Application for somarium

[rinkorin]

[Player name] Knox
[Age] 27
[Personal Journal] equiknoxious
[Other characters currently played] Not applicable

[Character name] Rinko Sakuma
[Age] early 20s, probably 20 or 21
[Canon] Yondemasuyo, Azazel-san
[Point in time taken from canon] Episode 13 of the anime, between being told that an angel took Beelzebub’s grimoire to heaven (meaning Beelzebub is now dead), and finding out that the grimoire is actually still safe. So, in effect she has slipped into Somarium while in a deep state of mourning for her lost demon friend.

[Background]

Rinko Sakuma’s life wasn’t always filled with demons and chaos. She was once just an average Japanese college student, attending classes and working a part-time job. Completely standard and completely unremarkable. Except the part-time job she took turned out to be anything but ordinary. Sakuma was hired as an assistant by Akutabe, a private detective. Which, while slightly unusual, doesn’t seem too extraordinary until you know that he is also a summoner who uses demons from hell to handle the cases he takes. Even so, the first two months of Sakuma’s job were spent mostly on the computer and her life didn’t take a turn for the bizarre until Akutabe decided that it was time for a promotion of sorts.

After the visit of a client who wanted to stop her husband from cheating, Akutabe took Sakuma into the locked room where he summons demons, explaining that it was time for her to expand her responsibilities. It is here that she first comes face-to-face with a denizen of the underworld, Azazel. Azazel doesn’t exactly cut an intimidating figure; the demon of lust is small (due to a barrier created by Akutabe) and exceedingly immature (due entirely to his own nature). As soon as he was introduced, he began sexually harassing Sakuma, a habit he continues throughout their time working together.

Akutabe and Sakuma explained the situation and sent Azazel to stop their client’s husband’s errant ways. Azazel, having somewhat different priorities from his human summoners, required a few tries before they came up with a solution that was to everyone’s satisfaction. Well, everyone in the office’s satisfaction anyway; neither the client nor her husband was very happy about him becoming impotent, but it did curb his cheating habit. In order to gain Azazel’s uninhibited cooperation, Akutabe promised to dissolve the contract binding Azazel to him after the successful conclusion of the case. As Akutabe is an abusive master feared by demons, Azazel jumped at this opportunity. Akutabe fulfilled his promise and terminated his contract with Azazel, but immediately forced him into a new contract with Sakuma, much to her horror and Azazel’s dismay.

Sakuma's new responsibilities caused her to begin to miss classes and fall behind in her studies. When being chastised by one of her professors one day, she learned that his dog had gone missing and that he might be willing to extend some leniency toward her attendance issues should Akutabe's agency be willing to recover the favored pet. Although Akutabe showed little interest in taking the case at first, he conceded in the end and summoned Beelzebub to help Sakuma with the case, giving her a second demon to call on.

Beelzebub's behavior toward Sakuma wavers between gentlemanly and quite rude, but he quickly showed himself useful in locating and capturing the missing dog. Sakuma’s professor appeared quite relieved by the return of his dog, but Akutabe used Beelzebub’s powers to force the man to reveal his true nature as an abusive and unfit master while on a dog television show. Sakuma became disillusioned by this, as her professor had previously been highly regarded as an animal rights activist.

Sakuma was later approached by Okada, a stalker under the control of a demon he had summoned without proper knowledge. This demon, Salamander, has the ability to force people to believe anything they say. Using Sakuma’s non-confrontational nature, he forced her to deny thinking that Okada was a stalker and gained her support. Working as a team, Sakuma, Salamander, Azazel, Beelzebub, and Okada attempted to get around Akutabe who had agreed to help the target of Okada’s obsession, the model Ebi. Even with their combined efforts, they were unable to get the best of Akutabe and Okada was transformed into an iguana by Salamander’s grimoire as punishment for summoning a demon he could not control. This is not the last time Sakuma gets a first-hand look at the results of using demons carelessly.

Sakuma continued solving cases and working together with demons. She worked most frequently with Azazel and Beelzebub with whom she has contracts, though she occasionally borrowed other demons from Akutabe to help her. On one such case, she lost Moloch’s grimoire to an angel who then took the book to heaven, killing Moloch. This was Sakuma’s first experience with an angel and the first time she realized that demons are not completely immortal. She and her demons mourned the loss for a while, but it didn’t take long for Azazel and Beelzebub to move on and go back to their normal spirited antics.

During this time, Sakuma’s studies continued to suffer. One day, while realizing she had fallen hopelessly behind with her lecture notes, she noticed one of her classmates taking ridiculously perfect notes. When she approached him about borrowing his notes, he noticed Azazel’s grimoire in her bag and invited her to come with him, alluding to demon summoning.

As it turned out, he was the leader of a otaku circle in their college, the members of which were all fans of an anime about a young summoner. Disgusted, Sakuma tried to leave, but was pulled back by the temptation of his notes. Her classmate promised to give her the notes if she agreed to join them and cosplay for them. She very reluctantly agreed to this arrangement, but remained embarrassed and unwilling. During a photo-shoot, she got into the acting by thinking of her grades, but lost control partway through and violently smashed in her classmate’s face with a prop, sending him flying across the room. In a cold voice she apologized, saying he got too close and she misjudged the distance. With a threatening smile she asked if she was done acting like a toy and firmly requested the notes.

Sakuma received her notes and fully intended to end her involvement with the members of the circle, but was lured back with promises of test help, essays written for her, and money brought in by working events. These perks (especially the money, which was better than what she was making from Akutabe) combined with the admiration of the people she served at cosplay events, made her forget herself and become very invested in the character she cosplayed.

At an event where the circle was selling strawberry curry, as seen in an episode of the anime they loved, Sakuma had the misfortune to serve a customer who chose to shove his plate of curry in her face and rub it in with vigor. While washing her face in the ladies’ room, she was approached by this odd customer who revealed himself to be Beelzebub acting without the limits of Akutabe’s barrier (with Azazel along disguised as a dog). They had been sent by Akutabe to bring her back to her senses and back to the agency, where she had been neglecting her work. Mortified by knowing that her boss and the demons had discovered what she was doing and seen her in such an embarrassing light, she was forced to actually look at what she had been willing to do for money and grades. She ended up staying to the conclusion of the event with Beelzebub who had been convinced by one of the members of the circle to help out. She could no longer lose herself in her character, but she began to realize how important the circle was to its members. Unfortunately, Beelzebub’s presence caused things to take a turn for the worse and a number of customers were hospitalized. Sakuma was able to escape the police investigation that ensued, but the circle was broken apart.

Sakuma did her best to put her misadventures behind her, but photographs of her in cosplay began cropping up around the internet. Even worse, Beelzebub in his true form could be seen with her in multiple photographs. This worried him as it would allow angels to track him through Sakuma. They shrugged off this worry though, because Akutabe kept a barrier around the office building that prevented any angels from entering. The worries were put further out of mind by a visit from their incredibly spiteful landlady.

Sakuma and the others schemed to use Salamander to force the landlady to become nice and, though they proved to be disorganized during the implementation of the plan, they actually ended up successful. The demons spent a long evening playing mahjong in celebration, and sent Sakuma out to get snacks. Beelzebub accompanied her to help carry everything back (and to get a warm curry bun out of the deal) but on the way back, he suddenly disappeared, leaving his bag and the half-eaten curry bread on the ground.

Confused, Sakuma looked for him, and then headed back to the office, assuming he had gone ahead. Upon her return, she found Azazel and Salamander in tears. Akutabe explained that he saw an angel outside the building when he returned and decided to check the grimoires, just to be safe. Beelzebub’s had been missing. They had all rushed outside in time to see the angel ascending to heaven, clutching a bag and bragging that he had finally captured a grimoire to take back with him to heaven. Akutabe made Sakuma confirm that Beelzebub had disappeared with no warning at which point the reality of the situation finally hit her and she joined Azazel and Salamander in grief over the loss of their friend.

[Personality]

Sakuma begins the series as a naïve and relatively good-natured college student. She’s very typical of what one would expect from a modern Japanese young lady – polite, indirect in confrontations, and somewhat withdrawn – though she is not without her share of quirks.

Beneath her polite exterior, Sakuma tends to be somewhat judgmental and has little patience for idiots and perverts. Despite this, she shows a typical Japanese reticence to be direct toward others and she tries very hard to avoid being rude in any way. She is easily pressured into saying things she doesn't actually think in order to avoid the risk of causing offense, a trait which gets her into trouble when Salamander is involved. She is easily embarrassed and Azazel’s lecherous ways fluster her until she gets used to him.

Despite her tendency to be indirect, she isn't shy. She has no trouble conversing with clients, speaking with classmates and teachers, and dealing with the various demons she encounters. It is implied that she has at least one group of friends with whom she spends her free time. She gets along well with others and has a generally upbeat personality.

Sakuma is easily swayed by listening to the troubles of others and it isn’t difficult to manipulate her into agreeing to help. On the other hand, if things look like they are becoming complicated or troublesome for her, she has little issue with wiping her hands of the mess and leaving the people she had been helping to pick up the pieces as best they can without her. Depending on the circumstances, she may feel some guilt about this, but “what else could I do?” usually wins out. She also tends to feel guilty when her clients suffer as a result of her demons “solving” whatever problems the clients came to her with. She definitely blames herself for this, especially at first, but Akutabe is quick to console her with the less than comforting thought that you don’t get happy endings when demons are involved.

As she spends more time with Akutabe and the demons, Sakuma’s morals begin to degrade and she gradually loses all of the innocence that once characterized her world view. She shows increasingly little compassion for the troubles and suffering of others and becomes much more self-interested. This isn’t to say that she becomes a bad person – she is still the type to right things she’s sees as wrongs and won’t take (excessive) advantage of other people for her personal benefit – she is just jaded and desensitized to evil. She remains kind-hearted and will be sympathetic to a point, but she is not as trusting and has little patience when dealing with those who would try and take advantage of her.

Though she was once horrified by the violent methods Akutabe uses to control his demons, she quickly comes to take it as a matter of course and eventually becomes adept at using painful spells to punish her demons as well. The demons begin to note that, while they still view her as preferable to Akutabe, she is becoming increasingly similar to him and their fear of her slowly grows.

Sakuma tends to have a no-nonsense attitude toward the demons, especially Azazel. While she speaks to them with respect and treats them kindly for the most part, she doesn’t tolerate it when they are being obnoxious. She expects the demons to do as she tells them (or, if she doesn’t exactly expect it, she requires it) and if the fear of pain from her isn’t enough to get them in line, she can always hang over them the threat of informing Akutabe of their disobedience.

Sakuma enjoys alcohol and can't turn down the offer of a drink. When she gets drunk, she loses her hesitance about being direct and becomes increasingly confrontational. When dealing with people she sees as idiots or those who are trying to cheat her, she can go past being simply straightforward and become very threatening and violent.

Her desire for money is one of her most driving vices. When one of her clients reveals that he is unable to pay, she uses Beelzebub’s powers to make him suffer until he agrees to take care of his obligation. When Akutabe asks her to deal with cases she would otherwise feel uncomfortable with, he can usually get her to agree by offering her extra money. She is even tempted, when she successfully makes her mean landlady become kind, to accept 3 million yen as restitution for the 3 thousand yen previously taken by the landlady. She would have gladly accepted 30 thousand, but taking 3 million felt wrong, even to Sakuma (though it was a moral dilemma that cut pretty close). She is very practical when it comes to money though. She doesn’t want it for extravagance, but to save for the future.

Sakuma is a fast-learner when working on something she is interested in. Although her school work suffers from her part-time job, she has no problem spending hours studying the text of her grimoires in order to learn more about the demons she commands. She quickly learns how to use powerful spells, though she still has to consult the grimoires when casting them.

Overall, Sakuma works diligently to appear perfectly normal to outsiders while her personality gradually becomes darker and more deviant from the social norm. While most people she encounters would never dream that she is anything other than polite and good-natured, those she is around the most might begin to get glimpses of what she is like beneath the mask she uses to fit in.

[Abilities]

-Fast-learner
-Cooks curry well
-Secretarial work
-Cosplay
-Smashing in faces
-Acting (incredibly poorly)
-Ability to see demons, even if they are not normally visible to humans

She can also summon demons (which she won't be able to do in Somarium) and use spells to control and punish demons (which she would probably only be able to use if one of the demons from her canon got apped in). So none of it will likely show up in game.

[Other important stuff]

Can't think of anything!

[Sample post]
[First Person]

I’m not quite sure why you would choose to interview me of all people, but it’s no trouble, really. I’ll do my best to answer all of your questions!

- If you could go back home, would you? Why or why not?
Ah... That’s... not an actual offer, is it? Just hypothetical? Well, yes. I would definitely go home if I could. Not that this isn’t a very nice place! But back home is- it’s where I belong. You can understand that feeling though, right?

- What were you doing before now?
I was attending college and working part-time as a private detective’s assistant.

- You're asked to take someone out for a date. Do you agree? If so, describe what you would do. If not, tell why.
Like when a friend asks you to go out with their cousin? Or for a group date? I try to avoid that when I can. There’s usually a reason someone has to have someone else get them a date. But if it was a favor for a friend, I might agree. As long as the plan was to do something that wouldn’t be too awkward. A movie might be alright. Something like that.

- You discover someone stalking you. Do you call the police or deal with it yourself?
So creepy… I guess I would try to deal with it myself? I’m not very good at dealing with stalkers, but maybe I could get Salamander-san to help. If I could get the stalker to deny what he was (and that would be easy for anyone who isn’t completely insane) then Salamander-san’s Revolution ability would make the stalker stop… being a stalker. Of course, Salamander-san isn’t here… ..oh! I’m sorry! Was I speaking out loud? I got a little distracted! N-nevermind anything I was saying! It was just nonsense. A-ha-ha...

- The hottest person in your workplace just confessed their love to you. How do you respond?
D-d-don’t even joke about something like that! [A pause.] I apologize. That reaction was a little... extreme. But you really don’t know the kind of people I work with. Something like that would just be...

- There is a cake in the rain. What do you do?
Eh? Why would anyone leave a cake in the rain? That seems a little... I think I’d just leave it alone.

- You see a bloody knife on the floor. What do you do or think?
That I need to find out what Akutabe-san is planning.

- Would you consider yourself a lover, a hater, a sinner, or a saint? Or maybe a mix of both?
That’s an awfully strange question. I would really consider myself just a normal person. There’s not really anyone I particularly love or hate, and I don’t think I’m very saintly... But sinner seems like such a negative label.

- Hey, did you hear about that giant sale going on? Interested? What would you want to get?
A sale? That sounds like fun! I wish I had friends here I could go with, but I haven’t really met anyone yet. Shopping isn’t as much fun alone. I guess it would be nice to get some new clothes. I didn’t arrive with any extra.

- You find yourself with a cute, little penguin slave. What do you do with it?
...I’m sorry, I don’t think I can answer that right now. Can we move on to the next question, please? [[OOC: Beelzebub, who she believes has just died, looks somewhat like a penguin in his reduced form.]]

- What... is the air-speed velocity of an unladen swallow?
Wait. I don’t think we covered that in class! But I’ve missed so much now, that I’m not sure...

- Will you make a contract with me? ／人 ◕ ‿‿ ◕ 人＼
Oh! Are you a demon then? I see... I hadn’t realized there were any here. I’m sorry, Akutabe-san has made it very clear that I should be careful when dealing with demons. It’s not a good idea to make a contract with a demon you aren’t sure you can fully control. And I don’t know where to find your grimoire.


[Third Person]

Rinko shivered and adjusted her scarf. The wind felt nice against her flushed cheeks - she'd had a few drinks with dinner - but her coat wasn't thick enough to keep the chill out. It was cold this evening and snow was drifting silently to the ground. It felt like she’d been in this place forever, but this was the first time it had snowed since her arrival. She sighed and held a hand out to catch a snowflake. It was snowing like this the night Beelzebub-san had… disappeared. When she first got here, she had half wondered if it was some kind of punishment for not taking proper care of his grimoire, the way Okada-san had been turned into an iguana for losing control of Salamander-san. But she had quickly learned that there were larger forces at work in this place and her inability to protect her friend had nothing to do with her presence here.

Maybe if she hadn't been brought here so abrubtly after it happened, she would have had an easier time adjusting to the loss. But not only had she had to cope with the sorrow of his death, she didn't have the... distracting presence of the others to bring back a sense of normalcy. She missed them as well; their absence was no less clearly felt despite the fact that she had the comfort of knowing they were safe. Probably. She hoped Akutabe-san wasn’t being too harsh to Azazel-san though. The little demon was a creep, but she knew how frightened everyone was of Akutabe-san. And with her having been gone so long, Azazel-san’s contract had almost certainly been taken over by her merciless employer. Well, they had been contracted for long before she came along, they would probably be fine. She could hope.

Her thoughts were suddenly yanked back to the present as she skidded on a wet patch on the pathway. She almost caught her balance, but the heel of her shoe twisted and she fell forward onto the ground. As she fell, her glasses slid down her nose and clattered across the pavement. She let out a sigh and pushed herself up onto hands and knees. The frustration compounded with her depressed train of thought was causing her eyes to sting with the threat of tears. She took a deep breath and shook her head free of any building thoughts of self-pity. She wasn't going to have a breakdown in the middle of the city. Very carefully she began to run her hands over the ground in search of her glasses.

The sound of approaching footsteps made her look up, but without her glasses all she could make out in the dim evening light was a blurry figure. "Problems, sweetheart?" The voice was male, unfamiliar, and mocking. The figure took another step closer and a distinct cracking noise made Rinko's eye twitch.

God, she hoped the lens were intact. At least she had a pretty good idea of where her glasses were. "Excuse me..." she said, trying to keep her annoyance from coming through into her voice. With a grimace, she reached forward and the stranger had the decency to step aside. She let out a breath of partial relief. The lens were fine but the frame was broken at the right bend. She pushed the glasses back onto her face and held the side to keep them from going askew. The stranger was grinning at her maliciously. She frowned as he bent down to sneer at her from just above her face.

"Listen, honey. Just give me whatever you got on you, and I'll let you go on your way. Got it?"

"What?" Rinko's mouth dropped open in disbelief. Was this creep actually trying to rob her? There was no way she was going to put up with that nonsense.

"You heard me," he said, his voice losing its scoffingly jovial tone. He reached out and grabbed her bag but she pulled it sharply back. His sneer turned into a scowl and he reached to pull something out of his coat.

Before he could grab whatever he was going for, she shot her hand out and grabbed the collar of his shirt. She rose to her feet, jerking the would-be thief up along with her, and slammed him into the wall of the nearby building. His head bounced off the brick and she gave him a menacing smile. "Sorry about that," her voice dropped to a low tone, "I must have lost my balance." She adjusted her grip on his shirt and gave him a shake before pulling him to within inches of her face. The look of shock and growing fear on his face was intensely satisfying. "I'm afraid I didn't quite catch what you were saying, would you care to repeat it?"

The man opened his mouth, but didn't get anything out other than an unimpressive squeak.

"No?" She let the smile drop from her face and stared at him coldly. "In that case, maybe you'd better be on your way." She released her grip on his collar and he stumbled back and away. She kept her gaze leveled at him as he fled. He took one disbelieving look back at her before rounding a corner. She could hear his footsteps speed up as he escaped.

She adjusted her broken glasses; they were dangerously close to falling back off. Cowards like him obviously went for the most helpless looking targets. She pulled her bag back onto her shoulder and started back toward her home. Well, she could stand up for herself well enough.


[Why do you want to play this character in Somarium?] Being able to share dreams was a major draw. Sakuma is normally fairly reserved (at least at first) and dreams would make it possible to explore more facets of her personality that she would rather not make public if she had her way.
[Which rule was your favorite and why?] Goodness, all the rules are exactly what I hope to see in a game I’m thinking about, but I guess my favorite would have to be the rule about being nice to other players. Games just aren’t fun if there are those who don’t treat everyone with respect.
[Where did you hear about Somarium?] Around ATP. I've also seen it mentioned on my plurk timeline.
[Any questions?] I don’t think so!