Personality: For the most part, Eiri comes off as confident, sometimes even cocky. And this is pretty impressive considering his small stature. Usually people of his height would get lost in the crowd, but he manages to have a presence wherever he goes. And it’s because he’s confident in himself that this is possible.
Well, that, and he has an impressive pair of lungs that he is not afraid to use.
But that’s just the thing, Eiri isn’t afraid to make his presence known. He isn’t afraid to be seen even if it also means he makes himself an easy target for teasing (particularly from Haku or other peers). But even if he is teased, he doesn’t shrink away from others’ words, but instead takes them head-on (figuratively, though I wouldn’t put it past him to go to literal lengths, either). If he feels his reputation is at stake, he’ll confront whoever is at fault and try to set things right. He’s not even afraid to speak his mind to his authority figures, though he does hold himself back at least a little bit out of respect.
Another factor that adds to his confident demeanor is the fact that Eiri is very intelligent, as well as incredibly skilled. In the Church, he’s actually one of the top cadets. Now, some people would take a look at themselves if they were in Eiri’s position and be pretty humble about their achievements. Eiri, not so much. While he doesn’t go around announcing he’s one of the best, he does show his smugness in other ways. During briefings, he’s been known to verbally – and loudly – correct a fellow cadet’s answer to a question. He also adopts a smug smile sometimes after answering a question correctly. What a proud little shit.
It is important to note that while Eiri is still confident, he has mellowed out over time. Ever since Souma and Shuusuke graduated, and he and Haku started taking on cadets to help train and supervise, he’s grown more mature. He is responsible for more lives than just his own and Haku’s and that’s a huge deal because it means he can’t be as narrow-minded. He has fewer peers to bounce off of and more people who look up to him.
We don’t know exactly what Eiri’s reputation is within the Church. He could very easily be that insufferable know-it-all that everyone talks about behind his back, or he could be an idol of sorts in the organization. Mamiya, Ariga, Shirasaki, and Yuuri seem to respect Eiri well enough (Ariga is particularly impressed with Eiri’s gunmanship), though after Eiri has had to come to their rescue more than once, this isn’t too surprising.
And when he does come to their aid, Eiri is genuinely concerned. If there are people under his care, he will do his best to take care of them. This doesn’t mean he’ll coddle them, of course. A lot of the time, Eiri tries to give people little pointers on being more successful in a mission. Sometimes, he’ll even stop coddling from happening at all. During one mission, when it looked like Yuuri was going to confront Mamiya (they hadn’t been getting along well before that point), Shirasaki (Yuuri’s childhood friend) was about to step in and keep things from escalating, but Eiri stopped him because he knows sometimes people need to work things out for themselves, between themselves. After all, it basically worked for him and Haku.
But while Eiri is more pragmatic when dealing with others instead of emotional, there’s always an exception. And for him that exception is Haku. To put it quite simply, Haku is Eiri’s most important person. Of course, part of this is because they are Messiah and so they are expected and encouraged to grow close to one another. But in Eiri’s case, he really is fond of Haku. Fond and fiercely protective. And Haku is the one person with whom he can be himself completely.
Eiri used to hate being around Haku but after spending time with him and learning about him and literally throwing himself in the the path of a man with a gun just to bring Haku out of his own head, their relationship changed into something that is more reflective of what the Church wants out of a partnership. While Eiri tries to present himself as more serious in front of other people these days, he can still regress to his earlier days when he’s alone with Haku, and resort to yelling and stomping his feet and generally throwing a little tantrum. Of course this is if Haku decides to tease him or otherwise not give Eiri everything he wants. If Haku is behaving, then so is Eiri, and they can get along perfectly. Interestingly enough, even before they grew close, they have always been able to work together on missions without a problem.
But all of this refers to normal circumstances. If something goes wrong and Haku is in danger (physical or emotional), Eiri becomes protective. When the two of them ran into Serizawa for the first time, Eiri drew his gun and tried to make himself the focal point instead of Haku. But even at this point, he didn’t take away Haku’s freedom to act right away. He only acted when it became apparent Haku wouldn’t be able to act accordingly. So he is protective, but he also respects his Messiah and doesn’t treat Haku like a child (though Haku definitely has childish traits and sometimes need adult supervision).
However, the truest part of Eiri’s character comes out when he feels like he has nothing left in life. And when Haku appeared ready to kill himself, Eiri freaked out because Haku is, quite frankly, his reason for living. If he were to die, then Eiri would have nothing. And instead of throwing one of his iconic foot-stomping tantrums, Eiri instead pleaded with Haku to stop and screamed with seemingly every fiber of his being. He was desperate.
If Haku’s life is ever in danger, Eiri will act without any thought for his own safety. This is because Haku is just too important to him, as well as the fact that Eiri’s own jinx renders him incapable of dying (or at least it has on every occasion where he should have died so far) so he feels like he can sacrifice himself without any major repercussions.
Flavor Abilities: Eiri can go from zero to tsun in under three seconds which is kind of cool and also very annoying and an incredibly useless skill in the long run.
Suitability: For Eiri, the physical setting shouldn’t cause him much trouble. The cold will suck, especially since Japanese weather is normal and not snowy all year round, but he’s undoubtedly been trained to deal with it. His focus in Norfinbury will be to gather up as many supplies as possible and to always stay warm. It may be tempting to just huddle down because of the cold, but he knows that if he doesn’t move around, he’ll freeze. He’ll also be focused on getting back to the Church, so staying in one area is not an option, especially when it becomes clear that doing so will get nothing accomplished.
The real challenge will be the psychological nature of Norfinbury. Eiri’s own mental state is pretty stable, but because of his canonpoint, he’ll be a little more vulnerable than usual. However, once he finds Haku and (hopefully) smoothes things out with him, he’ll be able to focus on his self-appointed mission of survival and escape. Of course, just because he’s mentally stable doesn’t mean he’s untouchable. So when things start to get weird, he can look at his letter from his sister Moe, not only as a means to cheer him up, but also to keep him grounded. If he can focus on something he knows is real, then he can combat the bad feelings, at least a little bit. Haku will naturally be the stronger of his motivations, but Eiri should be able to function just fine in the long run.
Until he can’t, but that all depends on just how much Norfinbury tries to fuck him up.
RP Samples:
(Network Sample)
[The video shows Eiri’s face in the darkness, though it’s eerily lit by the tablet. But he’s clearly inside a house for the night, so this message isn’t anything urgent on his end.]
It’s been pretty quiet on the network today. Everyone must be searching pretty hard!
[He offers a bright smile, even if it doesn’t quite reach his eyes. It’s a fake, but one that’s meant well. Giving off a pleasant aura is more conducive to cooperation. Most of the time. There are always going to be jerks in the world.
(Eiri should know, he’s been one of them before.)
His smile fades out a little bit as his tone turns more serious.]
But it’s still been quiet, and considering how likely it is the majority of us are isolated, that can get dangerous. So here I am, I guess, a voice to break up the silence. A real voice.
[He quickly amends, because he knows how hearing other voices can be all too real for some people. And, even though he won’t say it out loud, the silence gets to him, sometimes, too, so even just talking to someone, regardless of whether or not they answer, is better than sitting in the darkness.
But Eiri wouldn’t be Eiri if he didn’t play up his smarter than thou attitude. Slightly. Hey, it’s good advice, anyway!]
Also for anyone who listens to reason, it’s too late to do anything else of value, so you should get rest while you can.
[And with a decisive nod, he cuts the video.]
(In Person Sample)
One of the first things Eiri notices is the crib in the room that was once painted blue, the paint chipping off the walls. It’s not the first crib he’s seen in Norfinbury and it more than likely won’t be the last, but tonight, for whatever reason, it hits him that he’s seen too many empty cribs. And empty everythings, but this is all evidence that the city once had a sizable population of children.
Once.
It won’t help anything and it won’t tell him anything new, but he runs his gloved hand over the rail of the crib. Moe had had one, of course, or rather Eiri realized later that it had been his first. He remembers, when he was younger, peering through the bars at the wriggling, fleshy thing his mother had informed him was his new baby sister.
(She had smiled so brightly. She always smiled so brightly.)
But Moe’s crib was no more. Even though she had outgrown it and graduated to her big girl bed and his parents had stored it away for a possible future use, the fire had destroyed it. The fire destroyed everything.
At least here, Eiri can deduct that whatever family used to live here wasn’t driven out by such a terrible fate. Not that that narrows down much of anything, but he can still let himself have that little bit of hope. Maybe things turned out okay for them. But even so…
Eiri carefully leans his weight on his arms against the rail. “What happened to you guys?” But the silence, insulated both inside the house and outside by the snow, offers up no answers. It’s always so quiet here, something that isn’t necessarily bad because Eiri can appreciate it for what it is, but day after day yields practically nothing to distract him from his wandering thoughts.
So he groans loudly and pushes himself off of the crib before finding his way to the nearest bedroom. It’s too late to travel any farther tonight so he might as well get as much rest as he can and yet when he flops down on the bed, the silence engulfs him again. And his mind continues to wander. This time it goes beyond the mystery of this family and the memories of his own family lost forever and rests on Haku.
Haku, somewhere out there in this miserable cold and darkness. It’s not that Eiri doesn’t have faith in his Messiah’s ability to survive without constant supervision, but…well, he worries. But he won’t mother hen him, either. If Eiri could use some rest, so could Haku. There’s no emergency anyway and even if there were, it’s not like Haku is close by (that Eiri knows).
And yet…
Huffing, Eiri pulls the tablet out of his coat pocket and sends a quick text to Haku. Nothing that requires a reply, just a reminder to actually try and get some rest and stay as warm as possible. And…
no subject
Well, that, and he has an impressive pair of lungs that he is not afraid to use.
But that’s just the thing, Eiri isn’t afraid to make his presence known. He isn’t afraid to be seen even if it also means he makes himself an easy target for teasing (particularly from Haku or other peers). But even if he is teased, he doesn’t shrink away from others’ words, but instead takes them head-on (figuratively, though I wouldn’t put it past him to go to literal lengths, either). If he feels his reputation is at stake, he’ll confront whoever is at fault and try to set things right. He’s not even afraid to speak his mind to his authority figures, though he does hold himself back at least a little bit out of respect.
Another factor that adds to his confident demeanor is the fact that Eiri is very intelligent, as well as incredibly skilled. In the Church, he’s actually one of the top cadets. Now, some people would take a look at themselves if they were in Eiri’s position and be pretty humble about their achievements. Eiri, not so much. While he doesn’t go around announcing he’s one of the best, he does show his smugness in other ways. During briefings, he’s been known to verbally – and loudly – correct a fellow cadet’s answer to a question. He also adopts a smug smile sometimes after answering a question correctly. What a proud little shit.
It is important to note that while Eiri is still confident, he has mellowed out over time. Ever since Souma and Shuusuke graduated, and he and Haku started taking on cadets to help train and supervise, he’s grown more mature. He is responsible for more lives than just his own and Haku’s and that’s a huge deal because it means he can’t be as narrow-minded. He has fewer peers to bounce off of and more people who look up to him.
We don’t know exactly what Eiri’s reputation is within the Church. He could very easily be that insufferable know-it-all that everyone talks about behind his back, or he could be an idol of sorts in the organization. Mamiya, Ariga, Shirasaki, and Yuuri seem to respect Eiri well enough (Ariga is particularly impressed with Eiri’s gunmanship), though after Eiri has had to come to their rescue more than once, this isn’t too surprising.
And when he does come to their aid, Eiri is genuinely concerned. If there are people under his care, he will do his best to take care of them. This doesn’t mean he’ll coddle them, of course. A lot of the time, Eiri tries to give people little pointers on being more successful in a mission. Sometimes, he’ll even stop coddling from happening at all. During one mission, when it looked like Yuuri was going to confront Mamiya (they hadn’t been getting along well before that point), Shirasaki (Yuuri’s childhood friend) was about to step in and keep things from escalating, but Eiri stopped him because he knows sometimes people need to work things out for themselves, between themselves. After all, it basically worked for him and Haku.
But while Eiri is more pragmatic when dealing with others instead of emotional, there’s always an exception. And for him that exception is Haku. To put it quite simply, Haku is Eiri’s most important person. Of course, part of this is because they are Messiah and so they are expected and encouraged to grow close to one another. But in Eiri’s case, he really is fond of Haku. Fond and fiercely protective. And Haku is the one person with whom he can be himself completely.
Eiri used to hate being around Haku but after spending time with him and learning about him and literally throwing himself in the the path of a man with a gun just to bring Haku out of his own head, their relationship changed into something that is more reflective of what the Church wants out of a partnership. While Eiri tries to present himself as more serious in front of other people these days, he can still regress to his earlier days when he’s alone with Haku, and resort to yelling and stomping his feet and generally throwing a little tantrum. Of course this is if Haku decides to tease him or otherwise not give Eiri everything he wants. If Haku is behaving, then so is Eiri, and they can get along perfectly. Interestingly enough, even before they grew close, they have always been able to work together on missions without a problem.
But all of this refers to normal circumstances. If something goes wrong and Haku is in danger (physical or emotional), Eiri becomes protective. When the two of them ran into Serizawa for the first time, Eiri drew his gun and tried to make himself the focal point instead of Haku. But even at this point, he didn’t take away Haku’s freedom to act right away. He only acted when it became apparent Haku wouldn’t be able to act accordingly. So he is protective, but he also respects his Messiah and doesn’t treat Haku like a child (though Haku definitely has childish traits and sometimes need adult supervision).
However, the truest part of Eiri’s character comes out when he feels like he has nothing left in life. And when Haku appeared ready to kill himself, Eiri freaked out because Haku is, quite frankly, his reason for living. If he were to die, then Eiri would have nothing. And instead of throwing one of his iconic foot-stomping tantrums, Eiri instead pleaded with Haku to stop and screamed with seemingly every fiber of his being. He was desperate.
If Haku’s life is ever in danger, Eiri will act without any thought for his own safety. This is because Haku is just too important to him, as well as the fact that Eiri’s own jinx renders him incapable of dying (or at least it has on every occasion where he should have died so far) so he feels like he can sacrifice himself without any major repercussions.
Flavor Abilities: Eiri can go from zero to tsun in under three seconds which is kind of cool and also very annoying and an incredibly useless skill in the long run.
Suitability: For Eiri, the physical setting shouldn’t cause him much trouble. The cold will suck, especially since Japanese weather is normal and not snowy all year round, but he’s undoubtedly been trained to deal with it. His focus in Norfinbury will be to gather up as many supplies as possible and to always stay warm. It may be tempting to just huddle down because of the cold, but he knows that if he doesn’t move around, he’ll freeze. He’ll also be focused on getting back to the Church, so staying in one area is not an option, especially when it becomes clear that doing so will get nothing accomplished.
The real challenge will be the psychological nature of Norfinbury. Eiri’s own mental state is pretty stable, but because of his canonpoint, he’ll be a little more vulnerable than usual. However, once he finds Haku and (hopefully) smoothes things out with him, he’ll be able to focus on his self-appointed mission of survival and escape. Of course, just because he’s mentally stable doesn’t mean he’s untouchable. So when things start to get weird, he can look at his letter from his sister Moe, not only as a means to cheer him up, but also to keep him grounded. If he can focus on something he knows is real, then he can combat the bad feelings, at least a little bit. Haku will naturally be the stronger of his motivations, but Eiri should be able to function just fine in the long run.
Until he can’t, but that all depends on just how much Norfinbury tries to fuck him up.
RP Samples:
(Network Sample)
[The video shows Eiri’s face in the darkness, though it’s eerily lit by the tablet. But he’s clearly inside a house for the night, so this message isn’t anything urgent on his end.]
It’s been pretty quiet on the network today. Everyone must be searching pretty hard!
[He offers a bright smile, even if it doesn’t quite reach his eyes. It’s a fake, but one that’s meant well. Giving off a pleasant aura is more conducive to cooperation. Most of the time. There are always going to be jerks in the world.
(Eiri should know, he’s been one of them before.)
His smile fades out a little bit as his tone turns more serious.]
But it’s still been quiet, and considering how likely it is the majority of us are isolated, that can get dangerous. So here I am, I guess, a voice to break up the silence. A real voice.
[He quickly amends, because he knows how hearing other voices can be all too real for some people. And, even though he won’t say it out loud, the silence gets to him, sometimes, too, so even just talking to someone, regardless of whether or not they answer, is better than sitting in the darkness.
But Eiri wouldn’t be Eiri if he didn’t play up his smarter than thou attitude. Slightly. Hey, it’s good advice, anyway!]
Also for anyone who listens to reason, it’s too late to do anything else of value, so you should get rest while you can.
[And with a decisive nod, he cuts the video.]
(In Person Sample)
One of the first things Eiri notices is the crib in the room that was once painted blue, the paint chipping off the walls. It’s not the first crib he’s seen in Norfinbury and it more than likely won’t be the last, but tonight, for whatever reason, it hits him that he’s seen too many empty cribs. And empty everythings, but this is all evidence that the city once had a sizable population of children.
Once.
It won’t help anything and it won’t tell him anything new, but he runs his gloved hand over the rail of the crib. Moe had had one, of course, or rather Eiri realized later that it had been his first. He remembers, when he was younger, peering through the bars at the wriggling, fleshy thing his mother had informed him was his new baby sister.
(She had smiled so brightly. She always smiled so brightly.)
But Moe’s crib was no more. Even though she had outgrown it and graduated to her big girl bed and his parents had stored it away for a possible future use, the fire had destroyed it. The fire destroyed everything.
At least here, Eiri can deduct that whatever family used to live here wasn’t driven out by such a terrible fate. Not that that narrows down much of anything, but he can still let himself have that little bit of hope. Maybe things turned out okay for them. But even so…
Eiri carefully leans his weight on his arms against the rail. “What happened to you guys?” But the silence, insulated both inside the house and outside by the snow, offers up no answers. It’s always so quiet here, something that isn’t necessarily bad because Eiri can appreciate it for what it is, but day after day yields practically nothing to distract him from his wandering thoughts.
So he groans loudly and pushes himself off of the crib before finding his way to the nearest bedroom. It’s too late to travel any farther tonight so he might as well get as much rest as he can and yet when he flops down on the bed, the silence engulfs him again. And his mind continues to wander. This time it goes beyond the mystery of this family and the memories of his own family lost forever and rests on Haku.
Haku, somewhere out there in this miserable cold and darkness. It’s not that Eiri doesn’t have faith in his Messiah’s ability to survive without constant supervision, but…well, he worries. But he won’t mother hen him, either. If Eiri could use some rest, so could Haku. There’s no emergency anyway and even if there were, it’s not like Haku is close by (that Eiri knows).
And yet…
Huffing, Eiri pulls the tablet out of his coat pocket and sends a quick text to Haku. Nothing that requires a reply, just a reminder to actually try and get some rest and stay as warm as possible. And…
Goodnight.