doumeki shizuka; app info
Character Information
In Character Information
character name: Shizuka Doumeki
canon source and the point from which they're taken: xxxHolic; from the end of chapter 185
character's age: none is canonly stated, but he's 17 or 18
canon powers, skills, pets and equipment:
non-superhuman: tournament archery with exceptional aim and concentration, knowledge of how to read Old Japanese, athletic and in good shape
superhuman: ability to exorcise spirits and supernatural creatures with malevolent intentions through use of chi arrows shot from his bow, ability to repel spirits and supernatural creatures with malevolent intentions naturally (without having to try), immunity to most curses and negative effects from other people, ability to see spirits (particularly when Watanuki is present), ability to see flashes of vision through Watanuki's right eye when Watanuki is particularly upset or emotionally disturbed
non-canon powers: I would like to alter Doumeki's exorcism ability a bit so that he's able to expel his exorcising chi projectiles through his skin rather than needing to rely on a bow to use them.
canon history: Doumeki was born in Japan on March 3, a little girls' celebration day, and taken home to a Buddhist shrine that his family lives in and runs. He was a bit of a weak child, whether this was emotionally or physically or both is never specified, but his grandfather, the high priest of the temple, corrected this through dressing the boy up in a girls' kimono - a rite that seems to have worked to toughen Doumeki up. Doumeki's grandfather, Haruka, was the strongest influence in his life until Haruka died when Doumeki was in 5th grade. Haruka had a similar set of abilities to the ones Doumeki has - he could exorcise spirits as well as see and converse with them, and he shared his vast treasure trove of knowledge about Japanese folklore and the spirit world with his grandson. Judging by Doumeki's traditional style of dress and his spoilt brat mentality, as well as how he speaks about his home, he had a stable, traditional, but very loving homelife, and was more attached to his grandfather than his parents.
Doumeki grew up into a pretty average high schooler. He was popular with the girls and other classmates, a member of the archery club and very important to his team in tournaments, a member of the student council, and at home he helped out with chores around the shrine. The only blips in this relatively normal school life were the death of his grandfather and the day he observed Kimihiro Watanuki standing in the rain, holding a dead animal and bemoaning the fact that he would die alone. This latter incident struck home with Doumeki, and though he didn't do anything at the time, it influenced his actions later on when Watanuki became more a part of his life.
Everything changed the day that Watanuki and his newfound (and more than a little crazy) boss, Yuuko the dimensional witch, asked to use a room at his shrine to tell 100 Ghost Stories. What should have been a simple double-date scenario became an encounter with the spirit world that almost resulted in Watanuki's death, and did result in Doumeki discovering his ability to exorcise spirits. From that point on, his fate was entwined with Watanuki's. Over the next while, he started assisting Watanuki with various supernatural incidents and 'missions' that Yuuko would send them on, things like guarding Watanuki while he investigated a haunted school or helping gather water from a well that had never touched pipes, all the while seeing the outcomes of various wishes that patrons of Yuuko's shop made, the results more often than not painful for the wisher.
A few of these incidents were particularly important to Doumeki's development as a character. The first was when Watanuki was tempted by a lonely ghost who sucked his energy when he was around her. Doumeki noticed the effects this spirit had on Watanuki and was forced to choose between risking being completely hated by Watanuki and the boy continuing to live - he chose to save Watanuki's life and destroy the spirit, one of the most difficult decisions he's made to date. Another was the incident of the spider, in which Doumeki inspired a spider's grudge and almost forfeit his right eye for it. When Watanuki tried to sacrifice his own right eye to save Doumeki, a series of events ended with Doumeki giving Watanuki half the 'spirit' of his right eye, as well as half the vision, and afterwards he started developing the ability to see spirits through Watanuki's eye. The next was when Watanuki fell from the second story of the high school with a pane of glass, a result of Himawari's bad luck, and Doumeki, along with Himawari and someone else, had to sacrifice to pay for a wish to save the boy's life, the first time Doumeki even considered asking for a wish, and the first time he was able to see Yuuko's shop.
His price was a significant amount of blood that was given to Watanuki, and after this the shared vision became stronger, with Doumeki being able to clearly see spirits. Recently, events in the manga have surrounded a young girl named Kohane with the ability to see spirits like Watanuki. Doumeki helped Watanuki to rescue the girl from an abusive homelife, and he has decided to offer her similar protection to what he gives Watanuki.
Most recently in his canon, he has been staying with Watanuki at Yuuko's shop while the boy adjusts to the fact that Yuuko is disappearing from the memories of everyone she interacted with - except for people with abilities associated with the spirit world - Himawari, who had a bird created from Yuuko's shop, Doumeki who could see and exorcise spirits, Kohane and the fortune teller she stayed with who were also cognisant of the spirit world, and Watanuki himself. After a vision in which Watanuki is told that Yuuko has passed on, Doumeki finds that the shop will stay put, and Watanuki makes the decision to stay in the shop despite the fact that he will no longer age and cannot leave, to take Yuuko's place until he can see her again. Doumeki, who had an egg meant to help Watanuki at a future point, realized he couldn't use the egg if that was Watanuki's choice, a decision that left him very perturbed and unhappy with the situation, aware that he would inevitably age and die while Watanuki remained trapped in the shop.
personality: Doumeki is a man of few words, and he expresses few emotions - a tall, stoic person almost to a fault. However, just because he's quiet and mostly unexpressive doesn't mean that's all there is to him...he just thinks it's a bit silly to throw everything out there in the open.
There's a lot of good about Doumeki. He's supportive, patient, tolerant, and can be extremely compassionate. After all, he does stick with Watanuki and protect him even though the boy says he hates him constantly. He has a very strong sense of himself, and his place in the world, and he doesn't let people tell him otherwise. He's also very hard-working, and doesn't take no for an answer. Even when he's told something is impossible, he'll keep on working at it, and tends to rely on his own hard work, knowledge, and ingenuity rather than using supernatural fixes or wishes as a crutch. He's also quite perceptive, and can get the feel of a situation, or intuit things about people in order to react to them, whether or not he says outright what's going on. For example, in his canon, he could tell that Himawari had some sort of bad luck or curse, and that his presence anulled it - instead of telling anyone he knew this, he simply inserted himself into private time between her and Watanuki to avoid the boy getting hurt. Also, he tends to see people as equals and he doesn't discriminate. He might make a joke at the expense of someone's weirdness, but he doesn't seem to treat them as less of a person because of it, and he tends to accept things as they are rather than imposing his own perception of sanity onto things.
However, Doumeki, like most real people, is not all good. His major negative personality traits are that he can be incredibly egocentric and very stubborn. He has a high opinion of himself, and this can cause him to be pushy about things he wants, or to have an entitled attitude, just expecting that things will go his way or people will do things for him. He doesn't give up on things he wants, and will doggedly pursue his desired outcome, sometimes even if it causes a bit of short-term pain. Also, he can be a bit of a jerk, and has a slightly skewed sense of humour, seeming to enjoy riling people up and watching the ensuing drama - his most frequent victim in this is Watanuki, but I can see him doing it with other exciteable type people. Doumeki is quiet, and stoic, and combined with his egocentrism, this can make him come across as abrasive or stuck-up and uncaring of others, even when that isn't exactly true - he just prefers to express things in non-verbal ways. He doesn't feel the need to explain his motivations, or his reasons for doing what he does, he simply does them, and this can make him come across like a presumptuous jerk at times. Not that he particularly cares about others' opinions of himself - another problem in and of itself.
Finally, Doumeki is picky about food, specifically about who made it. He can sense a lot about a cook through how they prepare food, and he doesn't like to eat things that have no feeling or the wrong feeling. Besides this, he's also a bit of a lush and loves a good drink of sake or beer, or two drinks, or maybe three bottles, not that he shows when he's drunk.
if your character is 13 years of age or younger, please post requested information here: n/a
notes: I don't think so.
Writing Samples
First Person Sample:
[video feed turns on, the screen tilted at an awkward angle. after a few moments, a face comes into view, the face of a young man with short dark hair and golden eyes, a perturbed expression on his face, brows drawn together. the Forge is set down on the side of the bed, and Doumeki pushes himself to a sitting position. for a moment, as if he's forgotten the device is there at all, he pulls his feet in and crosses his legs, leaning his elbows on his knees and placing his face in his hands, gathering himself. after a moment, he speaks into his hands]
A dream? This isn't usually my sort of thing.
[after a moment, he lifts his head and shifts, his face still a bit disturbed, reaching for the Forge and lifting it to peer at it curiously for a moment]
Can someone see this?
[a long pause, where he just looks at the screen with a serious expression on his face, his eyes intense]
If anyone can see this, I'm looking for a boy. He's got longish dark hair, glasses, and his eyes are two different colours.
[a long, pensive pause, where he lifts a hand and rubs his face]
If you see him, tell him Doumeki is looking for him.
Third Person Sample:
Doumeki was awake but it took a long while to drag himself from whatever sleep he'd been lost in to full consciousness. He became aware of himself slowly, in phases, first his fingertips, his arms, and then torso, his legs and feet, finally his head and face. His brows furrowed a bit, and he tried to move his arms and shoulders to force him up from a prone position, eyes moving open in a groggy sort of way, vision blurred from sleep. His body wouldn't cooperate properly, it seemed, but he could ignore that.
He'd known before he even managed to open his eyes that he wasn't at home, or in Yuuko's shop - the air felt different. Of course there were different scents and sounds, the sense of people living in close proximity that didn't feel the same as the store room of Yuuko's shop. The feeling of power in the air was somewhat similar, but with a different quality. It was a feeling, some kind of power...
Doumeki's body felt different. There was something off, something subtle. It was like losing the half of his eye, but without the obvious evidence of his half-lost vision in his right eye. He wasn't at home. It was some sort of dream, he decided, a dream world like the ones Watanuki frequently visited, his body left behind in the store room asleep, his mind traveling to other worlds, other places, learning other things - but that wasn't usually his role. He generally stayed behind, while Watanuki traveled those other planes. Why he was here, he didn't know. Perhaps it had something to do with his failure to use the egg...his hand reached instinctively for where he kept it, sliding the reassuring weight of it into his palm and studying it. Glancing around the room after a moment, he put it away. If it was still there, at least that was some sort of good sign.
Shifting, he pushed himself up, trying to ignore the still-fresh concern and hurt over hearing Watanuki's decision, studying the room he was in. There had to be some sign of what he was meant to do here, his eyes searched for the distinctive shape of a butterfly, of some sign of Watanuki, of some sign what to do. His eyes fell on a small electronic device beside him instead.
Picking it up gingerly, he studied it, brows furrowed, and he hit the power button. Perhaps it was the sign he was looking for.
Plans for the Character in this Setting: n/a
In Character Information
character name: Shizuka Doumeki
canon source and the point from which they're taken: xxxHolic; from the end of chapter 185
character's age: none is canonly stated, but he's 17 or 18
canon powers, skills, pets and equipment:
non-superhuman: tournament archery with exceptional aim and concentration, knowledge of how to read Old Japanese, athletic and in good shape
superhuman: ability to exorcise spirits and supernatural creatures with malevolent intentions through use of chi arrows shot from his bow, ability to repel spirits and supernatural creatures with malevolent intentions naturally (without having to try), immunity to most curses and negative effects from other people, ability to see spirits (particularly when Watanuki is present), ability to see flashes of vision through Watanuki's right eye when Watanuki is particularly upset or emotionally disturbed
non-canon powers: I would like to alter Doumeki's exorcism ability a bit so that he's able to expel his exorcising chi projectiles through his skin rather than needing to rely on a bow to use them.
canon history: Doumeki was born in Japan on March 3, a little girls' celebration day, and taken home to a Buddhist shrine that his family lives in and runs. He was a bit of a weak child, whether this was emotionally or physically or both is never specified, but his grandfather, the high priest of the temple, corrected this through dressing the boy up in a girls' kimono - a rite that seems to have worked to toughen Doumeki up. Doumeki's grandfather, Haruka, was the strongest influence in his life until Haruka died when Doumeki was in 5th grade. Haruka had a similar set of abilities to the ones Doumeki has - he could exorcise spirits as well as see and converse with them, and he shared his vast treasure trove of knowledge about Japanese folklore and the spirit world with his grandson. Judging by Doumeki's traditional style of dress and his spoilt brat mentality, as well as how he speaks about his home, he had a stable, traditional, but very loving homelife, and was more attached to his grandfather than his parents.
Doumeki grew up into a pretty average high schooler. He was popular with the girls and other classmates, a member of the archery club and very important to his team in tournaments, a member of the student council, and at home he helped out with chores around the shrine. The only blips in this relatively normal school life were the death of his grandfather and the day he observed Kimihiro Watanuki standing in the rain, holding a dead animal and bemoaning the fact that he would die alone. This latter incident struck home with Doumeki, and though he didn't do anything at the time, it influenced his actions later on when Watanuki became more a part of his life.
Everything changed the day that Watanuki and his newfound (and more than a little crazy) boss, Yuuko the dimensional witch, asked to use a room at his shrine to tell 100 Ghost Stories. What should have been a simple double-date scenario became an encounter with the spirit world that almost resulted in Watanuki's death, and did result in Doumeki discovering his ability to exorcise spirits. From that point on, his fate was entwined with Watanuki's. Over the next while, he started assisting Watanuki with various supernatural incidents and 'missions' that Yuuko would send them on, things like guarding Watanuki while he investigated a haunted school or helping gather water from a well that had never touched pipes, all the while seeing the outcomes of various wishes that patrons of Yuuko's shop made, the results more often than not painful for the wisher.
A few of these incidents were particularly important to Doumeki's development as a character. The first was when Watanuki was tempted by a lonely ghost who sucked his energy when he was around her. Doumeki noticed the effects this spirit had on Watanuki and was forced to choose between risking being completely hated by Watanuki and the boy continuing to live - he chose to save Watanuki's life and destroy the spirit, one of the most difficult decisions he's made to date. Another was the incident of the spider, in which Doumeki inspired a spider's grudge and almost forfeit his right eye for it. When Watanuki tried to sacrifice his own right eye to save Doumeki, a series of events ended with Doumeki giving Watanuki half the 'spirit' of his right eye, as well as half the vision, and afterwards he started developing the ability to see spirits through Watanuki's eye. The next was when Watanuki fell from the second story of the high school with a pane of glass, a result of Himawari's bad luck, and Doumeki, along with Himawari and someone else, had to sacrifice to pay for a wish to save the boy's life, the first time Doumeki even considered asking for a wish, and the first time he was able to see Yuuko's shop.
His price was a significant amount of blood that was given to Watanuki, and after this the shared vision became stronger, with Doumeki being able to clearly see spirits. Recently, events in the manga have surrounded a young girl named Kohane with the ability to see spirits like Watanuki. Doumeki helped Watanuki to rescue the girl from an abusive homelife, and he has decided to offer her similar protection to what he gives Watanuki.
Most recently in his canon, he has been staying with Watanuki at Yuuko's shop while the boy adjusts to the fact that Yuuko is disappearing from the memories of everyone she interacted with - except for people with abilities associated with the spirit world - Himawari, who had a bird created from Yuuko's shop, Doumeki who could see and exorcise spirits, Kohane and the fortune teller she stayed with who were also cognisant of the spirit world, and Watanuki himself. After a vision in which Watanuki is told that Yuuko has passed on, Doumeki finds that the shop will stay put, and Watanuki makes the decision to stay in the shop despite the fact that he will no longer age and cannot leave, to take Yuuko's place until he can see her again. Doumeki, who had an egg meant to help Watanuki at a future point, realized he couldn't use the egg if that was Watanuki's choice, a decision that left him very perturbed and unhappy with the situation, aware that he would inevitably age and die while Watanuki remained trapped in the shop.
personality: Doumeki is a man of few words, and he expresses few emotions - a tall, stoic person almost to a fault. However, just because he's quiet and mostly unexpressive doesn't mean that's all there is to him...he just thinks it's a bit silly to throw everything out there in the open.
There's a lot of good about Doumeki. He's supportive, patient, tolerant, and can be extremely compassionate. After all, he does stick with Watanuki and protect him even though the boy says he hates him constantly. He has a very strong sense of himself, and his place in the world, and he doesn't let people tell him otherwise. He's also very hard-working, and doesn't take no for an answer. Even when he's told something is impossible, he'll keep on working at it, and tends to rely on his own hard work, knowledge, and ingenuity rather than using supernatural fixes or wishes as a crutch. He's also quite perceptive, and can get the feel of a situation, or intuit things about people in order to react to them, whether or not he says outright what's going on. For example, in his canon, he could tell that Himawari had some sort of bad luck or curse, and that his presence anulled it - instead of telling anyone he knew this, he simply inserted himself into private time between her and Watanuki to avoid the boy getting hurt. Also, he tends to see people as equals and he doesn't discriminate. He might make a joke at the expense of someone's weirdness, but he doesn't seem to treat them as less of a person because of it, and he tends to accept things as they are rather than imposing his own perception of sanity onto things.
However, Doumeki, like most real people, is not all good. His major negative personality traits are that he can be incredibly egocentric and very stubborn. He has a high opinion of himself, and this can cause him to be pushy about things he wants, or to have an entitled attitude, just expecting that things will go his way or people will do things for him. He doesn't give up on things he wants, and will doggedly pursue his desired outcome, sometimes even if it causes a bit of short-term pain. Also, he can be a bit of a jerk, and has a slightly skewed sense of humour, seeming to enjoy riling people up and watching the ensuing drama - his most frequent victim in this is Watanuki, but I can see him doing it with other exciteable type people. Doumeki is quiet, and stoic, and combined with his egocentrism, this can make him come across as abrasive or stuck-up and uncaring of others, even when that isn't exactly true - he just prefers to express things in non-verbal ways. He doesn't feel the need to explain his motivations, or his reasons for doing what he does, he simply does them, and this can make him come across like a presumptuous jerk at times. Not that he particularly cares about others' opinions of himself - another problem in and of itself.
Finally, Doumeki is picky about food, specifically about who made it. He can sense a lot about a cook through how they prepare food, and he doesn't like to eat things that have no feeling or the wrong feeling. Besides this, he's also a bit of a lush and loves a good drink of sake or beer, or two drinks, or maybe three bottles, not that he shows when he's drunk.
if your character is 13 years of age or younger, please post requested information here: n/a
notes: I don't think so.
Writing Samples
First Person Sample:
[video feed turns on, the screen tilted at an awkward angle. after a few moments, a face comes into view, the face of a young man with short dark hair and golden eyes, a perturbed expression on his face, brows drawn together. the Forge is set down on the side of the bed, and Doumeki pushes himself to a sitting position. for a moment, as if he's forgotten the device is there at all, he pulls his feet in and crosses his legs, leaning his elbows on his knees and placing his face in his hands, gathering himself. after a moment, he speaks into his hands]
A dream? This isn't usually my sort of thing.
[after a moment, he lifts his head and shifts, his face still a bit disturbed, reaching for the Forge and lifting it to peer at it curiously for a moment]
Can someone see this?
[a long pause, where he just looks at the screen with a serious expression on his face, his eyes intense]
If anyone can see this, I'm looking for a boy. He's got longish dark hair, glasses, and his eyes are two different colours.
[a long, pensive pause, where he lifts a hand and rubs his face]
If you see him, tell him Doumeki is looking for him.
Third Person Sample:
Doumeki was awake but it took a long while to drag himself from whatever sleep he'd been lost in to full consciousness. He became aware of himself slowly, in phases, first his fingertips, his arms, and then torso, his legs and feet, finally his head and face. His brows furrowed a bit, and he tried to move his arms and shoulders to force him up from a prone position, eyes moving open in a groggy sort of way, vision blurred from sleep. His body wouldn't cooperate properly, it seemed, but he could ignore that.
He'd known before he even managed to open his eyes that he wasn't at home, or in Yuuko's shop - the air felt different. Of course there were different scents and sounds, the sense of people living in close proximity that didn't feel the same as the store room of Yuuko's shop. The feeling of power in the air was somewhat similar, but with a different quality. It was a feeling, some kind of power...
Doumeki's body felt different. There was something off, something subtle. It was like losing the half of his eye, but without the obvious evidence of his half-lost vision in his right eye. He wasn't at home. It was some sort of dream, he decided, a dream world like the ones Watanuki frequently visited, his body left behind in the store room asleep, his mind traveling to other worlds, other places, learning other things - but that wasn't usually his role. He generally stayed behind, while Watanuki traveled those other planes. Why he was here, he didn't know. Perhaps it had something to do with his failure to use the egg...his hand reached instinctively for where he kept it, sliding the reassuring weight of it into his palm and studying it. Glancing around the room after a moment, he put it away. If it was still there, at least that was some sort of good sign.
Shifting, he pushed himself up, trying to ignore the still-fresh concern and hurt over hearing Watanuki's decision, studying the room he was in. There had to be some sign of what he was meant to do here, his eyes searched for the distinctive shape of a butterfly, of some sign of Watanuki, of some sign what to do. His eyes fell on a small electronic device beside him instead.
Picking it up gingerly, he studied it, brows furrowed, and he hit the power button. Perhaps it was the sign he was looking for.
Plans for the Character in this Setting: n/a