Voicemail

2011-12-21T15:28:08Z

"You've reached the Forge of the great detective, Furudo Erika! Please leave a message, if it's important."

APPLICATION - "Scorched"

2011-12-11T06:22:38Z

Out of Character Information

player name: Kai
player livejournal: anewrevelation
playing here: Ciel Phantomhive – Kuroshitsuji - chessmetaphor
where did you find us? From my butler, Het. 8D
are you 16 years of age or older?: YUP

In Character Information

character name: Erika Furudo
Fandom: Umineko no Naku Koro ni (“When the Seagulls Cry”)
Timeline: Post “End of the Golden Witch”
character's age: 17

powers, skills, pets and equipment: As a human, Erika is highly intelligent with excellent reasoning skills and a passion for mystery. She also has a photographic memory, which she uses to her advantage in her investigations. She is also known as a “human capable of wielding the power of a witch” because she can utilize the red and blue truth in meta-world, and on the game board she can appeal to Bernkastel to confirm or deny things that she herself cannot. Outside of the game board, she is seen wielding a blue sickle during these red or blue truth battles as her weapon of choice. She also has been given “detective’s authority” on the game board, which means that she has all of the powers and rights as a detective, including the rights of examination and interrogation. She is permitted to demand the full attention of everyone around her while she is speaking, and also to investigate the crime scene before the police arrive.

As a piece, she can summon the Eiserne Jungfrau, a group of furniture from heaven. They are ”a redemption enforcement agency supervised by the Great Court of Heaven, tasked with carrying out interrogations and executions of those who have committed heresy, particularly witches”. The three that are seen in End of the Golden Witch are Dlanor A. Knox, the Archbishop, Cornelia, and Gertrude. Both the Eiserne Jungfrau and Erika are able to use Knox’s Decalogue, ten rules for mysteries that were established to set some ground rules on detective stories and their constraints. These are very powerful tools when battling with logic and truth.

Her equipment? Duct tape.

canon history: Here it is!

personality: At first glance, Erika appears to be an intelligent, mature, and well-mannered girl. She has an air about her that demands the attention of those around her, just from walking into a room, and does not crack easily under pressure. Things like social standing and manners have little to no place in her concerns, though she often speaks with in a formal level of speech and makes for an engaging conversationalist. Though these things are true, to some extent…her intelligence, maturity, and well-mannered exterior have a dark side, and she isn’t afraid to show this to others. In fact, she often flaunts that she is an “intellectual rapist”, as she tells Battler, and takes great pride in confounding others with her logic and reasoning.

Erika loves riddles, mysteries, puzzles, and the like…not for the reward that follows, but just so that she can prove that she is smarter and better than their creator. She is not enticed by the gold of the epitaph, for example, and instead is merely thrilled by the process and success. She is mature in some ways, as she has a different kind of control over her emotions than other people her age, but in a different sense, she is extremely immature. If someone manages to disprove her theories, or even rival them, as shown with Battler, she becomes increasingly nasty, cruel, underhanded, and eventually panics. If she is not able to overturn their theories and allow hers to be the one and only truth, then she throws what can be likened to a child’s temper-tantrum, complete with hair-pulling (both her own and the hair of others), crying, and flailing. She also desperately seeks the approval of her superiors, most often, of her Master, Bernkastel. If her theories are struck down then she is upset, but if Bernkastel condemns her as useless piece, then her pride is ruined due to a serious inferiority complex that she has. The desire to impress Bernkastel and the need to reveal her truth as the only truth drive her to come up with bigger, better, sometimes more ridiculous theories that cannot be rivaled by anyone.

Erika is insensitive and lacking in compassion, as demonstrated throughout the course of October 5th, when multiple people are murdered. She cares very little for the mourning families or brutally slaughtered victims, and only wants to investigate the crime scene, to lead an investigation, and to determine the answer to the “riddle”. She does not seem upset, shocked, or scared when it is assumed that there is a murdered among them, and wanders around the mansion alone, searching for clues, checking alibis, and in some cases, checking second-story windows from the outside. Instead, she remains calm and collected throughout the whole turn of events, often smiling pleasantly when she gets a lead, and reacting very coolly to some of the others' accusations that she is behaving discourteously. She is both ruthless and cunning, and will use any tactic to prove her theories, or rather, to disprove others' and to confirm or deny the existence of other people’s alibis.

When her theories are disproven, rivaled, or proved false, she breaks down emotionally, becoming more and more frantic and less and less reasonable. Her new theories are much less logically sound and sensible than her old ones, and it takes a while for her to pull herself back together. Also, though she is socially adept, she has no real friends, and her only allies only deign to be around her. Though this doesn’t particularly bother her, it is much more difficult to go through life without a true ally. Finally, she becomes increasingly flustered if her superiors (mostly Bernkastel) mock or criticize her, and she is very emotionally affected by this.

why do you feel this character would be appropriate to the setting?
Because with so many different people to interact with, and a setting where there are so many different events, I think that Erika will have a chance to grow and develop even more as a character.

Writing Samples

Network Post Sample:
Huh? And what kind of place is this? [A twisted smile spreads across her face, and Erika laughs quietly to herself.] < Good ! > This will be a perfect way to make my glorious return, after—

… Well. Stranger-san, don’t you intend to tell me why I’m here? Or, will it be another mystery for the great Furudo Erika to solve? Either way, it it’s a problem. I am a first-rate detective, after all. But, please, try not to bore me. I need an opponent that will entertain me before I crush them!

[She laughs more loudly, a hand near her mouth.] So, shall we begin, Stranger-san? I’ll even let you make the first move. I knew an idiot once who was fond of chess metaphors, so I’ll use one in his honor. You can be white, and I’ll be black. You move first, and I will act accordingly. Does that sound fair?

Well, then. I’m waiting!

Third Person Sample:
The game had been over. Everything had been settled. Red and blue had clashed, struck, cut, destroyed…and her theory was the only one that had lived, her theory was the only one that reigned supreme, her theory was the truth. Nothing was more powerful than the mind of Furudo Erika, and the unstoppable red and blue…!

Nothing…except gold.

She barely heard her Master, Lady Bernkastel, and Lady Lambdadelta discussing the effectiveness of Battler’s latest—and greatest—attack…she was staring open-mouthed at her opponent, stupefied.

“Wh…What did you say?!”

He understood the truth, they said. He could use the gold truth, that kind of powerful weapon, because he come to grasp the reality of what was happening. Battler had done it.

But…no! Hers was the only truth! He couldn’t…possibly…!

She cried out in pain, her face contorting into one of rage and humiliation. How many times could this fool ruin her precious theories?! He had defiled them yet again, and now the game of words was tipping in his favor!

Erika quickly spoke up, regaining her composure, and petitioned Lambdadelta to force Battler to explain. Erika, the witch’s piece, could not understand. How had he arrived at this supposed great truth? Why was Lady Lambdadelta being so lenient with him? How could he smash her brilliant explanations so easily?!

She watched with wide, twitching eyes as Dlanor and Battler began to battle again… her mind racing, her heart pounding. Suddenly, however, there was a loud clanging sound…in an instant, her great furniture had lost to that idiot, and had surrendered.

“Wh-...What are you doing, Dlanor?! Lame, pathetic! You stupid half-wit murder doll!”

Erika shouted insults at her own servant at the top of her lungs, her fists clenched and shaking in fury. Battler shook his head at her, only serving as fuel to the fire, and rage bubbled up in the pit of her stomach. The blue-haired girl heard Bernkastel, her beloved master, laugh coldly at her from off to the side. She had to make the Witch of Miracles understand… somehow.

“My master…please give me an opportunity to fight with Battler again in the sixth game!!”

She turned to the blue-haired witch with a blotchy, pleading expression. It was humiliating to imagine what she must look like now, so fallen from grace, but all she could do was implore Bernkastel to give her another chance. She couldn’t be cast into the darkness underneath the game board, where discarded pieces were sent. Sent to rot for all eternity.

Then, reluctantly, with that same half-amused smile, Bernkastel agreed. Erika’s reddened face lit up, and she turned to face Battler with a cruel sneer.

"I’ll definitely…definitely expose it all! I’ll kill you, Golden Sorcerer…Ushiromiya Battler!”

She stared the young man down, her eyes bright, determined, and resolute. She would not lose this time. Her revisions and newly constructed theories would destroy him once and for all.

This time…it would surely be checkmate.

Anything else? She is a self-proclaimed intellectual rapist.

WHO NEEDS A DREAM? WHO NEEDS AMBITION?

Voicemail

APPLICATION - "Scorched"