ooc:\adstringendum\player_application.txt
Name: Ryua
Livejournal: melonheadingly
Contact: Already provided.
Other Characters Played: Rory Willams, Sayaka Miki
Are you 18 or over? ... /woes in a corner
Canon: Durarara!!
Character: Izaya Orihara
Timeline: Me · Epilogue & Next Prologue of Vol. 9
Personality:
He doesn't seem that bad at a first impression. He seems like typical nice guy with a charming face and a good choice of clothes. He's the type of guy girls would flock towards and worship. But citizens of Ikebukuro would often warn you - don't get involved with Izaya Orihara. And they're right, for Izaya Orihara is a trickster who gets himself involved in everybody's lives and manipulates them to his bidding. This is the man who has the entire city in his hand, with his influence extending every single corner. As one character puts it, 99% of the time, troubles in Ikebukuro are caused by Izaya.
Don't trust him, not even when he looks so trusting. Izaya has most traits of a sociopath, capable of acting behaviors more pleasant to the public (or that he's not really a girl in real life). He schemes and schemes and schemes such that he can predict your every single move. Oh, he knows people doesn't like his trolling, but he's very damn proud of it. He doesn't mind, really, because he knows it's all worth it.
Why does he do it, you ask? Why does he play so many mind games with the citizens of Ikebukuro, breaking them and changing them for the worse or the better? Because he loves them. He loves all the humans in the world (save Shizu-chan), because they are so special and so unique. There is never any straight answer to any question asked towards humanity, for all of their cases differ. That's why he always observes them, looking at their habits and mannerisms, dissecting their behavior down to the very last trait. He manipulates situations and human emotions such that he could lay down the environment he so desires. He never puts himself into the middle of the storm, because he knows how dangerous it would be to end up in there. Like a coward he waits, taking no responsibility for the conflicts he makes.
If there is something Izaya fears, it's the ceasing of his existence. He's not really afraid of death per se, but he fears the day that he shall cease to exist, leaving all his precious humans behind. This fear is strong enough to trigger Izaya, an atheist, to call upon Norse Mythology for insurance. He doesn't mind going into endless torment or hell, as long as he's still there. But of course, he'd still prefer ending up in heaven.
He treats all of humanity equally, and spreads his love to them evenly - well, with a few exceptions. He claims that Shizuo is the only human he shall ever hate, and whom he actively hopes for his death. There's a good reason why he hates Shizuo, and that's because he's an idiot. He's stupid with his simple-minded brain, always ending up in Izaya's traps, and always trying to end things with violence. But then, when you least expect it, Shizuo becomes somewhat clever with his own brand of intuition, and this sometimes derails Izaya's plans. He's the most unpredictable human being in the world.
The other exception is Shinra Kishitani, who is, in Izaya's eyes, in a different level compared to other humans. Izaya envies Shinra's level of detachment towards humanity, to the extent that he never does things because it's the humane way of doing so. That is a level even he cannot achieve, with all his specialties in reading people. He respects him to the extent that he doesn't want others to know that he saved someone as despicable as Izaya. It is for that reason that Izaya is willing to harm anyone who harms Shinra in return.
In his opinion, Izaya's greatest flaw is his humanity. He is a man of logic and calculation whose every line and action have meaning to his plans, but he too possess the hypocrisy of humanity. He claims that he doesn't mind being alone, but he is annoyed when he's locked out of the loop, and he fears the loss of the only person he consider as a friend. He says that he is willing to put even his family members as his pawns, but it is suggested more or less that he truly cares about them. And while it is said that Izaya is a coward that cannot kill a single person, it does not mean that you shouldn't make Izaya snap. He cannot kill other people, yes, but that's because he doesn't want to get killed himself. But there are things worse than death that Izaya is not afraid of, and those he shall willingly give to those who harm the people most precious to him.
Like hell.
Background:
Once upon a time there was a couple named Shirou and Kyouko Orihara. They were an ordinary Japanese family, so there isn't much to talk about them. But everyone has their quirks, and they had theirs two. The Oriharas were fond of unusual names - maybe they were trying to make up for their typical habits, or maybe they wanted their children's lives to be extraordinary. Either way, when they had their first child, they named the boy Izaya - based on the biblical prophet Isaiah. Eventually, they also had fraternal female twins whom they named Kururi and Mairu, also a pair of unusual names.
Izaya was strange even during his earlier years, although they were entirely different - during elementary school, he was a model student who received top grades in almost every subject. He was also nice and popular (especially with girls), but he was also distant to other people, never treated as a friend or as an enemy. He was just an observer, obsessed with listening to the daily happenings of everybody's lives. Even until then, people watching has been his obsession.
Izaya's daily life was the same during middle school - well, at some part of middle school anyway. He was still the same at their first day, introducing himself as a boy who likes watching all kinds of people. But at the end of that first day, his first and only friend came to him:
This young boy was Shinra Kishitani, and he approached Izaya such that they could start a biology club together. Izaya thought at first that Shinra was just talking to him because they were the only ones at their class who didn't have any friends there, but then apparently Shinra approached him because he said that he likes watching "living things". This interested Izaya - who is this young boy so detached and uninterested about humanity? That is why he agreed, and that is why Raijin Middle School's first biology club was formed.
The club was a rather laidback one to the extent that only Izaya and Shinra were the ones who needed to do anything. This provided many opportunities for the two to talk, and there Izaya just realized on how abnormal Shinra was - he was so interested in something inhuman that he stopped caring about anything else, including humans.
During summer vacation the biology club was told to prepare something for the cultural festival. The members weren't really interested, so they left it to Izaya and Shinra. Shinra wasn't interested, so he left it all to Izaya. He agreed, but only because he had his own motives. During preparations, Izaya used the biology rooom as a meeting place for his small gambling ring for baseball. When the last day of summer vacations came, Shinra finally discovered what was happening and confronted Izaya about it. He didn't do it because he thought it was wrong, but rather it was to gain the respect of his object of affection. The two were in a heated argument when someone named Nakura came.
Nakura was also part of the gambling ring, but he was one with hardly any luck. He came to beg Izaya to let him get some of his money back, but Izaya refused - after all, it was a gambling ring, not a loan office. Nakura became frustrated and so he tried to stab Izaya with a knife. However, Shinra came in-between them and got stabbed himself. Nakura fled the scene as the two went to tend Shinra's wounds. Izaya then made a promise - he had Shinra say that it was Izaya who stabbed him. In return, Izaya would make the rest of Nakura's life a living hell.
And there was the beginning of the Izaya Orihara we know today. He changed and became more vocal as a person almost everybody grew to hate. His parents were frequently overseas, and therefore he was responsible for most of his younger's twins abnormalities today. Izaya would frequently conduct social experiments with them, even to the extent of telling the two that acting the same was so boring and that one of them they should go and die already. This drove the twins to share different personality traits with each other by flipping a coin - that way, they would be completely different and so when you combine the two of them, you shall have all the qualities of humanity.
By the time he went to high school, we was treated as a dangerous delinquent responsible for most incidents inside the school. He still had the impression of a top student, but he did many underhanded tasks beneath people's noses. With Nakura tied around his leash, the two revived their gambling ring and named it Amphisbaena. The group grew, but the pair left it eventually due to dwindling interest. He also reunited with Shinra at Raijin High School, and it was there when Izaya met the only human he ever hated - Shizuo Heiwajima. They hated each other at first glance, and they tried to kill each other every day. Shinra would always try t become the neutral ground between them, but to no avail. Everyday Shizuo would be haunted by troubles, and he knew that Izaya was more or less behind this. ("Other things happened too when I was in school. There was this 'The Pool of Hell Opens - Chlorine Gas Everywhere!' incident, 'Real Flesh Art in the Art Room' incident, 'Cultural Festival Campfire Explosion' incident and of course 'Field Trip to the Shambles - the Okinawa Arc'......during the three years when we were in Raijin, gasoline drums were rolled down from school buildings as part of the routine. Really, it's hard to believe how nice and orderly this school has become these days......")
Somehow, Raijin High School managed to survive all of these chaos. Soon college came, and they all graduated, leaving the school system in peace - Shina began pursuing the career of an underground doctor, Shizuo started hunting for jobs, and Izaya became involved with the yakuza. These years passed by peacefully, especially for poor Shizuo, who finally got a stable bartender job, but then he was accused of a crime he didn't commit and ended up losing his job. It was a little farewell message from Izaya, who disappeared and started his informant business in Shinjuku.
That didn't mean his influence in Ikebukuro dwindled, however. He had put her female worshipers into her good use, and soon he had an entire information network capable of giving him almost anything that happens at Ikebukuro. Needless to say, a good lot of problems occurred inside the city - a good example was the conflict between the Blue Squares and the Yellow Scarves, whom he caused due to assisting both gangs. In the middle of his storm was Kida Masaomi, the Yellow Scarves' leader. He became attracted to one of Izaya's disciples, Saki Mikajima, who was eventually kidnapped and tormented by the Blue Squares. This led an end to the gang wars, but it also left a big scar on Kida's past.
Eventually Izaya caught wind of Dollars, an internet gang rumored to be based on Ikebukuro. They were known to be an invisible gang, having no colors to represent them, and in fact only few members know each other in real life. Everybody is welcome to join Dollars, as long as you have the website link and the password. Izaya eventually got in and became a member of Dollars himself, even though the gang wasn't even technically real. But, as they say, even rumors can become truth if you say it so many times. Eventually people in the real world started calling themselves Dollars, and started doing good and bad things under their name. Due to this the founders of Dollars dissolved into obscurity, hoping that the gang would simply disappear. But instead, the gang grew - Izaya started handing out the website link and the password, and most of the members were now in because of him. At the meantime, Izaya started to look for the only remaining founder of Dollars, and eventually he pegged him down to a handle named "Tanaka Taro". Under the guise of his own handle (Kanra - and yes, he's a female in the internet), Izaya invites him to his own chatroom, along with a certain Setton.
And thus his life continues. Izaya started to go back to Ikebukuro again, much to Shizuo's chagrin. He was often there because of some form of business or hobby. In there, he eventually made acquaintances with a courier who was the center of Ikebukuro's recent urban legend - The Headless Rider Celty Sturuson, who went to Ikebukuro in search for her head. Eventually he will find out that Celty is also Shinra's lover, who had been living with him for twenty years - she also happens to be Setton, but it has never been clear if the other know about this (Izaya probably does). On his way to one of his hobbies - inviting other people to commit suicide with him on websites - Izaya bumped into Kida, who was welcoming his childhood friend Mikado Ryuugamine - a newcomer in Ikebukuro. Izaya greeted him, and pegged Mikado to be Tanaka Taro, who also said that he was moving into the city.
His hunch proved true in a twist of sudden events. Izaya went to meet Mikado again twice - once in assisting him to rescue his classmate from bullies, and in another time as he waited for Mikado by the school gates. Interestingly enough, Celty was also looking for Mikado at that time, but for different reasons. Mikado was currently sheltering a mysterious girl who bumped into him one day, and they ended up being chased by Celty. Turns out that this mysterious girl's head may be Celty's. The Headless Rider only wanted to know if the girl really was wearing her head, and Mikado agreed to let them talk - but alas, it looked like that she ran away. She was also being pursued by Yagiri Pharmaceuticals - a company that kidnaps people for their experimentations, and the previous owners of Celty's head. Mikado decided to take action and end this once and for all. First, he asked Izaya for the number of Yagiri's head. Then, he accessed a website and asked help for hundreds of anons -
The founder had called them for the first Dollars' offline meeting.
The plan had worked and all mysteries were solved. The mysterious girl didn't really had Celty's head - rather, she had plastic surgery in order to look like that head. This mysterious girl was Mika Harima, who had been stalking Seiji Yagiri for a long while. One day Mika went too far and so Seiji ended up killing her... or so he thought. In order to fix things, his sister Namie made Mika look like Celty's head, who happened to be the center of Seiji's affections. All Mika had to do was to act like Celty, but the requirement of further experimentation scared her and made her run away.
Who had the head, you ask? Namie still did, but her company was in danger, so she asked the only person whom she think she could trust the head with - Izaya Orihara.
She was wrong. Izaya, you see, had another plan with the head. It was his belief that Celty was a valkyrie, and so Izaya thought that when Celty's head is returned to her in the middle of chaos, Celty would awaken and lead Izaya to Vahalla. And so Izaya starts his plan - to create a war in Ikebukuro that shall wake up Celty's sleeping head.
And chaos did happen. For the next few months "wars" happened in Ikebukuro, starting with the slashing incidents. This triggered Kida to revive the Yellow Scarves, who was under the impression that the culprit was part of Dollars - this time, he didn't want his closest friends to get hurt. But then, he discovers that Mikado is the leader of Dollars, and tension rose, until Kida was able to discover that the slasher was indeed not part of Dollars. Kida then dropped out and left Ikebukuro with Saki, and Mikado was left, waiting patiently for him to return. The chaos soon subsided before Celty's head decided to wake up.
But not all chaos are caused by Izaya. Sometimes, the city would love a break. Sometimes he city would end up in trouble, but poor Izaya would be left in a loop. That did happen one time, where it all ended with everybody enjoying themselves in a hotpot party - everybody except poor poor Izaya-kun.This, of course, annoys the heck out of the poor informant, who decided to cook up something good next time.
The next incident was, indeed, somewhat caused by Izaya. Kida and Saki were still working for him, and Izaya instructed them to collect information from a certain Yadogiri Jinnai. This leads Kida to be offline for quite a while and so Izaya took the chance to hack his account (which was now part of their chatroom), and warned Mikado about Dollars getting into trouble. At the same time he manipulates another person (a kid) into killing Shizuo. One thing led to another and alas, Shizuo was once again falsely accused of a crime he did not commit. But like all incidents in Ikebukuro, this one passed by and left the city in a state of temporary peace.
Satisfied of the mayhem he caused, he leaves Ikebukuro, but not before he was stabbed by the very Yadogiri Jinnai he was looking for. He tries to call for Namie, but passes out due to his wounds. The next time he woke up, he was in a hospital, with his name up on the news.
While stuck in the hospital, he hardly had anything to do, so he contacted Shinra, who happened to be in a date with Celty at that time. He continued pestering the good doctor until he threatened Izaya that he'll spill "what really happened in middle school". That shut Izaya up. Soon, he started to wonder - how come no one was visiting him? He made many enemies in the past, and now he's vulnerable, in a hospital bed. The news should have reached them - there should be someone out to kill him by now.
And there was a certain someone - it wasn't Shizuo or some yakuza, but rather it was a girl he tricked a few months ago. Izaya was overjoyed - this girl exceeded his expectations! He forgot all about her, but she remembered about him, and even now she's planning revenge towards him. He then remembered his love for humans and how truly great they are. Revitalized, he escaped the hospital with the girl to hatch his plan. He then contacted a select number of people who are either his acquaintances or people who had a grudge with Dollars. Together they will help Izaya fulfill his plan and at the same time they shall have their revenge. When they have all gathered, Izaya announces their first step:
To have hotpot together!
Yes, he's still mad.
At the same time, he also officially leaves his handle Kanra, and at the same time goes into the chatroom under the name of Chrome.
The next time we see Izaya, he's in the middle of a job - a yakuza has entasked him to gather information about two groups operating under their territory: Amphisbaena, the same gambling ring he founded years ago, and another group that is currently distributing an illegal drug known as "Heaven's Slave". Interestingly enough, Izaya was also connected with the other group through Nakura - the creator of Heaven's Slave was their acquaintance during college, and was using Nakura as their current scapegoat. In order to make Nakura further indebted to him, Izaya decided to neutralize both groups.
First, he contacted Celty for two jobs - one, to keep his sisters safe, who may be kidnapped to be used against him, and two, to keep a laptop that Celty must also keep safe for a couple of days. Soon after that, he intentionally gets himself caught by Amphisbaena's current leader, alias "Earthworm". Earthworm spent a good time grilling Izaya, performing mental torture until he breaks. They were soon interrupted by the creator of Heaven's Slave, Shijima. He was also looking for Izaya, and was lead here from the laptop he managed to snatch away from Celty.
There, Izaya shows his hand. The entire set-up was a trap for both of them, and soon they were captured by Izaya's own group. The laptop was meant to be snatched, and Izaya only had Celty protect his sisters such that she would be too busy and therefore she wouldn't even bother suspecting anything else. Both groups were shortly neutralized, and Izaya makes his way home, reminiscing about his past and Shinra and how his actions would eventually lead him to betraying Shinra. He begins to have second doubts, afraid to lose his only friend, causing him to laugh hysterically and punch a nearby telephone pole. But when his sisters come for him, Izaya was back to normal.
The twins knew the reasons why they were being protected, but they didn't mind - even though they were annoying and tried to kill him on a daily basis, they still loved Izaya as a brother, even if their feelings may not be returned. But that might not be unrequited after all, for the trio who walked away where chatting as if they were a normal family.
The next day, Izaya was hired to investigate a middle schooler involved with the gangs, with instructions to stop him if possible.
That middle schooler was Mikado Ryuugamine.
Abilities/Additional Notes:
If we are going to discuss about physical abilities, then Izaya Orihara is about as normal as you can get - but that doesn't mean he has no tricks under his sleeve. After all, there's a reason why people as strong as Shizuo have a hard time landing a punch on him. The trick is not to be stronger, but to be quicker. Izaya's mobility is top-notch, and while he doesn't go around picking fights, he usually lives to see another day by dodging and escaping. He is a practitioner of parkour, a discipline that helps people move around by taking advantage of daily obstacles - it is said those who learn parkour are almost like the modern ninja. With this technique, Izaya is capable of moving around with ease, jumping buildings and scaling walls, giving anyone who has plans to chase him quite a hard time. And while he's no superhuman, Izaya does posses a good set of reflexes. He's quick enough to cut the straps of a handbag a meter away without anybody noticing. While he's not essentially a fighter, Izaya does keep quite a collection of knives, which he uses by either throwing them or slashing them.
But parkour and flashy tricks aren't the reason why Izaya Orihara is such a dangerous person - his real skill, after all, is "human observation". He's a mad scientist in psychology, capable of manipulating people and setting up "games". He's not their world's best informant for nothing - he sneaks and gathers tidbits from almost anywhere, and by the time you meet him, he probably knows almost everything about you, capable of exploiting your emotions and desires. He can read facial expressions and body language to the extent that some people mistake him as a mind reader. Even while he stands at the sidelines, his influence reaches almost everybody who interacts with him. Eventually, you'll find yourself in the middle of a conflict, and as most of the cast would testify, there's a 99% chance that it was caused by Izaya Orihara.
P.S. He can also speak Russian.
Sample Journal Post:
[ When most people end up in Adstringendum, they are initially confused. Panic and fear overwhelm them, as they survey the strange surroundings upon their sight. You can't blame them - they are in a completely different area after all, with no idea how they ended up in there. Their only hope lies in the possible presence of their comrades, so they call out for them, asking for help.
But this time, it's different. This time, it is a young man - dark-haired, of Japanese descent, smiling and waving at the camera. His movements are casual, like he was talking to a friend, and no tinge of horror could be seen across his figure.
This is a deconstruction post. ]
You know, this really isn't the part of a typical guy's morning, waking up in some wasteland called.... Adstringendum? Right, right, that's Latin, isn't it?
[ He nods, talking more to himself rather than the PCD in front of him. ]
Huuuh, so this is what the future looks like. It doesn't look spectacular at first, but then you figure out all these things about different worlds and times - if I was back at my humble little apartment, I wouldn't believe it, but as they say, seeing is believing! It's rather interesting to see what happens when you mix up all those different universes - now I can see things I only heard in stories or myths? Angels, demons, even aliens... It sound like anything can be possible - well, anything except getting out of here on your own free will. Hm, that's really troublesome, someone needs to fix that somehow.
But since I'm already here, why not take the time? It'll be a waste if I just left without meeting all these strange new things in here, such as those Animus. Quite interesting creatures, aren't they? They're like gods, able to control us on a whim during these 'events' - that's rather disturbing, don't you think?
[ And for the smallest second true worry appears his eyes, amidst his warm smile. ]
Ah, I should head for the clinic. Need to keep away from those nasty cats and rabbits - I can hardly fend them off on my own. Feel free to talk to me if you want to! Living here would be pretty lonely without a few friends to keep you company. 'Till next time!
[ His friendly and welcoming aura continues as he waves his goodbye. ]
Sample RP:
The first thing he did was to go to the tallest building that he could find. It wasn't that hard, even when most of them cannot be climbed. He didn't really need a super tall building anyway - just one where he could see the entire city. Eventually he found one, and got to its top.
Ah, there it is.
Red eyes surveyed everything around him - on how everything was destroyed, on how everything was reduced into rubble, on how everything was repaired and bloomed until humans can live in here again. He found all of these amazing. Not just the determination and the hope, but also the cruelty and insensitivity that brought all these in the first place. He loved all the peace and the conflict, for one simple reason - these were caused by humans.
He smiled. "Adstringendum." The words flowed fluently out of his mouth. "A place where people gather, appearing and disappearing. A place where almost everything can happen, from the most absurd to the most dramatic. A place where even the strongest of gods are trapped, and all of these - just because of a science experiment?"
A laugh rang across the air. If there were any spectators, there would hear from a distance a madman who seemed to laugh for no reason. It was a laugh made from amusement and affection, the laugh of someone satisfied, as if it was a teacher whose students exceeded his expectations. And that is what made is scarier, for it went on and on and on until it was reduced to chuckles. For a long while, he never felt this happy before.
"Hahaha! This is great, human beings are so great! They never really fail to surprise me. A city that is ever changing, ever clashing. Kinda reminds me of home." Just like Ikebukuro, where you can see the best and the worst of people. Izaya shall see them all - he shall see all of his precious humans try and cope with their lives until they break down and they become oh so terrible, but he shall embrace them all still.
For he loves all humans, and they shall love him in return.
He leaves the building, skipping his way to who knows where. Oh, where to start, where to start? He can't stop his smile from growing - he can't stop that, sickening, sinister smile of his.
"I'll be looking forward to my stay here."
Livejournal: melonheadingly
Contact: Already provided.
Other Characters Played: Rory Willams, Sayaka Miki
Are you 18 or over? ... /woes in a corner
Canon: Durarara!!
Character: Izaya Orihara
Timeline: Me · Epilogue & Next Prologue of Vol. 9
Personality:
He doesn't seem that bad at a first impression. He seems like typical nice guy with a charming face and a good choice of clothes. He's the type of guy girls would flock towards and worship. But citizens of Ikebukuro would often warn you - don't get involved with Izaya Orihara. And they're right, for Izaya Orihara is a trickster who gets himself involved in everybody's lives and manipulates them to his bidding. This is the man who has the entire city in his hand, with his influence extending every single corner. As one character puts it, 99% of the time, troubles in Ikebukuro are caused by Izaya.
Don't trust him, not even when he looks so trusting. Izaya has most traits of a sociopath, capable of acting behaviors more pleasant to the public (or that he's not really a girl in real life). He schemes and schemes and schemes such that he can predict your every single move. Oh, he knows people doesn't like his trolling, but he's very damn proud of it. He doesn't mind, really, because he knows it's all worth it.
Why does he do it, you ask? Why does he play so many mind games with the citizens of Ikebukuro, breaking them and changing them for the worse or the better? Because he loves them. He loves all the humans in the world (save Shizu-chan), because they are so special and so unique. There is never any straight answer to any question asked towards humanity, for all of their cases differ. That's why he always observes them, looking at their habits and mannerisms, dissecting their behavior down to the very last trait. He manipulates situations and human emotions such that he could lay down the environment he so desires. He never puts himself into the middle of the storm, because he knows how dangerous it would be to end up in there. Like a coward he waits, taking no responsibility for the conflicts he makes.
If there is something Izaya fears, it's the ceasing of his existence. He's not really afraid of death per se, but he fears the day that he shall cease to exist, leaving all his precious humans behind. This fear is strong enough to trigger Izaya, an atheist, to call upon Norse Mythology for insurance. He doesn't mind going into endless torment or hell, as long as he's still there. But of course, he'd still prefer ending up in heaven.
He treats all of humanity equally, and spreads his love to them evenly - well, with a few exceptions. He claims that Shizuo is the only human he shall ever hate, and whom he actively hopes for his death. There's a good reason why he hates Shizuo, and that's because he's an idiot. He's stupid with his simple-minded brain, always ending up in Izaya's traps, and always trying to end things with violence. But then, when you least expect it, Shizuo becomes somewhat clever with his own brand of intuition, and this sometimes derails Izaya's plans. He's the most unpredictable human being in the world.
The other exception is Shinra Kishitani, who is, in Izaya's eyes, in a different level compared to other humans. Izaya envies Shinra's level of detachment towards humanity, to the extent that he never does things because it's the humane way of doing so. That is a level even he cannot achieve, with all his specialties in reading people. He respects him to the extent that he doesn't want others to know that he saved someone as despicable as Izaya. It is for that reason that Izaya is willing to harm anyone who harms Shinra in return.
In his opinion, Izaya's greatest flaw is his humanity. He is a man of logic and calculation whose every line and action have meaning to his plans, but he too possess the hypocrisy of humanity. He claims that he doesn't mind being alone, but he is annoyed when he's locked out of the loop, and he fears the loss of the only person he consider as a friend. He says that he is willing to put even his family members as his pawns, but it is suggested more or less that he truly cares about them. And while it is said that Izaya is a coward that cannot kill a single person, it does not mean that you shouldn't make Izaya snap. He cannot kill other people, yes, but that's because he doesn't want to get killed himself. But there are things worse than death that Izaya is not afraid of, and those he shall willingly give to those who harm the people most precious to him.
Like hell.
Background:
Once upon a time there was a couple named Shirou and Kyouko Orihara. They were an ordinary Japanese family, so there isn't much to talk about them. But everyone has their quirks, and they had theirs two. The Oriharas were fond of unusual names - maybe they were trying to make up for their typical habits, or maybe they wanted their children's lives to be extraordinary. Either way, when they had their first child, they named the boy Izaya - based on the biblical prophet Isaiah. Eventually, they also had fraternal female twins whom they named Kururi and Mairu, also a pair of unusual names.
Izaya was strange even during his earlier years, although they were entirely different - during elementary school, he was a model student who received top grades in almost every subject. He was also nice and popular (especially with girls), but he was also distant to other people, never treated as a friend or as an enemy. He was just an observer, obsessed with listening to the daily happenings of everybody's lives. Even until then, people watching has been his obsession.
Izaya's daily life was the same during middle school - well, at some part of middle school anyway. He was still the same at their first day, introducing himself as a boy who likes watching all kinds of people. But at the end of that first day, his first and only friend came to him:
This young boy was Shinra Kishitani, and he approached Izaya such that they could start a biology club together. Izaya thought at first that Shinra was just talking to him because they were the only ones at their class who didn't have any friends there, but then apparently Shinra approached him because he said that he likes watching "living things". This interested Izaya - who is this young boy so detached and uninterested about humanity? That is why he agreed, and that is why Raijin Middle School's first biology club was formed.
The club was a rather laidback one to the extent that only Izaya and Shinra were the ones who needed to do anything. This provided many opportunities for the two to talk, and there Izaya just realized on how abnormal Shinra was - he was so interested in something inhuman that he stopped caring about anything else, including humans.
During summer vacation the biology club was told to prepare something for the cultural festival. The members weren't really interested, so they left it to Izaya and Shinra. Shinra wasn't interested, so he left it all to Izaya. He agreed, but only because he had his own motives. During preparations, Izaya used the biology rooom as a meeting place for his small gambling ring for baseball. When the last day of summer vacations came, Shinra finally discovered what was happening and confronted Izaya about it. He didn't do it because he thought it was wrong, but rather it was to gain the respect of his object of affection. The two were in a heated argument when someone named Nakura came.
Nakura was also part of the gambling ring, but he was one with hardly any luck. He came to beg Izaya to let him get some of his money back, but Izaya refused - after all, it was a gambling ring, not a loan office. Nakura became frustrated and so he tried to stab Izaya with a knife. However, Shinra came in-between them and got stabbed himself. Nakura fled the scene as the two went to tend Shinra's wounds. Izaya then made a promise - he had Shinra say that it was Izaya who stabbed him. In return, Izaya would make the rest of Nakura's life a living hell.
And there was the beginning of the Izaya Orihara we know today. He changed and became more vocal as a person almost everybody grew to hate. His parents were frequently overseas, and therefore he was responsible for most of his younger's twins abnormalities today. Izaya would frequently conduct social experiments with them, even to the extent of telling the two that acting the same was so boring and that one of them they should go and die already. This drove the twins to share different personality traits with each other by flipping a coin - that way, they would be completely different and so when you combine the two of them, you shall have all the qualities of humanity.
By the time he went to high school, we was treated as a dangerous delinquent responsible for most incidents inside the school. He still had the impression of a top student, but he did many underhanded tasks beneath people's noses. With Nakura tied around his leash, the two revived their gambling ring and named it Amphisbaena. The group grew, but the pair left it eventually due to dwindling interest. He also reunited with Shinra at Raijin High School, and it was there when Izaya met the only human he ever hated - Shizuo Heiwajima. They hated each other at first glance, and they tried to kill each other every day. Shinra would always try t become the neutral ground between them, but to no avail. Everyday Shizuo would be haunted by troubles, and he knew that Izaya was more or less behind this. ("Other things happened too when I was in school. There was this 'The Pool of Hell Opens - Chlorine Gas Everywhere!' incident, 'Real Flesh Art in the Art Room' incident, 'Cultural Festival Campfire Explosion' incident and of course 'Field Trip to the Shambles - the Okinawa Arc'......during the three years when we were in Raijin, gasoline drums were rolled down from school buildings as part of the routine. Really, it's hard to believe how nice and orderly this school has become these days......")
Somehow, Raijin High School managed to survive all of these chaos. Soon college came, and they all graduated, leaving the school system in peace - Shina began pursuing the career of an underground doctor, Shizuo started hunting for jobs, and Izaya became involved with the yakuza. These years passed by peacefully, especially for poor Shizuo, who finally got a stable bartender job, but then he was accused of a crime he didn't commit and ended up losing his job. It was a little farewell message from Izaya, who disappeared and started his informant business in Shinjuku.
That didn't mean his influence in Ikebukuro dwindled, however. He had put her female worshipers into her good use, and soon he had an entire information network capable of giving him almost anything that happens at Ikebukuro. Needless to say, a good lot of problems occurred inside the city - a good example was the conflict between the Blue Squares and the Yellow Scarves, whom he caused due to assisting both gangs. In the middle of his storm was Kida Masaomi, the Yellow Scarves' leader. He became attracted to one of Izaya's disciples, Saki Mikajima, who was eventually kidnapped and tormented by the Blue Squares. This led an end to the gang wars, but it also left a big scar on Kida's past.
Eventually Izaya caught wind of Dollars, an internet gang rumored to be based on Ikebukuro. They were known to be an invisible gang, having no colors to represent them, and in fact only few members know each other in real life. Everybody is welcome to join Dollars, as long as you have the website link and the password. Izaya eventually got in and became a member of Dollars himself, even though the gang wasn't even technically real. But, as they say, even rumors can become truth if you say it so many times. Eventually people in the real world started calling themselves Dollars, and started doing good and bad things under their name. Due to this the founders of Dollars dissolved into obscurity, hoping that the gang would simply disappear. But instead, the gang grew - Izaya started handing out the website link and the password, and most of the members were now in because of him. At the meantime, Izaya started to look for the only remaining founder of Dollars, and eventually he pegged him down to a handle named "Tanaka Taro". Under the guise of his own handle (Kanra - and yes, he's a female in the internet), Izaya invites him to his own chatroom, along with a certain Setton.
And thus his life continues. Izaya started to go back to Ikebukuro again, much to Shizuo's chagrin. He was often there because of some form of business or hobby. In there, he eventually made acquaintances with a courier who was the center of Ikebukuro's recent urban legend - The Headless Rider Celty Sturuson, who went to Ikebukuro in search for her head. Eventually he will find out that Celty is also Shinra's lover, who had been living with him for twenty years - she also happens to be Setton, but it has never been clear if the other know about this (Izaya probably does). On his way to one of his hobbies - inviting other people to commit suicide with him on websites - Izaya bumped into Kida, who was welcoming his childhood friend Mikado Ryuugamine - a newcomer in Ikebukuro. Izaya greeted him, and pegged Mikado to be Tanaka Taro, who also said that he was moving into the city.
His hunch proved true in a twist of sudden events. Izaya went to meet Mikado again twice - once in assisting him to rescue his classmate from bullies, and in another time as he waited for Mikado by the school gates. Interestingly enough, Celty was also looking for Mikado at that time, but for different reasons. Mikado was currently sheltering a mysterious girl who bumped into him one day, and they ended up being chased by Celty. Turns out that this mysterious girl's head may be Celty's. The Headless Rider only wanted to know if the girl really was wearing her head, and Mikado agreed to let them talk - but alas, it looked like that she ran away. She was also being pursued by Yagiri Pharmaceuticals - a company that kidnaps people for their experimentations, and the previous owners of Celty's head. Mikado decided to take action and end this once and for all. First, he asked Izaya for the number of Yagiri's head. Then, he accessed a website and asked help for hundreds of anons -
The founder had called them for the first Dollars' offline meeting.
The plan had worked and all mysteries were solved. The mysterious girl didn't really had Celty's head - rather, she had plastic surgery in order to look like that head. This mysterious girl was Mika Harima, who had been stalking Seiji Yagiri for a long while. One day Mika went too far and so Seiji ended up killing her... or so he thought. In order to fix things, his sister Namie made Mika look like Celty's head, who happened to be the center of Seiji's affections. All Mika had to do was to act like Celty, but the requirement of further experimentation scared her and made her run away.
Who had the head, you ask? Namie still did, but her company was in danger, so she asked the only person whom she think she could trust the head with - Izaya Orihara.
She was wrong. Izaya, you see, had another plan with the head. It was his belief that Celty was a valkyrie, and so Izaya thought that when Celty's head is returned to her in the middle of chaos, Celty would awaken and lead Izaya to Vahalla. And so Izaya starts his plan - to create a war in Ikebukuro that shall wake up Celty's sleeping head.
And chaos did happen. For the next few months "wars" happened in Ikebukuro, starting with the slashing incidents. This triggered Kida to revive the Yellow Scarves, who was under the impression that the culprit was part of Dollars - this time, he didn't want his closest friends to get hurt. But then, he discovers that Mikado is the leader of Dollars, and tension rose, until Kida was able to discover that the slasher was indeed not part of Dollars. Kida then dropped out and left Ikebukuro with Saki, and Mikado was left, waiting patiently for him to return. The chaos soon subsided before Celty's head decided to wake up.
But not all chaos are caused by Izaya. Sometimes, the city would love a break. Sometimes he city would end up in trouble, but poor Izaya would be left in a loop. That did happen one time, where it all ended with everybody enjoying themselves in a hotpot party - everybody except poor poor Izaya-kun.This, of course, annoys the heck out of the poor informant, who decided to cook up something good next time.
The next incident was, indeed, somewhat caused by Izaya. Kida and Saki were still working for him, and Izaya instructed them to collect information from a certain Yadogiri Jinnai. This leads Kida to be offline for quite a while and so Izaya took the chance to hack his account (which was now part of their chatroom), and warned Mikado about Dollars getting into trouble. At the same time he manipulates another person (a kid) into killing Shizuo. One thing led to another and alas, Shizuo was once again falsely accused of a crime he did not commit. But like all incidents in Ikebukuro, this one passed by and left the city in a state of temporary peace.
Satisfied of the mayhem he caused, he leaves Ikebukuro, but not before he was stabbed by the very Yadogiri Jinnai he was looking for. He tries to call for Namie, but passes out due to his wounds. The next time he woke up, he was in a hospital, with his name up on the news.
While stuck in the hospital, he hardly had anything to do, so he contacted Shinra, who happened to be in a date with Celty at that time. He continued pestering the good doctor until he threatened Izaya that he'll spill "what really happened in middle school". That shut Izaya up. Soon, he started to wonder - how come no one was visiting him? He made many enemies in the past, and now he's vulnerable, in a hospital bed. The news should have reached them - there should be someone out to kill him by now.
And there was a certain someone - it wasn't Shizuo or some yakuza, but rather it was a girl he tricked a few months ago. Izaya was overjoyed - this girl exceeded his expectations! He forgot all about her, but she remembered about him, and even now she's planning revenge towards him. He then remembered his love for humans and how truly great they are. Revitalized, he escaped the hospital with the girl to hatch his plan. He then contacted a select number of people who are either his acquaintances or people who had a grudge with Dollars. Together they will help Izaya fulfill his plan and at the same time they shall have their revenge. When they have all gathered, Izaya announces their first step:
To have hotpot together!
Yes, he's still mad.
At the same time, he also officially leaves his handle Kanra, and at the same time goes into the chatroom under the name of Chrome.
The next time we see Izaya, he's in the middle of a job - a yakuza has entasked him to gather information about two groups operating under their territory: Amphisbaena, the same gambling ring he founded years ago, and another group that is currently distributing an illegal drug known as "Heaven's Slave". Interestingly enough, Izaya was also connected with the other group through Nakura - the creator of Heaven's Slave was their acquaintance during college, and was using Nakura as their current scapegoat. In order to make Nakura further indebted to him, Izaya decided to neutralize both groups.
First, he contacted Celty for two jobs - one, to keep his sisters safe, who may be kidnapped to be used against him, and two, to keep a laptop that Celty must also keep safe for a couple of days. Soon after that, he intentionally gets himself caught by Amphisbaena's current leader, alias "Earthworm". Earthworm spent a good time grilling Izaya, performing mental torture until he breaks. They were soon interrupted by the creator of Heaven's Slave, Shijima. He was also looking for Izaya, and was lead here from the laptop he managed to snatch away from Celty.
There, Izaya shows his hand. The entire set-up was a trap for both of them, and soon they were captured by Izaya's own group. The laptop was meant to be snatched, and Izaya only had Celty protect his sisters such that she would be too busy and therefore she wouldn't even bother suspecting anything else. Both groups were shortly neutralized, and Izaya makes his way home, reminiscing about his past and Shinra and how his actions would eventually lead him to betraying Shinra. He begins to have second doubts, afraid to lose his only friend, causing him to laugh hysterically and punch a nearby telephone pole. But when his sisters come for him, Izaya was back to normal.
The twins knew the reasons why they were being protected, but they didn't mind - even though they were annoying and tried to kill him on a daily basis, they still loved Izaya as a brother, even if their feelings may not be returned. But that might not be unrequited after all, for the trio who walked away where chatting as if they were a normal family.
The next day, Izaya was hired to investigate a middle schooler involved with the gangs, with instructions to stop him if possible.
That middle schooler was Mikado Ryuugamine.
Abilities/Additional Notes:
If we are going to discuss about physical abilities, then Izaya Orihara is about as normal as you can get - but that doesn't mean he has no tricks under his sleeve. After all, there's a reason why people as strong as Shizuo have a hard time landing a punch on him. The trick is not to be stronger, but to be quicker. Izaya's mobility is top-notch, and while he doesn't go around picking fights, he usually lives to see another day by dodging and escaping. He is a practitioner of parkour, a discipline that helps people move around by taking advantage of daily obstacles - it is said those who learn parkour are almost like the modern ninja. With this technique, Izaya is capable of moving around with ease, jumping buildings and scaling walls, giving anyone who has plans to chase him quite a hard time. And while he's no superhuman, Izaya does posses a good set of reflexes. He's quick enough to cut the straps of a handbag a meter away without anybody noticing. While he's not essentially a fighter, Izaya does keep quite a collection of knives, which he uses by either throwing them or slashing them.
But parkour and flashy tricks aren't the reason why Izaya Orihara is such a dangerous person - his real skill, after all, is "human observation". He's a mad scientist in psychology, capable of manipulating people and setting up "games". He's not their world's best informant for nothing - he sneaks and gathers tidbits from almost anywhere, and by the time you meet him, he probably knows almost everything about you, capable of exploiting your emotions and desires. He can read facial expressions and body language to the extent that some people mistake him as a mind reader. Even while he stands at the sidelines, his influence reaches almost everybody who interacts with him. Eventually, you'll find yourself in the middle of a conflict, and as most of the cast would testify, there's a 99% chance that it was caused by Izaya Orihara.
P.S. He can also speak Russian.
Sample Journal Post:
[ When most people end up in Adstringendum, they are initially confused. Panic and fear overwhelm them, as they survey the strange surroundings upon their sight. You can't blame them - they are in a completely different area after all, with no idea how they ended up in there. Their only hope lies in the possible presence of their comrades, so they call out for them, asking for help.
But this time, it's different. This time, it is a young man - dark-haired, of Japanese descent, smiling and waving at the camera. His movements are casual, like he was talking to a friend, and no tinge of horror could be seen across his figure.
This is a deconstruction post. ]
You know, this really isn't the part of a typical guy's morning, waking up in some wasteland called.... Adstringendum? Right, right, that's Latin, isn't it?
[ He nods, talking more to himself rather than the PCD in front of him. ]
Huuuh, so this is what the future looks like. It doesn't look spectacular at first, but then you figure out all these things about different worlds and times - if I was back at my humble little apartment, I wouldn't believe it, but as they say, seeing is believing! It's rather interesting to see what happens when you mix up all those different universes - now I can see things I only heard in stories or myths? Angels, demons, even aliens... It sound like anything can be possible - well, anything except getting out of here on your own free will. Hm, that's really troublesome, someone needs to fix that somehow.
But since I'm already here, why not take the time? It'll be a waste if I just left without meeting all these strange new things in here, such as those Animus. Quite interesting creatures, aren't they? They're like gods, able to control us on a whim during these 'events' - that's rather disturbing, don't you think?
[ And for the smallest second true worry appears his eyes, amidst his warm smile. ]
Ah, I should head for the clinic. Need to keep away from those nasty cats and rabbits - I can hardly fend them off on my own. Feel free to talk to me if you want to! Living here would be pretty lonely without a few friends to keep you company. 'Till next time!
[ His friendly and welcoming aura continues as he waves his goodbye. ]
Sample RP:
The first thing he did was to go to the tallest building that he could find. It wasn't that hard, even when most of them cannot be climbed. He didn't really need a super tall building anyway - just one where he could see the entire city. Eventually he found one, and got to its top.
Ah, there it is.
Red eyes surveyed everything around him - on how everything was destroyed, on how everything was reduced into rubble, on how everything was repaired and bloomed until humans can live in here again. He found all of these amazing. Not just the determination and the hope, but also the cruelty and insensitivity that brought all these in the first place. He loved all the peace and the conflict, for one simple reason - these were caused by humans.
He smiled. "Adstringendum." The words flowed fluently out of his mouth. "A place where people gather, appearing and disappearing. A place where almost everything can happen, from the most absurd to the most dramatic. A place where even the strongest of gods are trapped, and all of these - just because of a science experiment?"
A laugh rang across the air. If there were any spectators, there would hear from a distance a madman who seemed to laugh for no reason. It was a laugh made from amusement and affection, the laugh of someone satisfied, as if it was a teacher whose students exceeded his expectations. And that is what made is scarier, for it went on and on and on until it was reduced to chuckles. For a long while, he never felt this happy before.
"Hahaha! This is great, human beings are so great! They never really fail to surprise me. A city that is ever changing, ever clashing. Kinda reminds me of home." Just like Ikebukuro, where you can see the best and the worst of people. Izaya shall see them all - he shall see all of his precious humans try and cope with their lives until they break down and they become oh so terrible, but he shall embrace them all still.
For he loves all humans, and they shall love him in return.
He leaves the building, skipping his way to who knows where. Oh, where to start, where to start? He can't stop his smile from growing - he can't stop that, sickening, sinister smile of his.
"I'll be looking forward to my stay here."