APPLICATION FOR HELLPOINTE
Application
Player Info
Player Name: Mouette
Player LJ: mouette_lunaire
Player Instant Messenger Type and Handle: AIM | lackofcrocodiles
Player Email: lamouettelunaire[at]gmail.com
Are you 18 years of age or older? Yes
Character Info
Character Name: Frederica Sawyer, better known as Sawyer the Cleaner
Character’s Age: Her age is not given in canon. Her appearance indicates late teens to early twenties. I would play her at 22.
Fandom: Black Lagoon
[Disclaimer: I'm working with manga!Sawyer here, for all the difference that makes, but I will be using examples from the anime to give a better idea of her appearance and voice.]
Timeline: After the events of El Baile de la muerte (Volume 9)
Appearance:
Overall Sawyer is a(n almost deceptively) petite woman, slender and somewhere around 5'4" (163 cm) in height. She keeps her black hair short, has blue eyes and usually wears dark make-up (heavily accenting her eyes in particular). This, together with her style of clothing, has earned Sawyer the occasional nickname [goth girl], given that on an average day skirts, blouses and stockings in dark colour schemes à la Gothic Lolita fashion are the way to go.
When on the job protective gear is a must and she is frequently disguised beyond recognition to avoid getting work splattered all over her. [Surgical garments] with protective goggles and a mask are her top choice.
Sawyer also has a large scar across her throat and can't speak without an artificial larynx. She uses a portable Ultravoice during her first appearance, but later switches to a device that can be worn around the neck.
Her voice therefore sounds very... hoarse if not downright... robotic. Something... like [this].
History:
Alas, Sawyer’s known history is far from extensive. Information on the Black Lagoon animanga series can be found [here] and some (albeit anime-centric) Sawyer information is available [here].
To sum it up, Frederica Sawyer, aka. Sawyer the Cleaner is, as the latter name suggests, a cleaner in the seedy harbour city Roanapur. Her primary occupation is to clean up on crime scenes and dispose of bodies. She's also often hired when creative mutilation is required and somebody is scheduled for death in the most violent and exemplary manner possible.
Sawyer first appears as one of several bounty hunters during the Greenback Jane arc in volume 6, surprising a number of people who, up until this point, have never even seen her real appearance outside of her cleaning duties.
She consecutively joins the hunt for Janet Bhai, as commissioned by a Florida crime syndicate. She is part of the aggressive attack on Janet's hideout and even manages to follow the woman to the roof, cornering her there. Unfortunately that is when an explosion knocks her Ultravoice out of Sawyer's hand, the loss of which causes her to have a nervous breakdown.
Janet uses this moment to escape and the entire building collapses in a fire shortly afterwards. At that point the hunt is over for Sawyer, but at least she turns out to be one of the very few bounty hunters to even survive the job. When she is spotted lying amidst the rubble by two other survivors (a knife-wielding assassin lady named Shenhua and a flamboyant bounty hunter by the name of Lotton the Wizard) the three of them decide to work together from this point onwards.
Fast forward to the next arc, El Baile de la muerte. Sawyer is now living together with Shenhua and Lotton, avidly playing video games with the latter to pass time between jobs. The three of them are hired as back-up to help put a stop to ex-guerrilla Rosarita Cisneros' revenge killing spree.
Together with their clients the three fight their way through a great number of soldiers until they finally catch up with Rosarita. Shockingly enough the woman bests each of her attackers with ease, in Sawyer's case snapping the chain off her chainsaw with her guns.
Rosarita escapes and Sawyer's part in the arc ends a short while later when she, Shenhua and Lotton opt out of the mission, deciding that further participation would only get them on the very bad side of certain criminals, thus needlessly endangering their lives.
Sawyer's last appearance in the series so far is a brief cameo in the most recent The Wired Red Wild Card arc during which she returns to a hotel room to finish a particularly big and time-consuming cleaning job. The appearance may be noteworthy in so far as that she didn't bring her artificial larynx with her this time and instead is shown (quite comfortably) communicating by drawing on a window and writing on another character's back.
Personality:
Roanapur is where "villains amongst villains" go. Sex, drugs, violence and death are the daily grind rather than a shocking exception to the rule. And, like many others, Sawyer has adjusted accordingly. She watches people fighting and killing each other right in front of her eyes with no more animation than someone else might watch cars passing by while sitting in a café.
Only on the job does this apathy towards violence occasionally turn into joy, if not downright glee. Sawyer may not exactly pride herself in her work, but the task certainly caters to her morbid nature. She is fascinated by the gory details and enjoys relaying them more vividly than is often desired by whoever may be listening at the time.
Of Roanapur's citizens some seem to view their criminal jobs as an unpleasant necessity while others embrace them with almost obsessive determination. Neither is true for Sawyer. Her attitude almost seems laid back in contrast; she has no qualms about ignoring a potential job offer in favour of a video gaming session or withdrawing from a job if it gets all too risky.
Sawyer doesn't talk more than necessary, but when she has something to say it's very important for her to be heard. Being misunderstood or unable to express herself appears to be one reason for her occasional emotional distress and instability, a trait which has so far been illustrated by her hysterical outburst after losing her Ultravoice as well as one manga panel in which scars on her wrist seem to point towards a history of self-injury.
Outside her work she hardly shows any aggressive tendencies at all. She is quiet and seems content to just tag along with things, to the point of almost coming across as shy during her first appearance. Unfamiliar situations are probably not her forte, resulting for instance in a good deal of discomfort when being surrounded by people who never met her outside her cleaning job for the first time.
Later in the series living with Shenhua and Lotton appears to have given her a little boost in confidence. Her Ultravoice has been replaced by a portable version and she is even seen without a speech aid entirely. It seems she does enjoy opportunities to socialise; something which probably rarely comes along in her line of work.
Lastly she can display a somewhat silly, if not downright immature streak from time to time, for instance when she tickles another character during a fight to get her attention. One last nudge towards her macabre sense of humour is illustrated in her most recent appearance by the happy smiley button she has pinned on her work clothes.
Powers/Abilities:
Sawyer possesses whatever experience comes with repeatedly being hired to cause and/or clean up after extremely messy deaths, aka. the knowledge to efficiently use blunt weapons, sharp weapons and cleaning supplies.
In combat she is exclusively seen wielding a particularly long-bladed chainsaw. She is capable of slicing through people and obstacles with relative ease, meaning her physical strength is a good deal greater than what would be assumed from her petite physique.
Limitations:
Her strength is greater than expected, but by no means superhuman, so there should be no need for limitations. I would like her to arrive with her custom chainsaw, but if necessary I could omit that item so she would have to use a model she was not so familiar with.
Writing Samples
Third Person Sample:
Sawyer arrived in the cheap hotel's basement in full gear. Green fabric covered her body, a surgeon's mask and goggles did the rest. She carried a mop and a bucket. Two of her crew would join her shortly with more supplies.
Near the door she could already spot the silhouette of her client pacing nervously along the narrow corridor. As she came closer she heard his hoarse voice, muttering frantically to himself.
"Sss-S-So m-many! I d-d-didn't except there to b-be so... so- so many..."
The pale man's eyes darted from the door to Sawyer and back again. He briefly nodded in greeting before returning to his ramblings about drugs and some deal or other that had gone terribly wrong. As if her help was ever required when things went terribly right...
She stood still in front of the door and looked at him through her goggles, waiting for him to stop talking. Unfortunately it soon became apparent that he intended to relay his entire story to her, whether she listened or not.
But Sawyer didn't care about the details. She didn't even care about the outline. If information wasn't your primary business in Roanapur it paid off to be entirely clueless instead. As his voice droned on she let her thoughts wander, reminding herself of the rewarding part of her job.
Beyond that door an intricate mess was waiting for her. Blood and bones strewn about, almost akin to a work of art. Blunt weapons, sharp weapons, sometimes no weapons at all. She could always tell and she loved the sense of familiarity when she recognised the results of an instrument she'd used herself.
At last she heard the man's voice dying down and before he could add another chapter to the retelling of his misery she simply raised her hand and thrust it towards him, holding four fingers spread out in front of his face.
"Ah..."
The man looked at her cluelessly. She sighed inwardly, pointed at the door and lifted four fingers again, then ran them in a slash motion across her neck.
"Oh! Ah... y-yes. Four dead inside."
Sawyer nodded and moved to open the door, but the moment her gloved hand pushed down on the handle a shot rang out, splintering the wood and piercing the door above her head.
Her eyes widened and she instantly drew back, pressing herself against the wall. She turned her head angrily towards the pale man, who only took a few steps back and stared at her desperately.
"T-t-three dead inside, one... one still alive."
Sawyer exhaled sharply, then crouched, reached for her mop and slowly, carefully pushed the door open with it from a distance.
Several shots pierced the wood the moment it moved, one bang after another after another after--
Click.
Empty. That was the sound she'd been waiting for. She jumped up, slammed into the bullet-riddled door and pushed through into the room. She ran forward, eyes darting from one side to the other, jumping over a corpse, looking for the unwanted survivor.
He was spotted after only a moment, crouching and bleeding behind the bed, about to grab the pistol of another dead body beside him. Sawyer sprinted towards him and kicked out, sending the firearm flying before he could get a proper hold of it.
And then for the briefest instant she froze. Knee-jerk reactions were one thing, but standing in front of the man without any of her tools suddenly sent a shiver down her spine, suddenly made her feel insecure and almost naked.
In that instant the bleeding and severely injured man, whether he'd picked up on her hesitation or was merely continuing his desperate struggle for survival, scrambled forward to retrieve the gun again.
And then the instant was over for both of them and Sawyer snapped back into the reality where you could either get killed or kill through whatever means necessary.
She bent down, jerked the man up by the collar, grabbed hold of his hair and slammed his head into the bedpost. Again. And again. And again and again and again and it always surprised her how resilient human bodies could be.
Over time she'd learned not to underestimate that... an experience she wished all of her clients shared. And again. And then it was done. Surveying the mess at her feet she dropped what was now nothing more than a limb and lifeless piece of meat.
It was just then that the two others of her crew entered with the rest of the supplies. Empty body bags were slung around their shoulders. Time to fill those up again.
First Person Sample:
Hnnnn...
[ The video shows Sawyer looking at her spotless kitchen counter, displeased. ]
I know I left a... tea stain just about...
[ She jabs the counter with her finger. ]
Here. Tea is not a.... problem, but this could... become troublesome. I know how to take care... of my own mess. I do... a lot more, though... if I can't get a... job like that here, then I can... accept that. But...
[ She pulls a knife from the kitchen drawer and swiftly slashes herself across one finger. She holds up her arm and waits until one drop has fallen down on the counter. ]
Some messes are... very personal and I don't want... them to be cleaned by... anyone else. Please understand... that I expect this stain... to last longer.