GRIN OF WINTER !?

[tsuzuki 都筑]

Let us begin this journey with a test.

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NAME: Tsuzuki 都筑
--- 都 Tsu | Metropolis 筑 Zuki | Instrument

ALIAS: Tsu, Zuki, Tsuki, Zu, however you fancy shortening it
AGE: 170 || Looks to be in mid to late teens
GENDER: Female
Race: Demon
DEMON TYPE: Yourozouku || Wolf Demon
RANK: C Rank Mikoyokai
ALIGNMENT: Neutral
REGION: Northern
LOCATION: Far Northern Mountains
FACE CLAIM: Visrin Veloce from Blackbird

So if the solution has been to never look in yourself, how is it that you expect to find it anywhere else...

| PROUD l SARCASTIC l SHORT TEMPERED l JUDGEMENTAL l CLEVER l LOYAL l

Personality? Let's just say Tsuzuki isn't the... Friendliest of demons. Arrogant, standoffish, and a strong sense of yourouzoku pride, she doesn't tend to play nice with others. Sarcasm is a favorite tool, and although she isn't incredibly bright, Zuki has a pretty good instinctual sense of when something isn't right... Usually. She puts herself on quite a high pedestal and believes herself better than everybody else, but is most certainly not above lies and trickery to achieve her ends-- she fights very, very dirty. In her mind, youkai are better than humans, and hanyou, but among youkai her own tribe-- the wolf demon tribe-- are the most important and therefore the only people worth her time... Hence, Tsuzuki makes a big point of avoiding other members of her tribe at all costs, least she be recognized or dragged back into their problems. She'll help them if she has to, but not before trying to get out of it any way she can.

Years of criticism on her mother's part have twisted her a little-- she was never good enough or pretty enough as a child, so Tsuzuki likes to make a spectacle of herself to prove that she is strong and is attractive... As much as she acts like she's the baddest thing out there, she knows that she isn't, and is usually pretty good about only picking fights she knows she can win... but even so, she's far too stubborn just to let something die and will hold grudges for a very, very long time. Her upbringing in a less-than-loving environment has also made her a little skeptical about love-- not that she doesn't believe it exists, it just isn't for her.

Tsuzuki's always been a bit of an actress, and likes to make herself out to be a little... crazier than she really is. Frequently she starts off fights acting childlike and giggly at the prospect of violence, but it's a facade that's easily broken once she actually gets angry... and that doesn't take a lot. She was difficult and opinionated as a child, as still is now-- her fuse is very, very short, and when she gets pissed she gets loud.

Her initial goal in leaving her parents pack [aside from collecting shikon shards] was to make a name for herself on her own, and prove to her mother that she's wasn't as pathetic as everyone thought...

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If I should ever fall and get caught in a hustle, let them know that I died while I fought in a struggle...

WEAPON(S):

Tsuzuki carries a katana, Aisuga, as a means to channel her abilities, custom made by a sword-smith she encountered a number of years ago, although it has never been and probably never will be used.

ABILITIES:

Tsuzuki's power is total control over the element of ice. This includes snow, and allows her a wide range of possibilities-- everything from freezing currently existing water, conjuring and controlling snow and ice based weather events, etc. However, it's much easier for her to do so when conditions are favorable, meaning when the weather is colder. Moving water, such as Rivers and Oceans, are much harder to work with as opposed to stagnant bodies.

Some minor abilities include illusionary tricks, and her ability to "transport" herself.

{Nameless} The ability to pull water out from the ground and freeze it into very large, dangerous 'icicles'. The more water in the ground, the easier it is, as she has to expand her powers farther into the ground to find a source of water when it's dry. She can also control the actual temperature, making things colder or warmer-- but it only works in enclosed spaces or close to her. Any object made of ice or snow is movable by Tsuzuki using youki-- though this does take much training to use larger things, and those made of snow as it tends to act as a single flake rather than a whole. She is also capable of walking on top of snow, rather than having to trudge through it.

``Frozen Fire. Blue-White flames that don't burn with heat-- it's more like being touched by dry ice. It can only be summoned into an environment, and creates something like a barrier, or manipulated in a wide variety of ways

``Black Ice: Ice forms in the palm of the hand, then propelled toward the opponent

``White Night Fantasy: Illusionary attack that shows the victim as being in a snow/ice plain; helps strengthen her other attacks, but is very power consuming

``Blizzard: Freezing, Gale force winds and snow, effects the environment more than an enemy directionally

``Snowpeople: Ability to mold a humanoid form from snow and use it like a thinking, speaking puppet. Puppets will melt under extreme heat (fire, lightning) and any sort of blow can damage them, prone to falling apart at inopportune moments.

``Snowball of DOOM!: It's a snowball with a piece of ice inside of it. About as dangerous as a real snowball with ice inside of it.

``Exploding snowballs:Like the snowball of doom, except when it hits the target it breaks into hundreds of flesh piercing ice shards. Obviously armor is a great way to protect yourself from this.

``Avalanche: Tsu creates a concentration of snow above a persons head, then drops it on them. More used to slow people down or make a quick getaway, since it'd be pretty difficult for her to bury someone deep enough to kill them

``Looking Glass: Tsuzuki creates a sheet of very fragile, highly reflective ice. Anyone who looks directly at it will find them self transfixed and/or unable to look away until the ice is broken. Must have a flat or nearly flat surface for the ice to form on.


BATTLE STYLE:

Tsu generally fights at mid to close range, relying mostly on her elemental abilities but resorting to hand to hand combat when all else fails. Her strengths lie in her agility and flexibility, as in terms of physical strength she's somewhat lacking.

Write it down and remember that we never gave in

FAMILY:

Father-- Kiba
Mother -- Azami
Siblings -- Kazuki, Kage, Kizu, Mizuki, Suzuki

FRIENDS:
Yukiko -- Companion

FOES:
None major enough to note

The mind of a child is where the revolution begins

So I guess it makes sense for me to start at the beginning, right?

Well then once upon a time, in the far Northern Mountains of Japan, there lived a little pack of Yourouzoku. And this little pack of Yourouzoku was not particularly important at all, aside to maybe the food chain. They terrorized the few people who did live within the boundaries of their territory (not vast because they were powerful, no, but vast because there was little to support their people, and nobody else wanted the land), but never went beyond it, just as outsiders never entered it.

Now, generations of living in such a harsh environment, coupled with a few hundred years of good ol' fashioned inbreeding, made them for the most part ill tempered and stupid. New blood was brought in every once and a while, but only often enough to keep the gene pool from totally drying up. It wasn't something intentional, but when the rest of the world has forgotten about you, there isn't much choice. Am I being too dark? Then I'll put it this way. When your Alphas and Omegas are only second cousins, you don't have a great selection when it comes to mates.

Perfect setting for a love story, ne? Well it seems that at some point somebody from one of the other divisions of the tribe must have remembered that we existed, because one certain beta male named Kiba left with a handful of warriors to help settle a border skirmish or some such? Either way it was way south and really not any of our concern, and to this day I never quite figured out why they got involved, but I'll stop rambling as it isn't important. The important part, was that Kiba came back with a mate, a spoiled, vain little thing, some supposedly "well bred" bitch, from where ever the hell it was they went.

Their relationship was interesting. There was no doubt that they actually did care about each other, but Azami was always miserable and Kiba was a control freak but they were both power hungry. This led to some sinister plotting, and the eventual murder, or public execution, really, of the pack alpha and his immediate family. It wasn't long after this that my odd, recluse, failure of a big brother was born. He was the first albino in the family, the original disgrace, but as I would so often be reminded at least he wasn't a runt. Either way, he got the hell out as soon as he could, and I don't blame him. Kazuki was never really a huge part of my life...or a part of it at all; given how much older he was then I.

The twins were born next, my darling if not slightly overprotective big brothers, Kage and Kizu. They were both totally normal, and the spitting image of their father, hence, Kage became known as the oldest son and Kazu more or less faded into the background. I can't say much else about them when they were young, aside from they were, as they are now, trouble makers-- relatively harmless, but mischievous. I mean, all of this happened before I was born anyways, so I don't even know if most of this is true. It's only second hand information from the people who were there, and something tells me some of them may have been more than a little biased.

I mean, my father wouldn't exactly try to make himself out as an overly ambitious, ruthless killer would he? Well, he does, but only when he's trying to intimidate someone. And mommy dear seems proud enough of it.

I was the next one, child number four. Runty, a freak of nature, and apparently a very difficult child. I cried a lot, and threw temper tantrums a lot (huh, wonder where I got that from, okaa-san), and was an incredibly picky eater-- Thank the Kami I outgrew that. They weren't horrible, they didn't physically abuse me or starve me or anything, but I just definitely wasn't their favorite. You've got to remember, that we're wolves, after all, it's survival of it fittest. Creatures with my condition don't usually last very long. It's only natural for siblings to fight each other to establish a chain of command, but given I had two older and considerably larger brothers, I was never the "dominant" so I just didn't get any of the perks that went along with being the strongest pup.

Mizuki wasn't born long after me, though for my little sister she was pretty much always bigger than I was. My family is for the most part on the smaller side, but Mizu was always taller than the rest. We were always pretty close, being that we were the only two female pups in the pack, and there wasn't a whole lot of age difference between us. We were close with Kage and Kizu too, but it just wasn't the same sort of thing. To be honest, I'm not really the type who gets attached. What I feel is my business, and though I'm opinionated I don't open up easily.

So my childhood was for the most part uneventful. I wasn't really happy, but I wasn't really miserable. I was always the cynical one, the pessimist, the obnoxious one, the "lone wolf" (if you'll excuse the horrible pun) of the group, but I never actually was alone. If what my mother told me was true, then I was destined to be alone for the rest of my life anyway, as I was a runt, a freak of nature, and not nearly was pretty as her other children, so why should I have wasted the few good years I was going to have?

I guess there was a lesson in it though. She taught me not to expect anything, and made me understand that everything done for me in life would have to be done myself.

By the time I earned my armor and was considered an adult by the tribe, I was already full of romantic notions of running away and proving my mother wrong. That some prince from another pack would fall in love with me, and I could return triumphant and be able to rub it all in her face, so I followed in Kazuki's footsteps and left as soon as I was able.

It was a damn stupid idea.

I managed about six months before I went crawling back.
It wasn't easy in the beginning. I had the brilliant idea of leaving under the cover of a blizzard. Get them scared that I was missing; make them look for me, right? Wrong. Nobody went out to search in that storm. Nobody should have been out in that storm, me included. One quick tumble off a short cliff later left me buried and passed out under a snow drift. They probably wouldn't have found me anyway.... I mean, my hair is white, and my skin would be that same shade if it weren't so translucent. There's a slight pinkish tinge to me, (or purple if it's really cold), but without a damn good sense of smell I don't see how anyone would have done it. And even for demons with damn good senses of smell, tracking something buried in the middle of a storm ain't easy.

Now, how did I manage this exactly? Well, being that I am albino, there are a few other complications aside from the obvious lack of color and aversion to sunlight. Demons are supposed to have excellent eyesight, better than that of mortals... but I'm the exception to that. I've got human level eyesight at best, poor human grade eyesight at worst. Either way, it ain't good.

So I lasted half a year, sickly and emaciated, before I accidentally stumbled across my brothers. Or they stumbled across me; curled up in a cave, stricken with fever. I think that's more accurate. They're the ones who forced me to go home, and I still have a bit of a grudge against them for that. Help was the last thing I wanted from anyone there, and I'd like to make it a point that I did not go crawling back to them by choice. I went crawling back to them because Kage and Kizu got tired of dragging me there. It's not like I accomplished absolutely nothing though, in my time gone. It left me more time for...self training-- I had to learn to work with what I was given, and I just happened to have been given some very interesting powers. We'd known about it since I was young, but there wasn't anyone who really knew anything about controlling them in the tribe-- with the exception of Mei, our healer, although everything she learned was from time spent in the South. (We're the same age, and yet they always allowed her to travel and never let me go, on those rare occasions that we did. Not fair).

So anyways, it took a lot of experimenting and a few dizzy spells, fainting spells, and almost-coma-like spells, but I did kinda get the hang of some of the more basic stuff, which certainly sparked my interest to keep pushing with my powers until I could figure out what they could really do.

While my parents still may never let me live it down, Mizuki was happy to have me back, at least. And I did miss her a lot. But there was another little surprise waiting-- Such imaginative people my family are, that in my absence they named the next daughter Suzuki. I don't care if the kanji are totally different, it's still confusing when your name and all variations of it are pronounced exactly the same as your little sister's. And if there was ever one sibling I didn't get along with, it was her. She was like a miniature Azami. Vain, spoiled, and demanding.

Life went quiet again for a while, before the rumors started. The Shikon no Tama was coming up more and more in conversation, and I was enthralled by the idea of possessing such an object. A little piece of magical stone that could double my power? Definitely something I was interested in. It meant leaving again, going off on my own, but now I felt I was more prepared.

It had been odd at first, both times, going from such a close community to total isolation, but I got used to it pretty quick. Just because I occasionally enjoy company doesn't mean I'm dependent on it. And certainly not the company I was keeping back home.

Such colorful people you meet on the road. I met my fair share of characters in those first few months, but as it turns out, I'm not really a people person. I don't have great people skills. I'm 'impolite' to put it mildly. I started avoiding actual roads like the plague, and only ventured near ningen villages when I needed to eat. There were still a fair share of other demons out there, and maybe a few hanyou too (I really don't remember and I really doubt they were worth remembering anyway), so I did get in my fair share of scuffles. Now let me point something out. I'm short. Call me short and you'll be faced with a very long, painful death, but I am short. Petite might be a better word-- I'm slender, but not in that waif like sort of way, as I do have a figure that I'm quite proud of-- just not the height to go with it.

To but it more simply, I'm not the most intimidating demon out there, no matter how much I snarl and puff out my tail. I had to figure out other ways to stop anything bigger than me from trying to make me its lunch. Turns out, it's better to just confuse them. I've always been a bit of an actress, so all I had do was grin and giggle a little and most of them wrote me off as crazy. It bought me some time, at least (usually). The fact that I was a lone Yourouzoku to begin with didn't really look right, being that we're supposed to be pack animals by nature.

I don't hate humans, really. I look down on them, but I've no reason to hate them. They're too stupid for their own good (but they taste pretty good). And I love it when they have the audacity to call me arrogant, when I have every right to act above them! Or stupid-- I can't read or write, sure, but I ain't stupid. Aggressive maybe, and I know I'm not even tempered, but just because I'm not afraid to say exactly what I'm thinking doesn't make me stupid.

Hanyou I do hate. Just on premise.
The reasons should be obvious.

The only youkai I can really say I like would probably have to be other wolf demons, but even then I hate running into them. Even if they're not very territorial and don't try to run me off their land, it's still uncomfortable. I hate feeling obligated to anyone, so I never let anyone do anything that would put me in their debt. I do things for myself. Still though, they are my people, and I always feel I should be doing something-- especially after that whole jewel shard business where the packs were being wiped out left and right.

I'll just say now that I never did get my hands on a shard. Not even close. I did get horribly, miserably lost somewhere down south though, and I still hate going anywhere near that region. I like my cold weather and my mountains, thank you very much. But even though I didn't quite find what I was looking for, I did pick something up along the way.

Well, really she's more of a someone. Her name is Yukiko now, and she certainly isn't so little anymore, but when I found her she was a half starved, sickly little pup. I always kind of assumed she was part of one of the packs that was killed off, being that she was bloody and scared out of her mind, although she was too small to really tell me anything. The same rules apply to wolf pups as they do any other child-- they aren't born speaking coherently, so I pieced together what I could.

She was kinda cute in a way-- big brown eyes, fluffy white fur, and she's sweet. Overly friendly maybe, but that's gotten better as she's gotten older.

I'm not really a huge fan of pups. They're loud, and annoying, and smelly, and messy, and the idea of motherhood never appealed to me much. I guess I kind of pitied her though, because in the end I more or less adopted her and she's been with me ever since-- two years or so maybe? I don't really keep track of time. No reason to, really.

I haven't been back far enough north to pay anyone a visit, and I honestly don't plan to any time soon. The only one I can say I miss at all is Mizuki-- and I do miss her quite a bit sometimes. As I said before, even for sisters we were always close. But I like this, not being chained down. I can go anywhere I want, when I want, and I don't have to be responsible for anyone but Yuki and myself.

Did I ever explain how it is that I managed to survive on my own given my, shall we say, condition? Well for starters, I've turned myself mostly nocturnal. Can't get sunburn if the sun isn't out, right? And I stay away from very open places where I wouldn't be able to shelter myself, obviously. Now that Yukiko can hunt too, she's considerably more helpful. But I'm tougher than I look, and as my mother so kindly pointed out after my first little 'adventure', I'm too damn stubborn to give up and die.