- Intro/General Information
- The Setting and Main Plot
- Haru Ogami
- Simon Kanzaki
- Tatiana Tachibana
- Juliet and Apollo Taiga
- Ame Kayama
- Anika Archer
- Plot/Interaction Ideas
Hm hi there. So I have some ocs for Sakura Taisen and I am looking for partner to write them out with so I can develop them out some more. Being aware of the fact that Sakura Taisen is an obscure franchise in the West, I realize that I probably won’t come across anyone here who knows it well enough to be able to write it in that setting. So that being said, I would still like to find some well-developed ocs for my own to interact with. Given that Sakura Taisen takes place in an alternate, realistic enough timeline of our own world, I’m interested in doing a sort of modern AU type rp with my ocs. I wrote out my ocs to be as generic as possible with little connections to the canon lore of Sakura Taisen. So it’s quite alright if your ocs are from a different fandom/ are original.Although if a miracle does happen and I stumble across someone who does happen to know of Sakura Taisen lore and is willing to rp with me: this timeline my ocs are in disregards that of the new game coming out.
So here’s some basics about my style of rp that I can think of off the top of my head.
1. I have been rping for eight years
2. As I notice you guys have been saying on this website, I prefer “literate” responses. This means that I myself try my best to write with correct grammar and spelling. I expect my partners to do the same.
3. As you will see if you go onto read my character bios, I love to write. I love to send and receive lengthy replies. However due to my busy schedule, I’m only really capable of doing a couple short paragraphs of responses.(hell, this post is legit a month in the making as it took me FOREVER to write out the full biographies of all my ocs)I don’t mind if I receive a shorter response back, just as long as it gives me enough detail to work with.
Information about this verse and the biographies of my ocs can be found on the tabs above. If you are interested in interacting, I would ask that your oc be somewhat developed out with at least some sort of biography/ background. It doesn’t have to be really long like my bios are, but just enough so I can get an idea for your character and what they’re like.
Thanks much! Hopefully I’ll meet some good partners and friends from writing out this verse XD.
The year is 1945, the setting: New York City. I choose New York, not only because it is the setting of the most recent Sakura Taisen game “So Long my Love” but also because I figured it would be the easiest setting to write in: since I am but a stupid American who doesn’t know much about Japanese culture at the moment.
Anyway… yes, New York City: October, 1945. It has been a month since World War Two ended. It is a time of rebuilding in America. A time of the rebuilding of families, government, and society. Many people wanted a fresh start, and this period of reconstruction gave them just that.
Within the city of New York sits a theater on Broadway called The Little Lip Theater. Like the world around it, the theater was experiencing its own period of revampment. The theater is owned by a wealthy real estate developer by the name of Michael Sunnyside. For many years, Sunnyside played an active role in helping to superverse the overall management and day to day functions of the popular theater. Now Sunnyside is retiring and is leaving his role to be filled in by his two top managers: Shinjiro Taiga and Ratchet Altair.
Shinjiro and Ratchet have many plans to help revamp the theater. The first part of their plan involves bringing aboard new performers/ staff to the theater to help give it more diversity: as many of the theater’s current performers and staff have had residence there for a long time. This part of the plan is already being set into motion as Shinjiro is bringing in four new additions to the theater: his niece Haru, her friends Simon and Tatiana and his own daughter, Juliet. Haru, Tatiana and Juliet will join the theater’s current in house all women theater troupe, the New York Star Division, while Simon will become the theater’s new piano player.
More background about this setting can be found in Juliet and Apollo’s bios.
Picture of the Theater
A young Japanese woman of seventeen years, Haru no Hana Ogami hails from Tokyo. She is the only child of Ichiro Ogami, an Ensign in the Imperial Japanese Navy, and his wife Sakura. Her full name “Haru no Hana” translates roughly to “Spring Flower” and was bestowed to her by the suggestion of her mother. This was not only because she was born in the middle of spring but also because Sakura already thought that she was as beautiful as a flower in springtime.
Haru’s father was killed in action when she was seven years old, leaving her to be primarily brought up by her mother. Sakura is an actress in the Imperial Flower Theater Troupe: an in house all women theater group at Tokyo’s Imperial Theater. Haru is close to the other women in the Theater Troupe, and she considers them all to be her honorary aunts, as they all helped her mother in taking care of her growing up.
Considering that she lived and grew up in the Imperial Theater, it was only natural that Haru would take up an interest in the stage. She was eight years old when she first appeared in one of the Flower Troupe’s productions. Her skills became better with time, and it wasn’t long until she became a full-fledged member of the Troup at the age of eleven. Haru is a fan favorite among attendees of the Imperial Theater. Everyone enjoys seeing her act alongside her mother, as their closeness in real life enables them both to have great on stage chemistry.
Now nearly eighteen years old, Haru has decided to make the journey to New York in America to be one of the new headlining actresses in her uncle Shinjiro’s Little Lip Theater in Broadway. She is excited and curious to see what life will be like in the city that never sleeps.
Haru is the older cousin of Juliet and Apollo Taiga. She is also romantically interested in Ame Kayama.
Also seventeen years old, Simon Kanzaki hails from Yokohama. He is of French and Japanese lineage. It was through his Japanese mother that he was born into the highly esteemed and wealthy Kanzaki family: who pretty much have a monopoly on the production of all sorts of steam powered machinery produced in Japan. In addition to that, his mother Sumire had been a star in her own right. For the longest time, she had been an actress with the Imperial Flower Theater Troupe alongside Haru’s mother. Sumire had always been extremely popular among the attendees of the Imperial Theater; so much so that there was quite a big stir among the media when she had decided to retire from the theater to instead pursue a career as a film director.
This was how Sumire came to meet Simon’s father. Gabriel Martin was an up and coming French film director. His collaborations and directorial work alongside other respected individuals only added to the positivity of his name and work. Despite living all the way in Paris, Martin knew of Sumire through her work in the Flower Troupe. The Imperial Flower Theater Troupe had stared in several films. Martin happened to be a fan of their film adaptation of the novel The Crimson Lizard. Sumire, of course, had played the lead in this one and he had loved her performance in it. From then on, Martin had always dreamed of her being the lead in his own first full length film. Back then, Sumire had quite a reputation for being bitchy and high maintenance. She only wanted to work with well-known and established directors. So to say that Martin was surprised when she returned his letter asking if she would be interested in staring and helping him direct his own film was quite an understatement. Turn out though that Sumire had heard of Martin as well. Having the knowledge that Martin’s work was gaining traction among French theater goers, she saw a collaboration with him as an opportunity to bring more fame and recognition to her own name.
Both Martin and Sumire didn’t expect to get along together as well as they did. The beginning of their relationship was purely professional at first: as working and finishing the film was the top priority on both their minds. But that professionalism went right out the door during a New Year’s Eve celebration in which Martin and Sumire were both drunk off their asses. They abounded their inhibitions and ended up sleeping with each other. When they both woke up the next morning, they had decided to keep it a secret between just the two of them. No one was going to know what had gone down. Sumire finished the movie with Martin with no further mishaps. After a successful premiere and first showing, Sumire returned to Japan: believing that she would finally be able to leave what had happened in Paris behind her. Oh how wrong that belief was.
A month or so after returning from Paris, Sumire discovered she was pregnant. Sumire’s pregnancy with her son was easily the most stressful time in her life as she was plagued with many worries. Of all these worries, two were the most prevalent. The first was the worry of the world finding out about her bearing a child out of wedlock, and thus bringing shame to the Kanzaki name. The second was a more internalized worry; one that she would not dare say outloud. It was the worry that she herself would not be a good mother. Sumire’s own mother had never really been around during her own childhood, therefore she had no motherly figure to look to as an example.
Sumire felt little attachment or affection for Simon when he was born. Her love and affection for him grew as he did. By the time he was two years old, she loved him immensely. It was during the early years of Simon’s life that both he and his mother stayed out of the public eye. The young boy’s existence was hidden from the world for the longest time: with only the Kanzaki family and the ladies of the Flower Troupe knowing of him. Martin also knew of Simon and thankfully did not abound him. While his parentage of Simon was kept a secret, it still didn’t stop him from keeping in touch with Sumire and their son. Martin would send Simon letters and gifts for his birthday; he would even come to visit him once every year during winter.
So Martin was in Simon’s life, but he did not have a direct impact on raising him like his mother had. Sumire had devoted the entirety of her time out of the public eye to care for Simon. Back during her time on the stage, Sumire had demanded only the best for herself. She wanted the same for her son and was thus extremely picky with how he was brought up. As a result, Simon lived a life of extravagance that most other children his age and older could only dream about. Despite all of this however, the little boy really didn’t care that much about his family’s money. Simon is his mother’s opposite in more ways than one: quiet, thoughtful and easy going. He cares for the simple things in life: like the feeling of sun on one’s skin and the gentle melody that came from pressing down singular keys on a grand piano.
Everything was going great in Simon’s life, until he was struck down by a case of meningitis close to his third birthday. His sickness from the meningitis was so severe that the doctors brought in to take care of him were all very convinced that he would die, and thus did not want to waste any more of their efforts on him. After almost a month of being in near comatose like state, he pulled through and survived. But there was a great cost to Simon’s victory. His brain had been so damaged by the infection that it left him almost completely blind, leaving him only able to see bits and pieces of light here and there and nothing else.
It took many years for Simon to learn to adapt to being blind. Now at seventeen, he has adapted pretty well to his disability. He navigates through his environment pretty accurately using his cane and the technique of human echolocation: something he taught himself on his own to do. Simon can do a majority of everyday tasks with little to no aid and he even write and read Japanese braille. Arguably one of his most impressive skills, however, is his ability to play piano. Simon began learning piano before he became sick. It was something he insisted on continuing to learn to do during his recovery, as playing the piano soothed him in a way he could not exactly explain. Now he is a tremendously gifted pianist and of course can often be found playing at the piano kept in the Kanzaki mansion
Simon is also making the journey to New York with Haru and Tatiana. While the two girls will be actresses at the Little Lip Theater, Simon will play piano there. He is good friends with both Haru and Tatiana, having met the both of them when they were all children.
Tatiana Tachibana is a nineteen year old girl hailing from Moscow, Russia. Of course Russia back then was a part of the Soviet Union; and as one would imagine, life in the Soviet Union wasn’t exactly the best. Sadly, Tatiana was no stranger to the cruelty of the Communist Party. Back in Russia she lived with her father, Alexei, and mother, Olga. One of Tatiana’s earliest memories from back in Russia involved working: she and her parents were always working. After all, they all had a duty to support the state. Olga had been an assembly line worker in a textile factory, with Tatiana joining her in work for the factory once she reached the age of five. Alexei had a bit of a better job than his wife and daughter. He worked for the government as one of their foreign diplomats. Alexei was a highly educated man. He was also highly opinioned too, but he knew when to bite his tongue and keep to himself…for the most part anyway. One of his strongly held beliefs was that women should have just as much equal opportunity for education and prosperity as men. This was how Tatiana came to be educated herself, as her father would secretly tutor her during the nights after they had both come home from work. It was during one of her father’s lessons on the history of their county, that the topic of the history of the Tachibana family came up.
Tatiana could remember listening with great curiosity as her father told her stories about his family. His father, her grandfather, Nikolai Tachibana had been a solider in the Russian Army during the Russo-Japanese War, before later becoming a foreign diplomat to the state as well. In fact, it was actually through his father that Alexei had developed interests in becoming a diplomat as well. It was through Nikolai’s job as a diplomat that he met his first wife, Alexei’s mother and Tatiana’s grandmother. Alexei’s mother, Anastasia, had a job with the state also dealing with that of its foreign affairs. Alexei couldn’t exactly remember the title of the job, but he knew that it been something like that of a secretary job: setting up negations that the state did with other foreign nations and keeping records of those meetings. Alexei had been Nikolai’s only child with Anastasia. Nikolai and Anastasia had separated when Alexei was three years old, the divorce becoming legal two years later. During that time, Nikolai had become one of Russia’s main ambassadors to Japan. In his trips to Japan, he had become acquainted with Akiko Tanaka, a Japanese woman who was an ambassador to Russia. Much to everyone’s surprise, Nikolai ended up falling in love with Akiko and it wasn’t long before they were married and had a child of their own: a daughter named Maria. Alexei had explained to Tatiana that while his mother was disgusted with the idea of her ex-husband falling for a Japanese woman, she thankfully wasn’t opposed to him visiting his father so he could meet his sister. As a child, Alexei would go to visit his father during the summer and spring months. It was from those visits that he and Maria had developed a special fondness for each other.
Tatiana remembered how the next part of the story had been a bit hard for her father to talk about. Alexei had been nineteen when the Russian Revolution began in 1917. Nikolai and Akiko had gotten killed in the surrounding chaos of the revolution. Maria was only fourteen. She ended up getting taken in by a man named Yuri Ivanov. Yuri had been good friends with Nikolai, the two having fought side by side during the Russo-Japanese War. While Alexei also knew Yuri, he was not as close to him as Maria was. So when Yuri decided to join the White Army in their fight against the Bolsheviks, Maria was quick to follow him and she too ended up joining the Whites. The last time Alexei had talked to Maria in person was all those years ago, pleading with her desperately not to join the war: he had already lost his father, he did not want to lose his sister too. But Maria was determined. She felt that the Bolsheviks were a direct cause to their father’s death and that by joining the Whites, she could help to avenge his death, along with that of her mother’s. Not wanting his sister’s last memories of him to be of them fighting, Alexei had dropped his request for her to not join the war. Alexei had then bid both Maria and Yuri goodbye as they headed off on a train to Saint Petersburg. That ended up being the last time Alexei ever saw Maria again.
Yuri had ended up getting killed while Maria ended up escaping Russia all together. It was a long while before Alexei ever heard from her. He figured she had died alongside Yuri until he had received a letter from her saying that she was in New York. The two corresponded through letters for a while before losing contact all together. Alexei had been the last one to send her a letter, but he had never received anything back; he was unsure if it had just not been delivered to her or that she just didn’t want to respond to him anymore. All Alexei knew now was that Maria was in Japan now, in Tokyo to be exact. To his surprise, she was now a part of all women theater troupe referred to as the Imperial Flower Theater Troupe.
Tatiana could remember her father sighing as she looked over a picture of her aunt that her father had received from her not long after she took up residence in Tokyo. Her father then said he would do anything just to be able to see her again.
“Don’t worry Papa, we’ll visit her someday and we can all be a family again,” Tatiana had said gently as she gave her father a sympathetic smile.
If only such a dream could become a reality. Just three years before the official beginning of the Great Purge, Alexei and Olga had been one of the first people declared by the Communist Party to be “Enemies of the People”. Alexei had been labeled first as a threat due to the fact that he could be quite outspoken with his own beliefs, some of which went against that of the Communist Party. They deemed Olga just as threatening because they knew she had the same opinions as her husband, even though she had never outwardly agreed with him, for she was a very quiet woman who did not want to draw attention to herself. After a very public and biased trial against them both, Alexei and Olga were both shot and killed by the NKVD, aka the Soviet secret police.
The state then took possession of all of Alexei’s belongings and dumped seven year old Tatiana into an orphanage. She had nothing now: only the clothes on her back and what she had managed to gather from her home before it was invaded by the secret police. What she had gathered from her home was that of a locket with her parents’ picture in it, along with that of her father’s photo of her Aunt Maria: who was now the only family member that she had left in the world. Tatiana kept both her locket and picture of her aunt close and guarded at all times, for fear that both would be taken away from her as well.
In the orphanage, Tatiana was a particular target for the staff working there due to her parents being labeled as “traitors of the motherland.” Food was purposely withheld from her, she was assigned the most work to do, and was beaten and punished harshly any time she tried to lash out or failed to do a task to the staff’s particular liking. Tatiana has many scars on her back, butt, and legs from all the times she was whipped with a belt. The most notable of scars she has is the one on her right eyebrow. She received this scar from a fight with another boy at the orphanage when he slashed at her face with some broken glass. There were many hard days at that orphanage, many days where the thought of just ending it all never left Tatiana’s mind. It wouldn’t have been that hard either: she knew where the staff kept their rifles, knew she could easily pick the locks of the safe where said rifles were being held. She knew that once that gun barrel was placed against her head and she pulled, it would be an instant end to all her suffering. Tatiana knew all this but… she also knew something else. She knew her parents wouldn’t want that. She knew they would want her to keep going, to find a way out of this hellhole. Her father would always talk about how there was “always something” you could do to make things better. The only time there was no option left was when you yourself decided that there was no option. Always something…. There was always something.
That something came in the form of a big, elaborate plan. Tatiana had decided that she was going to escape the orphanage and Russia to try to find her Aunt Maria. It was a crazy plan and there was definitely no guarantee that she would succeed or live to tell the tale. But what else did she have to lose? She could either die alone and neglected in Russia or die trying to find what was left of her family. To Tatiana, that second option sounded a lot better than the first.
Against all odds, Tatiana did end up escaping Russia and found herself in Japan. It was an obviously long journey: one that definitely provided the opportunity for her to have more than her fair share of close calls. It was the young girl’s wit, charm, and resourcefulness that ultimately worked in her favor and allowed her to survive this long. Thankfully upon her arrival in Tokyo, it didn’t take her very long to locate the Imperial Theater. Fortunately for Tatiana, Maria was one of the leads in the Flower Troupe’s latest production at the time and so there were many posters around with her picture on them. Tatiana had been able to follow the placement of all the posters back to the Theater.
It was very late at night when Tatiana had finally reached the grand doors of the massive playhouse. Her whole body was consumed by fatigue and she was weak from not having much to eat during the past couple days. But she still found the strength to knock at the door. She swayed back and forth on her feet as she waited for an answer, both in anxiety and in attempts to keep herself awake. The door was answered by none other than Haru’s father. Back when he was alive, Ichiro Ogami had become a manager of both the Imperial Theater and the Flower Troupe upon his initial retirement from the Navy. One of his many duties as theater manager was to do a bit of night watch duty for a couple hours every few days or so. Ogami was quite startled to see a dirty, skinny little red headed girl about his own daughter’s age standing there right in front of him. When Tatiana tried to speak to him, he obviously did not understand her, although he did recognize that she was speaking in Russian. Ogami didn’t hesitate to let Tatiana in despite this, feeling immediate pity and compassion toward the younger girl. He gave her some food to eat and let her sleep in the theater’s dressing room.
As soon as the morning light hit, Ogami went straight to Maria’s room to tell her of the young Russian girl he had found knocking at the doors of the theater late last night. He told Maria how it seemed as if this girl was looking to see her, as she had a picture of her and was pointing towards it. They then both went down to the dressing room, finding Tatiana awake and exploring her new surroundings. When Tatiana finally saw her Aunt Maria in person, she froze. It took every ounce of her being not to just run up to her and hug her and cry. The young girl didn’t waste any time in explaining to Maria her relations to her. Maria refused to believe it at first, until Tatiana showed her her locket and the old picture of her that she had sent to her father all those years ago. Maria was shocked into silence as that picture of her was taken by their old manager Yoneda a long time ago: it wasn’t just some recent picture this girl could have clipped out from the newspaper. The older woman turned the picture back over and the note she had written to her brother was still on the back of it:
“Dear brother, in the back of me is the Imperial Theater where I have taken up resistance as a performer in the Imperial Flower Theater Troupe. Maybe someday you and Olga can come visit me. Best regards, Maria.”
Maria had listened quietly as Tatiana explained everything: how her father had told her about her Aunt Maria in Japan and how they lost touch, how both her parents were labeled as “traitors of the motherland” and killed by the Secret Police, how she ended up in the orphanage and decided that she would escape and head to Japan to find her since she was the only family she had left. And how she had made such a journey from Russia to Japan, primarily through that of being a stowaway on a ship heading toward Asia.
Naturally, this was all quite a lot for Maria to take in and she ended up locking herself in her room for a good couple hours just trying to process it all. The last time she had corresponded with Alexei, he had told her excitedly about how his wife had just given birth to a daughter that they had named Tatiana. Now Tatiana was eight years old: had it really been that long? She had sent a letter back to her brother but having never received anything back, she figured it had just gotten lost in the mail. Maria had meant to try to send him another letter, but then life in general had gotten in the way and she never did. Now Alexei was dead. Once the realization of this fact sunk in, the guilt soon came flooding in and Maria did something she hadn’t done in many years: cry. Alexei had done so much for her as a child; taking in Tatiana was the least she could do for her brother. But Maria was unsure if she really could do it. Her own experiences in Russia left her cold and distant, and she naturally wasn’t a very motherly or warm type of woman.
It was because of this that it took quite a while for Maria to form any sort of relationship with her niece. Thankfully the other women of the Flower Troupe welcomed Tatiana in with open arms. Tatiana immediately took to Sakura right away in particular however as- in contrast to her Aunt Maria- she herself was naturally very maternalistic and kind. Sakura was more than happy to help take care of Tatiana and thus she became like a second mother to the young Russian girl.
Of course naturally this led to Tatiana becoming friends with Haru. Haru was very excited and enthusiastic to finally have someone around her age to play with. The language barriers between the two didn’t even matter to Haru as she still tried her best to communicate and interact with Tatiana. Tatiana was blown away by the amount of kindness Haru showed towards her, as no one her age back in Russia even wanted to be her friend because of her parents. Tatiana will always treasure her relationship with Haru, because Haru was her first real friend in this world besides her parents.
Now a days, Tatiana is thriving in her new environment. She was eventually taught how to speak, read and write Japanese by both Sakura and her Aunt Maria. Speaking of her Aunt Maria, Tatiana is close with her now. Maria sees so much of her older brother in Tatiana and she enjoys telling her niece stories of her father back from when they were children. Music is something that has always gotten Tatiana through the hard times in her life. Her father and mother would sing to her to give her comfort. So naturally when she became older, Tatiana would sing to herself in attempts to provide herself some security from her troubles. Not to long after Tatiana arrived at the theater, Maria came across her niece singing to herself as helped to do chores around the building. The older woman was surprised to find that Tatiana actually didn’t have that bad of a natural singing voice. Maria eventually ended up becoming Tatiana’s vocal coach, which helped in the long run as now Tatiana is a member of the Imperial Flower Theater Troupe alongside Haru, Sakura, and her aunt.
Tatiana and Haru are still best friends, that won’t ever change. But lately…. Tatiana has been having some werid feelings toward Haru. None of these feelings are bad, at least Tatiana doesn’t think they are. The feelings may not be bad, but they definitely are hard for her to exactly explain. Tatiana thinks that she…. loves Haru…. And not just as a friend. Tatiana has had plenty of daydreams of her and Haru being together in a romantic relationship. Despite having known Haru for a long time, sometimes Tatiana gets butterflies in her stomach whenever she talks to her. Her heart flutters whenever she watches her friend perform on stage, so much so that sometimes Tatiana has to look past Haru whenever they perform together so she won’t get distracted by her. These feelings confuse Tatiana a lot as Haru is just her friend and… they’re both women. Surely it’s not normal for a woman to love another woman right? Tatiana’s feelings toward Haru are a closely guarded secret of hers that she tries not to think about too much. Plus, thinking about them makes her feel horrible since she knows that Haru already has feelings towards Ame, whom is another childhood friend of hers.
Tatiana has heard many things about New York from her Aunt Maria who lived there for a bit before migrating to Japan. Like Haru, she’s curious to see what life will be like there and how the theater in New York differs from that of their theater in Japan. She’s also intrigued by the prospect of all the new people she is bound to meet, as- from what she can tell- a good amount of them seem to be connected to Haru in some way.
Haru’s younger twin cousins from New York, Juliet and Apollo Taiga are thirteen years old. The twins are of Japanese and Caucasian linage. Their Japanese father, Shinjiro, hails from Tochigi. Their Caucasian mother, Gemini, hails from Texas of all places: with quite a noticeable western accent to boot.
Both Shinjiro and Gemini came to New York to find opportunities with which they could use to better their lives. This was how they both fell under the acquaintance of Michael Sunnyside. An eccentric and flamboyant businessman, Sunnyside is one of New York’s wealthiest property developers. Aside from being a successful real estate developer, Sunnyside is known to have little “pet projects” that he likes to work on in addition to his regular work. He was working on arguably one of his biggest side projects at the time that both Shinjiro and Gemini came to New York: the development of a new theater on Broadway. A little known and surprising fact about Sunnyside is that he is actually quite fascinated by Japanese culture: specifically Japanese theater and film in particular. This fascination began while overseas for a business trip. The boat he was traveling on made a supply stop in Tokyo and he was able to spend an hour or two checking out the city. Before heading back to the boat, he took rest in a cinema that was giving its daily presentation of the weekly news.
Of course, Sunnyside could not speak Japanese and so he had no idea of what exactly was being said out loud by the presenter. Luckily, the presentation was a special one that he could easily enjoy even without speaking the native language. It was essentially a brief history and look of how certain types of media and art had developed and changed in Japan from the past twenty years to current present day. Sunnyside particularly enjoyed the segment featured about the development of Japanese theater and drama. It was through that segment that he was introduced to the women of the Imperial Flower Theater Troupe. The concept of an all women theater group intrigued him and he wondered if such a concept would work in America as well as it did in Japan. That was what got Sunnyside thinking. What if he put together an all woman theater group and tried his luck out with the concept on Broadway. He certainly had the money and resources to do it, so why not?
This was where Shinjiro and Gemini came into play. Gemini had been working as one of the three house keepers in Sunnyside’s mansion. Sunnyside would often hear her sing as she would go about scrubbing all the titles in his front room. Unbeknownst to Gemini, Sunnyside would sometimes stop on his way down the stairs just to listen to her voice for a minute or two. He’d always thought she had quite a lovely voice and so of course, she ended up being the first woman he asked to join his newly formed theater group. Gemini was quite surprised and startled by this question, but agreed soon enough as she had always had dreams of being a performer in a big city like New York.
Shinjiro meeting Sunnyside had been a chance encounter. Sunnyside had stuck up a random conversation with him after noticing him looking quite disheartened while sitting on a bench in Central Park. The newly immigrated young man was having a hard time finding a stable enough job to support himself. It was during this conversation that Sunnyside ended up finding out from Shinjiro himself that he was a relative of Sakura Shinguji, one of the Flower Troupe’s most prominent members. Yes, this Sakura Shinguji is Haru’s mother: as even after she was married, the media would still tend to refer to her by her maiden name. Shinjiro’s uncle, Ichiro, had been her husband. Shinjiro had always been close to his uncle and thus was close to his family as a result. Even after his uncle’s death, Shinjiro still kept in consistent touch with both Sakura and Haru and always went out of his way to help support them when they both needed it.(So yes according to canon, Shinjiro and Haru are first cousins. Which makes Juliet and Apollo Haru’s second cousins. But simplicity's sake, Haru refers to Shinjiro and Gemini as her uncle and aunt.)
Knowing Shinjiro had a connection to the Imperial Theater was something that Sunnyside couldn’t just ignore. Right then and there, he offered Shinjiro a job as a production assistant for the theater. Like Gemini, Shinjiro was quite shocked by this offer. He didn’t even know Sunnyside and honestly had very little knowledge on theater in general. Shinjiro thought the older man was off his marbles: only believing his claims of his massive wealth and the building of the theater when he research Sunnyside’s history up in archived newspapers in the library and saw the construction of the theater for himself. Even when Shinjiro tried to assure to Sunnyside that he knew absolutely nothing about theater, the man was still insistent on giving him the job. Putting his connections to Sakura aside, Sunnyside did genuinely want to help Shinjiro out. Desperate for employment of any sort, Shinjiro eventually took up Sunnyside up on his offer.
Working in the theater was a little tough for both Shinjiro and Gemini at first, as they were adjusting to taking on new roles that either had any experience in performing. Of course with time, they both became great at their crafts. Sunnyside referred to the five women he had selected to perform at the theater as the New York Star Division. Out of all of the New York Star Division, Gemini was the least experienced actress: much to the annoyance of some of her fellow actresses. But gradually, she grew to be one of their most popular members. As for Shinjiro, he eventually became a manager of both the theater and the Star Division. He shared the management position with another woman, Ratchet Altair, who had actually been an actress with the Imperial Flower Theater Troupe for a short time. It was under their management and Sunnyside’s leadership that the newly established Little Lip Theater became pretty popular.
Shinjiro and Gemini had formed an immediate connection with each other upon their first meeting. The two initially bonded over both their shared struggles of not only trying to fit into working at the theater, but also into the climate of New York City itself. Their closeness grew as the years went by, and it wasn’t long before they both fell in love and got married: with Gemini falling pregnant with the twins not long after. Everything was going right for the couple, and their lives remained relatively unchanged as they incorporated raising their family into their working lives at the theater.
It was just a couple months ago that Sunnyside had decided to throw a curveball at everyone working at the Little Lip Theater. He had called Shinjiro and Ratchet into his office to announce his retirement first to them. This announcement came suddenly and unexpectedly, as Sunnyside hadn’t been giving any sort of indication to anyone beforehand about retiring. Of course he would still own the theater, but he would step down from playing an active role in overseeing its management and day to day operations. He asked Shinjiro and Ratchet to both take his place as supervisors for the whole theater, a request neither of them hesitated in agreeing to.
Shinjiro brining in Haru, Simon, and Tatiana is the first phase of his and Ratchet’s plan to help revamp the theater. It was actually Ratchet’s suggestion that they slowly start to introduce new members into the New York Star Division as to keep things fresh since there was no denying the fact that the current Star Division ladies were aging.
Upon hearing of her father’s plans to recruit new, younger women into the New York Star Division, Juliet immediately asked her father if she could join. Like Haru, Juliet has always been attracted to the stage and drama. Her little eyes always filled with such wonder and awe at seeing every performance put on by the Star Division. Each time watching them was another opportunity for her heart to remind itself that this was what she wanted to grow up and do. She began taking minor roles in the Star Division’s shows when she was eight. Juliet with her naturally charismatic and energetic personality fit right in alongside the other women of the Star Division. Her “aunts” within the Star Division along with Sunnyside saw the potential she possessed and were all for her joining the group. Of course, Shinjiro and Gemini saw the potential in their daughter too and of course they wanted her to join the Star Division but… they felt she was too young at that time. They wanted to wait until she had grown and matured a little more, wanted her to actually earn the position instead of getting it just handed to her. While that didn’t initially sit very well with Juliet at that moment, she came to accept and understand her parents’ decision with time. And having her work to prove herself was ultimately a good decision in the end, as it helped shaped Juliet into a hard worker. If you were to come to the Little Lip Theater today, you would most likely come across Juliet cleaning and mopping the place up with her brother as they both shared the position of being unofficial janitors there. Luckily, Juliet grew to not mind the job as it was her way of helping to contribute in making the theater the best it could be. Like both her parents, she had a genuine love for the Little Lip Theater and it was this love that contributed to her work ethic. And this work ethic of hers soon became integrated in other aspects of her life, like her acting and schooling. Shinjiro and Gemini had become quite impressed with her maturity, so of course Shinjiro agreed to finally let her into the New York Star Division. While Juliet is of course sad to see Uncle Sunnyside step down from playing an active role within the Little Lip Theater, she is quite eager to see all these new changes come into fruition. She is most excited, however, to see Haru again as it’s been five years since they all went to Japan to visit her.
Compared to his sister, Apollo is much quieter and laid back. Juliet is always up and going and her bouts of seemingly endless energy and enthusiasm can be draining even to those who know her well. Apollo is quite the opposite in contrast, often preferring to keep to himself and thoughtfully observe the world around him. In general, he isn’t much of a conversationalist. It’s not like he has something against talking: it’s just that most of the time he doesn’t have much to say. However when he does feel passionately about a certain topic, Apollo will surprisingly have quite a lot to say: usually surprising everyone with his insightful observations. The most you’ll see him converse is with his sister. He and Juliet have a teeny bit of a sibling rivalry between each other. But it’s all in good fun for the most part, as it usually involves them taking jabs at teasing each other whenever the opportunity presents itself. Apollo loves to remind Juliet in particular about how he is a couple minutes older and taller than her, much to her displeasure. Although neither of them will admit it outright, Juliet and Apollo are really close in actuality and would easily take a bullet in defense for the other. Unlike his sister who has her sights set on a future with the theater, Apollo doesn’t exactly know what he wants to do yet with his life. He just takes life one day at a time, knowing that his future and path in life will fall in place just like it did for his parents.
Ame Kayama is an eighteen year old boy of Japanese lineage who, like Juliet and Apollo, was born and raised in New York City. He is the son of Yuichi Kayama, an Ensign whom is now retired from the Imperial Japanese Navy and his wife Mirai. His name roughly translates to “rain”, as he was born on quite a rainy day in New York City. Kayama had jokingly suggested to his wife that they name their new son “Ame” so they could remember how rainy it had been that day. Mirari agreed much to Kayama’s surprise and that was how Ame gained his unusual name.
Kayama is actually a very close family friend to both the Ogamis and the Taigas. Kayama attended the same naval academy as Ichiro Ogami and the two were close allies on the battlefield during their time in the Navy. Kayama retired from the Navy a couple years after Ogami did. He did some globetrotting for a bit, doing odd jobs wherever he went just so he could support himself and his travels. Kayama eventually ended up in New York City and decided to stay due to the seemingly abundant opportunities the city seemed to possess. He came to opening his own shop called Romano’s from which he would sell items and nick nacks imported from Asia, particularly Japan of course. The shop also functions as his home and he lives up on the second floor. Shinjiro’s acquaintance with Kayama comes from the fact that Kayama actually let him live up in the shop with him when he first came to New York.
Kayama continue to live alone in the shop once Shinjiro moved out. At that point, it had been a couple years since he came to New York and opened Romano’s. The man didn’t really grasp just how lonely he was until he realized how quiet everything was with Shinjiro gone. A couple years in New York, yet he didn’t have very many people to whom he was acquainted/ friends with: just Shinjiro and the staff of the theater, as he did some business with Sunnyside. He honestly thought he was destined to live a life of loneliness in the big city…. Until he met Mirari. Their meeting had been a chance encounter: she offered Kayama to sit at her table with her as the café they were in was full and there was nowhere else to sit. Mirari was a quiet and shy Japanese woman who kept to herself. She didn’t know what compelled her to offer Kayama a seat that day, but boy was the man glad she did. Kayama and Mirari immediately hit it off. She greatly enjoyed his quirky and charismatic personality and he loved her gentle and genuinely kind soul. They balanced each other out in a lot of ways. Mirari was the calm to Kayama’s eccentric personality and Kayama helped her to be more outgoing and open. They fell for each other fast and they both just knew that they were destined for each other. This was why Mirari did not hesitate to agree to marry Kayama within around two years of them meeting.
Kayama and Mirari were beyond overjoyed in discovering Miari’s pregnancy not long after their marriage. But their joy would soon turn into a challenge for them both. Mirari’s pregnancy was not an easy one, as she became plagued with illness by the end of her first month. The stress on her body as a result of the delivery of Ame had resulted in some significant complications on her end. She ultimately died a couple weeks later as a result of these problems. Naturally, Kayama was beyond heartbroken at the loss of his love, but there was no time to grieve: he had a son to raise and he was determined to be the best parent he could possibly be to Ame so that he wouldn’t feel the loss of his mother as hard as he had.
Nowadays, Kayama still operates and lives in Romano’s. Now he has Ame to help him with tasks around the store. If you visit Romano’s today, you can spot Ame doing work around the shop while his dad chats up the potential customers. Ame is very much like his mother: shy, quiet, and a bit timid. It’s honestly a wonder how he ended up becoming such good friends with Haru. She is very much his opposite in a lot of ways, as she is outspoken, outgoing, energetic and at a bit overbearing at times. Haru and Ame first met as children when Haru accompanied both her parents and her aunt Sakiko (Shinjiros mother) on a visit to New York to meet Juliet and Apollo back when they were babies. Surprisingly, the two kids hit it off right away and both were pretty upset when it came time for Haru to go back to Japan with her parents and aunt. They both managed to keep in consistent contact over the years through letters and phone calls.
Now that Haru is back in New York, Ame is quite excited to see her as it will be the first time he has seen her in person since they met as children. Their attractions to each other have only grown stronger as the years went by. Like Ame’s own parents, his relationship with Haru is quite an example of opposites attract. He loves her confidence while she loves his gentle personality. Ame and Haru are interested in each other romantically: a fact that is quite obvious to everyone but them both.
Admittedly, Anika is definitely the least developed out of all the ocs here. But I would still like to try to use her. Essentially the basics of her backstory is that she hails from Harlem. She was adopted as a child by a woman by the name of Cheiron Archer: an actress of the Star Division who also works as part-time lawyer. She is thirteen years old and is good friends with Juliet and Apollo. I’m thinking she’ll have a personality that a mix of both Juliet and Apollo’s. She’s quiet but not totally reserved like Apollo. She’s adventurous but not totally audacious like Juliet is. So a good mix of both of the twins’ different personalities.I’ll probably end up shipping her with Juliet as I’ve been thinking about doing that for a while.
1. So mainly I’m just looking for other ocs to interact with mine on a daily basis. Maybe your oc can become friends with one of mine. Or maybe they can get a job at the theater and my ocs can come in and interact with them as they get to familiarize themselves with the place. Something along those lines would be easy ways to initial interactions.
2. Shinjiro and Ratchet are looking for more women to be apart of the New York Star Division. I wouldn’t be opposed to other ocs joining. Granted though, I would like to get to know your oc and be comfortable with them before letting them officially join the group.
3. I’ve already written a starter where Ame accompanies Juliet and Apollo to the harbor to retrieve Haru, Simon, and Tatiana as their ship from Japan is docking there. We could easily do an interaction where your said oc can show them the way there or run into them or something.
4. I would also love for Tatiana to eventually have a girlfriend as I am quite a sucker for lesbian pairings. I would love to do a plot involving Tatiana where she discusses about her feelings for Haru and is reassured that she’s not a freak for having them. Of course granted I’d like for Tatiana and said oc to have chemistry before actually entering into a relationship.
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