Haku Yowane | Castle in the Mist | App
Feb. 9th, 2012 12:47 pmPlayer Name: JeniOctavia
Player Contact: AIM | JeniOctavia
email: jenioctavia at gmail dot com
Currently Played: Duo Maxwell |![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
duomaxwell
Character Name: Yowane Haku | 弱音ハク
Background:
Earth, 2007. A new technological marvel had been created, and the whole world was sitting up to take notice. Cybernetic androids with the programmed ability to sing, dance, play instruments and perform had become a sensation over night with the release of VOACLOID Hatsune Miku, and everyone wanted a piece of the action.
Well... that was part of the story. Vocaloid as a program, an idea and as prototype and working models of androids had been around since the early 2000’s, but it was Miku’s release that thrust her, Vocaloid, and the companies that created Vocaloid in to the lime light.
The unfortunate fact was that not everyone could be a part of this amazing movement. Only one company, Crypton, had succeeded where so many others had failed. Others had come before them, some from over seas and some locally, but they were rough and barely holding a candle to the five that Crypton had made. MEIKO, Kaito, Miku, and the twin units Rin and Len Kagamine were the ones everyone were all a-buzz about after Miku’s release, and with good reason - they had something the others didn’t. Kokoro - artificial souls. Seemingly small, insignifigant things that gave Vocaloids a spark of life and access to human emotions, desires and personalities. This one little thing was what made them stand out from the rest, and it was this little thing that Crypton wasn’t giving up easily.
Some were just desperate enough to find a way to steal the secrets and begin the attempt at making VOCALOIDs for themselves, regardless of what Crypton wanted. Blueprints, parts and plans were stolen, but they were missing several key components needed to make their creations as well as the first company had. They were taking a great financial risk, attempting to reproduce what had been done before with sub par equipment. But they did so anyway, even going so far as to at least make a successfully working Kokoro unit from the stolen plans.
Yowane Haku was their first, followed by Akita Neru, both modeled after their predecessor and the one everyone wanted to have, Hatsune Miku. What they found was horribly disappointing. Neither girls had the clear, clean voice that Miku had, and no amount of tweaking or fiddling with their vocal systems seemed to help. They also seemed to lack decent performance skills as well. To make matters worse, their personalities were completely on opposite ends of the spectrum from perky, genki Miku. Neru simply didn’t care what her masters wanted, and Haku quickly fell in to depression at her inability to do anything properly, and was found more often than not at the end of a sake bottle, trying to drink her cares away.
Others were made in continuing attempts to get something better, but in the end all attempts failed. They were beginning to hemorrhage money from their own failures and repeated attempts and soon enough they found it better to quit while they were ahead and keep what they had, hoping that some how they’d eventually find a use for them. Their only real assets seemed to be Dell Honne, who was a surprisingly dedicated song writer and manager rather than a singer, and Haku, who was basically walking, talking, poor-singing “fanservice”.
Haku had been designed with certain... assets in mind thanks to the less than clean-minded techs that had created her and when music had failed the company completely, they turned to other means of obtaining money, using Haku in ways that were not entirely kosher. Most were as simple as making videos with her poor singing skills that highlighted other aspects of her body and garnered a lot of underground fans throughout Japan, but it was the other things they forced her to do that involved shady businessmen and hotel bedrooms that left her even more broken than when she had started.
Thankfully this didn’t last long, as those failed attempts at VOCALOIDs and the thefts were later found out by the original company thanks to the videos they had produced with Haku and some of the others. After a lengthy lawsuit, the company was put entirely out of business, the techs thoroughly ostracised and the failed attempts were adopted by Crypton to be part of their original line up. Even those that had no real musical skills were given a place, working in other departments in the company, like Dell who was put in to a more managerial position along with his song writing duties.
Meeting Miku for the first time was a terribly nerve wracking experience for Haku, who had been told for so long that she was nothing like the original and never would be. She really didn’t know what the other VOCALOID was going to think of her given all that, and was convinced Miku would hate her. But she was pleasantly surprised to find that Miku’s hyper bubbly personality was more than just a public act. She was the kindest, sweetest person Haku had ever met, and instantly accepted the “younger” VOCALOID as her sister, instantly taking to calling her “Haku Haku-nee”. The others responded well in turn, the older ones taking her and her kind under their wing within the company while the younger ones clung like little siblings to new adopted family.
It was Miku’s encouragement and the warm welcome of the others that started to pull Haku away from drinking away her depression, a quiet urging in her heart telling her she could maybe, just maybe, be more than what she had started out as. Miku wanted her to be a part of the family, on the road and in the company, and convinced her that she wasn’t nearly as bad as she thought she was. Miku insisted she start practicing with her, in dance and singing, and over time Haku’s skills slowly grew and became better, especially when she added in learning to play guitar on top of that. Her fan base only grew as her skills did, Crypton releasing new videos with her that quickly gained popularity.
She was never quite on par with Miku, nor was she ever going to be as popular, but she was good enough for fans to start taking notice, and soon enough people who once pegged Haku as ‘tsumanne’ (boring/useless) began changing their tune. She had enough of a fan following that Crypton offically changed her status (as well as Neru’s) from “variation” to “officially adopted”, and when she wasn’t with VOCALOID vocally she was often backing them up via guitar, an instrument she had become very good with.
About a year and a half later, good news came their way. They were beginning to get sponsors. Companies like Sony, Toyota and many more wanted them as mascots for advertising and the like, and beyond that Sega even wanted to make a rhythm based video game featuring the VOCALOIDs and their music. Crypton agreed and signed them all on, even working out a deal where Haku and Neru would appear in the game. The game featured them in their own PVs produced for the game as well as extra features like alternate costumes and a Diva Room where people could customize rooms for the individual VOCALOIDs to hang out it. It was appropriately titled Hatsune Miku: Project Diva, as she was the one at the forefront of it all, and was a massive hit with the fans, spawning several sequels and versions made for multiple game systems. Minor stardom had become intense fame at last for everyone involved, even the one once considered a failure.
Years passed. Crypton had eventually allowed their technology to be released to other, legitimate companies for a price, and many other VOCALOIDs (and an off shoot- UTAU, a subset that were made by more amature creators) were produced. To keep up with the demands and the constantly growing technology, older VOCALOIDs started to get upgrades, starting with Miku’s “Append” upgrade and eventually going so far as to adopt another technology from another company, namely solar-powered options for the androids so they didn’t have to concern themselves with recharging with other means.
Haku had a good life with Crypton. She may not have been the happiest android around, but she was on a long road to becoming something better. And for the time being that was enough for her.
Personality:
Once upon a time, Haku was an angst bucket to the ‘nth degree. Her way of dealing with existing was to try to find meaning at the bottom of a sake bottle, but that only ever resulted in drunkenness. Not that it mattered to her - being drunk was better than being sober and having to listen to her original creator do nothing but berate her and leave her in tears, among other things. There was really no complexity about it - from the first time she sang and her creator found out what he had made was NOT what he wanted, she was treated as nothing more than an inferior piece of equipment that was taking up space. Her first year of existence was the equivalent of twenty-plus years of verbal abuse of parent to child - she was told she was useless, therefore she believed she was useless.
Thankfully being rescued by Crypton, given a proper home, a proper family, and a chance to grow and hone her lacking skills at her own pace with encouragement rather than harshness has helped her a great deal for growing out of this. She’s still naturally quiet, a little on the shy side, not always open or big on conversation, but instead of being constantly depressed she’s simply an introverted contrast to her “sister”, Miku. She probably trusts too easily, often a bit too naive for her own good, and still not fully aware that humans can lie far too easily. She’s honest almost to a fault, which makes her just that easy to deceive, and sadly in that sense she’s nearly like a child, simply too damn sheltered to really know any better.
And like a child, she’s far more emotional that one would believe an android to be. She cries easier than Miku, is easier to hurt emotionally, has difficulty pulling herself out of sadness and heartache when it does occur, and can only bottle up anger and upset for so long before it explodes from her in fits nearing tantrums. She’s less likely to take solace in a bottle of sake now and more likely to go to some one she trusts when it gets to that point, but that’s not to say she’s completely over how she used to be.
Oddly she doesn’t warm up to many people right off the bat. There will be exceptions, of course, but as a whole she’s often the one in the background doing the least ammount of socalizing in a crowd. Once she does warm up to others, though (and she will, it just takes time), they’re more than likely going to become like family to her. Haku is big on the concept of family, and people aren’t just close friends to her - they’re other brothers and sisters. She feels big, and she loves just as big. Once she opens up she’s warm, affectionate, caring and is the kind of person that would try to go the extra mile for some one she cares about just because she can. Unfortunately this means she also worries big, and she’s empathetic enough that when her family is hurting, she’s hurting, too.
She still lacks confidence. She hasn’t gained nearly as much as she would like, and often feels her skills “aren’t good enough”. More often than not before she performs, she’ll apologize for not being as good as her sister (hell, she apologizes for APOLOGIZING sometimes. She’s got Colette Brunel Syndrome) even when she’s tried her best.. Compliments make her blush, praise makes her flail, and trying to call her ‘cute’ will just have her red-faced and hiding behind her hands. Ironically comments about her more attractive features or relative hotness will either be met with much less resistance. It’s ‘cute’ or variations there of that seems to get her blushing more often than not.
Haku didn’t start out complex, but four years is a long time for an AI to learn and grow, and she’s fully aware she’s got a lot more learning to do before her life, however long it is, is finally over.
Abilities:
Aside from being a very realistic human-like android with a computer brain that can sing and play instruments (favoring the acoustic and electric guitar), Haku doesn’t have any powers. She’s just plain ol’ Vocaloid. Well, knock off Vocaloid. She does, however, have a natural curiosity that’s led her to learning a bit about her own technology, to the point where she can make very minor repairs to herself in a pinch if need be, and should there be another technology-inclined individual around she can give instructions for further repairs. She’s not a master of it by any degree but she’s capable of learning more than just those skills should she work at it hard enough.
Note: Since remaining powered would be an issue normally, for this version of Haku she will have small, barely visible solar panels embedded in the synthetic skin on her arms that will keep her powered.
Writing Samples: You must include any TWO of the following:
links to 40+ IC comments
Here
Here
Here
a prose writing sample of at least 200 words about your character
Shadow - a look in to Haku’s life before Crypton’s adoption (warning: very slight hints of abuse and dub-con)
Player Contact: AIM | JeniOctavia
email: jenioctavia at gmail dot com
Currently Played: Duo Maxwell |
duomaxwellCharacter Name: Yowane Haku | 弱音ハク
Background:
Earth, 2007. A new technological marvel had been created, and the whole world was sitting up to take notice. Cybernetic androids with the programmed ability to sing, dance, play instruments and perform had become a sensation over night with the release of VOACLOID Hatsune Miku, and everyone wanted a piece of the action.
Well... that was part of the story. Vocaloid as a program, an idea and as prototype and working models of androids had been around since the early 2000’s, but it was Miku’s release that thrust her, Vocaloid, and the companies that created Vocaloid in to the lime light.
The unfortunate fact was that not everyone could be a part of this amazing movement. Only one company, Crypton, had succeeded where so many others had failed. Others had come before them, some from over seas and some locally, but they were rough and barely holding a candle to the five that Crypton had made. MEIKO, Kaito, Miku, and the twin units Rin and Len Kagamine were the ones everyone were all a-buzz about after Miku’s release, and with good reason - they had something the others didn’t. Kokoro - artificial souls. Seemingly small, insignifigant things that gave Vocaloids a spark of life and access to human emotions, desires and personalities. This one little thing was what made them stand out from the rest, and it was this little thing that Crypton wasn’t giving up easily.
Some were just desperate enough to find a way to steal the secrets and begin the attempt at making VOCALOIDs for themselves, regardless of what Crypton wanted. Blueprints, parts and plans were stolen, but they were missing several key components needed to make their creations as well as the first company had. They were taking a great financial risk, attempting to reproduce what had been done before with sub par equipment. But they did so anyway, even going so far as to at least make a successfully working Kokoro unit from the stolen plans.
Yowane Haku was their first, followed by Akita Neru, both modeled after their predecessor and the one everyone wanted to have, Hatsune Miku. What they found was horribly disappointing. Neither girls had the clear, clean voice that Miku had, and no amount of tweaking or fiddling with their vocal systems seemed to help. They also seemed to lack decent performance skills as well. To make matters worse, their personalities were completely on opposite ends of the spectrum from perky, genki Miku. Neru simply didn’t care what her masters wanted, and Haku quickly fell in to depression at her inability to do anything properly, and was found more often than not at the end of a sake bottle, trying to drink her cares away.
Others were made in continuing attempts to get something better, but in the end all attempts failed. They were beginning to hemorrhage money from their own failures and repeated attempts and soon enough they found it better to quit while they were ahead and keep what they had, hoping that some how they’d eventually find a use for them. Their only real assets seemed to be Dell Honne, who was a surprisingly dedicated song writer and manager rather than a singer, and Haku, who was basically walking, talking, poor-singing “fanservice”.
Haku had been designed with certain... assets in mind thanks to the less than clean-minded techs that had created her and when music had failed the company completely, they turned to other means of obtaining money, using Haku in ways that were not entirely kosher. Most were as simple as making videos with her poor singing skills that highlighted other aspects of her body and garnered a lot of underground fans throughout Japan, but it was the other things they forced her to do that involved shady businessmen and hotel bedrooms that left her even more broken than when she had started.
Thankfully this didn’t last long, as those failed attempts at VOCALOIDs and the thefts were later found out by the original company thanks to the videos they had produced with Haku and some of the others. After a lengthy lawsuit, the company was put entirely out of business, the techs thoroughly ostracised and the failed attempts were adopted by Crypton to be part of their original line up. Even those that had no real musical skills were given a place, working in other departments in the company, like Dell who was put in to a more managerial position along with his song writing duties.
Meeting Miku for the first time was a terribly nerve wracking experience for Haku, who had been told for so long that she was nothing like the original and never would be. She really didn’t know what the other VOCALOID was going to think of her given all that, and was convinced Miku would hate her. But she was pleasantly surprised to find that Miku’s hyper bubbly personality was more than just a public act. She was the kindest, sweetest person Haku had ever met, and instantly accepted the “younger” VOCALOID as her sister, instantly taking to calling her “Haku Haku-nee”. The others responded well in turn, the older ones taking her and her kind under their wing within the company while the younger ones clung like little siblings to new adopted family.
It was Miku’s encouragement and the warm welcome of the others that started to pull Haku away from drinking away her depression, a quiet urging in her heart telling her she could maybe, just maybe, be more than what she had started out as. Miku wanted her to be a part of the family, on the road and in the company, and convinced her that she wasn’t nearly as bad as she thought she was. Miku insisted she start practicing with her, in dance and singing, and over time Haku’s skills slowly grew and became better, especially when she added in learning to play guitar on top of that. Her fan base only grew as her skills did, Crypton releasing new videos with her that quickly gained popularity.
She was never quite on par with Miku, nor was she ever going to be as popular, but she was good enough for fans to start taking notice, and soon enough people who once pegged Haku as ‘tsumanne’ (boring/useless) began changing their tune. She had enough of a fan following that Crypton offically changed her status (as well as Neru’s) from “variation” to “officially adopted”, and when she wasn’t with VOCALOID vocally she was often backing them up via guitar, an instrument she had become very good with.
About a year and a half later, good news came their way. They were beginning to get sponsors. Companies like Sony, Toyota and many more wanted them as mascots for advertising and the like, and beyond that Sega even wanted to make a rhythm based video game featuring the VOCALOIDs and their music. Crypton agreed and signed them all on, even working out a deal where Haku and Neru would appear in the game. The game featured them in their own PVs produced for the game as well as extra features like alternate costumes and a Diva Room where people could customize rooms for the individual VOCALOIDs to hang out it. It was appropriately titled Hatsune Miku: Project Diva, as she was the one at the forefront of it all, and was a massive hit with the fans, spawning several sequels and versions made for multiple game systems. Minor stardom had become intense fame at last for everyone involved, even the one once considered a failure.
Years passed. Crypton had eventually allowed their technology to be released to other, legitimate companies for a price, and many other VOCALOIDs (and an off shoot- UTAU, a subset that were made by more amature creators) were produced. To keep up with the demands and the constantly growing technology, older VOCALOIDs started to get upgrades, starting with Miku’s “Append” upgrade and eventually going so far as to adopt another technology from another company, namely solar-powered options for the androids so they didn’t have to concern themselves with recharging with other means.
Haku had a good life with Crypton. She may not have been the happiest android around, but she was on a long road to becoming something better. And for the time being that was enough for her.
Personality:
Once upon a time, Haku was an angst bucket to the ‘nth degree. Her way of dealing with existing was to try to find meaning at the bottom of a sake bottle, but that only ever resulted in drunkenness. Not that it mattered to her - being drunk was better than being sober and having to listen to her original creator do nothing but berate her and leave her in tears, among other things. There was really no complexity about it - from the first time she sang and her creator found out what he had made was NOT what he wanted, she was treated as nothing more than an inferior piece of equipment that was taking up space. Her first year of existence was the equivalent of twenty-plus years of verbal abuse of parent to child - she was told she was useless, therefore she believed she was useless.
Thankfully being rescued by Crypton, given a proper home, a proper family, and a chance to grow and hone her lacking skills at her own pace with encouragement rather than harshness has helped her a great deal for growing out of this. She’s still naturally quiet, a little on the shy side, not always open or big on conversation, but instead of being constantly depressed she’s simply an introverted contrast to her “sister”, Miku. She probably trusts too easily, often a bit too naive for her own good, and still not fully aware that humans can lie far too easily. She’s honest almost to a fault, which makes her just that easy to deceive, and sadly in that sense she’s nearly like a child, simply too damn sheltered to really know any better.
And like a child, she’s far more emotional that one would believe an android to be. She cries easier than Miku, is easier to hurt emotionally, has difficulty pulling herself out of sadness and heartache when it does occur, and can only bottle up anger and upset for so long before it explodes from her in fits nearing tantrums. She’s less likely to take solace in a bottle of sake now and more likely to go to some one she trusts when it gets to that point, but that’s not to say she’s completely over how she used to be.
Oddly she doesn’t warm up to many people right off the bat. There will be exceptions, of course, but as a whole she’s often the one in the background doing the least ammount of socalizing in a crowd. Once she does warm up to others, though (and she will, it just takes time), they’re more than likely going to become like family to her. Haku is big on the concept of family, and people aren’t just close friends to her - they’re other brothers and sisters. She feels big, and she loves just as big. Once she opens up she’s warm, affectionate, caring and is the kind of person that would try to go the extra mile for some one she cares about just because she can. Unfortunately this means she also worries big, and she’s empathetic enough that when her family is hurting, she’s hurting, too.
She still lacks confidence. She hasn’t gained nearly as much as she would like, and often feels her skills “aren’t good enough”. More often than not before she performs, she’ll apologize for not being as good as her sister (hell, she apologizes for APOLOGIZING sometimes. She’s got Colette Brunel Syndrome) even when she’s tried her best.. Compliments make her blush, praise makes her flail, and trying to call her ‘cute’ will just have her red-faced and hiding behind her hands. Ironically comments about her more attractive features or relative hotness will either be met with much less resistance. It’s ‘cute’ or variations there of that seems to get her blushing more often than not.
Haku didn’t start out complex, but four years is a long time for an AI to learn and grow, and she’s fully aware she’s got a lot more learning to do before her life, however long it is, is finally over.
Abilities:
Aside from being a very realistic human-like android with a computer brain that can sing and play instruments (favoring the acoustic and electric guitar), Haku doesn’t have any powers. She’s just plain ol’ Vocaloid. Well, knock off Vocaloid. She does, however, have a natural curiosity that’s led her to learning a bit about her own technology, to the point where she can make very minor repairs to herself in a pinch if need be, and should there be another technology-inclined individual around she can give instructions for further repairs. She’s not a master of it by any degree but she’s capable of learning more than just those skills should she work at it hard enough.
Note: Since remaining powered would be an issue normally, for this version of Haku she will have small, barely visible solar panels embedded in the synthetic skin on her arms that will keep her powered.
Writing Samples: You must include any TWO of the following:
links to 40+ IC comments
Here
Here
Here
a prose writing sample of at least 200 words about your character
Shadow - a look in to Haku’s life before Crypton’s adoption (warning: very slight hints of abuse and dub-con)
