[OOC: Paradisa application]

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NAME: Senri

JOURNAL: senri

EMAIL: undead.invader@gmail.com

AIM: Skitterklat

WIKI NAME: Senri

CHARACTERS: n/a

CHARACTER NAME: Asano Rin

FANDOM: Blade of the Immortal

CANON: From current manga chapters – is in the midst of storming the prison with Doa, has not been reunited with her bodyguard Manji yet.

WHAT THEY LOST: Rin lost Kutoneshirika, her family’s heirloom Chinese sword. Although the blade isn’t very sharp it’s one that holds personal meaning to her as one of the mementoes of her previous life with her family; in the manga she was stunned to see it in Itto-Ryu hands and risked her identity being discovered to try and get it back. It’s an important item to her.


PERSONALITY: In spite of all her bad experiences, Rin is basically a sweet girl. She’s strong-willed and altruistic and she truly wants to do what’s right. Most of the problems she has with this stem from the fact that in her world, there never really seems to be a surefire right thing to do.

She’s a bit of a crybaby, and she has a big sweet tooth, and she’s not as good a fighter as most of the other people in the series. No one should think that Rin’s worthless or wimpy because of any of this, though! This is a girl who deliberately dislocated her own thumb so she could slip out of her bonds and go rescue her bodyguard. She’s tough! So when Rin’s really loyal to someone, she’d undergo almost anything to keep them safe. She’s fairly clever as well. She’s good at making antidotes for emergencies and carries a little poison too. Since she’s not an especially strong fighter she relies heavily on surprise, demonstrated mostly in her Golden Wasps attack, where she throws several small daggers which are usually concealed in her sleeves.

For all her desire to become stronger Rin’s not entirely cut out to be a fighter. She’s too empathetic; she even finds a certain amount of sympathy for her own private enemy Anotsu, and won’t kill him when he’s alone with her and terribly weakened by lockjaw – it’s just not the honorable thing to do! But that’s Rin, always on some level preferring reconciliation with her enemies rather than just decapitating them. She yells a lot at Anotsu and acts really bratty towards him (although he probably deserves it), but there isn’t as much honest hate demonstrated between them as you’d think. They even manage to work pretty well together sometimes.

Manji, her bodyguard, could probably be fairly stated as Rin’s most important person. She has a giant crush on him and relies on his protection, but has saved his life before. She sees him as a man but also as a brotherly figure, at least in the beginning of the manga; current canon has him imprisoned and Rin with no idea of where he is. She’s still worried and fixated on searching for him.

THIRD-PERSON WRITING SAMPLE:
The sky was fringed with blue. Rin kept her eyes on that, helping Anotsu into the boat, scathingly embarrassed for both of them. Striving to ignore his shamefully weak grip on her shoulder, then her forearm. The air was muggy. She thought it might rain.

Anotsu dropped back to recline on the wood with a raspy sigh. He was safe to look at again – as safe as ever.

He was very pale; mangy, thin. He looked like a wolf starved down to a cur. He’d lost muscle mass. Probably couldn’t fight worth a…. worth a damn. His narrow eyes were fixed on her. An expression of futile anger and thwarted machismo. Rin locked her eyes onto the designs fringing his robe and settled Head Hammer down alongside him, within reach but not touching. A gesture only; it wasn’t as if he had the strength to use it.

She stood beside the boat a moment, shifting from foot to foot. Picked at one grimy fingernail. “I’ll buy some rice,” she said. Talking to Anotsu was worthless, scarcely different from talking to herself, but it comforted her nonetheless. It assured her that he wasn’t a phantom yet. “There’s not much money left so I don’t know how much I can get. Of anything.” She tried to bite it down but the words squeezed from the corner of her mouth: “I’ll try not to be gone too long.”

Only slow, tortured breathing from the boat: heavy, irregular as an injured dog. Then a gasp and a long wheeze. Rin jumped, wondering if he’d die right there, the thought too sudden to crush. She leaned over and checked him and saw with a flare of lightheadedness that he was fine. He was laughing. A smirk twisted his lips, spit gathered at the corners of his mouth. Rin dropped back, stomped away.

I hate you, she thought. Damn snake-eyes. What a mess he’d dragged her into. She held his life in her hands and couldn’t take it. It wasn’t even his strength holding her at bay now. It would just be too pathetic to kill him as he was. Dishonorable, too much in keeping with the tenets of the philosophy he followed, of victory at any cost. It would be so easy, but she didn’t want to complete her vengeance like this.

The trek over the mountain had clouded her formerly clear vision. It was confusing, to see the man underneath the leader, and then to see weakness overcoming the man. There wasn’t too much she could do for him, really. Rin’s medicinal skills were mostly limited to herbal work and doctoring Manji, who was an easy patient, really. Even if she gave her best to Anotsu it might not be enough. Either way, she’d keep her word, and watch over him until his end, whether it came sooner or later.

She was only a few paces on the path when she stopped and looked anxiously back. The entire day felt precariously balanced; the back of Rin’s arms and neck itched as if stung by the cold breath of spirits. The boat sat innocently by the river. It still felt like rain. At last she turned and continued towards the town. Whatever happened, they needed food, and Anotsu was not a man who feared being alone with his ghosts.

FIRST-PERSON WRITING SAMPLE: I… I think I’m really lost, this time.

At least the first time I knew how I’d gotten lost in the first place. This is different. Full of such strange-looking people, everything here is so strange, and I’m alone here…

If he was here right now, I know what Manji would say… he’d say… “If you have time to cry, go practice your moves!” And he wouldn’t let up until I g-got up…

So I should probably go do that… Manji would say, “you don’t know who your friends are here!” and he wouldn’t trust anyone, and he’d make sure I didn’t either. H-he’d be so angry if I neglected my training… so I better make sure I’m prepared…

If he saw me right now, when there was so much to do to find things out and be safe, he’d say, “I guess you’re still just a little brat after all.” Manji-! I’ll show you… I’ll make you proud! Hyakurin said, “if you’re always relying on a man to protect you, you’ll never become strong yourself.” So I have to do for my best for myself now! This is my chance to get strong on my own! N-no more tears! PRACTICE! Atta girl, Rin! I’ll be out of here in no time!

…

…Manji… p-please come to me soon.