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[covertizer]

Player Information
Name: becks
Age: yes
Contact: tsundoku @plurk, and tsundoku#5199 on discord.
Current characters: N/A

Character Information
Name: Akira Kurusu
Series: Persona 5
Appearance: chairy potter
Age: 17

Canon Point: True Ending of the game.

Canon History: look at all these P5 spoilers

Personality: As a quick side note, as a wild card and the player character for Persona 5, Akira has a little bit of a 'blank state' aspect to him – allowing players to chose responses and play him as kinder or sassier, or angry outside of cutscenes. However, Persona 5 gives him a very solid character base, maybe one of the strongest yet, and he ends up a very rounded and nuanced character in his own right.

At first appearance, Akira Kurusu is an unassuming and obedient looking young man. Even visually, he hunches slightly to make himself look smaller, wears large glasses that obscure his face for most of the game while he's based in Tokyo, and even lacks the brighter, showier aspects of design that his teammates have in their bright or dyed hair colours and flashier clothes and uniform choices.

… this is, of course, intentional. Seeing as he's been moved to Tokyo for a probation period following a false charge of assault, he's out to make himself look as unobtrusive as possible. His actions before the game are what kick start the entire plot – we already know he is kind-hearted and willing to go above and beyond to help out a person in need from his actions, stepping in to rescue a woman being assaulted by a drunk man on a quiet road at night. Unfortunately for him, that drunk man happened to be a powerful one, with a lot of equally powerful people in his back pocket.

He ends up expelled from school, arrested on assault charges and ultimately shipped out to Tokyo for a fresh start, without an ounce of regret for what he did, but with a bitterness towards authority and a newfound knowledge that those with the power are more likely to use it to abuse others and protect themselves over people who really need it. His response to this – his protection, so to speak – is to keep adults and authority at a large distance until they do something to prove to him they're different and worth trusting. His initial impression to those around him is of politeness, but a closed off, distant sort. He wants to keep his head down and avoid trouble, but also to avoid opening himself up to be screwed over again by someone. That isn't to say he's perfectly obedient though – his responses range from benign to somewhat sassy from early on, but never enough to be taken as impolite unless someone is really looking for it. It underscores that Akira isn't passive – he's rebellious and defiant, but he's also been burned and doesn't want to be again. He's careful in the beginning, and tries so hard to keep in line only to find that his fresh start at a new school has been mired before he even arrived because a teacher with too much power took one look at his record and decided he didn't want him there. His chances to make new friends are ruined, as no one wants to associate with him for fear of his reputation ruining theirs. He shoulders baseless gossip from people who haven't even taken the chance to know him, even in the slightest, and the teachers who are supposed to be helping him and teaching him treat him with mere tolerance more than anything. He continues. He shoulders it or let it wash over him like waves and keeps going.

In the middle of all this, we're introduced to Joker. And that defiance and all that salt Akira's been hiding away in that unassuming form of his; all the times he's bitten his tongue for the sake of keeping his head down, come right out into the open. Joker is everything Akira keeps hidden let loose in a flurry of style, sass and sheer rebellion. He carries himself taller, with more confidence, and moves with flashy self-assurance that he keeps tempered outside of the Metaverse. His awakening is a burst of anger and rebellion and tiredness at being walked over and never allowed to defend himself without incurring consequences far harsher than he deserves, and once that's been released from that tightly sealed bottle it never really goes away. It becomes more notable outside of the Palaces as well – his tolerance for Kamoshida goes from doing just enough to keep himself out of the firing line, to gone almost overnight once he realises the man doesn't deserve the respect and fear he's given. He challenges the man subtly, and cleverly, and from there on out we see him become bolder: he speaks his mind more, as shown in some of his multiple choice options which can be quite to the point, without being rude. He's able to balance the line between being harsh and saying what needs to be said without hurting people. He's unafraid to call people out on their behaviour, especially if they're assholes to people and cause them pain – no matter how rebellious he becomes, this is still the boy who essentially ruined his life to help a stranger, after all.

But Akira cares deeply about the people who matter to him; the people who earn his love and trust and prove to him they have his back as much as he has theirs. Obviously, this encompasses the other Phantom Thieves more than anyone else. The people who know him best. They know his past, and accept both his quieter, calmer “outer” self and the theatrical, over the top young man they see guiding them in Palaces, and have proved they love him. They trust him, and they rely on him and in turn, Akira is able to truly be himself around them. His sense of humour shines in conversations with his friends – he can rib them and tease them without fearing they'll lash out at him, and does he ever enjoy doing that. He's sarcastic, and light-hearted in his jokes; gently teasing Makoto over her fears that other students see her as robotic, to congratulating and thanking Yusuke for his hard work researching MedJed even though his line of research was entirely wrong.

It works, because for all the teasing he can get away with, Akira will do anything for his friends. Hell, the entire end of the game is him willingly getting arrested and sent to prison in exchange for the chance to protect his friend's identities as thieves. He's the shoulder they can cry on; the friend they can smile with, and the partner who has their back in everything they do. As much as he does benefit from strengthening those friendships, mechanic wise, his friendships let Akira be himself. A confidant, yet crushed teenaged boy who has had a lot of horrible luck and bad situations heaped on him in such a short space of time. His friends mean the world to him, because they accept him wholly. They don't care he's got a criminal record, or mind his odd quirks like carrying a cat around in his bag, making tools at his school desk, or his odd observations and comments because they're just as odd as him and have received nothing but acceptance from him in return.

Interestingly, despite all that rebellion and anger Akira has boiling inside of him, he's a very collected in the face of danger. It's almost at odds with his nature and attitude as Joker, but it works for him – he knows when to push and when to pull back and reassess. When he truly gets angry, he saves it for something worthwhile – like abusive teachers, or headshotting an evil God. It contrasts especially well when he's around Ryuji, who is far more likely to lash out in a rage. It's likely because he's hit rock bottom in terms of esteem and society's attitude towards him – he just expects that people will think the worst of him and treat him accordingly, so rather than react to it, he lets it roll off of him. It doesn't mean he doesn't hurt because of it, but when faced with the decision to obsess over how people see him, or just keep living as best he can until his probation is done? Akira chooses the latter and in makes him more rational, or far more able to see the bigger picture. His calmer attitude, and ability to assess situations and battle through adversity make him a good leader, wild-card ability aside. He may not be perfect – he's definitely not got the analytical mind that Makoto has, and as soon as she joins he doesn't even argue at the idea of stepping back and letting her take on the bulk of the analysis and major planning – but is priority is getting his team in and out alive, and victorious... which works incredibly well.

Akira would tear the world apart at the seams for his friends. He'd rather die than sell out the people who care about him, and even willingly gets himself into a complicated “fake-your-own-death” situation for the sake of keeping them safe – one that can fail for real and actually end with his death. So maybe he's a bit extreme and doesn't do anything by halves, even at the cost of his own life. But he's kind, stubborn, determined, bitter and bright all at once. He blossoms around people who bare their souls to him and offer him as much as he will offer them in return, and he guards those relationships like treasures, precious and dear to him. He's here to do whatever he sets his mind to for the sake of people who can't fight back alone, and if the world doesn't like that? Then the world can step aside for all he cares.

Abilities: Akira is a wild card, as has the ability to create, store and summon more than one Persona. Unlike the other wild card here, Akira actually spends most of the game honing and developing this skill and building up his arsenal of Personas, so has more than two.

But that's a bit OP so I'm going to specify two and if either of them are too OP, please nerf away hardcore.

Arsene: Akira's initial persona. It's not the strongest, as unless you're planning on manually building him up over the course of the game, he caps out around level 7. He has some light based attacks, light physical attacks and a debuff.
Sataneal: Akira's ultimate persona. Is actually crazy strong, so I'm pre-emptively nerfing him. He has Victory Cry – which in game means full HP and SP after a battle, but just kinda refreshes people if they're feeling fatigued. Any straight up immunity abilities don't work, and Megidolaon/Maeigaon are just kinda basic Curse/Almighty attacks. Nerf the boy good if that's not acceptable!

Personas aside, Akira is skilled at fighting with daggers and can aim and fire a pistol like a boss. He's trained in a number of other quirks that tie into his life as a Phantom Thief: he can pick locks, is good with his hands (ladies and gents) in terms of everything from spinning pencils to making lock picks and smoke screens. He's pretty fast and nimble as well.

He's also used to taking everything that isn't nailed down when he's in a palace, so that'll probably help when it comes to gathering stuff to survive.

Inventory:

> His casual winter outfit - with the hoodie.
> A (water damaged) cell phone. Just a normal touch screen cell phone that isn't gonna work and might even shock people if they try to turn it on.)
> Fake pistol – looks incredibly realistic though, but it's definitely fake.
> Decorative knives – again, it's a very realistic looking replica. If there's any way for P5's “your mind makes it real” spiel to work on the knives alone, that'd be fun. They'd turn into fake knives for anyone but him, or other P5 characters with access to the Metaverse.
> School bag – minus one cat friend.

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