OOC: Long time coming
In which Leif essays.
So! I've been playing Itachi in Edensphere approaching two years now. A lot of stuff has happened. Not to mention this is my first Itachi ever so I started off rough, made a lot of newb mistakes, blunders and moments I cringe over. Itachi learned and grew and remembered stuff and evolved. Or at least, I got better at playing him, I like to think.
But it's been so long I forget half the things he's been through, I haven't updated his CR in his profile in a donkey's age, and so much has happened it's ridiculous. But I'll start with what I remember without assing myself to go back and dig.
In the beginning Crow was hatched, Sol and Luna were his greeters, and Flight (Reno of Turks) was his brother. I won't go into how fail I was in those days but some of the first people he bonded with, aside from the pings he got from having a brother, were Flight, Lotus (Rock Lee), Vanilla (Eve of Black Cat), Argent (Christopher Chant) and Cancer? (Original). He also was pinged by Drake (Sasuke) over the journals and made some attempts to get to know him.
He knew a lot of people, some he was not fond of, some he was. Reverie/White Moon (Aizen) was one of the first he disliked, while Throne (Teddy Altman) was one of the first to dislike and distrust him. Lezard was an early acquaintance, as was Cassandra (Cagali), Fullmetal (Alphonse Elric), Lucy (Selphie Tilmett) and Nova (Inoue Orihime). These people were all people who affected him in one manner or another, small or large.
He became increasingly entangled with the person known as Cancer? getting to know their true name and agenda against Fugue. In a point where he was learning from Cancer? Fugue and Drake showed up under illusion. In the confrontation Crow killed Drake, and then Fugue in anger. He learned something new that day, for a cost. Afterwards he came clean to Argent about Drake's murder, knowing Drake's friends might seek revenge, and that he did not need to reveal himself.
Fortunately no one sought to kill him and it was indeed his confession to Argent with eventually brought Bastet (Yoruichi) to seek him out and assess him for real. From there they built a lasting relationship of respect.
Meanwhile, more domestically, Crow was assistant to Vanilla as she built the first bookshop. When she disappeared he took over and has run it, and it's second incarnation, ever since.
He lost various people to disappearances, but also became, at last, somewhat close to Drake when the wilderness turned to Las Vegas. He was also on good speaking terms with P/Raise (H/Allelujah), Aurora (Tieria Erde) and Sky (Alfons Heiderich). He became increasingly involved in the shady dealings of Edensphere but also befriended Justice (Miles Edgeworth) a man who would replace Argent from long ago as the closest he could consider a friend, someone he trusted and respected as much as Bastet, in different ways. Not to say he trusted anyone completely, but Justice became his student, and though having to endure Crow's very off and often ruthless sense of humor, Justice was never a pushover and had enough intelligence and dry wit to make Crow quite like him.
Justice began to supply Crow with painkillers as Crow himself explored the limits of his body. He'd long since realized he was dead but walking, and that his body was sick and weak. A secret he shared with no one but Justice, and that only from necessity of needing painkillers.
Drake disappeared, life moved on, Crow watched more people leave and others arrive, keeping those few who stayed under mild watch. He moved into the Dojo with Kitty (Rose) and lived with her in the fashion of siblings or roommates for a long long time, until she died in the Great Fire.
Truth (Phoenix Wright) was the cause of Crow's first and to date only death, and also the reason his bookstore exploded. Crow did not like them apples.
Crow continued to dig into the secrets of Edensphere, getting involved with questionable people and employing questionable methods from the shadows. He disappears frequently without a word and reappears just as abruptly. Kazahana (Rukia) has begun to earn his, if not trust, than respect.
He keeps a houseplant that was Argent's, named Bad Ass Motherfucker, though he doesn't remember Argent any longer. He also keeps a cat, also from Argent and Throne, named Prestidigitation.
And this is the briefest of brief summaries there's so much he knows and has down and people he's interacted with or dreams he's had or just plain things I've forgotten. Will add to later.
---
Some rambling about his personality. Why is this guy such an asshole anyway? Well in canon I see Itachi as cold, calculating, ruthless, and observant. A chessmaster of his own private game against the world, and Sasuke's the king. Lose that piece and the game's over, as it were. Among other things I believe he loved his family and that he was quite certifiably crazy. Lunatic. While rational and calm, I don't think he was sane.
So what's different in Edensphere? For one, he doesn't remember his motives, or the massacre yet--though he knows he killed his family. He has no idea why Sasuke was left alive, though he does know he feels love for Sasuke, he doesn't know if he happens to be a dangerous psychotic who randomly kills people or if he had his reasons. Since he has yet to lose control and slaughter hundreds he's by now guessed the latter, but even Crow does not consider himself "sane" in the normal sense of the word.
He's calculating and ruthless but he's picked up a certain surface demeanor of calm, even kindly, helpfulness. He putters around his bookstore and makes polite, helpful conversation on the journals, spiced now and then with his own brand of black humor. Underneath the surface however he is incredibly detached from people. Even those closest to him, Bastet and Justice, are viewed as allies and comrades, rather than specifically friends. Sasuke is viewed with some amount of mixed feelings and confusion, but a good dose of wary fondness.
Part of the reason Crow is careful is he has, in fact, killed Sasuke, when Sasuke was Drake. Accident or not, it pinged him hard and he still hasn't reconciled the feeling of failure. It's made him both more cautious and more motivated to search out Edensphere's secrets.
To that end everyone is a potential tool, no matter how much he may personally like them--and he does personally enjoy a number of people in the tree. If he can end the cycle of people being brought to Edensphere, he will sacrifice anyone, but he'll sacrifice others before himself. Not out of a desire for self preservation, he knows he's dead, and he knows leaving just means he goes home a corpse. This doesn't bother him. The reason he doesn't want to die is because the potential for him to lose memories could be years of digging through secrets lost and wasted. Because of this he both tries to disseminate information with anonymous entries or telling people bits and pieces of things, yet also plays his cards damn close to his chest.
In short, Crow is a big lying liarface. A manipulative, cunning, sneaky bastard. He plays carefully, he's never more manipulative than he must be, preferring to let natural circumstances and personalities guide people to where he wants them. He is, while not necessarily evil, amoral within what he considers acceptable boundaries. He has no personal problem with such things as Lezard's experiments or murders and tends to stay out of anything but widespread crisis events. His focus is not on the safety or comfort of individuals but the eventual liberation of the collective, and as such, more localized or irrelevant matters do not rank as important with him.
To protect himself and his memories he will kill, even an innocent person who unwittingly threatens his safety by asking too many questions too loudly could be deemed a liability.
However he will also protect people if it's not out of his way, or there is a crisis event. He is not interested in genocide, murder or cruelty, but merely takes the expedient and necessary means to his ends. If there is a peaceful solution, he will take it, but he won't sleep worse at night if he can't find one.
He prefers to remain a background figure, never attempting to draw undue attention to himself and instead cataloging his observations and displaying his abilities on when provoked. Because of his physical condition and near blindness he is much more cautious than in canon, concealing the true extent of his powers and abilities even from Bastet and Justice, and never putting himself into confrontations that someone else could easily handle. He knows how far he can push his body before he literally dies from exhaustion and a collapsed lung, and he is absolutely careful never to get to his limit.
He can be quite scathing in conversation, and often his sense of humor, dry and snarky as it can be, can be mistaken for anything but humor. He doesn't much care, as long as his general appearance of helpful bookstore owner remains intact.
So! I've been playing Itachi in Edensphere approaching two years now. A lot of stuff has happened. Not to mention this is my first Itachi ever so I started off rough, made a lot of newb mistakes, blunders and moments I cringe over. Itachi learned and grew and remembered stuff and evolved. Or at least, I got better at playing him, I like to think.
But it's been so long I forget half the things he's been through, I haven't updated his CR in his profile in a donkey's age, and so much has happened it's ridiculous. But I'll start with what I remember without assing myself to go back and dig.
In the beginning Crow was hatched, Sol and Luna were his greeters, and Flight (Reno of Turks) was his brother. I won't go into how fail I was in those days but some of the first people he bonded with, aside from the pings he got from having a brother, were Flight, Lotus (Rock Lee), Vanilla (Eve of Black Cat), Argent (Christopher Chant) and Cancer? (Original). He also was pinged by Drake (Sasuke) over the journals and made some attempts to get to know him.
He knew a lot of people, some he was not fond of, some he was. Reverie/White Moon (Aizen) was one of the first he disliked, while Throne (Teddy Altman) was one of the first to dislike and distrust him. Lezard was an early acquaintance, as was Cassandra (Cagali), Fullmetal (Alphonse Elric), Lucy (Selphie Tilmett) and Nova (Inoue Orihime). These people were all people who affected him in one manner or another, small or large.
He became increasingly entangled with the person known as Cancer? getting to know their true name and agenda against Fugue. In a point where he was learning from Cancer? Fugue and Drake showed up under illusion. In the confrontation Crow killed Drake, and then Fugue in anger. He learned something new that day, for a cost. Afterwards he came clean to Argent about Drake's murder, knowing Drake's friends might seek revenge, and that he did not need to reveal himself.
Fortunately no one sought to kill him and it was indeed his confession to Argent with eventually brought Bastet (Yoruichi) to seek him out and assess him for real. From there they built a lasting relationship of respect.
Meanwhile, more domestically, Crow was assistant to Vanilla as she built the first bookshop. When she disappeared he took over and has run it, and it's second incarnation, ever since.
He lost various people to disappearances, but also became, at last, somewhat close to Drake when the wilderness turned to Las Vegas. He was also on good speaking terms with P/Raise (H/Allelujah), Aurora (Tieria Erde) and Sky (Alfons Heiderich). He became increasingly involved in the shady dealings of Edensphere but also befriended Justice (Miles Edgeworth) a man who would replace Argent from long ago as the closest he could consider a friend, someone he trusted and respected as much as Bastet, in different ways. Not to say he trusted anyone completely, but Justice became his student, and though having to endure Crow's very off and often ruthless sense of humor, Justice was never a pushover and had enough intelligence and dry wit to make Crow quite like him.
Justice began to supply Crow with painkillers as Crow himself explored the limits of his body. He'd long since realized he was dead but walking, and that his body was sick and weak. A secret he shared with no one but Justice, and that only from necessity of needing painkillers.
Drake disappeared, life moved on, Crow watched more people leave and others arrive, keeping those few who stayed under mild watch. He moved into the Dojo with Kitty (Rose) and lived with her in the fashion of siblings or roommates for a long long time, until she died in the Great Fire.
Truth (Phoenix Wright) was the cause of Crow's first and to date only death, and also the reason his bookstore exploded. Crow did not like them apples.
Crow continued to dig into the secrets of Edensphere, getting involved with questionable people and employing questionable methods from the shadows. He disappears frequently without a word and reappears just as abruptly. Kazahana (Rukia) has begun to earn his, if not trust, than respect.
He keeps a houseplant that was Argent's, named Bad Ass Motherfucker, though he doesn't remember Argent any longer. He also keeps a cat, also from Argent and Throne, named Prestidigitation.
And this is the briefest of brief summaries there's so much he knows and has down and people he's interacted with or dreams he's had or just plain things I've forgotten. Will add to later.
---
Some rambling about his personality. Why is this guy such an asshole anyway? Well in canon I see Itachi as cold, calculating, ruthless, and observant. A chessmaster of his own private game against the world, and Sasuke's the king. Lose that piece and the game's over, as it were. Among other things I believe he loved his family and that he was quite certifiably crazy. Lunatic. While rational and calm, I don't think he was sane.
So what's different in Edensphere? For one, he doesn't remember his motives, or the massacre yet--though he knows he killed his family. He has no idea why Sasuke was left alive, though he does know he feels love for Sasuke, he doesn't know if he happens to be a dangerous psychotic who randomly kills people or if he had his reasons. Since he has yet to lose control and slaughter hundreds he's by now guessed the latter, but even Crow does not consider himself "sane" in the normal sense of the word.
He's calculating and ruthless but he's picked up a certain surface demeanor of calm, even kindly, helpfulness. He putters around his bookstore and makes polite, helpful conversation on the journals, spiced now and then with his own brand of black humor. Underneath the surface however he is incredibly detached from people. Even those closest to him, Bastet and Justice, are viewed as allies and comrades, rather than specifically friends. Sasuke is viewed with some amount of mixed feelings and confusion, but a good dose of wary fondness.
Part of the reason Crow is careful is he has, in fact, killed Sasuke, when Sasuke was Drake. Accident or not, it pinged him hard and he still hasn't reconciled the feeling of failure. It's made him both more cautious and more motivated to search out Edensphere's secrets.
To that end everyone is a potential tool, no matter how much he may personally like them--and he does personally enjoy a number of people in the tree. If he can end the cycle of people being brought to Edensphere, he will sacrifice anyone, but he'll sacrifice others before himself. Not out of a desire for self preservation, he knows he's dead, and he knows leaving just means he goes home a corpse. This doesn't bother him. The reason he doesn't want to die is because the potential for him to lose memories could be years of digging through secrets lost and wasted. Because of this he both tries to disseminate information with anonymous entries or telling people bits and pieces of things, yet also plays his cards damn close to his chest.
In short, Crow is a big lying liarface. A manipulative, cunning, sneaky bastard. He plays carefully, he's never more manipulative than he must be, preferring to let natural circumstances and personalities guide people to where he wants them. He is, while not necessarily evil, amoral within what he considers acceptable boundaries. He has no personal problem with such things as Lezard's experiments or murders and tends to stay out of anything but widespread crisis events. His focus is not on the safety or comfort of individuals but the eventual liberation of the collective, and as such, more localized or irrelevant matters do not rank as important with him.
To protect himself and his memories he will kill, even an innocent person who unwittingly threatens his safety by asking too many questions too loudly could be deemed a liability.
However he will also protect people if it's not out of his way, or there is a crisis event. He is not interested in genocide, murder or cruelty, but merely takes the expedient and necessary means to his ends. If there is a peaceful solution, he will take it, but he won't sleep worse at night if he can't find one.
He prefers to remain a background figure, never attempting to draw undue attention to himself and instead cataloging his observations and displaying his abilities on when provoked. Because of his physical condition and near blindness he is much more cautious than in canon, concealing the true extent of his powers and abilities even from Bastet and Justice, and never putting himself into confrontations that someone else could easily handle. He knows how far he can push his body before he literally dies from exhaustion and a collapsed lung, and he is absolutely careful never to get to his limit.
He can be quite scathing in conversation, and often his sense of humor, dry and snarky as it can be, can be mistaken for anything but humor. He doesn't much care, as long as his general appearance of helpful bookstore owner remains intact.