AU divergences in detail : WIP

[stitchedfromsteel]

Plot notes:
* Kanji is punted into the TV for similar reasons as canon: Namatame has to wait until he spots him shut down and apparently 'asleep' before he can get him through there. He doesn't exactly want to go telling the world about his suspicions, mind. ('Why is this guy so heavy?')
* His dungeon is ... noticeably different. Definitely not the Bad Bad Bathhouse. It looks more like an abandoned hospital. The IT are confused by the mechanical voices they hear...
* While he still goes on the camping trip and Yosuke is still a jerk, the reasons tend more towards "dude, are you going to watch me sleep?!" than ... his other issues. At least this version of Kanji can't have a nosebleed...

* The Shadow Ops first get involved in the Inaba mess earlier than canon, and take Adachi in. The two groups come to blows somewhat. However, not knowing about Izanami at that stage, the Investigation Team are left to deal with her.
* With what information Kanji can give her, Naoto starts looking into them early...

* His Arena title's "The Wound-Up Tin Toy Soldier".
* At the end of Arena, Kanji and his mother make an offer to Labrys to come live with them. Overall, Arena goes down very differently, with the two sides knowing considerably more about each other from the start. It's a mess.

Personal notes:
* To him, his human memories are like reading a book: disconnected, second-hand. It's hard for him to directly associate with the emotional impact of the memories. As such, he's rather more naïve and childlike at times than the human Kanji: but at the same time, he can be colder and more rational.
* That said, it surprised a lot of people when he started calling himself Kanji at them... the human version's memories were uploaded as a means to speed up his personality development, but the scientists didn't predict they would overwhelm what they'd crafted.
* He wasn't designed to be able to sew - he lacks the finer tactile responses he'd need. While he knows that his human self used to enjoy it and be good at it, it frustrates him that he can't do this thing that he remembers loving so much. (He does, however, still hoard cute crafty things.) He's not a good artist in general, but he appreciates it, and occasionally tries his hand at painting.
* He has inbuilt weaponry akin to Aigis, and is designed with defense in mind. He can handle hostile environments with ease. His version of Aigis' Orgia Mode is less of an all or nothing affair, with him being able to modulate his limiters and divert power in a controlled fashion - however, at its strongest, it risks doing him far more damage than hers would. He's packing an electroshock punch, too.
* He's actually missing a few bits of equipment he was planned to have; it wasn't fully installed during his testing period, and he was taken to Inaba before it could be.
* He tends to dress a bit like Shinjiro in an attempt to hide his outward mechanical traits. The only time the jacket goes over his shoulders is when he needs to keep his arms free to use his guns.
* Even without the mechanical tells, he's possible to distinguish from his human self: the scientists who created his current appearance were extrapolating somewhat from a younger Kanji, and while they did a good job, he's not a perfect match. He also lacks his human self's telltale scar. His voice is slightly different to his counterpart's, but it's subtle.
* His Social Link is focused around learning to let go of the past and find happiness in who and what he is now.
* Where maintenance is concerned, he gets help from Yosuke and Naoto. With much, much awkwardness.
* His ma knows about what Shadows and Personas are - and it scares the hell out of her. Their relationship as a whole is pretty strained, with them trying to recapture what they had (or what she had with her original son), but with everything so changed... he keeps the TV situation under wraps as long as he can, and doesn't let her see his battle damage. (She's actually this version of Yu's Empress Social Link in Margaret's place, as he helps her deal with the pressure and grief...)
* He's even worse for taking the bullet than his human self is. "I'm made for this. I can be repaired." He's very driven to be a strong protector type, feels it's both his duty - and what his human self's dad would want. Can take it too far.
* He answers to both his human and ASW names, but not without a measure of confusion as to which is his 'real' one sometimes. His SL helps him work through the issues there. Still, he only uses his ASW name when his hand's forced, and basically only Labrys, Aigis, Naoto and Yu can get away with it. (The first two because, yanno, robofamily; Naoto because he'd let her get away with anything he knows she means it with respect and affection, and Yu because of Social Link working out of stuff. "Thyreos" means "shield", as with his sisters' names. reference)
* His Persona isn't the same as his human counterpart. Matching his sisters, it's pulled from Greek myth: Talos, the bronze guardian of ancient Crete. It actually looks a spot more humanlike than Take-Mikazuchi... Still huge though. Here, Take-Mikazuchi (in a different form) is the Persona Yu earns for completing their Social Link together. His Persona's second form is Zeus Tallaios, "Solar Zeus".
* Still a dope when presented with cute things. He often goes squee at the kitty cats with Yu. Helps that he can talk to them...
* When he can get away with it, he writes his human name as カンジ rather than 完二, as a deliberate underlining of the fact he's not the same person and to get away from some of the ironic meanings that the kanji (hah) spelling of it has in this context. ("Perfect/complete", "number two" - a perfect copy?)

* Extremely protective over Rei, to the point where Zen is more than a little suspicious...
* ...because yeah. Unless canon does contradict this later, his backstory's treating Rei as "Labrys' mother" and his "ancestor" - the resources that went towards copying Niko's personality were recycled for Kanji's. Like Aigis herself, he feels that connection, and understands what she went through to a degree as he actually has memories of being sick in the hospital.
* Rei also gets a pass on using his codename.
* Sadly, he's not as close to Ken as his canon counterpart, though he does try to reassure the kid the best he can.
* At least he gets off easy in the Inaba Pride Exhibit - but the Evil Spirits Club is even worse for him than for his human self. It takes the "uncannily like his TV dungeon" slot...
* Bunch of explanations needed when Elizabeth channels the local version of Zeus.