ROUTE 29 APP

[adai]

Player
Name: Redd
Personal Journal: pokerap
E-mail: pokerap.redd @ gmail.com
AIM/Plurk/Etc.: AIM: writersblockredd | pokerap
Timezone: EST
Current Characters in Route: Mondo Oowada (diamondo), Frank Archer (sadisticwarfare), Isaac McDougal (glaciates), and Naki (deaftly)

Character
Name: Rossiu Adai
Series: Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann
Timeline: About halfway through episode 9, after Lagann goes berserk and jumps into the ravine
Canon Resource Links: Rossiu @ TTGL Wiki

Personality:

In the world of Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann humans are forced to live underground by the beastmen, who are capable of controlling gunmen - machines the beastmen pilot that are nearly impossible to defeat. Most people have never even seen the surface world, and go to to the surface during the daytime is just asking for death. The beastmen patrol during the day and will kill any humans on the surface. This is the world as the protagonists Simon, Kamina, and Yoko know it, though Rossiu originally starts without most of this knowledge, only believing that gunmen are gods and being sent to the surface means you will never return. It isn't long before his world views change.

Rossiu is a child first and foremost: he's not as old as Kamina or Yoko or any of the other initial team members (with the exception of Gimmy and Darry, the orphaned kids from the village, and possibly Simon, the protagonist), as evidenced by his appearance and height. Despite his age, Rossiu is incredibly mature. In Adai, his underground village, Rossiu is basically regarded as second-in-command to leader of the village. This is most likely because Rossiu is very intent on upholding the village's religion, which the leader uses to keep the village running smoothly. Rossiu's maturity can be attributed to many factors, including the responsibility the village chief places on him. The way they interact implies that they're very close, though it's more of a mentor-student relationship than a father-son one. After joining Kamina and the others, Rossiu fades to a background role and no longer has any sort of authority, but after the timeskip he not only takes on a very important role, he goes on to take over for all of humanity. That isn't to say he does a good job of it, but at the very least Rossiu is capable of leadership if he's in a position to do so, though it is not one that he'll actively seek out at this point.

After joining up with Simon and Kamina, Rossiu's role changes drastically. He goes from being the second-in-command to having no idea what to do with all the technology and changes the world has outside Adai. Adai doesn't even have electricity, something most of the other villages have, and Adai can only support fifty people due to its limited supplies. Rossiu's knowledge of the outside world is severely lacking, but by the next episode Rossiu seems to have settled in to his new life. This shows that while Rossiu doesn't have all the knowledge he needs to properly function in this new world, he's capable of learning and adapting very quickly. It doesn't take long for Rossiu to go from babysitter (looking after Gimmy and Darry) to Leeron's right hand man. He may not have the same technical knowledge as the mechanic, but he's eager and willing to lend his support in any way he can. Later on in the series, Rossiu not only learns how to pilot a gunmen, he's the one who joins Simon in battling the Spiral King, Lordgenome. Rossiu is the replacement pilot of Gurren after Kamina dies. Controlling a gunmen requires a vast amount of willpower and spirit, something that both Kamina and Simon have a lot of. Rossiu obviously possesses an impressive amount to be able to pilot Gurren.

Of course, Rossiu didn't learn how to pilot a gunmen in one day. Rossiu is a hard-working young man who does his best to help out in any way he can. Originally he starts assisting the team by babysitting Gimmy and Darry (who were more or less forced to leave Adai by the village elder), but it isn't long before he's assisting Leeron and then learning how to pilot a gunmen. Rossiu's priorities are almost always focused on doing what he can to assist the group. He doesn't do this to his own detriment, however, and manages to maintain a balance between helping the others and looking out for himself. This is something that changes in the latter half of the series, but at his current canon point, Rossiu has a good idea of his limits.

Rossiu is normally very even-tempered, refusing to rise to any sort of bait and being as patient as he can be with everyone. This is best demonstrated after Kamina's death. Simon blames Rossiu's former religion for not saving Kamina, but instead of getting angry or upset with Simon's words, Rossiu merely allows him to vent (while looking startled, because no one expected Simon to break like that). In fact, the only time Rossiu gets genuinely angry in the first half of the series is when Kamina continuously insults the religious beliefs of the people of Adai during Rossiu's introduction. Neither Kamina nor Rossiu can understand why the other believes what they do and they eventually nearly come to blows (instigated by Rossiu), before the village elder steps in. Rossiu never resorts to violence against his teammates outside of this instance, and even when he brandishes a pipe at Kamina, he's willing to talk before trying to smash the guy's head in (not that he could reach Kamina's head anyway). So despite being patient and putting up with the wild combination of personalities of Team Gurren, Rossiu is willing to stand up for himself when it comes down to the things he believes in and cares about.

Ultimately, Rossiu is a very patient person. There is one problem with that, however, and that's that he will sometimes allow other people to walk all over him. For the most part, Rossiu tends to allow others to lead the way. Team Gurren is full of vibrant, overpowering personalities that Rossiu allows to boss him about. Part of this is because almost everyone in Team Gurren is older than he is and they have far more knowledge about what's going on and more experience. The other part is simply because Rossiu is a quiet person and it's easiest just to go along with whatever the most vibrant personality in the room wants. He prefers making people happy over asserting himself, so he'll submit to others' wishes as long as they aren't completely to his detriment.

Rossiu has no objections to fighting and killing the beastmen and Lordgenome. Violence against other humans is not something Rossiu resorts to, but the beastmen are a different story. As far as Rossiu knows, Lordgenome has forced humanity to live underground and the beastmen kill all humans who go to the surface. There's no explanation for their actions that Rossiu knows, so as far as he can see, the beastmen are evil. Killing them isn't an issue because they've killed countless humans. This way of black-and-white thinking is something he will eventually lose, but for the time being he can only see things in terms of "good" and "evil" with nothing in between. This is obviously one of the flaws of being so young and sheltered.

Despite being naive about how people work, Rossiu is one of the only members of Team Gurren who actually follows logic. He's the only one who finds a bath house on the surface world suspicious, and spends all of that episode trying to figure out what's going on, even when the others are goofing off and having fun. Rossiu also tries to reason with everyone about how bringing Nia - a civilian - to talk to Lordgenome (her father) during the final battle is not a good idea, but no one listens to him and somehow this all works out. In fact, every time Rossiu gets worried about something no one else is bothered by things work out better than Rossiu expected. He's definitely more cautious than the rest of Team Gurren, but things always work out in their favor.

As mentioned earlier, Rossiu is very mature for his age. He's incredibly serious in every situation. This is perhaps most obvious in the way Rossiu emotes - or more accurately, the way he doesn't emote. Rossiu's expressions are almost all very harsh. Even his neutral expression looks like he's boring holes in your head, even when he's not trying to glare at all. Aside from the neutral expression, he has a grand total of two expressions: surprise and anger. When he does emote, his expressions can be greatly exaggerated, but for the most part everything Rossiu's face does is very subdued, especially in comparison to people like Kamina and Yoko. Rossiu's smile is also incredibly awkward and it's an expression that is used very rarely. A lack of expressions alone wouldn't be worth noting, but this is actually a cause to a much deeper problem.

In Gurren Lagann, everyone has at least one person they're very close to. Rossiu is the only person who doesn't follow this pattern. While originally shown with Gimmy and Darry, Rossiu's relationship with them is never shown in canon and they aren't shown interacting outside of the early episodes. Rossiu spends a good amount of time around Leeron as the series progresses, but even then it appears to be a purely professional relationship. Rossiu does express concern for Simon, but they aren't shown to be particularly close either. In short, Rossiu is the one friendless person in Team Gurren. That doesn't mean he cares about these people any less, it just means that he has a difficult time making friends. Between his (apparent) lack of emotions and serious nature, it makes Rossiu hard to read and difficult to interact with. He doesn't see this as a problem, however.

Though Rossiu doesn't show much in his expressions, he definitely does feel emotion. He's just as sad as the others are when Kamina dies, he feels relief when Lordgenome is defeated, and he really does enjoy the time he spends with the others. It's a bit difficult to tell what he's feeling because he doesn't emote properly, but Rossiu does have fully functioning feelings. At this point in time he doesn't feel a need to push them aside either, though that's something that changes after the timeskip.

The world in Gurren Lagann is not the ideal place for anyone to grow up, but all things considered, Rossiu's handling himself pretty well. He's mature for his age and perhaps a bit too serious, but he's doing everything he can to help Team Gurren. He's not exactly the easiest person to befriend, but Rossiu is a caring person who wants to do what's right and best for everyone. He's still learning though, and maybe eventually he'll see that not everyone can be categorized as good or evil, but for the time being, he's still a little naive about how the world works.

(Since Rossiu's personality changes in a few drastic ways after the timeskip, I have a section on that here if you believe this is necessary!)

Strengths/Weaknesses:

✔ ADAPTABLE
Rossiu is taken out of the only life he knew and thrust into a new one with technology beyond his wildest dreams. He not only takes this very well, he thrives on it, learning how to help Leeron with behind-the-scenes work and even learning how to pilot a gunman. He takes being put in new situations very well, though he'll probably ask a million questions and annoy everyone before he's satisfied.
✔ HARD-WORKER
He always does what he can to carry his own weight. Rossiu spends as much time as he can learning, but he's not the sort to take it to extreme measures. He remembers to eat and he knows when he needs to take a break, but he's absolutely fascinated by everything the world has to offer. He'll be this way in Route as well; there are so many different Pokémon to study, after all!
✔ PATIENT
"Patience of a saint" is an incredibly apt term for Rossiu, especially after Kamina's death. Rossiu is one of the only people shown caring about Simon after everyone else has dismissed him as a lost cause. Rossiu asks about him several times and when he finally does come face-to-face with Simon, Simon begins blaming Rossiu's former religion for not saving Kamina. While he does look surprised by this, Rossiu doesn't lash out or get angry, he merely stands and takes it. He's also very patient with Gimmy and Darry, who are both children and kind of annoying ones at that. He does everything he can to support the people around him and his even temper makes that much easier. While Rossiu does show his temper a few times, for the most part nothing seems to really upset him.
✔ WILLPOWER
In order to pilot a gunmen, a person must have a "fighting spirit". Rossiu is not only capable of piloting Gurren, he's good at it and he's the person they have in Gurren when Simon goes to fight Lordgenome. In this regard, Rossiu isn't unique, but it's a very important part of canon pre-timeskip. This isn't the only way Rossiu demonstrates his willpower, however. He has shown that he's willing to stand up to anyone - he was willing to fight Kamina to get Kamina to stop insulting his village's traditions and beliefs, even though Kamina was older and definitely stronger. He was also willing to accompany Simon to fight Lordgenome, even though there was no guarantee that they'd live. He's much stronger than he thinks he is and when things get tough, Rossiu won't bend or break. He'll always stick to his beliefs.
✘ EMOTING
Rossiu doesn't express much in the way of emotion. His expressions are mostly subdued with the exception of anger and surprise. That isn't to say Rossiu doesn't feel emotion because he certainly does, but he doesn't express it very well. This is mostly detrimental on a personal front; it'll be difficult for people to interact with him and tell what he's feeling. It also makes him seem very stoic and aloof when in reality, he's not.
✘ KIND OF A PUSHOVER
Personality-wise, Rossiu isn't as loud as the others. Everyone else in Gurren Lagann has an overwhelming presence while Rossiu is barely noticeable in comparison. This isn't a problem by itself, but coupled with the fact that Rossiu tends to give in to others with more vibrant personalities. He rarely stands up to anyone and tends to do whatever he's asked to do, especially if it's by someone like Kamina or Nia who is a very forceful presence. This isn't to say he never stands up for himself, but he is kind of a pushover.
✘ GET SOME FRIENDS, SON
Everyone in Team Gurren has someone they really care about. There's the obvious trio of Simon, Kamina, and Yoko, but every character, no matter how minor, has at least one other person they consider a friend. The only exception to this is Rossiu. Rossiu hangs out with Leeron most of the time, but their relationship isn't shown to be anything other than associates, perhaps a teacher-student relationship at best. While Rossiu is shown to be concerned over other people (particularly Simon, Gimmy, and Darry), he isn't shown being close to anyone. This doesn't mean Rossiu is incapable of making friends, he's just not very good at it. He tends to prioritize work first, as is blatantly obvious after the timeskip where he focuses solely on work. Not having any friends isn't a major issue in canon, but it will make forming friendships with people and Pokémon here in Route much more difficult. It's also going to make getting a happiness evolution out of any Pokémon incredibly hard, so he'll have fun with that.
✘ NAIVE
It should go without saying, but Rossiu really doesn't know how the world works. He's still a kid and has lived his whole life believing a fake religion, only to have that violently overturned. He chose to leave the village and was quickly thrown into the war against the beastmen, where he was introduced to technology he had never known existed. He's a quick learner, but that only goes so far. Route's technology is much more advanced in some ways, so Rossiu will have to adapt to that, but aside from not being very technologically smart, he's really not sure how people work. He wants to believe the best in everyone, though he's too cautious to actually be idealistic. He's used to separating things into black and white - the beastmen are bad, humans are good - so coming to Route and discovering that there are indeed awful people out there is going to be kind of a shock. Even the village leader in Adai wasn't a terrible person, he just did terrible things to ensure everyone's survival. Rossiu has a lot to learn about human nature.
✘ WRONG GENRE-SAVVY
This is a legitimate weakness in Gurren Lagann. Rossiu is not the sort of character who fits into a crazy, willpower-driven world. In fact, he's constantly shown to be wrong whenever he insists that everyone should proceed with caution or go about doing things in the most sensible way. If it doesn't involve a lot of screaming and self-belief, it isn't going to work in his world. As such, Rossiu is used to being wrong or being mowed over whenever he tries to put forth a protest. That doesn't mean he's going to stop doing it, he's just used to it not working. He'll be better off in Route, but he won't believe that his thoughts on the subject will be taken into account or even apply.
✘ READING
At the end of his introductory episode, Rossiu reveals that he can't read. From the sound of it, most of the people in his village can't read, because the village chief says he can't either. After the timeskip Rossiu is obviously capable of reading, but it's never mentioned after the introductory episode. Since Rossiu spends most of his time around Leeron and the status screens, he probably was taught how to read some basic things to help out. At his current canonpoint, Rossiu most likely can read, but not very well or very quickly. So he's going to be working on that while he's here, since reading is kind of a big part of Route, especially if he wants to learn all about the Pokémon.

Pokémon Information
Affiliation: Breeder
Starter: Porygon
Password: Apple Strudel

Samples
First Person Sample:

[The video feed opens to a young boy with a large head and an incredibly serious expression kneeling on the ground. His hands are settled on his knees and his posture is entirely too stiff, but when he speaks his voice is even and calm.]

Good morning. I've been told I should talk to someone on this device if I have questions about this place.

[The background appears to be New Bark Town, so it looks like it's time for some New Arrival Questions, yay!]

I've asked around and no on here seems to know; where are the gunmen?

[There's a long pause where Rossiu stares at the 'Gear, as if expecting an answer to magically come from it.]

...There are houses on the surface. Does that mean that the beastmen are allowing you all to live up here? Do you have to stay inside your houses at night?

[His eyebrows knit together as he tries to work this out. It doesn't seem like something the beastmen would do. They've been brutal; seven days ago they killed Kamina. That's not something he can forget.]

I'm sorry if these questions seem pointless. I just want to make sure that this place is safe. I've been told that it's not home and that no one from my "world" is here, but...

[It's hard to believe. Rossiu glances downward, though his expression doesn't change from the almost-irritated look. He's not upset, exactly, just worried. If he's here, then what about all the others? They might not need him, but he doesn't want to leave them to fight the beastmen alone.]

Thank you for your time. I'd appreciate any information you have on this place.

[With that said, Rossiu reaches out to turn off the 'Gear. This is much easier said than done, however, because he's never used a device like this. After a good minute of fumbling in silence, the feed finally shuts off.]

Third Person Sample:

Everything happens so quickly. Rossiu wakes up in a bed (he shouldn't be waking up, much less in a bed in a completely unfamiliar room) and before he can figure out where he is or how he got here, he's ushered downstairs by a woman claiming to be his mother. He barely gets a chance to try to correct her - she seems nice enough, but she's obviously not his mother; his mother died on the surface years ago - before he's shoved out the door. Unsurprisingly, the door is locked when he tries to get back inside to question her.

"What's going on?" Rossiu finally wonders aloud, turning from the house to examine his surroundings. It suddenly dawns on him that this is a house on the surface. It's not underground. "No way, a house up here...?" But it's not just a house. There are several other houses, all built above ground. Rossiu's eyes widen. "No way..." He repeats.

It shouldn't be possible for humans to live on the surface, much less build houses. Where are the beastmen and the gunmen? Is this place completely safe from them? How is that possible? He shakes his head slowly, trying to focus on the most important thing here: his location. The last thing he remembers is watching Simon and Lagann jump into a ravine, then explaining the situation to Yoko and the others. How did he get here? Where is this place? Nothing makes sense.

Rossiu glances down at his feet and notices the bag "mom" tossed out the door with him. He carefully picks it up like it's going to bite him before deciding that it seems to be safe. He opens it and leafs through the contents, frowning at everything inside. One item catches his interest (besides the underwear, though he really doesn't want to think about the implications of that right now) - a red and white ball. "What's this?" He's never seen something like this before, so Rossiu drops it to the ground, expecting it to bounce.

Instead, a flash of red light appears and when it fades, Rossiu finds himself staring at an odd-looking creature. "Pory," It says, floating on up to stare at Rossiu.

"Wh-What--!?" Rossiu backs up into the door, arms raised to defend himself. "What is this?" It's definitely not a beastmen or a gunmen, but it doesn't look like any sort of technology he's seen Leeron use either. It seems to be alive.

"Gon," It replies, the feet moving back and forth as it moves its head side to side.

Rossiu can't decide if it's analyzing him or trying to tell him that it means no harm. "Um," He finally says, dropping his arms to his sides. "I'm Rossiu. Who are you?"

"Porygon."

"Are you trying to tell me something?"

"Gon, gon."

Rossiu sighs, though he doesn't look very upset. This is getting him nowhere agonizingly slowly. "It's nice to meet you too," He finally says, sounding defeated.

Something occurs to him then and Rossiu's eyes widen. "Ah, I shouldn't be talking to you! I need to find the others! What happened to Simon? Where's Gurren? Oh no, did something happen to them...?"

Rossiu picks up the bag and the ball, then heads further into town to look for someone who can answer his questions. The Porygon follows behind him, occasionally beeping at him, but otherwise being unobtrusive. Someone here has to have some answers, and Rossiu needs to figure out what's going on fast.

Posted here, 2/6/2015