Ivory Yumihari

Personality:

Quiet and unassuming at a first glance, Ivory aims to keep themselves out of the spotlight. To themself, Ivory believes that they're an ordinary person, no better than anyone else, and certainly not capable of being in any sort of leadership position! There's no reason to pay attention to him.

This of course is a flat lie, and becomes increasingly so in post game, where "ordinary person" couldn't be anymore opposite of who -- and what -- Ivory is. 

Despite this, Ivory struggles is to accept is that they do have potential -- clever and observant, they excel at investigative work, and in post game, are taken under Ren Fujita's wing as an assistant for that very reason. They also are an excellent leader-- being able to bring people together from all walks of life, they're respected by humans, demons, seraphim, and anything inbetween, making them a powerful figure to those aware of what position they wield. Yet even so, their self-esteem is terribly, terribly low. This lack of confidence stems from two prominent factors: the general idea that he'd be taking the position of someone who could do it better; and their struggle with communication, often masked through over-thinking hypothetical situations beforehand and using the novels he read as a kid as a springboard for how he should act.

When Ivory isn't being performative, it becomes much more obvious how he's like as a person. Anxious, emotionally driven, yet a bit sassy, it becomes clear that while they aren't an ordinary person, they're also not the cool-headed detectives they try hard to pretend to be. They overthink, a lot, and it feeds into a lot of communication bumps -- sentences that trail off suddenly continue leagues past the initial train of thought expressed, or too much thinking results in a stumbled attempt to catch their words up to their thoughts, hands silently waving about in hopes to explain what they can't in the given moment. 

They also have difficulties with reading others, which does make them a appear callous, and even more notably, makes them extremely dense at times. Common social cues fly over their head, and while they know when to say sorry when they're unintentionally rude, it takes them weeks -- no, months -- to recognize that maybe, just maybe, there are people out there that have crushes on them, and they reciprocated these feelings long before noticing. (Both of their current partners can certainly attest to that.)

On a final note, post game Ivory can become somber when left on their own to overthink -- but with the threat of demons and seraphim over, there's hope that he can finally get a much needed mental rest. 

Backstory: 

Ivory spent the first few years in England, only for their parents to move to Japan to be closer to their father's relatives. While picking up the language proved difficult but manageable, Ivory didn't have the social skills to make many friends in the rural town they once resided in. So, they instead reached out to TV and books, reading up on famous detectives and watching crime shows. Ivory filled notebook after notebook with 'notes' on the news that happened on TV, piecing together facts to see if their logic matched the investigators who'd follow up with a report on a later date.

Soon enough, their love of solving crimes grew into something more obsessive; they started mimicking the attire of famous figures in the law, or used mannerisms they were known for. They aspired to be them, to take on the role as their successor, as the next 'famous investigator'.

Except...

Ivory couldn't take the job of those that they admired. Ivory couldn't possibly compare to them, they were just too...plain in comparison. Too unremarkable. A nobody with a strange name. Thus, when it came time to apply to college, Ivory picked a degree that even someone as simple as themselves could do. That way, Ivory wouldn't take the job of those they'd admired so much.

The Amnesia Incidents:
On the night of a performance at their school, Ivory is pulled into another world. There, he combats demons, and after being saved by Natsumi, is given the ability to summon a persona of their own. Together, they find Mei at the top of the altered theater, and three take down the leader and free them from the demon-filled world. 

Ivory, now faced with new facts -- and truths -- about the ongoing amnesia incidents, begins investigating with their new teammates. More mysteries pile up when they learn that they can see things that others can't, such as the strange attendant by a glowing door, and the key shaped marking found on a person's hand. Once the trio learn that the key is meant to open a door, and more importantly, that they have to get the person to open it before their birthday, they prevent that door from opening haphazardly by opening the door prematurely, and stopping the demons themselves.

Through that, they gain new teammates -- Shun, Ren, Katsuo, and Yoshimi -- who all enter the doors and gain persona through that. And as more and more people are saved, more and more targets are put on Ivory's back; not only from the leader of Demons, Paimon, but from the Seraphim as well, both in which lurk in humanity's plane in human guises. The mysteries continue to pile higher and higher, too, between their conversations with the mysterious amnesiac, and the sudden action to house the Velvet room attendant -- given the name Ishiki -- within their home, now that he's out of his job.

After stopping themself from being killed by one of Paimon's subordinates, Orias, Ivory realizes that the demons can be communicated with. That, alongside learning that Dantalion, Ivory's persona, is actually one of these demons and currently coexists with them, causes Ivory to shift their goal. This new goal, which is to find a way to have demons live among humans without having to steal a human's identity, is further amplified when the Seraphim Mika purges Orias, and, unlike the demons, does not budge when told that killing others is wrong.

Eventually, Paimon makes her final move and targets Ivory themself as the next key holder. Unlike the others, Ivory ends up having three doors, representative of the three viewpoints that the demons, humans, and seraphim see him as. Naturally, the demon door goes to Orias' prior home, and for the humans, Natsumi's house, but for the Seraphim, Ivory comes to learn that Takuya, his roommate and first friend, wasn't human after all. Unlike Mika, however, Takuya doesn't want to kill demons and in fact, is the very reason why Ivory can see the keys in the first place. 

The Stopping the Seraphim:
After Ivory takes on Paimon and, after making a deal, is announced the new Demon King, the gang finds that there's only one thing left to take care of: the Seraphim, who wish to rid of anyone demonic, including those who only have a demon coexisting with them, rather than a demon in disguise.  As Ivory doesn't know what happens to a human with a demon living with them -- does purging the demon kill them too? -- they realize that it's crucial to make sure that his team remains safe and sound, and that no one else has to die.

Thanks to Takuya, Ivory is able to bring them and their teammates into the Seraphim's plane; as Ivory comes to realize, their world is made up of a number of planes and, just as the Seraphim have their plane, so to the demons. Unlike the demons, however, Seraphim do not need a human host to go into their world -- and that, tied with their desire to kill anything that they feel is hurting humanity, makes them furious.

It's only Takuya's presence that stops Ivory from doing the same that the Seraphim did to the demons, instead focusing their actions on proving to the Seraphim that they'll get their way without needless killing. Their motivations though, while at first was through taking revenge on Mika, shifts to those tied with their exhaustion and, admittedly, the bouts of sadness that had welled up over the course of the story. They didn't want to feel this pain anymore, no, but more importantly -- they didn't want anyone else to, either.

After failing to reach out to the current God of the planes, Ivory and their teammates take them on and succeed. The god, before leaving, mocks their efforts, claiming that their goals are for naught -- that if they truly wanted to change the laws of the worlds, it would come at a cost. Ivory learns rather quickly what this means: that if they wanted to bring the planes together and thus, bring demons to this world, they needed two things -- a powerful person, and the permissions to do so in the first place.

In the end, a tough decision was made. In order to give Ivory that power, Takuya gave up his own -- and with that, resides in Ivory now as their secondary Persona. Together, with both personas at hand, and newfound power, Ivory sets aside a year's worth of time carefully adjusting the world. Upon completing, the event -- later known as the Merge -- brings them back to the station where they first met Ishiki and, after realizing just how much time has passed, gathers their friends through text to meet up.

Abilities:

Ivory's abilities can be summed up in three distinct 'forms'; the abilities they wield as Dantalion, those they have as Haiaiel, and those kept universally as 'Ivory', including the form that their body hides within.

Dantalion:
Their main persona is Dantalion -- one who carries the thoughts of others in the book he carries, and can influence changes in emotions.  When calling forth Dantalion, Ivory's attire changes and assumes that identity; should anyone try to call them by Ivory, all that comes out is static. (post game, with the merging of planes, this fact may not be true anymore).

• Dantalion uses Psi skills after inflicting opponents with statuses to maximize damage output. 
• They also carry an assortment of masks that look like other characters that Ivory knows (ideally those that they look up to); as Ivory collects hairties, these masks change to look like the persona that the hairtie is correspondent to, and give Ivory alternative skills depending one which one is used:
  • Sitri: Zio
  • Phenex: Recarm
  • Andras: Frei
  • Gremory: Eiha
  • Orias: Kouha
• As Dantalion coexists within them, this makes Ivory at first a human with a demon host, but eventually, no different than any of the demons that they fought. Part of this might be due to how willing Ivory was to have a persona and, upon learning this truth, how completely fine they were with the idea that a demon has been sharing their identity. 

Haiaiel:
Their secondary persona is Haiaiel, which is representative of not only the power Takuya entrusted to them, but perhaps Takuya himself. Like Dantalion, Ivory changes appearance when calling forth Haiaiel, effectively taking on his identity.

• Haiaiel's forte lies in navigation instead of combat. He can use his powers to wisk allies from combat, change the perception of a dungeon to alter the floor's layout, and give warnings to the future that's yet to come.
• Unlike Dantalion, the hairties do not give Haiaiel different skills or weaknesses; in fact, when Ivory assumes their form, they refrain from wearing any hairties at all.

Over the course of the game, Ivory had received various powers through both demons and seraphim alike. By being blessed initially by Takuya, he was able to see the keys that were on people's hands, and was protected from the Seraphim's power to purge demons from their body with a single touch. By allowing Dantalion to coexist, he was given the fortitude to take on enemy attacks, accrue magical power, and notably, adapt to whatever challenges came their way. 

By post game, however, when Takuya gives up all of his power to Ivory, and they take the mantle of rewriting the worlds laws, their humanity had been completely stripped clean. That said, to strictly call Ivory a seraphim would be incorrect, and demon even more so, but perhaps that's why its best to define them simply as a 'god' or 'deity' -- the one responsible in keeping the laws of this world intact.

• Through Dantalion, Ivory has the ability to adapt to new situations and challenges. A master of disguise, Ivory has an easier time pretending that they're something they aren't. 
• As a Seraph, this means that Ivory's human body is actually just a shell keeping a much bigger, much more intimidating form within. Breaking that shell reveals parts of that form, but it takes a lot of effort to get to that point. Should Ivory get injured, however, they need to rest in order to heal any broken pieces.
• As a Seraph’s power is defined by the number of wings, Ivory has a single wing that they can reveal even in their human form. Ironically, this is the lowest on the echelon, and implies them as one of the weakest Seraphim — but, with all the other powers they’ve amassed, they can take on Seraphim much stronger. Being only a symbol of power, their wing isn’t what allows them to fly.
• In addition, they have power of cognition and perceptions -- they can make someone believe something that isn't true, cause people to forget, and perform other dangerous influences on another's mind. That said, Ivory hardly uses this power, even to the extent that, if someone catches that they're inhuman, it takes them a good solid minute before realizing 'wait, I can fix this' and promptly making them forget it happened. 
• Being the one who merged the planes and thus, altered the laws of this world, Ivory has powers that allow them to change the world to their bidding, and can use their general reign over the world to travel in a blink of an eye. Unlike the prior god, though, Ivory's more willing to head over to the source of the problem and talk it out than abuse their powers, whether it be out of habit, forgetting he has them, or a mix of both. 
• As a final note, being definitely not human, they don't actually need to eat food, or travel by train, or do anything that humans do; Ivory, being the token dense bi disaster, has not registered any of these facts, and will probably not for some time.

Other Info:

• Ivory is half Japanese, half English, and thus, can speak both English and Japanese; being from Honshu, he's not versed in Fukuoka's dialect, and sticks to standard Japanese around most people. To those he's comfortable with, he's more apt to graciously use English in his sentences, and drops trying to keep up with his overly 'formal' speech patterns. 
• Ivory keeps their hair in a ponytail to mimic a detective (coughs, Ren) that they admire greatly; Ivory yearns to become that detective, and (not-so-secretly) wants to be taken on as an assistant so that they can take their place someday. In post game, this happens.
• The bulk of Ivory's connections to the characters can be found here and here; some additional notes are as follows:
  • Ivory's family consists of their father and mother (who live in Kaizu), and their sister Magnolia (who lives in Tokyo). They also have a huge number of relatives that all live in Takayama. 
  • At the start of the campaign, Ivory shared an apartment with Takuya; during the game, Ishiki moved in and, post game, Ivory currently lives with Ishiki and, the very least, with Shun as well. (Whenever Katsuo gets the rights to move in, chaos will certainly ensue.)
  • By post game, Ivory is dating both Katsuo and Shun; it's left up in the air as to what sort of relationship Ishiki and Ivory are in, but they should probably figure that out sometime down the line.
  • At some point, Ivory probably reaches out to Akari for some mental help, whether it's to find a therapist through them or, if they have the credentials, request they be their therapist. Given Ivory's background, Akari has no idea what sorts of tales they're going to hear from them. 
  • Eventually, Ivory has enough standing that they could very well be a detective in full; despite this, they still see Ren as their senior, even if Ivory is the leader in regards to handling demon and seraphim conflicts (which usually is Ivory breaking up the fights that Mika and Paimon might have, among other things).
• Ivory dislikes those who lie, but also enjoys trying to solve things, so it sometimes loops around to 'loving to hate' those who purposely lie and play games on them. Understandably, this is why Ivory ends up having feelings for Katsuo.
• Despite liking Fukuoka's busy lifestyle, he gets homesick and likes to find places that remind him of the rural lifestyle he grew up with.
• Ivory knows how to drive, and is fairly good at it! Even if they don't need it in Fukuoka as much, they try to keep their licence up to date.
• Ivory is farsighted, and therefore cannot read things up close without his glasses. The visor in his persona attire allows him to read things though, so he doesn't have to wear his usual glasses underneath. Unfortunately, this cannot be the same for his true form.
• Ivory enjoys drinking to get their mind off of things, but has very little restraint. Post game (to Ivory's dismay), drinking doesn't make them drunk anymore, so he's had to find other outlets when stressed out.
• Ivory can pick locks, and has a habit of opening his own door through this method when he's forgotten his keys. (whoops).
• While they're an excellent cook, they can'y bake at all. Countless cakes have been lost to Ivory...
• They enjoy fashion a lot! They're always trying to put on a new attire, and are even good at improvising disguises when required. It's also the one thing they'll be less apt to deny -- they generally enjoy their body and how they look.

Music Themes:

• The Blue Sanctuary [Taishi& Mitose Noriko] 
• Prelude [エインヘリャルの蝶と異世界幻術姫] [Link to Album since I may use others from it for sessions]
• Fairy Tale Hell Asteroid [Nanawo Akari]
• I can't Mar(read) the Situation [CosMo]
• 懺悔参り [羽生まゐご]