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[shotgunyuukon]

General CW for: Suicidal ideation, suicide, ritual human sacrifice, death (sometimes very bloody and violent), murder.

IN CHARACTER

Character Name: Ouse Kurosawa
Canon: Fatal Frame V: Maiden of Black Water
Canon Point: In the final battle, right before Yuri would need to make a decision as to how to end it.

In-Game Tattoo Placement: Left wrist
Current Health/Status: It’s Complicated, but technically not fully dead, just sleeping. An “Immortal Flower” - basically for as long as her spiritual power can fight against the Black Water, she will neither age, starve, nor disappear entirely from the world. For gameplay purposes of FFV, she behaves, moves, teleports, and floats like a ghost and can be damaged like one (with the camera). It’s not entirely clear whether this is some kind of spiritual projection as her ‘real’ self seems to be falling through the Black Water for eternity, but you see what has to be her actual form in both endings and they are awfully ghost-like. For storyline purposes she’s described as being some semblance of living while dead until her spiritual power runs out, and then she dies properly as the Black Water erodes her body completely away.
Apparent Age: Mid 20s at most.
Actual Age: Unknown. She’s been in her box since the late 19th/Early 20th century (Meiji Era), as that was when Dr. Kunihiko Asou was alive and active in his research. Since he seemed young when they met, she’s probably been around since before 1900. The game itself takes place in the early 2000s. It never specifies how long she was alive before that.
Species: Human/Ghost

History: Personal.
Game
Mt. Hikami
Hometown/World: Mt. Hikami, Japan. On Earth.

Personality:

Ouse’s primary motivation for a lot of what she does both in life and after her death is that she is very, very lonely. She lost her family, so with no alternative, she went to Mt. Hikami. After her ritual failed, partially because of the knowledge the one she had fallen in love with was not with her, she wandered as a ghost waiting for someone to enter into a ghost marriage and die with her, and the feeling was so strong, it even cursed a photograph of her so that people who saw it would fall in love and want to be with her. Even when surrounded by others, she feels like her heightened senses isolate her, and death hangs like a pall over her. “No matter where I go or what I do, I am alone.” This also leads to a sense that she is frequently morose, perhaps depressed. Honestly, she doesn’t seem to smile much - just once, at the very end of the good ending of the game. To become a priestess on Mt. Hikami is to know you will witness many secrets and horrors and die young. She must have been prepared for that - it is a willing fate, she wasn’t chosen or conscripted by any external force to go. Even entering the reliquary is done voluntarily, though it means death for the priestess. There is a rather unsubtle amount of suicidal urges in most of the characters in this game.

Likely because of her loneliness, she seems to fall in love, or at least get attached easily. Kunihiko Asou was only on Mt. Hikami for long enough to take her photo for her future ghost marriage for them both to fall in love. She continues to have the lingering attachment to Asou, even over a hundred years later, and it’s that a bit of his spirit that was reincarnated Ren - one of his descendants - that initially attracts her to Ren, as well. She is quick to get fairly attached to the main protagonist of Fatal Frame 5, Yuri, as well, though the protagonist is not on the mountain for terribly long; long enough for Ouse to see a kindred spirit within her.

Still, she takes her duties as one of the priestesses of Mt. Hikami seriously. She dutifully oversaw the deaths of as many people as she could stand to see, and willingly entered the reliquary to become the Great Pillar. But, as is also stated in one journal entry, it may have been as much an honor-bound duty as it was she had no alternative. She had no home to return to, so she did what she had to because there was no other choice. However, she was chosen as a Great Pillar for a reason - such a high honor as to make the other priestesses cry for not being chosen would not be given out lightly, so she must have been a strong, dedicated candidate. At no point does she resent the duty given to her, though she does question who will Glance her as she has Glanced so many others. She’s not perfect, though, because she is still human. As she goes along, thinking about entering a Ghost Marriage with Kunihiko Asou, she comes to the realization that she doesn’t want to die with him, she wants to live with him - an important difference. It causes wavering and hesitance in her heart, which helps lead to the failure of her ritual.

In seeing so much death, she actually doesn’t really seem to see it as something frightening or something to avoid. No one dies alone on Mt. Hikami, and in the water, all are one. In fact, death is a bit of a comforting thing to those raised on or near the mountain it seems. So watching others die, seeing death, none of that really seems to ruffle her in any meaningful way.

Because of her Glancing ability, Ouse more or less avoids eye contact with people, likely out of a sense of politesse. Eye contact means mind reading, and if someone doesn’t want that, it would be rude to do. This means that her body language comes across as demure or shy, but to be honest, that is far from the case. She knows what she wants. She’s one of the only ghosts to speak directly to a Fatal Frame protagonist as an individual person, and interact with her based on what is seen, rather than a false assumption. Ouse knows Yuri is an outsider from beyond the mountain, and very bluntly tells Yuri to seek her out, because she knows Yuri to be a kindred spirit. Also, because she wants Yuri to either Glance her and relieve her of her secrets and attachments to the world, or join her eternally in the Black Water so neither of them will be alone any longer.

Other than that, she presents as well-spoken, well-groomed (when not cursed), and otherwise polite. Her journals reflect that, as do the words she actually speaks. Watching people’s deaths is a way of offering comfort and kindness to them in their final moments and ensuring they move on properly, which would require an inherently kind and empathetic streak. No one leaves Mt. Hikami once they get there, typically, so she’s not well versed in the actual goings-on of the outside, and the modern era, though she may have seen some of it within the more recent spirits of the mountain. The whole setting will likely come as a pretty bad culture shock, considering everything on Mt. Hikami except the folklorist’s house, is very traditional Japanese.

That said, she’s not very sheltered about other matters of life, and, in fact has a flirtatious streak. The first kanji that makes up the ‘Ou’ part of her name is one that means a meeting, but implies a meeting such as a tryst or rendezvous. She uses this kanji, frequently, when asking people to meet with her. It’s a subtle, but very notable way of flirting that doesn’t come across as well in English, but is worth a mention.

Then there is the important part about the Black Water. Black Water is basically liquified human malice and negative emotions, pouring out from the afterlife. Ouse was totally soaked in it, after her ritual failed. This makes her spirit more aggressive than her human self would have been otherwise, and more than once she chases a protagonist out of a house or down the side of the mountain. That said, even under the influence of it, she maintains more of her sense than many other ghosts in her game and in similar circumstances in other Fatal Frame games. None of the other Fatal Frame antagonistic ghosts tended to speak directly to a protagonist, and especially not in a helpful way. Without its influence, she holds to her kinder side much better, but even under it, she maintains a decent grip on herself, all things considered. If it resurges here, though, it’s likely to at least influence her to act more aggressively, though perhaps not outright violent, as she seeks someone to spend eternity with.

Personal Moral Codes: Strictly speaking, the priestesses on the mountain were to observe the deaths of others, not cause them. Ouse never really seems to have a murderous streak, either way, so directly, willingly killing someone is outside of her usual characteristics. That said, she has been the cause of at least two deaths on the mountain, indirectly, for the failed grooms of the Ghost Marriages. She was also there and witnessed both of them, but seemed a bit indifferent to what happened, likely due to the corruption of the Black Water and the beliefs on Mt. Hikami.

She wants to be joined in a Ghost Marriage with someone to relieve her feelings of being alone for the rest of eternity. It doesn’t really seem to matter under what circumstances this is done, and, as stated, has caused deaths of at least two men. However, it doesn’t really seem like the gender or sex of the person joining matters - after all she says she wants to die with Yuri, a female protag, which is a way of inviting her into a Ghost Marriage together.

She is not adverse to self-sacrifice for the greater good - she’s a willing human one, after all, but the truth is she’s seen too much of it to likely be very affected. Death is not something that can really be used as a threat against her, because it’s an ever-present part of her life, and she might even come across as indifferent in watching people die, even if that is not the truth. The right impetus might reveal a self-sacrificial streak, but really, she’s a priestess who watches over death rather than try to stop people. They all have their reasons for coming to the mountain.

Insecurities/Personal Demons: Loneliness as a major motivation for her also means it’s a big weakness of hers, as well. She fears being alone for eternity in death. Her final few calls to Yuri are as much in desperation for how little time she has left before her spiritual power wanes, as a call to help Yuri out with her own Glancing ability.

She does not fear death, and in fact, readily embraces it, she just fears facing eternity in death alone. She doesn’t even really fear killing herself.

She’s probably seen worse and more horrible things than any nightmare could show her, in reality, but that doesn’t mean she is without empathy or reaction to it. The deaths she witnessed are said to ‘fill’ the hearts of the priestesses until they can’t take it anymore - until they can’t possibly take on anyone else’s pain and regrets. Even then, she pushed beyond her own limits - and was pushed beyond it, as well, when the other priestesses were murdered - the other contributing factor to the failure of the ritual.

That… and the Black Water that follows her just about everywhere as a ghost. It is corrosive, corrupting, and overwhelming. If she wavers against it, it can overtake her mind and cause her to do things she might not do normally. It can influence others the same.

Abilities/Powers/Weaknesses: Ouse has an ability called Glancing (“Mitori" in Japanese) that is basically a form of mind-reading. Under the Glance of the priestess, one’s soul is laid bare, and all their pain and secrets are exposed. The priestess then takes that unto herself, and the person is then able to die without connections to the world; a ‘clean’ death. But, at its base, it is an ability to read minds. It becomes more powerful the closer the user and/or the recipient are to death. Not necessarily physically speaking, but rather, mentally and emotionally - how much one, the other, or both, are prepared to die, and soon. At first, the Glance must be done physically, and transfers via a physical touch, but as one gets more practice and more powerful, it can be done merely via eye contact with someone. Ouse is at the level where she can do it via eye contact.

She has a strong sixth sense, and writes that once she arrived on Mt. Hikami, she could see individual veins on leaves, individual raindrops, could smell the amount of death the mountain had seen, even though there were no corpses around. She’d had heightened senses since the flood that killed her family, and can see ghosts, as well. This is in line with the typical characters who possess strong sixth senses/spirit mediums in the Fatal Frame franchise, as well. It seems she is so particularly sensitive to it that even having her picture taken as a human seemed to have ‘hurt’ her as it captured a small chunk of her spiritual energy. “Photographs steal your soul" is somewhat literal in this canon.

Then, there is the Black Water. As a ghost, particularly, Ouse seems to bring it with her wherever she goes. It is corrosive (it melts the flesh of whomever touches it if they do not have a strong spiritual power), it is corrupting (because it is liquified human malice so overwhelming you can drown in it), and it… looks like black hair wafting around in water. So… creepy hair tendrils. She walks over the surface of water a lot as a ghost, too, and comes up from beneath the surface to antagonize the protagonists.

She has other ghost abilities, including the ability to float about as though gravity doesn’t matter (though she rarely ever does this, and prefers just to walk on the ground or water), short-range teleportation (for maximum jumpscare factor), and can severely damage or knock someone out with little more than a touch… seeing as she is a final boss, it only takes one touch for her to really do some damage or kill someone.

Seeing as she is a Fatal Frame ghost, taking a picture of her with a camera is an easy way to ‘exorcise’ her spirit in a way. Because she is not fully dead, it doesn’t completely get rid of her, but it does cause immense pain, especially as more powerful abilities, upgrades, and film are used on the camera. She feels this pain, even as a human.

Ability/Power/Magic Warping: Ouse’s powers come with some pretty strong drawbacks, as they are. Most interestingly, I think, having her sixth sense run amok randomly to give her sensory overstimulation on occasion around preternatural beings, as well as slipping between her ‘normal’ human form and corrupted ghost form - or something like it - would be interesting to play with, especially if she is more prone to doing it around larger amounts of water.

She’s not going to be always corrupted or always acting like a ghost, so I’d reserve using her ‘ghost’ abilities (teleportation, etc.) for when she presents in her ‘corrupted’ form and thus acts like a ghost.

Inventory: Her wedding kimono, the lily-shaped accessory she wears, a Japanese paper fan, and her diary.
Writing Samples: One

Two)

“It’s not very pleasant of a dream, no,” Ouse observed, but looked out over the foggy streets of the town, anyway. It was quiet, when the weather got like this, sleepy, almost. Silent… like the dead. Her hands found their way in front of her, gripping together in her usual pose, before she seemed to think better of it, and let them drop to her sides.

“But, it is better than the dreams I have back at home…” A nod; sure, the town is deathly still and silent, but there’s no cackling shapes coming out of the woodwork. No bodies twisting and cracking as they hit the ground beneath the cliff by the waterfall. No muddled screams as water rushes into lungs. No snap of a rope as it tightens around a neck. “At home, I relive all the deaths I have seen. Over and over…”

Ah… was that too much? She gave a sidelong glance to her companion, and then shook her head. “... It’s not very pleasant to feel the blade as it sinks into your throat, even knowing you can’t die from it. And so… I will take the pains I endure here over that. So long as I don’t find myself succumbing to the Black Water…”

She held up a hand. No, her skin was still smooth and pale, still very flesh colored, and not at all like the gray-blue color it turned when she wasn’t feeling her usual self. At least, until it started to rain, and she watched the droplets as they splashed against her skin, streaking up her hand, toward her forearm. Just touching her, she saw them turn black, leave trails along her otherwise unmarred flesh. The water reacted here in a way that reminded her of home, but not in any way that would otherwise cause a pang of homesickness. She pulled the hood of her jacket up over her hair again.

“Shall we go? I can warm some water for tea.”

OUT OF CHARACTER

Player Name: Reslari
Player Age: 29
Player Contact: Reslari, Reslari#9561 on Discord

Other Characters In Game: N/A
In-Game Tag If Accepted: Ouse Kurosawa: Reslari
Permissions for Character: Here
Are you comfortable with prominent elements of fourth-walling?: Absolutely. Hit her with your worst.

What themes of horror/psychological thrillers do you enjoy the most?: Ambience, the scariest things are what you don’t see and your own mind makes up, humans are the real monsters, especially when there are actual non-human monsters around.
Is there anything in particular you absolutely need specific content warnings for?: Nope
Additional Information: I hope someone knows how to bless Drain-o. The town’s plumbing won’t be the same again...