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[hackerofjustice]

❥ Character Information

Character Name: Futaba Sakura
Character Age: 16 (physically and mentally)
Character Species: Human
Current Health: Perfectly okay for her standard (which may be a little sleep-deprived).
Outfit: She'll be in her "winter" outfit, pictured here.

Character Canon: Persona 5 Royal
Link to History: Here!
Canon Point: After the events of P5R's third semester (March 2017)
Canon Iteration: Original Canon
Canon Iteration Explanation: N/A

❥ Folkmore Roles & Attributes

Skills:

Hacking; nearly any kind of technology, but best on computers and data systems. She's been shown in-canon to gain access to everything from individual cell phones to network broadcast stations, and can override other signals in a pinch.

Extensive experience in coding, including creation of cell phone apps, programs, and scripts.

Science, especially cognitive psience and physics.

Encyclopedic knowledge of anime lore, especially her favorite (Phoenix Ranger Featherman R).

Sleeping through actual disasters, sometimes for days at a time.

Canon Abilities: Futaba has a Persona (Al Azif), or a manifestation of her spirit, that she can summon as desired. While most Personas have offensive and defensive capabilities, Futaba is purely defensive as a Navigator character- she can hide inside her Persona and control parts of the world through hacking the cognition of the area. It looks something like this, for reference. She has been shown to be able to modify layouts (move items, change systems, ect), provide boosts to her teammates (increasing stats, health, or providing shields to block damage), and changing fighting cognition (if the team is ambushed by enemies, she can sometimes switch the cognition to allow them to be the ones ambushing the enemy instead). Finally, she is able to speak with everyone on her team through a comms system provided by her Persona; it's assumed this can be linked to anyone she chooses, though presumably they would also need to have a Persona to link to.

She can also, without being inside her Persona, summon a high-tech set of goggles that allow her to view data as if she were in her Persona, like energy readings of approaching beings, a layout of the area, and more. It seems she can do anything on the headset she can do inside her Persona without actually being there, though she has more limited space to do so. She must summon the helmet to see this information; otherwise it is not innately known. She can only do her proximity hacking of the environment where she can summon her Persona, as it is linked to her friends and the world itself.

Role: Familiar
Role Qualities/Attributes: Her associated animal will be a Jeroba that she will be able to turn into at will. She may also manifest certain traits from the animal (like ears or tail) when flustered or emotionally unbalanced.
Role Reasoning: Futaba is primarily a supporting character in the game, but this is specifically because for a very long time she was a shut-in who was unable to accept any kind of outside friendship, much less give it to others. After she reaches out to the Phantom Thieves, Futaba takes a specific stance that she cannot sit by and let others suffer the same way she did, and her assistance to them- and her team- is integral to her character. Right now she is very dedicated to her friends, but I want this to expand to serving another group and more than just the person who pulled her out of her psychosis. In addition, she may get the opportunity to change into a Legend if she finds her own path, but for now her ability and desire to support others means Familiar is perfect for her.

❥ Personality

Option 2 please! Questions (and answers) below.

1. What was the most traumatic experience your character endured? How did this change them?

The defining feature of Futaba's past was the death of her mother, Wakaba Isshiki. While Futaba disagreed and had struggles with her mother as much as any child and busy single parent do, Wakaba made it quite clear she was loved and cherished. However, the circumstances regarding Wakaba's death were covered up by a conspiracy as a suicide, and the fake reason for her death was that she regretted having Futaba and always hated her.

This 'revelation' lead to a deep psychosis within Futaba that she was the cause of her mother's death, causing a distortion of her mind so great it lead to PTSD, hallucinations, and ultimately her refusal to leave her bedroom for more than a year. Instead of taking it out on anyone else, however, Futaba turned entirely inwards- at the peak of her pain, she believed that if she died it would bring her mother back to life, and that her mother was the one who deserved to live. For this time, Futaba almost entirely lost her sense of self other than a detractor from her mother's life. Even after the realization that this was a lie, it takes Futaba some time to build her own identity back, or to believe she has an identity at all.

Ultimately, her character arc follows that of her associated Tarot card, the Hermit. The Hermit, when reversed, represents extreme isolation and severe personal reflection to the point of harm. However, it also tells you to seek companionship and being open to new connections. Upright, the Hermit is a guide to one's true self by understanding who you truly are in your own heart. Futaba's arc of the death of her mother (her previous 'self') and transformation into the guide of the Phantom Thieves represents these ideals.

2. What is a headcanon (or two) you feel strongly about and that you prefer playing your character with? How is this supported in canon and why do you think it benefits the character's story?

Futaba has been shown to become physically overwhelmed by outside stimuli in canon- sometimes this is from people, but can also be from too many of her own thoughts or feelings. She also always wears her headphones even when she is clearly talking to someone else- they remain over her ears everywhere she goes. Therefore, I believe she uses the headphones actually as a way of dampening sound due to her mental condition of being on the ADHD/autism spectrum. Futaba is directly stated in canon as having some mental repercussions from her mother's death (such as PTSD), but even before this incident she describes herself as a 'socially awkward child' and someone who did not fit in due to her lack of 'understanding social situations'. Her mother is also described as much the same way and they are oft compared as a style of savant, due to being incredibly intelligent on a technical spectrum but unable to understand social cues. In addition, if the player pursues a romantic relationship with her, her Christmas gift to the player is a pair of headphones matching to hers- which she tells the player are for 'helping them focus'.

I think this benefits the understanding of her character because it helps to explain more of why she spent so long as a shut-in and why it's so difficult for her to continue to reach out. The world that is average for most people is too overwhelming for her senses, and accepting her own mind- and how it works- is integral to her understanding of herself and her ability to heal after her mother's death. As someone also on the ADHD/autism spectrum, this allows me to understand her issues more deeply and portray them more accurately in my writing.

3. What does your character feel like they struggle with still? Where could they improve? This could be physically, mentally, emotionally, or otherwise.

As much as Futaba would like to say she's 'recovered' from being a shut-in, she still has a lot of fear around meeting new people and making new connections in her life. Large crowds still terrify her- in tense situations she will physically move herself behind someone she trusts, and has outright collapsed when overwhelmed by the presence of too much stimulus. While she has reached a point by the end of the game that she is able to think about going off on her own (such as finally going to high school), when she is left to her own devices she still prefers to be alone. In addition, while Futaba is confident in her own skills as a hacker, she isn't confident in being an interesting or otherwise appealing person; she knows she's 'offputting' and 'strange'. Ultimately, she has room to grow in her confidence of herself- in terms of her personality and her perception of the world.

4. What famous folklore, legend, or myth would you associate your character with? Are they literally inspired by Snow White? Do they have similar struggles or energy as Red Riding Hood?

In the Persona series, a character's Persona is a spirit that is usually based off of (or literally) a mythologic or fictional story. Futaba over the series has three personas- Necromonicon, Prometheus, and Al Azif (the last one being a combination of the previous two). These personas are meant to underscore the two major aspects of her personality, without (and then with) being a Phantom Thief.

The Necronomicon (which is treated as a 'character' in it's story and not a literal book), represents Futaba's struggle with understanding and her perception of the truth. The Necronomicon is a book that is believed to be inherently dangerous and warned to contain only pain, but in 'reality' contains the secret to defeating the greatest evil of the world. In addition, it's creator is is remarked to be mad, but the pursuit of this truth contained within is the only way to avoid the disaster of the Cthulu mythos. Futaba is inherently the same- at the start, she believes herself to be unfixable and a record of only her mother's pain, but becomes a key aspect in saving the Phantom Thieves from their fate.

Meanwhile, Prometheus is her representation of her goals as a Phantom Thief- her ethos is that she will not let anyone suffer as she had, and will fight to ensure that the world is more just with the abilities she has. In addition, since her mother fell to the unintended consequences of knowledge, she too is prone to overreach and consequence- and can have the same downfalls if she doesn't rely on her team and accept help.

❥ Player Information

Player Name: Alex
Pronouns: she/her/hers
Are you over 18?: Yes!
Contact(s): cancerously or discord @ cancerously
Link to invitation: Here!
Current Characters: N/A
Permissions: Here!
Writing Samples: TDM and meme thread!