Asuna Yuuki - Empatheias Application

[undiningaffection]

Player: Domon
Contact: Journal/Plurk/AIM Plurk - koh4711
Age: 30+
Current Characters: N/A

⌈ CHARACTER SECTION ⌉

Character: Asuna Yuuki
Age: 18
Canon: Sword Art Online
Canon Point: The start of Mother's Rosario

Background: Wiki entry

Born into a wealthy and powerful family in Japan, Asuna is the child of a successful businessman and respected academic and professor of economics. While her family life wasn't difficult in many respects, there was also an undeniable distance and coldness in the household at times, with Asuna expected to follow the path her parents set out for her. Her happiest memories came from visits with her poor but affectionate maternal grandparents.

Everything changed when her older brother left home on a business trip, leaving behind his virtual reality NerveGear device. Curious about the system, Asuna logged in for the launch of the video game Sword Art Online and became one of the 10,000 players trapped in the game by its creator Akihiko Kayaba. In SAO, death in game also meant death in the real world. The only way to escape was to clear the game's 100 floors.

Though she was an inexperienced gamer, Asuna learned quickly and progressed from novice to one of the key players in the game's clearing group. Before long, she aligned with a growing guild known as the Knights of the Blood Oath and eventually became the group's Vice Commander. At the same time, she continued to encounter a beta tester and solo player named Kirito, who she met before the battle against the first floor boss. While he'd helped her learn valuable skills in game, she was frustrated by his lackadaisical attitude. Over time, however, she learned from his example to savor the time she spent in the game. She also started to develop feelings for him. It was also during this time that Asuna took part in a raid against a guild of player killers, the Laughing Coffin. During this raid, Asuna was forced to fight and kill some of the members to protect the other players in the game.

A turning point came when she and Kirito played a critical role in the defeat of the 74th Floor boss, a monster known as the Gleam Eyes. Rushing in to save an overmatched raiding party, Asuna helped Kirito defeat the monster, revealing him to be one of the most powerful players in the game. This led to a chain of events where Kirito lost a duel to the Knights of the Blood Oath's commander, Heathcliff, and was forced to join the guild alongside Asuna.

Shortly after joining, Kirito and another knight were led into a trap by Asuna's former bodyguard, Kuradeel. He killed the other player and almost succeeded in killing Kirito until Asuna arrived and intervened, saving Kirito's life. In the aftermath, they kissed for the first time and shortly afterward married in game.

Requesting time off to recuperate, Kirito and Asuna bought a house on one of the lower floors. While there, they discovered a girl named Yui who was wandering on her own through the forest. After being drawn into an internal struggle with another guild, they learned that Yui was actually an artificial intelligence. Having come to think of the AI as their daughter, Kirito and Asuna managed to save her from deletion by the system and promised to reunite with her one day.

Shortly after, the pair were recalled to the front lines of the game to help fight the 75th Floor boss. After a pitched battle and considerable loss of life, Kirito discovered that Heathcliff was, in fact, Kayaba. Kirito challenged Heathcliff to a duel, and was almost killed when Asuna stepped in the way of a fatal blow and seemingly died. Kirito managed to defeat Heathcliff with Asuna's sword and cleared Sword Art Online.

While most of the surviving SAO players woke up, a small group that included Asuna didn't recover. Unknown to Kirito and the rest of the world, Asuna was being held prisoner in a different game, Alfheim Online. The game was run by an employee of her father named Nobuyuki Sugou. Asuna's parents had arranged a marraige between the two, though she detested Sugou. Sugou had trapped her in the game with the hopes of either winning her over or altering her mind to fall in love with him.

Eventually, Kirito managed to clear the game and free Asuna. Taking on a new avatar in the game as an Undine fairy, she was finally reunited with Kirito and Yui and her friends from Sword Art Online. Asuna was also enrolled in a special school for SAO survivors alongside Kirito's player, Kazuto. Their relationship continued in the real world as well, even as Kazuto was recruited to find a murderer in another MMO game. Asuna has continued to play in Alfheim Online with her friends, slowly progressing through a recreation of the world of Aincrad from Sword Art Online.

However, Asuna has also started to receive pressure from her mother to leave her current school for a more prestigious private academy, and to spend less time in the virtual world. During her most recent family trip, her parents also started introducing her to other young men, as her mother feels Kazuto isn't worthy of her. Asuna is terrified that her mother might tear her away from the life she's chosen for herself and loves, and force her back into the old life she's come to despise.

Personality:

At her core, Asuna is a kind hearted young woman who will make sacrifices for her friends without hesitation. She even chose her fairy race in Alfheim Online so her circle of friends would have a healer and support member in their party. She's quick to befriend strangers, and once she considers someone a friend, she'll do almost anything for them. Given the cold and distant nature of her own family, Asuna's friends essentially serve as her surrogate family, and she's always willing to expand it. Despite the trauma of her time in both games, she considers the worlds of Aincrad and Alfheim, and more specifically the forest house, her true home.

Above all others, she's devoted to her boyfriend Kirito and adopted daughter, Yui. The latter makes her particularly fond of children, and she'll often assume the role of caregiver or nurturer around younger children almost automatically. This also extends to outsiders and people who might be shunned for any reason. Unless they've harmed others, she's always tries to look beneath the surface and find the good in anyone.

By the same token, she can become a fierce fighter if anyone needs her help, or if she finds people taking advantage of others. She won't hesitate to jump into battle, even in the face of overwhelming odds, if the lives of others are at stake. Once she's drawn her blade, she won't stop until either she or her opponents have been defeated. Despite her support role in ALO, Asuna still enjoys using her sword whenever she can. She's garnered a reputation for skill and ferocity in battle she's earned the nickname The Berserk Healer(a moniker she despises). And while she prefers a fair fight, she's not above using some questionable tactics, like throwing a punch in the middle of a duel, if it can earn her the advantage.

Outside of the game, Asuna is a brilliant student excelling in a variety of subjects, and she's well known for her cleverness and instincts in the game world as well. She studied the SAO cooking system to the point she recognized each taste variable and used in-game items to simulate a variety of real world food items never programmed into the game. She has a particular skill for strategy, being able to recognize small details in a boss's attack pattern and adjusting on the fly.

Due to her strict upbringing, Asuna has a silly, playful side that she shows around her close friends, and at times can even seem downright childish. She's been known to demand Kirito carry her around on his shoulders, or to instigate snowball fights with her friends. This all fades away when she's in battle or a more serious situation, however. She's not one to quip or taunt except on rare occasions. She's not above teasing her friends from time to time, though she prefers a single well placed jab than making a lot of jokes.

There's an element of pride in her abilities, a lingering remnant of her high class upbringing. Whether it's her skills as a swordswoman, her schoolwork or even her in game cooking, Asuna isn't always modest about her abilities and can take offense if someone mocks them. She's gotten better over time, becoming more at ease with joking among her friends, but it can be a sore spot in the right situation. Because people have judged her due to her family's wealth or her appearance, she has a strong desire to prove herself.

Her pride also makes it difficult for Asuna to accept defeat, or even things in the world she can't change. She has overcome a number of almost impossible odds that she often has a hard time recognizing thing she can't, or sometimes shouldn't, change. She can be stubborn when she makes up her mind about something, and it takes a lot of effort to talk her down. She's also a perfectionist, and there are points when she won't leave things well enough alone if she feels she can do better.

Despite all of this, more recently Asuna has been having a crisis of both identity and self confidence when it comes to the real world versus her persona in Aincrad and Alfheim. While she was a powerful swordswoman and leader in the virtual world, her parents(in particular her mother) are doing everything in their power to return her to the life she left behind, and insisting the friends she made in the game aren't “real” friends. While she's tried to defend herself, she'll often defer to her mother in the end.

Coupled with this is her mother's insistence that the former Sword Art Online players are dangerous because they took lives in the game. Asuna's parents are unaware she was forced to take the lives of other players in the game, and she fears what would happen if they did. While she's buried the feelings deep, the fact that she has taken the lives of others weighs heavily on Asuna's conscience and motivates her to do as much good in the world as possible. She's never shared this willingly with anyone besides her fellow SAO survivors.

While her devotion and love to her friends, particularly Kirito, hasn't wavered, she questioned whether or not they would respect her as much if they saw how powerless she was in the real world. She also doesn't want to burden anyone else with her troubles, so she tends to keep things buried. There's an element of insecurity where she fears others will reject or mock her if they see past the warrior's facade. She's almost come to see Asuna the Flash and Asuna Yuuki as two separate people, and fears she'll have to abandon one or the other one day. Even with all she's been through with Kirito, she fears even he loves only the in-game version, and would reject the "weaker" player behind the avatar.

Thanks to a particularly vivid story told by her grandfather one holiday, Asuna has a fear of ghosts that extends to astral-type monsters in the virtual world. It's the one exception to her usual courage; if there are ghosts involved, Asuna will hesitate and stop just short of running away. She's more than happy to accept a support role in those situations. Her greatest fear, however, is to lose her independence in any way. While this ties into her issues with her mother, it's mostly due to her time as a prisoner in ALO. It's one subject she's loathe to talk about, but it makes her very sympathetic to anyone suffering similar abuse.

Abilities:
In her avatar form, Asuna is a fairy from the Undine race, which gives her the following abilites:

o Flight – Asuna can sprout translucent wings that let her fly.

o Water Affinity – The Undine race is associated with water, so Asuna can also breath and fight underwater.

o Magic – The Undine can use water magic, which includes a variety of support and healing spells as well. In order to cast, Asuna must be holding her wand and speak the Words of Power to activate the spells. If interrupted or the words are mispronounced, the caster will be caught in an explosion that damages them or anyone nearby. Like most RPGs, this is limited by MP in the game, which would translate into Asuna only being able to cast a limited number of spells during a given period. Among the spells she's used in Alfheim are:
- Aqua Bind – A spell to restrict the movements of multiple opponents
- Aqua Stream – An attack spell using a stream of high pressure water
- Cold Resistance – Protection against cold
- Healing – A variety of different healing incantations.
- Ice Arrows – An attack spell generating four large pillars of ice.
- Ice Lens – Increases the distance she can see
- Searcher – Designed to break through camoflague
- Water Breathing – Allows others to breath underwater

o Sword Skills – Due to the most recent game updates, Asuna has recovered her sword skills from Sword Art Online. These are essentially combo attacks of different kinds, moving faster than a human normally could to complete a variety of strikes. These attacks can be parried, however, and after completion of the attack, Asuna is unable to move for a brief “cooldown” period. A list of the specific sword skills Asuna knows can be found in the Wiki entry, however they are all just combinations of multiple sword strikes and have no other specific elemental effects. Also, she doesn't yet have the Mother's Rosario sword skill at this point in her canon.

Alignment: Thras. Asuna is known in both SAO and ALO for her bravery and relentlessness in the face of almost impossible odds. At the same time, her current self doubt is driven by fear that the life and world she cherishes will be taken away from her. She even fears that her own vaunted bravery is nothing more than a false front.

⌈ SAMPLE SECTION ⌉

General: TDM Top Level

Emotional Sample and Additional General Sample:

She runs a hand along the rough bark of the tree trunk, closing her eyes as her fingers seek out scars they won't find. After all, the tree, and the scars players petitioned to have incorporated into it, exist only in the digital world of Alfheim Online, on the twenty fourth floor of Aincrad. She visited the spot so often over the course of the last few months, she'd memorized almost every detail.

The tree she stands in front of now is a short distance outside of Verens, atop a small hill and surrounded by the forest rather than water. Still, the first time she chanced upon it she made a note of its location and returned at the first opportunity. It reminds her just enough of that tree in Aincrad, just enough to serve her purpose.

For more than anything, she needs a place to speak to a friend.

Stepping away from the tree trunk, she looks up at the tall branches, covered in dark green leaves rustling in the wind. It reminds her of a fateful day when, goaded by her friends and nagged by doubts of her strength, she accepted the challenge of a stranger. It always makes her laugh. The most she thought she'd get out of the experience was a powerful Original Sword Skill.

She couldn't have expected how that stranger and this tree would become an important part of her life. She clasps a hand to her heart as she remembers the fight, still able to recall every detail. The force behind the swords as they clashed. The cheers and gasps from the crowd as their duel pressed on. Even the gut punch that she'd been continually reminded was a cheap move. Ever time it was brought up, she heard that delightful giggle, the one she so desperately missed. She always remembered those little details.

Above, the color of the leaves begin to warm.

Settling to the ground, her hand comes to rest on her shoulder, reaching for a presence that's both no longer there yet has never truly left her.

“I hope you can hear me, even when I'm so far away,” she says aloud, her words carrying on the wind. “We haven't been able to talk since I arrived. I wanted to find the right place.”

For the briefest of moments, the breeze picks up. The same way she always imagined it did in Aincrad.

“It's really beautiful here, I think you would've liked it. There are places that look the way I always imagined Serene Gardens, at least from the way you described it to me. I've met some wonderful people here, and made some new friends. I even already started to tell a few of them about you.”

As tears begin to roll down her cheeks, the leaves rustle again, now shifting to the warm orange and yellow of fall.

“I've been able to do some amazing things here. I think I might be making a difference in this world. No, I know I am, in my own way.” She takes in a sharp breath. “Still, I miss Kirito and Yui, and everyone else from ALO. And I miss you. I... I've never stopped missing you.”

Closing her eyes once more, she can see her the way she always wanted to remember her. The adorable, impish smile on her face as she led them against impossible odds. She could hear the giggle as she teased, feel the warmth of her hand against her shoulder when she needed support, taste the meals they shared together after their victories.

The knife-like jab in her heart the day Asuna held her in her arms and said goodbye.

More than anything, she wants to see her again. Not when she closes her eyes, not when she reminisces, not even when she dreams of adventures they never shared. But to be able to wrap her arms around her, to sit and share stories with her. Yet, the more she thinks about her, a calm descends. Even the pain and longing were a fair price to have had the privilege to meet and know the Absolute Sword.

“I'm staying strong for everyone, both here and in Alfheim. Just like you did for everyone else. But... I might have to lean on you a little more. I hope you won't mind.”

Eyes still shut, she remains silent to take in the gentle sounds of the active forest around her and the breeze as it flows past her face. She's motionless until, a moment later, something brushes against her palm. Opening her eyes, she sees a single fallen cherry blossom resting there. Looking up, a small section of the tree in front of her has shifted, from green leaves to brilliant pink flowers. Taking the fallen blossom into her other hand, Asuna presses it against her chest.

“Thank you, Yuuki.”