Stats and Permissions
Mar. 25th, 2016 09:51 pm|
SHIKI MISAKI
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PLAYER NAME Argent
CONTACT INFORMATION Plurk: CHARACTER NAME Shiki Misaki ( ![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small} so_sew_me, The World Ends With You)
Age 15 Gem Chrysoberyl on her heart Permissions I'm pretty flexible on most things! Romance: please remember she is 15. Fighting is okay (How could you though D:), but please to PM/PP if it is more than a few scrapes/embarrassment. NOTES Approach her with broken seams and loose buttons at your own peril. |
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BASIC ABILITIES
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☆ Weapon: Oversized Needle (Not discovered)
☆ Bubbling (Not discovered) ☆ Shapeshifting (Not discovered) ☆ Fusion (Not discovered) |
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ABILITIES
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☆ Textokinesis - The ability to control and manipulate cloth.
☆ ☆ ☆ ☆ ☆ ☆ |
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code modified from
![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png){kind=small}
cawaii's originalShiki Misaki | App for GB!
Feb. 22nd, 2013 09:17 pmOOC:
Name: Argent
Are you over 16?: Damn skippy.
Personal DW: N/A
Email: argentbast at gmail dot com
Timezone: Arizona Standard – MST w/o DST
Other contact: AIM – argentbast, plurk -- argentbast
Characters already in the game:Rose Lalonde
How did you find us?:
IC:
Character name: Shiki Misaki
Fandom: The World Ends with You
Timeline: Post-week 1
Age: 15
~*Magical*~ abilities and strengths: Like her partner, Neku, Shiki has pins! When a person enters the UG (UnderGround), they are all given a certain set of pins that are able to do certain extraordinary feats such as cutting the air, shooting lightning, or creating fire. However, unlike Neku, Shiki’s power is much more narrow and specific. Her pin, The Groove Pawn, allows her to control her stuffed cat Mr. Mew. …well, not so much control it as give it life and sentience. Fortunately, Mr. Mew is very good at taking orders and rather empathic. Making sure to take care of its master and protect her when she’s in danger. However, this unique power only works when she is in close proximity to her partner, Neku. BUT, when he is in close proximity and they are working together uniquely well, both Shiki and Neku can supercharge the power of Mr. Mew, causing either a grand melee of attacks, increasing Mr. Mew’s size to a truck and barreling him through enemies, or creating a gigantic Godzilla-sized Mr. Mew that levels everything with lasers. Clearly, there’s more to this little doll than meets the eye!
Aside from this, Shiki herself isn’t entirely exceptional… except for one thing. Shiki is far and away the most efficient seamstress in Shibuya. Needle and string always on hand, she is the nemesis of loose buttons everywhere. She’s also exceptionally able to make any design that her friend, Eri, can conceive and is able to correct flaws in the structure of a dress or add designs and patterns that vastly improve the original design. This ability to produce is not met with the ability to create new ideas, however; she can make designs WORK but she has difficulty coming up with her own thing.
How would they use their abilities?: On the Thor, Mr. Mew would only be able to become alive and active whenever she was in danger or she was about to attack something that she perceived as threatening. With the necessary requirements of being with her partner, however, they both need to be aware of the threat to be aggressive. Mr. Mew may spring to life if Neku is threatened, however, which could serve as an early warning sign that something was wrong.
The sewing is entirely for her enjoyment, the enjoyment of others, and because it’s what she’s good at. She’d normally use it to make things for her friends and other people, but she wouldn’t be above using her sewing skills to mend and make things on the Thor for money.
Appearance: Aha… ahaha…
Here’s a pic!
Shiki is a relatively normal Japanese girl about 15 years old. While the TWEWY character models are pencil-thin, the fortunate thing is that this quality is pretty uniform for all the people living in Shibuya. So she is of average height and weight for a girl her age – about 4’11”. Her skin complexion is pale and rather pretty, even without make-up. She has brown eyes and dyed pink hair that stick out in the back as curves. Aside from her hair, the most striking feature about her is her clothes. She wears a light red shirt covered by a small yellow jacket, a tan denim skirt that shows off her stomach and legs, thigh-high boots, and an oversized beret on top of her head. The most amazing thing about this ensemble is that she made the outfit herself with the design from her friend Eri. The last thing about her is that she always carries around her stuff animal, Mr. Mew. He is the first thing she ever made.
But the truth about her appearance is… a bit more complicated than that. The details to which are explained in the next section.
Background/Personality: That’s the real mystery, isn’t it? Getting to know you, and giving you the chance to know me…
Shiki was born in or lived near Tokyo’s Shibuya District. It is a great bowl of creativity, fashion, media, and technology gathered together in one place. While there, she and her best friend, Eri, would go into the fashion district and scope out the newest clothing lines and dream about becoming great fashion designers. But… where this one similarity ended, the two friends were nothing but differences. Eri was vibrant and outgoing, she had developed great designs and was popular and successful in class. Shiki, meanwhile, was a rather plain and quiet girl, and would often walk in Eri’s shadow. Though she tried her hardest to compete, none of her designs and style ideas ever matched her friend’s talents. With her idealized self so close to her, talking with her, being friends with her, Shiki found herself hating Eri. She wanted to be Eri.
Then, one day, in a fit of frustration she told Eri about how bad her designs were coming out and how she could never get the right thing done. While Eri would normally say that she should keep trying and that she’d just need a chance to get better, this time she said something different. “You’re not meant to be a designer.” Shiki was crushed. Heartbroken and defeated, she ran away from Eri. All of her bitter black feelings came pouring out of her, and she knew then that there really wasn’t anything left for her to be. The next day, Shiki died of an accident.
But that’s not the end of her story.
In Shibuya there is a separate and similar copy of the world. A separate plane, if you will. It is this place, called the Underground or UG, that the souls of those that long to stay alive have a chance to return back to the world of the living. To succeed, all they would need to do is survive 7 days of challenges. The risks, however, were enormous. In order to participate in the first place, the player must first give up the one thing about themselves that they most valued. The game itself was fraught with creatures – noise – which desired to destroy any players that they caught. As this was a game of the dead, any failure to succeed in the seven days the game was being held meant that an individual would be permanently erased from existence – food for the noise. In order to protect themselves, individual players needed to forge a contract with another player and defeat any noise they come across.
It was here that Shiki met the boy that would change her life forever. In the first few minutes of the start of the game, she came across an unpaired player and demanded that he forge a contract with her. At the time, it was not a point of who he was but rather the fact that he was just somebody that didn’t have a partner. Without him, both of them ran the risk of being permanently deleted within the first few minutes. Unfortunately for Shiki, the boy she picked, Neku, had no recollection of this game or even who he was, for that matter. A staunch individualist and misanthrope, Neku would much rather do his own thing and found any attempts on Shiki’s part to act cute or get him on her side was met with annoyance and hostility. It was only when Neku ran into the barriers – established perimeters set within the game to prevent the players from getting too far from their objective – that Neku was forced to believe that they were playing a game.
Don’t kill me.
During this time, Shiki changed tactics a lot. At first she tried to be like Eri. Bubbly and cute and encouraging. Neku, however, was unimpressed and saw through the guise as the fake she was behaving. Her general incompetence at solving the puzzles frustrated him immensely, and he was convinced that she was just a superfluous ball and chain that was a necessary evil in order to stay alive during the seven days. She saw him be cantankerous toward other players that offered to forge an alliance with him, and was quick to make strides in solving puzzles. Yet, the extent to which that Neku was ignorant of his circumstances was met with his pragmatism as a reaper – one of the individuals of the game that serves as a custodian or player hunter – told him that his freedom would be assured if he were to kill off his partner. Shiki was helpless to stop him as he used a psychokinesis pin to raise her body up from the ground and start to strangle her.
Fortunately for both of them, the director of the game, Sanae Hanekoma, came around and told the Reaper that she wasn’t following the rules. “Telling a person to ice their partner is not a proper mission” and that the deletion of one partner would kill the other, he explained. To which the reaper oh-so-sweetly stated that “She knew that, but it wasn’t an official mission and that his permanent deletion WOULD have removed him from the game.”Neku was flabbergasted at the size of the mistake he was about to make. Mr. Hanekoma went over to the two players and explained more of the mission to them, admonishing Neku for his mistake, and stating plainly that in spite of this setback that they were still partners and that he should apologize. While begrudging, his near-fatal error nearly caused both him and his player’s life so he apologized. Shiki quickly forgave him, hoping that he had learned his lesson.
Let me in. Tell me what you’re thinking!
Over the next few days, Shiki and Neku began to get to know each other better. Although Neku himself still had few memories, Shiki was able to get through to him and let him know about her hopes and dreams in the RG (Realground – the Real World). Seeing more of her true self, Neku was impressed. At the very least, it was more than what he could say that he was aspiring for, having no memory of himself. They both started to build on each other’s strengths. Neku was a profound problem solver, and Shiki’s knowledge of Shibuya was vital to steer him in the right direction. For once, it started to look as though they were going to be okay. During the fourth day, however, they met with tragedy again. Another set of players – Beat and Rhyme, whom Neku alienated on the second day and were vital for their success on the fourth, decided to have a race to celebrate their new-found friendship (it makes more sense in their heads). The mission that day, however, was a trap intended to let their guard down. With the trap set, Beat ran headlong into it and Rhyme responded by pushing him out of the way. While they were able to defeat the noise that deleted their friend, the entire scene left a bitter taste in their mouths. Neku was grateful for their survival, while Shiki admonished Neku for being so callous at the plight of their friends.
The next day was cold, and in the end Neku and Shiki were the last two players remaining. Shiki was quiet but dutiful, and for once Neku had to be the one motivating her. After a while, Shiki began to get motivated again – the challenge was to remove the noise possessing the people in the RG. As it happened, the noise was surrounding a person that was having negative feelings toward her female friend, who she thought was making a move on the boy she was interested. Shiki told Neku that they should let her know a lie in order to maintain the friendship, while Neku disagreed. In the end, Neku’s presumption proved correct and with the misunderstanding cleared up they were able to move on to the next day. However, before they were able to do so, they were greeted by Yodai Higashizawa, their game master. He had his eyes on Shiki since the first day, recognizing the envy, self-loathing, and disgust in her heart. He made plain that in spite of their efforts, she herself did not want to have the second chance to live. He then informed, for the first time, that Neku was dead and that the entire point of the game was to give him a chance to live again.
The next day was dead. Shiki was absolutely lethargic and had no more interest to play the game. While Neku tried to motivate her more, in the end she gave up and ran away. Neku tracked her down and asked her what was up? She then started explaining to him that in spite of everything she had told him about how awesome Eri was, that she was nowhere near as awesome as she was. Neku was about to ask why that was important when he saw her… or rather, another mirror-copy of her walking across the street in the RG. At the sight of this other-Shiki, Shiki ran away and hid. Neku chased her down again and finally explained everything. The payment to play the game—her most valuable possession—was appearance. In compensation, the game itself allowed her to play it using the guise of her friend, Eri. She explained that at first she was excited, that she was useless and was never successful or popular in the real world. Being Eri in the UG meant that she could be everything she wasn’t – popular and sociable. Outgoing and successful. But with each day they moved closer to the end of the game, she realized that she wasn’t Eri – she just looked like her. Having her face and being her friend only accentuated how much she never could be her friend. She was useless as her friend, and useless as herself. So maybe… she didn’t deserve to live?
Neku was through with this bullshit.
He told her that he wasn’t her friend, and so what? She had her own skills and her own goals, which was more than she ever had. She was patient and kind with him, and no matter what happened in the game that he liked her for who she is. So who cared what Eri was to her? She needed to be herself and how awesome she was? Shiki was pretty awesome too. Shiki smiled and asked him one thing “Do you think, once we get back to the RG and you see the real me that we would be friends?” To which Neku responded, “Do you even need to ask, we’re friends now.” Shiki smiled and once again they saw Eri – the real Eri – standing nearby. She said to a friend that, in spite of how good she was at designing fashion that she was going to give it up. Shiki was gob smacked – she was so good at it! “It just wouldn’t be the same” Eri explained. And she described a friend that she once had, who was a master of the needle. Who could see the flaws in the designs she made and add improvements that she would never make. And just made the cutest stuffed animals you ever saw. Eri explained her greatest regret – that she told her that she shouldn’t be a fashion designer, and that she never got to say that was because she felt that she would be an excellent seamstress. Eri saw them working together: Eri creating designs and Shiki making them real. Shiki was stunned. She never thought that she meant so much to Eri. Before the day was over, Shiki spent the rest of the day standing beside her friend.
Let the White Angels bless you…
The next day was full of energy and anticipation. Both Neku and Shiki knew that their chance to live again was near and that they were going to do it. The challenge was simple – defeat the Game Master. And while the GM was counting on exploiting Shiki’s uncertainty and doubt, within the one day they had together, she had overcome that obstacle of herself. Although it was a tough battle, the two players were able to overcome the GM himself and defeat the game. It was then that they were brought to a black room, deep within Shibuya itself. It was there that they were greeted by a man in black sunglasses. He congratulated them both on their success and informed them of the condition of the game: that only one of the two partners would be able to return to the RG. Furthermore, the person that would be able to win was the one that earned the most points in the session: Shiki Misaki. Shiki objected. She demanded that they both would have their chance to live or that they wouldn’t live at all. But the man refused, stating that was the conditions of the game. Neku informed her, calmly, that it would be okay. That he would play the game again and win. He told Shiki to go on ahead and wait for him, and that he would return again soon. Painfully she agreed, telling him that she would keep waiting at the Statue of Hachiko – the place that he almost killed her on their second day. And that she would be holding her Mr. Mew doll so that he would know it was her.
It was a tearful farewell as the two parted and Shiki was lifted up in a shaft of light. With Neku’s memories returned he was ready to forfeit his most valuable thing in order to win a second week. The man informed him, however that after the first week the thing he valued the most had changed. In exchange for his opportunity to play, he was going to take away… Shiki Misaki.
While there are some similarities between the two, the Shiki that first entered the game and the Shiki that left the UG were two entirely different people. Indeed, it is this dichotomy that makes her unique. While she was uncertain, envious and hated every aspect of herself, now she has a better appreciation for the person who she is and how she is to fit in the RG. While she still has a tendency to be a bit hard on herself, she will most definitely be considerate of her strengths and contributions. She’s very compassionate to other people too, desiring the best for themselves and may become more outspoken in trying to get them to correct their mistakes. With her time with Neku, she has learned from the best. She now knows how to assert herself, which is a far cry from the shirking violet she once was. She still maintain some of this quiet demeanor, but is now more comfortable being a little shy and getting to know people a little bit at a time instead of being the life of the party like her friend Eri.
This is not to say that she’s completely without faults. As mentioned earlier, she still has some problems with her appearance. Because the man at the end of the game was not authorized to return her to the real world, she had never received her original appearance back. This is a point that is particularly painful to her, as in spite of everything she has worked to achieve she is wearing a face that is not her own. In the extreme situation of the game, she has also developed a bit of a temper and may spontaneously state things that were on her mind that she would have held back previously. While most of the time this is beneficial, there are other times when it may not be a good idea and she may end up regretting it.
She also internalizes a lot, which makes externalizing her thoughts a bit of a weird situation. When she’s excited it’s easily evident in every aspect of herself, she will throw her arms up and cheer happily. When she is flustered she’ll wave her hands up in a panic. And when she’s thoughtful and considerate, she tries to make sure that a person’s needs are met. She has high standards for herself and others. This, however, is a double-edge sword as she also has the tendency to be much too hard on herself and unforgiving if an individual really does something wrong. She has an extremely strong sense of right and wrong and is now able to make sure that others know when they aren’t doing something they are supposed to do.
Most of all, however, she is dutiful and loyal. Bonds that Shiki forms are easy and strong. She will give of herself tenfold for her friends and will try in the best of her power to make sure that they have her listening ear if not her support in anything they are trying to do. She is easy to forgive people when they make mistakes once they admit they have done so (though she can be quite cold and pointed to individuals who are arrogant and indifferent to others). She is also quite meticulous in her ability to sew, and pays grave attention to detail. This is most evident in her annoyance of loose buttons. They are so irritating in fact that she possesses a spool and thread and will demand a person hand over the offending button to her immediately so that she could mend it. This also pertains to one of her problems – she sometimes has trouble focusing on details and not recognizing the big picture around her.
Thus, while she may not be the most creative or efficient person, she is no doubt a dutiful and loyal friend who will be more than happy to lend a hand, needle, or clothes to make sure her friends are cared for.
Why should that character be in this game: For OCs only.
Why do you want to continue their history here: For characters from other games only.
For applicants considering an alternate version of a character already in game, please use this as your chance to explain the key differences between your character and the one already in play:
Have you read up on how the game works?: Yept! Flamming Ferret and Shiki will earn money through jobs, mooching and selling off her handmade dolls and clothes.
1st person sample: Okay, so. Um…
…okay. So like, we’re no longer in Shibuya. I got that much. And we’re not even in Japan. Um… So are we really on a space ship? I mean, I suppose the weird slug monsters running the front desk are pretty much sure evidence. And the big observatory deck. And the three-eyed cricket lady with the pretty snide fashion sense… and the… yeah, okay, I’m in space.
So is it true that our home isn’t here? And that everybody back home is dead? But… but that means that Neku, and Beat, and Rhyme, and Eri and everybody else are… and now I’m stuck like… how can this be right? What do you mean they’re all dead? That can’t be right! It’s not fair! We worked so hard to get here and we did everything right and… and…
…and that’s not fair…
…
Um, okay. Sorry about that. I… I’ll be fine. Don’t worry about me. So, um, just go head and CTR + A + Del that all. I… I think I know where I am now.
Oh! My name is Shiki Misaki, btw! It’s a pleasure to meet you all. :)
3rd person sample: Shiki had been flummoxed at the sheer magnitude of her first day as a fashion representative. This was always her dream job, of course, and back home she would have been more than happy to be able to show off the latest designs in the 104 department store. Here on the Thor, though, things were… strange. She somewhat had a feeling there’d be strange stuff to sell like Venusian Silk or maybe Martian Velcro, but the things that were here were just downright bizzare! Zarkonian Spider Fishnet, Drezeebo Cloth du Prominence (which she later found out was made out of the back hair of the Drezeebo… not a pleasant experience for the customer that was looking at it when she freaked out), and even the Farfnufian hat made out of the Dead Drawerooskit. And then there were the clothes that did make sense! Six-armed shirts. TEN-FEET SHORTS. FIFTEEN-EYED SUNGLASSSES. The list of the unusual and strange went on and on.
With the last customer out Shiki planted her face defeated on the display shelf, leaving a rather sizable imprint of her cheek on the glass. The owner of the store told her that she would have to clean it up, and she begrudgingly agreed.
Just then she caught a glimpse of a tiny space alien that had wandered into the store. She explained that she was here to buy something for her mother and but that she didn’t have enough money. “You poor thing.” Shiki stated, looking down at the meager number of credits she had available. It wouldn’t be enough to pay for a can of cola in the vendor – she discovered at least that much in the first few weeks. “I’m sorry… but this isn’t enough here for anything in this store too.” She admitted sadly.
The young alien looked dejected and started to walk out of the store. “No, wait!” Shiki yelled, and beckoned her to come over. Hurriedly she ran over to the back part of the store where she kept her street clothes. She gingerly took something out of her duffle bag before returning back to the young alien. “Would this do?” She opened up her hand and offered the young girl a miniature keychain made in the shape of Mr. Mew, the first stuffed animal she had ever made. The young alien’s eyes opened wide and she said she had never seen anything like it. “That’s because there isn’t anything like it. I made it.” Shiki stated with a grin. “And it’s yours for…” She counted the money. “The two credits you own.”
The young alien saw a good deal when she saw one and immediately took the toy. Shiki was all smiles, even when the store owner came over and chewed her out for the next thirty minutes, explaining that this was their department store and that she was not allowed to sell things that were not part of their line. She didn’t even furrow her eyes or get mad when she explained succinctly. “Then you won’t have to worry about me anymore, I won’t be working here tomorrow, or the next day.” She had seen many things while coming onto the Thor, but knew that, if nothing else, that maybe there was something for her to do here after all.
Questions?: If possible (and necessary) may I have an account for her stuff toy, Mr. Mew? It has no voice and mostly lives to serve Shiki.
Did you put your characters name and fandom in the subject: Yept!
Name: Argent
Are you over 16?: Damn skippy.
Personal DW: N/A
Email: argentbast at gmail dot com
Timezone: Arizona Standard – MST w/o DST
Other contact: AIM – argentbast, plurk -- argentbast
Characters already in the game:Rose Lalonde
How did you find us?:
IC:
Character name: Shiki Misaki
Fandom: The World Ends with You
Timeline: Post-week 1
Age: 15
~*Magical*~ abilities and strengths: Like her partner, Neku, Shiki has pins! When a person enters the UG (UnderGround), they are all given a certain set of pins that are able to do certain extraordinary feats such as cutting the air, shooting lightning, or creating fire. However, unlike Neku, Shiki’s power is much more narrow and specific. Her pin, The Groove Pawn, allows her to control her stuffed cat Mr. Mew. …well, not so much control it as give it life and sentience. Fortunately, Mr. Mew is very good at taking orders and rather empathic. Making sure to take care of its master and protect her when she’s in danger. However, this unique power only works when she is in close proximity to her partner, Neku. BUT, when he is in close proximity and they are working together uniquely well, both Shiki and Neku can supercharge the power of Mr. Mew, causing either a grand melee of attacks, increasing Mr. Mew’s size to a truck and barreling him through enemies, or creating a gigantic Godzilla-sized Mr. Mew that levels everything with lasers. Clearly, there’s more to this little doll than meets the eye!
Aside from this, Shiki herself isn’t entirely exceptional… except for one thing. Shiki is far and away the most efficient seamstress in Shibuya. Needle and string always on hand, she is the nemesis of loose buttons everywhere. She’s also exceptionally able to make any design that her friend, Eri, can conceive and is able to correct flaws in the structure of a dress or add designs and patterns that vastly improve the original design. This ability to produce is not met with the ability to create new ideas, however; she can make designs WORK but she has difficulty coming up with her own thing.
How would they use their abilities?: On the Thor, Mr. Mew would only be able to become alive and active whenever she was in danger or she was about to attack something that she perceived as threatening. With the necessary requirements of being with her partner, however, they both need to be aware of the threat to be aggressive. Mr. Mew may spring to life if Neku is threatened, however, which could serve as an early warning sign that something was wrong.
The sewing is entirely for her enjoyment, the enjoyment of others, and because it’s what she’s good at. She’d normally use it to make things for her friends and other people, but she wouldn’t be above using her sewing skills to mend and make things on the Thor for money.
Appearance: Aha… ahaha…
Here’s a pic!
Shiki is a relatively normal Japanese girl about 15 years old. While the TWEWY character models are pencil-thin, the fortunate thing is that this quality is pretty uniform for all the people living in Shibuya. So she is of average height and weight for a girl her age – about 4’11”. Her skin complexion is pale and rather pretty, even without make-up. She has brown eyes and dyed pink hair that stick out in the back as curves. Aside from her hair, the most striking feature about her is her clothes. She wears a light red shirt covered by a small yellow jacket, a tan denim skirt that shows off her stomach and legs, thigh-high boots, and an oversized beret on top of her head. The most amazing thing about this ensemble is that she made the outfit herself with the design from her friend Eri. The last thing about her is that she always carries around her stuff animal, Mr. Mew. He is the first thing she ever made.
But the truth about her appearance is… a bit more complicated than that. The details to which are explained in the next section.
Background/Personality: That’s the real mystery, isn’t it? Getting to know you, and giving you the chance to know me…
Shiki was born in or lived near Tokyo’s Shibuya District. It is a great bowl of creativity, fashion, media, and technology gathered together in one place. While there, she and her best friend, Eri, would go into the fashion district and scope out the newest clothing lines and dream about becoming great fashion designers. But… where this one similarity ended, the two friends were nothing but differences. Eri was vibrant and outgoing, she had developed great designs and was popular and successful in class. Shiki, meanwhile, was a rather plain and quiet girl, and would often walk in Eri’s shadow. Though she tried her hardest to compete, none of her designs and style ideas ever matched her friend’s talents. With her idealized self so close to her, talking with her, being friends with her, Shiki found herself hating Eri. She wanted to be Eri.
Then, one day, in a fit of frustration she told Eri about how bad her designs were coming out and how she could never get the right thing done. While Eri would normally say that she should keep trying and that she’d just need a chance to get better, this time she said something different. “You’re not meant to be a designer.” Shiki was crushed. Heartbroken and defeated, she ran away from Eri. All of her bitter black feelings came pouring out of her, and she knew then that there really wasn’t anything left for her to be. The next day, Shiki died of an accident.
But that’s not the end of her story.
In Shibuya there is a separate and similar copy of the world. A separate plane, if you will. It is this place, called the Underground or UG, that the souls of those that long to stay alive have a chance to return back to the world of the living. To succeed, all they would need to do is survive 7 days of challenges. The risks, however, were enormous. In order to participate in the first place, the player must first give up the one thing about themselves that they most valued. The game itself was fraught with creatures – noise – which desired to destroy any players that they caught. As this was a game of the dead, any failure to succeed in the seven days the game was being held meant that an individual would be permanently erased from existence – food for the noise. In order to protect themselves, individual players needed to forge a contract with another player and defeat any noise they come across.
It was here that Shiki met the boy that would change her life forever. In the first few minutes of the start of the game, she came across an unpaired player and demanded that he forge a contract with her. At the time, it was not a point of who he was but rather the fact that he was just somebody that didn’t have a partner. Without him, both of them ran the risk of being permanently deleted within the first few minutes. Unfortunately for Shiki, the boy she picked, Neku, had no recollection of this game or even who he was, for that matter. A staunch individualist and misanthrope, Neku would much rather do his own thing and found any attempts on Shiki’s part to act cute or get him on her side was met with annoyance and hostility. It was only when Neku ran into the barriers – established perimeters set within the game to prevent the players from getting too far from their objective – that Neku was forced to believe that they were playing a game.
Don’t kill me.
During this time, Shiki changed tactics a lot. At first she tried to be like Eri. Bubbly and cute and encouraging. Neku, however, was unimpressed and saw through the guise as the fake she was behaving. Her general incompetence at solving the puzzles frustrated him immensely, and he was convinced that she was just a superfluous ball and chain that was a necessary evil in order to stay alive during the seven days. She saw him be cantankerous toward other players that offered to forge an alliance with him, and was quick to make strides in solving puzzles. Yet, the extent to which that Neku was ignorant of his circumstances was met with his pragmatism as a reaper – one of the individuals of the game that serves as a custodian or player hunter – told him that his freedom would be assured if he were to kill off his partner. Shiki was helpless to stop him as he used a psychokinesis pin to raise her body up from the ground and start to strangle her.
Fortunately for both of them, the director of the game, Sanae Hanekoma, came around and told the Reaper that she wasn’t following the rules. “Telling a person to ice their partner is not a proper mission” and that the deletion of one partner would kill the other, he explained. To which the reaper oh-so-sweetly stated that “She knew that, but it wasn’t an official mission and that his permanent deletion WOULD have removed him from the game.”Neku was flabbergasted at the size of the mistake he was about to make. Mr. Hanekoma went over to the two players and explained more of the mission to them, admonishing Neku for his mistake, and stating plainly that in spite of this setback that they were still partners and that he should apologize. While begrudging, his near-fatal error nearly caused both him and his player’s life so he apologized. Shiki quickly forgave him, hoping that he had learned his lesson.
Let me in. Tell me what you’re thinking!
Over the next few days, Shiki and Neku began to get to know each other better. Although Neku himself still had few memories, Shiki was able to get through to him and let him know about her hopes and dreams in the RG (Realground – the Real World). Seeing more of her true self, Neku was impressed. At the very least, it was more than what he could say that he was aspiring for, having no memory of himself. They both started to build on each other’s strengths. Neku was a profound problem solver, and Shiki’s knowledge of Shibuya was vital to steer him in the right direction. For once, it started to look as though they were going to be okay. During the fourth day, however, they met with tragedy again. Another set of players – Beat and Rhyme, whom Neku alienated on the second day and were vital for their success on the fourth, decided to have a race to celebrate their new-found friendship (it makes more sense in their heads). The mission that day, however, was a trap intended to let their guard down. With the trap set, Beat ran headlong into it and Rhyme responded by pushing him out of the way. While they were able to defeat the noise that deleted their friend, the entire scene left a bitter taste in their mouths. Neku was grateful for their survival, while Shiki admonished Neku for being so callous at the plight of their friends.
The next day was cold, and in the end Neku and Shiki were the last two players remaining. Shiki was quiet but dutiful, and for once Neku had to be the one motivating her. After a while, Shiki began to get motivated again – the challenge was to remove the noise possessing the people in the RG. As it happened, the noise was surrounding a person that was having negative feelings toward her female friend, who she thought was making a move on the boy she was interested. Shiki told Neku that they should let her know a lie in order to maintain the friendship, while Neku disagreed. In the end, Neku’s presumption proved correct and with the misunderstanding cleared up they were able to move on to the next day. However, before they were able to do so, they were greeted by Yodai Higashizawa, their game master. He had his eyes on Shiki since the first day, recognizing the envy, self-loathing, and disgust in her heart. He made plain that in spite of their efforts, she herself did not want to have the second chance to live. He then informed, for the first time, that Neku was dead and that the entire point of the game was to give him a chance to live again.
The next day was dead. Shiki was absolutely lethargic and had no more interest to play the game. While Neku tried to motivate her more, in the end she gave up and ran away. Neku tracked her down and asked her what was up? She then started explaining to him that in spite of everything she had told him about how awesome Eri was, that she was nowhere near as awesome as she was. Neku was about to ask why that was important when he saw her… or rather, another mirror-copy of her walking across the street in the RG. At the sight of this other-Shiki, Shiki ran away and hid. Neku chased her down again and finally explained everything. The payment to play the game—her most valuable possession—was appearance. In compensation, the game itself allowed her to play it using the guise of her friend, Eri. She explained that at first she was excited, that she was useless and was never successful or popular in the real world. Being Eri in the UG meant that she could be everything she wasn’t – popular and sociable. Outgoing and successful. But with each day they moved closer to the end of the game, she realized that she wasn’t Eri – she just looked like her. Having her face and being her friend only accentuated how much she never could be her friend. She was useless as her friend, and useless as herself. So maybe… she didn’t deserve to live?
Neku was through with this bullshit.
He told her that he wasn’t her friend, and so what? She had her own skills and her own goals, which was more than she ever had. She was patient and kind with him, and no matter what happened in the game that he liked her for who she is. So who cared what Eri was to her? She needed to be herself and how awesome she was? Shiki was pretty awesome too. Shiki smiled and asked him one thing “Do you think, once we get back to the RG and you see the real me that we would be friends?” To which Neku responded, “Do you even need to ask, we’re friends now.” Shiki smiled and once again they saw Eri – the real Eri – standing nearby. She said to a friend that, in spite of how good she was at designing fashion that she was going to give it up. Shiki was gob smacked – she was so good at it! “It just wouldn’t be the same” Eri explained. And she described a friend that she once had, who was a master of the needle. Who could see the flaws in the designs she made and add improvements that she would never make. And just made the cutest stuffed animals you ever saw. Eri explained her greatest regret – that she told her that she shouldn’t be a fashion designer, and that she never got to say that was because she felt that she would be an excellent seamstress. Eri saw them working together: Eri creating designs and Shiki making them real. Shiki was stunned. She never thought that she meant so much to Eri. Before the day was over, Shiki spent the rest of the day standing beside her friend.
Let the White Angels bless you…
The next day was full of energy and anticipation. Both Neku and Shiki knew that their chance to live again was near and that they were going to do it. The challenge was simple – defeat the Game Master. And while the GM was counting on exploiting Shiki’s uncertainty and doubt, within the one day they had together, she had overcome that obstacle of herself. Although it was a tough battle, the two players were able to overcome the GM himself and defeat the game. It was then that they were brought to a black room, deep within Shibuya itself. It was there that they were greeted by a man in black sunglasses. He congratulated them both on their success and informed them of the condition of the game: that only one of the two partners would be able to return to the RG. Furthermore, the person that would be able to win was the one that earned the most points in the session: Shiki Misaki. Shiki objected. She demanded that they both would have their chance to live or that they wouldn’t live at all. But the man refused, stating that was the conditions of the game. Neku informed her, calmly, that it would be okay. That he would play the game again and win. He told Shiki to go on ahead and wait for him, and that he would return again soon. Painfully she agreed, telling him that she would keep waiting at the Statue of Hachiko – the place that he almost killed her on their second day. And that she would be holding her Mr. Mew doll so that he would know it was her.
It was a tearful farewell as the two parted and Shiki was lifted up in a shaft of light. With Neku’s memories returned he was ready to forfeit his most valuable thing in order to win a second week. The man informed him, however that after the first week the thing he valued the most had changed. In exchange for his opportunity to play, he was going to take away… Shiki Misaki.
While there are some similarities between the two, the Shiki that first entered the game and the Shiki that left the UG were two entirely different people. Indeed, it is this dichotomy that makes her unique. While she was uncertain, envious and hated every aspect of herself, now she has a better appreciation for the person who she is and how she is to fit in the RG. While she still has a tendency to be a bit hard on herself, she will most definitely be considerate of her strengths and contributions. She’s very compassionate to other people too, desiring the best for themselves and may become more outspoken in trying to get them to correct their mistakes. With her time with Neku, she has learned from the best. She now knows how to assert herself, which is a far cry from the shirking violet she once was. She still maintain some of this quiet demeanor, but is now more comfortable being a little shy and getting to know people a little bit at a time instead of being the life of the party like her friend Eri.
This is not to say that she’s completely without faults. As mentioned earlier, she still has some problems with her appearance. Because the man at the end of the game was not authorized to return her to the real world, she had never received her original appearance back. This is a point that is particularly painful to her, as in spite of everything she has worked to achieve she is wearing a face that is not her own. In the extreme situation of the game, she has also developed a bit of a temper and may spontaneously state things that were on her mind that she would have held back previously. While most of the time this is beneficial, there are other times when it may not be a good idea and she may end up regretting it.
She also internalizes a lot, which makes externalizing her thoughts a bit of a weird situation. When she’s excited it’s easily evident in every aspect of herself, she will throw her arms up and cheer happily. When she is flustered she’ll wave her hands up in a panic. And when she’s thoughtful and considerate, she tries to make sure that a person’s needs are met. She has high standards for herself and others. This, however, is a double-edge sword as she also has the tendency to be much too hard on herself and unforgiving if an individual really does something wrong. She has an extremely strong sense of right and wrong and is now able to make sure that others know when they aren’t doing something they are supposed to do.
Most of all, however, she is dutiful and loyal. Bonds that Shiki forms are easy and strong. She will give of herself tenfold for her friends and will try in the best of her power to make sure that they have her listening ear if not her support in anything they are trying to do. She is easy to forgive people when they make mistakes once they admit they have done so (though she can be quite cold and pointed to individuals who are arrogant and indifferent to others). She is also quite meticulous in her ability to sew, and pays grave attention to detail. This is most evident in her annoyance of loose buttons. They are so irritating in fact that she possesses a spool and thread and will demand a person hand over the offending button to her immediately so that she could mend it. This also pertains to one of her problems – she sometimes has trouble focusing on details and not recognizing the big picture around her.
Thus, while she may not be the most creative or efficient person, she is no doubt a dutiful and loyal friend who will be more than happy to lend a hand, needle, or clothes to make sure her friends are cared for.
Have you read up on how the game works?: Yept! Flamming Ferret and Shiki will earn money through jobs, mooching and selling off her handmade dolls and clothes.
1st person sample: Okay, so. Um…
…okay. So like, we’re no longer in Shibuya. I got that much. And we’re not even in Japan. Um… So are we really on a space ship? I mean, I suppose the weird slug monsters running the front desk are pretty much sure evidence. And the big observatory deck. And the three-eyed cricket lady with the pretty snide fashion sense… and the… yeah, okay, I’m in space.
So is it true that our home isn’t here? And that everybody back home is dead? But… but that means that Neku, and Beat, and Rhyme, and Eri and everybody else are… and now I’m stuck like… how can this be right? What do you mean they’re all dead? That can’t be right! It’s not fair! We worked so hard to get here and we did everything right and… and…
…and that’s not fair…
…
Um, okay. Sorry about that. I… I’ll be fine. Don’t worry about me. So, um, just go head and CTR + A + Del that all. I… I think I know where I am now.
Oh! My name is Shiki Misaki, btw! It’s a pleasure to meet you all. :)
3rd person sample: Shiki had been flummoxed at the sheer magnitude of her first day as a fashion representative. This was always her dream job, of course, and back home she would have been more than happy to be able to show off the latest designs in the 104 department store. Here on the Thor, though, things were… strange. She somewhat had a feeling there’d be strange stuff to sell like Venusian Silk or maybe Martian Velcro, but the things that were here were just downright bizzare! Zarkonian Spider Fishnet, Drezeebo Cloth du Prominence (which she later found out was made out of the back hair of the Drezeebo… not a pleasant experience for the customer that was looking at it when she freaked out), and even the Farfnufian hat made out of the Dead Drawerooskit. And then there were the clothes that did make sense! Six-armed shirts. TEN-FEET SHORTS. FIFTEEN-EYED SUNGLASSSES. The list of the unusual and strange went on and on.
With the last customer out Shiki planted her face defeated on the display shelf, leaving a rather sizable imprint of her cheek on the glass. The owner of the store told her that she would have to clean it up, and she begrudgingly agreed.
Just then she caught a glimpse of a tiny space alien that had wandered into the store. She explained that she was here to buy something for her mother and but that she didn’t have enough money. “You poor thing.” Shiki stated, looking down at the meager number of credits she had available. It wouldn’t be enough to pay for a can of cola in the vendor – she discovered at least that much in the first few weeks. “I’m sorry… but this isn’t enough here for anything in this store too.” She admitted sadly.
The young alien looked dejected and started to walk out of the store. “No, wait!” Shiki yelled, and beckoned her to come over. Hurriedly she ran over to the back part of the store where she kept her street clothes. She gingerly took something out of her duffle bag before returning back to the young alien. “Would this do?” She opened up her hand and offered the young girl a miniature keychain made in the shape of Mr. Mew, the first stuffed animal she had ever made. The young alien’s eyes opened wide and she said she had never seen anything like it. “That’s because there isn’t anything like it. I made it.” Shiki stated with a grin. “And it’s yours for…” She counted the money. “The two credits you own.”
The young alien saw a good deal when she saw one and immediately took the toy. Shiki was all smiles, even when the store owner came over and chewed her out for the next thirty minutes, explaining that this was their department store and that she was not allowed to sell things that were not part of their line. She didn’t even furrow her eyes or get mad when she explained succinctly. “Then you won’t have to worry about me anymore, I won’t be working here tomorrow, or the next day.” She had seen many things while coming onto the Thor, but knew that, if nothing else, that maybe there was something for her to do here after all.
Questions?: If possible (and necessary) may I have an account for her stuff toy, Mr. Mew? It has no voice and mostly lives to serve Shiki.
Did you put your characters name and fandom in the subject: Yept!
