qilin Akarui Yozora (Ready)

[MudBug]

Roleplay Type:

World of Equestria

Name: Akarui Yozora | 明るい夜空 (Roughly translated it means 'Bright Night Sky')

Sex: Male

Age: Older Stallion

Species: Kirin

Eye Colour: Rich Red.

Coat: Akarui's coat is a rich night sky blue whilst the scales on his muzzle, chest and dotted about his hide are a terrakota colour leaning towards red.

Mane/Tail: His mane and tail is a thick dark turquoise with a steak of colour that starts as a deep blue and becomes more vibrant towards the tip, there are steaks of this vibrancy in his beard and chops.

Physique: Akarui is a muscular and tall Kirin, laden with working muscle that's obvious in his legs. He has the tiniest bit of pudge around his middle from a life in the Palace - but it's all rather compact around a barrel of muscle that makes up the older stallion.

Residence: Palace Castle in Kyoma

Occupation: Previous Shogun's Groom | Current Shogun's Father

Cutie Mark: A Yin Yang symbol with the darker half ontop of the lighter, instead of solid black and white the lighter part is made up of a sunset lit sky and the darker half is a starlit night sky with the moon and sun conjoined together in the middle of the symbol.

Akarui was a late bloomer for his cutie mark, becoming an older colt and growing into his gangly pre-adolescent legs long before any magic started flashing on his flank. However by that time he also had a LOT of baby siblings to take care of as well as helping his parents with their work. 
Needless to say on a young stallion it was more than a little stressful. Wailing foals and the taxation of the work and parental demands grew too much for a colt just entering early adulthood who just wanted to loaf and be lazy, he'd had thoughts now and then of running away from it all, living a free life. But the guilt of such an idea struck him far too deep - making him stay and instead pushing to another extreme.

This time he worked too hard. For a week he worked, trying all his best to balance work with caring for infant siblings and this time neglecting all rest in lieu of forcing himself to the brink. By nopony's surprise - he got extremely ill from stress and all the more frustrated for it. He couldn't loaf off because he would shirk his duties, he couldn't push to be a perfectionist worker otherwise the stress would make him sick. It all felt unfair to him.

Amidst his frustration, his elderly grandmother had come to soothe his stomach with tea and asked him why he had pushed himself. When he explained, the old mare smiled and stroked her grandson's mane before explaining to him that you couldn't have one without the other. Like the sun and moon, day and sun, the lives of ponies needed their time to relax and their times to be serious in a balance. One road would lead to a lazy lifestyle and one would lead to a stressful lifestyle. Seeing his grandmother's wisdom, the colt took comfort and this time worked the next week much easier. But didn't make the week just easier for himself, he noticed his family in general was prone to pushing one extreme and took it upon himself to aid them. Supporting them in their work and pushing them gently to do better if they couldn't pull themselves from relaxing - or simply telling them when they needed to stop and think about themselves if they pushed themselves too hard.

A week this went on and when he found a rhythm, Akarui took most if not all his work in his stride. He had found self imposed balance and peace. And soon enough, the older colt's flank flashed and revealed his cutiemark; Representing his calm attitude to life's stresses and worries and how he seeks to aid those suffering from stresses but also inspire them to be their best.

Unique Traits:

 

• Akarui has quite an astounding patience, having come from a large family with many little siblings, very overworked and stressed parents, a wife who had to deal with the worries of a nation and three children - Akarui has bore a smile and been a supportive pillar through it all since his early adolescence. It can take something truly immense to shift this big patient mountain of a stallion from nothing more than the supportive house husband and father that he is and even then he will try to keep himself completely composed and level headed through it for the sake of others.

 

• Not being a Ryuma and being firmly situated on the ground, Akarui's has a strong magic breath that forms bright aqua blue lightning when focused or in times of true outrage or anger - say in defense of his children or family. However with his patience it's rare to ever see that magic breath of his in action.

 

• This old man certainly knows how to brew a cup of tea, not a leader of state and not a stallion who needs to concern himself with the economy - he certainly does know how to soothe over the spirits of any grumpy visiting delegates with the perfect cup of tea. Knowing many different flavours, heats, sweet supplements and always knowing the perfect time to sit down with one. He knows his children's favourites off by heart, as well as most of the servants and will often be seen with a fresh cup and silently mulling away the worries of the world that will fade in a fresh steamy tea.

 

History:

Akarui Yozora was the first born of a large family from the higher middle class within Kyoma, his family dealt in silk trade, having several silk worm farms and selling only the finest to be made for the grandest and greatest within Neighpon's capital. As a youngster the stallion preferred to be a lazy loafer who wasn't really interested in his parent's work, happy to grow big on the bits that his parents were bringing in...up until one of their silk farms was attacked by an angered Long. With the recent growth in their family with his younger siblings and the sudden lack of immediate silk, he was involved in making sure everything was tallied and shops got what they were asking for whilst juggling the infants now born into the homestead.
Needless to say, Akarui couldn't be both lazy and sick with work related stress as he tried to push one extreme to the other for the first week or so and eventually, through his grandmother, found a way to balance both as well as aiding his overly stressed parents. For the next couple of weeks they worked and eventually fixed their work schedule with their son's help, whilst he found a peace in being able to relax and work with his new cutiemark.

 

Over the next set of years, the stallion grew and became quite the looker - something that hadn't gone unnoticed by his parents who recommended him trying to marry into a wealthier house, if for nothing else than for his own benefit. Bet Akarui was still a fairly young stallion and had no interest in such things...yet. At the same time the current Shogun was being pestered for her hoof in marriage by so many suitors, Akarui had never seen so many fancy stallions from all walks of Neighpon and even other parts of Equestria,  garnering gifts and favous for their Shogun's hoof. 

One day, one of his parent's clients was delivering a package to the Shogun's palace in the form of a beautiful official robe - now this client happened to be quite the elderly seamstress, so the stallion offered to aid in its delivery and upon coming to the Palace, finally met the Shogun face to face in the middle of handling all the ponies that vied for her attention.

Needless to say, seeing such a level headed and in control mare certainly changed Akarui's perspective of marriage. He was smitten at first look.

When he told his parents of his interests, they were ofcourse overjoyed - but he was worried their interventions might make him come off as desperate as those gift giving stallions. It didn't help that when he offered himself as the Shogun's consort, he got his fair share of glares - but the Shogun looked rather relieved at less flashy offer and decided to give him a few days in her company to see how they'd get along.

 

The phrase 'like a barn on fire' certainly came to mind. They'd spend hours talking to each other, him about his view on life and his parent's work, her about the silly gifts she'd been getting and her work with the nation as a whole. They'd walk with each other, watch the stars and simply enjoy the quiet. Days in her company turned to weeks and soon a month and all could quite agree that they got along swimmingly. But to Akarui it didn't feel like enough, yes he wasn't a flashy stallion - but he felt the Shogun deserved something. So on the evening of that year's Cherry Blossom Festival, after her speech to the citizens was done - Akarui gently whisked her away to a silent stretch of river painted with blossoms and offered her a charm with two pearls tied to the silk rope. One gold as the sun, one pale as the moon. He told her that it was tradition of stallions in his family to give something meaningful to the mares they loved and this charm symbolized just how perfect they felt together as a couple, as perfect together as the sun and the moon.

 

The next moon, they were married. He was the Shogun's groom. He had no power over the nation, but he was happy. He made sure the servants were content in their work, he acted as house husband to guests and a friendly face to greet them and over all - he loved his wife. His beautiful, wonderful wife. He was there to support her, reassure her and invigorate her in her ideas whilst also making sure she took the time to relax. It wasn't a surprise that soon they were blessed with a Ryuma of all things as their first, needless to say he was more than happy. He was downright delighted. His firstborn son and not the last, soon blessed with another the year after as he watched both his boys grow and go through training and make him prouder with each day. Akarui was happy in his life. And even happier with the birth of his third.

 

When the Kaiju came a few days afterwards, not even he could've foreseen what happened. He spent hours looking for his wife in the wreckage the Kaiju had caused...but it was too late. Completely distraught, Akarui was given little time to mourn - especially when his firstborn vanished in grief and his second searched for blame on anywhere but the monster. In Ryuichi's absence he could only offer support to the council members and reassure of his trust in his son's return, whilst balancing caring for his infant daughter in the meantime and helping the servants piece themselves together after the tragic passing of the late Shogun.

With Ryuichi's return, relief returned with the older stallion and he finally gave himself time to grieve.

 

Nowadays, the older stallion is cheerful - for he knows his wife would've wanted it that way. He knows she knew that was when he was at his best. Being a peaceful boon to others and a kind father to his beloved children whilst also keeping an eye over his eldest son who he proudly watches from the side as he runs Neighpon.

 

Character Personality:

Akarui is a kindly older stallion, his patience certainly helps and his perception of the world aids in helping slow down and understand more complex matters at a pace that becomes easier to break down and help others understand it. With all the experience he has with this, it helps him come off as a rather wizened older fellow, almost like a mentor in that sense. However those who know him better also know the fun loving and playful side of him as well, he is a father after all, a father of three children - one of whom still a foal - and he'll he hogtied if he won't make it his duty to atleast get a smile out of them once a day or be there for them when they're feeling upset or need fatherly advice. Ofcourse some of his advice is usually light hearted or making playful jabs, given his laid back attitude to life and such, but again it's all in seeking a smile and calm within people.

Due to the passing of his wife, he can sometimes be quite somber by his lonesome - but it's a fleeting thing at best, as well as anger. Akarui isn't a stallion prone to anger or outbursts, preferring to talk before anything confrontational and will never use what's left of his status against anypony. He prefers to see them on equal grounds, be them peasant or princess. The angriest he will be is possibly raising his voice, being a touch louder, or even frowning for a few seconds in disappointment of someone making him angry - but even then it's not him being fully angered, moreso just disappointed. Not many have seen Akarui angry, not many would be sure to say if they'd like to see such a kind old fatherly pony angry either.

Character Summary:

The wise older patriarch of the Shogunate family and father of the Shogun, Akarui acts as the serene pedestal of support to those in the Palace who need it and the gentle father to his children. Always patient, level headed and calm tempered. If you need a gentle shoulder to lean on or somepony to talk your problems out to, Akarui is the Kirin for you.

 

[Bellosh]