Application

[yang_phase]

Player Information

Name: Tetra
Personal Journal: tetradecimal.dreamwidth.org
Age: 26
Contact Info: Plurk: http://www.plurk.com/Tetradecimal, AIM: Tetravolte, Email: tetradecimal [at] pandemona [dot] net
Other Characters Played: N/A
Do you need an invite? No

Character Information

Character Name: Sakuya
Character Series: Kuon
Character Age: 17ish
Character Gender: female
Original Canon
Canon Point: After the game ends.
Background Link: Kuon is a survival horror video game revolving around several different characters and their investigation of a large, isolated mansion owned by the Lord and Lady Fujiwara in Heian-era Japan. As rumors of disappearances and demonic sightings become ever more concerning, a masteonmyouji, Doman Ashiya, sends four of his apprentices to investigate the mansion, seeking to rid it of any evil influence before the students of his bitter rival, Abe no Seimei, can do the same.

Sakuya is one of these four apprentices, and despite her misgivings about the mission, slowly works her way through the mansion, which has not only become threatened by demonic creatures, but overrun with them. Few of the household servants are still alive, there are messages written in human blood upon the walls, and through the night, there comes the eerie sound of children singing...

Despite the danger, Sakuya resolutely searches for survivors as she seeks to understand what brought this tragedy about. Eventually, she learns that the Fujiwara mansion was built close to an old shrine, as well as a kind of mulberry tree that was said to house malicious spirits. When the seal on the tree was broken, these spirits were free to do as they wished, tricking the humans around them and goading people into taking part in a grisly ritual designed to 'merge' a corpse with nine living victims in order to 'revive' the dead. Unfortunately, these corpses weren't resurrected as humans, but as moldering, ravenous monsters whose flesh would quickly rot away if they were not allowed access to fresh victims. Worse, by the time Sakuya had arrived at the mansion, almost everyone in the household had been either killed or fallen victim to the curse of the mulberry tree.

Ultimately, Sakuya discovered that the true cause of the carnage -- the one who had allowed the mulberry tree to work their maliciousness on the people around them -- was none other than her master, Doman, who had released the tree's spirits in a shortsighted attempt to try and finally show up Seimei and prove himself to be the more powerful onmyouji. In the end, however, Doman was killed by his own daughter, who herself had fallen victim to the curse. After dispatching the Lord and Lady Fujiwara, countless lesser demons, and even her fellow apprentices, who had also been transformed into monsters, Sakuya was left as one of the few survivors able to walk away from the incident alive.



Personality: Sakuya is an unusual young woman, talented enough to have earned her place as an onmyouji's apprentice in an era where men and women's roles are strictly delineated (and female onmyouji, apparently, are strongly disapproved of). Even her fellow apprentices often treat her with coldness or condescension, telling her to leave investigations to them or simply proceeding without her. Despite the unfair treatment, Sakuya doggedly attempts to complete the investigation -- not for her peers, but for her master, Doman. After all, he was one of the few onmyouji who would accept her into his service; she owes it to him to complete any task he gives her to the best of her ability.

Needless to say, Sakuya is not only determined, but strongly loyal to her master, and willing to shrug off the subpar treatment she receives as a woman as long as she's able to learn her trade. Unlike her peers, Sakuya displays neither overconfidence nor carelessness. In fact, she's the only apprentice to express doubts to her master about being sent along on the Fujiwara mission -- after all, while she and the others do have skill, they are still apprentices, and therefore may not have the power required to exorcise the curse. While the others move quickly into the mansion, coming up with schemes to bait the demons or ingratiating themselves with helpless young maidens by promising to protect them, Sakuya keeps her mind on the mission at all times, systematically unraveling the mansion's mysteries.

Sakuya takes her duty so seriously, in fact, that even after she meets her master's daughter, Utsuki, wandering alone on the mansion's premises, Sakuya is unable to promise Utsuki her protection (although she does give Utsuki a number of powerful fuda to help guard her from harm.). Sakuya's job is to get to the bottom of the mystery, something she cannot do while toting around a civilian girl looking for her father.

While Sakuya is not wholly unafraid, she rarely allows herself to show her fear outwardly -- a trait no doubt helped along by her desire to prove herself as not inherently inferior to the other apprentices. While Dochin falls victim to panic in the face of the demon horde, Doryo decides to take a pretty young girl under his wing, and Dokai allows himself to be seduced by the curse's promise of personal power, Sakuya dispatches each threat with a steady hand, proceeding deeper and deeper into the mansion even as it becomes obvious that each step brings her closer to mortal danger. Her actions point to pride -- in herself, and in what she does.

Despite her duty as an onmyouji, however, Sakuya is not all about the job. For instance, she shows a hint of a more teasing nature when she asks Dochin if he's scared of the spirits in the manor, and she does seem to have a fairly cordial relationship with Doryo, who even lends her one of his precious Sacred Cloths so she can unseal doors and continue on with her investigation. Moreover, when she learns that Utsuki has fallen victim to the curse because of her father's schemings, and that Utsuki has never so much as seen the world outside the small shrine in which she was raised, Sakuya begs Seimei to allow Utsuki to finish merging with her ninth (and final, according to the rules of the curse) victim. It is the only way she can think of to allow Utsuki to survive without degenerating into a monster and dying like the others -- even if it means Utsuki might be reborn as a malevolent spirit herself. After all, the only thing Utsuki ever did was have the misfortune of being born into the family of a ruthless man like Doman.

In the end, Sakuya convinces Seimei to stay her hand and spare Utsuki's life, and even stays by Utsuki's side after she's reborn. At the end of the game, she leaves the manor, smiling and content to serve as a companion guide to the outside world that Utsuki, in her previous life, was never allowed to experience.

Abilities: Sakuya is an apprentice onmyouji with strong spiritual powers -- the only apprentice in her investigation team, in fact, that lives through the events of Kuon. She fights mainly through the use of paper ofuda cards, which she can use to summon forth spells (such as fireballs or ice spears) or familiars which engage the enemy in her place.

As a spiritualist, Sakuya is sensitive to strong feelings of hatred or anger -- particularly psychic residue left over from someone who has died violently. If enough malice has accumulated an area, it can physically harm her, and she must recover by meditating to dissipate the feelings of ill intent. Similarly, Sakuya can meditate to heal or increase the healing rate of her wounds, though more serious damage requires longer, more intense concentration. She cannot be interrupted while meditating.

Sakuya also has some limited ability to unlocked doors sealed with supernatural power, although this usually requires the use of a special blood-soaked cloth.

Her actual physical combat ability is... not great. She can defend herself reasonably well, but her only real weapon is a fan, and while that suffices to drive off ghosts or lesser demons, she's not a trained soldier or anything.
Sample Entry:
http://dear-mun.dreamwidth.org/1656127.html?thread=48284223#cmt48284223
http://dear-mun.dreamwidth.org/1642442.html?thread=47688394#cmt47688394