お市の方 (lady oichi) (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
kanegasaki) wrote2012-01-11 05:38 am
kanegasaki) wrote2012-01-11 05:38 am
now that i'm worn, you don't want to wear me; application for amat
PLAYER
» Journal: aquadyne @ LJ, naginata @ DW
» Birthdate/Age: 7/4/1989; 22 years old
» Characters Played: N/A, but it should be noted that I have played Oichi at Amat previously and am opting that she keep her memories from her former stay.
CHARACTER
» Name: Oichi
» Fandom: Sengoku Basara (video game)
» Reference: http://sengokubasara.wikia.com/wiki/Oichi
» Canon Point: Prior to fighting her brother on her purple path (in SB3).
» Gender: Female, physically and mentally.
» Age: Estimated early 20s.
» Orientation: Heterosexual. Anyone with eyes — or, perhaps more suitably, ears, given how much she yells his name — can see she’s devoted to Nagamasa Azai, despite the sketchy reason for their marriage. Regardless of her original intent to follow her brother’s orders and serve as a mole in the Azai clan, Oichi in Sengoku Basara 2 expresses over and over her new desire to remain at his side, and thus her affection for him is made clear. In her route in Sengoku Basara 2 following his death, however, she also continuously brings up his name as though she is talking to him, and hyper-fixates on the thought of his guidance and instruction, thus illuminating just how much of a presence he is/was in her life.
Her husband's possible death in 2 is made outright canonical in Sengoku Basara 3, and thus obviously no interaction between the two is had; even more so, her memory is so warped that she barely mentions him at all compared to her dialogue in 2. Still, in one scene in a rare moment of clarity, she utters his name, thus cementing him as an important influence in her life.
» Personality: It’s easy, perhaps, to sum Oichi up by calling her ‘delicate,’ but it’s insufficient.
It’s fitting, really, that so many list her without a family or clan name, neither as “Oichi Azai” or “Oichi Oda,” however standard a practice it is for women of that era. Her whole life, as we know it, seems to be conflict, every little inch of her war-torn and weary and stretched to the breaking point. First encountered in Sengoku Basara 2, Oichi is practically a doormat; if Nagamasa snaps at her to do something, she’ll do it. This isn’t isolated to her beloved; though she attempts to reason with her brother, Nobunaga, once he kills Nagamasa she falls into such melancholy that she attempts to become the fitting soldier he demands of her. Described overtly by the game as a “puppet,” Oichi sets off on a bloody campaign to further her brother’s goals, despite her own internal strife and pain.
And that’s perhaps what’s so noticeable about her — her melancholy. It’s a rare sight to see her smile, so often she speaks and acts meekly, posture not just demure, but subservient if not outright wilting. She constantly berates herself, repeating over and over that everything is her fault. She takes the image of the subservient, modest, apologetic woman and pushes it to an extreme. While she has her own desires — as witnessed when she attempts to reason with Nobunaga and bring out his human heart — she suppresses them and neglects them, so much that she goes mad. Her powers of darkness — those eerie shadow hands — take over her consciousness, so much that the previously meek, peace-preferring Oichi suddenly starts laughing at the carnage she creates, and so out of it that she cites Nagamasa as the person urging her on - who is, at this point, dead, and who of all people would disapprove of her dependency on her brother and his bloody oppression.
This pattern continues, if not worsens, in Sengoku Basara 3, where she again serves as a puppet to strengthen the remnants of the Oda clan; it’s also important to note that in her alternate two paths, she will follow whoever it is the player chooses without question, regardless of how well they treat her (as in the case with Mitsunari). Her speech is even more childlike, as she gives powerful warlords such as Ieyasu and Mistunari nicknames such as “Lord Happy” and “Lord Grumpy.” Her despair at her situation has grown so much that her memories are now repressed, surfacing only in disturbing ways as she refers to others by the names of those already dead (as in the case with referring to various player characters as “Ranmaru”). She giggles and sings dark nursery rhymes as she attacks, yet crying and falling to her knees is her taunt option. Describing her as ‘kind of coherent’ is being kind.
Thus while Oichi continues to be deadly, violent, and vicious, more noticeable is her despair (in particular, defeating her with Tsuruhime will lead to a cut scene of her crying about having lost everything). Defeating her, also, leads her to remark mournfully that, “I always knew the hole in this heart could never be filled.” Oichi for most of Sengoku Basara 3 is not just a shadow, but a lack of something — no family, few memories, the whole picture needed to define her missing. Oichi doesn't know how to stand on her own for most of the game. Compare her Basara 2 script: "Lord Brother's sins are Ichi's sins." "Nagamasa-sama" this and that. Oichi's over-identification with the people in her life leaves her wavering when she's got only her two feet to stand on without support.
Yet if the player unlocks and explores her green route (which leads to the purple), it’s possible for Oichi to recover at least some of her memories. Upon remembering her brother, the previously purposeless Oichi makes it her mission to take him down. While her childish speaking pattern stays, she is more aware of who she is and what (some of) her past was. With a purpose to drive her, Oichi finally stops denying her desire to stop her brother, and sets forth to accomplish just this. There is little, if any, joy in this decision, little alteration to her melancholy nature; but for once, in a long time, Oichi is not just a puppet, and asserts her own will rather than that of those close to her.
» Appearance: What’s most noticeable about Oichi is less her body type and more the way she holds herself. As mentioned previously, her face perpetually looks mournful, if not outright blank and lost. More unnerving, however, is the way she sways and droops, as though her body lacks any stability or control over itself (which, very possibly, is true). Oichi is not unlike traditional Japanese yurei as depicted in Kabuki theater, her black hair sometimes falling to obscure her face as her body dangles almost lifelessly (think of recent J-Horror antagonists, and that basically sums it up).
Despite this, Oichi is still quite the beauty. Her long black hair is cut Hime (princess)-style, and her bangs even form a heart shape that frames her round face. She also seems to be of an average weight rather than possessing a slim stature, as there is a bit of a gentle curve and fullness to her that suits her demeanor well under all her madness.
» Suitability: Needless to say, Oichi is not the most stable of people.
However — and perhaps contrary to some opinions — neither is Oichi an utterly incapable doll of a person. She's been through hell once; the Sengoku period is also known as the time of "Warring States," and that's no understatement. She's seen enough bloody battlefields for one lifetime, and yet she's still come out alive, still trudges on for all her despair.
And she is not without her inner reserves of strength, however deeply they may be locked away — Sengoku Basara 3 shows us that the same woman who once cowered before her brother can come to face him with firm, calm resolve, and take him down. The coherence she gains on the path to facing him cannot be stressed enough; for once, she has resolve, and a purpose that she fully intends to carry out, and even her speech, still littered with all its dark poetics, follows a clear train of thought in opposition to her earlier dialogue.
It should also be stressed that part of Oichi's instability is due to the dark, demonic powers that overcome and control her in Basara 2 and 3. While no doubt her trauma plays a part in her behavior, a cutscene in Basara 3 shows us a moment in which she is released from those powers. Gone is that song-like lilt to her voice, gone are the messy string of dark images she uses to illustrate all her inward confusion and turmoil; she's simply confused and just a little meek, acting very much like herself from back in her Basara 2 early stages. It's difficult to draw the line between the burden of her trauma and the external influence of those powers, but lightening the load in the latter matter has been canonly illustrated to help her mental state.
Most of all, however, Oichi is canonly depicted to be extremely distressed regarding her lack of memories in Basara 3. In Amat she will thus be motivated to not lose anymore of them. As mentioned previously, Oichi often looks outside herself for motivation to keep going; if there's a possibility to remember Nagamasa while imprisoned on Atia, if there's a possibility to hold onto that beacon of light however vaguely she recalls it, then she sure as hell is going to take that chance. Her mission to defeat her brother, too, is one she will not want to forget, given the positive way it has stabilized her in canon.
Lastly, having been married, it can be assumed that Oichi has experienced sexual situations and understands them, and thus has a certain framework/toolset with which to approach life on Atia.
SAMPLES
» "amatomnes" First-Person Network Entry:
Ahh... this witch has dragged me back. What good is Ichi here? A bird that can't fly... may as well be a doll.
[Unless it sings, maybe. Unless it can prove it's alive! So... that's what she'll do. Her hunched posture relaxes just a little, fingers returning to tracing over the two emblems on her collar. Remember. She'll remember what she still has to do, to keep going for —]
But Ichi is going to work hard, because... there is something only Ichi can do. The beating thing within my chest demands it. Can't you hear? It's singing...!
[Her hand falls from her collar, however, her eyebrows furrowing.]
But it's strange. Ichi has a purpose, but — what is this witch is living for? Ichi can't understand... [and there's almost a dark hint of a laugh here - dark and sad.] How funny, Ichi... almost pities her.
[end feed.]
» "amatomneslogs" Third-Person Prose Entry:
This dream is different than the first; oh, her precious little ray of light still squeaks in, Nagamasa-sama in all his noble red-and-whites, but he's gone the second she reaches out to touch him. All those hands hold her back - not those shadows, though, no, hands of skin and flesh touching her instead, hands that maybe she knows if she just keeps thinking —
But this time, too, she wakes up alone; this time, like last time, like every day and night that would slink over Kanegasaki since she'd been left there to rot. But it's not the disappointment that gets to her; well, what's one more sting of loneliness among all those needling her heart? It's the flush crawling over her skin and the dampness between her legs, and none of it is warm, is pleasant - it's scalding, the shame of it all. Ichi's heart is such a greedy thing... he would surely... hate Ichi... She shouldn't want anyone other than him (who? his name was...); no, she hadn't wanted anyone else at all. This place was...
She averts her eyes, looking at the floors, the ceilings, anywhere that isn't her body, thighs squeezing tightly together as if that can drain that traitorous warmth from her skin. This place was strange, and yet oddly familiar with all its elaborate architecture, so different from the modest, war-torn camps of Kanegasaki. She reaches out tentatively, running a finger along her headboard — and remembers.
"No... nonononono!"
What starts as a whimper rolls into a deep, pained moan, as Oichi wraps her arms around her naked body, head shaking wildly back and forth. Ahh...! Ichi is surely being punished... for those sins... She remembers everything about this place, and how cruel, how cruel that Atia paints such a more vivid picture than Omi, than that faint beacon of light she can almost remember from back home—
A shaky hand lifts to trace around her collar; that, too, is still the marker of her ownership. And really, wasn't she always an owned thing, someone's hand is always at Ichi's neck, pushing her down until she forgets there's a world above the ground. Still, she traces over the familiar pattern, those two ugly, mashed-up symbols of - of -
Azai and Oda: the two names come to her almost in a faint whisper, and a hand clenches in front of her chest (her heart), as if that will keep them there, as if that will keep those faint, feathery memories from floating off away from her, again. Azai and Oda, two dueling voices in her head...
Ah, that's right. Ichi has something very important... something only she can do... Oh, and to be taken away from it twice, her new purpose, so dear and precious: was she meant to stay useless forever? This witch really was cruel... Oichi frowns, stays unmoving on the bed; without that heavy musk of darkness, without all those dear, shadowy friends of hers, she's almost afraid she'll float away from all this new lightness. But something so hollow... is sure to sink instead... right?
Another voice, achingly tender underneath all its hardness, calls instead.
Get up, Ichi!
So she listens. Slowly, as if every breath hurts (and maybe it does), she dresses herself, humming something soft under her breath, something that's just enough to keep her rooted there, to keep her solid and whole despite all her shaking. Azai and Oda, two dueling voices, two different currents threatening to swallow her up —
They'd crush her with the same wave in the end, but they'll be her anchors for now. "Ichi will hold on to both of you very tight, so... she'll keep going. You'll have to wait. Be good, and wait for Ichi, won 't you?"
A hand closing over her collar, she closes her eyes, and commits the curve of each crest to memory all over again.
» Journal: aquadyne @ LJ, naginata @ DW
» Birthdate/Age: 7/4/1989; 22 years old
» Characters Played: N/A, but it should be noted that I have played Oichi at Amat previously and am opting that she keep her memories from her former stay.
CHARACTER
» Name: Oichi
» Fandom: Sengoku Basara (video game)
» Reference: http://sengokubasara.wikia.com/wiki/Oichi
» Canon Point: Prior to fighting her brother on her purple path (in SB3).
» Gender: Female, physically and mentally.
» Age: Estimated early 20s.
» Orientation: Heterosexual. Anyone with eyes — or, perhaps more suitably, ears, given how much she yells his name — can see she’s devoted to Nagamasa Azai, despite the sketchy reason for their marriage. Regardless of her original intent to follow her brother’s orders and serve as a mole in the Azai clan, Oichi in Sengoku Basara 2 expresses over and over her new desire to remain at his side, and thus her affection for him is made clear. In her route in Sengoku Basara 2 following his death, however, she also continuously brings up his name as though she is talking to him, and hyper-fixates on the thought of his guidance and instruction, thus illuminating just how much of a presence he is/was in her life.
Her husband's possible death in 2 is made outright canonical in Sengoku Basara 3, and thus obviously no interaction between the two is had; even more so, her memory is so warped that she barely mentions him at all compared to her dialogue in 2. Still, in one scene in a rare moment of clarity, she utters his name, thus cementing him as an important influence in her life.
» Personality: It’s easy, perhaps, to sum Oichi up by calling her ‘delicate,’ but it’s insufficient.
It’s fitting, really, that so many list her without a family or clan name, neither as “Oichi Azai” or “Oichi Oda,” however standard a practice it is for women of that era. Her whole life, as we know it, seems to be conflict, every little inch of her war-torn and weary and stretched to the breaking point. First encountered in Sengoku Basara 2, Oichi is practically a doormat; if Nagamasa snaps at her to do something, she’ll do it. This isn’t isolated to her beloved; though she attempts to reason with her brother, Nobunaga, once he kills Nagamasa she falls into such melancholy that she attempts to become the fitting soldier he demands of her. Described overtly by the game as a “puppet,” Oichi sets off on a bloody campaign to further her brother’s goals, despite her own internal strife and pain.
And that’s perhaps what’s so noticeable about her — her melancholy. It’s a rare sight to see her smile, so often she speaks and acts meekly, posture not just demure, but subservient if not outright wilting. She constantly berates herself, repeating over and over that everything is her fault. She takes the image of the subservient, modest, apologetic woman and pushes it to an extreme. While she has her own desires — as witnessed when she attempts to reason with Nobunaga and bring out his human heart — she suppresses them and neglects them, so much that she goes mad. Her powers of darkness — those eerie shadow hands — take over her consciousness, so much that the previously meek, peace-preferring Oichi suddenly starts laughing at the carnage she creates, and so out of it that she cites Nagamasa as the person urging her on - who is, at this point, dead, and who of all people would disapprove of her dependency on her brother and his bloody oppression.
This pattern continues, if not worsens, in Sengoku Basara 3, where she again serves as a puppet to strengthen the remnants of the Oda clan; it’s also important to note that in her alternate two paths, she will follow whoever it is the player chooses without question, regardless of how well they treat her (as in the case with Mitsunari). Her speech is even more childlike, as she gives powerful warlords such as Ieyasu and Mistunari nicknames such as “Lord Happy” and “Lord Grumpy.” Her despair at her situation has grown so much that her memories are now repressed, surfacing only in disturbing ways as she refers to others by the names of those already dead (as in the case with referring to various player characters as “Ranmaru”). She giggles and sings dark nursery rhymes as she attacks, yet crying and falling to her knees is her taunt option. Describing her as ‘kind of coherent’ is being kind.
Thus while Oichi continues to be deadly, violent, and vicious, more noticeable is her despair (in particular, defeating her with Tsuruhime will lead to a cut scene of her crying about having lost everything). Defeating her, also, leads her to remark mournfully that, “I always knew the hole in this heart could never be filled.” Oichi for most of Sengoku Basara 3 is not just a shadow, but a lack of something — no family, few memories, the whole picture needed to define her missing. Oichi doesn't know how to stand on her own for most of the game. Compare her Basara 2 script: "Lord Brother's sins are Ichi's sins." "Nagamasa-sama" this and that. Oichi's over-identification with the people in her life leaves her wavering when she's got only her two feet to stand on without support.
Yet if the player unlocks and explores her green route (which leads to the purple), it’s possible for Oichi to recover at least some of her memories. Upon remembering her brother, the previously purposeless Oichi makes it her mission to take him down. While her childish speaking pattern stays, she is more aware of who she is and what (some of) her past was. With a purpose to drive her, Oichi finally stops denying her desire to stop her brother, and sets forth to accomplish just this. There is little, if any, joy in this decision, little alteration to her melancholy nature; but for once, in a long time, Oichi is not just a puppet, and asserts her own will rather than that of those close to her.
» Appearance: What’s most noticeable about Oichi is less her body type and more the way she holds herself. As mentioned previously, her face perpetually looks mournful, if not outright blank and lost. More unnerving, however, is the way she sways and droops, as though her body lacks any stability or control over itself (which, very possibly, is true). Oichi is not unlike traditional Japanese yurei as depicted in Kabuki theater, her black hair sometimes falling to obscure her face as her body dangles almost lifelessly (think of recent J-Horror antagonists, and that basically sums it up).
Despite this, Oichi is still quite the beauty. Her long black hair is cut Hime (princess)-style, and her bangs even form a heart shape that frames her round face. She also seems to be of an average weight rather than possessing a slim stature, as there is a bit of a gentle curve and fullness to her that suits her demeanor well under all her madness.
» Suitability: Needless to say, Oichi is not the most stable of people.
However — and perhaps contrary to some opinions — neither is Oichi an utterly incapable doll of a person. She's been through hell once; the Sengoku period is also known as the time of "Warring States," and that's no understatement. She's seen enough bloody battlefields for one lifetime, and yet she's still come out alive, still trudges on for all her despair.
And she is not without her inner reserves of strength, however deeply they may be locked away — Sengoku Basara 3 shows us that the same woman who once cowered before her brother can come to face him with firm, calm resolve, and take him down. The coherence she gains on the path to facing him cannot be stressed enough; for once, she has resolve, and a purpose that she fully intends to carry out, and even her speech, still littered with all its dark poetics, follows a clear train of thought in opposition to her earlier dialogue.
It should also be stressed that part of Oichi's instability is due to the dark, demonic powers that overcome and control her in Basara 2 and 3. While no doubt her trauma plays a part in her behavior, a cutscene in Basara 3 shows us a moment in which she is released from those powers. Gone is that song-like lilt to her voice, gone are the messy string of dark images she uses to illustrate all her inward confusion and turmoil; she's simply confused and just a little meek, acting very much like herself from back in her Basara 2 early stages. It's difficult to draw the line between the burden of her trauma and the external influence of those powers, but lightening the load in the latter matter has been canonly illustrated to help her mental state.
Most of all, however, Oichi is canonly depicted to be extremely distressed regarding her lack of memories in Basara 3. In Amat she will thus be motivated to not lose anymore of them. As mentioned previously, Oichi often looks outside herself for motivation to keep going; if there's a possibility to remember Nagamasa while imprisoned on Atia, if there's a possibility to hold onto that beacon of light however vaguely she recalls it, then she sure as hell is going to take that chance. Her mission to defeat her brother, too, is one she will not want to forget, given the positive way it has stabilized her in canon.
Lastly, having been married, it can be assumed that Oichi has experienced sexual situations and understands them, and thus has a certain framework/toolset with which to approach life on Atia.
SAMPLES
» "amatomnes" First-Person Network Entry:
Ahh... this witch has dragged me back. What good is Ichi here? A bird that can't fly... may as well be a doll.
[Unless it sings, maybe. Unless it can prove it's alive! So... that's what she'll do. Her hunched posture relaxes just a little, fingers returning to tracing over the two emblems on her collar. Remember. She'll remember what she still has to do, to keep going for —]
But Ichi is going to work hard, because... there is something only Ichi can do. The beating thing within my chest demands it. Can't you hear? It's singing...!
[Her hand falls from her collar, however, her eyebrows furrowing.]
But it's strange. Ichi has a purpose, but — what is this witch is living for? Ichi can't understand... [and there's almost a dark hint of a laugh here - dark and sad.] How funny, Ichi... almost pities her.
[end feed.]
» "amatomneslogs" Third-Person Prose Entry:
This dream is different than the first; oh, her precious little ray of light still squeaks in, Nagamasa-sama in all his noble red-and-whites, but he's gone the second she reaches out to touch him. All those hands hold her back - not those shadows, though, no, hands of skin and flesh touching her instead, hands that maybe she knows if she just keeps thinking —
But this time, too, she wakes up alone; this time, like last time, like every day and night that would slink over Kanegasaki since she'd been left there to rot. But it's not the disappointment that gets to her; well, what's one more sting of loneliness among all those needling her heart? It's the flush crawling over her skin and the dampness between her legs, and none of it is warm, is pleasant - it's scalding, the shame of it all. Ichi's heart is such a greedy thing... he would surely... hate Ichi... She shouldn't want anyone other than him (who? his name was...); no, she hadn't wanted anyone else at all. This place was...
She averts her eyes, looking at the floors, the ceilings, anywhere that isn't her body, thighs squeezing tightly together as if that can drain that traitorous warmth from her skin. This place was strange, and yet oddly familiar with all its elaborate architecture, so different from the modest, war-torn camps of Kanegasaki. She reaches out tentatively, running a finger along her headboard — and remembers.
"No... nonononono!"
What starts as a whimper rolls into a deep, pained moan, as Oichi wraps her arms around her naked body, head shaking wildly back and forth. Ahh...! Ichi is surely being punished... for those sins... She remembers everything about this place, and how cruel, how cruel that Atia paints such a more vivid picture than Omi, than that faint beacon of light she can almost remember from back home—
A shaky hand lifts to trace around her collar; that, too, is still the marker of her ownership. And really, wasn't she always an owned thing, someone's hand is always at Ichi's neck, pushing her down until she forgets there's a world above the ground. Still, she traces over the familiar pattern, those two ugly, mashed-up symbols of - of -
Azai and Oda: the two names come to her almost in a faint whisper, and a hand clenches in front of her chest (her heart), as if that will keep them there, as if that will keep those faint, feathery memories from floating off away from her, again. Azai and Oda, two dueling voices in her head...
Ah, that's right. Ichi has something very important... something only she can do... Oh, and to be taken away from it twice, her new purpose, so dear and precious: was she meant to stay useless forever? This witch really was cruel... Oichi frowns, stays unmoving on the bed; without that heavy musk of darkness, without all those dear, shadowy friends of hers, she's almost afraid she'll float away from all this new lightness. But something so hollow... is sure to sink instead... right?
Another voice, achingly tender underneath all its hardness, calls instead.
Get up, Ichi!
So she listens. Slowly, as if every breath hurts (and maybe it does), she dresses herself, humming something soft under her breath, something that's just enough to keep her rooted there, to keep her solid and whole despite all her shaking. Azai and Oda, two dueling voices, two different currents threatening to swallow her up —
They'd crush her with the same wave in the end, but they'll be her anchors for now. "Ichi will hold on to both of you very tight, so... she'll keep going. You'll have to wait. Be good, and wait for Ichi, won 't you?"
A hand closing over her collar, she closes her eyes, and commits the curve of each crest to memory all over again.