CANON PERSONALITY: His personality is exactly the same as his OU, though I've adjusted the reasons for his thoughts and mannerisms to fit the AU setting.
Nezumi is, in a word, a survivor. He made a choice early on, to dig in deep and claw his way forward - to hold fast to this life he has by any means necessary. And he made that choice, again and again as he grew older. When circumstances, uncertainty, or exhaustion wore him down, he chose to continue to live no matter what. He learned to do whatever it takes in order to ensure his own life reached the next day, and discovered all too soon what the weight of having to take a life felt like, accepted the realities of having to kill another to reach that goal of survival.
He truly believes the axiom ‘Survival of the fittest’.
It’s because of this that he learned to shut people out, to distance himself from them as much as possible to avoid attachment or perceived weakness on his own part. Jagged and jaded to the extreme, he became the perfect example of a hard-hearted loner, utterly cool, aloof, and uninvolved.
Experienced and unaffected on every level.
From his actions and reactions, it’s obvious that Nezumi is a seasoned close-combat fighter with reflexes honed in experience rather than simple instruction. He has an above average grasp of situational awareness, thus can easily take ‘stock’ of the moment and plan accordingly – a skill that makes it exceptionally difficult to catch him off guard. While he is proficient with using whatever is at hand in a fight, his weapon of choice is the switchblades that he always carries on his person.
He’s confident without being cocky in his fighting skill, and doesn’t brag or boast unnecessarily to appear greater than he is (at least in that respect). He’s self-aware enough to recognize his strengths and weaknesses… and how to hide them all.
And yet.
He befriended a trio of mice early on, introduced to him by his guardian - going so far as to call them his companions, and developed a deep, abiding passion for literature. Especially tragedies. He would spend all of his free time in the safety of his home – nothing more than a run down, two bedroom apartment on Level 4 left to him by the old woman that had cared for him after his parents were killed – reading every single book and tome that he managed to salvage from the lowest storage rooms of the abandoned library on Level 2 and what he can reappropriate from the upper levels.
Books on science and technology, on mathematics and engineering, classics and religion. Shelf after shelf, he lost himself in a wealth of knowledge contained in his run down apartment, all stacked in haphazard piles against walls, around his bed, in the hallways and the miniscule kitchen so that the place was little more than a bed, a piano, a couch and a small coffee table, and his interface equipment - all surrounded by his amassed treasures.
He’s mechanically inclined, having developed his own miniature AI that looked like mice, complete with warm fur and fluid movements that he used to both infiltrate the government on the upper Levels and to find Shion again because for him...
Shion is the only one that can evoke such a confusing mix of frustration, irritation, exasperation, joy, and bemusement in Nezumi.
In canon, he can’t help the sarcastic teasing that he used with the other, nor the sharpness with which he berated him for clinging to the bonds Shion still held in No. 6. While talking to Shion, Nezumi revealed a rather telling bit of advice that shows how he views survival:
"Back there, you threw away your citizenship card because it was a danger to us. So are feelings for other people. You get dragged around, pulled this way and that, and before you know it, you're in dangerous territory. Your mama, papa, your grandma, whoever― they're all strangers now. There's no emotional room in you to be concerned about strangers. Your hands are full enough trying to keep yourself alive."
And yet.
For all that he continuously claims that he and Shion are strangers, he always follows harsh criticisms with almost gentle words or actions that reveal the shades of a lie beneath the assertion.
To Nezumi, reality is something that betrays people every day, with a disturbing ease even as it pulls people's lives in unanticipated directions. Reality is something that can coolly and casually fling them into despair, was equally cruel and violent, and utterly absurd. Reality isn’t to be trusted - it could make anything happen at any time, or take anything that was of value without hesitation.
Personal questions are ignored outright by anyone, and downright anger him if asked with any measure of persistence - because by his estimation, they’ll break down the safety barrier of ‘strangers’ that he has set between him and everyone else. It’s in these moments that people see the harder edge to Nezumi, an animalistic quality that bespeaks of a stubborn fight or flight instinct to avoid human attachments.
For all that Nezumi’s actions and words reveal a special case for Shion, this skittishness and wariness has become something too far ingrained within Nezumi. He also reveals, in constant subtle ways, that his own grasp on reality is often suspect. In canon, when spoken to by Shion with a blunt honesty, Nezumi automatically assumes Shion is quoting lines from a book or play. He doesn’t always connect sincere words and action to the truth or feeling, as he’s never really had the experiences in his life that would indicate those things exist outside of said book and plays.
It’s a weakness that only Shion has been unwittingly gifted the right to see by Nezumi, though Nezumi himself is quite unaware.
He uses harsh, often cutting words to maintain that distance between him and everyone else, then turns right around and softens the blow with an act of kindness or softer reassurances if that person is Shion. He’s a constant contradiction, but only with Shion.
And the reason? Nezumi firmly believes that he and Shion will become enemies one day. Because of Shion’s strong desire to still keep and protect those few bods he holds within No.6 (or in this case, New Babylon) and Nezumi’s intense hatred for all that No. 6 (New Babylon) stands for, Nezumi can’t see or accept that there will be a middle ground.
It’s one of the many ways Nezumi shows that his world view is very much ‘black and white’. Upper Levels, Lower Levels, holding onto those bonds or cutting all ties, survival of self over acts of kindness to others. All things he views in strict lines, save for the few instances he crosses those lines.
Re: Nezumi | No. 6 (AU) | 2/3
Nezumi is, in a word, a survivor. He made a choice early on, to dig in deep and claw his way forward - to hold fast to this life he has by any means necessary. And he made that choice, again and again as he grew older. When circumstances, uncertainty, or exhaustion wore him down, he chose to continue to live no matter what. He learned to do whatever it takes in order to ensure his own life reached the next day, and discovered all too soon what the weight of having to take a life felt like, accepted the realities of having to kill another to reach that goal of survival.
He truly believes the axiom ‘Survival of the fittest’.
It’s because of this that he learned to shut people out, to distance himself from them as much as possible to avoid attachment or perceived weakness on his own part. Jagged and jaded to the extreme, he became the perfect example of a hard-hearted loner, utterly cool, aloof, and uninvolved.
Experienced and unaffected on every level.
From his actions and reactions, it’s obvious that Nezumi is a seasoned close-combat fighter with reflexes honed in experience rather than simple instruction. He has an above average grasp of situational awareness, thus can easily take ‘stock’ of the moment and plan accordingly – a skill that makes it exceptionally difficult to catch him off guard. While he is proficient with using whatever is at hand in a fight, his weapon of choice is the switchblades that he always carries on his person.
He’s confident without being cocky in his fighting skill, and doesn’t brag or boast unnecessarily to appear greater than he is (at least in that respect). He’s self-aware enough to recognize his strengths and weaknesses… and how to hide them all.
And yet.
He befriended a trio of mice early on, introduced to him by his guardian - going so far as to call them his companions, and developed a deep, abiding passion for literature. Especially tragedies. He would spend all of his free time in the safety of his home – nothing more than a run down, two bedroom apartment on Level 4 left to him by the old woman that had cared for him after his parents were killed – reading every single book and tome that he managed to salvage from the lowest storage rooms of the abandoned library on Level 2 and what he can reappropriate from the upper levels.
Books on science and technology, on mathematics and engineering, classics and religion. Shelf after shelf, he lost himself in a wealth of knowledge contained in his run down apartment, all stacked in haphazard piles against walls, around his bed, in the hallways and the miniscule kitchen so that the place was little more than a bed, a piano, a couch and a small coffee table, and his interface equipment - all surrounded by his amassed treasures.
He’s mechanically inclined, having developed his own miniature AI that looked like mice, complete with warm fur and fluid movements that he used to both infiltrate the government on the upper Levels and to find Shion again because for him...
Shion is the only one that can evoke such a confusing mix of frustration, irritation, exasperation, joy, and bemusement in Nezumi.
In canon, he can’t help the sarcastic teasing that he used with the other, nor the sharpness with which he berated him for clinging to the bonds Shion still held in No. 6. While talking to Shion, Nezumi revealed a rather telling bit of advice that shows how he views survival:
"Back there, you threw away your citizenship card because it was a danger to us. So are feelings for other people. You get dragged around, pulled this way and that, and before you know it, you're in dangerous territory. Your mama, papa, your grandma, whoever― they're all strangers now. There's no emotional room in you to be concerned about strangers. Your hands are full enough trying to keep yourself alive."
And yet.
For all that he continuously claims that he and Shion are strangers, he always follows harsh criticisms with almost gentle words or actions that reveal the shades of a lie beneath the assertion.
To Nezumi, reality is something that betrays people every day, with a disturbing ease even as it pulls people's lives in unanticipated directions. Reality is something that can coolly and casually fling them into despair, was equally cruel and violent, and utterly absurd. Reality isn’t to be trusted - it could make anything happen at any time, or take anything that was of value without hesitation.
Personal questions are ignored outright by anyone, and downright anger him if asked with any measure of persistence - because by his estimation, they’ll break down the safety barrier of ‘strangers’ that he has set between him and everyone else. It’s in these moments that people see the harder edge to Nezumi, an animalistic quality that bespeaks of a stubborn fight or flight instinct to avoid human attachments.
For all that Nezumi’s actions and words reveal a special case for Shion, this skittishness and wariness has become something too far ingrained within Nezumi. He also reveals, in constant subtle ways, that his own grasp on reality is often suspect. In canon, when spoken to by Shion with a blunt honesty, Nezumi automatically assumes Shion is quoting lines from a book or play. He doesn’t always connect sincere words and action to the truth or feeling, as he’s never really had the experiences in his life that would indicate those things exist outside of said book and plays.
It’s a weakness that only Shion has been unwittingly gifted the right to see by Nezumi, though Nezumi himself is quite unaware.
He uses harsh, often cutting words to maintain that distance between him and everyone else, then turns right around and softens the blow with an act of kindness or softer reassurances if that person is Shion. He’s a constant contradiction, but only with Shion.
And the reason? Nezumi firmly believes that he and Shion will become enemies one day. Because of Shion’s strong desire to still keep and protect those few bods he holds within No.6 (or in this case, New Babylon) and Nezumi’s intense hatred for all that No. 6 (New Babylon) stands for, Nezumi can’t see or accept that there will be a middle ground.
It’s one of the many ways Nezumi shows that his world view is very much ‘black and white’. Upper Levels, Lower Levels, holding onto those bonds or cutting all ties, survival of self over acts of kindness to others. All things he views in strict lines, save for the few instances he crosses those lines.