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synodiporia_ooc2014-01-27 01:49 pm
powersthatbe) wrote in synodiporia_ooc2014-01-27 01:49 pm
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chizuru yukimura | hakuouki
NAME: Jelle
AGE: 21
PLAYER JOURNAL:
TIMEZONE: GMT+1
CONTACT: queeningsquare[at]gmail[dot]com,
OTHER CHARACTERS PLAYED: n/a
C H A R A C T E R;
NAME: Chizuru Yukimura
CANON: Hakuouki
POINT IN CANON: Chapter 9 of Hijikata's route in the game after he confesses.
AGE: 22
APPEARANCE: The outfit on the top left! She's supposed to be disguised as a boy, but even in canon it's not terribly convincing, especially when she opens her mouth, so I wouldn't blame people for not falling for it at all. In her demon form her hair is white, her eyes yellow/golden and she grows a set of horns on her head like so.
no subject
As far as Chizuru used to know, she's lived in Edo in nineteenth century Japan with her father all her life. During the series it's revealed to her though that she used to live with the eastern demon clan - the Yukimura - in a village before it was destroyed by humans. Only Chizuru and her twin brother Kaoru managed to escape the slaughter of the clan, but were seperated slowly after. Kaoru was taken in by the Nagumo family while Chizuru was taken in by the half demon Kodo Yukimura. Over time Chizuru forgot all about those times, the fact that she's a demon and her twin brother since she was still so young when it all went down and Kodo just told her that he was her father. So instead Chizuru grew up normally among humans from that point on, often taking care of the house since her "father" was a doctor who often left her there by herself while she tended to the house and waited for him to come back.
Until one time he didn't come back. Chizuru, of course worried by this development, disguised herself (unconvincingly) as a boy and set out to find her father who had gone to Kyoto. She managed to immediately run into a group of ronin (warriors who don't belong to any specific domain) and was cornered by them until the ronin were killed by others. Not that this development improved her situation by a whole lot, since her "saviors" didn't seem to be all there. They were laughing wildly while covered in blood, their hairs white as snow and their eyes glowing red. Chizuru was however saved a second time by a group of men from the Shinsengumi - an organization who served the shogunate and kept the peace in Kyoto. They took down the white-haired men, but since Chizuru had seen it all go down she was a liability to the group. After all, the white-haired warriors were actually rasetsu, a kind of vampire-like people with enhanced strength who have urges to drink blood and practically go crazy because of it, and the fact that the Shinsengumi were experimenting with these kind of warriors on orders of the shogunate was supposed to be kept a secret. It's why the three men - Toshizou Hijikata, Hajime Saitou and Souji Okita - decided to take Chizuru with them to their headquarters to find out just how much she had seen.
While she was interrogated there they however found out that she wasn't a boy and that she had come to Kyoto in search of her father - the exact same father who had just happened to help the Shinsengumi with the rasetsu experiments and had recently gone missing. For this reason the group decided to not have Chizuru killed but instead keep them with them so she could help them look for Kodo.
Although she was nothing more than a definite outsider at first, the girl started growing closer to the members of the group (mostly the captains since she couldn't really interact with the rank and file soldiers) over time. And in turn Chizuru only felt more indebted towards the people who had kept her alive, keep her fed and gave her shelter and who she talked with and slowly became more and more friendly with. She tried to do more and more her best to help them out whenever she could, even helping in key battles like the incident with the Ikedaya inn, where she ran across town just to be able to deliver a message to Hijikata. No matter whether it were big things like that she could do or small things like making tea, she just did her utmost best to try and help the group out. And although the captains tried to keep the information about the white-haired men she had seen on her first day in Kyoto a secret from her at first, eventually Chizuru found out about that as well.
But that wasn't the only thing she found out about. The Shinsengumi started repeatedly running into a man called Chikage Kazama who claimed to be a demon - and who claimed Chizuru was a pureblooded demon as well, which came like a complete surprise to her since she didn't remember anything about the early years of her life. Moreover, Kazama wanted to claim Chizuru as his wife since female demons with pure blood were so rare, and it was only the Shinsengumi's protection that prevented her from practically being kidnapped by him straight away.
The conflict with Kazama reached a climax while the Shinsengumi were trying to protect the magistrate's office at Toba-Fushimi. Chizuru went with Inoue to get reinforcements since it was practically an impossible battle for the Shinsengumi who were up against much more modern warfare like guns and cannons, but on the way they instead ran into Kazama. Inoue tried to fight him but was instead - to Chizuru's horror - killed by the demon, but just as Chizuru was about to try and fight him herself Hijikata stepped in to protect her. It's practically impossible for any human to actually stand a good chance against a skilled demon in a fight though, so the whole thing led to Hijikata taking the ochimizu (water of life) that would change a human into a rasetsu so he would actually stand a chance against the demon. However, it was still not entirely enough, and Yamazaki took a killing blow in Hijikata's place to protect the man before the battle ended without a victor.
Chizuru was crushed by the sadness over the deaths and the guilt of Inoue having died protecting her and Hijikata having thrown his life away by taking the ochimizu to protect her, but they still had to keep moving on. The girl travelled along with the rest of the Shinsengumi only to see them lose more and more of their numbers, including Kondou who surrendered and sacrificed himself to save Hijikata. Since Kondou and Hijikata were so close it was a huge blow to the latter, but Chizuru still tried to do all she could to be there for Hijikata and console him, telling him to not blame himself over Kondou's death, even if it was mostly fruitless. But that didn't mean that the girl gave up in the slightest - she remained at the man's side, trying to take care of him and even letting him drink her blood whenever his bloodlust as a rasetsu would play up.
But even so, circumstances just seemed to get worse and worse. Okita died fighting after having been sick for so long, Saitou decided to stay behind to fight an impossible battle and both Sannan and Heisuke used up all of their life span as rasetsu and turned to dust. Even Chizuru's own father died when they found him again at the castle in Sendai - he had been making a group of improved rasetsu there just so he could restore Chizuru's clan again to its former glory, but in the end all the rasetsu were wiped out and Kodo himself died while protecting Chizuru.
Even though the Shinsengumi had been such a big and bustling group before, it was practically down to just Hijikata and Chizuru at this point. Not to mention that the soldiers that were left fighting on the side of the shogunate were practically pushed more and more into a corner to a point where it was obvious they were just going to lose the war. But Hijikata didn't stop fighting and so Chizuru didn't stop following him where he'd go - until Hijikata himself told her to stop. Even though she tried to plead with him, he told her to not come with him to Ezo and left her behind alone on the mainland. Thanks to a little help from Ootori and her own stubbornness though, Chizuru was able to make it to Ezo all the same later and meet up with Hijikata again, refusing to leave him alone this time. And it's with that action that Hijikata gives up his own stubbornness and tells her that he needs her and wants her to stay with him - that he's in love with her.
no subject
Chizuru is also a really kind person. She's the type of person who absolutely believes in the good in other people no matter what, sometimes taking her idealism a little too far to the point where it becomes a fault. Humans have destroyed her clan (even though Chizuru doesn't remember it) but even so Chizuru doesn't hate humans even for a moment. She absolutely believes in them, and every single time Kazama talks to her and tries to convince her that humans are scum after all, she doesn't listen to him and instead says that she believes in humans and that they're good. Even with all the battles and cruelties she sees, Chizuru doesn't let go of this view of the world. However, when this idealism is taken too far it turns into naivity - and calling her naive certainly wouldn't be far off the mark. Chizuru can be incredibly gullible at times, a fact some of the characters in the series like to abuse in order to be able to easily tease her since she tends to take things at face value without realising the other person is just teasing. (The fact that she's gullible also really, really works against her a few times in the story, for example when Kaoru tells her in Okita's route that her blood won't drive rasetsu crazy and she believes him and gives Okita her blood only for Kaoru to later reveal that he was lying all along.) The teasing thing also shows another thing about Chizuru: the fact that she's really open with her emotions. Chizuru's not very good at hiding her feelings even when she tries, most of her feelings just show straight up on her face. Whenever she's happy she smiles, whenever she's sad she's quick to cry, whenever she's scared other people notice and when she's teased, her jaw will drop open and her eyes will widen and she'll stammer something, if not just downright blush from embarassment. When it comes to what she's feeling, Chizuru is an open book.
To call Chizuru meek because of all of this might be going a little too far though. She might not be much of a warrior and is very idealistic, but under the right circumstances she can also be incredibly stubborn or incredibly brave. Most of these circumstances have to do with other people. Chizuru is very, very loyal to the people she cares about and would do practically anything just to be able to see them happy (as evidenced by the fact that she's pretty much every guy's emotional crutch in their respective routes). She has an incredibly big heart and cares almost too much, to a point where she will even try to stand up to Kazama, a demon not even the skilled captains of the Shinsengumi could beat, despite the odds just to try and be able to save Inoue from death. It doesn't mean she's necessarily as brave as the actual warriors of the Shinsengumi since she for example notes in Hijikata's route that after offering to protect Kondou in the upcoming battle she did feel nervous and scared about whether she'd be able to protect him or not and what would happen. But she does try really hard and can show some real bravery from time to time despite the fact that she's not exactly a warrior like most people in the series are.
And when it comes to the people she cares about, Chizuru can also suddenly become really stubborn. A lot of the time when the captains tell her to run and save herself during a battle while they keep on fighting, she refuses to go and leave them alone and instead stays there, even if it might be more dangerous for her. In Chizuru's mind the wellbeing of the people she cares about comes before her own and she doesn't shy away from being stubborn about that fact. This probably also stems from something Hijikata tells her fairly early on in the game. When Chizuru tells him that she wants to continue to help the Shinsengumi and begs him to let her stay and help them and even bows, he asks her if she thinks that what she's doing is right to which she replies she does. Then he proceeds to tell her: "Then don't bow so easily. You believe you're right. Why should you bow if you think you're right? If you believe something, then don't ever bow or yield. Hold your head high and walk tall. You won't win if you don't keep your eyes on the prize." This is ultimately mirrored in the result near the end of Hijikata's route - he tries to stubbornly keep Chizuru away from him so she may live (according to him) a happy and normal life instead of being stuck with him, but after a little while she follows him all the same and refuses to back down when he tells her to leave again, standing her ground even when he seemingly gets angry with her. ("I'll come back as many times as I have to! I won't stop until you approve it!")
At the same time, her loyalty to other people and her dedication to helping them also leads into one of her major weaknesses. Chizuru is a person who actually has a lot of doubts, mostly about herself. Sometimes it's about more specific things, like how in Sano's route she worries about the fact that she's a demon and he would probably want a normal human wife instead of something like her, but in general her biggest doubt is about how helpful she can be to the people around her. Whenever she can't do a thing to help her friends, Chizuru immediately gets down and can't stop thinking about it, feeling completely useless. She often has internal monologue where she feels bad that she can't fight to help the Shinsengumi even though she is actually useful to them in a lot of other ways - but Chizuru tends to be blind to those when she's confronted with one thing she can't help with. Whenever she feels the most helpless is when she actually becomes so desperate that she begs just to be allowed to help out-- "I'm sick and tired of always being protected! I want to help out, please..." One of the moments where her sense of helplessness is the greatest is in Hijikata's route after Kondou dies. Even though Chizuru does clearly try to help console Hijikata, she realises it's impossible for her to do so and immediately blames herself for it. ("Why did words feel so powerless when I needed them most? What good were they if I couldn't comfort someone I cared for when they needed it most?") Therefore in the end, the easiest way to hurt Chizuru would be to hurt the people close to her. This is something Kaoru realises about her as well, since he goes after Okita in Okita's route instead of directly just after Chizuru since he knows that if he hurts Okita or makes him turn into a rasetsu for her sake, Chizuru will generally feel horrible about it and blame herself on top of it.
Her dedication to helping other people out also has the side effect that she tends to forget that maybe sometimes she should be thinking about herself as well. This tends to show a lot in her relationship with the various guys in the series, since she thinks of their happiness more than her own - until the very end, where she finally realises that what she wants is being with them too. Although this is present in most of the routes it's by far the most apparent in Sano's where he actually tells her that she's always so worried about other people that she doesn't see what's in front of her - what she feels and what she wants. But in Hijikata's route it's also very much present with the way Hijikata constantly tries to push Chizuru to go and leave the Shinsengumi so she can go live a happy and normal life somewhere. In the end she doesn't let him push her away anymore as described above though, since she's finally thinking of what she wants too and that's to be together with him.
POINT OF DEPARTURE: n/a
ABILITIES: Although it might not exactly be apparent at first sight, Chizuru is actually a full-blood demon. She usually looks just like a human although technically she could assume a more demon-like form with white hair, yellow eyes and horns although she likely doesn't have enough awareness or control over her powers to consciously do this. The only time it happens in canon, in fact, is when she's turned into a fury and is forced into that form out of bloodlust - but since she normally doesn't have that problem, she's hardly ever, if at all, in her demon form.
The fact that she's a demon means she does have special abilities though. She might not have the enhanced strength and combat abilities that the other demons and the furies have, but this mostly stems from the fact that Chizuru doesn't have any real combat skills beyond some very basic sword fighting skills to defend herself to begin with. But she does demonstrate some other demon abilities - most notably her special kind of healing. Instead of tiny wounds taking a long time to heal like they would for most people, hers heal virtually instantly, a fact she tries to hide as much as she can. Bigger wounds take some more time to heal but they do heal relatively quickly - when her arm is injured badly, enough to make it permanently damaged for any normal human, it just heals overnight. This is also why Chizuru wouldn't be able to be killed through any normal means (she even offers to be a bullet shield at times since she knows she can't be killed as easily) and needs to be decapitated or stabbed through the heart to die.
Chizuru also demonstrates some other demon abilities from time to time, like the one time where she actually manages to dodge bullets since she suddenly can envision them going really slowly, but it's unlikely that she can use these powers consciously. Or rather, she just doesn't know how to use them consciously, so it's more that they might play up in a life or death situation if it would come down to it. In the end the healing is her one major ability.
INVENTORY; The clothes she's wearing and her kodachi (a short sword).
ANYTHING ELSE WE SHOULD KNOW? Nothing I can think of!
no subject
FIRST PERSON: ( just for context's sake, this is an old sample I wrote for another game! )
[ Everything about this place was.. well, strange. For one, it wasn't Japan, and it wasn't as if Chizuru had ever travelled outside of the country to begin with when she was back home. Secondly, it didn't really seem like her own time. With all the inventions she could hardly keep up with (modern heating and lighting, for one, not to mention the communication devices which turned out to be a complete disaster for the first few weeks) it was all pretty daunting on the girl.
But even so.. she wasn't one to let it get her down. Life is about seeing the good in everything that happens, even being dragged to a place such as this. It's why Chizuru, finally having learned how to use the communication device - more or less, at least - smiles at the screen. ]
Um.. good day, everyone. [ She even bows her head a little.. sorry, this is the kind of culture she's used to. ] I was wondering if maybe someone wanted to come over and drink some tea. I think it's really fascinating how all these people from different kinds of places are gathered here.. even if it's a little confusing too. [ Judging from the sheepishness that crawls into her tone and smile at that, it's more than just "a little" confusing. But she wouldn't want anyone to worry. ]
So I thought it would be nice if we could exchange stories and get to know each other better as long as we're here. There's probably a lot of things we can learn from each other that way. And I don't think there's a better way to discuss it than over tea.. at least, that's what we did back home.
[ No, really. She's been making so much tea at home all the time that she can hardly envision a world without it.. ]
I'll take care of the tea, so you don't have to do anything, I promise! Just tell me when you want to come over so we won't be stuck with a lot of people.. but even if it does end up that way, I'll try my best. Maybe everyone will just have a little less then.. [ She giggles, perhaps a tad awkwardly but still genuinely. ] I'm looking forward to meeting you and hearing a lot of things.
( There's also a musebox thread I have done here, in case you'd like to see more. )
THIRD PERSON: ( an old sample based on an earlier canon point, but personality-wise it practically doesn't make much of a difference in this scenario so it still works fine. )
"Ah, please enjoy it..!"
With a bow the girl made sure to slide the door shut again after she brought the tea inside. That was all she came to this room for, after all - they were having serious talks, the kinds that were deemed to be none of her business. And she didn't want to snoop in on it either way, not when they were kind enough to let her stay around even now. Thinking about it, it really had been quite some time since she first came here, and it really came with a change of attitude from their ends too, huh? The first time she came here was more than just slightly frightening, she had been so convinced that they were going to kill her that it was a change of light and day compared to nowadays when she would be able to strike up friendly chats with most of the captains. Sure, sometimes she was still brushed aside, but all of this was already more than she could have expected to begin with.
In fact, in a weird way it was almost like.. well, home. Ever since her father left her actual home had grown so quiet after all that it hardly felt like a home anymore all by herself. But here there were always people around, people talking and laughing and just.. living. A lively place, that was maybe a good word for the headquarters of the Shinsengumi. But Chizuru enjoyed it with all her might, and anyone who was friendly to her got a smile and a bow from her in return, sometimes even coupled with a small chat. It made carrying tea around pretty pleasant walks throughout the hallways.
Sure, at times she really did wish she could just do more than only bring tea around. That she could help them out more in exchange for their kindness, somehow. But the only thing they needed was warriors and that was exactly the one thing Chizuru couldn't give them. After all, she wasn't a warrior in the slightest, there was no way her basic techniques could live up to their level, it was only good to defend herself and even then it wasn't always enough against advanced opponents. Not to mention she didn't really want to fight because of her ability - which she found out was more than just some oddity and was actually because she was a demon. That relevation actually made her even more relunctant to fight in case that ability would be shown off. In all honesty, she'd prefer it if she would never have to be confronted with the fact that she's actually a demon ever again, but there was just no avoiding it.
Shoving those thoughts quickly to the back of her mind, Chizuru stood up with the empty tea cups she had been given in return, trying to balance them on the tray as she walked back across the headquarters. She managed to overlook a mat that stuck out a little though, and she ended up tripping over it with a squeak.
"A-.. ah!"
No, she couldn't fall, she would break all the cups..! She really didn't want it to happen, but then again, there was little the girl could do about it since she was already falling to begin with. There was no stopping it now. Chizuru shut her eyes closed in her panic, preparing for the worst, to hear the sound of the cups shattering..
.. But there was nothing. Instead she suddenly a strong arm around her, preventing her from falling, and when she looked up she saw Nagakura grinning at her, Heisuke trying to balance the cups by himself (being unused to it, he looked like he was having a hard time since he had to balance them without a tray after they fell and he caught them) and when she looked to the side, there was Harada who caught her in turn smiling at her and making a joke about how she really should be more careful from now on.
A little flustered from the certain contact, Chizuru's face flustered even as she tried to sputter out an apology in the middle of her surprise over the worst case scenario actually not happening. "T.. thank you! I-I really do promise I'll be more careful in the future!"
At just how embarassed she was, the three males let out a hearthy laugh. And honestly, their cheerfulness was contagious, since after Chizuru calmed down from her initial surprise, she slowly started giggling along as well.
.. Yes. It really did feel like home.
Re: chizuru yukimura | hakuouki