Count D

OOC:

Name: Kim
Are you over 16?: Yes
Personal DW: eviltea
Email: Guillotineapprehensiveengineer@gmail.com
Timezone: GMT +1:00
Other contact: AIM/Plurk: guillotineapprehensiveengineer
Characters already in the game: None.
How did you find us?: Saw you mentioned as an example of a sandbox game in a rant community. Sounds worse than it was. B|

IC:

Character name: Count D
Fandom: Pet Shop of Horrors / Pet Shop of Horrors Tokyo.
Timeline: After chapters 3 of Pet Shop of Horrors Vol 9.
Age: 21 (Information from canon indicates that he is somewhere between 20 and 22).

~*Magical*~ abilities and strengths: Oy vey. While it's never fully explained in canon what exactly D is, it is made clear that he is not human. The information given has led most of the fandom to refer to him as a kami (which is a form of Asian deity) which admittedly sounds a bit more graspable than "We are the painters of unseen images. The singers of unheard songs. The caretakers of what has been lost. We are that which you choose to ignore." Most, if not all, of his abilities are not personal to him but his entire kind. There are not many of them and they have only managed to last as long as they have due to their ability to reproduce asexually.

He has intimate knowledge of most, if not all, animals on earth, mythological or otherwise, and is able to communicate them. He is also able to see them in a humanoid form (if he is in possession of his pet shop he also has a slightly mind altering incense which allows humans to see the pet they buy in this form as well). The animals in turn all seem to love and adore him in return, and they are willing to kill, and probably die, for him.

He heals from most of his injuries incredibly fast - the only exception so far has been breaking one of his claws nails - including gunshot wounds. Wounding him will however make him bleed, which is not a good thing. At lest not for whoever has caused the injury. His blood takes the form of the spirit of animals slain and/or suffering, and they will proceed to attack the shit out of you.

He is much faster and stronger than his light build would imply. He can also jump high enough to reach rooftops, swim excellently without having to breathe and quite possibly fly.

In canon we know that he speaks perfect English, Japanese, German and Italian. And since they make a pretty big deal out of the fact that he is Chinese I think it is safe to assume that he can speak perfect Chinese as well. Adding this to the fact that he moves his shop around regularly around the entire world it would not be illogical to assume that he does in fact speak every known (and perhaps unknown) language on earth.

He also seems to have a rather good aim, at lest when it comes to throwing teacups, and have the amazing ability to survive on nothing but a ridiculous amount of sweets (without it having a slightest influence on his appearance).

How would they use their abilities?: To care for whatever animals he could and to make the persons responsible for the earth's destruction PAY!

Appearance: He's of a rather slight and short build, even considering his Chinese heritage. He has black hair that sometimes looks more purple, blue or green and which reaches down to his chin. His right eye is a golden colour and his left is a vivid violet. His often smirking lips are dark, as are his nails, which are also very long and sharp. Others often find him feminine looking and it's not unusual that they are unsure of his actual gender or, even more commonly, mistake it completely.

He generally wears traditional Chinese clothing, often embellished with beautiful patterns and/or embroideries, along with slippers.

Background/Personality:

A long time ago, in ancient China, his kind lived in peace side by side with humans at what today is called the Kunlun mountains. Since they were friendly with animals and could speak their language they could refer messages and prophecies from the ancient beasts. Because of this they were soon invited to the emperors palace, regarded as priest and priestesses.

Then one day the emperor's son, a mighty warrior, asked a young priestess to be his bride. When she refused he became first heartbroken and then enraged. In his rage he decided that she, and the rest of her kind, must be devils and monsters and ordered his men to kill them all and leave no survivor behind.

Only one man survived. Beaten and exhausted, having been forced to bury his parents, his children, his friends he vowed to bring revenge upon the humans.

This was several (official artwork indicates eight) generations ago. Because of their method of reproduction - which is basically a kind of cloning - each new generation looks uncannily like the former, the only differences being their choice of hairstyle and the colour of their eyes (D's father's eyes are violet and his grandfather's are golden). Their personalities - of course - are also different, shaped by their own experiences and the time periods they've grown up in. One thing that has remained constant though is their dislike for the entire human race and their continuation of their forefather's sworn revenge, now not only for the sake of their own kind but for all the innocent animal lives taken.

Somewhere along the line one of them decided that the best way to do this was to create a pet shop - that is really a magical, flying ship. In this shop they sell special pets as well as more ordinary ones. If you get "chosen" to be one of the special pets' owner you enter into a three clause contract. Break one on the clauses, you die. Sounds efficient, yes?

The youngest D definitely shares his ancestors hatred for the human race. But while the story of their beginning has been instilled in him from an early age, his primary focus seems to lie with the suffering and needless death of animals. And he himself has made a vow to avenge their suffering by punishing the people responsible. It has been shown that he, and presumably the others of his kind, can feel the pain and suffering animals go through and are deeply affected by their passing.

D was - for reasons never fully explained - taken from his father at a very early age and has been raised by his grandfather. He does not seem to have very much contact with his father and their relationship's a bit strained, at least from D's point of view. Little is known about his childhood, but around the age of twenty he turns up, alone, with the pet shop in L.A, USA. His grandfather, at lest to his knowledge, is away to find rare species of animals and has left him in control of the family business.

In L.A he encounters homicide detective Leon Orcot, who has connected a number of unexplained deaths to the pet shop. He is convinced that the count is behind it, along with dealings with drugs, prostitution and human trafficking (and, along the line things like the bad weather and the economy).

Despite being rather annoyed with the American detective and his "silly" accusations, D develops a peculiar friendship with Leon over time. It rather soon comes to the point where, when Leon isn't working or sleeping, he's at the pet shop. And D continues to let him in. The fact that Leon keeps bringing him very good and very expensive sweets doesn't hurt, and in return he "helps" the detective with cases either relevant to the pet shop or otherwise having anything else to do with animals (surprisingly many). Even though his explanations are often fantastical and could reveal far more about his own kind than he'd want found out, he never truly lies to Leon, choosing instead to omit if there is something he especially does not wish the detective to know. Of course, he also knows that Leon will not believe his stories about mermaids and other mythological creatures no matter how true they may be. While this relationship does not necessarily make him much more benign towards humans in general, he does become very attached and fond of this particular one.

Later, when Leon's six-year-old brother Chris shows up - unable to speak because of a traumatic experience - D becomes the boy's primary caretaker since Leon has no one else to turn to. While D is wary and unwilling at first, Chris quickly worms his way into his affections, and he becomes a very caring and protective guardian, showing genuine sadness at the knowledge that the relationship will not last forever.

This added close human relationship combined with the one he already has formed with Leon, which only seems to grow deeper with time, further softens D's views of humans, possibly also as a species, to an extent that seriously worries the rest of his family.

D generally prides himself on his poker-face. His most common expression is a slightly superior smirk, sometimes combined with a smile. While he does show emotion, you're more likely to see hints of them than a full-blown expression. The only other actual expression you are likely to see him display, baring extreme circumstances, is annoyance. At lest until you manage to become close to him and/or get under his skin. Of course neither of these are an easy task to manage, but they're not completely impossible. He uses his smirk to cover up any emotion he does not want to show, and is hesitant to show even those closest to him what he really feels. The only noticeable exception is with his family where his behaviour is almost disturbingly unassertive and passive.

For all of his ingrained and expressed dislike for humans, he does like them more then he himself is aware. And, usually, unless they do something to upset him - aka in any way cause harm or suffering to an animal - he will not go out of his way to make them one of his special customers. And while most of his contract lead to the customers' gruesome demise, others will help them and, in the end, bring them happiness. And just like in the old, more bloody fairy tales, everyone will get exactly what they "deserve".

He has a very extreme sense of justice. The only punishment he seems to consider appropriate is death. Of course, the things he considers to be punishable crimes are slightly different from what a human would think, and not always fully compatible with human law (which he doesn't care two bits about).

Because he's more in tune with nature rather than humans, he is not very versed with modern technologies, though he of course knows about them, nor is he overly familiar with modern cultural references. He does, however, have a certain amount of knowledge related to what can be referred to as "higher" culture.

Animals and nature will almost always be more important to him than anything else, and he will give up his life for them without a second thought. Having an animal that cares for you will not necessarily make him like you, but it will prevent him from doing anything nasty to you as long as they are on your side. And taking good care of an animal or showing obvious affection for them will raise his opinion of you, if only slightly.

And if you actually manage to win his affection you will have a very caring and protective friend, even if he does not quite realize it himself.

Have you read up on how the game works?: It's called FlamingFerret. You can do missions, get a permanent job and, of course, steal.

1st person sample:

Greetings.

My name is D and I come from the planet earth. I have just arrived and I hope that you would not mind doing me a slight favour. I'm looking for a young boy from my planet. His name is Chris Orcot and he's six years old. He is rather short for his age and has blond hair and blue eyes. I realize that this is a rather vague but he does have another more distinguishing feature; he cannot talk.

I don't know if any of the other members of his family have survived and if they haven't I'm afraid I may be all he has.

Please. I would be extremely grateful of any information you may have on him.

Count D.

PS. Oh, and if you happen to run into a detective Orcot as well I would appreciate it if you would let me know as well. I doubt he will be very difficult to mistake. He's about 6 feet tall, has a mop of blond hair, suspicious blue eyes, frequently displays absolutely horrid and uncouth behaviour, and wears the most ridiculous T-shirts imaginable.

[Since he's not very comfortable with technology, and definitely not with that of the SS Thor, he was not really prepared for the photo and his face is definitely showing more of the strain and worry he feels than he'd like.]


3rd person sample:

Perhaps he should have expected it, should have known it was coming. And in a way he supposed that he had, at least intellectually. But that kind of knowledge seldom helps much to ease the effects emotions may have on a person. And while he might have wished otherwise he was not exempt.

He had felt their pain before, felt their cries of agony as their lives were cut short. And at times, late at night when he woke up from hearing them even in his dreams, he had thought that nothing could invoke more pain or be more horrible. He had been wrong.

It was coursing through him, surging through every nerve of his body. The sounds, the cries of millions upon millions of creatures in pain, dying, screaming out for him to help them. To protect them, to shield them from this horrors. And here he was, far away, safe and completely helpless to do anything else but to feel, to listen and to never, ever forget. It would be their legacy. And his punishment for abandoning them in their need. No matter how good his reasons may be they could not excuse him. Not from this.

Then, as sudden as it had begun it ended. It should have been a relief but, and he had not though this possible, instead it was even worse. This emptiness inside him; it was like a part of him had been taken away, carved from his very flesh leaving him hollow, incomplete. He had never been aware of how much of his being had been in tune with the creatures of his beloved earth before it had been taken away from him.

Gasping for air he falls, not even noticing the pain as his knees hits the floor. He wants to escape, to be allowed some relief from this terror but his mind stays frighteningly clear.


Questions?: Is it possible for him to bring his pet shop?

You have mentioned in the FAQ that characters can bring things with them (including rather large things) and, logically, if D could bring the shop he definitely would. On a player level I would really like to have it both because it's very closely connected to him and also because it would reduce some of the utter horror, shock, pain and angst he would experience due to the destruction of the earth and keep it to more moderate amounts. Since the pet shop contains a lot of different animals having it with him would help to keep him stable, a bit more focused and keep him from an utter breakdown.

However I will totally understand if bringing it will mean too many problems.

The shop is in one way sort of like the TARDIS, in that it is way bigger on the inside (it does not, however, travel in space nor in time). It rooms very many different animals, both mythical and ordinary, in many different settings including jungles, savannah and an ocean. Not surprisingly he uses his shop as both his home and place of business and I'm not quite sure how this would affect the rooming and job situation on the SS Thor.

Having the business will not bring him a lot of money, at least not in the beginning and I will still sign him up for missions.

The shop also contains some of the playable characters from the series but if I'm allowed to have him bring it I would of course not play them and I don't see any reason to why he would have to bring them up, except possibly in passing (as in possibly mentioning that they are with him and are still alive). Since characters can be played, dropped and then picked up by another player I hope that this won't be too much of a problem.

Did you put your characters name and fandom in the subject: Yes I did.