Saki Konishi『小西 早紀』 (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
magiciansempress) wrote2012-10-13 08:02 am
magiciansempress) wrote2012-10-13 08:02 am
Strings App
Out Of Character Information
Name: Ana | [bluerosedreams]
Age: 22
Time zone: GMT -6
Contact: anakhathesilver @ AIM, anakha @ plurk
Anything we should know?: I’m sorry that was the best link I could find for her Persona. Obscure myth is obscure, and all other links instead go back to her shrine.
In Character Information
Name: Saki Konishi
Series: Persona 4
Age: 18
Birthday & Astrology Sign: April 27, Taurus
Arcana: Empress
AU | Previous Game Backstory:
Canon history
AU History: All is canon up until her journey into the Midnight Channel. That is where the entire story of Persona 4 changes drastically. You see, when faced with her Shadow, instead of denying all that was said, all of the stress and swirling emotions from her life collapsed and she had an emotional breakdown. She accepted it—there was no denying her resentment towards Yosuke’s position. And maybe she hated that part of him, and how he didn’t always think and consider boundaries. Maybe she did deserve this and she was a bad person. Either way, what mattered was that she accepted her Shadow, and her Persona, Kikuri-hime, was born.
Saki remained within the world built around her, huddling into a corner and refusing to leave. She had no idea where she was, she was exhausted emotionally and physically by her Shadow and Persona, and she had no idea where she was or where to go. In this way, she manages to avoid the Shadows for the night.
The next day, it came out rapidly that she was missing. With no money with which to run, and her supposed boyfriend happened to still be present, the only option was that she had been kidnapped in connection to Mayumi Yamano’s murder. Inaba was small, after all, and so everyone recognized her on the supposedly anonymous interview. The murder obviously thought she knew something and snatched her.
Devastated by his crush’s disappearance, and the very real idea that she’d been murdered as well, Yosuke asked Yu Narukami to take him to the TV world. If there was a connection between Mayumi Yamano’s death and that world, then surely there was a connection between Saki’s disappearance and there as well.
So Yosuke and Narukami traveled into the Midnight Channel, just like in canon, and, with the help of Teddie, began to navigate toward the other liquor store. There they encountered Shadows and Yu summoned Izanagi for the first time. With the Shadows defeated, they traveled inside the liquor store—not knowing Saki was hiding inside. There, Yosuke was confronted with the words other had spoken to her, including her Shadow. And this caused Yosuke’s own Shadow to manifest.
Saki heard everything.
When the battle was over with, she finally revealed herself. She could sympathize with Yosuke, and so she embraced him and said she was proud of him. After what she’d been through in the past twenty-four hours, she was happy to see other people again—and touched to learn Yosuke had come looking for her.
They traveled back to the entrance, where Saki was surprised to find out that there was, in fact, an exit. It was then finally asked how she ended up there. Given where they were, Saki was comfortable enough to reveal that she’d been asked to go to the station to answer questions, but when she got there… Well, the detective—Adachi—wasn’t asking about the case. And when she rejected him, he pushed her in.
There was one problem they faced now: they had no proof, and no one would believe them, so it would come down to their word against his. Sending her home would paint a target on her back, but the TV world was too dangerous for her to remain there. So a decision was made and Saki would stay, hidden, at Junes until they could prove Adachi had killed Mayumi Yamano and attempted to kill Saki Konishi.
So Saki remained hidden while her family mourned and the police investigated. She was living in a small closet, behind some boxes. Storage, really. Yosuke snuck her food and fresh clothes, and at night, she cleaned up in the bathroom. Life was going on.
Meanwhile, Namatame was falling into the same trick as in canon. While no body had turned up, Saki’s disappearance weighed heavily on him. Seeing Yukiko on the TV screen and Adachi’s words over the phone cemented a plan to “save” people. A few nights later, Yukiko Amagi went missing.
Wearing a hoodie with the hood up, Saki meets with the beginnings of the Investigation Team to talk about what to do. They determine that, given the pattern so far, Yukiko is probably in the TV world. And if they hurry, they should be able to save her. So they do just that, heading into the TV world to rescue Yukiko. But things don’t go as planned when Chie runs off before receiving her glasses. When the team catches up, her Shadow manifests and they have to fight. The battle is quickly won, but with Chie drained and exhausted from her Shadow and having gained her own Persona, they’re forced to turn back and head home for the day.
The next day, they return, and with all of them fighting, they make it to Yukiko and find her Shadow has captured her. Yukiko, naturally, denies her Shadow, and the team fights together—Chie, Yu and Yosuke hitting hard as they can while Saki provides in-battle support. Together, they defeat Yukiko’s Shadow and rescue Yukiko, who manifests her own Persona from the incident.
The next day, they meet again—Saki once more hiding under a hood. With a bit of talking, they decide that Saki should stay in an empty storehouse at the Amagi Inn. There’s a bit of shopping to get some comforts for the storehouse, but it’s quickly renovated into a small bedroom (although the bed is a sleeping bag meant for camping). Much more comfortable and far less cramped than before, Saki can stop worrying so much about a janitor finding her as Yukiko assures them no one had used this storehouse in years.
And that is all up to her canon point. I can probably TLDR more,
AU | Previous Game Differences (List form):
⇨ All is canon up until Saki is thrown into the TV
⇨ Saki has a breakdown, accepts her Shadow
⇨ Manifests a Persona
⇨ Assumed missing due to connection with case
⇨ Yosuke and Yu go looking for her inside the TV world due to the similarities between her disappearance and Mayumi Yamano’s murder
⇨ Witnessed Yosuke’s Shadow and the battle afterward
⇨ Revealed that her attacker was Adachi, but nothing could be done without proof
⇨ Saki stayed in Junes in a closet so as to be kept safe
⇨ Was present when the team decided to go after Yukiko
⇨ Helped with both Chie and Yukiko’s Shadows
⇨ Now staying in a storehouse of the Amagi Inn
Canon Standing: Just after Yukiko Amagi was rescued
Personality:
Saki is, on the outside, a very warm and open girl, making friends even with the town outcast, Yosuke. She is said to view him the same as her brother (much to Yosuke’s disappointment), and she even teases him and seems to genuinely want him to make friends. She looks out for him, so to speak.
However, beneath the surface is the real Saki. And it’s not a pretty picture.
The trip to the Midnight Channel reveals that because of her job at Junes, she is facing a lot of backlash. Her neighbors talk about her behind her back, saying nasty things. Her father even berates her, not understanding why she works at “the enemy’s.” A possible reason is provided in Yosuke’s Social Link, but is never confirmed. It is more likely she was working at Junes to help her family make ends meet, as she is shown to care for them as seen in her brother’s Social Link.
However, this means Saki is a very tired and vulnerable girl, secretly despairing and heavily stressed. She is shown to be secretly full of many insecurities, especially when it comes to her job and in relation to Yosuke. Which is where we get into things with the Midnight Channel.
Despite the voice of Saki stating she hates Yosuke, it is likely this voice is actually remnants of Saki’s Shadow and thus an exaggeration of her fears and actual feelings. (It should be noted the voices literally started after Yosuke wondered aloud what Saki went through.) Therefore, it is not likely she actually hated him, but rather resented his connection to Junes and feared that she would come to hate him like everything else. Her own insecurities meant she didn’t see many reasons for her to deserve good things.
These insecurities, however, do not keep her from doing the right thing. She very easily catches on that Adachi is up to something, and still refuses his advances. This strength is ultimately what gets her killed.
Also, it should be noted that, as revealed by her hiding things, she is not one who seems to want others to bear the burden of her pain. So she tries to bear it silently, leading to furthering her stress levels in an endless feedback loop that torments her.
Key Personality Differences:
Probably the biggest difference between canon Saki and AU Saki is that, while both have been through meeting their Shadow, the latter has accepted her and thus survived a potentially deadly situation. From this, she has accepted the flaws that the Shadow brought to light and she has worked on correcting them. This has made her a slightly more mature individual because of it.
She has learned to voice when she needs support, to voice when she needs help and is annoyed and other negative emotions. She may not be the burden she thinks she is, and her self-esteem has become a bit better since her rescue and the realization that, yes, people think she’s worth something.
She has also grown in that she tries to not let the opinions of others reflect onto her own opinions when it comes to other people. After all, not only was Yosuke the only one showing her a smile when friends and family alike were tearing her down for “working with the enemy,” he is the one who took initiative and requested help to find her. On top of that, witnessing his Shadow has given them a further connection in common that strengthens the bond she’d already begun to forge with him.
Aside from that, though, are the major scars from her journey to the Midnight Channel. Because she trusted Adachi, an authority figure that was acting as such, she nearly died. This has made her wary of other authority figures, and as such, she would approach them with extreme caution. As well, she’s had to live in a closet, knowing her family is mourning her. She isn’t as happy as she once seemed, instead wearing her pained heart on her sleeve. She can’t let them know she’s alive, not yet, and so instead has to bear the lie. Even with support, that is difficult.
She often has nightmares of all the various ways this could have ended worse. These plague her, and she doesn’t often sleep peacefully because of it, making her much more tired—and it shows! It also manifests in slight paranoia that they won’t be able to save anyone else, meaning she is one of those pushing the hardest to save those thrown into the TV world—even at her own detriment. She is especially paranoid for her own safety, often keeping something to be used as a weapon in her hoodie pocket just in case.
She also doesn’t like surprise touching any longer, reminded too much of Adachi and the near assault that took place. It’s a vulnerable state she’s not ready to be in yet, even if it’s just a simple and innocent hand on her shoulder. She’s only occasionally comfortable with close contact now, to continue on with that line of thought, and she has to initiate to be remotely okay with it.
Canon Powers:
Ahahahaha, she’s a normal girl. Nothing here.
Canon Weapons|Items:
Canonly, no weapon. She died. AU-wise? She started off with a broken bottle, and then later graduated to knives—her first set being a gift from Yosuke!
Canon Allies:
N/A
Canon Baggage:
Some clothes including her hoodie, the knives Yosuke bought her, and a photo of her and her family.
Persona
[Kikuri-Hime]
LVL 2 | Empress
WEAK: Dark | REFLECTS: (if any) | ABSORBS: (if any) | BLOCKS: (if any) | RESISTS: Lightning
SUPPORT SKILLS
▶ Destiny String: Allows you to see other visitor's Destiny Strings.
▶ Orange Wall: Increases an ally's Lightning resistance (resist lightning effect).
▶ Relaxing Wave: Recover a small amount of magic after battle. All allies.
▶ Rakukaja: Increases an ally's Defense.
▷ Juggling Lights: Allows the user to cause 5 glowing balls that light up a room for a while
▷ Mutudi: Recover from Silence. One ally.
▷ Diarama: Recovers a medium amount of HP to one ally. Can be used in the field.
▷ CommLink: Allows the user to communicate telepathically with other Persona users that they know.
★ Oath to Return: Restores a medium amount of HP and SP and returns all statuses to normal
COMBAT SKILLS
▶ Muzzle Shot: Inflicts a small amount of Physical damage with a chance of Silence on one enemy.
▷ Zionga: Inflicts a medium amount of Lightning damage on one enemy.
▷ Heat Wave: Inflicts a medium amount of Physical damage on all enemies.
Writing Sample
A new chance, huh? A place where she doesn’t have to hide her face beneath a hood, where she can take a break from being a dead girl who’s actually missing and just be herself again for a little while? Count her in. She wants to help back home, she really does, but she needs sunlight every now and then. She can’t just hide away forever. So here she is, now. Her own little apartment, her own life again, free to walk in daylight and be herself. No more hiding. This is her vacation, from all of the terrible things.
“Let’s see… Omurice sounds like a good breakfast,” she says to herself, quickly getting up out of bed—ah, how nice it is to have an actual bed again and not just be sleeping on the floor! It’s going to be a good day, she can feel it in her bones. So she makes her bed and gets dressed before heading into the kitchen to make herself some omurice to eat. Once that’s done and breakfast is consumed, it’s off to find work.
“Come on, Saki. You can do this. You just need a job. And if you get one, reward yourself with some cream puffs,” she whispers to herself in motivation. …Mm, cream puffs. She hasn’t had those in a while. Perfect congratulatory reward for getting a job, if you ask her!
Alternatively, there is this, but it's more supplemental.
Name: Ana | [
bluerosedreams]Age: 22
Time zone: GMT -6
Contact: anakhathesilver @ AIM, anakha @ plurk
Anything we should know?: I’m sorry that was the best link I could find for her Persona. Obscure myth is obscure, and all other links instead go back to her shrine.
In Character Information
Name: Saki Konishi
Series: Persona 4
Age: 18
Birthday & Astrology Sign: April 27, Taurus
Arcana: Empress
AU | Previous Game Backstory:
Canon history
AU History: All is canon up until her journey into the Midnight Channel. That is where the entire story of Persona 4 changes drastically. You see, when faced with her Shadow, instead of denying all that was said, all of the stress and swirling emotions from her life collapsed and she had an emotional breakdown. She accepted it—there was no denying her resentment towards Yosuke’s position. And maybe she hated that part of him, and how he didn’t always think and consider boundaries. Maybe she did deserve this and she was a bad person. Either way, what mattered was that she accepted her Shadow, and her Persona, Kikuri-hime, was born.
Saki remained within the world built around her, huddling into a corner and refusing to leave. She had no idea where she was, she was exhausted emotionally and physically by her Shadow and Persona, and she had no idea where she was or where to go. In this way, she manages to avoid the Shadows for the night.
The next day, it came out rapidly that she was missing. With no money with which to run, and her supposed boyfriend happened to still be present, the only option was that she had been kidnapped in connection to Mayumi Yamano’s murder. Inaba was small, after all, and so everyone recognized her on the supposedly anonymous interview. The murder obviously thought she knew something and snatched her.
Devastated by his crush’s disappearance, and the very real idea that she’d been murdered as well, Yosuke asked Yu Narukami to take him to the TV world. If there was a connection between Mayumi Yamano’s death and that world, then surely there was a connection between Saki’s disappearance and there as well.
So Yosuke and Narukami traveled into the Midnight Channel, just like in canon, and, with the help of Teddie, began to navigate toward the other liquor store. There they encountered Shadows and Yu summoned Izanagi for the first time. With the Shadows defeated, they traveled inside the liquor store—not knowing Saki was hiding inside. There, Yosuke was confronted with the words other had spoken to her, including her Shadow. And this caused Yosuke’s own Shadow to manifest.
Saki heard everything.
When the battle was over with, she finally revealed herself. She could sympathize with Yosuke, and so she embraced him and said she was proud of him. After what she’d been through in the past twenty-four hours, she was happy to see other people again—and touched to learn Yosuke had come looking for her.
They traveled back to the entrance, where Saki was surprised to find out that there was, in fact, an exit. It was then finally asked how she ended up there. Given where they were, Saki was comfortable enough to reveal that she’d been asked to go to the station to answer questions, but when she got there… Well, the detective—Adachi—wasn’t asking about the case. And when she rejected him, he pushed her in.
There was one problem they faced now: they had no proof, and no one would believe them, so it would come down to their word against his. Sending her home would paint a target on her back, but the TV world was too dangerous for her to remain there. So a decision was made and Saki would stay, hidden, at Junes until they could prove Adachi had killed Mayumi Yamano and attempted to kill Saki Konishi.
So Saki remained hidden while her family mourned and the police investigated. She was living in a small closet, behind some boxes. Storage, really. Yosuke snuck her food and fresh clothes, and at night, she cleaned up in the bathroom. Life was going on.
Meanwhile, Namatame was falling into the same trick as in canon. While no body had turned up, Saki’s disappearance weighed heavily on him. Seeing Yukiko on the TV screen and Adachi’s words over the phone cemented a plan to “save” people. A few nights later, Yukiko Amagi went missing.
Wearing a hoodie with the hood up, Saki meets with the beginnings of the Investigation Team to talk about what to do. They determine that, given the pattern so far, Yukiko is probably in the TV world. And if they hurry, they should be able to save her. So they do just that, heading into the TV world to rescue Yukiko. But things don’t go as planned when Chie runs off before receiving her glasses. When the team catches up, her Shadow manifests and they have to fight. The battle is quickly won, but with Chie drained and exhausted from her Shadow and having gained her own Persona, they’re forced to turn back and head home for the day.
The next day, they return, and with all of them fighting, they make it to Yukiko and find her Shadow has captured her. Yukiko, naturally, denies her Shadow, and the team fights together—Chie, Yu and Yosuke hitting hard as they can while Saki provides in-battle support. Together, they defeat Yukiko’s Shadow and rescue Yukiko, who manifests her own Persona from the incident.
The next day, they meet again—Saki once more hiding under a hood. With a bit of talking, they decide that Saki should stay in an empty storehouse at the Amagi Inn. There’s a bit of shopping to get some comforts for the storehouse, but it’s quickly renovated into a small bedroom (although the bed is a sleeping bag meant for camping). Much more comfortable and far less cramped than before, Saki can stop worrying so much about a janitor finding her as Yukiko assures them no one had used this storehouse in years.
And that is all up to her canon point. I can probably TLDR more,
AU | Previous Game Differences (List form):
⇨ All is canon up until Saki is thrown into the TV
⇨ Saki has a breakdown, accepts her Shadow
⇨ Manifests a Persona
⇨ Assumed missing due to connection with case
⇨ Yosuke and Yu go looking for her inside the TV world due to the similarities between her disappearance and Mayumi Yamano’s murder
⇨ Witnessed Yosuke’s Shadow and the battle afterward
⇨ Revealed that her attacker was Adachi, but nothing could be done without proof
⇨ Saki stayed in Junes in a closet so as to be kept safe
⇨ Was present when the team decided to go after Yukiko
⇨ Helped with both Chie and Yukiko’s Shadows
⇨ Now staying in a storehouse of the Amagi Inn
Canon Standing: Just after Yukiko Amagi was rescued
Personality:
Saki is, on the outside, a very warm and open girl, making friends even with the town outcast, Yosuke. She is said to view him the same as her brother (much to Yosuke’s disappointment), and she even teases him and seems to genuinely want him to make friends. She looks out for him, so to speak.
However, beneath the surface is the real Saki. And it’s not a pretty picture.
The trip to the Midnight Channel reveals that because of her job at Junes, she is facing a lot of backlash. Her neighbors talk about her behind her back, saying nasty things. Her father even berates her, not understanding why she works at “the enemy’s.” A possible reason is provided in Yosuke’s Social Link, but is never confirmed. It is more likely she was working at Junes to help her family make ends meet, as she is shown to care for them as seen in her brother’s Social Link.
However, this means Saki is a very tired and vulnerable girl, secretly despairing and heavily stressed. She is shown to be secretly full of many insecurities, especially when it comes to her job and in relation to Yosuke. Which is where we get into things with the Midnight Channel.
Despite the voice of Saki stating she hates Yosuke, it is likely this voice is actually remnants of Saki’s Shadow and thus an exaggeration of her fears and actual feelings. (It should be noted the voices literally started after Yosuke wondered aloud what Saki went through.) Therefore, it is not likely she actually hated him, but rather resented his connection to Junes and feared that she would come to hate him like everything else. Her own insecurities meant she didn’t see many reasons for her to deserve good things.
These insecurities, however, do not keep her from doing the right thing. She very easily catches on that Adachi is up to something, and still refuses his advances. This strength is ultimately what gets her killed.
Also, it should be noted that, as revealed by her hiding things, she is not one who seems to want others to bear the burden of her pain. So she tries to bear it silently, leading to furthering her stress levels in an endless feedback loop that torments her.
Key Personality Differences:
Probably the biggest difference between canon Saki and AU Saki is that, while both have been through meeting their Shadow, the latter has accepted her and thus survived a potentially deadly situation. From this, she has accepted the flaws that the Shadow brought to light and she has worked on correcting them. This has made her a slightly more mature individual because of it.
She has learned to voice when she needs support, to voice when she needs help and is annoyed and other negative emotions. She may not be the burden she thinks she is, and her self-esteem has become a bit better since her rescue and the realization that, yes, people think she’s worth something.
She has also grown in that she tries to not let the opinions of others reflect onto her own opinions when it comes to other people. After all, not only was Yosuke the only one showing her a smile when friends and family alike were tearing her down for “working with the enemy,” he is the one who took initiative and requested help to find her. On top of that, witnessing his Shadow has given them a further connection in common that strengthens the bond she’d already begun to forge with him.
Aside from that, though, are the major scars from her journey to the Midnight Channel. Because she trusted Adachi, an authority figure that was acting as such, she nearly died. This has made her wary of other authority figures, and as such, she would approach them with extreme caution. As well, she’s had to live in a closet, knowing her family is mourning her. She isn’t as happy as she once seemed, instead wearing her pained heart on her sleeve. She can’t let them know she’s alive, not yet, and so instead has to bear the lie. Even with support, that is difficult.
She often has nightmares of all the various ways this could have ended worse. These plague her, and she doesn’t often sleep peacefully because of it, making her much more tired—and it shows! It also manifests in slight paranoia that they won’t be able to save anyone else, meaning she is one of those pushing the hardest to save those thrown into the TV world—even at her own detriment. She is especially paranoid for her own safety, often keeping something to be used as a weapon in her hoodie pocket just in case.
She also doesn’t like surprise touching any longer, reminded too much of Adachi and the near assault that took place. It’s a vulnerable state she’s not ready to be in yet, even if it’s just a simple and innocent hand on her shoulder. She’s only occasionally comfortable with close contact now, to continue on with that line of thought, and she has to initiate to be remotely okay with it.
Canon Powers:
Ahahahaha, she’s a normal girl. Nothing here.
Canon Weapons|Items:
Canonly, no weapon. She died. AU-wise? She started off with a broken bottle, and then later graduated to knives—her first set being a gift from Yosuke!
Canon Allies:
N/A
Canon Baggage:
Some clothes including her hoodie, the knives Yosuke bought her, and a photo of her and her family.
Persona
[Kikuri-Hime]
LVL 2 | Empress
WEAK: Dark | REFLECTS: (if any) | ABSORBS: (if any) | BLOCKS: (if any) | RESISTS: Lightning
SUPPORT SKILLS
▶ Destiny String: Allows you to see other visitor's Destiny Strings.
▶ Orange Wall: Increases an ally's Lightning resistance (resist lightning effect).
▶ Relaxing Wave: Recover a small amount of magic after battle. All allies.
▶ Rakukaja: Increases an ally's Defense.
▷ Juggling Lights: Allows the user to cause 5 glowing balls that light up a room for a while
▷ Mutudi: Recover from Silence. One ally.
▷ Diarama: Recovers a medium amount of HP to one ally. Can be used in the field.
▷ CommLink: Allows the user to communicate telepathically with other Persona users that they know.
★ Oath to Return: Restores a medium amount of HP and SP and returns all statuses to normal
COMBAT SKILLS
▶ Muzzle Shot: Inflicts a small amount of Physical damage with a chance of Silence on one enemy.
▷ Zionga: Inflicts a medium amount of Lightning damage on one enemy.
▷ Heat Wave: Inflicts a medium amount of Physical damage on all enemies.
Writing Sample
A new chance, huh? A place where she doesn’t have to hide her face beneath a hood, where she can take a break from being a dead girl who’s actually missing and just be herself again for a little while? Count her in. She wants to help back home, she really does, but she needs sunlight every now and then. She can’t just hide away forever. So here she is, now. Her own little apartment, her own life again, free to walk in daylight and be herself. No more hiding. This is her vacation, from all of the terrible things.
“Let’s see… Omurice sounds like a good breakfast,” she says to herself, quickly getting up out of bed—ah, how nice it is to have an actual bed again and not just be sleeping on the floor! It’s going to be a good day, she can feel it in her bones. So she makes her bed and gets dressed before heading into the kitchen to make herself some omurice to eat. Once that’s done and breakfast is consumed, it’s off to find work.
“Come on, Saki. You can do this. You just need a job. And if you get one, reward yourself with some cream puffs,” she whispers to herself in motivation. …Mm, cream puffs. She hasn’t had those in a while. Perfect congratulatory reward for getting a job, if you ask her!
Alternatively, there is this, but it's more supplemental.
Revisions
Saki's relationship with her family is, well... Strained. While she was once close to them, as evidenced from Naoki's social link (and especially close to her brother, often teasing him the same way she does Yosuke and confiding in him things she wouldn't tell their parents), the monetary problems faced by her family due to Junes and New Shiny Syndrome strained relationships on all sides (again, evidenced in Naoki's social link by how strained his relationship became with his family). This led Saki to arguing with her parents, especially her mother. In the end, she planned to move out with her boyfriend in order to get into a much less stressful environment--and actually left, for a bit, before coming back as it was wrong of her to leave suddenly when her family needed her. As it was, her and Naoki, while being close, would argue over cream puffs before Junes. The monetary strain on the family only made things worse. Saki got her part-time job to ease the stress on her family's wallet (something she actually confides in Naoki), but it backfired in earning her disdain and even more yelling than before--so the funds initially saved for her own personal use, perhaps even to pay for schooling after high school, became her ticket out of that environment--which doesn't mean she doesn't love them, as she still came back and confided in Naoki that she was working for the liquor store.
Which brings us to her drive. Saki knew she'd earn some disdain. This is, again, made clear through Naoki's social link when Naoki says he never dared to even visit Junes because he'd hear about it from neighbors. She felt immense pressure for the decision to not only visit, but to work there. We know her neighbors talked about her, and she had fights with her family about it, and this contributed immensely to her low self esteem. She tries to take the blows in stride, even though it did wear on her. When she sets her mind to something, she does it.
As for negative traits... Saki deals with stress in self-destructive ways. She is shown as fighting with her parents and internalizing a lot of the things said, creating a large feedback loop of negativity. Eventually, it seems, she even started to cut classes and skip school. She doesn't fight back, instead taking the whispers and rumors with no real outlet. Maybe she deserves it, she tells herself. And when she's annoyed enough, she even becomes snippy toward Yosuke when he means well and tried to help her. She tries to push him back off onto Yu, isolating herself. And these are habits she still has yet to break.
Another flaw is she doesn't always think things through. Her and her boyfriend tried to elope, but she decided not to and came home. She also works herself ragged--school, her part-time job at Junes and the liquor store. She is shown to be tired, a result of all the stress she piles on herself.
She also has a deep-seated resentment for... A lot of things. Yosuke's position, her parents and their lack of wanting to understand, even herself. She secretly wishes it would all go away or just stop. Why can't things go back to the way they were, before all the fights, when the most she ever argued over was cream puffs in the fridge? Things were simpler before, and perhaps she can get a bit too stuck on that--which, again, feedback loops into frustration and internalized dislike of herself and resentment towards others who aren't in positions that are as difficult. She can be bitter deep down, and even hold a bit of a grudge.
She can act hastily, and on high emotion. She chose to elope, after all, to get away from her family--though in the end she did come back after some cool down time. She snaps and says things when upset, and she makes excuses sometimes to get out of trouble.
AU Changes: This is actually a fairly drastic change, but. Here goes. :T
So, basically, the rain lasts a bit longer, providing more time. Things go a la Chie in Yukiko's dungeon once they reach the liquor store, and they go pretty fast because Yosuke is already dealing with his own insecurities now that Saki is missing and they have their first solid lead. Will she be happy to even see him rescuing her? What all had she been through? What was going on, anyway? So when they reached the first room of the liquor store--Saki hiding in a further twisted form of her own family's liquor store (though not nearly as spacious as later dungeons)--Yosuke finally cracked upon hearing even more of the voices that plagued him from outside, including Saki's resentment of... Quite a few things. And so his Shadow battle happened, forcing them to retreat for the day because Yosuke couldn't go any further with how sapped he was for strength. And with a few Shadows between them and Saki, there was no way they could just continue. They came back promptly the next day, warning Chie to stay back and keep a look out (as, well, coming out of a TV is weird, and Chie didn't have a Persona and they now knew about Shadows). And they quickly covered ground to get to Saki (completely unaware of the time limit they were on as of yet). There, with others present, she vehemently denied her Shadow and it launched into a fairly short battle with her being overcome and reduced to her original state. With encouragement from Yosuke and Yu, she was able to accept the nastier parts of herself, including her anger and resentment, and thus gained her own Persona. After that, she explained what happened and it was decided she should stay in hiding lest there be a target painted on her back since they couldn't prove who did it. She hid out in Junes for the day, tucked into a corner Yosuke didn't think would be needed anymore that day, and that night transferred to the abandoned shrine. Eeeeverything from there should remain relatively the same, save for the foggy day was a few days later.
Aaaaaas for where she stays, she hides out in Junes until that night when it's easier for her to sneak around (cover of darkness and all that), and then she hides out at the Tatsuhime Shrine. It's abandoned, and so few come there, so it's not like anyone would notice. It would also allow her to keep an eye on her family until the Amagi Inn becomes a much more comfortable location.