The Velvet Key Application
Player Info:
Nickname: Hustino
Age: 24
Personal LJ: el_hustino
Method of Contact: AIM: elhustino; EMAIL: hustino [at] gmail [dot] com
Characters Played: N/A.
Character Info:
Name: Etna
Age: 1,473. According to conflicting canon sources, this makes her physically either 15 or 16.
Canon: Disgaea
Pull Point: Post Disgaea 2.
Background Info:
History: Etna wiki.
Personality: There once was a young demon working as a low-ranked servant in the castle of the almighty King Krichevskoy, Overlord of the Netherworld. As it was common for demons to abandon their children shortly after birth, this child was an orphan; the only family this child had was a pet which followed her day in and day out and she loved him more than anything else. Being so much younger, weaker, and inept in comparison to the other servants, she became a target of their anger and ridicule.
She was bullied, teased, and made to suffer for being young, being weak, being unattractive, and being unable to rely on herself. Despite the Hell she dealt with through every day, she managed to get through it all because of her pet by her side. That was, until, those demon bullies killed her pet, leaving her entirely alone. Through a stroke of luck, however, the King stumbled across the child sobbing and helped bury her pet and took her in as a close vassal rather than a lowly servant.
At first glance, Etna appears to be selfish, cruel, and vain. That is because she is all of these things! She has to be in the world of demons. Demons are, by nature, chaotic, which inevitably creates a world based around the survival of the fittest. She wears skimpy clothing and adamantly believes herself to be sexy--she is entirely comfortable with her body, save for the jerks that won’t let the fact she’s flat chested drop. She bosses the Prinny Squad around as though they were less than garbage-considering they’re all souls of sinful humans, this isn’t honestly that bad. She takes what she wants when she wants it because, again, she lives in a world where this is the norm.
Etna became the strongest demon in her Netherworld (second to only Overlord Laharl, naturally) because she has these qualities. Her strength comes from her pride, determination, and cruelty. However, she is as strong as she is only because of her harsh childhood and the intervention of the King. She blames her pet’s death on the fact she was too weak, both physically and emotionally; she later blames the King’s death on her being too weak, both physically and emotionally. As a result, she lives her life to become stronger: she trains to become physically stronger; she boasts and wears skimpy clothing to show the confidence she developed after her pet’s passing and with Krichevskoy’s support; she accumulates wealth to avoid ever being the poor homeless servant ever again.
She is still a demon, however, and though the extent of her important characteristics are based on a past of suffering and the compassion of a ruler, she can cruel, selfish, and violent in situations where they are not validated at all, though these are rare in comparison to how most demons behave. She can be childish and selfish, such as when she left Laharl’s vassalage on a quest to become stronger to kill him due to him eating her pudding.
Things of great interest to her include the following:
- Pets. In canon, a boy lost his pet and Etna (in a rage that both Laharl and Flonne found uncharacteristic of her) forces Laharl to save it as a test to see whether or not he was an Overlord worth following.
- Bullying and suffering. Anyone experiencing anything that reminds Etna of her childhood would get immediate special treatment from her in the form of protection and support, though she would be unlikely to ever tell anyone why. Her support would involve making those suffering stronger so they can stand on their own legs.
- King Krichevskoy. Though she never quite understood his opinions on Angels, Demons, and Humans coexisting or the concept of love, she adheres to his dream in her own way. If not for herself, she will get involved with Humans and Angels if she thinks the King would have wanted it. Though she did not understand her feelings in the first game, Etna was in love with Krichevskoy; between Hour of Darkness and Cursed Memories, she seems to have accepted these feelings, but knew they would go nowhere, and again became emotionally stronger as a result.
- Breasts. This gets flanderized in many of her cameos and by many players. It’s not so much that Etna has breast envy or flips off the hook when people call her flat, it’s just that she WANTS THEM TO DROP IT. She shows no jealousy towards Jennifer or Rozalin, aside from an internal dialogue where she says (about Jennifer) "jeez, stop hogging the goods and spread the wealth", which is the extent of her jealousy. Although, she would likely develop a rivalry if she met another succubus determined to out-sexy her and happened to have a rack, but this wouldn’t be jealousy. Being confident with her body is an important part of her character.
- Sweets. Her diet consists nearly entirely of snack foods and if you want a quick trip to the grave, just go ahead and eat some of it.
Game Specific:
Arcana: Devil.
Justification:
Lust: Well, she is heavily based on succubi, is the most sensual/perverted of the casts, and has the only sexual-referencing powers (Dominance, Sadism, and Ecstasy.).
Obsession: She is obsessed with herself to an extreme fault.
Burden of Material Things: She obsessively collects treasure, money, and delicacies to the point of her prioritizing them over normal and more important things. She leaves Laharl and plans to kill him because he ate her pudding.
One's Own Desires: She is completely and utterly open to her own desires and does everything in her power to fulfill them, often prioritizing them over anyone else's well-being.
Temptation: Aside from the fact she does whatever she wants whenever she wants (does it count as giving into temptation if there's zero time between 'being tempted' and 'giving in'?), she herself does her best to be a temptress.
True Evil: While the series is filled with main character demons that claim to be evil, Etna's arguably the most 'evil': she mercilessly kills her subordinates with little provocation, she kills Laharl in an alternate ending to the first game, she manipulates and crushes people whenever it's beneficial to her, and she embodies all seven sins at once, always.
Greed: Didn't I already mention her selfishness and obsession with money, treasure, and food already?
Bondage, Abuse: She's half naked, covered in leather straps, has collar, and has the abilities Dominance, Ecstasy, and Sadism. Assuming bondage to mean the non-sexual kind, she has an entire army of sad lesser demons that are forever bound to her. As for abuse, uh, I did mention already that she beats up and kills said lesser demons for little reason.
Emotional Turmoil: In regards to Laharl and Flonne, Etna has a lot of emotional turmoil, which is an integral part of her characterization and development in the series. She cares for both greatly but is simultaneously jealous of Laharl for being the living embodiment of her jealousy, as he's the son of the king she loved and the woman she despised.
Blackmail: She blackmails people on a constant daily basis.
Samples:
First Person Sample:
[ Video Post - Public ]
Alright, this is a load of bull. Losing my wings and tail, and getting weird ears? Sure, okay, whatever--I'm still hot. Losing my powers? Oh, yeah, that steamed me up, but we all got new powers to play with, so I can still kick ass. No, what really pisses me off?
BEING BROKE!
If they want me to pay for things like a not-crappy living space or decent food, why couldn't they have transferred me cash along with me? Would that really have broken the game? Sure, a billion HL is, like, a hundred million dollars roughly, but C'MOOOOOOOOON! It's not like it'd ruin anything!
Man, some weird plot device kidnaps me away, metaphorically strips me of everything, and then I'm expected to do crappy-ass jobs to get something I already had? This is a load of crap! PROSPER-o my ass.
Third Person Sample:
What in the world was the big deal? Etna took the time to come to school--which was something she really felt was a waste of time--but despite the obvious generosity of this act, her homeroom teacher was inexplicably furious when she walked into the room. They take the time to harass her into coming to school and when she finally does, they flip out?
Etna had left the class and went to the principal's office as instructed, even if she had no idea as to what was going on and was getting a little miffed. She would have flipped out at the principal for just sitting there, saying nothing, and looking at the ceiling if not for the fact she spent the five minutes of silence devouring everything in the jar of candy he had on his desk.
Of course, once the candy was gone, she had little to keep herself entertained. So, she slumped in her seat and put her feet up on the principal's desk. For some reason, this caused him to gape and spin his chair around away from Etna, as though he saw something he should not have. Something terrible. Etna was ever more confused.
"Humans are so weird. C'mon, I don't have all day. If I knew coming to school involved just sitting around in a chair doing nothing all day, I'd have done that at home alone. What d'you want?"
The man took a deep breath. He exhaled. He said there was something they needed to talk about; he further explained that he had never seen a student ever so utterly and entirely annihilate a rule so fast and so quickly. This came to a surprise to Etna, considering she had not even gotten around to trying to break any rules; she assumed she was too awesome for her own good, unconsciously deliberately breaking rules. The man was dumbfounded by how genuinely and honestly clueless Etna was in regards to what rule she could have possibly broken so intensely and fiercely.
He turned back around to her with a furious look in his face (which was frankly made much less furious and much more hilarious due to his covering his eyes with one hand and pointing in her general direction with the other) and belted out her terrible transgression, the rule she so totally obliterated:
"THE DRESS CODE!"