Dawn the Rat Thief

[madimpossibledreamer]

Happy Easter to those of you who celebrate it, and have a great day to those of you who don't!
 

Natsukawa Akeru (Dawn) Nezumi Shimai

I didn’t do this on purpose, but both the Natsukawa siblings have folk heroes rather than anything supernatural as their irezumi youkai.  Hmmm….that might be a requirement for Joyce’s tat then.

I was actually leaning towards the tanuki, noted thief and trickster, but it is dumb and whatever else Dawn is she is not that.

So, the original, in our world, is Nezumi Kozou.  (It’s a nickname, hence the Rat in the name.  I went with lower-ranking yakuza nickname in Bloody Petals ‘verse because there’s not really a counterpart to kozou in this one, though I did end up running into stuff about sukeban which is super important for writing this ‘verse.)  He (she now) is a pretty famous thief that was built up to be a Robin Hood type after his (her) death.  Akeru is cunning and made her start from stealing, so it’s a perfect one for her.

She’s also got a dragon on either arm curling onto her chest in the water down her arms.  She’s gotten them in yellow because being the daughter of the Chairwoman is generally thought of as pretty prestigious.  She really enjoys water activities in canon (and yeah, probably here—hanging out in the river or sea is her equivalent of Majima’s batting center hangout). It’s got synergy with the dragon.  I’m not entirely sure that water plus a land-component (Nezumi Shimai) would be “allowed” traditionally, but Akeru is another troublemaker alongside Miyamoto, so she wouldn’t be all that bothered (though she probably wouldn’t go with the traditional artist Horimae if so).

She’d have the namakubi, severed head, somewhere in the bodysuit.  It has extra meaning because Nezumi Shimai’s story ends in a beheading.  Plus she’s definitely not above threats (but does respect her enemies, if they’re competent).

The bodysuit is mostly water and lotus.  I could see her doing something like Kiryu where she gets the Sanskrit character for the year of the tiger, her birth year, though don’t know how it would be incorporated.  I can also see Sanskrit being one of her favorite languages.

*folk hero semi-robin hood thief Nezumi Shimai (counterpart of nezumi kozou) also the beheaded

*namakubi-severed head, courage, fearlessness, respect for a foe, “don’t mess with me”

*Dragon, knowledge, protection, wise protector, yellow-nobility, protection against evil, bravery, wisdom, strength

*water-which would fit a dragon, change, adaptation, life, powerful force of nature

*lotus-spiritual awakening

*her zodiac is supposedly fire tiger which is kinda funny considering all the water, but maybe she’s just doing the opposite thing like her sister. (smart, quick-witted, love writing, talented, always do what they’ve said, honest/blunt, ambitious/proud)

*languages