PLAYER: gsae
ARE YOU AT LEAST 16 YEARS OLD?: yes
IF UNDER 18 YEARS OLD, PLEASE STATE YOUR AGE: n/a
CONTACT: pm this journal
CHARACTERS PLAYED: Reimu Hakurei (musou_tensei), Bridget (
NAME: Kagerou Imaizumi
CANON: Touhou Project
CANON REFERENCE: Touhou wiki link
AGE: Kagerou's canon age is unknown. For this AU, it will still won't be exact due to how she was raised, but it's a safe estimate she's at least 17 years old.
GENDER: Female
YEAR IN SCHOOL/FACULTY POSITION: 11th Grade
APPEARANCE: ZUN's art has gotten marginally better, but I'm still just gonna link this.
PERSONALITY:
The first thing her official profile notes about her is that she has a "calm nature". This is unfortunately rather nebulous and vague, and because of the plot of the game, we don't even get a glimpse at this in her dialogue (ZUN basically wrote two personalities for her, the one in her profile, and the one displayed because of the Lucky Mallet's influence on her). But, since a lot of elements of Kagerou's personality seem to be pulled from dog-like behaviors, we can safely assume that this "calm nature" is rather dog-like. While she can get excited over things, she's usually not one to get TOO riled up and exude enthusiasm or extreme emotion. Simply making friendly conversation or taking long naps are pretty ideal for her.
Something that seems consistent with Kagerou between all her canon interactions is a desire to be noticed. To be recognized for who she is. This can be a bit conflicting at times, addressed later, but it's worth nothing that while the Lucky Mallet inspired her to act, the idea to be recognized was already in her head. She likes the idea of becoming popular and well liked. She is part of a grassroots organization of lesser youkai in canon, having made lots of social connections. Odds are on she'll go out of her way to make herself likeable to people. The opposite... well that goes a bit deeper. Also addressed later.
Kagerou is self conscious. Very self conscious. On a superficial level, she is embarrassed by her fur and other external canine features and instincts. This seems a bit contradictory given her desire for popularity, but much of it likely has to do with the largely negative reputation wolves have. Wolves are always the villains in fairy tales, and are generally considered untrustworthy by the general populous. So many stories and idioms warn against wolves and wolf-like behavior. She hates the idea of being hated just for who she is, so she will often go out of her way to hide that fact, even if she loves making friends and increasing her social visibility.
It all comes down to her most wolf-like trait; a desire for companionship. ZUN's commentary on her theme music suggests that she is a "lonesome werewolf", who hates being alone. She will always seek out some kind of togetherness, especially with friends. It's the one instinct she can't fight against. Even if she's a werewolf and not a true wolf, that desire to form a pack is still there. She wants a pack of her own, a group of people she can trust to always be there with her. Being the last of her kind (the Honshu wolf is extinct in the outside world) probably has a lot to do with it.
Kagerou, as a werewolf, largely lives in the wild and hunts for her food. She does have interaction with humans and whatnot that come near or through the Bamboo Forest (the Eientei Clinic is located within, so she finds opportunities to do so) but because wolves are particularly reviled in the sort of colloquial Edo-era-esque Japan that Gensokyo is set in, humans tend to react to her rather negatively. Kagerou really hates this fact, and hates that the "big bad wolf" is always the villain in the stories. It's part of why she does what she does, to get noticed and draw attention to the fact that she's not such a bad person. It also goes back to that "lonely werewolf" part of her personality that ZUN brings up in her music.
ZUN doesn't give much detail on her grassroots club other than that it exists (and that it has at least one other member, Wakasagihime) but one can extrapolate from the overall plot of DDC (comments from Seija in particular) that their intention is to band together as weaker youkai so that they are not so easily stomped on and taken advantage of by stronger beings in Gensokyo. The pecking order in Gensokyo is, after all, fairly rigid, with differences in strength forcing a hierarchy of influence. Kagerou, being normally not very strong at all, obviously rests towards the bottom.
All in all, Kagerou is actually a rather forgettable person in the grand scheme of things in Gensokyo (something that bothers her because she is lonely and resentful of the negative image wolves and werewolves get in fairy tales) and created (or helped create, as we have no idea who founded it) a small group of friends to help foster a place for herself in this fantasy society. She doesn't want to be alone, seeking popularity and acceptance, which is really really hard to get in a place like Gensokyo if you haven't got a lot of power, or are a social pariah by virtue of birth.
Institute Notes: It should be noted that THIS version of Kagerou is not quite at the same level of social development as canon Kagerou. She still is hiding herself, even from other mutants, and hesitant to speak to others. She is painfully shy and not used to living in a structured environment. That desire to make friends and end her loneliness is still very much there, as is her resentment of the negative image of wolves and werewolves in culture, but she's still got a bit a ways to come along in her willingness to make friends. The desire is there, but not the courage. Not yet.
POWERS/ABILITIES: Kagerou is a mutant werewolf, capable of gradual transformation into a full wolf form. Basically from how she looks normally to this, and every step in-between having noticeable physical differences, especially in how furry she gets. The biggest issue with this is that the transformations come in monthly cycles and she has remarkably little control over it. While sometimes she can cycle to and from her various states of transformation at will, most of the time she is at the mercy of what she perceives as the moon (it's just a coincidence that the cycles line up). She will eventually learn better control over it, but for now, she's kind of stuck at the mercy of time and genetics.
Another one of her abilities, one better suited for defense and whatnot, is her claws. While certainly already sharp on their own, Kagerou can "extend" them with psionic energy similar to that used by the mutant Psylocke. Unfortunately, the stability of her mental and emotional state during transformations can make this power difficult to control. It is most focused when she's using it for hunting. But if she had to defend herself, there's no telling how much damage she could do. However, the claws are limited. They cannot be infinitely sharped and thus cannot slice through harder metals/alloys or even through particularly thick materials like composite concrete or marbleized stone.
AU HISTORY:
As far as anyone knows, given the fact that they all lived off the grid and were not censused, Kagerou Imaizumi is the last of the Japanese werewolves. Much like the actual Honshu Wolf, this tribe/pack of mutants started to die off as the country was modernized at the turn of the 20th Century, their numbers dwindling and dwindling until only a few were left in modern times. Kagerou can remember a time when she was very little when her tribe had at least seven people in it, but as she grew, less and less of them were around. Most of them were killed when it came out who and what they were, with the law taking no steps to protect what were basically undocumented persons, and mutants at that.
When Kagerou was 14 and just starting to come into her own womanhood, her mother, whom had been the only one of her tribe and family left, began to slowly die from sickness. No hospital would take them, and Kagerou was forced to care for her as she slowly slipped away. Once her mother finally passed on, Kagerou was all on her own, alone in the world. She became a bit feral, more so than she already was, but there was still that longing to be among people, to have what others had. All the interactions she watched just made her pine more. For friends, for family, to have her mother back... But as she noticed the outside world more, so did they notice her...
They threw rocks. Heavy ones. And chased her into the bamboo thicket she called home. Had it not been for the interference of another mutant, she probably would have been killed by that mob. That mutant used a tremendous wall of flame to keep the people back, one that strangely did not burn the woods around them. She was told to run, and to find a place to hide. And so she did... It was the last time she saw the mutant that saved her life, something she still regrets, but they must have contacted someone, as soon enough she found herself in the presence of one Dr. Henry McCoy, who had flown to Japan on his own to find her.
He told her that she wasn't safe there anymore. That much was obvious to her, but she was still hesitant to leave her home. But there was something about that man, different like her (and fuzzy too), and with his calm and kind demeanor, that helped her accept what he was saying. She didn't want to leave. She felt like she was leaving her mother behind, leaving everything that was comfortable and normal for her behind... But she also remembered that her mother had told her she shouldn't accept being alone. And this Institute was a place where she could end that loneliness. It was difficult to accept, and even as she arrived at the school she still struggled with the conflict of needing to be around people and her desire to run away... but she was there. Maybe it could be her new home.
NETWORK SAMPLE: http://xavier-institute-ooc.dreamwidth.org/13425.html?thread=664433#cmt664433
LOG SAMPLE: http://xavier-institute-ooc.dreamwidth.org/13425.html?thread=621169#cmt621169
