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 Sheet Here Jou Tanaka, 2nd generation Japanese American. Married, father of one. He was sent home on a business trip to help integrate new security technology in the family firm. The competition wanted what he knew, so they turned him, doubled his paycheck, and set him up in a sparse but secure basement hotel room. Jou was trapped in Japan, completely dependent on the company that stole his life. Three years later, his ex-wife put his teenage daughter on a plane and didn't tell him she was coming till she was already in the air. Jou would rather die- or kill- than let anything happen to his last link to mortality. He's stepped up his timetables on his escape. • Tell about the time you hit rock bottom, the time where you were most open to the supernatural and the Embrace. At your lowest point, who did you end up leaving out in the cold? I divorced my wife over the phone. I didn't have a choice. I couldn't leave Japan, and I couldn't put her in danger by asking her to come here. Lying to her, telling her I didn't want her anymore, was the hardest thing I've ever done. I lost it for a while after that. I tried to be a monster, but I wasn't any good at it. I missed her. I hunted women who looked like her. It didn't help. • Who is the vampire you identify with the most? This may or may not be your sire, but this is the vampire you look at a model to compare other Kindred against. Sakurai Hanako, she's... I guess you'd call her my sister? We were sired by the same vampire. But unlike me, she took to the curse like a koi to a pond. She runs the entire floor now, and I'm still just a guy in a cubicle. She takes me out 'drinking', sometimes. She's almost as new as I am but she's managed to strike a balance that I haven't yet. • What is about the vampire curse that scares you? Excites you? Tell me about another Kindred in this city who exemplifies everything you're afraid to become. Living forever scares me. Everyone I know will die, unless they're like me, already dead. I don't know what I'm going to be doing in a hundred years. But that excites me too. What will the world look like in a hundred, two hundred, five hundred years? I want to see it. I want to see what kind of technology comes to pass. My sire was Embraced before the Industrial Revolution. If I could live through something like that... It would be amazing. But I need to be careful. I need to hold onto the little things, the things that made me a person, for as long as I can. I don't want to end up like Orochi Ko, dead inside, unable to see anything but his next kill, his next feed. He's the company hit-man, and he doesn't even talk anymore. I don't think he remembers how. That isn't living. That isn't what I want for my forever. • Someone knows your secret, part of it at least. You either told them, or you allowed too much of nature to slip for them to ignore it. Who are they and why are they still part of your life? My daughter Kari. She's 16 years old, and she's too smart for her own good. It took her an hour to figure out something was wrong with me after I picked her up at the airport, and maybe three days to figure out what it was. I didn't think I was that obvious. It wasn't like I was feeding in the hotel room! But I wasn't eating, or going to the bathroom, and I wouldn't go to the beach with her even though that was our favorite thing to do when she was little. After living with my corpse for three days, looking at the blank walls and the empty mirror frames in the bathroom, she guessed. I couldn't deny it. She asked if it was the reason I left her and her mother. I couldn't deny that either. She asked if I was dangerous. I told her that I was, but never to her. That seemed to be enough. I don't know if she really understands, but she hasn't told my ex-wife, and she doesn't seem bothered by it. What am I supposed to do with her? • Outside the protection of the zaibatsu, how do you survive your day to day hours? Who keeps you safe when you sleep, whether they know it or not? My days are spent in a basement hotel room. There's security, but it's just an average hotel, nothing special. I always worked nights, so no one even questions why I would want a room with no windows. It still feels like a prison to me. There's no bars, and I can come and go whenever I want. But I have no where to go, and without the company, no one will reissue my visa. Without that, I'd have to go underground. Literally. There has to be a way out... • How did you first come in contact with the Maeda Group? Who did you have to impress to get the zaibatsu to notice you? Meetings, meetings, endless meetings. The company has always had dealings with the zaibatsus, but they don't want us to get too close. They don't want to risk us getting poached. Well, I'd do just about anything to get away from here, especially now. If the company finds out about Kari, if they get ahold of her somehow... They'll have me forever. I can't let that happen. I can't let them do anything to her. Sakurai, my sister, got me in touch with a few of the recruiters at Maeda. She's sad that I want to leave, but I think she understands. My situation isn't the same as hers. mistaya fucked around with this message at 07:22 on Apr 13, 2014 |
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Apr 13, 2014 03:08
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I'll add to this during the day tomorrow too, but I guess someone has to start off. Jou's Impressions Kei- I have a lot of respect for people who are as driven as she is. We're complete opposites. I wouldn't be noticed in an empty room and she couldn't get lost in a crowd (well, without her vampiric talents,) but I feel like we have a lot in common anyway. I never thought about tattoos when I was alive, but permanence has a whole new meaning nowadays. Maybe one day I'll get up the nerve to ask her for one. Reiko - If being a wage slave is terrible now, I bet being a geisha back in the day was worse. Ms. Reiko got out from under her bosses and built her own future, and she didn't have to become a monster along the way. That's exactly what I want to do. I don't know if she'd help me, but she's still an example that I'm going to try to live up to. Daimon - When I look at Daimon I see a Kindred who was Embraced because he was the best man for the job. Where I was abducted, he was chosen. It's hard to really get along with someone like that. It's not his fault, so I try not to hold it against him. He's ambitious enough for sure, but I wonder how far he can get on his own? Miyako - I still don't know how Miyako gets away with 'playing' a vampire in public. She's a very good singer, but she's kind of spoiled and pouty. Out of everyone she's the one I worry about the most. It's just not safe to live like she does. Kari thinks she's the coolest new idol on the block. That scares the crap out of me. I haven't told her that 'V-Yako' is a real vampire because that would just make it worse. (She's been a little obsessed since finding out about my condition.) I probably shouldn't have gotten her that signed picture because now she's trying to get me to take her to concerts. ---- The ~Web of Drama~ Question 1 asked about who you abandoned in your lowest moment. Now, find another human character already present, then tell me how they connected after you left your abandoned behind. After I left my wife I started going to clubs. I don't know if I was trying to remember how she felt or forget about her by feeling someone else. Miss Chiho was the front girl for my favorite place, and she always had a kind word for me. For a long time I was just a customer, but when I heard her complaining about their computers being down I offered to take a look. One two minute fix later I'd given her my company card, and I was contracted to update their entire system later that week. It was only then that I found out that the club was owned by another Kindred. I must have impressed Chiho because I don't even have to turn invisible to skip the lines at the club anymore, and I always get the best corner spot. Question 3 asked about the vampire that exemplifies what you fear most about your curse. Find a mortal already connected to you, then tell me what that vampire wants from them. Put the mortal in peril. I don't know what I'd do if the company- if Orochi Ko- ever found out about Kari. My ex-wife said if I sent her home early I'll never see her again, and I can't handle that. It's stupid, and selfish, but I just can't. We were always close, and Kari's the only living person who knows about my condition and doesn't care. She's the only reminder of the life I used to have before this whole thing started. Losing her would be the end of me. I just have to keep her safe until the end of the summer. Next year when she visits things will be different. If things go to plan I won't have to worry about the company anymore. I just have to get her through this summer... Question 4 asked about a mortal who knows your secret. Find another Kindred who suspects that mortal of breaching the Masquerade. I've let Kari have her run of the city during the daylight, mostly because I can't stop her without locking her up and I'm not going to do that. But while she's pretty obviously a tourist (and her Japanese is still a little rusty,) I've managed to keep it so that only a few people know she's my daughter. Miyako is unfortunately one of them. When I asked for her autograph she gave me the strangest look, and I didn't want to sound like a creep so I admitted it was for Kari. It was probably a mistake but it's too late to take it back now. I didn't tell her that Kari knows what we are, but I don't think it'll be hard to guess, especially if the two ever meet. Question 5 asked about the one who keeps you safe while your sleep. Find another character, mortal or vampire, who is pressuring or threatening them (and therefore, your haven). My hotel room isn't under any outside threat that I know of, but the threat of losing it if I don't do exactly what the company wants has been grating on me forever. I don't even like the place, but I can't exactly go house hunting on a visa. The local Yakuza tried to pressure the owners for protection money once, but as soon as I got wind of that I had the company take care of it. Orochi Ko had fun that night I'm sure. It's not exactly comforting to have that psychopath know where I sleep. Question 6 asked about your contact in the Maeda Group. Find another Kindred who they are rivals with, whether political, business, or simply through a blood vendetta. The recruiter I was put in contact with is called Takeda Ichigo. He's a member of their New Special Projects Division. I have heard some interesting stories about him and his sister Izumi. They were twins, but Ichigo was Embraced much later in life - he's eternally 65. Their rivalry in Maeda is pretty infamous, both business and personal. I wouldn't want to get caught between those two on a bad night. mistaya fucked around with this message at 00:32 on Apr 23, 2014 |
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Apr 22, 2014 11:01
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