Empatheias Application

[gambledfates]

⌈ PLAYER SECTION ⌉
Player: Ryoko
Contact: lumieresdedragon
Age: plenty old
Current Characters: Kylo Ren


⌈ CHARACTER SECTION ⌉
Character: Sae Niijima
Age: No canon age given, but she appears to be in her mid to late 20s
Canon: Persona 5
Canon Point: March 19th, after handing the protagonist her new business card.

Background: Here.

Personality:

As a representative of the Judgement arcana, a large part of Sae's character is how she sees the world around her and the paths of both herself and others around her. She's a woman who's very focused on goals rather than concerns of intentions or methods—she's shown to consider "things like jurisdiction and honor" to be less important than the concrete goal of finding the culprit of the psychotic breakdown incidents, and at one point claims she'll "use any means to win" against the Phantom Thieves, even going so far as to threaten Sojiro Sakura with false abuse accusations if he doesn't give her information. She doesn't like to spend time considering what ifs when it doesn't directly benefit a concrete project she's working towards, even when it's concerning her own loved ones, which can at times make her seem cold or uncaring. Ultimately, she's a pragmatic person who tends to look at the world as it is rather than how it could or should be—which can lead to her placing limitations on herself or others.

Being as focused on her goals as she is was in part due to the responsibility she had to take on when her father died, leaving her younger sister, Makoto, in her care. In order to provide for Makoto, she became dedicated to her job and moving up in the world, and even after deciding to become a defense lawyer instead, her work ethic still remains. That is to say, she's an absolute workaholic—in the game she hardly has any time to even come home and eat dinner. When she's found a case or project she's passionate about, she sometimes suffers from tunnel vision, focusing all her attention on that and nothing else. When she sets her mind to something, it will get done, one way or another, even if this mindset was partly forced onto her thanks to the expectations put on her by her bosses.

As a result, she doesn't have much of a social life and doesn't exactly know how to "relax." Even her hobbies (kickboxing and motorcycling) are high-energy activities, and many of her visits to the game's main cafe are for business. Sae tends to be high-strung, to the point that anything else probably feels strange to her if it lasts too long. She is capable of enjoying herself and spending time with others for the sake of it, but ultimately, she feels most comfortable when she's actively accomplishing something, rather than just making small talk.

Her temper comes out easily when she's particularly (di)stressed, and unfortunately it leads to a tendency to label people as enemies or obstacles. She's shown to snap at mentions of the Phantom Thieves, especially when she receives a calling card from them, and at one point she's so high-strung that she accuses her sister of being immature, useless, and nothing but a burden, even if she apologizes soon afterwards. This can even apply to those who aren't necessarily around, as Makoto mentions that she derides their deceased father for having died, saying it was no different from surrender.

When she isn't stressed, she does her best to be fair to others, even if she may be skeptical. Her willingness to use whatever means necessary comes with limits, and her strong sense of morality comes through after her Shadow has been confronted; when she sees that the protagonist has been beaten and drugged, she's appalled by the fact. Ultimately, when she learns of the truth behind the breakdown incidents, she becomes dedicated to helping them take down the man responsible to prevent any further suffering. There's also the fact that she became a prosecutor in the first place—wanting to see people like her father's murderer pay for their crimes, she worked tirelessly to get to the position of Public Prosecutor. And while she does mainly focus on goals, that doesn't mean she's incapable of perceiving or caring about people's feelings, and her sense of right and wrong will drive her to apologize if she does see that she's caused any unfair distress.

Speaking of perceiving, Sae is definitely a perceptive person, picking up on the connection between the psychotic breakdowns and changes of heart without knowing about the method, and suspecting Shido of being behind the incidents due to gaining so much from the victims. It's not terribly easy to fool her, even if it can be done, as proven by Akechi, and there are a few rare times where she might deny a possibility simply because she doesn't want to believe it, as when her sister stole information from her laptop. She's certainly trying to improve on that, though, and she's willing to be open-minded about things more these days, thanks to the Phantom Thieves.

Even though she's lashed out at them, Sae cares deeply about her family; Makoto suspects that the treasure of Sae's palace is their father's police notebook, displaying the admiration she had for the man, and she's dedicated herself not only to supporting Makoto, but setting a path for her to make sure that she succeeds in life, even if her vision of "success" at the time was a bit narrow-minded. When Sae cares for someone, it's not impossible to get her to admit it, but she's more likely to display that with her actions rather than her words. Doing things for others is something that makes her particularly happy, as she says herself when speaking to the protagonist about overseeing his case and making sure he went free. Ultimately, Sae seeks fairness for others, whoever they may be and whatever they may have done, and she's doing her best to work towards being a responsible and reliable adult, even if it's not the easiest road.

Abilities: Kickboxing, motorcycling, lawyering. Nothing particularly special, although she became a prosecutor at a notably young age.

Alignment: Sosyne. Having moved forward from her palace's main focus of envy thanks to the Phantom Thieves, Sae is less obsessed with moving up in her career. It doesn't mean her temper has disappeared, however...

Other: N/A


⌈ SAMPLE SECTION ⌉

General Sample: Here. The emotional sample can be found in prompt E, as well as here.

Questions: Nah