edictum application

[shitaidorobo]

Player: Batty
Contact: goodluckmodes
Age: 34
Pronoun: she/her
Timezone: PST

Current Characters: n/a
Character Name: 'Hikaru Indou'
Character Canon: The Summer Hikaru Died
Canon Point: mid-Episode 12, after the conversation with Asako but pre-beach scene with Yoshiki
Age: Several centuries which he's implied not to be Consciously Aware of in a linear sense the way he is aware of time while inhabiting Hikaru's body, which was 16 at death.

Crime: Murder. Early in his time in Kubitachi posing as 'Hikaru Indou', he broke into an old woman's home and killed her due to the potential that she might out his secret and ruin the life he's been living as a human. He later attempts to kill Yoshiki's friend Asako for the same thing, which horrifies Yoshiki to the point where he tries to kill 'Hikaru', and asks to be killed himself when he fails. This experience marks a major turning point for 'Hikaru', who suddenly realizes he has failed to grasp something fundamental about humanity – in order to avoid being cast aside by Yoshiki, he maims his true form to severely hobble his capacity to do harm, cutting his strength in half quite literally.

Background:
https://the-summer-hikaru-died.fandom.com/wiki/%22Hikaru%22/History
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Summer_Hikaru_Died

Personality:
'Hikaru' is essentially an entity in his infancy, having only come into conscious existence at all as an unintended consequence of his true nature roughly six months before the story began. Freshly aware of himself, 'Hikaru' is utterly enamored with the concept of living like a human, filled with boundless curiosity and enthusiasm for new experiences. Despite having access to all of the original Hikaru's memories, he constantly seeks out having all those experiences firsthand as well as making his own memories – such as asking Yoshiki to take him to see the ocean sometime. He's excited about every single thing he gets to do as a conscious being, even the seemingly mundane or boring; 'Hikaru' notes at one point that unlike the original Hikaru, he actually finds homework a lot of fun to do, even if he doesn't always understand it. He also spends a lot of effort getting one of the local stray cats to come near him just so he can pet it, as well, despite the fact that it seems to instinctively sense something Existentially Off about him and reacts with hostility, scratching and hissing and thrashing whenever he's nearby.

Regardless of this overall joie de vivre, 'Hikaru' has a laser focus in his priorities, to the point of tunnel vision, and his state of mind can become volatile and unstable if it appears the purpose he's arranged his existence around is compromised–as seen not only when he attacked Matsuura and Asako, but also Yoshiki himself, the first time he experienced even a faint sense of rejection from the boy. Indeed, arguably the best and worst qualities 'Hikaru' has are tied together in his loyalty. When the original Hikaru died on the mountain, he made a wish that he didn't want anyone to be sad, and for his best friend Yoshiki not to be left alone. The entity of the mountain granted this wish, and as such "became" Hikaru, gaining a conscious existence within the boy's human body, and though he was aware of himself as something separate from the boy who had died, he immediately shaped himself and his priorities around Yoshiki's well-being and happiness. Over the course of canon, he consistently prioritizes Yoshiki's needs and well-being above all else. Initially, this manifests in more selfish contexts, as he acts possessive and tries to monopolize Yoshiki's time (killing an old woman who realizes his secret and nearly killing one of Yoshiki's classmates for the same, considering them both threats to his position by Yoshiki's side), but once he realizes this upsets Yoshiki, he shifts his attitude, doing whatever is necessary to remain at his side and not be rejected by him.

Yet as time goes on and the entity inside Hikaru gains more and more self-awareness, his attachment to Yoshiki becomes something more nuanced and mature, and even the beginnings of empathy appear to form; he begins to develop an appreciation for the grief Yoshiki holds for the original Hikaru, and what it costs of him to remain by the side of the shade who took his place, knowing he is unable to properly mourn while everyone around him thinks Hikaru is still alive. He also comes to take on a desire to protect the things important to Yoshiki, such as the town and the people within it, all of which culminates in his apparent guilt and anxiety over the dangerous aspects of his nature and his eventual decision that it would be in everyone's best interest for him to give up the conscious existence he enjoys so deeply to return to the mountain – despite the fact that he admits he doesn't even know whether or not he can leave Hikaru's body anymore or if doing so would actually solve any of the troubles plaguing the town.

Due to Hikaru's wish being the basis of his current existence, his devotion is quite single-minded, and his genuine desire for Yoshiki's happiness is at a constant push-pull against the fact that despite existing for hundreds of years, he has only really been "alive" for about a year, which is not a lot of time to develop understanding and empathy when his nature is fundamentally alien to humanity in a variety of ways.

Disconnected from Yoshiki and everything he knew in Kubitachi, 'Hikaru' will likely need to find himself new anchors for his decisions and priorities, but they will still be heavily influenced by whatever he believes Yoshiki would want him to do even in his absence.


Abilities:
- True form that can spill out from Hikaru's body and/or can be shown to others at will.
- Repair of injuries/damage to Hikaru's body
- Ability to see and hear spirits
- Ability to consume spirits/crush them inside of him
- Ability to affect weaker spirits with some degree of compulsion (e.g. demanding one to come at him instead of Yoshiki)
- Ability to "meddle" with a human mind by looking into their eyes. In canon, depending on the strength of the mind, this can break the person's mind to such an extent that it kills them, or they may escape with a spiritual injury such as Asako, who survived but could no longer hear out of her left ear. He will only use this ability on PCs with express prior OOC permission and it will not cause death or permanent damage unless mutually agreed upon.

Samples:
TDM with Jin
Bakerstreet with Nice

Questions: n/a