hoh boy

Character Base

• Character Name: Rika Furude
• Age: 10 in appearance | 100+ mentally
• Canon (Date/Year Released)/Canon Point: Higurashi no Naku Koro Ni / Minagoroshi-hen (May 30,2010)
• Items Coming Along: School Uniform
• Content Warnings for Character: Death, Suicide, Child Death, Child Endangerment, Needles, Blood, Alcoholism, Murder, Child Abuse, Torture... Rika's canon is very dark and CW heavy. In RP, these topics won't come up in conversation unless I am given express permission.

Character Background

• History: Wiki Entry
• Core Relationships:

• Hanyuu:
  Hanyuu Furude is Rika's ancestor, who now exists in Hinamizawa as an invisible spirit. And Rika is the only one who is able to see or hear her. This is partially due to a prophecy, which tells that if the Furude family's first born is a girl a certain number of times then she will be the "reincarnation of Oyashiro-sama." This deity protects Hinamizawa and the Furude family is traditionally that of Oyashiro-sama's miko. That deity of legend is also Hanyuu, the invisible woman that only Rika can see.
  
  Growing up, Hanyuu was something of a second mother to Rika. She speaks of watching over Rika as she grew and having been thrilled by her birth. Rika was Hanyuu's first company in hundreds of years, so Hanyuu adored her. Rika, likewise, adored Hanyuu. She learned everything from folklore to recipes from Hanyuu, knowledge that to others seemed to come from no where (and unsettled her parents.) The two are quite close.
  
  But their relationship became complicated when Rika was murdered at age 10. Hanyuu used some of her and Rika's power to take Rika's memories and bring them to another timeline. Hanyuu did this over and over again, because she did not want to lose her only companion. While this was an act of love on Hanyuu's part, the result was that Rika's humanity became skewed. Over time, Rika lost the childish spark and freedom that she had enjoyed as a child. She became a melancholy and mature soul, who was trapped in tragic repetition. And while Rika never blames Hanyuu for this, she is the source of Rika's shift in personality.
  
  
• Biological Parents:
  Rika's mother was the current shrine maiden to Oyashiro-sama and her father 'his' priestess... But they both died and continue to die in every recycled world. Rika mentions that she once tried very hard to save her parents, but nothing she did could prevent their death. Eventually, she learns that repetitively grieving her parents is exhausting for her soul... so she chooses to give up on them entirely and consider them dead, even in the time when they're alive. She knows that will not last.
  
  There is also a tip describing how her parents and her become distant because of Hanyuu. Rika learns to cook without her mother's help, but because of Hanyuu. She is very smart, polite, and well-informed... because of Hanyuu. This unsettled her parents, who couldn't explain how she was so mysteriously smart at such a young age.
  
  We see some snippets of their relationship while the family was whole. Rika's father was stern and strict enough to punish her with a spanking, but still loved her dearly. It is because her parents love her and do not want her used in medical research that they get killed at all. This unrelenting love and protectiveness means that they will always end up murdered by the 'culprit,' because they will always be in the way of the culprit's goal.
  
  
• Satoko:
  Satoko is a fellow orphan and Rika's very best friend. They end up living together when Satoko's uncle and brother leave Hinamizawa. Rika adores Satoko and is almost always by her side. Satoko influences Rika to become a more mischievous person, who helps Satoko pull pranks on her classmates. It is implied that Rika would not have the same playful and devious spirit if not for Satoko and this part of her personality is a result of reliving their year together over and over.
  
  Satoko is Rika's source of light and happiness. When Rika gives up on her parents surviving, she can only do so because she knows Satoko will soon fill that void. Rika also mentions how a world without Satoko is the worst of all, to the point that she contemplates suicide rather than go on without her best friend. Rika has gone through many tragic worlds, but she considers those where Satoko is abused and taken from her to be the worst of all.
  
  
• Keiichi:
  Keiichi is the newest kid in the village of Hinamizawa. Well. To everyone else. To Rika,
  he's the last member of their club and she has always known that he will come one day. He brings a new life to the Games Club and makes the summer of 1983 brighter. At her current canon point, Rika does not understand Keiichi's "full power." But recently (in the last world she died in,) Keiichi miraculously remembered one of his past lifetimes. This had never happened before, but it led to him understanding Rena and being able to take the dramatic action that saved her. He has given Rika hope that she could ask a friend for help with her situation, something that she had been too scared to consider before.
  
  
• Akasaka:
  The only other person that Rika has asked for help from is Akasaka. When she is a small child, Akasaka visits Hinamizawa as an undercover detective. He takes a shining to Rika, because he's feeling parental and is excited for his wife's expected baby. Unfortunately, on June 19th, his wife will fall down a staircase and die with her child. Rika knows this will happen if Akasaka does not go home and spend more time with his wife, who only climbs to the roof because she misses her husband, so tries to warn Akasaka to go home. When he fails to, Rika knows that he will receive a devastating phonecall and cuts every landline phone wire in order to prevent him from receiving that bad news.
  
  Her relationship with Akasaka demonstrates two key facts about Rika: Number one being that she hates to see people suffer and that she obeys patterns. If Akasaka fails to go home, Rika assumes that his wife will die and she cuts the cords to protect him. She does not believe there is any way he won't get an unhappy phonecall. Likewise, once the patterns that proceed her death as in motion, Rika gives up on changing things and cuts her own mental cords to protect herself from the oncoming despair.
  
  The second thing, though, is that Rika has hope that she can be rescued. She always warns Akasaka and tries to get him to go home, no matter how often he refuses. She also asks Akasaka to come back in June of 1983 and save her, confessing about her upcoming death... He has never come to he rescue, but Rika always asks. She wants help. She tries to reach out for it. But things have never changed in her favor.
  
  
  

  Character Personality Through Key Moments

  
  (2+) Positive Experiences:
  • Genuine Cheerfulness:
    The girl Rika presents on the surface is cheerful, polite, and mischievous. She's the kind of child who will help play a prank on you, then come over to pat your head while she apologizes (which she does on a daily basis to Keiichi.) Rika is also well mannered and mature for her age, stemming from how the Furude Family is well respected as the miko to Oyashiro-sama and Rika is said to be Oyashiro-sama's reincarnation. Even once orphaned, Rika had the entire village looking out for her and adoring her like an extended family. She is beloved and well aware of that blessing (as Satoko is, in contrast, denied this love.)
    
    Sometimes, this is an act. There is a passage in the novels where Rika describes her waking up in a new world as "killing" the Furude Rika of that world. The sweet and innocent girl, who was oblivious to many hardships and knew mostly love, is destroyed when the memories of her previous lives are forced into her head. The collective memories called herself "Furuderika," (Frederica,) differentiating herself from Furude Rika. She then goes on to say how when she first takes over Furude Rika's body, she struggles to "play the part," feeling like she is faking it and not wanting to arouse suspicions among her friends. She describes this as trying to fly a kite, saying that it is difficult to get the kite going, but very easy once the kite is in the air.
    
    The cheerful persona is therefore genuine. Once Rika has settled into a new world, she is genuinely happy playing games with her friends and not just pretending to enjoy life. Her life may be short and the expiration date looming, but she enjoys the time in between. This is thanks to the Games Club, founded by Mion Sonozaki and attended by Rena, Keiichi, and Satoko. It is because of the club and the bonds with her friends that Rika is able to slip back into a joyful state.
    
    
  • Cryptic & Intelligent:
    For a ten year old girl, Rika is quite intelligent. She holds her own in conversations with adults and carries herself with unusual maturity. This is because of her recycled lives and being able to retain her memories (not muscle memory however, as she laments.) Rika is well aware that some of her knowledge cannot be passed off as normal, so she tries to hide it. If it does need to be shared, Rika chooses to do so in very cryptic, non-direct ways. She's mindful of what information she shares and aware of how it affects others... Especially because her bad ending is caused by the Hinamizawa Syndrome afflicting her friends and the disease is triggered by stress or paranoia.
    
    For example, when Keiichi takes a baseball bat from the school locker, Rika does not directly tell him that it belonged to Satoshi. She knows that seeing Satoshi's bat used by Keiichi is painful to the other club members (especially Satoko,) but she also knows that Keiichi has a bad reaction to learning about Satoshi (it increases his paranoia.) So Rika simply tells him to be very careful with that baseball bat, because it is important. She does not want to mention Satoshi, but she trusts Keiichi will take care of it once he knows it is important. This ultimately backfires, because someone else tells him who the bat belonged to.
    
    She does this in a few other instances. When Keiichi and Shion sneak into Oyashiro-sama's tool shed, Rika does not directly accuse Keiichi of breaking a sacred rule. She instead speaks to him using a cat metaphor, so as to get him to confess his sin and ease his guilt by receiving her forgiveness. Rika knows that forgiveness will help prevent him from spiraling, so offers it through the metaphor when she forgives the naughty kittens.
    
    Rika otherwise tries to keep her extra knowledge to herself. She doesn't tell anyone about the timeloops or the murder plot, because she fears putting them under stress. And even if she did tell them, she doesn't think it will change anything. She keeps a lot of secrets and only shares little tid bits in safe, small doses.
    
    
  • Faith & Hope
    Another positive characteristic of Rika, and possibly the most important, is her capacity to hope. Rika is in a one hundred year timeloop, where she watches her loved ones murder and die over and over. But Rika isn't technically trapped. All it would take is telling Hanyuu not to collect her memories for Rika to end her journey. Rika never asks for this, because she believes that she can find a world where she lives happily.
    
    That isn't to say that Rika does not falter. We see her determination faltering quite a bit throughout the story. Rika describes hope as climbing out of a well, saying that the higher you climb then the harder you fall when you don't reach the top. Whenever Rika falls, she does take some time to mope.
    
    In Meakeshi-hen, we see Rika's hope on display when she goes to Shion directly and tries to forcefully inject her with medicine. Rika is actively and directly trying to change her fate here, and there is an implication that Rika has tried this in other worlds. But she often fails, enough so that she knows Shion will probably overpower her and torture her. When Shion does overpower her in Meakeshi-hen, Rika falls from the well and into despair. She grabs a knife and stabs her own throat, because she has given up on that world and doesn't see a way to make it happy anymore.
    
    Then she goes into the next one and tries again.
    
    When Rika feels defeated, her actions in a world become more passive. She simply floats through the world's events and doesn't try to change them. Her spirit is tired. She will drink alcohol and try to numb her soul's pain with a small buzz, counting down the days until she dies. But after sulking, Rika picks herself up and tries again. She has bursts of inspiration followed by a broken spirit, but what is important to note is that Rika has never given up. She believes she can be happy. If not in this world, then the next. Or the next. Or the next... Not even one hundred years of failure can dissuade her.
    
    (2+) Negative Experiences:
    • Bad Coping Mechanisms:
      Rika has been trapped in her one hundred year cycle for, well... one hundred years. In an attempt to understand her situation and work out an escape, Rika has taken to noticing patterns and treating them as "rules." In her Minagoroshi-hen conversation with herself, Rika even flat out says that there are three rules to her fate... which, ironically, will all need to be broken when she eventually does break free of fate.
      
      But to Rika, these rules are almost a source of comfort. They help her to control and understand a fate that is ultimately out of her control. We see Rika lean into these rules and patterns on a few occasions. For example, Rika believes that if Satoko's uncle Teppei returns to Hinamizawa then Satoko will, without fail, be taken away from her and abused. She believes that Keiichi will end up killing Teppei and that Satoko will have her spirit broken. Because Rika has seen attempts to rescue Satoko from her abusive situation fail over and over, she has come to expect that it cannot be prevented. So she gives up. When Teppei arrives, Rika assumes Satoko will be taken away. She puts up an odd lack of effort in contacting child services and spends most of the rescue attempt sitting around while the others work frantically. It isn't because she doesn't care for Satoko, but because she has climbed that metaphorical well and fallen so many times that her heart cannot do it again.
      
      This inaction does sometimes give way to bursts of motivation, but even then it is often with Rika leaning into the patterns she has observed. When she confronts Shion, it is because she statistically knows who the culprit is. But when Shion overpowers her, Rika again sees the pattern of being tortured to death and opts out. When she confronts Keiichi with the kitten metaphor, she only knows of his sin from a past loop. It's a pattern: She sees him sulking, knows Shion was in town, and assumes what happened.
      
      
    • Secretive, Lack of Trust:
      Rika has learned to be a very secretive person. The bright Furude Rika persona is on display loudest when she feels it is the most foreign to her. Under that smile is a one hundred year old soul that is tired, jaded, and scared. When Rika is taking off the mask and indulging in his side of herself, her voice becomes lower and she talks more poetically. The only character she shows this side of herself to is Hanyuu. There is a scene where she is up late and talking to Hanyuu in this low voice, lamenting their upcoming death, when Satoko wakes up and wonders whose 'low voice' she is hearing. Rika immediately flips the switch and acts like "Furude Rika" again, cheerfully saying she got up for some water so as to not worry Satoko.
      
      And at the end of the day, that is why Rika is so secretive. She does not want to worry her friends. She does not know how to explain to them that she comes from a world where she died. She doesn't know how to tell them that she has seen them kill each other and kill her. Rika has told Akasaka about her prophecy, but he's never come to help her. She has given her friends hints and nudges and tried in small ways, but she has never seen a positive impact.
      
      Not only that, but Rika doesn't want to be alone. After all, she describes her arrival in a world as killing the previous Furude Rika. She is afraid that if she suddenly became a low-voiced and tired old lady that her friends might reject her. Furuderika understands that she is a sudden and terrifying departure from the sweet little girl she used to be. Her friends are the reason she continues to cycle through fate, and the idea of being rejected by them is worse to her than facing another death. If she dies, she can go to a new world and try again. If her friends reject her, then what's the point?
      
      Her secretive nature is her greatest downfall. Ultimately, Rika will one day learn that she only needed to ask for help directly. When she does ask for everyone's help, they are able to overcome her fate with no deaths. But at this point in time, Rika cannot imagine that.
    
    
    

    Deer Country Attributes

    
    • Canon Powers:
    Rika has the ability to travel between worlds after her death, though this is not a power of her own. Instead, it is something that her ancestor Hanyuu is doing for her. The series states that Rika does have a latent amount of magic/power inside of her, but she herself would have been unable to do anything with it. Hanyuu had been taking this power and using it to bring Rika's consciousness between worlds. By her current canon point, that power has become very weak; It can only take Rika 2-3 weeks back in time, as opposed to resetting her entire life. I will be keeping her magic, but Rika cannot do anything with it. Other characters may be able to sense it though.
    
    Rika has memories of her past lives and is a collection of them. In the When They Cry series, beings that can exist outside of time and space are sometimes referred to as "witches." Rika herself will eventually adopt the term as well, because she no longer feels like the term "human" suits her. She eventually comes to refer to her darker personality as "Frederica Bernkastel;" A combination of all Furude Rika, who feels most calm and whole when drinking Bernkastle wine... But her power itself is still controlled by Hanyuu.
    
    Though not entirely explained in canon, her eyes glow red when she is digging deep into her witch persona.
    I will be retaining this aesthetic quirk, because it is creepy.
    
    • Blood Type: Darkblood
    • Omen: A Cat named Bernkastle
    • Blessed Day: June 24th
    • Patron Pthumerian: Remina
    • Blood Power Manifestation:
    Rika will find that she's able to use her blood powers to slightly alter time, but only in the sense that she can briefly stop it. Even when time is stopped, Rika is utterly powerless to do anything. She can't move or take action, but can only watch; Similar to how she feels about her current timelooping situate.
    
    She will also be able to create small illusions. Once she's more comfortable with her power, she can show her memories reflected in crystal shards (much like the fragments she sees between worlds in canon.) Rika will gradually learn to use her ability for evasive and escape purposes, but she will be reluctant to ever turn them against another person.
    
    
    
    

    Writing Samples

    
    One: TDM A
    Two: TDM B
    
    

    The Player

    
    • Player Name: Berri
    • Player Age: 30+
    • Player Contact: taiyakinonaku
    • Permissions: Here
    
    

    Other Characters

    
    Delete this section if N/A. For application of 2nd / 3rd characters only.
    
    Link to Character 1 overall AC: Atsushi Nakajima
    Link to Character 2 overall AC: Oz Vessalius

Name: Berri
Age: 29
Contact info: taiyakinonaku

Character: Rika Furude
Canon: Higurashi no Naku Koro Ni
Canon Point: End of Tsumihoroboshi-hen (post-death)
Character age: 10
Why do you think they can settle in a horror setting if they’re under 18?: Rika comes from a horror anime. In it, she watches her friends murder each other and die. Her ancestor, Hanyuu, then collects Rika's memories and implants them into another 'Furude Rika' in another world, so they can try to save her friends. She has lived at least 100 years in this cycle.

Canon Abilities/Powers: Rika herself has no supernatural ability that she can harness herself. Her ability to go between worlds is controlled by her ancestor, Hanyuu. She is, however, thought to be something called the "Queen Carrier" for a fictional disease called the Hinamizawa Syndrome. She believes that this means her death would trigger violent insanity in the other Hinamizawa residents. This turns out to be either untrue or only partially true, as Rika has canonically died without triggering the disease. Which I would like to maintain in game, as it gives canonmates wiggle room in regards to Rika's death affecting them.

What is their greatest negative emotion towards an object, situation, or person in their past?: Rika hates her fate of dying. So much so that she defies her own death, choosing to 'go back in time' and try again. No matter what world she ends up in and no matter how things play out, Rika always ends up dead before the end of June 1983. She does not understand who is killing her or why she always has to die, so has no one specific to pin her hatred on. Her only option is to call it "fate" and hate that concept instead.

How strongly do they feel about the negative subject matter, on the scale of one to ten?: Rika is probably up there around 8 or 9. Her hatred can dip into frustration and depression. She's so bothered by it that she has sometimes taken to drinking Bernkasteler wine as a means of calming herself enough to sleep at night. And she's ten. And she knows it's bad.

What is their greatest virtue?: Hope and the resilience she needs to maintain it. Rika lives and dies over and over again, watches her friends betray each other, and is sometimes even killed by them herself; But she never gives up on them. She chooses to restart the timeline every time, even when it's hard. Rika has the capacity to get severely depressed and almost apathetic for periods, but she has always risen above it to try one more time. Even after one hundred years, she continues to believe that she can live past June of 1983. She just needs to try again.

How aware are they of their virtue, on a scale from one to ten?: Around 6. While Rika is quite aware of both her capacity to hope, she has also begun to realize it has equal power to hurt her. She even writes a poem about it, where she describes her hope as trying to climb out of a well. In the poem, Rika acknowledges that the higher she climbs the harder she will fall. And though she has never stopped trying to climb out of that metaphorical well, she is presently 'bruised' from all of her falling.

At her current canon point, Rika's hope has been burning out. She feels more trapped than ever and realizes that it may only take a few more falls before she gives up completely. This has resulted in her applying more caution to her choices, so as to not disappoint herself and destroy what spirit she has left. She often drinks herself to sleep at night and accidentally gives up without trying. She's exhausted from all of her failures and struggling to renew her hope for the future. Rika will have bursts of being very hopeful and trying very hard, then scold herself and give up before she can be disappointed.

Items: 1 injection of C-120 (A partial antidote for the Hinamizawa Syndrome.)

Samples: TDM Samples

Special notes Thank you for taking the time to process my application!