Application

[timidscars]

Name: Levi
Journal: thecaffeinator
Contact: Already on file~
Other Characters Played: Zephyr Shadiene, Patchouli Knowledge, Nitori Kawashiro, Vanitas, Eucliwood Hellscythe

Series: Katawa Shoujo
Character: Ikezawa Hanako
Timeline: End of Lilly's Route (And after a period of her stay in Somarium)

Personality: Hanako is an extremely reclusive and quiet girl, who seems to be afraid of other people to the point that she will panic from most social contact. This is mainly due to her appearance. As a child, she barely survived a fire that killed the rest of her family that left her horribly scarred both physically and emotionally. She is very self-conscious about her appearance, often covering her scars with her hand or a hat. If she's being stared at, she becomes extremely nervous, and will leave the area in search of a place where she can be alone or with someone she trusts.

In addition to her fear of others, she hates herself deep down, blaming herself for her parents' deaths. She's prone to panic attacks when cornered or certain things are brought up - especially her birthday, as the accident that killed her family happened on her birthday. One thing she despises the most is being treated as weak. She doesn't like to be reminded that she's broken, especially from people she's trusted. Hanako finds it very hard to trust people, due to her own psyche and the fact that others have always seemed to stare, make fun of or bully her due to her appearance. The only person she truly trusts is a blind girl named Lilly, another student at Yamaku Academy. As Lilly was blind, she couldn't judge Hanako based on her appearance as others did, and they became nearly inseparable friends.

Although Hanako shies away from contact with others, there are things she enjoys, which are the few times when she rarely smiles and opens up a little. She spends most of her time in the school library reading, and when feeling stressed will often skip class to sit in a back corner and read. She also has a slightly competitive side, shown when she plays chess or other games. She also spends time having tea with Lilly on a regular basis, and sometimes even likes to try and cook, although Lilly suggests that it doesn't always go well.

Hanako is very soft spoken, and people often have a hard time hearing her. She tends to think a lot about what she's going to say, as if she's afraid she'll mess up, although she does stutter often. When she's relaxed, she doesn't stutter as much, but it increases when she's stressed, and her whole body becomes visibly rigid and she may begin to shake. From the point Hanako is being taken from, she isn't quite as nervous around others as she used to be, due to her friendships with Lilly and Hisao. She even goes so far as to join the newspaper club, becoming friends with its members, and planning to spend her summer vacation with them, as Lilly was leaving for Scotland.

Background: Hanako's childhood began fairly normally, up until she was eight. On the night of her eighth birthday as she and her parents were sleeping, a fire started. Her mother shielded her from the flames, and died in the process. Her father perished as well in the fire. Only Hanako was pulled out of the burning house alive, although she suffered severe burns over the right half of her body. Alive, but in critical condition, she was brought to a hospital where she spent several months recovering from her burns. She made it, but was horribly scarred in more ways than one. She blamed herself for her parents' deaths and wishes she had never been born.

Once she was well enough, Hanako was brought to an orphanage. Here she began to develop her self-consciousness and fear of others. The fact that she was bullied throughout middle school due to her scars certainly didn't help any. Although the staff at the orphanage treated her kindly, she felt like an outcast. People constantly stared at her scars, unnerving her. The only escape she found from everything was reading books in the orphanage's library. She watched as other children were adopted until she was one of the oldest left.

Instead of going on to high school, Hanako was instead sent to Yamaku Academy, a private school specifically for disabled children. Although she was in a place where everyone had their own scars, disfigurements, or other ailments, there were still those who stared at her and judged her. She took to skipping class from time to time, hiding in the library where it was quiet and she could be alone. The school also made her see a therapist during her stay, hoping to help her. She eventually met a blind girl named Lilly, whose dorm room was next to her own. Lilly became the first person to actually 'see' who Hanako was beneath the scars. The two soon became nearly inseparable friends, although Hanako's psyche still didn't improve much.

She still preferred solitude and quiet, rather than the company of anyone other than Lilly, although she soon befriended Lilly's sister Akira as well. However, she still had a tendency to skip class to be alone. As her birthday approached, she'd become more and more distant, a husk of a person. On her birthday, she shuts herself in her dorm room, refusing contact with anyone. Although she would eventually come back out after a few days of solitude, it worried Lilly greatly. Lilly acted almost like a mother figure towards her, as well as a friend. Hanako deep down didn't like the fact that Lilly seemed to go out of her way to protect her, but never spoke up about it.

Hanako and Lilly would have lunch together everyday in a quiet room that few ever went to. They ended up referring to it as the tea room, and became one of Hanako's sanctuaries. Sometimes Hanako would cook something for lunch to share with Lilly, although she wasn't the best at it. They would also occasionally play a game of chess, one of the few things she enjoyed. During what was to be her final year at Yamaku, a new student was transferred into her class. A young man named Nakai Hisao. As he introduced himself and looked over the class, she shyly covered her face. She met him again later while she was reading a book in her corner of the library. Hisao walked over to her and began trying to talk to her, which startled her. She remained for a moment before retreating, too shy to be capable of holding a conversation.

As the days passed, Hisao began showing up to the tea room, having been invited by Lilly to have lunch with them. Still rather nervous, her conversations were short, but she slowly became more comfortable around him as she got to know him better, and would become her second friend since her arrival at Yamaku. The trio would meet for lunch nearly every day, and Hanako opens up a bit towards Hisao. Eventually, Hanako's birthday approaches, and Hisao and Lilly decide to throw her a little party beforehand, as Lilly had to travel to Scotland to see her parents. She actually enjoys the party, and her gifts from them both. Then Akira shows up and her gift? Wine. For the three minors. Needless to say, the three of them get drunk and end up spending the night in Lilly's dorm room. Nothing happens between the three of them, except for the nasty hangover they'd receive in the morning.

When Lilly and Akira leave for Scotland, Hanako accompanies Hisao to see them off and wish them a safe trip. School went by fairly normally for the next few days. Then Hanako stopped appearing in class as it got closer to her birthday. She shut herself away in her dorm, not wanting to come out or see anyone. Hisao stops by to deliver handouts from their class, but she stayed silent. He remarks to himself that she seemed almost like an empty husk. This goes on for several days, before Hisao tries to reason with Hanako, and threatens to call Lilly. She simply tells him to go away, not even answering the door. He gives up and calls Lilly anyway, who informs him that the same thing happened the year before, and she would come out when she was ready.

Several days after Hanako's 18th birthday had passed, she did indeed start returning to class and her normal activities. Then Lilly and Akira returned, which Hanako was glad for. With the holidays coming up, Akira offers to let the trio stay at her summer cabin for the holidays in Hokkaido. They do end up traveling to the cabin for the holidays and plan to have an enjoyable vacation. However, Hisao begins to have a heart attack, which horrifies Hanako and Lilly, which forces them to go back to the cabin while he recovered. It's after this that Lilly tells Hanako that she and Hisao are now dating, which Hanako approves of, glad for her friends.

They return to school and their normal routines after the holidays. At some point, Hanako is approached by Natsume Ooe, and Naomi Inoue, members of the newspaper club with an offer to join them. Hanako accepts the offer, and ends up doing rather well, mainly with computer work for the school newspaper. She ends up befriending the two, and occasionally spent time with them when she wasn't hanging out with Lilly and Hisao, which was now somewhat less frequently now that the other two were dating.

Nearing the end of the school year, Lilly reveals to Hanako and Hisao that she will be leaving for Scotland again, but this time for good. Hanako accepts this, knowing that they would still be friends, and wishes her well. She then plans to spend her summer vacation with her friends from the newspaper club, traveling across Japan. This is the point where she was taken into Somarium.

Upon arriving in the dream world known as Somarium, Hanako was frightened and confused. Luckily, there were several kind people who informed her of her situation and helped her find a place to live. One of these people was Yvaine, a kind woman who was actually a Star. Not celebrity-wise, but the twinkling in the sky kind. She became Hanako's first new friend in Somarium. She also befriended a few others, most notably Rosalia Rosselini, a fellow orphan. One of her fellow students from Yamaku also appeared at one point, Shizune Hakamichi. While Shizune and Lilly never really got alone well, Hanako sort of made peace with her and occasionally met for board games and tea.

Although life was fairly normal for the most part, there were not so normal things to. For one, occasionally dreams would broadcast themselves over the network. One of them was a nightmare of Hanako's. Memories of the fire that claimed her parents, as well as her stay in the hospital's burn ward. There were better dreams that sometimes showed up too, but Hanako tried not to pay too much attention to them. There were a few awkward situations too. Such as the mistletoe incidents, where she was forced to kiss others to be free. And there was always the chance of stumbling into other people's dreams as well, which she felt bad about, but people really didn't seem to mind so much.

Hanako became slightly more open with people during her stay, and actually somewhat enjoyed it, although she missed her friends back home. Then something went wrong. Everyone was trapped in their dreams for a while, unable to wake up. During these dreams, Hanako fell and got injured. Unaware of the significance of this, it turned out that Rose had cut herself and bled on that spot earlier. Rose was the carrier for a very deadly virus. And Hanako contracted it after she woke up. She spent nearly two weeks in the hospital being treated and recovering. While she didn't blame Rose for it because it was an accident, the stay in the hospital brought back all of Hanako's bad memories. She was recovering from the virus, but it was taking its toll on her emotionally, as well. Her friends were there to back her up however, so she didn't give in to despair. She was stronger now, and she couldn't give up.

Hanako will be taken from the night before she was admitted to be released from the hospital.


Abilities/Additional Notes: Hanako has no special powers or abilities. She does however have an unhealthy habit of being extremely antisocial, as well as shutting herself in around her birthday. Hanako is also prone to panic attacks, and appears to suffer from Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder.

Hanako will retain all memories of her previous stay in Paradise, as well as her memories of Somarium.

Advocate Note: Hanako is not an advocate.

Sample Journal Post:
[Audio]
[The feed is quiet for a moment, as if the 3STP's owner was trying to figure out what exactly to say. Finally, a familiar, quiet voice begins to speak.]

...it l-looks like I'm s-stuck here again.

Has...anything ch-changed?

[Hanako doesn't sound very pleased by this turn of events, but then again who ever was pleased when they arrived in Paradise?]




Sample RP:
Test Drive Comm Post!