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maskormenace application (updated 5/2017)
〈 PLAYER INFO 〉
NAME: Elle
AGE: 30...
JOURNAL: noelleno
IM / EMAIL: tyrannical.alien gmail
PLURK: whyellewhy
RETURNING: N/A
〈 CHARACTER INFO 〉
CHARACTER NAME: Manabu Yuuki
CHARACTER AGE: 19-20
SERIES: The Galaxy Railways
CHRONOLOGY: After episode 19 ("Tranquility")
CLASS: Hero
HOUSING: Randomize it!
BACKGROUND:
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.
That's the poetic way of putting it, and that's not particularly wrong, but it's not the whole story. More on that later. But first, Manabu.
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.
And then he wakes up in MoM.
PERSONALITY:
Manabu is a goober.
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 good hearted one. So we forgive him.
POWER:
• Healing/Regeneration: recovery speed is relative to the damage (small cuts heal nearly instantaneously, massive gashes take hours/days/etc.)
• Punch Magnetism: Handshakes, high-fives, shoulder-pats...literally any hand-based action near his person automatically and aggressively redirects as a punch/slap/shove
〈 CHARACTER SAMPLES 〉
COMMUNITY POST (VOICE) SAMPLE:
[hello. he's scowling. scowling.]
You know... [>:(] Mailboxes aren't for stuffing old soda cans. Especially half-full ones.
[a beat. his voice levels, attempting to sound older and more authoritative:]
I know there's three of you, and I know at least one of them uses this network, because I heard the same audio ding all of ours use to call someone. [authority gone, back to being 20:] So it's not like you can keep on doing this without me finding out and you getting punished for it! There are fines for that kind of thing.
So quit it.
LOGS POST (PROSE) SAMPLE:
Plenty to choose from!
FINAL NOTES:
Inventory: SDF ID card, standard issue laser handguns (2; one doesn't work) and uniform, family photo (I'd like to keep these if at all possible)
CANON UPDATE: 11/2017
Since E19, Manabu's bonds with his team -- and the other major platoons of the SDF -- has grown tighter. Sirius, Spica, and Vega Platoons vow support each other on the missions following their long holiday.
However...Manabu's suddenly given an offer to join the Space Panzer Grenadiers -- the military unit his big brother was part of. It's an elite, highly sought-after ranking, and Manabu agrees to run through boot camp to see how he fares. And though he passes with very high marks and praise, Manabu in the end decides to go back to Sirius Platoon, citing his need to learn more from his team (his family, really) and that he'll have as much pride with them as he would with the SPG. After all, either position, he's still fighting to save lives and keep the peace.
Rejoined with his team, Sirius Platoon is given a special mission under the charge of a special officer from HQ. He's brash, stubborn, and rubs everyone the wrong way, but orders are orders and rank is rank. They track down a distress signal leading to an abandoned city where they discover Leafle-- an alien woman claiming to be from an entirely other universe. She explains that her peace-loving world was invaded by powerhungry conquerers who forced them to create terrible weapons, weapons which are also being used to poke and prod in this galaxy (these are in fact the same invaders who attacked and forced Manabu's father to sacrifice himself more than ten years ago, but they don't know it yet).
Her appeals are earnest, but the HQ officer brushes it off as a trick. Just then, the team is attacked by the very invaders Leafle warned of. During their escape, she is fatally injured protecting Manabu, and she passes over a piece of alien technology she urges them to use to fight back. Again, the HQ officer in charge adamantly refuses and bids them escape on their own capabilities.
Big One, the train they crew, is nearly destroyed before Captain Bulge finally defies the officer and commands his team to use Leafle's technology. It winds up saving them from near-death, but Leafle herself dies along the way and Manabu's crewmate Louise is badly injured. And, amid the high tensions, Captain Bulge loses his cool and punches out the HQ officer for insulting Manabu's father and dismissing Louise's condition, effectively saying she's going to die anyway and not waste time on her.
While Leafle's technology saved them from immediate destruction, Big One is so badly damaged that they're forced to make a crash landing on a nearby inhabited planet. Low on medical resources, Manabu and his partner Bruce have to rush to the nearest city to retrieve blood and supplies to save Louise's life. Along the way, they intercept a vehicle where a woman's been kidnapped by would-be gangbangers and rescue her. She turns out to be a nurse, and she's able to direct them to the nearest hospital...and notice that Bruce, himself, is injured, having received ricochet damage from the shot that took Louise down. He agrees to stay and get patched up while Manabu goes on ahead with the supplies and the vehicle to go save Louise.
Thankfully, Manabu makes it back in time and Medic Yuki is able to successfully operate and stabilize her. All that's left is to wait for Bruce to catch up in a civilian vehicle...
He never makes it, though. The gangbangers he and Manabu beat up earlier intercept him at a gas station, shoot him, and vanish into the night. Bruce dies alone, not found for hours.
This takes us to Episode 23. The funeral service is held promptly back at HQ, and the team -- especially Manabu and Louise -- are wrecked with guilt. Bruce died alone, and he was Manabu's partner. Had Louise not been shot...
Orders from up top have stripped Sirius Platoon. Captain Bulge is suspended immediately for assaulting a commanding officer, and the rest of his team are conscripted to the Spica and Vega Platoons. They can either join, or they quit the SDF entirely.
The days following are hazy and miserable. Manabu can barely focus, constantly seeing and hearing ghosts of his dead partner, shaking his concentration, leaving him in a fog of despair. Despite trying to keep up with the Vega Platoon, Manabu just can't focus, and it's only until he and Louise revisit Bruce's grave, seeing their captain's coat draped over the headstone, that the start to have a little bit of faith that things might turn around. Maybe the Sirius Platoon isn't over yet. Manabu and Louise grip each other's hands to reassure themselves that they're still in this for the long haul.
Manabu will be returning shortly after this, in uniform and now in possession of his partner's harmonica -- a trinket he now carries with him everywhere, same as his father's sidearm and his family photo. He's still the same age, but he's grown quite a lot in this short span, that much loss and new revelations to danger really sobering him out of his usual hotheaded impulses