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I'd be lying if I said I wasn't interested in this, but I know nothing of the Mystical Land of Nippon or the World of Darkness. Sourcebook is good reading, though, so maybe I'll whip something up. Would you be opposed to my character being foreign?
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Apr 11, 2014 22:43
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I made this character, I hope it's good. I'll probably change a lot of this once I wake up tomorrow, but for now this is Jacob Smith. Jacob Smith Jake's story starts a hell of a long way from Shibuya. Starts all the way out on a ranch somewhere no one goes in Texas. Learned a trade (cars) from his pa, worried his ma with his choice of friends. Typical stuff. Of course, If he'd stayed there, we wouldn't have a story. No, our boy Jake was some kind of Trouble, Drinkin', Fuckin', and Fightin' all across the Southern United States. Right up until he killed those poor fellas in the bar fight. Then his Rowdy nature was confined to Jefferson County State Penitentiary. Prison was a new experience for Jake. He learned on the first day he was there that he wasn't the strongest man on the yard. He learned on the second day that the strongest man on the yard took a shiv the same way any of the other ones did. From then on, he trained, elevating his Barroom Brawling to an art. Of course, fighting's no good if you can't fight nobody, so he fought. Warden didn't take too kindly to this, but this was one of them new type of wardens. The kind who don't beat inmates, who try to find creative and positive outlets for their energies. You know, pussies. Well, it turns out that the Warden knew exactly the right outlet for Rowdy Jake's aggression: Dogs. The prison was trying a new program, where inmates trained stray and abandoned dogs for new masters, sometimes even as service animals. Jake had never been around dogs before, but something deep inside him clicked that day. After only a month, Jake was a model inmate. Another year, and he was out on good behavior, working as a mechanic in Dallas, training service dogs for a non-profit. Jake was content, but he wasn't happy. Until he met Sarah. Sarah was a lovely young lady from Japan who lived in Jake's apartment complex, and she didn't have any idea how to get her dog to stop barking. A friend of a friend set her up with Jake for lessons, and the two were stupid for each other almost immediately. They fit together in a way that Jake didn't understand, but didn't complain about. Where Jake was Loud and Rowdy, Sarah was quiet and respectful. Yin and Yang, fit together like some kind of fairy tale. Then they made that decision that would change both of their lives, and most of Jake's Afterlife. Sarah's parents lived in Tokyo, and were real traditional types. Jake knew he'd only get once chance to impress 'em, so he worked hard. Took a Japanese course at the community college, learned the right things to say, how to address them, the whole kit and caboodle. Sarah told him not to worry, told him he was scared over nothing. She spent the whole flight trying to reassure him. He was right to be nervous, but not for the reasons he was expecting. In this Forest of Glass and Steel, our poor Jake stuck out like a sore thumb. His six-foot-four frame made him quite a spectacle, being led around by his tiny fiance. Eventually, they made their way to the home of Sarah's parents, and Jake found out he'd been worried over nothing. Sarah's parents hated her for abandoning her family, and honestly didn't give a rat's rear end who she married. They told her to go back to bumfuck nowhere and raise a bunch of horrible brats. All in the most infuriatingly polite way possible. Sarah took it bad, but Jake took it worse. They went carousing to wash away their sadness, and Jake took a bit more washing than Sarah. By the time they stepped out of their last stop for the evening, she was having a hard time keeping the ground beneath her feet, and he was just pissed. That was when the local color showed up to harrass the tourists. Somewhere during the slurred conversation between Sarah and the Toughs, a knife found it's way into her neck. In the span of a heartbeat, Rowdy Jake came roaring back. It was a hell of a fight, Jake would've done his prison mentors proud. Men were thrown through windows, skulls were broken on the pavement, blood ran hot through the streets. What seemed like hours, was actually closer to thirty minutes, and what Jake didn't realize was that much of that hot blood was his. In his blind fury, he could've taken ten of the bastards, hell, he took down twelve of 'em and was still swingin'. Unfortunately for him, the thirteenth fella had a gun. That's where his Sire came in. Mariko Kimura watched the whole fight go down, and was impressed. And for Mariko, that meant something. She went to the broken and bleeding giant, and offered him a chance to live again. He saw her pupils contract into vertical slits in the flickering neon, andtold her to give her gift to Sarah, she deserved it more. Mariko laughed and said that no one deserved her gift, then asked him again. For the life of him, Jake still doesn't know why he said yes. • 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? Don't much care to think 'bout the year after Mary bit me. I woke up in the woods, later I found out I was they were called Chichibu. She was nice enough to leave me a note, told me I was a vampire, I'd need blood, and to avoid the sun. Good advice, but I wish that she would've helped me out a bit more. I spent the whole year out there, learning the hard way. I got pretty drat good at catchin' deer and squirrels. Once a year had passed, Mary came back and told me I'd passed her little test, and she agreed that it was rear end in a top hat thing to do. Turns out her Sire had left her in these same woods a long time ago. I don't much care to think 'bout the year after Mary bit me. • 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. Mary's the closest thing to a friend I've found among the dead, but that's not saying much. She answers a lot of my questions, and answers them honestly. Sometimes she just laughs, that's not quite as helpful. She always helps when I need it, but she doesn't always help when I want it. In return, I fix her car. She says she's been driving since cars were invented, but from the shape her car's in, I can tell you she certainly hasn't been driving well. • 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. Well, once Mary brought me in from the woods, she said she'd have to "Present me to her superiors", in a tone that told me all I need to know 'bout her feelings towards her "Superiors". Now, I speak pretty good Japanese these days, Mary says it's got somethin' to do with her blood pumpin' around in me, but back then I could ask for directions to the bathroom, and anyone speaking quick was bound to lose me. She was speaking with some fella who managed to be even greyer than the grey suit he was wearing, bigshot by the name of Kiyoshi Sugimoto. That fucker scared me shitless. I don't exactly know what Mary was saying, but I heard a lot of swearing. Then, for the first time since we walk in, he moves, and Mary stops mid-word. Not just talking, but moving. He looks at me, then asks me in perfect english "Do you want to make trouble for us, Jacob Smith?" I answer immediately, that I just want to live, I don't want no trouble. He looked at me like I was less a person, and more a pile of meat. "You may stay, but I don't think you'll be living anymore." Mary tells me that when you get older, like hundreds of years older, you start to lose interest in people except as a means to an end. I'd rather face my last sunrise than end up as cold as that corpse. • 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? That'd be little Junebug. After we left the Maeda building, Mary led me to the slums where I'd spend my days sleeping. She pointed at one particularly shabby apartment complex and said there was room set aside for me there, but the current tenants didn't know yet. I'd have to get rid of them, she said. When I asked how, she only laughed. I hate it when she does that. We came to some steps leading underground, to a little one-room shithole where a brother and his little sister were living. Thank god, Junebug wasn't there at the time. Mary saunters up to this fella, who is swearing too fast for me to catch, then she looks at me, smiles, and drags her fingernail across his cheek, and his blood rolls out. I forget what happens to Mary. I wish I could forget what happened to the brother. I learned, much later, that he was an rear end in a top hat, that he was trying to sell his 12-year old sister's body for drug money. I tell myself she's better off now, even with a monster like me. She's seen me slide into the dirt beneath the floorboards too many times to think I'm anything other than supernatural. Mary gives me some cash, not a lot, for fixing her car. I spend all of it on Junebug. I don't need food or books, but she needs a lot more than I can give her. I just hope that someday I can get her out of this shithole. She's got Sarah's eyes... • 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? I learned a lot during my year in the woods. I learned how to sleep underground, away from the sunlight. I know this ratsnest is underground, but I tore up some of the floorboards. I just feel more comfortable in the dirt, I guess. Junebug used to watch me when I was asleep, but I put a stop to that right quick. She's too young to spend all day cooped up inside, staring at the floorboards. Now I give her what little spending money I have just before dawn and tell her to lock up behind her. She's always back by sunset, and I'm always glad to see her. It's too dangerous for a kid to be wandering around out there at night. I should know. • How did you first come in contact with the Maeda Group? Who did you have to impress to get the zaibatsu to notice you? Mary works for the Maeda Group, and she said she was on the lookout for some "Big, Dumb Muscle." I reckon that describes me pretty well. So far she's only had me do heavy lifting, but she says she's heard of a gig that could end up paying off big time. Maybe I can convince the Maeda Group that I'm more than "Big, Dumb Muscle." Yamtaggler fucked around with this message at 05:26 on Apr 16, 2014 |
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Apr 13, 2014 07:09
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