Otono-Tachibana Makie

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2024-01-26T07:46:33Z

★ Character Information ★

Character Name: Otono-Tachibana Makie
Character Canon: Blade of the Immortal
Canon Iteration: End of canon
Character Age: 24
Character Species: Human

★ Out of Character Permissions ★

Backtagging: Yes!
Fourth walling: No.
Thread hopping : Yes!
Content warnings and sensitive subjects: If it's related to suicide in any way deeper than mentioning it, please check with me first.
Anything else:

★ In Character Permissions ★

Physical affection: Go for it!
Romance: Go for it!
Violence: Go for it!
Injuries : Within reason! If not sure, check in first.
Death: I'm not averse, but definitely talk about it with me first.
Telepathy and mind-reading: Go for it!
Content warnings and sensitive subjects related to the character: Graphic violence, suicidal ideation, gore, mentions of sex work. 99% of the time this won't be a thing and I'll post content warnings if conversations start going that way. If you'd prefer to avoid these subjects, you can let me know and I will do so.
Content warnings and sensitive subjects this character won't be involved in: Despite the irony of being a sex worker, any sex she actually might have will be fade to black as I've no interest in writing smut. Everything else is likely fair game with adequate discussion.

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Character Application - Folkmore

2024-01-26T03:35:56Z

★ Character Information ★

Character Name: Otono-Tachibana Makie
Character Age: Somewhere in her 20s - I headcanon about 24.
Character Species: Human
Current Health: Terrible. She has tuberculosis and was just shot to death by an artillery brigade.
Outfit: A short-sleeved, purple kimono with floral imprint and a shawl and geta.

Character Canon:
Link to History: Her history is long and complex. I have made the abridged 500 word version for the app here! If you need any more context, I had to write out her history myself years ago because the Wiki is empty and the full history is here.
Canon Point: Late manga, at the point of her death.
Canon Iteration: Original canon
Canon Iteration Explanation: N/A

★ Folkmore Roles & Attributes ★

Skills:
- deadly with a sword.
- deadly with most 18th century Japanese weapons
- kinesthetic genius. She's a master of her environment
- she's trained in the arts of hospitality, companionship, singing, playing the shamisen, and sex, having been both a geisha and a prostitute
- she can teach her sword style, which largely revolves around speed and momentum.
- she probably makes depression an art form, too.

Canon Abilities: She's just human. A badass normal at the high end of the scale, but human only.
Role: Familiar
Role Qualities/Attributes: A loner and exile, both imposed on her and later chosen for herself, she will manifest the eyes and feathers of a crow.
Role Reasoning: Makie could be a myth. But she is no leader and is very bad at making her own life choices. She becomes a prostitute just because her mother told her to. She agrees to kill Manji because Anotsu asked her to. She's at her deadliest when protecting those she cares about, and she follows their lead 99% of the time. She shows kindness to the weak and has no deference to the law, ride or die for one person only... and is aimless when she has no person to turn her attention to.

★ Personality ★

Makie is not a strong-willed person and is quite fragile in personality and ego. TV Tropes describes her as a broken bird, and that’s very accurate; she is melancholic and she’s grown up with the knowledge that, according to Edo society, her existence is the greatest shame a family could bear. Killing people brings her no joy. Being a geisha brings her no joy. Being a whore certainly doesn’t. She can’t commit to any one road in life, and a woman with impressive sword skills has no place in the strict society of mid-Tokugawa. Makie has grown up feeling strongly that she has no place, no roots, that she shouldn’t exist, and it shows in how conflicted and miserable she is. She believes she is a fallen woman who can’t have dreams like other people.

Her capacity for empathy and compassion is quite high, and she smiles and talks to children on the street (notably girls), encouraging them and comforting them. As a geisha she is self deprecating yet capable of good conversation, both playful and more softly serious. She can be a kind and gentle and sometimes teasing woman, and is often quite candid about what she’s thinking or feeling in various situations.

There are possibly two things that instill any kind of peace or positive emotion in Makie. One is her shamisen which, while it does double as a place to conceal her weapon of choice, is nevertheless an instrument she’s shown to play on many occasions, creating her own music and songs, and she is shown on two occasions to be alone and playing without an audience. While it’s a skill she likely picked up somewhere between the brothel and the geisha house, it’s clear that it gives her a moment of peace.

The other is Anotsu Kagehisa. The first person to ever praise her swordsmanship, the only student she’s ever had, the only man to hold her in respect through her early years. She loves him, and cannot bear to shame him. She insists on paying him for his freeing her from the brothel, she would kill for him, she will protect him at cost of her own life—and did just that. At first, she’s convinced he only loves her for her sword because Makie has low self esteem and little respect for herself (she refers to her own songs as amateur, she can’t see why a man would love her or even like her for who she is-- sex or her swordsmanship, she’s not a person to them, she is a figure of shame or something exotic, depending on their point of view.) The promise she made Anotsu give her when they were young—that one day, he must be more skilled than she is—is not one she expects him to keep; rather, she takes joy from the fact that she can defeat him, because it means she has a reason to stay by his side. She’s needed. It’s Anotsu that pulls her out of her depression and eventually gives her drive to go on. It’s Anotsu who gives her a path forward as his bodyguard, and she takes to it with lethal flair.

All in all, Makie is a complicated individual who would have been a lot happier if she’d been born in a different century. She’s indecisive, flawed, compassionate, sad, and self-destructive and she sees no joy in living on. On the other hand, when she fights, she’s a different person. She’s a dancer, she’s canny, instinctive, cunning, and moves so fast she’s yet to be in a fight where she gets a single drop of blood on her despite the slaughter around her—and she has killed a lot of people. She is both terrifying and awesome to behold, her face blank and serene, and she develops a terrifying reputation by the end of the manga.

When it comes to full potential, Makie is already highly skilled on the physical side-- but lord, her emotional side is a complete mess. She’s depressed, she’s passively suicidal and pretty uncaring about most of life as a result. Reaching her full potential is a matter of getting her to engage and develop actual relationships and a support network and widening her very narrow viewpoint on life so that she begins to see the joy in even just small things. It will be rough at first because she’ll just want to disappear, but slowly and surely, she could learn to live for herself. And that would be amazing.

★ Player Information ★

Player Name: KJ
Pronouns: She/her
Are you over 18?: I sure am
Contact(s): kayjayyy
Who Invited You?: Current player
Current Characters: April O'Neil
Permissions: Here.
Writing Samples: Here and here

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History (Abridged)

2024-01-26T03:28:32Z

Born in 1758, to a samurai family famed for its swordsmanship. Her older brother jokingly challenged her to a duel. Makie defeated him three times without him ever landing a strike. He committed seppuku. Her father Harukawa disowned Makie — and his wife, when Fuki defended her daughter — casting them out onto the street.
Saves Anotsu Kagehisa from the attack of a wild dog. Anotsu’s grandfather comes across them and, realising that his grandson was saved by a girl, beats Makie half to death and leaves both Makie and her weapon on a tree branch in the field. Anotsu returns to the field the next day to find the corpses of fifty wild dogs strewn across the field and no Makie.
Fuki passes away. Makie becomes a prostitute to repay her mother’s medical debts.
Anotsu buys out her contract and asks her to kill Manji, who is intent on killing him to help Rin get revenge for her parents’ deaths. She makes a half-hearted attempt to kill Manji and finds she cannot go through with it, instead leaving to find her father.
Harukawa is sick with tuberculosis and demented, mourning the loss of his wife and daughter in a tiny hovel. Moved by pity, Makie says Fuki is doing well and leaves. Then she reminds herself she didn’t come here to be a bleeding heart, and rushes back to find him dead on the floor. She breaks down.
Makie takes up living in her father’s hovel. She sews her sword hand shut and sells her body, intent on making the funds to repay Anotsu for buying out her contract.
When Anotsu finds her, he's angered by how low she's sunk. She repays her debt, and he leaves-- only to return minutes later to take her off guard in the middle of a breakdown. Anotsu discovers her opium habit and her crippled sword hand. He treats her hand and leaves while she's asleep.
Once she awakens she realises Anotsu looked ill and follows him, to find him being ambushed by a dozen men. Makie is no assassin, but in order to protect him she crosses all lines. She decimates the opposing force. Makie's role as Anotsu’s bodyguard is cemented.
She contracts tuberculosis. Anotsu is wanted by the Shogunate and leaves for the coast to exit Japan. Concerned about Makie's illness, Anotsu leaves her behind.
Makie pursues Anotsu. She enters a pitched fight against both shogunate forces and the ports authority militia, until her illness makes battle impossible. Before she can be killed, Manji intervenes and gives her medicine to suppress her symptoms. They're soon joined by Rin and Anotsu.
Fighting continues with Makie doing an efficient sweep until an artillery brigade opens fire, injuring Anotsu and riddling Makie multiple times. She uses the last of her strength to decimate the artillery squad, saving Anotsu's life one last time before succumbing to her injuries.

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MEMORIES

2017-06-01T20:33:20Z

She was an Asian Studies teacher at the school before being abruptly diagnosed with tuberculosis eight months ago and dropping out, becoming a recluse
Used to babysit Clary Fray years and years ago, but the two have kept in touch. She's helping Clary try to find contacts in the arts community
She was on good terms with Steve Rogers, one of her fellow teachers; he teaches the Arts, so she was kind of plugging Clary to him in the hopes he could put her in touch with the wider arts community
She also used to visit Jefferson's teashop regularly until she got ill. Now he delivers tea to her home and they maintain contact on the telephone as they're both reserved shut-in types
Yukari was also one of her students, and with the two of them being Japanese in a mostly white town, they spent a lot of time talking after classes

Makie has all of her true memories back, and knows the above ones have been forced on her by the town. But she doesn't really mind; they're kind of nice.

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therewerefifty @ 2016-05-23T20:15:00

2016-05-23T10:48:19Z

HISTORY:

Please note: I've had to write out her history because it does not exist online in any accurate form. But in case you want to spot check accuracy, www.thespectrum.net hosts the entire series and Makie appears mostly at volumes 3, 13-14, and 28-30. (Vol 3 has her entire backstory.)

Makie was born into a samurai family famed for its talent in swordsmanship in approximately 1758, the second child after a brother five years older than she was. Her father was Yoshiaki Harukawa and her mother was Fuki. When she was ten years old, her older brother, urged into it as a prank by his peers, challenged her to a duel. It wasn’t serious — more just teenage boys having some fun. But that didn’t stop Makie from defeating him three times in a row without him ever landing a strike. The bloodline had passed its talent into the daughter, not the son.

Humiliated, her brother committed seppuku rather than live with the shame that he had been beaten by his own sister. In rage, Harukawa disowned Makie — and his own wife, when Fuki attempted to defend her daughter — casting them out onto the street. Fuki was forced to find work in a brothel to support them both, and Makie was left with a great anger for her father for doing this to her mother, and anger to her mother for just accepting it — but also an overwhelming shame and sadness at both their situation and her role in society, where the fact of her skill meant that her existence was the greatest shame her family had to endure.

A lot of her years after that are never gone into, but I can surmise that as the child of a whore, Makie spent a lot of time either keeping out of the way or wandering the streets (it’s clear at least that she doesn’t become a prostitute herself until much later). She continues to practice with the sword despite the stigma it brings, her goal to one day return to her old home and her father to kill him for the dishonour done to her mother. After that, she fully intends to kill herself. Makie is not a happy child.

At the age of twelve, she meets Anotsu Kagehisa in the wastelands for the first time. Both of them children, she saves him from the attack of a wild dog, and he praised her skill in awe. It was the first time she’d ever heard praise for being able to use a sword, and he asked her at that point to teach him; that he stay by her side always, and learn from her. She agrees, but her only request is that some day he become stronger than she is, because at least one man should be stronger than she is. (This is never borne out in the series – Anotsu never becomes stronger than Makie. But as she’s completely in love with him throughout their adult lives, it’s only a source of joy for her because it means that she has a reason to stay by his side and protect him.)

It’s while they’re talking that Anotsu’s grandfather comes across them and, realising that his grandson was saved by a girl, flies into a rage and beats both children bloody. He intends to kill Makie to preserve the honour of Anotsu, and then recognises her at the last moment for the infamous disowned daughter of the Harukawa clan… and instead beats her near half to death and leaves both Makie and her weapon on a tree branch in the field, saying the blood would draw every wild dog for miles, and that Makie’s fate was now in the hands of the gods.

Anotsu returns to the field the next day to find the corpses of fifty wild dogs strewn across the field and no Makie. When he reports this to his grandfather, the man laughs, claims he was right, and tells Anotsu the story of Makie's shame. This incident goes at least partway to helping Anotsu define what he wants out of his own life, which is creating his own no-holds-barred sword school, where there is no shame to be found in what weapon you use or what gender you are; only that you are strong and you can fight.

What happens in the next years until 1782 is very vaguely defined. Makie and Anotsu do see each other again, at least enough for them to grow to know each other, for Anotsu to learn from her, for Makie to fall in love with him. But they obviously lose track of each other somewhere along the way; most likely near the point that Makie’s mother Fuki, suffering from tuberculosis, passes away. Fuki spent the last of her days in the pleasure houses, and Makie is ashamed of that life for her, still intending to go back to avenge Fuki’s disgrace some day… but Fuki is against Makie’s vendetta, and tells Makie instead that if she wanted to be a swordsman, to “become a whore instead” because it was the better choice.

So she does. One assumes she is honouring her mother’s last wishes, or that there is debt for her mother’s medical treatment that needs to be repaid. These are likely both reasons. But another is that Makie is a deeply sad and confused woman, always swinging from one goal to another and unsure what she should do with her life… perhaps all of these things are behind her decision to follow in her mother’s footsteps and become a prostitute. What else can such a woman do? What else does she deserve? It’s there that Anotsu finds her again, in 1782, where he buys out the last of her contract from the brothel, setting her free on the streets again, and tells her of his own situation: that he has formed his new school, the Itto-Ryu, but there is a swordsman by the name of Manji who is intent on murdering them all due to a vendetta of revenge. By pledge of honour, Makie becomes a swordswoman of the Itto-Ryu. She also becomes a geisha at about the same time in order to make the money to pay Anotsu back for the money he’s spent on her behalf, despite Anotsu saying with irritation that he never asked for such a thing.

Soon after, things happen in quick succession. She finds Manji in the street and approaches him under the guise of a streetwalking prostitute, luring him into the back alleys with intent to kill him, because that’s what Anotsu wants. They have their first fight, but Makie’s heart is not in it — she loses. Manji, believing she’s an amateur, delivers a lecture and walks off, leaving her alive. Anotsu finds her a few days later to question both how the fight went and why she’s working as a geisha. He refuses to believe she could have genuinely lost to Manji, because she is the only swordsman alive capable of beating him. Makie says:

“My mother said something to me once. I just remembered it the other day. If I wanted to live by killing people, to be a swordfighter, then to become a whore instead. That’s what she said. So go ahead-- laugh at me. This pathetic person… who doesn’t have it in her to be either one.”

Anotsu then claims that one day, he will make her his woman. Makie cries, believing he’s only after her skill with a sword — she could be so happy otherwise. He kisses her, then tells her he won’t have her wasting her talent, and leaves her alone on the bridge.

It’s while she’s there composing herself that three thugs arrive to state they were there to take her back to her original brothel, because the manager was happy to get so much money for her, but was sure he’d go out of business without his “best show piece”. Makie quietly says she understands—- and cuts her hair off. She's made her decision, and her worth as a prostitute certainly goes down without all that hair. Then she slaughters all three of them on the bridge in a matter of seconds. And the following day, she tells Anotsu that she will be his when she brings him back Manji’s head.

Cue her second fight with Manji, much more vicious this time, where it’s clear that Manji doesn’t stand a chance against her — but she still loses her nerve midfight, and is encouraged by Manji of all people, saying that if he was going to be offed in the street, at least let it be in a way he didn’t regret; for Makie to remember the reason she took up the sword in the first place, cling to it, and fight. She thanks him for it, they resume their fight, and Makie wins. Before she can deliver the final blow, however, Manji’s travelling partner, a young girl called Rin, intervenes to protect him — and Makie decides this is not what she wants to do, turning her back on Manji — and thus Anotsu — and instead making the choice to return home to her father, to finally avenge her mother’s treatment at his hands.

When she finally finds her father, he is both sick with the last stages of tuberculosis himself and quite demented, now living in a tiny hovel in a farming village, having fallen so far, deeply mourning the loss of his wife and his daughter and he is so happy when Makie walks in the door, pleading for news of his wife, giving her a beautiful hair comb to take back, begging for Makie to leave and come back with Fuki so that he can make amends. Her heart moved by pity, unable to go through with her intentions, Makie lies about Fuki’s death and says she’s doing well, agreeing to bring her back, and leaves again. She hasn’t gone very far when she visibly reminds herself that she didn’t come here to be a bleeding heart, that Fuki deserved this vengeance, and she rushes back to the hovel to mete out justice—only to find that her father has breathed his last and coughed himself to death on the floor.

So after a long life of perceived shame and failure, the way she fails in every conceivable way when it comes to her lifelong goal to avenge her mother’s disgrace is enough to induce a breakdown into full despair and depression, and Makie takes up living in her father’s old hovel. She sews her sword hand shut, makes raincoats for the couriers that travel through this tiny village, and sells her body, intent on causing as little harm to the lives of others as possible, intent on speedily making the funds to repay Anotsu for buying out her original contract.

When Anotsu finds her some weeks later, he's angered by how low she's sunk, and she points out this is a life she can make for herself wherein she's self-sufficient and can't hurt anyone. She repays her debt, and he leaves-- only to return minutes later to take her off guard in the middle of a breakdown, at which point Anotsu discovers both that she's smoking some kind of illicit substance (assumed opium-- never confirmed) and the damage to her sword hand. After she rails and cries at him that this is the only way she can seek penance for the damage she's done, he points out its complete idiocy and that she solves nothing by withdrawing the way she has. Instead, Anotsu tells her to take the pain of him removing the string from her hand as a form of penance on its own, treats her hand, and then quietly leaves while she's asleep.

Once she awakens she's lucid enough to realise that Anotsu looked very ill (he has the onset of tetanus), and sets off after him at once, only to track him down as he and some others are being ambushed by a good dozen men. There, Makie makes her final choice when it comes to killing; she's no assassin as Anotsu tried to use her earlier, but in order to protect him she will cross all lines. With all inhibitions gone, she decimates the opposing force, stepping back only to allow the last survivor to fight Anotsu one on one. Anotsu wins, and Makie and a fellow member of the Itto-Ryu spirit Anotsu off to get him medical help and rest. From that point, Makie's role in the Itto-Ryu is cemented.

She vanishes from the manga for some time after that, surfacing months later as already having contracted tuberculosis herself. Ironically, now that she's ill, Anotsu is more focused on keeping her out of the fighting which, now she's decided her place is by his side, leads to some mild arguments. Meanwhile, Anotsu's own ambitions have turned sour as the Shogunate-- who orchestrated the events that had him attacked earlier-- have perceived the Itto-Ryu as being enough of a threat that he is threatened with the full might of the Shogunate forces unless he leaves Japan. A lot of complicated things happen at this point, at which Makie is only on the sidelines of, so I'll spare another six paragraphs-- in the end, what happens is Anotsu and the last of the Itto-Ryu depart, making for the coast to exit Japan, pursued by two sets of men from the Shogunate with conflicting motivations. Concerned about Makie's illness, Anotsu leaves her behind.

Makie refuses to be left behind and arrives at the coast just before Anotsu, and just before Manji and Rin from earlier also turn up, still seeking to settle their vendetta against Anotsu. She takes refuge on one of the fishing boats that she knows will be used to leave, conserving her strength, and thus is there when the first group from the shogunate arrive and mercilessly start slaughtering all people on board the boats at the docks. Makie enters a pitched fight against both the shogunate forces and the ports authority militia, until her illness makes battle impossible and she falls. Before she can be killed, however, Manji intervenes to save her life and pass her medicine that will suppress her symptoms (one assumes as payback for their earlier encounter), and the two of them join forces. They're soon joined by Rin and Anotsu, who is somewhat exasperated that Makie pursued him, but acknowledges it as fair.

Fighting breaks out all along the docks between the four of them and the various groups that have turned up seeking Anotsu's head, and the four of them separate to deal with different fights; healthier than she's felt in a long time, Makie deals with a good three quarters of them herself, dealing with the less skilled before facing off against a more elite group. She's not particularly interested in killing so much as she is interested in keeping them away from Anotsu so he can have his one on one fight with the group's leader, and to that end, rather than risk them breaking and running because she's too skilled, fakes the return of her symptoms-- to the point of biting off the tip of her own tongue to simulate internal bleeding and luring them in close for the kill. However, at the end, the battle is joined at the last moment by Hyakurin, a woman who is the pregnant partner of one of Makie's opponents, and rather than risk Hyakurin's death her partner instead requests that Makie please let them live as they are now too injured to fight.

Makie leaves them in peace (after lecturing Hyakurin for jumping down a cliff when she's pregnant) and crosses the docks to find Anotsu. She catches sight of him and smiles-- and at that point, the artillery brigade that's just arrived on the clifftops above them open fire, injuring Anotsu, killing another on the field, and riddling Makie multiple times. Anotsu manages to get her to shelter and realises she won't survive, and he's now pinned down where he is. Makie finally asks him if he ever managed to surpass her, and he says he could not. And she's glad, because that means she still had a reason to be by his side.

Then she collects her weapon, uses it to leverage her way up the cliff face, and uses the last of her strength to decimate the artillery squad, saving Anotsu's life one last time before she finally succumbs to her injuries.

CRAU memories for Adstring

Even to the end, Makie kept mostly to herself-- at first from her extreme social shyness and depression, and then later because she was ill. When people explained that she was caught in a new world and she would return home to the same point in time, she accepted it, walked into the nearest available house, and settled down with the barest of necessities. She would just calmly wait and survive until she returned home.

That was her intention, anyway. Several in the village were friendly to her in startling ways (i.e. they treated her like a human being and not a commodity) and she grew more cautiously willing to interact over time, offering trade.

A feral child called Lilly stumbled into her house one day, and Makie elected to just leave the child be and let her explore, then quietly prepared some food for her. Over time, Lilly grew to trust Makie a great deal, and Makie saw in Lilly another little girl that society had cast away. She kept food on hand for the girl and let the girl keep her weird collections of jars and rocks in her home without comment, and eventually started making clothes for her. A year later she'd practically adopted Lilly, and while she never lost that feral edge, Lilly clearly trusted Makie and cared for her in her own way. The two were very close.

She also met Mihawk in Adstringendum, and the two very quickly gained respect for one another's skill and love for swordsmanship. While never exactly friends (lol they're both too emotionally stunted for friends) they nevertheless grew to greatly appreciate each other's presence. Makie would play her shamisen for him often at request. She met many others over time-- Sam Winchester, Castiel, Rei, Gadreel, Kuwabara-- all who were good people, and she slowly began to thaw and realise that being trapped in this place wasn't so bad after all. It allowed her to realise that there was more to life than the narrow path she could see for herself at home.

Then she grew ill with tuberculosis. It's Mihawk who is there when Makie discovers she is ill during a fight several months into her stay in Adstringendum and takes her home, and Sam treats the injuries from the fight and encourages her. Hatori Sohma told her there was a cure in modern times for the disease and he would work on a way to get it for her, and so she saw hope again-- nevertheless, she took precautions and kept to herself, unwilling to risk infecting anyone else.

Then the world upended and they all found themselves in a ruined village with no amenities and practically no belongings except her shamisen. Shortly after that, Hatori Sohma went home. Back to square one. Bereft of the special tea he'd provided her, Makie's health slowly started to decline. Several magical healers offered to slow the disease for her, and then they, too, vanished from Adstringendum, and so the disease progressed in fits and starts.

It only got worse when there was a flood shortly after arrival, washing out her new home, and her and Lilly along with it. Unable to swim, the best she could do was get Lilly onto some floating debris before she went under, and the two were separated. She was later fished out by Castiel and spent time looking for Lilly in vain, though her shamisen was recovered from the flood by Mihawk, who returned it to her.

She finally made a network post to see if she could find the girl, and the two were reunited. During this time, she also met another doctor, a bizarre talking reindeer called Tony Tony Chopper, who was very insistent at looking after her and requested she move much closer to him in a specially prepared home. Already having lost her first doctor and had several offers of help that had failed to come to pass, she wasn't really expecting much by this point, but agreed to move anyway. After all, her last home was ruined.

She continued on with her life in this fashion for some time, hunting until the steady onset of winter made her too tired and ill to do so, until it seemed Lilly was more concerned about Makie than the other way round. Chopper did his best to help but she didn't expect to make it through the winter, given the ruins they lived in. Nevertheless, she was content; she was accepted as she was and grew to understand people cared about her outside of her role as a killer or a prositute, and she allowed herself to admit this was as close to happy as she was going to get.

When Deireadh attacked the village finally, poisoning the water and sickening the animals, she knew her time was limited. She died a week later defending Lilly from the shadow monsters that Deireadh sent; her skill was still lethal, but her body was too weak, and once they were dead, she also fell, leaving Lilly shaking her in a futile attempt to wake her up again. Sorry, Lilly. :c

comments

therewerefifty @ 2014-02-24T17:35:00

2014-02-24T07:06:42Z

Entries below this point are for the game luceti.

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[Action]

2013-11-21T04:30:25Z

[Makie has been feeling restless lately. Usually content to live her days out in obscurity, she finds herself going out of her way to sit and people-watch more and more. It's still much the same thing. She's just...being obscure in company that doesn't notice. Yes. Or something.

If she were honest with herself, she'd know she was looking for someone in particular. She's been thinking of similarities lately. It's a nostalgia and a hurt, deep inside, knowing she will never go back to the person she truly loves. If this is her life now, here in Luceti...surely it's all right to move on and consider another? Even if the similarities she noted are stretched thin by further meetings...

But Makie is rarely honest. So she fidgets and is restless, and today after work at the restaurant, she breaks from usual routine to go shopping. The clothing store, trying on different outfits that aren't as traditional as her normal kimono. She remembers wearing jeans fondly in her other life. She ends up going home with a pair today. (She may never wear them, but hey. You never know.)

She goes to the item store for a more serious look at any hair ornaments she can find, and finds herself faintly regretting she ever cut her hair short. That one last memory, of fingers gently letting her hair down in the moonlight on the bridge. Only the more she thinks about it, the more the faintly disapproving face of her memories is replaced by another.

She goes to the teahouse to try and calm the unsettled feeling to her nerves, and ends up staring into space for a long time, unless interrupted by passers by.

She doesn't visit the battle dome at all, for once. Instead, once she's done at the tea house, she explores the village, hoping for a glimpse of someone in particular. It's...not unusual. She just enjoys the company of someone so intelligent. That's all it is.

There is nothing wrong here whatsoever.]

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[Action all over]

2013-09-18T10:26:43Z

[It's not so much that Makie has a clean bill of health-- she needs to keep taking this medication for another four months or so, by the clinic's reports. But she hasn't had a coughing fit in weeks and feels pretty healthy, all things considered-- just a little drained, that's all. And now, she's passed the bar of her illness. She's no longer contagious.

Which means she can stop holing herself up in her room and start going forward with plans to actually, you know...

...live a little.

What a concept.

She still doesn't go out until the afternoon though, tracking down Saori (and other house members if they're around) to inform them of a decision she's made during her convalescence. And then likely packing what very few things she has, and putting haru-no-okina through some well-needed maintenance out on the sunny rooftop. But in the afternoon she goes to several places, shamisen in hand:

Seventh Heaven, to ask after her old job;

The tea house, because it's been a while;

The forge, to request a weapon;

The Welcome Centre, to find out what apartments are still free;

And finally, back to the battledome to investigate it more thoroughly. (She keeps an eye out for Konan on her travels, mindful of an offer made a long while ago. Just in case.) Once she knows sufficiently enough (or someone programs it for her), she steps into one of its rooms for the first time, shamisen neatly tucked to the side out of harm's way, and experiences it for herself. (The program name of the day: Shift Hunters. How fitting, that they're like giant wild dogs.)

...probably stays in there a little too long, though, since her stamina is kind of shredded right now.

Catch her at any of these places or anywhere in between.]

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[Voice]

2013-08-19T14:01:12Z

[Makie has had a lot to think about in the week since the invasion, and given the recovery needed, a lot of time to think it in. By the end of the week, the lingering ties she feels to those from the event are gone, but she remembers their names, and still remembers many of them fondly. (She sometimes wonders if, had the circumstances of her life been different, Makie would have been anything like that woman. Shikamaru's mother. Logan's cousin. Older sister/mentor to teenagers and generally content with her lot in life. Also, dying. But it was a small price to pay.)

She's come to several conclusions in the intervening week. She feels more peaceful for it, all things considered. More certain of her right to be here. And more contemplative on other topics as well, because now she's had a taste of the sort of enemy Luceti faces...

...when she finally feels more like herself, she addresses the journal, in a soft but firm voice.]

There is something I wish to ask, and one thing to clarify. During the events of last week, my family name was Harukawa. Please don't remember me by this name. My full name is Makie Otono-Tachibana.

[Strange thing to ask, she supposes. Most people would have forgotten already, but... just in case. She wouldn't stand for it.]

I had questions. Or rather, a request. I'd like to hear from any who have fought these cultists directly. I wish to hear of your experience. If you have the patience to tell me these things, I would appreciate it.

Miss Sage... [She hesitates a moment.] If you have the time, would you stop by to see me this afternoon? It...should be safe. [A journal lesson is long overdue.]

...

[She comes so close to asking after her false family. Best to leave it alone.]

...thank you.

[Makie, the ever-formal, signing off. :|b]

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[Action]

2013-07-21T12:17:33Z

[This morning she coughs, and there is blood on her palm.

( Cut for doom and gloom. )

Order of business. She's a coward, and leaves a letter on her bed, addressed to Saori:

I'm very sorry, but I feel I need to move away for a while. You've all been very good to me, and I thank you. It isn't because of anything any of you have done. I don't know how to filter on the journal. If you write to me later, I will explain.

- Makie

After that, she visits three places:

- the forge, to pick up her hopefully now repaired weapon.
- Seventh Heaven, although by 'visit' she'll stay outside and ask one of the staff to fetch Rin, if they could
- finally, community building #1 on a search for Tenten. She met the girl in a kitchen when she first arrived, and she needs to return a sword.

After that, well. She still has a list of empty apartments. She'll find a quiet one somewhere.]

((ooc: despite Makie's intentions, housemates are more than welcome to action in on her before she leaves the house if they prefer. She'll still be visiting these places regardless of the fallout-- where she ends up at the end of the day may change, that's all. Chrissakes Makie, it's not the 18th century, go see a doctor :|))

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[Action/Written/Accidental Audio]

2013-06-28T04:18:17Z

[The day she spends like most, in her usual haunts; she works at Seventh Heaven, she trains deep in the forest. She finds time for a cup of tea in there somewhere. Makie keeps wrapped up more than usual; she's felt a little off, lately, so in case of oncoming summer colds she tries to take care of herself.

She looks for a man. (A particular one, hush.) Still can't find him.

She finally gathers her courage and returns to the smithy to see if someone can repair her weapon. Hopefully she'll see that boy again; he already knows. And if not, she'll just weather any awkwardness. Makie's slowly coming to the realisation that here in this village, it doesn't really matter, but old habits die hard.

When she finally returns home in the evening, she makes a cautious post to the network. She doesn't want to leave this any longer.

...does she really just need to write into the book? Well, then.]

[Written]

I'm looking for a gentleman I met during the time that... Twila arrived in Luceti. Sir, I never caught your name, but I would like to talk to you, if I may. I was the woman with the shamisen that [...uh.] spoke to you from the rooftops in the plaza.

[...this is awkward. She stops there.

Whatever responses she might get, Makie fails to close the journal when she's done. Which doesn't altogether mean that much given there's dead silence for some hours afterward, as she just curls up with a book to read. It's punctuated maybe once by a fit of coughing.

It's only when it reaches about 9.30 that evening that a few stray experimental notes of her shamisen can be heard. And then Makie starts playing. Sorry, any early sleepers. At least it's likely she won't be playing for long. >>;; Learning journal etiquette the hard way.]

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[Still Action Because...Well.]

2013-05-19T04:36:24Z

[Makie's general thoughts on Luceti, once she gets used to the place (somewhat), are to make sure she earns her keep but, in general, fade into the background as much as possible. She's currently residing at the castle that is house 44, though she still hasn't met all the residents there. Makie is notorious for keeping to herself.

That doesn't mean she won't be seen all over town in the next few days, however, shamisen in hand. Errands, mainly. She has to return to Community Building #1 in the hopes that the journal she's supposed to have got left behind in Alexei's, uh... bathroom... and thank him for the courtesy he showed when she arrived. But on the ground floor, you see, there is an elevator, and...

...yeah, she doesn't really know what that is. After a minute or so of peering at it in confusion, she'll take the stairs.

Probably.

Other places she visits are the memory garden, the tea house, Seventh Heaven (to take up duties as a dishwasher, so mainly out of sight of the customers), and up to the farmlands just for the sake of exploration.

Eventually, she also visits the battledome, because she's been told about it and she is curious. But she likely won't stay long, because technology is intimidating, so after peering with a half-glazed expression at various controls and such, she leaves again, unless otherwise distracted. Such a place is no doubt for you magical types or...something.]

((ooc: this entry brought to you by the need to get a whole bunch of small things out of the way at once. Assume various parts take place over the 18th-21st for the sake of flexibility.))

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Action

2013-05-04T02:06:19Z

[Makie has had the facts of this place explained to her already, by a gentleman in a... fairly awkward situation.

It doesn't prepare her for the reality of a village with occupants like none she's ever seen before. Some of you aren't even human, Luceti. The hell. She wanders the path of the village from Community Building #1 down toward the plaza still in her New Feather dress, just like a gawking tourist, and spends some time staring at the fountain and plaza itself. Uh.

...right. Okay. Time to begin glancing through various shops in her attempts to find the places she was told her things would be. She finds her clothes with a measure of relief, and her shamisen at the item store-- and after she picks it up, she frowns. It's too light. She doesn't need to open it to know she's missing something.

Eventually, she'll find her way into the forge to pick up the last of her things, pays a visit to the Welcome Centre-- and then finally fetches up at the tea shop, which is the most familiar-looking thing here.

...sort of. Never really loses that dazed and confused look.]

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Application

2013-04-24T12:12:38Z

PLAYER

Name: KJ
Journal Username: whiteadelphi
E-mail: kjgreenham@gmail.com
AIM/PLURK: Damn Fangirls/Kayjayyy (respectively)
Current Characters at Luceti: N/A

( Application )

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