voidtrecker application

[siriusly]

Player Information

Name: Elle
Age: 32
Contact details: whyellewhy
Other characters: n/a

Character Information

Name: Manabu Yuuki
Canon: Galaxy Railways
Canon Point: Episode 19, then a dwrp, then episode 23, then back to the rp
OU/AU/CRAU/OC: CRAU from maskormenace
Age: 21

World Information
In some alternate history of Earth, mankind has sprawled out into the stars in a big way. All throughout the galaxy, colonies sprung up on planets near and far as resources were sought out and dreams pursued in places unknown. Since then, space travel has become commonplace for the average man; it's commercialized and available for all by way of the ever-expanding Galaxy Railways. A series of snaking, shielded "tracks" (they're like little energy rings) in space connect planets and satellites together in a constant swirl of energy, not unlike how busy skies all around the world are with air travel. It's protected by the Space Defense Force – the SDF for short – and a series of trains designed to investigate, protect, and rescue commercial trains and passengers in distress. Talented men and women from all across the galaxy join with the collective desire to protect the railways and, through that, protect people and their dreams.

The setting of the Galaxy Railways is vast and diverse: Some planets seem like futuristic utopias with the obligatory sinister underbellies, others look like quaint, 19th-century European paintings, and others still are lawless desert cowboy havens. It kind of has a JRPG vibe where every dungeon has a theme? Most every planet has one, too -- some even color-coded for convenience. More often than not, though, the "world" is the sprawling sea of stars that all these worlds lay in.


From the assorted planets dotting the railway to one really busy, chaotic world, Manabu also has RP history from maskormenace -- setting info which can be found in this location.


Personal History
Manabu Yuuki is the youngest son of Captain Wataru Yuuki, the man at the lead of the SDF's prize train, Big One. His mother is the owner and chief cook of a noodle shop on planet Tobito, raising Manabu and his older brother, Mamoru, in a tenant house that's shared with miners and other salt-of-the-earth-type folks. Life on the ground was peaceful, almost idyllic: Neighbors were gruff, but always kind at the core, and every childhood scuffle came with a happy ending. The only remotely sour point would be Wataru's absences as he rode the Railways, but any loneliness Manabu felt was completely washed out by the undying pride he had knowing his dad is the captain of the coolest train in the galaxy.

When Manabu was still young (probably six or seven), his father was suddenly called away from his day off at home due to an emergency on the Railways: A train had been rattled off the intergalactic track by an unseen and unknown occurrence, and Big One had been summoned to investigate. Ignorant to the scale and scope of trouble his dad was off to face, Manabu snuck out of his bed and to the station where Big One was waiting for Wataru. Along the way out, he was intercepted by his big brother, Manabu, who agreed to go with him to see their dad off. However, hijinks with the security system at the station resulted in both boys fumbling into the train and unwittingly becoming stowaways.

As Big One arrived on the scene of the damaged commercial train, a hole tore open in space and unknown fighter vessels appeared and proceeded to attack. Manabu and Mamoru fell out of hiding just as Big One began joint evacuation and defensive action against the attackers. As the situation ramped up and evacuees had managed to all settle safely in Big One's coach, Wataru gave the order for the engine car to disengage from the rest of the train. With a gut-wrenching salute and farewell, he rammed the engine of Big One into the attacking ships, blowing all of them up while his kids watched.

Leijiverse achievement unlocked: Dead noble parent

A few years later, Manabu watched his big brother board another train on his way to SDF headquarters, off to become a member just like dear old Dad had been. And about a year after that, Manabu and his mom get a call from said headquarters to let them know Mamoru had been killed in the line of duty.

Leijiverse achievement unlocked: Dead older sibling

Now, when Manabu turned 19 he decided to try and follow in the footsteps of his dad and brother (his mother was understandably not keen on the idea), and headed off to SDF headquarters to begin life as a crew member of the famous Big One. He joins a small, but capable crew: Schweinheld Bulge (Wataru's second-in-command, now Captain, whose name I probably mispelled), Bruce J. Speed (Manabu's incredibly cranky partner/trainer of sorts), Louise Fort Drake (a newbie like Manabu, but much more headstrong and confrontational), Yuki (a medical robot called a "sexaroid"i don't know), and David Young (a gambler and Bruce's pal from the good old days).

With this crew, Manabu goes all across the galaxy investigating missing persons, hunting down terrorists, and all sorts of police-type duties. In space. On a train.

Some adventures include: tracking down an idiot who boarded a ghost train to find his dead girlfriend (somehow the ghost train is a sanctioned train on the Railways), searching for and defusing deadly bombs planted by a Railways-hating terrorist, encountering magical cursed knights, fighting plant-based aliens (Leijiverse achievement unlocked), obligatory onsen vacation...

All throughout, the crew learns more about each other, grows as a crew and practically a family, and slowly uncovers a mystery surrounding the Railways nobody thought about since episode one.

Turns out that the fighter that Wataru suicide smashed into more than ten years ago was part of a fleet belonging to an entire species of plant-based aliens popping through holes in time-space making moves to sabotage and ultimately dismantle the Galaxy Railways. Somehow, the measures the Railways has been using to expand its tracks has caused disturbances in Plant People Universe, and instead of send emissaries to negotiate peacefully, they figured they'd just straight up blow up everything. Manabu and the Big One are key players in stopping this from spiraling out of control into a straight-up war...


So just before all that shit hits the fan, the Big One crew had gotten through a terrible, team-rattling crisis. One of those plant aliens infiltrated SDF HQ and set everything on lockdown. While teams split up to search the compound for the target, Manabu was dangerously injured while searching with Bruce. Bruce, who has a history of Plucky Dead Partners, BSOD'd and ran off to do the rest of the job himself. Manabu healed up enough to argue his way back into duty to chase his partner down, convinced he had to: Bruce lived his life convinced he was some kind of toxic, bad-luck guy, and Manabu wasn't going to have it. He managed to yell Bruce off the brink of suicide, help take out the alien insurgent, and defrost the icy heart of Bruce J. Speed with the power of bullheaded decision-making and friendship.

Leijiverse achievement unlocked: idiot boy protagonist rushes into a situation half-cocked and the sheer power of his feelings fixes things and absolves him of consequences

As a cool-down from all the major drama that and previous events had built up in Sirius Platoon and two other comrade trains, the team heads off to a planet famous for their hot springs. Hijinks, games, cuddling, and all sorts of team building ensue, all while Manabu sits around wondering why they're not busy putting out fires and tries to avoid singing karaoke (he fails). He loosens up eventually and a good time is had by all.

Aaaaand then he gets dumped into the world of maskormenace. The typical fish-out-of-water stuff ensues, of course, but it also comes with a bit of extra pain, he acquired brand-new super powers! One of them caused anyone who raised a hand close enough to him to just suddenly punch or slap him. In the face. Mostly directly in the face.

His other power was healing, so at least his nose wouldn't stay broken for very long. Still...helluva way to get dunked into a busy, crowded world, right? He was understandably stressed and annoyed by that.

Even so, this tunnel-visioned boy, still determined to be a great officer like his father and brother before him, decided if he couldn't achieve his dreams in his own world, he'd do it here. He enrolled in the police academy, deciding that the only true, honorable way to do this is to do it by the ground-up, and joined a city police force. It wasn't always easy, but his determination to do right by not only himself, but the community around him, did not go unnoticed. More than once he was highlighted as a beacon of good will...and also rebuked as yet another disrupting, chaotic element dunked into society by the machine that brought him and all the other players there.

True to his form, Manabu threw himself into work, which often meant throwing himself into harm's way. He'd had no shortage of bullet wounds, slices, cuts, and...well. Face-punches, both intentional and unintentional. The friends he made all helped encourage him, keep him both on his toes and more aware of the consequences of his choices, and with their help, he was really blazing a good, earnest trail!

The only thing he didn't anticipate was, after rescuing a distressed and depressed teen named Brendan, that he'd wind up in a bit of a romance. Someone as goal-focused as him never spent much time thinking of anything but, and so much of the budding crush Brendan had for him went nearly entirely unnoticed, pegged for just curious, but common behavior. At least, until kisses happened! Whoa, weird! Completely new territory! Soon the narrative of his life had to make room for not just police work, but also the work of understanding and stabilizing a relationship that was moving way, way faster than he could keep up. Despite being the elder, Manabu was very much the lost one most of the time (save for a crisis or miserable nights). Because of his goodhearted nature and eagerness for peace and praise, Manabu often forewent his own comforts to make sure Brendan was happy. It made for a...struggle. A definite imbalance. Yet all the same, Manabu still found he cared. He didn't wholly understand how or the scope of it as it needed to be, but he did care.

He also got a sick-ass Pokemon (Poochyena) from his good friend, Archie! Not entirely important, but cool nonetheless.

During his time in-game, he experienced a major port-out that brought him back (expanded details here but tl;dr: OH GOD BEING A SPACE COP MEANS SOMETIMES PEOPLE U LOVE DIE AND ALSO ALIENS INVADE SOMETIMES I GUESS). It made him a bit more mature and hardlined about his goals...that he realized...he had to struggle to get back on track with, since he missed a semester of police academy! D'oh!

Meanwhile, efforts alongside Jacob Taylor of Mass Effect fame to crack down on insurgencies from the community he was serving, Manabu wound up in jail for having to use lethal force to save him. Rather than use the easy out that most of the imported members of the community had at their disposal, Manabu refused to skirt justice and served his time, which made quite an impression on those who had once snubbed him for a mooch on the police system.

Just as Manabu was starting to stabilize on this whole moving-too-fast thing...Brendan left. And so did others -- other friends that Manabu had grown very close and dependent on. Without the stability of their presences, Manabu found himself adrift, and soon after would also vanish from that world.

He'll pick up here right after that. No breaks OR brakes.


Personality
Raised to be polite and listen to his elders, Manabu has a hit-or-miss track record with authority. In general, he respects superiors, admires them for their stations and what led them to be there, but still has a tendency to cause friction when his emotional impulses conflict with the orders he is given, especially in stressful, dangerous circumstances. He is very go-with-your-gut, but has been making an effort to come to heel when he knows those around him know more about what's going on or what could happen than he does. But the more his heart's whims contradict his superiors' demands, the more likely he is to yank at the chain and go off on his own. And throw himself in front of bullets or lasers or trains or emotionally unhinged terrorist robot-people or aliens.

He has very strong convictions, especially when it comes to lethal force. One of the biggest troubles he had in joining the SDF was the idea he'd have to kill someone; he was utterly against that idea to the point where he carried around a broken gun – a family memento – instead of a live weapon. It took a while for him to come to terms with pointing a gun and actually shooting to harm/kill, but has taken life before. He doesn't regret it. What he does regret is when his failure to do his job or reach an innocent in time ties into the body count; he nearly quit the SDF when panic after a train bombing put him on indefinite leave of absence.

Being raised by such a gentle mother and mild-mannered father has not prepared Manabu well for people with more volatile, or outright extreme personalities. He is often fumbling to follow along or keep the peace with more hot-headed or quirky members of his platoon, and even worse when it's coworkers from different trains. Girls, especially; he is not able to easily read people's moods or any underlying intentions: you either spell it out or he gets next to nothing.

And while being good-natured and eager to work hard and do right by his convictions and those he respects, Manabu does have trouble loosening up and relaxing. His downtime tends to need others to direct it to more fun, relaxing things, otherwise he sniffs around for more work-related tasks to to. Work-related tasks he likes, anyway; getting punished and forced to wash the train is a bummer.

He isn't very witty, and not much for cynicism or sarcasm. He prefers to be honest and tease kindly, but can get childishly petulant when picked on for too much or receives remarks that rub him the wrong way. Talking ill about the SDF, the Big One, his crew, or heaven forbid his family can put someone on his bad side pretty quickly, though Manabu always tries to convince folks that their opinion on those topics has to be wrong in that case. No one can say a bad thing about the crew of the Big One, let alone the legacy of Wataru and Mamoru, really. The Railways as a system, though? Well...he's learned to see why some people would have problems with it, but that only drives him to work harder to improve its image through his own good deeds.

Speaking of working hard, Manabu's a kid who can barely ever say no when someone asks a favor. Unless it's embarrassing work, anyway, and even then, if someone's got sad enough puppy eyes, he may be done for and do it regardless of his feelings. He even went along with an old woman's delusion that he was her long-lost son just both because he couldn't convince her otherwise and because refusing to do housework for an old lady would be just wrong.

Kind of a dweeb, but a goodhearted one. So we forgive him.


CRAU developments
Regarding his time in maskormenace, Manabu's general disposition has not changed, but he's grown an even stronger understanding of the value of camaraderie. The isolation one can feel in a whole new world is at times overwhelming, so all the more reason to stick close to friends, and make friends in turn.

As for more intimate relationships, Manabu's still trying to discern what his true feelings on it all is. He was very intimidated by the prospect of such closeness, fearful of the responsibilities it may entail that require more than just running and gunning. Love is not always just rushing in as a hero to save the day, as he so often daydreamed about as a child, and trying to navigate just how to do right by someone he may grow closer to is a challenge!

After having gone through things in Maskormenace, he's now more capable of discerning these different feelings...he hopes.


Key themes
Legacy - choosing to follow the footsteps of the past or to blaze a new trail
Morality - learning about all the shades of gray in society and relationships
Maturation - growing from boy to man (aka: Leiji Matsumoto's most favoritest trope of all)

Main Motivation
Doing the Right Thing!
Whatever that is. He's still learning on the go!

Skills
Advanced space tech: piloting space ships (and space trains), assembling/disassembling cosmo dragoon pistols, general understanding of military-grade future tech (can be nerfed as needed because he's not a poindexter)

Military training: combat (hand-to-hand and firearms) and deescalation strategies (if just football tackling people into submission counts then HE'S THE CHAMP)
he's also really good at getting beat up, even without the superpower. anime protag powers.

Item
A cosmo dragoon, standard issue space laser pistol, non-functioning...until it can be repaired in-game

Sample
A jailbird, tweeting