deerington application

[siriusly]

IN CHARACTER

Character Name: Manabu Yuuki
Canon: The Galaxy Railways
Canon Point: End of season

In-Game Tattoo Placement: Vertically placed on the underside of his left forearm
Current Health/Status: Alive and barely lucid, just some minutes before his morning alarm goes off.
Age: 21-23 (was not specified in-canon)
Species: Human

Content Warnings: Parental/fraternal death, attempted suicide, PTSD, military violence, murder, depression

History: Basic story plot (Omit the OVA & Crossroads; only the first season applies)
cw: Parental/fraternal death
Manabu Yuuki is the primary character of the Galaxy Railways -- the show follows his journey from adolescence to his first steps as an adult. A glimpse into his childhood shows the moment his destiny was set into motion: On a night when their father, the captain of a military train called the Big One, Manabu and his big brother Mamoru stow away onboard to watch their father in action. Unfortunately, during a rescue mission for a derailed train, an unknown enemy arrives and nearly kills everyone. It's only through a sacrificial act from their father that Manabu and Mamoru survive, spared alongside the crew of Big One and those they rescued. So impactful was this act of self-sacrifice that both children were inspired to follow in their father's footsteps and join the SDF -- the Space Defense Force, guardians of the Galaxy Railways and its passengers.

Before Manabu can start his journey to the SDF, however, he has to watch his older brother take the path first. It's tragically short, as Mamoru is killed in action as a member of the Panzers -- a boots-on-the-ground infantry arm of the SDF. Manabu and his mother are left alone on their home planet of Tabito, where the boy grows and remains determined to pursue the dreams of his fallen family.

Thanks to his father's legacy, Manabu, upon enlisting when he comes of age, is assigned to Big One, serving under his father's former lieutenant-turned-current-captain. He is set under a surly officer named Bruce J. Speed, who treats him with contempt, often bullying -- if not outright abusing -- Manabu without explanation, which adds a frustrating layer to the reality of what it means to be a soldier and protector. It takes a while for Manabu to come to grips with the fact that he will inevitably take a human life in this job, so much so that he never carried a working gun. Only when circumstances pushed him to the limit of his convictions, having to save one of his crewmates from terrorists holding her hostage, does Manabu finally come to grips with this and pull the trigger. It's a major turning point from boy to man, and rather than fumble his way awkwardly through his future missions, Manabu runs at problems head-on, resolved to save as many people as he can while not sparing the rod to punish injustice.

Much of the Galaxy Railways is episodic -- self-contained vignettes of the strange people and places Manabu and the crew of Big One encounter throughout the galaxy. At one point, breaking through a tear in space-time, Manabu even comes face to face with his brother on the eve of his death, giving him some of the closure for Mamoru's death he never got when he was a boy.

cw: PTSD, drug allegories, suicide attempt
One of the most important highlights of Manabu's journey is that of his rocky partnership with Bruce. The idealistic naiveté rubs Bruce's jaded pessimism all the wrong ways, and they rarely go long in conversation before butting heads. Still, a grudging professionalism keeps them working together, and soon, Manabu learns that Bruce had a partner not unlike Manabu before...one who died horribly on Bruce's watch. When the SDF's headquarters is compromised by unknown attackers, Bruce and Manabu struggle to flush out the enemies, which results in Manabu getting badly injured. This sets Bruce's PTSD off, sending him in a spiral that leaves him open to succumbing to an attack using hallucinogenic gas that convinces him he's an aspect of death -- that his only way to stop the bloodshed is to kill himself. Still badly wounded, Manabu has to struggle to cut through the static of the hallucination and snap Bruce out of it. After subduing the culprits, the two of them finally regard each other as peers, putting an end to their headbutting days.

cw: murder, depression
Their camaraderie is tragically short-lived, as events begin to unroll following that attack on SDF's headquarters. Aliens have begun appearing along the railways in ships that are just like the one that attacked Big One back when Manabu's father died. The frequency ramps up, and the crew of Big One has to hustle station to station, planet to planet, trying to track down the source of the incursion. And along the way, after having rescued a woman from hooligans on a distant planet...Bruce is killed. Not by aliens, not in battle...but a drive-by at a gas station. The suddenness and senselessness shakes Manabu to his core, throwing him into a depression that has him questioning if he can even carry on as a member of the SDF.

Duty calls, however. Those aliens aren't going to stop themselves! Manabu has to shake out of it before he can lose another dear friend and fellow officer. Louis, another Big One crewmate, is abducted and Manabu and the remaining crew hasten to find her and stop the remaining invaders from utterly destabilizing the integrity of their galaxy by way of smashing through a dimensional tear.

Since the show has OVAs and a sequel season, they do indeed succeed. The attack is stopped, Louis is rescued, and Manabu and company safely return back to duty aboard Big One. Manabu ends the season with a great deal more humility and gratitude for what lessons he learned along the way, and has his eyes forward to a promising future.


Personality:
Manabu is a very goal-oriented and hard-working type of person -- so much so that he doesn't like to slow down or even relax if he can help it. Rather than think about what he'll do when he achieves a goal, all of his energy is put into getting there, best he can. Following his father and brother's path doesn't come with a clear picture of what that looks like when he reaches those heights, but since he so fully invests himself into the moment-to-moment process of his journey, he's never lacking in purpose along the way.

Polite, albeit hasty and at times awkward for it, he pays very little attention to nuance or things that don't coincide with his current role or task. This makes him fairly slow on taking subtle hints from people if they're not the primary target of his focus at a given time. Still, his mother raised him to be respectful, and he seems only to break from that mold when he feels talked-down to or threatened in some way.

Since he had so little experience in the world outside of his humble hometown, Manabu is often naïve about the ways other people live or perceive things around them, and it can throw him off when his common sense doesn't apply. Still, he is more apt to give people the benefit of the doubt and trust in some innate goodness that must be in all people -- something that hasn't been shaken from him even after all the hazards along his journey.

A competitive streak crops up when it comes to thinks he's passionate about, and he is determined to succeed when people show doubt in him. Still, if something seems to have little to do with an important goal, Manabu gets easily distracted, bored, and anxious to be doing something more meaningful; sitting down to read or watch TV is not his idea of a good time.

In the realm of romance, he is not very versed. While the show does have him on a trajectory to at least a budding romance with Louis, Manabu doesn't spend a lot of time reflecting on anyone's attractiveness, nor show much desire to pursue relationships beyond that of working professionals or friends. He's not lacking in passion by any means -- it's just not directed at building a relationship with someone. Yet.

He is deeply motivated by legacy -- in particular that of his father's and his brother's. Working for the SDF makes him feel close to the loved ones he's lost, and he feels it's his duty to carry on where they cannot. For a while, it seemed simply pursuing their legacies was what mattered most, and only further along in his journey did he come into his own and understand what he wants for himself. This is why, while respectful to the authorities he reports to, he is just as often likely to butt heads with them or skirt around rules to follow his convictions. The last thing he wants to do is see people suffer, but he's since learned that sometimes there just is no other way.

When it comes to protecting others, Manabu spares barely any thought for his own personal safety. Honestly, he only seems to think of his safety when his crewmates make it clear that him getting harmed harms them in turn. He's thrown himself into the line of fire (or fists, or lasers, or--) more than a few times, and he's likely to keep doing that. Probably good that he's rather short...makes him a harder target to hit from range.

Because legacy is such a driving force in his life, Manabu is afraid of sullying his family's honor more than even his own. It's less of an issue now, but still hangs on in the back of his head, as the voice of his father still haunts him with advice...and casts quite the shadow on his own career and ambitions. He can't stand the suffering of innocents, especially children, so much so that the near-death of a child he couldn't save from an explosion shook him to the point where he had to be forcibly put on leave to sort through his anxieties. The thought that a person could've lived had he just been a little quicker, stronger, or smarter can really shake his resolve.

Right and wrong are not as gray for him as it can be for others, though he's learned that there are shades of it that must be navigated case by case. Still, he's effectively a space cop: He chases down thieves and terrorists, seeking to deescalate a threat first before asking about motivations. He can't be the arbiter of true justice, but he can't also stand idly by to let people get hurt. Hell, he has empathy for those who may be driven to desperate actions: He'd befriended a man who turned out to have been done dirty by the SDF and driven to terrorism, and that incident definitely gave him a lot to consider, especially when it comes to working for a high authority.

He may not be able to save the galaxy like he dreamed of doing as a little boy, but Manabu Yuuki is determined to help as many people as he can live in relative peace and safety.


Abilities/Powers/Weaknesses & Warping: None! He is a regular human with regular human organs and capacities.
Inventory:
1. Standard-issue Cosmo Dragoon (a pistol what shoots lasers instead of bullets)
2. a silver harmonica
3. an old photograph

Writing Samples: TDM samples -- 3 network, 2 prose

OUT OF CHARACTER

Player Name: Elle
Player Age: 33
Player Contact: whyellewhy

Other Characters In Game: N/A
In-Game Tag If Accepted: Manabu Yuuki: Elle
Permissions for Character: Beep
Are you comfortable with prominent elements of fourth-walling?: Yep
What themes of horror/psychological thrillers do you enjoy the most?: body horror, matters of the building/breaking psyche, eldritch/cosmic horror
Is there anything in particular you absolutely need specific content warnings for?: knee-related violence/injury
Additional Information: N/A