where did her grandpa GET a katana (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
everyonesamigo) wrote2009-11-13 06:23 am
everyonesamigo) wrote2009-11-13 06:23 am
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heroesparadise
Player Information
Name: Gingey
Age: 19
Current Characters: N/A
Contact:![[plurk.com profile]](https://plurk.com/favicon.ico)
Gingeyweasel, aim is gingerveer
Character Information
Name: Maria Barcelito
Age: Young. An adult, but barely.
Fandom: Baccano!
Appearance: Maria is generally described as a beautiful young woman(it was stated that she could've easily been mistaken for an actress when she was walking down Broadway) wearing a traditional Mexican outfit(it appears to something military-esque). She has brown skin, eyes, and hair, and the latter is wavy with a ponytail and a flower in it most of the time. She's also never seen without her katana at her waist, ready to be drawn at any moment.
Also, Official art of her.
History: Unfortunately, Maria doesn't really have anything substantial enough to link to, so here's my own crappy summary of events:
The child of two skilled assassins, Maria grew up with her grandparents in a town close to the border of the United States and Mexico. According to her grandparents, her father killed her parents himself when she was only a baby, because the two of them had abandoned swords in favor of guns. All things considered, it wouldn't be that out of place in the Baccano! world for this to be true.
When Maria was young, she got her hands on her grandfather's katana, Murasamia. Swinging it wildly, she accidentally cut his arm as he tried to stop her. Crying and apologizing as he patched himself up, he told her that nothing she does with a sword can ever be an accident. She must only raise the sword with the intention of cutting something. While he had planned to take his sword to his grave, seeing potential in Maria he gave it to her and taught her how to use it, teaching her that it was her compañero(companion) rather than a tool, that she could cut anything if she believed she could. Eventually he introduced her to a second katana, Kochite, and taught her to dual wield.
Maria first shows up in Baccano! in 1932, as an assassin hired by the Runorata family. They had come into conflict with the Gandors family, having run part of their illegal drug operation on their territory. The Gandors were not fond of drugs in the slightest, thus were very upset about this, but at first the Runoratas were hardly concerned with their anger--after all, the Gandors were a rather small organization. Unfortunately for them, the Gandor brothers were close to the infamous assassin known as Vino and had called him in for assistance.
In response to this, Gustavo, the leader of the Runorata family's operations in Manhattan, decided to see if he could find any assassins brave(and stupid) enough to be willing to go after Vino for him. Maria eagerly agreed to this, excited to get to fight someone as strong as him.
Unfortunately when it came down to actually fighting Vino, it happened under the circumstances of being ambushed by the Gandors, who had talked to the head of the entire Runorata organization and learned that the boss was very displeased with Gustavo, who had been doing a number of things behind his back. They offered everyone fighting for Gustavo a chance to join them, but none of them decided to take it.
Gustavo refused to back down and began an attack on the Gandors, only to realize that they were somehow able to survive no matter what he did to them. Maria was absolutely delighted by this, and took the opportunity to hack at Luck Gandor over and over again, hoping to draw out Vino. Another assassin who had agreed to fight Vino for the Runoratas, Felix Walken, interrupted and revealed himself to be one Vino in disguise--a double agent for the Gandors.
Maria wasted no time attacking Vino, but found he lived up to his reputation--he managed to defeat her with nothing but two pairs of scissors. With her life barely spared by Vino getting distracted, at the end of the incident she decided to take Luck up on his offer and forced herself upon the Gandor family.
By 1933, Maria found herself working for the Gandors at a casino as both a dancer and security. But to Maria, who longed to cut people in two, this was incredibly boring. After being scolded over destroying a few slot machines while subduing rowdy guests, Maria was sent to do something she found slightly more entertaining--act as a bodyguard for the Gandors' torture specialist, Tick Jefferson, while he dealt with a gang of kids encroaching on Gandor territory.
Although it took them quite awhile to find the mansion the gang had been hiding in, Maria immediately got into a fight with one of them--Chane Laforet. It was interrupted, however, by a scream. As fate would have it, some of Huey Laforet's followers were trying to form a deal with the gang, and promised them immortality. The scream? Was a result of their proving immortality existed, by beheading an immortal in front of them and letting him regenerate.
Maria, however, did not witness this part, and restlessly stood around as the Martillo family arrived and the various groups represented began to talk. Things started to go south when the immortal, Dallas, tried to stab Tick with his own scissors, but luckily Maria cut his hand off. Watching it fly back and reattach to him excited her, because that made him just like her bosses--the Gandor brothers--and that meant that she could just cut him over and over and over until he wished he could die.
Maria eventually drew the attention of spearwielding girl named Adele, one of Huey's followers, and due to the difference in their weapons had difficulty facing her. Not only that, but Adele used psychological tactics to make Maria doubt herself. Although their battle had no true victor due to the Martillo family's Ronnie stopping time and taking everyone's weapons, Adele had been about to deal the fatal blow and when Maria and Tick left because of someone throwing a smoke bomb. Maria's self esteem was shattered.
Maria sulked in the rain for awhile, as Tick tried to talk her out of her funk. It didn't quite work, but it did make her feel better, so they headed back to the mansion to see if the gang had returned. Instead, however, they found a young girl and one member of the gang they had been looing for, so Maria immediately reacted by grabbing her and putting one of her swords to the girl's throat so she could convince the man to take them to where his friends would be hiding. He ended up taking them to a warehouse, and while at first it seemed like no one was there, Chane was in the area and immediately attacked Maria because she saw her threatening her friend(the girl).
This didn't go much of anywhere, however, because Claire--AKA Vino--soon showed up as well. Somehow, the assassin's presence managed to diffuse the situation, and after a brief chat the leader of the gang--Jacuzzi Splot--showed up, and as it turned out his friends had been roped into storming a building known as the Mist Wall for Huey's followers.
The next day, during the operation at the Mist Wall, Tick and Maria planned on breaking in, only to have Claire come and pick the lock for them, surprisingly enough. They eventually found themselves in a restaurant where various people were fighting. Maria mostly observed the chaos, but eventually worked up the courage to start a fight with Adele. Improvising to make a unique sword maneuver that would make up for the difference in the length of their weapons, she managed to defeat Adele this time and fully restore her confidence.
Canon Point: Post Baccano! 1933: The Slash ~Bloody to Fair~
Personality:
Maria seems to be a very friendly, happy person. She's certainly not the kind of person anyone would be suspicious of from a casual meeting, always being described as having things like a "sunny" voice and often said to be wearing an "innocent" smile. Heck, even the brief bio of her at the beginning of books she shows up in describes her as someone who "appears to be a naive Mexican girl but is actually a katana wielding assassin." She's incredibly casual with everyone, referring to even her targets as "amigo," and it'd be hard not to notice her near constant state of cheerfulness and high energy.
Game Specific
Suitability:
Maria already works as an assassin, and is very good at what she does--while her wild behavior is a liability, the Gandors keep her around because her skill as an assassin is a huge asset to their organization. She's not going to have any problem integrating into this setting at all, and is in fact probably going to be very, very excited by it. A chance to slash at strong people? Bring it on! Maria's probably going to see the kind of stuff she's expected to do here as just what she needs to keep herself entertained.
Weapon:
A katana. Maria has wielded katana since she was very young, so she's quite experienced with them, and considering her insatiable appetite for cutting things it's a good fit for her. Obviously it won't be Murasamia or Kochite so with the way she is about her swords it'll take her awhile to feel comfortable with it--because a sword isn't a tool, it's a companion. The time she'll need to "bond" with her new compañero will no doubt hinder her battle efforts at first. There's also, of course, the fact that she's limited by its length, though Maria's already had to face that in canon.
Samples
Log/Third Person Sample:
Maria reacted much more positively to being told that she'd been snatched away from her home than most people would--after she was filled in on what she was expected to do here? She was sold on the place.
But the one thing that Maria really, really didn't like about this place was that they wouldn't let her use her swords. Maria's success as a swordswoman came from her bond with them as far as she was concerned, and she didn't know how to feel about being told to bond with another. The idea almost made her feel guilty; she couldn't just abandon her beloved Murasamia and Kochite! But really, what else could she do? It worried her a little, because who knew how long it would take her to adjust to this, but she couldn't let herself get too upset, she told herself. Losing confidence in herself and in her new sword--that she hadn't even really used yet--would get her absolutely nowhere.
She studied her new sword carefully. She was so familiar with the way of the sword that someone that didn't know her might assume she'd pick it up and it would feel natural, but if they did so? Then they were dead wrong, because they hadn't considered this particular sword as an individual. Holding it in her hands felt so strange and alien, and almost...wrong.
She didn't want to betray Murasamia and Kochite, but she also wasn't about to squander away this gift. She had to fight while she was here, and it was clear that she wasn't going to be allowed to do it with her trusted companions. A pity. The fighting part sounded so very exciting, after all...
There was nothing for her to do but befriend this new sword. It badly needed a name, because continuing to use it without even giving it that indication of identity was disrespectful as far as she was concerned...but on the other hand, she couldn't just come up with something. No, this was far too serious for that. She needed to find the right name before she could consider herself properly acquainted with her new companion.
Journal Entry/First Person Sample:
So apparently you don't get paid for catsitting if you slash up the cats a bit.
Hmpth.
[Maria lets out a long, overly dramatic sigh.]
It's their own fault for being so unruly! Such grumpy amigos, that bunch. I apologized and everything, but the fact of the matter is, my new sword's a fiesty one. She moves on her own, and when she wants to cut things, I'm in no place to stop her! What kind of life would she have if I tried? A sword that can't cut things lives a very sad life indeed, don't you agree?!
Name: Gingey
Age: 19
Current Characters: N/A
Contact:
Character Information
Name: Maria Barcelito
Age: Young. An adult, but barely.
Fandom: Baccano!
Appearance: Maria is generally described as a beautiful young woman(it was stated that she could've easily been mistaken for an actress when she was walking down Broadway) wearing a traditional Mexican outfit(it appears to something military-esque). She has brown skin, eyes, and hair, and the latter is wavy with a ponytail and a flower in it most of the time. She's also never seen without her katana at her waist, ready to be drawn at any moment.
Also, Official art of her.
History: Unfortunately, Maria doesn't really have anything substantial enough to link to, so here's my own crappy summary of events:
The child of two skilled assassins, Maria grew up with her grandparents in a town close to the border of the United States and Mexico. According to her grandparents, her father killed her parents himself when she was only a baby, because the two of them had abandoned swords in favor of guns. All things considered, it wouldn't be that out of place in the Baccano! world for this to be true.
When Maria was young, she got her hands on her grandfather's katana, Murasamia. Swinging it wildly, she accidentally cut his arm as he tried to stop her. Crying and apologizing as he patched himself up, he told her that nothing she does with a sword can ever be an accident. She must only raise the sword with the intention of cutting something. While he had planned to take his sword to his grave, seeing potential in Maria he gave it to her and taught her how to use it, teaching her that it was her compañero(companion) rather than a tool, that she could cut anything if she believed she could. Eventually he introduced her to a second katana, Kochite, and taught her to dual wield.
Maria first shows up in Baccano! in 1932, as an assassin hired by the Runorata family. They had come into conflict with the Gandors family, having run part of their illegal drug operation on their territory. The Gandors were not fond of drugs in the slightest, thus were very upset about this, but at first the Runoratas were hardly concerned with their anger--after all, the Gandors were a rather small organization. Unfortunately for them, the Gandor brothers were close to the infamous assassin known as Vino and had called him in for assistance.
In response to this, Gustavo, the leader of the Runorata family's operations in Manhattan, decided to see if he could find any assassins brave(and stupid) enough to be willing to go after Vino for him. Maria eagerly agreed to this, excited to get to fight someone as strong as him.
Unfortunately when it came down to actually fighting Vino, it happened under the circumstances of being ambushed by the Gandors, who had talked to the head of the entire Runorata organization and learned that the boss was very displeased with Gustavo, who had been doing a number of things behind his back. They offered everyone fighting for Gustavo a chance to join them, but none of them decided to take it.
Gustavo refused to back down and began an attack on the Gandors, only to realize that they were somehow able to survive no matter what he did to them. Maria was absolutely delighted by this, and took the opportunity to hack at Luck Gandor over and over again, hoping to draw out Vino. Another assassin who had agreed to fight Vino for the Runoratas, Felix Walken, interrupted and revealed himself to be one Vino in disguise--a double agent for the Gandors.
Maria wasted no time attacking Vino, but found he lived up to his reputation--he managed to defeat her with nothing but two pairs of scissors. With her life barely spared by Vino getting distracted, at the end of the incident she decided to take Luck up on his offer and forced herself upon the Gandor family.
By 1933, Maria found herself working for the Gandors at a casino as both a dancer and security. But to Maria, who longed to cut people in two, this was incredibly boring. After being scolded over destroying a few slot machines while subduing rowdy guests, Maria was sent to do something she found slightly more entertaining--act as a bodyguard for the Gandors' torture specialist, Tick Jefferson, while he dealt with a gang of kids encroaching on Gandor territory.
Although it took them quite awhile to find the mansion the gang had been hiding in, Maria immediately got into a fight with one of them--Chane Laforet. It was interrupted, however, by a scream. As fate would have it, some of Huey Laforet's followers were trying to form a deal with the gang, and promised them immortality. The scream? Was a result of their proving immortality existed, by beheading an immortal in front of them and letting him regenerate.
Maria, however, did not witness this part, and restlessly stood around as the Martillo family arrived and the various groups represented began to talk. Things started to go south when the immortal, Dallas, tried to stab Tick with his own scissors, but luckily Maria cut his hand off. Watching it fly back and reattach to him excited her, because that made him just like her bosses--the Gandor brothers--and that meant that she could just cut him over and over and over until he wished he could die.
Maria eventually drew the attention of spearwielding girl named Adele, one of Huey's followers, and due to the difference in their weapons had difficulty facing her. Not only that, but Adele used psychological tactics to make Maria doubt herself. Although their battle had no true victor due to the Martillo family's Ronnie stopping time and taking everyone's weapons, Adele had been about to deal the fatal blow and when Maria and Tick left because of someone throwing a smoke bomb. Maria's self esteem was shattered.
Maria sulked in the rain for awhile, as Tick tried to talk her out of her funk. It didn't quite work, but it did make her feel better, so they headed back to the mansion to see if the gang had returned. Instead, however, they found a young girl and one member of the gang they had been looing for, so Maria immediately reacted by grabbing her and putting one of her swords to the girl's throat so she could convince the man to take them to where his friends would be hiding. He ended up taking them to a warehouse, and while at first it seemed like no one was there, Chane was in the area and immediately attacked Maria because she saw her threatening her friend(the girl).
This didn't go much of anywhere, however, because Claire--AKA Vino--soon showed up as well. Somehow, the assassin's presence managed to diffuse the situation, and after a brief chat the leader of the gang--Jacuzzi Splot--showed up, and as it turned out his friends had been roped into storming a building known as the Mist Wall for Huey's followers.
The next day, during the operation at the Mist Wall, Tick and Maria planned on breaking in, only to have Claire come and pick the lock for them, surprisingly enough. They eventually found themselves in a restaurant where various people were fighting. Maria mostly observed the chaos, but eventually worked up the courage to start a fight with Adele. Improvising to make a unique sword maneuver that would make up for the difference in the length of their weapons, she managed to defeat Adele this time and fully restore her confidence.
Canon Point: Post Baccano! 1933: The Slash ~Bloody to Fair~
Personality:
Maria seems to be a very friendly, happy person. She's certainly not the kind of person anyone would be suspicious of from a casual meeting, always being described as having things like a "sunny" voice and often said to be wearing an "innocent" smile. Heck, even the brief bio of her at the beginning of books she shows up in describes her as someone who "appears to be a naive Mexican girl but is actually a katana wielding assassin." She's incredibly casual with everyone, referring to even her targets as "amigo," and it'd be hard not to notice her near constant state of cheerfulness and high energy.
Despite her friendliness, however, Maria is a ruthless assassin. She loves nothing more than to cut things with her katana, so regardless of how friendly she is with you, you could easily end up on the receiving end of that. How innocent and friendly she comes off compared to how ridiculously eager she is to cut people up can make her pretty jarring to those around her. She talks about her urges to start slicing at things pretty freely when she's bored and has gone without action for what she's deemed too long--she's kind of like an addict, and gets jumpy when she doesn't get her fix. For example, not having much to do while guarding a casino led to her needlessly killing a few men that were starting to get out of line and destroying slot machines.
Maria has an interesting attitude towards and relationship with her katana. She does not consider them tools or weapons, but instead refers to them as her companions and claims to have befriended them. It's very common for her to talk about them as if they have a will of their own, such as claiming they moved on their own when someone gets angry at her for using them. She'll even apologize on their behalf when they supposedly "get unruly!"
Maria values strength, and specifically seeks out strong opponents. She was, after all, one of the few assassins crazy enough to agree to go up against the famous Vino. Being incredibly confident in the strength of her and her katana working together is what keeps Maria going, although it also leads her to be extremely reckless. Strong things are her favorite thing to cut, and as far as she's concerned she can cut anything as long as she believe she can. The concept of danger means very little to Maria when there's fun to be had.
While Maria usually bounces back from a defeat and demands a rematch, she'll get pretty gloomy if you manage to hurt her ego. Adele suggesting, for example, that Maria would be insecure in her ability to defeat her actually did lead to Maria doubting herself and losing their fight. Up until she managed to win a rematch she moped and struggled with what had been said to her, fearing losing confidence in her beloved swords. The fact of the matter was that a defeat itself wasn't enough to shatter her confidence, but up against psychological tactics Maria didn't do so well.
Game Specific
Suitability:
Maria already works as an assassin, and is very good at what she does--while her wild behavior is a liability, the Gandors keep her around because her skill as an assassin is a huge asset to their organization. She's not going to have any problem integrating into this setting at all, and is in fact probably going to be very, very excited by it. A chance to slash at strong people? Bring it on! Maria's probably going to see the kind of stuff she's expected to do here as just what she needs to keep herself entertained.
Weapon:
A katana. Maria has wielded katana since she was very young, so she's quite experienced with them, and considering her insatiable appetite for cutting things it's a good fit for her. Obviously it won't be Murasamia or Kochite so with the way she is about her swords it'll take her awhile to feel comfortable with it--because a sword isn't a tool, it's a companion. The time she'll need to "bond" with her new compañero will no doubt hinder her battle efforts at first. There's also, of course, the fact that she's limited by its length, though Maria's already had to face that in canon.
Samples
Log/Third Person Sample:
Maria reacted much more positively to being told that she'd been snatched away from her home than most people would--after she was filled in on what she was expected to do here? She was sold on the place.
But the one thing that Maria really, really didn't like about this place was that they wouldn't let her use her swords. Maria's success as a swordswoman came from her bond with them as far as she was concerned, and she didn't know how to feel about being told to bond with another. The idea almost made her feel guilty; she couldn't just abandon her beloved Murasamia and Kochite! But really, what else could she do? It worried her a little, because who knew how long it would take her to adjust to this, but she couldn't let herself get too upset, she told herself. Losing confidence in herself and in her new sword--that she hadn't even really used yet--would get her absolutely nowhere.
She studied her new sword carefully. She was so familiar with the way of the sword that someone that didn't know her might assume she'd pick it up and it would feel natural, but if they did so? Then they were dead wrong, because they hadn't considered this particular sword as an individual. Holding it in her hands felt so strange and alien, and almost...wrong.
She didn't want to betray Murasamia and Kochite, but she also wasn't about to squander away this gift. She had to fight while she was here, and it was clear that she wasn't going to be allowed to do it with her trusted companions. A pity. The fighting part sounded so very exciting, after all...
There was nothing for her to do but befriend this new sword. It badly needed a name, because continuing to use it without even giving it that indication of identity was disrespectful as far as she was concerned...but on the other hand, she couldn't just come up with something. No, this was far too serious for that. She needed to find the right name before she could consider herself properly acquainted with her new companion.
Journal Entry/First Person Sample:
So apparently you don't get paid for catsitting if you slash up the cats a bit.
Hmpth.
[Maria lets out a long, overly dramatic sigh.]
It's their own fault for being so unruly! Such grumpy amigos, that bunch. I apologized and everything, but the fact of the matter is, my new sword's a fiesty one. She moves on her own, and when she wants to cut things, I'm in no place to stop her! What kind of life would she have if I tried? A sword that can't cut things lives a very sad life indeed, don't you agree?!