Witches Reign Application

[raidou_kuzunoha]

Name: Tetra
Journal: tetradecimal.dreamwidth.org
Contact: Plurk: http://www.plurk.com/Tetradecimal, AIM: Tetravolte, Email: tetradecimal [at] pandemona [dot] net


Character Name: Raidou Kuzunoha XIV
Series: Devil Summoner
Gender: male
Age & Canon Point: I’m going to say 18, and the cutoff point is after Raidou uses Taotie to merge the Pojitrawn with the portal above the Capital in Devil Summoner 2.
Requested Sponsor: Lapis Lazuli
Entry position (Cadet, SeeD, Instructor, other): cadet
History:
http://megamitensei.wikia.com/wiki/Devil_Summoner_%28Series%29
http://www.popanime.net/megami/wiki/index.php?title=Devil_Summoner:_Kuzunoha_Raidou
Garden History: N/A
Abilities & Physical Abnormalities: Raidou is an accomplished swordsman and a good shot with his revolver. His true abilities, however, lie in his ability to summon demons that can aid him in battle with elemental attack spells (fire, ice, lightning, etc.) spells, healing magic, and backup muscle. Raidou can hold up to 20 demons in the tubes he carries around, and he is able to summon two at a time to help in battles.

In addition to their combat skills, demons are sorted into different orders, with each order having its own special skill used for investigations. Raidou can summon one demon at a time to follow him around and use its investigational skill. The skills that might actually be relevant:
* Skill Order demons can transform Raidou into another person or an animal. This requires that Raidou obtain some part of the person/animal in question (usually some of their hair, for convenience).
* Pagan Order demons can read the mind of a person or animal. This skill will not work if the target in question is on their guard.

Personality: Raidou appears to be an unassuming, soft-spoken young man who is polite to his elders and so straight-laced he wears his high school uniform even outside of class. Maybe even someone who’d be a doormat if you wanted to ask him for money or talk his ear off about your life problems. In reality, Raidou is a fully-fledged devil summoner of the Kuzunoha clan, an organization that has worked for centuries to guarantee peace in Japan and has greatly influenced the course of history there. It's a position that requires years of grueling training (it is not uncommon for a trainee to die during a test of his/her combat skills), but Raidou struggled through it all without complaint. In fact, he eventually moved to the top of his class, and was subsequently issued the title of Raidou Kuzunoha – the name of one of the four most venerated Kuzunoha devil summoners in the history of the organization. He is the fourteenth individual to hold this title.

In public, Raidou presents himself as a high school student and assistant to a prominent detective in town, Shouhei Narumi. His position allows him to work with the local police, obtain information through Narumi's contacts, and investigate supernatural occurrences without drawing suspicion. He’s dogged in his investigative work and a constant presence at the agency, so much so that people in town have come to regard him as a competent junior detective in his own right. In fact, he pounds the pavement significantly more than Narumi, whose productivity can best be described as 'erratic'.

Raidou is hardworking, earnest, and a little shy, preferring to let Narumi do the talking when they're both in the field. In battle, however, Raidou works seamlessly together with the demons under his command. Some devil summoners regard their demons as tools, and indeed, Raidou is capable of capturing and imposing his will on demons weaker than himself. However, he chooses to rely almost entirely on negotiating with demons for their aid by the time King Abaddon rolls around, often choosing to develop close working relationships with them. His attitude is something of an oddity in the devil summoner world, as evinced by the demons’ suspicion and ambivalence toward humans as a whole.

Raidou’s partners help him in battle, but they also choose to help him in investigations, occasionally using their skills to divine the thoughts of a tight-lipped witness, or allowing him to impersonate others. They’ll even help try to help him with conversations or negotiations, attempting to provide clever conversation or sweet talk (which is... admittedly not always helpful). They'll even let him use them as ingredients in demon fusion experiments, though not without a tearstained letter or two.

In general, Raidou tries to seek a balance between his duties as a devil summoner and what he feels is right as an individual. Because of his profession, however, this is not always an easy choice; often what is good for the Capital he is sworn to protect comes at the expense of the individual. For example, while disgusted and dismayed by a village that is about to sacrifice a young women to a race of insect-people, Raidou is ultimately forced to step aside when the woman insists she wants to go through with the ceremony. After all, without the specialized assassin bugs provided by said insect-people, the villagers would lose their one and only means of supporting themselves, forcing every family in the village to abandon their homes and try to survive on their own. And Japan would, of course, lose its most feared assassin clan.

A great deal of Raidou's story centers around the uneasy balance between law and chaos: is it better to accept one's lot in life and work for the good of all of Japan, even if that means that he must become a tool of the Kuzunoha? Or is it better to hold firmly to his own convictions and protect the people who are closest to him, even if that means others will suffer? Raidou attempts to walk the line between those two choices, serving as a vassal of the Kuzunoha while still attempting to help individual citizens as much as he can. He takes pro bono work, he accepts cases from little kids, he plays with cats. But he's also prepared to throw someone under the bus for Japan if he has to.
What are your plans for the character in-game? Have Raidou adjust to the modern world, make some friends, and open up a little more to outsiders.

Anything else?


Complete TWO out of the FOUR options.
i) IC Questionnaire

What do you prefer to be known as?
Raidou is fine, thank you.

How old are you?
Eighteen.

Do you have any history in combat?
Yes. I can hold my own in a gunfight and I'm fairly well-versed in the use of a sword.

If so, have you ever killed?
Yes. Unfortunately, in my line of work, taking a life is sometimes unavoidable.

i) How do you feel when you get involved in some project that calls for immediate and rapid activity?
My profession often requires quick thinking and action, whether it's putting together clothes or chasing down a perpetrator. So I suppose I'm used to it.

ii) Do you organize and initiate leisure activities?
Not particularly. My supervisor is very proactive in initiating leisure time. [ ...perhaps sometimes a little too proactive.]

iii) What role do you take when working in a group?
I work under an experienced detective named Shouhei Narumi. In practice, however, I'm often left to perform solo investigations. On the occasions that I do work with other Devil Summoners, however, I try to facilitate working together as much as possible.

iv) How talkative are you around other people?
I like to let other people do the talking. It's not really my forte.

v) What three things would you want to have with you on a desert island? State your reasoning.
My katana, my revolver, and my demons. The first two for self-defense and dispatching wildlife, and the last because they make excellent scouts in unfamiliar territory.

vi) Is it important to be liked by a wide range of people?
Yes, I believe it's important to get along with people. You never know when you'll need help... and often community connections can help track down the perpetrator. Even offhand remarks can lead to a closed case.

vii) When the odds are against you, is it worth taking a chance?
Sometimes it's the only route available. But I'd say that by and large, yes, it is worth it. With enough hard work and dedication, it's possible to accomplish almost anything.

viii) Do you consider yourself to be an impulsive person?
I try not to be, actually. Intuition is one thing, but blindly following hunches can also lead to missed clues or sloppy detective work.

ix) Would you agree that planning things ahead takes the fun out of life?
I enjoy structure, actually. But you can't always plan ahead in this business. Perhaps one day, everything will fall into place and we'll have a quiet day in the office.

x) Do you like surprises?
By and large, surprises tend to be a bad thing. But a surprise party or something similar would be.... pleasant.

xi) Do you sometimes wonder if there is something wrong with you?
We all have our moments of doubt. I'm no different. But strange or not, unorthodox or not, I have to do what I feel is right.

xii) Do you consider yourself to be smarter than your superiors, and disagree with their decisions?
No, my superiors are older and wiser than myself. Even Narumi-san has a considerable amount of experience to draw on.

xiii) Lastly, how do you feel about cabbages?
They're useful vegetables. I should cook with them more often.

ii) Prose sample (can be general or a response to the post's prompt).
When the phone rang, Raidou picked it crisply off its cradle in one practiced motion, notepad and pen already at the ready. A habit, drilled into him by his long hours at the detective agency. You never knew when you were going to get an important tip. And you always answered the phone.

"Hello?"

There was no answer on the other end.

"Hello?" Raidou repeated. "Raidou Kuzunoha speaking." Formal, polite, but still an implicit request for the speaker's name and purpose.

Still no answer, though this time there was some sound on the other end. A rustling, maybe a thump. Faint, wet breathing.

He frowned; it wasn't as though he'd never encountered prank calls, but rarely had he received any in which the speaker said nothing. For some reason, he felt himself tensing, his hand tightening slightly on the receiver. An irrational behavior. People on the phone couldn't hurt you. Usually.

"I know you're there," he said firmly. "Please state your business, or I'm afraid I'll have to cut this call short. If this is a threat or a prank, it is not appreciated."

The caller, whoever it was, hung up. Raidou lowered the receiver, staring at it for a moment before slowly placing it back in its cradle and looking out the window. He saw only the road outside, bare of pedestrians at this hour. A foolish reaction, of course; what was he expecting? A shady figure, skulking about the streets, looking furtively up at him, waiting only to be apprehended? 

He closed his eyes, rubbing his temples briefly in the sunlight. Perhaps he needed to get more sleep. Yet since his arrival here, he'd found himself waking up earlier and earlier, sometimes before the break of dawn. Stress, perhaps. Not for the first time, he wondered what Narumi and Tae would think of his sudden disappearance. Or Gouto.

How long would the Kuzunoha wait to replace him?