Somarium App!
Oct. 29th, 2012 02:40 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
risktaker[Player name] Indy
[Age] 20
[Personal Journal]butcherpete
[Other characters currently played] Used to play Morty but not...currently?
[Character name] Shizune Hakamichi
[Age] 18
[Canon] Katawa Shoujo
[Point in time taken from canon] Shizune's Good Ending, after graduation.
[Background]
Shizune was born into an extremely wealthy family, with her younger brother Hideaki and her father Jigoro. (Her mother is never shown, but I headcanon that she died). Her brother, while a total sweetie, makes painful efforts to act more like a miniature adult than a kid, and her dad is an asshole with delusions of grandeur who likes to belittle everyone he meets (before threatening to beat the shit out of them with his autobiography).
She was also born completely deaf.
Her father being the asshole he was, Shizune's childhood was filled with tutors being hired to try to get her to speak, or otherwise make her "normal". This obviously failed. Then he evidently gave up, she somehow learned sign language, and off she went to Yamaku Academy, a private high school built specifically for the needs of disabled youth. Here, she met Misha, a rather sweet young lady who was not disabled, but wanted to become a sign language teacher. Misha had applied for a program where kids who were interested in disability education could attend Yamaku for some practical experience, in exchange for reduced tuition.
They started spending a lot of time together. Since Misha was one of the few hearing students at Yamaku who knew sign language, she also became Shizune's interpreter of sorts. They both joined the student council, and Shizune became class president.
She then proceeded to make the student council more proactive, at the cost of being so blunt and uncompromising that one by one, every single member of the student council quit except for Misha. The old Shizune, before her character development, was very stiff and controlling, which no one liked.
Except Misha, who had fallen in love with Shizune. One day, Misha confessed her feelings...and was rejected. While Shizune simply moved on after that day, it's clear Misha was pretty stung.
A year or so after this happened, a boy named Hisao Nakai (that's you, the player character) transferred to Yamaku after being recently diagnosed with a very serious heart disease. He moved through his first week prior to the school festival bitter and lonely. Despite her domineering nature, Shizune still tried to act for the good of others, so she wanted to get him out of his rut. Her solution? Get Hisao to join extracurricular activities, maybe (LIKE THE STUDENT COUNCIL), maybe have him spend time with the other students (LIKE THE STUDENT COUNCIL), or help out with preparing for the school festival (WITH THE STUDENT COUNCIL).
Well, it worked. Hisao joined the student council and helped Shizune and Misha prepare for the festival, then proceeded to spend said school festival with the two girls. Through his student council duties, he finds himself falling for Shizune, and learns sign language to better be able to communicate with her. The two eventually start dating, and become a pretty established couple throughout the school year. Hisao also befriends Misha, though the two aren't as close as he and Shizune are.
Misha, unable to come to terms with "losing" Shizune to Hisao, breaks down and visits him in his room, asking him for "comfort". Even though she's desperate and broken, Hisao refuses. Misha realizes that it's probably better this way, and slinks back to her room, feeling slightly better but still depressed.
In the next few weeks, the trio are more distant than ever with each other. Hisao starts being a go-between of sorts between Misha and Shizune, and Misha confesses to Hisao that she wants Shizune to be happy with her boyfriend, but still isn't exactly over her feelings. She also tells Hisao that it would be less painful for her if she cut off all contact, and doesn't know why Shizune still keeps her around. Hisao tries to smooth things over by telling Misha that even though Shizune doesn't like her romantically, she still wants Misha to be her friend, and it's just in Shizune's nature to compartmentalize things--just because she rejected Misha doesn't mean she hates her.
On Shizune's front, she eventually confesses to HIsao that she feels like she's being a bad friend and maybe also a bad girlfriend. She comes to the realization that she treats everyone like conquests or games even when it's not exactly appropriate, and her overly-aggressive, overly-manipulative nature has been what's been driving people away. But because of the obvious communication issues she's had all her life, along with the upbringing provided to her by her jerkass dad, that's all she knows.
Shizune also resolves to one day make up with Lilly, who she's treated like shit and driven away (Lilly was also one of the old members of the student council, before everyone quit). Most importantly, she comes to the realization that she's taken Misha for granted, treating her more like a translator than an actual friend and equal.
After pouring her heart out to Hisao, she decides what she wants to do for her future--use her family's connections and resources to go into business, and then use her profits from that to become a philanthropist, dedicating her life to making other people happy. With the help of Hisao, she and Misha eventually reconcile, and the three of them (her, Misha and HIsao) prepare for graduation.
At said graduation, they hang out together, make silly poses for photos, and say their goodbyes, but vow to one day meet again. And they lived happily ever after~
[Personality]
The first thing one will notice about Shizune is that she's a real go-getter. If she wants something, she will work to get it, and isn't above playing a little dirty to reach her goal. She's also quite stubborn towards anyone who tells her otherwise, but at the same time, doesn't like losing control of a situation. This is reflected in her path: most of the story's events are initiated by her, with the protagonist just being sucked into her whirlwind. Also interestingly enough for a visual novel, you only have one choice (and it's when she's not there). Finally, both of her sex scenes are initiated by her.
Shizune likes taking risks and games of chance. All of her sex scenes in canon take place in public locations. And in Act I, she explains to Hisao that chess is too formulaic to really be considered a game--she prefers games that have some element of luck to keep things interesting.
At the same time, Shizune isn't interested in the subservient types: people who just fold over and do what they're told aren't intriguing to her or the type that she wants to befriend. In Act I, where the game determines which girl's path you'll be put on, the only way for Shizune to be attracted to you is if you're aggressive and assertive from the get-go. Because of her realization late in the game, she doesn't treat everyone as potential conquests like she used to, but she still wants friends and acquaintances with a little backbone. Not too much, but it has to be there.
But for all her dominating nature suggests, she's really a huge sweetie. Shizune has a childish side to her: she likes simple pleasures such as games, and junk food, and stuffed animals. And she's not above a little sibling rivalry with her brother Hideaki, or eating caviar by dipping tortilla chips into it, or playing Rock-Paper-Scissors with Hisao (and getting a tie 17 times in a row) over a piece of veal cutlet bread. She's quite witty and clever, though it's clear there's just a tinge of silliness to her.
Finally, she really only wants what's best for everyone. She joined the student council because she felt that a more proactive stance would benefit all the students at Yamaku, and she started dragging Hisao along for the ride into her path only because she didn't like seeing him so depressed. Despite her putting on a stoic face, it's clear that others being driven away by her bluntness hurts her--and if you get her Bad Ending by cheating on her, she'll assume her friends being distant to her is her fault, even though it's yours. This is finally reflected in her career choice for graduation in her Good Ending: she wants to be a philanthropist because that way she'll benefit lots of people.
[Abilities]
As I mentioned before in her history, she's deaf. Since she was born deaf, she also can't speak--or rather, she physically can, but would probably either sound awkward or unintelligible due to never having been able to hear herself talk. The first one or two posts on the Dreamberry might have her fiddling around with the settings, but she should make use of the closed-captioning feature soon enough.
For face-to-face contact: Shizune isn't very good at reading lips, but can often determine from context the general gist of what someone is saying, or get a good idea of their emotional state. Her preferred method of communication is sign language, but she also carries around a notepad so that she can try to use text. Should she teach any of her CR sign language or come upon another character who knows it, I'll be using bold text to denote something she's signing.
[Sample post]
Little note before we begin here: Because Shizune doesn't speak, I'm modifying these samples a little. The first person sample is in sign language (italics for interview questions, bold for Shizune's signing). The third person sample is pure narration.
[First Person]
1. Do you have any future goals or dreams? What are they?
I guess I could go into business. My father has some investments that I could try cashing in on, and his connections surely wouldn't go unappreciated. Is that nepotism? But no one ever got anywhere without pulling strings...
But afterwards? A philanthropist!
2. You are told that this is a dream world, but you must go deeper. What are your first thoughts?
If I'm already asleep, I don't see how I could possibly go deeper than I already am. These dream people must be aware of others' limitations.
3. You find yourself with a cute, little penguin slave. What do you do with it?
Oh come on now, "slave" seems to be putting it a bit too strongly. He would be my most honored and cherished avian butler.
But in response to your question, I would teach him how to cook. And perhaps start him on training so that we could go shopping together.
4. What... is the air-speed velocity of an unladen swallow?
That would depend greatly on whether it was African or European, wouldn't it?
[...oh dear. A small smirk has appeared on her face. It's clear she wants to play a bit.]
And while we're here, why don't I ask a few questions of my own? What is your name? What is your quest? What...is your favorite color?
5. Oh no! Someone tripped and injured themselves right in front of you! What do you do?
What were they doing to make themselves trip like that? They had better be more careful in the future! But for now, I'd call in someone to help them. If they're injured badly enough, they need a professional right away.
6. Am I asking too many personal or strange questions?
Hmm. I did like the penguin question, but some of these that you're asking are completely irrelevant! You should really be more mindful of what others think about you.
[That last sentence is punctuated by her sticking out her tongue, just a little.]
[Third Person]
Describe what your character is doing/thinking/wishing/etc. in the following scenario: It's cold and raining. Their umbrella has blown over and is no longer usable. There are three buildings they could run to: 1) the closest is a dark, decrepit old shack that looks like it could fall over any minute, 2) a little ways down the street is an old, abandoned house, but is that blood dripping from the window...?, 3) three blocks up there is a nice hotel all lit up and looks pretty safe.
Now, why did her umbrella have to go and do that? She didn't see anywhere where she could buy a new one. It wasn't even raining that hard, at least not when she stepped out. Shizune gave a pained sigh and looked around: today was NOT her day.
That shack was not in the question. It barely counted as shelter at all, since in order to have shelter one must have four walls (unless it was a lean-to), and one of those looked like it was caving in. Not shelter. Barely even a structure, if the way everything else was rotting gave any indication.
...no. She was absolutely not going to go for the house. There was blood dripping out of that window, and as wet as she was, Shizune was pretty sure she didn't want any of that stuff dripping out of there to be her blood. People got maimed and murdered and their heads put up on pikes in haunted houses, and she meant the real kind, not the shitty kind that one of the classrooms inevitably got turned into during a festival if it wasn't a maid cafe. Shizune gave the house one last courtesy glance, made a note to contact the authorities after she had time to shower and dry off, and moved on.
Well, then. Her mind set on not dying tonight and her eyes on the distant prize, Shizune set for the hotel. Yes, she'd be soaking wet when she arrived, but it was worth it, wasn't it?
[Why do you want to play this character in Somarium?] I love this game, and I love Shizune.
It's kind of as simple as that! Since getting into the Katawa Shoujo fandom, I had thought about apping one of the girls here. Shizune's path remains my favorite, so...
[Which rule was your favorite and why?] Apart from no godmodding (for obvious reasons), I still like the no pregnancies rule (since I haven't seen them RPed well).
[Where did you hear about Somarium?] Been in this game a while, baby!
[Any questions?] Do you want to play Risk
[Age] 20
[Personal Journal]
butcherpete [Other characters currently played] Used to play Morty but not...currently?
[Character name] Shizune Hakamichi
[Age] 18
[Canon] Katawa Shoujo
[Point in time taken from canon] Shizune's Good Ending, after graduation.
[Background]
Shizune was born into an extremely wealthy family, with her younger brother Hideaki and her father Jigoro. (Her mother is never shown, but I headcanon that she died). Her brother, while a total sweetie, makes painful efforts to act more like a miniature adult than a kid, and her dad is an asshole with delusions of grandeur who likes to belittle everyone he meets (before threatening to beat the shit out of them with his autobiography).
She was also born completely deaf.
Her father being the asshole he was, Shizune's childhood was filled with tutors being hired to try to get her to speak, or otherwise make her "normal". This obviously failed. Then he evidently gave up, she somehow learned sign language, and off she went to Yamaku Academy, a private high school built specifically for the needs of disabled youth. Here, she met Misha, a rather sweet young lady who was not disabled, but wanted to become a sign language teacher. Misha had applied for a program where kids who were interested in disability education could attend Yamaku for some practical experience, in exchange for reduced tuition.
They started spending a lot of time together. Since Misha was one of the few hearing students at Yamaku who knew sign language, she also became Shizune's interpreter of sorts. They both joined the student council, and Shizune became class president.
She then proceeded to make the student council more proactive, at the cost of being so blunt and uncompromising that one by one, every single member of the student council quit except for Misha. The old Shizune, before her character development, was very stiff and controlling, which no one liked.
Except Misha, who had fallen in love with Shizune. One day, Misha confessed her feelings...and was rejected. While Shizune simply moved on after that day, it's clear Misha was pretty stung.
A year or so after this happened, a boy named Hisao Nakai (that's you, the player character) transferred to Yamaku after being recently diagnosed with a very serious heart disease. He moved through his first week prior to the school festival bitter and lonely. Despite her domineering nature, Shizune still tried to act for the good of others, so she wanted to get him out of his rut. Her solution? Get Hisao to join extracurricular activities, maybe (LIKE THE STUDENT COUNCIL), maybe have him spend time with the other students (LIKE THE STUDENT COUNCIL), or help out with preparing for the school festival (WITH THE STUDENT COUNCIL).
Well, it worked. Hisao joined the student council and helped Shizune and Misha prepare for the festival, then proceeded to spend said school festival with the two girls. Through his student council duties, he finds himself falling for Shizune, and learns sign language to better be able to communicate with her. The two eventually start dating, and become a pretty established couple throughout the school year. Hisao also befriends Misha, though the two aren't as close as he and Shizune are.
Misha, unable to come to terms with "losing" Shizune to Hisao, breaks down and visits him in his room, asking him for "comfort". Even though she's desperate and broken, Hisao refuses. Misha realizes that it's probably better this way, and slinks back to her room, feeling slightly better but still depressed.
In the next few weeks, the trio are more distant than ever with each other. Hisao starts being a go-between of sorts between Misha and Shizune, and Misha confesses to Hisao that she wants Shizune to be happy with her boyfriend, but still isn't exactly over her feelings. She also tells Hisao that it would be less painful for her if she cut off all contact, and doesn't know why Shizune still keeps her around. Hisao tries to smooth things over by telling Misha that even though Shizune doesn't like her romantically, she still wants Misha to be her friend, and it's just in Shizune's nature to compartmentalize things--just because she rejected Misha doesn't mean she hates her.
On Shizune's front, she eventually confesses to HIsao that she feels like she's being a bad friend and maybe also a bad girlfriend. She comes to the realization that she treats everyone like conquests or games even when it's not exactly appropriate, and her overly-aggressive, overly-manipulative nature has been what's been driving people away. But because of the obvious communication issues she's had all her life, along with the upbringing provided to her by her jerkass dad, that's all she knows.
Shizune also resolves to one day make up with Lilly, who she's treated like shit and driven away (Lilly was also one of the old members of the student council, before everyone quit). Most importantly, she comes to the realization that she's taken Misha for granted, treating her more like a translator than an actual friend and equal.
After pouring her heart out to Hisao, she decides what she wants to do for her future--use her family's connections and resources to go into business, and then use her profits from that to become a philanthropist, dedicating her life to making other people happy. With the help of Hisao, she and Misha eventually reconcile, and the three of them (her, Misha and HIsao) prepare for graduation.
At said graduation, they hang out together, make silly poses for photos, and say their goodbyes, but vow to one day meet again. And they lived happily ever after~
[Personality]
The first thing one will notice about Shizune is that she's a real go-getter. If she wants something, she will work to get it, and isn't above playing a little dirty to reach her goal. She's also quite stubborn towards anyone who tells her otherwise, but at the same time, doesn't like losing control of a situation. This is reflected in her path: most of the story's events are initiated by her, with the protagonist just being sucked into her whirlwind. Also interestingly enough for a visual novel, you only have one choice (and it's when she's not there). Finally, both of her sex scenes are initiated by her.
Shizune likes taking risks and games of chance. All of her sex scenes in canon take place in public locations. And in Act I, she explains to Hisao that chess is too formulaic to really be considered a game--she prefers games that have some element of luck to keep things interesting.
At the same time, Shizune isn't interested in the subservient types: people who just fold over and do what they're told aren't intriguing to her or the type that she wants to befriend. In Act I, where the game determines which girl's path you'll be put on, the only way for Shizune to be attracted to you is if you're aggressive and assertive from the get-go. Because of her realization late in the game, she doesn't treat everyone as potential conquests like she used to, but she still wants friends and acquaintances with a little backbone. Not too much, but it has to be there.
But for all her dominating nature suggests, she's really a huge sweetie. Shizune has a childish side to her: she likes simple pleasures such as games, and junk food, and stuffed animals. And she's not above a little sibling rivalry with her brother Hideaki, or eating caviar by dipping tortilla chips into it, or playing Rock-Paper-Scissors with Hisao (and getting a tie 17 times in a row) over a piece of veal cutlet bread. She's quite witty and clever, though it's clear there's just a tinge of silliness to her.
Finally, she really only wants what's best for everyone. She joined the student council because she felt that a more proactive stance would benefit all the students at Yamaku, and she started dragging Hisao along for the ride into her path only because she didn't like seeing him so depressed. Despite her putting on a stoic face, it's clear that others being driven away by her bluntness hurts her--and if you get her Bad Ending by cheating on her, she'll assume her friends being distant to her is her fault, even though it's yours. This is finally reflected in her career choice for graduation in her Good Ending: she wants to be a philanthropist because that way she'll benefit lots of people.
[Abilities]
Is being good at Risk an ability?
Because otherwise, she's your average high school student with no powers other than being adorable.
[Other important stuff]As I mentioned before in her history, she's deaf. Since she was born deaf, she also can't speak--or rather, she physically can, but would probably either sound awkward or unintelligible due to never having been able to hear herself talk. The first one or two posts on the Dreamberry might have her fiddling around with the settings, but she should make use of the closed-captioning feature soon enough.
For face-to-face contact: Shizune isn't very good at reading lips, but can often determine from context the general gist of what someone is saying, or get a good idea of their emotional state. Her preferred method of communication is sign language, but she also carries around a notepad so that she can try to use text. Should she teach any of her CR sign language or come upon another character who knows it, I'll be using bold text to denote something she's signing.
[Sample post]
Little note before we begin here: Because Shizune doesn't speak, I'm modifying these samples a little. The first person sample is in sign language (italics for interview questions, bold for Shizune's signing). The third person sample is pure narration.
[First Person]
1. Do you have any future goals or dreams? What are they?
I guess I could go into business. My father has some investments that I could try cashing in on, and his connections surely wouldn't go unappreciated. Is that nepotism? But no one ever got anywhere without pulling strings...
But afterwards? A philanthropist!
2. You are told that this is a dream world, but you must go deeper. What are your first thoughts?
If I'm already asleep, I don't see how I could possibly go deeper than I already am. These dream people must be aware of others' limitations.
3. You find yourself with a cute, little penguin slave. What do you do with it?
Oh come on now, "slave" seems to be putting it a bit too strongly. He would be my most honored and cherished avian butler.
But in response to your question, I would teach him how to cook. And perhaps start him on training so that we could go shopping together.
4. What... is the air-speed velocity of an unladen swallow?
That would depend greatly on whether it was African or European, wouldn't it?
[...oh dear. A small smirk has appeared on her face. It's clear she wants to play a bit.]
And while we're here, why don't I ask a few questions of my own? What is your name? What is your quest? What...is your favorite color?
5. Oh no! Someone tripped and injured themselves right in front of you! What do you do?
What were they doing to make themselves trip like that? They had better be more careful in the future! But for now, I'd call in someone to help them. If they're injured badly enough, they need a professional right away.
6. Am I asking too many personal or strange questions?
Hmm. I did like the penguin question, but some of these that you're asking are completely irrelevant! You should really be more mindful of what others think about you.
[That last sentence is punctuated by her sticking out her tongue, just a little.]
[Third Person]
Describe what your character is doing/thinking/wishing/etc. in the following scenario: It's cold and raining. Their umbrella has blown over and is no longer usable. There are three buildings they could run to: 1) the closest is a dark, decrepit old shack that looks like it could fall over any minute, 2) a little ways down the street is an old, abandoned house, but is that blood dripping from the window...?, 3) three blocks up there is a nice hotel all lit up and looks pretty safe.
Now, why did her umbrella have to go and do that? She didn't see anywhere where she could buy a new one. It wasn't even raining that hard, at least not when she stepped out. Shizune gave a pained sigh and looked around: today was NOT her day.
That shack was not in the question. It barely counted as shelter at all, since in order to have shelter one must have four walls (unless it was a lean-to), and one of those looked like it was caving in. Not shelter. Barely even a structure, if the way everything else was rotting gave any indication.
...no. She was absolutely not going to go for the house. There was blood dripping out of that window, and as wet as she was, Shizune was pretty sure she didn't want any of that stuff dripping out of there to be her blood. People got maimed and murdered and their heads put up on pikes in haunted houses, and she meant the real kind, not the shitty kind that one of the classrooms inevitably got turned into during a festival if it wasn't a maid cafe. Shizune gave the house one last courtesy glance, made a note to contact the authorities after she had time to shower and dry off, and moved on.
Well, then. Her mind set on not dying tonight and her eyes on the distant prize, Shizune set for the hotel. Yes, she'd be soaking wet when she arrived, but it was worth it, wasn't it?
[Why do you want to play this character in Somarium?] I love this game, and I love Shizune.
It's kind of as simple as that! Since getting into the Katawa Shoujo fandom, I had thought about apping one of the girls here. Shizune's path remains my favorite, so...
[Which rule was your favorite and why?] Apart from no godmodding (for obvious reasons), I still like the no pregnancies rule (since I haven't seen them RPed well).
[Where did you hear about Somarium?] Been in this game a while, baby!
[Any questions?] Do you want to play Risk
