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Jun. 23rd, 2011 12:10 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
knifedancesIzaya just loves humans. Human observation is his 'hobby' and his all-consuming interest, something that's evidenced right down to his career as an information broker (a position he 'fell' into quite naturally because of his in-depth knowledge of people and Tokyo's underworld even from high-school age). He possesses genius-level intellect and is able to determine a wealth of information about a person based entirely on subtle cues such as body-language and tone of voice. In canon he also sits at the center of a complicated web of information, utilising myriad sources within the city of Tokyo who all report back to him. In games he either won't have the use of his extensive information network or it'll take time for him to build one back up (something he'll certainly attempt to do) but he will be able to determine a lot of information simply from observation, holding conversations with people, through stalking the network and reading through other people's conversations, sometimes in-person covert stalking etc. He won't always be doing this with everyone (though he's likely to casually look over all conversations and retain or discard information depending on whether he finds it useful or not) but because the world of RP is a shared hobby and not everyone will be down with this kind of behaviour, consider this an opt-out (or opt-in! whatever you like!) post.
I'll never use information that I haven't been given permission to use before-hand, and there will have to be a discernible way for him to get his hands on it. For example, if you describe your character's emotional state in the action brackets, Izaya could pick it up from subtle cues in tone of voice/facial expression/wording of a sentence etc. He'll never just ~*~magically~*~ pull information from thin air, there has to be a physical source of some kind (if it's extensive information eg. history of a character he's discerning we'd need to plot out before-hand how he gathered the information!).
Also, he's not a nice guy, he may love humans but the situations he most loves to see them in are ones that instigate trauma/emotional disturbance/unsettled dispositions. He'll do things to disconcert and unsettle your characters if he can get away with it/just for fun.
SO I understand completely if you'd rather avoid this kind of interaction. Just give me a heads-up here if you'd rather Izaya didn't do these things with your characters or if you'd rather avoid interaction with him entirely. Alternatively, feel free to tell me here if you'd especially like to have some less-than-pleasant interaction with Izaya!
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Date: 2012-02-24 01:00 am (UTC)Anyway TL;DR I would love to plot stuff out with you if you're interested.
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Date: 2012-02-24 01:15 am (UTC)Is there anything in particular you were thinking of? Any weaknesses, things that would work particularly well for her, stuff like that?
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Date: 2012-02-29 04:39 am (UTC)*Fairy tale motifs are a big part of Utena's canon. Much of the tension in the story comes from the idea that girls can either be sweet, helpless princesses that are to be protected, rescued, and cherished, or evil, manipulative witches who can't be saved by anyone. There are a couple girls, such as Utena, who defy this by attempting to play the role of a brave, noble prince who protects others...unfortunately, there are those who try to ensure that she stays a "perfect princess" instead.
Anyway, what this means is: 1) Utena will be pinged by mentions of folktales, fairy tales, etc. They're a pretty good way to get her attention. 2) She has a complex about being protected, as well as a strong need to protect others (more on that later). Attempts to defend her are a good way to set her on edge; the same goes for being underestimated because of her gender and, to a lesser extent, her age. 3) She might also be uneasy about attempts to pigeon-hole people into specific roles. I admit this last one is a bit of a stretch, and is a piece of headcanon that I'm trying to iron out.
*As said earlier, she has a strong need to protect others, and if she sees anyone in trouble (or being bullied by others), she'll be quick to jump to their defense and offer a hand. This might be especially useful to Izaya - if she sees him in trouble and nobody's educated her on his true nature, she'll feel protective of him and might trust him more than she should. Generally, though, if someone she cares about is in danger (physically or emotionally) her desire to help may overwhelm her good sense.
*Speaking of misplaced trust! One of Utena's worst habits is taking people and situations at face value, and failing to notice (or search for) hidden meanings, complex subtleties, etc. Now, she is getting better about this, especially since this trait nearly led her to disaster. However, she's still learning the finer aspects of empathy, and she still has a ways to go.
*Last but not least, she has a great deal of guilt and uncertainty regarding sex and romantic relationships, which is kind of unusual for someone as young as she is. Long story short, she ended in a rather unhealthy, manipulative relationship near the end of canon, which led her to do some things that she deeply regrets (not to mention that the main villain will pretty much have sex with anything that moves). It's a topic that she'll try to avoid when possible, and has the potential to make her deeply uncomfortable.
Anyway, that's all that comes to mind for now, though I might be forgetting a few things. Is any of this useful for you?
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Date: 2012-03-02 06:03 pm (UTC)I'll get him to work on finding out those weaknesses, and the folktales aspect might come up at some point given that they're something Izaya also has an interest in.