route_29 application

[shatterings]

Player
Name: Michelle
Personal Journal: lanvaldear
E-mail: N/A--I'm better reached on here or at Plurk.
AIM/Plurk/Etc.: sweetstacks @ plurk
Timezone: Pacific Standard Time
Current Characters in Route: n/a

Character
Name: Naminé
Series: Kingdom Hearts
Timeline: After fixing Sora's memories and Riku lets Axel and Naminé escape.
Canon Resource Links: Here!

Personality:

As a very special Nobody (a being without a heart, but who retains the memories of their former life), Naminé has the ability, along with her ability to manipulate the memories of the Keybearer Sora and those close to him, to feel genuine emotion, making her different from other Nobodies: With no memories, she has no basis for acting. Along with truly being able to feel, her emotions can be fairly intense. These emotions, and the desire for friends and her intense loneliness alongside her tendency to simply follow orders, are what lead to her manipulating Sora's memories. Because her longing for a connection is so intense, it makes her a bit single-minded, and therefore easily manipulated. At this moment, Naminé is only concerned with meeting someone and being able to form a bond, even if it is fake. Therefore, a big effect is kept from her: She is actually hurting Sora, and she is essentially turning him into a blank slate for the Organization to use, instead of just making it possible to have a friend.

Naminé, then, feels guilt for most of Chain of Memories, her debut game. After she realizes the gravity of her changing Sora's memories, she is confused and regretful. Despite knowing the truth, she continues. Partly, this is out of a deep fear of Marluxia and Larxene, two Nobodies who are members of Organization XIII and who are tasked with watching over her. Her quiet and timidity result in her not being able to stand up to her captors--she knows what they can do to her, and so she continues. This is the core of Naminé's personality. She's a quiet, unsure, loyal girl. And that's truly what she is: a girl who is so overcome by loneliness that she latches onto kindness and tends to follow whoever leads her. Naminé is more self-conscious than anything, despite her eventually escaping and standing up to those who hurt her. Sora's kindness takes her off-guard, and his reassurance that he forgives her and cares about her makes her feel a mixture of disbelief, sadness, and happiness; disbelief, because she is convinced she isn't worth kindness or compassion; sadness, because she knows what she has done is wrong and she'll lose a semblance of a bond; and happiness, because he has forgiven her instead of hating her.

As well as her timidity, soft-spokenness, and sweetness, Naminé exhibits a fair amount of selflessness. While she acts out of partial selfishness--manipulating Sora's memories due to a desire for a connection that wasn't with her captors and a wanting for friends--she in the end restores his memories. Naminé isn't a fool; she knows Sora needs his memories back. Naminé is a smart girl: She knows how things work in the castle and what will happen to her if she disobeys. Her expectations are never higher than what she believes is sensible, even though she hopes she'll be proven wrong--like when she asks Sora what he wants to do. Naminé also shows a strong sense of perception, though part of this might be knowledge from what she's seen in Sora's memories. When she meets Riku, she hopes her expectations will come true--and they do.

As much as it hurts, she sets her hurting aside to fix what she broke. However, this isn't without sadness: She tells Sora, quietly and with upset underlying her words, "Okay, I understand! Who needs false memories, right? Especially when you have real memories of people who are really important to you. Anyone would say the same." Again, here, she knows what to expect, but there is a little part of her that hopes he'll defy her expectations. She also knows that, should Sora choose remembering her, things won't get any better. Her unhappiness and sadness are worth Sora's happiness and the good of pretty much everyone. And so Naminé believes she has very little to no self-worth: She's expendable, forgettable, and her being forgotten would be a good thing, nothing to worry over--likely a result of being put down by Larxene. Thus, her sadness is heightened by a severe sense of inferiority. It is without hesitation that she gets to work on Sora's memories. She has accepted that he will forget her, and it's a bittersweet thing: A little bitter for her, a lot of sweet for Sora.

Naminé, though, does learn to stand up to those who hurt her: Near the end of Chain of Memories, she actually steps in front of Sora to defend him from Larxene. As toxic as Larxene is, Naminé has her moments of rebellion: A (though short-lived) glare, a silent declaration that she won't let Larxene hurt Sora when she stretches her arms out in front of the boy she has hurt through her memory manipulation. This sense of defiance is more seen in Kingdom Hearts II, such as when she disobeys DiZ--her "guardian," for lack of a better word--to meet Roxas, a boy with a deep connection to Sora. Defying DiZ's orders, she throws herself into dark portals more than once in order to help Roxas. Similarly, when Naminé sees a chance to do something, she'll take it, such as when Axel--yet another Nobody and member of the Organization--sets her free in Chain of Memories. There's a sense of survival there (if only for others who depend on her), then, not only for herself but those she's hurt. She knows the moment is fleeting, and that it will never come again. And so she goes, even knowing she may get hurt worse than she ever has before. Similarly, she takes whatever opportunities she can to meet Roxas--a short moment in the town itself, in one of the white rooms after his fight with Twilight Thorn. Despite knowing she'll get into trouble, Naminé does, no matter what the consequences. She takes the initiative more often then, in order to help someone who needs it desperately. A notable example is not from Naminé's canon point, but from the end of Kingdom Hearts II. She sneaks around the Organization's stronghold in order to help Kairi (the girl from whom Naminé was born, making Naminé Kairi's other half), even knowing in the end she'll fade away and complete Kairi. Kairi is more important, though; not only to Sora, but to Riku, too. To make her friends happy, then, Naminé will defy those with far more power than she, who have the ability to hurt her--thus making her fairly impulsive. It's more second nature, though; Naminé simply wants to help; again, without regard for her safety or well-being.

Naminé also knows fear very intimately. She nearly jumps out of her skin when Marluxia approaches or touches her. Similarly, near the end of Chain of Memories, he actually uses her as a shield. She's frozen, unable to move. Marluxia and Larxene use this fear to their advantage, manipulating her fear of never having a friend and fear directed toward them in order to convince Naminé to do their bidding. Her fear is also shown when she alters the Riku Replica's memories; she knows what she has done, but she's too afraid to change it back. The scope of what she has done--changing both Sora's and the replica's memories--mixes with her fear and creates a pretty strong mixture of emotions. Naminé withdraws even more, then, and hardly speaks until the end of the game. At the same time, Naminé learns to conquer her fear, and when Marluxia orders her to shatter Sora's heart, she refuses--angrily, defiantly.

Above all else, Naminé cherishes the kindness she receives. She cries when Sora tells her they'll make a note to thank her after she finishes fixing their memories. She's both surprised and relieved when Riku allows her to escape unharmed instead of destroying her like DiZ ordered. Because of this, Naminé's sense of loyalty is strong, but it always has been: Though not exactly the best sense of loyalty, she does initially mess with Sora's memories out of loyalty to her captors. However, Naminé, when she perceives she's made a friend, will do what she can for them, even if it means diving into darkness. She is the one who tells Roxas the truth, after all--though her bluntness during that conversation leads to both Roxas and Naminé's feeling discontent. Naminé is fairly transparent; her discontent during this scene is shown in her face and heard in her voice. Indeed, because she's been used the way she has and how she's been treated, Naminé values honesty. She never keeps the truth from anyone, especially if she can help it.

Strengths/Weaknesses:

✔ INTELLIGENCE: Naminé generally has pretty accurate expectations. She also knows the way things work--aka,the order of things. Her expectations tend to match up with reality as she perceives it. There are exceptions, however.

✔ LOYALTY: Because of how she was raised, Naminé is intensely loyal. It's a double-edged sword, though. She messed with Sora's memories out of a sense of loyalty to the Organization--they took her in, after all, when she had nowhere else to go. The length of her loyalty runs deep, and if she considers you a friend, she'll do pretty much anything she can for you.

✔ KINDNESS: Naminé is kind above all else. She respects the wishes of her friends, and she's genuinely sweet. When she meets someone she considers a friend, she'll hold onto them as much as she can. When she herself is the receiver of kindness, she treasures it dearly. She treats pretty much everyone with the same politeness, unless they've wronged her.

✔ STEALTH: You have to be pretty sneaky to move throughout the Organization's home base. Naminé accomplishes this when she meets Kairi. Also, in Twilight Town, she manages to evade DiZ in order to meet and help Roxas.

● SELFLESSNESS/SELFISHNESS: On one hand, Naminé is very self-sacrificing. On the other, her selfishness is what set Chain of Memories into motion. She tends to swallow her selfishness, though, because she knows it'll only make things worse.

● DETERMINATION/IMPULSIVNESS/PERSISTENCE: When Naminé sets her mind to something, it's hard to convince her otherwise. This is either a good thing or a bad thing. While it helps people, it also tends to come at a cost of her own well-being--she's utterly convinced she's inferior, but this also leads her to help several people (specifically, Kairi and Sora). Unfortunately, this can lead into a pretty huge impulsiveness--she throws herself into situations where she'll end up in trouble, specifically in Twilight Town when she has the freedom (for the most part) to be impulsive.

● BLUNTNESS/AWKWARDNESS/HONESTY: Naminé tends not to keep the truth from anyone. However, this leads to her being blunt, because she doesn't really know much else. This bluntness can merge in with her awkwardness--she was raised by people much older and less emotionally available than she. Thus, Naminé may tend to overthink her interactions, and be a bit careful in approaching others. Also, she's kind of bad at hiding her emotions.

✘ SELF-CONSCIOUS: The exceptions to Naminé's expectations, which are usually accurate, lie in the core of Naminé's personality, alongside her kindness: her deep-rooted sense of inferiority. She had to live with two people who were concerned only with their own goals, after all. Her desires and needs are never as important as anyone else's. When she receives kindness, she's genuinely surprised: Why should I be treated well when I don't deserve it?

✘ HESITANT: In regards to people she doesn't know. Naminé won't trust on instinct, which leads to her being unsure or hesitant in her interactions with others. This also leads to her being fairly soft-spoken and shy at best around new people.

✘ PHYSICAL STRENGTH: Pretty much nonexistent. If absolutely necessary, Naminé will fight, but there's a reason she had to sneak around the Organization's stronghold. No weapon, no strength, no training of any sort, no chance of survival unless she's stealthy.

Pokémon Information
Affiliation: Trainer
Starter: Minccino
Password: Apple strudel

Samples
First Person Sample: [ There's a curious someone fiddling around with her PokéGear. She's a little surprised she managed to click it on, since she's never actually dealt with much technology. ]

Ah... um, hello. [ Her surprise is replaced by a reserved sort of smile. Carefully, she tucks a bit of hair behind her ear. A nervous habit, but it's not one she actually notices. ] I'm a little... confused. I'm not sure what's going on, and-- [ Wait. Is that... music in the background? It's faint, and she hadn't really noticed it until she was lost in thought. ] I think I might be hearing things, but... is there music playing somewhere?

[ She lets out a little sigh and gives the Minccino beside her a pat on the head. ] I think I just need a little bit of help, or... an explanation.

Third Person Sample: When Naminé rushed through the portal, she hadn't expected to end up... here. Maybe she'd have ended up in Traverse Town, or wherever Axel had decided to take them. But this place seems totally unlike anything she'd ever seen through Sora's memories. It has a different feeling. The town is pretty enough, and there's a slight breeze that does feel nice, but maybe if her head weren't spinning with worries and questions, she'd be able to appreciate it more.

This is a problem, though. She has things to do, people to see. If she were here, what would happen to Kairi? She'd remain fractured, and... well, it doesn't seem like it'll be easy to leave. Naminé draws in a deep breath. The bag on her shoulder is heavy, but not as heavy as the curious feeling in her chest. Strange. That shouldn't really be there, but lately...

Well. She had been told she was special. But that had never sat comfortable with Naminé, and it certainly doesn't sit well with her now. Combined with the confusion and slight panic welling up inside of her, the poor girl's a mess of emotions she can't quite manage too well. There are questions, too many questions, but nowhere near enough answers. The woman who'd given her the backpack hadn't been able to answer them. The man who'd welcomed her--what is a Pokémon, anyway?--hadn't answered them, either.

At least she's not alone. The companion next to her is pretty cute, there's no denying that. Naminé kneels down and gives the little gray critter a pat on the head. "Well..." she says softly. Somehow, Naminé manages to smile, a little shakily, as the Minccino lets out a soft chirp. "I guess it's just you and me for now... right?"

Even if it's just this, it's better than being alone.