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Player Information
Player name: Kiki
Contact: begleiter
Are you over 18: Yes
Characters in The Box Already: None

Character Information
Character Name: Souji Seta
Canon: Persona 4 (Golden Compliant)
Canon Point: Post-True End
History: Souji Seta at the Megami Tensei wiki. The Wiki sums up the major events that occurred throughout canon. Below is a summary of the specific choices made in my playthrough of the game.

Souji is being played from after the True Ending of Person 4 Golden and on the assumption that he reached the maximum level for all of his Social Links and rescued Marie from the Hollow Forest. There's no set 'path' of dialogue choices in Persona 4, but there is some consistency of tone between each set of options--blunt and cold, friendly and more open, or outright neutral are the three options usually presented to the player. However, there's a liberal scattering of choices that are also joking, sarcastic, deadpan, flirtatious, nosy, dismissive, worried, or straight out rude.

When Souji first arrived in Inaba (intending to only stay there for a year), his choices in conversation tended to be direct, calm, and erred on the side of neutral. Though he wasn't unfriendly, he was rarely impassioned about his friends or their mission. It wasn't until he, Yosuke, and Chie rescued Yukiko from the Midnight Channel that he began to open up properly, showing a more friendly and somewhat playful side to his personality. As the year progressed Souji got closer and closer to the Investigation Team, both as a group and on an individual level, and forged many new friendships with his classmates, coworkers, and family members. His willingness to joke around with his friends and spend his free time with them increased, even as he still remained studious and focused on work, school, and the Team's ongoing investigation of the Midnight Channel and the kidnappings and murders connected to it.

His personality grew in numerous ways as well (reflected in game through the growth of five personality 'stats': courage, diligence, knowledge, understanding, and expression) through his participation in school clubs (drama and basketball, specifically), frequent reading, long bouts of reflection while swimming in the ocean in the middle of rainstorms, and paying attention in class, among other activities. His high degree of intelligence and frequent studying ensured that he was often near or at the top of his class after midterms and finals. Still, he spent plenty of time with his friends both day and night, often (though not always) prioritizing them over isolated activities like leisurely reading or building models. He was always someone with a very busy schedule.

When the time came to pinpoint the true criminal in the string of kidnappings, Souji had grown to the point that, despite the recent apparent death of little sister Nanako, he was able to keep himself calm enough to spare Namatame's life and push to identify the true culprit: Tohru Adachi. From there he was able to lead the Investigation Team to Adachi's capture, and later to locating and defeating Izanami, the one responsible for starting the entire mess with the murders and Midnight Channel in the first place.

Souji still left Inaba as planned when the spring came, but did so knowing that he and his friends had forged an unbreakable bond and would meet again in the future.

Personality: Souji comes across to most people as a sort of ideal young man. Polite without being meek, confident without being arrogant, cool without being cold, friendly without being too familiar, and quiet without being silent. He's the sort of person that has an easy time meeting and getting along with a large number of people--which might seem a little odd, since he never speaks about or to any friends he made before moving to Inaba. In fact, get close enough to him and most people will realize that Souji might be friendly, but it takes a long time to really get to know him. Even among his close friends he rarely opens up to others, taking the role of the confidant much more often than the one doing the confiding.

It's been true for most of his life. As a child his parents and their jobs saw him constantly moving from place to place. While most children his age would have been growing up with a somewhat consistent social circle, Souji was constantly falling out of touch with old friends and forging new bonds with new classmates. It's not a series of events that left him depressed or sullen, but it's no surprise that even still he tends to be a little distant when he first meets someone. Despite that distance he keeps it's easy for him to get along with a wide variety of people--little girls, teenage girls, teenage boys, middle-aged detectives, bad detectives, grieving old widows, outrageously flirty middle-aged nurses, and all the range of people in between.

It helps that he excels at dealing well with the strange and the unusual. He's been described as 'legendarily calm' by his friends, and it shows constantly throughout the game. When he, Chie, and Yosuke first encountered the Midnight Channel Souji was just as surprised and confused as they were. On the inside, that is. Outwardly, he maintained a calm, level-head facade and managed to keep the group from running around completely scatter-brained. It applies to real-world and far less dire situations as well. Being forced into a cross dressing contest? Souji managed to take it in stride. Unbalanced boy-girl ratio on a group date? Souji will sit on the girl's side, sure. It helps that he doesn't speak too much, and when he does he tends to get right to it. He's not someone that wastes words. Don't take it to mean that nothing surprises or upsets him, though. He wasn't happy about the cross dressing at first, and it wouldn't really be accurate to say he enjoyed it. He did manage to have fun with it, though, and didn't resent his friends for signing him up.

This calm acceptance of strange events extends to strange people, too. Chie, Yosuke, and their behavior towards each other are hardly what most people would think of as normal, but Souji accepted them in fairly short order. Teddie was weird as hell but Souji was quick to get along with him. When there was suddenly a second Yosuke (who then suddenly turned into a strange frog monster) Souji was able to keep himself calm enough to fight against and even defeat the creature.

He's a highly adaptive individual, capable of quickly adjusting to the strange and unusual, and he'll take on responsibility for leading others without fuss for fanfare. The most shining example of this is when Souji prevented the Investigation Team from making the worst mistake of their lives. The group was on the verge forcing Taro Namatame into the Midnight Channel, where he would have died. Even though Taro had seriously endangered and even, as far as any of them knew at the time, killed Nanako, Souji kept his head on straight. He forced the group to press ahead in their search for the truth, to look beyond simply what they saw in front of them. Souji had more reason that anyone else in the group to want Namatame dead--again, he was pretty sure that the man had just killed his cousin/surrogate little sister--but he kept them all together despite that.

Souji demonstrates an incredible amount of loyalty to the Investigation Team. Throughout canon he's shown to go to various lengths for their sake. Some of them were fairly mundane; helping Yukiko decide which work license to study for, practicing martial arts with Chie, going with Kanji to visit his mother in the hospital, allowing Teddie to live with him for a month. He's also gone to some very strange length, as well. Lying about being engaged to Rise to throw off her old manager, running all over Inaba solving mysteries with Naoto, and accepting Yosuke's invitation for a fistfight to help him get his thoughts in order. It's the sort of dedication he's never really shown to anyone before, though it's not hard to imagine why. Souji has known about the very darkest, worst traits of each member of the Investigation Team for nearly as long as he's known them. Even when it was just he and Yosuke, Souji was there to listen to their Shadows berate and taunt them; to listen to them deny their Shadow's words; and to listen to them eventually accept their Shadow as simply being a part of who they are. Putting it simply, Souji knows them them in a way that he knows very few other people. While he's close to many of the friends he's made in Inaba, his relationship with the Investigation Team is a step above the rest.

The exception being his cousin Nanako. While Souji is close to and protective of all of his friends, he's so protective of Nanako he's been described as having a sister complex. It's not surprising, though. Nanako was a very lonely young child when Souji first arrived in Inaba; her mother had died years before and her father was constantly busy with his work as a police detective, a situation that only worsened with the unexpected murders in Inaba. Souji quickly became a primary caretaker for Nanako. Assisting her with her homework, playing with her after school, comforting her when her father had to cancel family plans, watching after her when she was sick, and even mitigating arguments between her and Dojima were all regular events in Souji's life. Having a little sister was a new experience for him, but it's one that he enjoyed.

Obviously, Souji is someone that's very self-sufficient and independent. Even while still in high school he can cook and take care of other household chores, competently juggle work and school, move across the country unaccompanied, and live alone for more than a month without disaster befalling him. On the other hand it seems to have left him with a bit of a reckless approach to food; Souji will eat nearly anything, no matter how dubious, if he's hungry enough. Brown spherical objects that may have once been pears, Nanako's science projects, mushrooms growing out of other things in the fridge, dokudami tea that was actually udon soup (don't ask why he drank the whole thing instead of stopping after one sip), and a variety of other things--Souji has eaten them all. His stomach has rebelled against him in the past, like when he ate Mystery Food X, but he rarely seems to learn or be more discerning in his tastes.

But, finally, it should be noted that just because he's dedicated and serious doesn't mean he's part of the anti-fun squad. Souji can, quite simply, be an incredible dork. Doing magic tricks for Nanako, singing along with the Junes song, over-the-top spit-takes at horrible food, and trying (and failing) to crowd surf at a last minute Junes concert are all well within Souji's range of acceptable behavior. He's not at all afraid to goof off around his friends and family members, even in certain serious moments. He's also shown to have a flirtatious side, and to be rather bold when admitting to his affection (platonic or otherwise) for other people.


Items on your character at canon point: Clothes, wallet, phone, a few pieces of candy, and the Velvet Key (inactive).


Abilities, Strengths and Weaknesses: Souji's most significant ability is that he is a Persona user, a person capable of summoning an empowered embodiment of his personality. And he's not just any user, either; Souji is one of the few people in his world that possesses the Wild Card ability, allowing him to carry and summon multiple Persona (whereas many people can only hold a single Persona at once, albeit one that may change and evolve throughout their life).

In combat, a Persona is summoned for very brief periods of time, typically only long enough to let off whatever attack it was called for. Each Persona has several special abilities and each of them takes energy to use. These abilities can only be used when the respective Persona is Souji's 'active' one (more in a bit) and come in either 'magic' attacks or support skills, or physical attacks. Magic skills require SP/MP/mana/etc. to cast, of which Souji has a limited pool. However, physical attacks draw from Souji's health pool, making him more and more likely to get knocked out or killed by an enemy attack the more he uses them.

As mentioned, Souji can only have one active Persona at a time. He can switch between her Persona freely, but not rapidly. He gains certain benefits and disadvantages depending on which one is closest to the forefront of his mind. For example, Izanagi allows Souji to resist electric-based skills and block darkness-based ones entirely, but makes him much weaker to wind-based ones. However, this only applies for whichever Persona he has 'active'. Just because one Persona may be resistant to ice-based attacks doesn't mean Souji himself is.

Souji can only 'carry' eight different Persona with him at once. A list of all the Persona Souji is capable of summoning can be found HERE. However, Souji will be limited to the eight Persona he arrives with, since he won't be able to access the Velvet Room in order to acquire new ones or swap his current roster out. The eight he'll bring in are...
- Atropos
- Cybele
- Helel
- Izanagi
- Loki
- Lucifer
- Mada
- Tzitzimitl

Souji has the ability to enter the Midnight Channel through any television with a large enough screen. Theoretically, that is, as the planets he visits in Consignment may not have their own version of the Midnight Channel. Unfortunately, he's not currently capable of creating a means to let himself back out. Though his Persona may allow him to survive for a time, a trip into the Midnight Channel without Teddie there to create an exit for him is an absurdly stupid idea and will leave him trapped indefinitely.

Finally, Souji is capable of wielding swords, golf clubs, bats, bits of wood, and other long, narrow objects used to hit people. Though he's good at blocking he's not really the dueling type and would get his ass handed to him by a seasoned pro. He prefers to simply wail away at his opponents--not ungraceful in his bludgeoning, but not very subtle about it either.

I addressed his various strengths and weaknesses in his personality section, so this is just a brief summary. To his advantage, Souji is...
- Calm under pressure
- A good leader
- Perceptive
- Intelligent
- Diligent
- Bi-lingual (Japanese and most likely English)

On the other hand, he's also...
- Withdrawn
- Prone to isolating himself
- Outright irrational about Nanako's safety
- Easily manipulated with threats to his friends and family
- Unused to working alone anymore (especially in combat)
- Lack of specialization in combat; Souji's ability to switch between Persona leaves him able to fill multiple roles in combat, but never as well as specialized fighters (i.e.: he's not as strong as Kanji or Chie, as fast as Yosuke, as good at healing and magic as Yukiko, and so on), which is an extra layer of vulnerability if he's ever alone.

Samples
Network/Action Spam Sample: Test drive meme thread!

Prose Log Sample: "So," the stranger concluded, leaning back against his seat. "There you have it. I'm an agent on behalf of the CDC, and we'd like you to become a part of our company." He was clearly waiting for an answer, but Souji could only stare. Being approached by a stranger that knew his name was bad enough. Being approached by a stranger that knew his name and about his various achievements and struggles in the Midnight Channel from the past year was worse. Being approached by someone that knew his name, his achievements, and was asking him to come blow up planets was something else entirely. For this (clearly crazy) man to have knowledge of the Midnight Chanel should have been impossible. Obviously it wasn't.

Souji opened his mouth to reply. Closed it. Shifted his weight. Glanced around for any potential eavesdroppers. Loathe as he was to admit it, Souji was starting to lose his cool. Finally, he looked back to the man sitting across the aisle from him--really looked at him this time. He seemed perfectly normal, like any other passenger on the train. Tall, black hair, brown eyes, maybe in his early 30's. He was wearing a simple black-and-white suit-and-tie combination that had been worn by thousands of people before. Souji could have seen him almost anywhere and never even blinked.

Then again, Adachi seemed normal, too. And, really, as soon as the comparison to Adachi occurred to him, Souji knew there was only one response.

"Sorry," he said. "But no thanks." Even as he spoke, Souji reached for his duffel bag and pushed himself to his feet. He knew he wasn't supposed to get up and move around when the train was moving, but he wanted away from this stranger. Besides, the car was nearly empty anyway.

"Even though it means your home is up next?" Souji froze. Glanced at the stranger again. The man simply smiled at him. "Accepting our contract is the only thing that can prevent your planet from being added to our list."

Souji's first instinct was to dismiss him as crazy (again) because... really? 'Join us or we blow up the planet'? The idea that his participation was vital enough that they would hold off on destroying an entire planet just for him was absurd. But then again, so was the idea of trying to solve a murder mystery by jumping in and out of a TV several times a week for most of a year. And there was still the fact that this guy knew a lot more about Souji than Souji had believed was possible. Souji hesitated.

Then he sat back down.

"Fine." Souji was still holding out hope that this guy was just fucking with him, that it was really the most likely scenario anyway. Dismissing and ignoring that guy outright was probably the smarter move, but that wouldn't let Souji figure out how and why he knew about the Midnight Channel and the Investigation Team. Much as it annoyed him, he had to figure out how this guy knew what he knew, or else everyone back in Inaba would be in trouble.

"Really?" Though the man's tone was questioning, his expression showed nothing but pleasure. "You'll really join us?"

Now he plays nice, Souji thought, but out loud he simply replied, "I will."

The stranger's smile widened. "Wonderful."