OOC: Character Info
Character Application [Anise Tatlin, Tales of the Abyss]
Name/Handle: Pazu
Age: 19
Gender: Female
Timezone: MST (GMT -7)
Email Address: lon_lsama[at]hotmail[dot]com pazuzap[at]gmail[dot]com
AIM screenname: WTFIHatePazuzu Justice Pazu
Personal LJ username: otakara
Is English your native language?: Yes.
Character you're applying for: Anise Tatlin
Series the character is from: Tales of the Abyss
Character's age: 14 (Note: All official sources say she's 13, but this is her age at the start of the game. The adventure takes about a year in-game, and since her birthday is in the middle of the year, it makes sense to think that she'd have turned 14 by the latter part of the story.)
Character's gender: Female
Character’s “Real Name”: Dolores Haze
How long have you roleplayed your character, if at all?:
Five months.
Where have you roleplayed in general and/or with this specific character?:
Roleplaying her at i_s_l_a_n_d_rp, using the journal 'littleguardian'.
Have you played the game/watched the movie or anime/read the book or comic, etc. that your character hails from?:
I'm currently on my third playthrough of Tales of the Abyss. I've also read much of the manga (and the 4koma, and that little Ion-Arietta spinoff :3). I also use the Skit FAQ (a collection of transcripted scenes from the game) and youtube (one person has uploaded every single cutscene of the game) for reference of smaller, forgettable details.
Please give us a detailed personal history of your character:
Anise was born in Daath, on the 46th day of the Shadow Decan. (Her planet's calendar is kind of funky: there are 13 months and 765 days in a year. Which also means their months and years are about twice as long as ours.) She grew up in the slums with her parents, Oliver and Pamela. When she was 10 years old, the family moved into the cathedral.
Daath is a theocratic island nation, and the third-largest on Auldrant. It is the centre of the world's largest religion: The Order of Lorelei. The basis of this religion is the Score--a collection of prophecies foretelling the future of all who live on Auldrant. The most important Score is Yulia's Score, also known as the Planet Score, which in its final chapter tells of the very fate of the planet. The belief of the Order is that this is a prophecy of prosperity, and that if everyone follows the Score, mankind will be sure to prosper. However, the actual stone that this particular prophecy was written on was lost long ago, so for about 2000 years no one could confirm what was actually foretold.
The leader of the Order of Lorelei is known as the Fon Master, and is the only one capable of reading the Planet Score. The Fon Master is also the only one who can use Daathic Fonic Artes--techniques that vary in power, but can be destructive enough to vaporize everything in a two meter radius. But that isn't really what the Fon Master's known for--ever since Fon Master Evenos brought an end to a war 15 years before the present, the Fon Master has been a symbol of peace in the world. Second to the Fon Master is the Grand Maestro, and just below him is the Commandant, who commands the six divisions of the Oracle Knights, the Order of Lorelei's military force.
Unfortunately, two years before the start of the game's events, Fon Master Ion died from illness at age 12, leaving no one capable of reading the Planet Score. To remedy the problem, Grand Maestro Mohs and Commandant Van turned to the science of fomicry--or cloning. They created seven replicas of Ion, and after choosing the most suitable replacement, discarded the others in a volcano. The chosen replacement secretly took the place of the deceased Ion, and no one was to know of the real Fon Master's death.
...And this is where Anise actually comes in. Everything would be ruined if somebody realized that Ion was a totally different person, and while he could fool any acquaintance, there remained the danger of someone close to the original Ion catching on. To prevent this, Ion's most trusted Fon Master Guardians--attendants and bodyguards--were dismissed, promoted, moved around, and new Guardians, Anise Tatlin included, were appointed. One of her predecessors, Arietta, had been very close to the original--in love with him, even--and could not understand why she was no longer allowed near him. She blamed Anise for this, believing that she had stolen Ion from her, and the two quickly became bitter enemies.
The new Ion was physically much weaker than the original, but he had a strong will and formed his own beliefs about how the world should be. Grand Maestro Mohs, however, was not very fond of Ion's ideals. While Ion favoured a more open view of the Score, believing it to be only one of many possible futures, Mohs was adamantly opposed to any reforms to the Order, firmly believing that following it was the one and only way for mankind to attain prosperity, and that deviating from it would be an unthinkable sin. Ion may have been the Fon Master, but Mohs had a few cards up his sleeve. One of these was Anise.
A long time ago (long before she was appointed Guardian) Anise's father, Oliver, was scammed out of a ton of money. Mohs bailed him out, and the Tatlin family has since been in immensely deep debt to him. Assumably this is the kind of debt that working an honest job your whole life would never pay off. Because of it, Anise's parents were forced to work at the cathedral for no pay. When Anise became the new Fon Master Guardian (a promotion which was likely also done through Mohs' influence) she was forced to act as Mohs' spy, reporting all of Ion's movements to him. If she refused? Mohs' unsuspecting hostages, her parents, would be the ones to suffer.
Despite working for Mohs behind the scenes, Anise supported Ion's ideas for reform, and tried her hardest over the next two years to help him achieve this goal. Ion was a very gentle person, who just wanted to make as many people happy as he possibly could. Anise couldn't help but like him--and it's strongly suggested that she had fallen in love with him, despite her vehement denial of the notion, and her pursuit of other men. These "other men" being nobles, wealthy soldiers, kings--anyone with a massive fortune to be married into. Anise wanted to free herself and her family from Mohs, and the only way to do that was to pay him off. Of all the get-rich-quick schemes she attempted, the most realistic one, and the one she put the most effort into, was to marry into money. (Nevermind that the age of consent in Auldrant is 16.)
Anise's main reason for joining the party and travelling with them was Ion. As his attendant, it was her job to accompany and protect him during peace negotiations, aid missions, everything. She essentially believed that most of the world's problems would be solved if people just listened to Ion.
Upon meeting Luke and learning that he's the future Duke Fabre, she fell head over heels in love with his money and decided she wanted to marry him. He gave her the cold shoulder most times, and even outright insulted and rejected her at others, but Anise refused to give up. Even when he started insulting Ion, an absolute taboo when Anise is concerned, she still struggled to keep up her maiden-in-love image. After he accidentally destroyed a town, killed 10 000 people, and then whined that it wasn't his fault, however... she finally let her front down, and revealed her hate for him. Over the course of the following events, he was able to gradually earn back her trust, and along with it, her "love."
Somewhere down the road, they did battle with one of the God Generals, the masked boy Sync. After being defeated, he revealed that he and Ion were both replicas. Ion wanted Sync to work with them, but Sync responded by killing himself. So that was a pretty definite “no.” Anise, having learned the truth, felt no ill will for being lied to. She still cared about Ion more than anyone-and after all, she was lying to him, too.
In a nutshell, the first two thirds of the game deal with trying to stop a war being pushed by Mohs. Once Mohs was finally revealed for his warmongering, he was relieved of his position as Grand Maestro and arrested. When this happened, Anise experienced a great lot of relief, and while she did not talk about her connection to him as a spy, she did finally reveal the fact that she and her parents were deep in debt.
Unfortunately, Mohs suddenly came back one day, having been rescued by Dist. He captured Anise’s parents, held them hostage, and demanded that she bring Ion to the volcano, Mt. Zaleho, to read the Planet Score. While the amount of strength required to read the Planet Score was much more than Ion possessed, Anise felt that she had no choice, for her parents’ sake. Even with Arietta and her own friends trying to stop her, and her trying to lead them to stop the reading, Ion read the Score, revealing a prophecy of destruction for the world. He died soon after, thanking Anise for caring for him with his last words.
Anise was wracked with guilt for having lied to Ion for so long, and for having led him to his death. Everyone else was quick to forgive her, except for Arietta, who swore vengeance. Anise’s conflict with Arietta was a long-running theme in the game. Their arguments were very childish in nature, but the malice between them was genuine. Arietta believed that Anise was responsible for Ion’s change in personality, and that she was trying to keep them separated. Anise, after learning the truth about Ion, came to understand Arietta’s position and started to feel bad for her. But at that point, Arietta and Anise had both done too much damage to turn back and stop fighting, and with Ion’s death, their conflict escalated to a duel to the death.
Meanwhile, Mohs and the God Generals got together and made their own New Order of Lorelei, with Mohs as the Fon Master. Sync, as a replica of the Fon Master, acted as the Scorer. ("Wait--didn't he die four paragraphs ago?" Why yes, but he got better.) When faced with Anise, he used his Ion-like appearance to upset her, out of cruelty. While Anise hated him as an enemy, her greatest fear was to witness Ion’s death a second time, and so she felt a lot of hesitation in regards to fighting against Sync.
After a bunch of other stuff happened, Largo brought word of the place and time for Anise's duel, and it was off to the Cheagle Woods with them! Anise tried to go alone to the fight, but her friends insisted on accompanying her out of concern, and she ended up bringing all of them. Which was a good thing, because Arietta's idea of a "duel" was apparently "four versus four." Anise emerged the victor, and poor Arietta died without ever knowing the truth about Ion. Overwhelmed with pity and guilt, Anise broke into tears and tried to apologize to Arietta's lifeless body, but was stopped by Largo. He scolded her for crying over an enemy's body, explaining what an insult that was to Arietta, who fought to the end for her beliefs. Largo also explained that keeping Ion's secret was the kindest thing that could be done for her--as she would have killed herself if she knew her Ion had already died. Swearing vengeance for Arietta's death (casually--kind of a "by the way, going to kill you") he took the body and left.
Addendum to history: With the recent release of Abyss Gaiden 4, a few canon facts about Anise's history have been made clear. The most important, and one that may have been contradicted (though not too seriously) in my roleplaying before this canon info was released, is that her Tokunaga dolls were gifts from her mother, and therefore have that additional sentimental value.
Addendum to history 2: Now that I'm literate enough in moonspeak to make sense of the short stories in the Character Episode Bible, more has been revealed about Anise's pre-game background:
Anise grew up in the slums at the edge of the city of Daath. Because of her parents' excessive generosity, gullible natures, and general bad money-managing skills, they lived in total poverty. Her parents borrowed money from some skeevy dudes who would beat them when they didn't pay, and it was common to come home to find the two beaten and bruised.
At age 10, Anise was earning some money by washing dishes at a nearby pub. She learned basic fonic artes by peeking in on a fonic arte dojo that was also nearby. She used those skills to protect her parents, but it wasn't long before Mohs heard of her abilities. He offered the family work, a new home, and the opportunity for Anise to go to school. He claimed it was because the Order wanted to help such devout followers, but Anise was suspicious. As it soon turned out, his intention was for her to attend the officers' school and become a Fon Master Guardian, all so that he could use her as a spy.
Please give us a detailed description of your character's personality:
Anise is a two-faced little girl. She usually acts cheerful, and tries to depict herself as an innocent, honest girl. Sometimes she tries a little too hard to push this act, though, which garners suspicion from the more perceptive of people.
When scared or infuriated, she may reveal her hidden nasty side. At these times, she can be downright scary: vulgar, vengeful, violent. This side to her is usually only revealed in battle or in heated discussions (in her canon, pretty much any time someone insults Ion) although she is much, much less likely to drop her cute act if in the presence of a wealthy male like Luke or Jade.
Anise loves playing the damsel in distress, and when something bad happens, she's happy to use it as an opportunity to coax someone into being her knight in shining armour. Conversely, when she's actually upset or hurt and feeling genuinely vulnerable, she tries her hardest to hide it from others--once again, with an over-acted cheerful front.
She loves money, and will do anything to get her hands on it. Anise has her heart set on marrying... well, basically any single rich man. She has no problem with flirting with older men, even if they're two or three times her age. To date, no man has returned any affection to her, and the usual reaction is pretty much "Haha that's very cute but uh no." Anise is not easily deterred, however.
Beyond that cute exterior and that greedy-bitch middle layer, she's actually a very sweet girl, deep down. Deep, deep down. She loves her parents, and she loves Ion, and though she'd never ever admit it, she cares about Arietta and Sync, too.
Anise is nosy. It may come from her history as a spy, or from her attempts to weasel her way into the lives of wealthy men, or it could just be that she loves knowing everyone’s secrets. Most realistically, it’s a mix of all three. It’s not uncommon for her to ask awkward or uncomfortable questions with a straight face, or more likely a bright smile. Though she tries to play it off as childish innocence, she really just loves teasing people.
Please give us a detailed physical description of your character:
Anise is 14 years old, 5'0" tall, and weighs 93 lbs. She has long, black, wavy hair that is usually put into pigtails, tied up with long yellow ribbons. Her eyes are brown and her skin is very slightly tanned. Anise takes great pride in her cute appearance, using it to her advantage whenever possible. However, she is extremely sensitive about her flat chest, and hopes that she still has a chance of growing melons like the ones her more well-endowed friend, Tear, has. She has good posture--usually standing straight, with her hands on her hips. (If a tiny girl like her were to slouch, she’d never be able to look anyone in the eyes.)
And while she won't have them when starting the RP, her regular clothes--a pink dress and white tabbard--are actually her military uniform, and are generally what all Fon Master Guardians wear. (And no, it certainly doesn't look very practical.) She keeps her weapon of choice, the stuffed doll Tokunaga, strapped to her back at all times.
What point in time are you taking your character from when he/she appears at Landel's?:
The night after her settling her duel with Arietta.
What kinds of magical/special/crazy powers does your character have, if any?:
Anise is a fonist, capable of using fonic artes to attack enemies. (Fonic artes are techniques that use fonons, which are basically the Abyss world's elements. It's pretty much just magic except technically a science.) She can only use the Shadow and Light fonons for her artes, but she has considerable mastery of both.
Additionally, her stuffed doll, Tokunaga, is mechanically modified to grow to gargantuan size (about 7-8 feet tall) and to move, controlled by Anise's fonon frequency. (Which is a fancy way of saying "as she wills it to.") She uses this doll as her main weapon, riding on its head and sometimes using fonic artes while it pummels her enemies with its big plushy fists.
If present, how do you plan to tweak those powers to make him/her appropriately hindered in the setting of Landel's?:
Well, if she won’t have any of her normal possessions on her, then her fonic artes would already be weakened considerably: her wand/mace acts as a powerful amplifier, and without it, she can’t do that much damage.
Tokunaga is her main weapon, and if she’d be stuck without it, then she’d be seriously weakened, since physically she’s just an ordinary little girl. Should she get a hold of Tokunaga again, the setting itself would give her a handicap: a seven-or-eight-foot-tall doll probably wouldn’t be able to move much in a normal-sized room or hallway, and it would be especially difficult for Anise to ride on its head. So she’d either be moving/fighting really awkwardly, or she’d have to be in a large room, or outdoors.
Does your character have any other non-magical skills or abilities that we should know about?:
She’s an excellent cook, having practised diligently as part of her bridal training. I imagine she would also be skilled in the other domestic arts like sewing, since she probably has to patch up Tokunaga a lot.
How about improbable appendages?:
Nope! Just an ordinary, cute little girl.
Please give us an idea of where you'd like to take your character within the scope of the Landel's Damned RP:
Anise isn’t one to look for fights, although her tendency for teasing people could potentially land her in one or two. She loves treasure, and would never turn up an opportunity to get her hands on something useful or valuable. And finally, she’ll probably be flirting with anyone who reveals themselves to be rich and single.
What kind of psychological effect do you see Landel's Institute having on your character?:
Being a young girl, she'd probably be fairly shaken. She's an adaptable person as well as an optimist-so she would be able to get used to things, but until then she'd be scared, suspicious and unable to believe most of what she's told, even by other patients.
Given that this RP takes place in an unsettling and outright horrific environment, how do you justify your character as being appropriate in both body and mind for this kind of setting?:
Despite her appearance, Anise has witnessed and even caused quite a bit of bloodshed. As a soldier, death isn't something entirely unfamiliar to her, although it is something she doesn't like to think too much about. While fighting as a knight, she’s probably killed dozens. (Clubbed to death by a giant stuffed animal. What a way to go.) Additionally, her treachery as Mohs’ spy has led to the deaths of hundreds more. The death of Ion especially weighs heavily on her conscience. Her outward reactions to seeing horrifying things is about what you’d expect from a girl her age, although she’s fairly quick to get over it and do what she has to do.
Name/Handle: Pazu
Age: 19
Gender: Female
Timezone: MST (GMT -7)
Email Address: lon_lsama[at]hotmail[dot]com pazuzap[at]gmail[dot]com
AIM screenname: WTFIHatePazuzu Justice Pazu
Personal LJ username: otakara
Is English your native language?: Yes.
Character you're applying for: Anise Tatlin
Series the character is from: Tales of the Abyss
Character's age: 14 (Note: All official sources say she's 13, but this is her age at the start of the game. The adventure takes about a year in-game, and since her birthday is in the middle of the year, it makes sense to think that she'd have turned 14 by the latter part of the story.)
Character's gender: Female
Character’s “Real Name”: Dolores Haze
How long have you roleplayed your character, if at all?:
Five months.
Where have you roleplayed in general and/or with this specific character?:
Roleplaying her at i_s_l_a_n_d_rp, using the journal 'littleguardian'.
Have you played the game/watched the movie or anime/read the book or comic, etc. that your character hails from?:
I'm currently on my third playthrough of Tales of the Abyss. I've also read much of the manga (and the 4koma, and that little Ion-Arietta spinoff :3). I also use the Skit FAQ (a collection of transcripted scenes from the game) and youtube (one person has uploaded every single cutscene of the game) for reference of smaller, forgettable details.
Please give us a detailed personal history of your character:
Anise was born in Daath, on the 46th day of the Shadow Decan. (Her planet's calendar is kind of funky: there are 13 months and 765 days in a year. Which also means their months and years are about twice as long as ours.) She grew up in the slums with her parents, Oliver and Pamela. When she was 10 years old, the family moved into the cathedral.
Daath is a theocratic island nation, and the third-largest on Auldrant. It is the centre of the world's largest religion: The Order of Lorelei. The basis of this religion is the Score--a collection of prophecies foretelling the future of all who live on Auldrant. The most important Score is Yulia's Score, also known as the Planet Score, which in its final chapter tells of the very fate of the planet. The belief of the Order is that this is a prophecy of prosperity, and that if everyone follows the Score, mankind will be sure to prosper. However, the actual stone that this particular prophecy was written on was lost long ago, so for about 2000 years no one could confirm what was actually foretold.
The leader of the Order of Lorelei is known as the Fon Master, and is the only one capable of reading the Planet Score. The Fon Master is also the only one who can use Daathic Fonic Artes--techniques that vary in power, but can be destructive enough to vaporize everything in a two meter radius. But that isn't really what the Fon Master's known for--ever since Fon Master Evenos brought an end to a war 15 years before the present, the Fon Master has been a symbol of peace in the world. Second to the Fon Master is the Grand Maestro, and just below him is the Commandant, who commands the six divisions of the Oracle Knights, the Order of Lorelei's military force.
Unfortunately, two years before the start of the game's events, Fon Master Ion died from illness at age 12, leaving no one capable of reading the Planet Score. To remedy the problem, Grand Maestro Mohs and Commandant Van turned to the science of fomicry--or cloning. They created seven replicas of Ion, and after choosing the most suitable replacement, discarded the others in a volcano. The chosen replacement secretly took the place of the deceased Ion, and no one was to know of the real Fon Master's death.
...And this is where Anise actually comes in. Everything would be ruined if somebody realized that Ion was a totally different person, and while he could fool any acquaintance, there remained the danger of someone close to the original Ion catching on. To prevent this, Ion's most trusted Fon Master Guardians--attendants and bodyguards--were dismissed, promoted, moved around, and new Guardians, Anise Tatlin included, were appointed. One of her predecessors, Arietta, had been very close to the original--in love with him, even--and could not understand why she was no longer allowed near him. She blamed Anise for this, believing that she had stolen Ion from her, and the two quickly became bitter enemies.
The new Ion was physically much weaker than the original, but he had a strong will and formed his own beliefs about how the world should be. Grand Maestro Mohs, however, was not very fond of Ion's ideals. While Ion favoured a more open view of the Score, believing it to be only one of many possible futures, Mohs was adamantly opposed to any reforms to the Order, firmly believing that following it was the one and only way for mankind to attain prosperity, and that deviating from it would be an unthinkable sin. Ion may have been the Fon Master, but Mohs had a few cards up his sleeve. One of these was Anise.
A long time ago (long before she was appointed Guardian) Anise's father, Oliver, was scammed out of a ton of money. Mohs bailed him out, and the Tatlin family has since been in immensely deep debt to him. Assumably this is the kind of debt that working an honest job your whole life would never pay off. Because of it, Anise's parents were forced to work at the cathedral for no pay. When Anise became the new Fon Master Guardian (a promotion which was likely also done through Mohs' influence) she was forced to act as Mohs' spy, reporting all of Ion's movements to him. If she refused? Mohs' unsuspecting hostages, her parents, would be the ones to suffer.
Despite working for Mohs behind the scenes, Anise supported Ion's ideas for reform, and tried her hardest over the next two years to help him achieve this goal. Ion was a very gentle person, who just wanted to make as many people happy as he possibly could. Anise couldn't help but like him--and it's strongly suggested that she had fallen in love with him, despite her vehement denial of the notion, and her pursuit of other men. These "other men" being nobles, wealthy soldiers, kings--anyone with a massive fortune to be married into. Anise wanted to free herself and her family from Mohs, and the only way to do that was to pay him off. Of all the get-rich-quick schemes she attempted, the most realistic one, and the one she put the most effort into, was to marry into money. (Nevermind that the age of consent in Auldrant is 16.)
Anise's main reason for joining the party and travelling with them was Ion. As his attendant, it was her job to accompany and protect him during peace negotiations, aid missions, everything. She essentially believed that most of the world's problems would be solved if people just listened to Ion.
Upon meeting Luke and learning that he's the future Duke Fabre, she fell head over heels in love with his money and decided she wanted to marry him. He gave her the cold shoulder most times, and even outright insulted and rejected her at others, but Anise refused to give up. Even when he started insulting Ion, an absolute taboo when Anise is concerned, she still struggled to keep up her maiden-in-love image. After he accidentally destroyed a town, killed 10 000 people, and then whined that it wasn't his fault, however... she finally let her front down, and revealed her hate for him. Over the course of the following events, he was able to gradually earn back her trust, and along with it, her "love."
Somewhere down the road, they did battle with one of the God Generals, the masked boy Sync. After being defeated, he revealed that he and Ion were both replicas. Ion wanted Sync to work with them, but Sync responded by killing himself. So that was a pretty definite “no.” Anise, having learned the truth, felt no ill will for being lied to. She still cared about Ion more than anyone-and after all, she was lying to him, too.
In a nutshell, the first two thirds of the game deal with trying to stop a war being pushed by Mohs. Once Mohs was finally revealed for his warmongering, he was relieved of his position as Grand Maestro and arrested. When this happened, Anise experienced a great lot of relief, and while she did not talk about her connection to him as a spy, she did finally reveal the fact that she and her parents were deep in debt.
Unfortunately, Mohs suddenly came back one day, having been rescued by Dist. He captured Anise’s parents, held them hostage, and demanded that she bring Ion to the volcano, Mt. Zaleho, to read the Planet Score. While the amount of strength required to read the Planet Score was much more than Ion possessed, Anise felt that she had no choice, for her parents’ sake. Even with Arietta and her own friends trying to stop her, and her trying to lead them to stop the reading, Ion read the Score, revealing a prophecy of destruction for the world. He died soon after, thanking Anise for caring for him with his last words.
Anise was wracked with guilt for having lied to Ion for so long, and for having led him to his death. Everyone else was quick to forgive her, except for Arietta, who swore vengeance. Anise’s conflict with Arietta was a long-running theme in the game. Their arguments were very childish in nature, but the malice between them was genuine. Arietta believed that Anise was responsible for Ion’s change in personality, and that she was trying to keep them separated. Anise, after learning the truth about Ion, came to understand Arietta’s position and started to feel bad for her. But at that point, Arietta and Anise had both done too much damage to turn back and stop fighting, and with Ion’s death, their conflict escalated to a duel to the death.
Meanwhile, Mohs and the God Generals got together and made their own New Order of Lorelei, with Mohs as the Fon Master. Sync, as a replica of the Fon Master, acted as the Scorer. ("Wait--didn't he die four paragraphs ago?" Why yes, but he got better.) When faced with Anise, he used his Ion-like appearance to upset her, out of cruelty. While Anise hated him as an enemy, her greatest fear was to witness Ion’s death a second time, and so she felt a lot of hesitation in regards to fighting against Sync.
After a bunch of other stuff happened, Largo brought word of the place and time for Anise's duel, and it was off to the Cheagle Woods with them! Anise tried to go alone to the fight, but her friends insisted on accompanying her out of concern, and she ended up bringing all of them. Which was a good thing, because Arietta's idea of a "duel" was apparently "four versus four." Anise emerged the victor, and poor Arietta died without ever knowing the truth about Ion. Overwhelmed with pity and guilt, Anise broke into tears and tried to apologize to Arietta's lifeless body, but was stopped by Largo. He scolded her for crying over an enemy's body, explaining what an insult that was to Arietta, who fought to the end for her beliefs. Largo also explained that keeping Ion's secret was the kindest thing that could be done for her--as she would have killed herself if she knew her Ion had already died. Swearing vengeance for Arietta's death (casually--kind of a "by the way, going to kill you") he took the body and left.
Addendum to history: With the recent release of Abyss Gaiden 4, a few canon facts about Anise's history have been made clear. The most important, and one that may have been contradicted (though not too seriously) in my roleplaying before this canon info was released, is that her Tokunaga dolls were gifts from her mother, and therefore have that additional sentimental value.
Addendum to history 2: Now that I'm literate enough in moonspeak to make sense of the short stories in the Character Episode Bible, more has been revealed about Anise's pre-game background:
Anise grew up in the slums at the edge of the city of Daath. Because of her parents' excessive generosity, gullible natures, and general bad money-managing skills, they lived in total poverty. Her parents borrowed money from some skeevy dudes who would beat them when they didn't pay, and it was common to come home to find the two beaten and bruised.
At age 10, Anise was earning some money by washing dishes at a nearby pub. She learned basic fonic artes by peeking in on a fonic arte dojo that was also nearby. She used those skills to protect her parents, but it wasn't long before Mohs heard of her abilities. He offered the family work, a new home, and the opportunity for Anise to go to school. He claimed it was because the Order wanted to help such devout followers, but Anise was suspicious. As it soon turned out, his intention was for her to attend the officers' school and become a Fon Master Guardian, all so that he could use her as a spy.
Please give us a detailed description of your character's personality:
Anise is a two-faced little girl. She usually acts cheerful, and tries to depict herself as an innocent, honest girl. Sometimes she tries a little too hard to push this act, though, which garners suspicion from the more perceptive of people.
When scared or infuriated, she may reveal her hidden nasty side. At these times, she can be downright scary: vulgar, vengeful, violent. This side to her is usually only revealed in battle or in heated discussions (in her canon, pretty much any time someone insults Ion) although she is much, much less likely to drop her cute act if in the presence of a wealthy male like Luke or Jade.
Anise loves playing the damsel in distress, and when something bad happens, she's happy to use it as an opportunity to coax someone into being her knight in shining armour. Conversely, when she's actually upset or hurt and feeling genuinely vulnerable, she tries her hardest to hide it from others--once again, with an over-acted cheerful front.
She loves money, and will do anything to get her hands on it. Anise has her heart set on marrying... well, basically any single rich man. She has no problem with flirting with older men, even if they're two or three times her age. To date, no man has returned any affection to her, and the usual reaction is pretty much "Haha that's very cute but uh no." Anise is not easily deterred, however.
Beyond that cute exterior and that greedy-bitch middle layer, she's actually a very sweet girl, deep down. Deep, deep down. She loves her parents, and she loves Ion, and though she'd never ever admit it, she cares about Arietta and Sync, too.
Anise is nosy. It may come from her history as a spy, or from her attempts to weasel her way into the lives of wealthy men, or it could just be that she loves knowing everyone’s secrets. Most realistically, it’s a mix of all three. It’s not uncommon for her to ask awkward or uncomfortable questions with a straight face, or more likely a bright smile. Though she tries to play it off as childish innocence, she really just loves teasing people.
Please give us a detailed physical description of your character:
Anise is 14 years old, 5'0" tall, and weighs 93 lbs. She has long, black, wavy hair that is usually put into pigtails, tied up with long yellow ribbons. Her eyes are brown and her skin is very slightly tanned. Anise takes great pride in her cute appearance, using it to her advantage whenever possible. However, she is extremely sensitive about her flat chest, and hopes that she still has a chance of growing melons like the ones her more well-endowed friend, Tear, has. She has good posture--usually standing straight, with her hands on her hips. (If a tiny girl like her were to slouch, she’d never be able to look anyone in the eyes.)
And while she won't have them when starting the RP, her regular clothes--a pink dress and white tabbard--are actually her military uniform, and are generally what all Fon Master Guardians wear. (And no, it certainly doesn't look very practical.) She keeps her weapon of choice, the stuffed doll Tokunaga, strapped to her back at all times.
What point in time are you taking your character from when he/she appears at Landel's?:
The night after her settling her duel with Arietta.
What kinds of magical/special/crazy powers does your character have, if any?:
Anise is a fonist, capable of using fonic artes to attack enemies. (Fonic artes are techniques that use fonons, which are basically the Abyss world's elements. It's pretty much just magic except technically a science.) She can only use the Shadow and Light fonons for her artes, but she has considerable mastery of both.
Additionally, her stuffed doll, Tokunaga, is mechanically modified to grow to gargantuan size (about 7-8 feet tall) and to move, controlled by Anise's fonon frequency. (Which is a fancy way of saying "as she wills it to.") She uses this doll as her main weapon, riding on its head and sometimes using fonic artes while it pummels her enemies with its big plushy fists.
If present, how do you plan to tweak those powers to make him/her appropriately hindered in the setting of Landel's?:
Well, if she won’t have any of her normal possessions on her, then her fonic artes would already be weakened considerably: her wand/mace acts as a powerful amplifier, and without it, she can’t do that much damage.
Tokunaga is her main weapon, and if she’d be stuck without it, then she’d be seriously weakened, since physically she’s just an ordinary little girl. Should she get a hold of Tokunaga again, the setting itself would give her a handicap: a seven-or-eight-foot-tall doll probably wouldn’t be able to move much in a normal-sized room or hallway, and it would be especially difficult for Anise to ride on its head. So she’d either be moving/fighting really awkwardly, or she’d have to be in a large room, or outdoors.
Does your character have any other non-magical skills or abilities that we should know about?:
She’s an excellent cook, having practised diligently as part of her bridal training. I imagine she would also be skilled in the other domestic arts like sewing, since she probably has to patch up Tokunaga a lot.
How about improbable appendages?:
Nope! Just an ordinary, cute little girl.
Please give us an idea of where you'd like to take your character within the scope of the Landel's Damned RP:
Anise isn’t one to look for fights, although her tendency for teasing people could potentially land her in one or two. She loves treasure, and would never turn up an opportunity to get her hands on something useful or valuable. And finally, she’ll probably be flirting with anyone who reveals themselves to be rich and single.
What kind of psychological effect do you see Landel's Institute having on your character?:
Being a young girl, she'd probably be fairly shaken. She's an adaptable person as well as an optimist-so she would be able to get used to things, but until then she'd be scared, suspicious and unable to believe most of what she's told, even by other patients.
Given that this RP takes place in an unsettling and outright horrific environment, how do you justify your character as being appropriate in both body and mind for this kind of setting?:
Despite her appearance, Anise has witnessed and even caused quite a bit of bloodshed. As a soldier, death isn't something entirely unfamiliar to her, although it is something she doesn't like to think too much about. While fighting as a knight, she’s probably killed dozens. (Clubbed to death by a giant stuffed animal. What a way to go.) Additionally, her treachery as Mohs’ spy has led to the deaths of hundreds more. The death of Ion especially weighs heavily on her conscience. Her outward reactions to seeing horrifying things is about what you’d expect from a girl her age, although she’s fairly quick to get over it and do what she has to do.