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Miu Yoshihara

"Do not worry about how things once were or how they should be. It's too much effort to try and change them."

0 · 592 views · located in Sengoku Jidai || Japan

a character in “Genesis: The Shinsengumi”, as played by Talisman

Description



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"People rush and rush like confused mice in a race. They never take the time to sit down and rest, always in fear of the shortness of life. What they forget is that life is the longest thing any of us will ever experience."
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Birdy || The Same
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Face Claim Β§ Tsukuyo || Gin Tama

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▬♦ N I C K N A M E ♦▬
Kitten
♦ Not a name that she picked out herself, mind you, but a playful one nonetheless. It doesn't bother her any and she answers to it just as easily as she would her real name. It's too much effort to try and change it now.

▬♦ A G E ♦▬
Seventy-two

▬♦ G E N D E R ♦▬
Female

▬♦ S P E C I E S ♦▬
Nekomata Yōkai


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Image▬♦ H A I R ♦▬
Bereft of the usual dark hues found in the hair of others of her country, Miu's hair is that of a corn silk blonde. It marks her as decidedly different amongst ordinary humans, though whether the coloration owes itself to a supernatural presence or if it's just rare remains to be seen. She doesn't tend to waste time pondering the mysteries of her hair. While it does lack a finer quality, it is nevertheless soft to the touch and can always be found immaculately clean. Unbound, Miu's hair falls past her shoulders and brushes against her shoulder blades. However it's much more commonly found with the front bundled up and held together with a pair of hair sticks resembling kunai, while the back is simply tied up in back.

▬♦ E Y E S ♦▬
Hiding behind half-mast eyelids are a pair of bright lilac irises. Always seemingly tired and lethargic, her eyelids rarely ascend beyond their neutral position, though certain emotions can enact such responses. Anger, surprise, and sadness for example. Rather lacking in the sharpness one usually associates with felines, Miu's eyes are both larger than usual and possess a certain roundness to their edges. Though usually dull and bored, her eyes are always on the move and watching when open, drinking in the visual information around her. It's subtle, but they are undoubtedly the eyes of a feline. This is most noticeable in the dark where they tend to reflect in certain light conditions.

▬♦ F L A W S ♦▬
There are two major scars that stand out profusely in her face. The first cuts across horizontally on the left side of the forehead. This one meets the second, which cuts vertically across her left eye and into the cheek below. Both are rather ragged in appearance thanks to a sub-par stitching job from a bottle thrown at her head in her younger days. Surprisingly however, these are the only two blemishes that she possesses, the rest of her body bereft of any other markings. The rest of her skin is soft to the touch, especially in her hands and feet.

▬♦ S T A T U R E ♦▬ 5'4" || 115 lbs

▬♦ P H Y S I Q U E ♦▬
Miu is a slender creature, who seems rather average on first inspection. However, a closer look would reveal enough lean pink muscle running through her body to give her an athletic build. Despite all clues to the contrary and her tendency to laze about, it is a practiced and honed body. It's a subtle and balanced form by design, built more for agility over any notion of raw strength. She still possesses a distinctly feminine shape, and it's impossible to see her as anything but with enough curves in the right places to give her an attractive figure. Make no mistake, she is neither petite nor delicate. Her body has a springy quality allowing for quick and sudden actions. She is also rather average for a woman in her loft, standing in the lower range of the five foot mark.


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"It's too much effort to live in the past, replaying scenes over and over again in your head. Likewise, there's not enough known about the future to worry about what will happen next. Instead, I live my life in the moment-to-moment. The present can not be hidden and does not lie about what it holds..."
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The Eden Project || Times Like These
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Image▬♦ A M O R O U SxV I E W ♦▬
A romantic, Miu is not. She has loved but not truly been in love and all poetical interpretations of the emotion are met with a wrinkled nose and a hearty chuckle. She no longer believes in the perfect prince who will one day swoop in from on high to whisk her away to a faraway paradise. People are far too flawed to be slotted into such a perfect ideal. It is not to say that she has given up completely, and though she would try and deny it still hopes for the chance to find someone to share her heart with. In her case, her ideal prince is less of prince and more of a layabout like her. Someone to waste their time doing nothing with and to burn the hours in the day away with nothing accomplished at the end.

▬♦ D I S P O S I T I O N ♦▬
Many things come to mind when thinking about Miu. Lazy, for one. Unmotivated, easily bored, and sarcastic, Miu is many things, and not all of them simple as that. To begin with she is a lazy creature, the type that does things at her own pace. It is difficult to get her to do trivial tasks as she feels like if they're trivial enough, they should be easy enough for someone else to deal with, and therefore isn't her problem. That being said if she feels that it is her problem, then there is no hesitation in her actions as she works relentlessly to achieve the desired goal quickly and cleanly. So she can get back to her nap, as she says. She tends to operate in flurries of activity, half-asleep one moment and wide awake the next.

Miu enjoys a slower paced life and never tries to rush anything. More often than not, she can be found laying in a patch of sunlight either sleeping, smoking, or drinking. When in one of these moods, it's difficult to get her to do anything that she doesn't want to, but it's not impossible. Enough poking and prodding can rouse her, but also tends to make her grumpy. She does not like having her naps disturbed, and the contempt for those that do positively bleed from her eyes.

She seems to be a rather unmotivated individual and is very vocal about how little she cares, but how much truth are in these words is unclear. When brought an issue, she could say that she doesn't care about it but then come to find that she has since resolved it. It also makes her unpredictable, as she does things in her own way on her own time with her own terms. If she has any hopes, dreams, or aspirations, she doesn't say, and tends to be guarded with her true feelings as it's too much work to pour your heart out to a listening someone. It makes her rather mysterious in her goals and desires which is more of an unintended consequence than anything else.

Despite all this making her out to be something of a dry individual, it's not necessarily true. Laughter comes easy to her and she's nowhere near antisocial. She enjoys the company of people, and she's able to hold a conversation with the best of them. She's not afraid to reveal bits and pieces of her past (but not all of it), though there has to be a reason behind the sharing. Rattling off her life's story at the drop of the hat is too much work to do consistently. To those whose company whom she actually enjoys she's a warm individual, easily smiling. All that being said, she's the teasing type with a sarcastic quip on the edge of her tongue.

At her very core, Miu seems to be a decent person despite her occupation. She is never one to harm another individual without provocation and likes to exist with a "live and let live" philosophy. Don't bother her and she won't bother you. The most telling thing however is her interactions with children. It is not uncommon to find her among them in her ordinary housecat form, and allowing them to pet and play with her. In fact, she loves to be petted in her cat form and can often be heard purring as she weaves between someone's legs. It's pretty adorable, honestly.


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▬♦ Q U I R K S ♦▬
Lazy
● There is nothing in the world Miu likes to do more than nothing at all. The woman is a tired and lethargic creature whose ideal day is one spent wasted in a warm patch of sunlight. She does thing at her own pace in her own time and trying to make her speed it up only serves to make her grumpy. It is not uncommon for her to advise against something for fear that she would have to be the one to correct the mistakes that were made. Not only that, but she tends to search out shortcuts or try to hand off tasks which she considers trivial, and therefore not her problem. It should be noted however, that when the time for laziness is over and the time for action is nigh, Miu's able to rouse herself and operate in a flurry of activity.

Humming
● A little hummingbird that one, Miu has the unconscious habit to hum whenever she's particularly content. Combined with her laziness, it is not an uncommon sight to find her strewn across a porch somewhere, a leg hooked over the other, pipe in mouth, humming a little tune to the rise and fall of the bounce in her foot. While not necessarily true, some have decided this is simply a by-product of being a nekomata, and a consequence of purring while inhabiting her human form. She finds the idea humorous so she goes along with it, picking up her humming with a teasing smirk on her lips.

Smoking/Drinking ● It's not an entirely healthy lifestyle, but nevertheless she enjoys her pipe and her drink in equal measure. A red lacquered pipe with the mouth piece capped in gold and the bowl made of steel can never be found too far from her person. Likewise, she keeps a pouch of tobacco on her as well though she has also been known to partake in opium on certain occasions. In that same vein, it's not unheard of her to waste a day away drinking, whether socially or on her lonesome.

▬♦ C A P A B I L I T Y ♦▬
Martial Arts ● Before she learned knives, she learned her hands. Miu has a talent for martial arts, learned in necessity to engage foes larger and stronger than she. Utilizing her natural grace and agility, Miu's style does not rely solely on the amount of strikes she is able to land, but rather focuses on holds and takedowns and the quality of the strike. A simple hit to the gut may hurt, but taking a man down to the ground and then raining blows from above is sure to take the him out of the fight. As time passed, she has also become adept at quickly disarming less skilled opponents before they knew they even had a weapon. Still, in the end cold steel holds an advantage over fleshy hands, and she's sure to lose an extended battle against a sword.

Knives ● A complement to her martial skill, with the added benefit of pointier bits. Short blades such as the kunai and tantō are the tools of her trade. They are meant to be used quickly and quietly, utilizing the element of surprise to aid in the neutralization of opponent. Which is a more complicated way of saying she is an assassin. The learning curve in learning weapons was somewhat mitigated by the fact that she incorporated them into her hand-to-hand combat instead of attempting to use an entirely different style. Her holds and takedowns still remain, but now her strikes are made all that more deadly. Toward that end, she keeps a tantō hidden on her person at all times. Just in case.

Stealth ● The ability to slip silently into the night on tiny cat feet-- sometimes literally. Owing to Miu's nature, stealth only came naturally to her. However, even if gifted with the skill, it requires a practiced hand to be able to employ consistently. Trained in the art, Miu's able to move quietly as a mouse in order to draw closer to her target before she strikes. Not only does this require the skills, but also the knowledge to employ distractions, understanding individual reactions, and the presence of mind to strike when the time is right. It's not a perfect art, and she's unable to simply vanish on a whim, but to the unprepared they will never know she was there.

▬♦ N A T U R A LxA P T I T U D E ♦▬
Transformation ● As a yōkai, and like all yōkai Miu has access to a total of three transformations. Her true form and the form she was born in takes the appearance of an ordinary black house cat. The only hint to the creature as being something more than a cat are the pair of lilac orbs it has for eyes. Her second form, and the one she's most commonly found in is that of her human form. Her third and final form is something of a recent discovery, and thus has relatively little control over. It's appearance is that of a large predatory cat like that of a black panther. It's a difficult form to shift into, but nonetheless a dangerous one if she manages it. However, it's a rarely seen one.

Pyrokinesis ● Nekomata are usually associated with strange fires, and to that end Miu possesses a subdued form of pyrokinesis. By no means is she able to summon a gout of hellfire to immolate her enemies on a whim, it's a far more subtle ability. She is able to start small fires which then have the possibility to blossom into larger fires-- given if the kindling is dry enough and the conditions are right. Despite it's subtle nature, it provides her a wealth of options. More importantly however it allows her to light her pipe whenever she pleases without having to rely on an outside source.

Enhanced Senses ● From sight, to sound, to smell, Miu's facilities are sharper than that of an ordinary human. Granted, they don't allow her to see for miles on end nor can she hear a pin drop in a crowded room, but she is able to catch things a regular person wouldn't. However, she is able to pick out smells that still linger in the air, though tracking by scent isn't exactly one of her skills. She can also hear muffled voices and padded footsteps up to a certain distance. Her eyesight is basically 20/10, and also retains the particular ability of nightvision, even in her human form. It's not exactly what one would call supernatural (barring the nightvision) but they're all rather sharp.


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"Have you ever been picked up from nothing? Allow me to explain then, it is akin to living one's life under a canopy of dark clouds. Until, finally, one day the sun breaks through and shines down upon you. You'll never forget the warmth in that moment and you'll always remember the sun as it was, even as the clouds begin to encroach once more..."
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Stars || Dead Hearts
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▬♦ R E M I N I S C E N C E ♦▬
Life had a simple beginning in Miu. She was not born into this world kicking and screaming like other babies, but rather mewling. That's because she was not born an ordinary human, but as a regular house cat, a form in which she spent the first few years of her life. She was taken in by a family whose names she has either forgotten or refused to remember to catch rats around the house. To say that she wasn't the best at her job is perhaps the kindest way to explain it. Even as a cat, Miu was as lazier than she is presently, as hard as that is to believe. On more than one occasion she simply watched as a mouse scampered up to her food bowl and watched as it ate, because it would've been more effort than she was willing to give to swat it away.

It made her... Rather unpopular with her owners, but they tolerated her presence. At least, they did up until the day they moved away and neglected to bring her with them. The knowledge of where they went or why has been lost to her, not that she particularly cares. Once a comfy house cat, Miu was now an abandoned stray, and a black one at that. Superstitions plagued her because of her coloration her and on better days the people of the town simply gave her a wide berth because of it. On worse days, things were thrown at her and she was kicked at, and she had to both learn how to survive on her own and to avoid the wrath of people.

After a few more years, it came to light that Miu was something more than an ordinary stray. Old legends state that a mistreated cat who grows old will eventually become a nekomata, and in Miu's case the tale turned out to be true. After about a decade of life, Miu began to manifest as a yōkai. It was... A confusing chapter of her life. She knew how to survive as a cat, but not so much as a human. She struggled to adapt to her new state of being and to learn how to live and survive no longer as a cat, but as a yōkai. It was not the easiest of existences, but she survived it in the end, though she still has memories of more then a few nights spent hungry.

It was in an effort to not spend so many of these night on an empty stomach that she began to steal. It was small things, bread and rice mainly, with what little meat she could scavenge from the trash, but what was once a minor nuisance in a black cat roaming the neighborhood, became a pressing issue with a street urchin stealing food. The treatment she received could only worsen, until one day someone threw a bottle at her head. Normal pretty good about dodging things thrown at her, but all it takes is one lucky strike. The bottle shattered on impact, cutting the left side of her head and leaving her unconscious. When she woke she found herself, surprisingly, not alone. A man sat over her, cleaning and tending to the wounds. In hindsight, he was terrible at stitching her cuts back together which probably resulted in the jagged scars on that remain her face, but at the time it was the first real act of kindness she experienced. She asked the man for his name and he answered: Yōichirō.

From then on, she viewed this man as an adoptive father figure and followed him nearly everywhere. She was at his side at the foundation of the Yakuza. The Yakuza then was not the Yakuza of now. For her, it was a place to belong and to be welcomed, a family who wanted her around and cared for her well being. It was Yōichirō who helped her learn how to live as a nekomata. Upon a desire to be of some sort of use to him, she began to train to become his agent. She showed a potential toward the stealthier arts, and while she's not entirely fond of the connotations, she slowly learned to become an assassin and spy. Even if the descriptions of her task is unsavory, she believed it was for the best, thinking that she could be used to suss out any danger and erase it before it could blossom to endanger all those around her. She was... Optimistic those days.

It breaks her heart then, to see the path the Yakuza has taken. She habors a sense of guilt at being unable to see when things started to turn and being unable to do anything about. Either bound by her loyalty or blinded by the lies she told herself, there was little she could do to against the changing tide. But still she remains in the one place she feels she belongs; refusing to live in the past, and unwilling to think about the future, acting only in the moment to the best of her judgement.


So begins...

Miu Yoshihara's Story

Characters Present

Character Portrait: Miu Yoshihara Character Portrait: Chiyoko Matsumura
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#, as written by Alligot
The cold air kissed Chiyoko's face and the moonlight above illuminated her path, a blessing from the kami themselves. Her breathing was slow, careful. Her steps deliberate and silent. Her gaze sweeping from side to side, scrutinizing every crack and nook as she passed. Her hand remained on one of her swords with a white-knuckled grip.

It was absolutely terrifying how many cats lived in Edo. How many pairs of eerie eyes stared daggers towards her from the shadows. Chiyoko never wanted to pay them mind - for cats wandering at night were often death omens, signalling a speedy demise for whoever locked eyes with them. But now, she was carefully watching for every single one. Looking for the barest hint of uncharacteristic intelligence.

Her heartbeat seemed impossibly loud. She swore it could echo through the street, that her own fear would reveal herself. She couldn't help but wonder if this was how her own targets had felt. Maybe this was karmic justice, the deeds she had done finally returning full-circle. For she was now the prey, the Hound hunted by the Kitten, sent by the Oyabun to punish Chiyoko's betrayal.

Her destination was a small, familiar shrine. There, she could find temporary sanctuary, and maybe have her swords purified by the Shrine Maiden. A blessed weapon was said to kill or maim yokai, after all, yet Chiyoko loathed the idea of testing it. She'd fought with and against Yokai before. For many, she was hardly a match.

In the distance, a dangerous yowling broke through the quiet night, warning Chiyoko to keep on the move. If the assassin was indeed following her, then they were doing a good job keeping well out of sight, as there was no sign of where the yowling might have came from. Somehow, it seemed to come from all directions at once and none at all. Illusions of a blue eyeshine seemed to follow her, though never for a moment at a time. Perhaps it was only a trick of mind, the dim moonlight making it only seem like the eyes were following her.

All hopes that she had gone unnoticed were now dashed. Chiyoko's gaze swept from side to side, lit by fear. She wasn't too far from the shrine. Yet, she could feel a pressure. The intangible feeling that trickles down your back. A predatory gaze sizing her up for a kill. She hoped she was just being paranoid.

She cast a last glance over her shoulder as her hand found the familiar gate. Seeing nothing, she quickly inched it open, slipping inside the shrine's grounds. Her speed increased and she jogged across the paved road, heading straight for a small, brightly-painted building, expecting an arrow or dagger or any matter of weapon or mechanism to end her life... yet, as she slipped inside and closed the heavy door behind her, she found nothing of the sort. To her dismay, however, several candles were unlit - most had burned through their wicks. This shrine's keeper wasn't here.

The air lacked the sickly sweet smell of incense burning, an oddity for a shrine. What was even odder was perhaps the scent that replaced it. Heavy, choking, acrid, lingering tobacco smoke choked out anything and everything else, leaving only itself. It was also quiet, at least for the moment after Chiyoko entered the shrine. The temporary serenity was shattered soon after however by the jarring sound of something tapping against metal.

The sound revealed that she was not alone in the shrine. A blonde haired woman sat leaned back against a wall, her finger tapping against the bowl of her tobacco pipe in an attempt to expel the ash. "Ah, you're finally here," she said, looking up to Chiyoko. The dim light in the shrine gave her eyes an eerie reflective shine, and she continued to speak. "You certainly decided to take your time, didn't you?" she said, sticking the pipe into a corner of her mouth and taking a drag.

"Fortunately for you, I'm a patient one."

Chiyoko gave a sharp intake of breath, inhaling some of the acrid fumes. The smell lingered in her nose, her throat. A familiar smell, one she had gotten more than used to as a child. Her gaze snapped towards the woman’s, though wasn't it supposed to be a death omen, to lock eyes with a cat?

β€œWell… being marked for death makes one a bit careful. Want to take their time, you know?” Chiyoko replied, β€œI'm sure you of all people know, the faster someone runs, the easier they are to follow.”

β€œThough I don’t think that would've mattered. You already knew where I was going.” Slow, surprisingly steady hands found one of Chiyoko’s swords. A metallic ring echoed through the thick walls as she drew the short blade, the subtle carvings upon it’s length seeming to glimmer with the pale light.

"Hm, fair enough," the woman agreed, "though most would have tried to escape the city rather than seek shelter in a temple." If the woman was at all perturbed by the sword now undoubtedly meant for her, she didn't show it at all. She merely paused for a moment and looked the instrument up and down before inhaling another drag, this time sending the resulting plume of smoke toward Chiyoko's direction. "You know, if I truly wished you dead, then I wouldn't have waited for you to draw your blade."

β€œAnd most would do the job they were told to do.” Chiyo retorted defensively. She gave a small flick, making a brief attempt to disperse the oncoming smoke. At the woman’s second statement, Chiyoko lowered her hands, the tip of her weapon barely skirting the ground. β€œThen why did you wait? I don’t think it’s because you just suddenly became a bleeding heart.”

A drawn out exaggerated sigh escaped from the woman's lips and her shoulders seemed to droop. "Not so much a bleeding heart as someone who does not wish to waste the effort for such a foolish reason." She readjusted her legs on the floor, but otherwise made no move to stand or assume a readied stance. "At this point in time I would undoubtedly have to fight you, of which I may or may not win. And if I did win, I would then have to dispose of the body somehow. Not to mention the resulting blood I would then have to clean out of my clothes and hair, which is a terribly difficult thing to do. So... You can understand my reluctance."

She sighed again and leaned back against the wall. "You've been in my position before. Hunting down the defectors who had betrayed their family. Tell me, do you have any regrets? Any thing you wished you would've done differently? Someone you wished you didn't put to the sword?" She asked, curiously watching Chiyoko.

Chiyoko gave a second, more thorough look at the woman, tilting her head somewhat. Her stance lowered, and for the moment, she seemed to calm. However her sword remained in a careful grip as she replied, giving a faint sigh, β€œIt's a common thing for people, to wish that this or that had been done differently.”

β€œBack then, no. I might have doubted, but I did not regret. As you said… they were traitors.” Chiyoko carefully spoke, β€œMany of our loyalties were questioned. I wanted, no - needed - to prove mine. I was afraid of being branded a traitor myself, accused of not being loyal enough to do what needed to be done.”

β€œIt did help that more than a few were degenerates. Some had stolen, some had killed their kin over petty squabbles, or other similar crimes. They were types I’d have no issue hunting even under normal circumstances. Made it much easier to justify.” She said dryly. β€œThe others? They - they were the true Yakuza in all but name. They saw where it went wrong. They were my true family, and when they left, I didn't follow out of fear. And because of that fear, they died.”

There was a small pause, β€œIs that the answer you were looking for, Miu?” Chiyoko asked.

"Mm," Miu hummed, though if she was pleased or displeased with the answer it did not show on her face. "Now, do you believe they are still traitors, such as yourself. The ones who looked at themselves in the mirror and did not like what they saw. Or do you run now because you were forced to? If you had the choice, would you still remain, and continue to hunt down others like you?" With that, the woman finally rose to her feet and brushed the dust off of her clothes.

She stared at Chiyoko for a moment before she continued. "Just... Understand. The word traitor isn't so clear cut, the world we live in isn't painted in black and whites. To them, we were probably the traitors, and who's to say they weren't right?" She took the pipe out of her mouth and tapped it, ashes fluttering from the steel bowl. "Like I said, if I wanted to kill you, I would've tried it by now instead of lecturing you. But," she added with a single slender finger. "A word of warning. Leave. Quickly. Lay low and do not show your face. Next time, we'll not have this chat. I doubt you'll even see me."

With that, the woman turned to leave, but she paused mid-step. She turned back and tilted her head to the side, her pipe raising in between her lips. "For future references, an ordinary blade hurts just as much as a blessed one. A sword to the throat is a sword to the throat, no matter who's throat. Blessing or no, not much is getting up from that." That was it, Miu turned and left, leaving nothing behind but the scent of tobacco and ashes.

Chiyoko gave the exit a lingering look, sheathing her wakizashi with a metallic trill. She couldn't help but wonder what Yōichirō would be told... Miu didn't seem the sort to lie, especially not to him. She also didn't seem one for mercy, yet Chiyoko was still alive. Seemingly berated and lectured, but alive.

But would she have remained? In her current mindset, knowing what she did now, would she have stayed with the Yakuza if she could, in a universe where her uncle had not died? Of course, it was a foolish question. She would just find a way to rationalize it all again. It's what she did before.

She left the shrine a few minutes later, making a mental note to no longer trust even close friends within the Yakuza. If they had told Miu where she was going once, it would happen again. Not many are given a second chance at life. Even fewer are given a third.