Quote from
Indy on August 3, 2019, 8:44 pm
I o n o n e
Age: 26
Legal Name: Ami Ikeda
Bloodline: Pure bred
Background: Ionone herself is the youngest of three siblings. She befriended Tiffany Tycoon in her early childhood. In those days, they were inseparable. However, they fell apart due to different directions in their lives in their teenage years.
In her own words in The House of The Haunted, she recounts the incident that cost her left arm:
I did not acquire my second form until I was fourteen. It was a source of much unease in those days.
I was under scrutiny from my parents, my grandfather, brothers, and cousins... This you may recall, although I would not have spoken of it. It was a source of much shame. Shortly after my fourteenth birthday, I got what I wanted most. All the training my family had poured into me had not been for nothing. And as is tradition, following my family's rituals and trainings in my alter form, I was given my first mission as kitsune.
Failure is not an option. The kitsunes are an old, proud family. If a young kitsune in their first mission does not succeed, then it is expected they do not accept it. Death is a preferable alternative than coming back alive from a failed mission. Generally, however, the family does not give their children a mission they do not think they can succeed. Few in the family bring dishonor in this way...
So it was I was assigned to assassinate a human man who had splintered off from the Leonum Rubrum... his isolation from their group, and interest in building up his own, made him an ideal target to nip before he became too powerful. It should have been a standard mission
How he came to know of the mission, I do not know, only that he was waiting for me. I was captured, alive. His intent was to humiliate my family and ensure they never came after them again".
He sent back to my family [my arm] and threatened to kill me if they did not comply to his demands. You can imagine how well that went for him... he miscalculated. But he was too rash to let go of what he clearly felt was an advantage, or perhaps his assassin possessing the form of a young girl gave him pause. I was held captive for two months. By which point, my brothers had tracked him down and ensured he regretted it
I came home alive. Which no one celebrated, besides my middle brother.
Following this incident, Ionone became very withdrawn as she struggled to withstand her family's judgement and shame for a failed mission - particularly her grandfather's (then, the current head of the family). Only her middle brother, Hiro, endeavored to crack his withdrawn sister from her shell.
She ultimately chose to leave behind the family business of assassination - making her somewhat of a black sheep - and pursued a PhD in Genetics and Genomics. She presently spends most of her time attempting to sequence the werewolf genome (in parallel with the "Human Genome project" contemporary to that time) to better understand the werewolf condition. Her relationship with most of her family is strained.
Personality: She tends to be laconic in her speech, although will speak more with those she is fond of. She is known to be judgmental of others' ineptitude and delights in tearing others down who have not impressed her. Due to her upbringing as an assassin, she can be at times cold-hearted and withdrawn from the suffering of others - or even will go so far as to conjecture the murder of others who have caused herself or others harm. She tends to view difficult scenarios logically, even if the most logical solution is the most emotionally challenging one.
She forms bonds very slowly. However, those in her inner circle (a total of two or three individuals presently) she would defend to the ends of her life. Her deep-set loyalty is her most redeeming feature. She treats those she likes with considerable kindness never afforded to others. She is in fact deeply empathetic, but her family's culture required her to shut down that part of her long ago.
Fears: Deep down she is afraid of weakness and not measuring up to her family (particularly her grandfather's) reputation. She feels like a constant failure, even if she is very successful in her professional career as a scientist. She fears being hurt and will protect herself at almost all costs - next to, perhaps, defending those in her inner circle.
Human Description: Ionone is a petite Japanese woman approximately 5'2" in height. She has almond-shaped eyes, the color of which shift between violet and blue depending on the lighting. She often wears her hair up in a bun, with her bangs hanging loose. When garbed for missions, she dresses in her family's traditional shift suit. When in human form, she generally dresses more modern (collared shirts, white jeans, prim jackets, and other "preppy" type styles) to blend in with the local populace. In her lab, she wears her lab coat and her human wear. She usually prefers to wear an oversized jacket or capelet to hide her missing arm.
(image by Adriana)
How they Came to join the Pack: Ionone comes from a long, proud line of "kitsune", as they'd been fondly called by the terrified, local populace in Japan for centuries. Whether the kitsune found the Svangalas first or the other way around is something of a debate, but it is known shortly after arriving in the Americas, the two assets were combined in the early 1900s.
The kitsune is something of a satellite pack to the Svalnaglas. They follow the alpha's rule, but assign their own "alpha" within their own group (who serves as beta within the Svalnaglas).
I o n o n e
Age: 26
Legal Name: Ami Ikeda
Bloodline: Pure bred
Background: Ionone herself is the youngest of three siblings. She befriended Tiffany Tycoon in her early childhood. In those days, they were inseparable. However, they fell apart due to different directions in their lives in their teenage years.
In her own words in The House of The Haunted, she recounts the incident that cost her left arm:
I did not acquire my second form until I was fourteen. It was a source of much unease in those days.
I was under scrutiny from my parents, my grandfather, brothers, and cousins... This you may recall, although I would not have spoken of it. It was a source of much shame. Shortly after my fourteenth birthday, I got what I wanted most. All the training my family had poured into me had not been for nothing. And as is tradition, following my family's rituals and trainings in my alter form, I was given my first mission as kitsune.
Failure is not an option. The kitsunes are an old, proud family. If a young kitsune in their first mission does not succeed, then it is expected they do not accept it. Death is a preferable alternative than coming back alive from a failed mission. Generally, however, the family does not give their children a mission they do not think they can succeed. Few in the family bring dishonor in this way...
So it was I was assigned to assassinate a human man who had splintered off from the Leonum Rubrum... his isolation from their group, and interest in building up his own, made him an ideal target to nip before he became too powerful. It should have been a standard mission
How he came to know of the mission, I do not know, only that he was waiting for me. I was captured, alive. His intent was to humiliate my family and ensure they never came after them again".
He sent back to my family [my arm] and threatened to kill me if they did not comply to his demands. You can imagine how well that went for him... he miscalculated. But he was too rash to let go of what he clearly felt was an advantage, or perhaps his assassin possessing the form of a young girl gave him pause. I was held captive for two months. By which point, my brothers had tracked him down and ensured he regretted it
I came home alive. Which no one celebrated, besides my middle brother.
Following this incident, Ionone became very withdrawn as she struggled to withstand her family's judgement and shame for a failed mission - particularly her grandfather's (then, the current head of the family). Only her middle brother, Hiro, endeavored to crack his withdrawn sister from her shell.
She ultimately chose to leave behind the family business of assassination - making her somewhat of a black sheep - and pursued a PhD in Genetics and Genomics. She presently spends most of her time attempting to sequence the werewolf genome (in parallel with the "Human Genome project" contemporary to that time) to better understand the werewolf condition. Her relationship with most of her family is strained.
Personality: She tends to be laconic in her speech, although will speak more with those she is fond of. She is known to be judgmental of others' ineptitude and delights in tearing others down who have not impressed her. Due to her upbringing as an assassin, she can be at times cold-hearted and withdrawn from the suffering of others - or even will go so far as to conjecture the murder of others who have caused herself or others harm. She tends to view difficult scenarios logically, even if the most logical solution is the most emotionally challenging one.
She forms bonds very slowly. However, those in her inner circle (a total of two or three individuals presently) she would defend to the ends of her life. Her deep-set loyalty is her most redeeming feature. She treats those she likes with considerable kindness never afforded to others. She is in fact deeply empathetic, but her family's culture required her to shut down that part of her long ago.
Fears: Deep down she is afraid of weakness and not measuring up to her family (particularly her grandfather's) reputation. She feels like a constant failure, even if she is very successful in her professional career as a scientist. She fears being hurt and will protect herself at almost all costs - next to, perhaps, defending those in her inner circle.
Human Description: Ionone is a petite Japanese woman approximately 5'2" in height. She has almond-shaped eyes, the color of which shift between violet and blue depending on the lighting. She often wears her hair up in a bun, with her bangs hanging loose. When garbed for missions, she dresses in her family's traditional shift suit. When in human form, she generally dresses more modern (collared shirts, white jeans, prim jackets, and other "preppy" type styles) to blend in with the local populace. In her lab, she wears her lab coat and her human wear. She usually prefers to wear an oversized jacket or capelet to hide her missing arm.
(image by Adriana)
How they Came to join the Pack: Ionone comes from a long, proud line of "kitsune", as they'd been fondly called by the terrified, local populace in Japan for centuries. Whether the kitsune found the Svangalas first or the other way around is something of a debate, but it is known shortly after arriving in the Americas, the two assets were combined in the early 1900s.
The kitsune is something of a satellite pack to the Svalnaglas. They follow the alpha's rule, but assign their own "alpha" within their own group (who serves as beta within the Svalnaglas).
