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Applications Two
APPLICATIONS ARE CLOSED!
The next application opening date is Friday 16th January, 7pm EST.
The next application processing date is Friday 23rd January, 7pm EST.
IMPORTANT: PLEASE POST YOUR APPLICATIONS HERE ON THE NEW APPLICATION PAGE
We're so glad you're thinking of joining us in Haven, where we are all safe.
In order to apply for a canon character, please fill out the information below and post it in a comment in this entry. For an OC, please apply using the OC information. Please do not link to applications, all applications must be posted here. Please do not delete your applications; if you do not want it to be seen, you can request for it to be screened after a decision is made.
You may apply for two characters every application round, to a total of six characters. Only two of these may be from the same canon, and they cannot be too familiar with one another. Please make sure to mark the header of your comment(s) with RESERVED or NOT RESERVED, as well as the character name and canon. App challenges are not allowed currently.
Try to remember spelling and grammar are important, and in app length quality and not quantity is what matters. All parts of the application must be your own work, plagiarism will not be tolerated, though you are welcome to reuse your own old applications.
If you are asked for revisions, please don't panic! It doesn't mean the mods don't like you, only that we probably need more information before making a decision. If you are asked for revisions, you will have one week to supply them.
Applications are open on a monthly cycle, where they will be opened on the second Friday of every month for a week, and then processed on the third Friday of the month, before being closed again.
We now have a test drive community athaventest which is continuously open. Posts there may be used in lieu of a sample in the application. You may also link posts, logs, or threads from other games and memes in lieu of samples, though we ask that they be no more than one year old. As of November 22nd 2014, samples cannot be "where am I" intro posts. The reason for this is that we often find it hard to gauge characterization from those, as most people when immediately in a new surrounding are confused or frightened.
While we encourage players who have dropped to re-join us, we do not encourage the continual rapid dropping and re-apping of the same character in a short time period. You are welcome to request specific housing, and all attempts will be made to accommodate that request, but it may not always be possible.
To see what we are looking for:
Canon Characters:
Sample Application (Faith Lehane)
Sample Application (Iroh)
Original Characters:
Sample Application (Mors)
Sample Application (Vera de Barr)
Sample Application (Malkus Iverwelling)
Previous Game History:
Sample Application (Abel Nightroad/Mayfield RPG)
Sample Application (Bolin/Discedo)
The old application post can be found here if you would like to look through past accepted applications.
Applications will be open on the following dates (from 7pm EST):
12th-19th December
16th-23rd January
Applications will be processed on the following dates (at 7pm EST):
19th December
23rd January
To apply for a canon character, please fill out this form:
To apply for an original character, please fill out this form:
HAJIME SAITOU ★ hakuouki ★ RESERVED
At first glance, to view Saitou in his general personality, it could be concluded he tries to conform to what would be considered a 'model example'. He's quiet, rarely speaking unless spoken, polite to a fault ( even with his enemies—well, most of his enemies... ), and he's calm and difficult to anger, living according to the code he's pledged to so strictly that there are never any gray areas. He can be cold and he can be ruthless, no doubt ( and he is quite cold to strangers, in particular—especially ones who are deemed a threat to the Shinsengumi ), but he comes off more apathetic to the world around him more than either of the others. The apathy, however, would be easily noticed by someone who is not on the point-end of his blade and making a general attempt to simply observe him that it's not actually out of lack of care so much as it is for image out of respect.
Saitou takes his role both as a member of the Shinsengumi and as a person who has chosen the sword as a way of life seriously to a point appearance is just as important as actual execution. It can be misleading in terms of seeing what type of person he really is, but this effort to always show balance in temperament and in choice actually demonstrates just how passionate he can be. His willingness to display such a front comes from many things, but one of the most critical would be out the respect to those that have become important to him and given him meaning in his own life to begin with. People like Kondou Isami and Hijikata Toshizou, who accepted him when no one else would. The amount of gratitude, admiration and respect he has for these individuals is shown in the only way Saitou knows how: and that's how he presents himself to the rest of the world and represents the way of life he lives by.
However, it's also not that difficult to get to see various other sides of him if one were to spend time around him. Granted, he prefers to be alone in his free time, often only seen with Okita Souji ( the Shinsengumi captain of the 1st Unit ) for greater lengths of time than the period of a meal or meeting, but he is less intentionally aloof and more by nature a quiet and shy individual.
In fact, he's nothing like one would expect the third division captain of the Shinsengumi to be like when his guard is let down. He's shy, but always polite to a fault and is often the listener in a conversation rather than the speaker. When he does speak, however, he is short and to the point as to not mince words. He is also well listened to and he has gained a reputation of conveying important insights and concerns. He also never complains and is quite strict in upholding the rules, making him a little less fun than some of the other captains despite being the second youngest of the group. He's also very kind, his loyalty and his passion for things strong. The ones he's come to care about mean a great deal to him and he never forges these relationships expecting the same in return. He's very protective of his own, as well—not just his friends, but his men, too. While he won't go out of his way to cause an issue, he won't let innocent people simply be harmed, either.
Perhaps the easiest way to sum Saitou up here would be his execution of balance in everything he does, but without allowing true neutrality to create moral ambiguity. Justice, honor, humility, respect—all of those are important to him and weigh in his decisions in day to day life. And when in his more personal life, he's a simple person to be around. Too simple for some, but he's never been good at changing for other people and Hijikata has done nothing but make that even more difficult to expect otherwise.
GENERAL II.
As much as Saitou strives to live a balanced and honorable way, everyone has their faults that make otherwise simple goals difficult to actually achieve.
While Saitou's words are confident and grounded in his faith, Kazama Chikage's words do ring true, in a sense, as well. The most troublesome nature of this weakness may very well be if Saitou himself is aware of it or not. As elaborated below in his relationship section with the Shinsengumi vice-commander, Hijikata Toshizou, Saitou is quite used to being told he follows blindly. However, he's also shown that he can and will lead when necessary. But, the thing that Kazama's words ring true for are not necessarily whether he can or cannot think for himself. It's moreso a question of if any of his ideals and goals could be technically called his own.
It's true that he lives out his choices to the best he can, but it's also very true he is who he is because of meeting Kondou Isami and Hijikata Toshizou. And how he lives is the embodiment of what Hijikata strives to prove—that anyone can be what they wish to be so long as they want it bad enough to get it. But, it's arguable whether Saitou does much in life in terms of wanting. He's very selfless and he puts all his efforts forward, never doing anything with less than his best. However, in getting caught up representing someone else's goals, it seems he lacks any of his own. There's nothing out there he strives for in life personally, nothing he wants. And when he does want something, he finds it inappropriate to want because it's not necessary to be of service to Shinsengumi.
Which wouldn't be so bad if for the fact that once Saitou's stoicism is broken past, he is very capable of intense emotions that he has not familiarized himself with enough to properly get a handle on. He's hard to break, but under there is the capability to truly hate, to fear, to desire. He becomes reckless and impulsive, making choices with no consideration so long as immediate gratification may be had ( such as when he's granted the choice of taking the ochimizu in his fight with Kazama—his need to protect Chizuru, to protect his men, to not fail the orders he was given—it's also done in a direct attempt to survive in order to simply strike back and kill Kazama. For Saitou, Kazama did the impossible and the overall result that befalls him in regards to Kazama demonstrates a very dangerous flaw. Even long past the event itself, Saitou is quick to lose his general sense when it comes to Kazama, unable to calm the poison and rage that boils his blood and in his heart.
He's also dangerously fearful of the idea of disappointing Hijikata or losing his respect/acceptance. It's almost childlike in its nature, but if the first person to accept him were to ever turn around and reject him, that would unravel just about everything he's become since then.
Another weakness he has is he overworks himself, a little more than hypocritical in that aspect ( but, what can you do... ), to the point of being detriment to his health. In his route in game, he overworks himself to the point of collapsing ( something even Hijikata in his crazy work ethics didn't manage to do in his route—but I can also chalk that up to Hijikata being able to handle overworking himself than Saitou because that's just the type of person his is).
Finally, he has a really big issue of understanding his own self-worth. He's willing to die to protect those he cares about or what he's fighting for, but has a difficult time with the idea that his own well-being is just as important, especially to some of the people that matter most to him.
RELATIONSHIP: Hijikata Toshizou.
To understand Saitou's seemingly over-the-top loyalty to the Shinsengumi and his willingness to obey any orders, the relationship between Hijikata and Saitou has to be taken into account because it ( along with Kondou Isami's kindness ) is responsible for such. More than to the Shinsengumi, Saitou is mostly loyal to Hijikata first and foremost, and in his eyes there is nothing blind about why he does so. He follows the other because Hijikata was the first person to tell him there was nothing wrong with being left-handed; nothing wrong with being different. Hijikata was impressed with him for who he was and what he had to offer, without prejudice, and for someone who suffered prejudice over his left-handedness ( and always had a difficult time understanding what was wrong with it himself ) constantly ( including being accused of breaking rules simply by being left-handed and thus invalidated ), it has a weighted impact that he's carried with him since that day. For the person who could accept him as who he was and what he had to offer—to encourage him to be exceptional by being different rather than decent in conforming to the norms—wishing to support him and follow him isn't that much to offer in terms of gratitude. Especially since with Hijikata and the rest of the Shinsengumi, he has the acceptance he's wished for. And Saitou spends a great much of his time wishing for very few things in his life, but Hijikata's constant approval is one of the few and it tops that list, as well.
However, Saitou doesn't consider his loyalty and willingness to perform orders without question as blind, mainly because of two reasons:
1.It's only towards Hijikata that he demonstrates this. For example, when Serizawa Kamo, who at the time is above Hijikata in terms of rank in their group, commands Saitou to cut the hair of some dancers due to them angering him over their unwillingness to comply with his demands, Saitou actually hesitates and is heard by Ibuki questioning under his breath as to whether he should or should not obey. It's only once Hijikata reiterates the command at Saitou that he complies with it without further hesitance, but Ibuki notes the hesitance is quite clear prior to Hijikata speaking up.
2. It's because he trusts Hijikata to make the right decisions and he has yet to feel Hijikata is making the wrong decisions. He hold extremely high respect for the older man but it is seen ( from where he's being pulled from in his canon point here, even ) that he is not willing to let even Hijikata force him into something he truly doesn't want to do. Granted, there's a lot more to it than that ( because Hijikata is a lot more to him than a commanding officer), but it still demonstrates quite well that he is anything but blind.
He has difficultly defying Hijikata or crossing him, but it's out of respect and not out of fear. And keep that respect, Hijikata has to continuously show such trust and respect makes sense to hold onto.
That said, it's also true that since these are things he has never felt the need to question or divert from that he can be a be more or less compared to a puppy in the way it will follow its master, regardless of what happens. It's blind adoration and the need to be noticed and accepted, to potential fault but it's also only because he's never been exposed to anything to make him know anything else. Even when he doesn't understand Hijikata's reasoning, he trusts him enough to have faith that it's the correct action.
On a more personal level, he has a great fondness of Hijikata but not the familiarity or closeness that he feels makes him any more than a subordinate. So, to him, it's really one-sided ( but he doesn't care at all, because it's to be expected ). Like Kondou is to Souji, he suffers from hero-worship taken a little too far since while he's not willing to stand by and let a man he adores and respects make awful decisions that would jeopardize his reputation and that of the Shinsengumi, but he's also willing without a second thought to follow after him and die for him in the process—even when it's logically seen before it begins that it will be a losing battle.