NAME: Goro Akechi
CANON: Persona 5
CANON POINT: Between starting to suspect Ren faked his death and realizing he's found Shido's Palace.
AGE: 18
BACKGROUND: Wiki link

PERSONALITY: Meeting Goro Akechi, he seems like a bright, cheerful and polite young man. All smiles and occasionally flirtatious, he looks like the kind of person who can get along with just about anyone, and who doesn't have an aggressive or rude bone in his body unless you've done something seriously wrong. But something about it always seems a little...off. Plastic. That's because all of it, save the teasing sense of humor, is fake.

In honesty, Akechi is a broken and bitter individual, angry at the world. When he feels comfortable with someone, a more sarcastic and condescending side peeks through. At its most extreme, it can seem as though he thinks the world is beneath him. Pull the mask he puts on for the public completely off, and he becomes a cold, heartless individual who can murder someone in cold blood simply because he was told to, and never feel a hint of remorse. This, too, is fake.

In the company of someone he trusts, or the privacy of his own, overactive, mind, he shows the face of a depressed but driven young man. Despite carrying the burden of emotional scars from a suicidal mother and years of neglect and abuse due to his status as an illegitimate child, he displays a powerful determination to prove his worth to society...and a desperate need for acceptance. Given the opportunity, he'll constantly mention things he thinks will make himself look better, and takes every chance to make himself helpful. His upbringing has led him to believe that his worth as an individual is directly tied to how useful he is, and it shows in his bids for attention.

At his best, when showing this side of himself, he can come across as confident and reassuring, if somewhat over the top. When he isn't concerned with how he looks, he shows a strong bent toward theatrics and needless drama, and honestly seems to enjoy it. In stark contrast to his reserved public image, he shows an abundant energy and distinct sense of childishness, as though making up for not being able to act like a kid in his younger years. Though still capable of being serious, he appears to be venting every last dumb, silly, and embarrassing impulse he wouldn't dare show to the public.

He's also, despite the levity of his behavior and his capacity to pretend to be uncaring, capable of being remarkably sympathetic. When speaking to a teenager he had orphaned under orders, after accidentally upsetting her by mentioning he knew of her because of her mother, he was willing to share his own status as an illegitimate child and orphan in an attempt to comfort her. Though he'd only just met her, his understanding of her pain was enough to prompt him to share a deeply personal secret that could, without exaggeration, ruin his career if it became public knowledge. The decision may have also been motivated by genuine remorse for what he had done to her mother, as seeing a video of one of his victims' final moments was enough to cause him to audibly retch. Though he acts the part of the heartless killer, he is, honestly, deeply troubled by what he's done, and part of his motivation for refusing to accept the Thieves' methods for dealing with Shido until the end was a reluctance to allow all of it to go to waste. In order to live with what he's done, he leans heavily on the sunk costs fallacy in order to convince himself it was worth it. For the most part, all of this is real...but it's still hiding one last layer.

At his core, under everything else, Akechi is, to put it bluntly, a mess. His every action is driven by insecurity, an overwhelming fear of being lesser than others. His proud attitude is, ultimately, a front to keep people away from a weakness they could use to devastate him. His desperation for acknowledgment is so great that a little bit of praise and faked appreciation is all it takes to nudge him in the direction you want him to go in and blind him to how disposable he really is. Even those murders he convinced himself were necessary could have been avoided if he hadn't felt an overwhelming need for his absentee father to recognize his value, as none of the rest of his plan required Shido's trust. While his desire to ruin Shido's life was the result of a strong vengeful nature, every last morally bankrupt choice he's made has been born from this need, from using his powers to fabricate crimes to solve for his own fame, to killing countless people in order to convince a heartless man that he had worth.

This insecurity also manifests in a tendency to compare himself to others, which can develop into a toxic jealousy. Even people he likes, if he perceives them as having it better than him, can cause a strong desire to prove himself superior. If not addressed, this envy will fester and poison even the closest of bonds, leading him to believe even someone he regards as a friend is looking down on him. In the worst case scenario, it can drive him to snap and lash out, in a desperate bid to prove himself and to regard any attempts at pointing out ways he genuinely is better as expressions of pity.

On a less negative side, this desperation also makes him fairly easy to befriend. Show a hint of genuine kindness or concern, and he becomes eager to spend time together, hoping to grow closer to someone who might come to genuinely care about him. He takes rejection poorly, both from the public and those he hopes to befriend, but those who show him genuine acceptance can expect him to always be there when they need help, or simply to keep them company...or just because he had spare time on his hands and wanted to talk. Even in ordinary interactions, his desperation for human kindness shows itself in a tendency to seek out those he feels comfortable around at every opportunity.

OOC

Backtagging: I will backtag into infinity.
Threadhopping: If it's a public conversation, go for it.
Canon Puncture: Non-specific parodies only, please. I'd rather not have other characters know everything about him from the start.
Offensive Subjects: Nothing I can think of.

IC

Hugging: You can try, but he might not react well.
Kissing: Go for it, reactions will depend on how well he knows your character.
Flirting: Feel free, he'll probably go along with it.
Fighting: Go ahead, but he'll fight back hard.
Injuring: Minor to moderate injuries are okay, ask first for anything that would be obvious later.
Killing: Let's not, unless he's rolled in 15 Strangers
Telepathy/Mind Reading: Ask first!

Warnings: Subjects of murder, suicide, sexual exploitation, child abuse and similar subjects are likely to come up with his backstory. He himself is mentally unstable and could turn violent under certain circumstances.