Suzume Fukura

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Suzume Fukura
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IC Information
Full Name: Suzume Fukura (福良雀)
Arcana: Chariot
Gender: Female
Age (Birthdate): 16 (March 17)
Hair Colour: Purple
Eye Colour: Dark
Height: 5'0" / 153 cm
Residence: Iwatodai Dorms
Workplace: Gekkoukan High School
Job: Second Year
Role: Focus
OOC Information
Source: Persona 3 (OC)
Groups: SEES
Player: User:Almacia

"Bet you can't keep up."

An underachieving student at Gekkoukan High School. Suzume Fukura lived in the shadow of her successful, popular elder sister Kiyomi... until her sudden and tragic death. Going from being mostly ignored by her parents to pushed to be the successful daughter her parents want, Suzume clashes with her parents over everything from her lack of academic success to her interest in 'unfeminine', 'inappropriate' hobbies like video games and high-impact sports, along with a rotating list of other hobbies she never seems to stick with for long. While Suzume resents being pushed into a role she doesn't want, she isn't sure what she *does* want for herself or her future, and her failure to be what anyone wants has given her low self-esteem that she covers up with bravado and an urge to prove herself that sometimes gets her into trouble. She tends to live in the moment, where she relishes challenges that she can succeed or fail at under her own power, without having to worry about long-term consequences. But what she really searches for, deep down, is a place to belong and the ability to just be accepted as herself. Even if she might punch you for saying that.

Background

Suzume is the unexpected second child of the Fukura family and, to her, this explains an awful lot about her life.

Suzume isn't generally very forthcoming these days, but she has been in the Gekkoukan school set since middle school - her family has always been in Tatsumi Port City - so it's not like nobody knows about her. Her father Kaito is blue collar and works in the industrial district, while her mother Yae is not employed.

Previously she had a sister, elder by one year, Kiyomi. Suzume never lived up to her sister's image, who seemed to excel at everything she put her hand to. Her parents praised Kiyomi's success, and even when Suzume tried, she - a year younger, a year less educated, a year less grown - could very rarely match the achievements. Suzume internalized that if she tried to match her sister, she'd fail.

So Suzume spent a lot of time either holed up in her room buried in a game or a manga - some sort of escapism - or out away from the Fukura residence, acting as differently from Kiyomi in an attempt to differentiate herself, and to stand out. Which she did, if not always for positive reasons. She got a reputation as, depending on who you ask, a very active youth or an uncontrollable tomboy, especially in her last year of middle and first year of high school. Her close friends were mostly boys, including the trio of Jiro Yamamoto, Daiki Kimura and Hidemi Ito, despite her parents' occasional attempts to get her to act more like a young lady.

And then Kiyomi died in late 2011 at the hands of a driver suffering a psychotic breakdown.

Something about Suzume changed then. It wasn't that much last year, but since the beginning of the school year in April it's been obvious. She doesn't talk about it either, of course. This year at Gekkoukan, Suzume has not been a cooperative student. She's been moody and short-tempered, and though she was never reserved she's pricklier than she used to be. She has not focused on academics or culture clubs; she has even skipped class a few times, and there's rumours she's done worse on the delinquency front - petty crime, even getting into scuffles - though there's no evidence, only gossip. She's tried to hold onto her old friends, though only Jiro feels like they have the same relationship as they used to. She's struggled to make new ones.

That's the situation she was in when she decided to take the Mementos Dare...

Season 1, Episode 1

Coming soon!

Persona

Suzume's Persona is Atalanta.

Atalanta appears as a woman wearing a short tunic with a decorative silver-and-steel breastplate, matching greaves and bracers and belt, a golden bicep band. She has a lionskin cloak, a mane forming the upper bounds of it which her blonde hair falls into, the two of them nearly indistinguishable. And she has cats-eyes, very very green and vertically slit. A bowgun is mounted on her right bracer.

Atalanta is a story of an individual abandoned by her parents because they wanted a different kind of child and raised in the wild. She dedicated herself to the virgin hunter goddess Artemis and would defend herself against violent men, shooting a pair of centaurs dead when they attempted to violate her. She fought alongside men, but was not allowed to become a part of their team - the Argonauts allowed her to hunt the Calydonian boar with them but not travel with them on their quest for the Golden Fleece, for a woman would be a danger on a ship.

She was a female hero, described as 'as skilled any man' - her very name means 'equal in weight'. But she was mostly ignored beyond a few myths, with some of even her more famous victories rating only a single line in a story. ('...at the games held in honor of Pelias she wrestled with Peleus and won.', even though this event is by far the most common depiction of Atalanta in Greek art.)

In a different legend, Atalanta was (re)discovered by her father who had abandoned her, King Schoenus. She was accepted as his daughter but he began to arrange a marriage for her. Atalanta agreed only if the chosen man could beat her in a footrace; any who tried and failed would be killed. Her father agreed, and several suitors died - but Hippomenes, who had fallen in love with her at first sight but knew he could not fairly win, prayed to Aphrodite for assistance. With the aid of her golden apples, he won, but forgot to thank Aphrodite, and so she cursed them with passion so that they would have sex in a sanctuary dedicated to a different god (usually Zeus or Cybele). For this insult, Atalanta and Hippomenes were turned into lions; the Greeks believed that lions mated with leopards, so as a pair of lions, they would never be with each other... though it is never said if Atalanta truly loved Hippomenes, or if she only married him to fill a role, and out of obligation.

Suzume's narrative combines both sets of legends. Ignored by her parents in favour of her more popular, more successful, and more feminine sister, she mostly raised herself, spending time in places her parents didn't approve of or escaping to her room. She prefers direct, blunt action; she is not shy about defending herself, physically or verbally, and she is particularly aggressive about being told she can't do something (or must do something) because she is a girl or because she is weak. She has some issues with expressive femininity, or at least expressing it herself; she rebels against attempts to make her act in a more traditionally ladylike fashion.

And, of course, she feels forgotten, overlooked; like anything she did right would not be remembered, or compared unfavourably to her sister. It's not entirely untrue, either, or wasn't until recently, with her parents seeming to push her to replace her sister... that's what it feels like to her, certainly.

Special Skills

Coming soon!

Relationships

SEES

Name Arcana Social Link Info
Hitomi Mandai 10. Fortune ★★☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆ Glad to have someone I know on the team. I can trust her. But maybe ease up on the tea.
Minako Arisato 0. Fool ★☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆ Peppy. And I owe her. ...I'm amazed her and her brother haven't killed each other yet.
Minato Arisato 0. Fool ★☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆ I like him. He's a little weird, but he doesn't mind me being me.
Reiya Aomori 9. Hermit ★☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆ Pretty intense. He likes to be mysterious, but he's cool to hang out with.
Yukari Takeba 6. Lovers ☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆ I'll show her I can handle this. She can't call me helpless.
Moriko Kumamoto 10. Fortune ☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆ She's the only girl I know my age who likes bikes. Wish I could try one.
Koh Katsuhiro 10. Fortune ☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆ Well, at least the guys have someone new on their side too.
Ririka Kawase 12. Hanged Man ☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆ She's okay. Braver than she looks. Even if I feel like I'll get a crick in my neck if I look so far up.
Shizuka Kuroki 18. Moon ☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆ Don't call me 'Zume-chan'. That's not even a name, it's an MP3 player... I think.

Not SEES

Name Arcana Social Link Info
Jiro Yamamoto 17. Star ★★★☆☆☆☆☆☆☆ It's weird, that you don't remember... But at least you're safe.
Shinjiro Aragaki 5. Hierophant ★☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆ He looks like a menace but he was straight with me. One of the first SEES, huh...
Hyousuke Suzuki 7. Chariot ☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆ Probably should have gotten him to pay for the drink, actually.
Myunghon Yeo 15. Devil ☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆ Turns out you might know more than you let on. Next time I'm back at the Cardboard Dragon, I'll ask. And buy a pack.

Logs and Cutscenes

Season 1


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