2, 37 27, annnnd 24 because i bully you

r shin

i hope shins parents bug him about getting married so much. ruinous

ohohoh
rubs me hands together

2) How easy is it for your character to laugh?

Very easy, he does it all the time. Whether he's nervous, or finds something ironic about the situation... it's a defusing or pointed laugh a lot of the time. It's also one of his stress responses, so if you see a lot of it it's a bad sign.
Genuinely happy laughter? A lot rarer. It's only happened once in Yogen so far.

He used to giggle in a sort of 'ehehe' way but he went at that part of himself with an exacto knife and now it's the stolen 'ahaha' we all know and love(?)

37) What memory do they revisit the most often?

GOD this is such a tricky question to answer because shin will just... obsessively go over memories both voluntarily and involuntarily

4, 11, 15, 17

Canonly though, he mentions going over his memories of his time with Midori over and over and I think that takes first place... I think while it's not as bad as after Midori disappeared, it's still something his thoughts return to a lot, like how you can't leave a scab or rotten tooth alone. It crops up a lot in internal dialogue in Yogen as well.

Which is interesting in light of the fact that... his memory of that time is a lot of swiss cheese for Reasons
(the Reasons are Midori knows how to erase memories)

(and also, you know. just the stress and gaslighting package... which might be the method?)

How does he know perfect gun posture? Why does he still avoid that one door in his apartment? Mysteries.

I've had some fun sprinkling across tags that at this point Shin is a bit resigned to if a memory won't come, it's not coming.

Which'll make the memory lantern regain interesting.

27) Would they prefer a lie over an unpleasant truth?

This is one of those ones where there's an absolute answer with a tiny bit of wiggle room.

Overall, Shin very much prefers the truth, even if it's unpleasant. People lying to or misleading him gets right into his trust issues and also

even if a truth is unpleasant, if it validates his existing ideas it gives him that sense of triumph, you know, 'i KNEW it was too good to be true'

33, 34 - shin

But... he does know the value in a comforting lie. He uses them himself, and...

Sara gives him one in the end... which as you can see also plugs into his own thing about really liking being right even if it's about bad things.

shin and truth and lies is interesting because he's such a liar himself

truth is a weapon or tool and lies are a shield or comfort and both are dangerous in their own right
it's probably most observable in his interactions with Kanna, where he tells her true things to get her on his side, because he knows the desire of wanting to know well, and kind lies to help her with her sister's death in his own way

i'm getting even more rambly bc i haven't had lunch so lemme grab that

adding into the truth lies soup potentially is situations where he'd assume someone would lie (to survive, to be cruel or manipulative) and... they don't. I can see that tripping his suspicions alarms because what are they doing

I guess in the end it's less about truth and lies and more about intent and predictability and having a handle on either

24) What are their thoughts on marriage?

fdgfgdfdg god thank you annie
i think shin's parents do sometimes ask if he's found a nice girl and he always changes the subject

shin already struggles with the feeling he just... is spinning his wheels in life, not moving forward, not hitting all the beats he's 'supposed' to, not having a career or much idea of his future... and marriage is one of those things in that basket I think

so it's just... something he's set aside and doesn't really think about or the ennui will set in, along with the rest

leaving aside marriage as a societal expectation shin is just... well, he's really not ready for a romantic relationship in general right now
it's hard for him to make friends beyond acquaintences, his trust issues are like shackles on his ankles and he already is trying to hold his own life together, let alone make one with another person

which is not to say it's impossible, but it's reasons he's not really looking

his self-esteem issues as well there, as well as the sort of grey a lot of his days are and just like, the sense people don't or won't like him much, let alone reciprocate
so it's... tiny crushes he will keep locked away in his heart until they die bc he sees it as unrealistic :' ) and also like. maybe internally admiring some nice arms, he has eyes

but marriage is just... nowhere on the rada

*radar

there's also a lot in the 'to unpack' box and some connected stuff is in there under some of the other stuff

4) How easy is it to earn their trust?

hi hello yes this question is tailor made to destroy me

shin is like... a naturally trusting person with a BUTTLOAD of trust-related trauma on top
as you can guess this causes some internal tension

he WANTS to be able to trust people, he HATES doubting others... but then someone is a little too nice to him and the back of his brain starts hitting the ABORT button repeatedly

the death game... did not improve this

he's making an active effort in Yogen but... it's still there

he's the sort of person who's very loyal, who'll quickly become ride or die if he gets attached to you, who (at least in the past) looked up to people as cool and likes and wants to do things for people he cares about, and...

he's a loner and isolation is his inclination but he... genuinely does like and is recharged by doing something with someone, which as a bit of a surprising character find

BUT, this also means he's suspicious of himself in this regard, like if notices that he is starting to trust and like you he might find himself panicking a bit, esp if he doesn't feel like he has a good handle on the situation

he'll often quickly reign it back in if he catches himself doing this

and like, try to deflect or insult and pretend he doesn't care at all
(kurumada sees right through it)

so in summary, it's not easy to earn his trust At All... and if you do earn it it's probably going to be piecemeal, partitioned off into trusting you about/to do particular things

he'll especially be spooked away by the sense someone is deliberately trying to earn it (what are their motives!) so it's probably the kind of thing that just... slowly builds up over time

it's slightly easier for him to trust people if he feels he's at the higher end of the power dynamic as well, and even then he's all 'don't betray me kanna' :' )

Let's see... Damn, a lot of these are good for him. Maybe... 6, 22, 39??

11) How do they cope with confusion (seek clarification, pretend they understand, etc)?

THOUGHTS FRANTICALLY RACING, mostly

this gets you 'shut up, i'm thinking' in one of the main games

one of the things that Gets Me about his past dynamic with Midori is the recurring hints that Midori kept telling him to find things out for himself/make Shin feel stupid for having to ask things, which I've pointed out before means if he DOES ask questions for clarification it's either vital enough or he's relaxed enough

he has a natural curiosity and that slips past this sometimes

pretending to understand can be dangerous if it causes problems for him later, but I think he's likely to take it if he thinks it'll buy him enough time to figure out what's going on

walking in here to backread

15) How do they speak? Is what they say usually thought of on the spot, or do they rehearse it in their mind first?

Shin is very much the sort to plan out what he's going to say in advance or carefully keep things in his head ready and in reserve, especially in a high stakes situation.

But this isn't a constant thing; it can't be. The unexpected happens, he gets stressed or excited, the conversation naturally flows, and he has to respond without it.

if there's stuttering, or exclamation marks, the chances this is the case skew higher

18, 19, 42

In group discussions he'll tend to keep quiet and listen unless and until there's a specific point he wants to bring up, either to place down one of his cards or to try and steer/take control of the discussion (which is interesting, considering everything).

there's a fun thing in the main attraction where for a bit he'll ONLY speak after kanna does... taking his cues from her :' )

Kanna at this point has shown herself to a) be better at people than him and trying to use that on his behalf

naturally this makes it very easy for me in the tag stakes, thanks shin

otherwise in terms of speaking... the 'ahaha'... he goes between polite and a little casual and trails off as he thinks a lot. depending on the situation he can start thinking out loud and that can turn into bouncing ideas easily. he's got a sarcastic streak I need to play with more

it really does vary by mood and I love that

17) Are they easily embarrassed? What embarrasses them?

Hehehe he's more embarrassable than he'd like to be, but who isn't?
He's embarrassed by his parent's affection and inquiries, and also by his own interests and lifestyle.

Mistakes as well; he'll do that catlike thing of brushing something off or pretending it's not a big deal.

even good-natured teasing unfortunately often hits the wrong button i.e. the raw nerve, so it'll usually go past embarrasment and hit something else

but sometimes you can just obliterate him with an 'ok, dad'

oh, and his physical condition as well, mostly his strength :' )
and his past self

his insecurities...

kagehira !

33) How hard is it for them to shake a sense of guilt?

Very, very hard, as Sidney has, uh. Learnt.

zooms in to read

yisssss, enjoy foos

Shin is the sort to sit on things and stew on things and obsessively go over or fixate on things and that includes guilt.

This crops up in internal dialogue in his tags a lot; thinking about the wolf, thinking about kanna, thinking about narumi

Guilt will be with him the rest of his life but... it does motivate him to try and be better and do something different, even if he does immediately then run face first into the double doors of 'how?' and whatever forces bent him towards those actions in the first place

when guilt becomes to great to bear, shin will often displace it

he'll blame others with the same fervour he blames himself

maybe even more, if he can't even think about it

that's a particularly dangerous kind of shin, especially where it hooks into his sense of powerlessness or being toyed with or influenced, because of his black and white sense of justice and tit for tat and his sense of any move being fair if it's from the underdog

sara knows this well!

34) How do they treat the things their friends come to them excited about? Are they supportive?

dsfdgfhgfgddfgfhg no

for a hilarious number of reasons no

the whole trust issue can't show genuine affection suspicion package but also

he's just really bad at it even when he's genuinely trying :' )

kanna told him about getting mint icecream with her sister, a fond memory, and he was like 'that toothpastey stuff?'

please do not go to this man for validation that is like tossing a cat into a swimming pool

he'll do his best if he likes you but his best is questionable

the best outcome is that he gets excited about whatever you're excited about and then you're either jamming ideas or turning a pool into lava

this comic kind of sums it up

he is just so awkward

leyfi all yours!

6) Do they consider laws flexible, or immovable?

Shin considers laws exploitable

He goes on about logic, but he very much has a head for rules and system interactions, and does best when they're both clear and consistent, because that makes using them easier

Flexibility thereby is a bit of a double edged sword bc it allows more wriggle room but also adds unpredictability.

He's aware laws are things people set rather than fixed in stone, so that rigidity or lack thereof is painfully tied to the people connected.

But then he also seems to consider the world to work on rules he's observed and them seeming to break really messes with him.

I admit I'm not sure what this question is asking, sorry

lessee, 11's been done, and

22) How does envy manifest itself in them (they take what they want, they become resentful, etc)?

ohohoh man
i mentioned stewing, well Shin can absolutely have envy fester into resentment. ultimately it's blockaded a bit by kindness and his own conflict-averseness but depending on how much he dislikes you it can feed into that and manifest as pettiness

but also as like. pretending he doesn't care at all even to himself.
and sometimes it's just like. a 'god i wish that were me'

ultimately any on his part is the reverse side of his own insecurities

*any envy

so, it can splash damage back onto himself as crushing resignation, or, at it's best, a desire to go and secretly improve if that seems attainable
you mostly see that side in ytts, where it's clear he's been trying to do Secret Exercise on the side after lying about it.

and that also kind of plugs into the fact of like. wanting to be relied on

39) How sensitive are they to their own flaws?

Nooootttt veryyyy.

And yet also very?

It's a patchwork of being painfully aware and yet also having large blindspots.

mostly bc i think it's easiest for him to see his flaws in their results
which means... they fly under the radar until they blow up in his face

not realising he's undermining his own trust until it's too late in the first main game is one of the ur examples here

and his dying thoughts of 'maybe i should have believed in everyone' also apply

and in Yogen he's now like. trying to be very careful with Nene after how close Kanna came to being killed because of his actions

usually once it does blow up he has an idea of what went wrong, but not always and if it's uncertain or he's only got a piece of it then it's harder for him to avoid making the same mistakes.... and if he's misattributed it entirely then he can start making some exciting new ones

then there's aspects of himself where he feels... stuck
where there's no clear path forward or he hates it but needs it

and then there's flaws he's aware he COULD have and preemptively tries to avoid, like his comment about being careful around drinking

but there's so much he's still not aware of

pfle !

These are very good answers... Shin hurts my heart so much.

:' ) he is Just... A Lad. doing his best....

18) What is their favorite number?

Well I know his least favourite number is probably zero :' )

His favourite one would have to be heading into headcanon territory... he's nerdy enough there might be one connected to a show he likes

say 413, i dare you

i wasn't going to but...........

either that or he's probably not really thought about it

CACKLES

if I had to pick a single numeral tho, I'd go with nine

nine people alive in chapter 2, nine gacha rocks, nine keeps cropping up in russian roulette although that's more sara's thing, nine lives, and it's the opposite of zero and yet right next to it

maybe he really likes Uchikoshi games

it also sounds like the word for 'suffering' and is unlucky :' )

omg

it certainly can't be 5 because that's associated with keiji

19) If they were asked to explain the difference between romantic and platonic or familial love, how would they do so?

god. i have to lie down and think about this bc like, leaving aside the 'what is this, twenty questions?' that'd probably be along the lines of the initial answer

i don't know how much he's thought about it. probably not enough to actually have an answer
romance is so far out of his wheelhouse it might as well be on the moon (see earlier answer about marriage) and family is, well, it's family, right?
he's only got fiction and his own family found and otherwise to go off of

how do you feel about kanna shin

do you wuv your sister

heck the whole concept of love in general probably has some rocky corners for him
dsfdgfhfdfgf 'answer question or pick up 25' shin holding 26 cards

he does love her tho :' )

it's the sort of thing that snuck up on him and he still hasn't really wanted to look at too closely but... she holds that place in his heart.

love feels like poison or a fool's errand or taking advantage but... she's his sibling

42) If someone asked them to explain their sexuality, how would they do so?

THE TOUGH QUESTIONS

i feel like if he'd be 'pass' on the love question this one would have him jumping out a window

i headcanon him as gay to bi but... deeply closeted about that fact even to himself
it's all part of that package of insecurity and societal expectations and also the vague sense he goes on reddit or 2chan in his spare time

he'd... probably just lie

it's either that or 'what's over there' sudden blinking outline

in conclusion:

adsk;fjl

: D thank you for the qs amity

of course

DAMN NOBODY WANT YOU FR is my favorite

wish sara said that to him

SFDGDDF WE STILL HAVE TIME

MAYBE SHE'LL GET DARED TO INSULT EVERYONE AGAIN, WHO KNOWS

yeah but she wants shin to like her, cant say the real insults

after we tank the cr she can just go off the string at him

SFDGFHDF she can just unload the full clip

kill him sara

finally able to read this two months later and "Well I know his least favourite number is probably zero :' )"

hehehehehe

he's not a fan!