App;

[depressured]

CHARACTER INFO

Character Name: Mafuyu Asahina
Canon: Project Sekai
Age: 18
If Under 16, why is this character a good thematic fit for Somnia?: N/A
Canon Point: Just after the Wonderhorror event, an event that has Mafuyu come to realize that other people outside of her music circle care about her and are happy when she thrives.
Wiki Link(s): Boop!

SOMNIA-SPECIFIC QUESTIONS

1. Dreams are how Sleep chooses you. What might draw your character into Somnia— a wound, a wish, a weakness? Would they follow the dream, or run from it?

In a way, both a wound and a wish. Mafuyu, who lost sight of her true self, in her attempts to please and placate those around her, wished so badly to discover (or rediscover) her feelings that it birthed an entire world--an empty SEKAI. She longs for the warmth she stopped feeling, struggling to understand her own emotions even now and finally took the first desperate steps away from her mother's controlling nature when it threatened that fragile self she'd begun to understand and the people who were nurturing it. Her dreams are both a longing for the warmth of the past with her family and nightmares in which speaking her true thoughts are not accepted by those she cares about. A dream that offered the answers and the warmth she seeks, she would follow, though not without some trepidation that it's not that easy to trust.

2. Somnia is a slow unraveling—of worlds, and of selves. How does your character respond to fear, transformation, and losing control? Do they fight, adapt, collapse?

Not much seems to frighten Mafuyu--or, rather, what frightens her is not what used to frighten her as a child (thunder) or what would frighten the people around her (ghosts, bugs, etc.). No, what scares her is being rejected for the person she's slowly choosing to become, rather than the person she's been expected to be. Of betraying expectations of the people who want something else for her. And she does panic when that happens. She freezes up and her first instinct is to hunch her shoulders and apologize. But sometimes, she can stand against it. Sometimes, when she stands at the verge of losing something important or she finally wants to take a step forward, she perseveres and tries to push through it, pale and shaking, but determined. But sometimes when that fear gets too overwhelming, or when that fear manifests into reality and it becomes her fault, she buckles. She runs. She breaks down. Mafuyu, as it stands, is not always strong enough to stand on her own and she does need support and a strong reminder that she's not alone in those moments.

As for transformation, her own changes are usually so slow that she doesn't quite realize when a transformation has occurred until it's pointed out to her or she makes a mildly surprised observation to herself about it. It can be painful or uncomfortable at times, but she tends to accept it with time when she's strong enough to face it.

She doesn't like to lose control. Especially with those she doesn't know, she doesn't wish to appear useless or incompetent, in need of help, and to that, she would fight a little harder to gain control of a situation or herself, because--she's the class rep. She's the reliable senpai in her archery club. She's looked up to by her fellow students and even the teachers ask her for help. She isn't allowed to falter in her outward-facing personality, and it's really only her circle members (and Hatsune Miku + Other Vocaloids Virtual Singers) who get to see anything else from her.

3. Connection is the only constant. What kind of bonds does your character form— fast and burning, slow and wary, deep and desperate? How might that shape their time in this world?

At a glance, it seems Mafuyu is easy to befriend, amicable and compassionate and eager to help. But it's a fairly shallow representation of her and one she maintains out of habit and a genuine desire not to cause trouble to others, something instilled in her when she was still very young. However, the real Mafuyu is distant and blunt, coming across as rude without intending to be. That Mafuyu still struggles to allow others in, doesn't expect to be liked, and due to that, the bonds she forms are slow to coalesce. But once they exist and are allowed to deepen, they do indeed run deep and she maintains a desperate sort of grip on them.

Due to that, while it will undoubtedly take Mafuyu a long time to form that sort of bond with others, this world puts her in a position where she has to rely on strangers at least a little. They will be subjected to parts of her eventually that she doesn't wish to be seen and, if accepted, she'll cling to them in her own quiet way and seek to make herself a part of their lives even in the slightest of ways. Even if this hurts her.

Admittedly, it's going to cause her no small amount of trouble when Tethers start forming for her, because in the process of understanding her own muted emotions, it's going to come as a bit of a shock to feel the non-dampened ones of others and she might wish to remove herself from it at first. This too is growth!

4. What are two major forces in your character’s personality that are often in conflict? (Ex: logic vs emotion, power vs guilt, obedience vs rage, etc.)

Definitely obedience vs defiance. Ever since she was a little girl who got momentarily separated from her mother at an amusement park, the moment of reunion kicked off the exact moment Mafuyu reorganized her priorities. Because her mother got upset at her for not listening and wandering off, distressing Mafuyu, and when told that her mother would be much happier if she was a "good girl" who listened to her mother, that set her on the path to losing her true self. From that moment on, Mafuyu became even more obedient, not just to her mother but to the people who asked anything of her. She was studious and willing to help tutor her fellow students (but not so much that she'd neglect her own studies, her mother reminded her). She joined the archery club not out of a love for the sport but because the captain was the first person to ask her. When she first thought she might become a nurse, finding an interest in it, she brought it up to her mother who pointed out that a doctor would make more money and was certainly suited for her, and without protest, Mafuyu simply accepted that she would become a doctor instead and eventually forgot that dream. Even when helping out at a festival, she considers volunteering for the nursing/first-aid tent, but as they need someone to help with directing the festival-goers to places and answering questions, she takes that up instead.

But cracks start to form. She encounters a marionette at a doll exhibit and feels sick at the sight of it, unconsciously finding herself being able to relate to being made to move and act at the will of another. When she joins the music circle, she stays up late at night to work with the group, unbeknownst to her mother. She goes against her "good girl" nature by revealing to the others that she's been worn down by this constant maintaining of perfection and is thus much quieter and distant and blunt. A text from her mother on the way to cram school that calls her a "good girl" causes her so much anxiety in a time of mounting pressure that she actually doesn't go and instead runs to the theme park to see her friends instead. Her mother tries to throw out her synthesizer once and Mafuyu saves it from the garbage collector in time by lying to them that it was accidentally misplaced. And it mounts, with her mother "accidentally" spilling water on her laptop to damage it so she can no longer use it to converse/work with her friends, and successfully throwing out her synthesizer because she believes this friend group and focusing on making music is distracting Mafuyu from her studies and her future career path. When her mother tries to take her phone, her one remaining connection to both her friends and her SEKAI, Mafuyu struggles to hold on to it, and it results in it being knocked into her aquarium and getting damaged. Eventually, Mafuyu shakily confronts her mother with the support of two of the Virtual Singers, to beg her to understand her true feelings and to try and reach a compromise--that, sadly, does not work out, leaving Mafuyu to finally run away. Quite literally. Her biggest act of defiance, brought about because finally her wish to be a good girl and to make others happy by answering their wishes is overpowered by the need to protect the true self she's been trying to nurture for a year.

VESSEL SELECTION
Which Vessel Type are you choosing: Token or Offering? Token
Why does this Vessel type feel appropriate for your character? Mafuyu's true feelings are to find herself--and therefore, I think it would best for her to continue to try understanding that without simultaneously having to deal with her form changing in drastic ways. She'd still need to adapt, but her form would still be similar enough to adjust a little more carefully.
Choose one OR list three subclass options within your chosen Vessel type that you think would suit them: Aquamancer

Samples: Toplevel + Adolphe