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Sumire
Jan 3, 2013 14:26:10 GMT -5
Post by Sumire on Jan 3, 2013 14:26:10 GMT -5
Out of Character:
Name: Violet
Other characters: None
In Character:
Name: Sumire (SOO-mee-ray)
Aliases: Sumi-chan, The Violet Lady, The Dancing Shadow
Race: Yōkai; specifically kitsune.
Age: 532 years
Gender: Female
Occupation/Class: Ninja
Orientation: Bi-sexual, kinda (she prefers men, but is not picky about the source of her "sustenance")
Physical Description: A physical description of Sumire is difficult to come by, since she has many forms and no one can consolidate just which to attribute to her. In her natural fox form, she is roughly two feet tall at the shoulder, but her six tails can sometimes extend much higher than that. However, due to the nature of her existence, she is easily capable of changing her size at will, and has been known to appear both much smaller and much larger than her default size. Her fur is a pale cream color with brown accents. Her feet and the tips of her ears and tail are brown, and her claws are black. Her eyes are a mixture of dark blue and indigo, and when she uses her powers, they glow lavender. It is rare to find her in this form, but when she is away from civilization and away from humans, she sometimes assumes this form.
In human form, her physical description varies wildly. Most commonly, she appears as a pale-skinned kunoichi who wears chiefly purple. When meeting with important people in this form, she wears her black hair long, and wears a simple white kosode with a lavender floral pattern. Over this, she wears a mobakama (skirt) which is a deep purple color. She wears straw sandals and a straw sugegasa (straw hat). When she is working as a ninja, she ties her hair back with a ribbon. Her uniform is purple, baring her arms to give her a great range of mobility. Her neck is protected by thick black leather. Her ankles, hamstrings, and elbows are wrapped in white cloth, and she wears black gloves to protect her hands. Her pants are slightly baggy to allow for greater range of motion as well.
She is also able to shape-shift, and sometimes appears as a mysterious woman in white who misleads men who wander off of the trails. She rarely appears as a man, but does so when the occasion calls for it. When this happens, she is usually an elderly man with little hair on the top of his head, but a scraggly white beard adorns his chin. As a human, if she transforms properly, there is only a thin line of fur along her spine to denote what she truly is. However, if she transforms in a hurry, she can sometimes leave other traces (ears, a tail).
Personality Description: Sumire is unusually inexpressive. She does most things without much enthusiasm, but she does everything thoroughly and well. For that reason, she is a well-respected ninja who works under contract. No matter the job, she does it methodically and well. Her inexpressiveness is often mistaken for a lack of comprehension of her situation, even though it is not. She understands things extraordinarily well, and has a mind for politics, though she only gets involved to amuse herself. As a fox, she acts a lot like a normal fox, with the exception that she has no fear of humans, and enjoys shadowing them. As a human, she is very difficult to predict, unless she has made a promise. Kitsune always keep their promises, and Sumire is no exception to this.
Her defining feature of communication is politeness, but there is often an undercurrent of sarcasm which few people seem to notice, much less fathom. Sumire, like most kitsune, can be very fickle, and pursues her whims with the same passion that a normal person would devote to a life's pursuit. She far too much time on her hands, and that can lead her into all kinds of mischief…
Likes/Dislikes: [L] Music [L] Fires [L] Forests [L] Other foxes [L] Humans [L] Rice [L] Traveling
[D] Dogs [D] Pride [D] Priests [D] Miko [D] Firearms [D] Confinement
History: Like most kitsune, she was born to two foxes in the deepest reaches of the forest of the Settsu province. In those days, over 500 years ago, no human lived near those trees, since it was thought to be full of vengeful spirits and dangerous yōkai. The area was heavily forested and very mountainous. The rivers flowed into the sea, and the creatures and spirits lived there in peace, except for the occasional demon who acted up in the region. Sumire's parents were devoted servants of Inari, and sometimes traveled to human dwellings to carry the deity's messages. They birthed Sumire in a cave near a waterfall, and raised her until she was twenty-five years of age. At that time, they returned to the service of Inari. Sumire lived among the Tadasu no Mori, misleading travelers and tricking the proud.
Eventually, she found a human ninja who she took a liking to. She followed him and transformed into a human to learn his ways. She fed off of him a few times, but as all mortals do, he died after a few years. He went on an assassination mission which went badly for him, and his unit was executed by the minor lord he had been sent to kill. She was devastated, and cursed the minor lord. Haunting his estate for the next forty-five years, she waited around until the entirety of family fortune had faded to ruin. During this, her connection to Inari waned, but Sumire took the hint. Her respect for the deity won out, and she has not been so vindictive ever since. However, she continued to live among the humans as a ninja, and this led her to Iga no kuni, where she has largely resided ever since. She changes her human form every couple of decades or so, in order to throw off suspicion. Her incarnations are generally female, but she has been male on several occasions.
She has spent most of the rest of her life as a ninja, due to the amusement she takes from it. In most cases, she is contracted out by the Iga-ryū, and she goes on missions like a human. She has never taken a life-mate, which is a being with special esteem for a kitsune. A life-mate is usually a kitsune, but is sometimes a human, and Sumire has never become close enough to anybody to warrant such a connection. She has been discovered as a kitsune once, about two-hundred years ago, but she managed to escape retribution, and has regained her "camouflage" since then. Her current incarnation is thought to be in her mid-twenties, and is renowned for her stealth abilities.
Strengths/Weaknesses: + WISDOM: Having lived for centuries, she is very wise and her actions can be incomprehensible to the young race of humans. + TRICKSTER: She is very skilled in the art of deception, and gets better at her craft with each passing year. Her ruses are difficult to see through. + ALLURE: She is very attractive in all of her forms. + LOYAL NATURE: If you gain her favor, she will bless you and your household for generations. + CONNECTION TO INARI: She is strongly associated with the rice god/goddess known as Inari. Due to this supernatural connection, she sometimes knows things that others don't. This usually means that she recognizes things of spiritual importance, and exceptional power. Sometimes, she also uses this to know which path to take at a crossroads. + PROWESS IN BATTLE: Sumire can be a very formidable fighter, due to her natural advantages, and due to her skill with human weapons. Her naturally lithe form grants her speed beyond that of a normal human.
- WRATHFUL NATURE: She helps humans on occasion if she takes a liking to them, but if they lose her favor, she can be very wrathful and cause trouble for them for generations. - BOREDOM: A creature of her advanced years has been known to stir up trouble strictly out of boredom. This can lead to far-reaching consequences for herself and others. - IMPERFECT SHAPE: If in a hurry, she sometimes leaves traces (ears, a tail) of her fox form. She also always has a thin line of fur down her spine, no matter her form. - IMPERFECT ILLUSION: A devout Shinto priest can almost always see through any illusions of a kitsune, including human form. - FEAR OF DOGS: Kitsune are terrified of dogs, and when they encounter one, they commonly shift back to fox form and flee. - LIMITED IMMORTALITY: A kitsune cannot die of old age. To kill a kitsune, one must use a weapon that has been blessed by a Shinto priest. Each time a kitsune is killed, it enters an inactive period (similar to a coma, though they are clinically dead) which lasts for about an hour, then returns to life, minus one tail. When they lose a tail, they lose the power gained by this tail. Once all tails are lost, the kitsune dies permanently. If all tails are cut off with a blessed weapon, the kitsune dies immediately. She cannot be killed in human form, though she can be wounded and thus weakened.
Weapons/Armor: In human form, she is never seen without yoroi tōshi, but has also been known to carry kusarigama, shuriken, poison, and kaiken. Her armor is hidden beneath her clothing, and protects her torso and her legs. She is very lightly armoured, trading protection for speed. In fox form, she wears no armor.
Magic: - SHAPESHIFTING: Sumire's natural form is a fox with six tails. However, she can assume a human form at will, and can transition back and forth between the two with ease. Such a transformation takes about five seconds. She can assume any human form she has seen before. Commonly, she chooses a human from hundreds of years ago, so that there are no doubles of her form. - SIZE SHIFTING: Due to the changing nature of her physical form, she is able to alter the size of her body to whatever she prefers. Usually, she changes her fox body in this way. - ILLUSION: She can temporarily change the physical nature of any physical object, but inanimate objects are the easiest to alter. Commonly, she has been known to turn sticks and leaves into gold and jewels, or turn arrows into leaves or flower petals, but she has a lot of similar tricks up her sleeve… - ENERGY ABSORPTION: Kitsune survive by consuming the carnal energy of other beings. This can manifest as flirtation, dancing, kissing, or more personal forms of interaction. Kitsune have been known to sometimes kill partners in this way. The "feast" is best when she herself is involved, but she can also be standing nearby to absorb. - FOX FIRE: Kitsune have the ability to create fire, from either their mouths or hands. This fire is known as fox fire. - LUCK: These trickster beings can bring good or bad fortune to humans, depending on their whim. Commonly, they curse humans who they think are too proud or blessing humans that she likes. - INSIGHT: Due to their age and connection with Inari, kitsune read into a situation to learn things that they have not been told. - LIMITED IMMORTALITY: A kitsune cannot die of old age. To kill a kitsune, one must use a weapon that has been blessed by a Shinto priest. Each time a kitsune is killed, it loses a tail. Once all tails are lost, the kitsune dies permanently. If all tails are cut off with a blessed weapon, the kitsune dies immediately. She cannot be killed in human form.
Other: She does not need to eat human food, but sometimes does so anyway because she likes the taste of it. She also hunts and eats small animals on occasion simply for the sport of it.
RP Sample: The winter air sprinkled snow across the bare hillside, coming to rest in the brush and the rock faces. The pale gray of the sky, mixed with the wintery mess, gave the trees a peppery coloring that made it easier for Sumire to blend into the area around the castle. Her purple uniform was just dark enough to pass for black in this poor light, especially with the sun setting in the west. Her dark blue eyes narrowed intently as she waited, silent and motionless. The enormous castle rose high above the surrounding trees, dominating the hilly landscape around it with an aura of majesty that would have warded off most others with its sheer presence. She was not most others.
The contract was very simple in idea, but very difficult in execution. A maku bugyō of the samurai-taishō needed to be removed. Although the politics were obscure to her, she could guess that some greedy kinsman wanted the position and had hired out the Iga-nin for that purpose. Either that, or it was preparation for some larger mischief. It wasn't her job to ask. Humans were so funny sometimes…
She waited until the guard patrolling the outer wall turned his back on her location before moving. Moving silently, she raced to the side of the rock wall, pressing her back against it as her eyes glowed and she seemed to become one with the wall. Pressing to the wall with bated breath, she moved along its side until she came to the single blind spot she had noticed in her reconnaissance. The guard continued his patrol, none the wiser. With a mischievous grin, she climbed the stone wall, making use of the minor irregularities as well as the black claws she had allowed to survive the transition to human. The window was closed, but she could hear loud conversation inside. Skirting to the side of the window, she continued to the roof, scurrying over the ledge before stopping to catch her breath.
Surprisingly easy, she thought to herself, not daring to speak for fear of attracting someone's attention.
It was a likewise easy matter to slip over the edge of the balcony and head into the empty conference room. The room was dark, perfect for her to slip through. Her mental map of the area told her that she was two floors above the flag-bearer's bedroom, and he was likely asleep at this hour, since there was no impending campaign. At the moment, anyway.
Getting there was not difficult, considering that she could easily disguise herself whenever a servant happened by. The servant staircase was not frequented by anyone who could see through her illusions, and it was for that reason that she had been chosen for the mission. Although the ninja couldn't explain it, she was the best at being invisible. No one else could have assassinated someone from inside a guarded castle.
Approaching the sleeping man, she pulled her poison dart from the pouch on her hip and silently jabbed him just below the ribcage, where she knew it would quickly get to his heart. The poor man didn't even stir in his sleep, which would so soon become eternal. In the darkness of the sleeping quarters, she waited until she heard his shallow breaths fade into nothingness, keeping a sharp eye on the other still forms. It would not due to make a mess and end up with many dead humans around. That wasn't in the contract.
She made her way out the same way she had come in, the smirk never leaving her lips.
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Sumire
Jan 4, 2013 1:48:53 GMT -5
Post by Uesugi Norimasa on Jan 4, 2013 1:48:53 GMT -5
All righty. Sumire seems like a rather interesting character. Uness Niva has more to add, I just have some questions regarding a couple of her abilities.
I'm just wondering about this, and the insight thing. How far does that extend? Is Sumire ever shown the future/past? How often does Inari grant her this insight? Does Sumire automatically recognize the value of whatever knowledge she's given? Having a direct connection with a deity could make it easy to metagame, you know? So before it's allowed, I'd like a little more detail on this particular ability.
Haha, I'm not quite sure I'd call this a weakness per se, given that it's difficult to kill her, and she can't be slain by ordinary means. What happens exactly when she loses a tail, since you say she's "killed", but apparently not permanently until she loses all of them. Does she resurrect herself after a certain period, sans one tail or something like that? Or is it just a grievous injury? Also, since kitsune traditionally gain power with each additional tail they grow over the centuries, is she diminished by losing one? If not killed, can she still be wounded in human form?
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Sumire
Jan 4, 2013 10:53:34 GMT -5
Post by Sumire on Jan 4, 2013 10:53:34 GMT -5
All good points. I fixed them in the app. As far as the connection to Inari goes, it just allows her to be able to sense spiritual power and sometimes gives her insight into where danger may be lurking.
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Sumire
Jan 5, 2013 0:12:12 GMT -5
Post by Uesugi Norimasa on Jan 5, 2013 0:12:12 GMT -5
Accepted. Please stop by the claims at your nearest convenience.
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