Lope K. Santos
Kanji	ロペ・カ・サントス ロペ・K・サントス L・K・サントス
Rōmaji	Rope Ka Santosu
AKA	Lope Sparkles (by Ranpo) Santi (by Ango)
Character Information
Gender	Male
Age	28
Birthday	September 25
Height	5'6"
Weight	135 lbs
Bloodtype	O
Status	Alive
Likes	Strong coffee, Chocolate, Shiny Things, Collecting Lifetyle Magazines Drunk Karaoke
Dislikes	Bigotry, Mess, Dark Places, Insect Bite Allergies
Professional Information
Occupation	Terrorist Japanese Ministry Foreign Agent (Former) Detective (Current)
Affiliation	Unnamed Philippine Organization (Current) Japanese Special Ability Division (Former) Armed Detective Agency (Current)
	Ability
Ability Name	Banaag At Sikat
Reference	Banaag at Sikat
Debut
Manga	Episode -
Anime	[ info here ]
Voice Actors
Japanese	[ info here ]
English	[ info here ]

Lope K. Santos

Appearance

Lope is a man of average height, standing at 5'6. He has features typical of Filipino people: tanned skin, dark eyes and hair. His skin is tanned with orange undertones, his eyes are a dark grayish-purple. His hair is thick and straight, assymetrically cut and the longer clump brushed over to the right side of his head.

Lope is always seen wearing golden accessories, but on rare occasion, he will also wear reflextive and/or shiny accessories such as silver and polished gemstones.

Personality 

Lope comes off as a no-nonsense and rather stiff individual who doesn't speak so much. He has a stern look on his face (read: resting bitch face) and keeps things professional. When inside the ADA office, Lope is not up to antics and is very focused on his work. He has the habit of shutting away all outside noise when working, only responding when someone has to physically bother him from his work. However; when bothered from work, he may become snappish, only ever hushing his tone when needed for an emergency. Initially, Lope may come off as difficult to work with.

He is quite work oriented and very hardworking, which sometimes may be a concern to others as Lope may miss out on breaks to get more work done for the day. He has a huge disdain for leaving too much unfinished, even though someone else may tell him that there's plenty of time to catch up with work. Sometimes, the effect of these habits show, having Lope display signs of fatigue and a shorter fuse. It kind of takes some scolding for Lope to listen to others' concerns about his own wellbeing. He may be stubborn about listening about his own wellbeing, but he is also adamant other people take care of themselves, an ironic contrast.

Despite being work oriented, Lope actually prefers to do work on his own terms, without having to strictly follow everything. He's comfortable being flexible in the way he works and he extends this to others as an unspoken expectation. He was never too good at following orders to a T, but he makes up for this with his wit and quick thinking on the fly.

Lope holds himself in fairly high esteem, displaying confidence even though he doesn't speak much. However; when he does have something to say in the workplace, it is found to be insightful. Despite giving his own input, he never bars anyone from saying their piece, and may contest or reinforce it as he sees fit. Once someone gets past his stiff facade, Lope is actually quite cooperative and as flexible as he is, may adjust when working with others.

Now, outside of work, Lope is a completely different person. Relaxed, fairly polite, with a bit of dry humor and sarcasm. He's up for antics, or he will absolutely be the snake and document it while others suffer. When asked about his sudden chage outside work, Lope explains that he keeps his personal life and professional life separate, and putting on his hard facade helps him work easier. He enjoys others company outside work, and even joining on Dazai's antics towards Kunikida since the latter can't seem to relax.

Lope may not be the best with emotions, but he can sympathize with others and keeps them company should he be needed. He's hardened by his life in the Philippines, making him unable to fully open himself emotionally and thoroughly process others' emotions. His reasoning for trying harder than most with sympathy was because he understands what it was like to have none from others, and it's not fair to have others have nobody when there was someone who could do something. As a result, he is learning to connect propery with others outside his own circles.

Deeply ingrained into Lope is his strong survival instinct and "no man left behind" mindset. Due to his experience in the Philippines, the both have intermingled, and have weighed heavily on Lope. He tries to find ways to come out of situations alive, whilst trying to avoid casualties if he can. He is a man who isn't willing to have people die on his watch when he knows he could have done something about it, a guilt that has followed him for years.

Ability

Lope's ability is called Banaag At Sikat ( EN: From Early Dawn to Full Light JP: 明るくて有名 Akarukute Yūmei ) It allows Lope to cause any and every reflective surface within his immediate vicinity up to 10 meters to flash brightly. The flashes can work in two ways:

1. It can work similarly to a flashbomb, causing major disorientation and even temporary blindness if victim is too close to the reflective surface. This is also rather useful when on the run, allowing Lope to use his immediate surroundings to be able to blind his pursuers.

2. It can cause burns, which is very dangerous to the eyes. When within one meter from the reflective surface, the flash can even cause third degree burns and possibly cause permanent blindness. Usually, this works better with larger reflective surfaces, but Lope can as well use this during hand to hand combat.

Lope's golden are his last resort, these being extremely reflective and can cause burns, when used with Banaag at Sikat. This Ability can also work using water, even small puddles.

Background

Lope Canseco Santos was born in Pasig, Metro Manila into a fairly well-to-do family. The only child of Ladislao Santos and Victorina Canseco, the funds were manageable aas the couple only had one child. He lived quite normally, going to school at an early age, made friends in his neighborhood, and was what one would call a "convenient child". Lope was well-behaved, listened to his parents and kept out of trouble. What was a normal life in Pasig was going to be shaken when Lope's father had been arrested on suspicion of affiliating with anti-government organizations. Lope was seven years old. The sight had shaken the young Lope and early on opened his eyes to the nasty political climate of the Philippines, as news soon spread on suspects of anti-government organizations hiding in plain sight. His father was falsely accused, for the sole reason that he supported the Socialist Party Of The Philippines. Upon his father's return almost a year later, Lope could see the light gone from his father's eyes, and he had weakened significantly. From that day, the young Lope Santos had doubts in the authority within the Philippines.

With his father's weakened state, he had to find a new line of work that didn't tax his body and worsen his condition as he attempted to recover, refusing to be confined in the hospital. Lope's mother had to work to support her son and husband, and this drastically changed the life of the Santos family. While they had still tried to live normally, they had to live carefully. The family was fearful of Ladislao still being watched.

Growing up, news about Ability Users within the Philippines beig named as enemies of the administration was a common occurence. It did not help that his parents had this fabricated idea that Ability Users were a danger to society, which was also ingrained into Lope, up until he has turned eleven. He would touch glasses and doorknobs, having them flash brightly and scare him. It was difficult to explain or control, as almost anything shiny he touched was just flashing. Eventually, the young Lope would cover his hands and try to minimize physical contact with glass, metal, or any reflective surface. He had become scared to go to school, and talked less with his friends. His parents grew concerned and feared Lope had developed some mental problems. When asked to take the covers off of his hands, Lope would refuse, and sometimes end up breaking down and crying. Eventually, he was forced to take them off, leaving the then near twelve Lope in fear that he may have developed an Ability. Incidentally, the day Lope removed the covers from his hands, his Ability manifested again during dinner that day. His parents were disoriented, and when they came to, didn't understand what happened, up until Lope had to touch the tap to help his mother wash the dishes, where the sink flashed, effectively disorienting his mother again. In fear, Lope had hid himself in his room, not knowing what was to become of him.

He's heard it all over the news for years; people with special powers being labeled as terrorists and dangers to society. What if his parents were going to get rid of him? Report him to authority despite their own experience years prior? He didn't want to know. His parents, learning to understand that their son was an Ability User, were intensely conflicted. They had this notion of Ability Users in the past, and now their son was one. It felt like a sick joke, but they knew they loved Lope too much to be rid of him. He was their only child, and they knew they had to protect him. As Lope was confronted, his fears were quelled a fair amount with his parents agreeing to help him hide his Ability by covering his hands and pretending he had a hand injury. He was thankful, at least, that they decided to keep him around. In time, the Santoses began to really understand that Ability Users were noot inherently terrorists, but misunderstood people condemned by a society and administration that didn't know what to do with them, resorting into killing them the way they executed drug pushers and addicts on the street. Then they realize that Lope was in danger the moment he awakened to his Ability.

It was around this time, news of Ability Users were congregating, endorsing rallies, and actively fighting against the police. Their attacks had been more organized, and identities were hidden, rendering these terrorists anonymous. As much as Lope had tried to convince himself that it wasn't right, his deep seated belligerence against the administration and especially coming from his position as an Ability User in a society that condemned people like him to death, he was glad that these Ability Users were finally making a stand.

As they tried to hide Lope's Ability, Lope took it upon himself to learn to harness his Ability all on his own: activating his Ability at will. By the time he was starting High School, Lope was able to hide his Ability well enough that he could finally be out and about with no fear. He lived a relatively normal high school life, with his own set of friends and occasional bullying, which he would retort with stealthily using his Ability, putting his bullies into trouble and leaving him alone. However; one too many incidents had caused the school to go in lockdown in fear there was an Ability User present at the school. Lope, at least, was able to go free, and continue life. He could see in the police present there: they were excited to catch the next Ability User and take the credit for being a "hero". This further fueled his disdain, which may have then started teetering into hatred. Because he could use his Ability from a rang up to 10 meters he's found, he was able to seriously injure the police near metal or glass, giving them third degree burns and a schoolwide panic ensued. He was never caught.

Lope managed to live stealthily up until graduation, where he received distinction for Social Sciences. He was accepted into Manila Law College Foundation, and took Political Science. Lope was active during rallies as a student, and vehemently voiced his views against the corrupt administration. He has had numerous incidents wherein he had run from the police due to his involvement in such rallies, using his Ability to gravely injure and burn these men. One incident left him cornered, and he was close to being shot execution style, already being beaten into the ground by the police who caught up to him. Last thing he remembers is a swarm of rats charging towards him, then the stampede of rodents passing him and guttural screams of his assailants. When he came to, he was in a house that wasn't his, in a city he can only guess was Quezon City. He doesn't recall how he got there, up until being approached by an older woman, with rats by her feet and another seemingly younger woman accompanying her. The lady introduced herself as Lualhati Bautista, and then introducing her companion, Paz Marquez Benitez, explaining the latter had healed his injuries. Formalities were exchanged, and Lope came to know Lualhati as the person behind the organized movement against the government's extrajudicial killings of Ability Users, taking them in as her own, and that she had taken notice of him during the rallies. It was easy to spot an Ability User. After more conversation, Lope is shown to have been reported on the news as dead, but no body, and that the police were looking for him. With that, Lualhati proposed to Lope to join her cause. Without much thought, he agreed, relieved and overjoyed to find more Ability users. After a while of thinking properly however; he begged Lualhati to at least say goodbye to his parents, whom he knew would only be in danger if he were found. And this wish, she granted. Lope was 21.

Since parting from his family, Lope had been a part of Lualhati's organization, fighting back against the administration, eventually getting named a terrorist. Eventually, at 24, the police were closing in on him specifically, and he needed help hiding. Lualhati was able to contact her allies within the Port Mafia in Yokohama to go and assist Lope in escaping the country. She mentions that he isn't the only agent she sent away for safety, and that she will soon follow to Yokohama.

When dropped off at Yokohama, Lope was at a loss. Yes, he has protection from the Port Mafia for a short time until he was tagged by the Japanese Administration as a rogue Ability User. He was caught far quicker than he had anticipated, and was interrogated. When revealed that he was a fugitive from the Philippines in contact with the Port Mafia and a certain Ability User in the Philippines, Lope was given a choice, that he would agree to spy on certain organizations as a new member of the Special Ability Division, or he would have to be sent back to the Philippines. Not willing to return to the Philippines and render all of Lualhati's work useless, he agreed to work for the Special Ability Division if it provided him security from other organizations. He was officiated into the Special Ability Division under strict surveillance, but he managed to pull through and he able to handle work on his own. His name was cleared, and supervision was lessened. However; the Japanese Ministry still had their eye on Lope and whom he had connections with, full knowing that he found a way to contact them. To ensure his loyalty and trustworthiness, his first classified assignment was to observe the French Organization Mimic in Japan.

Plot

Lope is first revealed during the Dark Era, speaking with Ango Sakaguchi on Mimic's current position and the Port Mafia's current activity. He was the agent whom Ango answered to, and they had a small argument regarding Lope's own loyalties as well, emphasizing he was new and he was still under strict supervision. [ TBA ]

Trivia

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