporting soft pastel colors, beautiful architecture, and overall dream-like surroundings. Though majority of the reality expresses Nanako's innocence and how much she misses her mother, it solidifies her belief that her mother now resides in heaven just as the Protagonist told her she would. The reality also reflects Namatame's delusions that the Midnight Channel was a safe haven for those who would be targeted in the real world. The Team eventually made it up to the top where Namatame was keeping her and ended up getting into a heated battle with him in order to rescue her. With Namatame's defeat, Nanako shortly fell unconscious and was rushed to the hospital. It turns out the fog from the TV world had negative effects on Nanako's young body, as she did not have the glasses Teddie made for the rest of the Team to help them navigate through the world easier. From this point, depending on what decisions the player makes, Nanako will either regain consciousness but die shortly after (bad ending), remain in a coma (neutral ending), or she will wake up and be stable enough to leave the hospital in time for Christmas (good and true endings). After being released from the hospital, Nanako helps the Protagonist uncover the truth of the Midnight Channel and the reason why the murders happened in the first place by reminding him of certain events that happened to him during his arrival in Inaba.

PERSONALITY:

"It's okay. Even if I don't have a mom, I have Dad with me. And now I have a brother, too."

Nanako is everything you'd expect from a normal young girl: she's innocent, sweet, and very kind. She is very well-mannered and is generally caring to those who are important to her and even people she doesn't know very well. What sets her apart from most children is her maturity and inner strength; having lost her mother in a car accident when she was very little, she had to deal with taking care of not only herself, but her father as well. Most of the household chores became her responsibility, and she diligently does them without complaint every morning and after she comes home from school. For a child her age, Nanako does not have an easy life, especially with her father's busy work schedule. Being a detective, he often spends his nights working in his office at the police station, leaving Nanako at home by herself. As such, Nanako is often plagued by loneliness and thoughts of her father loving his job more than he does her. Yet she does an admirable job to keep going and to do her best.

Her most important relationship in the game is with her cousin, the Protagonist. Through the year that he spends living with Nanako and her father in Inaba, he helps mend their strained relationship and helps her understand him. Over time, Nanako opens up to the Protagonist a lot, expressing her anxiety over whether or not her father truly loves her, or if he still remembers the times when her mother was alive and the outings they would have on his days off. She often asks the Protagonist about life and death, wondering if good people go to Heaven when they die, which alludes to how much she really misses her mother. In fact, when Nanako gets kidnapped and thrown into the TV, her world consists of a child's version of Heaven, reflecting her innocence and her desire to see her mother again.

Nanako is often praised for her strength and will by many of the characters in the game, which makes her a favorite among people she knows. It is noted more than once that Nanako often bears her sadness stoically, and hardly ever cries even during times when she is very upset. She holds an important spot in not only the Protagonist's heart, but in the rest of the Investigation Team as well, becoming a source of light and happiness amidst all the chaos they must deal with in solving the murder cases. Despite her young age, she has a strong sense of right and wrong; which is rather fitting since Nanako's Social Link is the Justice Arcana. However, it is also because of her age and naivete she usually doesn't understand what goes on around her, often misinterpreting the discussions between her father and the Protagonist as arguments (though in her defense, it's not hard to interpret Dojima's "questioning" as interrogation). When that happens, she is quick to interject, asking Dojima if they're fighting. It's usually an effective way of alleviating the tension and getting him to change the subject.

POWER:
Nanako does have have any special abilities/powers in canon, however I would like her to have these abilities upon entering the city:

- lie detection: by being able to perceive the genuine sincerity in a person's words or actions, Nanako will be able to tell if their intentions are really what they seem. Obviously, this would really only be effective in physical interactions; she's not good enough to tell if someone's lying over video/text/voice interactions yet.

- empath: closely related to the first ability, Nanako will be able to sense a person's emotions and, very rarely, project her emotions on them. That would really only happen when she becomes extremely upset about something and most likely would not have much impact on the other person, except briefly experiencing whatever strong emotion Nanako is feeling at the moment.

(Note: I chose these abilities based on Nanako's personality and the fact that her social link is the Justice Arcana. Let me know if you want me to make any changes!)

[CHARACTER SAMPLES]
COMMUNITY POST (VOICE) SAMPLE:
[When the camera turns on, all there is the view of the ground. The screen is occasionally covered by small fingers, jostling a bit before finally showing Nanako's face. She looks confused for the most part, and a little upset.] Um...

I know I'm not in Inaba anymore and... I don't think this is Japan, either. [Her words are paced at first, as if she's talking to herself in an attempt to get herself situated. For all intents and purposes, she's doing a pretty good job of not freaking out that much.] I've never traveled before - even when Mom was still alive and Dad wasn't as busy, we never really went outside of Inaba on trips. I don't know where this place is.

[She frowns a bit at this while the comm picks up some car horns, prompting her to take a few hasty steps back.]

But I need to get back home! Dad's gonna be up soon and I still didn't start breakfast yet. If he doesn't eat, he'll be hungry and won't finish his work early, and then he'll be late for dinner! He's always busy at the Station and my teacher said busy people need a lot of energy to get their work done...

[She takes a deep breath and it looks like the situation is finally getting to her, hastily rubbing her eyes and then fumbling with the communicator before turning it off.]

LOGS POST (PROSE) SAMPLE:

To say the least, Nanako was confused. The last thing she remembered was telling her dad goodnight and heading off to sleep, setting her alarm for 6 AM. When she woke up, it was not to her familiar Teddie plush next to her, but to an unfamiliar pillow and an equally unfamiliar bed. When she went downstairs to investigate (which was really strange because her house didn't have two stories), she didn't recognize the woman who claimed to be her mother. She was nothing like her real mother in the picture her big bro showed her, and Nanako was certain she had never seen her before.

Was she kidnapped again? That thought frightened her the most; she still remembered how that man took her from her house that night, throwing her into the TV and taking her away from big bro. She knew she was safe after she got home, but she never wanted to go through that ever again.

She had many questions she wanted to ask, but she couldn't get a word out before she was gently pushed out the door with a new bag in tow, glancing back as the woman waved goodbye with a heartfelt "Be careful out there!" It had always been her task to say goodbye and see someone off, how long had it been since someone had said goodbye to her? She knew many people in her life, yet she was always left on the sidelines to watch as they came and went.

Soon, she found herself slowly waving back to the woman, gripping her bag as she rubbed at her eyes a little. She couldn't cry, she had to find a way back home! Even if she was alone and a little scared, she had to be strong and not give up -- she had to do her best! Dad was still counting on her to do the chores after all, who was going to take care of him if she wasn't there? With that in mind, Nanako set off, determined to get to the bottom of this.

... At least, until she got curious and started rummaging through the bag and found the pokeball --

The name of the game is introspection, folks. This sample will both showcase how you will play in the logs community, and how well you understand your character’s motivations, hopes, dreams, quirks, etc. This sample should be a bit longer than your first, and, again, make us cry, make us laugh, or make us never want to meet your character in a back alley and you’re doing a good job!

Additionally, this sample should also be set in-game, so we can get an idea how you will play this character in a collaborative environment.

A note: In the cases of both first person and third person samples, we do NOT accept links to samples written at other games. If, however, you are a returning player applying for a character that you have played previously at Cape&Cowl, you are allowed to link to posts made by that character in this game.

FINAL NOTES:
Is there anything else about your character that you feel we should know, that isn't covered in any of the earlier sections? Inventory, status of health, etc? This field is optional.