yue & haven

[rikoren]

Name: Kestrel
Contact Info: rikoren @ aim/plurk/dreamwidth
Other Characters Played: Pochi | trustcoon
Requested apartment: N/A

Character Name: Yue
Canon: Akaya Akashiya Ayakashino
Canon Point: The ending in which he sacrifices his freedom for Akiyoshi's safety.
Background/History: Imagine a perfectly normal modern-day Japan, with cell phones and cars and all those cool gadgets we take for granted these days. (A particularly industrious pixiv user has put it down as the year 2011, if you want specifics.) Then add in all the Japanese spirits, or ayakashi, of traditional folklore: fox spirits, shrine gods, flying goldfish, and the like. It's implied that such spirits are struggling to survive in the human realm, though; the reason they can thrive in Yue's hometown of Utsuwa is because a fox spirit named Shin (one of the two shrine gods who watched over the area) had "spirited away" the entire town, casting a barrier that cut it off from the outside world. This barrier wiped the town off the map: trains pass right through the station, never seeing that there even is a station to stop at. Likewise, nobody ever leaves the town.

Ayakashi in this world have a very particular way of life: Humans are a sort of delicacy, and making one your meal is the single way for an ayakashi to grow - without this sustenance, they are too spiritually weak to grow in size or strength. But this doesn't mean they can eat just anyone. Humans are only visible to them if they have particularly strong spiritual energy or happen to be "meals". Like this. Proper consummation of a "meal" isn't just bloody murder, either: the victim is so perfectly devoured that the very memory of their existence is erased from the minds of the people around them. If an ayakashi eats people indiscriminately, that ayakashi will become an akujiki, which literally translates to "eating poor food". These creatures are considered the lowest of the low, and more often than not have lost control to the point they manifest only as corrupted shadows, unable to even speak properly.

Yue was born and raised in the local mountain shrine, where Shin's sister, the shrine goddess Mikoto, lives along with her ayakashi servants. Raised solely to be the vessel for Shin's soul, he was kept locked up in the house for the entire seven years he was alive, with little to no knowledge of the world outside the shrine's borders. Despite the severity of his house arrest, he's very well-taken care of: he's on friendly terms with Mikoto and all the other residents of the shrine, there's a servant to cook and clean for them all, and he has his "bodyguard" Kurogitsune to play with and keep him company. But the constant spiritual strain of being Shin's vessel means that, unlike his companions, he needs a Meal to live, not just to grow. By the start of the game, Yue's so lacking in energy that he sleeps for most of the day, and faints more than once. So you might consider it fate that, when Kurogitsune sneaks him out to see a festival, he happens to run into two different boys (Tsubaki and Akiyoshi) who catch his attention.

The incident at the festival leads to Mikoto explaining (in the vaguest terms possible) that those boys were potential Meals and that Yue should befriend one and bring him home (presumably so that the adults could help him actually complete the process). And so he spends the next few days meeting, befriending, and having fun with his new targets. The problem with this is that he himself isn't all that willing to devour the first and only friends he's ever made. There's also the fact that the principal at the local kindergarten was apparently devoured by an akujiki, leading everyone but Yue and his friends to forget he ever existed. While the three embark on their amateur investigation spree, a mysterious man named Sagano also shows up and threatens Yue's life. The same man later shows up at Akiyoshi's house, taking up residence there as a friend of his father. Sagano takes advantage of this situation, hinting to Akiyoshi that putting out the lights at the shrine will help with his dream of defeating the ayakashi. These lights are in fact what keeps up the barrier which protects the shrine, and so putting them out would put all of the ayakashi there in danger.

Meanwhile, the boys' investigation is cut short on Yue's fifth day in town, when Tsubaki gets captured by akujiki. Sagano appears again, leading them to where the akujiki are, and Yue and Akiyoshi are able to successfully save their friend, but Yue gets hurt in the process, leading the other two to escort him back to the shrine. There, Akiyoshi gives in to the need to try putting out the lights, thus successfully letting Sagano in through the barrier. Yue runs after him in the chaos, leaving Tsubaki alone - and Sato, the priest of the shrine, takes advantage of this moment to sacrifice him in a method which basically turns him into a Meal for Mikoto, Yue, and Shin all at once. With her energy restored, Mikoto is successfully able to repel Sagano, after which Yue is told to make Akiyoshi into his next Meal.

But in this particular story path, Yue absolutely refuses to let Akiyoshi get hurt, allows Sagano and Akiyoshi to escape, and is subsequently confined to his room as punishment until he gives in to the fact that he should have eaten the one friend he had left. In the end, Yue willingly confines himself there for the rest of his life, knowing that Sato will leave Akiyoshi alone for as long as he does so.
Personality: Yue is a friendly kid, one canonly described with words such as "curious," "absent-minded," and "suspicious." All three of these are true, in their own ways: having been locked away in a Shinto shrine all his life, he's acutely aware of the fact he knows very little of the outside world, and when given the chance, tries the best he can to remedy that. His lack of knowledge and proper social skills works against him though - he doesn't understand why wearing his mask when there isn't a festival might be considered strange, and sees nothing wrong with chatting up strangers or wandering unannounced through a school in the middle of the day. But he has no ill intentions, and genuinely enjoys the companionship and learning experiences he gains from his adventures, taking pleasure in the simplest things from a nap shared with a friend to the prospect of eating cotton candy. He enjoys helping people too if it's not a chore, and tends to stick up for people or shoulder blame himself if it's applicable. (Like saying he's to blame for sneaking to the festival, and not to punish Kurogitsune alone.) The absent-minded part comes in with the fact that he doesn't always pay attention to where he's going, and sometimes asks questions other people might think were kind of obvious, plus the fact he's half-asleep so often. He's the kind of good kid who'll flinch and apologize when he gets in trouble, and even apologizes to threatening strangers if they seem to disapprove of something about him. This isn't to say he never bites - when annoyed or otherwise not bothered to properly reply, his retorts include such childish things as name-calling or stealing things for an impromptu game of tag. Likewise, he'll argue when he feels he's in the right, and if curious enough, will casually break rules in order to get something he wants. Obviously though, he isn't a particularly belligerent person, and the worst he tends to do is complain that someone's being mean, or that he doesn't want to do something. He has a lazybones attitude towards life as a whole, his exhaustion often getting the better of curiosity.

All that aside, he does have his serious moments. The issue of his "Meal" comes up often, for example, and while most of his worries are never voiced, he does go out of his shell to ask for other people's thoughts on who his meal should be, and what the importance of the meal really is. But he only asks one question, to one person, and only when they ask what he's thinking. This reticence is a way to keep others from worrying about him; the only complaints he ever openly makes to people are health-related, such as exhaustion or hunger, or silly things such as saying fortune telling's a pain. When asked if anything's wrong, or if there's a reason for his questions about the Meal, he denies it and lets the matter rest. In one path in the PSP remake of the game, Yue is confronted with the realization that he actually feels the need to eat his new friend Tsubaki (as opposed to just understanding that he needs to do so eventually), and only manages to voice his fears to Mikoto when she finds him walking around in the middle of the night and asks him what's wrong. But generally Yue keeps these things to himself (and to Shin), wondering what will happen, what he should do, whether he's even able to do it, never telling anyone else his worries. Likewise, he tries not to pry into other people's affairs, backing down if they don't want to answer - though it's still pretty obvious that he really wants to know.

When faced with something particularly dangerous, his first reaction tends to be to freeze up like a deer in headlights; unsure what to think or say or do, he absolutely fails at avoiding attack or injury, and does get laid low once or twice because of this. He dislikes fighting as a general rule, preferring to try to talk it out if given the opportunity, or even when...there really isn't an opportunity. On the other hand, when faced with the prospect of someone particularly close to him getting hurt, especially someone he thinks of as needing his help, he'll immediately run to their aid. For example, he jumps to protect Tsubaki and Akiyoshi when akujiki attack (like a guard dog) but is less likely to do the same for his fellow ayakashi (who are generally able to take care of themselves), and entirely unlikely to attempt helping those humans whose faces he can't even see. (The most he feels for them tends to be something along the lines of how you'd feel for stray dogs or roadkill; a little compassion, but not enough to want to do anything about it.) In other words: he's totally vulnerable when surprised in battle, or when faced with any sort of danger whatsoever, but will give it everything he has if someone he cares about is the one in danger. Sadly his only actual fighting methods are to run away or act as a flimsy human shield, his only useful spiritual attack being saved for instances when running away is not an option.

As for the voice in Yue's head: Shin has yet to have a proper appearance, or even his own lines in the game, but it's stated that Yue has inherited some of his speech patterns. Judging by Yue's replies in their conversations, it seems he's often cheerful and joking, laughing when Sato says he wished Shin could have let them know he was awake, and teasing Yue while talking about his day. He generally lets Yue do whatever he wants, lending him his powers when asked, and rarely if ever takes over (the only times he does are to help Yue escape when he was doing his deer in headlights acts, and during a fight to protect Tsubaki.) But when he himself gets interested in something, he'll hint at it to Yue, and - if the hints don't get through - may actively push him towards it. He only ever does this once, sending them to a field outside the shrine when Yue decides he's too lazy to investigate the thing Shin's gotten so interested in. He's also willing to sacrifice everything to protect those he loves, and it's that determination that led to the situation they're in: an entire city spirited away so that ayakashi can roam in peace, and Shin without a body to call his own. Basically, he's much like Yue, doing what they want when they feel like it, taking most things in stride, staying positive despite the circumstances...and failing miserably to think about his own safety when the safety of others is more important.
Abilities/Powers: Yue is possessed by the fox spirit Shin, who lost his body long before Yue was born, and they often chat, though Yue generally does it when he thinks nobody else is listening, because it kinda looks like he's talking to himself. On the incredibly rare occasions that Shin takes over, or even just lends his power, he has the ability to use immensely powerful foxfire; this fire is apparently strong enough to totally destroy lesser monsters (lesser in power, not size) but it's also a one-shot skill, as one use takes all of Yue's energy and leaves him barely able to stand.

Yue's personal powers include...well, being raised the way he was has led to him looking unnatural himself, as well as giving off a not-entirely-human aura. He's unfazed by cold weather, his weakness being on a more spiritual than physical level, and so while he's likely to catch colds and get fevers and actually feel cold when he's low on energy, it's because of that lack of energy, not because the actual outside temperature is freezing. He needs very little - if any - physical food to survive, though it helps. He's also inherited that ayakashi vision problem where he can't tell humans apart, and needs to eat people to survive. How exactly he goes about "eating" people is never really properly explained, though it's been pretty much confirmed that what he ends up devouring is their soul, as he gains not only energy but also the memories of his victim. He also doesn't need to do it very often, though of course the more energy he uses, the more quickly that need is going to come up again.

I'm thinking of maybe putting up a permissions post asking if anyone's willing to have their characters listed under "potential Meal", once he gets in.
Items/Weapons: A fox mask and a scarf.
Sample Entry: [The face that appears on the screen is pale, and frail, and...male....and also looks kind of worried, but that's probably to be expected in a place like this. He's also dressed a little too lightly for comfort, in a simple yukata and a fox mask. As if he just walked out of one of those festivals you get in Japan. At least he's got a scarf?]

Um...hello. Am I using this right? I remember seeing one of these on TV, people talked with them...[He's peering a little too close at the screen now, actually.] Maybe I need to press more of these buttons...what did they say in the show again, um--

[Aaaand he accidentally turned it off.]
Sample Entry Two: It was strange. He'd woken up, expecting today to be just like yesterday, and the day before that, and every other day for however many days he'd been sitting alone in his room (honestly, he'd lost track a while ago). But this wasn't his room - it wasn't anywhere he recognized at all, but most importantly, it wasn't his room. What if Sato-san found out? What would happen to Akiyoshi? It was the fastest Yue had ever gotten up, stumbling (groggily, clumsily, his limbs heavy from disuse) out of the room he found himself in to try to find out how to get back.

But of course nothing came of that. The door lead to nowhere he recognized; the window showed a picture of humans saying they were safe. Eventually he found himself wandering aimlessly around outside, carefully picking his barefoot way through the rubble strewn across the ground. He was safe here, said the sign. They were all safe here. It felt like a lie, but what did it matter? He'd somehow managed to break his side of the bargain. Akiyoshi was in trouble, and he didn't have any idea how to get back. Whether he himself was safe seemed about as important as the food he'd barely touched back home.

But he could still be safe, couldn't he? said the coaxing, gentle voice in his head. You'll never find out if you give up now. Yue stood silently for a moment, alone, contemplating those words in the rubble of a city that felt like the rubble of his hope. "....You're right." He touched a hand to his mask, a reluctant smile floating across his face. "I'll manage somehow. We'll manage. After all...he'll wait for us, won't he?" The words were more hope than belief, but still, they were enough. Quietly, calmly, he started the trek back to....

....where had he woken up again? He hadn't really paid attention, in his panic. Maybe that building over there....and so he went.