Elaine's OC Repository

Natsuko

2011-07-09T15:58:00.000-07:00

NATSUKO
Story: BoyxBoy
Age: 25

Natsuko, if anything, is bored. She's a lesbian in a house of strange gay men she doesn't particularly like very much--although whether she has ever liked another human being is a little hard to believe when one encounters those empty, stone-gray eyes and her dead pan snide remarks. In fact, while she avoids the other tenants often, the interractions she does have with them are laced with derision. One may wonder how Natsuko, a lone lesbian, got here--and what she may be hiding under that cold exterior. The fact she was seen going in Momotani-san's room during the landlord’s absence makes her that much more suspicious. Could it be Natsuko knows more about Momotani-san than the others? Do they have a relationship--or is Natsuko simply trying to find out more about this enigmatic landlord?

Izanagi

2011-07-09T15:55:00.000-07:00

IZANAGI
Story: BoyxBoy
Age: 24

Human furniture. That's one way to think of Izanagi. He kind of serves as decoration. Kind of takes the strong and silent type concept too far. No one hears him talk. No one even knows which room he sleeps in (yes Momotani Manor is ridiculously massive, but still). It's rare to see him move from room to room let alone show emotion. You're bound to find Izanagi eating--cereal and cake are his favorite--but he doesn't seem to do much else. Okay, he shows emotion sometimes, but it might just come in the form of pausing a little longer before taking another bite of Rice Crispies. And sometimes something a little ominous emerges out of Izanagi’s placidity...like a strange glint in his eye when someone eats the last of the Cocoa Puffs? Or some sign that maybe there's an Izanagi the tenants don't know under the surface…?

Takehiko

2011-07-09T15:53:00.000-07:00

TAKEHIKO
Story: BoyxBoy
Age: 19

If you thought all those clashing personalities would have a rough time getting along, wait until Takehiko comes onto the scene. The second he steps through the mansion door and demands a "man servant" he makes enemies out of several of his roommates. Like most anime characters from families of means, Takehiko's family is RIDICULOUSLY rich. We're talking full gyms and tennis courts and maids and butlers in a castle-like mansion where arranged marriages take place kind of rich. Too bad (for Takehiko) his aunt and uncle got sick of looking after him while his parents toured Europe and decided to kick him out. The last thing the ragtag bunch at Momotani Manor wants is to become “the help” for this spoiled brat--except maybe the servile and demure Kaoru, who is used to doing work around the house. But could Kaoru show this self-centered snob what it means to befriend someone? Sounds unlikely until Takehiko finds out the hard way what it's like to be overpowered.

Shota

2011-07-09T15:51:00.000-07:00

SHOTA
Story: BoyxBoy
Age: 16

Out of all the tenants, Shota may seem the most out of place. While many of the tenants engage is endless bickering and petty fights, Shota plugs along on his gameboy or goes out to play soccer and attend school and seems, at first glance, completely detached from his housemates. None of the tenants can ever recall seeing the boy smile or laugh. But when Katashi takes it on himself to “save” the kid from being “turned gay” by forcing him to do manly things, like play football and go “babe-watching” the kid’s rarely seen wrath is revealed. Shota starts to bring out paternal instincts from more of Momotani’s self-centered tenants than one might think possible--and that seems to include the socially awkward Manabu when he decides to support and encourage Shota at his soccer practices. But what if Shota wants something a little more from his nerdy “big brother” figure?

Manabu

2011-07-09T15:48:00.000-07:00

MANABU
Story: BoyxBoy
Age: 21

Wringing his hands in the background and silently wishing everyone would just get along, Manabu is a bit of an oddball among the tenants. He's not about to stubbornly ignore the other tenants' wants and needs solely for his own or impose his personality on others. He'd rather they just argue amongst themselves. Manabu has been at the mansion some time and has learned that his striving to be a mediator or helper in all situations will get him into trouble with these roommates, so he tries to be helpful best he can--by nodding, smiling and sweat-dropping without provoking any of the the massive personalities head butting around him. A huge computer geek, he often holes up in his room to play games or rebuild his computer. But with the arrival of Katashi, Manabu seems more than willing to help and forms an unlikely alliance with the straight man--in his intensifying feud with the heterophobic Atasuke. But we all know it’s all in good fun, Manabu knows how to play it safe, it's what he's good at...

Kaoru

2011-07-09T15:45:00.000-07:00

KAORU
Story: BoyxBoy
Age: 21

Kaoru, like many of the other tenants, has a backstory shrouded in mystery. At the time of the story, he dresses and acts like a woman, but doesn't quite identify as one. The self-appointed home-maker of the mansion, Kaoru finds joy in cooking, cleaning, and helping around the manor. On the surface, Karou seems painfully shy and a people-pleaser to a fault, but one may wonder if Kaoru really is this obsequious in nature. If Kaoru's servile nature is sincere, was he always that way? Though his crush on Katashi seemed painfully obvious when the newbie arrived, one may wonder how Kaoru really feels about the other tenants. The unlikeliest person may be able to see the truth behind Kaoru’s enigmatic smile.

Masu

2011-07-09T15:42:00.000-07:00

MASU
Story: BoyxBoy
Age: 26

Donning leather, spikes and the occasional tutu, Masu wants nothing more than to put you in handcuffs and cause you more pain and pleasure than you have ever felt--or so he says. No one is safe from his creepy leers and advances, not even Shota, the youngest (and clearly under-aged) tenant. But more than freaky sex, what Masu seems to enjoy most is getting a rise out of his roommates by habitually hitting just the right nerve with his antics (particularly Atasuke’s, whom he ridicules when a disastrous hair cut "mangles" his once butt-length, generous locks). How does this childish S & M jester keep managing to get the pretentious and humorless Atasuke in bed?

Katashi

2011-07-09T15:39:00.000-07:00

KATASHI
Story: BoyxBoy
Age: 24

If anyone does not want to be at Momotani Manor, it's this guy. Probably the epitome of the stereotypically macho heterosexual male: a football-loving, pizza-strained-t-shirt-wearing slob, Katashi had no idea what he was getting into when he woke up in his bed, out in his front yard, to find his mother had kicked him out in a post-it about a great (read: RENT-FREE) deal in the classifieds for a room at a large, secluded manor. Narrow-minded, homophobic and all-around idiotic, Katashi is in over his head when he realizes all his roommates are gay or bi men--except the only "pair of boobs" in the manor (which, alas, are "lesbian boobs"). Will Katashi learn to be more accepting and open-minded? More well dressed? Less gross? Or at the very least, less unbearable? Why does he decide to stay at Momotani Manor? Maybe Katashi has more in common with the tenants than he might think…

Atasuke

2011-07-09T15:34:00.000-07:00

ATASUKE
Story: BoyxBoy
Age: 27

One of Momotani Manor's first tenants, Atasuke feels so at home at the mansion that he'll put out his cigarette butts everywhere and anywhere--whether that means on the couch the tenants share in the living room, or in another tenants’ (more than likely Katashi's) food. If Atasuke has to fit a stereotype, it would be the proud, flaming gay man--well originally. Now he's just more an ass hole than anything else--a well dressed ass hole who loves to shop at high end stores. If the heterosexual neanderthal Katashi flipping the channel from Project Runway to the Super Bowl weren’t enough, Atasuke also gets headaches from his bizarre sexual relationship with Masu, a lover of S & M and pranks. Why does Atasuke, a dead-pan, sarcastic, no-nonsense fashionista regularly sleep with Masu, who acts like a child perpetually on a sugar high? Especially since Masu annoys him more than anything else? At first Atasuke may seem indifferent toward the other tenants, but his haughty behavior often contains a hint of bitterness and even cruelty. Why might Atasuke be acting this way? What has brought him to the manor and what is the life he left behind?

BoyxBoy

2011-07-09T15:29:00.001-07:00

BoyxBoy

Characters:
Katashi
Atasuke
Masu
Kaoru
Manabu
Shota
Takehiko
Izanagi
Natsuko

[Note: This story was created jointly by both me and my friend Erica. Erica is a writer and she has done the majority of the work developing this story and its characters, so I suckered her into writing these bios. Enjoy!]

On one of my many visits to Elaine's house during our high school years, I thought, "what if we made a yaoi parody in which every character archetype/stereotype was represented?" We'd put all these gay men in one mansion, add in a homophobic straight guy and a lesbian and see what hilarity would ensue. Suddenly, Elaine was drawing up the characters and I was making up their backstories. Little did we know that the inhabitants of Momotani Manor would have surprising depths to reveal to us--or that the enigmatic owner of the manor would prove stranger than our wildest expectations. Thus our silly story, over many years of character development and late night talks over the phone, became about humanity and facing life--as well as gay sex and hi jinx.

Momotani-san
Age: ???

The enigmatic owner of the mansion who, for reasons unknown, allows all tenants to stay for free and even provides groceries and toiletries. None of the tenants have known direct communication with Momotani-san. Although, given that they get such a sweet gig, why would they question it? Momotani-san has always left messages in notes for the tenants and, as far as is known, has never met any of them face to face. Why the secrecy? Could the unveiling of Momotani-san's identity reveal more about all the tenants themselves?

Nate

2010-08-25T01:44:00.000-07:00

NATE
Age: 20
Story: Angel Reincarnate

The first Nathaniel in the story, in [date undecided], was an English youth from an aristocratic family. He was the black sheep, never enjoying the social gatherings that were the reinforcement of his status. Yet it was at one of these parties that he met Rhamiel, who was then concealing his identity. Fast-forward to modern day, where he would rather be called Nate, and a cursed life has left scars on his soul. He is much more sarcastic and jaded than his naive, sweet past counterpart, though deep down he is still just as fragile. He grew up in England in a well-to-do family, when suddenly his father was arrested for evading taxes and they became poor. He was 15 when his mother could not afford to support both him and his little sister, so she sent him to live with an old associate in America. But, upon arriving, he found that the associate was gone, and he was stuck. He has basically been working to earn money to live ever since.
He works in a convenience store when Rhamiel finds him. He is initially very put off by Rhamiel’s insistent claims that they’ve met, he is in love, and he is an angel. But as Rhamiel is so persistent, he ends up spending more time with him than he would’ve chosen to himself. He gets to know him better and even begins to believe his story about being an angel.. a little. As they grow closer, Nate’s toughened outer shell starts to slip.
He doesn’t make enough to afford a real city apartment, so he mostly stays in motels. His whole life since coming to America was dedicated to earning his keep, so much so that he has lost sight of the value in living. It’s Rhamiel that starts to show it to him again.

Rhamiel

2010-08-25T01:39:00.000-07:00

RHAMIEL
Age: n/a
Story: Angel Reincarnate

Rhamiel, previously known as the angel of Empathy, has always been fond of humans. He fell in love with Nathaniel in [the past-- date undecided], a crime for which he was punished with an eternity of confinement, which he managed to bargain down to banishment to Earth as a human. He is still in love with Nate's modern reincarnation even though the modern Nate is rather more.. bitter and unpleasant. As an angel, he indulged himself in feeling some human emotions, but was never able to feel them in a totally human way until... well... becoming human. This makes his experience on Earth as a human, initially, quite confusing and unpleasant. But soon he learns to sort through them, and becomes more comfortable. He is free of the worldly concerns which are bred into Nate. He is quite alright just bumming around the city and enjoying the little things in life. Even though he is no longer an embodiment of empathy, he is still pretty representative of it. So people (including Nate) are often taken aback or a little put off with how open and... aggressively friendly he is. But he’s not easy to discourage, so that’s ok.
When he first finds Nate, he is overwhelmed with joy and rather tactlessly announces his reason for being there right off the bat. Nate proceeds to label him a crazy person and not believe anything he says. The difference between the Nathaniel he knew and the modern one are so vast that he despairs for a bit, but of course, soon recovers. He starts to get to know this new Nate, and as he does they grow closer.
He can keep himself occupied for days with almost anything; he meets people, walks and explores the city, climbs trees, and other general things you wouldn’t think of doing to entertain yourself unless you had all the time in the world and the patience of a buddhist monk.
Also, he really enjoys thrift stores.

Angel Reincarnate

2010-08-25T01:36:00.000-07:00

Angel Reincarnate (temporary title)

Characters:
Rhamiel
Nate

Balthial
Laila

Rhamiel was an angel, before the actual story takes place. He was the angel of Empathy, and thus was quite fond of humans and Earth, so he often spent years-long visits down there. It’s during one such visit, while posing as a nobleman in [date undecided] England, that he meets a young son of an aristocratic family named Nathaniel. The two become friends, then grow closer, and eventually become romantically involved. Long story short, Nathaniel’s family finds out, and on the night before the two are scheduled to leave England together on a ship bound for the New World, they are attacked; Nathaniel is taken away and Rhamiel is killed. This wouldn’t ordinarily faze an angel, but Rhamiel soon finds himself back up in heaven, faced with punishment for promising his angelic love to a human.
His punishment initially is to stay trapped, with nothing but a window into the human world which he must use to watch Nathaniel and subsequent reincarnations’ lives, which are now cursed with misfortune. When he cannot take it any longer, he begs his close friend Balthial for a different punishment. They eventually decide that since his crime was being an angel in love with a human, that a fitting and practical solution would be to give him one human lifespan. And so Rhamiel is sent down to Earth once again, only this time it’s the modern age, and things are different than he remembers.

Maria

2010-08-24T15:55:00.000-07:00

MARIA
Story: untitled

Maria is a robot built by Klaus, and, according to him, a masterpiece. He built her so she would be indiscernible from any other person, so R.K mostly utilizes her for recon and spying. Klaus put special effort into making her as customizable as possible, being able to change her height, build, and aspects of her facial structure to effectively turn her into a completely new disguise every time. Her default form is a short, slim girl.

Klaus being Klaus, he also put in a bunch of inconsequential things that are entertaining to him only. She knows how to paint (like a printer!), juggle, knit, and play every card game Klaus has ever discovered, among other things.

Klaus

2010-08-24T15:49:00.000-07:00

KLAUS
Story: untitled
Age: 22

Klaus is the chipper, slightly eccentric keeper of Maria and one of R.K’s inner circle. He used to live on an upper-tier level, and was projected to be a top-tier robotics engineer by age 25. He made it by 19, and was about to start his career with Superhuman when the “Superhuman massacre” occurred, the first large crime in many decades. Almost immediately afterwards, he was recruited by R.K personally, and agreed to join her movement. He has become quite agoraphobic since the massacre.
He’s always loved working with his hands, so he is glad to be actually building things for R.K instead of the design and theory work he would have been doing for Superhuman. Also, since he is already part of an illegal group, he can build whatever he wants and not worry. He’s definitely not in it for all the serious reasons everyone else is, and thus he is usually much happier than they are. He is quite casual, but he refers to those around him as “Miss” and “Sir” a lot. You can always count on him to be working away with a grin on his face.
He is particularly attached to Maria, and fawns over her as if she were his real little sister sometimes. R.K doesn’t really approve, but she leaves him alone about it because they’re both so valuable. Pretty much everyone around him writes off his antics as childish ignorance.
Also, he is a packrat and collects things pertaining to history. He can be like a one man museum sometimes.

Gavan

2010-08-24T15:46:00.000-07:00

GAVAN
Story: untitled
Age: 26

He is like the whole team’s cool big brother. He and Graziana grew up together and are as close as siblings, and he acts as a calming agent for her. He can be (similarly to Graziana) quite bitter towards those on levels above, and he definitely feels the sting of the world’s hatred every day. He’s sensitive to it. But he keeps his chin up and his mind clear, keeping occupied with things like reading and exercise, or helping Klaus with his eccentric endeavors. He hands out wisdom whenever possible. He’s also quite superstitious and believes avidly in horoscopes and astrology.

Graziana

2010-08-24T15:44:00.000-07:00

GRAZIANA
Story: untitled
Age: 26

Graziana is functionally R.K’s second in command, though she often has moral disputes with R.K’s decisions. She is very consistent and strict with her actions and values. Understandably, she is under a lot of pressure, making her seem really srsface most of the time. She can be pretty judgemental, as she has been put through a lot of strife in her life just because she is a black woman on the lowest level, and that has embittered her against those on levels above. This is something R.K often admonishes her about. While she stands firmly as a strong leader in front of everyone, she relaxes and is able to mull over her feelings around Gavan. The two are as close as if they were siblings, though they are not blood related. She is skilled at sneaking and sniping, though she can still handle a handgun better than most and carries two on her at all times.

Jana

2010-08-24T15:42:00.000-07:00

JANA
Story: untitled

Jana is Paige’s PRA, and is always kept updated with the latest Octagon technology so she is top of the line. Nothing less for the daughter of the man who invented them. However, when Jana follows Paige to the base of R.K’s group for the first time, a function programmed into all PRAs causes her to send a report of illegal activity, so Klaus has to subdue her and hack her before she can send it fully. As a result, she would now be classified as an illegal mod if anyone checked; for instance, if she needed repairs.

Her programming leads her to act as a caring and supportive mentor figure for Paige. Also, she’s 6’4’’.

Paige

2010-08-24T15:40:00.000-07:00

PAIGE
Story: untitled
Age: 24

Paige is an average citizen and the daughter of the pioneer of modern robotics technology. Even though her father’s intelligence bore him to the top level of society, she is of average sheeply intelligence herself. She is also a rare exception in the eyes of society in that because of her father’s connections, she is introduced to--and given a job in--a much higher level than she would ordinarily find herself in. Were she anyone else’s daughter, she would likely be answering phones or filing things. But she is instead a news reporter. This is the sort of wrench that could be thrown in that none of the sheeply thinkers would realize is even a problem. It is because of her job as a reporter that she is exposed to the anarchical lowest level, and because of that she is targeted by R.K and her group for being an outlet in the media, as well as the daughter of the inventor of the technology they’re trying to limit.

Anyway, Paige herself is not helped by being given a higher job than she would normally get. The way the system is set up, she would live a completely normal, and therefore happy and blissfully carefree life if she had been given a job tailored for her level. But instead she is placed in a job she could never be ready for. Thus, she has always had a vague recognition that she doesn’t quite belong, that her peers tend to look down on her, though she wouldn’t be able to tell you why. It’s a feeling that hangs over her hauntingly. She doesn’t understand much about other people. After falling in with R.K and her group, Paige is suddenly aware of things outside the sheltered world in which she lives, and everything she’s been taught starts to seem wrong to her. Understandably, this makes her rather paranoid. But she also starts to become slightly more independent, moralistic, and determined.

The only one she can fall back on is her PRA Jana, who has been something of a best friend for her throughout her life.

Personality wise, she is like most sheep: quiet, obedient, optimistic and calm, as well as easily broken.

R.K

2010-08-24T15:34:00.000-07:00

R.K
Story: untitled
Age: ??

R.K is known by many names by different people. Among those close to her, she is called “that radio kid” (Gavan), Commander (Graziana), Ms. Rook (Klaus), and R.K by pretty much everyone else. She wasn’t always the leader of the geurrilla movement. They found her, a young girl wearing a local mid-level high school’s uniform, after she completely hijacked their radios and facilities. After that, she took control of their operation and led them to a large period of growth and success. Her abilities seem superhuman, and many in the geurrilla group believe her to be an agent of a higher power. She is revered among her comrades. Her inner circle consists of Graziana, Gavan, and Klaus. Even though they are her most trusted, she still keeps many secrets from them.

She acknowledges that there will always be those humans who try to be above others, but believes this is an endless cycle of separation and equalization. People build up, then fall down to baseline again. Because of this, she believes her movement is an integral part of this process. She wears her mask so she is seen not as a person, but as the embodiment of a force.

RK story (untitled)

2010-08-24T15:23:00.000-07:00

RK thing (I don’t have a name for it yet. orz)

Characters:
R.K
Paige
Jana
Graziana
Gavan
Klaus
Maria
Erebelle

It's 2200, and corporations have finally found a way to sell peace.

The story takes place in a utopian future where humans are sorted based on every characteristic; skin tone, gender, intelligence/aptitude, etc. They are bred, and subsequently conditioned throughout their schooling and placed into society at the appropriate level. Corporations have bought out the government almost entirely, ensuring that their tightly controlled monopolies won’t be disturbed. By controlling human nature, stability is created. History only exists as far back as the books will tell you, and no one is really clear on how far that actually is. Everyone has lived this way so long, they cannot imagine any other way.

That is, at least, the situation of the people on top. The society is, literally, built in levels. To avoid crowding, whole new surfaces were created and installed in layers above the Earth’s ground. The poor stayed below, and slowly, the sun was blotted out for them almost entirely. And those privileged ones who live on layers above grow steadily more unaware of the plight of those living underneath them, blocked from sight by the very ground they walk on.

The story revolves around one particular guerrilla movement, based on the lowest level. Their focus is to stop the development of the technology which holds the fabric of the society together (specifically, the robots; they symbolize the arrogance of the upper level brass and the mindlessness of the mid-level sheep types). It is, according to their leader, a desperate attempt to reunite the people with the Reason they gave up long ago.

“Sheep” is defined as an average mid to upper-mid level citizen, raised for obedience and mindlessness and taught nothing they need not know. It is generally a disdainful term.

Robots
In a matter of years, robotics was advanced far enough to create humanoids capable of fooling even the sharpest of eyes, thanks to one Dr. Christianson [this is a placeholder name], the father of modern robotics (and father of the main character, incidentally) He is the leader of the original Personal Robotic Assistant manufacturing and selling company, Octagon. Since then, and thanks also to a large-scale crashing of the (now antiquated) internet by a group of hackers many years in the past, PRAs have become the primary use of technology both personally and in businesses. Their technology develops rapidly, but the last stand of the strangled internal government was to pass a regulation on the new robots: they must never create a robot with sentience.
There are limitations to mainstream PRAs that can make them easy to pick out from a crowd of normal humans. Most are not built for running, and will promptly lose their balance if they try. Also, speech is synthesized (though some manufacturers play this up on purpose). The main two PRA manufacturers (Octagon and Superhuman) do not support modding or custom building, thus it is generally regarded as a bad idea to do so.

Bei

2010-08-24T14:19:00.000-07:00

BEI
Age: 15

Bei is a Pokemon Trainer OC. She is basically a second incarnation of a character I used in a Pokemon RP with my sister many years ago based on the game, so she hails from Littleroot town in Hoenn, same as in the game. She never planned on becoming a pokemon trainer, though an excuse to do so would have been welcome to her. Her excuse came in the form of an injured Treecko she found in her garden one day, with a clubfoot. She took it to Professor Birch, who suggested she bring it to a woman outside of Rustboro who takes care of disabled Pokemon. Bei enthusiastically agrees to go, and her mother lets her take their pet Poochyena along. And bam, there you go, Pokemon journey.

She studied a lot about Pokemon on her own out of interest, and when she was a little girl she wanted to do Pokemon Contests. She grew out of that, but she still has the ribbon she won in an informal first grade Pokemon Contest, which she takes with her and wears on her hat. She is generally very optimistic and genuinely excited about things. She’s quite country-bumpkin-like, actually.

Her Pokemon:
- Oliver: This Treecko was the reason she started her Pokemon journey. He is a baby, and small enough to fit in Bei’s chest pocket. Bei was worried he’d been abandoned by his family because he couldn’t climb or run well enough to survive. He’s rather standoffish and self-conscious about his foot, so Bei bought him a pair of doll-sized socks to wear to cover them up. When she decides to keep him and teach him how to battle instead of giving him to the woman at Rustboro, his confidence starts to grow and he becomes a little more cocky.
- Chico: she is the pet Poochyena that Bei grew up with. Bei’s mother originally sent Chico along to keep Bei safe, but it turns out she’s rather a coward. After she evolves, though, she becomes one of Bei’s best pokemon.
- Captain: Bei caught this Lotad in the area around Oldale town. He is the first Pokemon she caught in a pokeball. She named him Captain because he likes to march around in a jolly and bizarre fashion.
- Waverly: He is a Ralts that she caught on her way to Petalburg. Ralts had always been her favorite pokemon, so she went a little bonkers when she learned they live around Petalburg. Waverly is quite timid, and she kind of pampers him and doesn’t use him in battle much until all her other pokemon have evolved at least once, and Waverly starts to feel left out.
- Electrike: This pokemon came into Bei’s posession after she raced it on the cycling road. She is quite wild and enjoys battles. She picks on cowardly Chico a lot; the two develop a rivalry.
- Trapinch: Bei catches this pokemon later in her journey, in the desert. He is the calm, reliable type.

Amun

2010-08-14T12:31:00.000-07:00

AMUN
Age: n/a
Story: Soul's Circus

Amun is a fortune teller who wears a mask. According to Stefan, he is one of the oldest members of the circus. He shares a room with Andie, Yoska, and later Joshua. He is one of the few people who can get away with pushing Stefan's buttons. Lots of people go to him and ask for their fortune or for advice, but who knows how accurate they are? He is, predictably, quite mysterious.
When Joshua is first brought to the circus, Amun gives him a magic mirror that allows him to see what his heart deeply desires to see and tells him not to show it to anyone since it can be used for dangerous things (he refuses to elaborate).

Yoska

2010-08-14T12:28:00.000-07:00

YOSKA
Age: n/a
Story: Soul's Circus

Before he started turning into a lion, Yoska was the "strong man" sideshow. Now he's just the lion. As he is a lion, he doesn't talk very much. He is more contemplative and intelligent that he looks, and he is unusual in that he can remember lots of things (well, compared to everyone else working in the circus of course). This reflects a strong will, and is probably another reason he thinks so much; he concentrates on not forgetting the things that are important to him. Those important things might be what's keeping him from going full-lion.

Andromeda

2010-08-14T12:24:00.000-07:00

ANDROMEDA
Age: n/a
Story: Soul's Circus

Andromeda, or Andie for short, is the key trapeze and acrobatic performer in the Soul's Circus. She has very optimistic, sunny disposition. Though she loves making friends, she is rather oblivious to the emotions of everyone around her. Her eyes appear doll-like and painted on, and her left arm/both legs from the knees down are made of wood. This combined with her lack of interpersonal understanding, worse-than-most memory, and bizarrely constant happy mood seem to indicate she is "broken" somehow.
She is very athletic and flexible. For her performances, she often screws a hook onto the end of her wooden arm to assist her in grabbing the trapeze. She has lots of different attachments for her arm that assist her in various tasks.

Stefan

2010-08-14T12:17:00.000-07:00

STEFAN
Age: n/a
Story: Soul's Circus

The ringmaster and head-honcho of the Soul's Circus where souls are trapped and contracted to entertain demon spirits for eternity in exchange for some favor. He commands attention with his confident and authoritative outward persona. But in private, he becomes much more relaxed and childish, almost like a spoiled brat. This is a side of him that only Joshua knows. However, this side of him may be yet another facade, as he is still extremely secretive to everyone, even Joshua, and he makes a point of trusting no one. He takes a very special interest in Joshua, for reasons he refuses to discuss.
He recognizes the world of the Soul's Circus to be artificial and incomplete, a world made out of despair and hatred. Because he can see the world for what it is, he can work between the rules to do fantastic, seemingly "magical" things.

Joshua

2010-08-14T12:12:00.000-07:00

JOSHUA
Age: 18
Story: Soul's Circus

Joshua is rash and headstrong, and he likes to impress people, but as he spends time lamenting the loss of his sister due to his own incompetence, he becomes more introspective and quiet. His energetic self is sparked more after he makes friends with his first roommates, Yoska and Andie, as well as when he is around Stefan. He is one of the few people involved in Stefan's private life, and is thus one of the few to experience Stefan's childish and mercurial side. He can't stand being out of the loop, so he gets upset when he feels Stefan is keeping secrets from him. he often goes out of his way to disobey Stefan just because he is so suspicious of the man.
He was given a mirror by Amun when he first arrived that allows him to see what his heart truly desires to see. He uses it to check on his sister, and he gets obsessed with it. It's also how he keeps from forgetting how he came to the circus in the first place.

Molly
Age: 9
She adores her big brother Joshua and strives to be like him in every way. She copies his sardonic sense of humor, repeats things he says, and brags about him to everyone. They are very close. After Joshua dies in her place, she has a very hard time getting over it. Her whole personality seems disrupted after that accident, and it upsets Joshua to watch this happen to his sister.

Soul's Circus

2010-08-14T12:10:00.000-07:00

SOUL'S CIRCUS

Characters:
Joshua
Stefan
Andromeda
Yoska
Amun

Joshua was walking his little sister, Molly, home from school one day when he got impatient and walked out into the street before the crossing signal shone. He and his sister were struck by a bus, but he awakened mysteriously unhurt. That is when he is confronted by the enigmatic man Stefan, who tells him that he is not yet dead, but his sister is. He offers to return Molly's soul to her body in exchange for control over Joshua's. Joshua agrees, and is taken to the Soul's Circus, of which Stefan is the ringleader and big-boss type person.
The Soul's Circus is an afterlife where the souls are made to entertain demons' spirits forever. When someone is taken to the circus, they sign a contract for their eternal soul and are put to work. The souls quickly start to lose their memory of their previous life and become mindlessly devoted to their life in the Circus.
The entire world seems to be limited to the gigantic circus tent, surrounding buildings for lodging and various things, and the immediate area around it including a single dirt road and bridge. The tent appears to be placed on top of a mountain surrounded by a dark abyss.
The souls, when brought to the world, are forever tied down by their rigid perceptions of "reality" and physical things like "gravity" and "pain", and so they take on a corporeal form based on their own self-image. This means they can be injured, or even die (an event which causes the soul to believe it is dead/accept death, rendering the soul effectively so)

Lowell

2010-08-10T23:25:00.000-07:00

RYAN LOWELL
Age: 38
Story: Alone Boy

He and Halsey are partners in the Yui project. Where Halsey is the science-doctor in charge of Yui, Lowell is the medical doctor in charge of Yui. He mostly stays in "the back room" with the monitors, observing Yui's vitals and other such boring things. He seems weathered, worn by life, though he is only 38. Something may have happened in his past, in his career, as he maintains he cannot be a normal doctor. His sense of humor is sarcastic, and a lot of his comments seem to blow over Halsey's head. He seems to find Sean's exaggerated dislike of everything to be quite humorous.
At his core, he is a follower. His sardonic attitude serves to cover up all the fear inside; fear for his life, job, dignity, among other things.
He used to smoke, and when he couldn't quit completely he became addicted to lollipops instead.

Halsey

2010-08-10T23:13:00.000-07:00

CHRISTINE HALSEY
Age: 26
Story: Alone Boy

She is the one in charge of Yui, known simply as Halsey. Her father was a brilliant geneticist who made breakthroughs in the fields of stem cells and cloning. Halsey graduated years early from university and got a PHD in order to follow in her father's footsteps and take up his research. Yui's project is funded mainly by her inheritance from her father; however, soon the money starts to dwindle. She tries to get private funding, but to no avail.

Halsey is brilliant, even more so than her father, but her personality is what keeps her from being the perfect scientist. Her emotional attachment to the subject matter of Yui's project blinds her to the immoral nature of the whole thing. She tends to be impulsive and naive. The longer the experiment runs, the deeper she digs herself into her own denial of her guilt. However, if she hadn't gone through this whole thing, Yui wouldn't even exist. So there is this contradiction and confusion that causes her to simplify her thinking and reasoning greatly so she doesn't have to face the magnitude of what she's done.

Sean

2010-08-10T23:08:00.000-07:00

SEAN
Age: 18
Story: Alone Boy

He lived alone after his brother Tyler was killed in a car accident. He was extremely close with his brother, and when he died he started to feel disillusioned with the rest of humanity. Living in a big, busy city, he scorns society for being heartless and bureaucratic. He dreams of escaping somehow. Depressed, he maintains that the only thing that those skyscrapers are ever good for is jumping off of.
He stumbles upon Yui by accident. When Halsey sees how interested and worked up Yui gets over seeing Sean, she asks if he would like to help out with the experiment. Feeling he has nothing outside left to live for, he agrees, and starts to live with Yui. He is judgmental and stubborn, and dislikes Halsey and Lowell at first. But Yui is like a spark of hope for him, and in getting to know Yui he starts to understand the rest of humanity as well.
He is the one that brings Yui's psychic abilities to light.
He wants to be a writer or poet, but his writing was mediocre at best because he tended towards close-mindedness and lack of insight after Tyler died. He can't exactly practice while he's living with Yui, but his thinking and insight become sharper while he is there, so I'm sure he will be better for it by the time this ordeal is over.

Yui

2010-08-10T23:04:00.000-07:00

YUI
Age: 2
Story: Alone Boy

Yui was born, artificially constructed, in a lab. He is the result of years of research by both Dr. Halsey and her father before her. After "birth", he grew at a greatly accelerated rate, but by the time the story takes place it has pretty much evened out. His body is far from perfect; alongside issues concerning digestion and blood pressure, his lungs are sensitive to his body temperature, which is sensitive to his environment/stress level/diet. This means his life has to be very closely monitored and every element measured carefully. If the temperature of his room gets too low, for instance, he may start to have trouble breathing. Sometime in the first year of his life, he suffered a minor stroke which messed up the part of his brain that puts out speech, which explains his bizarre and often hard to understand speech patterns. As his life has gone on, though, all these elements have slowly started to stabilize.

Shortly after Sean comes into the picture, it is discovered that Yui has emerging psychic abilities. Though he is illiterate, he would often write down pages of Shakespeare (apparently out of a book Halsey carried with her) word for word, without even seeing the pages. When this was discovered, Halsey started experimenting with other avenues of his ESP, such as moving things with his mind. His unusually strong empathy may be a product of the ESP as well, and it seems like the kinetic/energy side of his powers are stronger when he is frustrated, angry, or afraid, and the empathy/understanding side is stronger when he is content or happy.

He grows attached to Sean very quickly. Eventually they become so close he begins to communicate with Sean on an almost wordless level, whereas in the beginning he would always become frustrated and discouraged with his inability to get his thoughts across verbally.

Alone Boy

2010-08-10T22:52:00.001-07:00

ALONE BOY

Characters:
Yui
Sean
Halsey
Lowell

Alone Boy is about a boy, Sean, who accidentally stumbles into a lab and meets a mysterious boy named Yui.

Related Pages: n/a

Max

2010-08-10T22:15:00.000-07:00

MAX
Tsundere bunny boy who hates wearing pants. He likes to paint, but he is very picky about his colors; he only uses orange, blue, red, and purple. His least favorite color is green, which is sort of unfortunate because he is a rabbit and most of his diet is green.

Mirage

2010-08-10T22:11:00.001-07:00

MIRAGE
She's a wolf-girl. If I remember correctly, she runs a dance club in the desert, or something weird. She could be my first OC ever, but it’ll take some investigation to find out for sure. It’s either her or Purle.

Purle

2010-08-10T22:06:00.000-07:00

PURLE
She used to be an angel character sent down to spread love and joy and free hugs, but I mostly use her now for whenever I want to draw cutesy lolita-style dresses. She might be my very first OC.

Wendel and Che

2010-08-10T22:03:00.000-07:00

WENDEL and CHE
Wendel is my laptop gijinka, and Che is my tablet gijinka. Wendel is not very mindful of his own actions. Che is quiet and smart. Not much more to it than that.

Evin

2010-08-10T21:59:00.000-07:00

EVIN
Age: ??
Story not titled (jointly owned with Slichen)

She is a character made to match Slichen's Kaalen.
She comes from a desert region, born into a not-so glamorous, boring life. She worked at a petrol station before being inspired by something silly to become a vagabond. She roams around collecting weapons and other shiny things using that digital data chest she carries on her back. This practice often involves sneaking and thieving.
She is very prideful and tenacious. When she meets Kaalen, she notices that Kaalen has robotics on her arms. Because of this, she starts following her around to try and gain the secret of Kaalen's origins and technology for her own benefit; her eyes are defective, so she uses special mechanical goggles so she can see. But the goggles are beginning to fail. She refuses to reveal this to Kaalen, unwilling to show weakness.

Michi

2010-08-10T20:26:00.000-07:00

MICHI
Age: 20
Story not titled

Jun's best friend since childhood. She is an adoptive daughter of two women. As such, she is very involved in gay rights and volunteers for lots of things. She feels the same way Eito does about Jun and Kaimei's relationship. She tries to nudge Jun towards a breakup, but there is only so much she can do without ruining the trust between them. She is also someone Eito can come and vent to, and she often gives him advice about how to deal with Jun.
Before Kaimei came in, she, Jun, and Eito were rather inseparable. She was always the one planning their days, and enthusiastically leading them onward. She’s always been the type to go all-out in everything she does. The growing tension between Jun and Eito has caused her to dial it back, though, as she becomes increasingly nervous about the fate of their close friendship.

Kaimei

2010-08-10T20:25:00.000-07:00

KAIMEI
Age: 25
Story not titled

There isn't much I can do to explain Kaimei. He is an irrational and messed up personality, so it's not something I can easily describe with words. But I'll try. ^^;
He never talks about his young life, but whatever happened, he has grown into an egotistical, manipulative, power-hungry man. He fancies himself an artist, a photographer, but his art is shallow. He mainly pursues photography because of the aura one has when carrying an expensive, shiny camera around.
He is mercurial and impossible to predict. One minute he seems understanding and cordial, the next he is flying off the handle. It makes people respect him out of fear, and he thrives on this ill-gained respect. This unpredictability is one of the ways he keeps Jun under his control.
His relationship with Jun started well enough, with him promising to stay faithful and help Jun stay faithful as well. He promised to be Jun’s “missing half”. Eventually though, he started to become jealous and overbearing. In the end, he always naturally gravitates towards people he can control.

Eito

2010-08-10T20:22:00.000-07:00

EITO
Age: 21
Story not titled

He first met Jun at a gay pride event (one that he did not really want to be attending, but there he was), where he asked Jun if he wanted to meet up sometime, since they both like playing tennis and whatnot. Jun was dense and didn't realize that he meant a date. Since then, he has been sort of discouraged from admitting his feelings to Jun, and settles for being friends until he finds a chance to try again. When Jun starts dating Kaimei, he immediately takes a dislike to Kaimei and tries futilely to talk Jun out of being with him. This just pushes Jun away, so instead of sticking around and watching Kaimei ruin him, Eito breaks off contact with Jun.
Later when Jun starts talking to him again, he admits his feelings and enters into a sort of relationship with Jun alongside Kaimei's. He gets frustrated with himself because this is exactly what he promised himself he wouldn't let happen and now he can't find it in him to stop. He wants to be available to help Jun whenever he can, but he doesn't want to stay his “backup” forever.
Anyway, Eito prides himself in being a very practical person. His opinions on things can often be a little odd, but he believes in them with unwavering conviction. He seems serious at first but if you find the right subject you can coax out his energetic, humorous side.

Jun

2010-08-10T20:17:00.000-07:00

JUN
Age: 21
Story not titled

He met Eito at a gay pride event (one of the many that Michi volunteers for). Eito ends up asking him on a date there, but Jun is not used to people like Eito having an interest in him so he didn't even consider that Eito meant a date.
His amicable and gentle personality make him quite approachable, so he has lots of acquaintances, though he isn't very close with anyone besides Michi or Eito. He has a reputation among his peers for sleeping around, but you wouldn't guess that from just talking to him. But really, he can't stand being lonely and doesn't feel he is worth anything unless he is in a relationship with someone; so he basically sets himself up to be easily used by others, and perfunctory sexual relationships become a habit for him. That is, until he meets Kaimei. He becomes increasingly hateful towards himself for his habits, and Kaimei seems like salvation to him: he promises Jun that he can stay with him for as long as it takes. However, his fear of falling back into the habits he once had is what ultimately keeps him "trapped" with Kaimei after their relationship starts to get dysfunctional.

He used to play tennis with Eito, but when he started dating Kaimei he eventually stopped. He and Eito fall out of contact for a good while after that, with Michi being the only link between them still.
When he begins to realize how bad things are with Kaimei, he gets scared and starts contacting Eito again (but only after Michi tells him about how Eito was interested in him in the first place). He escapes from Kaimei and all his problems temporarily when he is with Eito.

When he was young, he was afraid of scissors, so we wouldn't let anyone cut his hair. As he grew up, he sort of transformed this fear into a love of long hair, and now even though he has long outgrown the fear of scissors he still keeps his hair long. It takes a lot of effort and time to keep. Along with that, he spends a lot of time doing crafty things with Michi. He likes tie-dying and painting designs on things (mostly clothing) in particular, as a hobby. And of course, tennis, as mentioned above.

Yukio

2010-08-10T17:33:00.001-07:00

YUKIO
Age: 13

(Yukio and Momo were originally made for a Loveless Club mascot contest on Mangabullet. They didn't win, so I adopted them lol. They really don’t have much of a story.)
Momo and Yukio both attend a special middle school for gifted students. It’s a boarding school, and Yukio lives together with Momo in an off-campus complex owned by the school that is more like apartments than dormrooms. The school focuses on training its students in “wordcraft”, which is a bit like negotiation except the emphasis is on choosing words for precise impact. The best wordcrafters are said to be able to control people. Those trained in this specially generally go on to work for governments or independent agencies that step in to resolve large conflicts, etc. (this is really the only setup these characters get. I’m not really going to make a story with them any time soon.)
Yukio is, over all, lazy. He likes messing with Momo. That's the basics lol.
He likes sitting on a bench in the park and looking at trees and stuff. But often he is too lazy to walk there. He is lazy, but that doesn't mean he isn't unusually independent. He obviously likes Momo a lot, but he can't help himself when it comes to messing with him. Because of this, he can often be rather thoughtless.
By some fluke (or is it?), Yukio aced the aptitude test for the school. Now he seems to be the only laid back, lazy person there. Momo often has to drag him to school.

Momo

2010-08-10T17:31:00.000-07:00

MOMO
Age: 13

(Yukio and Momo were originally made for a Loveless Club mascot contest on Mangabullet. They didn't win, so I adopted them lol.)
Momo and Yukio both attend a special middle school for gifted students. It’s a boarding school, and Yukio lives together with Momo in an off-campus complex owned by the school that is more like apartments than dormrooms. The school focuses on training its students in “wordcraft”, which is a bit like negotiation except the emphasis is on choosing words for precise impact. The best wordcrafters are said to be able to control people. Those trained in this specially generally go on to work for governments or independent agencies that step in to resolve large conflicts, etc. (this is really the only setup these characters get. I’m not really going to make a story with them any time soon.)
Momo is mature for his age, and pretty much a well-oiled machine; efficient, mathematical, never saying more words than he needs to. However, all this concentration is broken when he is around Yukio, which is confusing and frustrating for him. This is concerning for their teachers as well, who can tell that Momo has the makings of a top student.

Around Yukio, Momo is rather tsundere lol. He won't admit it, but he really likes it when Yukio pets his ears.

Stacy

2010-08-04T01:46:00.000-07:00

STACY
Story: Magenta
Age: 22

Steven's older brother. He started the "game" of hiding his gender at around the same time their parents were killed in an accident. "Stacy" is his assumed name, which he liked enough to keep using. He quit school so he could take care of Steven. He eventually grew out of the game, though he still has a lot of feminine habits.
He is very serious about protecting Steven's identity so Steven can grow out of the game him/herself. He is glowing with pride at the fact that even though they are poor, Steven got a scholarship to the expensive Swanson-Windhill Academy.

The triplets

2010-08-04T01:40:00.000-07:00

THE TRIPLETS
Levy, Demitri, and Shiloh
Story: Magenta
Age: 16
Year: Sophomore, Class A (Shiloh) and Class C (Demitri and Levy)

Levy and Demitri are identical twins, while Shiloh is their fraternal triplet. In childhood they were inseparable, always playing pranks on the maids and having fun, even all sleeping in the same bed. However, there was always a degree of closeness between the twins that Shiloh couldn't touch. As time went on, she started to drift away from them, but they didn't seem to notice. It wasn't until they came home from school one day to find Shiloh had gotten her own bed... in a different room across the house. This was a wake up call, but from that moment on they have been alienated from eachother. Demitri in particular was very hurt by this event and is more at-odds with Shiloh than Levy is.
Demitri and Levy remain very similar in personality to eachother. They make jokes out of everything and like to goof off. They also like to charm the ladies... All their behaviors are repulsive to Shiloh, who is hard working and stern. The twins took it easy and tested into Class C out of laziness, while Shiloh worked hard and got into Class A.
Shiloh is very self-conscious about her body. After Taku helps her out, she develops a crush on him.

Peaches

2010-08-04T01:34:00.000-07:00

PEACHES
Story: Magenta
Age: 15
Year: Sophomore, Class A

Peaches is a strange boy. First thing you notice is his weird eye. He claims he can see ghosts with it, which might explain why he’s so quivery all the time. Also, he lives in a large house that is supposedly haunted, which is certainly not helpful to him. He looks up to Taku, even though he is often used as a punching bag for Taku to release his Steven-induced frustration on. The sleeves of his sweater are stretched because Taku likes to tie them together when he’s angry.

Emmy

2010-08-04T01:25:00.001-07:00

EMMY
Age: 16
Year: Sophomore, Class C
Story: Magenta

Emmy loves cute things to a frightening extent. She is delusional to a degree and thinks everyone is her best friend. She also has a habit of giving nicknames to inanimate objects. Her happy, cutesy persona may very well be a cover up for repressed anger and frustration though, which would make her a pretty dangerous person, actually. Or maybe not. Her head is either packed full or completely empty, no one can really decide.

Taku

2010-08-04T01:23:00.000-07:00

TAKU
Age: 16
Year: Sophomore, Class A
Story: Magenta

Taku is a divided person. His outward attitude is very different from his narrative inside voice; At a very early age, he learned that being intelligent rarely has positive results among a young boy's peers. He feels that thinking has always gotten him into trouble, so he has developed for himself a gruff, thug-like attitude. As a result, though, he has never been good at translating his more sophisticated thoughts into words or actions, so there is a degree of helplessness to him.
Taku attends Swanson-Windhill Academy on a scholarship for sports (he is on the track team), but he unexpectedly holds his own in academics and is able to test his way into Class A (highest level), where he meets Steven (another example he cites of his intelligence getting him nowhere good). Though he would rather be unnoticed, Steven always finds ways to unwittingly make him look like a loser. If something seems wrong to him, he wants to put it right, so he becomes oddly consumed with the desire to discover Steven's gender. It ends up, sadly, being one of the few things he is passionate about.
He can't afford to live in the dorms, but he does rent a small apartment close to the school.
Much to his chagrin, his desire to make things right eventually overrides his desire to disassociate himself with Steven's Weirdos, and drives him to attempt to help them through their bizarre problems.

Steven

2010-08-04T01:20:00.000-07:00

STEVEN
Age: 15
Year: Sophomore, Class A
Story: Magenta
Gender: UNKNOWN (referred to as "he/she")

Steven is an attention hog. Steven is the center of all the action. Steven is everything.
At least, that's how Steven thinks.
Steven is basically playing a "game" with his/her life, where no one can find out his/her true gender ("Steven" is an assumed name, he/she wasn't born "Steven"). The game started sometime before he/she transferred to Swanson-Windhill Academy at the beginning of 10th grade on an academic scholarship. Steven has excellent grades in spite of all his/her antics.
Steven's mission in life is to have fun and "make stuff more awesome". He/she likes having a lot of equally strange friends to cause trouble with. He/she is particularly drawn to Taku, it seems, and is very talented at thwarting his every attempt to reveal his/her gender.
He/she is the self-proclaimed President of Everything and School DDR-Master, and he/she later starts an after-school group with the aim of sweeping the Annual Swanson-Windhill Schoolwide Festival Talent Show with the Best Dance Number Ever.
As one might expect, this isn’t all there is to Steven. The closest person to him/her (besides Stacy) is Taku, and even he can barely glean anything about Steven’s true personality. Steven is just that good.
He/She lives off-campus with his/her older brother, Stacy. His/her parents are both deceased.

Magenta

2010-08-04T01:11:00.001-07:00

MAGENTA
The title is an impromptu one. I’ll need to come up with a better one eventually.

Characters:
Steven
Taku
Peaches
Emmy
Levy, Demitri, and Shiloh
Stacy

There’s not much story setup to put here, so I’ll just mention that the story takes place mostly at the Swanson-Windhill Academy, a private school that all the characters attend. It is known for being rather pretentious, and for desperately wanting a good sports team.
There’s four levels of classes divided by proficiency, A being the highest and D the lowest.

Related pages:
n/a

Jason

2010-08-04T00:51:00.000-07:00

JASON
Story: untitled
Age: 21

With a constantly positive disposition and an earnest smile on his face, Jason is the type that naturally attracts. He is well liked by all that meet him. He makes music in his spare time, and when he hears Trish singing to himself in a public restroom, he immediately wants to record his voice and use it in some songs. They become friends after that.
In a way he sort of reveres Trish; he sees him as fragile and precious, therefore has a sort of "no-touch" mentality.
Though, Jason has a... healthy libido, and he starts feeling attracted to Trish, which ends up being distracting when Trish is upset. He ends up feeling like he should be helping Trish feel better, not letting his mind wander to... other things. lol.
Jason's issue makes it really hard to draw him and Trish; there's always so much tension between them that is so hard to break. However, when it does break, it usually makes for good yaoi lol. Because even though they aren't yet in a relationship, Trish and Jason are both very emotionally invested in eachother. So if they were in a relationship, it would be a very passionate one. :)

Jason's friends
They’re minor, but I’m including them anyway... so I don’t forget their names lol.
Cameron- Jason's best friend. He is totally into his girlfriend. He likes having fun and making jokes out of things. he may look like a punk, but he has a very solid sense of "the righteousness of love." So in a sense he's more like a hippie than a punk. (lol)
Mai- Cameron calls her "My-Mai." She is basically just like him. They're a perfect match.

Trish

2010-08-04T00:49:00.000-07:00

TRISTAN (Trish)
Story: untitled
Age: 21

Trish has been ridiculed by his peers his whole life for his effeminate demeanor and high-pitched voice. He has low confidence in himself, and precious few people have ever shown him meaningful affection.
When he was young, his mother left his father (who she was supposedly oh-so-in love with) and won Trish in a custody battle. She remarried to a chauvinistic baseball player, and they had a son. Trish still lives with his mother, stepfather, and half-brother (age 18). His mother, even though she won custody of him, began to harbor bitter feelings towards him because as he grew older he became more alike to his father.
He likes to sing, but he'd never consider himself good enough to sing for a profession and doesn't even sing in front of people.
He tried to go to university, but dropped out when he couldn't find a direction to go in.
He meets Jason by chance, and they become friends. They grow very close, and Trish starts to rely on Jason to feel free from his sticky home situation and for comfort.
As he grows more attached to Jason, he starts to feel attracted to him as well. He doesn’t talk about it or barely even think about it himself; it starts out mostly subconscious. So he gets frustrated that Jason doesn’t respond to his advances, even though he doesn’t necessarily realize he is making those advances in the first place, which leaves him confused as to why he’s so frustrated all the time.

Morgan

2010-08-03T14:08:00.001-07:00

MORGAN
Story: Sakura Tree
Age: 21

Morgan is Leara's older sister, who followed Matsuro after he took Leara away from their village. She hates Leara, but has developed feelings for Matsuro and serves him loyally. She is very skilled in lightening magic and archery.
She does everything she can to be noticed by Matsuro, but to no avail. That's why she dresses in revealing clothing and tries to act appealing; her true self is more shy and bookish. She is volatile and easily upset should someone happen to "challenge her authority".

Leara

2010-08-03T14:06:00.000-07:00

LEARA
Story: Sakura Tree
Age: 15

Matsuro found her in a remote village in the mountains where she was about to be sacrificed for being possessed by the chaos god. He took her away as part of his plan for revenge against Sentina. She is blindfolded to hold in the spirit of the chaos god. She can't speak to normal people; it seems only Protectors can hear her, like how only Protectors can hear their wolves. She doesn't seem to exhibit much of a personality, besides being fairly frail and helpless. She is an object of jealousy for her sister, Morgan.

Matsuro

2010-08-03T14:04:00.000-07:00

MATSURO
Story: Sakura Tree
Age: ??

He's the main antagonist in ST. He is also a former Protector of Sentina, one of the longest-lived and most talented ones in history, and was in the same situation as Mamoto: banished from Sentina for killing the Governor. Except he actually did kill the Governor. In the past, he was, like many protectors before him, both revered and resented/hated/feared at the same time. Matsuro was actually a remarkably sensitive boy, and all these expectations and attentions focused on him really got to him, making him simultaneously hate himself and feel over-inflated self-importance, just like all the people around him felt about him. The city guard was especially suspicious of him and how such a young boy could be such a cold and proficient killer, even though he was supposed to be leading them; it took just one violent incident to push him over the edge. This was years and years before Mamoto even, which means Matsuro is super-old. Just as Mamoto's body was preserved by loyalty, Matsuro's was preserved by anger and hate for 900 years, resulting in a man twisted beyond belief. He roamed the world until he found Leara, and his plans for revenge could be realized.

Shansu

2010-08-03T14:02:00.000-07:00

SHANSU
Story: Sakura Tree
Age: 12

A homeless "beast man" kid whose prized possession is a magical paper plane named Marlik that he keeps hidden in an abandoned warehouse. Because "beast men" have high magical abilities, without much experience he is able to rig illusion traps around the warehouse to make people think it's haunted. He lives in the streets of the city Junction. For a hobo, he is surprisingly cheerful. He uses his cuteness as a way to get stuff from people.
His nickname is short for Mesanme Shaman Su.

Malkin

2010-08-03T14:01:00.000-07:00

MALKIN
Story: Sakura Tree
Age: 18

A "beast man" who was born in the Eastern jungle countries into a noble family. He traveled to Sentina on his own because he wanted to become a royal knight. Instead he ran out of money and became a fighter-for-hire, usually hired by gang members who simply wanted him to rough up their enemies for money or something. He was hired to go after Mamoto and was nearly killed. He ends up staying around, and falling for Sakura. He has an innate talent for magic, though he has no desire to pursue that field.
He never really fit in with his family due to his scrappy and "improper" attitude, so he is quite glad to be on his own.

Sakura

2010-08-03T13:57:00.000-07:00

SAKURA
Story: Sakura Tree
Age: 17

It is tradition to name the first born girl in the Governor of Sentina's family "Sakura" after an old family treasure. So, this Sakura is a descendant of the one mentioned in Mamoto's entry.
Her mother died when she was young, and her father is the Governor of Sentina. He was basically a nobody who married into the family by a stroke of luck, and doesn't make a good Governor at all. He pushed Sakura to act like a princess and wear frilly dresses all the time and the like, which isn't something Sakura is into, so she spends most of her time dressed in boys' clothes wandering around the streets of Sentina. She has a very strong connection to the religion of the world and is upset that it is being treated like a passing fad and everyone is losing faith in it.
Her personality is pretty straightforward. She's adventurous, strong-willed, and idealistic. She's also very athletic.

Mamoto

2010-08-03T13:54:00.000-07:00

MAMOTO
Story: Sakura Tree
Age: ??

He is very chivalrous and disciplined boy, but underneath his calm, composed demeanor he feels emotions very strongly. When his discipline slips up, he can become quite savage and unrelenting. At times it seems he has an over-grown sense of duty. Senae calls him "brother" and he calls her "sister".
Mamoto was born and acted as Protector about 400 years before Sakura Tree takes place. In that time, he was well-respected and very close to the Governor's family, his daughter Sakura in particular.
He was framed for the bewitching and murder of the Governor of Sentina, and Sakura personally exiled him from Sentina. This act marks the beginning of the decline of the religion in Sentina and thus, the rest of the country. He was driven out into the surrounding forest, where he lived protecting the city from the sidelines for 400 years, preserved by his extreme sense of obligation, loyalty and ties to the city. It is literally impossible for him to enter the city unless he is pardoned by the Governor of Sentina.
His greatest fear is that he will give in to corruption and become like Matsuro.

Senae
Mamoto's wolf companion. Only Protectors can hear their wolves speak. Senae is generally of a more positive disposition than Mamoto, but is also more quick to react than him. She doesn't think many things through.

Sakura Tree

2010-08-03T13:49:00.000-07:00

Sakura Tree

Characters:
Sakura
Mamoto
Malkin
Shansu
Matsuro
Leara
Morgan

First off, don't mind the title of this story. I hate it. I first made this story many years ago, back when I had no idea that Sakura was such a generic overused name in anime.
Sakura Tree is a lot more story-oriented than my other stories, so I'll provide an overview of the world and important history here.

ST takes place in a fantasy world. There is a board of three kings and their court, and then below the kings there are governors of regions. The city of Sentina is where ST takes place (most of the time). Sentina is a huge walled city with great religious significance, as it is home to the Sentina clock tower and temple, which were both built to honor the Sun and Moon. The city is so big that it is it's own region. The governor of Sentina, though he is technically on the same level as other governors, is regarded as being more important and having more responsibility than other governors. Sentina is sometimes called the second capitol because it is often thought of as being even more important than the actual capitol.

The Clock Tower
Originally known as the Sun's Tower. The tower is said to be built by the gods.
There is a legend of a second tower called the Moon's Tower that had been lost (sort of like the Holy Grail legend)
It's not actually a clock. It's like a giant sundial. Sentina is a circular city, and the walls are very tall. The "clock tower" is just one tall tower, and the sun casts a shadow that falls onto other smaller towers around the city with crystals on top that glow when struck by the sun. By looking at which ones are lit and which aren’t, you can tell the time of day. This worked while faith in the religion was still strong (during Mamoto's time) but now it has faded out, and technological advancement is on the forefront of society now. The other buildings have become taller, blocking out the tower's shadow. Without it's use as a clock OR its religious significance, it has become merely a tourist attraction; a curio, almost.

The Legend
The Sun is usually depicted as either a man or an eagle. The Moon is usually portrayed as either a woman or a silver wolf.
The Sun and the Moon were born at the same time, and were in love. They both stayed together all the time, resulting in one half of the world being light and the other pitch dark (monsters ended up originating in the dark). But suddenly, the Moon started to eclipse, and transformed into the Chaos God and started rampaging. The Sun had to drive her out, and he chases her around the world endlessly as she transforms back and forth between her true shining self and the Chaos God. (the transforming = moon cycles)
In the story, Mamoto represents the Moon, Sakura represents the Sun, and Leara represents the Chaos God.

The Protector tradition
Because Sentina is such an important city, it is often under attack by monsters and people. The Moon, feeling guilt for the destruction she caused, made a pact with man to help them fight off the monsters that attacked their clock tower. Man gives a child, and the Moon gives a wolf, and the two become a pair that has the power to protect Sentina. A golden (female) wolf puppy is found on the doorstep of the home of a newly born boy, basically. The boy and the wolf grow an extremely close bond and are able to communicate to eachother without words. A new Protector is born even before the acting one dies; the acting Protector trains the replacement. Mamoto is the LAST Protector.
They are deeply associated with the religion of the world, and often take special part in ceremonies and the like. Protectors are treated with reverence by the people of Sentina, though some of them may end up becoming corrupt because of the special treatment they are given.

Beast Men
"Beast Men" is a phenomenon where a child is born with animalistic features. It is said to be a curse. The cause is unknown, with theories ranging from infidelity to straight-up bestiality...
In Mamoto's time, they were discriminated against and stereotyped as savage monsters, and not allowed to do various things like participate in government or join the royal guard, etc. They really aren't any different than normal people, except heightened magical ability seems to be connected with beast men.

Related Pages:
n/a

Nonette

2010-08-03T13:07:00.000-07:00

NONETTE
Story: untitled
Age: ??

Nonette is from a video game idea I have. She is fed up with living a dull life, so she starts traveling, and finds a door that takes her to a new world. In that world, she finds another door leading to a new world, and in that world, yet another door. Finally, after passing through a certain door, she suddenly faints. When she wakes up, she is reduced to the form you see her in here, voiceless and with her head, shoulders, and legs all detached from eachother. She searches frantically for the exit door, but when she finds it, the doorknob is missing. She is now stuck in a world that is also broken and missing vital parts like she is.

That's the setup, at least. :> The default weapon you fight with is a crystal on a chain that you use sort of like a whip. Attached to the other end of the chain is a book which can hold objects. You can find objects everywhere and hold them in your book to use later or use as a weapon to replace the crystal. The objects you can hold in your book are all used to repair things to make the world complete again, and since that is the object of the game, some of the objects are vital to advancing the story. These kinds of items are rare/one-of-a-kind, and make very strong weapons (like a big fan blade that you'll need to use later to blow yourself across a gap or something). There are also lower-rarity items like wood planks or pipes that can be found anywhere and can be used to complete little side quests.
Another possible game mechanic could be separating your body to go sneak around, too. Since Nonette's shoulders/arms, both legs, and head are all disconnected from eachother, I imagine she'd easily be able to go send her head into a vent or something to go eavesdrop on someone.
Since Nonette can't talk, a spirit inside her book tells her how to play and provides exposition. I'm also trying to come up with a main antagonist. There's an organization called INCOM ("incomplete") that sort of runs things that seems to be a good candidate for "evil organization". I dunno, I have to do more concept art for this. I really like it.

Fuzzies

I don't have a name for these, so I'll just call them fuzzies for now. >_> They're sort of an enigmatic creature, in that they really aren't on anyone's side. Sometimes they hinder you, and sometimes they help you, and sometimes they ignore you altogether. I think if there had to be an item shop, it would probably be one of those running it. I dunno. Because I think that's cute. They cluster around areas that are broken or missing parts.

Untitled stories

2010-08-03T12:53:00.000-07:00

This is for all the stories that aren't titled, as well as homeless/story-less characters.

Nonette
-
Jason
Trish
-
Momo
Yukio
-
Purle
-
Mirage
-
Max
-
Bei
-
Jun
Eito
Michi
Kaimei
-
Momo
Yukio
-
Wendel and Che
-
Evin
-
Paige
Jana
R.K
Gavan
Graziana
Maria
Klaus
Erebelle

Riddle

2010-08-03T12:36:00.000-07:00

RIDDLE
Story: Terminal House
Age: ??

When TH actually takes place, Riddle has already found his answer and left the world, so in the story he only appears in conversation or small flashbacks.
The one that came before Riddle neglected him and eventually became a Lost Case, resulting in Riddle needing an outlet for his affection. When August is born, Riddle goes overboard when he finally has someone to love and moves too fast. Riddle finds his answer quickly and leaves August at an unusually young age.
Little is known about his personality. August's memories show Riddle constantly lavishing affection on him.

Riddle's demon is in his left arm, and his sin is "Taking".

(Did that not make much sense? Then you should read the explanation of Terminal House first :> )

August

2010-08-03T12:33:00.000-07:00

AUGUST
Story: Terminal House
Age: ??

August was deeply attached to Riddle, who came before him, when he was younger. When Riddle left the world after finding his answer, August was left alone at an unusually young age. Suddenly finding himself with Kira relying on him is difficult for him to accept for a long time. He tends to hoard things that have significance to his past (like Riddle's scarf and glasses). He refuses to let go of the past, and therefore can't move towards the future. It is for this reason that Kira is worried that he's heading towards becoming a Lost Case.
He doesn't want to admit it, but he is moved by Kira's ability to find wonder in the smallest of things. He wishes he were more like Kira, but thinking about that only forces him to dwell on his own shortcomings.

His demon is in his stomach, and his sin is "Wanting".

(Did that not make much sense? Then you should read the explanation of Terminal House first :> )

Kira

2010-08-03T12:30:00.000-07:00

KIRA
Story: Terminal House
Age: ??

Kira is as close to an angel as anyone can get I think. He is full of unconditional love and goodwill and rarely gets angry (unless he really deserves to be). He sees so many possibilities in life, even though the world is restricted to the mansion and the relatively small surrounding grounds. He is compassionate and seeks ways to bring peace to the many Lost Cases that reside in the mansion. Of course because he is so young, he is naive and often stumbles into trouble. He gets lost easily in the labyrinthine mansion.

His demon is in his right eye, and his sin is “Perception”. His is an example of a sin with more good qualities than bad ones, although he can be rather nosy because of it.

(Did that not make much sense? Then you should read the explanation of Terminal House first :> )

Terminal House

2010-08-03T12:27:00.000-07:00

EXPLANATION OF TERMINAL HOUSE

Characters:
Kira
August
Riddle

If I were to do the descriptions of the characters in Terminal House before explaining the setting and situation, it would be incomprehensible. So here we go. XD;

First of all, TH is set in a universe between life and death, where souls that have had their life cut short (like an infant who dies during childbirth or at a very young age) are reincarnated into a body so they can prove themselves through life and find their "answer" so they can move on (think of life as a test, and if someone dies too early then they come here to take their test). This means that the apparent age and gender of the body they're reincarnated into has nothing to do with the age they died at. This is never explained in the story, I'm just telling you all.

The universe consists of one huge mansion, its grounds, and a huge wall around it. The main room in the mansion is an expansive library, with tons of other rooms and hallways and staircases built on like a labyrinth. The house is very hard to navigate, in fact it feels like the many hallways connect to completely different places each day.

Outside the house is a graveyard, where a person is born into the world.

Now I should explain.. this is a very lonely world. It is expansive, but the walls still prevent you from leaving. Also, there are no more than two people alive in this world at a time. The way this works is a never ending cycle, which is really hard to explain in an eloquent way, so excuse my unexciting wording here.
I'm just going to use the words "First"" and "Second" in this explanation.
The "First" is the one who has been there longer, and the "Second" is the newcomer. The First entered the world as an Second and become attached to the First that came before him, who was also once a Second, etc. A First takes care of the Second and they interact and learn about life together, and then the First finds his "answer" and leaves the world. His Second then becomes a First and waits for a new Second to be born, and the cycle repeats.
It's because this cycle involves complete switching of dominance roles in a relationship that all the characters in the story have to be male. /lolthatsmyexcuse

It is possible for a First to miss finding his answer however. If he stays stubborn, unwilling to open up to his Second or learn about life or love or anything, then he slowly corrodes into a "lost case" and loses his wings, taking on an incorporeal form like a ghost. Some lost cases flee the world in shame, some stay and bitterly haunt the mansion out of spite for those who succeed in finding the answer.

Each person is born into the world with a "demon" inside them, and a mark on their body somewhere that represents the demon (the mark can also be a way to write their name. Also, the mark can always be seen, no matter if it is covered by hair or clothing, it will show through). The demon represents their "sin", which is a fault they have to deal with in order to find their answer. The area of the body that houses the demon is sensitive, so most people cover it up with a special wrap that conforms itself tightly onto any surface it is applied to.
I have to elaborate though. Their "sin" isn't an all bad thing. Each one has its negative aspects and positive aspects.

Each person also has wings, which are normally too small to use for flying. A person's wings will grow when they feel great happiness or pleasure. They also become bigger slowly as the person grows.

It is also customary for a Second whose First has just left the world to carve the First's name (or mark) into one of the tombstones in the graveyard for remembrance.

The Raven

If you try to fly over the wall that surrounds the mansion, a group of crows apprehends you. The raven is their gruff leader. He seems to know a lot about how the world of TH works, but doesn't like talking about it. Kira actually succeeds in befriending him, which is quite a feat.

Servants

The "servants" are mysterious creatures that populate the mansion and do things like cleaning and serving food, for some reason. They can't speak, and they need that slip of paper attached to their masks to stay corporeal. One day when Kira had been drawing pictures because he found some crayons, he found a servant in a hallway, dissolving because its paper had fallen off. He put one of his drawings on the mask and the servant was restored (so it seems any slip of paper works). August thinks that they could be Lost Cases, but Kira disagrees, saying that they're too nice to be that.

Groundskeeper

He is, as his name suggests, the groundskeeper at the mansion. Just like the servants, he can't speak. He is about three times the height of an average person, making him look like a giant scarecrow. Even though he can't express emotion, you can tell he cares about his work because of how beautifully all the plants are kept.

Relevant Pages:
n/a

Renee

2010-08-02T02:55:00.001-07:00

RENEE DEPAUL
Story: Autumn/Winter
Age: 16

She is the daughter of a rich business partner of Suzu's family. Her father loves her very much and, though he is quite a reasonable man, can't help but spoil her. She grew up in France, where she met Suzu at age 8 while his family was visiting on a vacation. Immediately she proclaimed in the only non-French word she knew at the time, "MINE!" which basically sums up her motivations for the duration of Autumn/Winter. Despite this seemingly single-track thinking, she is crafty and intelligent beyond Suzu's initial expectations, and possesses almost inhuman tenacity. She senses he is trying to shake her off, which only makes her cling to him tighter. She is known to complain about anything that isn't to her liking.
She speaks in a very nasty manner, but this is probably just a result of being "lost in translation". So she honestly has no idea why Suzu hates her so much.

Suzu

2010-08-02T02:54:00.000-07:00

SUZU MURAYAMA
Story: Autumn/Winter
Age: 18
Birthday: Dec. 23
12th grade

Suzu comes from a wealthy family that owns a popular chain of business-class hotels.
His mother is controlling and obsessed with social standards, and his father is distant and unavailable. At a very young age he learned that the best way to get what he wants from people was through deceit and underhanded tactics ("Oh, how did that expensive bottle of '95 Bordeaux get all over this antique carpet? I simply have no idea"). As shallow he may seem, he has never been satisfied with a life of wealth.
Wanting to escape the other rich and snobbish types he went to school with, he "convinced" his mother (using aformentioned tactics) to let him attend public school for his last year of high school. They came to an agreement that involves a few conditions that Suzu must adhere to, one being that he must play boyfriend to the daughter of a valuable business partner, Renee Depaul. This backfired, however, in that in public school people only thought him worth however much money he had in his pocket.
But, this is where he met Daichi. In a sea of gold-diggers, it seemed Daichi was the only person who didn't want to be friends with him. So, of course, this made him want to be friends with Daichi.
He finds it unusually easy to open up to Daichi from the moment they meet. Around Daichi he is silly and happy, while he puts up a calm, composed, "cool guy" front in other social situations. Like Daichi, he avoids situations that make him uncomfortable. Communicating his feelings with words is difficult for him; he can communicate a lot better through touch, thus he is always doing small things like patting Daichi on the shoulder or holding his hand to get his feelings across.
He loves to play piano and is very talented at it. Of course, his mother would rather he be a CEO or something with a fat paycheck. He would never admit it, but there is always a sliver of him that yearns for his mother's approval. His temper can get out of control and he ends up saying things he doesn't mean. He is also ashamed of the underhanded things he does and is even afraid sometimes that he is tempted to exploit Daichi as a way to get under his mother's skin.

Daichi

2010-08-02T02:50:00.001-07:00

DAICHI AKADA
Story: Autumn/Winter
Age: 17
Birthday: Nov. 30
11th grade

vvv WARNING EVERYTHING IN THIS DESCRIPTION IS PRETTY OUTDATED D: vvv

Daichi is basically very repressed about everything, especially his sexuality. He decided at a young age that he would never tell anyone, and that he would just live with it. Growing up in a backwater agricultural town was not kind to him. Bullied regularly and surrounded by closed minds, he saw no good reasons to ever come out of the closet, so he has resigned himself already to a life of suppressed feelings. He especially avoids other boys because it puts stress on him. His most dire fear is that he'll be abandoned, so he prefers to keep to himself instead of let that happen. He is quick to fault himself and slow to blame others.
He enjoyed climbing trees and generally romping around outside when he was young, but an accident with a tree sort of cut that short. He still likes to sit outside by the creek behind his house, though. He is also good with computers, and is often called out of class to help with technical problems around the school. He gets much more energetic when in familiar territory, i.e. video games and such things.
He meets Suzu, who talks very openly to him in a friendly way that he's never really experienced before, and Suzu basically forcibly becomes his friend. Suzu is very different than anyone Daichi has met, and meeting him does a lot of good for Daichi as he begins to believe that he isn't an entirely worthless person. Daichi very quickly develops feelings for him. A recurring point of anxiety for him is whether it’s right to feel so strongly about a person if you haven't known them for very long.
Any sort of romantic gesture makes him shy, especially when done in public. He doesn't express himself very well, so what some may take as simple bashfulness might really be discomfort. Because he usually suppresses these types of things, they build up and burst out in sudden and unexpected ways.

Daichi’s parents
Both Daichi’s parents are teachers. His mother is bubbly and energetic, and they are very close. She loves to be moving around, always occupied with something, sometimes driving to the farther away supermarket just so she can be out and about longer. She and Daichi enjoy exploring new culinary territory together. He is less close to his father, mostly because the two are very similar in personality (namely, shy and awkward). He opens up more when imparting knowledge, making him almost a better teacher than friend. However, Daichi’s mom balances him out in the same complimentary way that Suzu balances Daichi.

Autumn/Winter

2010-08-02T02:49:00.000-07:00

Autumn/Winter

Characters:
Daichi
Suzu
Renee

Autumn/Winter is a story in two parts: Autumn focuses on Daichi, and Winter focuses on Suzu.

Related Pages:
-Journal about Seasons, and some pictures (Livejournal)

Tooru

2010-08-02T02:39:00.000-07:00

TOORU
Story: 515
Age: ??

He's another biomechanical android made by THEM, and quite a beautiful machine at that. His sole purpose in existing was to erase Sissumi. He is far more advanced than her, and lacks the human personality component that she has. There are second irises just like Sissumi's on the back of BOTH of his eyes.
He believes that humans are worth about the same as mosquitoes. In battle, he is brutal and ruthless with a smile. But his lack of human personality makes him fundamentally less adaptable than Sissumi.

Tsuyo

2010-08-02T02:37:00.000-07:00

TSUYO
Story: 515
Age: ??
Position: Programmer and Engineer for THEM, currently AWOL

Appearing mysteriously and acting secretively is the name of Tsuyo's game, though you would never expect him to be the shady type from his silly behavior. He lives in Lily's house along with Sissumi. When he shows up, he takes on a lot of the work at Lily's house (taking care of her mom, cleaning, etc). That combined with his maintenance of Sissumi and stuff keeps him very busy. It's exhausting work, but he doesn't complain at all. He acts fatherly towards Sissumi and, to a degree, Lily. He has a good sense of humor and can make friends with anyone, but he's actually quite secretive.
In his more serious side, he seems enchanted with destruction and considers it beautiful (though as he says, "not in a practical sense, of course"). He is often openly excited while Sissumi is in battle.

He was on the original development team for Sissumi when he was still with THEM. It was predetermined by the society at his birth that he would be a top programmer for THEM. He came to join her soon after she betrayed THEM, and therefore he is now wanted, as well as Sissumi. Apparently, he had a lover on THEM's mothership.

Ichiro

2010-08-02T02:34:00.001-07:00

ICHIRO
Story: 515
Age: 16
11th grade

Ichiro's at-home life is far from wonderful. His single mother drinks and is verbally (and physically sometimes) abusive to him, and his little brother runs rampant and undisciplined through their tiny flat. Needless to say, he doesn't like it there. He also doesn't like people to ask about it, so he puts on a smile almost constantly. Lily, his best friend since childhood, is the only one of his peers that knows about his home life situation. He often has to stay overnight (or many nights on end) at Lily's house.
He puts up a happy and carefree front for everyone so they won't worry about him or ask him how he feels. He is sheepish and obedient and extremely fond of Lily, and wants to do everything he can to make her happy so he does everything she asks of him. However, what she asks for and what she needs are almost always completely different things, and it’s his lack of experience with people unlike Lily that keeps him from noticing this. He can be scatterbrained and forgetful, but he can usually offer some optimism even in the toughest situations.
He is frustrated at his uselessness when it comes to the Sissumi situation. He tries to become closer friends with Sissumi, but he doesn't know how to go about doing it because he is so used to dealing with people like Lily.
He reminds Lily very much of her father, who used the same smile tactic to hide his pain.

Lily

2010-08-02T02:29:00.001-07:00

LILY
Story: 515
Age: 16
11th grade

Her mind and her heart are constantly at odds; her heart longing for friendship and humanity, but her mind quelling those feelings with logic and literality. As a result, what she says out loud is almost always just her convincing herself of something, which means it's usually just the opposite of what she's really feeling. This is how she sometimes ends up giving sensitive, emotional advice to other people, but would never dream of applying that advice to herself because it would break down her barriers of logic.

Basically, her way of thinking is very fractured. Because of the nature of her father's death, she unconsciously feels (or makes herself believe) that no one cares about her enough to stay with her when she really needs it, and desperately wants to find someone who will love her as much as she loved her father. But she is also unable (unwilling?) to carry the burden of that love and the responsibility that comes with it, so she distances herself.
She is childhood friends with Ichiro and often bosses him around.
As for Sissumi, Lily refuses to believe that she could ever be considered human. However, this doesn't stop Sissumi from becoming extremely close to her. Lily hates the fact that Sissumi can read her so well even though they're so different and Sissumi "isn't even human".

Concerning her father's death
Her father put on a smile every time he spent time with Lily, so she wouldn't find out about his depression. As it ends up, he goes out to dinner one night with his wife, and drives the car deliberately off a bridge into a small creek, killing himself and severely injuring his wife. She is paralyzed and in a wheelchair now.
At the funeral, Lily's mother gravely tells of how Lily's father wanted to kill himself and take her (mother) with him, and that Lily should forget he existed because he "was a terrible person". Lily, who loved her father more than anyone and thought he loved her too, refuses to believe this, and a huge rift grows between her and her mother.