temporary app storage; terminal; catphones

[ashendreams]

OOC Information
NAME; Delphi
AGE; 25
OTHER CHARACTERS PLAYED; N/A

IC Information
CHARACTER NAME; Kazumi Minegishi [Kazuya Minegishi according to the manga adaptation]
CANON; Devil Survivor [AU]
AGE; 17
TIMELINE; End of the Tokyo Lockdown's sixth day; has not yet chosen a path.
FAMILY TYPES; Virus Busters, Dragon's Roar, Unknown, Jungle Troopers, Deep Savers

WORLD; Devil Survivor takes place in what was a perfectly normal Tokyo, sometime in the early 2000's. Unfortunately for everyone, the barriers between the human world and the world of the supernatural have been breached, resulting in demons being summoned within the Yamanote line area of Tokyo. As a result, that entire area of Tokyo has been locked down by the SDF, and no one is allowed out. Those who manage to get into the Tokyo Lockdown, as it is called, are not allowed back out either. Complicating matters is a computer program allowing the user to summon demons and wield their powers themselves - a program that has been leaked into the hands of the confused and scared populace.

Some die trying to forge a contract with the demon they summoned, for the creatures must be defeated before consenting to be allies. The strongest rule, after all, and if a human is defeated by the demon they summoned - well, they're dead and the demon's free to rampage.
Others succeed in contracting these demons, but abuse the powers of the program for their own purposes: power, security, and so on. With the world seemingly at its end, why not live it up before dying? With everything so dangerous, what's wrong with stepping on everyone else to sit at the top?

At the core of the Lockdown, however, is an ancient war for control of demonkind - the War of Bel. The qualification to enter the war is to possess the title of "Bel". "Beldr", "Jezebel", "Belial"...etc., etc., you get the picture. He or she that becomes the last Bel standing and proves themselves worthy at the Throne of Bel becomes the King of Bel, essentially the ruler of all demonkind, their will overriding even the orders of the summoning program. It's quite the prize, wouldn't you think? Any demon with the title of "Bel" wants in....

...So how, exactly, did a human get recognized as a participant in the War?

(The world of this AU is actually the same as canon - these details were all present in the game. Yes, it's every bit as horrible as one may think, and the fact that it uses sprites and cute anime drawings does not help at all. The parts of this AU that are alternate are the gender, history, and personality of the character - as well as one little power that I added in because clearly being a Devil Survivor isn't suffering already.

The personality, by the way, is largely determined by the player, and there are only vague hints of the character's history in-game. To keep some things constant, however, I am trying to use influences from the manga adaptation.

APPEARANCE; They do say a picture is worth a lot, but here's a description in case the image host decides to go all Murphy's Law on me:
Kazumi is a somewhat small girl with blue hair cropped slightly above her shoulders and blue eyes. She tends to wear a turtlenecked, 3/4-sleeved dark gray minidress over rose-colored bell-bottomed pants. One of her constant accessories is a pair of headphones that resemble cat ears.
PERSONALITY; Kazumi is a bit of an oddball, but one you'd want on your side. Her grasp on reality is sometimes tenuous, and her logic is not always normal. Sometimes it gets weird stares from her friends, other times she sounds like she isn't all that bright. Still other times she's the first to figure out the solution to a problem simply because she doesn't think inside the box or, indeed, anywhere near it. In the Lockdown, it's that last part that has actually saved the group more than once, both mentally and physically. An example of the first kind of help was her reminding everyone that they could raise the number of days they had left to live, as displayed by their "death clocks" - that it wasn't set in stone, that they had hope. An example of the second was how she helped guess at the fact that the supposedly immortal Beldr could, in fact, be defeated - that there had to be something to take him down, that's just how these things work.

She has also managed to remain positive even in the Lockdown, supporting the other people she meets and travels with, keeping their spirits up and giving good advice. The children and civilians trapped in the Lockdown have her sympathy because, in the end, they're just normal people trapped in abnormal and horrible circumstances. They may lash out at everyone else in a panic, yes, but they're only human, and if she can avoid killing them she will. While she is able to stay calm under stress for the most part, threatening a civilian, her friends, or her family is an excellent way to get her angry. Sometimes she can't help returning fire when a demon tries to trash-talk at her, as well. She's only human, after all, and humans are flawed.

On that note, one thing that Kazumi does not often let on is that she has a strong fear of being abandoned or left alone. To some degree, while she is good at endearing herself to others, she's not good at letting others in - she holds them at arm's length, afraid to get attached. If she gets attached to someone, if she relies on them, then it'll only make it hurt worse if they leave or disappear. She's always thought of that as a constant: people disappear, people die, people change and you can't do anything about it. The Lockdown has been good for her in this respect, because she's learned that actually, very little is set in stone. Fate - or what is perceived to be fate - can be changed. Even so, that fear of being left alone, that fear of getting too close to others is still there, and it'll be a while until it's completely gone. Old habits die hard, after all, and the fact that she's thought of herself as "a freak" for a long time doesn't help.

Outside of the Lockdown, outside of serious business happening, Kazumi is actually somewhat quiet and passive. She's friendly, but not often the type to make the first move, as it were. Most of the time she can be found just watching the world go by, or seemingly lost in thought. This is also a flaw of hers, because sometimes it gives the impression that she isn't paying attention to anything.

On a more humorous note, mentioning that she's short for her age is a very, very good way to get her irrationally angry. She's a bit sensitive about it, and probably the only people who can get away with it are her relatives and friends. Even they get yelled at a little if they decide to poke fun at her about it.

HISTORY; Here is a basic summary of what happened in game. It should be noted that none of the events related to the endings have happened yet, as Kazumi has not yet chosen her path. She is still in the sixth day of the Lockdown, as of her pull point.

It's not the events that change in this AU, but rather their circumstances. In this 'verse, Kazumi was not only born female, she was born with a spotty and unreliable ability to see the future - a connection to the supernatural, if you will. It has not made her loved or hated, no, because she has never told anyone about it. It would make her a freak in everyone's eyes, as far as she is concerned, and she'd much rather be normal. She doesn't want to be abandoned or left behind, after all, and this is why. Compounding the matter is the fact that, well, humans aren't really meant to have that kind of power - or if they are, they need to be trained to handle it.

What this basically means is that having this ability took a physical toll on her and she was frequently hospitalized in her youth as a result. Over the years, she slowly became depressed and withdrawn due to the horrible things she saw, and due to her near-isolation during her hospital trips. Her only relief from this was watching the world outside (colorful, bright, shining, the opposite of her visions) and her parents visiting when they could. In all honesty, if it hadn't been for her family, she might have become completely detached from the real world. To a degree, befriending Yuzu and Atsuro saved her as well - they never knew about her "illness" (her hospital stays had become less frequent as she grew older,) but just having friends, nice people to talk to, that was enough to keep her centered. After all, if she lost herself, they'd be sad.

Her attitude, as noted in the Personality section, started to change over the course of the Lockdown, helped along by her being in the right place at the right time in order to save lives. ... Needless to say, this was no coincidence; this was her finally being able to do something instead of helplessly watching a tragedy about to occur. She was able to get everyone in place to save a life at the right time because she knew exactly where to go and when they needed to get there by thanks to her visions.

Funny what finally having a little agency can do for a person's well-being, isn't it?

SAMPLES
FIRST PERSON; Is it weird that I'm glad to be here? Maybe it is, but things were kind of unpleasant back home, you see. It's nice to have a break from being trapped. Even so, I wish my friends were here with me too. Then again, this device can...ah, right! Right, there we go. Scratch what I was saying earlier, I have a request if you all don't mind. If the words "Tokyo Lockdown" have any meaning to you, please contact me, all right? It's not fair that I'm the only one who managed to get out of there.

[That, and she doesn't want to be alone -- But that doesn't need to be talked about, now, does it.]

I'm guessing that getting out isn't as easy as getting in here, right? So - my name is Kazumi Minegishi and I'm new here, and I guess I'll be staying here for a while. It's nice to meet everyone.
THIRD PERSON;
Kazumi supposed she should have just thanked Culumon, taken the devices, and walked away. After all, there were some very important issues that needed to be taken care of right then and there, like learning more about the world and finding out if anyone she knew was there too. It really wasn't, after all, right that she was the only one to get out - especially since it left both the Lockdown and the War of Bel in limbo.

She really should have remained more serious. However, right now, there was one issue that kept her from doing so. That issue was the fact that Culumon was actually really, really adorable, and like most, she had a soft spot for small cute things. The fact that the small, cute thing was asking to play? After six days of doing the opposite of playing, this was not an offer Kazumi could turn down even if she wanted to. Besides, surely a brief round of tag wouldn't kill anyone, right? One brief break to play hide-and-go-seek?

Oh, heck, there really wasn't any justifying it to herself or anyone else - she wanted to play with the cute critter. It was why she'd been so fond of keeping Jack Frosts in the party, after all, and why she'd been so willing to help Midori save that one Frost who had decided to become a hee-ro of love and justice. So, with a nod and a bright smile, she replied to Culumon's request. "Sure, I'll play with you! How does a game of hide-and-go-seek sound?"