[OOC: Application]
Series: Revolutionary Girl Utena
Series' Medium: Television anime
Character: Utena Tenjou
Age: 14
Sex/Gender: Female
Canon Role: The titular protagonist
"Real Name": Yomi Takahashi
Personal History:
"Once upon a time, years and years ago, there was a little princess, and she was very sad, for her mother and father had died. Before the princess appeared a travelling prince riding upon a white horse. He had a regal bearing and a kind smile. The prince wrapped the princess in a rose-scented embrace and gently wiped the tears from her eyes. 'Little one,' he said, 'who bears up alone in such deep sorrow. Never lose your strength or nobility, even when you grow up. I give you this to remember this day. We will meet again. This ring will lead you to me one day.'
Perhaps the ring from the prince was meant as an engagement ring?
This was all well and good, but so impressed was she by him that the princess vowed to become a prince herself one day. But was that really such a good idea?"
That's how the story goes, at least.
In truth, Utena Tenjou was a very young girl - perhaps six or seven - when her parents were suddenly killed in a car crash. Later the same day, upon seeing her parents' coffins, she noticed an extra coffin lying next to them, which she assumed was meant for her. Seeing that, she felt as though she was not supposed to exist in the world anymore. Falling deep into despair, young Utena crawled inside the empty coffin, vowing never to come out.
Soon, she was found by two young boys not much older than her, strangers both. They asked her what she was doing, and let her know that everyone was looking for her. She told them that she intended to never come out again, and that if she were forced out, she would simply find other coffins to hide in. She told the boys that there was no such thing as something eternal, and that living on knowing that was making her sick.
The boys reluctantly left, unable to show her anything eternal.
Some time later, however, a quite literal prince happened upon the coffin. Utena asked if he was the Grim Reaper, and he replied that he did not bring death. At this, he turned away, but seemed to beckon to her without words or gestures. Entranced by his beauty, his regal bearing, or perhaps something else entirely, she found herself following him.
Eventually, he lead her to a horrifying sight: a girl Utena's age hanging skewered on a multitude of swords. Yet somehow, the girl remained alive and in agony. The prince explained that this was the Rose Bride, an undying girl who could not become a princess and so had instead become a witch. This terrible fate was supposedly the girl's punishment for stealing the prince away from all the girls of the world, and she was to remain this way for eternity. As well, it was said that the prince the Rose Bride knew had become the Ends of the World.
The sight of the Rose Bride's suffering was too much for young Utena. She tried to approach the girl, but was forced back by a fierce power. She wept and begged for the prince to help the girl. The prince mournfully told her that the girl could no longer be saved. He took Utena close, kissing her wet cheeks and thanking her for her tears.
As he stood and turned to leave, however, Utena called after him, declaring that she would become the Rose Bride's prince and save her. The prince turned back and told her that if she retained her nobility even after growing up, that she might have a chance at freeing the girl from her eternal suffering. However, even as he slipped a rose ring onto her finger to remind her of the fateful night, he admitted that he was certain that she would forget her promise in time, and that she would become a lady instead. Utena insisted that she could become a prince no matter what.
The next day, Utena left the church where her coffin had lay, attending her parents' funeral with a renewed hope in her eyes.
However, as the years went by, the memory of that night gradually became faded and dim. Utena remembered her desire to become a prince one day, but eventually, she could not even recall what that prince had looked or sounded like, or that there was a suffering little girl she had wanted to save. All that she could recall was that she had met a prince one night, and that she wanted to become strong and noble, just like him. She might even have passed the whole thing off as a dream in time had she not still worn the ring as a physical reminder that what had happened was indeed real.
Fourteen-year-old Utena Tenjou eventually found herself at the prestigious Ohtori Academy in the hopes of meeting the prince. She spent a semester there without incident, infuriating the faculty with her refusal to wear the girls' uniform and quickly making herself a popular icon in the academy's middle school division. She became best friends with a girl named Wakaba, who became intensely devoted to her, even to the point of calling Utena her "boyfriend."
The next semester, however, she found that her ring had not lead her to a prince at all. Instead, after a confrontation with the Vice President of the Student Council, Saionji, she found that at this academy, her ring was not even unique. It was known to the Student Council as "the Rose Seal," and it was the mark of what they called a "duelist." Said duels were fought over a girl Utena's age named Anthy Himemiya, also known as the Rose Bride. The Student Council, a group of four elite students who effectively ruled the academy, said that they fought for the Rose Bride in the hopes of one day attaining the power to revolutionize the world. On the orders of a mysterious entity known only as "Ends of the World", they fought their duels in an arena high above the forest behind Ohtori, where an illusory castle hung upside-down in the sky. There, Anthy produced the magical Sword of Dios from her bosom, granting its power to whoever owned her at the time.
Much of this information was revealed over the course of a duel with Saionji that Utena had accidentally agreed to. Much to Saionji's surprise, Utena ended up winning that duel, and the Rose Bride with it. Upon leaving the mysterious dueling arena that night, she was approached by Anthy Himemiya, who introduced herself and informed Utena that they were now engaged.
From that point on, Utena fought her way through the dueling game, facing each of the Student Council members in turn in order to keep Anthy from being used as an object or trophy. Between duels, she attempted to befriend Anthy, bewildered by the girl's completely submissive attitude and lack of friends. She did everything she could to encourage Anthy to make more friends, and after a time, it seemed to Utena that this encouragement was beginning to work.
This all came to a head when she finally dueled the Student Council President, Touga. Prior to the duel, Touga (who had learned about Utena's prince experience from another council member, Juri) manipulated Utena into believing that he was in fact her prince from all those years ago. Using her confusion about him to his advantage, he handily won their duel and took possession of Anthy. Touga then demonstrated Utena's hypocrisy by ordering Anthy to say that she liked her position as the Rose Bride and preferred being alone. He pointed out that Utena had never really considered Anthy's feelings, only tried to project her own ideals and princely desires onto the Rose Bride's empty shell.
Heartbroken, Utena fell into a numbness of sorts. She took to wearing the girls' uniform at last, much to the annoyance and confusion of Wakaba. She passively let Touga flirt with her and watched school life around her go by, telling herself that it was time to just be a normal girl.
Thankfully, Wakaba snapped Utena out of this haze and convinced her to take back whatever it was that had been taken away from her. Utena, borrowing a sword from Juri, confronted Touga with a new sense of strength. During the duel, it seemed for a time that Touga would win by using Anthy's ability to bless the Sword of Dios. However, as they fought, something in Anthy's mind faltered, and she saw something in Utena that seemed familiar. The Sword of Dios lost its blessing, and Utena took the opportunity to win the duel.
After this point, the timeline becomes strange. An entire storyline called the Black Rose Arc unfolded next, involving two shadowy figures who fashioned duelists out of people suffering emotional torment; specifically, they went after people with connections to the Student Council members. These two, Mikage and Mamiya, used their Black Rose Duelists against Utena in the hopes of killing Anthy and replacing her as the Rose Bride with Mamiya. This went on until Mikage, the so-called mastermind behind this, went to duel Utena himself. However, due to various issues concerning Mikage's past and not-quite present, it came to pass that Mikage "graduated" from Ohtori Academy, and the memories people held of their experiences with him disappeared. Though some events from this time period were remembered (i.e.: events unrelated Mikage or the Black Rose Society), most memories from this time vanished from the minds of everyone in the school.
The most important development that Utena did remember during this period was her meeting and becoming friendly with Anthy's older brother, Akio Ohtori. When Anthy finally revealed to Utena that she had been visiting her brother every Saturday for quite some time, she took Utena with her to meet him. Engaged to the daughter of Ohtori Academy's chairman, the handsome, charming Akio was standing in as chairman while the real chairman stayed on extended sick leave. And despite an awkward start (Utena and Anthy walked in on an intimate moment between Akio and his fiancé), Utena took to Akio quite quickly, often visiting him for conversation or advice as the weeks passed.
Akio proved to be a wonderful older brother figure to her as well as Anthy, and Utena grew to trust him implicitly over the course of the Black Rose Arc. However, despite attempts to quash the thoughts with reminders of her prince, Utena slowly began to see Akio as more than just a mentor or even just a friend. By the time she was whisked off to Landel's, she still had not fully realized/accepted the extent to which she found herself attracted to Akio, and still firmly tried to tell herself that she saw him as a nice guy and a good brother to Anthy - nothing more.
Ah yes, speaking of Landel's. Utena originally arrived there the night before she was supposed to move with Anthy into the chairman's suite. On her first nightshift, she found Anthy - but not the Anthy she knew. Apparently, this Anthy had been in the Institute for a while already. Moreover, she had memories of a time beyond Utena's recollection, and upon questioning, would not reveal anything about that time. The only thing Utena could discern was that whatever happened in their future, it was very bad.
She also found Juri, who was convinced that the whole Institute was another one of Ends of the World's games. Utena, by contrast, leaned toward being more credulous of the things she heard from other patients. Either way, she didn't care. Anthy had clearly been scarred by Landel's (mentally and physically), and whether they were playing the same game or not, Utena wasn't going to let her get hurt any further.
While in the Institute, she made new friends and allies with the ease she always had, many of them older than her (her interactions with Akio likely helped her feel more comfortable on that front). She joined the Cooking Club in the hopes of lending help to other patients and gaining a weapon for herself (which she got); unfortunately, the club dissolved soon after her joining due to patient disappearances, which distressed her considerably. As her time in the Institute wore on and the disappearances (including that of Juri) piled up, the stress started weighing down even Utena's usually boundless optimism. One of her last hopes was her theory that those who disappeared were still alive, either asleep or brainwashed.
Her main evidence for the brainwashing theory came in the form of three major events. The first was a visit from "Akio" - or rather a brainwashed version of him who insisted that she really was "Yomi Takahashi", a student at Cap Hill Preparatory School. The second was the disappearance and subsequent reappearance of Anthy. For about two days, it seemed Anthy had been "released", and upon her return, she remembered nothing of her previous time in the Institute - though, she still had memories of her and Utena's future at Ohtori.
Third and most disturbing was the Real Life Event, where Utena woke up one morning believing the Yomi Takahashi story. She possessed memories of Yomi's life as clear as her own had ever been, including one particularly vivid memory in which "Antony" (Akio's "real life" equivalent) had seduced and raped her. Even after recovering from the event the following day, the vision disturbed Utena deeply, and she fought hard against it. She convinced herself that Landel was just trying to turn her against Akio, and left it at that.
Utena could not delude herself for long, however. Not long after the event, Anthy got Special Counseling. Utena found her friend hanging impaled by swords above the second floor balcony that night. At first, she and another patient fought a living shadow, believing it to be one of the Institute's monsters guarding Anthy. As the fight wore on, however, it became clear that Anthy was the one controlling the shadow. Utena still wouldn't accept this, however, and set about trying to save the girl from her brainwashing. She pleaded with Anthy, and her words seemed to have some effect, but not enough. Anthy said that it was too late for Utena to be her prince, then sent a sword plunging through Utena's side.
The wound was non-fatal, but deep enough to make Utena see that this was a side of Anthy that brainwashing alone couldn't have brought out. Still, even in that moment of betrayal, Utena held out hope that the Anthy she knew was still in there somewhere. Out of ideas, she went for a course of action that had saved Anthy once in the past: a leap of faith. Despite her injury, Utena leapt off the balcony, reaching for Anthy's hand. The act jolted Anthy's consciousness, and in her shock, she caught Utena before she could fall.
The next morning, Utena confronted Anthy, who finally revealed the truth. Akio was Ends of the World, and Anthy had been working with him to engineer the duels at Ohtori the whole time. Her role as the Rose Bride was to take on the world's hatred so that Akio might one day regain the Power of Dios (how the duels related to this or why Akio had possessed this power previously, Anthy didn't explain yet). In Utena's unremembered future, she would reach the final duel, only for Anthy to betray her and drive a sword through her gut, similar to what had happened the previous night.
This all might have crushed Utena had it not been for one last admission: somehow, Utena escaped the world of Ohtori after that final duel, and Anthy had been touched enough by their friendship to go looking for her of her own free will, putting the Rose Bride behind her forever.
Utena took some time to let this sink in. She was deeply hurt, but she could still see where Anthy had come from (or, at least, she thought she could). She could also see the ways in which she might have been cruel to Anthy without knowing it. Not knowing how else to respond at the time, Utena apologized for not knowing about Anthy's suffering sooner.
That night, unable to stand the idea of going about the usual exploration and item gathering like nothing had happened, Utena decided that she and Anthy would run away together like she had promised. Maybe they wouldn't actually be escaping the Institute, but at least they could feel like they were. She made Anthy a dress out of her bed sheets, similar to a tablecloth dress she made at a ball early in their engagement, and invited Anthy to run with her. They made for the forest, talking about all the things they would do together when they reached the outside world.
Following that, Utena continued to salvage her relationship with Anthy while also experiencing other events at Landel's, including the rescue/interrogation of Marc, the Portal Event (in which she gained a portal ring), a visit from a brainwashed Nanami, and the Language Event. She continued to make and lose friends as disappearances continued, and started feeling the stirring of feelings for Anthy that she couldn't explain. The last thing that happened before she blacked out was a talk with one of her new friends, Aigis, about the disappearances.
When (and Why)?: Canon-wise, Utena is from just after the end of the Black Rose Arc. Specifically, she fell asleep on the night before she and Anthy were set to move into the Chairman's Wing with Akio, and then she woke up in Landel's. This was done to allow for more character development possibilities in Landel's; later-canon and post-canon Utena would already have dealt with the juiciest of her issues and possibly not really resemble the Utena we see in most of the rest of the canon.
Damned-wise, I would like to pick her up from where I left her on Day 51, with her having been in the Medical Wing for the past 6 days. Ideally, I would like her to retain all of her Landel's memories, as the development she has undergone and the CR she has gathered so far are both very significant. Also, if possible, I would like to get back the items she had before, including her canon duelist outfit, a Sword of Dios replica, and a portal ring. Please let me know if this is possible.
Personality:
Utena is what one could call an intensely likeable person. She's honest, personable, energetic, resilient, and not at all afraid to be herself (or at least what she perceives herself to be). She loves to laugh and talk with others, especially over tea or lunch. To her closest friends, she is fiercely loyal; some might even say she is loyal to the point of stupidity. The fact that she challenged Saionji, the captain of the kendo team, to a sword duel without having any formal sword training of her own - all for the sake of regaining a friend's honour - should say something of her devotion to friendship.
In most respects, Utena is a tomboy. She excels at sports and general athletics, refuses to wear a girls' school uniform (or any girls' clothing at all), refers to herself using masculine pronouns, has little inclination to keep her things neat and tidy, and has a princely tendency for swooping in and saving the day. She also talks to other boys on an equal level, even Saionji and Touga, whom most would consider "above" her level even if she really were a boy. There are a few contradictions to her tomboy-ish nature such as her long pink hair and love of roses and sweets, but for the most part (at least for now), she remains about as masculine as a girl like her can be.
However, Utena is also young, and very naive about many things. When presented with the problems of others, she often presents blunt, overly simplistic solutions that don't actually take the other person's feelings into real consideration. Sometimes, speaking her mind can even end up making a person angry, and she won't understand why either due to lack of information or lack of thought to understand the information. As well, she can be very gullible and easily led on by her memories and emotions, as in the case of Touga's manipulations described in the History section (to say nothing of the far greater manipulations she is subject to later in the series). Nothing should even need be said about a girl with an intense need to cling to an old ring and the idealized memory of a fairy tale prince.
Utena often assumes that she must be in the right, since she pursues a princely path. To her, this can justify angry (sometimes violent) outbursts against those who disagree with her or do things she finds morally objectionable. She especially has a temper around people like Saionji and Nanami, who are prone to physical and verbal/psychological abuse, and won't hesitate to yell in the faces of such people. As well, she punched Mikage to the ground and nearly smashed his face in for insinuating that she wasn't so different from him for clinging to her memories. On another level, this also applies to her assumptions about Anthy's feelings and true nature; only since dueling Touga and learning more about Anthy at the Institute has she started to see this fault in herself, and begun to work at correcting it (see last paragraph).
As well, Utena is fairly ignorant about sexuality. She knows what sex is and how it works, but it is so far removed from life as she knows it that it never even crosses her mind most of the time. When confronted with things of a sexual nature, either one of two things tends to happen: 1) she will become flustered and actively avoid the topic, turning to other, more comfortable things instead; or 2) she will become confused, embarrassed, and strangely silent while the other person continues to talk (especially if it's around someone whom she may have uncertain feelings toward). Either way, she will never actually talk about sex directly.
It should be noted that it is not clear what Utena's sexuality is. She's probably never even thought about it herself. It is clear that she finds herself attracted to Akio and also to Touga at times, so she could arguably be straight, but her relationships with Anthy and Wakaba are the subjects of many a hot debate in Utena fandom. For the purposes of pinning something down, I would say she is bisexual with leanings toward heterosexuality, and that in addition to her feelings for Akio, she also has some feelings toward Anthy that she can't entirely define - a mix of strong friendship, an unremembered childhood connection, and the potential for something more.
Lastly, but perhaps the most important, is Utena's capacity for unconditional love. As she grows through the series, Utena gradually uncovers this part of herself, especially in regards to Anthy and Anthy's feelings. One of the most dramatic evolutions in her attitude occurs after winning the second duel with Touga; she sees her friendship with Anthy in a new light, and wants to do her best to be truly considerate and caring towards the other girl. She's not all the way there yet; she still has her more dense, non-understanding moments, and there are still many things about Anthy that she has yet to grasp fully, not all of which are entirely desirable. At the point at which she is whisked away to Landel's, however, she has made quite a bit of progress in getting truly close to Anthy, and in the end, she does have the ability to accept Anthy fully into her heart, all ugliness included unconditionally.
Physical Description: Approximately 5'5" tall, with a very slender, yet athletic build. Her legs are especially long compared to her torso. Her features are all very elegantly shaped, and she seems to emanate youthfulness and warmth. Her eyes are wide and clear blue, lending a look of innocence to her face. Her full, bright pink hair falls down to her mid-back, bangs curling in around her cheeks. On her left-hand ring finger she wears a distinctive pearl-white ring bearing a pink and black stylized rose signet (a.k.a.: the Rose Seal), which she never removes under any circumstances.
Original Powers: Utena herself possesses no powers. Any supernatural power that she wields in the series comes from outside sources, namely Anthy and the vaguely established "Power of Dios" that comes down from the castle at the end of her duels. Anthy and Dios both provide Utena with a power-packed, super-accurate finishing move for duels, making her far more likely to score a dead-on critical hit.
Modified Powers at Landel's: Without access to the Power of Dios, Utena would lose the advantage of surefire critical hits for her finishing moves.
Non-magical Skills/Abilities: Utena is a very athletically inclined character, often seen around the campus participating in various sporting activities including (but not limited to) baseball, basketball, pole vaulting, soccer, and running. Even when not engaged in athletic activities, she often ends up doing a lot of stretching of various sorts, often while engaging other people in conversation at the same time.
Thanks to the dueling game, Utena has developed a fair amount of skill with swords, combining elements of various swordplay disciplines with her own dynamic, free-flowing style. She has superb reflexes, and is able to perform leaps and flips to aid in dodging.
Utena does have one non-athletic skill, and that is some degree of skill with fabric. While she has not been shown to be a seamstress, she does have the uncanny ability to turn ordinary sheets of fabric into surprisingly elaborate garments in the space of about five seconds. She also has the ability to change clothes at exceptional speed. Both of these abilities were demonstrated at the end of episode 3 (scrub to 4:40 in this video to see for yourself: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=veX_9PvlUMU ). Needless to say, this "skill" is toned down to more realistic levels in Damned, but the basic ideas behind it still stand - she can make temporary garments with little or no sewing required, and can get herself changed relatively quickly.
Scope and Psychology:
For all the talk of Anthy throughout this app, it is likely that the thrust of Utena's future development at Landel's will come about through a lack of Anthy's presence. With the previous Anthy dropped and unlikely to be re-apped, Utena will have to deal once again with the panic and anger of finding out that she has been released. Given all that she now knows about Anthy and the feelings she might have felt stirring recently, this release is going to hit even harder than the previous one, making Utena more reckless and desperate to find her and save her.
To do this, she will put even more effort into finding and defeating the people in charge of the Institute. This means either pushing to find an entrance to the third floor or investigating the basement, more than likely, as those were her two strongest leads previously. She will want to waste very little time with aimless exploration and item gathering now; everything will need to have a clear purpose, or else it won't be worth doing. The more time she wastes, the more time Anthy, Akio, and others spend trapped in their brainwashed states, or worse. It's possible she may try to ally with a club again for support and resources, but she will likely also try to do just as much either on her own or in league with specific allies.
I would also like to see Utena further develop friendships among the patient body, either with people she's already met or with new people. I want to see her put what she's learned with Anthy into practice, and see her really try to understand, empathize with, and learn from the people she gets close to. It will be difficult for her to identify her assumptions and work against her stubborn instincts sometimes, but I think she will try, at least. On the off chance that another Anthy does appear, I would like to develop their relationship more deeply as well, either romantically or not. Also, if any other canonmates show up, it is likely that she will become extra protective of them, even the rude ones, if only because she won't want to lose yet more people she knows to the Institute's clutches.
I am also very curious to see how Utena reacts to the military arc. It will confuse her to learn that Landel is not the top of the food chain anymore, and she will be downright flabbergasted to hear that he is in league with Marc. She trusts Marc, but she will still have a hard time accepting that Landel might be helping the patient body somehow. She might end up venturing outside to find Marc and get to the bottom of things herself if her suspicions and worries raise too high. If not that, then she will at least be a lot more critical of what she hears over the airwaves at night. The last thing she needs in her quest to free her friends is sabotage from the radio.
As for Aguilar and the soldiers: she will be highly irritated at being told what to do, but is smart enough to know that making trouble during the day isn't a good idea. Mostly, anyway. I could foresee her getting irritated or offended to the point where she snaps at soldiers or gets violent without thinking, because Utena can easily get carried away by her temper and emotions at times. It isn't as though she's volatile enough to explode at soldiers at any given moment, though; she'll be able to keep a cool enough head through most days. Maybe she can rant about things to her roommate in the evenings. And needless to say, Aguilar will be hated with the same intensity that she hates Landel, possibly more depending on how the military arc develops.
Lastly, I would like for her to come to a realization at some point about Akio and his connection to the Power of Dios. One of my regrets about my previous time in Damned is that I didn't allow Utena to connect the gaps in Anthy's explanation and figure out that Akio was the prince from her childhood. This is the last major revelation that she is missing from the end of her canon, and I would really like to see how she deals with it while also having to deal with everything else in the Institute. At the very least, it will make the idea of fighting to rescue Akio from his brainwashing a lot more complicated to think about.
Given that this RP takes place in an unsettling and outright horrific environment, how do you justify your character as being appropriate in both body and mind for this kind of setting?: Utena is disturbed by the presence of monsters and the ever-present threat of bloody violence during the night, mainly because she never had to actually shed blood with her sword before Landel's. Outside of the dueling game, she has witnessed and had to deal with a lot of bare-handed violent abuse against her friends, such as slapping, punching and kicking. However, while reprehensible, none of that was ever bloody. The worst violent incident she witnessed in canon was Saionji striking Touga across the back with a sword, and that wound was more shocking for its suddenness than its graphic nature (the wound itself was shallow).
After two weeks in Landel's, however, she has built up a tolerance to stronger violence. Not a strong one, mind, but enough such that she is able to deal with it for survival's sake. The most graphic example that comes to mind is her having to bash in the heads of zombies during the night that patients were stuck in Doyleton; she felt sorry for the people the zombies had once been, but was able to make herself fight them off for her and Juri's sakes that night.
She has the physical skill with which to fight, at least, mental tolerance or not. Even without a sword, she packs a strong punch, good reflexes, and acrobatic capabilities. Thus, she will be able to both deal out violence and dodge/defend against it if need be.
Third-Person Sample:
Utena's breath caught sharply in her throat when the sword pierced through Himemiya's back. Somehow, just this one sword wound was more agonizing to witness than the multitude of earlier. She could see the exit wound so much more clearly. Could hear the squelching flesh and cracking ribs. Could almost feel the blade inside her own body as she watched Himemiya twist and writhe around it. "What the hell are you doing?!" she shouted across to the stranger fiercely, despite all logic that told her the attack had probably been a smart thing to try. "She's had enough of that already! You're going to kill her!"
Her wide eyes flitted back up to Himemiya, shaking with fear and anguish. The swords had slowed now. Had the stranger really hit something inside that would kill her? "Himemiya! Himemiya!" she called out. She searched for her friend's eyes, looking one more time for any sign of life.
There was a stirring there, but it was not in the girl's eyes. To Utena's side, one new sword had appeared.
"It's too late. You can't be my prince."
By the time those words sunk into her mind, the sword had sunken into her flesh.
The pain seemed to spread in slow motion, like an advancing sheet of ice through her body. Utena's legs buckled beneath her. She fell backward to the balcony floor, landing on her back with a thud of flesh and a clang of bloody metal. The wound wasn't fatal, but god if it didn't feel like it would be. Her breaths became short and laboured. She could still see Himemiya hanging there in the air beyond the balcony rail. The girl's expression held no remorse. "Wh . . . what . . . ?" The blade in her body seemed to radiate with the girl's hatred. Could brainwashing alone really be responsible for that kind of coldness?
There really was no getting through to her at this point. She could see that now. Words wouldn't do it. Fighting wouldn't do it. Himemiya was completely locked away. There would be absolutely no way to save her short of . . .
Short of getting at the lock itself.
Utena only had one option left. She wasn't even sure it was worth anything - it was just too far to make it work, her rational mind told her. When her choices were leaving her friend to continue hurting others and having the slightest chance at saving her, though, Utena felt the answer was obvious, regardless of seeming impossibilities.
Gasping and hissing, she gripped the hilt of the sword in her side and pulled on it. She cried out roughly through a dry mouth, forcing the thing out as swiftly and cleanly as she could. It, her own sword, and her flashlight were all cast aside as she struggled to get back to her feet, focusing on every breath it took to get her there. On the way down, the flashlight danced over Himemiya's face one more time, catching her green eyes for one brief snapshot in time. That colour crystallized in Utena's mind, allowing her something to focus on as she took a few steps back in preparation for what she was about to do.
"I will be your prince, Himemiya. I swear," she told the floating girl as firmly as she could before biting down hard on her bottom lip. She forced herself to ignore the pain as best she could. Hopefully she could ignore the drop in front of her so well.
With all her determination crammed up inside, Utena was able to run. She ran straight for the railing. Only this time, she didn't vault onto it. Instead, with both hands, she launched herself up over it, only using the rail as a springboard to carry her further forward across the looming gap between her and her friend. With one hand outstretched, she flew forward, much the same as she had done on the night the girl had once been kidnapped. If she could do it then, she could do it again. And even as she felt herself beginning to fall, she called out as loud as she could: "HIMEMIYA!"
Series' Medium: Television anime
Character: Utena Tenjou
Age: 14
Sex/Gender: Female
Canon Role: The titular protagonist
"Real Name": Yomi Takahashi
Personal History:
"Once upon a time, years and years ago, there was a little princess, and she was very sad, for her mother and father had died. Before the princess appeared a travelling prince riding upon a white horse. He had a regal bearing and a kind smile. The prince wrapped the princess in a rose-scented embrace and gently wiped the tears from her eyes. 'Little one,' he said, 'who bears up alone in such deep sorrow. Never lose your strength or nobility, even when you grow up. I give you this to remember this day. We will meet again. This ring will lead you to me one day.'
Perhaps the ring from the prince was meant as an engagement ring?
This was all well and good, but so impressed was she by him that the princess vowed to become a prince herself one day. But was that really such a good idea?"
That's how the story goes, at least.
In truth, Utena Tenjou was a very young girl - perhaps six or seven - when her parents were suddenly killed in a car crash. Later the same day, upon seeing her parents' coffins, she noticed an extra coffin lying next to them, which she assumed was meant for her. Seeing that, she felt as though she was not supposed to exist in the world anymore. Falling deep into despair, young Utena crawled inside the empty coffin, vowing never to come out.
Soon, she was found by two young boys not much older than her, strangers both. They asked her what she was doing, and let her know that everyone was looking for her. She told them that she intended to never come out again, and that if she were forced out, she would simply find other coffins to hide in. She told the boys that there was no such thing as something eternal, and that living on knowing that was making her sick.
The boys reluctantly left, unable to show her anything eternal.
Some time later, however, a quite literal prince happened upon the coffin. Utena asked if he was the Grim Reaper, and he replied that he did not bring death. At this, he turned away, but seemed to beckon to her without words or gestures. Entranced by his beauty, his regal bearing, or perhaps something else entirely, she found herself following him.
Eventually, he lead her to a horrifying sight: a girl Utena's age hanging skewered on a multitude of swords. Yet somehow, the girl remained alive and in agony. The prince explained that this was the Rose Bride, an undying girl who could not become a princess and so had instead become a witch. This terrible fate was supposedly the girl's punishment for stealing the prince away from all the girls of the world, and she was to remain this way for eternity. As well, it was said that the prince the Rose Bride knew had become the Ends of the World.
The sight of the Rose Bride's suffering was too much for young Utena. She tried to approach the girl, but was forced back by a fierce power. She wept and begged for the prince to help the girl. The prince mournfully told her that the girl could no longer be saved. He took Utena close, kissing her wet cheeks and thanking her for her tears.
As he stood and turned to leave, however, Utena called after him, declaring that she would become the Rose Bride's prince and save her. The prince turned back and told her that if she retained her nobility even after growing up, that she might have a chance at freeing the girl from her eternal suffering. However, even as he slipped a rose ring onto her finger to remind her of the fateful night, he admitted that he was certain that she would forget her promise in time, and that she would become a lady instead. Utena insisted that she could become a prince no matter what.
The next day, Utena left the church where her coffin had lay, attending her parents' funeral with a renewed hope in her eyes.
However, as the years went by, the memory of that night gradually became faded and dim. Utena remembered her desire to become a prince one day, but eventually, she could not even recall what that prince had looked or sounded like, or that there was a suffering little girl she had wanted to save. All that she could recall was that she had met a prince one night, and that she wanted to become strong and noble, just like him. She might even have passed the whole thing off as a dream in time had she not still worn the ring as a physical reminder that what had happened was indeed real.
Fourteen-year-old Utena Tenjou eventually found herself at the prestigious Ohtori Academy in the hopes of meeting the prince. She spent a semester there without incident, infuriating the faculty with her refusal to wear the girls' uniform and quickly making herself a popular icon in the academy's middle school division. She became best friends with a girl named Wakaba, who became intensely devoted to her, even to the point of calling Utena her "boyfriend."
The next semester, however, she found that her ring had not lead her to a prince at all. Instead, after a confrontation with the Vice President of the Student Council, Saionji, she found that at this academy, her ring was not even unique. It was known to the Student Council as "the Rose Seal," and it was the mark of what they called a "duelist." Said duels were fought over a girl Utena's age named Anthy Himemiya, also known as the Rose Bride. The Student Council, a group of four elite students who effectively ruled the academy, said that they fought for the Rose Bride in the hopes of one day attaining the power to revolutionize the world. On the orders of a mysterious entity known only as "Ends of the World", they fought their duels in an arena high above the forest behind Ohtori, where an illusory castle hung upside-down in the sky. There, Anthy produced the magical Sword of Dios from her bosom, granting its power to whoever owned her at the time.
Much of this information was revealed over the course of a duel with Saionji that Utena had accidentally agreed to. Much to Saionji's surprise, Utena ended up winning that duel, and the Rose Bride with it. Upon leaving the mysterious dueling arena that night, she was approached by Anthy Himemiya, who introduced herself and informed Utena that they were now engaged.
From that point on, Utena fought her way through the dueling game, facing each of the Student Council members in turn in order to keep Anthy from being used as an object or trophy. Between duels, she attempted to befriend Anthy, bewildered by the girl's completely submissive attitude and lack of friends. She did everything she could to encourage Anthy to make more friends, and after a time, it seemed to Utena that this encouragement was beginning to work.
This all came to a head when she finally dueled the Student Council President, Touga. Prior to the duel, Touga (who had learned about Utena's prince experience from another council member, Juri) manipulated Utena into believing that he was in fact her prince from all those years ago. Using her confusion about him to his advantage, he handily won their duel and took possession of Anthy. Touga then demonstrated Utena's hypocrisy by ordering Anthy to say that she liked her position as the Rose Bride and preferred being alone. He pointed out that Utena had never really considered Anthy's feelings, only tried to project her own ideals and princely desires onto the Rose Bride's empty shell.
Heartbroken, Utena fell into a numbness of sorts. She took to wearing the girls' uniform at last, much to the annoyance and confusion of Wakaba. She passively let Touga flirt with her and watched school life around her go by, telling herself that it was time to just be a normal girl.
Thankfully, Wakaba snapped Utena out of this haze and convinced her to take back whatever it was that had been taken away from her. Utena, borrowing a sword from Juri, confronted Touga with a new sense of strength. During the duel, it seemed for a time that Touga would win by using Anthy's ability to bless the Sword of Dios. However, as they fought, something in Anthy's mind faltered, and she saw something in Utena that seemed familiar. The Sword of Dios lost its blessing, and Utena took the opportunity to win the duel.
After this point, the timeline becomes strange. An entire storyline called the Black Rose Arc unfolded next, involving two shadowy figures who fashioned duelists out of people suffering emotional torment; specifically, they went after people with connections to the Student Council members. These two, Mikage and Mamiya, used their Black Rose Duelists against Utena in the hopes of killing Anthy and replacing her as the Rose Bride with Mamiya. This went on until Mikage, the so-called mastermind behind this, went to duel Utena himself. However, due to various issues concerning Mikage's past and not-quite present, it came to pass that Mikage "graduated" from Ohtori Academy, and the memories people held of their experiences with him disappeared. Though some events from this time period were remembered (i.e.: events unrelated Mikage or the Black Rose Society), most memories from this time vanished from the minds of everyone in the school.
The most important development that Utena did remember during this period was her meeting and becoming friendly with Anthy's older brother, Akio Ohtori. When Anthy finally revealed to Utena that she had been visiting her brother every Saturday for quite some time, she took Utena with her to meet him. Engaged to the daughter of Ohtori Academy's chairman, the handsome, charming Akio was standing in as chairman while the real chairman stayed on extended sick leave. And despite an awkward start (Utena and Anthy walked in on an intimate moment between Akio and his fiancé), Utena took to Akio quite quickly, often visiting him for conversation or advice as the weeks passed.
Akio proved to be a wonderful older brother figure to her as well as Anthy, and Utena grew to trust him implicitly over the course of the Black Rose Arc. However, despite attempts to quash the thoughts with reminders of her prince, Utena slowly began to see Akio as more than just a mentor or even just a friend. By the time she was whisked off to Landel's, she still had not fully realized/accepted the extent to which she found herself attracted to Akio, and still firmly tried to tell herself that she saw him as a nice guy and a good brother to Anthy - nothing more.
Ah yes, speaking of Landel's. Utena originally arrived there the night before she was supposed to move with Anthy into the chairman's suite. On her first nightshift, she found Anthy - but not the Anthy she knew. Apparently, this Anthy had been in the Institute for a while already. Moreover, she had memories of a time beyond Utena's recollection, and upon questioning, would not reveal anything about that time. The only thing Utena could discern was that whatever happened in their future, it was very bad.
She also found Juri, who was convinced that the whole Institute was another one of Ends of the World's games. Utena, by contrast, leaned toward being more credulous of the things she heard from other patients. Either way, she didn't care. Anthy had clearly been scarred by Landel's (mentally and physically), and whether they were playing the same game or not, Utena wasn't going to let her get hurt any further.
While in the Institute, she made new friends and allies with the ease she always had, many of them older than her (her interactions with Akio likely helped her feel more comfortable on that front). She joined the Cooking Club in the hopes of lending help to other patients and gaining a weapon for herself (which she got); unfortunately, the club dissolved soon after her joining due to patient disappearances, which distressed her considerably. As her time in the Institute wore on and the disappearances (including that of Juri) piled up, the stress started weighing down even Utena's usually boundless optimism. One of her last hopes was her theory that those who disappeared were still alive, either asleep or brainwashed.
Her main evidence for the brainwashing theory came in the form of three major events. The first was a visit from "Akio" - or rather a brainwashed version of him who insisted that she really was "Yomi Takahashi", a student at Cap Hill Preparatory School. The second was the disappearance and subsequent reappearance of Anthy. For about two days, it seemed Anthy had been "released", and upon her return, she remembered nothing of her previous time in the Institute - though, she still had memories of her and Utena's future at Ohtori.
Third and most disturbing was the Real Life Event, where Utena woke up one morning believing the Yomi Takahashi story. She possessed memories of Yomi's life as clear as her own had ever been, including one particularly vivid memory in which "Antony" (Akio's "real life" equivalent) had seduced and raped her. Even after recovering from the event the following day, the vision disturbed Utena deeply, and she fought hard against it. She convinced herself that Landel was just trying to turn her against Akio, and left it at that.
Utena could not delude herself for long, however. Not long after the event, Anthy got Special Counseling. Utena found her friend hanging impaled by swords above the second floor balcony that night. At first, she and another patient fought a living shadow, believing it to be one of the Institute's monsters guarding Anthy. As the fight wore on, however, it became clear that Anthy was the one controlling the shadow. Utena still wouldn't accept this, however, and set about trying to save the girl from her brainwashing. She pleaded with Anthy, and her words seemed to have some effect, but not enough. Anthy said that it was too late for Utena to be her prince, then sent a sword plunging through Utena's side.
The wound was non-fatal, but deep enough to make Utena see that this was a side of Anthy that brainwashing alone couldn't have brought out. Still, even in that moment of betrayal, Utena held out hope that the Anthy she knew was still in there somewhere. Out of ideas, she went for a course of action that had saved Anthy once in the past: a leap of faith. Despite her injury, Utena leapt off the balcony, reaching for Anthy's hand. The act jolted Anthy's consciousness, and in her shock, she caught Utena before she could fall.
The next morning, Utena confronted Anthy, who finally revealed the truth. Akio was Ends of the World, and Anthy had been working with him to engineer the duels at Ohtori the whole time. Her role as the Rose Bride was to take on the world's hatred so that Akio might one day regain the Power of Dios (how the duels related to this or why Akio had possessed this power previously, Anthy didn't explain yet). In Utena's unremembered future, she would reach the final duel, only for Anthy to betray her and drive a sword through her gut, similar to what had happened the previous night.
This all might have crushed Utena had it not been for one last admission: somehow, Utena escaped the world of Ohtori after that final duel, and Anthy had been touched enough by their friendship to go looking for her of her own free will, putting the Rose Bride behind her forever.
Utena took some time to let this sink in. She was deeply hurt, but she could still see where Anthy had come from (or, at least, she thought she could). She could also see the ways in which she might have been cruel to Anthy without knowing it. Not knowing how else to respond at the time, Utena apologized for not knowing about Anthy's suffering sooner.
That night, unable to stand the idea of going about the usual exploration and item gathering like nothing had happened, Utena decided that she and Anthy would run away together like she had promised. Maybe they wouldn't actually be escaping the Institute, but at least they could feel like they were. She made Anthy a dress out of her bed sheets, similar to a tablecloth dress she made at a ball early in their engagement, and invited Anthy to run with her. They made for the forest, talking about all the things they would do together when they reached the outside world.
Following that, Utena continued to salvage her relationship with Anthy while also experiencing other events at Landel's, including the rescue/interrogation of Marc, the Portal Event (in which she gained a portal ring), a visit from a brainwashed Nanami, and the Language Event. She continued to make and lose friends as disappearances continued, and started feeling the stirring of feelings for Anthy that she couldn't explain. The last thing that happened before she blacked out was a talk with one of her new friends, Aigis, about the disappearances.
When (and Why)?: Canon-wise, Utena is from just after the end of the Black Rose Arc. Specifically, she fell asleep on the night before she and Anthy were set to move into the Chairman's Wing with Akio, and then she woke up in Landel's. This was done to allow for more character development possibilities in Landel's; later-canon and post-canon Utena would already have dealt with the juiciest of her issues and possibly not really resemble the Utena we see in most of the rest of the canon.
Damned-wise, I would like to pick her up from where I left her on Day 51, with her having been in the Medical Wing for the past 6 days. Ideally, I would like her to retain all of her Landel's memories, as the development she has undergone and the CR she has gathered so far are both very significant. Also, if possible, I would like to get back the items she had before, including her canon duelist outfit, a Sword of Dios replica, and a portal ring. Please let me know if this is possible.
Personality:
Utena is what one could call an intensely likeable person. She's honest, personable, energetic, resilient, and not at all afraid to be herself (or at least what she perceives herself to be). She loves to laugh and talk with others, especially over tea or lunch. To her closest friends, she is fiercely loyal; some might even say she is loyal to the point of stupidity. The fact that she challenged Saionji, the captain of the kendo team, to a sword duel without having any formal sword training of her own - all for the sake of regaining a friend's honour - should say something of her devotion to friendship.
In most respects, Utena is a tomboy. She excels at sports and general athletics, refuses to wear a girls' school uniform (or any girls' clothing at all), refers to herself using masculine pronouns, has little inclination to keep her things neat and tidy, and has a princely tendency for swooping in and saving the day. She also talks to other boys on an equal level, even Saionji and Touga, whom most would consider "above" her level even if she really were a boy. There are a few contradictions to her tomboy-ish nature such as her long pink hair and love of roses and sweets, but for the most part (at least for now), she remains about as masculine as a girl like her can be.
However, Utena is also young, and very naive about many things. When presented with the problems of others, she often presents blunt, overly simplistic solutions that don't actually take the other person's feelings into real consideration. Sometimes, speaking her mind can even end up making a person angry, and she won't understand why either due to lack of information or lack of thought to understand the information. As well, she can be very gullible and easily led on by her memories and emotions, as in the case of Touga's manipulations described in the History section (to say nothing of the far greater manipulations she is subject to later in the series). Nothing should even need be said about a girl with an intense need to cling to an old ring and the idealized memory of a fairy tale prince.
Utena often assumes that she must be in the right, since she pursues a princely path. To her, this can justify angry (sometimes violent) outbursts against those who disagree with her or do things she finds morally objectionable. She especially has a temper around people like Saionji and Nanami, who are prone to physical and verbal/psychological abuse, and won't hesitate to yell in the faces of such people. As well, she punched Mikage to the ground and nearly smashed his face in for insinuating that she wasn't so different from him for clinging to her memories. On another level, this also applies to her assumptions about Anthy's feelings and true nature; only since dueling Touga and learning more about Anthy at the Institute has she started to see this fault in herself, and begun to work at correcting it (see last paragraph).
As well, Utena is fairly ignorant about sexuality. She knows what sex is and how it works, but it is so far removed from life as she knows it that it never even crosses her mind most of the time. When confronted with things of a sexual nature, either one of two things tends to happen: 1) she will become flustered and actively avoid the topic, turning to other, more comfortable things instead; or 2) she will become confused, embarrassed, and strangely silent while the other person continues to talk (especially if it's around someone whom she may have uncertain feelings toward). Either way, she will never actually talk about sex directly.
It should be noted that it is not clear what Utena's sexuality is. She's probably never even thought about it herself. It is clear that she finds herself attracted to Akio and also to Touga at times, so she could arguably be straight, but her relationships with Anthy and Wakaba are the subjects of many a hot debate in Utena fandom. For the purposes of pinning something down, I would say she is bisexual with leanings toward heterosexuality, and that in addition to her feelings for Akio, she also has some feelings toward Anthy that she can't entirely define - a mix of strong friendship, an unremembered childhood connection, and the potential for something more.
Lastly, but perhaps the most important, is Utena's capacity for unconditional love. As she grows through the series, Utena gradually uncovers this part of herself, especially in regards to Anthy and Anthy's feelings. One of the most dramatic evolutions in her attitude occurs after winning the second duel with Touga; she sees her friendship with Anthy in a new light, and wants to do her best to be truly considerate and caring towards the other girl. She's not all the way there yet; she still has her more dense, non-understanding moments, and there are still many things about Anthy that she has yet to grasp fully, not all of which are entirely desirable. At the point at which she is whisked away to Landel's, however, she has made quite a bit of progress in getting truly close to Anthy, and in the end, she does have the ability to accept Anthy fully into her heart, all ugliness included unconditionally.
Physical Description: Approximately 5'5" tall, with a very slender, yet athletic build. Her legs are especially long compared to her torso. Her features are all very elegantly shaped, and she seems to emanate youthfulness and warmth. Her eyes are wide and clear blue, lending a look of innocence to her face. Her full, bright pink hair falls down to her mid-back, bangs curling in around her cheeks. On her left-hand ring finger she wears a distinctive pearl-white ring bearing a pink and black stylized rose signet (a.k.a.: the Rose Seal), which she never removes under any circumstances.
Original Powers: Utena herself possesses no powers. Any supernatural power that she wields in the series comes from outside sources, namely Anthy and the vaguely established "Power of Dios" that comes down from the castle at the end of her duels. Anthy and Dios both provide Utena with a power-packed, super-accurate finishing move for duels, making her far more likely to score a dead-on critical hit.
Modified Powers at Landel's: Without access to the Power of Dios, Utena would lose the advantage of surefire critical hits for her finishing moves.
Non-magical Skills/Abilities: Utena is a very athletically inclined character, often seen around the campus participating in various sporting activities including (but not limited to) baseball, basketball, pole vaulting, soccer, and running. Even when not engaged in athletic activities, she often ends up doing a lot of stretching of various sorts, often while engaging other people in conversation at the same time.
Thanks to the dueling game, Utena has developed a fair amount of skill with swords, combining elements of various swordplay disciplines with her own dynamic, free-flowing style. She has superb reflexes, and is able to perform leaps and flips to aid in dodging.
Utena does have one non-athletic skill, and that is some degree of skill with fabric. While she has not been shown to be a seamstress, she does have the uncanny ability to turn ordinary sheets of fabric into surprisingly elaborate garments in the space of about five seconds. She also has the ability to change clothes at exceptional speed. Both of these abilities were demonstrated at the end of episode 3 (scrub to 4:40 in this video to see for yourself: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=veX_9PvlUMU ). Needless to say, this "skill" is toned down to more realistic levels in Damned, but the basic ideas behind it still stand - she can make temporary garments with little or no sewing required, and can get herself changed relatively quickly.
Scope and Psychology:
For all the talk of Anthy throughout this app, it is likely that the thrust of Utena's future development at Landel's will come about through a lack of Anthy's presence. With the previous Anthy dropped and unlikely to be re-apped, Utena will have to deal once again with the panic and anger of finding out that she has been released. Given all that she now knows about Anthy and the feelings she might have felt stirring recently, this release is going to hit even harder than the previous one, making Utena more reckless and desperate to find her and save her.
To do this, she will put even more effort into finding and defeating the people in charge of the Institute. This means either pushing to find an entrance to the third floor or investigating the basement, more than likely, as those were her two strongest leads previously. She will want to waste very little time with aimless exploration and item gathering now; everything will need to have a clear purpose, or else it won't be worth doing. The more time she wastes, the more time Anthy, Akio, and others spend trapped in their brainwashed states, or worse. It's possible she may try to ally with a club again for support and resources, but she will likely also try to do just as much either on her own or in league with specific allies.
I would also like to see Utena further develop friendships among the patient body, either with people she's already met or with new people. I want to see her put what she's learned with Anthy into practice, and see her really try to understand, empathize with, and learn from the people she gets close to. It will be difficult for her to identify her assumptions and work against her stubborn instincts sometimes, but I think she will try, at least. On the off chance that another Anthy does appear, I would like to develop their relationship more deeply as well, either romantically or not. Also, if any other canonmates show up, it is likely that she will become extra protective of them, even the rude ones, if only because she won't want to lose yet more people she knows to the Institute's clutches.
I am also very curious to see how Utena reacts to the military arc. It will confuse her to learn that Landel is not the top of the food chain anymore, and she will be downright flabbergasted to hear that he is in league with Marc. She trusts Marc, but she will still have a hard time accepting that Landel might be helping the patient body somehow. She might end up venturing outside to find Marc and get to the bottom of things herself if her suspicions and worries raise too high. If not that, then she will at least be a lot more critical of what she hears over the airwaves at night. The last thing she needs in her quest to free her friends is sabotage from the radio.
As for Aguilar and the soldiers: she will be highly irritated at being told what to do, but is smart enough to know that making trouble during the day isn't a good idea. Mostly, anyway. I could foresee her getting irritated or offended to the point where she snaps at soldiers or gets violent without thinking, because Utena can easily get carried away by her temper and emotions at times. It isn't as though she's volatile enough to explode at soldiers at any given moment, though; she'll be able to keep a cool enough head through most days. Maybe she can rant about things to her roommate in the evenings. And needless to say, Aguilar will be hated with the same intensity that she hates Landel, possibly more depending on how the military arc develops.
Lastly, I would like for her to come to a realization at some point about Akio and his connection to the Power of Dios. One of my regrets about my previous time in Damned is that I didn't allow Utena to connect the gaps in Anthy's explanation and figure out that Akio was the prince from her childhood. This is the last major revelation that she is missing from the end of her canon, and I would really like to see how she deals with it while also having to deal with everything else in the Institute. At the very least, it will make the idea of fighting to rescue Akio from his brainwashing a lot more complicated to think about.
Given that this RP takes place in an unsettling and outright horrific environment, how do you justify your character as being appropriate in both body and mind for this kind of setting?: Utena is disturbed by the presence of monsters and the ever-present threat of bloody violence during the night, mainly because she never had to actually shed blood with her sword before Landel's. Outside of the dueling game, she has witnessed and had to deal with a lot of bare-handed violent abuse against her friends, such as slapping, punching and kicking. However, while reprehensible, none of that was ever bloody. The worst violent incident she witnessed in canon was Saionji striking Touga across the back with a sword, and that wound was more shocking for its suddenness than its graphic nature (the wound itself was shallow).
After two weeks in Landel's, however, she has built up a tolerance to stronger violence. Not a strong one, mind, but enough such that she is able to deal with it for survival's sake. The most graphic example that comes to mind is her having to bash in the heads of zombies during the night that patients were stuck in Doyleton; she felt sorry for the people the zombies had once been, but was able to make herself fight them off for her and Juri's sakes that night.
She has the physical skill with which to fight, at least, mental tolerance or not. Even without a sword, she packs a strong punch, good reflexes, and acrobatic capabilities. Thus, she will be able to both deal out violence and dodge/defend against it if need be.
Third-Person Sample:
Utena's breath caught sharply in her throat when the sword pierced through Himemiya's back. Somehow, just this one sword wound was more agonizing to witness than the multitude of earlier. She could see the exit wound so much more clearly. Could hear the squelching flesh and cracking ribs. Could almost feel the blade inside her own body as she watched Himemiya twist and writhe around it. "What the hell are you doing?!" she shouted across to the stranger fiercely, despite all logic that told her the attack had probably been a smart thing to try. "She's had enough of that already! You're going to kill her!"
Her wide eyes flitted back up to Himemiya, shaking with fear and anguish. The swords had slowed now. Had the stranger really hit something inside that would kill her? "Himemiya! Himemiya!" she called out. She searched for her friend's eyes, looking one more time for any sign of life.
There was a stirring there, but it was not in the girl's eyes. To Utena's side, one new sword had appeared.
"It's too late. You can't be my prince."
By the time those words sunk into her mind, the sword had sunken into her flesh.
The pain seemed to spread in slow motion, like an advancing sheet of ice through her body. Utena's legs buckled beneath her. She fell backward to the balcony floor, landing on her back with a thud of flesh and a clang of bloody metal. The wound wasn't fatal, but god if it didn't feel like it would be. Her breaths became short and laboured. She could still see Himemiya hanging there in the air beyond the balcony rail. The girl's expression held no remorse. "Wh . . . what . . . ?" The blade in her body seemed to radiate with the girl's hatred. Could brainwashing alone really be responsible for that kind of coldness?
There really was no getting through to her at this point. She could see that now. Words wouldn't do it. Fighting wouldn't do it. Himemiya was completely locked away. There would be absolutely no way to save her short of . . .
Short of getting at the lock itself.
Utena only had one option left. She wasn't even sure it was worth anything - it was just too far to make it work, her rational mind told her. When her choices were leaving her friend to continue hurting others and having the slightest chance at saving her, though, Utena felt the answer was obvious, regardless of seeming impossibilities.
Gasping and hissing, she gripped the hilt of the sword in her side and pulled on it. She cried out roughly through a dry mouth, forcing the thing out as swiftly and cleanly as she could. It, her own sword, and her flashlight were all cast aside as she struggled to get back to her feet, focusing on every breath it took to get her there. On the way down, the flashlight danced over Himemiya's face one more time, catching her green eyes for one brief snapshot in time. That colour crystallized in Utena's mind, allowing her something to focus on as she took a few steps back in preparation for what she was about to do.
"I will be your prince, Himemiya. I swear," she told the floating girl as firmly as she could before biting down hard on her bottom lip. She forced herself to ignore the pain as best she could. Hopefully she could ignore the drop in front of her so well.
With all her determination crammed up inside, Utena was able to run. She ran straight for the railing. Only this time, she didn't vault onto it. Instead, with both hands, she launched herself up over it, only using the rail as a springboard to carry her further forward across the looming gap between her and her friend. With one hand outstretched, she flew forward, much the same as she had done on the night the girl had once been kidnapped. If she could do it then, she could do it again. And even as she felt herself beginning to fall, she called out as loud as she could: "HIMEMIYA!"