application; recolle

PLAYER
YOUR NAME: Pixi
18+?: yes!
CONTACT: pixisticks
CHARACTERS IN GAME: N/A
RESERVATION LINK: Here!

CHARACTER: CANON SECTION
NAME: Yamato no Kami Yasusada (I guess western order would technically be Yasusada Yamato no Kami but sword names are weird so I’d like to keep it as “Yamato no Kami Yasusada” if possible!)
AGE: ~550!
CANON: Touken Ranbu! Mainly the game, but I have incorporated some elements from the anime Touken Ranbu Hanamaru, as the creators have said they are companion pieces that can be combined.

CANON HISTORY: A short summary, his wiki page, Recollections PART 2: Story of Okita, PART 16: Ikedaya Affair - Bridge, and PART 17: Ikedaya Affair – Raid, some articles about the sword itself (1, 2, and some info about his former master, Okita Souji (1, 2)
CANON PERSONALITY: When Yamato first appears in the Citadel, it's like looking at a ghost of the past. With his iconic haori, his gentle smile, and his quiet confidence in his abilities, he is the very picture of Okita Souji. Unlike his partner sword Kashuu Kiyomitsu, who has divorced himself from the past and blatantly rejects the influence of their former master, Yamato has more than embraced it.

While it isn't unusual for a sword to take on some aspects of their masters' personalities, Yamato takes this to a whole new level. It's as if he's trying to become Okita, to emulate everything about him that Yamato admired during their time together. Yamato himself is aware that this isn't typical behavior, asking the saniwa “Am I that odd?”, but he doesn’t seem bothered by whatever their answer may be.

Okita Souji was said to be a kind, friendly young man who was fond of children and startlingly vicious in battle. These traits were, perhaps, simply a necessity for survival for a captain of the Shinsengumi, especially during such a turbulent period in history. But to Yamato, they are the traits of a hero, the perfect ideal. Something to aspire to. And if he is to uphold Okita's reputation and do him justice, he believes they're the traits he must also possess. He is Okita Souji's sword. He doesn't know how to be anything else. And as a spirit given form to fight a war, he has no reason to want to.

Okita's influence is most noticeable on the battlefield—or rather, in Yamato's sudden, ruthless ferocity. Like flicking a switch (“I should get in the right mood... let's sortie! Oraa!”), the pleasant, somewhat innocent sword vanishes, replaced by the very personification of Okita's fighting skills. Even when sparring the other swords, he comments that his “blood is boiling”, reminiscent of Okita's reputation for being hard on his students. Indeed, Yamato wears Okita's influence like a cloak, as though attempting to become him will keep his memory even closer to his heart.

But despite Yamato's efforts, he is not Okita Souji. The way that he tries so hard to emulate him is, in fact, more indicative of Yamato's nature than anything else. Yamato molds his personality to match Okita's, because he sees himself as Okita's sword--nothing more, nothing less. He is a tool, meant to protect and serve and be used. As such, there is no need for him to have an identity of his own. His very existence revolves around his master, and to be a good sword, he believes he must match them as best he can. Since the saniwa doesn't join them on the battlefield, Yamato is free to remain a mirror of Okita without conflicting emotions. The saniwa summoned him because he was one of Okita's beloved swords—thus, Yamato reasons, that's what he must remain. He is loyal to the saniwa, and equally loyal to Okita's memory. In Yamato's mind, there is no contradiction.

Yamato's desire for approval, his need to be a “good” sword, appears in various forms. In the Citadel, he idly comments, “I wonder who the person who loves me the most is?”. He isn't nearly as overt in his yearning for love as Kashuu Kiyomitsu, but that doesn't mean it isn't there. Rather than simply begging for attention, Yamato focuses his energy on what he thinks the saniwa wants-—what he believes a good sword should be. He says things like “It'd be nice if I became stronger.” and “I'll work harder from now on.” when equipped with troops for protection; when injured, he promises he'll do better next time, and admits that it's nice being taken care of. All of these things prove, not only his loyalty to the saniwa and his desire to serve them well, but his overall tendency to seek approval from those he cares for.

He is a sword, after all. If he can't be a good one, he is ultimately useless.

With all of this, it may seem like Yamato's constantly yearning for battle, a chance to show the saniwa what he can do. But just like Okita Souji was generally regarded as a friendly, approachable young man off the battlefield, so too does Yamato treat his fellow swords as companions, just as eager to befriend new comrades as he is to reunite with old ones. He cares about their feelings, listens to their history and watches their relations, all the while comparing it to what he had while he was at Souji's side. In the second episode of Touken Ranbu Hanamaru, he admits that he doesn't understand the feelings of some swords belonging to Oda Nobunaga--swords who, quite unlike Yamato, do not harbor strong feelings of adoration towards their former master. He doesn't get it, but he wants to try.

Similarly, in the third episode, he learns that the Toushirous have an older brother who has yet to arrive. Kashuu informs him that since they don't know when, or if, they'll get to see him, they keep quiet about him, and hold back their longing in their hearts. At the same time, many of the swords express their wish for a sakura tree, as the tree on the grounds has yet to sprout buds of any kind. Upon hearing all of this, Yamato is determined to help however he can--and eventually concocts a plan to kill two birds with one stone. By having all the swords write their desires on pink slips of paper, then hanging them up in the tree, he not only helps the Toushirous express their wishes for their brother, but he grants the whole citadel the "sakura" tree they'd wanted. It's a clever solution, one that shows just how much Yamato cares for his comrades, wanting to do his best for them as well as for the saniwa.

(...Of course, the aforementioned plan also involved having every sword write not a hundred, but a thousand wish slips for the tree. This slightly mischievous streak doesn't come out often, but it does make a second appearance in a later episode, when Kashuu attempts to bait him into doing him a favor by saying "Okita-kun is nice, he would've done it". Yamato's response is to flip Kashuu over, right into the water.)

Lastly, death is, in fact, a mechanic in this canon. If he is "broken" in the game, Yamato does not display regrets, or even any particular anguish. Instead, his idealism shows itself in full force, merging once more with his fixation on his former master. His dying words are, “Okita-kun.... Finally.... With you...”, a sign that he sees his death as a fitting end for a blade of Okita's. A sword dies if their vessel is broken, which means that Yamato would have to perish in battle—-something Okita did not have the chance to do. It's an honorable death, and Yamato is certain he will not bring any shame upon the saniwa by dying on the field. It is also his very last chance; a chance to hope that death will reunite him with the master he loved so much. The master who loved him in return-—who taught him what it was to be a warrior. Without Okita, Yamato believes, he would be nothing.

Because he's just a sword, in the end. Nothing more, nothing less.

SKILLS/ABILITIES: Yamato is a sword tsukumogami, which means he is a much stronger fighter than the average human. And while his body must be cared for just like anyone else's, he is still a sword, and thus does not technically need to eat/drink/breathe/etc. to survive. In canon, his physical body is capable of taking incredible amounts of damage—however, his spirit is directly linked to his blade itself. Therefore, in canon, if his sword were to break then he would die, regardless of the state of his physical body.

CHARACTER: AU SECTION
AU NAME: Yasusada Yamato (western order)! I will be referring to him as “Yamato” within tag brackets and OOCly and such, but he’ll introduce himself as Yasusada, just to be clear. (Hopefully that actually is clear!)
AU AGE: 21
PHYSICAL DIFFERENCES: He will be humanized, losing his tsukumogami abilities and connection to his “real” sword body! His hair will also be naturally black.

AU HISTORY: ❀ born in Recollé. Parents moved to Recollé from Japan several years before he was born. His father works as a barber on a cruise ship, because apparently cruise ships have beauty salons.
❀ Yamato grew up in Emerald Ridge, where he met Kashuu Kiyomitsu, who he’s still friends with today. (**Note: received permission from Kashuu's player to incorporate him!)
❀ At a young age, he joined a kendo school, and became instantly and deeply enamored with his instructor. He decided that he wanted to be just like his instructor and that kendo was his whole life, and still practices every morning and evening.
❀ Unfortunately, his instructor had to leave the school quite suddenly, but not before Yamato made him a promise that, in Yamato’s mind, was (a quite literal) “die fighting”. Yamato defines himself and his life choices around this concept to an unhealthy degree, which not only gives off the impression that he’s incapable of letting things go, but often led to physical confrontations while he was growing up.
❀ Upon (somehow) graduating high school, Yamato had intended to simply go on studying kendo and perhaps someday become an instructor himself. But with Kashuu’s return and insistence that he attend university, he moved out of his parents’ home and now shares a small apartment with Kashuu in Birch Hill apartments.
❀ He chose “philosophy” as his major because, while he’s generally a good student, he has no actual vested interest in university and is mostly just attending to keep an eye on Kashuu. Since he doesn’t want to get kicked out of the school, he doesn’t get into physical fights as often as he used to, but he hasn’t exactly mellowed out either.
❀ Since they are broke students in their very first apartment, Yamato has a part-time job working as a library aide in the childrens’ section.
❀ He is quite interested in history, and spends a lot of his downtime at the library in the history and historical fiction sections.
AU PERSONALITY: While many of Yamato's core traits (fixation with the past, defining himself around another person, that sort of thing) have been carried over, there are some particularly noticeable differences in this AU Yamato. The first and most obvious is, naturally, that AU Yamato is not a sword from the 1800s. He was born and raised in modern society, completely human, with exposure to all the physical and emotional aspects involved in having a body and a heart. He isn't confused when water comes out of his eyes, he doesn't think he's breaking when his heart flutters, he knows all about eating and bathing and the necessities of, you know, staying alive. AU Yamato will not be marching up to people and demanding to know how electricity works, or why there is a spirit in his phone named Siri, for example.

More specifically, let's start with the big one: he is not and has never been involved in war. So while canon Yamato was "born" to kill and has happily done so for many years, this Yamato is... well, human. He can get violent if he feels someone is deserving of it, but he never does it with the intent to kill, and he has no desire whatsoever to break the law and get thrown in prison for murder.

Reminiscent of canon!Yamato's feelings towards Okita, this Yamato completely idolizes his kendo instructor, and has ever since he first began studying under him as a child. However, this Yamato also has a family, and a good one at that. His kendo instructor is not the only person he's ever looked up to in life, and Yamato loves his parents very much, another reason his bloodlust is significantly toned down. He wants to be a good son just as much as he wants to dedicate his life to kendo, and while he can't hold back if he's around "bad" people (bullies, and the like), he does not throw himself into violent conflicts just for the sake of breaking some bones. He is aware of his parents' feelings about his fighting, and it causes him to feel conflicted in a way that canon Yamato never had to deal with. Now that he's 21 and attending university, Yamato does his best to avoid conflicts altogether, fully aware that this school can, and will, toss him out if they feel he deserves it.

Another difference comes from his relationship with Kashuu. In canon, Kashuu effectively "died" in battle, protecting Okita at Ikedaya (or so Yamato envisions it). Because of this, canon Yamato harbors a tiny bit of resentment towards Kashuu, who didn't have to sit by Okita's bedside and watch helplessly as tuberculosis, something a sword can't cut out, took his beloved master's life. AU Kashuu did have an incident that prompted him to abruptly leave the city, but AU Yamato has no reason to harbor that kind of resentment. Kashuu was not mortally wounded defending their idol in battle, and Yamato was not forced to sit by his kendo teacher's side and watch him waste away, trapped in a hospital. Therefore, although Yamato was hurt by Kashuu's sudden departure and desperately wants to rekindle Kashuu's love of kendo, he does not feel the kind of jealousy or helplessness that Yamato had to deal with in canon. Additionally, Kashuu returned to the city of his own free will (more or less), which eases some of the pain of "abandonment" that he would've had to deal with otherwise.

Overall, AU Yamato is in a much healthier place than canon Yamato. He still defines himself too much around other people and how he can be of use to them, but he lacks the "killing tool" aspect of his identity, the severe abandonment issues, and the general willingness to die if it means reuniting with his beloved former hero. The Yasusada Yamato of Emerald Ridge is a little odd, a little too attached, and a little too fixated on his "life purpose", but one thing can be said for certain: he is human.

SAMPLE Test drive top level! If you need anything further, please let me know!