Or rather, my predicament when it comes to roleplaying Ramiel Le. The following of course contains massive spoilers for Les Enfants Terribles. Not that you'd really care anyways. Unless you like Rami and want to know more about her. XD Maybe Reg and I will publish the story. You know, when we're not so lazy. I think we're in Season 5 now (which is really just the next half of Season 4 - which I decided to partition since Season 4 is turning out so lengthy).

But this problem has seriously been digging at me and Reg isn't here for me to discuss it with him. And it's been totally distracting me from everything so I decided that the best thing to do for now would be to write this all down and shelve the idea until I can discuss it again.

So first, some background.

Since LET was started on a spur of the moment, many of the characters are developed throughout the story. Ramiel's in particular, has been interesting.

(Note: Any characters with an * by their name is played by Reg)

It all started with the Gunslinger Arc, a short spur-of-the-moment RP based on Gunslinger Girl, in which the Le twins first made their debut. Ramiel was originally conceived as a mechanical genius, stuck up, arrogant, and believed she was entitled to more than others. It was from there that Reg (Yes, you) shaped her into a more antagonistic character, with his comments (made through characters) about her. I'm... er.. not so sure how she turned out to be such a violent person though; some review of the logs is needed. But Mac Rayner* (a grown man in the FBI) did say she sent a chill down his spine. And there was much speculation about the twins taking over the financial world. I think this is where her decline into psychopathy started in development.

It was from there that we entered into Les Enfants Terribles, after we decided to see what went on in the twins' lives at school. More commentary by Reg established Ramiel's personality.

While speculating he mentioned that a crowd would part for her like the Red Sea.
While Ramiel was TAing in the freshmen physics class, a random boy* wet his pants upon confrontation.

All in all, it was firmly stated that Ramiel was someone to be feared.

Close to the end of season one we have this comment by Tendou Shouji after she stabbed him through the hand on their first and only date:

"You only want to cause pain and dominate." (or something like that)

So thus we have Ramiel's backstory - here's how it goes: Ramiel and Jonah Le were the highly priveleged children of Balthazar Le* (a wealthy businessman) and Dr. Mai Vinh (a renowned biomechanical engineer, responsible for much of the technology behind the GunSlinger Project in our canon). Jonah* comments that she was 'much nicer' when she was young (in Season 2). And although she certainly was, she was honest but very tactless, which resulted in a degree of social awkwardness which caused her loneliness through most of her childhood. Mai, although somewhat caring in the twins' early childhood, also had a mental disorder which would lead to psychotic episodes at times. Over time she started treating her children very coldly and even violently at times. After driving her husband out of the house, the twins' situation worsened. Ramiel became quiet and withdrawn, harboring deeper feelings of resentment towards her mother until she started retaliating. (Unfortunately she had inherited her mother's mental illness, which had slowly started surfacing throughout her late childhood into adolescence. Combined with the trauma she endured, the result could not be a sane person at all) Her main outlook on the world is misanthropic and typically defends her own self by stepping on other people.

She and Jonah moved out when they were 15, by the way.

Basically, she's a psycho. She gains pleasure in having power over people and even hurting them. The concepts of sorrow, pity, and love are confusing and alien to her, when applied to people at least (but she does love her brother, however controlling she is of him).

The twins talk about their parents in Season 3. Ramiel says she doesn't miss her mother at all. When she brings up their dad (who she really does miss), Jonah shrugs and says, "He left us first."

And at in Season 3, Momonji Hidama*, Tendou's cousin, develops a crush on her after seeing her on a TIME cover. Not important now but it will be mentioned again later.

We enter Season 4 and things start getting hairy. In an opening episode which was mainly a lot of fanservice (but you don't have to know about that) at the hands of Shun Akuma*, Ramiel jumps in to save her brother, fights with Shun, and attempts to murder him (by harakiri basically, and strangling him with his own intestines - Wiki was inspiring for that). She doesn't bat an eye at this, despite Tendou's protests. Shun seemed to enjoy it, apparently, and survived, running free to give us our plot and with an infatuation with Ramiel. Because... he likes that sort of love.

Yeah.

Sometime between Seasons 3 and 4, I mentioned Ramiel's inner child (after learning of Jonah's whoriness as a search for affection that he never received at home.. or was it before that?) was mainly scared and angry at the world.

But back to Season 4 was when Reg's attempt to reform Ramiel started, with Jonah saying to himself: "What happened to my sweet, sweet sister?"

Balthazar also paid a visit to his ex-wife this season. During the conversation he proudly stated that Ramiel was "cocky, always wanting to be better than her teachers," in response to Mai telling him that Ramiel was having trouble in English again. (Literature is not her forte - she gets frustrated with trying to unravel characters' motives due to her inability to empathize)

Sometime later, Mr. Le calls his children apologizing for his absence (forced by a strict restraining order that Mai filed against him) and offering to make it up to the two. Ramiel turns him down, having written him out of her life a long time ago, much to Jonah's disappointment.

Ramiel ended up in the hospital after getting beat by Shun and wakes up to see Momonji Shouji standing over her bed with some roses. She tears them up and hits him with them. He claims, enamored, "You're the coldest, most heartless lady I've ever met... will you go out with me?" and refuses to leave until she accepts. Or rather, until Jonah showed up.

After having captured Sou* and Dominique Lysander (two antagonists in league with Shun), Ramiel leaves to get an upgrade for the twins' rider systems. Jonah learns from Niqo that Shun is after Ramiel. He quickly tells her to warn her of this and for advice, he says, "Show him a little kindness... He likes you, the evil you." He follows her and they end up at their mothers' house. Ramiel enters to search for plans she left at home when they moved out, with Jonah following and reminiscing fondly. The two leave and find Balthazar in the hallway. Ramiel refuses her father's affections again and heads home ahead of Jonah.

Shocker (our antagonistic organization... yay) breaks into the twins' house to rescue Sou and Niqo and the twins find the house in a shambles. Balthazar shows up (again XD) apparently having followed them and upon hearing that the house was broken into, shows concern over his daughter's condition. She says she's fine and tells him to leave, which he does.

Learning that their mother is a member of Shocker, the twins investigate by hacking into the organization's mainframe after moving house. They find a video from the Gunslinger Project which disturbs Jonah but fascinates Ramiel. Also the thought of crashing their entire system highly amuses her.

Trivia: The twins make their money by selling flawed blueprints for high prices and selling subsequent 'updates.' One of Ramiel's products is anti-virus software, which she renders obsolete by writing her own viruses.

After that they go to sleep and lightly discuss Momo's affections.

Sometime later, Ramiel and Tendou run into each other at the hardware store. After some he discussion, he er... practically kidnaps her... and takes her to her mother's house, promising that she'll "have a revalation tonight." They hang out in Ramiel's old room. He recognizes Ramiel's mother as the one who led his father to his death, describing her as a cold and heartless person. He vehemently expresses concern that Ramiel is becoming her mother (whom she hates with a vengeance). Ramiel ignores this or else, the irony was lost on her. He does find some old photos in Rami's room of her as child, which sort of sheds some light on the happy person she once was. Ramiel leaves, he follows, and their mother shows up. And before I get a chance to do more with Mai, Balthazar showed up as well.

Balthazar: what do you want from me ? how can i make things right ?
Tendou: you cant. not with this one, she's become too much like her heartless mother to feel sorrow, pity, love, or joy for anyone or any thing, she's completely hollow
Ramiel: I want nothing of you. You can't fix anything.
Tendou: just as predicted, you're so conceeded you dont even realize when your parent loves you.
Ramiel: There was once a time I needed it... but I can't remember it now.
Tendou: [turns Ramiel around and slaps her right in the face]
Ramiel: Ahh!! What was that for?!
Tendou: stop it! enough is enough, its reaching the point to where its rediculous. you may have been hurt in the past, and you may have felt abandoned. but you cant live in that single moment forever, you need to move on or else you're going to be trapped in an infinite loop of self pity and doubt
Ramiel: Well how can I expect to MOVE ON if you all just keep pushing it back at me?!
Tendou: don't worry about US and worry about YOU for a change.
Ramiel: What is there to worry about? I feel perfectly fine.
Tendou: do you? [staring into her eyes as if he's siphoning the truth to the surface]
Ramiel: *breaks the gaze* Yes
Tendou: look at me. and tell me the truth.
Ramiel: *walks downstairs in open defiance*
Tendou: [grabs her arm] this doesn't end here. your facade ends tonight. if any of us are to survive this, we need you. the REAL you

Ramiel says she would laugh if they died, and Tendou decides to test her by jumping off the staircase railing. Disappointed, they leave.



SO. This brings me to my little predicament! What do I do with Ramiel? D: Should I make her turn? Or should I let her stay the way she is? Who is the 'real' Ramiel anyways?

The mental damage done on Ramiel has been deep. It's lasting. It's not going to change any time soon. If I did have her change it would have to be very subtle to avoid any cheesy '*huge life changing event makes personality go 180*' stuff. It's not just the way she sees the world, she really is sick in the head. Such a change wouldn't be normal.

And second of all, I don't know how she would be if she were good anyways.

The best thing I can really come up with is her being slightly more open while still retaining a rather sick sense of humor. You know, that finds disembowelment amusing.

And... why must you play my characters, Reg?

Another difficulty for me in playing Ramiel is that I'm not very inclined to be antagonistic... which is Reg's reason for reforming our fallen angel. So is it obvious that I try too hard?