[application]
[character]; Youko Nakajima
[series]; The Twelve Kingdoms
[age]; Physical age is 16.
[gender]; Female
[sexuality]; Borderline asexual. She's mostly just uninterested ATM.
[species]; Sennin
[appearance];
COMING SOON!
[personality];
Youko is a complex character whose behavior is constantly changing. Much like a real person, she is always evolving based on her new situations and the people around her. Every stage in her journey that she has gone through has shaped who she is now and will be in the future.
While in Japan, Youko was raised to be the perfect good girl. She was the perfect Japanese student with good grades and lots of praise from her teachers and classmates. She was very much a "girlie girl" as well. She was soft spoken, calm, minded her manners, was feminine, obeyed the rules and above all else was constantly trying to please everyone. In this sense she very much lived for everyone else but herself. She was anxious when she thought someone didn't like her and went out of her way to avoid conflict. Mostly Youko wasn't even a real person, living as a shallow and needy individual who was not being true to herself. She was just constantly trying to fit in.
Even as a picture perfect lady, however, Youko remained very stubborn. She tried valiantly to get the approval of those who didn't because she would not accept anything less. She was, in secret, a tomboy at heart and could only truly express this by being hardheaded. Yet she is also very compassionate and can't stand hurting living creatures.
Eventually she is dragged kicking and screaming (literally) into another world all alone. As any normal person would, she reacts with denial and fear. She keeps telling herself it's all some kind of dream. She is very emotional, sobbing all the time and begging anyone who will listen to let her go home. Frightened and miserable, Youko still remains stubborn despite it all. She refuses to just give up and decides to return to Japan no matter what. And although at first she tries to remain her polite and demur self, the way she is treated by the people she runs into slowly break her. She becomes hardened and cold to her surroundings, traveling through the wilderness almost as if in a trance. Her previous compassion for living things evaporates as she goes about killing the youma who attack her.
Youko is fiercely betrayed twice on her journey because of her cluelessness about this new world. Starving, exhausted and still very much afraid of what has been happening, the betrayals make her even more detached than ever before. She develops a very ruthless and almost sadistic streak. (At one point she takes great joy in killing the youma following her.) Youko also vows she cannot trust anyone anymore. If she doesn't trust them then they can't betray her is her reasoning. Youko has fallen and hit rock bottom at this point. But even so, her determination to return home remains strong albeit twisted. She comes to realize no one in Japan really cared about her due to her superficial nature, yet even so she'll get home just to spite them.
The turning point for Youko is when she meets Rakushun. He is kind to her and because he doesn't look human (think a giant authro-ish rat) she can accept his help taking her to En. However she abandons him during a youma attack when he's injured and it makes Youko realizes just how low she has fallen. She sees what she has become and wonders how she could abandon someone who showed her nothing but kindness. Hating this new her and not ever wanting to return to the old her, Youko gets a new resolve to become someone completely different. She would change for the better and make amends for everything she has done. She would stop caring whether or not people liked her or whether or not they would eventually betray her. She couldn't hurt others just because other had hurt her and that she had become a coward for acting that way. She would live and return home a new person. This was her new resolve.
At this point she finally takes ahold of her own life and stops living for everyone else. She develops a very strong sense of justice, knowing that she must protect the weak and ease all the suffering of her people. Her many months alone on the road have also made her particularly sensitive to the plights of the people who are also starving and exhausted from the poor conditions in her kingdom. But she still retains her streak of ruthlessness and no longer hesitates to kill. She doesn't take lives lightly, however, and understands completely what it means to take down another human being. Youko is strong and independent but also full of insecurities. She knows nothing about the world she's in and feels very helpless when it comes to helping her struggling people. She has no confidence in herself and does not believe she deserves to be a ruler due to how low she fell. Youko also still has a longing to go back home but knows returning now would cause more suffering.
Youko remains stubborn as a mule and also very impulsive. She often leaps before she thinks as far as battle and politics are concerned. This almost always backfires on her. She isn't above admitting her faults (perhaps a bit too willing to admit to them, actually) and is perfectly aware of how clueless she is. This frustrates her but it drives her to learn everything she can about her surroundings. Youko's tomboyish nature is also running strong now that there is no reason to suppress it. She doesn't like the formalities or the riches she has been given as queen either, still much too use to walking around as a commoner. She feels uncomfortable in her new setting and responsibilities, often overwhelmed. But true to herself she never gives up. She knows now she can't make everyone happy and won't be liked by everyone. Youko also trusts more easily now but is no longer naive and not easily fooled. She's sharp and very observant thanks to her travels.
Wise, childish, tomboyish, strong, stubborn, weak, no self confidence, compassionate, cold, determined, ruthless, trusting, serious--Youko is all of these things and more. Although some traits are more obvious than others, she has carried with her everything she has gone through as an important life lesson. Her experiences have greatly molded who she is, for better and for worse.
[abilities/strengths];
Youko has mad kung fu skillz. No, really. Before she arrived in the Twelve Kingdoms Youko was given a youma called a hinman. These youma are watery looking creatures that attach themselves to a person and give them amazing fighting abilities. Thus Youko can wield a sword very well, is very agile and can fight with the best of 'em. Additionally Youko is a queen which means she is immortal. Called a sennin, immortals in the Twelve Kingdoms cannot get illnesses nor do they age. Wounds will heal in rapid time and left without food and water for years won't kill them. (Though they'll feel like their starving.) However they CAN be killed if their heads are chopped off or their body is cut in half. Thus it isn't impossible for Youko to die but it certainly isn't easy. As a sennin Youko also has no language barrier. She can talk to anyone and understand anyone regardless of what they're actually speaking.
With her physical strength Youko also brings a lot of mental strength as well. She's very street smart thanks to her months alone on the road and somewhat cunning. Youko has also developed some sharp senses and might pick up on things normal people wouldn't.
Her sword and Kei's royal treasure Suiguutou--often shortened as Suiguu--is always at her side. The sword offers an array of magical abilities. It was foraged from a water youma and can be easily used to slay youma, sennin and cut through almost any kind of material. The sword can also be used to show visions to the wielder, though only of the present or the past. Only Youko can wield the sword and effectively cut things with it. The scabbard of the sword was made from a long-tailed monkey youma. The two seal each other and are needed together or else things get a little out of control. Normally the scabbard controls the swords visions and prevents other people from drawing the blade. The sword prevents the monkey spirit of the scabbard from getting loose and taunting the wielder. However Youko loses and then eventually kills the scabbard. Thus the visions the sword shows her are out of her control and often taunt her with showing her the doubt and fear inside her own heart. Additionally she has the Gyoku, a round blue gem that is attached to the Suiguu's hilt. It has the power to heal flesh wounds and ease fatigue and hunger.
[weaknesses];
COMING SOON!
[history];
COMING SOON!