#´ ･ . ✶muse; 𝘫𝘢𝘥𝘦-𝘤𝘰𝘭𝘰𝘳𝘦𝘥 𝘨𝘭𝘢𝘴𝘴𝘦𝘴 ⦅ amami rantaro ⦆

[moonsmultimusings]

Starter Call - @wickedserpent (Himiko) ☾

There was a sort of closeness Rantaro felt with his class, a sense of camaraderie he didn't feel quite was much with his seniors here at Hope's Peak. Now, he wouldn't go so far as to call them friends of his, as doing so would far outstretch the definition of such a word. They were acquaintances at best, but his class made for a group of acquaintances he saw more often than the rest. Some of them had talents that could benefit him in his search, too. Any attempts he made to socialize with them beyond the sort of distant friendliness he was marked for tended to hinge on such an assumption. He didn't quite want to say he was using them, but if their talents could somehow benefit him? If he could find some way to learn from them, and use these skills for his survival? He wouldn't say no to the opportunity.

And what opportunities there were. It seemed like almost everyone had something they could lend him. Kaito's knowledge of constellations to travel by, Gonta's distinguishing of poisonous bug species over harmless ones, Tenko's self-defense, Miu's inventions, Kokichi's ability to see through lies… There was much he could learn from them. There were a few people whom he wasn't so certain about, however, and Himiko Yumeno was one such type.

The Ultimate Magician… Or Ultimate Mage, as she called it. He doubted he would need to perform some slight of hand trick while away on his travels. It seemed like a waste, to spend his time learning about such things when he could be focused on what he knew would be useful. But since he had the opportunity, he figured it would be worth dropping by her lab after class one day, however briefly, to see if there was anything she could share with him.

“Himiko?” He poked his head into her lab. “I… hope I'm not interrupting anything. I wanted to talk to you for a bit.” He'd need to take some care with his words here, as he always did when making such requests of his fellow students. He didn't want them to feel as though he were using them, per se… No, he didn't like to look at it quite like that. He was using the connections offered by Hope's Peak to better his skills as an adventurer.

[moonsmultimusings]

💐 — Kaede to Rantaro mayhaps,,, bc it's about time I sent something your way 👉🏻👈🏻

Send 💐 for your muse to give my muse a bunch of flowers! - Accepting ☾

Well, this was certainly a surprise.

Rantaro had a tendency to keep his distance from everyone at Hope's Peak as best as he could. It was for their sake, really. With as often as he left on adventures and how dangerous those could be, it was better if people weren't too attached to him. If there were to be someday when he stopped showing up at school entirely, fewer people might question it. It was better not to form connections anyway. That was what he told himself.

But Kaede… She never seemed to get the memo about that, did she? Her kindness was abundant and her optimism overflowing, and there were more than a few times when he didn't quite know what to do with that. Sure, he made an effort to be kind himself, but with how far she'd go out of her way for others, he couldn't claim to match that with the same intensity. Yet here she was, standing in front of him with a bouquet of delicate pink blossoms and bright blue blooms. He didn't know enough about different varieties of flowers to know whether the colors or choices had any symbolic meaning behind them, but he did know that they were beautiful when paired together. One of his sisters had been into flower arranging, but he'd forgotten much of what he'd learned from her by now.

“Kaede, you didn't have to do all of this for me,” he answered first, a sheepish grin on his face. He was used to others requesting souvenirs and other things from him, but receiving gifts from others himself. Gently, he received the bouquet, gazing into the array of flowers. Their subtle imperfections were only visible from this close, yet added depth to their beauty. “But…” He drew in a deep inhale while the flowers were close, finding some peace with their light scent. It wasn't overpowering. “They're beautiful. Thank you.” He didn't doubt they'd look just as beautiful in his cabin on his next trip.

[moonsmultimusings]

When Shuichi learned that Rantaro was still going to be on campus for Christmas, he was relieved. Not only because it's always nice to see the adventurer whenever he can, but especially because he wanted to give him a gift; something he hopes he will love and can be of great use to him.

A smile widens on his face when he eventually spots Rantaro, and does a small jog up to him as he calls out: "Ah, Rantaro... !" He comes to a stop once he's close enough and caught his attention, and greets: "Hi, hope you didn't mind me stopping you for a second. It's just: I wanted to give you a gift... ! I have it in this bag, here... "

He extends out to Rantaro, a gift bag. "For you, Rantaro... Merry Christmas and I hope you'll love it." Inside was a gray travel backpack, with a USB charger port. built in on the side of the backpack. Then inside one of the pockets, was a thermos travel bottle. "S.. So I know a traveler like you must have plenty of travel bags, already, but... ! I had found this one, that comes with a charging port built into it. I thought maybe that'd make it much more convenient to charge things like your cellphone at any time. I believe it's also said to be waterproof, too... ah, and as for the mug, it holds cold and hot drinks very well, so I had to include, hehe. But yeah, I thought, maybe a bag like this could be of use to you on your travels... !" (Merry Christmas~!!! 💚🎒)

Celebrating Christmas at home in Japan felt like a bit of a waste. Not because Rantaro tended to do much to celebrate wherever he was, but because the idea of taking a holiday with his work still unfinished always bothered him. He planned to spend his time home planning his next trip and trying to get ahead on his work for classes. It would be a case of taking advantage of the time to prepare, he was afraid. That was the most he could do.

The day was growing closer, and he was surprised to see how much the others were in some sort of Christmas spirit. He always considered these sorts of things to be more for kids. Like Halloween. His classmates, though, seemed to really be getting into it. He didn't feel he had a lot to add to the class's festivities, other than offering them a bit of information about some of the different Christmas celebrations he'd seen around the world. Places where it was a much bigger deal than in Japan. They seemed to take these to heart as suggestions for different things to try, rather than a bit of information observed rather than researched.

It was shortly after leaving class one of these days that Shuichi decided to pull him aside. His name was called out, and he stopped, turning back to see Shuichi lightly jogging to meet him. “Hm? What's up, Shuichi?” Was something wrong? This was his first thought, but the detective held out a gift bag for him. A present?

“Oh, you didn't have to do all of this!” He hadn't gotten gifts for anyone this year, really. He'd doubted anyone in his class would've considered him a close enough friend to try and stop for. For as casual as he could be at times, he did follow the typical rule of first humbly rejecting a gift before receiving it. When he opened it up, he was met with… a new travel backpack, with more bells and whistles than his own had. His own was, of course, had already started to more than show its age. With how often he used bags like that, it only made sense that they would wear out quickly. Along with the bag was a well-insulated thermos to keep items warm (or cold). Functionality was key in gifts for him. He turned the bottle over in his hands, examining its outer wall. It was definitely thick… It would help him out greatly, he was sure. Neither of these gifts were terribly cheap, either. Not that he tended to keep great track of finances, but these weren't exactly inexpensive items to gift someone.

The smile he returned was genuine. “Thanks, Shuichi. I'm sure I'll get a lot of use out of these.” He hung the backpack on his bag, adjusting the straps. “I don't have anything for you right now…” He couldn't offer some random supplies he had on him in exchange for such a gift. “You'll be at the top of my list next year, though.” If he made it that long. He supposed he had someone to shop for again.

[moonsmultimusings]

CHARACTER   STUDY.       𝑇𝑅𝐴𝐼𝑇𝑆   &   𝐶𝐻𝐴𝑅𝐴𝐶𝑇𝐸𝑅𝐼𝑆𝑇𝐼𝐶𝑆 - Rantaro Amami

BOLD   =   applies   to   your   muse italics   =   sometimes   applies

EYES   :   blue   |   green   |   brown   |   hazel   |   gray   |   gray-blue   |   other

HAIR   :   blond   |   sandy   |   brown   |   black   |   auburn   |   ginger   |   grey   /   white   |   multi-color   |   other (green)

BODY      TYPE   :   skinny   |   slender   |   slim   |   built   |   curvy   |   athletic   |   average   |   muscular   |   pudgy   |   overweight

SKIN   :   pale   |   light   |   fair   |   freckled   |   tan   |   olive   |   medium   |   dark   |   discolored

GENDER   :   male   |   female   |   trans   |   cis   |   agender   |   demigender   |   genderfluid   |   other   |   doesn’t   like   labels

SEXUALITY   :   heterosexual   |   homosexual   |   bisexual   |   pansexual   |   asexual   |   demisexual   |   other    |   unsure   |   doesn’t   like   labels

ROMANTIC      ORIENTATION   :   homoromantic   |   heteroromantic   |   biromantic   |   panromantic   |   aromantic   |   demiromantic   |   unsure   |   doesn’t   like   labels

EDUCATION   :   high   school   |   college   |   university   |   master’s   degree   |   PhD   |   other   

I’VE   BEEN   :   in   love   |   hurt   |   ill   |   mentally   abused   |   bullied   |   physically   abused   |   tortured |   brainwashed   |   shot

POSITIVE      TRAITS   : affectionate (to the right people) |   adventurous   |   athletic   |   brave   |   careful   |   charming   |   confident   |   creative   |   cunning   |   determined   |   forgiving   |   generous   |   honest   |   humorous   |   intelligent   |   loyal   |   modest   |   patient (with others) |   selfless   |   polite   |   down-to-earth (compared to some, but he's also a liiittle too rich) |   diligent   |   romantic   |   moral   |   fun-loving   |   charismatic   |   calm   

NEGATIVE      TRAITS   :   aggressive   |   bossy (maybe more like spoiled. shown when working with others) |   cynical |   envious   |   shy   |   fearful   |   greedy   |   gullible   |   jealous   |   impatient (with himself + his progress)   |   impulsive   |   cocky   |   reckless (kind of a conundrum: a bit of an adrenaline junkie, but will usually think things through first! just doesn't take risks as seriously as he should) |   insecure   |   irresponsible   |   mistrustful   |   paranoid   |   possessive   |   sarcastic   |   self-conscious   |   selfish (views himself this way)  |   swears   |   unstable   |   clumsy   |   rebellious   |   emotional   |   vengeful   |   anxious   |   self-sabotaging   |   moody   |   peevish   |   angry   |   pessimistic   |   slacker   |   thin-skinned   |   overly-dramatic   |   argumentative

LIVING      SITUATION   :   lives   alone   |   lives   with   parent(s)   /   guardian   |   lives   with   significant   other   |   lives   with   a   friend   |   drifter   |   homeless   |   lives   with   children   |   other

PARENTS      /      GUARDIANS   :   mother (alive, not in contact)  |   father (poor relationship) |   adoptive   |   foster   |   grandmother   |   grandfather | lost

SIBLING(S)   :   sisters   |   brothers |   none    |   other

RELATIONSHIP   :   single   |   crushing   |   dating   |   engaged   |   married   |   separated  |   it’s   complicated   

I      HAVE      A(N)   :   learning   disorder   |   personality   disorder   |   mental   /   mood   disorder (major depressive) |   anxiety   disorder   |   sleep   disorder   |   behavioral   disorder   |   substance-related   disorder   |   PTSD   |   mental   disability   |   physical   disability

THINGS      I’VE      DONE      BEFORE   :   had   alcohol   |   smoked (weed. he's not touching cigarettes)  |   stolen   |   done   drugs   |   had   sex   |   had   a   threesome   |   had   a   one-night   stand   |   gotten   into   a   fist   fight (not actively seeking them out, but he's run into trouble on adventures) |   gone   to   hospital   |   gone   to   jail   |   used   a   fake   ID   |   played   hooky (school < traveling) |   gone   to   a   rave   |   killed someone (considered) |   had   someone   try   to   kill   them

tagged by: @quickdeaths tagging: @xstarlights, @sleeplesswork, @ahogedetective, @regensia + anyone who wants to steal!

[moonsmultimusings]

What are some things about Rantaro that intrigue you? What are some aspects of Rantaro that you've yet to discuss in a thread, but would like to have known regardless?

^ dangerous question considering the number of Rantaro Thoughts i have in my mind at any given time-

i'll put this below the cut to spare my non-DR mutuals. but watch out for the wall-

he has so much depth for a character who was killed off in the first case, and i still haven't forgiven the devs for that. in my mind, he was the protagonist of the previous game he was in, and that's how i explain his competencies within the game. an ability to stay calm doesn't come only from needing to in life or death situations on his adventures, but from having everyone rely on him in the last game (and his sisters before that). i choose to believe that, if he hadn't been killed off first, his survivor perk + his ability to stay rational would have spelled the end of the game in one way or another.

not to mention how many contradictions he has as a character! i know that's part of the theme of v3, but i find it really interesting. he'll do anything to find his sisters, but he won't work with others and ask for help when he can't do things on his own. he's typically patient with those around him, but he has no patience for himself and his perceived failings. he views himself as logical, but his emotions pull him around by the neck far more than he will realize or admit. as contradictory as those sorts of things may sound on the surface, it adds depth to his character. human beings don't make sense, they often don't follow the most logical course of action, and neither does he.

this is to say, considering his background and how he presents, you wouldn't expect him to be as self-destructive as he is. that's crucial. to me, this comes from his background, and not only from adventuring. he cares deeply about his sisters and blames himself for what happened to them. carrying that weighs deeply on him, and it's obvious that's tanked his self-esteem from the way he speaks about himself.

that really colored how i saw his plan to visit the library at the deadline: he knew the risks, he knew that he was likely going to die, and he didn't falter. he doesn't really value his life. as much as he wants to find his sisters and feels he needs to survive to do so, he's not living for himself. if he gets hurt on his adventures or in the game, it doesn't matter (and, if anything, it's some sort of karmic punishment). he is a survivor not because of a lust for life or to serve a purpose for the greater good, but because the only thing worse than losing his sisters the way he did is not righting that mistake. beating yourself up for past mistakes, remaining pessimistic, and staying alive only for others is an exhausting way to live... what do you have at that point? what do you have to continue to live for? to be cautious for?

he deeply wants to right his wrongs, he'll do anything to have the opportunity to do so, but he won't forgive himself for the actions of a child, for his lack of ability to handle the sort of task no adult would be able to manage. not only that, but he can't fathom those two having any connection, that being easier on himself would benefit his search. that he needs to put on his own oxygen mask first.

i don't know, all of that makes him feel to me like a tragic and realistic character who hardly got an opportunity to demonstrate that. he's a very solid example of the sort of destructive and myopic thinking that depression can bring about, and i'm always disappointed when people write him off because of how little screen time he had. considering the way dr characters are sometimes, i'm sure you could argue it's a "the curtains are just blue" moment, but it's my primary muse, and i get to decide the depth of trauma from his backstory <3

[moonsmultimusings]

@ahogedetective // transferred to beta from here!

While Rantaro wasn't entirely opposed to stealing a peek at records or paying someone off if it would grant him the information he needed, he was opposed to facing arrest for it. Shuichi did agree that it was often necessary to visit the scene of the crime in order to examine details and gather clues. As he'd suspected, their approaches were similar in that way. What he hadn't quite been expecting to hear was the idea of coming along with him for the sake of investigating. That was certainly an interesting hypothetical. There was no way the detective would (or could!) drop everything for the sake of joining him on an adventure. He wasn't going to get his hopes up about that. Besides, even if he did have someone tag along, they'd just drag him down. He'd been betrayed by detectives before, who said they cared and then gave up at the drop of a hat. He wasn't so trusting.

“I wouldn't ask you to do that. I'm sure a detective like you has more than enough on his plate without an international case.” It was a big case, after all. Even if Shuichi decided to undertake one, there were a number more to look into. It was overwhelming for one person, and he would know.

As he had this thought, though, the question was asked of him: was she important to him? She must have been. He blinked. Well, based on those details, he supposed it made sense to come to such a conclusion, but he'd been hoping they wouldn't be picked up on so quickly. In retrospect, maybe, but he was dealing with someone who had to use inductive reasoning as a talent. He chuckled sheepishly. “Ah, I guess I can't expect to keep that much away from you, huh? She's a family member of mine.” He wouldn't give away the degree of separation, as he doubted he would need to. Surely he wouldn't go so far out of the way for someone like a cousin unless they'd been particularly close. The most likely option was that she would be a sister. “I'd rather not go into too much detail about it here, but it's important to me that I find her.”

[moonsmultimusings]

"Yoo hoo! I like your hair color it reminds me of my little sister's!" @ Rantaro because why NOT have the sibling havers talk. * Yes she means Monaca btw!

"Your little sister's?" Rantaro repeated, clearly taken by surprise. "That's funny... It's something I share with all of my little sisters, too." It was a family trait for the Amamis, and apparently, they weren't alone.

"Ah, keep an eye on her, alright?" Little sisters with green hair tended to have a bad habit of getting lost, from his experience.

[moonsmultimusings]

❛  hey, sometimes you gotta kill a guy.  ❜ -From Tsumugi to Rantaro

Feeling Sentences - Accepting ☾

'Sometimes you gotta kill a guy.'

After narrowly surviving a killing game once, Rantaro unfortunately had to agree. Maybe it had more to do with him having been weathered to the idea by now, but he didn't balk at it the same way he had at the start of their game. People killed each other. Often, actually. It didn't take as much prodding as one might expect. With he right motives in place, most people would agree. It would be a lie to say he hadn't once or twice considered it himself, before he let his reason return to him and set him straight. The way to win a killing game wasn't to play along. No, his main goal was to survive. He wanted to get out of there, to make it back. There was unfinished business he had to do before he could die.

That said, if there was a case where killing could be the way to winning, outside of the set of rules they were provided, he might consider it. If it was to stop the game from continuing, he could understand it. “I understand what you mean, Tsumugi, but I don't love hearing that from you.” It brought up too many memories from their last game together, from a time when it seemed like any hand he considered reaching out to would either end up dead, or with a knife pressed to his throat. He didn't want to consider going back there, returning as an 'Ultimate Survivor.' He was already planning ways to get around the upcoming 53rd game. “I don't think we need to be that blasè about it.”

[moonsmultimusings]

“If you don’t come back, I’m going to be very, very upset.” (kaede to rantaro)

random dialogue sentence starters - Accepting ☾

It had been some time since Rantaro had someone worrying about him. The feeling wasn't one he was used to anymore, not that he could ever say he'd been all that comfortable with it. It was always his job to worry about others. To take care of his sisters while he was growing up, to worry about their whereabouts when they started going missing, to face the consequences once he was alone in the house. It was his fault. The loneliness that plagued him was something he could point to as a karmic punishment for his failings.

If he were to fail to return back from one of his adventures… He would view it in a similar light. The greatest concern with this wasn't his own life, but that his sisters would stay lost. He didn't want to die before finding out they were safe. All of them. Even if he couldn't bring them all home again, making sure they were alive and well was the most important thing to him.

It had taken a few years for him to lose all of them. Six years in total, plus another two years leading up to now spent searching. He could still remember when he'd left to start searching for the first few, and those who remained would express their worries about him. Sometimes they'd ask to come along. He stopped allowing that fairly quickly out of concern for them, but this was a balancing act. He'd head to Greece to search for Tomoko, and Aimi would struggle to deal with everyone while he was gone. He would travel to France looking for clues about Megumi, and Kokona would act out while waiting for him to get back. Every time, his sisters would worry about him when he left. Some of them were more vocal about it than others, but they would let him know. They were especially concerned when it came to bouts when he didn't have service, when he couldn't answer their calls and texts. There weren't a lot of cell towers on the open seas. He'd get back and they'd scold him, and he'd always apologize. Not only for worrying them, but coming back empty-handed again.

That time had passed too. Now he had no one around to worry about him. No one but his father, who was more concerned with his woman-of-the-week than Rantaro.

Thus, Kaede's words were a surprise. She made them sound so earnest. It was easy for him to write off the worries of his classmates generally. They didn't know him well, so any concerns they showed him were just their way of being polite. Her words, though… They reminded him a little too strongly of his sisters' words for him to dismiss them so quickly. It took him a moment to find those words again, since it had been a while since he'd needed to use them. The reassuring expression he wore was still a practiced one, at least. “Thanks for worrying about me.” It wasn't totally unwarranted, considering the sorts of situations he'd put himself in, but he wouldn't go admitting that to her right now. “I promise, I plan on coming back. I've still got a lot left to do.” Sparing her the specifics, he could say that much with absolute certainty.

[moonsmultimusings]

Starter Call - @pompedia (Kaede) ☾

So it came to this… Rantaro always had his concerns about these. The dreaded partner projects. The only thing worse was group projects, when there were more people's schedules to work around. Ultimates were always busy doing one thing or another, himself included. The goal of his project, as had been explained to them, was about combining their talents. Something about working together towards a common goal, utilizing their strengths to do so. Personally, he would normally hope to avoid such projects altogether. He wasn't quite the 'team player' type. The work would be easier to get done alone.

Alas, this wasn't his choice to make, nor was he able to choose who would have to deal with him for the duration of the project. He could only imagine being paired up with himself -- someone who occasionally disappeared for weeks at a time, providing little explanation when he returned -- would be a chore. Something no one would want to put up with. The unfortunate soul who was tasked with such a difficult undertaking was poor Kaede Akamatsu.

She'd always been kind enough to him in passing, but he'd taken care to avoid letting things grow anywhere beyond that. Them being friendly acquaintances was enough. A part of him had hoped that he might be paired up with someone whose talents he could learn from. Someone like Kaito, who could teach him to navigate by the stars, or Shuichi, who might have some insight into solving missing persons cases. Hell, even Miu may be able to come up with some invention that could help him. How he'd find a way to employ the skills of a pianist was beyond him, but he was nothing if not adaptable. He'd figure this out.

Following their assignments, he headed over to take a seat beside her, dropping off his weathered leather bag beside him. “I'm sorry about this,” he apologized first, a bit sheepishly. “I'm probably not the person you'd want to be paired up with. I'll do my best to help you out, but I'm not sure how much I'll be able to do.” He had some knowledge of international music, but that wasn't exactly what he set out for each time.

[moonsmultimusings]

“You mentioned before you’ve sailed around the world, yeah? Do you collect anything on your travels?” // Rantaro !!

“Do I collect anything? Mm…” The phrase was repeated pensively as Rantaro raised his eyes to the ceiling thoughtfully. “No, not particularly.” Not in the traditional sense of trinkets like bottle caps or souvenirs. “I'm not a fan of the sorts of souvenirs you find in tourist shops.” They didn't feel genuine to him. He preferred something authentic, if at all.

There was one thing he was setting out to collect, but he hadn't yet succeeded in finding anything, unfortunately. Thus, his search continued on. Across the world, all alone, in search of twelve people among billions. It was more than finding a needle in a haystack; it was finding a single cell in one. Running through face by face, always hoping that he might encounter one of them by chance, asking around in languages he could hardly speak…

The thought did conjure something to mind, at least. “Oh! I guess there is one thing.” Now that he thought about it, there was something he tried to learn about everywhere he went. “I try to pick up a cookbook every time I visit a new country based on whatever foods I try there.” It was typically an afterthought more than something he went out of his way to seek out, but he enjoyed having them. A shelf in his room back home was filled with them in varying languages, most of which he couldn't read unassisted. It was more genuine to get the recipes straight from the source, though. “If I end up bored at home one day, I'll end up trying to throw something together from one of them.” It was a small hobby of his. Most often, he'd get into it when he was starting to feel particularly stir-crazy, wanting to get back out on the sea to keep searching. “Of course, it's not Ultimate-level quality, but it's fun.” He wasn't looking to sell himself as a chef, by any means. It was fun to experiment a little with food when he was in the mood, that was all.

That said, the question was likely asked with something in mind. Typically, that was the only reason people questioned him about his travels, from his experience. “Why? Did you want me to bring you back something next time?”