Post by mugenginga on Jul 1, 2010 6:29:53 GMT -5
Full Name: Ryoji Mochizuki
Nicknames: N/A
Apparent Age: 18
Actual Age: ~13
Height: 170 cm/~5'7"
Weight: ? (Lean)
Gender: Male
Race: Human
Alliance: Neutral with a moderate lean towards Good
Home: Void City Apartments, Dimension Island
Franchise: Persona 3 (and related)
Physical Description
Ryoji is a tall Japanese young man with rather lean proportions. His hair is dark brown, although it's not uncommon for it to appear black in the right light. It is rather short and looks somewhat like someone hacked it off at the end with how is is messily spiked. It is very uneven. He has little in the way of bangs, but he does have a cowlick type piece that sticks up and slightly back from the pointed dip his hair forms at the top of his forehead.
His eyes tend to be fairly mischevious, but they carry extremely sorrowful expressions with ease. Expressions reach his entire face, with the most common being mischevious and doubt. The eyes are a sort of light steel blue on the outer edges that fade to a dark steel blue. It creates the optical illusion of his pupils being more of a very dark steel blue rather than black. Under his left eye, just a bit to the side, he has a small mole. It is easy to miss, and often is.
Ryoji has a favorite outfit that seems more like it belongs in the era of the Wright Brothers rather than his homeworld's modern Japan. He changes up his wardrobe a bit more now than he used to, favoring blues and blacks. He is pretty much only ever seen in pants. His usual attire when not in his favorite outfit tends to match what Minato is wearing, as they are able to share clothes due to their rather similar body types and height. He does favor suspenders though, often wearing them in combination with clothes on loan from Minato.
He has a very long scarf that he is almost always seen wearing. Its a bit worn, but still in decent condition. It is a fairly vivid shade of yellow with the outer edges barring the bottom and top tips bearing thin strips of dark brown. The scarf is worn fairly loosely around his neck, one end trailing down far more than the other. This means that if there is no wind, it comes about half way down the calf of his legs. The other piece hangs out in front and comes just past halfway down his upper body.
Ryoji is often known for sporting an unusual bracelet-like accessory that seems to be formed of two watch straps. They are over his left wrist, just a bit higher than would be standard for a bracelet. They cross on the same side as the back of his hand and are kept in place with a rectangular metal clasp that resembles a slightly flatter version of his usual belt buckle. The two straps don't cross in the back and have roughly the same angle one might expect a bracelet to.
Weapons
Ryoji doesn't carry weapons on him in general. If a battle were to come up, he'd likely borrow a one handed sword from Minato and tuck it into his belt to use as a makeshift sheath.
Abilities/Powers
Due to the events on the Island, Ryoji has lost all his former powers and even his identity as Death and the avatar of the goddess Nyx. It has been replaced with a simpler, less powerful power. Ryoji can summon a personification of his psyche known as a Persona by summoning and crushing a card.
His Persona is known as Charon. Charon appears to be the upper body of a humanoid entity. It is wearing a black cloak with the hood pulled up. Tied around the bottom of the cloak, which hangs off a body that presumably doesn't even have hips, is a silver chain. The being floats and is kept to a casket like boat via the chain.
Charon's cloak has wide sleeves as commonly depicted on priests and its hands have leather gloves on. Its arms are never seen, the hands being swallowed up by darkness within the sleeves which never seem to pull back. The arms would be skeleton arms if you were to force the sleeve back. Its face is mostly concealed, but seems to be a white mask vaguely sharing the shape of Ryoji's face. The eye sockets lead to empty blackness. Around the throat area and concealing the bottom half of the mask is a dark grey scarf resembling his own, with the edges being black.
The casket seems to serve as a sort of boat. It is polished black with raised edges. The bottom has a white design resembling some kind of holy man. The chain is attached and the single stud that keeps it in place is over the motif's hands. Charon also holds what appears to be a wooden oar. The main part, however, is a thick blade. The weapon is perhaps best compared to a wide spear.
Charon is of the Death Arcana, and as such specializes in the instant kill family, Mudo. It has the potential to learn status effects and attacks relating to swords and spears.
Skills
Does being a girl magnet count? Somehow despite seeming to be rather shallow, Ryoji could have his pick of just about any girl he wants. It's almost a pity he's committed elsewhere.
He is able to fight with a one handed sword as if he has done so his entire life. This is a leftover from his previous function as the avatar of the godddess Nyx.
Ryoji can read tarot and knows the meanings behind each cards, including the "bonus" Arcana of Duelist that has shown up on the Island along with Atem and Yuugi. He prefers to use the standard Rider-Waite deck, but he is familiar and able to use the Thoth variation. He has a rather strong knowledge of Ancient Greek mythology, in particular the gods. He is fairly versed in other pantheons as well, but the Greek one is his strength.
Personality
Ryoji is a shameless flirt. Even worse, he's also a shameless tease. He wouldn't go out with any girl that asked him, although it wouldn't be beyond him to string them along. He's not exactly a nice guy in that regard. He seems to be for the most part cheerful and aside from being a tease tends to put others feelings before his own. He hates to see those he cares about in pain, and will go out of his way to fix the problem of his friends and those he loves. He's very loyal.
Underneath the base personality is a bundle of self-doubt and pessimism. It's not readily apparent, but he's actually rather unsure of himself. He doesn't tend to open up about his doubts. You'd have to corner him, and there's only really one person he won't completely clam up and run from given the chance.
History
CONTAINS MASSIVE PERSONA 3 SPOILERS!
Ryoji Mochizuki was "born", or rather created, around twelve years ago in a laboratory owned by the Kirijo Group in one of the many Earths scattered across the multiverse. His name then was not Ryoji, but merely "Death". His role was to bring about The Fall, or the complete destruction of all life on Earth. Actually, he would have brought about the end of the entire dimension had his purpose succeeded, but that's getting ahead of things. And while he would have ended the dimension, it would have been like a purging forest fire.
Ryoji was created as an extremely powerful "Arcana Shadow". The 13th, the forbidden, the Arcana Shadow of Death. The founder of the Kirijo Group had for whatever reason developed a horribly nihilistic attitude and felt that the only way to save the corrupted world was to destroy it to make way for new. He gathered a team of elite scientists, among which were Shuji Ikutsuki and a Mr. Takeba. However, only a few of the scientists involved knew the true purpose of the experiments.
Kirijo told most of the team that they were researching shadows to try and harness their amazing power. It was merely a guise to garner cooperation from those such as Takeba. In any case, they managed to collect twelve powerful shadows, each one a representation of the first twelve major arcana of a standard tarot deck. The goal was to merge the shadows to create the force necessary to destroy the world, the one who would summon "The Fall". However, events lead to Takeba realizing what was being planned, and he purposely sabotaged the experiment, knowing it would cost him his life. He left a video of warning for whoever survived. The shadows must not be destroyed, as that would unite them into Death.
Death had already partially formed when the experiment was sabotaged. The explosion Takeba caused meant the shadows fled. They devastated a fairly large number of anti-shadow weapons, Death easily causing the most damage. In fact, only one anti-shadow weapon, a humanoid female robot by the name of Aigis, managed to survive. She pursued Death to the Moonlight Bridge of the Port Island area that the lab had been located.
The fleeing shadows and the experiments of the Kirijo Group had created a huge spacial distortion. The distortion was so gigantic it created a phantom hour outside of time and space. From that point on, the "Dark Hour" would hit every day at midnight. During that time those who could not use Personas (either through their own talents or artifically) would be transmogrified into coffins, and the area of the explosion would turn into the 264 floor tower known as Tartarus or the "Tower of Demise" to some based on its purpose. And not only that, but the fleeing Shadows were attacking those that happened to be awake during the Hour.
This is important because a seven year old boy by the name of Minato Arisato lost his parent in the attack. Aigis put her all into fighting Death, but it became clear that she was going to lose like all the other anti-Shadow weapons. With both she and Death barely clinging to "life", she forced the Arcana Shadow into Minato who had wandered towards the battle in his complete state of shut down panic. Between the trauma of the events and the effect the Hour had on all first experiencing it, Minato lost all memory of the event. Death fell dormant.
Until ten years later when Minato transferred to a private high school that had been built where the Kirijo Group had held their experiments with shadows. The explosion had done some heavy damage to the school, and its modern appearance was thanks to it being rebuilt. Death began to stir when Minato entered the Dark Hour for the first time since childhood thanks to his train being delayed on the way to the dorms. When Minato reached the dorms near the end of the Dark Hour, he was "greeted" by a creepy little boy with dark brown almost black hair and steel blue eyes. He was wearing what would best be described as a prison uniform and had on dark grey sandals. He told Minato he had to sign a contract.
Minato signed his name to the contract and the odd boy went into a creepy speech about how some things are unavoidable before vanishing into the shadows. What Minato didn't realize, and probably wouldn't have even if he hadn't been freaking (especially after he turned to see a girl pointing a gun at him) was that they boy had not truly been there. The boy was actually the sealed Death, although it would be some time before that was revealed.
About seven months, in fact. Seven months in which the boy visited him many times. Over that time the two developed a bond. Pharos, as he came to be called, informed Minato about the coming "Fall" and served as a guide of sorts to defeating the twelve Arcana Shadows that had escaped so long ago. Pharos' memory was terribly fragmented, but over time he became more human... by the time he regained his memories and visited Minato for a final time in the morning to reaffirm that no matter what happened they would always be friends, he had reached downright cute. It was almost... sad when he left, but he told Minato he was happy to have met him.
It was about a week later after Minato learned that defeating the shadows had not only not stopped the Dark Hour, but allowed the reason for the Kirijo Group to start it to come into full play, that the third transfer student to Gekkoukan High School that year appeared. Minato's homeroom teacher expressed surprise at the number of transfer students, but introduced Ryoji Mochizuki. It was a rather chaotic first meeting, as Aigis (who had reawakened for various reasons and now fought alongside Minato and his friends) all but launched out of her seat and said flatly, "You. Are. Dangerous." to Ryoji. He was baffled by her reaction, and found it humorous that he had been rejected by a girl that quickly.
Aigis continued to have suspicions towards Ryoji, even going so far as to attempt to prevent the transfer student from getting close to Minato's group... and especially Minato. Her efforts ultimately failed, however. Ryoji became extremely close friends with Minato, likely second only to those he fought with during the Dark Hour. As for Ryoji, he couldn't help but feel he'd been friends with Minato before they'd even met.
It would be on December 2nd that the shit would hit the fan, so to speak. Ryoji had been absent a lot from school in the past week or so. While it was never directly revealed to Minato and friends, he had been suffering frequent black outs. He would come out of them in various places with no idea how he got there. On December 2nd, he had wandered to the Moonlight Bridge, where Aigis finally managed to track him down. He was looking at the full moon during the Dark Hour, and told Aigis that it was strange but he seemed somehow at peace despite not knowing how he had wandered there.
Aigis confronted him with the past she had finally managed to remember. Ryoji was Death, the Arcana Shadow she had sealed within Minato so long ago. The memories were painful, as with the memories Ryoji realized what his real purpose was. He also knew why he had been blacking out so much. His purpose was pulling him towards itself. Aigis attempted to kill Ryoji, and his human form flickered to his shadow form a few times. He managed to almost completely short circuit the android, and it was in that condition Minato and his friends found her.
Ryoji told them what he had remembered before collapsing. They brought him back to the dorms and after he recovered he told them what he had remembered. He was The Appriser, the one who would alert Nyx that it was time to bring about The Fall. His very existance meant The Fall was unavoidable, and there was no way to avoid the destruction of all life. However, he told them that the time he had been sealed within Minato had given him human emotions (and indeed hsi form as Ryoji Mochizuki), and as such he could offer them a choice. If Minato, who he had resided in for ten years, killed him while he was still human, they could live in peace until The Fall. Their memories would be lost, but they wouldn't have to be tormented by the knowledge that they were going to die with no way out.
He told them he understood that it was a hard choice, and said that he would return on New Year's Eve. For when the Dark Hour of New Year's arrived, he would transfigure into an unrecognizable form and do what he had no choice but to do. While Minato and his friends wondered what he was doing during that time, it was a time of much lamenting for him. He knew he had no choice and that The Fall could not be avoided. He didn't want it any more than Minato and his friends did, but he knew the inevitability of it all. Actually, he was making his way to the top of Tartarus during that time. He reached the top the night Minato's group decided to return there, and spent most of the rest of the time sitting up there. By remaining in Tartarus when the Hour ended, it was only about twenty-eight hours that ended up passing for him.
He returned early evening on New Year's Eve as promised. By that time, Minato's friends had chosen to fight no matter how hopeless Ryoji said it was. He reinformed them of how hopeless it all was and went to wait in Minato's room. When the teen came up, he tried as hard as he could to convince Minato to kill him. He even went so far as to tell him that despite what his friends wanted, he was the only one there now and the choice was ultimately his. He even took his true form as Death to try and convince Minato, but the teen continued to stick with the decision he and his friends had made. He was horribly depressed by the "terrible" choice, but told Minato it was his choice and informed the group how to face Nyx. They had to reach the top of Tartarus by January 31st and be there during the Dark Hour of that date.
Ryoji left before his form changed, mere moments before midnight. He hadn't even made it to Tartarus before shifting to Nyx Avatar, although he had far more of himself then than he would in thirty one days. In fact, by the time the group reached him on that promised day, "Ryoji" was all but lost as Nyx had almost completely surfaced on his new fo. The efforts to defeat him in this form woke him up some, and he lamented that if more humans were like Minato and his friends, perhaps this could have been avoided.
Minato drew upon the power of social links he had made over the past nine months, and used his soul as a shield between Nyx whom Ryoji had summoned and what would actually bring about the fall, Erebus. As his power exploded outwards, Ryoji's voice told his friends that Minato had found the answer to the ultimate question in life. He told them that he would meet them all again one die, implying that Death would reach them all.... even Aigis, the robot, who had been lamenting how she was not "alive" for some time.
About two years later (shortly before the events of Persona 4), Elizabeth, a friend Minato had made and an attendant of the Velvet Room, figured out how to free Minato. However, by Minato arriving on Dimension Island, it effected the fabric of the entire Multiverse. The Appriser that would manifest on the Island as The Fall reached it thanks mostly to the number of people with the desire to destroy the multiverse that had arrived there would not be the usual emotionless entity that Death was supposed to be. It would be the unprecedented occurance of the exact same Appriser that had attempted to bring The Fall in Minato's world.
He didn't have his memories on arrival, but he did show up in time to save Minato from the teenager's own suppressed emotions. There was a level of avoidance and panic about Ryoji due to his past, and the teenager couldn't understand it. Over the next few weeks or so, Ryoji would feel himself slipping. There were several close calls involving his true self.
It came to a bit of a head thanks to the words of the god Izanagi and his conflicts with his avatar. A comment said to hurt lead Ryoji to the library. Research lead to him begging to know things, and eventually he was contacted by the goddess Nyx, the one he functioned as avatar to. More events lead to him getting into a huge fight with the goddess, and the memories causing him to cry into Minato's shoulders.
Some time was spent trying to come to terms with the inevitable. He continued to stay with Minato. Eventually he pushed his self doubt away long enough to ask Minato if the teenager wanted to say anything. It came out that they were both in love, and Ryoji wasn't sure after the fact if he'd wanted to know or not. He did know he wanted to stay with Minato, even though he knew it was impossible.
With the Fall coming ever closer, Ryoji made the choice to try and fight it as long as he could. Minato took a depressed Ryoji out to the Arcade, and a simulated fight on a machine nearly caused him to lose it then and there. Minato regretted taking him out, and they eventually made their way back to the apartment. The last night Ryoji spent there would be spent with Minato, in every meaning of the phrase. He left the Apartment just before midnight, and Minato was forced to see his lover transform into Nyx Avatar.
Eventually Minato would come to try and stop the Fall. Ryoji had wanted to fade away, but with Minato's presence he couldn't stop parts of himself effecting the fight. The ability to do so came from the presence of the Duelist Arcana which had become a part of Death due to actions prior to Ryoji's arrival. The fight was long and painful, but Ryoji was able to face his Shadow and stop his former form from summong the Fall.
When Minato woke up the next morning after the group had received a promise they would maintain their memories, he thought he was alone. He was greeted to Ryoji pretty much dumping the entire dishes cabinet on his head. All their friends showed up to check on them, chaos ensued, and things seemed okay. Ryoji is now staying with Minato, the Fall averted.
Other
Fanon is mixed into the history section where I felt it was needed. A note on Ryoji's race, he is fully human now. Not a Shadow, not an avatar, just human. In terms of "soul", he actually has one now as well.
I don't have an image of Charon.
Pictures
Official Reference Sheet (Artbook): i747.photobucket.com/albums/xx112/mugenginga/Ryoji%20Mochizuki%20DP%20App%20References/Ryojiofficialreference.png
Expressions/Outfit Reference Sheet (Artbook): i747.photobucket.com/albums/xx112/mugenginga/Ryoji%20Mochizuki%20DP%20App%20References/Ryojiofficialexpressionreference.png
With Minato (Manga): i747.photobucket.com/albums/xx112/mugenginga/Ryoji%20Mochizuki%20DP%20App%20References/Ryojimangaphoto.png
Nicknames: N/A
Apparent Age: 18
Actual Age: ~13
Height: 170 cm/~5'7"
Weight: ? (Lean)
Gender: Male
Race: Human
Alliance: Neutral with a moderate lean towards Good
Home: Void City Apartments, Dimension Island
Franchise: Persona 3 (and related)
Physical Description
Ryoji is a tall Japanese young man with rather lean proportions. His hair is dark brown, although it's not uncommon for it to appear black in the right light. It is rather short and looks somewhat like someone hacked it off at the end with how is is messily spiked. It is very uneven. He has little in the way of bangs, but he does have a cowlick type piece that sticks up and slightly back from the pointed dip his hair forms at the top of his forehead.
His eyes tend to be fairly mischevious, but they carry extremely sorrowful expressions with ease. Expressions reach his entire face, with the most common being mischevious and doubt. The eyes are a sort of light steel blue on the outer edges that fade to a dark steel blue. It creates the optical illusion of his pupils being more of a very dark steel blue rather than black. Under his left eye, just a bit to the side, he has a small mole. It is easy to miss, and often is.
Ryoji has a favorite outfit that seems more like it belongs in the era of the Wright Brothers rather than his homeworld's modern Japan. He changes up his wardrobe a bit more now than he used to, favoring blues and blacks. He is pretty much only ever seen in pants. His usual attire when not in his favorite outfit tends to match what Minato is wearing, as they are able to share clothes due to their rather similar body types and height. He does favor suspenders though, often wearing them in combination with clothes on loan from Minato.
He has a very long scarf that he is almost always seen wearing. Its a bit worn, but still in decent condition. It is a fairly vivid shade of yellow with the outer edges barring the bottom and top tips bearing thin strips of dark brown. The scarf is worn fairly loosely around his neck, one end trailing down far more than the other. This means that if there is no wind, it comes about half way down the calf of his legs. The other piece hangs out in front and comes just past halfway down his upper body.
Ryoji is often known for sporting an unusual bracelet-like accessory that seems to be formed of two watch straps. They are over his left wrist, just a bit higher than would be standard for a bracelet. They cross on the same side as the back of his hand and are kept in place with a rectangular metal clasp that resembles a slightly flatter version of his usual belt buckle. The two straps don't cross in the back and have roughly the same angle one might expect a bracelet to.
Weapons
Ryoji doesn't carry weapons on him in general. If a battle were to come up, he'd likely borrow a one handed sword from Minato and tuck it into his belt to use as a makeshift sheath.
Abilities/Powers
Due to the events on the Island, Ryoji has lost all his former powers and even his identity as Death and the avatar of the goddess Nyx. It has been replaced with a simpler, less powerful power. Ryoji can summon a personification of his psyche known as a Persona by summoning and crushing a card.
His Persona is known as Charon. Charon appears to be the upper body of a humanoid entity. It is wearing a black cloak with the hood pulled up. Tied around the bottom of the cloak, which hangs off a body that presumably doesn't even have hips, is a silver chain. The being floats and is kept to a casket like boat via the chain.
Charon's cloak has wide sleeves as commonly depicted on priests and its hands have leather gloves on. Its arms are never seen, the hands being swallowed up by darkness within the sleeves which never seem to pull back. The arms would be skeleton arms if you were to force the sleeve back. Its face is mostly concealed, but seems to be a white mask vaguely sharing the shape of Ryoji's face. The eye sockets lead to empty blackness. Around the throat area and concealing the bottom half of the mask is a dark grey scarf resembling his own, with the edges being black.
The casket seems to serve as a sort of boat. It is polished black with raised edges. The bottom has a white design resembling some kind of holy man. The chain is attached and the single stud that keeps it in place is over the motif's hands. Charon also holds what appears to be a wooden oar. The main part, however, is a thick blade. The weapon is perhaps best compared to a wide spear.
Charon is of the Death Arcana, and as such specializes in the instant kill family, Mudo. It has the potential to learn status effects and attacks relating to swords and spears.
Skills
Does being a girl magnet count? Somehow despite seeming to be rather shallow, Ryoji could have his pick of just about any girl he wants. It's almost a pity he's committed elsewhere.
He is able to fight with a one handed sword as if he has done so his entire life. This is a leftover from his previous function as the avatar of the godddess Nyx.
Ryoji can read tarot and knows the meanings behind each cards, including the "bonus" Arcana of Duelist that has shown up on the Island along with Atem and Yuugi. He prefers to use the standard Rider-Waite deck, but he is familiar and able to use the Thoth variation. He has a rather strong knowledge of Ancient Greek mythology, in particular the gods. He is fairly versed in other pantheons as well, but the Greek one is his strength.
Personality
Ryoji is a shameless flirt. Even worse, he's also a shameless tease. He wouldn't go out with any girl that asked him, although it wouldn't be beyond him to string them along. He's not exactly a nice guy in that regard. He seems to be for the most part cheerful and aside from being a tease tends to put others feelings before his own. He hates to see those he cares about in pain, and will go out of his way to fix the problem of his friends and those he loves. He's very loyal.
Underneath the base personality is a bundle of self-doubt and pessimism. It's not readily apparent, but he's actually rather unsure of himself. He doesn't tend to open up about his doubts. You'd have to corner him, and there's only really one person he won't completely clam up and run from given the chance.
History
CONTAINS MASSIVE PERSONA 3 SPOILERS!
Ryoji Mochizuki was "born", or rather created, around twelve years ago in a laboratory owned by the Kirijo Group in one of the many Earths scattered across the multiverse. His name then was not Ryoji, but merely "Death". His role was to bring about The Fall, or the complete destruction of all life on Earth. Actually, he would have brought about the end of the entire dimension had his purpose succeeded, but that's getting ahead of things. And while he would have ended the dimension, it would have been like a purging forest fire.
Ryoji was created as an extremely powerful "Arcana Shadow". The 13th, the forbidden, the Arcana Shadow of Death. The founder of the Kirijo Group had for whatever reason developed a horribly nihilistic attitude and felt that the only way to save the corrupted world was to destroy it to make way for new. He gathered a team of elite scientists, among which were Shuji Ikutsuki and a Mr. Takeba. However, only a few of the scientists involved knew the true purpose of the experiments.
Kirijo told most of the team that they were researching shadows to try and harness their amazing power. It was merely a guise to garner cooperation from those such as Takeba. In any case, they managed to collect twelve powerful shadows, each one a representation of the first twelve major arcana of a standard tarot deck. The goal was to merge the shadows to create the force necessary to destroy the world, the one who would summon "The Fall". However, events lead to Takeba realizing what was being planned, and he purposely sabotaged the experiment, knowing it would cost him his life. He left a video of warning for whoever survived. The shadows must not be destroyed, as that would unite them into Death.
Death had already partially formed when the experiment was sabotaged. The explosion Takeba caused meant the shadows fled. They devastated a fairly large number of anti-shadow weapons, Death easily causing the most damage. In fact, only one anti-shadow weapon, a humanoid female robot by the name of Aigis, managed to survive. She pursued Death to the Moonlight Bridge of the Port Island area that the lab had been located.
The fleeing shadows and the experiments of the Kirijo Group had created a huge spacial distortion. The distortion was so gigantic it created a phantom hour outside of time and space. From that point on, the "Dark Hour" would hit every day at midnight. During that time those who could not use Personas (either through their own talents or artifically) would be transmogrified into coffins, and the area of the explosion would turn into the 264 floor tower known as Tartarus or the "Tower of Demise" to some based on its purpose. And not only that, but the fleeing Shadows were attacking those that happened to be awake during the Hour.
This is important because a seven year old boy by the name of Minato Arisato lost his parent in the attack. Aigis put her all into fighting Death, but it became clear that she was going to lose like all the other anti-Shadow weapons. With both she and Death barely clinging to "life", she forced the Arcana Shadow into Minato who had wandered towards the battle in his complete state of shut down panic. Between the trauma of the events and the effect the Hour had on all first experiencing it, Minato lost all memory of the event. Death fell dormant.
Until ten years later when Minato transferred to a private high school that had been built where the Kirijo Group had held their experiments with shadows. The explosion had done some heavy damage to the school, and its modern appearance was thanks to it being rebuilt. Death began to stir when Minato entered the Dark Hour for the first time since childhood thanks to his train being delayed on the way to the dorms. When Minato reached the dorms near the end of the Dark Hour, he was "greeted" by a creepy little boy with dark brown almost black hair and steel blue eyes. He was wearing what would best be described as a prison uniform and had on dark grey sandals. He told Minato he had to sign a contract.
Minato signed his name to the contract and the odd boy went into a creepy speech about how some things are unavoidable before vanishing into the shadows. What Minato didn't realize, and probably wouldn't have even if he hadn't been freaking (especially after he turned to see a girl pointing a gun at him) was that they boy had not truly been there. The boy was actually the sealed Death, although it would be some time before that was revealed.
About seven months, in fact. Seven months in which the boy visited him many times. Over that time the two developed a bond. Pharos, as he came to be called, informed Minato about the coming "Fall" and served as a guide of sorts to defeating the twelve Arcana Shadows that had escaped so long ago. Pharos' memory was terribly fragmented, but over time he became more human... by the time he regained his memories and visited Minato for a final time in the morning to reaffirm that no matter what happened they would always be friends, he had reached downright cute. It was almost... sad when he left, but he told Minato he was happy to have met him.
It was about a week later after Minato learned that defeating the shadows had not only not stopped the Dark Hour, but allowed the reason for the Kirijo Group to start it to come into full play, that the third transfer student to Gekkoukan High School that year appeared. Minato's homeroom teacher expressed surprise at the number of transfer students, but introduced Ryoji Mochizuki. It was a rather chaotic first meeting, as Aigis (who had reawakened for various reasons and now fought alongside Minato and his friends) all but launched out of her seat and said flatly, "You. Are. Dangerous." to Ryoji. He was baffled by her reaction, and found it humorous that he had been rejected by a girl that quickly.
Aigis continued to have suspicions towards Ryoji, even going so far as to attempt to prevent the transfer student from getting close to Minato's group... and especially Minato. Her efforts ultimately failed, however. Ryoji became extremely close friends with Minato, likely second only to those he fought with during the Dark Hour. As for Ryoji, he couldn't help but feel he'd been friends with Minato before they'd even met.
It would be on December 2nd that the shit would hit the fan, so to speak. Ryoji had been absent a lot from school in the past week or so. While it was never directly revealed to Minato and friends, he had been suffering frequent black outs. He would come out of them in various places with no idea how he got there. On December 2nd, he had wandered to the Moonlight Bridge, where Aigis finally managed to track him down. He was looking at the full moon during the Dark Hour, and told Aigis that it was strange but he seemed somehow at peace despite not knowing how he had wandered there.
Aigis confronted him with the past she had finally managed to remember. Ryoji was Death, the Arcana Shadow she had sealed within Minato so long ago. The memories were painful, as with the memories Ryoji realized what his real purpose was. He also knew why he had been blacking out so much. His purpose was pulling him towards itself. Aigis attempted to kill Ryoji, and his human form flickered to his shadow form a few times. He managed to almost completely short circuit the android, and it was in that condition Minato and his friends found her.
Ryoji told them what he had remembered before collapsing. They brought him back to the dorms and after he recovered he told them what he had remembered. He was The Appriser, the one who would alert Nyx that it was time to bring about The Fall. His very existance meant The Fall was unavoidable, and there was no way to avoid the destruction of all life. However, he told them that the time he had been sealed within Minato had given him human emotions (and indeed hsi form as Ryoji Mochizuki), and as such he could offer them a choice. If Minato, who he had resided in for ten years, killed him while he was still human, they could live in peace until The Fall. Their memories would be lost, but they wouldn't have to be tormented by the knowledge that they were going to die with no way out.
He told them he understood that it was a hard choice, and said that he would return on New Year's Eve. For when the Dark Hour of New Year's arrived, he would transfigure into an unrecognizable form and do what he had no choice but to do. While Minato and his friends wondered what he was doing during that time, it was a time of much lamenting for him. He knew he had no choice and that The Fall could not be avoided. He didn't want it any more than Minato and his friends did, but he knew the inevitability of it all. Actually, he was making his way to the top of Tartarus during that time. He reached the top the night Minato's group decided to return there, and spent most of the rest of the time sitting up there. By remaining in Tartarus when the Hour ended, it was only about twenty-eight hours that ended up passing for him.
He returned early evening on New Year's Eve as promised. By that time, Minato's friends had chosen to fight no matter how hopeless Ryoji said it was. He reinformed them of how hopeless it all was and went to wait in Minato's room. When the teen came up, he tried as hard as he could to convince Minato to kill him. He even went so far as to tell him that despite what his friends wanted, he was the only one there now and the choice was ultimately his. He even took his true form as Death to try and convince Minato, but the teen continued to stick with the decision he and his friends had made. He was horribly depressed by the "terrible" choice, but told Minato it was his choice and informed the group how to face Nyx. They had to reach the top of Tartarus by January 31st and be there during the Dark Hour of that date.
Ryoji left before his form changed, mere moments before midnight. He hadn't even made it to Tartarus before shifting to Nyx Avatar, although he had far more of himself then than he would in thirty one days. In fact, by the time the group reached him on that promised day, "Ryoji" was all but lost as Nyx had almost completely surfaced on his new fo. The efforts to defeat him in this form woke him up some, and he lamented that if more humans were like Minato and his friends, perhaps this could have been avoided.
Minato drew upon the power of social links he had made over the past nine months, and used his soul as a shield between Nyx whom Ryoji had summoned and what would actually bring about the fall, Erebus. As his power exploded outwards, Ryoji's voice told his friends that Minato had found the answer to the ultimate question in life. He told them that he would meet them all again one die, implying that Death would reach them all.... even Aigis, the robot, who had been lamenting how she was not "alive" for some time.
About two years later (shortly before the events of Persona 4), Elizabeth, a friend Minato had made and an attendant of the Velvet Room, figured out how to free Minato. However, by Minato arriving on Dimension Island, it effected the fabric of the entire Multiverse. The Appriser that would manifest on the Island as The Fall reached it thanks mostly to the number of people with the desire to destroy the multiverse that had arrived there would not be the usual emotionless entity that Death was supposed to be. It would be the unprecedented occurance of the exact same Appriser that had attempted to bring The Fall in Minato's world.
He didn't have his memories on arrival, but he did show up in time to save Minato from the teenager's own suppressed emotions. There was a level of avoidance and panic about Ryoji due to his past, and the teenager couldn't understand it. Over the next few weeks or so, Ryoji would feel himself slipping. There were several close calls involving his true self.
It came to a bit of a head thanks to the words of the god Izanagi and his conflicts with his avatar. A comment said to hurt lead Ryoji to the library. Research lead to him begging to know things, and eventually he was contacted by the goddess Nyx, the one he functioned as avatar to. More events lead to him getting into a huge fight with the goddess, and the memories causing him to cry into Minato's shoulders.
Some time was spent trying to come to terms with the inevitable. He continued to stay with Minato. Eventually he pushed his self doubt away long enough to ask Minato if the teenager wanted to say anything. It came out that they were both in love, and Ryoji wasn't sure after the fact if he'd wanted to know or not. He did know he wanted to stay with Minato, even though he knew it was impossible.
With the Fall coming ever closer, Ryoji made the choice to try and fight it as long as he could. Minato took a depressed Ryoji out to the Arcade, and a simulated fight on a machine nearly caused him to lose it then and there. Minato regretted taking him out, and they eventually made their way back to the apartment. The last night Ryoji spent there would be spent with Minato, in every meaning of the phrase. He left the Apartment just before midnight, and Minato was forced to see his lover transform into Nyx Avatar.
Eventually Minato would come to try and stop the Fall. Ryoji had wanted to fade away, but with Minato's presence he couldn't stop parts of himself effecting the fight. The ability to do so came from the presence of the Duelist Arcana which had become a part of Death due to actions prior to Ryoji's arrival. The fight was long and painful, but Ryoji was able to face his Shadow and stop his former form from summong the Fall.
When Minato woke up the next morning after the group had received a promise they would maintain their memories, he thought he was alone. He was greeted to Ryoji pretty much dumping the entire dishes cabinet on his head. All their friends showed up to check on them, chaos ensued, and things seemed okay. Ryoji is now staying with Minato, the Fall averted.
Other
Fanon is mixed into the history section where I felt it was needed. A note on Ryoji's race, he is fully human now. Not a Shadow, not an avatar, just human. In terms of "soul", he actually has one now as well.
I don't have an image of Charon.
Pictures
Official Reference Sheet (Artbook): i747.photobucket.com/albums/xx112/mugenginga/Ryoji%20Mochizuki%20DP%20App%20References/Ryojiofficialreference.png
Expressions/Outfit Reference Sheet (Artbook): i747.photobucket.com/albums/xx112/mugenginga/Ryoji%20Mochizuki%20DP%20App%20References/Ryojiofficialexpressionreference.png
With Minato (Manga): i747.photobucket.com/albums/xx112/mugenginga/Ryoji%20Mochizuki%20DP%20App%20References/Ryojimangaphoto.png
