Synodiporia App

[rebellioninbloom]

P L A Y E R;
NAME: Sleepy
AGE: ...30+
PLAYER JOURNAL: sleepyphoenix not that I've used it in forever
TIMEZONE: GMT, land of the lonely RPer.
CONTACT: sleepyphoenix, Discord Sleepy#4118, PMs.
OTHER CHARACTERS PLAYED: Kanji Tatsumi from the Rescue Team AU.

C H A R A C T E R;
NAME: Haru Okumura
CANON: Persona 5
POINT IN CANON: After Satan Saves Christmas, aka just post endboss fight (but see veteran notes.)
AGE: 18 (is a Sagittarius - Nov. 22-Dec. 21)
APPEARANCE: The fluffball of doom. Normal school clothes / Noir the Beauty Thief
CANON HISTORY: Wiki link here!
CANON PERSONALITY:

The first time the party ingame encounter Haru, before knowing any other name for her, she's referred to as "Well-Behaved Girl". And as a heiress to a large company - or a potential wife to a future heir - she certainly puts on a suitable image. She comes over as shy, gentle, polite to a fault.

Her kind, caring nature comes out easily enough, shown off early by her concern over who appears to be just a "stray cat", and in such little details as wanting to make things easier for cashiers in stores. She shows a great deal of patience, in both caring for flowers, and in her outward behaviour around her domineering father and unwelcome fiance. Even when faced with her father's darker aspects, and with the wrongs that he's committed, she still finds it difficult to turn her back on him and admit to her anger about what he's done. As such, given the treatment she's received in the past, it is somewhat difficult for her to trust those in authority; it takes a long time for her to open up to the new company president following her father's death.

It is only around her close friends that she's finally able to relax - and even then, it took her some time to trust that they were a group who did mean well. She's happy to drop the trappings of formality, even if she retains a polite enough manner, rapidly addressing anyone she cares about in affectionate terms.

Once her facade breaks, it breaks quickly: she rarely outright shouts in anger, but it's clear enough all the same, her tone growing cold and forceful. She responds very badly to emotional hurt caused by those she cares about, especially where romance is involved.

This process of 'opening up' comes to a head in the Metaverse, where she can put away her life as a CEO's daughter and take on a new role as the Phantom Thief Noir. In this position, around combat, danger and excitement, she outright blossoms - though it's into a flower with some nasty thorns.
She happily states that she loves combat, showing a strength that she has no chance to in the 'real' world; in fact, she can be downright bloodthirsty and sadistic where her opponents are concerned. She also has a tendency to refer to things that most would call rather frightening or offputting - the Shadows found in the depths of Mementos - as 'cute'. All of this tends to be said in ways that are no different from her day to day conversation about happier things...

Given her upbringing, it is no surprise that Haru does still love the finer things in life, but she's more than glad to be able to share them with her friends - she even manages to organize a major theme park opening for their group! She does have expensive tastes, but is more likely to mention them offhand than anything else, conversely not being entirely familiar with such things as instant ramen - the latter a demonstration of the ways in which she can be quite naive about the world. For her, the most important part of being able to run a business is being able to make customers happy.
Haru's been known to enjoy working with her hands, whether it's making tea or coffee or offering to sew for friends. However, her most notable pastime (apart from Shadow-slaying!) is her interest in gardening, and she is often found tending the school's vegetable patch. She's dedicated enough to the task to go dragging half her weight in fertilizer up to the roof... cultured and refined she might be, but here as in the Metaverse, Haru is not a girl who's afraid to get her hands dirty when it's needed.


POINT OF DEPARTURE: None, but see Veteran notes.
VETERAN?:

Yes! Haru is an early days veteran, having been around for Cursed Kingdom and Ivory Tower.
However, at the time, she was at an earlier canon point; she had just stumbled into the Metaverse after Morgana, didn't yet have her Persona, and was generally a quiet little worried thing, infiltrating in the background, who was just starting to relax and consider that maybe she could deal with not having to go home to the fiance from hell before getting bumped out of ambit. She will be coming in via a handwaved dungeon to bring her up to her current canon point. (This plan has been run past mods over Plurk.)

As such, she's coming in with Cantrips 1, Stationary Portal Creation and Ecological Sciences.


ABILITIES:

Haru is a Persona user, able to summon a guardian spirit/representation of her psyche to defend her. Hers is Astarte (previously Milady), taking the form of a lady with a ...skirt?... made of giant pink skulls. (Why do I end up with the characters with skull themed Personas, idk.) Note that due to her canon point, she will not immediately realise that she still has the ability until she puts two and two together regarding the Metaverse's and Liminal Space's similarities, and equally may not realise that she can summon on Jaunts without prompting.

Her attack magic focuses on psychokinetic powers, and she's resistant to the same in turn; she also utilises attacks that mimic the effects of gunshot damage, and restorative, buffing and protective magic. A detailed breakdown of her Persona can be found over here.

As a Phantom Thief, her summoning technique involves the use of a symbolic mask. As a bonus, her particular flavour of Persona user comes with a nice little wardrobe change while active in the Metaverse; equally, this grants her access to a rather impressive axe and grenade launcher, both of which she has had practice using. (The latter relies more on the powers of cognition within the Metaverse than any actual firepower - basically, if it looks like it goes boom, it goes boom...)
Past castmates have had these skills capped/equivalenced to Wardrobe Manipulation 1 and Hammerspace 1.

On a more mundane level... Despite claiming to be a beginner at the art, Haru is an incredibly skilled and devoted gardener; while allowances might be made for gameplay mechanical purposes, she's still happily turning out crops of vegetables in late autumn and winter with only the school's equipment.

She has the sort of specialised business and etiquette knowhow that comes with her standing as a company heiress who's been groomed for the role, as well as a standard Japanese high school education.


INVENTORY:

Okay so Cognition™ makes this tricky.

On her person, she has an expensive 2016-model cellphone, a few thousand yen and some assorted cards, a set of keys to the Okumura estate and a tub of Lush-expy lip balm. She's wearing a simple but well tailored pink dress and a blue jacket, her favourite "winter casual" outfit.

Her Phantom Thief outfit, her axe and grenade launcher (somewhat ammo depleted), and a couple of consumable combat supplies and accessories are all ... wherever cognition puts that stuff, but nominally "in her possession".


ANYTHING ELSE WE SHOULD KNOW?

She comes from a "friend route" in her confidant link, though she maxed it out. (As far as I'm aware, this explicitly puts her in a different timeline than the previously apped Akira.)



(screenshot source)


M A R K S;
JUSTIFICATION:

(in number order, not preference)

Fool: While not the sort of character that the Persona series typically associates with this Arcana, Haru matches it in other ways. She's a very naïve and sheltered girl who's easily tricked into believing things; ever since joining the Phantom Thieves, she's become a more generally energetic and happy person who's willing to go out and seize adventure and excitement.

Magician: Haru's at a stage of her life where she's reaching out and really coming into her own strength and power. She's in the process of really starting to work out who she is and what she wants from life, and most enjoys herself when she's able to take action and be productive in her own way.

Priestess: Haru is the first Psychic-aligned character in the Persona series, and her first appearance as the Beauty Thief is a mysterious event for the team (even if that's soon spoiled). She's a loving and caring type, who's got a lot of thinking to do on her life and future.

Empress: Her canon Arcana association. Haru's an extremely feminine character and expresses her personal power in ways to match - witness the very pink Personas and thief gear... She has a very nurturing and protective streak.

Sun: "Sweetness and light" is a very easy descriptor to throw at Haru! She's kind and generous all around. (Or to most people.) ... On top of that, it's very easy to see her passion and enthusiasm for battle.


VETO:

Emperor: Not only is Haru a very classically feminine character, she has recently lost her father and would not do well with the reminder about her situation back at home.

Chariot: I already have a character under this Arcana.

S A M P L E S;
ACTIONSPAM SAMPLE:

[Even without an actual livestream attached to it, there's still the ghost of a faint, ladylike cough before the speaker begins.]

Excuse me, everyone? Could I have a moment of your time?

To begin with, I should introduce myself to everyone who has arrived since I last Travelled with you all: my name is Haru Okumura. I would also like to thank my rescuers for coming after me... It is wonderful to know there are people among the Travellers willing to take those kinds of risks for someone they don't know.

However, I've noticed that a lot of things have changed around here, apart from all the new faces? I certainly don't recall all the doors here before! Never mind anything else... Would it be possible for somebody to let me know what I've missed while I've been ... could you call it "away"? It really would be greatly appreciated.


PROSE SAMPLE:

An 'Adversary', the prickly little creature had called her. 'Adversary of Thorns'. And while Haru had initially recoiled at the idea, the explanation had made more and more sense as it'd gone on. Perhaps hope had kept her going over those dark days, but the hope the spirit animals spoke of wasn't something she'd ever had cause to recognise in herself for so long. It wasn't something she'd truly let herself believe.

Agency, though. The chance to, for once, just be herself and have a whole dreamworld recognise that... even with everything that's happened in her life, to be able to be the person she wants to be freely? No repercussions, no secrecy... but equally, no heiress.

She could get used to this.

Perhaps to some, having to fight the Nightmares that roamed the place would be a problem - never mind the whole reason that they were there in the first place... but as the creature (a monstrous humanoid that looked like it was crumbling away into void and venom) made a lunge for her, sending her heart pounding up into her chest, she could hardly call it a "price to pay". But right, right, what to do, where to go... this wasn't the sort of combat or the sort of skillset she was used to. It reminded her more of her first days blundering through Mementos attempting to make something work... she'd been a poor Beauty Thief, despite her best efforts. At least her spirit companion here seemed to have a good understanding of how to explain things... it wasn't the same as hearing Futaba's or Makoto's voice, though. Or their team leader's.

Maybe the price for getting to be herself was ... having to learn to be herself. Alright. Deep breath, Haru. She could do this.

At first, it looked like she was running, the Nightmare spitting clouds of decay and smoke that turned the ground around it to stone. But she'd been paying attention, after her first encounter - this was a challenge, now, and one she was going to face. Just need to get enough distance and - there! With both a Phantom Thief's and an Adversary's agility, she span, leaping upwards - and with one swipe of a hand, the ground beneath the beast broke into spikes, vines, as hard and as pointed as any barbed wire. The Nightmare's attempts at turning the ground to unyielding rock were working against it, now, as she threw her power into her own manipulations of the dream world... locking it away among thorns of stone.

Setting it up just right to deliver a rather more physical final blow.

Haru put her axe away with a smile on her face. That'd been a good workout, that was for sure.

Comments

Persona Skill List

[rebellioninbloom]

Astarte
Empress Arcana

Block: Psy, Resist: Ice, Weak: Nuclear

🔮 Psiodyne: Heavy Psy damage to 1 foe. Technical (boosted) damage against foes suffering from Mental* ailments.
🔮 Mapsiodyne: Heavy Psy damage to all foes. Technical (boosted) damage against foes suffering from Mental ailments.
🔫 One Shot Kill: Severe Gun damage to 1 foe. High Critical Rate.
💊 Amrita Shower: Cure all allies of all non-special ailments.
✨ Heat Riser: Buff attack, defense and agility of 1 ally for 3 turns.
✨ Makarakarn: Erect shield on 1 ally to repel 1 magical attack.

Other moves/skills to be determined.

*Mental ailments: Fear, Despair, Rage, Brainwash(/Charm in old games), Hunger