Difference between revisions of "Minamo Takagawa"

・ Photography. Noted for her melancholy black and white photography. This is the club she attends the most often.

・ Literature. She's shown up once though she lurks on their internet board.

・ Calligraphy. Noted for her beautiful brushwork though she doesn't attend often.

・ Manga Club. She seems fascinated, though she has yet to actually attend, terrified by the otaku aura of it.

・ Home Economics. She's also known to cruise by the Home Economics kitchen to see if anyone is inside. Who knows what's going on there.

・ Tennis Club. While enthusiastic, she seems to lack the coordination to ever be that good.

・ Volunteer Student Tutor. Tuesdays and Thursdays after school (other times available by request) for Gekkoukan students, though she can tutor right up to university-level Calculus and Physics courses.

・ Apathy Syndrome Aid. Gekkoukan's Health Committee and the local government have an organization that helps the authorities locate those stricken with Apathy Syndrome who often wander off. To keep them from dying from exposure or dehydration, volunteers comb the city's more obscure areas to find such persons aid and call the authorities for pickup. The more extreme the weather, the more likely they'll be out there. She does this irregularly but often once or twice a week, often on Saturday or Sunday during the day. Volunteers are required to wear an service armband as well as their school uniform to be easily identifiable to the community.

Special Ability: Acceptance

All living beings hold a fear of change, no matter how much they deny it. The greatest change is to die, the namesake of Minamo's Arcana, to pass beyond the veil to places which may or may not exist. However there are many other lesser fears that hold a person back from doing the things they desire to do in life. Death understands that the true enemy of life is not Death, but the fear of change that prevents one from living life to the fullest. To perceive this fear in others is one of the powers granted to Minamo - even if she cannot know the actual personal faces of someone's fears, she knows them by their presence.

When she uses her power, she first sights her targets and sees the sum of their fears, which appears to her as a roiling shadow that is the counterpart of every living thing. Then Minamo produces a tiny, flickering match-like flame in her hands, representing her life. While she may use a lighter or a match, in reality she needs no props. Like moths to a flame, the fear of her target is drawn to Minamo, the one who understands it so well. Then Minamo simply blows the flame out, snuffing it. The fears of her target rush into her temporarily.

Acceptance for the target is to be temporarily totally liberated from fear. It fills the target with a fearless spirit and profound strength. The distance between desire and reality vanish to nothing. Victory is easy when you no longer fear harm, to fly is easy when you're no longer concerned with consequences. It is truly better to die knowing something than to live wondering about it. Yet, fear is also what preserves life, and to be totally liberated from fear also can result in a dangerous contempt for life, and so Minamo's gift can be a double-edged sword.

Persona - Archangel Sariel

I am you, and you are I.

You have called me, and I have come.

I will walk with you from this day, until the moment you die.

The Archangel Sariel (Aramaic: זהריאל, Greek: ‘Ατριήλ, 'Command of God', variations of the phonetics exist such as Suriel, Sahariel, Surya, etc.)

Like Raphael, Sariel is associated with healing and protection. Most importantly for Minamo, he is also a benevolent Angel of Death, and is considered to have taken the soul of Moses to heaven, as well as imparting wisdom to Moses. He is persistently associated with the angel Azrael in Islamic tradition by some translations. While generally regarded as an archangel, in some sources, he's also identified as a fallen angel.

As Minamo's Persona, Sariel appears as a very tall and physically perfect young Caucasian man possessed of silvery blond hair and hard blue eyes. His features are beautiful to the point of being androgynous. Four brilliant white feathered wings sprout from his back. He is never far from her, and even should she favor another Persona at the moment, those sensitive to Personas will feel him to be nearby (either to the right of her or behind her). He always is around Minamo so that when her day comes, she will not die alone.

He has something of a playful nature towards Minamo, affectionately referring to her as "little sister" (妹ちん - imouto-chan). Like an older brother, he's very protective of his younger sister.

Resonance

The sadness is not within me, it is within you.

Minamo's resonance is a bittersweet feeling, sad and happy at the same time. The feeling is best described as akin to graduating school or moving to a new city for a job at the moment you realize you're truly leaving the familiar places and friends behind. The sadness is of losing something that cannot be taken back, the fondness is that of the memories that will remain, and finally the uncertain hope that is the future.

The intensity of Minamo's resonance varies hugely with the viewer, though the Resonance itself remains the same. It varies from a sentimental feeling to stark terror. The feeling resonates the most strongly in those who are facing some great change in their life, even if they do not recognize it. For most people, the resonance is like hearing a sentimental tune on the radio - pleasant but easily ignored. For those tired of their lives and seeking more, it awakens the deep dissatisfaction and a desire for change. For those fearful of the change they face, it offers the courage to accept it. For those hateful and denying of change, only the paralyzing terror of the inevitable. As an RP tool, none of these reactions are required but more suggested as ideas.

Sound Resonance: A long-forgotten yet potently sentimental song is half-heared by the person who senses her. The memory is rarely enough to recall the song's title and very little of the melody, but the memories around the song will be quite vivid. A maudlin sense of loss, partings, and a time that is gone forever, yet the knowledge that something long forgotten was returned to listener.

Scent Resonance: A long-forgotten yet potently sentimental scent is half-smelled by the person. For instance, the scent of some favorite food prepared by a now deceased parent, or the scent of summer berries when you picked them with a now deceased grandmother. Otherwise similar as the "Sound" entry.