App (sticksandbones)

PLAYER INFO
Name: Joey
Pronouns: he/him
Contact: thlayli
Permissions: Here

CHARACTER INFO

Name: Min-Gi Park
Canon: Infinity Train
Canon Point: Post-Book 4
Age: 20
Species: Human

History: A wiki link!

Personality:

✽ What is your character's main motivation? What drives them and keeps them going?

What Min-Gi wants more than anything else in the world is to be in a band with Ryan. He's always had a passion for music, and what better way to make it than with his best friend since the day they were born? His parents hired him viola teachers throughout his childhood and while this probably helped give him a solid understanding of music it wasn't what he wanted. He's had a very structured life with a lot of unwanted expectations placed on him. This led him to try and push away his dreams after Ryan left to try and start a solo career, but he kept his mini-synth. He would mostly restrict himself to playing it when he was somewhere alone and unobserved, but it brings him rare moments of happiness during a period he's otherwise visibly unhappy.

Once he starts to accept he can live out his dreams it's obvious how much better he feels about his life even if they're far from achieving superstardom at this point. This is in part because he is still getting to do the things he wants, but more importantly he is getting to do them with Ryan, the most important person in his life. Although they are two very different people they work well as a team and both are far happier with each other than without. The band is important to both of them not only because of their love of music, but because it's something they can work on together.

✽ What is their biggest regret? Why?

Running away at their high school Battle of the Bands. Min doesn't regret not performing. He knows he wasn't ready back then and he would have panicked whether he stayed or not. What he regrets is that he wasn't honest about that with Ryan, leading to him leaving Powell Lake without him and a period of months where neither one of them spoke to the other. Not only was that incredibly lonely, but if Ryan hadn't returned then he most likely would have followed through with his parents plans for him to study finance at university. Even if he'd been successful it was a far cry from the way he wanted to spend the rest of his life and he knew that even then.

✽ What is their worst fear? Their greatest comfort?

Failure is his biggest fear. If there's one thing that scares Min it's the idea that he won't succeed. Rather than putting more effort into making sure he does, this often manifests in the form of the opposite. He freezes up, pretends not to want something when he does, or outright runs away if the pressure is really on. There are two major areas where this is demonstrated in canon; his fear of failure as a musician, and his fear of failure as a son. He goes along with his parents expectations regardless of how miserable they make him, and doesn't appear to try to discuss this with them. He also eventually admits to Ryan that he doesn't see a place for them in the music scene. It's not the only reason he gets so anxious about performing, but it's clearly a significant part of it.

His biggest comfort is music, at least when it comes to the type of music he wants to play. Viola is something that's expected of him, but he clearly lacks the passion for it that he has for the synth. During the months he spent trying to live up to his parents expectations playing his mini-synth was one of the few things that brought him any joy. There are similar moments on the train when he's feeling down where playing with Ryan helps boost his morale. The final scene of the series is the two of them playing together at a club, and while they're not getting as much attention as they might have dreamed of when they were kids he's still clearly at his happiest.

✽ Top three strengths?

• Logical
  
  Min-Gi is shown to be the careful, detail-orientated counterpart to the more impulsive Ryan. He's not particularly passionate about academia, but it does play into his strengths and he did well under the traditional school curriculum. He prefers to think things through, and is more likely to take logical or already proven approaches. He doesn't like the unknown and is often uncomfortable doing things through trial and error. He much prefers to have the full picture than only look at specific aspects, something that applies right down to the way he appreciates albums in their entirety rather than picking and choosing individual songs.


• Caring
  
  He wants to make others in his life happy, and as he grows Min is becoming more effective at making that happen. He's a good listener, and when he's not locked in on being right himself he can offer some good advice. Towards the end of the series it becomes obvious just how much he's honing this skill. He helps both Kez and Ryan, not only comforting them and doing his best to take care of them while they're upset, but encouraging them to take steps to address their problems.


• Creative
  
  While he might prefer to take the most comfortable option in most aspects of his life, music is an area where he takes advantage of the freedom it offers him. He and Ryan collaborate to write their music, and even when it comes to a silly song they wrote when they were six Ryan notices that Min puts his own spin on it once they get older. He's happier to deviate than he would be in most circumstances and show his more creative side.

✽ Top three weaknesses?

• Avoidant
  
  Rather than face his problems, Min will more often than not pretend they don't exist. This is something he's working on, but it's not something that comes naturally to him. His first instinct is to avoid it, whether that be by avoiding the subject or attempting to push it down so even he doesn't have to think about it. When forcibly faced by an issue he still struggles to communicate it, instead suffering panic attacks and quite literally running from his problems.


• Passive-Aggressive
  
  Sort of tying into his avoidance, Min-Gi can be indirect when it comes to voicing his frustrations. This is less likely to be seen by people he doesn't know that well, especially if they are older or an authority figure, since he will make more effort to be polite around those he's less familiar with. At least to their faces. In those cases he's more likely to express whatever thoughts he has to someone else he's more comfortable showing his snarky side to. Most likely Ryan.


• Image-Orientated
  
  He cares way too much about what other people think about him. Not only does this lead to him not voicing his own wants and needs to the point where it can hurt both himself and the people he doesn't want to disappoint, but he spends disproportionate amounts of time worrying about the opinions of people he's never even met and may not even exist.

✽ What was their last lie?

"It's just a toy."

This is said in reference to his mini-synth, a gift from his parents when he was six. Is it a toy? Yes. Is it just a toy? Definitely not. It symbolizes his dreams and is something that remained precious to him even when he had given up on them. Although it is a very basic synthesizer it is still the instrument that inspired him to play synth in the first place and something he carries with him to this day. Although it isn't what he ultimately uses in their shows he does use it for practice and clearly considers it to be far more than just a toy.

He does say a number of things that aren't completely true between then and the end of the series, but is it really a lie if it's something he believes in the moment? Later in the same episode he denounces his mini-synth as a simple toy he says:

"You know what? I'm actually feeling pretty ready. It's just one song."

This is proven untrue only moments later, but at the time he says it he's completely sincere. It isn't until he finds his keys in his pockets and is reminded of all his responsibilities and expectations he panics and backs out of the performance.

He does technically help perpetuate the lie that he and Ryan are the band when they're trying to get into (what they think is) the safety of a castle when they're fleeing for their lives, but he lets Ryan do the actual talking here.

Inventory:

• Mini-Synth


• Wallet


• Comb


• Chewing Gum

Abilities: Min is very much a typical human with nothing beyond what you would expect. He's a musician who can play keyboard, synths, and viola. That's all down to practice rather than anything out of the ordinary though.

Sample: TDM top-level.