Hito Sagashi (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
glassempty) wrote2015-05-03 06:28 pm
glassempty) wrote2015-05-03 06:28 pm
Profile
1. Character's Name: Hito Sagashi
2. Age: 18
3. Background and Setting:
Soggy.
That's how the town of Hikarli has best been described in the past and Hito steadfastly believes a better description will never be uttered.
The small fishing town is fenced in on all but one side by towering, craggy mountains with the prime real estate unfortunately situated on low ground near the ocean. Hito’s town spends the majority of monsoon season underwater. Most would move, searching for a more ideal location for residency, but the residents there value their privacy and way of life. And so they make it work. Magic and ingenuity work together to seal the bottom floors while the upper levels are all connected throughout the town by wooden bridges. Because of this, Hito has never had any trouble knowing his neighbors. The connectivity of the town makes for a very closely knit community.
Hito was born to two relative newcomers to Hikarli – Cela and Ranon Sagashi. They both hailed from another small, yet less isolated pocket of magic users. Fitting into their new community with their infant son was, at first, their main priority. Due to the town’s close-knit nature, it was difficult for the family to be accepted into the fabric of the community. It became even more difficult when the town’s healer first discovered that something wasn’t quite right with Hito.
The illness that she discovered was genetic and had been prevalent in the community the family had lived in before. Where Hito’s parents had only been affected minutely with weakened magic, Hito suffered severely from the genetic illness. The magic that should have simply intermingled with his blood had instead nearly replaced it. His body wasn’t able to handle the unbalanced mixture and threatened to shut down at an early age. It was only because of the healer’s work that he was stabilized long enough for his parents to contact outside help.
Prejudice against magic users ran deep outside of Hikarli, with most of the major cities’ government forces apt to arrest magic users on sight. It was because of this that his parents faced a great amount of difficulty in contacting a doctor and a medical facility that would see them. When they did find a doctor open to trying to help, the family had to take great care to smuggle Hito to the facilities and safely back through the mountain pass to Hikarli. The visits to the doctor were frequent and Hito suffered many close calls throughout his childhood, but by the time he reached his teenage years his condition had been somewhat stabilized. While he still faced a potential breakdown of his body, Hito’s condition degenerated at closer to a snail’s pace than an avalanche.
Because of both his condition (which was looked upon with fear and suspicion) and his family’s origins outside of Hikarli, Hito was in danger of being viewed as an outsider. Pyry Sumiko, the bubbly daughter of the town’s healer, saved him from that fate. She immediately took a liking to him at a young age and continued their friendship as they grew up. Because she was such close friends with Hito, the brother-sister duo Zell and Ran also befriended him. As the grandchildren of one of the town elders, their friendship further shielded Hito from unkind gazes in town.
Outside of his trials with his health, Hito lived a normal life in Hikarli Town. He attended magic lessons with his three friends and was rarely seen without their company. The four were infamous for exploring every acre of the land inside their mountains-enclosed home. Soon, however, the enclosed places weren’t enough for his three friends. Pyry, especially, yearned for more and found the tiny town almost claustrophobic. Over the years Hito had slowly developed a crush on his best friend, but it was when she revealed to him her intentions to leave that Hito finally had to face those feelings.
Hito wanted nothing more than to stay in the safety of Hikarli forever. He had heard stories about the outside world and he was far from keen to go any closer to it than he had to. His painful excursions to the doctor also coloured his views of what waited for him outside of the towering mountains of his home. He almost wanted to confess his feelings – to convince Pyry to settle for a quiet life, but he couldn’t bring himself to do it. Her happiness was always what was most important to him.
With some reluctance, but driven forward by a strong desire to see her happy, Hito finally agreed to join her, Ran, and Zell on the night they’d chosen to leave their town and see what the outside world had to offer.
4. Personality:
Hito’s personality is geared toward the negative side of things. Growing up, he never knew which birthday would be his last. In recent years his condition with his magic has stabilized moderately, but still continues to degenerate over time. Because of this, he’s used cynicism as a coping mechanism to avoid thinking about how terrified he might actually be of dying from something he has no control over. Perhaps in part because he can’t do much about the problems with his health, Hito is staunchly against putting himself into physical danger he can avoid. He’s paranoid to a fault and scares easily. Dark, unknown spaces and new acquaintances are equally apt to receive his distrust and suspicion.
Hito prides himself on remembering the little details. Worlds disappearing? Need to go on a desperate quest to search for family and friends? That’s all well and good, but Hito would like to remind every unfortunate adventurer that the world ending does not mean you can parade around without a tent, blanket, and all the basic essentials. Despite his pessimism, Hito is very well grounded and doesn’t let the chaos of life make him forget the minor things that are largely important in the long run. Hito takes responsibility seriously and strives to make certain that those around him don’t forget about the important details, either.
It’s due to all of these traits, good and bad, that make Hito so adaptable to change. When the reality of being picked up and whisked off to a place completely alien to his home bears down on him, it’s in realizing that the universe isn’t perfect and never will be that drives him to continue soldiering on. He doesn’t need perfection in order to keep operating, and it’s the possibility that something exceeding his expectations may happen that keeps him from standing still and letting life take him out.
In general, Hito is almost too nice. He may be sarcastic and serve up loads of dry humor that’s geared toward making you look bad, but even if he doesn’t particularly like you he’s not one to stand idly by and let something bad happen to a person if he can prevent it – it would prey too heavily on his conscience. Hito’s worst habit is putting others before himself. When it comes to the happiness of those most important to him, Hito will always sacrifice his needs for theirs while striving to make certain that they never know about it.
As mentioned before, Hito is easily scared and afraid of danger—that same fear rolls over to his friends. He doesn’t put his trust in many people, but once someone has won him over, Hito is likely to become extremely attached and the thought of losing them will almost be enough to send him into a downward spiral.
The person Hito perhaps looks up to the most is Asuka. He’s accepted the older boy as something of an elder brother that he looks up to, and despite all of his cynicism he’s likely to believe that things might be okay if Asuka says they are. Not that he would ever tell him that. Hito makes every effort to keep up the appearance that he thinks Asuka is insufferable and beyond reason.
Overall, Hito really just wants a quiet life where he’s allowed to just enjoy the day to day happenings of the world. Before things started going insane with his life, it was a rare day that Hito would miss a sunset and would often go out of his way to just sit peacefully somewhere and enjoy the day. Now that he must deal with a new set of unknowns and difficulties at the Keep, Hito is going to be hard-pressed to hold onto his sense of peace as the reality hits him that his world has crumbled to a point possibly beyond saving.
5. Previous Game Developments:
Immediately before he would have gone out with Pyry and the rest of his friends to leave his town behind, the Heartless struck. In the ensuing battle, Hito was dragged away from his friends. Despite his complete lack of battle training (and thanks in whole to a large amount of luck), Hito managed to hold his own against the swarm for a time. Luck could only hold out for so long, however, and soon Hito was lost to the darkness. Though he was never willing to admit it even after he had time to let the reality sink in, Hito is fairly certain that at least one of his friends lost their heart in the attack.
After blacking out, Hito awoke in a strange world with only an even stranger older boy as company. Hito immediately distrusted the boy (who introduced himself as Asuka), but because of a strong desire to block out what had happened and a need to not fully face the loss of his world, Hito became the other young man’s traveling companion as they struck out to search the worlds for their lost family and friends.
After meeting up with other world wanderers, Hito became separated from Asuka for a while. During that time, he travelled to Halloween Town with a girl named Aura and another who called herself Villainess. They were the first people aside from Asuka who he spent any time with in his travels. Initially he felt a certain sense of responsibility to the girls, but the more time he spent in their company, the less Hito wanted anything to do with them. He was still concerned for their safety, but he didn’t form the same sort of friendship with them that he had with Asuka.
When he rejoined with Asuka to continue their travels, Hito was relieved. The girls were both too foreign in his mind to form any lasting connection to. After a series of events that Hito didn’t fully register or understand, the two boys ended up in Twilight Town.
Twilight Town actually sat well with Hito. Everywhere else had been too foreign and abnormal to feel like he could really relax, but even though he felt like the kids they met in Twilight Town were irritating, it was the sort of irritating that was familiar. Hayner, especially, reminded Hito of the friends he was missing from Hikarli. His time in Twilight Town and the familiarity of small town life rejuvenated the spark of hope that he might still be able to find his friends and return to a normal life.
The last leg of his journey so far started on a train leaving Twilight Town. Something had gone terribly wrong, trapping the two boys in a loop that didn’t seem to have an end. It was only because of Asuka that he managed to escape the loop and stumble into the next, more dangerous situation.
After narrowly escaping a small hoard of Nobodies, the boys had the misfortune to interrupt two thieves making off with the ship they had chosen as their next hiding place. After narrowly avoiding being riddled full of holes (thanks, again, to Asuka), Hito found himself trapped in a small compartment with Asuka that was quickly filling up with a noxious gas the thieves had chosen as a way to eliminate them as a threat. It was at this point that Hito realized how much he had come to rely on Asuka. Nothing in his previous experience prepared him to deal with being shot at or poisoned. Asuka seemed to know how to handle all of it.
Asuka’s plan to hide in a cauldron saved them. Despite the terror of what would happen when the ship landed and the thieves came back for them, Hito eventually drifted off and woke up in the Keep.
6. Appearance:
Hito is 5’9” and tends toward the scrawny side. He’s made efforts to keep in shape as best he can, but because of his medical issues, he’ll never be in quite the same shape as a fighter. At home he focused on swimming and mountain climbing, so he has managed to keep his endurance at a reasonable level despite everything.
Hito’s complexion is pale, but will hold a light tan if he’s exposed to the sun for a long enough period. He has dark brown eyes, and his hair is an almost grass green, marking him in his home country as possessing magical abilities. His hair is cut short in the back and spiked with the front, the fringe grown out longer. It falls down to his cheek bones, and is parted to fall more to the left.
Around his neck, Hito wears a crescent moon pendant roughly the size of a fist. It hangs from a long black string and falls down to chest-level. The pendant is a representation of his society’s beliefs that magic and, to a lesser extent, life comes from the moon and he would be loathe to remove it.
Because of the suddenness with which he left his home, Hito is stuck with a black, sleeveless shirt and a pair of tan pants worn over a pair of brown boots. The pants are slightly loose, allowing for optimum pocket space which he tries to use to the fullest – he still has a (justified!) fear of being uprooted suddenly with only what he is carrying on him.
7. Abilities:
Hito’s main ability is his magic. Like almost everyone who lived in his town back home, he has a fairly extensive repertoire of elemental-based magics that he can call upon at any time. These magics can range anywhere from creating a minute, localized earthquake, to summoning a fire into his hand.
The extreme downside of Hito’s powers is that they are already taxing on his body. While most people in his society might only become tired after using simple spells, and only risk death if they were to summon something like a tidal wave or other natural disaster, every spell Hito uses pushes him terrifyingly close to the brink of death. His people’s magic is based in their blood and intimately intertwined with their health and well-being. Because of a genetic anomaly, Hito’s spells thin out his blood every time he uses them. It’s possible he can use maybe four small spells spread out over a day before he’s lightheaded and on the verge of passing out.
At the Keep, Hito will only be able to use two spells in a day max, and the amount of drain it puts on him will lean toward the catastrophic if he tries to use them within a few hours of each other.
8. Languages: Common with a fair amount of schooling and competence in both reading and writing.
9. Items: Aside from his clothing and shoes, Hito has a small bag of coins he’s stored in one of his pockets. His other provisions were lost along the way.
10. Weapons: A knife given to him by Asuka.
11. Writing sample - Third Person Prose:
Smoke.
At first, Hito wasn’t too alarmed. After he pointed it out to Asuka, though, and heard what the older boy had to say…
That old panic was rising up again. Hito tried to steel himself against it, but as he threw himself into the task of searching the cluttered cargo hold for a suitable container in which to escape the smoke, the fear was always there at the back of his mind. It picked at his composure, breathing air into all his doubts.
He had known for a while now that he wasn’t exactly competent when it came to dealing with the world outside of Hikarli Town, but for some reason everything was hitting home now. Maybe it was because the danger now came in human form. Monsters trying to rend him limb from limb were one thing, but it sent a sort of cold chill through him to realize that the one who had shot at them, then apparently released the gas to finish them off wasn’t that different from them.
Asuka didn’t seem to be struggling with the idea as much as Hito was.
As he moved a box over to one side, Hito glanced quickly at the older boy. As far as he could tell, Asuka seemed to be approaching the task at hand with a single-minded determination that wouldn’t allow them to fall prey to the smoke that threatened to completely fill the room at any moment.
If it had been Hito in charge and all alone, would he have had the presence of mind to think of finding something to hide in? Would he have just stood still in panic until the gas took out all of his senses?
Hito had the sneaking suspicion that the latter would have been his reaction.
Suddenly, his head swam, dragging Hito from his musings. The smoke had taken up almost all of the breathable room now.
He couldn’t give up, though. Hito threw himself back into the task with renewed effort. If they got through this, he swore that he would try to change. Asuka shouldn’t have to be the one always protecting him. If he could, Hito wanted to become a little more like him. Asuka might act like an idiot half the time, but when he needed to be, he was completely reliable.
Hito admired that about him.
12. Writing sample - First Person:
[Hito is terrified as he wakes up. He’s disoriented, uncertain what has happened or where he is supposed to be, but red hot flashes of fear and apprehension are stabbing at his heart. The boy scrambles to his feet and pushes away from where he was sleeping a moment before.
He stumbles in panic in the dark room, then presses himself up against the nearest wall to regain his composure.]
Where—
[The panic is choking off his voice, so Hito casts about quickly for some sign of what has happened. As the terror ebbs, he’s able to remember where he was last. He remembers the gunfire, how Asuka got them where they needed to be to stay safe. And the smoke – how terrified he was of being trapped with it. Then the cauldron and how they would supposedly be safe until the ship stopped moving.
He notices with a start that Asuka is nowhere to be found. Panic rises up again, but his eyes land on the book and he moves toward it, reaching out and flipping the pages.]
Again?
[Hito has seen the greeting now, but he doesn’t want to believe it.
He flips through the pages of the book slowly, then more intensely as he realizes that the book somehow transmits audio messages. Stopping, he hesitantly begins speaking, unsure if he’s even doing it right.]
My name… my name is Hito Sagashi.
[It’s a good start, even if his voice is still shaking. He’s come to terms with the fact that he can’t do anything about it at the moment.]
I guess… I am searching for some people. If anyone knows where they are… I need you to let me know. The first one… he’s kind of weird. Tall, silver hair. He’s got to be somewhere nearby, so… tell him I’m looking for him. His name’s Asuka.
[He’s almost got the tremor of his voice under control, but as he presses on, he feels his control cracking again. If the message is right, then the tiny hope of ever finding Pyry again has vanished completely.]
The other… her name is Pyry. She… I…
[He can’t do it. His voice drops to a whisper.]
Just… let me know.
[With that, he’s finished. Biting his lip, Hito shuts the record back and sinks to the floor, dropping his head onto his arms. When he’s ready to deal with this, he’ll move on. For now, he just needs time to absorb what’s happened.]
13. Tattoo: Encircling the top of his right shoulder.
2. Age: 18
3. Background and Setting:
Soggy.
That's how the town of Hikarli has best been described in the past and Hito steadfastly believes a better description will never be uttered.
The small fishing town is fenced in on all but one side by towering, craggy mountains with the prime real estate unfortunately situated on low ground near the ocean. Hito’s town spends the majority of monsoon season underwater. Most would move, searching for a more ideal location for residency, but the residents there value their privacy and way of life. And so they make it work. Magic and ingenuity work together to seal the bottom floors while the upper levels are all connected throughout the town by wooden bridges. Because of this, Hito has never had any trouble knowing his neighbors. The connectivity of the town makes for a very closely knit community.
Hito was born to two relative newcomers to Hikarli – Cela and Ranon Sagashi. They both hailed from another small, yet less isolated pocket of magic users. Fitting into their new community with their infant son was, at first, their main priority. Due to the town’s close-knit nature, it was difficult for the family to be accepted into the fabric of the community. It became even more difficult when the town’s healer first discovered that something wasn’t quite right with Hito.
The illness that she discovered was genetic and had been prevalent in the community the family had lived in before. Where Hito’s parents had only been affected minutely with weakened magic, Hito suffered severely from the genetic illness. The magic that should have simply intermingled with his blood had instead nearly replaced it. His body wasn’t able to handle the unbalanced mixture and threatened to shut down at an early age. It was only because of the healer’s work that he was stabilized long enough for his parents to contact outside help.
Prejudice against magic users ran deep outside of Hikarli, with most of the major cities’ government forces apt to arrest magic users on sight. It was because of this that his parents faced a great amount of difficulty in contacting a doctor and a medical facility that would see them. When they did find a doctor open to trying to help, the family had to take great care to smuggle Hito to the facilities and safely back through the mountain pass to Hikarli. The visits to the doctor were frequent and Hito suffered many close calls throughout his childhood, but by the time he reached his teenage years his condition had been somewhat stabilized. While he still faced a potential breakdown of his body, Hito’s condition degenerated at closer to a snail’s pace than an avalanche.
Because of both his condition (which was looked upon with fear and suspicion) and his family’s origins outside of Hikarli, Hito was in danger of being viewed as an outsider. Pyry Sumiko, the bubbly daughter of the town’s healer, saved him from that fate. She immediately took a liking to him at a young age and continued their friendship as they grew up. Because she was such close friends with Hito, the brother-sister duo Zell and Ran also befriended him. As the grandchildren of one of the town elders, their friendship further shielded Hito from unkind gazes in town.
Outside of his trials with his health, Hito lived a normal life in Hikarli Town. He attended magic lessons with his three friends and was rarely seen without their company. The four were infamous for exploring every acre of the land inside their mountains-enclosed home. Soon, however, the enclosed places weren’t enough for his three friends. Pyry, especially, yearned for more and found the tiny town almost claustrophobic. Over the years Hito had slowly developed a crush on his best friend, but it was when she revealed to him her intentions to leave that Hito finally had to face those feelings.
Hito wanted nothing more than to stay in the safety of Hikarli forever. He had heard stories about the outside world and he was far from keen to go any closer to it than he had to. His painful excursions to the doctor also coloured his views of what waited for him outside of the towering mountains of his home. He almost wanted to confess his feelings – to convince Pyry to settle for a quiet life, but he couldn’t bring himself to do it. Her happiness was always what was most important to him.
With some reluctance, but driven forward by a strong desire to see her happy, Hito finally agreed to join her, Ran, and Zell on the night they’d chosen to leave their town and see what the outside world had to offer.
4. Personality:
Hito’s personality is geared toward the negative side of things. Growing up, he never knew which birthday would be his last. In recent years his condition with his magic has stabilized moderately, but still continues to degenerate over time. Because of this, he’s used cynicism as a coping mechanism to avoid thinking about how terrified he might actually be of dying from something he has no control over. Perhaps in part because he can’t do much about the problems with his health, Hito is staunchly against putting himself into physical danger he can avoid. He’s paranoid to a fault and scares easily. Dark, unknown spaces and new acquaintances are equally apt to receive his distrust and suspicion.
Hito prides himself on remembering the little details. Worlds disappearing? Need to go on a desperate quest to search for family and friends? That’s all well and good, but Hito would like to remind every unfortunate adventurer that the world ending does not mean you can parade around without a tent, blanket, and all the basic essentials. Despite his pessimism, Hito is very well grounded and doesn’t let the chaos of life make him forget the minor things that are largely important in the long run. Hito takes responsibility seriously and strives to make certain that those around him don’t forget about the important details, either.
It’s due to all of these traits, good and bad, that make Hito so adaptable to change. When the reality of being picked up and whisked off to a place completely alien to his home bears down on him, it’s in realizing that the universe isn’t perfect and never will be that drives him to continue soldiering on. He doesn’t need perfection in order to keep operating, and it’s the possibility that something exceeding his expectations may happen that keeps him from standing still and letting life take him out.
In general, Hito is almost too nice. He may be sarcastic and serve up loads of dry humor that’s geared toward making you look bad, but even if he doesn’t particularly like you he’s not one to stand idly by and let something bad happen to a person if he can prevent it – it would prey too heavily on his conscience. Hito’s worst habit is putting others before himself. When it comes to the happiness of those most important to him, Hito will always sacrifice his needs for theirs while striving to make certain that they never know about it.
As mentioned before, Hito is easily scared and afraid of danger—that same fear rolls over to his friends. He doesn’t put his trust in many people, but once someone has won him over, Hito is likely to become extremely attached and the thought of losing them will almost be enough to send him into a downward spiral.
The person Hito perhaps looks up to the most is Asuka. He’s accepted the older boy as something of an elder brother that he looks up to, and despite all of his cynicism he’s likely to believe that things might be okay if Asuka says they are. Not that he would ever tell him that. Hito makes every effort to keep up the appearance that he thinks Asuka is insufferable and beyond reason.
Overall, Hito really just wants a quiet life where he’s allowed to just enjoy the day to day happenings of the world. Before things started going insane with his life, it was a rare day that Hito would miss a sunset and would often go out of his way to just sit peacefully somewhere and enjoy the day. Now that he must deal with a new set of unknowns and difficulties at the Keep, Hito is going to be hard-pressed to hold onto his sense of peace as the reality hits him that his world has crumbled to a point possibly beyond saving.
5. Previous Game Developments:
Immediately before he would have gone out with Pyry and the rest of his friends to leave his town behind, the Heartless struck. In the ensuing battle, Hito was dragged away from his friends. Despite his complete lack of battle training (and thanks in whole to a large amount of luck), Hito managed to hold his own against the swarm for a time. Luck could only hold out for so long, however, and soon Hito was lost to the darkness. Though he was never willing to admit it even after he had time to let the reality sink in, Hito is fairly certain that at least one of his friends lost their heart in the attack.
After blacking out, Hito awoke in a strange world with only an even stranger older boy as company. Hito immediately distrusted the boy (who introduced himself as Asuka), but because of a strong desire to block out what had happened and a need to not fully face the loss of his world, Hito became the other young man’s traveling companion as they struck out to search the worlds for their lost family and friends.
After meeting up with other world wanderers, Hito became separated from Asuka for a while. During that time, he travelled to Halloween Town with a girl named Aura and another who called herself Villainess. They were the first people aside from Asuka who he spent any time with in his travels. Initially he felt a certain sense of responsibility to the girls, but the more time he spent in their company, the less Hito wanted anything to do with them. He was still concerned for their safety, but he didn’t form the same sort of friendship with them that he had with Asuka.
When he rejoined with Asuka to continue their travels, Hito was relieved. The girls were both too foreign in his mind to form any lasting connection to. After a series of events that Hito didn’t fully register or understand, the two boys ended up in Twilight Town.
Twilight Town actually sat well with Hito. Everywhere else had been too foreign and abnormal to feel like he could really relax, but even though he felt like the kids they met in Twilight Town were irritating, it was the sort of irritating that was familiar. Hayner, especially, reminded Hito of the friends he was missing from Hikarli. His time in Twilight Town and the familiarity of small town life rejuvenated the spark of hope that he might still be able to find his friends and return to a normal life.
The last leg of his journey so far started on a train leaving Twilight Town. Something had gone terribly wrong, trapping the two boys in a loop that didn’t seem to have an end. It was only because of Asuka that he managed to escape the loop and stumble into the next, more dangerous situation.
After narrowly escaping a small hoard of Nobodies, the boys had the misfortune to interrupt two thieves making off with the ship they had chosen as their next hiding place. After narrowly avoiding being riddled full of holes (thanks, again, to Asuka), Hito found himself trapped in a small compartment with Asuka that was quickly filling up with a noxious gas the thieves had chosen as a way to eliminate them as a threat. It was at this point that Hito realized how much he had come to rely on Asuka. Nothing in his previous experience prepared him to deal with being shot at or poisoned. Asuka seemed to know how to handle all of it.
Asuka’s plan to hide in a cauldron saved them. Despite the terror of what would happen when the ship landed and the thieves came back for them, Hito eventually drifted off and woke up in the Keep.
6. Appearance:
Hito is 5’9” and tends toward the scrawny side. He’s made efforts to keep in shape as best he can, but because of his medical issues, he’ll never be in quite the same shape as a fighter. At home he focused on swimming and mountain climbing, so he has managed to keep his endurance at a reasonable level despite everything.
Hito’s complexion is pale, but will hold a light tan if he’s exposed to the sun for a long enough period. He has dark brown eyes, and his hair is an almost grass green, marking him in his home country as possessing magical abilities. His hair is cut short in the back and spiked with the front, the fringe grown out longer. It falls down to his cheek bones, and is parted to fall more to the left.
Around his neck, Hito wears a crescent moon pendant roughly the size of a fist. It hangs from a long black string and falls down to chest-level. The pendant is a representation of his society’s beliefs that magic and, to a lesser extent, life comes from the moon and he would be loathe to remove it.
Because of the suddenness with which he left his home, Hito is stuck with a black, sleeveless shirt and a pair of tan pants worn over a pair of brown boots. The pants are slightly loose, allowing for optimum pocket space which he tries to use to the fullest – he still has a (justified!) fear of being uprooted suddenly with only what he is carrying on him.
7. Abilities:
Hito’s main ability is his magic. Like almost everyone who lived in his town back home, he has a fairly extensive repertoire of elemental-based magics that he can call upon at any time. These magics can range anywhere from creating a minute, localized earthquake, to summoning a fire into his hand.
The extreme downside of Hito’s powers is that they are already taxing on his body. While most people in his society might only become tired after using simple spells, and only risk death if they were to summon something like a tidal wave or other natural disaster, every spell Hito uses pushes him terrifyingly close to the brink of death. His people’s magic is based in their blood and intimately intertwined with their health and well-being. Because of a genetic anomaly, Hito’s spells thin out his blood every time he uses them. It’s possible he can use maybe four small spells spread out over a day before he’s lightheaded and on the verge of passing out.
At the Keep, Hito will only be able to use two spells in a day max, and the amount of drain it puts on him will lean toward the catastrophic if he tries to use them within a few hours of each other.
8. Languages: Common with a fair amount of schooling and competence in both reading and writing.
9. Items: Aside from his clothing and shoes, Hito has a small bag of coins he’s stored in one of his pockets. His other provisions were lost along the way.
10. Weapons: A knife given to him by Asuka.
11. Writing sample - Third Person Prose:
Smoke.
At first, Hito wasn’t too alarmed. After he pointed it out to Asuka, though, and heard what the older boy had to say…
That old panic was rising up again. Hito tried to steel himself against it, but as he threw himself into the task of searching the cluttered cargo hold for a suitable container in which to escape the smoke, the fear was always there at the back of his mind. It picked at his composure, breathing air into all his doubts.
He had known for a while now that he wasn’t exactly competent when it came to dealing with the world outside of Hikarli Town, but for some reason everything was hitting home now. Maybe it was because the danger now came in human form. Monsters trying to rend him limb from limb were one thing, but it sent a sort of cold chill through him to realize that the one who had shot at them, then apparently released the gas to finish them off wasn’t that different from them.
Asuka didn’t seem to be struggling with the idea as much as Hito was.
As he moved a box over to one side, Hito glanced quickly at the older boy. As far as he could tell, Asuka seemed to be approaching the task at hand with a single-minded determination that wouldn’t allow them to fall prey to the smoke that threatened to completely fill the room at any moment.
If it had been Hito in charge and all alone, would he have had the presence of mind to think of finding something to hide in? Would he have just stood still in panic until the gas took out all of his senses?
Hito had the sneaking suspicion that the latter would have been his reaction.
Suddenly, his head swam, dragging Hito from his musings. The smoke had taken up almost all of the breathable room now.
He couldn’t give up, though. Hito threw himself back into the task with renewed effort. If they got through this, he swore that he would try to change. Asuka shouldn’t have to be the one always protecting him. If he could, Hito wanted to become a little more like him. Asuka might act like an idiot half the time, but when he needed to be, he was completely reliable.
Hito admired that about him.
12. Writing sample - First Person:
[Hito is terrified as he wakes up. He’s disoriented, uncertain what has happened or where he is supposed to be, but red hot flashes of fear and apprehension are stabbing at his heart. The boy scrambles to his feet and pushes away from where he was sleeping a moment before.
He stumbles in panic in the dark room, then presses himself up against the nearest wall to regain his composure.]
Where—
[The panic is choking off his voice, so Hito casts about quickly for some sign of what has happened. As the terror ebbs, he’s able to remember where he was last. He remembers the gunfire, how Asuka got them where they needed to be to stay safe. And the smoke – how terrified he was of being trapped with it. Then the cauldron and how they would supposedly be safe until the ship stopped moving.
He notices with a start that Asuka is nowhere to be found. Panic rises up again, but his eyes land on the book and he moves toward it, reaching out and flipping the pages.]
Again?
[Hito has seen the greeting now, but he doesn’t want to believe it.
He flips through the pages of the book slowly, then more intensely as he realizes that the book somehow transmits audio messages. Stopping, he hesitantly begins speaking, unsure if he’s even doing it right.]
My name… my name is Hito Sagashi.
[It’s a good start, even if his voice is still shaking. He’s come to terms with the fact that he can’t do anything about it at the moment.]
I guess… I am searching for some people. If anyone knows where they are… I need you to let me know. The first one… he’s kind of weird. Tall, silver hair. He’s got to be somewhere nearby, so… tell him I’m looking for him. His name’s Asuka.
[He’s almost got the tremor of his voice under control, but as he presses on, he feels his control cracking again. If the message is right, then the tiny hope of ever finding Pyry again has vanished completely.]
The other… her name is Pyry. She… I…
[He can’t do it. His voice drops to a whisper.]
Just… let me know.
[With that, he’s finished. Biting his lip, Hito shuts the record back and sinks to the floor, dropping his head onto his arms. When he’s ready to deal with this, he’ll move on. For now, he just needs time to absorb what’s happened.]
13. Tattoo: Encircling the top of his right shoulder.