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| CANON: Peacemaker Kurogane
| NAME: Toshizou Hijikata
| AGE: 34
| APPEARANCE: Hijikata’s appearance is close to canon - however, his left arm has been replaced with a cybernetic replacement, owing to injury, and he has some very light scarring on his upper chest and the left side of his face from the same incident, though you’d have to know it was there to spot it. His hair is also much shorter - he’s only been growing it out for about two years, so loose, it’s midback.
| AU CONCEPT & HISTORY:
Toshizou Hijikata was born the youngest son of a lower-middle class family on L4. He had five siblings, the oldest brother of whom more or less raised the rest of the family after their parents died - his mother when he was young, of pulmonary fibrosis from work conditions and pollution on the lower levels, coupled with congenital lung defects, and his father not long after, from natural causes. His older brother took over the family business, but Toshi knew he didn’t have the temperament for business, and decided for a career in the police force - he had a strong desire to make the world around him better, and to help keep his family from walking the edge of poverty.
Despite his background, and relatively young age when he joined the force (which is to say, as soon as they’d take him), Toshizou was intelligent, and had a forceful personality that rapidly got him noticed by higher ups - though not always in helpful ways. He quickly gained a reputation for strategic skill and firm dedication to the ideals of justice. While he was climbing the ranks, one of his elder sisters began showing signs of the same pollution-induced illness that killed their mother, and Toshi sent more and more of his savings to his family to help with her treatment. He also managed to gain his precinct a reputation a one of the less corrupt ones, among the NBPD - while he couldn’t single-handedly take of all the problems in his station, he did what he could.
When he was twenty-four, he received a major boost in rank, despite his relatively young age, and was made head of newly formed counter-terrorism unit. They operated efficiently and effectively for nearly a year - Toshizou’s tactical skills being particularly well suited to small-unit work. Then, disaster struck - they were sent in to a situation involving explosives they believe to be disarmed, but were not. The explosives were triggered, killing two members of the team, and seriously injuring several others, Toshizou included. Given the choice between an attempt at salvaging his left arm, with a good chance of permanent nerve damage, pain, and disfiguration, or a cybernetic replacement, his slightly pain-and-drug delirious answer was ‘cut the damn thing off’.
While on desk duty following the incident, as it was unclear how the team would move forward, he was given an offer by Eden Technologies - train one their own in weapons skills and tactics, and in exchange, his sister’s health problems would be taken care of at no cost, with far better quality than the family could afford. He reluctantly agreed, and took on the job - only to discover the man he was supposed to be training was a child, still, the product of an in-house experiment in bioware and gene manipulation testing.
He found the idea of the experiment distasteful, but followed through with his end of the deal for his sister’s sake. As he worked with the boy, he found a certain amount of fondness for him, despite his odd nature - growing up in the lab was a far different experience than growing up in the world outside, but Hijikata did his best to show him respect as a human, not just as a weapon.
When the scientists in charge of the project realized their specimen was not performing up to expectations, Hijikata was given an order to dispose of him, rather than get corp hands dirty. Angry at the way they’d treated him as an object rather than a person, he took the young man and fled to the lower levels, until the it was clear the corp had given up interest in pursuing the pair - Hijikata wasn’t about to sell the boy out to a rival, after all.
Once things calmed down, he set up shop ostensibly as private detective - though while an ex-cop, he gets sent a lot of the stuff his old precinct can't deal with easily through 'official' channels, leaving him and Souji to play a bit of vigilante justice.
| PERSONALITY: The side of Toshizou most people see is that of the ‘demon captain’. He’s the bad cop to everyone else’s good, the strict one who’ll crack down on the rules while those around him allow infractions to slide.
It’s not a particularly forced role for him - Toshi is, by nature, a somewhat gruff individual. He’s blunt about expressing displeasure, and as he holds individuals around him (as well as himself) to very high standards, he’s displeased often. He’s the type that seems to love to have something to complain about. He often butts heads with moderates on the force, who don’t take the same hardline stance on matters of justice that he does. Some of this is out of a striving for legitimacy as well - unlike many of his coworkers, Hijikata was born to a low-class family. He has certain idealized views about the law, and lawkeepers, and having become one of the latter, he does as much as he can to not tarnish that reputation or that of those around him.
Despite all this, he’s a good person at heart, if rarely a nice person. He truly believes in his path and his goals, that they are the proper, honorable thing to do, and he’s willing to sacrifice himself for his ideals. He also does care about others around him, even if he’s not particularly good at showing it. In canon, Tetsu takes his assignment as a page as an insult, but Hijikata’s reasoning in the choice was to protect the boy from the full harshness of life as Shinsengumi; a page would not be required to adhere to the Shinsengumi code for instance and would thus not be forced to face the punishments it decrees. Here, his caring and protectiveness is fostered (as in canon) mostly on Souji Okita. Having helped train the boy, and watching him grow up, Toshizou feels a sense of responsibility for him, and for the sort of person he became. He also takes a more active role in Souji’s life in helping him escape from the lab - he refuses to be reduced to a murderer-for-hire, particularly of someone he’s grown fond of, and instead takes caring for the young man on to himself.
| POWERS & ABILITIES: Hijikata’s main skills are a combination of in-born and a lot of hard training - as an officer, he became proficient in firearms and hand-to-hand combat, and he’s taught himself traditional swordforms - a slightly esoteric hobby, in this day and age, but one he enjoys. He’s also a skilled tactician and leader, and capable of making quick decisions in heated moments. His cyberarm is also stronger than the average human (and stronger than his other arm), though given that the rest of his body is vanilla human, this mostly just results in the ability to be really awesome at crushing things with his mighty metal fist.
| ECONOMIC STANDING, EQUIPMENT & PETS: Hijikata has a cyberized left arm, though aside from enhanced strength and durabilty it doesn’t have any extras. He also has a decent collection of weapons, most of them sidearms. He does, however, have a katana that while not exceptional quality, is a family heirloom. He manages to make enough income from work to support himself and Souji in a small L4 apartment, with a bit to spare to send home to his family.
| ALIASES: Demon Captain
| PROFESSION: Ex-cop, private detective, vigilante
| CONNECTIONS:
| NAME: Toshizou Hijikata
| AGE: 34
| APPEARANCE: Hijikata’s appearance is close to canon - however, his left arm has been replaced with a cybernetic replacement, owing to injury, and he has some very light scarring on his upper chest and the left side of his face from the same incident, though you’d have to know it was there to spot it. His hair is also much shorter - he’s only been growing it out for about two years, so loose, it’s midback.
| AU CONCEPT & HISTORY:
Toshizou Hijikata was born the youngest son of a lower-middle class family on L4. He had five siblings, the oldest brother of whom more or less raised the rest of the family after their parents died - his mother when he was young, of pulmonary fibrosis from work conditions and pollution on the lower levels, coupled with congenital lung defects, and his father not long after, from natural causes. His older brother took over the family business, but Toshi knew he didn’t have the temperament for business, and decided for a career in the police force - he had a strong desire to make the world around him better, and to help keep his family from walking the edge of poverty.
Despite his background, and relatively young age when he joined the force (which is to say, as soon as they’d take him), Toshizou was intelligent, and had a forceful personality that rapidly got him noticed by higher ups - though not always in helpful ways. He quickly gained a reputation for strategic skill and firm dedication to the ideals of justice. While he was climbing the ranks, one of his elder sisters began showing signs of the same pollution-induced illness that killed their mother, and Toshi sent more and more of his savings to his family to help with her treatment. He also managed to gain his precinct a reputation a one of the less corrupt ones, among the NBPD - while he couldn’t single-handedly take of all the problems in his station, he did what he could.
When he was twenty-four, he received a major boost in rank, despite his relatively young age, and was made head of newly formed counter-terrorism unit. They operated efficiently and effectively for nearly a year - Toshizou’s tactical skills being particularly well suited to small-unit work. Then, disaster struck - they were sent in to a situation involving explosives they believe to be disarmed, but were not. The explosives were triggered, killing two members of the team, and seriously injuring several others, Toshizou included. Given the choice between an attempt at salvaging his left arm, with a good chance of permanent nerve damage, pain, and disfiguration, or a cybernetic replacement, his slightly pain-and-drug delirious answer was ‘cut the damn thing off’.
While on desk duty following the incident, as it was unclear how the team would move forward, he was given an offer by Eden Technologies - train one their own in weapons skills and tactics, and in exchange, his sister’s health problems would be taken care of at no cost, with far better quality than the family could afford. He reluctantly agreed, and took on the job - only to discover the man he was supposed to be training was a child, still, the product of an in-house experiment in bioware and gene manipulation testing.
He found the idea of the experiment distasteful, but followed through with his end of the deal for his sister’s sake. As he worked with the boy, he found a certain amount of fondness for him, despite his odd nature - growing up in the lab was a far different experience than growing up in the world outside, but Hijikata did his best to show him respect as a human, not just as a weapon.
When the scientists in charge of the project realized their specimen was not performing up to expectations, Hijikata was given an order to dispose of him, rather than get corp hands dirty. Angry at the way they’d treated him as an object rather than a person, he took the young man and fled to the lower levels, until the it was clear the corp had given up interest in pursuing the pair - Hijikata wasn’t about to sell the boy out to a rival, after all.
Once things calmed down, he set up shop ostensibly as private detective - though while an ex-cop, he gets sent a lot of the stuff his old precinct can't deal with easily through 'official' channels, leaving him and Souji to play a bit of vigilante justice.
| PERSONALITY: The side of Toshizou most people see is that of the ‘demon captain’. He’s the bad cop to everyone else’s good, the strict one who’ll crack down on the rules while those around him allow infractions to slide.
It’s not a particularly forced role for him - Toshi is, by nature, a somewhat gruff individual. He’s blunt about expressing displeasure, and as he holds individuals around him (as well as himself) to very high standards, he’s displeased often. He’s the type that seems to love to have something to complain about. He often butts heads with moderates on the force, who don’t take the same hardline stance on matters of justice that he does. Some of this is out of a striving for legitimacy as well - unlike many of his coworkers, Hijikata was born to a low-class family. He has certain idealized views about the law, and lawkeepers, and having become one of the latter, he does as much as he can to not tarnish that reputation or that of those around him.
Despite all this, he’s a good person at heart, if rarely a nice person. He truly believes in his path and his goals, that they are the proper, honorable thing to do, and he’s willing to sacrifice himself for his ideals. He also does care about others around him, even if he’s not particularly good at showing it. In canon, Tetsu takes his assignment as a page as an insult, but Hijikata’s reasoning in the choice was to protect the boy from the full harshness of life as Shinsengumi; a page would not be required to adhere to the Shinsengumi code for instance and would thus not be forced to face the punishments it decrees. Here, his caring and protectiveness is fostered (as in canon) mostly on Souji Okita. Having helped train the boy, and watching him grow up, Toshizou feels a sense of responsibility for him, and for the sort of person he became. He also takes a more active role in Souji’s life in helping him escape from the lab - he refuses to be reduced to a murderer-for-hire, particularly of someone he’s grown fond of, and instead takes caring for the young man on to himself.
| POWERS & ABILITIES: Hijikata’s main skills are a combination of in-born and a lot of hard training - as an officer, he became proficient in firearms and hand-to-hand combat, and he’s taught himself traditional swordforms - a slightly esoteric hobby, in this day and age, but one he enjoys. He’s also a skilled tactician and leader, and capable of making quick decisions in heated moments. His cyberarm is also stronger than the average human (and stronger than his other arm), though given that the rest of his body is vanilla human, this mostly just results in the ability to be really awesome at crushing things with his mighty metal fist.
| ECONOMIC STANDING, EQUIPMENT & PETS: Hijikata has a cyberized left arm, though aside from enhanced strength and durabilty it doesn’t have any extras. He also has a decent collection of weapons, most of them sidearms. He does, however, have a katana that while not exceptional quality, is a family heirloom. He manages to make enough income from work to support himself and Souji in a small L4 apartment, with a bit to spare to send home to his family.
| ALIASES: Demon Captain
| PROFESSION: Ex-cop, private detective, vigilante
| CONNECTIONS:
