Application;

[scooptimistic]

Applicant Info

Name: Kia
Contact: starswept
Current Character(s): N/A
Reserve: Here!

Character Info

Character's Name: Maya Amano
Character's Canon: Persona 2
Character's Age: 23
Canon Point: Just after the final boss fight in Eternal Punishment
Background/History: Have her wiki page!

Strengths:

Optimistic - Maya's motto is "Let's think positive!" and it shows in most everything she does. She's constantly the one to try and bring the group out of a funk, doing her best to make Tatsuya smile when they're stuck underground, and faces every situation with the mindset of "Let's not give up until we've tried everything, even if we don't know what will work yet." As far as she's concerned, and she even states this outright, you don't know what's impossible until you've tried it. Crises are simply things to be overcome, so people can grow from them! Even when she's a little girl and her father is going off into a warzone, she's still doing her best to smile through her tears and see him off as cheerfully as she can.

Intelligent - Her coworker and photographer, Yukino, points out once that Maya picks new things up quickly, due to her curiosity. And it's true that not only does this apply to things like technology, but it also extends to picking up on solutions out of problems. When a curse sweeps a high school because of the emblem, Maya posits that smashing the clocks bearing the same insignia will lure the culprit out of hiding. She figures out how to get out of the underground area the group has been locked in by putting together pieces of information she's picked up and using what they have on hand. She slowly begins to theorize on the fact that a certain dungeon is making thoughts reality and is the first to propose this theory to the others.

Caring - Maya is pretty much the big sister of the group in the first game, and the pillar of support for the group in the second, while also trying to protect as many people as she can-- even snapping at an enemy for taking death too lightly and then feeling horrible later for hitting her too hard. She's the one who never once laughs at Eikichi's dreams, who is determined to find a reason for Lisa's attitude towards her friends, and who acts as a bolstering force as much as she can. She's also the one who mentions wanting to save Joker first, that it seems like he's crying when she first meets him, and it's her choice of words that can support the party in the second game when it comes to facing their Shadows. Even when she tells the Big Bad of the game that she hates him, she laughingly tells her that she'd forgive anyone, because having a big heart is her "shtick".


Weaknesses:

Reckless - While it's not unusual to come up with a solution by thinking, some of Maya's ways of handling things are... not the safest. She's jumped fences before to catch a scoop, regardless of whether it was guarding restricted property or not, she cheerfully volunteers herself to drive things she really shouldn't (like blimps) and then proceeds to crash them, and her idea to evacuate people is to set off smoke alarms. Maya's a fearless soul, but she could stand to exercise a little more caution.

Singleminded - Maya's definitely a determined person, but sometimes what she focuses on is at the expense of other things, and she can end up forgetting to pay closer attention to other things going on around her. Due to her focus on her work and the case at hand, she doesn't suspect that her roommate was harboring jealousy towards her and didn't pick up the fact that she was a serial killer's target because of it until that very moment. Her room is a complete pigsty-- something Maya laughs off with the insistence that she's too busy and thus has no time to clean, because it's not as high a priority. She's so determined to get to the bottom of "Dejavu Boy" and Joker in the second game that when Tatsuya gives her an emblem and tells her that spreading a rumor about it will keep her away from the psychopath, she burns the emblem-- even though it would have protected her. Though she admits that her dream was to balance her job as a journalist and a family in a way her father couldn't, she also ends up too married to her job to date anyone, and is completely blindsided when it's revealed that one of her party members has feelings for her.

Refuses to accept self completely - Unlike literally everyone else, who accepts their Shadows for being darker parts of themselves, Maya refers to her Shadow as a completely different person brought about by the populace's view of her when they think she could be a terrorist (long story). While part of that is true, Maya bristles at the thought that she could have ever been mad at the party for having locked her in a shrine when they were younger, and later admits that it was her tendency to escape reality that drove Jun to become Joker. In both games, she's very reluctant to show her doubts and insecurities and usually does try to smile it off or say she's fine when her past and her worries start weighing on her.

Powers/Abilities: She's one hell of a journalist, willing to involve herself in many a shenanigan in pursuit of the truth. Power-wise, though, she's a Persona user. Namely, she's able to summon entities with elemental and physical attacks that obey her will-- in this case, due to her canon point, she's only got her main Persona with her, Artemis, and will not be able to access or swap in/out other Personas during her time here.

As a Persona user, Maya can identify other people who can use Personas, and her own Persona will warn her about dangerous things-- sort of like possessing a sixth sense for danger (which does not actually stop her). It also makes her a bit more resilient in a fight-- as Artemis is the one she's using, she'll be stronger against elemental attacks but take more damage from physical ones.

Other Noteworthy Traits: Aside from being able to interview (and occasionally seduce) demons, she can singlehandedly crash every single vehicle she tries to drive. This includes cars, boats, and blimps. She also apparently has a scuba-diving license and possesses a stomach akin to a black hole in that she can eat an impressive amount without it seeming to stick anywhere (though her assistant speculates it goes to her chest).

Weapons & Other Special Inventory: Her twin guns (they're pink), a tiny stuffed bunny, obviously the outfit she's wearing, her trusty bag of journalist supplies, and canned crab. (Yes, the canned crab is her extra item.)

Color: Red! It's always occurred to me that red is a passionate color, and gets assigned to protagonists a lot. Maya fits the bill, personality-wise.

Sample: Here! And here, for a more recent thread.

[ OPTIONAL ] World Aspect: I'd like to talk about the healing fountain function that's available in both Persona 1 and Persona 2. It's more or less what it sounds like, a room that leads to a fountain and a cute fairy who will heal any wounds-- for a stupidly steep price. The fairy's name is Trish and she was kicked out of the fairy realm until she could do good deeds for others, but... again, she only heals those who pay her, and the prices are always ridiculous. Fun times!!