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[segues]

>PLAYER

NAME/HANDLE: La Justicia (Hat)
PERSONAL JOURNAL: segues
ARE YOU OVER 16? Yes!
CONTACT: AIM ; BattleToasters | coffeerocket
OTHER CHARACTERS: Aigis ; beneathmyribbon

>CHARACTER

CHARACTER NAME: Simon the Digger
SERIES: Simon's Wikipedia entry, though not everything there is correct.
CANON POINT: Pre-Battle of Teppelin
APPEARANCE:

Simon is a tiny boy, first and foremost, with blue hair and large grey eyes. Though he's under five feet tall (well, it would be better to say he's barely over four feet), it's obvious that Simon has had hard times in his life, as he's muscular, but still underdeveloped. Some of his body doesn't seem to fit right--his head, ears and eyes are far too big for the rest of him. He's remarkably not albino after fourteen years of living underground. Nor, amazing, is he prone to sunburn. He's very expressive with big, goofy smiles, over-exaggerated emotional responses and a fiery determination when he's serious. He's normally seen in a blue and red jacket with a flaming skull logo on the back and brown shorts, with a pair of goggles rested in his hair.

PERSONALITY:

Simon the Digger is the Hero, plain and simple. He's the archetype "good guy" that all media strives to have. He's a stereotype. And a brilliant one.

Simon's main draw is his humanity--he is by no means perfect. He's not outspoken, or confident like Kamina, nor is he skilled and likable like Yoko. Simon is an underdog, physically small and scrawny and emotionally battered. Living his entire life underground with no purpose but to dig, certain that his death would come with an earthquake and a cave-in like his parents', Simon considered himself mostly useless. There was nothing he could do but dig--he was "important," but not because of who he was. It was what he could do that interested the chief. In the village of Jiiha (Jiha? Giha? Screw translations), the only one who appreciated him for what he was was a delinquent young man named Kamina. Shy and quiet in contrast to the... ball of audacity in human form that Kamina was, Simon grew to admire and respect him, despite Kamina's generally poor reputation. Kamina inadvertently created the easily-pushed-around boy that Simon became, with his break through the ceiling plots and his insistence that Simon takes a stand for himself and what he wants. (Of course, what he wants isn't always what Simon wants, but what Kamina wants.) But even then, Kamina only has Simon's best interests at heart, not wanting the boy to grow up in fear underground. The bond between the two is an unbreakable one, with loyalty that is impossible to shatter and impossible understanding.

It was Kamina's belief in him that gave Simon any form of worth. Kamina gave him a reason to strive for life, to push forward and become something more. Simon relied on Kamina to give him that push into action (just as Kamina relied on Simon's hard work to give him the balls to lead). Though Simon's shyness eventually fades, this is one thing that doesn't: Simon is powered by other people. Though his actions can be selfish in a way, Simon's heroism, his ability to do anything, his ability to get up after being knocked down stems from his desire to protect and care for those he has come to know and love in the human race.

This reliance on others to be who he is is the center of Simon's development from a shy, dirty digger with stunted growth, to a handsome, confident young man who leads the entire world.

Simon's desire to help others leaves him with a burning need, an obligation, to do what he finds morally right. Be it protecting humans, or making sure someone he cares for is safe, Simon will go all out to make sure it's done. He's dedicated in any task he truly cares for and strong enough to back his motivation up. He's a strong leader, with unquestionable purpose and enough passion in him to inspire everyone around him.

Simon is not a natural leader, but leading is naturally his place. By that I mean Simon isn't entirely good with words. He's an everyman from a bad situation, with faults and problems just like everyone else. He's quiet, and shy, as I've already mentioned, and he spent most of his life living in the shadow of someone else. But all these things make leadership Simon's forte. He thinks, but not too much. He's humble, aware of everything wrong with him, and he doesn't make decisions without taking into account the people around him. Simon has had to earn his place. He has no mastery over words, but he has learned to pour emotion into them.

It's because Simon had to earn his place, maybe, that he is by far one of the kindest characters of the series. He'd give the shirt off his back, and wants nothing more than peace and quiet and to live a quiet, happy life, free of war. Outside of battle, he's just a kid, with an awkward laugh and a lot of love. He's pretty normal, all things considered, and when he's with the people he cares for, he's happy.

But his happy isn't a normal happy, it's the top of the world. All of Simon's emotions are felt with incredible power. When he sad, he's heart-wrenchingly depressed (re: when Kamina died); when he's angry, he's furious; and when he's embarrassed, he can't even find words. His emotions are pure and straight forward, with no room for interpretation. He just doesn't know how to be two-faced.

But that purity isn't always good. When Simon is down, he can be downright awful. After Kamina's death, he does everything he can to lash out and hurt other people. He insults the religion Rossiu grew up with, for example, and has no qualms reminding people of things they'd rather forget. He also has an awful problem of trying to make the people who care for him turn away from him. He does this with the entire Gurren-dan and Nia.

Of all people, though, Simon is hardest on himself. He's unforgiving when it comes to his own faults, and will tear at himself, refusing to forget what he's done. His burden is a heavy one, and perhaps partially what fuels his desire to do good. Pure intentions can ease the pain of failure. More often than not, though, those intentions and the passion they have behind him result in success. It is when negative emotions like jealousy and pain come in that Simon begins to fail--it's those emotions that cause the break down that causes Kamina's death, shattering Simon's world.

But Simon is resilient, even if it takes him some time to bounce back.. He gets back up when he's knocked down, even if it means having to dig a tunnel with a drill the size of his thumb. He gets up because he knows there's someone waiting to believe in him. Especially, of course, Nia. Nia's love drives Simon forward in ways Kamina's belief never did. Though, at this canon point, they have not been together very long, the love they share is pure and strong. Simon would do everything in his power to protect the girl with the flower eyes who stood up for him and believed he'd come when she was in danger. It would be wrong to say Nia took Kamina's place--no, Nia carved a place of her own in his heart, pressing every button inside of him to make him want to grow and surpass what he once was, becoming a new motivation. If Kamina lives on at his back and his heart, Nia is what Simon faces forward to. She is the one who helps him learn how to be the best he can be

Simon knows how to use his strengths and what's given to him to his advantage, taking a drill and making it a powerful weapon, and showing exactly what the power of the spiral is. Spirals are, of course, the theme of the series. The spiral represents the journey to greater things, beginning as a single point, but winding and expanding. Each turn of Simon's drill, each wind of the spiral is another step forward. It is because Simon understands that that he can understand and utilize the Spiral Energy that's inside all evolving beings. Simon, right now, is mostly a lot of raw potential. Inside of him is the capability to do great things, as well as the capability to do awful things. Regardless of intentions, Simon's raw power is something that will cause destruction, no matter where he goes.

ABILITIES:

Spiral Power basically covers what Simon's abilities are. What is Spiral Power? The innate ability in growing species to push forward and evolve further. The possibilities are literally endless. If you think of it, when Simon unlocks his true potential with Spiral Power, he can do it. He bends reality. He hasn't unlocked it at this point in canon.

POSSESSIONS:

Aside from his clothes (notably, his jacket with the Dai-Gurren symbol on the back and his goggles), Simon will have only two things on him--his core drill around his neck, and his pet molepig, Boota.

>PERSONA

MAJOR ARCANA:

The Chariot, representing victory, willpower, self-assertion, war and command.
The Sun representing optimism, energy, and accomplishment.
And Judgement (which I personally think fits him most in terms of his entire life and story), representing an inner calling, the acceptance of one's past mistakes, the end of repression and redemption.

SHADOW:

PREPARE THINESELVES FOR TL;DR

Simon is the kind of character who is the hero. Obviously, as he is the main character of the series. Gurren Lagann is his story, and most of his flaws are highlighted and accepted by him throughout it. He's a coward, and he's well aware of it, his bravery outshining it to help the people he loves. He's insecure and insignificant, which he changed by carving a place out in the world with his own hands. He's unsure of his decisions, but he leads with confidence and the strength of those around him.

Simon is very aware of his flaws. The arc where Kamina died made that obvious--he knows what's wrong with him. He knows he can be hateful and cruel and when he loses what he loves, it can completely destroy him.

So where's a shadow in that?

It's in Simon's behavior in battle. Simon is the hero. The entire story, he's shown as the one who's interested in preserving life, in keeping others safe. But he's not. Simon, especially at this stage in the game, has no interest in preserving life, he only wishes to preserve human life, life which he deems fit to survive. It's easy for the oppressed to become the oppressor, and while he comes to value and respect the beastmen, Simon is as interested in life as far as the people he cares about extend.

Somewhere, deep inside Simon, revealed upon the discovery for the reason of his parents' deaths and unleashed after Kamina's death, is a monster. Someone who doesn't kill to protect others, just kills blindly for revenge. For payback--at the heart of it all, Simon's strength even began with revenge for his mother and father. Before rescuing Nia, he's shown to go completely berserk when he attacks a Ganmen, attacking far longer and far more ruthlessly than necessary.

So I propose a somewhat controversial, two sided idea for Simon's shadow: First, that Simon holds no value in preserving life itself, only the life he deems fit to survive (humans over beastmen, humans and beastmen over antispirals/possibly the whole damn universe). And second, that he enjoys killing if he believes it just. Which he shows to an extent in the show--defeating a beastman is something to celebrate. Killing the beastmen is somewhat of a revenge mission for him, first for his parents, and then for Kamina. The battlefield is where Simon thrives--victors care little for the defeated, only that they are dead and gone. (As a note, I'd like to add that a shadow is proven in the game to be something that characters don't necessarily act on. I think his behaviors reflect that he doesn't value beastman life until much later in the series [seven years later on his timeline] but at the same time, Simon is the type bound to virtues and values as a hero, so he would never act on it. He won't punish an entire race in a peaceful time for acts of war. But he isn't at that point yet, he hasn't had to make that decision, and I think that's when a realization that just because these people are different doesn't make them any less alive occurs. For now he lives on the thought that the beastmen are monsters, created to fight, the murderers of his family and best friend. Regardless of his change in views toward beastmen, the behavior continues when he wipes out the home world of the Anti-Spirals, taking out the entire race with it, and putting the entire universe at risk against a terrible force called the Spiral Nemesis, where Spiral Power grows out of control, causing all life to expand and collide, destroying everything.)

If allowed, in battle, Simon's shadow wouldn't take the form of a traditional monster, just Simon as a man. An adult, but one willing to use Spiral Energy for anything he desires--to wipe out worlds and races, to extend life as he sees fit. The man who would use the overuse of Spiral Power to cause the Spiral Nemesis without care. The main difference between normal adult Simon and Shadow Simon would be spiral eyes, much like Lordgenome had, but green instead of red. In just being a form of himself, it would make it clear how truly terrible Simon can become, and what future awaits to destroy him if he doesn't curb himself. (For the record, this is a concept in the show itself. The prologue of the show shows an alternate Simon who is willing to take down the universe itself.)

Also in battle, Simon's shadow would rely primarily on physical attacks, with an almighty attack or two if it's allowed. Simon is canonly a very powerful character, so I would reason his Shadow would be just the same. Simon's denial of his shadow would also be pretty strong--again, he's the hero, the good guy, of course he values life, he can't be like Lordgenome--which, if I am correct, would also give his shadow strength.

(Simon's dungeon by the by would be winding tunnels, traveling upward but never breaking surface, finally ending in a throne room comparative to Lordgenome's)

I apologize for talking way too much about this.

PERSONA:

I swear this makes sense. I'd like Simon to have Romulus for a persona.

I say this because of the story of Romulus and Remus, twin brothers who founded Rome. The story goes that Remus went against Romulus, and died for it, which is in a way comparable to the way Simon felt betrayed by Kamina after he caught Kamina kissing the girl he liked. Kamina's death is a direct result of Simon's inability to think straight after seeing this. Romulus buried Remus with sorrow and regret for his brother's life, for it had come of his own actions. Self explanatory.

Romulus's story continues as he leads Rome, protecting it and its citizens, just as Simon protects the humans of earth against the beastmen. However, it ends tragically, with betrayal and murder. Somewhat like the way Simon is eventually betrayed by Nia, who tries to kill him and destroy the world, and by Rossiu and sentenced to death. However, Romulus was still a much-loved leader, just as Simon was. Simon's own story doesn't end as tragically, as he does survive, though he loses everything.

PERSONA ACQUISTION:

I would super uber mega prefer Simon gaining his Persona through the TV world and accepting his shadow.

>SAMPLES
(For panfandom apps, one of these must be set in the world of Caligo.)

FIRST PERSON ACTION, JOURNAL, OR PHONE SAMPLE:

[Simon's the kind of guy to grab at passing people, to ask them questions, if the situation calls for it. And it calls for it, today.]

Hey--hey, can I--hey, do you?

[It's just unfortunate he's kind of small, and just seems like a very frantic child]

Hey--do you--where am I? What's going on? [And it's unfortunate he's asking the same questions everyone else is asking. More than likely, he's getting ignored.]

But I need to get back! Nia and Yoko--the Dai Gurren-dan! They need me! I can't be here, I have to go back!

[The same thing everyone else is saying. But with Simon comes the fear that his entire world and everyone he loves in it will be gone when he returns.]

((This is mine and I can prove it.

I can prove this was mine, as well.))

THIRD PERSON SAMPLE:

Simon's hand clenched the core drill so tightly it cut into his palm. The pain was sharp, but Simon wasn't entirely sure that it proved he was awake.

None of this made sense. As his fellow humans moved around him under the sun, in buildings that rose above the ground, Simon's head spun. There wasn't a beastman in sight, there wasn't a ganmen waiting to take down an unsuspecting village. There wasn't even a sign that they had once been underground. It was the biggest group of people he'd ever seen outside of the Dai Gurren-dan. He doesn't understand the strange symbols everywhere, new and unfamiliar compared to his on basic grasp of what little language Leeron had taught him, but it makes the world seem busy and alive. Like everyone has something to say, and anyone who passes by can hear--read?--it. It's evidence that this city, this world, under the sun, is safe.

And it knocks the breath out of him.

He likes it. Of course he likes it. He loves seeing people happy and in the sun, breathing in fresh air. Though he attracts some strange looks with his clothes and the molepig sitting on his shoulder, Simon can't help but feel good. He's alone and he's scared, and he hopes and prays Nia is okay, and the team can move on and function without him, but the urgency of a positive emotion presses those things to the back of his mind, just for a minute (he's sure, in a way, it's just a dream, after all). He just feels good.

Is this world like the one Kamina died for? Like the one the Dai Gurren-dan hoped for every day? He doesn't know. It's his own dream, so maybe. Maybe when he wakes tomorrow, clutching at the last memories, he can go into battle with renewed vigor, with stronger hope. Maybe he can face the Helix King with something nearly tangible on his mind.

And as the clouds move in and the rain begins to fall, Simon just lifts his face to the sky and takes it in. The panic will set in tomorrow, when he doesn't wake in his bed with the sunrise, but for now, he feels it.

He feels the world he fights for.

--ALTERNATIVELY--

The morning is cold and dark and wet compared to nights in the desert. It's cool and open compared to his bunk on the Dai Gurren. And it's when he realizes that the breeze that passes across him isn't the desert breeze and the dark that covers him isn't the dark of a ceiling that he sits up, grasping at his chest, scrambling for the drill that was such an important part of him. The drill Kamina swore was his soul.

It was there, and Simon's heart beat heavily beneath it. The past day hits him hard, realizing it wasn't a dream, it wasn't an imagining--the train he woke up on and the world he faced after are real. And while half of him can celebrate that, the other half feels like the ground has just crumbled beneath him.

He's left them behind. The people relying on him to lead them into battle, his friends, the people who have become his family. Leeron and Rossiu and Yoko and Nia. He's left them behind.

That's what drives him to his feet, as he makes sure Boota is still secured in his pocket, and he rushes to that station. His stomach growls, his head aches and his eyes are still filled with sleep, but he needs to find the way back.