Jimmutarō

[Jimmutaro 0]

Theme

 

Name: Saruwatari Nagasai

IGN: Jimmutarō

Age: 16(Beginning of SAO) Current:18

Height: 176 cm

Weight: 72 kg

 

Persona

Saruwatari is quick to project a simple mask of stoicism around strangers and even repeat acquaintances. He doesn’t attempt to hide his guarded nature, but will hesitate at the actual notion of dropping it. Perfectly content to project a “tough guy” persona that obscures his curious nature. Almost anything that grabs his interest immediately warrants further investigation, but he’ll go through great lengths to hide the actual interest. Heavens forfend, he lets another catch him revealing anything about himself. Repeatedly losing bonds and those he’d formed attachments with have left him dismissive about actually attempting to form lasting friendships. His outlook has cast towards acknowledging the temporary nature in almost every aspect with some form of disdain. 

 

Despite it all, beneath is the fascinated, obsessively curious young man still trying to break through that shell of embittered disappointment life had brought him up to be. His fascinations and abundant curiosity paired with a haphazardly impulsive side lead him to follow any avenue despite it’s convention, or how others might view it. This also leads him to moments of a seemingly naive amazement when something truly astounds him. Additionally, while he might view everything as fleeting, he has a profound appreciation for the things that do remain consistent and as such ultimately tries to keep things that way.This also means that for the patient few that are willing to endure him keeping them at arms-length long enough to form an actual friendship, will find a steadfast ally.

 

Virtues

 

Unwavering: Unless there is genuine cause to justify backing down from a situation, Saruwatari is immobile. Refusing to budge in the face of adversity or difficulty, with a fervor matched only by the very stubbornness that sources it. This trait can lend towards a sense of great bravery in the face of hardship or even terrifying situations. It can also, however, lead to him treating even trivial tasks with a seriousness that most would find unnecessary. 

 

Sincerity: He is one only for the truth. Deception, and manipulation are beneath him. If he can’t express what he needs to directly, and honestly, it isn’t worth expressing. He also dislikes others trying to act deceptive, or include him in their deceptions. 

Loyal: Saruwatari has always been a fierce friend. If an obstacle rises before his friend's paths, he’s just as willing to throw himself at it as if it impeded his own. Though this would make it easy for others to take advantage of him, he will always take the stance aside a friend or one he’s close to without a moment's hesitation, and with absolute conviction in the rightness of it. 

 

Caring: Despite his stoic manner, if he treasures someone he would actively strive to see their endeavor’s succeed and their lives are easier for it. If he can be a means to that end, he will strive to do so where possible and believes that acts of kindness for such individuals are important to show the importance they hold Rare, though it would be for one to witness this side of him, it would be shown willingly.

 

Flaws

 

Distant: Saru has a long history of broken bonds or having to relinquish them. Because of this, he’s quick to keep up an emotional barrier and content to keep the rest of the world on the other side of it. Beyond actively attempting to keep others at arms-length he will also take great care to remain as stoic as possible. Believing it better to show disinterest than buy into fleeting connections, he can come off as callous or even cold and embittered at a glance.

 

Stubborn: Once he’s convinced that he’s on the right path, he won’t deviate until as thoroughly convinced it’s no longer right as he was when he first walked it. He’d stand on the sinking ship, if he believed the life rafts were a trap. This does little to make him any more agreeable, or approachable to others witnessing this side of him.

 

Petty: It doesn’t take much to burn him, despite his swiftness to erect a wall between him and others. This also means it doesn’t take much to bother him, and coupled with his stubborn nature can lead to an almost childlike inner aggression. He’s slow to forgive, and slower to forget even the smallest infractions towards himself. 

 

Rebellious: Almost every negative aspect about his life, could be traced to his father’s job for the japanese government and their demands and expectations. To say he has a problem with authority, is an understatement. If it can serve his own goals, and undermine authority simultaneously it is the greatest nectar life could bestow. His naturally confrontational self is simply enticed at the prospect of standing against the rigid managements of authority. 

 

Obsessive: Much like his mother, he can find himself drawn entirely to a single thing. A single train of thought or aspect, and seek to understand and pursue it entirely. Learn everything he can, understand every last minutia of it and comprehend it entirely. However this also means long past the point at which another would’ve lost interest, he will cling to that very thing to further know its intimate details.  

 

History

Prologue

Spoiler

 

Born within the Chiyoda ward of Tokyo Japan, to a mother who worked as a software designer under her own employ, and a father that worked within the ladder of the Public Security Intelligence Agency, Saruwatari had the foundation for quite a successful life. His early childhood however, was disjointed. His mother had the luxury of working from a mobile work platform, which facilitated perfectly the demands of his father’s job to take him away from home for days at a time. Assignments pulled him to places all over Tokyo, initially and demanded much of him. Eventually, it began to require that the Nagasai families residence change with each assignment. The nature of his father’s job had long escaped Saruwatari, knowing only that his father worked for the Government and had a strict set of regulations to follow. No deviations were allowed as adherence to protocol became an essential part of his life.  His mother had a workaholic streak that would often lead to her spending the majority of entire days in her home workspace, and his father’s busy work life led the young Saru to being his own source of entertainment. Reading stories, or playing with toys that allowed him to recreate the battles of folk heroes like the great Emperor Jimmu, or the mighty Kintarō.

 

Saruwatari’s school life became more difficult, and troubled as his father's job took them to different stretches of Japan. Changing schools almost annually made it difficult to forge friendships of any lasting nature and exposed him to the displeasure of having to learn new faces and names every year while leaving behind the old ones he’d started to grow fond of. With every year, it became harder for Saru to make friends, knowing that just around the time he began to truly appreciate them they would get stolen away by the demands of his father’s job once more.

 

He did not grow up completely devoid of parental love however.When he was younger, his mother made an effort once a week to take him for a walk. Often they would talk together during this time,normally speaking of the books he’d read and the stories that filled his mind. It was almost as if he’d get in that one walk, the conversations he could not have with his work driven mother over the course of the week. His father however, had far less time to dedicate and no reliable time table for which to provide. Through the year of his tenth birthday party, they’d been living within the small city of Utashinai, on Hokkaido. A particularly cold part of japan, in addition to the natural heating and attempting to spend as much time as possible beneath the kotatsu, they had an old wood stove. They had to acquire the wood themselves, and one of the few fond memories of his time with his father was accompanying him on these trips to collect wood. Since his father could be gone for days at a time, they always made sure to bring back as much wood as they could carry. This meant they spent hours at a time on some trips, and Saru relished every moment of it. His father had jokingly started referring to him as “The Mighty Sōhei” because of the young boy’s excitement to return back into the cold to swing the wood ax.

 

When his mother worked from atop the kotatsu, he would find any opportunity to settle beneath the covers and read while enveloped in warmth. Even if they didn’t speak, her presence was a comfort. Knowing she was there, and that he was not in the room alone, was a delight in its own. They did not get to enjoy their weekly walks as they once had, but it was a pleasant memory nonetheless. It was also one of the few points in his life, where family meals together gathered around that same kotatsu would transpire. It was perhaps, the least busy period either of his parents had, or would be within his lifetime and therefore the happiest as well.

 

This was not to last however, as like all good moments they would eventually be lost to another move. Another change of local and another routine. As his time went on, both his parents became more successful. Pushing them further into their jobs and further away from their son as more time was demanded. As Saruwatari got older, he began to shift the resentment from this lifestyle onto his parents. Blaming them as equally as their work that he should be forced to play the stranger so many times in his life. Fantasy had been his crutch as a child. His path to sanctuary. He placed himself within the roles of the folk heroes whose tales he’d read. As he grew older, and more embittered, he instead turned to isolation completely. Technology fulfilled his escapism fantasies. Through computer games he could be anything, be anyone. As video games fueled his obsessive need to escape the reality he lived within, he would find that temporary release. Only to wake up the next day and find that reality, had in fact, still remained to plague him.

 

Sometimes on nights when his father wasn’t home, once he was sure his mother was asleep, he’d leave the house to walk in the night's silence. When a blanket of winking stars filled the sky and the world had fallen quiet and still. When, in that hanging lapse of time, the world was stationary. No bustling. No activity. Just a perfect silence and stillness that he could enjoy endlessly. 

 

As he got to his mid teens, he found the responsibilities of life becoming more of a burden. School had become simply an ebb and flow no different than the low and high tides alternating throughout the day. So little required him to engage, it became the white noise as his mind fled to far off shores. Some days, it was of the games he played. Others the stories he read. His days had less interaction with his parents than ever as he’d find himself spending every moment at home within his room. Sometimes, skipping meals and when forced to leave his room often skirting through the house with the same mannerisms as a cat attempting to slink through without drawing attention. He began treating the scarce interactions with his parents less like conversation and more like a punishment. Something to avoid, at all costs. Better to let them think he’d fallen asleep or was too distracted when they attempted to speak to him through the closed door of his room, then open up in those brief moments only for them to shut him out for the sake of their jobs for another week. And yet…

 

There were some nights, when he stood outside and gazed into the sky that he still recalled that year with his father and mother. If he closed his eyes hard enough, he could still recall the sounds. Whether it was his mother’s quiet yet swift typing as she worked and he read, or the crunching of snow beneath the boots of his father and him as they searched for wood to cut. The sound of the ax puncturing wood. If Saru tightened his grip he could feel the weight of the ax still. Part of him still longed for those days. Another lifetime, perhaps.

 

Then came word of what could’ve been his ultimate escape. This VRMMO. Sword Art Online. He followed it with an almost manic interest. A game, where one could immerse their senses. Their body. Everything at once! As the first comments from beta-testers came out, it seemed like the prayers of a very young Saru might be answered. The stories he’d dreamt of. The world of heroes was within grasp! It was one of the few times in recent memory he’d approached his parents. Mentioning the Nerve Gear, itself, was easy enough to hook them into getting it for them. After all, money was at this point the least of their concerns. His father, in an act of rare kindness, assured him that acquiring a copy of the limited SAO copies wouldn’t be a problem. It was ironic that the one thing that had caused him so much misery, his father’s job, would be the thing that secured his ability to escape the hell it had created.

 

Sword Art Online. When it was announced that they would be stuck, he almost snorted in amusement. The idea that he was stuck in the place he’d sought to escape his personal hell? This Akihiko Kayaba might have doomed them all, but he’d done Saruwatari a favor. Of-course, he didn’t want to die. If he had to though, why not die in a world he’d come to of his own will? A scenario, he’d willingly stepped to. Perhaps this place would be his grave, or perhaps it would become something greater. Only time could tell.

 

 

Edited June 27, 2020 by Saruwatari

[Jimmutaro 0]

Stats

• Level: 1
• Hit Points: 20
• Energy: 2
• Damage: 6 (1 base, 2 weapon, 3 from 2h weapon skill)
• Mitigation: 0
• Accuracy: 0
• Evasion: 0

 

Skills

• Total SP: 5
• Used SP: 5
• Free SP: 0

Weapon Skills

• 2H Battle Axe

Equipment

Weapon:

• 2H Rare Battle Axe [Enhancements: Damage II]

Armor:

• Heavy Armor [Vanity]

Inventory

Consumables:

• Starter Healing Potions [3]

Crafting Materials:

• Tier 1 materials [10]

[Jimmutaro 0]

Change-log

 

Spoiler

Character was registered with Starter Set B "DPS Package"

Spoiler

Changed topic name to Jimmutarō to match character's In Game Name.

 

Edited June 27, 2020 by Saruwatari

[Zajcica 0]