Exorcist Exam Arc The growing Illuminati threat and heightened demon activity caused by the artificial Gehenna Gate is taking a toll on the Order's manpower, and Yukio soon delivers the news that the exorcist exam is going to be held earlier than anticipated. While the exWires worry about that, we cut to Yukio at night, looking shady as hell while wandering around a condemned part of town. The Order's blood tests show no results, and he's not being possessed, so just what is it that's happening to his eyes? Sick of not only being stuck in the dark about the powers awakening inside of him, but of always being outdone by Rin, he's decided to heck with denial. It's time to trigger the awakening of his powers himself. Super smart, right?
And how were his powers triggered the first time? Well, it was during the fight with Toudou when he thought he would be killed, so that means he has to recreate that scenario. Fear. Moreover, fear while facing death. He makes his first attempt with Naiads, summoning eight of them and basically commanding them to drown him in a sphere of water. The trouble with that plan, of course, is that summoned demons rely on the power of their summoner, so when Yukio starts to lose consciousness? They disappear. That method can't work because, in the back of his mind, Yukio always knew there would be a chance of survival. It wasn't enough.
So he pretends not to be a suicidal crazy person for a few days before trying his next plan... which happens to involve jumping off a building. Which he does. Because he's an idiot and I have no idea why I like him so much.
The chapter ends with him mid-fall.
Inventory: - glasses - wristwatch - clothes (dark pants and shirt, socks, boots, and a jacket) - wallet (with normal ID, exorcist ID, and useless money, probably) - cell phone
Personality: Yukio’s first appearance paints a pretty simple picture. The younger of a set of fraternal twins, he’s Rin’s opposite in nearly everything. Where Rin is brash and loud, Yukio is generally quiet and polite. Where Rin is... well, kind of stupid, Yukio approaches a level near genius in his chosen fields. He’s generally serious and driven to succeed, achieving success through plain hard work and determination, all while wearing a kind smile.
His characterization is expanded on when we learn of his status as an exorcist and just what it took for him to get to where he is. Though he spent the majority of his early childhood in tears, fearing the creatures that he could see hiding in the shadows (the ones that even his older brother couldn’t protect him from), an invitation from his adoptive father turned all that around. Fujimoto gave Yukio the chance to fight alongside him, offering him the tools and training he would need so that he could, with time, succeed on his own merit. He could be the one to protect Rin from the monsters that would one day come for him. He would never have to live in fear of the dark again.
Of course, that sort of intensive training from such a young age takes a toll, but it was never something Yukio fought against. He embraced the lifestyle of the exorcist (though not quite as wholeheartedly as we’re led to believe at first), leaving any semblance of a normal childhood behind. He trained and studied from age seven to thirteen when he earned his Meister in both Doctor and Dragoon, all the while working his butt off in normal school to earn a scholarship to True Cross Academy. He also took over his father's job as the first-year lecturer in the exorcist cram school when he and Rin entered the Academy, all the while taking on missions where appropriate and applicable. Did I mention he only sleeps about four hours a night? Yeah... overachiever? You could say that. It’s amazing the kid finds time to eat.
Things changed a lot for Yukio when Fujimoto died. In spite of the secrets Yukio kept from Rin prior to their entrance to the Academy, the two of them always seemed to have a fairly normal sibling relationship, but their father’s death brought to light the real barrier between them. For a time Yukio blamed Rin for Fujimoto’s death, sure that he was the weakness in their father’s heart that allowed Satan the chance to take him over. Though sad and angry, he suppressed those feelings until Rin finally called him out on his emotional shenanigans. He unloaded on Rin, tossing out blame and even telling his brother to "please die"... but when push came to shove, he couldn’t harm his only remaining family. Even with Rin charging at him, sword drawn and flames blazing, Yukio couldn’t bring himself to fire his weapon. Fujimoto died to protect Rin, his son, and Yukio’s connection with his brother was and still is just as deep.
Their mended(?) relationship didn’t exactly loosen Yukio up, though. He’s rather strict (controlling, really) with his brother and with his students, insisting upon the importance of cooperation and responsibility. However, a deeper examination of his relationship with Rin, reveals an entirely different side of Yukio. Rin’s constant antics and careless decisions can draw out bouts of anger so intense that they border on frightening. He tries very hard to reign that part of himself in and usually regains his composure fairly quickly, but when a guy represses as much as he does? He’s bound to explode eventually. Shura inspires similar outbursts with her antagonistic attitude. He can’t stand to see those with so much natural talent waste it, especially when he had to work so hard to get the things he has.
That doesn’t mean he’s a complete stick-in-the-mud, though. He knows a joke when he hears one and likes to take the occasional good-natured (and sometimes not-so-good-natured) jab at his older brother when he can. He likes to read SQ manga every month and he’s even popular with girls, though not especially good at dealing with them (he totally has a crush on Shiemi, but he’ll likely never act on it). Overall, he’s quick-witted, calm and collected in a pinch, and a very likable guy.
Things seem pretty steady for a while until the Impure King Arc. Yukio's encounter with Toudou inspired something that he hasn’t felt so acutely in a very long time: fear. Fear and uncertainty concerning himself, his motivations, and his feelings toward his brother. Though he never spoke out against it, he’s always resented the loss of his childhood to his exorcist training. He’s had to work so hard and suffer so much just so that he could one day protect his older brother. He’s admitted that he both loves and hates Rin, but the person he hates the most? Is himself, for feeling the way he does. It’s his duty to protect Rin, but (as far as Yukio’s concerned) Rin doesn’t understand or even acknowledge the weight that Yukio carries (has always carried), and so... that resentment and self-loathing will continue to build. Consider the additional stress brought on by the first manifestation of what he assumes to be his own Satanic powers and it's no surprise that this arc is where Yukio's careful facade begins to crumble.
Some of the most recent canon has pushed what was extreme stress right off the edge of a cliff and into something close to actual insanity. Yukio's given up on the idea of rejecting whatever ties he may have to Satan, instead embracing the age old tradition of "fuck it". If no one's going to give him the answers, he'll find them on his own. If his powers are going to awaken, he's going to be the one to trigger them. He's going to make himself stronger, but he's going to do it on his own terms (or so he thinks).
He's taking charge of his own fate, but at the same time giving up on any chance at a human life.
While keeping everything hidden from anyone who could possibly help him, he goes as far as attempting suicide in hopes of drawing out his powers. His first attempt is a failed drowning, and his pull point for this application takes him from mid-fall after jumping off a building. Though he'll be entering the game without knowing his fate, the moments that follow his landing are a horrifying, but perfect example of Yukio's current frame of mind. He survives the fall and, upon realizing that he blacked out and so still has no proof of what his eyes can do, immediately puts one of his own guns to his head. He screams at himself, demanding that the "monster" show its "true form". A conveniently timed phone call is the only reason he doesn't pull the trigger, but more frightening than that? In only five or six rings of that phone, less than a minute, his mask is back on. He answers the phone. He goes home. He heads out on another mission with Rin the next day.
He'd just attempted suicide twice in one night, but is still able to keep those around him unaware. Those closest to him know that something's wrong, but no one knows just how bad it is. No one knows about the monster that Yukio views himself as or the destructive path that he's set himself on, and as long as he can maintain that mask? No one will know until it's far too late to help him.
At his core, Yukio is a creature of conflict. Truth and lies. Anger and calm. Love and hate. He is flawed and frustrated and afraid, everything you’d think a young man in his position would be, but he’s very, very good at hiding it. More than one person has warned him of the danger of bottling his feelings away, fearing he might become a demon by accident should he let his anger and resentment pile up, but so it goes. That fear has only built further over the last few arcs, especially in the most recent canon. Between unpredictable new powers, Illuminati plots, and a lifetime of unanswered questions, Yukio is sick of being kept in the dark. Canon is quickly dragging him to what will likely be a point of no return where he’ll either have all his questions answered, or the life he’s worked so hard to hold together is going to fall apart.
Or both.
Flavor Abilities: The ability to pretend he's a healthy functioning adul-ahahAHAHAHAHA, no.
But seriously, he's got nothing. He's one hell of a marksman and a doctor, but any abilities he has/could potentially have beyond those would give him a significant advantage in survival, so they're all getting nixed.
Suitability: Yukio's entering Snowblind in a very delicate state. Since the last thing he'll remember is jumping off a building, it won't take him very long at all to entertain the possibility that he actually managed to kill himself. How else do you explain waking up in an entirely different time and place? I'm assuming that it won't take very long for him to reconnect with Shiro, his incredibly deceased father, and that will only further cement the idea that he is, in fact, dead and trapped in some weird, cold Hell, but he's one of those weird characters who might actually be better off stuck in a winter wasteland with no connections to his home.
No pressure from the Order or the Illuminati will be a huge relief. The complete lack of supernatural abilities gets him right off the hook for all that Satan nonsense. With the world he was carrying on his shoulders all but left behind, he'll be focused on simple survival. He likely won't have much real drive initially, but as he meets more people he won't be able to resist jumping into some sort of caretaker role. He's a doctor, after all. Keeping other people alive and healthy is what he's trained to do for the majority of his life.
Of course, there'll be no avoiding dealing with all the mental baggage he'll be bringing with him. Yukio's great at pretending to be okay, but eventually he's going to have to deal with what he did and where he was heading prior to arrival. Even if he realizes he's not actually dead, he still left Rin behind to deal with everything on his own. Snowblind's setting will offer him a chance to get his head back on straight with proper help, but it's also going to exacerbate the issues he's already brought with him (specifically paranoia, obsession, and depression), and the balance he finds between those extremes will be what helps him decide whether or not he actually wants to go home.
I'm beginning to think that there isn't a single reference or history book to be found in this place.
[And believe it, he's been looking. How could an area so large with so much evidence of past inhabitants not have a single written record of the past in it? Less importantly, but somehow just as motivating... Snow is boring. It's really boring. You know what else is boring? Nighttime. Sure, the ever present threat of horrific monsters and deadly winter keeps a person on edge for a while, but there's really only so long that that can keep you on edge before you get used to it. Desensitization. It happens.
Or it doesn't and you go insane a lot faster, so let's go with desensitization.
Yukio's not exactly the epitome of exciting most of the time, but even he can't spend every night just... sitting. All that'll do is lead you down a different path of crazy. Even with company, eventually you run out of things to talk about. Or maybe you're not willing to talk about all that much in the first place. Either way, night's going to fall, you're going to run out of things to explore in your hiding spot of the night, and you can only spend so much of that time sleeping, leaving you alone with just the howling wind and your own thoughts.]
Has anyone come across books that aren't for young children or completely destroyed?
Re: Yukio Okumura | Blue Exorcist | 2/2
The growing Illuminati threat and heightened demon activity caused by the artificial Gehenna Gate is taking a toll on the Order's manpower, and Yukio soon delivers the news that the exorcist exam is going to be held earlier than anticipated. While the exWires worry about that, we cut to Yukio at night, looking shady as hell while wandering around a condemned part of town. The Order's blood tests show no results, and he's not being possessed, so just what is it that's happening to his eyes? Sick of not only being stuck in the dark about the powers awakening inside of him, but of always being outdone by Rin, he's decided to heck with denial. It's time to trigger the awakening of his powers himself. Super smart, right?
And how were his powers triggered the first time? Well, it was during the fight with Toudou when he thought he would be killed, so that means he has to recreate that scenario. Fear. Moreover, fear while facing death. He makes his first attempt with Naiads, summoning eight of them and basically commanding them to drown him in a sphere of water. The trouble with that plan, of course, is that summoned demons rely on the power of their summoner, so when Yukio starts to lose consciousness? They disappear. That method can't work because, in the back of his mind, Yukio always knew there would be a chance of survival. It wasn't enough.
So he pretends not to be a suicidal crazy person for a few days before trying his next plan... which happens to involve jumping off a building. Which he does. Because he's an idiot and I have no idea why I like him so much.
The chapter ends with him mid-fall.
Inventory:
- glasses
- wristwatch
- clothes (dark pants and shirt, socks, boots, and a jacket)
- wallet (with normal ID, exorcist ID, and useless money, probably)
- cell phone
Personality:
Yukio’s first appearance paints a pretty simple picture. The younger of a set of fraternal twins, he’s Rin’s opposite in nearly everything. Where Rin is brash and loud, Yukio is generally quiet and polite. Where Rin is... well, kind of stupid, Yukio approaches a level near genius in his chosen fields. He’s generally serious and driven to succeed, achieving success through plain hard work and determination, all while wearing a kind smile.
His characterization is expanded on when we learn of his status as an exorcist and just what it took for him to get to where he is. Though he spent the majority of his early childhood in tears, fearing the creatures that he could see hiding in the shadows (the ones that even his older brother couldn’t protect him from), an invitation from his adoptive father turned all that around. Fujimoto gave Yukio the chance to fight alongside him, offering him the tools and training he would need so that he could, with time, succeed on his own merit. He could be the one to protect Rin from the monsters that would one day come for him. He would never have to live in fear of the dark again.
Of course, that sort of intensive training from such a young age takes a toll, but it was never something Yukio fought against. He embraced the lifestyle of the exorcist (though not quite as wholeheartedly as we’re led to believe at first), leaving any semblance of a normal childhood behind. He trained and studied from age seven to thirteen when he earned his Meister in both Doctor and Dragoon, all the while working his butt off in normal school to earn a scholarship to True Cross Academy. He also took over his father's job as the first-year lecturer in the exorcist cram school when he and Rin entered the Academy, all the while taking on missions where appropriate and applicable. Did I mention he only sleeps about four hours a night? Yeah... overachiever? You could say that. It’s amazing the kid finds time to eat.
Things changed a lot for Yukio when Fujimoto died. In spite of the secrets Yukio kept from Rin prior to their entrance to the Academy, the two of them always seemed to have a fairly normal sibling relationship, but their father’s death brought to light the real barrier between them. For a time Yukio blamed Rin for Fujimoto’s death, sure that he was the weakness in their father’s heart that allowed Satan the chance to take him over. Though sad and angry, he suppressed those feelings until Rin finally called him out on his emotional shenanigans. He unloaded on Rin, tossing out blame and even telling his brother to "please die"... but when push came to shove, he couldn’t harm his only remaining family. Even with Rin charging at him, sword drawn and flames blazing, Yukio couldn’t bring himself to fire his weapon. Fujimoto died to protect Rin, his son, and Yukio’s connection with his brother was and still is just as deep.
Their mended(?) relationship didn’t exactly loosen Yukio up, though. He’s rather strict (controlling, really) with his brother and with his students, insisting upon the importance of cooperation and responsibility. However, a deeper examination of his relationship with Rin, reveals an entirely different side of Yukio. Rin’s constant antics and careless decisions can draw out bouts of anger so intense that they border on frightening. He tries very hard to reign that part of himself in and usually regains his composure fairly quickly, but when a guy represses as much as he does? He’s bound to explode eventually. Shura inspires similar outbursts with her antagonistic attitude. He can’t stand to see those with so much natural talent waste it, especially when he had to work so hard to get the things he has.
That doesn’t mean he’s a complete stick-in-the-mud, though. He knows a joke when he hears one and likes to take the occasional good-natured (and sometimes not-so-good-natured) jab at his older brother when he can. He likes to read SQ manga every month and he’s even popular with girls, though not especially good at dealing with them (he totally has a crush on Shiemi, but he’ll likely never act on it). Overall, he’s quick-witted, calm and collected in a pinch, and a very likable guy.
Things seem pretty steady for a while until the Impure King Arc. Yukio's encounter with Toudou inspired something that he hasn’t felt so acutely in a very long time: fear. Fear and uncertainty concerning himself, his motivations, and his feelings toward his brother. Though he never spoke out against it, he’s always resented the loss of his childhood to his exorcist training. He’s had to work so hard and suffer so much just so that he could one day protect his older brother. He’s admitted that he both loves and hates Rin, but the person he hates the most? Is himself, for feeling the way he does. It’s his duty to protect Rin, but (as far as Yukio’s concerned) Rin doesn’t understand or even acknowledge the weight that Yukio carries (has always carried), and so... that resentment and self-loathing will continue to build. Consider the additional stress brought on by the first manifestation of what he assumes to be his own Satanic powers and it's no surprise that this arc is where Yukio's careful facade begins to crumble.
Some of the most recent canon has pushed what was extreme stress right off the edge of a cliff and into something close to actual insanity. Yukio's given up on the idea of rejecting whatever ties he may have to Satan, instead embracing the age old tradition of "fuck it". If no one's going to give him the answers, he'll find them on his own. If his powers are going to awaken, he's going to be the one to trigger them. He's going to make himself stronger, but he's going to do it on his own terms (or so he thinks).
He's taking charge of his own fate, but at the same time giving up on any chance at a human life.
While keeping everything hidden from anyone who could possibly help him, he goes as far as attempting suicide in hopes of drawing out his powers. His first attempt is a failed drowning, and his pull point for this application takes him from mid-fall after jumping off a building. Though he'll be entering the game without knowing his fate, the moments that follow his landing are a horrifying, but perfect example of Yukio's current frame of mind. He survives the fall and, upon realizing that he blacked out and so still has no proof of what his eyes can do, immediately puts one of his own guns to his head. He screams at himself, demanding that the "monster" show its "true form". A conveniently timed phone call is the only reason he doesn't pull the trigger, but more frightening than that? In only five or six rings of that phone, less than a minute, his mask is back on. He answers the phone. He goes home. He heads out on another mission with Rin the next day.
He'd just attempted suicide twice in one night, but is still able to keep those around him unaware. Those closest to him know that something's wrong, but no one knows just how bad it is. No one knows about the monster that Yukio views himself as or the destructive path that he's set himself on, and as long as he can maintain that mask? No one will know until it's far too late to help him.
At his core, Yukio is a creature of conflict. Truth and lies. Anger and calm. Love and hate. He is flawed and frustrated and afraid, everything you’d think a young man in his position would be, but he’s very, very good at hiding it. More than one person has warned him of the danger of bottling his feelings away, fearing he might become a demon by accident should he let his anger and resentment pile up, but so it goes. That fear has only built further over the last few arcs, especially in the most recent canon. Between unpredictable new powers, Illuminati plots, and a lifetime of unanswered questions, Yukio is sick of being kept in the dark. Canon is quickly dragging him to what will likely be a point of no return where he’ll either have all his questions answered, or the life he’s worked so hard to hold together is going to fall apart.
Or both.
Flavor Abilities:
The ability to pretend he's a healthy functioning adul-ahahAHAHAHAHA, no.
But seriously, he's got nothing. He's one hell of a marksman and a doctor, but any abilities he has/could potentially have beyond those would give him a significant advantage in survival, so they're all getting nixed.
Suitability:
Yukio's entering Snowblind in a very delicate state. Since the last thing he'll remember is jumping off a building, it won't take him very long at all to entertain the possibility that he actually managed to kill himself. How else do you explain waking up in an entirely different time and place? I'm assuming that it won't take very long for him to reconnect with Shiro, his incredibly deceased father, and that will only further cement the idea that he is, in fact, dead and trapped in some weird, cold Hell, but he's one of those weird characters who might actually be better off stuck in a winter wasteland with no connections to his home.
No pressure from the Order or the Illuminati will be a huge relief. The complete lack of supernatural abilities gets him right off the hook for all that Satan nonsense. With the world he was carrying on his shoulders all but left behind, he'll be focused on simple survival. He likely won't have much real drive initially, but as he meets more people he won't be able to resist jumping into some sort of caretaker role. He's a doctor, after all. Keeping other people alive and healthy is what he's trained to do for the majority of his life.
Of course, there'll be no avoiding dealing with all the mental baggage he'll be bringing with him. Yukio's great at pretending to be okay, but eventually he's going to have to deal with what he did and where he was heading prior to arrival. Even if he realizes he's not actually dead, he still left Rin behind to deal with everything on his own. Snowblind's setting will offer him a chance to get his head back on straight with proper help, but it's also going to exacerbate the issues he's already brought with him (specifically paranoia, obsession, and depression), and the balance he finds between those extremes will be what helps him decide whether or not he actually wants to go home.
RP Samples:
Sample 1 (log)
Sample 2 (network)
Sample 3 (log)
Sample 4 (network)
Snowblind Network Post:
I'm beginning to think that there isn't a single reference or history book to be found in this place.
[And believe it, he's been looking. How could an area so large with so much evidence of past inhabitants not have a single written record of the past in it? Less importantly, but somehow just as motivating... Snow is boring. It's really boring. You know what else is boring? Nighttime. Sure, the ever present threat of horrific monsters and deadly winter keeps a person on edge for a while, but there's really only so long that that can keep you on edge before you get used to it. Desensitization. It happens.
Or it doesn't and you go insane a lot faster, so let's go with desensitization.
Yukio's not exactly the epitome of exciting most of the time, but even he can't spend every night just... sitting. All that'll do is lead you down a different path of crazy. Even with company, eventually you run out of things to talk about. Or maybe you're not willing to talk about all that much in the first place. Either way, night's going to fall, you're going to run out of things to explore in your hiding spot of the night, and you can only spend so much of that time sleeping, leaving you alone with just the howling wind and your own thoughts.]
Has anyone come across books that aren't for young children or completely destroyed?
[Please say yes. He needs a distraction.]