[ Player Name ] : Kaito
[ Personal LJ ] :
kaitodoushi[ Age ] : 25
[ Timezone ] : US Central
[ Other Characters ] : n/a
[ Character's Name ] : Ahiru
[ Character's Age ] : Appears 13 or 14
[ Series ] : Princess Tutu
[ Canon Point ] : The beginning of episode 24 right after she passes out
[ History ] :
Ahiru was a student at the Fine Arts Academy in Kinkan Town in the ballet division, though she was not very good. She had a huge crush on one of the older ballet students, Mytho, who would appear in her dreams as a prince. In both her dreams and waking she always thought he looked handsome, but something about his eyes was empty. However, in the dreams she was always a duck. Ahiru decided that if there was something she could do to help him, she would. When she witnessed him nearly fall out a window, she suddenly realized she was the magical ballerina Princess Tutu, the only person that could help the prince.
As she came to learn shortly after this, Mytho was actually a prince that had come out of a story after its author Drosslemeyer had died. In the story he had been fighting an evil raven and eventually had to cut out his own heart to seal the raven. His heart was now in pieces that were spread all over the town, and only Princess Tutu could return them. All of this was revealed to her by Drosslemeyer himself. She also discovered that she was, in fact, truly a duck, but with the pendant given to her by the writer she could become a girl and stay close to Mytho in case he needed help.
She was not met without resistance however. Mytho's roommate Fakir seemed set on keeping him away from everyone, and even when she tried to approach Mytho as a regular girl she was met by both verbal and phsyical abuse from Fakir. Also, despite her own developing feelings, Mytho had a self-proclaimed girlfriend named Rue, the school's prima ballerina who also seemed to be aware of who he really was. Ahiru found out Tutu's actual role in The Prince and the Raven by listening to her: she was a minor character that, upon the moment of confessing her love to the prince, would turn into a speck of light and vanish.
As Mytho regained more painful emotions, Ahiru nearly quit because she was afraid she was hurting him, but eventually he told Tutu that he wanted to regain his heart. However, at this point he had regained enough of his heart that the Crow Princess Kraehe appeared, claiming the prince was hers. Later she lost her pendant and it was picked up by Fakir, who realized it was Tutu's and decided he should keep it in case she came looking for it, not realizing it belonged to the small duck that was now following him. During this time she discovered that Fakir's role was actually that of the knight and he was only trying to protect Mytho. After inadvertantly comforting him while he was crying, he gave her the pendant since she had shown interest in it. Ahiru attempted to sneak back to school before Mytho and Fakir returned, however they caught her outside. Fakir happened to notice the pendant and realized she was Princess Tutu.
Mytho tried to give a gift to Princess Tutu to express his feelings. It contained the heart shard of love, but she was bound by Kraehe's magic before she could finish returning it. Kraehe stated she now knew who Tutu was and phsyically ripped out the shard, taking Mytho with her. Fakir was also present, so Ahiru turned to him to help her look for Mytho. During their search, she was approached by Rue, who revealed herself to be Kraehe to both of them. Eventually they were guided to an underground lake, but after being attacked in the passageway they were stuck in a hole with a pond. Ahiru eventually had to show Fakir that she was also a duck so she could swim ahead to find an exit.
Princess Tutu and Princess Kraehe began to battle for the prince's heart shard of love. Fakir attempted to fight, but his fate as the knight to be torn in two by the raven kept holding him back. Kraehe told her the only way to save the prince was to confess her love, however before she could do so Fakir stopped her, reminding her that she was the only one that could restore his heart, and since that was what Mytho wanted he was going to support it. Kraehe seemed to have the Prince's love, but Tutu began dancing a Pas de Deux by herself until the actual Mytho came to her side. Kraehe left, defeated, and Tutu could finally restore the shard.
Ahiru was convinced that Rue was still the girl she had known and not Kraehe, however after this Mytho began acting strangely. He started getting close to random people and then attempting to take out their hearts. Ahiru later learned that Kraehe had dyed the heart shard in the blood of the Raven, who was actually her father and seeking to be restored to his full form by eating a sacrifice of a pure heart and felt guilty because she had returned the shard. Despite their regular bickering, she and Fakir started working together to try to get Mytho back to normal and stop him from taking people's hearts. After restoring Mytho's heart shard of Pride she was told by Drosslemeyer that all of the wandering shards had been restored, but those were not all of them. Ahiru began thinking that since she couldn't find them, there was nothing she could do for Mytho and started looking to Fakir. She found out that Fakir had the ability to make stories real she tried to push him into writing one, but he initially could not write anything.
Ahiru eventually regained her resolve and set out to find Mytho's remaining heart shards, discovering they were in the five gates around the town and that there was only a wall outside the town. Her investigation was cut short when Tutu had to save Fakir from the Bookmen, and she was then taken by Drosslemeyer into his world. They learned that their town was under the control of his story, and Drosslemeyer tried to convince her not to finish restoring the shards so she could continue to pine after the Prince and he could have his tragedy. Tutu, however, wanted to follow her own feelings for Mytho and keep helping him. Fakir realized he was able to write about her and was able to lead her back into the town.
Ahiru went to try to get the heart shards from the gates, despite being told by Fakir that it would restore the Raven. During her search, she found Mytho and Rue. Mytho had been turned into a crow by the Raven's blook, and Rue and learned that she was actually a human girl and had given up being Kraehe and felt responsible. She told Ahiru to not restore the final shards. Ahiru was confused, but was then learned that her pendant was his final heart shard. She realized this meant the Prince wanted his heart back, and although it meant she would be stuck as a duck she went to restore his final shards. As the Raven began to return, and Mytho tried to give himself to the Raven, but Tutu could not stop him. Rue cried after him, confessing her own love and turning him back to his human form, but she was captured by the Raven and swallowed.
Mytho told Tutu he wanted to save Rue and then take her into the story and make her his princess. Though broken hearted, Tutu agreed, but found she could not take off the pendant and ran off. Drosslemeyer went to Fakir and forced him to write about Ahiru, who was now lost in despair. Drosslemeyer told her that the only way the pendant would come off was if she killed herself, so Ahiru threw herself into the Lake of Despair. Fakir eventually stabbed himself in the hand to stop this and went after her. Ahiru was convinced that vanishing was what she needed to do to help Mytho, but Fakir danced with her at the bottom of the lake and told her the best thing was for them to go back to being their real selves and end the story. The real her was a duck, and even after she went back to being one he said he would stay by her side forever. This gave her the resolve and strength to take off the pendant, and she asked Fakir to write about her one last time. She went back to Mytho as Princess Tutu and returned the final shard, returning to being a duck.
The Prince was still being attacked by the Raven, and Ahiru tried her best to help him by dancing to inspire the cursed townsfolk, though the crows kept attacking her despite Fakir's best efforts. Eventually her hope was enough to get the Prince through to save Rue and they defeated the Raven and saved the town. Uzura led the four of them to where Drosslemeyer had left a device that was writing the story, and Fakir destroyed it saying he would finish the story. The Prince went back into it with Rue, and Ahiru was happy to see all of them so happy.
[ Personality ] :
Ahiru is very friendly, trying to open up to almost everyone she meets and making an effort to become friends with them. She is always able to keep an open mind, like how she keeps insisting that Rue is her friend even after she learns that she's Kraehe. She's also completely willing to hang out with her two friends Pique and Lilie despite the fact that they give her a lot of peer pressure and don't seem to care if she complains about something they're doing.
She cares about the people that are close to her with her whole heart, and the more people she makes connections with the more human she feels. If people are outwardly rude, though, she will just as easily dislike them and treat them the same. This is most noticeable early on with Fakir and even after they become friends they get into arguments a lot. She also says that she flat out doesn't like Autor but given the brief time she spends with him and how he acts then it's perfectly understandable.
She can also be quite stubborn but this does not emerge as an extreme very often. Normally she's just very set on her goals and rarely refuses to quit trying if she thinks there's something she can do. Throughout much of the series she is always willing to put others, especially Mytho, before herself, but as the truth about her reality starts to be revealed to her she also realizes that she has feelings and wants of her own and can even be a bit selfish at times. Her desire to remain with everyone in the town as a girl was the reason she was not able to truly fulfill Tutu's role in Drosslemeyer's story.
Because Ahiru is actually duck, many of her aspects are noticably birdlike. She has a one-track mind and ends up getting confused or in trouble a lot. She doesn't fully understand a lot of things that a human girl her age usually would and asks a lot of questions. Her train of thought can change quickly and she often makes confusing changes in conversations or runs off to do things without telling anyone she's with what's going on. She's also able to bounce back from depression and obstacles quickly most of the time. She is a huge clutz and often trips, runs into things, or just plain can't do well in her ballet classes. She's easily excitable as well and is very spazzy when something worries her. When something really throws her off or surprises her, she'll accidentally quack and this turns her back into a duck.
Although she has a quick temper when people annoy her, Ahiru dislikes physical fighting and is always urging everyone to find other ways to solve their problems if it's possible. This is a trait that carries over into her Princess Tutu alterego. Ahiru's sense of hope is very strong and hard to make waver, which is the main reason she was the only one able to become Tutu as the magical ballerina is actually the personification of the prince's hope.
[ Strengths/Weaknesses ] :
Ahiru's biggest strength is her hope, which is so strong that it becomes a major plot point. It takes a lot to even get her to consider giving up. The many trials and obstacles she goes through are not enough to stop her in the end. Once she thinks someone is trustworthy she will never give up on them and this attitude is strong enough to change the people around her for the better, particularly Fakir and Rue. It should also be noted that this is not something she does as Tutu, who just tends to focus on single issues and calming the prince's heart shards. She's also able to see her own weakness and flaws (sooner or later at least) and is willing to admit to them which helps her grow as a person. Even though she's a duck.
Even though she can awaken Princess Tutu who seems perfect in most regards, Ahiru herself has many flaws and weaknesses. She dwells on her real identity and sees it as a bad thing which can make it hard for her to feel like she's able to do certain things. Her desire to help people can cause her to barge in on or fall into (usually literally) situations that can get her into trouble. She's naive, clumsy, and has trouble seeing the big picture which can lead to problems such as saying something she shouldn't. The fact that she won't give up on people leaves her emotionally and/or physically hurt many times when someone is still unwilling to change.
[ Other Important Facts ] :
Ahiru's pendant is the source of all of the magic she possesses. It is the prince's heart shard of hope and its main function is to keep her in the form of a human girl. Whenever she doesn't have the pendant on her for any reason she will go back to being a duck. Even if she's wearing if she does anything duck-like (which is almost always quacking) she will turn into a bird as well. She has to come into contact with water to become a human again at these times and also hope that her clothes are nearby since they obviously don't fit her duck form.
The pendant is also able to awaken Princess Tutu, the tragic magical ballerina who is the only one that can restore the prince's heart. I haven't mentioned her much because, given her canon point and the situation she'd be in here, I doubt she'll transform into Tutu. Their personalities are distinct enough that I actually see her as a separate character from Ahiru, anyway.
[ Sample ] :
"Huh? What... What happened?" Ahiru asked, blinking sleepily and staring blankly for a moment. Suddenly, her eyes went wide and she jumped to her feet. "Ahhhh! Where am I?!" She looked around almost desperately for a moment. Nope, not familiar at all.
"M-Mr. Drosslemeyer?" she said nervously. "No, wait, I was talking to him in that weird place and then Fakir wrote something that brought me back. And... I don't really remember anything else. D-did something go wrong?"
She started to walk, intending to get a better look around, but she quickly stopped as she heard heard the squish of her footsteps. Ahiru stopped where she was and looked down at her clothes. "I-I'm all wet!" she exclaimed, checking as many places as she could see while standing.
Just then, she caught a glint of light nearby. She looked and found an orb of light floating near her. Now that she looked around, she noted, it seemed like they were spread out around this plaza. "Woah, pretty..." Her eyes went back to the one nearest her and she watched it for a several moments, her brow furrowing a bit in confusion when it did not move. Weird, the other ones looked like they were floating around.
Ahiru started walking again, but after a few seconds the orb flew back into her line of sight. "Huh?" she said, staring at it for a bit again before getting back to her walk. This time she was looking carefully this time though, and saw that the light seemed to be traveling with her. She tried to look at it from the corner of her eye, making blind twists and turns quickly, pausing momentarily at times to make sure it was following her.
After what was probably a very odd show for anyone nearby, she stopped and gazed at it, frowning thoughtfully. "Umm, hello?" It didn't give her any response, which just made her frustrated in all this confusion. "You shouldn't go around with somebody without even saying anything to them, you know!" she added.
It looked like it was going to be up to her to figure out what was going on. She had to figure out how to get home from here and get the last five heart shards!
[ Questions? Comments? Concerns? ] :