Yui Nanase (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
drawntodream) wrote2016-02-22 09:40 pm
drawntodream) wrote2016-02-22 09:40 pm
Entry tags:
Application: Brave New World
One precious cinnamon roll, sketched in full color and ready to app to ![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png)
bravenewworld.
PLAYER INFO
Name: MaxSalsa
Contact Information:![[plurk.com profile]](https://plurk.com/favicon.ico)
MaxSalsa
Time Zone: MST, GMT-7
Characters Played: Nothing yet!
CHARACTER INFO
Character Name: Yui Nanase
Character Canon: Go! Princess Precure
History: A Precure Wiki exists. For the vast majority of series, it's terrible - just enough to be able to get something wrong, not particularly useful for a vast majority of things. I'm thus not linking it. We're doing this live. Yui isn't present for all of the major events in canon, but she'll be told about things when time allows, so I'm including events she wasn't present for by extension. As of this writing, GoPri has been over for less than a month, so there are spoilers for the ending below!
As a young girl, Yui grew up in a relatively normal family, under more or less normal circumstances. No tragedy, no drama, no prophecies, no absurd formative experiences. No, Yui's only note of interest in her early childhood was that she loved stories. She read often, and grew to like art. As a young girl, her grandfather read to her, and her favorite book was a certain fairy tale picture book (with lovely watercolor art) called The Flower Princess. This will be on the test later.
Skip forward a few years. Yui is a student at the illustrious Noble Academy, a fancy private boarding school dedicated to making young men and women high achievers in society. Many famous people have graduated from this school, and Yui hopes to follow in their footsteps and become a model person someday. When she meets her roommate for the year... our true story begins.
Yui's roommate is Haruka Haruno, a brunette with occasional lapses in connection to reality and a dream to become a princess. The girls become fast friends, and Yui shares her dream for the future with Haruka during their first afternoon together: to become a picture book author and tell lots of stories that many people will read. It's a good dream, and one she's made progress on; Yui is skilled with art of various kinds, and carries a sketchbook everywhere. Haruka, though, is too shy to share her own dream - or perhaps too embarrassed (or both) and runs off when pressed. Haruka comes across something unusual in the forest: a curious creature that looks not unlike a puppy, and an even more curious creature that in the form of a parrot. Both speak fluent Japanese, and claim to be Royal Fairies from the parallel world of Hope Kingdom searching for the Princess Precure, hefty suitcase in claw containing three suspicious perfume bottles. While Haruka is figuring out what she's found, Yui heads into the forest to find her, and comes across Haruka just as someone else does: Close, a general for DysDark. DysDark, led by the evil witch Dyspear, seeks to fill the world with despair - both worlds, now that Puff and Aroma, the Royal Fairies, have come to Earth searching for the Princess Precure - and uses Close, among others, to facilitate that. Hearing Yui come up behind him, Close abandons forceful diplomacy and instead attacks Yui, using an unusual power to expose Yui's dream and close it inside a cage of despair. The resulting dream, ripped from its owner and turned dark, becomes a monster: a Zetsuborg (despair [zetsubou] + kinda cyborg-ish looking monster). While her dream - and more or less her consciousness - is trapped inside the monster, her unconscious body is stuck inside a literal cage in the outside world, and she begins to go on a rampage, directed toward Noble Academy a short distance away by Close.
The next thing Yui knows, she's back - what happened? What happened is that Haruka turned into a legendary warrior, a Princess Precure: specifically, the princess of the flowers blossoming in full glory, Cure Flora. But Haruka can't tell Yui that, so she keeps it a secret. Along with the other two Precure friends she makes: Minami Kaidou, the student council president and youngest daughter of a major Japanese conglomerate, alias Cure Mermaid; and Kirara Amanogawa, preteen fashion model with a carefree exterior but enough passion to burn hotter than the sun, alias Cure Twinkle. Yui knows something weird is going on, but it's not really her place to ask, so she keeps quiet.
Until the day she's supposed to help Haruka on a different mission, tracking down where their dorm mother goes with a suspicious key at a suspiciously early hour. Yui offerered to help the night before, Haruka said it'd be great, and then Haruka left without her. Yui chased, and found herself in deep trouble when the lot of them ran into a Zetsuborg. Believing Yui more important than the secret, the girls transformed in front of her, and Yui ended up getting the whole story whether she wanted it or not: a parallel world, Hope Kingdom, is in peril, and the only way to save it is through the Princess Precure and the Dress Up Keys. The forces of DysDark seek to steal the world's dreams and replace them with despair - they stole Yui's dream once before, that first day in the forest. But Cure Flora got it back, and everything is kosher.
That is, of course, of no help to Yui - she just wants to go home with her friend, ideally with both (all?) of them in one piece. Still, she also wants to help. This sounds important, after all, and more importantly, Haruka's already protected her once before - she needs to return the favor. And under it all, she's awed that someone she knows is doing something so amazing. All of that combines to make Yui voluntarily agree to keep the secret and help in whatever small ways she can.
The enemy isn't resting idly, though - they've found a new general somewhere, claiming to be the daughter of DysDark's boss, Dyspear. She calls herself Twilight, and she's crazy strong, pushing the Precure back and being narrowly defeated each time they clash, choosing to run off without pushing her luck. In her spare time, she practices the violin. Things come to a head when, after winding up in Hope Kingdom purely by accident, the girls end up chasing down Twilight into the enemy's keep, and she's revealed to be the corrupted soul of Towa, the princess of Hope Kingdom. Using allied princesses for evil purposes doesn't sit well with anyone present, and through lots of magic and a well-timed violin melody, Towa is rescued, released from Dyspear's evil control and taken back to Earth for her own safety. During the battle, her brother Kanata, prince of Hope Kingdom and general badass, is forced to stay behind and cover the girls' exit, and is feared lost.
On Earth, Towa doesn't understand how to live a normal life, especially as the last remaining member of the royal family whose kingdom is being oppressed. But through the Precure and Yui, she slowly starts to learn what having a commoner's life is like, and along the way, she manages to bring her power to bear for the other team, as the princess of the true crimson flame, Cure Scarlet. The battles become harder as spring yields to summer, and the girls become more comfortable with what they are, and what they have to do. They all become closer, and eventually, they learn to depend on each other. Even if Yui can't directly help her friends and keep them safe, she can help them in other ways, and she can keep their spirits up. That's what she sticks to, and it's something that works, even on the occasions when the DysDark realize she's the weak link in the chain.
At the summer's end, all the Keys are stolen, and the girls are forced into another huge confrontation. Finding themselves short on power, they reach out for a miracle, and their power answers in a unique way: the Princess Palace, the literal physical manifestation of Hope Kingdom's royal castle, shrunk into something that can be held in two hands. Together with a new round of Keys, giving the girls four each, they bring out new powers, and the Precure continue to grow stronger as they fight DysDark.
In the battle, however, Kanata is cast out of Hope Kingdom and washes ashore on a beach in Yumegahama, without his memories or power. The girls work to restore his true self while they defend the city from continued attacks from an ever more powerful DysDark. During a hard fight, though, Kanata says something carelessly, and Haruka loses all will to become a princess, effectively losing the right to be Cure Flora, and drowning in despair. Through hard work, the others protect the city, and Haruka finds her dream within herself again, rising above her doubts and becoming Cure Flora once more. Through her renewed strength of heart, Kanata returns to himself, too, and they begin to formulate a plan of attack, working to grow even stronger as the final fight looms.
Over the next couple months, the girls fight to realize their dreams and become people they can be satisfied with, and Hope Kingdom begins to be restored to its former glory. But even with the kingdom itself restored, the people themselves are still sealed. Everything rides on one last battle against Dyspear, which the Precure manage to win... too easily. Dyspear manages to escape to Earth, and takes all of Yumegahama - except for Noble Academy, which they manage to protect - into despair. Dyspear brings overwhelming force to bear, and the Precure seem to be down the the count when they can least afford it. Making matters worse, the remaining students and teachers are locked into cages of despair almost as an afterthought, adding more fuel to the fire.
A combination of the strength of Yui's dream, and the shattered remains of a magic item, enables Yui to break out of her cage of despair without help, and she reaches out to all the others in turn, encouraging them to believe in the strength of their dreams, and break free. Yui manages to get everyone out of the cages without needing the Precure to open them, and with the resulting power drop, Flora and the others manage to clear the other obstacles out of the way, but they still aren't strong enough.
At that moment, the remaining students manifest what look like keys to something, which turn out to be the power necessary to become Grand Princesses - the ultimate goal of the Princess Precure, and of Towa even before she became one. With the newfound power of the Grand Princesses, the Princess Precure are able to fight Dyspear on even footing, and manage to defeat her once and for all, saving the world from despair.
Unfortunately, all good things must end, and at the end of the school year, Towa must return to Hope Kingdom, and take the Princess Perfumes and Dress Up Keys with her. Kirara agrees to take a modeling job in Paris, and Minami seeks to become a marine veterinarian. And Haruka seeks to become her own princess, in her own way. So ends the tale of the four. But someday, if they're needed again, the Princesses will return. After all, every fairy tale has its roots somewhere in reality, right?
(There's a movie - actually, three mini-movies - in here somewhere that isn't localized yet, but there shouldn't be any meaningful effect on the plot, and certainly not on Yui.)
AU History: Yui's upbringing in Union isn't particularly different from her childhood in canon. Her parents are still very busy, supporting Union's growth and safety, so she ended up spending a lot of time with her grandfather as a little girl. Her grandfather enjoyed reading books to her, especially picture books she could follow along with, and so she has an active imagination, along with a knowledge of Pokémon as pleasant creatures to be befriended, though not without due caution. However, that same imagination - and habit of having her nose in a book - caused her to be less interested in having a Pokémon companion. She's still more interested in stories, and experiencing others' tales, than creating her own story with Pokémon. (That, of course, is going to change rapidly.)
As she's grown up, she's been a little detached from peers her own age, leading her to find other hobbies to pass her time. As a result, she's not someone that's been dragged into a lot of adventures, or gotten involved in important things. She's just been living the days, learning things in school to keep her functional, not doing anything to stand out beyond being a solid artist and a big dreamer. Still, she's made some friends the last few years, and between them and the recent series of incidents, she's starting to finally be spurred into action in some way or another. She can't just sit around - there's got to be something even she can do. She'd feel terrible if the few people she could count as friends were hurt - or worse - trying to do what they can for Union. It's led her to volunteer in small ways around the city, helping to sketch a rough blueprint here, or mapping a nearby field there, or other tiny tasks. They're not much, but they help her feel like she's contributing. And somewhere along the line, her heart is calling out for the adventure she hasn't wanted before, but now wants almost more than anything else. She can't just stay here all her life and wait in the background, right? If she wants something to happen, she has to reach out for it.
Canon Personality: At first glance, Yui seems very much like a write-off side character, despite being introduced as literally the first non-pink, non-pink's-family named character in the series. But over the first episodes, and all through the season, she proves several times that she's a very strong young woman, and that she has emotional depth that is hard to match, and even harder to keep down.
Yui is someone that's fairly passive, but feels strongly about certain things, and will fight fiercely to defend those things. Her friendship with Haruka illustrates this - it comes easily, even as she finds herself often caught up in her friend's pace, but she doesn't really mind it. It's a friendship she treasures, and eventually, she comes to look to Haruka as her vision of someone that can rise above anything, as her personal image of strength. She takes things that should be slights against her in stride, from little mistakes to very big social missteps, even when she first found out about the Precure in the first place. Haruka starts to apologize, but Yui just pokes her and tells her it's okay, and says the blame's on herself for not asking when she realized something so big was going on. She just smiles, and says it's fine, because they're friends.
At one time, Yui wanted to become a Precure. She takes being able to help very seriously, and that's the most direct way. But eventually, she realized that wouldn't work - she can't fight, not like the others. What she can do is be their friend, and share their story with the world. Ironically, that briefly made her jealous of Towa, who became a Precure out of nowhere, more or less from whole cloth. Yui knows, though, where her skills are, and where to leave things to her friends. And she trusts Towa as much as the others. Everything will be fine - there's a role for everyone, and Yui's isn't combat. She's okay with that. (Towa acknowledges that in return - she calls Yui the sunlight that shines on the Precure when Yui herself happens to manifest a Dress Up Key for Towa, later dubbed the Sun Key for that very reason.)
Though she's easily surprised, she takes things in stride fairly easily: her friends' secret lives as legendary warriors, her fairy friends that masquerade as pets, and even her literal fairy princess friend in Towa. She wants to be able to support her friends through thick and thin, and she hates being used against them more than anything - each successive time her dream is sealed into a Zetsuborg, she resents more and more her own weakness, and she rises above herself and shines even more brightly. By the last time, during the final battle, she shines so brightly that she's able to overcome even the power of DysDark and release herself from a cage of despair without needing help; she wants to shine brightly and become someone worthy of the friends she's come to have. She wants to be available whenever something happens or goes wrong, and even if she knows she's not much help, she does what she can, every time.
She knows her weaknesses well, and either covers them handily, or admits them and finds a way around them. Perhaps the best illustration of this is having to reveal that she doesn't particular like the water (if she can even swim at all) during a trip to the beach; rather than making a show of it, she simply heads out with her sketchbook to occupy herself. Yui doesn't particularly like to inconvenience others, especially with such trivial things. But she also wants to help others manage their own weak points, and she accepts those of her friends easily. In a way, she tries to downplay them - having weaknesses isn't a point against a person. It's just something they're not good at. Everyone has those things, and she doesn't see it as a problem. She tries hard to reassure her friends - especially Towa, who seems to have a whole stack of perceived issues - that everything is fine.
Beyond her friends, Yui's dedication to her dream itself is admirable. She practices her art often, sketching various things and coloring in scenes that are memorable to her. Through these scenes, she can bring her emotions and feelings to life. Though she's careful to protect the secret she's been trusted with, there are certainly many other times that stick in her memory, and they're cherished moments, immortalized in her sketchbook. Yui keeps a picture diary that chronicles the girls' adventures, colored in soft tones and with heart in every single page. One needs only flip through it and her precious memories come to life, times she never wants to lose. Her art isn't something that can help Haruka directly, but by the end of the series, her dream's changed where that's... less important. Being able to share her memories, her feelings, and her amazing friends is everything, and it pushes her to improve. It's perhaps telling that, while her initial art is of landscapes and still life scenes, as time goes on, it features her friends, architecture in Hope Kingdom, and eventually the ultimate pinnacle of her realized dream: the tale of the Precure, and the literal Flower Princess that shaped her life.
She's an intelligent girl; not more than Minami, who is absolutely the brains of the team, but plenty enough to keep up with Haruka, who tends to need help from time to time. She's okay with critical thinking problems, but her biggest advantage is her creativity. She can help the team approach problems in unusual ways, and come up with weird solutions to problems. Every once in a while, it also gives her the perspective to understand her friends on a deeper level, one that can help ease their minds. It's something she shows most noticeably with Towa, but it comes up with the others, too.
None of this in any way means she's not shy, because she absolutely is. It takes time for her to be able to open up about a given thing, to become comfortable around new people, and to express herself more generally; after being moved to exclaim something or other in front of a crowd, she has a certain tendency to immediately freeze up and withdraw a little bit. But over time, Haruka's cheery, open nature becomes infectious - along with Minami's easy self-confidence and Kirara's charisma - and Yui herself starts to develop into a person with more presence and less of a resistance to speak her mind. That also shows in her art, making her more confident at drawing the things that are important to her. She wants less and less to stand in the background and support her friends - Haruka and Towa seem to get her attention most, but she truly trusts all of them - and more and more to be able to stand with them and tackle their troubles head-on. It makes Yui happy when she can be there for her friends, even though they can do quite a bit more than she can in various ways, and she'll deal with quite a lot to put herself in that position.
In a show shaped by the idea of "dreams", I should probably cover Yui's here, since it's important. To start the season, her dream is to become a picture book author. It's not clearly defined, it's just a personal want. Over the first half of the season, that dream matures, and it becomes clearer that she wants to be able to share a story that can mean something to children and help shape their lives for the better, and make an impact. But late in the season, her feelings shift, and rather than just wanting to tell a story, she has a specific story she wants to tell: one of her friends, who are fighting to protect the world and its dreams bravely. By the endgame, where she's sealed into a cage of despair one final time, her dream is revealed to have changed subtly: she wants to share the Precure's story with everyone. It's not terribly different, but it's a very clear sign that her friendship with Haruka has blossomed into an unbreakable bond. In a way, Yui's time with the Precure is the realization of a fairy tale in and of itself, and while she'll never be a Precure, she wants to repay that kindness with the things that are in her power.
Yui also holds the distinction of, though the power of her dream and her unwillingness to give in, being the only character to break out of a cage of despair on her own - in addition to the less-pleasant distinction of being stuck in one no fewer than four different times. Pushing through the crushing despair, Yui can stand back up from almost anything, with at most minimal prompting or assistance. The strength of Yui's wish for the future is enough to keep her going through thick and thin, and indeed through even the hardest times.
AU Deviation: Yui's life in Union has been a little quieter than it might have been in another world, which means she's been able to stay in her shell a little longer. She also doesn't have a fairytale boarding school to drill things into her head and force her to be social, so she isn't. Or at least, she wasn't; she's been slowly making friends over the last few years, and that can mostly be attributed to one Haruka Haruno. Rather than bringing her into a tale all her own, though, it's just been little things - going out for something here, getting in a little trouble there, and all the while enjoying being able to express herself. While Yui was very much still sheltered, she's becoming able to express herself, and through that, she's becoming a little more confident and a bit more up-front with herself. She's gaining some independence, though not anywhere near enough to lead, or to be anything like headstrong.
Her initial detachment from her parents has opened some distance between her and them; they don't quite understand her as well as they want to, but they try hard anyway, and she appreciates them well enough. More concerning is her relationship with her classmates and, more generally, kids her own age: while she understands, academically, how to interface with her peers, she just can't quite make it click. So she's a little distant from others, which in a way suits her fine - more time to read. She's also expressed some interest in art, taking time to herself for sketching and coloring. As a birthday present when she was little, she was given a small supply of high-quality charcoal, which she uses sparingly and only for important things. Art is a way for Yui to express the stories in her head, and to relate the stories of others around her. It's also a way to put her day and her thoughts to paper, leading her to keep an art diary, which starts roughly and simply, but is detailed and well-kept by the time she's in her teens. Yui has a tendency to draw things she feels strongly about, for better or worse; a bad nightmare, a precious memory of a friend, a curious meeting, an unusual find. A lot of things make it into her diary, though the emotional investment is plain to see, and she's easily embarrassed if someone finds a drawing they recognize that she put a little too much heart into.
Over the last few years, she's been slowly dragged out of her shell by her classmates, who she's worked hard to be able to call friends, and they've helped to make her outgoing and (to a very small extent) bubbly. She's faster to introduce herself to people, and quicker to jump into a conversation. She's also a little faster to drift away from a conversation, but that's mostly because she feels comfortable around people a little more quickly, and that means she's less averse to getting her sketchbook out. She's a tiny bit faster to agree to adventuring and running around, despite the dangers, especially when some of the people she's going with are Enlightened, and very much able to defend themselves if something goes sour. Yui can't, which in a way convinced her to want to have a partner of her own to help keep her safe in a pinch. Despite her original ambivalence toward the idea, a combination of her friends and the slowly escalating tension in Union pushed her to get over her resistance and travel with a partner, once she'd met Eve.
Toward people older than her, and in more important positions, she's respectful - they've lived longer, learned more, and probably have something she can pick up on to grow as a person over time. Of course, if someone isn't worthy of that respect, it falls away quickly; she's read enough stories to know the risks of blind trust in someone that doesn't merit it. That implicit respect and small amount of trust extends to older peers, too. She's generally friendly and open to everyone else, although her patience isn't infinite. A small moral from the Savior's tale also rubbed off on her; she thinks a little more than most about how Pokémon are treated around her, and she almost unconsciously is a little more pleasant to those who are good to their partners. She also is very careful about how she treats her own Pokémon, and is careful not to do anything to disrespect them.
Canon Abilities: Uh. Yui can draw well, and is good at storytelling. She makes friends easily enough, and once she gets over her initial shock can handle surprises readily. She's loyal and trusts with all her heart... yeah, I've got nothing. Yui is a mundane character in every way, by design.
Enlightened Abilities: Yui is Normal-type! And she's Far from Ordinary! Because she's going to keep her mundane status, all the way. Eventually, through exposure to other people and her castmates, I anticipate giving her Fairy typing instead, though by the time that happens I'll probably be ready to give her at least some kind of awakening. Until that time, she's going to have Master of Training, because friends are important, human or otherwise.
Starter Pokémon:
Eve (Eevee ♀) | Adaptability
- Yui named her and then, after confirming it stuck, realized it was kind of low-effort. Still, it seemed fitting, so she let it pass.
- Sticks by Yui's side readily. Eager and a little headstrong. Affectionate to anyone that doesn't actively dislike Yui.
Holly (Taillow ♀) | Guts
- Intelligent and prideful. Isn't above attempting to make her own decisions, either where Yui's safety is concerned, or where she thinks she can go above and beyond. She tends to be wrong in the latter case; she's not the strongest tactician. A little high-maintenance. Confident in most situations. Unusually averse to cold, even for a Flying-type.
Notes/Special Considerations: I don't really have anything special on board for Yui - she's built to still be a normal, even in a world where nothing is truly normal. I think I'm going to enjoy this. I have a vague feeling she's going to end up being a plot device at least once before all's said and done, though. Oh, one note - we elected to age the girls up so things are a little less crazy when they go adventuring. Yui hits a new age of 16 by this method.
SAMPLES
• What do you feel your role in your city is?
It's a little hard to say. I want to be able to help Union with expansion, and with keeping people safe. But... I'm not sure that's the right kind of work for me. I do it, and I enjoy it, but something just feels missing. Maybe drawing, some kind of artistic work, but I don't think that really helps the city. I think... I still need to find my role for myself. I'll grow into it, I'm sure.
• What do you seek for humanity’s future?
There are many legends in this world. The story of the Savior, among others. Some of them are cautionary tales, but a few of them tell of fantastic worlds, of things never seen before. Through the combined power of humanity, working together with Pokémon partners, we could realize those stories as our future. Our world could become a place of miracles, where war could be a thing of the past! Everyone could live in peace... that's the kind of world I want. It's a little idealistic, I know, but it's something I think is worth working towards.
• To what lengths would you go to rescue your allies if they were lost in the wilderness?
[Thinking on it for a second, she shivers involuntarily.] Quite a bit, I think. My important people are... I don't want anything to happen to them. So whatever I can do, I want to. I have to. Ask my friends, my family, their friends, anyone that'll listen. Life is... life is precious. Someone will help me. We'll search, all night if I have to. Find someone that could help me ask the Pokémon around if they went by, maybe someone that can track them, someone that can look from the air... [A moment passes, before Yui laughs nervously.] Not that I'll think of any of that when it happens. I'll probably just run out there myself, and ignore the risks.
• What would you say the most important occupation is within your city?
I don't think that's really a fair question, is it? There are many important jobs, and without any given one of them, Union won't function. We need people to grow food, to provide security, to help us build and repair, to explore... I don't think there's any one most important occupation. There's no way I could pick just one. It'd be an insult to a lot of people, I think. I'm sorry.
• What do you look for in the Pokémon with whom you bond?
It might be unfair, but if I wanted to bond with a Pokémon, I'd want it to match at least a few of my values. I'd want it to be kind, to be willing to look out for others around it. Definitely not something that's violent, or disrespectful. I want us all to get along, and to work together for a common goal. That's all... probably pretty idealistic, but it's how my priorities lie. Strength isn't a particular goal I'd look for.
• What do you think your Pokémon respect most about you?
I don't know if they'd respect my drawing, so that's out... Maybe my kindness? If that's even something I can say about myself without sounding kind of self-centered. Um. [A long pause.] I'm sorry. I guess I just don't really think about myself like that very often. Perhaps that's something in and of itself, though.
• You are alone and bereft of your Pokémon allies; upon what strengths do you rely on to see yourself safely home?
Um. [She seems to shrink into herself a little.] I'm not sure. I don't know much in the way of survival skills... I've been around the outskirts of Union enough that I might be able to find my way, and I keep copies of any maps or things like that I sketch. But if I'm way out there, I'm probably going to be in a lot of trouble. I could probably look around and try to find human paths through brush, signs of presence. Hopefully I could run into someone that would be willing to help. I could use a compass and whatever maps I do have. That's assuming I don't freeze up and curl up in a ball for an hour or two first, though. I don't think traveling alone is in the cards for me. Not anytime soon, at least.
• You plunge into the depths of ruins of an ancient civilization. What is it that you seek from the past? Treasure, technology, wisdom?
I would think technology is a treasure all its own. By analyzing it and determining its uses, we can find out how past people lived. What they did, what their hobbies were, what kept them going. What they did in their free time. Imagine if we found something that served some common purpose, like keeping food cold, or styling hair, or whatever else. Those things are useful knowledge, even if we can't reproduce them. If we can... that's a whole different game. What if there's something out there that changes the way we live our lives forever, for the better? No, any way you look at it, finding ancient technologies is important to how our civilization grows.
• When encountering a rare and powerful Pokémon, what is most important? Researching it, bonding with it, or defeating it? Why?
Well, if it's rare, we might never see it again, right? It should be researched, so we can learn as much as we can before anything else happens. There's still so much we don't know about this world... I think we have a duty to find out as much as we can. Once we've gotten as much information as we can - or as is safe - we can figure out what to do from there. If it's a threat, defeat it. If not, see if someone can bond with it. We can play things by ear, once we know how to proceed.
• What area do you seek to explore? The peaceful forest, in search of new, previously overlooked discoveries; the uncharted caves, in search of the unknown; or the wildest of mountain terrain, in search of danger, adventure, and thrills?
Probably the forest. The caves are interesting enough, but I have a feeling there are people better suited to that task than I am. I'm not good with high-danger situations, you know? I want to be able to take my time, explore in detail, figure out what I'm looking at. If I can't bring what I found back, I want to make sure I can express what I'm seeing. That's not exactly easy if I have to figure out which way I came in from, or what the rumbling behind me is. Really, I think I prefer to just take things easy. I don't mind if others get the glory of exploring the dangerous places and finding super-important things. There are still many smaller discoveries to be had in our world.
bravenewworld.PLAYER INFO
Name: MaxSalsa
Contact Information:
Time Zone: MST, GMT-7
Characters Played: Nothing yet!
CHARACTER INFO
Character Name: Yui Nanase
Character Canon: Go! Princess Precure
History: A Precure Wiki exists. For the vast majority of series, it's terrible - just enough to be able to get something wrong, not particularly useful for a vast majority of things. I'm thus not linking it. We're doing this live. Yui isn't present for all of the major events in canon, but she'll be told about things when time allows, so I'm including events she wasn't present for by extension. As of this writing, GoPri has been over for less than a month, so there are spoilers for the ending below!
As a young girl, Yui grew up in a relatively normal family, under more or less normal circumstances. No tragedy, no drama, no prophecies, no absurd formative experiences. No, Yui's only note of interest in her early childhood was that she loved stories. She read often, and grew to like art. As a young girl, her grandfather read to her, and her favorite book was a certain fairy tale picture book (with lovely watercolor art) called The Flower Princess. This will be on the test later.
Skip forward a few years. Yui is a student at the illustrious Noble Academy, a fancy private boarding school dedicated to making young men and women high achievers in society. Many famous people have graduated from this school, and Yui hopes to follow in their footsteps and become a model person someday. When she meets her roommate for the year... our true story begins.
Yui's roommate is Haruka Haruno, a brunette with occasional lapses in connection to reality and a dream to become a princess. The girls become fast friends, and Yui shares her dream for the future with Haruka during their first afternoon together: to become a picture book author and tell lots of stories that many people will read. It's a good dream, and one she's made progress on; Yui is skilled with art of various kinds, and carries a sketchbook everywhere. Haruka, though, is too shy to share her own dream - or perhaps too embarrassed (or both) and runs off when pressed. Haruka comes across something unusual in the forest: a curious creature that looks not unlike a puppy, and an even more curious creature that in the form of a parrot. Both speak fluent Japanese, and claim to be Royal Fairies from the parallel world of Hope Kingdom searching for the Princess Precure, hefty suitcase in claw containing three suspicious perfume bottles. While Haruka is figuring out what she's found, Yui heads into the forest to find her, and comes across Haruka just as someone else does: Close, a general for DysDark. DysDark, led by the evil witch Dyspear, seeks to fill the world with despair - both worlds, now that Puff and Aroma, the Royal Fairies, have come to Earth searching for the Princess Precure - and uses Close, among others, to facilitate that. Hearing Yui come up behind him, Close abandons forceful diplomacy and instead attacks Yui, using an unusual power to expose Yui's dream and close it inside a cage of despair. The resulting dream, ripped from its owner and turned dark, becomes a monster: a Zetsuborg (despair [zetsubou] + kinda cyborg-ish looking monster). While her dream - and more or less her consciousness - is trapped inside the monster, her unconscious body is stuck inside a literal cage in the outside world, and she begins to go on a rampage, directed toward Noble Academy a short distance away by Close.
The next thing Yui knows, she's back - what happened? What happened is that Haruka turned into a legendary warrior, a Princess Precure: specifically, the princess of the flowers blossoming in full glory, Cure Flora. But Haruka can't tell Yui that, so she keeps it a secret. Along with the other two Precure friends she makes: Minami Kaidou, the student council president and youngest daughter of a major Japanese conglomerate, alias Cure Mermaid; and Kirara Amanogawa, preteen fashion model with a carefree exterior but enough passion to burn hotter than the sun, alias Cure Twinkle. Yui knows something weird is going on, but it's not really her place to ask, so she keeps quiet.
Until the day she's supposed to help Haruka on a different mission, tracking down where their dorm mother goes with a suspicious key at a suspiciously early hour. Yui offerered to help the night before, Haruka said it'd be great, and then Haruka left without her. Yui chased, and found herself in deep trouble when the lot of them ran into a Zetsuborg. Believing Yui more important than the secret, the girls transformed in front of her, and Yui ended up getting the whole story whether she wanted it or not: a parallel world, Hope Kingdom, is in peril, and the only way to save it is through the Princess Precure and the Dress Up Keys. The forces of DysDark seek to steal the world's dreams and replace them with despair - they stole Yui's dream once before, that first day in the forest. But Cure Flora got it back, and everything is kosher.
That is, of course, of no help to Yui - she just wants to go home with her friend, ideally with both (all?) of them in one piece. Still, she also wants to help. This sounds important, after all, and more importantly, Haruka's already protected her once before - she needs to return the favor. And under it all, she's awed that someone she knows is doing something so amazing. All of that combines to make Yui voluntarily agree to keep the secret and help in whatever small ways she can.
The enemy isn't resting idly, though - they've found a new general somewhere, claiming to be the daughter of DysDark's boss, Dyspear. She calls herself Twilight, and she's crazy strong, pushing the Precure back and being narrowly defeated each time they clash, choosing to run off without pushing her luck. In her spare time, she practices the violin. Things come to a head when, after winding up in Hope Kingdom purely by accident, the girls end up chasing down Twilight into the enemy's keep, and she's revealed to be the corrupted soul of Towa, the princess of Hope Kingdom. Using allied princesses for evil purposes doesn't sit well with anyone present, and through lots of magic and a well-timed violin melody, Towa is rescued, released from Dyspear's evil control and taken back to Earth for her own safety. During the battle, her brother Kanata, prince of Hope Kingdom and general badass, is forced to stay behind and cover the girls' exit, and is feared lost.
On Earth, Towa doesn't understand how to live a normal life, especially as the last remaining member of the royal family whose kingdom is being oppressed. But through the Precure and Yui, she slowly starts to learn what having a commoner's life is like, and along the way, she manages to bring her power to bear for the other team, as the princess of the true crimson flame, Cure Scarlet. The battles become harder as spring yields to summer, and the girls become more comfortable with what they are, and what they have to do. They all become closer, and eventually, they learn to depend on each other. Even if Yui can't directly help her friends and keep them safe, she can help them in other ways, and she can keep their spirits up. That's what she sticks to, and it's something that works, even on the occasions when the DysDark realize she's the weak link in the chain.
At the summer's end, all the Keys are stolen, and the girls are forced into another huge confrontation. Finding themselves short on power, they reach out for a miracle, and their power answers in a unique way: the Princess Palace, the literal physical manifestation of Hope Kingdom's royal castle, shrunk into something that can be held in two hands. Together with a new round of Keys, giving the girls four each, they bring out new powers, and the Precure continue to grow stronger as they fight DysDark.
In the battle, however, Kanata is cast out of Hope Kingdom and washes ashore on a beach in Yumegahama, without his memories or power. The girls work to restore his true self while they defend the city from continued attacks from an ever more powerful DysDark. During a hard fight, though, Kanata says something carelessly, and Haruka loses all will to become a princess, effectively losing the right to be Cure Flora, and drowning in despair. Through hard work, the others protect the city, and Haruka finds her dream within herself again, rising above her doubts and becoming Cure Flora once more. Through her renewed strength of heart, Kanata returns to himself, too, and they begin to formulate a plan of attack, working to grow even stronger as the final fight looms.
Over the next couple months, the girls fight to realize their dreams and become people they can be satisfied with, and Hope Kingdom begins to be restored to its former glory. But even with the kingdom itself restored, the people themselves are still sealed. Everything rides on one last battle against Dyspear, which the Precure manage to win... too easily. Dyspear manages to escape to Earth, and takes all of Yumegahama - except for Noble Academy, which they manage to protect - into despair. Dyspear brings overwhelming force to bear, and the Precure seem to be down the the count when they can least afford it. Making matters worse, the remaining students and teachers are locked into cages of despair almost as an afterthought, adding more fuel to the fire.
A combination of the strength of Yui's dream, and the shattered remains of a magic item, enables Yui to break out of her cage of despair without help, and she reaches out to all the others in turn, encouraging them to believe in the strength of their dreams, and break free. Yui manages to get everyone out of the cages without needing the Precure to open them, and with the resulting power drop, Flora and the others manage to clear the other obstacles out of the way, but they still aren't strong enough.
At that moment, the remaining students manifest what look like keys to something, which turn out to be the power necessary to become Grand Princesses - the ultimate goal of the Princess Precure, and of Towa even before she became one. With the newfound power of the Grand Princesses, the Princess Precure are able to fight Dyspear on even footing, and manage to defeat her once and for all, saving the world from despair.
Unfortunately, all good things must end, and at the end of the school year, Towa must return to Hope Kingdom, and take the Princess Perfumes and Dress Up Keys with her. Kirara agrees to take a modeling job in Paris, and Minami seeks to become a marine veterinarian. And Haruka seeks to become her own princess, in her own way. So ends the tale of the four. But someday, if they're needed again, the Princesses will return. After all, every fairy tale has its roots somewhere in reality, right?
(There's a movie - actually, three mini-movies - in here somewhere that isn't localized yet, but there shouldn't be any meaningful effect on the plot, and certainly not on Yui.)
AU History: Yui's upbringing in Union isn't particularly different from her childhood in canon. Her parents are still very busy, supporting Union's growth and safety, so she ended up spending a lot of time with her grandfather as a little girl. Her grandfather enjoyed reading books to her, especially picture books she could follow along with, and so she has an active imagination, along with a knowledge of Pokémon as pleasant creatures to be befriended, though not without due caution. However, that same imagination - and habit of having her nose in a book - caused her to be less interested in having a Pokémon companion. She's still more interested in stories, and experiencing others' tales, than creating her own story with Pokémon. (That, of course, is going to change rapidly.)
As she's grown up, she's been a little detached from peers her own age, leading her to find other hobbies to pass her time. As a result, she's not someone that's been dragged into a lot of adventures, or gotten involved in important things. She's just been living the days, learning things in school to keep her functional, not doing anything to stand out beyond being a solid artist and a big dreamer. Still, she's made some friends the last few years, and between them and the recent series of incidents, she's starting to finally be spurred into action in some way or another. She can't just sit around - there's got to be something even she can do. She'd feel terrible if the few people she could count as friends were hurt - or worse - trying to do what they can for Union. It's led her to volunteer in small ways around the city, helping to sketch a rough blueprint here, or mapping a nearby field there, or other tiny tasks. They're not much, but they help her feel like she's contributing. And somewhere along the line, her heart is calling out for the adventure she hasn't wanted before, but now wants almost more than anything else. She can't just stay here all her life and wait in the background, right? If she wants something to happen, she has to reach out for it.
Canon Personality: At first glance, Yui seems very much like a write-off side character, despite being introduced as literally the first non-pink, non-pink's-family named character in the series. But over the first episodes, and all through the season, she proves several times that she's a very strong young woman, and that she has emotional depth that is hard to match, and even harder to keep down.
Yui is someone that's fairly passive, but feels strongly about certain things, and will fight fiercely to defend those things. Her friendship with Haruka illustrates this - it comes easily, even as she finds herself often caught up in her friend's pace, but she doesn't really mind it. It's a friendship she treasures, and eventually, she comes to look to Haruka as her vision of someone that can rise above anything, as her personal image of strength. She takes things that should be slights against her in stride, from little mistakes to very big social missteps, even when she first found out about the Precure in the first place. Haruka starts to apologize, but Yui just pokes her and tells her it's okay, and says the blame's on herself for not asking when she realized something so big was going on. She just smiles, and says it's fine, because they're friends.
At one time, Yui wanted to become a Precure. She takes being able to help very seriously, and that's the most direct way. But eventually, she realized that wouldn't work - she can't fight, not like the others. What she can do is be their friend, and share their story with the world. Ironically, that briefly made her jealous of Towa, who became a Precure out of nowhere, more or less from whole cloth. Yui knows, though, where her skills are, and where to leave things to her friends. And she trusts Towa as much as the others. Everything will be fine - there's a role for everyone, and Yui's isn't combat. She's okay with that. (Towa acknowledges that in return - she calls Yui the sunlight that shines on the Precure when Yui herself happens to manifest a Dress Up Key for Towa, later dubbed the Sun Key for that very reason.)
Though she's easily surprised, she takes things in stride fairly easily: her friends' secret lives as legendary warriors, her fairy friends that masquerade as pets, and even her literal fairy princess friend in Towa. She wants to be able to support her friends through thick and thin, and she hates being used against them more than anything - each successive time her dream is sealed into a Zetsuborg, she resents more and more her own weakness, and she rises above herself and shines even more brightly. By the last time, during the final battle, she shines so brightly that she's able to overcome even the power of DysDark and release herself from a cage of despair without needing help; she wants to shine brightly and become someone worthy of the friends she's come to have. She wants to be available whenever something happens or goes wrong, and even if she knows she's not much help, she does what she can, every time.
She knows her weaknesses well, and either covers them handily, or admits them and finds a way around them. Perhaps the best illustration of this is having to reveal that she doesn't particular like the water (if she can even swim at all) during a trip to the beach; rather than making a show of it, she simply heads out with her sketchbook to occupy herself. Yui doesn't particularly like to inconvenience others, especially with such trivial things. But she also wants to help others manage their own weak points, and she accepts those of her friends easily. In a way, she tries to downplay them - having weaknesses isn't a point against a person. It's just something they're not good at. Everyone has those things, and she doesn't see it as a problem. She tries hard to reassure her friends - especially Towa, who seems to have a whole stack of perceived issues - that everything is fine.
Beyond her friends, Yui's dedication to her dream itself is admirable. She practices her art often, sketching various things and coloring in scenes that are memorable to her. Through these scenes, she can bring her emotions and feelings to life. Though she's careful to protect the secret she's been trusted with, there are certainly many other times that stick in her memory, and they're cherished moments, immortalized in her sketchbook. Yui keeps a picture diary that chronicles the girls' adventures, colored in soft tones and with heart in every single page. One needs only flip through it and her precious memories come to life, times she never wants to lose. Her art isn't something that can help Haruka directly, but by the end of the series, her dream's changed where that's... less important. Being able to share her memories, her feelings, and her amazing friends is everything, and it pushes her to improve. It's perhaps telling that, while her initial art is of landscapes and still life scenes, as time goes on, it features her friends, architecture in Hope Kingdom, and eventually the ultimate pinnacle of her realized dream: the tale of the Precure, and the literal Flower Princess that shaped her life.
She's an intelligent girl; not more than Minami, who is absolutely the brains of the team, but plenty enough to keep up with Haruka, who tends to need help from time to time. She's okay with critical thinking problems, but her biggest advantage is her creativity. She can help the team approach problems in unusual ways, and come up with weird solutions to problems. Every once in a while, it also gives her the perspective to understand her friends on a deeper level, one that can help ease their minds. It's something she shows most noticeably with Towa, but it comes up with the others, too.
None of this in any way means she's not shy, because she absolutely is. It takes time for her to be able to open up about a given thing, to become comfortable around new people, and to express herself more generally; after being moved to exclaim something or other in front of a crowd, she has a certain tendency to immediately freeze up and withdraw a little bit. But over time, Haruka's cheery, open nature becomes infectious - along with Minami's easy self-confidence and Kirara's charisma - and Yui herself starts to develop into a person with more presence and less of a resistance to speak her mind. That also shows in her art, making her more confident at drawing the things that are important to her. She wants less and less to stand in the background and support her friends - Haruka and Towa seem to get her attention most, but she truly trusts all of them - and more and more to be able to stand with them and tackle their troubles head-on. It makes Yui happy when she can be there for her friends, even though they can do quite a bit more than she can in various ways, and she'll deal with quite a lot to put herself in that position.
In a show shaped by the idea of "dreams", I should probably cover Yui's here, since it's important. To start the season, her dream is to become a picture book author. It's not clearly defined, it's just a personal want. Over the first half of the season, that dream matures, and it becomes clearer that she wants to be able to share a story that can mean something to children and help shape their lives for the better, and make an impact. But late in the season, her feelings shift, and rather than just wanting to tell a story, she has a specific story she wants to tell: one of her friends, who are fighting to protect the world and its dreams bravely. By the endgame, where she's sealed into a cage of despair one final time, her dream is revealed to have changed subtly: she wants to share the Precure's story with everyone. It's not terribly different, but it's a very clear sign that her friendship with Haruka has blossomed into an unbreakable bond. In a way, Yui's time with the Precure is the realization of a fairy tale in and of itself, and while she'll never be a Precure, she wants to repay that kindness with the things that are in her power.
Yui also holds the distinction of, though the power of her dream and her unwillingness to give in, being the only character to break out of a cage of despair on her own - in addition to the less-pleasant distinction of being stuck in one no fewer than four different times. Pushing through the crushing despair, Yui can stand back up from almost anything, with at most minimal prompting or assistance. The strength of Yui's wish for the future is enough to keep her going through thick and thin, and indeed through even the hardest times.
AU Deviation: Yui's life in Union has been a little quieter than it might have been in another world, which means she's been able to stay in her shell a little longer. She also doesn't have a fairytale boarding school to drill things into her head and force her to be social, so she isn't. Or at least, she wasn't; she's been slowly making friends over the last few years, and that can mostly be attributed to one Haruka Haruno. Rather than bringing her into a tale all her own, though, it's just been little things - going out for something here, getting in a little trouble there, and all the while enjoying being able to express herself. While Yui was very much still sheltered, she's becoming able to express herself, and through that, she's becoming a little more confident and a bit more up-front with herself. She's gaining some independence, though not anywhere near enough to lead, or to be anything like headstrong.
Her initial detachment from her parents has opened some distance between her and them; they don't quite understand her as well as they want to, but they try hard anyway, and she appreciates them well enough. More concerning is her relationship with her classmates and, more generally, kids her own age: while she understands, academically, how to interface with her peers, she just can't quite make it click. So she's a little distant from others, which in a way suits her fine - more time to read. She's also expressed some interest in art, taking time to herself for sketching and coloring. As a birthday present when she was little, she was given a small supply of high-quality charcoal, which she uses sparingly and only for important things. Art is a way for Yui to express the stories in her head, and to relate the stories of others around her. It's also a way to put her day and her thoughts to paper, leading her to keep an art diary, which starts roughly and simply, but is detailed and well-kept by the time she's in her teens. Yui has a tendency to draw things she feels strongly about, for better or worse; a bad nightmare, a precious memory of a friend, a curious meeting, an unusual find. A lot of things make it into her diary, though the emotional investment is plain to see, and she's easily embarrassed if someone finds a drawing they recognize that she put a little too much heart into.
Over the last few years, she's been slowly dragged out of her shell by her classmates, who she's worked hard to be able to call friends, and they've helped to make her outgoing and (to a very small extent) bubbly. She's faster to introduce herself to people, and quicker to jump into a conversation. She's also a little faster to drift away from a conversation, but that's mostly because she feels comfortable around people a little more quickly, and that means she's less averse to getting her sketchbook out. She's a tiny bit faster to agree to adventuring and running around, despite the dangers, especially when some of the people she's going with are Enlightened, and very much able to defend themselves if something goes sour. Yui can't, which in a way convinced her to want to have a partner of her own to help keep her safe in a pinch. Despite her original ambivalence toward the idea, a combination of her friends and the slowly escalating tension in Union pushed her to get over her resistance and travel with a partner, once she'd met Eve.
Toward people older than her, and in more important positions, she's respectful - they've lived longer, learned more, and probably have something she can pick up on to grow as a person over time. Of course, if someone isn't worthy of that respect, it falls away quickly; she's read enough stories to know the risks of blind trust in someone that doesn't merit it. That implicit respect and small amount of trust extends to older peers, too. She's generally friendly and open to everyone else, although her patience isn't infinite. A small moral from the Savior's tale also rubbed off on her; she thinks a little more than most about how Pokémon are treated around her, and she almost unconsciously is a little more pleasant to those who are good to their partners. She also is very careful about how she treats her own Pokémon, and is careful not to do anything to disrespect them.
Canon Abilities: Uh. Yui can draw well, and is good at storytelling. She makes friends easily enough, and once she gets over her initial shock can handle surprises readily. She's loyal and trusts with all her heart... yeah, I've got nothing. Yui is a mundane character in every way, by design.
Enlightened Abilities: Yui is Normal-type! And she's Far from Ordinary! Because she's going to keep her mundane status, all the way. Eventually, through exposure to other people and her castmates, I anticipate giving her Fairy typing instead, though by the time that happens I'll probably be ready to give her at least some kind of awakening. Until that time, she's going to have Master of Training, because friends are important, human or otherwise.
Starter Pokémon:
Eve (Eevee ♀) | Adaptability
- Yui named her and then, after confirming it stuck, realized it was kind of low-effort. Still, it seemed fitting, so she let it pass.
- Sticks by Yui's side readily. Eager and a little headstrong. Affectionate to anyone that doesn't actively dislike Yui.
Holly (Taillow ♀) | Guts
- Intelligent and prideful. Isn't above attempting to make her own decisions, either where Yui's safety is concerned, or where she thinks she can go above and beyond. She tends to be wrong in the latter case; she's not the strongest tactician. A little high-maintenance. Confident in most situations. Unusually averse to cold, even for a Flying-type.
Notes/Special Considerations: I don't really have anything special on board for Yui - she's built to still be a normal, even in a world where nothing is truly normal. I think I'm going to enjoy this. I have a vague feeling she's going to end up being a plot device at least once before all's said and done, though. Oh, one note - we elected to age the girls up so things are a little less crazy when they go adventuring. Yui hits a new age of 16 by this method.
SAMPLES
• What do you feel your role in your city is?
It's a little hard to say. I want to be able to help Union with expansion, and with keeping people safe. But... I'm not sure that's the right kind of work for me. I do it, and I enjoy it, but something just feels missing. Maybe drawing, some kind of artistic work, but I don't think that really helps the city. I think... I still need to find my role for myself. I'll grow into it, I'm sure.
• What do you seek for humanity’s future?
There are many legends in this world. The story of the Savior, among others. Some of them are cautionary tales, but a few of them tell of fantastic worlds, of things never seen before. Through the combined power of humanity, working together with Pokémon partners, we could realize those stories as our future. Our world could become a place of miracles, where war could be a thing of the past! Everyone could live in peace... that's the kind of world I want. It's a little idealistic, I know, but it's something I think is worth working towards.
• To what lengths would you go to rescue your allies if they were lost in the wilderness?
[Thinking on it for a second, she shivers involuntarily.] Quite a bit, I think. My important people are... I don't want anything to happen to them. So whatever I can do, I want to. I have to. Ask my friends, my family, their friends, anyone that'll listen. Life is... life is precious. Someone will help me. We'll search, all night if I have to. Find someone that could help me ask the Pokémon around if they went by, maybe someone that can track them, someone that can look from the air... [A moment passes, before Yui laughs nervously.] Not that I'll think of any of that when it happens. I'll probably just run out there myself, and ignore the risks.
• What would you say the most important occupation is within your city?
I don't think that's really a fair question, is it? There are many important jobs, and without any given one of them, Union won't function. We need people to grow food, to provide security, to help us build and repair, to explore... I don't think there's any one most important occupation. There's no way I could pick just one. It'd be an insult to a lot of people, I think. I'm sorry.
• What do you look for in the Pokémon with whom you bond?
It might be unfair, but if I wanted to bond with a Pokémon, I'd want it to match at least a few of my values. I'd want it to be kind, to be willing to look out for others around it. Definitely not something that's violent, or disrespectful. I want us all to get along, and to work together for a common goal. That's all... probably pretty idealistic, but it's how my priorities lie. Strength isn't a particular goal I'd look for.
• What do you think your Pokémon respect most about you?
I don't know if they'd respect my drawing, so that's out... Maybe my kindness? If that's even something I can say about myself without sounding kind of self-centered. Um. [A long pause.] I'm sorry. I guess I just don't really think about myself like that very often. Perhaps that's something in and of itself, though.
• You are alone and bereft of your Pokémon allies; upon what strengths do you rely on to see yourself safely home?
Um. [She seems to shrink into herself a little.] I'm not sure. I don't know much in the way of survival skills... I've been around the outskirts of Union enough that I might be able to find my way, and I keep copies of any maps or things like that I sketch. But if I'm way out there, I'm probably going to be in a lot of trouble. I could probably look around and try to find human paths through brush, signs of presence. Hopefully I could run into someone that would be willing to help. I could use a compass and whatever maps I do have. That's assuming I don't freeze up and curl up in a ball for an hour or two first, though. I don't think traveling alone is in the cards for me. Not anytime soon, at least.
• You plunge into the depths of ruins of an ancient civilization. What is it that you seek from the past? Treasure, technology, wisdom?
I would think technology is a treasure all its own. By analyzing it and determining its uses, we can find out how past people lived. What they did, what their hobbies were, what kept them going. What they did in their free time. Imagine if we found something that served some common purpose, like keeping food cold, or styling hair, or whatever else. Those things are useful knowledge, even if we can't reproduce them. If we can... that's a whole different game. What if there's something out there that changes the way we live our lives forever, for the better? No, any way you look at it, finding ancient technologies is important to how our civilization grows.
• When encountering a rare and powerful Pokémon, what is most important? Researching it, bonding with it, or defeating it? Why?
Well, if it's rare, we might never see it again, right? It should be researched, so we can learn as much as we can before anything else happens. There's still so much we don't know about this world... I think we have a duty to find out as much as we can. Once we've gotten as much information as we can - or as is safe - we can figure out what to do from there. If it's a threat, defeat it. If not, see if someone can bond with it. We can play things by ear, once we know how to proceed.
• What area do you seek to explore? The peaceful forest, in search of new, previously overlooked discoveries; the uncharted caves, in search of the unknown; or the wildest of mountain terrain, in search of danger, adventure, and thrills?
Probably the forest. The caves are interesting enough, but I have a feeling there are people better suited to that task than I am. I'm not good with high-danger situations, you know? I want to be able to take my time, explore in detail, figure out what I'm looking at. If I can't bring what I found back, I want to make sure I can express what I'm seeing. That's not exactly easy if I have to figure out which way I came in from, or what the rumbling behind me is. Really, I think I prefer to just take things easy. I don't mind if others get the glory of exploring the dangerous places and finding super-important things. There are still many smaller discoveries to be had in our world.