From Sailor Moon Flash!
| Sailor Mermaid | |
|---|---|
 Sailor Mermaid (Kate Zimmermann) | |
| Profile | |
| Name: | Utakou Arumi |
| Birthday: | March 3 |
| Age: | 17 |
| Affiliation: | Galactics, Chuo |
| Powers: | Sound |
| Player: | Laris |
Contents |
The Basics
Name: Utakou Arumi. "uta (歌)" is the most common term for "song" or "lyrical poem", and "kou (こ)" means "in the way of" and a million other things. "Arumi (あるみ)" is a little pun on the Japanese katakana for aluminum, "aruminiamu" , referencing her previous incarnation as Aluminum Siren.
Position: Galactic Senshi Sailor Mermaid, also sweethearted third-year Chuo student and all-around aspiring indie rock star.
Appearance: Arumi is tall for a Japanese woman at 5'6", willowy and slim and just barely shy of lanky -- she's blessed with legs that go all the way up, unfortunately to comment on this to her means she'll ask you "up to where?". Despite her athletic hobbies, her musculature is still too thin and her shape too gently curvy for her to ever look formidable in the least. She has definite piano hands, which is fortunate, because she plays often and obnoxiously well. Her sea-green hair is so pale as to appear almost white, soft and utterly straight, and is all cut chin-length in a cutesy tousled bob except for two long, tightly bound braids on either side of her face. Undone, these two locks would spiral n' wave down to her ribcage. (Oddly, no one ever sees her with them undone.) Face-wise, she's a pretty girl with a classic oval face shape, soft grey eyes, dramatic dark lashes and pale pink cupid's bow lips.
It's important to note she has a soft soprano voice that is, in short, disgustingly perfect and gorgeous. However she is so expressive with it and so generally bubbly and distractable and silly that it may not be apparent how gorgeous it is, until she settles down and sings. Arumi's clothing is always feminine even if it's not frilly, she works an "art chick beachcomber" look that is usually quirky and youthful and tame. When she's performing, however, all bets are off. For anything. Ever. It's Bjork-style insanity all the way and frankly Ishino-sensei probably had to preemptively direct her never to do an act nude with a strategically placed guitar.
Age/Birthday/Astrological Whatnot: Seventeen years old/March 3rd/Pisces. In fact I dare to go so far as to say she's a Pisces Sun/Moon/Ascendant hat trick. This basically means "I love you. Do you love me? Please love me I have composed a BREATHTAKING THREE CYCLE MODERN OPERA AND LITURGICAL DANCE PIECE EXPRESSING MY EMOTIONS, and... oh my gosh, I see birdies!"
Arumi is anchored in reality by the edge of her pinky toe.
Mundane Life
Friends and Family:
- Hanayuuno Yuri ("Gentleness of the lily") - Arumi's aunt, a woman very much like Arumi's late mother. She works as an architect for a reasonably popular firm that does commercial buildings. Since Yuri is an example of someone whose career blends business with the artistic, Arumi's father hopes that some of her sensibility will rub off on his daughter. Generally sweet-tempered and laissez-faire about kids, she doesn't mind having an extra tenant in her little apartment, particularly not one that is compulsively neat and tidy.
- Utakou Keiji ("way of song", "cautious leader") - Arumi's dad. He worries that his daughter is choosing a path in life that will only make her unhappy, or worse, lead her to more disgraceful and dangerous ventures. Her runaway episode left him shaken on whether his guidance alone is enough to bring up a girl-child, and he's hoping that Arumi living with her auntie for a while will smooth things over.
- The fishies - They're of the cheap and tropical variety. They swim around in their little aquarium and go "pook pook pook". Their names are Leviathan, Kraken, Ouroboros, and Mister Gills.
Usual Daily Routine: A typical morning for Arumi begins with the alarm clock blaring, stumbling out of bed, getting dressed in her neatly pressed, neatly hung Chuo uniform, feeding her fishies and finally dashing down to the apartment lobby on her way to the train stop.
Then she'd remember it was Sunday.
Apart from that, Arumi is always listening to, thinking about, and creating her own music. She plays guitar, bass, and piano, and is supernaturally adept at learning just about anything else you put in her hands, though she will refer to this knowledge as "just messing with it". She has an extensive collection of CDs and minidiscs and LPs, but not so many mp3s because she is slightly terrified of computers. In school she participates in competitive diving and swimming as well as various clubs for the arts, although her schedule is probably lighter than that of a truly serious Chuo Gakuen student because so much of her time is taken up by her compositions, and more recently, attempts to get and prepare for real gigs. In Osaka, Arumi had more time to slum around on the seashore, and occasionally will do so now by hopping a train out of the city proper. With high school in full swing, she mostly ends up settling for surrounding herself with beachy knick-knacks at home. She vehemently opposes and despises artificial beaches, though.
Background: Utakou Arumi is the daughter of a business executive father and a mother who played cello for the Osaka symphony orchestra. When Arumi was four, her mother Ayame fell ill and took a sabbatical from her highly lauded career, and by the time the girl was scarcely five, her mother had died from a cancer diagnosed too late. Keiji was sorely unprepared to raise a daughter alone, especially not one whose head was so far into the clouds she was in danger of bumping it on passing weather balloons, just like her mother was as a weester. The piano and voice lessons Keiji funded for his child in order to give her some discipline backfired immensely when she latched ahold of these and ran with them -- to the point that she was blatantly ignoring school and attempting to debate her piano tutor about phrasing, animatedly, at every turn. When she was twelve, she sold the summer kimono given to her by her grandparents to pay for a second-hand guitar. She would sneak out of the house to teach herself even if it meant being in the park alone at night. She was rebellious but never even in spite, but rather in total beholdance to her own emotions and without an ounce of common sense to ground her.
She and Keiji did fight, however, more and more until she was sixteen and convinced that her father was trying to browbeat her dreams out of her -- and he was desperately trying to control her, although he was also just trying to force his idealistic, escapist daughter to finish school and understand that she couldn't subsist entirely on love and M&M's. This sure didn't stop her from trying: for six months Arumi lived on couches, benches and subway performance change in Tokyo before the cold hard world finally started to catch up to her. When she was forced to humble herself on the doorstep of her aunt, the strained family was finally forced to come to a compromise. Arumi wasn't ready to go home after the mutual run away/kick out situation, so she would be allowed to stay in Tokyo provided she get serious about a future and finish high school. Of course, her father is thinking college and Arumi is thinking collaboration projects with Debbie Harry and the ghost of Hide. So it's still a point of contention, although Arumi is still the most utterly polite and considerate rebellious delicate arteest you will ever meet. She just respectfully declines to stop being that.
A Little More Specific
Quirks: Arumi can sometimes come across as a walking talking quirk, because she is the very model of a Sensitive Artistic Genius. She has no common sense, AT ALL. As in, walking to the bus stop with both pants down one pantleg lack of sense. She's compulsively neat and tidy on top of being polite, which means she'll straighten the corners of your bedspread but she'll wait until you're not looking so you don't feel bad. It's at direct odds with so much of her personality and what people expect from a free-spirited musician, but nonetheless... she irons her ripped jeans and alphebetizes her vintage band shirts. She's also got a raging sweet tooth and is constantly equipped with candy which comes from a seemingly endless supply in her bag.
Arumi is distinctly afraid of computers and cats. Unfortunately she can only lie about being allergic to one. Not that she didn't say both, until Rin finally had to get her to stop.
Darkest Secret: While she was drifting through Tokyo living off pocket change, Arumi engaged in some less than exemplary behavior, including liberating cash from someone's unattended billfold, and playing on the heartstrings of at least one young musician in exchange for crash space by letting him believe she wanted to be his adorable roadie/girlfriend. Needless to say she doesn't talk about this time in a whole lot of detail and she'll attempt to keep the TRULY shameful stuff to the grave.
Reactions to Sudden Hugs: There is never, EVER a time when this is not the most awesome and wonderfullest thing in the universe to happen to Arumi, unless she is trying to rock out on stage. And even then it would be okay if you wait until the end of the set. ♥
Virtues and Vices: She's sweet and sympathetic and almost empathic in her sensitivity to the emotions of others, and she will say and do everything in her power to please people and keep them happy, doubly so if it's someone close. Expect this to cause a problem of epic proportions when it comes to light that a large part of Arumi's famous rivalry with Kansou Rin is that Rin wants a rivalry. Despite this gentleness, Arumi does have an ego at her core that, if insulted, will draw her deep into a dark and brooding negativity that is a little scary in its sudden onset and intensity. What few people know is that she does have a breaking point, and her temper, once finally unleashed, is violent and explosive because she has no rational calm to temper it.
Badassery
Power Sphere: Sound. Mermaid's powers cover both the supernatural and physical aspects of sound, because she is totally a siren from outer space.
Asswhoopery: Even when she is not henshined, Arumi can produce perfect pitch, incredible vocal range, invent complex tonal scales in her head, distinguish fractional differences in tones and play "Only You" on a set of wineglass rims. Whether Arumi's vocal talent is a product of her starseed or if it made her a candidate for the starseed in the first place is still undetermined. Henshined, Mermaid additionally gains a magical Siren Voice(tm) which she can use to make herself sound totally compelling and alluring, especially to the suggestible. It is perfect for use on mortals, who are by and large very malleable, but almost impossible to use on Elementals who are forceful and crazypants. Effectiveness on youma varies somewhere inbetween. Mermaid can also transform at will into an actual aquatic mer-form, either in water or in any bizarro pocket dimensions/astral planes senshi often find themselves in. She can breathe underwater using the same power.
Greatest Weakness: Mermaid is a powerful senshi, being in the Galactic tier of awesomeness, but lacks any tactical sense or warrior stoicism. She is highly likely to answer her cell phone during a fight with a youma and to fluster or cry when Lucien says something mean about her fuku's hemline. Being wholly driven by her emotions, it's possible to derail her by playing her sympathy or her incoherent rage. Rendering her mute, also, will negate almost everything in her arsenal.
Attacks
Fascination Aria: The words of the attack barely are discernable from the musical tones of Mermaid's song. There is really no visual indication of this attack apart from a soft white glow around her, but it is quite audible, loud enough to carry out over a crowd but soft enough not to drown everything else out. A haunting song without lyrics, Sailor Mermaid's voice seems to come from nowhere and everywhere all at once.
What it does: Anyone within earshot and with a mind to process it will find themselves losing the will to think or act or even move, as it slowly ebbs away at their will and vitality. Someone subjected to this for a long enough period would completely collapse, unable to hold up their own weight. One suspects that in less savory past lives, a cruel Mermaid could have kept up the song to the point that its victims would even lose their will to breathe or think, and they would utterly shut down and die from it. But as it stands, this attack gradually ticks away Mermaid's power, and she would deplete it before that could happen. Usually within a minute or two a mortal can barely do more than blink and be entranced, but Elementals will vary depending on their individual willpower and overall strength.
Tone Resonance: Mermaid calls out the attack name, and two bright spheres of energy appear in her upturned palms. As she finishes crying out the attack name, she swiftly brings them together in front of her, striking them against one another. A sharp, painful tuning-fork noise accompanies the violently erupting ripples that radiate outwards. Once it touches a target, the waves "break" over it, surrounding it in a shimmery field of air-distortion, the accompanying sound a sickening, sort of oscillating wail. This is a relatively close-range attack.
What it does: Basically, this matches a frequency that will resonate the most powerfully with whatever kind of matter it comes in contact with, and gives it a violent shake on the molecular and psychic level. It disrupts both the body and the mind of living beings, leaving them more disoriented and in excruciating pain than it does actual damage. It can be used on inanimate objects to try to shatter or otherwise disrupt them, though this can have unforeseen consequences in the hands of someone who nearly failed physics.
Endless Wave Reverberation: Mermaid's voice seems to echo as she calls out the words, and a subtle breeze kicks up as the power gathers around her. Head bowed, she extends her arms, then omething invisible issues from each hand. An almost deafening blast erupts - a supernatural, high-pitched sort of thundercrack. Once it strikes a solid surface, however, it becomes visible as bright flares of light, ripples that radiate and expand like water in a still pond once a pebble disturbs it.
What it does: This is a dangerously chaotic end-all, be-all offensive attack. These bouncing waves of raw attack power are indiscriminate and extremely difficult to predict without an impeccable sense of aim (or a skill for billiards on a three-dimensional scale), and only through her Galactic-caliber senshi skills does Mermaid direct it successfully. The waves bounce off solid surfaces, making it extra hard to avoid in an enclosed space. It will lose power the more times it's rebounded, until it fizzles altogether. In short, it's a powerful bouncing death ray that is both hard to aim and hard to dodge.
Fuku: Yeah, that thing about embracing the cheese? EMBRACE IT AGAIN. Lunar senshi forms are traditional as seen in canon, but the accoutrements vary from person to person (re: Pluto's key belt, etc etc). Kinmoku have a halter top and the blossom skirt, but colors, trim, and specials vary. Galactic senshi forms are a combination of the traditional bodice and sailor collar and their corrupted Metal Knight alter-egos. Terrans are dressed in PGSM costumes, because they're pretty. Got questions? Ask.
Connections
Describe roleplaying hooks for this character, either in a point-by-point for each of their existing comrades/enemies, or in general terms. No one exists in a vacuum, so no character should be completely devoid of connections to one another or to Tokyo. Don't cop out on this one, especially since this is the part that Cal and Lisa read first.
The Galactics
You don't understand, Lunars. When your princess is sad, you guys bake cookies and cry and hug. When Kinmoku's princess is sad, they go outside and watch the clouds and have deep discussions by the tranquil pond. When the Terran Prince is sad, everyone runs laps until the Prince convinces Kunzite he's not actually sad. When our Princess is sad, PEOPLE DIE.
Ishino Chikara
Arumi's awe for Chikara is genuine, multiplied a hundredfold by the fact that she is a REALLY FOR REALS PRINCESS and the most powerful woman ever to don a short metallic skirt. But subtly she does play up her role of charming idiot savant for Chikara's entertainment (whether she admits to being entertained or not) because it's the easiest way to garner what passes for closeness with the Galactic Princess, a sort of end run around her rock-solid defenses. Arumi very desperately wants to be the sort of confidant her ultra-empathy makes her good for, but in the case of the tough-as-nails Chikara, Arumi settles for being comforting and amusing in turns. And it works, because frankly there's some shit the Princess lets Mermaid get away with that she wouldn't tolerate from anyone else.
Kansou Rin
Captain, rival, and BESTEST FRIEND IN THE WHOLE UNIVERSE HOORAY!!! They're the hetero odd couple of the Galactic faction, and they really do seem to keep each other honest. Rin, especially, functions as Arumi's common sense while Arumi handles Rin's total lack of creative inclination. They both have a solid chunk of pride at their core, which means the potential for a few truly explosive fights is definitely there -- but if anyone ELSE tries to mess with the other they're likely to lose a few fingers. Rin and Arumi have a recurring rivalry that crops up in sports, warfare, and all the way down to really pointless activities such as who can balance a spoon on their nose the longest. What Arumi doesn't tell Rin, though, is that sometimes she's aggravating the ongoing competition because she knows it's precisely what Rin wants.
The Lunars
If there is not at least one storyline wherein Arumi gets mad at her own faction and runs, weeping and with a plate of brownies, to the Lunar hideout, I will be very disappointed.
Kakureru Kyouri
Arumi continues to nurse a silent but ultimately unshakeable theory that Kia is secretly God.
The Kinmoku
