Application for Somarium
[Player name] Maddie
[Age] 23
[Personal Journal] nerdraeg
[Other characters currently played] Yamamoto Takeshi / Katekyou Hitman Reborn! / Combiplay
[Character name] Okita Souji
[Age] 24
[Canon] Hakuouki (Shinsengumi Kitan)
Please Note: As some information is very sparse about him in his canon, I am filling in the gaps with historical accuracies, as he is based on a historical figure prominent in many works of fiction. Therefore, some of his traits and habits are ‘historically canon’, if you will? 8D;
[Point in time taken from canon] Second season, episode one; before the Shinsengumi more or less disbands.
[Background]
The wiki links are a little sparse, so I’m just going to go for it here! (Again, filling in the gaps with information from the real life of the historical figure he’s based upon.)
Souji was only born the son of a prominent samurai family in Edo, circa 1842. He had two elder sisters, and an elder brother who was adopted into the family name, but did not share his blood.
At the age of nine, young Souji was sent off to learn the warrior art of ‘bushido’. He began training under a man named Kondou Shusuke; a master of the sword art of Tennen Rishin Ryu. While this in and of itself was impressive, the dojo was nonetheless small and poor, and accepted the likes of men such as Hijikata Toshizo-a man who was not born of samurai blood. Souji didn’t seem to mind the company though, and quickly became the youngest, brashest, brattiest presence in the dojo. While his talent at being annoying was well honed, his talent with a sword would end up surpassing it. He quickly became one of the best wielders of katana, bokuto, and shinai in the dojo, creating the sword style of ‘Sandanzuki’; a devastating three-point thrust.
Kondou himself became Souji’s idol and a big brother figure to him; secretly, he tried in every aspect to emulate him. (The fact that Kondou would always be closer to Hijikata than himself grates on his nerves; another well-kept secret.) His respect for Hijikata also grew, despite the light resentment.
At the age of nineteen he joined the ‘Shinsengumi’ as a founding member, and was made the captain of the first rank of troops. The only men to outrank him would be Kondo and Hijikata, respectively. In the Shinsengumi-the army of the old Shogunite, facing extinction with the advent of foreigners into Japan- he became close to many of the other captains, sharing an especially close relationship with ‘Sannansan’, or Yamanami Keisuke.
A few years later, he, along with Hijikata, would meet a girl named Chizuru during a clash on the streets of Kyoto. They protected Chizuru from a ‘failed demon experiment’ the Shinsengumi had been working on. Namely, real demons do exist, in his world. These ‘oni’ are super fast, super strong, and heal at a rapid rate. In an effort to mimic these traits, the Shinsengumi was ordered to research ‘Ochimizu’; a red medicine that turns a human into a ‘Raesetsu’, or, half-demon.
Unfortunately, once a man becomes a Raesetsu, his bloodlust becomes immeasurable, and his murderous spree nearly unstoppable. Raesetsu also have marked traits of white hair, red eyes, the desire to drink blood, and a dislike of sunlight.
After Chizuru is witness to the Shinsengumi’s dark experiments, she is kidnapped by Souji and Hijikata and taken to their headquarters. Rather than kill her, after finding out that her father was the one to invent the Ochimizu, they decide to protect her while they search for him.
A little while later, two items of note take place. The first is that Souji is diagnosed with a serious case of tuberculosis; one that will likely kill him soon. Chizuru is the only one to hear this, and is sworn to secrecy by him. This is discovered during the Idekaya Incent; an attack by the Shinsengumi on anti-shogunite forces. While protecting Chizuru from a true oni, Souji coughs up blood and ends up passing out.
The second is that Sannansan, after becoming a Raesetsu himself, has furthered the research to the point where Raesetsu no longer lust after blood quite so much. The ability to control the inner demon leads to the creation of a unit of half-demons in the Shinsengumi.
Later, when his condition worsens, Chizuru’s twin brother Kaoru comes to him at his sick bed and tells him that drinking Ochimizu will cure his illness. After Kondou is shot and injured, Souji becomes frustrated with his inability to protect his idol, and drinks the Ochimizu. He first turns into a Raesetsu to protect fellow Shinsengumi member, Heisuke, and Chizuru. During the battle he is shot, and miraculously, does not heal. This is because he is shot with silver; this is the first time the Shinsengumi learn that pure silver can harm Raesetsu. Additionally, his illness does not improve; that was a lie told by Kaoru to use Souji to hurt his sister, by making her suffer through the suffering of her friends.
After this, Souji becomes a bit more cynical than usual, but remains in the Shinsengumi, on reserve and being looked after by Chizuru.
In season two, the Shinsengumi is made to wear European clothing and transformed into a larger unit under Kondou, who is made a Diamiyo Lord. Souji is determined to re-join as a full time warrior.
While this is the point in canon he will be taken from, I’ll quickly go over what occurs in the future. Kondou is eventually captured and beheaded under Hijikata’s watch. Souji becomes furious with Hijikata, until he learns he retreated on Kondou’s orders. Unable to handle the fact that his idol was murdered, he decides he wants to sacrifice his life to protect the man Kondou had died to protect. It has at this point come to light that Raesetsu powers use up a man’s life force, and that if too much is used, the man disappears.
Knowing this, and despite the very little life force he has left, Souji fights a group of assassins whose mission it was to kill Hijikata. He manages to defeat them before his life force is used up and he dies, disappearing.
[Personality] Souji has a quick, sharp wit and a cynical sense of humor. He often either offers or promises to kill those close to him, should they become a bother, or will otherwise act and speak in ways that inspire irritation and fear. His sense of humor is therefore a trait that, at first, can be difficult to detect or deal with.
However, Souji is more often that not a rather reserved persona. If prompted to talk, one can expect Souji to be fast with a sarcastic remark. But should he chose to start a conversation, the topic will no doubt be of formal importance, an observation or his insights into a situation from a perspective not yet considered.
Therefore, it can be said that on the outside Souji has the same bratty personality he displayed as a child. Internally, however, he has an impressively strategic, pragmatic mind that translates situations quickly and conservatively. While he has an overstated love of instigating trouble, his real temper is only quick to alight when the safety of one of his friends or charges is threatened.
In moments like these, his arrogance as a warrior is the skin he wears over the truth of the matter: that he would rather die himself than bare the loss of a comrade he values. Souji is absolutely what you’d call a ‘cocky bastard’, when on the battlefeild. If he existed today, ‘Come at me, Bro!’ would probably be his catchphrase. When the odds are against him, he welcomes them as if they were an especially funny joke. Even while injured, he’d prefer to taunt the enemy and puff up his own skills, rather than seeing the fragile reality. He detests losing, and his inability to cope with his own weakness often leads him to make poor choices when fighting.
While Souji can often seem carefree about his own troubles, in reality, when alone he is often stoic and even depressed over his illness. Because he can’t bear to be useless, he deals with his occasional inability to do his duty by seeking refuge in being alone, making crude jokes when approached, and keeping his troubles to himself.
While all of these traits are important to Souji’s character, perhaps his most vital personality trait is loyalty. To his friends; and especially to Kondou; Souji is something of a feisty puppy. He would follow Kondou anywhere, and do anything, to please and help him. His hero-worship of the man who raised him goes so far as to make him attempt to dress and do his hair like Kondou does. His deep feelings for his leader make him over-protective, and occasionally very jealous. These traits are shown in lesser amounts to other friends, whom he concerns himself with more than he lets on, wanting to be the person they can depend on for anything; such as in the cases of Chizuru and Sannansan.
Other, perhaps more surprising personality traits of Souji’s are his love of children-he will stop what he is doing to play with groups of kids, and has even been known to babysit-as well as his slight OCD when it comes to tidiness. He’s a neat freak, go figure.
Souji also loves to smile, laugh, and be happy. It’s rare, because of his often-conservative nature; but if he likes you, you’re bound to have a good time with him. He can often be very cheerful, when surrounded by friends.
[Abilities]
1. Can piss you off in a single bound with his unforgiving, wicked wit.
2. Can rock your butt with a set of katanas. Known as the best swordsman in his unit, and of his era.
3. Can transform into a ‘Raesetsu’; an ability that turns his hair white and his eyes red, and heightens his speed and reflexes, but shortens his lifespan.
[Other important stuff]
His illness makes it difficult for him to taste food, so he tends to over-season. Sweets are his favourite, and he doesn’t have a pallet for alcohol, much.
He is also currently (as he is in most of the series) recovering from two gunshot wounds along with his illness; so he grows tired easily, and prefers not to be seen at those times.
[Sample post]
[First Person] (Is an Into Post Okay?)
Hm? What’s this? Surely this isn’t heaven or hell~
[There’s a soft, whimsical chuckle that accompanies an impish grin. Though, perhaps for those astute enough to notice, it’s an expression that doesn’t quite reach his eyes.]
Well, how irritating. What am I supposed to do in a place like this, when back home Kondou-san might need me? And to think of poor Chizuru-chan’s face when she notices I’m missing… how unbearable, mn?
[For all the words sound concerned, he looks unaffected, flicking a bit of dust from off his shoulder.]
Whoever’s idea of a joke this is… I can’t say I’m amused. When I find you, I’ll gladly impale you on my blade. &hearts Now that would be pretty amusing.
Until then, what is it that Sannan-san would say? Oh, yeah. That I should make the best of this strange dream. After all! It’s not often I get to take a vacation from all those noisy, overeating captains. How nice. I wonder if there’s a mochi shop around here? I may as well explore a little, stretch my legs~
I feel like I could use the movement. It's been a while.
[Third Person]
The rain was falling in heavy sheets, obscuring his view even a few feet ahead. He could only make out the blur of the buildings surrounding him, fuzzy with sideways rain that was being shuttled down from the sky like spears thrown by the wind god himself.
Hn~ As if.
It had nothing to do with wind gods. It was just bad luck. Leave it to fate to produce the absolute worst day imaginable when he was out and about in it. And with such low visibility, there was really no choice. He’d have to take shelter in the first available location.
As that same bad luck would have it, the closest building to himself was a meanly-constructed wastrel of a shack. Sighing lightly, and pressing the hair matted wetly to his head aside, Souji began to walk towards it at a slow, sloshing pace.
A minute later, he was inside. If the downside to having a leaky roof meant it wasn’t much dryer in here than it was outside, the upside was that the small holes in the wood allowed for splinters of moonlight to sink in, giving the gutted insides of the derelict house an almost ethereal feel. Hunkering down onto the middle of the floor, he crossed his legs, leaned forward, and pursed his lips slightly.
Actually… these surroundings felt familiar. A little bit like the old Edo dojo. The wood had been termite infested there, too, and needed constant repairs. Since they’d been too poor to hire renovators, much of the work had been done by hand…
Opening his hand now, Souji peeked down at his palm, and flexed the wet fingers. Bigger, now. Imagine how much easier those jobs would have been, if he’d had an adult’s hands?
As there was really nothing more pressing to attend to right now, thinking back on warm memories was the best way to abate the chill settled into his wet clothes. Perhaps he didn’t mind it so much, right here. Perhaps the rain sometimes carried good luck in it too, when it felt it should.
My, my… to think a thing like that. What a hopeless adult he’d become after all, hm?
[Why do you want to play this character in Somarium?] He’s a good foil to the character I already play here, so I thought it would be fun!
[Which rule was your favorite and why?] Same as on the last app; the activity rule. Keeps people on their feet.
[Where did you hear about Somarium?] Play here already. :)
[Any questions?] None!
---------------
The following sample questions/prompts are OPTIONAL. If you're stuck, feel free to use these to your advantage.
(I just really like answering these, and it helps me find the character's voice before filling out the rest of the app, so i hope you don't mind that I did both.)
SAMPLE QUESTIONS:
- If I offered to save your soul for a price, would you go with it and why?
Hahan~ I think I’ve heard this old wives tale before… probably from Shimada, since he’s the oldest wife of them all.
To answer that ridiculous question, any man who puts a price on a soul can’t really be trusted. Any warrior who pays to be saved doesn’t deserve to live on. A warrior should be able to save his own soul, until the time is right to let it go.
Maybe I’ve just doomed my soul to become a lost cause~ How scary.
- Do you stand up against authority, go against all odds, and if you could, pierce the heavens with your fighting spirit? If not, would you if you could?
I’ve been known to stand up before, yes.
Against all odds it the only time a fighting spirit can really be shown off. Shall I dispatch your life quickly, to show you?
- Your country is in the middle of a war. What do you think of it? Do you support it or try to solve it yourself by going on an epic quest? Explain.
Astute observation. My country is in the middle of a war.
Whatever Kondou-san decides to be in our best interest is what I’ll support. The war hardly matters to me beyond the fact that so long a there is war, warriors are still supported and needed. It’s a way of life, for us.
In other words, don’t get in our way, or I may have to strike you down. &hearts
- Murder. What is your opinion?
Want to find out?
- You're dirt poor and your family is starving. You have a chance to steal bread. Do you: a) ignore it and get a job, b) steal it anyway because you know you won't get caught, c) get caught but break out of prison anyway, d) steal it and then hide from the creepy cop that keeps stalking you, e) don't steal because stealing is wrong :(. Explain why you chose that option.
It’s about time some of the men in Shinsengumi go on a diet, isn’t it? I suppose I’d steal the bread. The trial will only make it more delicious!
But would I share with my starving family? Hmmm… I’d have to think about that.
Heisuke is on his own, for sure.