Player Information

Name/Alias: Kitty
Player Journal: lavanta
Contact: pissbaby
Timezone: EST
HMD: Here!
In-Game/Processing: N/A

Character Information

Name/Alias: Nanako Dojima
Fandom: Persona [4]
Canonpoint: At the beginning of her third social link with Souji.
Gender: Female
Age: 6

Physical Description: Here!

History: Here!

Personality: At first glance, Nanako's personality is shrouded in reticence. The first scene we see her in, she's taking refuge behind her father when they meet Souji (her cousin), who would be staying with them for the next year, at the town's train station. She tries her hardest to be cordial and polite, of course, but her introversion only allows her to speak so much before becoming embarrassed and nervous around such a new person. This meek exterior of hers is nothing like her true personality, however, and is mostly attributed to being watchful and vigilant of strangers - wanting to avoid potential danger - rather than just being plain self-conscious. As she is a mature and cautious person, it would be difficult for her to trust a complete alien so easily. The cautious part comes from her father working on the police force; there would be no reason for her to not follow proper safety protocol and not be careful of dangerous people, hence why she is so timid and unwilling to find credence in others at first.

As strictly as she follows this rule, if you give her a reason to trust you, that's an entirely different story. The basis of her wariness comes from a lack of certainty about a person's intentions. If those intentions happen to be harmless and aligned with justice, then there isn't any doubt in Nanako's mind that the person is trustworthy. Her theory of 'bad vs. good' stems from her age. After all, she is only six, despite her independence and maturity. There is no excuse for 'bad' behavior (for her, this includes the broad spectrum of being mean, A.K.A., a very childlike mindset), and it should be apprehended appropriately. She won't hold back when scolding people for fighting or doing something wrong. But 'good' behavior should be rewarded with trust and kindness. This is also partly thanks to her father's job; criminals are punished for their bad behavior, and defendants who are found not guilty are rewarded, or acquitted. In other words, it's either one extreme or the other, because in the field of criminal justice there is no in-between, and that's where all of her knowledge comes from. She can't yet comprehend complex concepts such as good people doing bad things for specific reasons or bad people feigning innocence.

From the perspective above, yes, Nanako can be seen as a mostly normal child. But she is much more than just that. Her mother passed away when she was even younger than she is now, leaving her with just her workaholic father. It wasn't easy on either of them; the three of them were a close-knit family and if one of them were to disappear, the balance would be upset. And it was. Her father suddenly became more enveloped in his work to cope with the loss and distract himself, while Nanako turned to a different kind of work - housework. This was mostly because with her father at work, there was no one around to take care of the house, but partly because she enjoyed it. She parallels her father in that she enjoys working hard (she thinks of it as a trait of 'good' people, a quality that everyone should have, a normal thing). Laundry, cleaning, cooking - all of these responsibilities that many children shy away from are part of Nanako's daily routine. Another characteristic that separates her from other children, and even people much older than her, is the fact that almost everything she does is done with the thought of others in her mind rather than herself. She does everything in her power to make life easier for her father, despite their strained relationship. In one instance, she even asks her cousin to take her to the grocery store (and asking for favors is a very rare occurrence for her) to buy her father his favorite food when rent ran out. She becomes agitated when others make remarks of her being 'cute' or young, probably because she recognizes how grown-up she is, even if she doesn't group herself in with other adults because she is also, ironically, mature enough to able to see that she is still childish in many ways. Maturity may as well be her middle name.

As mentioned above, her father completely shut himself away in his work after her mother died. This led to his negligence of Nanako, and feelings of isolation and loneliness on her end. Left with many questions and no answers, she wondered whether her father loved her or not anymore and felt useless to him (again in relation to hard work - was she doing enough work?). The housework that she enjoyed for many reasons was also a subconscious cry for attention. If she was of some value to her father, she thought, maybe he would notice her and pay more attention to her. This concept carries over into her general personality, eventually. The less useful she is to people, the more she feels like a burden to them, because if she's not taking responsibility then she's not really of any benefit. Her attempts at offering some sort of merit are of course in vain, but it's the only thing she can do, so she does it anyway. And asking for favors or not being able to do something on her own? One of her biggest issues is dealing with this. Because of how independent she is and how much. she wants others to rely on her rather than for her to rely on others, asking for help is very hard for Nanako. She tends to think people don't have the time for her or simply just don't want to have the time for her. Because if her father doesn't want anything to do with her, then who would?

All things considered, Nanako is still a pure hearted and sweet young girl. She truly does things out of the goodwill in her soul and takes pleasure in seeing other people happy because of something she did for them. There is nothing more in the world she wants than love and acceptance for herself and everyone else. She is still a child and knows what it feels like to be alone - to blame yourself - and therefore doesn't have the capability of being hurtful to others and in fact does everything in her power to prevent these things. She has an immense sense of optimism even with her underlying isolation issues. This is shown when a 'sorry about your late mother' comment is directed at her. She accepts it with an air of positivity and explains that it's okay that her mother is gone because she still has a family, and nothing will change that. What makes her so unique and special is that she is the exact concoction of maturity and innocence - Nanako Dojima.

Abilities: Nanako has no special abilities besides being able to do menial housework. Though she does know her way around a cooking knife, as she has made many meals while using one before.

Samples

Dialogue: As a note: I realize that there isn't a video network, but I've chosen a theoretical 'video' option (in a generic horror setting) just to get a feel for Nanako's diction because a six year old's spelling vocabulary range isn't very wide. But in the game, text would not be an issue for her, as she can read and write. Just not... that great.

[ Speaking on a video network wouldn't be easy, but Nanako knew she had to do it. So the video begins with a very uncertain young girl, averting her eyes from the camera as if it was another person's face. ]

Um... Hello... M-My name is Nanako Dojima. I'm from Inaba, but I don't think this place is in Inaba. Last night when I went to sleep, it was in my room, so... I'm not sure why I woke up in a new room. [ She fidgets shyly before continuing. ] Is that what happens all the time here? I-I talked to someone else and they said they didn't go to sleep here, either.

Another question I wanted to ask was... umm... well... Does anyone know where the bathrooms are here? [ That prompts some intense blushing and even more fidgeting. ] I looked for them but I haven't found any yet...

T-Thanks for listening...!
Exposition/Introspection:

Nanako was sitting in her desk at homeroom again for what seemed like the millionth day in a row of class. Of course, she knew this place wasn't real school and people didn't show up to class on most days, but something still felt wrong about just... not coming. There were rules to be followed, and a schedule to be kept in order (for her, at least). Besides, what else was there to do besides come to class? She thought about what activities one could do in this melancholy and dull place. There were clubs, which Nanako thoroughly enjoyed being a part of, as they gave her a sense of normalcy and belonging even in this place. But those weren't until after class.

And really... that was all she could think of.

In her honest opinion, she still thought not coming to class without a good reason was scold-worthy. In fact, she had even gotten a little frustrated with some of the people she was close to at the school for not coming to class. "You have to come to class..." she would argue, without actually having a statement to back that up. She would say, for the millionth time, after a million days of the same class, "It's... wrong to not come."

The consequences of not coming to class would be drastic. Unless she was sick, skipping class on purpose would make her so guilty she would probably get sick. It wasn't like she took pleasure in sitting in the classroom for hours trying to make out the teacher's incomprehensible garble, but what other choice did she have? She bet that her father would be disappointed in he if she didn't come to class, too.

She decided to end the internal debate and get back to listening to the teacher's lecture - if you could even call the gibberish that he spoke a lecture.