App for Brave New World

[guitar_case_vagabond]

PLAYER INFO
Name: Nick
Contact Information: Plurk
Time Zone: EST
Characters Played: None

CHARACTER INFO
Character Name: Ryuko Matoi
Character Canon: Kill la Kill

History: A wiki link it is!

AU History:
Ryuko Matoi was born in Sanctuary during the occupation by Gigas to a powerful noble family that were, sadly, more than cooperative with the rule of the occupying nation. Her parents were mages and scientists and were large players in Gigas’ Enhanced program, supporting and performing twisted experiments to transform their victims into weapons to serve in Gigas’ army. To that end, they poured their research into their attempt at the most powerful Enhanced and used their own infant daughter as the test subject. Traits were chosen to be combined in the hopes of creating the ultimate warrior and bound to the newborn child with a terrible mixture of arcane and alchemic means.

The attempt was, by all appearances a failure. The baby failed to absorb the Enhanced attributes and, despite her father’s attempts to save her life, her vital signs ceased entirely. Disgusted by what she perceived as weakness in her own flesh and blood, Ryuko’s mother ordered the baby to be… discarded. Denied a proper burial, or even so much as a name, the child was cast aside as mere refuse and left to the scavengers. It was there that she was found….

Miraculously, she had survived the process after all and was discovered by a group of Calderan troops smuggling political refugees out of the occupied territory. More specifically by a mysterious bent, twisted and one-eyed old man who emerged from the refuse heap carrying a weeping baby. The old man said nothing about himself and vanished without a trace by the time the sun rose the following morning, leaving the infant behind. At a loss, the soldiers took the baby back to Caldera where she was officially given the name the mysterious old man had bestowed upon her before disappearing.

Ryuko Matoi.

From that day on, Ryuko was raised in an orphanage in Caldera where she quickly grew into a stubborn and hardheaded girl, even by Calderan standards. As she grew into adolescence, her temper and rebellious nature quickly led her down the path of a juvenile delinquent. Her Enlightened abilities awoke and she quickly put them to use carving a name for herself out on Caldera’s streets. She got into fights, clashed with street gangs and even ended up leading one herself after turning their former boss’s face into a pile of bruises and lumps. It was around this time that she was bestowed the title of “Queen Bitch of the South Slums.” It was not meant as a compliment but she proudly took on the name anyway.

And that’s likely the way her entire life would have gone. Squandering her Enlightened abilities on petty crime and street fights were it not for a thing that happened shortly after her seventeenth birthday. A message was delivered to her by a stranger she’d never met who claimed to have known her father. A letter written by a person claiming to be her father and telling her of her status an Enhanced experiment at the hands of Gigas and a few other details and ending with a simple statement.

”If this letter has found you before me then I’m likely dead. If you want to live a peaceful life then put this note down and walk away, but if you want to know what I died for then travel to the city called Union. You will surely find what you seek there.”

Days passed as she pondered over the message. Her first instinct was to dismiss it outright but… it was also the first, the only thing she’d ever heard from her parents. It was in the dead of the night that she made her decision.

By dawn she was ready to go, and hand her few belongings squared away in a steel guitar case over her back. She passed on leadership of her gang to her number one guy, bid farewell to them and the handful of people she cared to and hit the road to become a wandering vagrant. Somewhere out there were the answers she was after. Who she was, where she came from.

More importantly, that letter had said that she still had family out there somewhere….

Canon Personality: I think Kill la Kill is a pretty cool guy. Eh has a scissor sword and doesn’t afraid of anything.

Stubborn and aggressive, Ryuko really doesn’t seem to fear anything. She’ll never back down from a challenge of any kind and is the type to take whatever the world throws at her head on, whether she’s on the same level as that challenge or not. She’s cocky, reckless, and has one hell of a temper. She’s not shy about speaking her mind and shouting down any source of her frustration and, as a result, can be fairly difficult to get along with. Especially with people who are equally as stubborn as she is, or who insist on being fucking weirdos all the time. Still, to people she actually gets along with she can be surprisingly friendly and is quick to laugh and smile along with whatever jokes or shenanigans they might get into, even if she does keep herself at arm’s length.

She’s also a fairly easy mark for trolling, but don’t push it too far. Her temper may be explosive but it cools quickly and once she’s dismissed you as an idiot, it’s hard to get to her again whether or not that’s in her best interests.

And that’s more or less the best summary of Ryuko’s personality. She’s direct and headstrong and once she gets a goal or an idea in her head, she powers toward it full steam ahead and ignores or casts aside any distractions and her methods usually involve beating stuff up until the problem works itself out. This is both a source of strength and a weakness. As long as Ryuko has a goal to work towards, she’s all but unstoppable and will keep getting up and coming back as long as it takes. The problem comes when what she’s after doesn’t have a clear-cut solution. She can quickly find herself lost in these kinds of situations and will scramble for a new target to set her sights on, even if doing so is foolhardy or dangerous or the wrong path altogether and she sometimes needs somebody to point her in the right direction again.

Still, she isn’t all grumpiness and fury. When you can get past Ryuko’s temper and outward prickliness there’s a caring heart down there. She just happens to be very selective about who gets to see it, but once she does come to care about somebody she cares forever. Ryuko will go to the ends of the earth for the people she cares about even at great risk and expense to herself. Having grown up estranged from her father and lacking any other family or friends, she does not take any bonds she forms with others for granted, even if it is a challenge to get there with her.


AU Deviation: The biggest variation in Ryuko’s personality is the question of her motivation. In canon, she was estranged from her father and witnessed his murder leading to her embarking on a quest for both vengeance and to understand what it was he was killed for. In Brave New World, she never knew her father at all let alone how, why or even if he was murdered.

This will lead to a Ryuko that’s a bit more aimless, lacking the same drive and purpose that defined her in canon. Her mission isn’t one of revenge but to find answers. Where did she come from? Who was the old man who gave her her name? Why was she left behind? It’s a subtle difference but one that will mark a lot of her interactions. Whereas canon Ryuko was likely to kick down your door, stick a sword in your face and demand if you killed her dad, this one is likely to take a slightly more reasonable approach to get what she wants.

This aimless nature also makes her considerably more adventurous. In Brave New World Ryuko will barely have any roots and nothing tying her down to any one city. She’s much more likely to pack up her few possessions and head out to the wilderness for a few days or sign up to go explore some crazy ruins or new area.

Being Enhanced she has the same kind of mental instability that many of her kind do. In Ryuko’s case her reckless nature is made even worse by a rather impressive lack of impulse control and an explosive hair trigger temper escalating from lashing out at annoyances or slights to damn near flying into a berserker fury in a fight.

She'll also follow and respect Caldera's philosophy on self-worth coming from strength and accomplishment, albeit... in her own way. She's rather proud of the place she still considers her hometown, all things considered, and never misses a chance to say so.

She’s still reckless and abrasive as all hell, and she still has the same heart buried under it but Ryuko’s story in Brave New World will be more about a person finding her own path in life and carving out a meaning and purpose after beginning with no roots to speak of.

Canon Abilities:
Before even touching on the supernatural abilities given to her by Senketsu, Ryuko is a pretty capable fighter on her own. She’s tough as nails and is a total brawler, but she’s a quick learner and thinker in a fight and has beaten theoretically tougher opponents with a crazy last minute strategy.

Senketsu: The primary source of Ryuko’s power. Senketsu is a “Kamui,” a living piece of clothing stitched entirely from Life Fibers typically appearing a black sailor uniform. Life Fibers are living threads of fabric that, when made into clothing and worn by a human, bestow incredible supernatural abilities on them while feeding off the impulses of their nervous system. Senketsu is fully sentient and can speak and act on his own when not being worn by Ryuko although only Ryuko herself can actually hear his voice.

Even in his normal state, Senketsu is able to provide Ryuko with a measure of power but his real power emerges when he absorbs Ryuko’s blood and enters Life Fiber Synchronize mode. In this form Ryuko and Senketsu “merge,” becoming one being. Senketsu’s appearance alters to a rather skimpy suit of “armor” but gives Ryuko and incredible increase to her physical abilities. She can cave in solid walls with a punch, move at the blink of an eye and, despite the apparent lack of… anything, is nearly impervious to any kind of physical harm. She can and has easily shrugged off even massive explosions without breaking a sweat.

In addition, Senketsu’s shape is alterable in this form. He can extend or reshape parts of himself to blades and other shapes, unwravel threads to use as unbreakable cables, detach and reattach parts of himself and even heal when damaged. He even comes with a jet engine in the on Ryuko’s back and the shoulder blades. Ryuko has access to at least two other completely different forms: Senketsu Senjin, and Senketsu Shippu. In Senjin mode, Senketsu turns into a FREAKING CHAINSAW, and sprouts spinning blades from where but especially the skirt that turns into a crazy spinning circular saw. In Shippu mode he grows a pair of wings from his back and the skirt grows in length and reforms into a ROCKET SKIRT, granting Ryuko extremely fast and maneuverable flight.

Finally, Ryuko has the potential to access “True Life Fiber Synchronize” mode, where she and Senketsu truly become a single being. In this form Senketsu glows and her hair turns into fire and she gets even stronger. She can even fly around super fast. We haven’t seen much of this form yet, but it’s probably pretty crazy.

Still, for all the power Senketsu can grant his wearer it is not without its dangers. Life Fibers are inherently a parasitic organism and live by feeding off of and usurping the being they cover. To Synchronize Senketsu must drink Ryuko’s blood and if Ryuko rejects him, or something otherwise interferes, he must continue draining her blood to fuel the transformation. This means a less powerful form, and Ryuko will quickly begin to suffer symptoms of blood loss.

The greater danger by far, however, is Senketsu’s berserker mode. If Ryuko becomes too enraged, her blood will start to boil and Senketsu will lose control over his own nature and “devour” her, transforming into a grotesque monster. While berserking, Ryuko will blindly attack whatever she considers to be a target of her rage and will be unable to consider anything else. In addition, Senketsu will constantly be draining her blood at a rapid rate, to the point where plenty of it spews out of her just from overflow. Spending too long in this form will be fatal to Ryuko.

Scissor Blade: The Scissor Blade is Ryuko’s chief weapon. It’s one half of a larger weapon called the Rending Scissors which were specifically designed to destroy Life Fibers. Ryuko currently owns the “red” Scissor Blade, which was given to her by her father, Isshin Matoi, just before his death. The “blue” Scissor Blade remains in the possession of Harime Nui, who stole it after murdering Isshin.

Just because it was meant to cut Life Fibers doesn’t mean the Scissor Blade doesn’t do a damn fine job of chopping up anything else too. The edge is extremely sharp and can easily cut through stone and even generate explosive shockwaves with a swing. And that’s in its normal form, when it comes time to bust out her finishing move she can activate Decapitation Mode. The handle extends for a better grip and the blade folds out, becoming twice as long and its ridiculous anime power is increased similarly. When not in use, the Scissor Blade can fold in on itself, transforming into a standard sized scissor for easy storage and transport.

Life Fiber Fusion: Because of experiments performed on her as an infant, Ryuko’s body is fused almost perfectly with Life Fibers. This is what allows her to synchronize with Senketsu in the first place and also means she has powers far above normal humans, which seems to include effective immortality. Life Fiber beings can reattach severed body parts, including their head, and she was even able to instantly recover from having her heart forcibly removed from her chest. Presumably, the only thing that could kill a being like Ryuko would be the complete Rending Scissors.

Enlightened Abilities: Ryuko in Brave New World is an Enhanced God of War with Dragon/Fighting/Steel typing. With that combination her stats are fairly high but lean more toward Physical Attack and Defense with her Special stats lagging behind somewhat. She’s a plant-your-feet-and-swing brawler, not somebody who’s going to trade Specials with anybody. Which… usually works thanks to her sheer power and ferocity.

She’s weak to three types: Dragon, Fairy and Ground but can hit the first two right back for Super Effective damage leaving Ground as an interesting Achilles’ Heel for her. It’s both the one type that she can’t hit back as hard as it can hit her and it’s tough enough to stand up to her largely physical attack set which could force her to actually get a little creative when she’s up against a powerful Ground-Type opponent.

Ryuko’s powers are tied to her emotions which, thanks to her Enhanced status, means both are slightly unstable. As she gets more and more worked up in a fight, her power will increase signified by the red streak in her hair beginning to glow and becoming like a tongue of fire at her most powerful. This will come with a couple of drawbacks. If her spirits are low for whatever reason her power will drop accordingly so feelings of despair or uncertainty will actually weaken her. On the other hand if she becomes too heated her power will rise spectacularly but if she becomes enraged enough her blood will begin to boil and vent off her body as clouds of steam. If this goes on long enough it can start causing serious damage to her body and even make her collapse from a combination of blood loss and fever. If pushed too far, the results can potentially be fatal.

In her first Evolution, her powers will remain largely invisible. She’ll be strong enough to crack stone with a punch and tough enough to weather blows that would crush a normal human.

Her second Evolution is where things start to get crazy. The red in her hair will spread out from the single streak to the rest of her head. She’ll also gain a mild shapeshifting ability: namely the ability to sprout blades from her body similar to Senketsu Senjin. Wolverine-style claws from her hands, whirring saw blades from her arms or spikes from her shoulders. These blades are no stronger than normal steel and no sharper than a normal sword. If broken they can be retracted and it will take some time for her body to be able to generate any new ones.

In her third Evolution she’ll sprout horns from her head similar to her synchronized state in Senketsu. It’s here that she’ll also begin to develop her regeneration power. It won’t be anywhere near as effective as in canon (she won’t be able to shrug off an impalement or getting sliced in half) but regular bumps and bruises will clear up in minutes. More serious injuries might take a few hours to heal up, broken bones and the like will take a few days and potentially life-threatening injuries will mean a few weeks of recovery time but recover she will. Like her other abilities these are tied to her emotions as well. Determination and focus will let her heal more efficiently while uncertainty and doubt will slow the process down. She can force the regeneration but doing so carries the same negative consequences as flying into a rage and could end up causing her serious harm in the long run.

If possible I’d also like her to have a sword to stand in for her Scissor Blade. A gift from her father it evolves in strength as she does. In her first evolution it’s just… well, a sword, albeit much stronger and durable than a standard steel sword, enough to hack stone with enough force behind it. In her second evolution it will unlock Decapitation Mode, extending to twice its length and generating shockwaves with a swing. In her third form it will be able to split into two swords than can be dual-wielded in tandem, both with a Decapitation Mode of their own. She can either have this sword at the start, or have to find it through in-game events.

Starter Pokémon:
Skullface. Cubone lvl 2. A small orphaned Cubone that she met on the streets one day. As if recognizing the same loneliness she’d felt as a child she picked the little Pokemon up and quickly bonded with it. Skullface isn’t much of a fighter, being so young, and and is shy and nervous and largely relies on Ryuko to take care of her. But who knows what kind of influence the fiery human might have on her as she grows.

Squawks. Spearow lvl 6. A crabby, lone Spearow Ryuko ran into on her travels when it tried to snag a meal in the form of a tiny Cubone and got clobbered for its trouble. But in the proud shounen hero tradition Ryuko befriended and shared some food with the hungry straggler and took him along. They still clash every now and then though, especially over food with Squawks never missing a chance to steal a morsel of whatever Ryuko’s eating.

Notes/Special Considerations: Ryuko’s name translates to “Exiled Child Who Will Settle Everything” and was certainly appropriately named in canon, representing her father’s final gamble to save the world from Ragyo and the Life Fibers. Obviously she won’t have the same focus on her as her canon but her father’s work could shake things up a little regarding Gigas and the Enhanced, or it could just as easily be a remnant of the past. Lost entirely when the occupation of Sanctuary ended.

SAMPLES


First-Person:
[Ugh. Interview questions. What a pain in the ass.]

• What does the story of the Savior mean to you?
“Huh? What kinda question is that to start off with? Hmm… man, I dunno, it’s just some old story, isn’t it? Guess I never really thought about it… what is it again, some chick gave up fighting and now they got a religion around her? I dunno, I never really listened to it. Whatever.”

• What do you seek for humanity’s future?
“Keh! Dude, I think you’re talking to the wrong girl here. Do I look like I’m seekin’ anything for humanity here? I mean, don’t get me wrong, I’m hopin’ for good stuff and everything but I ain’t some kinda hero who’s gonna run off and do shit for ‘justice and world peace’ or whatever.”

• What would you say is your greatest duty, and why?
“Another one like that last one. Like I said, I’m not out to save the world and all that junk. I’m just out to look out for me and my friends here and that’s about it. Why? Cause nobody else is gonna do it, so it might as well be me.”

• The gods of old have returned. How would you be judged if you were chosen as a representative of humanity?
“Holy shit! Man, we’re really screwed if you’re pickin’ me for that job! Listen, I’m not kissin’ anybody’s ass, even if they are callin’ themselves ‘gods’!”

Third-Person:
Ryuko groaned as she stared down at the paper in front of her, tapping her pencil on the table she was leaning over. Why the hell did she have to answers a bunch of questions like this anyway? All she wanted to do was do some treasure hunting and make a few bucks. And she wasn’t even halfway through!

A slight snore grabbed her attention and she glanced over to where Skullface was sleeping peacefully, curled up at her side. Frown giving way to a light smile, she reached over and patted the little Pokemon’s head before sighing and going back to her dumb questions.

“What do you do to ensure we never again awaken the wrath of the gods upon humanity?”

She rolled her eyes a little, letting out a small huff of breath before putting pencil to paper for this one.
”It’s obvious, isn’t it? The gods were pissed off because people were using Pokemon for their own selfish shit and treating them like slaves. So, just don’t do that stupid shit again and things’ll be fine.”

Next….

“What do you look for in the Pokémon with whom you bond?”

That one… got her to think a little bit. What does she look for…?

”I don’t know. I didn’t really go out looking for any Pokemon to bond with but these two were on their own, and didn’t have anybody to look out for them. I couldn’t just leave ‘em out there all by themselves. I’m not that much of an asshole.”

”What would you say the role of Pokémon is in your life?”

Another one that got her to pause for a second or two to think about it. She drummed the pencil on the table again and gave Skullface another glance. Then again outside the open window where Squawks was perched, preferring the outdoors.

”Kinda a surprise, I guess. Like I said, I never really thought about goin’ out there and bonding with them but now that they’re here.”

She paused, frowning deeply at that answer.

”They’re my friends. At least, they’re both somebody I gotta take care of while we’re together.”

Man, she’s no good at all this… emotional stuff. Hopefully the next one’s a little easier.

”What do you think your Pokémon respect most about you?”

Aw, shit.

”Squawks probably respects how much food I can get! Jerkass thievin’ bird! Skullface”

The pencil stopped again and she hovered over the answer for a long time, letting the room fall into silence except for Skullface’s breathing. What did they respect about her? She could tell you what her gang back home respected about her? Or any of the others thugs she’d dealt with, but these two--

Sighing heavily, she scratched out the question.

”To what lengths would you go to rescue your allies if they were lost in the wilderness?”

Well, shit, that one was easy.

”How far do I gotta go? Whatever it is, that’s how far.”

Okay, just a few more.

”A human has attacked a wild Pokémon who retaliates in defense. How do you respond and whom do you defend?”

Feh! She shrugged a shoulder as she wrote down her answer.

”I’m guessin’ that Pokemon is probably winning, right? In that case, I let it do what it’s gotta do. You’re bad enough to throw the first punch, you’re bad enough to take the ass-kicking that comes with it. That’s all there is to it.”

Finally, it looked like she was coming up on the end of this quiz or whatever it was. Just a little longer and she could call it quits.

”What would you say the most important occupation is within your city?”

What the fuck?

Her shoulders slumped a little as she stared at that question, with nothing coming to mind. Ugh, maybe she was just tired. How late was it again? She didn’t even know but the sun had been down for a long time now….

Finally, with a frustrated grumble she just put down.

”I dunno. The frickin’ garbage man?”

Yeah, that was enough for now. Setting the pencil and paper aside she gave Skullface one final pat before dragging herself over to the thin-mattressed bed in the rented room and dropped facefirst onto it with a heavy thud. She could take a look at that thing tomorrow and maybe some up with something better for those questions. For now, she just wanted a little shuteye.

She was fast asleep long before the gust of wind blew in through Squawks’ open window. Long before it picked up the paper on her desk and whisked it away into the night to be lost forever.

Ryuko was going to be piiissed when she woke up.