Character's Full Name: Ilaria Suzuki
Alias / Nickname / Codename: Puck
Age: 22
Gender: Female
Date of Birth: October 31st, 1988
Nationality / Ethnicity: Japanese/Italian
Birthplace / Home / Place of Origin: Kyoto, Japan
Appearance
Hair Color and Style: Teal, insanely long. She usually keeps it in pigtails. She finds her hair fairly agreeable and never has any problems with it, much to the chagrin of others with difficult hair.
Eyes: Teal, Green
Height: 5'1"
Build: Slim, Miniscule
Visible Mutation: None
Scars / Tattoos / Piercings: None
Other Features: None
Everyday Clothing Style: Ilaria wears anything she wants. Although raised in a traditional Japanese environment and as such wears mostly kimonos, Ilaria will wear other things just to express her freedom now that she's in the states. Of course this ranges anywhere from her oddly picked Generals Uniform to her Meatball Head Attire, it all really depends on her mood...which is usually bright and cheery, but giving the nature of her power can be very sad and depressed as well. If she had to pick a favorite, it would be the simplicity of her Sailor School Garb that she's most comfortable in. Also, she likes ties, no matter how tacky they look and will wear them with almost anything. Her favorite tie is one of Mega Man (being a Mega Man fangirl). She even had a hoodie in his likeness, and will wear his shoes anywhere she goes.
Uniform: Usually whatever she's wearing at the time. Uniform...pah.
Sleepwear: She used to sleep in an all out kimono, but now is content with a oversized hoodie.
Miscellaneous Clothing: None
Speech Dialect: Having been raised in Kyoto, Japan and in a more traditional way then most are now-a-days, Ilaria is a practiced user of Kyoto-ben, though her time in The States has softened most of her vocabulary a bit. She still has a slightly deeper voice (some mistake it for sultriness, but it's not), and she's still polite as possible when it comes to her speech. Her overwhelming use of the phrase “Ara, ara”, however, has stuck with her and probably always will.
She also tends to speak about others (not herself) in the third person. It's something she did as a child and never grew out of.
Character
Personality: Cutesy, naïve and submissive to a fault. In the end, all that can really be said about Ilaria is that she sees the best in people and never stops believing that someone can turn their life around or be happy about everything if they just try hard enough. Sure, she understands that sometimes someone can do something that's unforgivable, but that doesn't mean she can't have hope for that person or persons. She's polite and tries her hardest to reign in her snarky-er nature, though that slips out sometimes when she's not expecting it and ends up with a foot in her mouth. She never swears and hardly ever uses contractions, as she believes people should enunciate and speak properly...though she mostly keeps this standard for herself.
Hobbies / Interests: Ilaria is a world class cook and loves to impress others with this ability. She brags about it to an annoying degree (though some actually find it charming, but that's probably because they're getting fed and you can't argue with the cook)[/i] and will go on and on about how awesome she is when it comes to her and her Number One Woman, The Kitchen. To Ilaria, their relationship is a harmonious thing that can never be broken. She's also a gifted musician, playing multiple instruments and a talented singer, when she gets up the nerve.
Job or Part Time Job and Description: Owner and proprietor of a candy store, called
La Dolce Vita, meaning
“The Sweet Life” in Italian. It's located by Full Circle, near Central Park.
Fears / Phobias / Concerns: Ilaria has an innate fear of being alone, but really, who doesn't? She likes being around people and enjoys it when she has someone to talk to. When she's alone she feels incredibly depressed, and will go through great lengths to have company or be around friends, just to know she's wanted even though half the time she's not, especially when she's barging into a friend's apartment at 4 o'clock in the morning.
Special Talents: None.
Morality
Good / Bad / Neutral / Other: Good, though not really by choice. More like design. In the end, it's not that complicated; she just doesn't know how to be a bad person.
Mutations
Mutation Description: The Heart of the Cards; the more friends or lovers she has, the more her physical strength increases. She is able to create “Bonds” with friends
(There are two types of Bonds; Friendship and Lover
)[/i] that make her physically stronger.
Friendship Bond: When Ilaria first meets someone, a Friendship Bond is created at it's weakest point, increasing her physical strength by the slightest amount
(being able to lift, say, half a pound more, weight wise
)[/i]. Should that given friendship not go anywhere, the Bond disappears and any strength gained will be lost. However, should the friendship with someone continue to grow, the strength of that Bond will increase exponentially. The max strength gained from any given Friendship Bond will depend on the person and will often fluctuate, but anywhere between 11 and 15 as far as the Attribute Profile is concerned, strength wise.
Lover's Bond: These are trickier, and require a lot more care and consideration. When Ilaria becomes intimate with someone she genuinely loves and cares about, the strength she gains will skyrocket, anywhere between 16 to 19 as far as the Attribute Profile is concerned, strength wise. However, Lover's Bonds require more TLC, and are also more fragile due to the emotional state of both parties, especially Ilaria herself. While she can have multiple partners and gain the strength from her mutant power, Ilaria herself has to be emotionally strong for it to remain, and can have no doubt in her mind that the Bond she has with her partner/partners is real.
Strengths: Ilaria has the ability to create “Bonds” with people she genuinely likes and that like her back. The more Bonds she has, the stronger her physical strength gets. However, each Bond she creates doesn't always equal the same amount of strength gained. If she just meets someone, that Bond will be weak and fickle, prone to disappearing entirely if that person isn't interested in knowing Ilaria or vice versa. But if Ilaria meets someone and actually gets to know them, the Bond will grow stronger and stronger, her physical strength increasing with it. Each Bond does have a limit to how much strength she gets, so to gain more power Ilaria has to keep making friends and making more Bonds.
Weakness: The Bonds that Ilaria creates are, as stated, fickle. If someone that's a friend suddenly decides
(for whatever reason
)[/i] that they can't be friends anymore, Ilaria will feel her power ebb away and a deep depression set in for awhile
(about 2-5 hours
)[/i]. With Friendship Bonds, the closer Ilaria and her friend are the more devastating the effects should the other person genuinely begin to hate Ilaria. With Lover Bonds, the effects of someone denying Ilaria would send her into a coma for an unknown amount of time.
Also, she has to know the people she's Bonded with, and can't cheat and, say, friend 500 people on Facebook in an attempt to make herself stronger. And while she may not actively talk to
ALL the people she knows, as long as they call her friend and she does the same
(and genuinely mean it
)[/i], the Bond will still be there. However!! Bonds between people she hasn't spoken to or interacted with in a long time will fade and revert back to their weakest state, draining her physical strength as well. The Bond will become active again if and when Ilaria ever reconnects with that person.
The Bonds Ilaria creates do not overlap either. So if she has two Lover's Bonds within range of her
(15-20 feet if the max range. Any further and she loses her strength
)[/i], her strength will not double.
Fighting Style
Explanation: Ilaria has mastered the use and fighting style of the
Naginata, and even keeps one in her room, though she rarely uses it and only practices with it because her mother asked her to. Oh, and she can be insanely strong due to her power.
Pros for Fighting Style: Fighting with a naginata isn't really something you see every day. Also, the ability to punch someone through a wall can net you an advantage in certain cases, again due to her power.
Cons for Fighting Style: Really, you'd have to carry a naginata everywhere to make use of it if you really wanted. But Ilaria doesn't, so her fighting style is really one big con when you think about it. Plus, she only really fights when it comes to defending/protecting her friends or in dire situations. Otherwise, she doesn't like confrontation.
Faction Allegiance
Unaffiliated
History of Your Character
Ilaria grew up the child of
Dr. Shizuru Suzuki-Ricci (a brain surgeon
)[/i] and
Dr. Durante Ricci (a scientist of great renown
)[/i]. All in all, she had a relatively normal childhood, what with being raised in Kyoto and enjoying her upbringing very much. Both her parents were open minded, logical and very, very smart. Therefore it didn't take them long to find out that, while sweet and very caring for others, their daughter simply did not have the talent they they had. While some might consider it cruel, they figured it was the only logical conclusion. After all, Ilaria had held onto the dream of wanting to open a candy store since she was five. Usually people let go of such childish dreams, but Ilaria would hear none of it.
Oddly enough, she went to school to be a dentist. That didn't work out.
Still, she was privileged and dropped out of school and continued to raise herself at home while her parent were away. Though this also didn't work out as a lot of the time she was bored, and she had servants doing her every whim and never really got to do much for herself. She was raised to be a lady, however, and never refused a servant to do their job. But she had to get away, and decided to do just that. But how...well, she didn't know. She really only left home to go to school and barley ever had contact with any of the friends she made while there. But how hard could it be? Go into town, see what life was all about and live...if only for a little while.
So she did. At night. And in a rough part of town.
She learned quickly that she was in way over her head.
She was saved from being killed after being accosted by a group of very violent thugs by a woman named
Kitty Galore, though something in the back of Ilaria's mind told her that wasn't her real name. Kitty was a streetwalker, a term Ilaria didn't understand even when Kitty basically shouted that her chosen profession was being a prostitute. After explaining what that was
(and after much blushing on Ilaria's part
)[/i], Kitty informed the smaller girl that since Kitty had saved Ilaria's life, Ilaria owed her...big time. So, being who she was, Ilaria took Kitty's hand and led her back home, even announcing to her mother and father that she had brought a prostitute home.
The two were fast friends, despite their very different backgrounds. Eventually, Kitty came to live with the family, giving herself the role of Bodyguard for her tiny friend and wouldn't take no for an answer. It was around this time that Ilaria started to notice the changes in her strength, being able to do things she wouldn't normally be able to do. For instance, stop a full grown man with a mere outstretched arm after he had snatched a purse. Or, once she started to test it out more, able to life much more in weights then she could have. She didn't know why this was, and started to do her own searches on the internet to see if anyone else had ever experienced such a phenomenon.
Imagine her surprise at the discovery of mutants.
Still, she didn't know why she was strong. All she knew was that she could do a whole lot of things she shouldn't be able to and decided that if she wanted to know more, she would have to go somewhere where people like her were commonplace and accepted...well, tolerated. And therefore she decided to go to New York City.
Of course she came up with this idea after watching The Dark Knight and decided she needed a base of operations. Luckily, her parents were all too glad to get her out of the house and on her own, and gave her everything she needed to open up her own shop. Of course, as per usual, Kitty handled the details and overall running of the shop, while Ilaria herself was the cute figurehead that were gonna get people in the door. Thus, La Dolce Vita was born, right in the heart of downtown New York City.
And then it was off to find more people like her and get the answers she needed, to find out more about herself and why
(and how
)[/i] she was getting so strong.
Roleplay
Where did you learn about this site?: Google
Do you have any other characters on MRO, if so who: Rhythm“...and that is why, as a general rule, I stay away from birds, cats, and children with uni-brows.” Ilaria finished her story as she say at a random bench in New York City's famous downtown area.
She really didn't know why, but it really did seem like a good day to go up and about, and Kitty didn't complain
(much
)[/i] about being left in the store alone to tend to the throng of customers that were there. La Dolce Vita was pretty popular, and Ilaria was happy that the store was turning a profit. New York City prices were murder, and despite being bad at a lot of things, math was one of things Ilaria was good at...but looking at ledgers and such all day and night was boring. So, a sack of candy and a random stop at a bench had her talking to a stranger that was now eying her with beady little eyes.
“Lady...” the huge biker said, slowly, as if he was speaking to a small child. Which, in essence, he was. “I gotta ask...you been talking for about fifteen minutes. And man...that's quite a story. But why you tellin' me all this? I don't even know you.”
“Ara, that does not mean we cannot talk.” Ilaria pointed out, looking up at the man who was big enough to be taller then she was even while he sitting...and slouching. “And besides, Skull Crusher told me his name after I told him mine. That means he has plenty of manners, and I did not even have to ask.”
The man named Skull Crusher rubbed the back of his neck nervously. The reality of his situation told him that someone like this girl right here shouldn't be talking to him at all. Life taught him that he was big for a reason, and that reason was to hurt and be intimidating. This girl...she was looking at him like they'd been friends since Pre-School, and talking easily. He looked down in his hand at the candy she had given him and had to admit it was pretty good...when he finally convinced himself this girl wasn't trying to poison him for whatever reason.
“Yeah, but...” He stumbled around for words, growling a bit before he ran his huge hands over his long beard, contemplating his situation. If he wasn't scaring little girls these days, he might be in for a rough time later on when he got back to the bar.
As a test, he got up and snarled at a group of punk kids that happened to be skateboarding by. Most of them fell over as the scrambled away from Skull Crusher, looking back on him in fear as they wondered what they had done to earn them the ire from someone like the him.
“I don't get it...” he mumbled, looking back to Ilaria who was overcome with a fit of the giggles. “Whatcha laughin' at kid?”
“Ara, ara. Skull Crusher is so funny. Here.” She hopped up and shoved a lollipop into the gaping biker's mouth. She gave a quick nod. “Grape. It is Skull Crusher's favorite, right?” She didn't even wait for a conformation. “It was nice to meet you. I do hope we can meet again. Come to my candy shop, okay? And being your friends!!”
Skull Crusher watched the small girl head off back into the busy throngs of people of New York City and scratched his head in confusion. He had to admit that, after a lifetime of people judging him from his looks, that a lone little girl didn't even bat those big eyes twice at his appearance and simply talked to him, just cause was...nice. He'd never admit that, not even on his death bed but he was pretty damn sure that when he visited La Dolce Vita, he wasn't gonna bring his friends.
It was gonna be his little secret.
[/font]
) meet her.
