Once, in another life, Ryoko Shinonome was a perfectly normal girl. Quiet and introverted, her relative comfort in spending time alone could come off as aloofness or even coldness. Despite that, she was warm and sweet to the people she cares for and surprisingly earnest and open with her emotions. She was straightforward and often idealistic to the point of being a touch naive and easily manipulated by people who perhaps don't have her best interests at heart. In many ways, though, her naivety was its own kind of strength, allowing her to put her sharp intelligence and determination to good use when fighting kaiju.
That being said, the girl the present day Ryoko seems to be didn't come from exactly nowhere. She has a spiteful, stubborn streak that surfaces at inopportune times and it's not all that hard to get her to mistrust people who otherwise might be able to help her. She's also a little too comfortable using other people for her own purposes - as mentioned in her history section, she fake dates a boy in middle school entirely to get her parents off her back and then breaks up with him once he's served his purpose without ever once explaining herself or seemingly feeling any sort of guilt about it.
This seems to stem from a relationship with her parents that's quietly implied to be... complicated at best. Perhaps the biggest red flag in this regard is Ryoko's willingness to martyr herself for the people she cares about, throwing herself under the bus if she thinks it's what they want. Tetsuya Ida's manipulation of her is said to be as easy as it is specifically because Ryoko is – as described by the director – used to having to look after and rely on herself, so the idea that anyone else would even think to do so is a revelation to her.
As of the present day, the attack on Sector 2 and its aftermath have broken Ryoko down and sharpened the pieces into cutting edges and razor sharp points. Her worst traits have been brought into sharp focus, with her determination becoming bull-headed stubbornness that makes her dangerous when pointed in the right directions. She's much more cynical and irritable, with much less patience than she may have had in other situations – though given how much pain she seems to be in on a moment to moment basis, it's less a lack of care and more that she doesn't have the energy to waste on social niceties, especially when she's on the warpath. She's also prone to, bluntly, conspiratorial thinking – her difficulty with her memories often means that she's only getting half of the story at any given time and this is made worse by Ryoko's tendency to form-fit the facts into pre-existing narratives she's already built for herself rather than learning from them. This is an unfortunate lasting effect of Tetsuya Ida's grooming of her – she was taught to mistrust everyone around her except for Ida and even after his death, that part of his influence lingers. What's left of her willingness to trust is hard won and she takes perceived betrayals incredibly badly, willing to lash out with real violence when her trust is broken.
All this isn't to say that her worst traits are all that remain of Ryoko. Given the opportunity to better herself in a healthy environment with those who care about her and Ryoko becomes a force to be reckoned with. She'll champion and protect people who are unable to do so themselves and her understanding of what it means to be betrayed by those you trusted most makes her doggedly loyal once her trust has been well and truly won. She's sharp as a tack and quick to adapt to situations where her quick thinking might be of use and most importantly of all, under all her barbs and bad attitude, she's a truly compassionate girl who understands pain better than any girl her age should have to. Ryoko's issue isn't a lack of love, but rather, an overabundance of it directed towards people who certainly don't deserve it and in a situation where her love is put towards championing the right sort of people then she might just become unstoppable.
Time of Arrival to Kaisou: Immediately Items: Her medication (NM-C0204) and her phaser gun (said to be able to 'kill an elephant' at its highest levels, can stun humans non-lethally or kill on lower levels as required. Happy to nerf this if necessary!)
Retained Ability: ya girl has bugs in her brain!!! this is absolutely to her detriment, but Ryoko has nanomachines in her brain that allow her to do a variety of things in her home canon but in Kaisou will do absolutely nothing but eventually start pulling themselves out of her brain. Fun!! Resetting them to beginner levels will essentially halt and reset this deterioration but I would love to deal with that gradually reasserting itself and Ryoko having to fix it at some point down the line if that's doable!
Ryoko Shinonome | 13 Sentinels: Aegis Rim | OU
Contact: PM to this journal or
Invited by: Nao
Other Characters: N/A
Character Name: Ryoko Shinonome
Canon: OU
Canon Point:
History:
13 Sentinels plot summary on Wikipedia
Ryoko on the 13S wiki
My own history writeup bc this game is bugnuts ðŸ˜
Personality:
Once, in another life, Ryoko Shinonome was a perfectly normal girl. Quiet and introverted, her relative comfort in spending time alone could come off as aloofness or even coldness. Despite that, she was warm and sweet to the people she cares for and surprisingly earnest and open with her emotions. She was straightforward and often idealistic to the point of being a touch naive and easily manipulated by people who perhaps don't have her best interests at heart. In many ways, though, her naivety was its own kind of strength, allowing her to put her sharp intelligence and determination to good use when fighting kaiju.
That being said, the girl the present day Ryoko seems to be didn't come from exactly nowhere. She has a spiteful, stubborn streak that surfaces at inopportune times and it's not all that hard to get her to mistrust people who otherwise might be able to help her. She's also a little too comfortable using other people for her own purposes - as mentioned in her history section, she fake dates a boy in middle school entirely to get her parents off her back and then breaks up with him once he's served his purpose without ever once explaining herself or seemingly feeling any sort of guilt about it.
This seems to stem from a relationship with her parents that's quietly implied to be... complicated at best. Perhaps the biggest red flag in this regard is Ryoko's willingness to martyr herself for the people she cares about, throwing herself under the bus if she thinks it's what they want. Tetsuya Ida's manipulation of her is said to be as easy as it is specifically because Ryoko is – as described by the director – used to having to look after and rely on herself, so the idea that anyone else would even think to do so is a revelation to her.
As of the present day, the attack on Sector 2 and its aftermath have broken Ryoko down and sharpened the pieces into cutting edges and razor sharp points. Her worst traits have been brought into sharp focus, with her determination becoming bull-headed stubbornness that makes her dangerous when pointed in the right directions. She's much more cynical and irritable, with much less patience than she may have had in other situations – though given how much pain she seems to be in on a moment to moment basis, it's less a lack of care and more that she doesn't have the energy to waste on social niceties, especially when she's on the warpath. She's also prone to, bluntly, conspiratorial thinking – her difficulty with her memories often means that she's only getting half of the story at any given time and this is made worse by Ryoko's tendency to form-fit the facts into pre-existing narratives she's already built for herself rather than learning from them. This is an unfortunate lasting effect of Tetsuya Ida's grooming of her – she was taught to mistrust everyone around her except for Ida and even after his death, that part of his influence lingers. What's left of her willingness to trust is hard won and she takes perceived betrayals incredibly badly, willing to lash out with real violence when her trust is broken.
All this isn't to say that her worst traits are all that remain of Ryoko. Given the opportunity to better herself in a healthy environment with those who care about her and Ryoko becomes a force to be reckoned with. She'll champion and protect people who are unable to do so themselves and her understanding of what it means to be betrayed by those you trusted most makes her doggedly loyal once her trust has been well and truly won. She's sharp as a tack and quick to adapt to situations where her quick thinking might be of use and most importantly of all, under all her barbs and bad attitude, she's a truly compassionate girl who understands pain better than any girl her age should have to. Ryoko's issue isn't a lack of love, but rather, an overabundance of it directed towards people who certainly don't deserve it and in a situation where her love is put towards championing the right sort of people then she might just become unstoppable.
Time of Arrival to Kaisou: Immediately
Items: Her medication (NM-C0204) and her phaser gun (said to be able to 'kill an elephant' at its highest levels, can stun humans non-lethally or kill on lower levels as required. Happy to nerf this if necessary!)
Retained Ability: ya girl has bugs in her brain!!! this is absolutely to her detriment, but Ryoko has nanomachines in her brain that allow her to do a variety of things in her home canon but in Kaisou will do absolutely nothing but eventually start pulling themselves out of her brain. Fun!! Resetting them to beginner levels will essentially halt and reset this deterioration but I would love to deal with that gradually reasserting itself and Ryoko having to fix it at some point down the line if that's doable!