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savetheearth Application
OOC Information:
Name: Haley
Are you over 15? Yep!
Contact: In order of preference, on plurk at![[plurk.com profile]](https://plurk.com/favicon.ico)
brightblueink or through email at HaleySings[at]gmail[dot]com.
IC Information:
Name:
Preincarnation: Sasame
Reincarnation: Sasame “Sam” Iwata
Canon: Pretear (anime version)
Age:
Preincarnated: Appears late teens, but his true age is unknown. He must be at least in his 30s for the story to add up. Thanks to him possibly not aging after a certain age, it’s likely that he’s mentally much, much older than he seems.
Reincarnated: 20
Preincarnation Appearance: On the left: http://i.imgur.com/y8k02bs.jpg
Any differences: Reincarnated, Sasame will have naturally black hair that he bleaches blond, and brown eyes (which means he’ll look a bit closer to his manga appearance: http://i.imgur.com/A25gndZ.jpg ) While the anime version seems to wear glasses as a fashion choice, Sasame's reincarnation is nearsighted enough that he needs glasses while driving or when trying to see objects that are far away.
Preincarnated History: Sasame was a Leafe Knight for an unspecified amount of time—possibly since the dawn of the world in his original universe. However, considering that when Leafe Knights die they’re reincarnated without their memories, Sasame’s memories likely didn’t stretch back nearly that far. I’ll be assuming that he couldn’t remember anything past 1900 or so at the very latest, just for simplicity’s sake. For all of his life, Sasame had been a Leafe Knight, fighting with the other Knights to protect leafe (the life energy of their world) from being absorbed by strange, dark monsters known as demon larvae. To do this, they combined their powers with girls known as Prétear, chosen by leafe to be a producer and manipulator of life energy.
Sasame’s history doesn’t come much into play in the plot until about 16 years before the start of the series, when they started to work with a Prétear named Takako, who had a huge amount of power but horrible self-esteem and a very timid personality. Over the time they worked together, Sasame fell in love with Takako, but failed to express his feelings to her (partially because he knew his feelings were unrequited, partially because he knew she had feelings for Hayate and was afraid of hurting her, and partially because he believed he should focus on his comrades and his duty as a Leafe Knight). At the same time, another Knight named Hayate stepped up to support Takako and encourage her. Because of his encouragement, Takako grew in boldness and confidence in battle.
Together, Takako and the Knights managed to defeat the monsters threatening the world for a time. On the day that they celebrated their victory, Takako took Hayate aside and admitted to him that the reason why she’d fought so hard was because she was in love with him, and begged him to return her feelings. When he rejected her and told her he couldn’t return her feelings, Takako spiraled into despair. Some days later, she gave into her dark feelings and began to hate Hayate and the World itself—morphing her powers into dark, leaching powers just like the monsters she previously fought against.
Without a Prétear, the Knights were at a disadvantage. After a fierce battle they were able to imprison Takako, now known as the Princess of Disaster, in a tree in their home world of Leafénia, but in the process three of the Knights drained so much of their leafé that they died. Sealing the Princess of Disaster away managed to allow the world remain at peace for a time, but the remaining Knights were all affected by the loss of their Pretear and their failure to protect her — particularly Sasame, since he’d been forced to fight against the girl he loved.
During the short period of peace, the three Knights that had passed away were reborn without their memories, and the older Knights trained to take jobs around town so that they could watch and wait for the return of the demon larvae. Sasame, being a natural good listener due to being the Knight of Sound, took a job as a host for an advice-giving radio show.
About 16 years after she was sealed, the Princess of Disaster broke free from her prison and started to seed demon larvae around her former hometown. The Knights found a new Prétear, Himeno, and began to train her for fighting the demon larvae, with Sasame in particular taking interest in trying to train her. However, the Princess of Disaster purposefully targeted Himeno, planting seeds of doubts into the new Prétear’s head about who the Princess of Disaster really was, until the Knights were forced to tell her (and the younger Knights that couldn’t remember) that the Princess of Disaster was a former Prétear, and that Himeno herself could transform the same way if she allowed the darkness inside of her to consume her.
The knowledge frightened Himeno so badly that she suffered an emotional breakdown and her powers refused to work for her. In an attempt to protect Himeno — and also to try to convince Takako to reform — Sasame begged for Takako to stop her attack. However, she refused and attacked him, absorbing nearly all of his leafé as another way to get under Himeno’s skin.
Sasame recovered from the attack, but the realization that he couldn’t save Takako through his words ate away at him. He began to be more obviously bitter and lash out at Hayate more, and doubt his role as a Leafé Knight.
It was right at this low point that Sasame literally ran into one of the maids that worked at Himeno’s home and realized, to his shock, that she was Takako in disguise. In desperation, he confessed his love to her and begged her to allow him to fight with her at his side, forsaking his role as a Leafé Knight in the process. Takako rejected him initially, but soon decided that she could use him and ordered him to “prove” his devotion to her by killing Hayate.
He confronted Hayate in Leafénia the next day and fought him one-on-one. Hayate, unwilling to fight someone he considered a friend, soundly lost. Although Sasame hesitated to kill him at first, Takako made it clear that she would consider his feelings for her false if he hesitated any longer. Determined to prove himself to her, Sasame was running forward to deal the final blow to Hayate when Takako stopped him, deciding that she’d rather prolong Hayate’s torture. However, she considered Sasame’s display of devotion enough and fully accepted him as her minion, transforming him into her “dark knight,” although she still considered him a fool for his devotion to her.
With the emotional blow this caused Himeno and the Knights—not to mention the disadvantage they were at now that they were missing one of their key members—Takako put her plans into motion to finally destroy the world she hated so much. She’d been working for a while to encourage Himeno’s step-sister Mawata to give into the depression that had been slowly taking over her life, and now with Sasame on her side she had the perfect trigger to complete Mawata’s descent into despair, which would allow her to use her as another minion. You see, Mawata was a devoted fan of Sasame’s radio show, and he’d become one of her few comforts. She’d also started to get a chance to interact with him, thanks to Himeno’s connection to him, and had been falling in love with him.
Using his knowledge of Mawata’s feelings, Sasame convinced Mawata that he’d be able to help her—only to push her to reject everyone else she cared about. He then revealed to her that he truly loved Takako, and he was only using her. This caused her to have an emotional breakdown, making her a perfect vessel for Takako’s plans to use her as an energy source for an evil tree that she planned to absorb all of the world’s Leafé with.
The Tree began to tear apart the city, forcing Himeno and the Knights to confront Sasame and Takako. Sasame forced Hayate to fight him once again, as Himeno desperately tried to save Mawata. She was able to eventually reach out to her and convince her that she was there for her and saved her with the help of their family, but not before Sasame was able to badly injure Hayate.
With the power source for the tree gone, and Mawata’s acceptance by her family triggering her abandonment issues, Takako began to panic, which caused her control on the tree to slip. The tree responded by sending an attack in her direction, which Sasame jumped in front of in a desperate attempt to protect her.
Sasame was fatally wounded by the attack, and because of Hayate’s injuries, Himeno was unable to use her powers to pret and save Sasame. As they watched in horror, Sasame once again expressed his feelings to Takako, telling her that he’d resolved from the moment he decided to leave the Knights that he would take her sins as his own and do whatever it would take to save her. Sasame’s selfless act of love and Takako’s realization that his love for her was genuine allowed them to break free from the dark powers that had taken control of them, but too late for Sasame, who passed away after apologizing to Himeno for what he’d done and asking Takako to smile for him.
Realizing that she’d caused someone that honestly loved her to die, Takako broke down in despair and gave herself over to the tree to be a sacrifice. Himeno attacked the tree, realizing the full extent of her powers by transforming into her ultimate form, the White Prétear, to overwhelm it by feeding it as much Leafe as it wanted and freeing Takako in the process. The overflow of life energy destroyed the tree and healed the injured Knights, as well as restoring Sasame’s body before his soul was reincarnated, but in the process caused Himeno to fall into a deep slumber. Hayate kissed Himeno and confessed his love for her, which caused Himeno to wake up because…because Prétear has a bunch of references to Snow White in it and they couldn’t figure out how else to fit that one in, I guess.
But anyway, Himeno survived, Sasame and Takako were forgiven and accepted back into the group, and Sasame and Takako confirmed their feelings for one another and began a relationship together, and everyone lived happily ever after. Until the events ofsavetheearth meant that Sasame’s world was destroyed and he was reborn in a different world, anyway!
Reincarnated History Sam grew up as the only child of a single mother, Momoko Iwata. He never knew his father and knows very little about him, which bothered him when he was younger, but as he’s gotten older he’s made peace with it.
Growing up in Locke City, his mother was strict with him and a tad overprotective, but also very supportive and caring. She had to work long hours to live the sort of lifestyle she wanted for her and her son, so he grew up to be very self-sufficient (although he’s still not any good at cooking anything more complex than boxed mac ‘n cheese). At times Sam wished his mother was around more, but he knew she was working hard to allow him to grow up in a nice neighborhood and to attend good schools, so he never complained to her face.
While he was a child he was a class clown and a bit awkward, but as he grew older (and particularly after he entered high school) he started to have a strong sense of identity and his confidence grew. Between his newfound confidence, easy-going charm, a talent for music and natural good looks he managed to become quite popular in high school, although his mother kept him in line whenever he got too prideful about it. She couldn’t, however, keep him from becoming a lady’s man. He enjoyed the reactions he got when he flirted with the girls at school, and he also liked the feeling that he was making them feel special by paying attention to them. That, combined with him having a somewhat fickle nature, lead to him go through a string of girlfriends in quick succession in high school, never settling on a girl longer than a few months. He never did this intentionally, but he always got an odd feeling that his girlfriend just wasn’t “the one” and ended up allowing the relationship to fall apart before chasing after the next girl.
From a child he’s had a fascination with music, and for a long time dreamed of becoming a pop star. As a junior in high school, he got an opportunity to record a demo in a studio and jumped at the chance. However, the experience of being in a studio in front of a microphone stirred inside of him a memory from his past life’s radio show, causing the theme song and a brief snippet of a postcard he was once sent to become his first Echo.
In the week that followed, the song continued to play in his head and refused to leave, along with a set of numbers that seemed to fit into the melody. Desperate to understand the cause of the strange feeling that he’d heard the song somewhere before, he started to read everything he could find about memories and the brain, which eventually lead to him reading several books and articles on psychology. Through this event, he discovered a love for psychology and a desire to understand how people’s minds worked.
With his new love of psychology, as well as his mother’s encouragement for him to find a “real” job to aspire to, he decided to abandon his dream of being a professional musician as he entered college and began to major in psychology with the hopes of becoming a counselor. However, he’s minoring in music, because although he no longer dreams about being a musician he still loves music itself.
First Echo: When Sam was a junior in high school with a growing love of music, he got a chance to record a demo at a studio thanks to a connection through a friend at school. As he stood in front of the microphone and drew in a breath to prepare to sing, he was suddenly distracted by a melody playing in his head—one that he felt he’d never heard before, but that seemed oddly familiar to him at the same time. Accompanied with it was the memory of the words "Lately, I find myself thinking about something a lot. The question I keep asking myself is, why am I here? Everything around me feels strange and foreign, as if it comes from another dimension. Another world."
Sam doesn’t know it, but that melody is the theme song of the radio advice show that his preincarnation hosted, Words Gate, and the words are an excerpt from a postcard from one of his biggest fans, “Miss Silk.”
Preincarnation Personality: Sasame was one of those people that had two sides to him--an outward public persona of a cheerful flirt which was sometimes true but often a mask, and then an inner personality that was tumultuous, lonely and torn between his feelings and his duty as a Knight. However, some traits remained consistent throughout--Sasame was gentle, sensitive, and caring to a fault.
For anyone that first met Sasame, one of the first things that was apparent is how handsome and charismatic he was. All the knights were trained in a profession to go into so they could keep an eye on people and watch for the signs of low leafe (or 'life energy'), and the career that Sasame ended up in was a radio talk show host. As Himeno noted that when he was recording his show, his voice was the sort that "draws you in", and his skill at his job garnered him quite a fan following, at least locally. On his radio show, his caring heart showed through--he genuinely wanted to help the people that wrote to him, and he had a skill for reading people that meant he was often able to pick up on what their true problem was, and he always seemed to know exactly what it was they needed to hear.
In person, he wasn’t much different. Among the knights, he tended to play "good cop" for Kei and (particularly) Hayate, constantly encouraging Himeno and focusing on the positive. He did his best to always be there for others, and was always offering himself up as a listening ear. He was also a bit of a flirt, and well aware of both his good looks and his skill at communicating. He seemed to almost use his flirting as a way to build up the spirits of the girls he met, making them feel special and wanted (although it did seem that he also enjoyed pushing people's buttons to some degree, but rarely in a malicious way). Overall, it was obvious that he wanted to help others and keep their spirits high, so he naturally became the peacemaker of the group.
However, while this was a strength of his, it was also one of his biggest weaknesses. Sasame was so desperate to keep the peace that he kept much of his true thoughts and emotions hidden within himself, letting them stew for years if it meant making sure nobody would be upset. He constantly tried to hide the truth from others when he felt that it would upset them, or when he felt that he couldn’t face it himself. When he fell in love with Takako, and realized she loved Hayate, he decided it would be better to not say anything to her for fear of hurting her. Years later, when Himeno wanted to find out the truth about the Princess of Disaster, Sasame was quick to tell her that she didn’t need to know, and lashed out against Kei when he decided to tell Himeno anyway. (This was probably partially to protect Himeno because he knew she wouldn’t take the reveal well, and partially because he REALLY didn’t want to remember what had happened to Takako.)
Also, when he fell in love with someone he did so almost to the point of being absolutely obsessed with them. No matter how many years Takako was sealed away, he couldn't get over his feelings for her, to the point that they almost seemed to grow while she was gone. He desperately wanted to save her and turn her back from the evil she'd sold herself to, and constantly tried to reason with her whenever she appeared. However, despite continually trying to talk her through her problems, Takako proved to be the one person he couldn’t seem to help with just his words alone.
Through all of this, he tended to bury his emotions deep within him and lock them away, only expressing them when those around him aren't watching. Eventually, however, without anyone that he himself could talk to, he broke under the weight of his emotions.
The tipping point was when Takako nearly killed him during a battle. He started to show more signs of resentment toward Hayate for what happened between him and Takako and angrily lashed out when he saw signs of Hayate falling for Himeno. When he saw Takako again, he desperately begged for her to listen to his feelings, and when she still rejected him he gave up being a knight and threw away everything he believed in for a chance to be by her side--even though he was well aware that she had no feelings for him.
He was easily manipulated if his emotions were used against him. Takako was able to get him to try to kill others--even people he seemed to genuinely care about--simply by telling him that it was a way to prove his love for her. Not only was he convinced to betray the Knights, but he also willingly manipulated and hurt Mawata, a girl that he admitted he understood well since they’d had similar feelings of loneliness in their lives.
But even though Sasame was completely devoted to her, he often showed signs of doubt and wavering. He admits that he thought “about hate a lot” and said that he thought it would be easier if he could hate Hayate--which indicates that he never DID actually hate Hayate. He agrees with Takako that if the world is destroyed that nobody will hurt or be hurt--”but they won’t feel love, either.” When he first attacks Hayate to prove his loyalty to Takako he hesitates before eventually following through.
The clash of his devotion to Takako but his doubts about what she’s doing causes so much conflict in him that at times he comes across as downright suicidal. In fact, because of how much his emotions are in turmoil, it seemed in later parts of the series that he almost wanted to die, to save himself and others from how far he let himself fall. When he fought Hayate under Takako's orders the first time, he practically dared Hayate to kill him and warned him that he was serious about what Takako was ordering him to do.
It’s also clear that he values his own life very little in comparison to Takako’s happiness--he offered his life to her by asking her to take his leafé to feed herself with, and when the time came that she was actually in danger, he didn’t hesitate to throw himself in front of the blow aimed for her.
His devotion to Takako was second only to his devotion to his role as a Leafé Knight (which is why Takako’s fall hurt him so deeply, and why it was so shocking when he decided to betray the others so that he could be at her side). He took his duty very seriously and, before his betrayal, never outwardly questioned why he was forced to be born over and over again to protect a world that barely knew he existed. He occasionally mentions that he believes in fate, and in particular tried to take solace that he was fated to devote himself to being a Leafe Knight instead of being loved by Takako. Beyond his tendency to be fatalistic, he also was the most spiritual of the Knights, at times even seeming to pray to the leafé of the world.
While he certainly regretted the actions he took to save Takako and acknowledges he was wrong, it worked out for him in the end—Takako was saved by his devotion to her, and in the final shot of the anime he’s shown at her side and seeming happy. He seemed to have finally found some sort of peace in his life, as he no longer had to choose between his devotion to his duty as a knight and his love for Takako.
Any differences: Since he grew up as a normal guy in America instead of a magical warrior destined to fight for the fate of the world in Japan (a culture that (to generalize) is much more concerned with roles and duty), Sasame—or “Sam,” as he usually goes by--now has less pressure to not follow his feelings, and feels more comfortable acting on his emotions without worrying about his “duties.” He still has SOME pressure to do the “right” thing, thanks to his mother’s high expectations of him (and that’s secretly one of his reasons for majoring in psychology instead of music, since he thinks he’s more likely to get a steady job that way), but overall he’s much more laidback, particularly since he doesn’t have the fate of the world depending on his actions. (Or so he thinks!)
Without that pressure, or his memory of Takako’s fall, Sam’s dominant personality is much more cheerful and teasing than his preincarnation’s was. Since it’s hinted in canon that he’s naturally an outgoing person, without so much weighing on his mind most of his cheerful moments aren’t a sign of covering up how he truly feels—that’s just how he actually IS. He still doesn't care for talking about his emotions and can be a secretive person, but usually he doesn’t really need to vent too much. He thinks he’s pretty lucky, actually.
He also doesn’t really have his preincarnation’s devotion to a single person, and he’s actually pretty bad about sticking with romantic relationships for very long. He falls in and out of love very easily and has gotten a reputation for having a lot of short and ultimately failed attempts at dating. He never goes into a relationship intending to not take it seriously, but subconsciously, he’s wanting that all-consuming, life-altering, obsessive love like he used to feel for Takako, and he just hasn’t met any girls that seem to ignite that in him (and honestly, he might not really give them a chance to). He likes a lot of girls, but he doesn’t LOVE them, not how he used to love Takako—so he continues to hop from relationship to relationship in the hopes that he’ll find what it is he’s looking for.
Lastly, while his preincarnation is a pretty spiritual person, due to how he can sense life energy and how his life is ruled by his “fate” and ability to reincarnate over and over again to protect the world, Sam isn’t particularly religious or spiritual. He’s not an atheist, and he’s been somewhat influenced by his mother’s Buddhist beliefs, but his feelings about anything spiritual or supernatural is more or less to just shrug and go “who knows?” He’s much more concerned with the here and now than trying to sort out things like whether people have a soul, if karma is going to bite him in the ass, and if there’s some sort of outside force that guides his life.
Abilities: In his preincarnation, Sasame was a “Leafe Knight”, a guardian of the “element” of sound.
As a Leafé Knight, he had some standard abilities that all of the Knights had, specifically the ability to switch back and forth from civilian clothing appropriate for a normal human in the city and a “knight” outfit that was appropriately magical and shoujo looking, the ability to fly and teleport short distances as well as the ability to travel back and forth from his home world of Leafénia and Earth, the ability to sense demon larvae and the leafé energy levels of an area, some general knowledge of how to fight (specifically how to fight evil energy-sucking monsters) and the ability to “prét” with a Prétear.
When Sasame préted with a Prétear, he combined his leafé with hers, giving her the ability to transform into the Sound Prétear, complete with floofy magical girl outfit and soundwave-themed powers. In this state he also served as a shield for the Prétear, taking on any wounds that the Prétear would’ve received, and since his energy was more or less inside her he could communicate with her in her mind and help guide her.
His specific sound-themed powers included the ability to hear all sound within a wide distance--I’d guess large enough to hear most of the sounds of the city he lived in if he wanted to--as well as the ability to “see” what was going on in a particular area by being able to mentally paint a picture of what was there thanks to the sounds he could hear. He could also attack with blasts of sound energy (more or less hitting things with sound waves), and the manga mentions in an aside that Sasame could “play every instrument,” which is a little silly but makes sense to me considering the ‘element’ he controls, so I’m using that as headcanon for the anime version.
Outside of his special abilities as a Leafe Knight? Sasame shows a remarkable ability to read others and give them advice appropriate for their situation, even if they’re not completely open with what’s actually bothering them. He loves being a listening ear to people and wants to be supportive and helpful, so he’s always ready to talk to someone if they need it.
He also tends to be well-spoken and eloquent—partially just because of his natural charm, but also probably due to his job as a radio show host. Speaking of his job, he also mentions he was trained specifically for the job that he takes on in the “normal” world, which probably means he’s had at least some training as a counselor, as well as general training as a radio personality.
Also, I’m not quite sure if this counts as an “ability” but it’s maybe worth noting. Within canon, the ladies LOVE Sasame. By that I mean that he’s naturally handsome and also has a charismatic personality, and pretty much all of the girls he interacts with in canon comment on it. He’s able to build quite a fan following for his show because of it. He also doesn’t seem to have any qualms about using his natural attractiveness to his advantage, either, although mostly all he does is tease girls and then try to act innocent as they blush and flail. (Of course, there is that one time when, under the influence of Takako, he uses Mawata’s feelings for him to force her into a breakdown…)
I don’t expect all of the girls in Save the Earth to respond the same way to him, of course (and I think it would be sort of fun if he IS rejected at least some of the time), it’s just worth noting that he’s pretty good at attracting girls in his canon.
Roleplay Sample – Third Person:
"Sasame, are you still up?” his mother asked in Japanese.
Oops. Caught again? Sasame flashed an innocent smile and switched tabs from Facebook to an article in a scientific journal, then leaned back in his chair and looked over at the silhouette of his mother at the door. “I need to find a few more sources for this research paper. My professor said she wanted us to have a general outline ready for it tomorrow.”
His mother made a ‘tsk tsk’ sound with her tongue and leaned against his doorway. “You should’ve gotten this done ahead of time. Now you’re going to stay up too late and fall asleep in class.”
“Aw, come on, I’m almost done. Besides, what are you doing up? Don’t you have a presentation at work tomorrow?”
“I was just getting some herbal tea to help me sleep.” She held up her mug as proof. “Finish your homework and then head to bed, all right? And don’t stay up all night chatting with girls!”
“Uh...” He glanced guiltily over at his computer screen. “Right. I won’t.”
He could just barely see his mother’s smirk in the dim light as she told him “good night” and walked into her room. Once she left, he looked down at his computer clock--11:15pm. He had to admit that it was getting pretty late, considering how early his first class started in the morning. He clicked back to the Facebook tab.
Linda Fabian [11:02pm]
i just feel like she’s being way too strict! I don’t know if it’s a rich person thing or if she just wants to make me feel inferior compared to my step-sisters or what. but we’re supposed to be family and I don’t think she really treats me like an actual daughter.
Linda Fabian [11:04pm]
I thought going to college would help but she’s still hounding me.
Linda Fabian [11:07pm]
do you think im being too harsh?
Linda Fabian [11:10pm]
Sam? you there?
Sam Iwata [11:15pm]
sorry! Mom was telling me not to stay up too late.
Linda Fabian [11:16pm]
Oops. my bad.
Sam Iwata [11:16pm]
No worries, it’s not that late.
Sam Iwata [11:17pm]
But no, I don’t think you’re being harsh. She’s putting a lot of pressure on you. but I also think she probably isn’t trying to be mean?
Linda Fabian [11:19pm]
yeah...
Sam Iwata [11:19pm]
I really should get my homework finished. :( But we’ll talk more after class tomorrow, okay?
Linda Fabian [11:20pm]
k. sorry for bothering you!
Sam Iwata [11:22pm]
A pretty girl like you could never bother me. ;) it’s my HOMEWORK that’s bothering me. There’s less accredited research on music’s relationship with subcultures than I thought. I should’ve done a paper on group think or something.
Sam Iwata [11:23pm]
Or gone to the mall and run around in heels and a miniskirt and done a paper on breaking social norms...
Linda Fabian [11:23pm]
ow. sacrificing your feet for science?
Sam Iwata [11:23pm]
haha, high heels aren’t that bad.
Linda Fabian [11:25pm]
you're just saying that because you've never worn heels.
Sam Iwata [11:26pm]
I have! in a high school production of Rocky Horror Show as Dr. Frank N. Furter.
Linda Fabian [11:26pm]
what?! you didn’t tell me you did theater! was it hard to get your mom to let you?
Sam Iwata [11:27pm]
Nah. I promised to keep up with my grades and I did, so she was fine with it. She doesn’t mind me having “hobbies,” she just doesn’t want me “wasting” my time trying to make a career out of anything she thinks won’t make money.
Linda Fabian [11:27pm]
doesn’t that bother you?
Sam Iwata [11:28pm]
not anymore. She’s strict and it’s frustrating, but it’s because she wants to see me live up to my potential.
Sam Iwata [11:29pm]
like your step-mom I think.
Sam Iwata [11:29pm]
see that awesome segue? nailed it. :D
Linda Fabian [11:30pm]
ok, I get the point. :P
Sam Iwata [11:30pm]
Good! and I really need to get this homework done. see you tomorrow, Cinders?
Linda Fabian [11:31pm]
Cinders? weirdo. see you tomorrow!
“Well, that’s my good deed for the evening,” Sasame mumbled to himself as he clicked back to his homework. He’d gotten a reputation as being a good listener--second only to his reputation as a skirt-chaser (which he felt was slightly unearned)--but he didn’t really mind it. He liked helping other people. Everyone showed affection to others in their own way, and if his was listening and giving advice, then he felt like he should do the best he could at it.
Besides, it was a nice distraction from this stupid paper. He really, really did not expect how difficult it would be to find sources. He briefly considered asking his teacher for more time before deciding against it--no, he could probably get this work finished up real quickly tonight and turn it in. It was just an outline, he wasn’t stuck with the sources he picked out, right?
He sighed wearily and glared at the computer screen. He could really use a break after this. Maybe tomorrow he’d reward himself by going to his favorite cafe in town and getting a cup of tea. Yeah, that wasn’t a bad idea. Using that reward to drag himself through the rest of his homework, he managed to slap together a decent-enough outline and was just about to drag himself to bed when, all of the sudden, a bright pink light suddenly shone through his window. He whirled around in his chair and stared, wide-eyed, at the strange light in the sky outside of his window.
As he did, a melody he’d nearly forgotten began to play in his head over and over again, repeating a set of numbers along with the melody as if they were strange lyrics: one-two-four-one-eight-four-two....one-two-four-one-eight-four-two...
Lately, I find myself thinking about something a lot.
The question I keep asking myself is, why am I here?
Everything around me feels strange and foreign, as if it comes from another dimension. Another world.
Why am I here?
When the light faded, Sam felt dizzy, almost as if he was going to faint. That song! How could he have forgotten that song? And those numbers again, not to mention that message...as a teenager he’d analyzed those words over and over, trying to find what the meaning was, trying to remember why he felt like that song meant something.
What was going on?
He was just about to toss the numbers into a search engine when he saw his Facebook tab flashing with a notification.
Linda Fabian [11:56pm]
SAM please tell me you didn’t go to bed yet. You’ve GOT to look out the window!!
Sam Iwata [11:58pm]
i saw.
Linda Fabian [11:58pm]
what the hell WAS that?
Sam Iwata [11:59pm]
no idea.
Sam Iwata [12:00am]
did you hear a song?
Linda Fabian [12:01am]
??? no?
Linda Fabian [12:01am]
I was talking about the light?
Sam Iwata [12:01am]
no I saw.
Sam Iwata [12:02am]
sorry left the radio playing while I was studying. confusing.
Sam Iwata [12:02am]
I’ve got that homework done so I think i’m going to bed.
Linda Fabian [12:03am]
you’re going to bed after that??
Sam Iwata [12:04am]
yeah, I’m tired. I’m sure the news will have something about it in the morning and I’m no astronomer so staying up and wondering about it won’t help.
Linda Fabian [12:04am]
you are so weird.
Sam Iwata [12:08am]
I guess.
Sam Iwata [12:09am]
good night.
Sam closed out his browser with a heavier-than-needed click of his mouse and stared blankly at the desktop on his computer. Why was he getting the feeling like he was missing something so, so important?
“Everything around me feels strange and foreign,” he mumbled to himself as the song continued to play in his head, “as if it comes from another dimension. Another world...”
Roleplay Sample - Network:
[A Japanese guy with bleached hair is recording a video on the network today. He's holding a saxophone, and flashes a smile at the camera when he's sure it's recording.]
Hi there! I'm Sam, and I had a question. It's about this song...
[He brings the saxophone to his lips and plays a short song about a minute in length. It sounds like some sort of jazz melody.]
That's how I got the number for this place. I've tried to find the origin of the song when I first remembered it as a teen, but nothing's turned up. Does anyone recognize it? OR has anyone else gotten their numbers through a song?
[He grins and shrugs his shoulders.] I thought it wouldn't hurt to ask.
Any Questions?
Can't think of any! ...Sorry for the length. |D
Name: Haley
Are you over 15? Yep!
Contact: In order of preference, on plurk at
IC Information:
Name:
Preincarnation: Sasame
Reincarnation: Sasame “Sam” Iwata
Canon: Pretear (anime version)
Age:
Preincarnated: Appears late teens, but his true age is unknown. He must be at least in his 30s for the story to add up. Thanks to him possibly not aging after a certain age, it’s likely that he’s mentally much, much older than he seems.
Reincarnated: 20
Preincarnation Appearance: On the left: http://i.imgur.com/y8k02bs.jpg
Any differences: Reincarnated, Sasame will have naturally black hair that he bleaches blond, and brown eyes (which means he’ll look a bit closer to his manga appearance: http://i.imgur.com/A25gndZ.jpg ) While the anime version seems to wear glasses as a fashion choice, Sasame's reincarnation is nearsighted enough that he needs glasses while driving or when trying to see objects that are far away.
Preincarnated History: Sasame was a Leafe Knight for an unspecified amount of time—possibly since the dawn of the world in his original universe. However, considering that when Leafe Knights die they’re reincarnated without their memories, Sasame’s memories likely didn’t stretch back nearly that far. I’ll be assuming that he couldn’t remember anything past 1900 or so at the very latest, just for simplicity’s sake. For all of his life, Sasame had been a Leafe Knight, fighting with the other Knights to protect leafe (the life energy of their world) from being absorbed by strange, dark monsters known as demon larvae. To do this, they combined their powers with girls known as Prétear, chosen by leafe to be a producer and manipulator of life energy.
Sasame’s history doesn’t come much into play in the plot until about 16 years before the start of the series, when they started to work with a Prétear named Takako, who had a huge amount of power but horrible self-esteem and a very timid personality. Over the time they worked together, Sasame fell in love with Takako, but failed to express his feelings to her (partially because he knew his feelings were unrequited, partially because he knew she had feelings for Hayate and was afraid of hurting her, and partially because he believed he should focus on his comrades and his duty as a Leafe Knight). At the same time, another Knight named Hayate stepped up to support Takako and encourage her. Because of his encouragement, Takako grew in boldness and confidence in battle.
Together, Takako and the Knights managed to defeat the monsters threatening the world for a time. On the day that they celebrated their victory, Takako took Hayate aside and admitted to him that the reason why she’d fought so hard was because she was in love with him, and begged him to return her feelings. When he rejected her and told her he couldn’t return her feelings, Takako spiraled into despair. Some days later, she gave into her dark feelings and began to hate Hayate and the World itself—morphing her powers into dark, leaching powers just like the monsters she previously fought against.
Without a Prétear, the Knights were at a disadvantage. After a fierce battle they were able to imprison Takako, now known as the Princess of Disaster, in a tree in their home world of Leafénia, but in the process three of the Knights drained so much of their leafé that they died. Sealing the Princess of Disaster away managed to allow the world remain at peace for a time, but the remaining Knights were all affected by the loss of their Pretear and their failure to protect her — particularly Sasame, since he’d been forced to fight against the girl he loved.
During the short period of peace, the three Knights that had passed away were reborn without their memories, and the older Knights trained to take jobs around town so that they could watch and wait for the return of the demon larvae. Sasame, being a natural good listener due to being the Knight of Sound, took a job as a host for an advice-giving radio show.
About 16 years after she was sealed, the Princess of Disaster broke free from her prison and started to seed demon larvae around her former hometown. The Knights found a new Prétear, Himeno, and began to train her for fighting the demon larvae, with Sasame in particular taking interest in trying to train her. However, the Princess of Disaster purposefully targeted Himeno, planting seeds of doubts into the new Prétear’s head about who the Princess of Disaster really was, until the Knights were forced to tell her (and the younger Knights that couldn’t remember) that the Princess of Disaster was a former Prétear, and that Himeno herself could transform the same way if she allowed the darkness inside of her to consume her.
The knowledge frightened Himeno so badly that she suffered an emotional breakdown and her powers refused to work for her. In an attempt to protect Himeno — and also to try to convince Takako to reform — Sasame begged for Takako to stop her attack. However, she refused and attacked him, absorbing nearly all of his leafé as another way to get under Himeno’s skin.
Sasame recovered from the attack, but the realization that he couldn’t save Takako through his words ate away at him. He began to be more obviously bitter and lash out at Hayate more, and doubt his role as a Leafé Knight.
It was right at this low point that Sasame literally ran into one of the maids that worked at Himeno’s home and realized, to his shock, that she was Takako in disguise. In desperation, he confessed his love to her and begged her to allow him to fight with her at his side, forsaking his role as a Leafé Knight in the process. Takako rejected him initially, but soon decided that she could use him and ordered him to “prove” his devotion to her by killing Hayate.
He confronted Hayate in Leafénia the next day and fought him one-on-one. Hayate, unwilling to fight someone he considered a friend, soundly lost. Although Sasame hesitated to kill him at first, Takako made it clear that she would consider his feelings for her false if he hesitated any longer. Determined to prove himself to her, Sasame was running forward to deal the final blow to Hayate when Takako stopped him, deciding that she’d rather prolong Hayate’s torture. However, she considered Sasame’s display of devotion enough and fully accepted him as her minion, transforming him into her “dark knight,” although she still considered him a fool for his devotion to her.
With the emotional blow this caused Himeno and the Knights—not to mention the disadvantage they were at now that they were missing one of their key members—Takako put her plans into motion to finally destroy the world she hated so much. She’d been working for a while to encourage Himeno’s step-sister Mawata to give into the depression that had been slowly taking over her life, and now with Sasame on her side she had the perfect trigger to complete Mawata’s descent into despair, which would allow her to use her as another minion. You see, Mawata was a devoted fan of Sasame’s radio show, and he’d become one of her few comforts. She’d also started to get a chance to interact with him, thanks to Himeno’s connection to him, and had been falling in love with him.
Using his knowledge of Mawata’s feelings, Sasame convinced Mawata that he’d be able to help her—only to push her to reject everyone else she cared about. He then revealed to her that he truly loved Takako, and he was only using her. This caused her to have an emotional breakdown, making her a perfect vessel for Takako’s plans to use her as an energy source for an evil tree that she planned to absorb all of the world’s Leafé with.
The Tree began to tear apart the city, forcing Himeno and the Knights to confront Sasame and Takako. Sasame forced Hayate to fight him once again, as Himeno desperately tried to save Mawata. She was able to eventually reach out to her and convince her that she was there for her and saved her with the help of their family, but not before Sasame was able to badly injure Hayate.
With the power source for the tree gone, and Mawata’s acceptance by her family triggering her abandonment issues, Takako began to panic, which caused her control on the tree to slip. The tree responded by sending an attack in her direction, which Sasame jumped in front of in a desperate attempt to protect her.
Sasame was fatally wounded by the attack, and because of Hayate’s injuries, Himeno was unable to use her powers to pret and save Sasame. As they watched in horror, Sasame once again expressed his feelings to Takako, telling her that he’d resolved from the moment he decided to leave the Knights that he would take her sins as his own and do whatever it would take to save her. Sasame’s selfless act of love and Takako’s realization that his love for her was genuine allowed them to break free from the dark powers that had taken control of them, but too late for Sasame, who passed away after apologizing to Himeno for what he’d done and asking Takako to smile for him.
Realizing that she’d caused someone that honestly loved her to die, Takako broke down in despair and gave herself over to the tree to be a sacrifice. Himeno attacked the tree, realizing the full extent of her powers by transforming into her ultimate form, the White Prétear, to overwhelm it by feeding it as much Leafe as it wanted and freeing Takako in the process. The overflow of life energy destroyed the tree and healed the injured Knights, as well as restoring Sasame’s body before his soul was reincarnated, but in the process caused Himeno to fall into a deep slumber. Hayate kissed Himeno and confessed his love for her, which caused Himeno to wake up because…because Prétear has a bunch of references to Snow White in it and they couldn’t figure out how else to fit that one in, I guess.
But anyway, Himeno survived, Sasame and Takako were forgiven and accepted back into the group, and Sasame and Takako confirmed their feelings for one another and began a relationship together, and everyone lived happily ever after. Until the events of
savetheearth meant that Sasame’s world was destroyed and he was reborn in a different world, anyway!Reincarnated History Sam grew up as the only child of a single mother, Momoko Iwata. He never knew his father and knows very little about him, which bothered him when he was younger, but as he’s gotten older he’s made peace with it.
Growing up in Locke City, his mother was strict with him and a tad overprotective, but also very supportive and caring. She had to work long hours to live the sort of lifestyle she wanted for her and her son, so he grew up to be very self-sufficient (although he’s still not any good at cooking anything more complex than boxed mac ‘n cheese). At times Sam wished his mother was around more, but he knew she was working hard to allow him to grow up in a nice neighborhood and to attend good schools, so he never complained to her face.
While he was a child he was a class clown and a bit awkward, but as he grew older (and particularly after he entered high school) he started to have a strong sense of identity and his confidence grew. Between his newfound confidence, easy-going charm, a talent for music and natural good looks he managed to become quite popular in high school, although his mother kept him in line whenever he got too prideful about it. She couldn’t, however, keep him from becoming a lady’s man. He enjoyed the reactions he got when he flirted with the girls at school, and he also liked the feeling that he was making them feel special by paying attention to them. That, combined with him having a somewhat fickle nature, lead to him go through a string of girlfriends in quick succession in high school, never settling on a girl longer than a few months. He never did this intentionally, but he always got an odd feeling that his girlfriend just wasn’t “the one” and ended up allowing the relationship to fall apart before chasing after the next girl.
From a child he’s had a fascination with music, and for a long time dreamed of becoming a pop star. As a junior in high school, he got an opportunity to record a demo in a studio and jumped at the chance. However, the experience of being in a studio in front of a microphone stirred inside of him a memory from his past life’s radio show, causing the theme song and a brief snippet of a postcard he was once sent to become his first Echo.
In the week that followed, the song continued to play in his head and refused to leave, along with a set of numbers that seemed to fit into the melody. Desperate to understand the cause of the strange feeling that he’d heard the song somewhere before, he started to read everything he could find about memories and the brain, which eventually lead to him reading several books and articles on psychology. Through this event, he discovered a love for psychology and a desire to understand how people’s minds worked.
With his new love of psychology, as well as his mother’s encouragement for him to find a “real” job to aspire to, he decided to abandon his dream of being a professional musician as he entered college and began to major in psychology with the hopes of becoming a counselor. However, he’s minoring in music, because although he no longer dreams about being a musician he still loves music itself.
First Echo: When Sam was a junior in high school with a growing love of music, he got a chance to record a demo at a studio thanks to a connection through a friend at school. As he stood in front of the microphone and drew in a breath to prepare to sing, he was suddenly distracted by a melody playing in his head—one that he felt he’d never heard before, but that seemed oddly familiar to him at the same time. Accompanied with it was the memory of the words "Lately, I find myself thinking about something a lot. The question I keep asking myself is, why am I here? Everything around me feels strange and foreign, as if it comes from another dimension. Another world."
Sam doesn’t know it, but that melody is the theme song of the radio advice show that his preincarnation hosted, Words Gate, and the words are an excerpt from a postcard from one of his biggest fans, “Miss Silk.”
Preincarnation Personality: Sasame was one of those people that had two sides to him--an outward public persona of a cheerful flirt which was sometimes true but often a mask, and then an inner personality that was tumultuous, lonely and torn between his feelings and his duty as a Knight. However, some traits remained consistent throughout--Sasame was gentle, sensitive, and caring to a fault.
For anyone that first met Sasame, one of the first things that was apparent is how handsome and charismatic he was. All the knights were trained in a profession to go into so they could keep an eye on people and watch for the signs of low leafe (or 'life energy'), and the career that Sasame ended up in was a radio talk show host. As Himeno noted that when he was recording his show, his voice was the sort that "draws you in", and his skill at his job garnered him quite a fan following, at least locally. On his radio show, his caring heart showed through--he genuinely wanted to help the people that wrote to him, and he had a skill for reading people that meant he was often able to pick up on what their true problem was, and he always seemed to know exactly what it was they needed to hear.
In person, he wasn’t much different. Among the knights, he tended to play "good cop" for Kei and (particularly) Hayate, constantly encouraging Himeno and focusing on the positive. He did his best to always be there for others, and was always offering himself up as a listening ear. He was also a bit of a flirt, and well aware of both his good looks and his skill at communicating. He seemed to almost use his flirting as a way to build up the spirits of the girls he met, making them feel special and wanted (although it did seem that he also enjoyed pushing people's buttons to some degree, but rarely in a malicious way). Overall, it was obvious that he wanted to help others and keep their spirits high, so he naturally became the peacemaker of the group.
However, while this was a strength of his, it was also one of his biggest weaknesses. Sasame was so desperate to keep the peace that he kept much of his true thoughts and emotions hidden within himself, letting them stew for years if it meant making sure nobody would be upset. He constantly tried to hide the truth from others when he felt that it would upset them, or when he felt that he couldn’t face it himself. When he fell in love with Takako, and realized she loved Hayate, he decided it would be better to not say anything to her for fear of hurting her. Years later, when Himeno wanted to find out the truth about the Princess of Disaster, Sasame was quick to tell her that she didn’t need to know, and lashed out against Kei when he decided to tell Himeno anyway. (This was probably partially to protect Himeno because he knew she wouldn’t take the reveal well, and partially because he REALLY didn’t want to remember what had happened to Takako.)
Also, when he fell in love with someone he did so almost to the point of being absolutely obsessed with them. No matter how many years Takako was sealed away, he couldn't get over his feelings for her, to the point that they almost seemed to grow while she was gone. He desperately wanted to save her and turn her back from the evil she'd sold herself to, and constantly tried to reason with her whenever she appeared. However, despite continually trying to talk her through her problems, Takako proved to be the one person he couldn’t seem to help with just his words alone.
Through all of this, he tended to bury his emotions deep within him and lock them away, only expressing them when those around him aren't watching. Eventually, however, without anyone that he himself could talk to, he broke under the weight of his emotions.
The tipping point was when Takako nearly killed him during a battle. He started to show more signs of resentment toward Hayate for what happened between him and Takako and angrily lashed out when he saw signs of Hayate falling for Himeno. When he saw Takako again, he desperately begged for her to listen to his feelings, and when she still rejected him he gave up being a knight and threw away everything he believed in for a chance to be by her side--even though he was well aware that she had no feelings for him.
He was easily manipulated if his emotions were used against him. Takako was able to get him to try to kill others--even people he seemed to genuinely care about--simply by telling him that it was a way to prove his love for her. Not only was he convinced to betray the Knights, but he also willingly manipulated and hurt Mawata, a girl that he admitted he understood well since they’d had similar feelings of loneliness in their lives.
But even though Sasame was completely devoted to her, he often showed signs of doubt and wavering. He admits that he thought “about hate a lot” and said that he thought it would be easier if he could hate Hayate--which indicates that he never DID actually hate Hayate. He agrees with Takako that if the world is destroyed that nobody will hurt or be hurt--”but they won’t feel love, either.” When he first attacks Hayate to prove his loyalty to Takako he hesitates before eventually following through.
The clash of his devotion to Takako but his doubts about what she’s doing causes so much conflict in him that at times he comes across as downright suicidal. In fact, because of how much his emotions are in turmoil, it seemed in later parts of the series that he almost wanted to die, to save himself and others from how far he let himself fall. When he fought Hayate under Takako's orders the first time, he practically dared Hayate to kill him and warned him that he was serious about what Takako was ordering him to do.
It’s also clear that he values his own life very little in comparison to Takako’s happiness--he offered his life to her by asking her to take his leafé to feed herself with, and when the time came that she was actually in danger, he didn’t hesitate to throw himself in front of the blow aimed for her.
His devotion to Takako was second only to his devotion to his role as a Leafé Knight (which is why Takako’s fall hurt him so deeply, and why it was so shocking when he decided to betray the others so that he could be at her side). He took his duty very seriously and, before his betrayal, never outwardly questioned why he was forced to be born over and over again to protect a world that barely knew he existed. He occasionally mentions that he believes in fate, and in particular tried to take solace that he was fated to devote himself to being a Leafe Knight instead of being loved by Takako. Beyond his tendency to be fatalistic, he also was the most spiritual of the Knights, at times even seeming to pray to the leafé of the world.
While he certainly regretted the actions he took to save Takako and acknowledges he was wrong, it worked out for him in the end—Takako was saved by his devotion to her, and in the final shot of the anime he’s shown at her side and seeming happy. He seemed to have finally found some sort of peace in his life, as he no longer had to choose between his devotion to his duty as a knight and his love for Takako.
Any differences: Since he grew up as a normal guy in America instead of a magical warrior destined to fight for the fate of the world in Japan (a culture that (to generalize) is much more concerned with roles and duty), Sasame—or “Sam,” as he usually goes by--now has less pressure to not follow his feelings, and feels more comfortable acting on his emotions without worrying about his “duties.” He still has SOME pressure to do the “right” thing, thanks to his mother’s high expectations of him (and that’s secretly one of his reasons for majoring in psychology instead of music, since he thinks he’s more likely to get a steady job that way), but overall he’s much more laidback, particularly since he doesn’t have the fate of the world depending on his actions. (Or so he thinks!)
Without that pressure, or his memory of Takako’s fall, Sam’s dominant personality is much more cheerful and teasing than his preincarnation’s was. Since it’s hinted in canon that he’s naturally an outgoing person, without so much weighing on his mind most of his cheerful moments aren’t a sign of covering up how he truly feels—that’s just how he actually IS. He still doesn't care for talking about his emotions and can be a secretive person, but usually he doesn’t really need to vent too much. He thinks he’s pretty lucky, actually.
He also doesn’t really have his preincarnation’s devotion to a single person, and he’s actually pretty bad about sticking with romantic relationships for very long. He falls in and out of love very easily and has gotten a reputation for having a lot of short and ultimately failed attempts at dating. He never goes into a relationship intending to not take it seriously, but subconsciously, he’s wanting that all-consuming, life-altering, obsessive love like he used to feel for Takako, and he just hasn’t met any girls that seem to ignite that in him (and honestly, he might not really give them a chance to). He likes a lot of girls, but he doesn’t LOVE them, not how he used to love Takako—so he continues to hop from relationship to relationship in the hopes that he’ll find what it is he’s looking for.
Lastly, while his preincarnation is a pretty spiritual person, due to how he can sense life energy and how his life is ruled by his “fate” and ability to reincarnate over and over again to protect the world, Sam isn’t particularly religious or spiritual. He’s not an atheist, and he’s been somewhat influenced by his mother’s Buddhist beliefs, but his feelings about anything spiritual or supernatural is more or less to just shrug and go “who knows?” He’s much more concerned with the here and now than trying to sort out things like whether people have a soul, if karma is going to bite him in the ass, and if there’s some sort of outside force that guides his life.
Abilities: In his preincarnation, Sasame was a “Leafe Knight”, a guardian of the “element” of sound.
As a Leafé Knight, he had some standard abilities that all of the Knights had, specifically the ability to switch back and forth from civilian clothing appropriate for a normal human in the city and a “knight” outfit that was appropriately magical and shoujo looking, the ability to fly and teleport short distances as well as the ability to travel back and forth from his home world of Leafénia and Earth, the ability to sense demon larvae and the leafé energy levels of an area, some general knowledge of how to fight (specifically how to fight evil energy-sucking monsters) and the ability to “prét” with a Prétear.
When Sasame préted with a Prétear, he combined his leafé with hers, giving her the ability to transform into the Sound Prétear, complete with floofy magical girl outfit and soundwave-themed powers. In this state he also served as a shield for the Prétear, taking on any wounds that the Prétear would’ve received, and since his energy was more or less inside her he could communicate with her in her mind and help guide her.
His specific sound-themed powers included the ability to hear all sound within a wide distance--I’d guess large enough to hear most of the sounds of the city he lived in if he wanted to--as well as the ability to “see” what was going on in a particular area by being able to mentally paint a picture of what was there thanks to the sounds he could hear. He could also attack with blasts of sound energy (more or less hitting things with sound waves), and the manga mentions in an aside that Sasame could “play every instrument,” which is a little silly but makes sense to me considering the ‘element’ he controls, so I’m using that as headcanon for the anime version.
Outside of his special abilities as a Leafe Knight? Sasame shows a remarkable ability to read others and give them advice appropriate for their situation, even if they’re not completely open with what’s actually bothering them. He loves being a listening ear to people and wants to be supportive and helpful, so he’s always ready to talk to someone if they need it.
He also tends to be well-spoken and eloquent—partially just because of his natural charm, but also probably due to his job as a radio show host. Speaking of his job, he also mentions he was trained specifically for the job that he takes on in the “normal” world, which probably means he’s had at least some training as a counselor, as well as general training as a radio personality.
Also, I’m not quite sure if this counts as an “ability” but it’s maybe worth noting. Within canon, the ladies LOVE Sasame. By that I mean that he’s naturally handsome and also has a charismatic personality, and pretty much all of the girls he interacts with in canon comment on it. He’s able to build quite a fan following for his show because of it. He also doesn’t seem to have any qualms about using his natural attractiveness to his advantage, either, although mostly all he does is tease girls and then try to act innocent as they blush and flail. (Of course, there is that one time when, under the influence of Takako, he uses Mawata’s feelings for him to force her into a breakdown…)
I don’t expect all of the girls in Save the Earth to respond the same way to him, of course (and I think it would be sort of fun if he IS rejected at least some of the time), it’s just worth noting that he’s pretty good at attracting girls in his canon.
Roleplay Sample – Third Person:
"Sasame, are you still up?” his mother asked in Japanese.
Oops. Caught again? Sasame flashed an innocent smile and switched tabs from Facebook to an article in a scientific journal, then leaned back in his chair and looked over at the silhouette of his mother at the door. “I need to find a few more sources for this research paper. My professor said she wanted us to have a general outline ready for it tomorrow.”
His mother made a ‘tsk tsk’ sound with her tongue and leaned against his doorway. “You should’ve gotten this done ahead of time. Now you’re going to stay up too late and fall asleep in class.”
“Aw, come on, I’m almost done. Besides, what are you doing up? Don’t you have a presentation at work tomorrow?”
“I was just getting some herbal tea to help me sleep.” She held up her mug as proof. “Finish your homework and then head to bed, all right? And don’t stay up all night chatting with girls!”
“Uh...” He glanced guiltily over at his computer screen. “Right. I won’t.”
He could just barely see his mother’s smirk in the dim light as she told him “good night” and walked into her room. Once she left, he looked down at his computer clock--11:15pm. He had to admit that it was getting pretty late, considering how early his first class started in the morning. He clicked back to the Facebook tab.
Linda Fabian [11:02pm]
i just feel like she’s being way too strict! I don’t know if it’s a rich person thing or if she just wants to make me feel inferior compared to my step-sisters or what. but we’re supposed to be family and I don’t think she really treats me like an actual daughter.
Linda Fabian [11:04pm]
I thought going to college would help but she’s still hounding me.
Linda Fabian [11:07pm]
do you think im being too harsh?
Linda Fabian [11:10pm]
Sam? you there?
Sam Iwata [11:15pm]
sorry! Mom was telling me not to stay up too late.
Linda Fabian [11:16pm]
Oops. my bad.
Sam Iwata [11:16pm]
No worries, it’s not that late.
Sam Iwata [11:17pm]
But no, I don’t think you’re being harsh. She’s putting a lot of pressure on you. but I also think she probably isn’t trying to be mean?
Linda Fabian [11:19pm]
yeah...
Sam Iwata [11:19pm]
I really should get my homework finished. :( But we’ll talk more after class tomorrow, okay?
Linda Fabian [11:20pm]
k. sorry for bothering you!
Sam Iwata [11:22pm]
A pretty girl like you could never bother me. ;) it’s my HOMEWORK that’s bothering me. There’s less accredited research on music’s relationship with subcultures than I thought. I should’ve done a paper on group think or something.
Sam Iwata [11:23pm]
Or gone to the mall and run around in heels and a miniskirt and done a paper on breaking social norms...
Linda Fabian [11:23pm]
ow. sacrificing your feet for science?
Sam Iwata [11:23pm]
haha, high heels aren’t that bad.
Linda Fabian [11:25pm]
you're just saying that because you've never worn heels.
Sam Iwata [11:26pm]
I have! in a high school production of Rocky Horror Show as Dr. Frank N. Furter.
Linda Fabian [11:26pm]
what?! you didn’t tell me you did theater! was it hard to get your mom to let you?
Sam Iwata [11:27pm]
Nah. I promised to keep up with my grades and I did, so she was fine with it. She doesn’t mind me having “hobbies,” she just doesn’t want me “wasting” my time trying to make a career out of anything she thinks won’t make money.
Linda Fabian [11:27pm]
doesn’t that bother you?
Sam Iwata [11:28pm]
not anymore. She’s strict and it’s frustrating, but it’s because she wants to see me live up to my potential.
Sam Iwata [11:29pm]
like your step-mom I think.
Sam Iwata [11:29pm]
see that awesome segue? nailed it. :D
Linda Fabian [11:30pm]
ok, I get the point. :P
Sam Iwata [11:30pm]
Good! and I really need to get this homework done. see you tomorrow, Cinders?
Linda Fabian [11:31pm]
Cinders? weirdo. see you tomorrow!
“Well, that’s my good deed for the evening,” Sasame mumbled to himself as he clicked back to his homework. He’d gotten a reputation as being a good listener--second only to his reputation as a skirt-chaser (which he felt was slightly unearned)--but he didn’t really mind it. He liked helping other people. Everyone showed affection to others in their own way, and if his was listening and giving advice, then he felt like he should do the best he could at it.
Besides, it was a nice distraction from this stupid paper. He really, really did not expect how difficult it would be to find sources. He briefly considered asking his teacher for more time before deciding against it--no, he could probably get this work finished up real quickly tonight and turn it in. It was just an outline, he wasn’t stuck with the sources he picked out, right?
He sighed wearily and glared at the computer screen. He could really use a break after this. Maybe tomorrow he’d reward himself by going to his favorite cafe in town and getting a cup of tea. Yeah, that wasn’t a bad idea. Using that reward to drag himself through the rest of his homework, he managed to slap together a decent-enough outline and was just about to drag himself to bed when, all of the sudden, a bright pink light suddenly shone through his window. He whirled around in his chair and stared, wide-eyed, at the strange light in the sky outside of his window.
As he did, a melody he’d nearly forgotten began to play in his head over and over again, repeating a set of numbers along with the melody as if they were strange lyrics: one-two-four-one-eight-four-two....one-two-four-one-eight-four-two...
Lately, I find myself thinking about something a lot.
The question I keep asking myself is, why am I here?
Everything around me feels strange and foreign, as if it comes from another dimension. Another world.
Why am I here?
When the light faded, Sam felt dizzy, almost as if he was going to faint. That song! How could he have forgotten that song? And those numbers again, not to mention that message...as a teenager he’d analyzed those words over and over, trying to find what the meaning was, trying to remember why he felt like that song meant something.
What was going on?
He was just about to toss the numbers into a search engine when he saw his Facebook tab flashing with a notification.
Linda Fabian [11:56pm]
SAM please tell me you didn’t go to bed yet. You’ve GOT to look out the window!!
Sam Iwata [11:58pm]
i saw.
Linda Fabian [11:58pm]
what the hell WAS that?
Sam Iwata [11:59pm]
no idea.
Sam Iwata [12:00am]
did you hear a song?
Linda Fabian [12:01am]
??? no?
Linda Fabian [12:01am]
I was talking about the light?
Sam Iwata [12:01am]
no I saw.
Sam Iwata [12:02am]
sorry left the radio playing while I was studying. confusing.
Sam Iwata [12:02am]
I’ve got that homework done so I think i’m going to bed.
Linda Fabian [12:03am]
you’re going to bed after that??
Sam Iwata [12:04am]
yeah, I’m tired. I’m sure the news will have something about it in the morning and I’m no astronomer so staying up and wondering about it won’t help.
Linda Fabian [12:04am]
you are so weird.
Sam Iwata [12:08am]
I guess.
Sam Iwata [12:09am]
good night.
Sam closed out his browser with a heavier-than-needed click of his mouse and stared blankly at the desktop on his computer. Why was he getting the feeling like he was missing something so, so important?
“Everything around me feels strange and foreign,” he mumbled to himself as the song continued to play in his head, “as if it comes from another dimension. Another world...”
Roleplay Sample - Network:
[A Japanese guy with bleached hair is recording a video on the network today. He's holding a saxophone, and flashes a smile at the camera when he's sure it's recording.]
Hi there! I'm Sam, and I had a question. It's about this song...
[He brings the saxophone to his lips and plays a short song about a minute in length. It sounds like some sort of jazz melody.]
That's how I got the number for this place. I've tried to find the origin of the song when I first remembered it as a teen, but nothing's turned up. Does anyone recognize it? OR has anyone else gotten their numbers through a song?
[He grins and shrugs his shoulders.] I thought it wouldn't hurt to ask.
Any Questions?
Can't think of any! ...Sorry for the length. |D