06: Hikaru Masuko - The Lovers

Hikaru Masuko (益子光 Masuko Hikaru)  is the Lovers Arcana, obligatory homosexual, and the healer of the team. He is played by Unnoticeable Kohai, and is the first to receive his persona after a dungeon.

Beyond the Gates
Hikaru originally was genderqueer until Pug decided she couldn't play a Trans* character well enough and scrapped what she had, keeping some key points.

Shattered Perceptions
Hikaru was revised for the second iteration of the RP, with a completely different back story. Here, he had just adjusted to living with his father full time, and rejecting opportunities to bond with his future stepmom, Cho Yuzuki. His mother, Sayuri "Lily" Masuko is mostly absent from her son's life as she is constantly working in a restaurant.

In this iteration, Lily and Tobias Nikostratos fell in love when the former was just settling into Japan for an internship at a typical desk job. They married after a few months of dating, and by the end of the year, there was a kid on the way. Hikaru was born a few weeks prematurely, but the two were happy that he was alive. Lily was sort of jealous that her newborn looked almost exactly like his father, while Tobias was upset at the news that Lily could never have another child. The child was given a Japanese name after a few hours of bickering (Lily winning the right to give her child a name the local children couldn't make fun of) and so Hikaru Masuko the child became.

Hikaru soon developed into a total mother's boy, earning the name "Mommy's boy Masuko" in daycare. He followed her around the house, clung to her shoulder and wouldn't cry for his father who was usually working by day. Lily encouraged the boy to take acting when he was young.

It was only later that Lily realized that Tobias didn't love her anymore. While Tobias had long been promoted at his work, he felt like Lily wasn't the one for him and wanted to raise Hikaru "properly." The two divorced, with custody going to the one person that an eleven year old Hikaru naturally chose: his mother. For a while, everything seemed to be fine, Hikaru was happy with his mother and aunt, but gradually it became apparent that Lily could no longer take care of her son. The Masuko's were once known as a well off family but since the divorce, their reputation had been decreasing along with the number of family members in Kagamino. Meanwhile, Tobias' career flourished, and was dating an attractive young woman by the name of Cho Yuzuki, who Hikaru resented for prematurely taking place of his mother in the eyes of his father. At the end of middle school, Lily gave up custody of her son to Tobias in order for Hikaru to have a guaranteed roof over his head and a good meal every night. It was around this time when Hikaru came out to his family as pansexual, and was met with confusion from Cho and anger from Tobias, whereas his biological mother was accepting. Hikaru then entered Kirisame High School as a first year, involving himself in Drama and Student Council in order to avoid going home to his father and future stepmother. He became friends with second year Zayn Nader, the only male to not seem to mind Hikaru flirting with him. When preparing for the upcoming Clubs Day after Golden Week, Hikaru temporarily takes charge of the Drama Club, and gets ready to prepare a script for the Drama Club. One night, when preparing, he is pushed into the mirror by an unknown assailant, winding up in his own dungeon with Lysistrata. He is saved by the Occult Club and his persona Dionysus is awakened.

While Hikaru has since back to the Mirror World, he has shown to be a bit hesitant to be inside, especially in Mura Sanada's dungeon, where he is generally freaked out due to his dislike of horror-type situations.

Character
Hikaru is pansexual (a five on the Kinsley Sex Scale) and very flirty, which means that most of his flirting is restricted to the other males. His repressed side is twofold: he cannot forgive his mother for leaving him, his father for choosing to remarry so soon, and having to choose between parents if he can't forgive either. He enjoys the swings more than anything else in the park, and will spend hours doing half flips in the air. Like many other Lovers Arcana characters, he is popular due to his involvement in Drama and Student Council, and his gossipy nature. Hikaru is a talented actor and makeup artist, though he does admit he has a lot to learn. Hikaru tends to be a scaredy cat in other situations, mostly in Mura Sanada's dungeon, and around Ming Yu, who he mentally refers to as "Stacked-Senpai".

Persona
His persona is Dionysus, the Greek god of theater, wine, and madness, and was originally a Moon arcana persona. Dionysus represents Hikaru having "two moms" in Sayuri and Cho (in the myth, Dionysus has two moms, Semele and Zeus) and the full on body paint fits the only flaming homosexual in the RP. Dioynsus is a mainly healing persona, with a Unison Strike that allows the puppeting of up to two characters for a limited amount of time. Hikaru's persona has a high magic stat, with bad durability and okay strength. His weapon of choice is two magical masks, one laughing (Aristophanes, an Old Comedy playwright and also the author of Lysistrata) and the other crying (Sophocles, an ancient Greek tragedy playwright best know for Oedipus the King). They rotate around for a certain attack, or attach to a face to drain life. His Unison Strike has drawbacks, in that his two automatic healing moves will not be active at this time, and he has limited control over the thing he is controlling.

Dungeon
Hug kept most of the stuff from the previous RP, and reworked some stuff, but due to time constraints, the dungeon has been shortened. The two shadows encountered reflect choice and living as an out gay male. The main boss of the roleplay, Lysistrata, takes the form of a drag queen with long blonde hair, yellow eyes, and a green dress initially, transforming into a satyr with mouse brown hair, a toga and a staff. Lysistrata, the main shadow, was an Old Comedy character in a play of the same name, who gathered the women of Greece together and withheld sex from men until they agreed to stop fighting in a war. The dungeon itself takes the appearance of the final scene in M. Butterfly by David Henry Hwang. Hikaru is "jailed" on a flat with nothing but a bed and a crate, and during the shadow fight, will be held back by shadows, who try to force him into seppuku.

Personal Life
Hikaru currently lives with his mother Sayuri Masuko, and her sister, Rei Masuko. He used to live with his father, Tobias Nikostratos and his future step mom, Cho Yuzuki until recently.

April Fools Spinoff
Hikaru was known as Nomiki Nikostratos, a young fresh-woman who inadvertently attracts the attention of all the males on campus with her looks. Here, she is shy, prone to tears, and slowly forgets who she was, to the point where she starts to question whether to pursue the truth or to live this new world where Tobias and Lilly are still together. Nomiki has no recollection of the mirror world, suggesting that she has yet to receive her persona, while in the main role play Hikaru had just been thrown in.

Trivia

 * His faceclaim is Kida Masaomi from Durarara! and while Pug has seen the first episode, she does note they are similar, but wouldn't watch it again.
 * Despite being a good actor in terms of blocking, levels, comedy, Hikaru can't really sing or dance.
 * His thread title: "right here right now, under the stars i promise you my heart" comes from a TobyMac song: Tonight. His Unison Strike is from another TobyMac song of the same name.
 * He is part of the OOC-appointed "Gay Grumps" as Hika Sexbang with Zayn Nader as Naderaptor.
 * Hikaru's original hair colour is mouse brown, but he dyed it after middle school
 * Hikaru's surname means 'Child of plenty' referring to a wealthy background through his father, while his forename means 'light'
 * Nikostratos is Greek for Army of Victory, while Nomiki, his genderswap, means Relating To The Law. In Japanese, the name 之美記 which means 'belonging to the beautiful chronicle'.