level three essay (asgard).

[ironclad]

The experience of being in Asgard has had, overall, both positive and negative effects on Jasmine's personality.

When she first arrived, Jasmine acted much the same as she had always done. Unsure, self-conscious, but trying to put on a professional air, she was slightly lonely in the city at first. Though there were some assorted Pokémon trainers in residence at that stage, her friends Dawn and Lyra were to vanish from the network, leaving her to make totally new acquaintances. In the beginning she was slightly lonely, and ill at ease opening up to random strangers on the network (aside from talking about Gym life and Pokémon, which comes naturally to her).

This was doubled with the fact that shortly after she appeared there came the hugging competition, which made her feel embarrassed, humiliated, apologetic and flustered for the entire duration of the event. Thankfully, not very long before, Jasmine happened to talk with a girl named Mako Nakarai, nicknamed Nakama. During their first conversation she discovered that they had similar personalities and ways of looking at the world, and they soon became friends. Nakama and various others such as Keine informed Jasmine of the gods' tendency to play vile tricks on the travellers, such as exploding their heads and causing them great physical or emotional pain. Jasmine was appalled, and knew that something had to be done. She would not sit idly by while people were suffering. Nakama told Jasmine about a 'resistance', and Jasmine swore then to help as much as she could - whether with the fight-back, or simply improving her new healing skills.

Jasmine's social life, on the other hand, was more of a slow-burn. Forced outside her comfort zone, she chanced upon the opportunity to talk to many different types of people in Asgard, and some unlikely friendships blossomed, such as that between many outgoing Pokémon trainers (during her unusual role as a 'greeter' at the Pokétopia cafe) and eccentrics such as Richard Castle and Aoto. A more rebellious streak also developed, brought on by the gods' taunting and her sense to do what is right.

Unfortunately, this was to bring her to very dark places when things got too much to bear. Jasmine already had a tendency to focus entirely on caring for the needy and trying to help out far too much than was wise - such as when, back at home, she holed herself up with the sick lighthouse Ampharos - but being put in these sometimes extreme settings drove her to the limit. Seeing Hilda and Touya's dead bodies after the camping trip made her withdrawn and ashamed for an entire week. During the Darkness, she got practically no sleep and was traumatised by the death and destruction going on. She also took part in some good work like replanting after the floods, but her personality has been permanently hardened and she is already planning war efforts in the clinic and Sigyn district. Getting sick while the epidemic was spreading caused her to reconsider trying to be a martyr all the time, though. Only through - shockingly enough - talking to people can she hope to get through her stay in the city unscarred.

That's not to say Jasmine isn't still awkward at times and shy to people she doesn't know, but she has opened up a significant amount during her time in Asgard. She invited strangers to a lunch party, she informed the network of an immunisation process when a mysterious illness was afflicting the population, and perhaps most importantly of all...she has discovered the beauty of the Nightlight book series. Truly there is no better revelation than that.