niteo_nix APPLICATION
PLAYER
Name/Handle: Ningi
Contact:
EMAIL: amandaleewilliams@gmail.com
AIM: Sanguine Ningi
PLURK: areyouokaypanda
Personal LJ: ningi
CHARACTER
Name: Okumura Yukio
Series: Ao no Exorcist (manga)
Canon: OU
Age: 15
Timeline: After the end of chapter 16, when Yukio and Rin separate for the mission to Kyoto.
History:
The world of Ao no Exorcist consists of two dimensions joined as one, like a mirror. One side is Assiah (the world of humans) and the other is Gehenna (the world of demons). Normal travel or contact between the worlds is impossible, but demons can pass over into Assiah by possessing anything that exists within it. People, objects, the vapor emitted by corpses... pretty much anything is game if the demon in question is powerful enough.
Sixteen years ago the world of exorcists took a crippling hit in the form of the Blue Night. On that day Satan murdered a large number of the world’s greatest holy men, leaving behind only bloody corpses and blue flames. How did he accomplish this? By possessing them, of course. Satan, as the god of Gehenna, is just too powerful for any normal human being to sustain the possession for more than a minute or two (pssst, remember that. That’s going to be important). So! Much possession, lots of dead holy men, and a generation traumatized by sight of blue flames.Sometime during this night of murder and mayhem, Satan found the time to use one of the exorcists he possessed to impregnate a Lower Second Class Exorcist named Yuri Egin. Why did he do this? Sheer boredom, if you’d believe it, but Satan is kind of insane. And by “kind of”, I mean “completely batshit”. Anyway, the ensuing pregnancy resulted in a set of fraternal twin boys: Rin, the elder, and Yukio, the younger brother that you’re about to learn a whole lot more about. You’ll learn a lot about Rin in the process as well, but they’re kind of attached at the hip that way.
This concludes the basic world overview section of the history. Simple, yes? Now, down to business.
Yukio and Rin were raised by Father Fujimoto Shiro in a boys’ monastery in True Cross Campus Town. As young children (because really, at fifteen years of age? They’re just older childen) they upheld the rather stereotypical roles of elder and younger brother. Where Rin was strong and loud, Yukio was weak and quiet. Easily frightened and often bullied, Yukio constantly found himself standing in his brothers’ protective shadow, bolstered by Rin’s confidence and encouragement. It was all rather fluffy and heartwarming, really. Flashbacks and heartfelt smiles aplenty.
Our first glance of Yukio in the present shows him as a much stronger person. Calm, intelligent and headed for True Cross Academy to see through his dream of becoming a doctor. Preparing for high school is a very time consuming process, of course, so Yukio’s not actually present when the obligatory start-of-story conflict occurs. Through an encounter with a demon-possessed hooligan and a very serious-faced explanation from Fujimoto, Rin learns that he’s a demon and that his father is an exorcist (in practice, not just title). Flames are discussed (namely the blue ones Rin seems to suddenly be sporting), as well as a demon sword that seals away said flames (otherwise known as “Kurikara”). A father/son disagreement is had and Satan takes advantage of Fujimoto’s moment of weakness, possessing him. Now, remember the bit about possession that I said was important? Good. Fujimoto actually lasts for a few minutes before his body starts to really deteriorate, proving that he’s just that fantastic. In the end, Fujimoto suicides to try and prevent Rin from being pulled into Gehenna to be used as a tool to overtake Assiah.
That was all very sad, but now we’re jumping ahead a bit. A funeral is held for Fujimoto during which Rin and Yukio don’t interact. At all. It’s pretty weird. As the funeral party is walking away, Rin lingers behind and is approached by several mysterious figures. Turns out that they’re members of the True Cross Order (exorcist central, if you couldn’t guess) sent to do away with Satan’s spawn. One of those figures is a pretty ridiculous looking man named Mephisto, head of the Japanese branch of the Order and the chairman of True Cross Academy. Rin convinces Mephisto to let him train as an exorcist (y’know, instead of murdering him), the proper story begins, and I get to actually write things about Yukio.
Yukio and Rin head for True Cross Academy together and Rin learns a lot of things that he didn’t know about his brother. He’s the freshman class representative (meaning he scored the highest on the entrance exams), oddly popular with the ladies, and oh, he’s an exorcist. The youngest person to ever earn the title, in fact (he qualified at age thirteen as both a Doctor and a Dragoon). Plus he’s a teacher in the secret exorcist cram school housed within the Academy, handling the Anti-Demon Pharmacology class. Also, he knew all about his and Rin’s lineage the entire time and has been training to be an exorcist since age seven. He received a Mashou from Rin at birth, a “spirit wound” that’s allowed him to see ghosts and demons for as long as he can remember.
Back on track! Naturally, their interactions are a bit strained at first, but they work though it verbally while fighting off a classroom filled with Hobgoblins (as is typical for shonen characters), eventually bonding over the memory of how awesome their father was. Afterward they move into an unused dorm together because, let’s face it, Rin simply can’t be trusted to operate on his own with these brand spankin’ new powers of his. It’s pretty important that they stay secret, what with everyone knowing exactly what blue flames signify.
Soon life becomes routine. Yukio attends high school during the day, teaches in the cram school during the afternoon, and somehow finds time in his schedule to accept actual missions. The first Rin witnesses occurs at an exorcist supply shop on the Academy’s grounds. Yukio’s called in to investigate an illness contracted by the shop keeper’s daughter, Moriyama Shiemi. She and Yukio met two years prior and seem to get on fairly well in spite of Shiemi’s crippling shyness. Through interaction with Rin we’re shown Shiemi’s back story in her grandmother’s garden, and Yukio quickly discovers the source of her illness: a demon in the garden. The demon (which takes the form of a giant flower) reveals itself, taking Shiemi as a hostage/shield. Yukio bluffs the demon into releasing Shiemi by convincing it that he’s willing to shoot through her (really, he just pegged her with some soft plant nutrients), leaving Rin a chance to cut the demon down. Shiemi recovers and joins the exorcist cram school as the token cute-girl character.
Time goes on and we’re introduced to the rest of Rin’s classmates. Lots of different subjects and teachers are also introduced, because Yukio certainly can’t teach all of them... though he does seem to find the time to creep about during some of them to keep watch over Rin. He also talks occasionally with Mephisto, reporting on how well Rin’s holding back his powers. For the most part Yukio keeps to the background, watching over his students as a good teacher should.
The next large event that takes place comes when an exorcist training camp is organized to prepare everyone for the upcoming promotion exam (exorcist rankings will be explained later/in the abilities section). It’s held in Rin and Yukio’s dorm for the sake of space and isolation. Some students bond, some are jerks to each other, but none of that matters when a naberius attacks two of the girls in the bath. Yukio arrives on the scene just in time to put a few rounds into it before it skitters away. The students are saved (mostly by efforts on Rin and Shiemi’s parts) and everyone is left to wonder how such a strong demon got through the wards surrounding the Academy. You’re curious too, right? Well, fear not! I’ll be getting to that part.
Even after the naberius incident, the students just can’t seem to stop bitching at each other, arguing enough to force Yukio to actually punish them. Everyone is forced to sit with a baryon (demons that possess rocks, causing them to get heavier the longer you hold them) in their lap while Yukio heads out to attend to a “minor mission”, leaving them with a very important statement: “No exorcist can fight alone”. Of course, rather than learning this lesson right away they continue to argue amongst themselves... until the naberius from before returns to attack again, this time with another creepy friend. Quick thinking from Shiemi and her demon summon forms a barrier to keep the kids safe for a while. Rin, being the spaz that he is, lures one of the ghouls away and takes care of it with those flames of his, and the other kids manage to do away with theirs... barely.
It was all very scary, but surprise! This entire thing was actually the promotion exam that the training camp was supposed to be preparing them for (spoiler: they all pass). Teachers were hiding all over the place to prevent the worst case scenario and Yukio knew what was going to happen the entire time... though he apparently wasn’t prepared for the level of danger his students were presented with. Once the kids’ injuries are taken care of, Yukio approaches and questions Neuhaus, one of the other teachers. Neuhaus is Tamer, an exorcist who summons demons and uses them to fight, so the ghouls in the building were his doing, but they were far beyond the level Yukio assumed the kids could handle. Neuhaus is pretty shady about the whole deal, insisting that he was acting on Mephisto’s orders and that he had no reason to want to kill Rin.
Because that’s the most believable statement to end a conversation with, right? Riiiiight.
With the training camp over over with and things settling back into something normal, Yukio visits Shiemi at her mother’s shop to talk over her future. Before the camp every student received a form on which they were to detail their Meister intentions, but Shiemi didn’t complete hers, unsure of her future. They have a reassuring talk that includes a flashback of their first meeting (thirteen-year-old Yukio is just as adorably stiff as sixteen-year-old Yukio, by the way), but Yukio cuts their time short, feeling that something isn’t right. He heads back to his and Rin’s dorm with Shiemi in tow and moves a sleeping Rin into a different room. Good thing he did, too, because not long after Neuhaus appears and Yukio catches him stabbing Rin’s empty bed with a giant compass (the kind you use to draw circles). That’s pretty damning evidence, of course, and Yukio gives chase when Neuhaus flees to the roof. Yukio is an excellent marksman, but physically not very tough, so the tide of the fight turns against him pretty quickly when Neuhaus summons a giant naberius on the roof. Luckily Rin jumps and distracts Neuhaus long enough for Yukio to erase the summoning circle. His weapon gone and too weak to summon another powerful enough to matter, Neuhaus gives a brief explanation of his actions. He’s a survivor of the Blue Night and hates Rin for his connection to Satan. He takes one more cheap shot at Rin before finally giving up (Rin’s shonen speech is STRONG), leaving Yukio and Rin on the roof to be found soon after by a worried Shiemi.
Things settle back into the routine again, and we learn that Rin fails at running errands, but still thinks himself capable of earning the rank of Paladin. Yukio is fairly quick to inform Rin of how unlikely that is, and Rin is fairly quick to (accidentally) break Yukio’s glasses. Before the argument can go too far Yukio receives a notice for another mission. We learn of Blacky, a former guardian diety of silk farmers gone rogue when his human worshippers forgot about him with the changing times. Fujimoto tamed him, making Blacky his familiar, but the demon lost control again when he heard of his master’s untimely demise. Yukio joins the force facing off with Blacky, a special “medicine” in hand that was previously prepared by Fujimoto in case of such a situation. Oh... and Rin follows along, because that’s what he does. The group intends to kill Blacky with the medicine, but Rin, who’s able to understand what the demon is saying, talks Blacky down and defuses the entire situation. He becomes Rin’s psuedo-familiar and they discover that that “medicine” Fujimoto left behind? Was catnip wine.
The first mission the ExWire’s are assigned together involves finding a mischievous ghost in an amusement park. Yukio’s divides the class into pairs and sends them off with instructions to call him should they find the ghost first. During the mission we get to meet Amaimon, a demon prince of hell (previously revealed to be Mephisto’s brother and technically Rin and Yukio’s half brother) who attacks Rin... mostly because he can. Things look pretty bad for a while until one of the students, a hooded weirdo whose face was always obscured, reveals herself as Kirigakure Shura, an Upper First Class exorcist. Turns out she’s a Vatican Inspector sent to look into some possible shady dealings between Mephisto and Fujimoto, as well as search for connections to Satan and eliminate them if found. She drives Amaimon off and takes Rin to central headquarters for questioning. Yukio is understandably uneasy, but rather than report Rin as she should, Shura postpones her report to the Vatican. Turns out she was once a student of Fujimoto, and he asked her too look after Rin in the case of his death.
Holy crap, this history is getting long. Moving on.
After that fiasco, it’s time for another training camp! This one takes place in a forest for the right to participate in missions involving actual combat. It involves demon lanterns and learning the magical skill of cooperation, but none of that matters when Amaimon shows up again. Yukio is distracted for the bulk of the battle, dealing with swarms of demon moths while Shura and the ExWires struggle against Amaimon. Eventually Mephisto interrupts that fight like the mysterious creeper he is, but not before Rin is forced to draw his sword and reveal his blue flames in front of all his classmates. He kind of managed to set a good chunk of the forest on fire as well, so it’s no surprise when more representatives from headquarters show up. Arthur Auguste Angel, the current Paladin, shows up and takes Rin, Shura, and Mephisto to court. Yukio’s left behind to give a very short and to-the-point explanation to the other ExWire’s. It’s all very awkward and vaguely heart-wrenching.
Mephisto, through the most charismatic verbal manipulation ever seen, convinces the court not to execute Rin right there, but he has to conform to all sorts of stipulations to keep his freedom. One of those stipulations? He must pass the exorcist qualification exam in six months time. Shura takes him on as a proper student and he’s released into her and Yukio’s care.
Most of the ExWire’s are still in the hospital when Rin tries to attend class again after the entire ordeal, but Yukio’s quick to pull him out and redirect him to an underground training facility. Rin tests out a combat simulation machine (which looks more like a batting cage on steroids than anything else) while Yukio tries express to him the importance of consequences and thinking through your actions before jumping into things like an idiot. Rin, of course, brushes most of this off and Shura soon appears to start him on his specific training. While Rin’s off to one side working on controlling his flames with a special candle exercise, Yukio and Shura step into the batting cages for a match (loser treats the winner to a meal).
While both of them easily take everything the machine has to throw at them while set on the highest difficulty, Yukio lectures Shura about her carelessness concerning his brother. She, in turn lectures him about the importance of loosening up and acknowledging his feelings, because otherwise? He runs the risk of being possessed by a demon, as do all those who carry around that kind of pent-up anger and stress. Yukio does manage to let loose a little bit, informing Shura of just how much he despises her (much to her expectant glee), but before they can resolve anything Rin looses control of his flames, filling the room with a burst of blue fire. When the smoke clears... Yukio and Shura are unharmed. They’re missing everything but their underwear, but they’re unharmed! Does this mean Rin has some unconscious control over his flames? It doesn’t matter, because Yukio almost immediately gets a call for another mission!
Yukio and Shura get dressed and head for another section of town with Rin in tow (since they’re his keepers now), and things look pretty bad when they arrive on the scene. Lots of people contaminated with miasma (poisonous demon vapor, basically) and doctors running around like chickens with their heads cut off trying to get to everyone who needs help. Saburota Todou is in charge of the operation and fills them in on the situation.
A masked man broke into the Saishinbu (the innermost section) of the Academy, stealing an artifact known as the Left Eye of the Impure King”. The Left Eye belonged to a very powerful demon over one hundred years ago. The Impure King was responsible for spreading a plague that became the root cause for over 40,000 human deaths, and though he was subdued and his eyes were removed, they still emit a very dangerous miasma. The thief fled through the city, taking a child hostage in the low-income section and disappearing into a building. Rin, being the shonen hero sort that he is, tries to promise the child’s mother that they’ll save her son, but Yukio angrily cuts him off. He knows that exorcists aren’t omnipotent, and sometimes you can’t save everyone, no matter how badly you’d like to, and it’s a lesson that Rin needs to learn.
Yukio dons a protective suit, joining the party heading inside the building and leaving Rin in Shura’s care. He really should know better than to think he can leave Rin behind at this point, because his brother does exactly what he always does (somehow managing to shake off Shura) and heads inside as well. They have time for about ten seconds of brotherly disapproval before the masked man appears, his very sick child hostage and demon artifact in tow. Surprisingly, he drops both and vanishes, leaving shocked exorcists all around. Rin’s quick to run forward and grab the kid while Yukio investigates the Left Eye... only to find out it’s a fake. Suddenly, the tables turn and Todou attacks Yukio from behind. It turns out that he’s become a demon, and that the entire chase was merely a distraction so that the real Left Eye could be stolen.
While Rin is dealing with the kid and some of that nasty miasma, Todou focuses on Yukio, pinning him to the floor and planting some fantastically strategic seeds of doubt. He compares the both of them, spouting off a back story remarkably similar to Yukio’s: a man slaving away for the benefit of his organization, his family, his brother... and coming away with nothing to show forhimself. Yukio rebukes Todou for his weakness, but he can’t quite shake the other man’s words, even after Todou suddenly flees the scene. Yukio manages to pull himself together long enough to treat the child, shedding his protective clothing and exposing himself to the lingering miasma in order to do the job right. It takes him a bit, but he manages to steel himself and toss Todou a mental “screw you!” before inoculating himself (rather violently) to stay off the boils forming on his own face and finishing the child’s emergency treatment.
Yukio returns the child to his mother and Mephisto appears on the scene, informing him of Todou’s true intentions. Shura’s familiar is set on the trail of the real Left Eye and Mephisto sends Yukio along with a force meant to recapture it. Before he leaves Rin calls out to him, announcing his intentions to surpass his younger brother (which isn’t all that surprising considering how badass Yukio proved himself to be while saving that kid). Yukio seems shocked at first, but quickly reaffirms his own confidence and dons a classic smile, telling Rin that that’s impossible, but that he should do his best.
Personality:
Yukio’s first appearance paints a pretty simple picture. The younger of a set of fraternal twins, he’s Rin’s opposite in nearly everything. Where Rin is brash and loud, Yukio is generally quiet and polite. Where Rin is... well, kind of stupid, Yukio approaches a level near genius in his chosen fields. He’s generally serious and driven to succeed, achieving success through plain hard work and determination, all while wearing a kind smile.
His characterization is expanded on when we learn of his status as an exorcist and just what it took for him to get to where he is. Though he spent the majority of his early childhood in tears, fearing the creatures that he could see hiding in the shadows (the ones that even his older brother couldn’t protect him from), an invitation from his adoptive father turned all that around. Fujimoto gave Yukio the chance to fight alongside him, offering him the tools and training he would need so that he could, with time, succeed on his own merit. He could be the one to protect Rin from the monsters that would one day come for him . He would never have to live in fear of the dark again.
Of course, that sort of intensive training from such a young age takes it’s toll, but it was never something Yukio fought against. He embraced the lifestyle of the exorcist (seemingly) wholeheartedly, leaving any semblance of a normal childhood behind. He trained and studied from age seven to thirteen when he earned his Meister in both Doctor and Dragoon, worked his butt off in normal school to earn a scholarship to True Cross Academy, and became a lecturer in the exorcist cram school when he and Rin entered the Academy, all the while taking on missions where appropriate and applicable. Did I mention he only sleeps about four hours a night? Yeah... overachiever? You could say that. It’s amazing the kid finds time to eat.
Things changed a lot for Yukio when Fukimoto died. In spite of the secrets Yukio kept from Rin prior to their entrance to the Academy, the two of them always seemed to have a fairly decent relationship, but their father’s death brought to light the real barrier between them. For a time Yukio blamed Rin for Fujimoto’s death, sure that he was the weakness in their father’s heart that allowed Satan the chance to take him over. Though sad and angry and almost a bit lost, he suppressed those feelings until Rin finally called him out on his emotional shenanigans. He unloaded on Rin, tossing out blame and even telling his brother to “please die”... but when push came to shove, he couldn’t harm his only remaining family. Even with Rin charging at him, sword drawn and flames blazing, Yukio couldn’t bring himself to fire his weapon. Fujimoto died to protect Rin, his son, and Yukio’s connection with his brother was and still is just as deep.
Their mended relationship didn’t exactly loosen Yukio up, though. He’s rather strict with his brother and with his students, insisting upon the importance of cooperation and responsibility. However, a deeper examination of his relationship with Rin, reveals an entirely different side of Yukio. Rin’s constant antics and careless decisions can draw out bouts of anger so intense that they almost border on bipolar. He tries very hard to reign that part of himself in and usually regains his composure fairly quickly, but when a guy represses as much as he does? He’s bound to explode eventually. Shura inspires similar outbursts with her antagonistic attitude. He can’t stand to see those with so much natural talent waste it, especially when he had to work so hard to get the things he has.
That doesn’t mean he’s a complete stick-in-the-mud, though. He knows a joke when he hears one and likes to take the occasional good-natured jab at his older brother when he can. He likes to read SQ manga every month and he’s even popular with girls, though not especially good at dealing with them (he seems to have a crush on Shiemi, but he’ll likely never act on it.). Overall he’s quick-witted, calm and collected in a pinch, and a very likeable guy.
Recent events have added another facet to him that’s may prove tricky in the future. His encounter with Todou inspired something that he hasn’t felt so acutely in a very long time: fear. Fear and uncertainly concerning himself, his motivations, and his feelings toward his brother. More than one person has warned him of the danger of bottling his feelings away, fearing he might become a demon by accident should he let his anger and resentment continue to build. It’s something that will be very fresh and constantly on his mind when he’s pulled into Nesreca.
Abilities/Additional Notes:
APPEARANCE:
Yukio is about six feet tall and weighs in at around 150 lbs. He has blue/green eyes and dark brown hair kept trimmed short enough that his bangs don’t fall over his eyes. There are three moles on his face that he’s rather self-conscious about, two on his left cheek and one on the right side of his chin. He’s almost never seen without his glasses due to very poor eyesight.
During his off time he tends to favor comfortable, practical clothing like slacks, sweaters and t-shirts. His academy uniform is a simple white button-up, a striped tie and a jacket with white trim. His most common outfit is his exorcist uniform, which includes a knee-length black coat, his exorcist pin, and several different leather pouches and flaps for his various supplies.
Also, he’s fifteen. No, he doesn’t look fifteen, but so it goes in this crazy anime world I’ve chosen to live it.
ABILITIES:
Yukio is a Middle First Class exorcist and holds the title of “Meister” in both the Doctor and Dragoon classes. He’s a brilliant Doctor, not only capable of handling most wounds or illnesses (especially those inflicted by demons), but also extremely capable in terms of Anti-Demon Pharmacology . He has a steady hand even in stressful situations and always seems to be carting around a rather unnecessary-looking amount off supplies on his belt.
Physically? He’s not all that tough, but those steady hands lend themselves to his second class, Dragoon. Dragoons combat demons using more modern weaponry, like rifles or handguns. Yukio carries what looks to be two M1911 Colt .45 automatic pistols, black with wood side covers on the handles and the True Cross insignia engraved on the sides, specially modified (somehow) to shoot multiple different types of ammunition. Along with his abundance of medical supplies, he also carries several extra clips, all placed strategically on his person for quick and easy reloading. He’s an excellent marksman, hitting his target even while on the move or without line of sight. He’s good enough to keep up with Shura, an exorcist two ranks above him, in a combat simulation.
As a side note that really shouldn’t be called a side note since it’s pretty important... Yukio doesn’t seem to have inherited any of Satan’s powers. Had his body been stronger in the womb the powers might have been split, but he was so weak as a fetus that they bypassed him completely, leaving Rin the sole inheritor of the blue flames.
Yukio also possesses several magical keys that open portals to important places within the Academy, as well other branches of the Order, but they won’t function while in Nesreca.
EDIT (chapter 29): While Yukio doesn't posess the actual title of 'Tamer', he's been shown to have the inherent talent required to summon demons to aid him in battle. During his fight with Toudou he used magical bullets imbued with water to draw the circles necessary to summon Naiads (water nymphs). Eight Naiads on his very first try at summoning, in fact, but the act drained his stamina and brought Yukio to his knees.
So... while he's capable of summoning demons as a Tamer would, he's far too inexperienced to truly rely on the ability.
ITEM LIST:
exorcist uniform (pants, shirt, tie, coat, boots, pin)
2 M1911 Colt .45 automatic pistols
4 spare magazines, 7 rounds each
2 holy water grenades
1 pouch belt (various medical supplies, herbs and poisons, holy water, 6 dozen holy silver bullet jackets)
1 exorcist license
5 magic keys
1 wallet
1 cellular phone
1 extra pair of glasses
OOC NOTES:
Yukio’s always been a very polite and well-spoken young man, respectful to most people in most situations. He’s Japanese, and though many titles have proper English translations, most honorifics do not. Not without sounding terribly awkward, anyway. As such, I will be including actual honorifics in his speech. “Nii-san” or “Ani” in reference to Rin, and the common “-kun” and “-san” will likely be attached to nearly everyone else. I may adjust my usage as time goes on, but for now this feels like the more natural route.
Third-Person Sample: (working under the assumption that Rin is accepted at the same time)
Yukio knew that this wasn’t where he was supposed to be... not that it was particularly difficult to tell. One moment he was in a wagon with his newly-gathered team, all of them on the trail of the stolen Left Eye, and the next? This place, which was a far cry from the modern city he last remembered moving through. Nothing but ruined buildings and empty streets as far as the eye could see, and the visible age of the destruction was no comfort either. This damage wasn’t new. It was disconcerting, to say the least, to suddenly find himself somewhere seemingly post-apocalyptic. Could this be some trick? Maybe a hallucination...
A rustle off to one side drew his attention, and in the blink of an eye Yukio had one pistol drawn and aimed toward the source of the noise. He was on-edge (understandably so), a heavy frown creasing his features when his call of “Show yourself!” went unanswered. A few cautious steps forward and a repeat of his command earned him a low groan, and a familiar mop of black hair appeared from behind a large chunk of broken concrete. That sounded like...
“Nii-san... ?”
First-Person Sample Journal Post:
[Several tinny beeps sound over the network, pressed in a practiced rhythm as if someone’s trying to dial a phone number. A quiet voice is mumbling a bit, and a lucky strike of a button flips the video on, revealing a boy in glasses, wearing a heavy black coat with a white shirt and striped tie beneath it. He’s wearing a rather serious expression, but he seems to be keeping rather good control of himself in spite of his sudden change in surroundings.]
Ah, video... Excuse me, but is there anyone out there?
[He smiles just a bit, but there’s an edge to it that tells of some less-than-pleasant unvoiced thoughts. This is not where he’s supposed to be.]
Name/Handle: Ningi
Contact:
EMAIL: amandaleewilliams@gmail.com
AIM: Sanguine Ningi
PLURK: areyouokaypanda
Personal LJ: ningi
CHARACTER
Name: Okumura Yukio
Series: Ao no Exorcist (manga)
Canon: OU
Age: 15
Timeline: After the end of chapter 16, when Yukio and Rin separate for the mission to Kyoto.
History:
The world of Ao no Exorcist consists of two dimensions joined as one, like a mirror. One side is Assiah (the world of humans) and the other is Gehenna (the world of demons). Normal travel or contact between the worlds is impossible, but demons can pass over into Assiah by possessing anything that exists within it. People, objects, the vapor emitted by corpses... pretty much anything is game if the demon in question is powerful enough.
Sixteen years ago the world of exorcists took a crippling hit in the form of the Blue Night. On that day Satan murdered a large number of the world’s greatest holy men, leaving behind only bloody corpses and blue flames. How did he accomplish this? By possessing them, of course. Satan, as the god of Gehenna, is just too powerful for any normal human being to sustain the possession for more than a minute or two (pssst, remember that. That’s going to be important). So! Much possession, lots of dead holy men, and a generation traumatized by sight of blue flames.Sometime during this night of murder and mayhem, Satan found the time to use one of the exorcists he possessed to impregnate a Lower Second Class Exorcist named Yuri Egin. Why did he do this? Sheer boredom, if you’d believe it, but Satan is kind of insane. And by “kind of”, I mean “completely batshit”. Anyway, the ensuing pregnancy resulted in a set of fraternal twin boys: Rin, the elder, and Yukio, the younger brother that you’re about to learn a whole lot more about. You’ll learn a lot about Rin in the process as well, but they’re kind of attached at the hip that way.
This concludes the basic world overview section of the history. Simple, yes? Now, down to business.
Yukio and Rin were raised by Father Fujimoto Shiro in a boys’ monastery in True Cross Campus Town. As young children (because really, at fifteen years of age? They’re just older childen) they upheld the rather stereotypical roles of elder and younger brother. Where Rin was strong and loud, Yukio was weak and quiet. Easily frightened and often bullied, Yukio constantly found himself standing in his brothers’ protective shadow, bolstered by Rin’s confidence and encouragement. It was all rather fluffy and heartwarming, really. Flashbacks and heartfelt smiles aplenty.
Our first glance of Yukio in the present shows him as a much stronger person. Calm, intelligent and headed for True Cross Academy to see through his dream of becoming a doctor. Preparing for high school is a very time consuming process, of course, so Yukio’s not actually present when the obligatory start-of-story conflict occurs. Through an encounter with a demon-possessed hooligan and a very serious-faced explanation from Fujimoto, Rin learns that he’s a demon and that his father is an exorcist (in practice, not just title). Flames are discussed (namely the blue ones Rin seems to suddenly be sporting), as well as a demon sword that seals away said flames (otherwise known as “Kurikara”). A father/son disagreement is had and Satan takes advantage of Fujimoto’s moment of weakness, possessing him. Now, remember the bit about possession that I said was important? Good. Fujimoto actually lasts for a few minutes before his body starts to really deteriorate, proving that he’s just that fantastic. In the end, Fujimoto suicides to try and prevent Rin from being pulled into Gehenna to be used as a tool to overtake Assiah.
That was all very sad, but now we’re jumping ahead a bit. A funeral is held for Fujimoto during which Rin and Yukio don’t interact. At all. It’s pretty weird. As the funeral party is walking away, Rin lingers behind and is approached by several mysterious figures. Turns out that they’re members of the True Cross Order (exorcist central, if you couldn’t guess) sent to do away with Satan’s spawn. One of those figures is a pretty ridiculous looking man named Mephisto, head of the Japanese branch of the Order and the chairman of True Cross Academy. Rin convinces Mephisto to let him train as an exorcist (y’know, instead of murdering him), the proper story begins, and I get to actually write things about Yukio.
Yukio and Rin head for True Cross Academy together and Rin learns a lot of things that he didn’t know about his brother. He’s the freshman class representative (meaning he scored the highest on the entrance exams), oddly popular with the ladies, and oh, he’s an exorcist. The youngest person to ever earn the title, in fact (he qualified at age thirteen as both a Doctor and a Dragoon). Plus he’s a teacher in the secret exorcist cram school housed within the Academy, handling the Anti-Demon Pharmacology class. Also, he knew all about his and Rin’s lineage the entire time and has been training to be an exorcist since age seven. He received a Mashou from Rin at birth, a “spirit wound” that’s allowed him to see ghosts and demons for as long as he can remember.
Back on track! Naturally, their interactions are a bit strained at first, but they work though it verbally while fighting off a classroom filled with Hobgoblins (as is typical for shonen characters), eventually bonding over the memory of how awesome their father was. Afterward they move into an unused dorm together because, let’s face it, Rin simply can’t be trusted to operate on his own with these brand spankin’ new powers of his. It’s pretty important that they stay secret, what with everyone knowing exactly what blue flames signify.
Soon life becomes routine. Yukio attends high school during the day, teaches in the cram school during the afternoon, and somehow finds time in his schedule to accept actual missions. The first Rin witnesses occurs at an exorcist supply shop on the Academy’s grounds. Yukio’s called in to investigate an illness contracted by the shop keeper’s daughter, Moriyama Shiemi. She and Yukio met two years prior and seem to get on fairly well in spite of Shiemi’s crippling shyness. Through interaction with Rin we’re shown Shiemi’s back story in her grandmother’s garden, and Yukio quickly discovers the source of her illness: a demon in the garden. The demon (which takes the form of a giant flower) reveals itself, taking Shiemi as a hostage/shield. Yukio bluffs the demon into releasing Shiemi by convincing it that he’s willing to shoot through her (really, he just pegged her with some soft plant nutrients), leaving Rin a chance to cut the demon down. Shiemi recovers and joins the exorcist cram school as the token cute-girl character.
Time goes on and we’re introduced to the rest of Rin’s classmates. Lots of different subjects and teachers are also introduced, because Yukio certainly can’t teach all of them... though he does seem to find the time to creep about during some of them to keep watch over Rin. He also talks occasionally with Mephisto, reporting on how well Rin’s holding back his powers. For the most part Yukio keeps to the background, watching over his students as a good teacher should.
The next large event that takes place comes when an exorcist training camp is organized to prepare everyone for the upcoming promotion exam (exorcist rankings will be explained later/in the abilities section). It’s held in Rin and Yukio’s dorm for the sake of space and isolation. Some students bond, some are jerks to each other, but none of that matters when a naberius attacks two of the girls in the bath. Yukio arrives on the scene just in time to put a few rounds into it before it skitters away. The students are saved (mostly by efforts on Rin and Shiemi’s parts) and everyone is left to wonder how such a strong demon got through the wards surrounding the Academy. You’re curious too, right? Well, fear not! I’ll be getting to that part.
Even after the naberius incident, the students just can’t seem to stop bitching at each other, arguing enough to force Yukio to actually punish them. Everyone is forced to sit with a baryon (demons that possess rocks, causing them to get heavier the longer you hold them) in their lap while Yukio heads out to attend to a “minor mission”, leaving them with a very important statement: “No exorcist can fight alone”. Of course, rather than learning this lesson right away they continue to argue amongst themselves... until the naberius from before returns to attack again, this time with another creepy friend. Quick thinking from Shiemi and her demon summon forms a barrier to keep the kids safe for a while. Rin, being the spaz that he is, lures one of the ghouls away and takes care of it with those flames of his, and the other kids manage to do away with theirs... barely.
It was all very scary, but surprise! This entire thing was actually the promotion exam that the training camp was supposed to be preparing them for (spoiler: they all pass). Teachers were hiding all over the place to prevent the worst case scenario and Yukio knew what was going to happen the entire time... though he apparently wasn’t prepared for the level of danger his students were presented with. Once the kids’ injuries are taken care of, Yukio approaches and questions Neuhaus, one of the other teachers. Neuhaus is Tamer, an exorcist who summons demons and uses them to fight, so the ghouls in the building were his doing, but they were far beyond the level Yukio assumed the kids could handle. Neuhaus is pretty shady about the whole deal, insisting that he was acting on Mephisto’s orders and that he had no reason to want to kill Rin.
Because that’s the most believable statement to end a conversation with, right? Riiiiight.
With the training camp over over with and things settling back into something normal, Yukio visits Shiemi at her mother’s shop to talk over her future. Before the camp every student received a form on which they were to detail their Meister intentions, but Shiemi didn’t complete hers, unsure of her future. They have a reassuring talk that includes a flashback of their first meeting (thirteen-year-old Yukio is just as adorably stiff as sixteen-year-old Yukio, by the way), but Yukio cuts their time short, feeling that something isn’t right. He heads back to his and Rin’s dorm with Shiemi in tow and moves a sleeping Rin into a different room. Good thing he did, too, because not long after Neuhaus appears and Yukio catches him stabbing Rin’s empty bed with a giant compass (the kind you use to draw circles). That’s pretty damning evidence, of course, and Yukio gives chase when Neuhaus flees to the roof. Yukio is an excellent marksman, but physically not very tough, so the tide of the fight turns against him pretty quickly when Neuhaus summons a giant naberius on the roof. Luckily Rin jumps and distracts Neuhaus long enough for Yukio to erase the summoning circle. His weapon gone and too weak to summon another powerful enough to matter, Neuhaus gives a brief explanation of his actions. He’s a survivor of the Blue Night and hates Rin for his connection to Satan. He takes one more cheap shot at Rin before finally giving up (Rin’s shonen speech is STRONG), leaving Yukio and Rin on the roof to be found soon after by a worried Shiemi.
Things settle back into the routine again, and we learn that Rin fails at running errands, but still thinks himself capable of earning the rank of Paladin. Yukio is fairly quick to inform Rin of how unlikely that is, and Rin is fairly quick to (accidentally) break Yukio’s glasses. Before the argument can go too far Yukio receives a notice for another mission. We learn of Blacky, a former guardian diety of silk farmers gone rogue when his human worshippers forgot about him with the changing times. Fujimoto tamed him, making Blacky his familiar, but the demon lost control again when he heard of his master’s untimely demise. Yukio joins the force facing off with Blacky, a special “medicine” in hand that was previously prepared by Fujimoto in case of such a situation. Oh... and Rin follows along, because that’s what he does. The group intends to kill Blacky with the medicine, but Rin, who’s able to understand what the demon is saying, talks Blacky down and defuses the entire situation. He becomes Rin’s psuedo-familiar and they discover that that “medicine” Fujimoto left behind? Was catnip wine.
The first mission the ExWire’s are assigned together involves finding a mischievous ghost in an amusement park. Yukio’s divides the class into pairs and sends them off with instructions to call him should they find the ghost first. During the mission we get to meet Amaimon, a demon prince of hell (previously revealed to be Mephisto’s brother and technically Rin and Yukio’s half brother) who attacks Rin... mostly because he can. Things look pretty bad for a while until one of the students, a hooded weirdo whose face was always obscured, reveals herself as Kirigakure Shura, an Upper First Class exorcist. Turns out she’s a Vatican Inspector sent to look into some possible shady dealings between Mephisto and Fujimoto, as well as search for connections to Satan and eliminate them if found. She drives Amaimon off and takes Rin to central headquarters for questioning. Yukio is understandably uneasy, but rather than report Rin as she should, Shura postpones her report to the Vatican. Turns out she was once a student of Fujimoto, and he asked her too look after Rin in the case of his death.
Holy crap, this history is getting long. Moving on.
After that fiasco, it’s time for another training camp! This one takes place in a forest for the right to participate in missions involving actual combat. It involves demon lanterns and learning the magical skill of cooperation, but none of that matters when Amaimon shows up again. Yukio is distracted for the bulk of the battle, dealing with swarms of demon moths while Shura and the ExWires struggle against Amaimon. Eventually Mephisto interrupts that fight like the mysterious creeper he is, but not before Rin is forced to draw his sword and reveal his blue flames in front of all his classmates. He kind of managed to set a good chunk of the forest on fire as well, so it’s no surprise when more representatives from headquarters show up. Arthur Auguste Angel, the current Paladin, shows up and takes Rin, Shura, and Mephisto to court. Yukio’s left behind to give a very short and to-the-point explanation to the other ExWire’s. It’s all very awkward and vaguely heart-wrenching.
Mephisto, through the most charismatic verbal manipulation ever seen, convinces the court not to execute Rin right there, but he has to conform to all sorts of stipulations to keep his freedom. One of those stipulations? He must pass the exorcist qualification exam in six months time. Shura takes him on as a proper student and he’s released into her and Yukio’s care.
Most of the ExWire’s are still in the hospital when Rin tries to attend class again after the entire ordeal, but Yukio’s quick to pull him out and redirect him to an underground training facility. Rin tests out a combat simulation machine (which looks more like a batting cage on steroids than anything else) while Yukio tries express to him the importance of consequences and thinking through your actions before jumping into things like an idiot. Rin, of course, brushes most of this off and Shura soon appears to start him on his specific training. While Rin’s off to one side working on controlling his flames with a special candle exercise, Yukio and Shura step into the batting cages for a match (loser treats the winner to a meal).
While both of them easily take everything the machine has to throw at them while set on the highest difficulty, Yukio lectures Shura about her carelessness concerning his brother. She, in turn lectures him about the importance of loosening up and acknowledging his feelings, because otherwise? He runs the risk of being possessed by a demon, as do all those who carry around that kind of pent-up anger and stress. Yukio does manage to let loose a little bit, informing Shura of just how much he despises her (much to her expectant glee), but before they can resolve anything Rin looses control of his flames, filling the room with a burst of blue fire. When the smoke clears... Yukio and Shura are unharmed. They’re missing everything but their underwear, but they’re unharmed! Does this mean Rin has some unconscious control over his flames? It doesn’t matter, because Yukio almost immediately gets a call for another mission!
Yukio and Shura get dressed and head for another section of town with Rin in tow (since they’re his keepers now), and things look pretty bad when they arrive on the scene. Lots of people contaminated with miasma (poisonous demon vapor, basically) and doctors running around like chickens with their heads cut off trying to get to everyone who needs help. Saburota Todou is in charge of the operation and fills them in on the situation.
A masked man broke into the Saishinbu (the innermost section) of the Academy, stealing an artifact known as the Left Eye of the Impure King”. The Left Eye belonged to a very powerful demon over one hundred years ago. The Impure King was responsible for spreading a plague that became the root cause for over 40,000 human deaths, and though he was subdued and his eyes were removed, they still emit a very dangerous miasma. The thief fled through the city, taking a child hostage in the low-income section and disappearing into a building. Rin, being the shonen hero sort that he is, tries to promise the child’s mother that they’ll save her son, but Yukio angrily cuts him off. He knows that exorcists aren’t omnipotent, and sometimes you can’t save everyone, no matter how badly you’d like to, and it’s a lesson that Rin needs to learn.
Yukio dons a protective suit, joining the party heading inside the building and leaving Rin in Shura’s care. He really should know better than to think he can leave Rin behind at this point, because his brother does exactly what he always does (somehow managing to shake off Shura) and heads inside as well. They have time for about ten seconds of brotherly disapproval before the masked man appears, his very sick child hostage and demon artifact in tow. Surprisingly, he drops both and vanishes, leaving shocked exorcists all around. Rin’s quick to run forward and grab the kid while Yukio investigates the Left Eye... only to find out it’s a fake. Suddenly, the tables turn and Todou attacks Yukio from behind. It turns out that he’s become a demon, and that the entire chase was merely a distraction so that the real Left Eye could be stolen.
While Rin is dealing with the kid and some of that nasty miasma, Todou focuses on Yukio, pinning him to the floor and planting some fantastically strategic seeds of doubt. He compares the both of them, spouting off a back story remarkably similar to Yukio’s: a man slaving away for the benefit of his organization, his family, his brother... and coming away with nothing to show forhimself. Yukio rebukes Todou for his weakness, but he can’t quite shake the other man’s words, even after Todou suddenly flees the scene. Yukio manages to pull himself together long enough to treat the child, shedding his protective clothing and exposing himself to the lingering miasma in order to do the job right. It takes him a bit, but he manages to steel himself and toss Todou a mental “screw you!” before inoculating himself (rather violently) to stay off the boils forming on his own face and finishing the child’s emergency treatment.
Yukio returns the child to his mother and Mephisto appears on the scene, informing him of Todou’s true intentions. Shura’s familiar is set on the trail of the real Left Eye and Mephisto sends Yukio along with a force meant to recapture it. Before he leaves Rin calls out to him, announcing his intentions to surpass his younger brother (which isn’t all that surprising considering how badass Yukio proved himself to be while saving that kid). Yukio seems shocked at first, but quickly reaffirms his own confidence and dons a classic smile, telling Rin that that’s impossible, but that he should do his best.
Personality:
Yukio’s first appearance paints a pretty simple picture. The younger of a set of fraternal twins, he’s Rin’s opposite in nearly everything. Where Rin is brash and loud, Yukio is generally quiet and polite. Where Rin is... well, kind of stupid, Yukio approaches a level near genius in his chosen fields. He’s generally serious and driven to succeed, achieving success through plain hard work and determination, all while wearing a kind smile.
His characterization is expanded on when we learn of his status as an exorcist and just what it took for him to get to where he is. Though he spent the majority of his early childhood in tears, fearing the creatures that he could see hiding in the shadows (the ones that even his older brother couldn’t protect him from), an invitation from his adoptive father turned all that around. Fujimoto gave Yukio the chance to fight alongside him, offering him the tools and training he would need so that he could, with time, succeed on his own merit. He could be the one to protect Rin from the monsters that would one day come for him . He would never have to live in fear of the dark again.
Of course, that sort of intensive training from such a young age takes it’s toll, but it was never something Yukio fought against. He embraced the lifestyle of the exorcist (seemingly) wholeheartedly, leaving any semblance of a normal childhood behind. He trained and studied from age seven to thirteen when he earned his Meister in both Doctor and Dragoon, worked his butt off in normal school to earn a scholarship to True Cross Academy, and became a lecturer in the exorcist cram school when he and Rin entered the Academy, all the while taking on missions where appropriate and applicable. Did I mention he only sleeps about four hours a night? Yeah... overachiever? You could say that. It’s amazing the kid finds time to eat.
Things changed a lot for Yukio when Fukimoto died. In spite of the secrets Yukio kept from Rin prior to their entrance to the Academy, the two of them always seemed to have a fairly decent relationship, but their father’s death brought to light the real barrier between them. For a time Yukio blamed Rin for Fujimoto’s death, sure that he was the weakness in their father’s heart that allowed Satan the chance to take him over. Though sad and angry and almost a bit lost, he suppressed those feelings until Rin finally called him out on his emotional shenanigans. He unloaded on Rin, tossing out blame and even telling his brother to “please die”... but when push came to shove, he couldn’t harm his only remaining family. Even with Rin charging at him, sword drawn and flames blazing, Yukio couldn’t bring himself to fire his weapon. Fujimoto died to protect Rin, his son, and Yukio’s connection with his brother was and still is just as deep.
Their mended relationship didn’t exactly loosen Yukio up, though. He’s rather strict with his brother and with his students, insisting upon the importance of cooperation and responsibility. However, a deeper examination of his relationship with Rin, reveals an entirely different side of Yukio. Rin’s constant antics and careless decisions can draw out bouts of anger so intense that they almost border on bipolar. He tries very hard to reign that part of himself in and usually regains his composure fairly quickly, but when a guy represses as much as he does? He’s bound to explode eventually. Shura inspires similar outbursts with her antagonistic attitude. He can’t stand to see those with so much natural talent waste it, especially when he had to work so hard to get the things he has.
That doesn’t mean he’s a complete stick-in-the-mud, though. He knows a joke when he hears one and likes to take the occasional good-natured jab at his older brother when he can. He likes to read SQ manga every month and he’s even popular with girls, though not especially good at dealing with them (he seems to have a crush on Shiemi, but he’ll likely never act on it.). Overall he’s quick-witted, calm and collected in a pinch, and a very likeable guy.
Recent events have added another facet to him that’s may prove tricky in the future. His encounter with Todou inspired something that he hasn’t felt so acutely in a very long time: fear. Fear and uncertainly concerning himself, his motivations, and his feelings toward his brother. More than one person has warned him of the danger of bottling his feelings away, fearing he might become a demon by accident should he let his anger and resentment continue to build. It’s something that will be very fresh and constantly on his mind when he’s pulled into Nesreca.
Abilities/Additional Notes:
APPEARANCE:
Yukio is about six feet tall and weighs in at around 150 lbs. He has blue/green eyes and dark brown hair kept trimmed short enough that his bangs don’t fall over his eyes. There are three moles on his face that he’s rather self-conscious about, two on his left cheek and one on the right side of his chin. He’s almost never seen without his glasses due to very poor eyesight.
During his off time he tends to favor comfortable, practical clothing like slacks, sweaters and t-shirts. His academy uniform is a simple white button-up, a striped tie and a jacket with white trim. His most common outfit is his exorcist uniform, which includes a knee-length black coat, his exorcist pin, and several different leather pouches and flaps for his various supplies.
Also, he’s fifteen. No, he doesn’t look fifteen, but so it goes in this crazy anime world I’ve chosen to live it.
ABILITIES:
Yukio is a Middle First Class exorcist and holds the title of “Meister” in both the Doctor and Dragoon classes. He’s a brilliant Doctor, not only capable of handling most wounds or illnesses (especially those inflicted by demons), but also extremely capable in terms of Anti-Demon Pharmacology . He has a steady hand even in stressful situations and always seems to be carting around a rather unnecessary-looking amount off supplies on his belt.
Physically? He’s not all that tough, but those steady hands lend themselves to his second class, Dragoon. Dragoons combat demons using more modern weaponry, like rifles or handguns. Yukio carries what looks to be two M1911 Colt .45 automatic pistols, black with wood side covers on the handles and the True Cross insignia engraved on the sides, specially modified (somehow) to shoot multiple different types of ammunition. Along with his abundance of medical supplies, he also carries several extra clips, all placed strategically on his person for quick and easy reloading. He’s an excellent marksman, hitting his target even while on the move or without line of sight. He’s good enough to keep up with Shura, an exorcist two ranks above him, in a combat simulation.
As a side note that really shouldn’t be called a side note since it’s pretty important... Yukio doesn’t seem to have inherited any of Satan’s powers. Had his body been stronger in the womb the powers might have been split, but he was so weak as a fetus that they bypassed him completely, leaving Rin the sole inheritor of the blue flames.
Yukio also possesses several magical keys that open portals to important places within the Academy, as well other branches of the Order, but they won’t function while in Nesreca.
EDIT (chapter 29): While Yukio doesn't posess the actual title of 'Tamer', he's been shown to have the inherent talent required to summon demons to aid him in battle. During his fight with Toudou he used magical bullets imbued with water to draw the circles necessary to summon Naiads (water nymphs). Eight Naiads on his very first try at summoning, in fact, but the act drained his stamina and brought Yukio to his knees.
So... while he's capable of summoning demons as a Tamer would, he's far too inexperienced to truly rely on the ability.
ITEM LIST:
exorcist uniform (pants, shirt, tie, coat, boots, pin)
2 M1911 Colt .45 automatic pistols
4 spare magazines, 7 rounds each
2 holy water grenades
1 pouch belt (various medical supplies, herbs and poisons, holy water, 6 dozen holy silver bullet jackets)
1 exorcist license
5 magic keys
1 wallet
1 cellular phone
1 extra pair of glasses
OOC NOTES:
Yukio’s always been a very polite and well-spoken young man, respectful to most people in most situations. He’s Japanese, and though many titles have proper English translations, most honorifics do not. Not without sounding terribly awkward, anyway. As such, I will be including actual honorifics in his speech. “Nii-san” or “Ani” in reference to Rin, and the common “-kun” and “-san” will likely be attached to nearly everyone else. I may adjust my usage as time goes on, but for now this feels like the more natural route.
Third-Person Sample: (working under the assumption that Rin is accepted at the same time)
Yukio knew that this wasn’t where he was supposed to be... not that it was particularly difficult to tell. One moment he was in a wagon with his newly-gathered team, all of them on the trail of the stolen Left Eye, and the next? This place, which was a far cry from the modern city he last remembered moving through. Nothing but ruined buildings and empty streets as far as the eye could see, and the visible age of the destruction was no comfort either. This damage wasn’t new. It was disconcerting, to say the least, to suddenly find himself somewhere seemingly post-apocalyptic. Could this be some trick? Maybe a hallucination...
A rustle off to one side drew his attention, and in the blink of an eye Yukio had one pistol drawn and aimed toward the source of the noise. He was on-edge (understandably so), a heavy frown creasing his features when his call of “Show yourself!” went unanswered. A few cautious steps forward and a repeat of his command earned him a low groan, and a familiar mop of black hair appeared from behind a large chunk of broken concrete. That sounded like...
“Nii-san... ?”
First-Person Sample Journal Post:
[Several tinny beeps sound over the network, pressed in a practiced rhythm as if someone’s trying to dial a phone number. A quiet voice is mumbling a bit, and a lucky strike of a button flips the video on, revealing a boy in glasses, wearing a heavy black coat with a white shirt and striped tie beneath it. He’s wearing a rather serious expression, but he seems to be keeping rather good control of himself in spite of his sudden change in surroundings.]
Ah, video... Excuse me, but is there anyone out there?
[He smiles just a bit, but there’s an edge to it that tells of some less-than-pleasant unvoiced thoughts. This is not where he’s supposed to be.]