OOC
Name: Ru
Contact: plurk: ruren; aim: ruren490
Personal Journal:
adoruble
Other Characters: N/A
Are you older than 14?: Yes
IC
Name: Yuki Yagizawa
Age: 16
Game Handle: yukihime
Canon: Shitsurakuen
Appearance: Yuki appearance
Personality: Canon personality At first glance Yuki is a very meek and shy girl, and while that’s very true there is much more to her. In canon she is forced to participate in a game called Exaclan, where male students own and pull holographic weapons out of female students’ chests. Yuki’s weapon is a very weak dagger, one that can be broken with bare hands. There is a lot of shame and abuse that goes along with having a weak weapon, because it can be damaged easily Yuki is often injured (to the point she is always carrying bandages with her). But it’s more than that, Yuki’s father owns a dojo and she seems him as this strong figure and, at first, sees herself as a weak and useless daughter. Needless to say, Yuki’s self-esteem isn’t great. But even if she doesn't stand up for herself she has a strong sense of morals and believes in justice, so maybe that helps her through it. Being with her male Player wasn't all bad though, she is one of the few people in the school to have read the whole rule book and knows more about the game than most of the players and weapons, showing her intelligence.
Sora, the only female Player in Shitsurakuen, saves Yuki from more than just her male oppressor. Without Sora Yuki had no hope and just wanted to go through her days without being hurt more. She kept her head low and her mouth shut, it was just easier that way. Because of Sora's enthusiasm and endless optimism Yuki found hope and the will to stand up for herself and other. Even if Yuki knows that the chance of winning and beating the system is slim, she has hope that Sora will be the one to do it and is determined to help her reach that goal. Knowing that Sora is behind her, Yuki is brave enough to stand up for herself, the other girls, and Sora herself. Unfortunately she's still scarred from her time with a male Player and while she believes in the others strength she does not believe in her own strength as a weapon and would rather help out in other ways so she doesn't feel as useless as she already does. Her spirits may be higher but her self-esteem is still very low. Yuki keeps a record of all of battles that take place just in case that will help in the future. If anyone were to push Sora to read the rule book and learn all she can about Exaclan before trying to take it down, it would Yuki. When Sora and the others get off track, Yuki is the one to get her back on it. She's actually pretty scary when Sora doesn't do all of the reading. Yuki has learned to rely on her intelligence rather than her strength.
Like all of the other girls, Yuki has a crush on Sora but she doesn't act on it. The only one she seems to get jealous of is Koharu but that may be because Koharu is the only one who has been with Sora longer, Yuki is Sora’s second princess while Koharu is the first. When the other girls hit on Sora, Yuki doesn't seemed phased in the slightest. In order to find out who Sora likes better, Koharu or her, she comes up with an elaborate story where Sora can only choose one of them (Yuki can actually be very terrifying. Very. Very. Terrifying. She can be a bit vindictive when her feelings are questioned). She is touched by the sincerity of Sora's answer about how she can't choose and would rather give herself up instead. Yes, Yuki is the one to get them back on track when they stray but that moment really set her in motion about really wanting to help and become stronger. The best moment for Yuki is when the others were lost to the student council and Sora was counting on her for help. At first she thought that she was supposed to find IX but then realized it was her that Sora wanted to use, which filled her with so much hope. She was worried that she was still a weak weapon but Sora pulls a strong katana out of her chest rather than her old, weak dagger, signifying the true change Yuki has went through mentally. Yuki really was always brave, strong, and had a strong sense of justice, Sora just amplified these characteristics.
AU History: Yuki was, more or less, raised in the dojo that her father owns. But while she spends a lot of time there, she’s not particularly strong, at least she doesn’t believe that she is. When she was younger her father tried to train her, to start her out early, and Yuki was excited for the chance to spend time with her father. She was injured a lot practicing Kendo, but she would always stand back up. Yuki isn’t the most physical and her intelligence outshines her strength by far, so she quit Kendo to focus on her studies. It upset her father. Her father no longer knew how to relate to her and her mother has been long deceased, leaving her rather along in her own home. Part of it was also her self esteem issues, she didn’t think that she was good enough to continue practicing, it just wasn’t something that meshed with her personality.
School wasn’t much better. After realizing that she really wasn’t going to become a jock, Yuki threw herself into her studies. She always loved to read and to learn, so it was not difficult to become top of her class. Yuki never misses a homework assignment, does all the readings and all of the extra work, just because she can. In reality it’s because she doesn’t have much more to do. At school she’s more known as that quiet, shy, smart girl who is a bit socially awkward. Outside of, will you help me with this assignment; people don’t really talk to Yuki.
Needing some form of connection with other people, Yuki turned to online gaming. At first it was just an experiment, she overheard some other students talking about a game while on the train, and it sounded fun. Her father, wanting to make some type of connecting with her again, bought her a computer and a game. Yuki was good. Very good. It was easy to make friends over games, she would help players and honed her skills with a sword (if only her father could see her now). Now and then she was given some trouble for being a female gamer, and while it upset her she could ignore it for the most part. That is, until she picked up her first game where she could customise her avatar. Her avatar had an appearance very similar to her own, a meek, pretty, Japanese girl. The misogyny she experienced hurt her more than she would readily admit to. She didn’t understand why her being a girl had made her a target. She put her games away for a while.
When news of Sword Art Online started circulating, Yuki was intrigued. She hadn’t played any games in almost a year and her old games were gathering dust in her closet. Yuki had more or less become a shut in, she rarely went to school to ignore the taunting from her classmates (but she still did all her schoolwork, she just taught herself instead). When SAO was released, Yuki bought it, gaming used to be her favourite form of escapism, she might as well try again.
Samples
First Person: Previous game example 1 Previous game example 2 Third Person: No matter how often she checked, the log out option was missing. This was not what she wanted. Sure, it was true that Yuki was looking for a way to escape her daily life, but she didn’t want to be away from it
permanently. She would miss her awkward encounters with her father and her occasional attempt to go to school and, oh, she would fall behind in her studies and never get into a good university. Her father would be so disappointed.
She falls to her knees and wraps her arms around herself; now is not the time to pretend to be strong, even if she refuses to let tears fall. The worst part, though, is the idea that if they die in the game then they die for real. Her life isn’t great, and at times she doesn’t particularly enjoy it, but she never wanted to
die. The only reason she's playing this game was so she can have some peace, some means of escape, and this? She suppresses a panicked laugh. This is the opposite of stress relief. She checks for the log out option again (but it’s still missing. Of course it’s still missing.)
She tries to calm herself again, deep breaths; she'll have to make the best of this, live through this (somehow) and return home. Think logically, she tells herself as she begins to make lists in her head. She would need to find somewhere to live, a source of food, and an income. Her kendo skills may come in handy but they'll also put her in very real danger, so she puts that at the bottom of her list. What else could she do in a game like this to remain useful...? It takes her a few moments to run through all the professions she could attempt to master, all the skills she'd seen, but she keeps returning to blacksmith. Forging weapons for the more accomplished fighters would remove her from the battles but still keep her in the loop. And she knew a few things about swords.
With a plan in mind, Yuki feels a bit better (it helps that she knows every rule in the game). She’s still shaken and afraid, but at least now she has a goal she can try to reach. She will not die here. She will wake up back at home and start practicing kendo again and go back to school. If anything being trapped in SAO has helped her resolve, even if she'd just chosen a role that does not require her to collect a party or fight.
It's terrifying, really, and while she could use some support she doesn’t know if she can risk getting close to someone just to have them die.