empatheias application

[shuttermouse]

⌈ PLAYER SECTION ⌉
Player: Miffy
Contact: archeops
Age: 24
Current Characters: None!


⌈ CHARACTER SECTION ⌉
Character: Chie Hori
Age: 22
Canon: Tokyo Ghoul
Canon Point: End of chapter 3 of the second light novel.

Background: Wiki link, I choose you!

The wiki page doesn't really describe her role in the second light novel, so I've written up a quick summary. You can also read this translation but it's pretty long.

In the third chapter, the idol singer Mitsuba catches her attention and she wants to take pictures of her. Unfortunately, Mitsuba also catches Tsukiyama's attention and he wants to eat her. Since she can't get any good pictures of her if she's eaten, Chie finds Mitsuba and the two go into hiding for a few days - until Tsukiyama finds them and corners his prey.

However, Chie has a trump card and reveals that she's been exchanging emails with Kaneki while they were in hiding and has built up a business relationship with him. When Kaneki shows up a few moments later, she negotiates with him and decides that Tsukiyama will be their go-between from there on out if Kaneki wants her help in the future. Tsukiyama sees this as an opportunity to get closer to Kaneki and earn his trust, so he leaves Mitsuba alone and Chie finally gets the pictures she wanted.

Personality:
To preface this, I would like to take a moment to explain that Tokyo Ghoul takes place in a world where creatures known as ghouls exist. They look human but are a completely different species and they feed exclusively on human flesh; the only human food they are able to digest is coffee. They have to hunt humans to survive, and in turn humans have formed organizations such as the CCG to combat the ghouls that prey upon mankind. Most ghouls are killed immediately once found, and those that aren't are thrown into prison. Protecting a ghoul is a serious criminal offense and can result in the death penalty.

Most people would describe Chie Hori as an oddball, and that is a rather accurate description. She rarely seems to sit down and take it easy and is always full of energy which she funnels into her passion — photography. The day she goes without her camera is the day you pry it from her cold, lifeless hands. Whenever she has free time, she starts climbing trees to get the perfect shot of the setting sun or she starts snapping pictures of completely inane things like a dead bug or a candy wrapper on the ground. Photography is what keeps her going and she doesn't put the same amount of energy into anything else she does; her grades were average at best and although she got into a prestigious school on a scholarship, she literally only applied because it was closest to her home and after she entered university she barely showed up to class and probably dropped out altogether eventually.

Odd quirks aside, Chie is just an average human raised by average human parents. However, it’s said that you can tell a lot about a person by their friends — and her best friend, Shuu Tsukiyama, is a literal inhuman flesh-eating serial killer who prides himself on his status as a predator. Not only is Chie fully aware of what he is, she also doesn't care one bit and continues to willingly spend time with him.

This cavalier attitude stems from her rather unique way of viewing the world around her — to her, all living things exist equally on the same plane. Humans, ghouls and even lesser animals such as frogs or cats are all the same to her and no species has any more right to exist than anything else. She doesn't think a ghoul eating a human is any worse than a human eating beef or a cat eating a fish and that's why she doesn’t have any problems with hanging out with serial killers.

She doesn't really see things as right or wrong, either. Let's say she were to see a stranger bleeding out in the streets — most people would help the person because that's what you should do, while Chie would be perfectly fine with a) just standing there and take a picture if it's interesting enough or b) simply walking away and she won't be berating herself later for not doing the right thing. Calling her a sadist would be a lie, though. She doesn't particularly enjoy people's suffering, nor does she deliberately try to cause it because she wouldn't get a kick out of it. She simply just accepts things as they are without letting morality dictate how she feels and as long as it's interesting, she generally doesn't care what happens to other people.

At her core, Chie is a hedonist, and her only goals in life seem to be to take pictures of interesting things and to find ways to amuse herself, often with blatant disregard for personal safety; you see, she deeply fears death and believes she'll disappear forever once she dies, but rather than doing everything she can to avoid it she fills her life with exciting things so that when her inevitable death comes, she can at least go out satisfied with things. #yolo, basically.

This is why she's friends with Tsukiyama, really — he's both entertaining and a good subject for photography. Although the whole "anime Hannibal Lecter" thing he has contributes to making him interesting, simply being a ghoul isn't enough on its own; Chie isn't interested in joining the main character's merry gang of ghouls and only helps the group from time to time as long as they use Tsukiyama as a mediator. Getting too involved in the ghoul world is a risky business that isn't interesting enough to be worth the trouble, so she's content to hover on the sidelines where she can get what she wants and have her fun without drawing attention to herself.

When she helps people, don't expect her to be doing it out of kindness; in almost all cases, she's doing it because it will benefit her somehow, usually in the form of a good picture or because it will entertain her. The second novel is a good example, where Tsukiyama expresses his desire to eat an idol singer, which Chie immediately objects to because she considers the idol to be hers to take pictures of. She proceeds to seek out said idol, goes into hiding with her and is a general pain in Tsukiyama's neck for the duration of the story, all because she wants an interesting picture and not because saving a life would be the right thing to do.

For the most part, Chie isn't too difficult to get along with — she isn't malicious or nasty, though she is rather eccentric and lacking in the empathy department. She's somewhat of a loner in the sense that her number of friends can be counted on one hand and she's happy with it, but she does enjoy spending time with those she likes and is happy to hang out with them. However, she's incredibly blunt about her opinions and will say what she thinks, sometimes tactlessly so with little regard for people's feelings which can make her seem cold. She also absolutely refuses to take shit or put up with things she doesn't like unless she stands to benefit from it in some way. If you want to tell her a boring story, she'll be quick to tell you that she doesn't want to hear it and if you insist chances are that she will vehemently ignore you and start playing with her camera instead until you start being interesting again.

It's easy to get the impression that she's completely self-serving and doesn't care for others beyond the entertainment they can give her, but her actions indicate that isn't the case. She's still around two years after Tsukiyama falls into his plot-induced angst coma and instead of ditching a broken toy in favor of finding someone new and shiny to keep her amused, she's proactive and tries to fix him — even when she's actively being chased by the CCG for her criminal activities. Once she's invested in someone, it comes with loyalty and while she doesn't express it particularly well, she does look out for the people she's grown fond of in her own way.

Abilities: She's just an ordinary human with no supernatural abilities. She's pretty good with computers and was able to hack into the CCG's database, but this won't be particularly relevant in Empatheias.

Alignment: Aiada. She centers her life around having as many good experiences as possible and is seeking the ultimate experience of her chosen interest. In other words, you could say that she's all about appreciating life and enjoying it to the fullest.

Other: She'll be bringing in her camera (plus some batteries for it) and her laptop. She will be disappointed by the lack of wi-fi but at least she can transfer her photos to the laptop...


⌈ SAMPLE SECTION ⌉
Sample: Test drive meme + Mask or Menace post (Chie was from a different canon point in MoM, but her personality is pretty much the same no matter when she's from)


Questions: None!