application: a_facility
OOC Information:
Name: Jen
Age: 30
AIM: finite witch / sevencoloured
MSN: n/a
Y!M: n/a
E-MAIL: matesprits at gmail dot com
Are you new? If not, list your current characters: Yes!
IC Information:
Name: Sakuya Izayoi
Fandom: Touhou Project
Timeline: post-Touhou 13, Ten Desires
Age: unknown, but appears to be in her late teens
Appearance: Sakuya is slightly taller than average for a Japanese woman, with short silver hair tied into two braids at the front and blue eyes that turn red when she attacks. She normally wears a neatly pressed navy-and-white maid uniform with a white headdress, and she is never without her knives - some in the pockets of her uniform and some in a holster she wears like a garter about one leg.
Abilities: As with everyone from the Touhou games, Sakuya can fly and use danmaku, which translates to 'lots and lots of magic projectiles in pretty patterns.' In addition to that, though, she has the ability to manipulate time - salowing it, stopping it, or speeding it up, and along with it, the ability to manipulate space. The ability to manipulate space - in other words, making a space larger or smaller than it appears - is directly related to her ability to manipulate time.
She's also good with sleight of hand and deadly with a set of throwing knives.
Personality: To say Sakuya's personality is malleable would be putting it lightly. She tends to bend her outward appearance and actions to fit what's most appropriate in any situation. She's quick with a quip when it's needed to defuse a situation or to change a difficult subject, smoothing out any rough edges. It's a trait that's served her well serving a difficult mistress. She has a mask for almost any situation she comes across.
This doesn't mean she's flighty, though she does have her moments of appearing a bit airheaded or having her head in the clouds. Those moments largely manifest via not quite knowing what to do in a situation, or making a remark that's odd or doesn't quite fit. Her logic is occasionally on the odd side, too. A clear example of this is in the offshoot manga Silent Sinner in Blue. In the manga, a group from Gensokyo travels to the moon in a rocket they've built. Midway through the trip, Sakuya notices while making tea that the boiling point of the water she's using keeps getting lower. Rather than blame the change on the physics of the trip, she questions whether 'normal' air is leaking out of the rocket. The solution, then? There must be 'normal' air outside the window, so opening it must be the best course of action.
Despite her occasional bits of odd logic, she's not careless - far from it. Sakuya has a sharp eye for detail, whether it's in the kitchen, where she likes to spend time, or a bit of sleight of hand where it's needed. Looking out for the little details means she can better see a rough spot and smooth it out if need be.
Her title is 'The Perfect and Elegant Maid', and that cool and elegant face is the one Sakuya most often shows to the world. She tends to treat people with a degree of distance and coolness if she doesn't know them well, and even those that do know her may not see any other facets. While it's true that she's slowly warming up to people, it's a slow process.
For Sakuya, the illusion of control and mastery over a situation is more important than any actual knowledge of how to handle it. If it looks like she has something under control, that's more than enough. It's a point of pride to remain cool and elegant on the outside even if something is making her angry or upset.
That said, she's also fiercely loyal to those she cares for. It's especially evident towards those in her own household, particularly with her mistress. Remilia gave her a new name and in so doing, changed her fate. The least she can do to repay that is to give her loyalty. It doesn't mean she won't raise an eyebrow at a demand if it's especially difficult or awkward. But she does, in most situations, put the wishes of those others ahead of what she may want for herself.
History: Sakuya's past, before she met Remilia Scarlet, is a mystery to everyone. There are no records of her existence before that time. The most commonly accepted theory about her is that she was orphaned as a young girl, forced into living on the streets, the only memoir of her family the pocket watch she treasured. It was a rough life for her on the streets, but it's where she learned many of the skills she's most infamous for. It's where she learned sleight of hand, how to pick someone's pocket without them noticing, and her skill with a knife. It's around this time that she mastered her inherent ability to stop time, as well.
How that street life turned into vampire hunting is unclear at best, but the commonly accepted story is that she did become one, and after practice hunting demons and the like, she decided she was ready to face the infamous vampire known as the Scarlet Devil, Remilia Scarlet. The two had a rather fierce battle, with Sakuya gravely wounded, but something about the young woman's appearance caught the vampire's attention. That night, the nameless girl was given the name she goes by now, and with it, her fate changed.
Ever since then, Sakuya has been a loyal maid to Remilia and the others of the Scarlet Devil Mansion. From cooking to cleaning to making tea, there's nothing she can't do elegantly and perfectly. During the Scarlet Mist incident - an incident when Remilia made a red mist appear over Gensokyo, so she could leave the mansion during the day without taking the risk of getting burned by the sunlight - she served as a fierce defender, willing to lay down her life if need be.
After that incident was cleared up, Sakuya was sent out to investigate several others - the incident when spring wouldn't come, the incident where the real moon was replaced by a fake, the incident where strange flowers covered the land, an incident with an oni making a ruckus, and an incident where a celestial decided playing with the weather would be fun. (She also took a trip to the moon in a rocket made by Patchouli Knowledge, though that trip didn't end well.) She investigated each with her usual grace and efficiency.
Roleplay Sample - Log: Sakuya couldn't help her gasp as she opened her eyes to something truly horrific. She covered her mouth as she surveyed the scene, hissing under her breath. How could they...
Three cages surrounded the maid, each containing one - no. She couldn't call them the residents of the Scarlet Devil Mansion, that was Sakuya's family. Her family, caged up like that, in bird cages, with some kind of fan at the top of the ceiling -- and then there was a voice coming in over an intercom.
"Izayoi Sakuya, the Dog of the Devil." There came a whirring noise from overhead, and a lurching sound, then those cages started to move. "Shall we test that loyalty that gave you the name? Yes, I think so."
Sakuya's stomach lurched a bit - it wasn't that she wasn't used to seeing violence, it was due to fear of the unknown. There was another noise behind her just then, and she turned slowly to see a wall with knives sticking out of it behind her. It was only then that she noticed the weight about her neck, something all too unusual. She reached up, finding it was a heavy steel collar, with a chain at the front. It was heavier by far than her usual collar. Her stomach twisted again, but the intercom also started again.
"You have a choice, Sakuya. Show how loyal you are to your mistress by pulling against that collar. It's got a sensor in it that will send the other two cages skyward...into those blades at the top. Sacrifice yourself, by throwing yourself onto your own knives, and all three are free. Do nothing, and all three die and you live. Oh. And there's another way all four of you leave alive..." A door popped open and a table came up out of the floor a few inches in front of the maid, revealing a tray of needles. "A good dog needs her shots. Three of them are harmless saline, two are poison, and one is acid. Take the three saline shots and you all go out. You have three minutes. At the end of those three minutes...well, I'll leave that to your imagination."
"You..." There was a buzzer, and then things started moving. Sakuya didn't scream, she didn't cry...she merely grabbed for that tray. "Don't worry, everyone. This will be fine." Sakuya's words were in the same tone she'd use when she needed to clean up a mess, but they were far shakier.
And then she jabbed that first needle into her skin and she screamed.
Roleplay Sample - Journal: [Sakuya turns on the 'berry with a little bit of difficulty - they don't have things like this in Gensokyo - and after a moment's fussing with it, manages to figure out how to get it to post video.]
Ah, hello. My name is Izayoi Sakuya -- Sakuya Izayoi, in Western order -- of the Scarlet Devil Mansion in Gensokyo. I appear to have just arrived here?
I'm looking for those from home. Miss Remilia Scarlet, Miss Flandre Scarlet, Miss Patchouli Knowledge, Miss Koakuma, and Miss Meiling. Are any of you here?
Anyone at all from Gensokyo, for that matter?
And...can someone direct me to the exit? After I've found them, of course.
This game includes horrible mental and physical torture of your character. After reading the rules/faq for clarification, how do you expect your character to handle this and continue to function? There are hints in canon that in her past, Sakuya trained and acted as a vampire hunter. As such, she's seen a lot of bad things, both physically and psychologically. In addition, she's served a vampire for many years, and 'preparing' the younger sister of her mistress' meals involves killing people and draining their blood. So, I think she'd be fine with handling it the way she always does - trying to keep her head and look out for those she loves.
Questions? Comments? Crazed and creative statements? Those go here. I AM CLEARLY SAD I MISSED SAW WEEK, HUH?