seiju shikibu // ddd app
Player nickname: coffee
Player LJ: brewmegently (never used)
Way to contact you:
Email: froggy.mcgee @ gmail
AIM: brewmegently
Other: n/a
Are you at least 15?: Y.
Current Characters: Teddy Altman, Eridan Ampora, Akito/Agito Wanijima
Character: Seiju Shikibu
Fandom: Dolls (manga)
Character Notes:
History: Seiju comes from the 3rd Toutoh Empire, set in the future (after World War Three) in which excessive immigration has led to a surge in the crime rate. In order to deal with the overpopulation in prisons, a law called the Rationalization of Trials was put in place, which allowed the court system to try people in absence, especially serious crimes like multiple murder. To carry out the sentences, generally sentences of death, a special police unit called the Tokubetsu Shikeishikkou Keimukan Butai (Official Unit for Punishment and Special Executions), generally shortened to Tokkei and perjoratively called 'Dolls' was put in place. The Tokkei generally investigate and hunt down the convicted criminals, and when they find them, carry out their death sentences with efficient brutality. Obviously, not all of society accepted the Tokkei easily, and a terrorist group called Doll Hunters was organized, whose sole task was hunting and killing the Tokkei.
Shikibu Seiju was born into a decently well-off family, with his father and mother married and happy. It was a happy family, and Seiju was very close to both his parents, sharing little stories and an almost uncommon closeness for modern families. This all changed when Seiju was about 8 years old, and he saw both of his parents murdered in the street. He sat with his mother until she died, and she told him to never stop smiling, or else his happiness would elude him. This was the definitive point of Seiju's young life, that put him on the path he would later follow as an adult.
After his parents died, Seiju lost the ability to speak for a while due to the trauma of seeing his parents murdered, and was placed into a Children's Shelter. It's uncertain whether Seiju grew up in a shelter, or whether he was adopted by a new family, but either way, his parents were gone and murdered. When the Tokkei were put in place, Seiju joined their ranks and went through training, prepared to put the taste for justice to work in their ranks. Having seen his own parents murdered, he wanted to dole out justice and absolution for the families of other such victims. Having experienced it himself gave him the determination that it took to take on the sort of jobs the Tokkei would give him. He graduated at the top of his class with the skills required to be assigned to the First Brigade - the best brigade of the Tokkei, a three-man unit that had two openings. He joined Shouta, a man who was known for his record amount of years at the top of the Tokkei and who had been forced to kill his own mentor when said mentor went crazy and started taking out other Tokkei members. Shouta and Seiju grew to be close as they worked together, and managed to uphold the First Brigade's 100% success rate, even with one empty spot.
Seiju's start in the First Brigade was difficult - as an adult, he still complied with his mother's advice, and wore a smile as a mask. Whether he was hurt, upset, tired, or happy, he wore a smile and hid behind it. This irritated Shouta, his Captain, who had (and still has) a serious problem with Tokkei who fall into the stereotypical emotional "doll" stereotype, reminding Shouta of himself as he used to be. Seiju frequently put missions above himself, ignoring his injuries and pushing himself beyond his limits with no concern for himself, and trying to get his partner to leave him behind to accomplish the objective. After a mission on which this happened, Shouta hit a breaking point and confronted Seiju, telling him to stop smiling when he didn't mean it, that he wasn't going to leave his partner behind, and forcing Seiju to break down into tears. Shouta hugged him, told him he wasn't alone, and asked him to never hide behind smiles again, to emote the way he wants. This is a continuing struggle for Seiju.
I will be bringing Seiju to DDD from the start of his canon, where the chemistry of his team is being disrupted by the addition of Usaki Tudou, a young rookie who has similar emotional problems and who graduated at the top of his class.
Personality: Seiju is a character who has very distinct 'dark' and 'light' sides to his personality. While he is charming, cheerful, compassionate, and outgoing, he is also someone who kills for a living and suffers from depression. Though Seiju obviously favours his cheerful and compassionate side, he shows no desire to leave his job with the Tokkei, despite the dark nature of it and how it exposes him to the harsh realities of the worst of human nature.
The side of Seiju's personality that is most often shown and that he prefers to present is his more positive side. Seiju is cheerful and expressive, almost to an excess sometimes. He likes animals, and actually sparkled at the thought of calling a teammate Usagi because it means "rabbit." His cheerful nature can actually, at times, make him look like a ditz, though he's nothing of the sort in reality. However, though he does harbour a darker and more sombre nature underneath his cheerfulness, the cheerfulness isn't at all fake, but rather a personality trait he holds onto in order to keep himself upbeat. Seiju is also an incredibly compassionate person. He cares for other people, whether they're his teammates and colleagues, or people he only recently met. He empathizes well with others, and is always willing to lend a hand to people who are in need - he's done everything from taking care of a teammate who overworks to taking home a traumatized child from work. He also has a great deal of passion for everything he does, doing everything to the best of his ability from work to his own personal hobbies, such as art. Finally, Seiju has a very strong sense of personal morality and justice, something that helps him a great deal in his work, but sometimes gets him in trouble - he strives to do what he feels is right in any given situation, and sometimes this can lead him to doing things (or at least trying to do things) that are against the rules.
However, as previously mentioned, despite this positivity, Seiju has a very distinct dark side. He's made it to the top brigade out of 47 brigades of the Tokkei, an organization that exists solely to carry out executions of convicted criminals (most often multiple murderers) for a reason. His brigade has a 100% success rate, and this is partially because of Seiju's skills. He's an expert fighter with cutting wire, and can use a gun. When he's on missions, he shows no mercy to the sentenced criminals he kills (though he still shows compassion to any bystanders) and his face is very serious, sometimes to the point of being scary, in a fight, his whole mind set on the task at hand. His sense of justice allows no empathy for the condemned - he does what he does in order to bring closure and justice to the family members of victims, and he's very committed to this cause, partially because his own parents were killed when he was young. Despite his dedication to his job, it does get to him, in part because of his compassion and empathy. Between that and memories of his parents' death, he frequently has bouts of insomnia that he medicates for with sleeping pills, and occasionally has nightmares. In Chapter 9, he actually admits to a co-worker that he would commit suicide in order to just sleep and never think again. This admission goes along with Seiju's tendency to value himself too little, and to self-sacrifice for the cause the Tokkei are going for. He sees himself as not worth it, a smaller part of a bigger thing, and of less value than he would place on others. This depression is quite well-hidden, though people who've come to know him can tell just how deep his past and present traumas hit him.
Other:
* Seiju has no superhuman or magical powers, but he is a very, very good fighter, proficient with the use of most types of guns, as well as a very well-honed ability with the use of cutting wire. Using cutting wire is his preferred method of fighting.
* Seiju stands at 5'10" and has long black hair in a hime cut, violet eyes, and a slender build with broad shoulders. His face is quite effeminate. Throughout the series, his hair changes from shoulder length to as long as waist length and back again. His eyes are violet, and he has a very fair complexion. [reference 1 | reference 2]
* Seiju lives alone but has a pet fish. It is a really ugly fish.
* He keeps his identity a secret, as the rest of the Tokkei do, to protect himself from being targeted for attacks. Like all Tokkei, his home is under constant video surveillance for his own protection.
Additional Links:
* This is all I've got
First Person (entry type):
[the video post engages, showing a mostly-darkened room. Seiju sits in his bed, his hair loose around his shoulders, wearing a T-shirt, with a backdrop of stars through the huge windows forming most of the wall behind him. he forces a weak smile, but his expression is exhausted]
Does anyone else here have a difficult time with sleeping? It can't be that uncommon of a problem, I imagine, but I've just been having such a hard time with it lately. It worries people, I know, but I can't seem to correct it.
[he sighs, lifting one hand to his mouth and pressing the heel of his hand against his lips before glancing back at the screen]
Maybe someone has a home remedy that might work? I've tried warm milk, and most types of tea, but if there's any other ideas, I'd love to hear them. I mean, it isn't as if I want to worry Shouta-kun and Usaki-kun!
Third Person:
Nights were always endless. Tossing and turning back and forth in bed, the medication making his body exhausted while his mind worked a thousand miles a minute, mulling over anxieties and failures wasn't his idea of a good time. Sitting up, Seiju pushed a hand back through his hair and sighed, looking around his small one-room apartment. This would't do at all.
Seiju really didn't want to toss all night, and so he got up, pulled on a jacket, and left his apartment in search of...something. Something to occupy his mind. Something to wear himself out so he could sleep. He was, after all, Vice Captain of the First Brigade of the Tokkei, and there was little on the night streets he couldn't handle. Stepping out into the chilly night air, he brought his hands to his mouth and blew into them, starting down the street, violet eyes scanning his surroundings and taking in the sights of the city at night. It could be beautiful, in its own way, even if it brought back bad memories this way.
He closed his eyes for a moment, turned around, and smiled at the world. When he opened his eyes, he could see a small restaurant at the end of the alley, with fluorescent lights and an offer of ramen all night long. It was a gift, and Seiju's smile widened as he walked toward it. Perhaps hee wouldn't be alone tonight, after all.