AKARI RUSSO
"I strive to be the MVP, boss."
”Wait, am I supposed to have a constantly sunny personality?"
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A G E17
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P E R S O N A L I T YAkari is quite a casual girl with a relaxed demeanor most of the time. She can quickly get serious and function well in times of crisis. With mafia business, she'll be polite and respectful. She's a simple person, with simple ideals, usually detesting lies, betrayal and manipulation that doesn't directly benefit the Famiglia.
Her childhood and early teens as a Mafia kid had her instilled with old virtues - loyalty and honour mean everything to her - though she can be ruthless when required.
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B A C K G R O U N DAkari was born to an Italian father and a Japanese mother in Sicily, both with connections to an ancient mafia famiglia. The father was a soldato, a simple underling who would follow his orders diligently, without question, and respected the made men and the boss. The mother was keenly interested in the dying will flames and the mafia’s powers, and was a welcome hand in crafting gear for the members of the family. Akari’s young life was spent being home schooled, and slowly being introduced to the mafia world by her parents and mentors, and for a while it seemed like her whole life was set out before her. She’d learned a lot by the time she was a teenager, though none of it involved dodgy business, violence, or anything ‘nasty’... Not yet, at least. She could summon a bright yellow flame from the ring her mother had given her as a child, with enough practice and guidance. She was being taught how to shoot, and sometimes got into scraps with the other kids of the famiglia in good spirits. She was growing well, and might’ve become a valued member of the famiglia... if not for what came next.
One of the made men, close to the boss, started a purge one night as the town were in their beds. It seemed to have come out of nowhere, a civil war that ended in but a few hours at most. Akari’s parents were sided with their boss, who had been killed in the earliest stages of the bloody night. The loyalists that weren’t killed in their sleep rallied to try and at least take their vengeance on the boss’ killer, the man that’d managed to bring well over half of the famiglia to his side through subtle manipulations and machinations. The battles against these usurpers were hard fought, and whilst those loyal to their late boss were resolved and determined, they were ultimately put down, one by one. Akari’s father and mother would be among the loyal dead. The famiglia would be reformed shortly after, and become a member of the Rilevare...
Akari woke up in the middle of the night to the sounds of chaos breaking out in the streets. Her mother and father were gone already, and she would never see them again - though she had no idea what was happening at the time. A woman entered the house, leaving Akari no time to take anything with her, save for the ring that she always wore. This lady was new in town, a professional hitman, and seemed to be friendly with Akari’s parents. Despite being dragged out of town in the middle of the night and shoved in a car, the girl was very compliant, with the reasoning that she’d be dead already if this woman intended it. The woman introduced herself as Hilda, an assassin, and revealed that she’d been after the man who had just taken over the famiglia back in Akari’s hometown. Though, as it was, the mission was a failure...
Hilda didn’t give Akari much time to grieve for her parents, or her larger family, stating that ‘it’s over’. She needed to relocate, and having Akari in her company gave her a pretty good idea of where to head... Before meeting her husband, Akari’s mother had lived in Namimori, with the surname Irie. Hilda would settle there with Akari for a time, and convince the girl to settle into a new life as a student, and forget the mafia. She agreed to the former, but not the latter... Hilda was thrilled to have a student, and over time, the hitwoman became almost like a motherly figure. Akari would keep up being a resident of Namimori, but her training would continue whenever Hilda was in town, and so she began to balance her two lives...
One lazy day, she found herself playing a video game online, and happened to be doing a good job at making all her enemies ragequit and cry! She'd gotten good in just a few weeks and might've been well on her way to become an addict... She was too good... Until she was placed against some guy from Kokuyo, the next town along, and suffered her first death in-game. She was shocked and stunned by this revelation that someone could keep up with her reactions, outwit her, and then have the nerve to say, "get good, scrub" over their microphone. She hated it. It took a few more bad plays before she could take revenge, and told him pretty much the same. The two argued, and... as stupid kids on games do, they started to mock each others families, each other, and the fateful "1v1 me in real life!" was dropped by both of them at the same time. And they did!
Half way between Namimori and Kokuyo, just off the highway, the two met. Neither of them gave the other much chance to speak, only exchanging their names and a threat or two before descending into a pretty violent brawl. As it happened, they were pretty evenly matched. Yoshi might've been stronger, but Akari was a little faster, but in the end.. both ended up on the ground, covered in dirt, scrapes and bruises. Having worked out their differences through a lot of punching, they were actually happy to say 'good game' in the end...
The two somehow put the incident behind them, with a kind of mutual respect. They talked a lot, with Akari taking an interest in his life in Kokuyo. It wasn't regarded as all that nice a place to live, with crime, delinquents and the like. Yoshiaki Sugihara seemed like he rose above it, however. He was on a roll, pulling the scrapping factions into his fold, bringing them together. He didn't act like it, but he seemed powerful, and he must've had some kind of natural ability to lead... The two parted ways, but had decided to stay in contact, keep playing together, and Akari would be sure to visit Kokuyo every few weeks to hang out with her only real friend...
”If it moves, shoot it! If it screams in badguy, shoot it again!"
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F L A M ESun
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A B I L I T I E SHitman-in-Training - Akari is an up-and-coming professional shooter, home tutored from her early teens by a real hitman. She has good knowledge of the mafia world, weapons, equipment, flames and their uses. With Hilda's guidance, Akari can fight with many a weapon, and has some good physical conditioning for combat, but her preference has always remained distance and firepower.
Technician - Akari is an avid tinkerer with the somewhat arcane equipment used by the Mafia. She enjoys pulling apart and rebuilding equipment to better understand it, constructing and modifying her own boxes and flame-powered gear.
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E Q U I P M E N TDying Will Guns/X-Guns - Modelled after the same kind used by Xanxus, a legendary Varia Boss, but downsized slightly. These "X-Guns" are able to be fed with clips of bullets charged with flames, or with a ring on each hand, the wielder could fire them without the physical ammunition, though it could end up exhausting the user's flame if not used sparingly. Akari has a selection of bullets to choose from. Wax bullets for non-lethal use, real bullets for ending people, and a selection of mafia-crafted bullets, including but not limited to Dying Will Bullets. (Demon/Grey let me know what I'm allowed and not allowed - already noted Possession Bullet is a hell no!)
Flame Shoes - Akari uses a light, unarmoured variant of flame shoes, designed as knee boots.
Headset & Choker Microphone - Akari's comms gear is a standard headset used by the Vongola Famiglia for receiving traffic, connected to a wrap-around microphone for her neck for transmission.
Combat Knife - As can be imagined, it's a simple combat knife in a holster, usually strapped to Akari's right thigh. This is developed from the same material as the Dying will Bullets however, and as such, it is extremely difficult to break.
C-Class Sun Ring - The ring given to Akari as a child by her mother. It isn't that remarkable, only that the yellow crystal has silver engravings on it.
Box Animal: Lupo del Sereno - Akari's box animal is a deceptively cute wolf pup. It's a lovable, pleasant, fluffy bundle of joy. With its own will, it can heal others with physical contact, often resorting to licking their wounds or rubbing against them. Allies can also receive a slight healing factor from petting him or rubbing his belly whilst he radiates the healing factor of sun flames. Oh god it's just so cute!
However, these abilities can be amplified by 'activation', in which the pup will go through a very speedy maturity to reach the size of an alpha male wolf. Whilst it can still heal, it's now far less adorable, and far more threatening - it will support allies, or protect Akari as she sees fit, following her command.
