Suenami Aoi

*Suenami Aoi*, also known as *Mist*, is a major character in Seaside (primarily attached to Seaside Rumble). One of the adopted daughters of Suenami Midori and Nakadai Ginko, Aoi possesses an impressive natural affinity for spiritual powers, and often operates as a direct agent and troubleshooter for Midori, dispatched to put out fires before they can grow too large.

## Personality

Although she has a side to her that is kind and prone to teasing, Aoi is defined by her impenetrable calm - it's hard to tell what she's thinking and even harder to get a rise out of her. She has a strong sense of duty, often to the point that it overrides what people might consider moralistic behaviour. She prizes logic over emotion and prefers not to leap before she looks, which can rub people the wrong way. While she's capable of remaining at peace for long periods, forced rest makes her frustrated and catty.

Aoi has a particular fondness for water and seems largely immune to its temperature, and could often be found wading in the ocean at night. Unlike Midori, however, she has no particular interest in any kind of board sport. She generally hated wearing footwear (if pressed, she would arrive in *tabi* or *jikatabi*) and didn't like to be touched by most people.

In spite of a long-term relationship with Lord, Aoi ultimately developed a much healthier relationship with Kerath Shadowstar.

## Biography

### pre-Discord

A prototype Aoi appeared in a pre-Discord RP set at a Duel Academy. This version of the character was somewhat more spiritual; that RP also introduced a prototype Lord, who developed a relationship with Aoi but was not at that point connected to Midori. She would only refer to Midori (and by extension Nagi) as 'a monster', a characterization that was later passed on to Suenami Ryuko.

### Seaside Rumble 1

Aoi arrived after Ryuko contracted with ViiBaCi, initially introduced as a Ritual-using Blue student; she struck up a friendship with the mute student Shabe Tenai. She spent most of this time working behind the scenes, and ended up becoming Vii's host for a period, although the situation was less than tenable, as Aoi was largely able to prevent Vii from striking out on her own and, in turn, Vii witheld any of the benefits Aoi might have received from their union.

### Seaside Ride 1

Aoi played with Lord and Midori on Team Lily Garden during the Vanguard tournament, in part so that she could look for more information on Shabe's situation, as the girl had (unbeknownst to Aoi) been kidnapped by the Flowers; despite a decisive win against Shabe, she was defeated by Ameno Sora and, along with Lord's own loss, her team was knocked out of the tournament, arguably contributing to Sol=Firle successfully breaking Loptr's seal.

### Seaside Rumble 2

Aoi began a relationship with Kerath Shadowstar when he asked her to retrieve Maya's deck for him, after Suenami Midori recovered her body; the two of them were able to be unusually candid with one another, leading to an odd friendship; Aoi also sought his advice on writing a Dear John for Maya's parents. Kerath being briefly contacted by Ec Tisia also served as the vector by which she found out that Ryuko was still alive - her body, at least - and possessed by Vii. Kerath was also the first of the Raiders to hear Aoi laugh (and the first to make her laugh, actually).

Aoi entered the Scar alone in search of Ryuko, possessed by both fragments of ViiBaCi and Azure Gorgon; although she lost the resultant duel and was heavily injured, her mental resistance allowed her to escape possession or mental pollution - although the amalgamate entity wounded her by trying to use parts of her body to 'replace' what it felt it was missing. She sought shelter from Kerath afterwards, citing that Lord would be unlikely to look for her there... although she unfortunately did, resulting in the two airing a *lot* of dirty laundry right in front of him. She ended up relying on Kerath to organize a hired gun to take on the possessed Ryuko (in the form of Griffin Talon).

Despite being wounded, Aoi arrived to rescue Spira from a Loptr-possessed student, although the effort was completely exhausting. She also rather indefensibly encouraged Tilia when they were threatening to commit suicide.

After recovering, Aoi privately visited Kerath on his birthday for birthday sex, apparently as a thank you for his helping her out (and resulting in his effective expulsion by a jealous Lord). Lord proceeded to ghost Aoi while they were fighting, leaving her to abandon that tack and instead set out with Kerath and Griffin on another expedition to the Scar. Anticipating that XaaCi would appear and interfere with them, Aoi engaged her to keep her away from the possessed Ryuko, allowing Griffin to take her on instead. She successfully froze XaaCi out until Griffin could defeat the amalgamate entity, allowing them to separate Talon's corpse parts from Ryuko's body, although Ryuko was left comatose and heavily injured as a result.

Shortly thereafter, Aoi confronted Lord in her rooms and had a blazing fight with her about their relationship, culminating in Aoi's realization that Lord's sudden antagonism towards Kerath was because she was concerned Aoi would end up dead if she associated with him.

Aoi also delivered Azure to the remainder of Talon's parts, allowing her to become complete - although the psychic lashback knocked her out for some time, which Aoi asked the others to keep from Yamato Nao to avoid panicking her. She professed that while Ryuko was stable, she was comatose with no signs of recovery, and so Aoi refused to become hopeful about her chances of recovery.

When NoNoN attacked Jas Larimer, Aoi attempted to intervene - even chasing NoNoN as far out to sea as she could - but was unable to prevent Jas from being turned into one of Loptr's Leftovers, and ended up retreating with Amber (who was fairly traumatized by what she witnessed).

Despite not showing much of it outwardly, Aoi was quite happy when Ryuko finally awoke and the two were 'happily reunited' (according to Kerath).

When Loptr again broke free of her seal, Aoi hatched a plan with Schneider and Rebecca Hopkins for taking her down, using components from a Rising Danger Duel Disk, Schneider's Duel Armor, and Aoi's own blood to print new cards for her - the Celestial Necloths, designed as power amplifiers for her innate abilities. Despite being forced into a game with Lord to prove that she was ready to fight, after losing their first duel, Aoi proceeded to swiftly defeat her twice in a row, forcing Lord to let her go out to help. She was also briefly reunited with Shabe, although Aoi held concerns that the girl had been brainwashed by the Flowers, and promised that she'd help her - but first, she had to save Midori, who was fighting Loptr directly. She also asked Kerath to interfere with anyone who attempted to prevent her from reaching Loptr - most probably Sol=Firle.

Despite a strong start against Loptr, the Devourer's special abilities proved overwhelming even to Aoi's new cards, along with the resonance effect she was using as a power booster beginning to seriously damage her body. When Loptr won and attempted to seal the deal, with her Purpose as the Devourer on full display, however, Midori struck, using her own ability to 'break' Loptr's Purpose, ending the Devourer's threat - exactly as Aoi had anticipated when she challenged the Devourer, gambling the entire world as her ante.

### Seaside Ride 2

Aoi met Charlotte - Lord's counterpart from the Flower's future - and was rather less than impressed with her, pointing out that she's not really the same person as the Lord that Aoi knows.

Aoi didn't participate in playing Buddyfight very much; she spent most of this period working with Shabe to undo her programming at the hands of the Flowers.She also reaffirmed her relationship with Lord (putting a halt to Shabe's affections in the process).

When the Angels initially appeared, Aoi (correctly) theorized that some of them were humans who had been 'uplifted' (or in her words, corrupted).

### Seaside Rumble 3

Aoi was one of the students who found Rebecca's empty shell after she was attacked by the Angel-possessed Tenjouin Asuka.

She later confronted Kerath after deducing that he had been influenced by the Negative Numbers, and was able to purify him of their influence, although she had to use her Celestial Necloths to do it and was sufficiently banged up that when Kerath delivered her to Lord, the Headmaster nearly shot him. That said, the two rekindled their relationship to an extent, even briefly including Amber in a tryst... leading to Lord admitting that she'd seriously hooked up with Midori, causing Aoi to unceremoniously break up with her on the spot (sort of).

When she had time during this period, Aoi worked with Azure Talon to help her master her new powers, teaching her the same control and moderation that she'd learned.

When Midori ambushed the brainwashed Lord and Asuka, Aoi went with her to engage the latter, defeating and purifying her offscreen while Midori dueled Lord.

Aoi and Kerath suggested that after he graduated, they should travel together as part of Aoi's troubleshooting work, which she slowly warmed up to.

Aoi survived the Last Trial, although what happened to her in the reset timeline was never mentioned.

## Abilities

Like Midori, Aoi also trained in self-defense, but she's much worse at it than either of her mothers or Ryuko, and generally preferred to leave physical conflict to others. Unlike Midori, Aoi took to Vanguard immediately, and only picked up Duel Monsters later, under Lord's guidance.

Aoi is seemingly immune to freezing water, wading and swimming even at night without proper protection or complaint.

### PSYQualia

Aoi was born with a natural affinity for PSYQualia, and Midori was of the belief that Aoi could eventually surpass her own unnatural abilities. Unlike Midori, Aoi was quite capable of restraining or applying her power seemingly at will, and part of that involved the cultivation of an iron will that allowed her to contain Vii's fragmented state within her own mind during the brief period they were bonded together.

During Rumble 2's climax, Rebecca created for Aoi a new set of cards and a new duel disk which, when used in tandem, would amplify Aoi's natural abilities. Unfortunately, this artificial amplification also resulted in lashback on Aoi's body, damaging and exhausting her.

## Relationships

### Suenami Midori

Aoi was closer to Midori than Ryuko was, and Midori treated Aoi more as an equal than a child in turn, relying on her as a troubleshooter for more serious work. Aoi was given free reign in most of Midori's projects and plans. Despite this, Aoi also referred to Midori as a monster, given her incredible power, and encouraged Azure Talon to avoid becoming the same kind of creature.

### Nakadai Ginko

Ginko was Aoi's tutor for her powers during her youth, helping her to refine her PSYQualia with more technique than Midori's pure power approach could offer, and her quiet, dour personality rubbed off on Aoi in turn. In spite of that, the two of them weren't particularly close, and Aoi and Ginko barely spoke during Seaside's run.

### Suenami Ryuko

Aoi and Ryuko are siblings by adoption. While Ryuko tended to be very shy towards Aoi and felt that she wasn't particularly useful, Aoi adored her and loved spending time with her, although she wasn't always the best at getting those feelings across. Although she didn't show it, Aoi was quietly devastated when Ryuko was presumed dead, and then rendered comatose; in the latter instance, she said she didn't want to get her hopes up for Ryuko to wake up only for them to be dashed.

### Charlotte Desirae Lord

Lord and Aoi were initially in a fairly toxic romantic and sexual relationship, with Lord using Aoi as a stand-in for her mother and Aoi seemingly not considering their relationship much more than a fling. Despite that, Aoi did care for her like family - although she unceremoniously and permanently dumped Lord when she revealed that she'd started a serious relationship with Midori. Lord, in turn, tended to be extremely overprotective to Aoi (and to an extent Ryuko), actively attempting to remove anyone she perceived as a threat (either to Aoi, or Lord's relationship with her).

Lord is also the person who taught Aoi to play Duel Monsters, and Aoi's preference for Ritual cards was inherited from her.

### Shabe Tenai

Aoi developed a friendship with the mute girl shortly after her arrival, especially once she revealed that she could sign. When Shabe was kidnapped, Aoi made it a point to try and rescue her, and spent a significant amount of time after her rescue working her through breaking the programming the Flowers had put her through. Shabe developed a romantic attraction to her, but Aoi firmly (but kindly) rejected her advances.

### Azure Talon

Aoi helped Azure with mastering her new powers after her body change, as well as assisting with her physical rehab when she could. The two weren't necessarily close, but did maintain a friendly attitude towards one another.

### Kerath Shadowstar

Aoi found a surprisingly kindred spirit in Kerath, seeking his advice and using him as sanctuary more than once. She ultimately began a sexual relationship with him that eventually became romantic, and she warmed to the idea of taking him on as a troubleshooting partner after graduation. In the reset timeline, because Aoi remained in a relationship with Lord, they presumably didn't steady on, although Aoi's actions after the Universal Reset were not revealed.

## Decks

During Seaside Ride's Vanguard tournament, Aoi played a Ripple-based Aqua Force deck, with some indication that this was her weapon of choice.

Otherwise, she played a Ritual deck, first playing Necloths and then changing to the Celestial Necloths created by Rebecca exclusively for her use. She played very sparingly, however, and only used the latter twice on-screen. Aoi's preference for Ritual cards is due to Lord teaching her to play Duel Monsters.