deer country application.

[tealeafs]

Character Base

• Character Name: Chizuru Yukimura
• Age: 20, both apparent and literal. (Mostly, anyway - she has a bit of a baby face.)
• Canon (Date/Year Released)/Canon Point: Hakuouki (first released on february 14th 2012), right after the battle of Toba-Fushimi, Hijikata route version.
• Items Coming Along: A light blue Shinsengumi haori, a tea set, her kodachi (a short sword), her canon outfit.
• Content Warnings for Character: Mentions of war, blood, sexual harassment, kidnapping and vampirism. Mention of gore (including decapitation) in the powers section.

Character Background

• History: Here. Since I am taking her from Hijikata's route, more information can be found on his page. Here is an even more detailed, but incomplete version.

• Core Relationships:

• Toshizou Hijikata - The vice-commander of the Shinsengumi. They met on the first night when Chizuru came to Kyoto looking for her father, whereupon she immediately ended up at the end of his blade, as she had seen a few things that the Shinsengumi was trying to keep secret. While Chizuru was greatly intimidated by him because of that right away, she also couldn't help but note his beauty right away as well. (Girl, please, calm down that thirst.) As he spared her life, letting her live with the Shinsengumi rather than kill her for knowing the Shinsengumi's secret, Chizuru has been infinitely grateful towards Hijikata. And even though he certainly kept being fairly intimidating, with his coarse way of speaking and his bluntness in every single situation, Chizuru slowly got to know him, and got to see other sides of him as well. The side that just wanted what was best for the Shinsengumi and all his men, the side of him that wrote poetry. His embarrassed moments, his softer moments, his determined moments. Chizuru's admiration for the men grew more and more, all up to the point where he risked his life to save her during the battle of Toba-Fushimi, where he saved her from the demon Kazama and even changed his own life due to it forever by drinking the ochimizu - a drink that turns someone into a fury, a half-demon, half-human being that longs to drink people's blood - to have the strength to beat Kazama. While Chizuru is obviously grateful towards him for saving her life, she also can't help but feel guilty that he turned himself into a fury for her sake. She wants to help Hijikata more than anything.

• Isami Kondou - Kondou is the absolute leader of the Shinsengumi. He's a very amicable man, and though he tries to be strict due to his position as a leader, he's not very good at it - leaving the responsibility of being the bad cop to Kondou's good cop on Hijikata's shoulders. It's because of that fact that Kondou treats Chizuru more kindly than the other men at first, already acting warmly towards her even when the other men are more suspicious of her and her intentions at first. Kondou ends up even giving Chizuru some private swordfighting lessons, and remarks once that she almost feels like a daughter to him.

• Souji Okita - The captain of the first division of the Shinsengumi. A notable troll, and someone who just loves making Chizuru squirm. Okita is constantly teasing everyone around him, Chizuru included - except his teasing has an awkwardly morbid side to it from time to time. He has joked to Chizuru multiple times that he would kill her, and even though that does scare Chizuru, she at the same time can't help but be curious as to what makes Okita that way, what drives him to say that sort of stuff - especially since there have been moments where he did try to protect her, despite all the joking around about killing her, and moments where he has been kind to her. Learning that he has tuberculosis has only made her more worried about Okita.

• Hajime Saitou - The captain of the third division of the Shinsengumi. Saitou is an incredibly stoic man, only seeming to express emotion in the most extreme of circumstances. It makes it hard for Chizuru to fully realise what he's all about.. but she does believe in Saitou's kindness. He always seems to want to fight for what's right, after all, not to mention that he's definitely been kind to Chizuru at times, which makes her long to get to know him better.

• Heisuke Toudou - The captain of the eight division of the Shinsengumi, and the only one among the captains who is the same age as Chizuru. Just the lack of that age divide makes Heisuke the easiest among the captains for Chizuru to interact with - interacting more like friends, rather than the way she initially tried to tiptoe around the older captains to try make sure they wouldn't get angry at her. Heisuke is a bright and cheery guy, though Chizuru has seen that there is a different side of the coin, and that Heisuke carries more sadness within him. A sadness that has become more and more obvious ever since he became a fury. Chizuru wants to help him, but she's not sure what she can do.

• Sanosuke Harada - The captain of the tenth division of the Shinsengumi. Heisuke, Harada and Nagakura are the aptly named 'idiot trio', and it shows in the way their interactions with Chizuru are very different from the rest of the captains. While Chizuru is initially intimidated by all of the men of the Shinsengumi, it's the idiot trio specifically that make her feel more welcome, allowing her to let her guard down a little. Whereas Heisuke does it by being her happy same-aged friend, Harada does it more through showing her a soft side of himself. He always encourages Chizuru to do what makes her happy, not bothering to hide his desire to keep her safe, especially as the only woman in a compound full of men.

• Shinpachi Nagakura - The captain of the second division of the Shinsengumi. Also the last third of the before named 'idiot trio'. If Heisuke is happy and Harada is soft, then the right word for Nagakura is boisterous. He's an incredibly loud man, but most of the time not in an angry way at all, but instead in a smiling and fun-loving way. He treats Chizuru very much like a little sister, hair ruffles and all included, and she really appreciates the way it makes her feel more at place with the Shinsengumi.

• Keisuke Sanan - The colonel of the Shinsengumi. If there is a single Shinsengumi officer Chizuru is most intimidated by, it's most likely Sannan. Although he generally comes across as a very quiet man, he has an incredibly sharp tongue that he doesn't seem to hesitate to use, and Chizuru has never been very good at dealing with those types of people. Not that she dislikes Sannan in any way. Chizuru displays obvious worry when the other decides to turn himself into a fury, and she wants him to be well - but on the other hand, she never feels quite as much at ease around him, especially since he seems very keen on involving Chizuru and her demon blood in his fury experiments.

• Susumu Yamazaki - The resident spy and information gatherer for the Shinsengumi. While he is also a little closer to Chizuru in age, just like Heisuke, Yamazaki and Chizuru's fond has a tad more of a formal edge to it, considering Yamazaki is not quite as carefree as Heisuke is. He is very formal and duty-oriented, but that's actually how he and Chizuru end up bonding a little - since they both want to help the Shinsengumi in any way they can, even though they might not be traditional fighters. Chizuru witnessed him sacrificing his life to try and protect Hijikata during the battle to Toba-Fushimi, and she's still not quite over it.

• Hachirou Iba - Even though Iba and Chizuru aren't super close at this point in time, I feel like it's still important for him to be mentioned him since Iba and Chizuru were childhood friends. Iba even found out about the way Chizuru's wounds healed much faster than any other kid's, and he told her to keep her ability secret, afraid that people would cast her out if they'd find out about it. They lost contact though, and when they met again after more than ten years, Chizuru didn't even recognize him anymore until he told her his name. Since Chizuru didn't go down his route in her canon point, she didn't get the chance to bond with him a whole ton again, making them more amicable semi-colleagues than actual friends at this point.

• Kazume Souma - Souma is a new Shinsengumi recruit. Chizuru ends up becoming closer with him since he is also one of the guys that are actually close to her age, but aside from that, she doesn't have a hierarchy gap with Souma either. When Chizuru is told to stick with the Shinsengumi to protect their secret, she is made Hijikata's page, and when Souma joins the Shinsengumi, he ends up becoming Kondou's page. As fellow pages they are on the same level, and so Chizuru ends up acting more like a big-sister-like figure for Souma, standing up for the poor boy when he gets into trouble.

• Kodo Yukimura - Chizuru's father - though it is later on revealed that Kodo is only Chizuru's adoptive father. Her actual parents died when their demon village was attacked, back when Chizuru was still really long. Kodo, a fellow demon, rescued her, and went to live among the humans with her, so she wouldn't be found. It's because of these arrangements that Chizuru is very close with Kodo. Since she had no one but her father, and mostly stuck to the house so people wouldn't find out she was actually a demon, her father was basically Chizuru's entire world, and her prime social contact. They got less contact over the years as her father started working more, until he went to Kyoto and entirely disappeared, not returning home for a really long time. It is this event that sets the entire story of Hakuouki into motion, since Chizuru cares so much about her father that she set out to Kyoto all by herself to try and find him (despite being aware enough of the dangers that she dressed up as a boy to keep herself safe). It turns out later on that Kodo's personality isn't full of pure intentions after all though, since he resents the humans for having killed so many demons in the past, and has invented the ochimizu in order to turn humans into his personal obedient fury army - not to mention that he seems very, very intent on marrying Chizuru off to the demon Chikage Kazama, something Chizuru is for reasons that will be described in a bit entirely not up for. It's this reveal that breaks the bond between the two, and it leaves Chizuru very confused and worried as to whether or not her father ever cared for her at all. She still cares for him - especially since she is sad in the story once he does die - but she can't agree with his plans and intentions any longer. Which is hard on her, considering how close they always were.

• Chikage Kazama - Kazama is another demon from Chizuru's world, the head of the Kazama clan of demons. Since there are very few demons left in Chizuru's time since humans have been hunting a lot of them down, Kazama is determined to make Chizuru his bride, especially since female demons, let alone still living female demons are even rarer. Kazama and Chizuru greatly differ in opinion about this entire matter though, since Chizuru wants absolutely nothing to do with Kazama. He constantly tries to kidnap her whenever he comes across her, and calls her his bride before Chizuru has shown even one bit of an intention to consent. She has also watched him kill multiple people important to her in front of her eyes at this point. Chizuru can't stand Kazama, and he is in fact most likely her biggest fear at this point.

• Sen - Sen is Chizuru's first and only female friend, even though she met the girl - relatively speaking - fairly recently. Sen is one of the other rare female demons, and even holds a position of power within the demon world, carrying the title of princess. She is the only one who seems capable of making Kazama back off of Chizuru every now and then, and treats Chizuru so kindly and with so much understanding that Chizuru has been fond of the other girl ever since their first meeting (where Chizuru tried to defend the other girl, not realising that Sen was so much more powerful than her in the first place). Considering how hard it has been for Chizuru to make friends when she was younger, given her circumstances, she treasures her friendship with Sen greatly, even though she still can't spend a whole lot of time with the other. But whenever she can, Chizuru really seems to blossom, getting more lively in the company of her best friend.

Character Personality Through Key Moments

(2+) Positive Experiences/Traits:

• Chizuru is polite. It's something that's partially born out of the fact that Chizuru is very much a product of her time, in which there were expectations placed upon women to be incredibly modest, but it's also just part of Chizuru's nature. She would never want to hurt anyone, and she wants to give credit where credit is due, as seen in the moment where Heisuke Toudou, one of the captains of the Shinsengumi and therefore in a position way above her, tells her to just call him by his first name since they're the same age. Chizuru seems to struggle with that at first since it goes against all rules of everything polite, but then finally does manage to just call him 'Heisuke-kun', and is able to do so with a smile. As evidenced, her politeness clearly tries to move along to accomodate whatever anyone is most comfortable with.

• In that same line of reasoning, Chizuru is gentle. Even though she's involved a lot with the Shinsengumi - a group that's literally meant to protect the city of Kyoto through fighting! - she expresses her dislike of battle a few times throughout the story. When Saitou at an early part of the story tells her to try and fit him with her sword, Chizuru gets all surprised and says she'd rather not since she doesn't want to hurt him. She will always prefer the way with the least hurt people and the least bloodshed, although she knows very well that it's just not always possible. The latter can also be seen in the story, since Chizuru does accept help in learning how to use her sword better from Kondou, since she knows that she often has no choice but to learn how to defend herself if the situations around her are going to remain dangerous. But Chizuru would never, ever, be the one to initiate combat in any way.

• Chizuru is also a really kind person. She's the type of person who absolutely believes in the good in other people no matter what. Humans have destroyed her demon clan (though Chizuru doesn't consciously remember it, until she finds out about it later) but even so Chizuru doesn't hate humans, not for a moment. She absolutely believes in them, and every single time Kazama talks to her and tries to convince her that humans are scum after all, she doesn't listen to him and instead says that she believes in humans and that they're good. Even with all the battles and cruelties she sees, Chizuru doesn't let go of her idealistic view of the world, believing in the good inside of each and every person.

• Chizuru is independent. Despite her meekness and gentle nature, it's not as if she can't take care of things by herself. After all, her father left her home alone by herself a lot of the time, so she's been taking care of everything there by herself ffor weeks or months on end - cleaning the house, cooking, providing basic medical advice to people who stopped by the clinic, the whole deal. Although the biggest example of Chizuru's independent action would have to be the fact that she decided to take a trip to Kyoto all by herself just to go look for her father. It definitely wasn't an easy feat for a woman in that day and age and it was incredibly dangerous, but even so Chizuru disguised herself as a boy and went - because when it is time to act, Chizuru does her best to do so.

• Under the right circumstances and for the right reasons, Chizuru can be very brave. Most of said circumstances have to do with other people. Chizuru is very, very loyal to the people she cares about and would do practically anything just to be able to see them happy (as evidenced by the fact that she's pretty much every guy's emotional crutch in their respective routes). She has an incredibly big heart and cares almost too much, to a point where she will even try to stand up to Kazama, a demon not even the skilled captains of the Shinsengumi could beat, despite the odds just to try and be able to save a captain from the Shinsengumi from death during the battle of Toba-Fushimi. Even though she knows in that moment that the odds are severely stacked against her, Chizuru still refuses to watch someone she care about die without trying to do something, anything, about it. It doesn't mean she's necessarily as brave as the actual warriors of the Shinsengumi. For example, she notes after offering to protect Kondou during an upcoming battle, she did feel nervous and scared about whether she'd be able to protect him or not and what would happen. But she does try really hard and can show some real bravery to protect the people she loves, despite the fact that she's not exactly a warrior like most people in the series are.

• Chizuru is stubborn. A lot of the time when the captains tell her to run and save herself during a battle while they keep on fighting, she refuses to go and leave them alone. Instead she stays there, even if it might be more dangerous for her. In Chizuru's mind the wellbeing of the people she cares about comes before her own, and she doesn't shy away from being stubborn about that fact. This probably also stems from something Hijikata tells her fairly early on in the game. When Chizuru tells him that she wants to continue to help the Shinsengumi and begs him to let her stay, he asks her if she thinks that what she's doing is right, to which she replies she does. Then he proceeds to tell her: "Then don't bow so easily. You believe you're right. Why should you bow if you think you're right? If you believe something, then don't ever bow or yield. Hold your head high and walk tall. You won't win if you don't keep your eyes on the prize." This is ultimately mirrored near the end of Hijikata's route - he tries to stubbornly keep Chizuru away from him so she may have a happy and normal life instead of being stuck with him, but she follows him all the same and refuses to back down when he tells her to leave again. She stands her ground even when he seemingly gets angry with her, telling the vice-commander of the Shinsengumi of all people: "I'll come back as many times as I have to! I won't stop until you approve it!"

(2+) Negative Experiences/Traits:

• Chizuru's politeness also makes her - at times - hesitant to speak her mind. As mentioned before, if Chizuru truly believes something is wrong, she will speak up for it. But if the situation isn't pressing, she hesitates to give her opinion on matters. It's seen in scenes where the Shinsengumi are discussing important matters. Chizuru feels like she doesn't know enough about the situation to contribute, and so she just stays quiet. It makes her a tad meek, and she easily goes along with other people, just because it's easier - like when, for example, the idiot trio drag her around to various places or involve her in some scheme, even though Chizuru doesn't entirely like the idea. She's just too polite and sweet to say no unless it's absolutely necessary.

• Her kindness and idealism, in turn, can change into naivety when taken too far. Chizuru can be incredibly gullible at times, a fact some of the characters in the series like to abuse in order to be able to easily tease her. Chizuru tends to take things at face value, often not realising that someone is teasing her - or worse, deceiving her - until it's already far too late. An example of that can be seen in Okita's route in the game. In that route Chizuru is told by someone that she can calm a fury down by feeding her blood to it, making her do that to Okita in a naive attempt to try and help him out. Later on it turns out that the entire thing was a lie told to her just so she would feel worse when she'd see that it wouldn't work. Not to mention that said lie was told to her by someone who she wasn't even on friendly terms with, showing that Chizuru is so gullible that she will even believe the word of an enemy when she is desperate enough.

• What further makes Chizuru easier to tease and deceive is the fact that she is very much an open book. Chizuru's not very good at hiding her feelings, not even when she tries. Most of her feelings just show straight up on her face. Whenever she's happy she smiles, whenever she's sad she's quick to cry, whenever she's scared other people notice and when she's teased, her jaw will drop open and her eyes will widen and she'll stammer something, if not just downright blush from embarassment. It frequently gets her into trouble, for example in a scene where she is roped into a plan to try and entertain a few men who, later that night, will be killed by the Shinsengumi once they are too drunk to fight back. Chizuru with her gentle nature obviously feels terrible about this plan, and other characters comment later on how she threatened to give away their plan, because she was looking so sad the entire time.

• Chizuru is incredibly insecure. She's someone who actually has a lot of doubts, mostly about herself. Sometimes it's about more specific things - like how in Harada's route she worries about the fact that she's a demon and he would probably want a normal human wife instead of something like her - but in general her biggest worry is about how helpful she can be to the people around her. Whenever she can't do a thing to help her friends, Chizuru immediately gets down and can't stop thinking about it, feeling completely useless. She often has internal monologue where she feels bad that she can't fight to help the Shinsengumi, even though she is actually useful to them in a lot of other ways - but Chizuru tends to be blind to those when she's confronted with one thing she can't help with. Whenever she feels the most helpless, she actually becomes so desperate that she begs just to be allowed to help out, telling the men: "I'm sick and tired of always being protected! I want to help out, please..." One of the moments where her sense of helplessness is the greatest is in Hijikata's route after Kondou dies. Even though Chizuru does clearly try to help console Hijikata, she realises it's impossible for her to do so and immediately blames herself for it. ("Why did words feel so powerless when I needed them most? What good were they if I couldn't comfort someone I cared for when they needed it most?")

• Chizuru is always so busy thinking about other people, that she forgets to look after her own wellbeing. She's an overworker, always running across the compound to make sure everyone from the Shinsengumi is well taken care of. Often other characters have to tell her to sit down and take a breather, since Chizuru usually refuses to rest until she knows that all the people around her are doing okay. This tends to show a lot in her relationship with the various guys in the series, since she thinks of their happiness more than her own - until the very end, where she finally realises that what she wants is being with them too. Although this is present in most of the routes it's by far the most apparent in Harada's, where he actually points out to her that she's always so worried about other people that she doesn't see what's in front of her - what she feels and what she wants.

Deer Country Attributes

• Canon Powers: While Chizuru looks human, she is a demon. While she seems to lack the superhuman strength and speed that other demons from her world have, Chizuru is able to recover from any injury quickly. A small cut heals up within a minute, whereas bigger injuries heal overnight, disappearing like they were never there to begin with. It means that Chizuru is unable to die, unless someone either stabs her right through the heart or cuts off her head. She can also shift from her human form to her more demon-like form, though it usually happens under great duress rather than as a voluntarily thing. In that form Chizuru has snow white hair, golden glowing eyes and - sometimes, when the transformation goes all the way - horns growing out of her head. Her demon heritage also seems to enhance her senses slightly, being able to ocassionally sense things right before they happen.

• Blood Type: Paleblood

• Omen: A yosuzume, or a night-sparrow. They are bird youkai, often seen as a sign of bad luck, or a sign that there are other dangerous creatures nearby. It ties into Chizuru's own prophetic abilities in a nice, symbolic way. (Also, cute little birds are 100% Chizuru's aesthetic.)

• Blessed Day: January 27th. It's the day the battle of Toba-Fushimi started. It's the most recent battle Chizuru had to deal with back home, and considering it's basically where the Shinsengumi, the group she had spent so much time with, started to decline, it's an important turning point in Chizuru's life, and an eventful day she won't easily forget.

• Patron Pthumerian: Madam Generosity. While Chizuru will feel uncertain about the concept of the Pthumerians as a whole at first, and will be kind of scared of the snake-like appearance of Madam Generosity in particular, she will feel rather glad to have a patron Pthumerian who seems to be relatively kind. The feeling might not be relatively strong, especially while it will take her a while to sort out her feelings about the Pthumerians as a whole, but there will definitely be some gladness, like a sense of relief that it isn't one of the more unpredictable or seemingly unkind Pthumerians she is tied to. It's also the one that best suits Chizuru as a person - considering just how much kindness and selflessness - to a fault! - is part of Chizuru's very nature.

• Blood Power Manifestation: My idea is to initially mostly let the paleblood enhance Chizuru's already present abilities. Her slightly enhanced demonic senses will become stronger, until it fully evolves into some sort of sixth sense, in line with the prophetic abilities of paleblood. I think it's mostly interesting to make this a gradual thing, where her ability grows stronger over time, as Chizuru spends more time in Trench and gets more used to dealing with it. The second direction I'd like to take it in is focusing on the way Chizuru is already naturally very sympathetic to other people's feelings - constantly trying to see how others are feeling, and how she can help them. Considering some palebloods are naturally highly empathetic, I'd like to work towards her starting to pick up on other people's feelings as well. Which one of these two abilities will develop further/stronger or develop first will entirely depend on how things go after Chizuru is already in the game - and I'm excited to explore it!

Writing Samples

One: here.
Two: here.

The Player

• Player Name: Jelle
• Player Age: 29
• Player Contact: queeningsquare, or shoot me a PM.
• Permissions: Here.

Other Characters

Link to Character 1 overall AC: here.