Other, they pronouns prefered
Super High-School Level _____ :
Small Biography / Intro :
A single child to a pair of old movie buffs Rei was raised more on old films of all genres rather than anything veering towards the modern. Rei’s interest has always remained firmly in horror and trying to recreate scenes and images, eventually they upgraded to using real references and becoming more and more convincing with the things they created. Rei’s work has since appeared in several movies and even tv series now with a decent fanbase growing. Rei is quite a friendly person, bordering on downright clingy in certain situations, though as eccentric as the impression they like to give off in their interviews.
Skill #1 :
As expected of a prosthetic makeup artist Rei’s skill is that of creating fake wounds that look real and believable. Whilst movie monsters and ghosts are in their repertoire, this is were they truly shine. This eye for detail has proven very useful in their realis,.
Skill #2 :
Rei, for all their talkative and overactive nature seems to be, is actually a really good listener. They know when they really do need to shut up and actively tries to be there for people when they really need it from them.
Strength :
Rei is especially good at working out what can and has caused an injury, though some of the details, for example angle of attack, will elude them. Years of looking at real life photographs of murder scenes and old enough to be released hospital records have helped this knowledge. The differences between how a kitchen and hunting knife can be big if you know what you’re looking for.
Weakness :
Rei is actually somewhat colourblind, specifically tritanopia, something they prefer to keep private from others and will only really reveal if they have to. It’s something they do their best to work around when it comes to their makeup and prosthetic work but there’s always that niggling feeling of insecurity it gives them.
Items :
(1) Camera with film
(2) Fancy photo frame
(3) Audition Poster
(4) Fake blood
(5) Energy Drink
Are you willing to be the Mastermind? :
Is there anyone your character shares a close or important relationship with, like a sibling, significant other, best friend, etc.? How have they influenced your character’s life? Was it positive? Negative? Completely neutral? Why?
Their parents, mostly their father really. Whilst Rei’s got a close and generally really good relationship with both of their parents they’d probably put their father down as slightly more important. As the only child of the pair Rei was lucky enough to get the full parental attention of the both of them when they were at home, and of two very supportive people which is a lot more than many people do in the world. After all, they were the people who payed for countless makeup supplies and classes and sets, the ones who had to put up with the messes made as a result as well -there’s still a stain in the bathroom from a bottle of cheap fake blood- and so many other things. Hell they were the ones showing Rei the initial films that got them interested in the first place!
Rei’s father has always been the one they felt most connected to, though they can’t say why for sure. But their father was the one they looked up to, admittedly also the one they went to when it came to asking for things but hey every kid does that right? Rei came out to their father first, both about a sexuality that didn’t seem to look at peoples genitals or identity as well as an identity that felt like both male and female at the same time. Rei wasn’t kicked out by their parents, the transition to adapt to this new way of seeing their child wasn’t the quickest process. But it could have been far far worse and Rei’s always been happy to have them for everything. Rei can definitely say their parents influenced them very positively, if they’d been landed with less supportive parents who’d know where they’d be today instead.
Does your character have any skills or hobbies outside of their talent? What are they? How did they learn them? Why did they choose to pursue the talent they’re known for now, instead of one of these hobbies or skills?
A hobby doesn’t always necessarily mean that they’re good at it now does it? Because Rei is certainly not very good at photography by any means, but they’d certainly consider it at the very least a hobby or even more important than that! To Rei a photograph preserves everything in the image, whether it’s an item or a person it keeps them there in the moment as long as that photo exists. As such Rei has always kept at least one photograph of the people they know, usually more than that. Most of the time it’s somewhat blurry or from a distance -not everyone likes being photographed after all- and occasionally Rei’s thumb can be seen blocking a quarter of the image but they’re kept anyway. Rei can’t bare to delete even one shoddy photo or throw out anything badly developed. If they did that moment would be erased forever, photographs sometimes last longer than a memory does after all.
In the grand scheme of things, compared to Rei’s love of fake blood and guts, this is a relatively new thing for them, about 5 or 6 years at the most. Compared to roughly 12 years with makeup it’s not been around anywhere near as long. No. The interest was sparked off by a negative event in Rei’s life, the younger Rei was a much more aloof -to put it as nicely as possible- sort of teen and as such only had a small handful of friends, small but very close to one another. Rei’s best friend Mitsuyo took to always trying to snag a photograph of Rei, who tended to avoid the camera as best they could, because she wanted to remember their group the way they were just then. A hit and run left Mitsuyo in a coma for a few days before she passed on. Since then Rei’s picked up that old friends mindset of preserving the moment, and also seems to be a bit overly touchy and clingy towards people just in case something bad happens to them.
Their photographs are kept safe in many ways, from digital files to photoframes, many are pinned to the walls of the rooms they stayed in or are laminated and stored in files to be gazed upon whenever it takes Rei’s fancy. Which honestly is quite often.
Imagine your character was chosen as a murderer in the game. What would they do? Would they crumble under the pressure, or would they be able to complete the task without a single problem? Would they plan ahead, or would it be spur-of-the-moment?
Rei found themselves surprisingly calm, the nerves they’d always assumed would have in a situation like this had yet to make themselves known. Maybe their body was in denial, maybe. They’d sometimes imagined having to kill in the past -these things did come to mind every so often- and always imagined they’d be terrified and unable to do it. And yet, here they were, they had to kill someone, it wasn’t a flight of fancy and it definitely wasn’t going to be that bully that cut all their hair off all those years back for sure. Shouldn’t they be upset or worried? After all they liked their ‘classmates’, they certainly didn’t want them to die any time soon.
Rei wasn’t the first in the group for this, it’d happened once before. Any false idea their fellow students were ‘too nice’ to kill had flown out the window with that first body. Besides, it was human nature, under stress these things happened, a glance at any documentary would show it happened in animals, any good horror film would do the same with humans. But murder could be so messy, real murder wasn’t beautiful or respectful, it wasn’t spending hours making sure each open wound glistened with just the right amount of blood like Rei’s work was, it was just stabbing someone with a knife or something like that.
Now they they thought about it, maybe it was for the best they’d be chosen. Could Rei trust the others to respect the person they were killing? Of course not, they didn’t have their eye for details now did they? Rei was different from them after all, they didn’t even mourn the same way they did after all. A murder was going to happen and Rei would make it goddamn beautiful. It was just a case of working out how, they’d need to plan of course, no random in the dark stabbings for Rei! How else could you murder someone? Suffocation was out of the question, bloated air deprived faces were ugly as all hell and not exactly respectful. A fall wasn’t always affective and if the victim saw they might have a chance to yell out Rei’s name, that wasn’t good. Hmm, they put a finger to their mouth and hummed as they thought, poison? Or maybe...maybe...
Poison. Poison didn’t leave a big mess, well it didn’t if you picked the right one, it was quick and relatively painless for the person. Might be a bit awkward to get your hands on but, it was worth the effort. Rei knew the basics you could use in that situation, plus a few cleaning fluids probably would work just as well in a pinch. Yes this method was the best way to go about this. Now it was time to plan. They’d mourn the new loss of their classmate when the body was found. And now Backstory time!
Rei Mikami was born in Nara, Nara prefecture, Japan to Aiko and Yukio Mikami, younger parents who’d only been married a couple of years at the time. Their parents were –and still are- loving individuals, perhaps Yukio’s inability to understand what exactly was wrong with letting a 5 year old watch ‘Cujo’ wasn’t exactly the greatest example of parenting, but it never did seem to negatively affect Rei. The young child didn’t fear any of it, they were well aware of the fact the images on screen weren’t real, the question was how?
Other people never where the young child’s favourite thing, they were different, strange. They didn’t see things the same way, it was easier to push them away, block out the snide remarks and bite those who dared stray close enough to shove or pull their hair, sometimes even if they didn’t. The existence suited them fine, they could handle being alone, being labelled a freak kept the majority at bay. Only one ever dared continue bothering them for reasons even Rei has yet to understand, a young girl who instantly introduced herself with the name Mitsuyo and a promise they weren’t going to stop trying to know them. Determination worked, the base for years of friendship was formed, Mitsuyo kept her promise, she never did stop trying.
At thirteen an exchange via note marked the day they began to ‘date’ via secret meetings and quiet kisses when they were certain their parents weren’t looking. No one could know, it surely would never be allowed. Rei’s parents awareness of the situation was never discovered, they never let on they knew, they’d tell them when they were ready.
They’d been together a year when it ended, the unfortunate result of a driver in far too much of a hurry and of two people in the wrong place at the wrong time. The taste of copper and the image of a mangled body was the makeup artist’s last memory before it faded to black. They awoke a web of wires, IV’s and machines a drug addled mind could only guess to the use of, surrounded by nurses who spoke far too quickly and far too quietly to be understood not that they cared any for what happened to THEM, what happened to her? Where was she? Was she okay? A few hours later and the much appreciate appearance of their father served to give them the answers they so desired. They were lucky he said, there was far worse than a lung puncture that could have happened, he continued. But what of Mitsuyo, how was her ‘luck’? Their fathers face paled, she was in a coma, her body had experienced far worse damage, maybe in a day or so they could go see her if they wished. Fear made them refuse, three days later what was left of her gave up, Rei lived where she died. A part of them would never stop blaming themselves for it. For the girl they couldn’t save.
They never attended the funeral, facing the family of the person whose life they’d stolen away was too painful. It was their fault she was dead, they wouldn’t pain those closest to her with their presence. It was surely better this way.
No more passed notes, no more texts exchanged from different classrooms, it was lonely, an already aloof individual found themselves willingly isolating themselves. Self hatred and a deep depression alienated them from anyone around them; they live with the marks this left on their body to this day. Rei Mikami had fallen into despair and despite their best efforts they didn’t know how to get back out.
Things changed after one day in highschool, the faces of the three that pinned the makeup artist down and haphazardly took a pair of scissors to their hair remain clear in their minds. What happened after this does not, only of how much blood there was, the deep marks on their faces and the fear in their eyes, how badly where they hurting people? Bad enough to narrowly avoid a lawsuit, bad enough the marks would leave scars on the faces of those who dared touch them and bad enough to flee the school to another where no one knew their name or who they were. Realisation fell upon them, Mitsuyo saved them, they weren’t honouring her, she was always kind and forgiving and loyal through anything and everything. They could do that, they could be that person, maybe they’d help someone one day the way she’d helped them. Things would be better if they did that, they’d save the life they owed and make her proud.
But they still missed her so.
They attempted to fill the void Mitsuyo left with short lived relationships and brief encounters but it was all a temporary fix, they couldn’t fix everything they felt with shallow affection or changing their outlook. That was down to time and help, the small group of friends they made at their new highschool and finding solace in an online community helped them gain the courage to start discussing the things that affected them, and to actually ask for help.
It took 17 years of life for Rei Mikami to finally have confidence with themselves and who they were, the word intergender and non-binary had been terrifying to approach their parents with at first but, like they always had done, they supported them. With new found confidence they threw themselves into their work, always a new project to work on, always somewhere to volunteer their services. Plays, online competitions, local student films, they worked on them all till the name Rei Mikami was causing a stir in the film industry. Rei Mikami was the one you went to if you wanted only the best in makeup effects, time only allowed Rei to accept a certain number of the many job offers they would receive. They’d found their place in the world.
One day they awake to find an invitation to Hopes Peak addressed to them, it took no thought whatsoever to accept, everyone who went there became successful, perhaps they could even do what they swore they would. Make Mitsuyo proud.
They had a good feeling about this.
