age: 23
sexuality: Demisexual
Occupation: Bartender, overnight baker, budding artist
Faceclaim: Hiro Mizushima
hexcode: #5C5C5C
O U T S I D E || ----------------------------------
W E I G H T || 142 lbs.
E Y E S || dark brown, nearly black. close up there's a very small bit of gold in them.
H A I R || black as shadow
O D D I T I E S || He's got scars in multiple places from his past, but he pays them little mind. He has a tattoo on his forearm that has a great importance to him.
A P P E A R A N C E || Akuma is about average height, but still on the taller side. This coupled with the silent way he carries himself can make him appear intimidating. Of course, his handsome face will pull you right back in. He has medium length hair with gentle curls that he likes to keep messy. It gives him a roguish charm. He tends to wear whatever is comfortable but sticks to blacks and grays. It helps him to blend into the shadows where he prefers to stay. He has a piercing in his left ear that he either fills with a black stud or he doesn't wear anything at all.
L I K E S || â the nightlife â the shadows â the atmosphere of a bar especially with live music â live music â music â helping people conquer their phobias â the stars â baking â sweets â the color black â comfortable sweaters â being in control â tea â art â darkness â concerts â his ability â himself â video games â rain â cigarettes â psychology â Animals [his ability doesn't work on them] â exercise [he enjoys the pain] â His cat, Saki
D I S L I K E S || â coffee â his past â vices â mind alerting substances [can't use them but doesn't affect his job] â silence â television â crowds â sleep â losing control â being idle too long â interacting with new people [however surprisingly does well as a bartender] â musicals â his ability â himself â the heat â guns
Q U I R K S ||
-- has to have music playing at all times
-- absentmindedly twirls things around his fingers
-- rarely sleeps
-- Masochistic
F E A R S ||
-- never mattering
-- becoming a true monster
S T R E N G T H S ||
-- Reading others: His ability and his job as a bartender has improved his perception of others. He's gotten very good at reading people's moods based on body language and expression. Sometimes he can even sense their emotions a little, but he has to focus much harder to read them. It's easier to stick to what can be seen.
-- Memory: Akuma remembers almost everything he's seen, said, heard or felt. It's not quite a photographic memory, but its pretty close. Helps a lot when it comes to taking orders at the bar. Especially on a busy night.
-- Painting: Art has quickly become a hobby for Akuma. He's not too bad at drawing, but painting is more his speed. It really captures the things he feels and the feelings he senses from others. The forms he takes. They're all very dark.
W E A K N E S S E S ||
-- Opening up: If he ever went to a therapist, boy would they be getting their money's worth with him. Especially because he doesn't talk to anybody about anything in his past. Few people know anything about him other than maybe his interests.
-- Weak immune system: Thankfully he's not around people enough to really catch anything, but if he was, it wouldn't take much for him to acquire a contagious disease.
-- Morality: Even though he's a villain, he still has a strong sense of morality. He won't kill--if given a choice, he doesn't punish innocence, he typically doesn't steal [but he'll help his fellow villains], etc.
Akuma's indifference is something he's taught himself to be for many years. It's really a mask he wears, but it'll take a lot of him to remove it. He can be cold with others and come off as apathetic. In reality he's just got so much restraint on himself he doesn't allow himself to live in other people's lives. The closest he's come to a group of friends or even a close family is the group of villains he spends time with every now and then, but normalcy makes him uncomfortable. Normalcy is too good to last. He doesn't trust it.
Which is what makes him so cautious. He doesn't allow himself to trust too far and even most of the villains he doesn't really trust.
Akuma can work with a team, but most of the time he's pretty independent. He works well by himself. He's stoic and keeps things to himself. He leads a solitary lifestyle. He's made a deal with his landlord to give him the penthouse floor of one of the city buildings so he'd have a lot of space for himself. Granted he used his ability and a threat to make this deal, but he doesn't beat himself up about it too much. It allows him to be without bothering anyone else. Both of his jobs he works because they're at night with fewer people than during the day or he works completely by himself. He can play music all night and no one will complain. He actually enjoys his jobs. Plus they give him free sweets at the end of the night.
Now, this is contradictory to everything previously stated but its because anyone who sees this side of him has to get through a lot. They have to break down his walls, earn his trust, etc. etc. When they do, they'll see that he's warm. He cares deeply for things. He's just learned that caring for something, loving something, just means its another weakness. It's something others can use to hurt you and exploit you. So he hides it under all of the darkness he surrounds himself with. It's all a front to keep himself from getting hurt any more. He has enough scars.
Akuma Matsuda was still in the womb when his parents traveled to the United States from Japan. They were first time parents, excited for the opportunity of parenthood as well as the opportunities promised in America. Both spoke limited English but knew enough to get by and held tightly to their culture. By the time Akuma was born, they were nearly fluent and had created a comfortable life for themselves. They had thought of names for a long time but decided to wait a bit after his birth to name him. They wanted to give him a fitting name and not something that was just... assigned. At first, they thought the name Akihiko meaning "bright child" would suit him well. He didn't cry much and started smiling sooner than thought. Plus, he was the light of their lives. The three were so happy... until Akuma's abilities started to manifest. He was only a baby.
One night he woke up screaming and crying. His mother rushed in the room to see what was the matter and was surprised to find not a baby in the crib, but a hoofed demon with burning eyes and a forked tongue. An oni from her nightmares. She started to run back to her room, but she still heard the crying and knew her son was somewhere nearby. It was still coming from his crib. She called out for him, saying that she was there if only she knew where the demon was hiding him. He heard her, slowed his crying, and the image she feared slowly faded to that of a crying baby.
At the time, she chalked it up to lack of sleep from being a mother and took care of her child. There were a few other instances from that point on that involved not only his mother Kami, but his father, Hino and a few of their neighbors. At this point, they started to fear their child and decided on his name. Akuma. Demon. They believed that when they had moved to America, they had been cursed. As things started to go downhill for them. They seemed to be losing their luck. When in reality, the economy was crashing and being a parent is no picnic.
His parents had done everything they could to save him in a living form... and then did everything they could to save him in the afterlife. Eventually, they abandoned him. He would've died on the street if not for a strange man passing at just the right time. This man had seen everything in his half a lifetime. War, disease, famine, murder, etc. So the boy's ability had no effect on him. Or if it did, he had long ago conquered his fear enough that the baby didn't scare him. He raised him, taught him how to control his ability. He was the closest thing Akuma ever had to a father. Akuma had no idea that the man had confronted his parents years later about their terrible questioning methods, but they wouldn't hear of it. Instead, they allowed him to adopt the boy. Then the man really became his father.
Unfortunately, the man, Michael, was diagnosed with cancer when Akuma was twelve years old. His ability to teach and care for the boy dwindled until he eventually passed away. At this time, he had proven he could care for himself. Even had a job and the life insurance he received from Michael was a surprising amount that allowed him to pay for the funeral but live. That's how he was after that. He was on his own.
There were instances throughout his life where he allowed himself to be close to others. He even fell in love once. But he could never be himself around them. Especially when he was a teenager. His emotions were too wild, too raw. He would lose control of his ability and harm someone. Or at the very least scare them to pieces. There was a time where he looked for a way to forget or to escape, but he found that losing himself like that made him lose control. And he hurt people. So he stopped. He had made a few attempts on his life, but something always stopped him. The "what if" of giving up too soon. Now he smokes, paints, and takes care of his cat when he's not bartending or baking. He's content and for now, that's enough.