Name: Kiki.
Nickname: Witch, Miss Witch, Witch-in-Training
Organization XIII or Dark XII Nickname: N/A
Age: Thirteen.
Gender: Female.
Species: Human witch.
Position: Neutral Good.
Powers/Abilities/Techniques/Skills: Kiki is a young witch, and as such has a few magical abilities. None of them have anything to do with combat, however, and she does not have a “special” skill like other witches out there – for instance, her mom’s talent with herbs or a fellow witch’s knack with fortune telling.
Flight – give Kiki a broom and she can use it to fly, just like a witch out of a storybook. Some brooms are pickier than others; an old, reliable witch’s broom like her mother’s works like a charm, but a random custodian’s broom just picked up off the street doesn’t heed to her magic nearly as well. After having flown to make her living, she’s very good at controlling and steering her broom, and is getting quicker at mastering newer brooms. This might, in fact, be her talent – but only time will tell.
Speaking with an Animal Familiar – all witches from Kiki’s world have animal familiars when they are younger – typically black cats. Kiki’s familiar is a young, sarcastic black tom by name of
Jiji. When she was uncertain about herself and her powers, she lost both her ability to fly and to converse with Jiji; however, she can speak with him now, and he is her best friend.
Kiki’s other skills include baking – having worked at a bakery so as to live with the owners – map reading, punctuality, and overall politeness. She’s very good at spending her money wisely and taking care of herself; some would say she’s in too much of a hurry to grow up.
Weapon/Items:Broom – Kiki’s current broom is not the one she’s used to, as the old and sturdy thing of her mother’s broke none too long ago. She is, in fact, using a more custodial broom, the sort that’s particularly long and wide and used for sweeping up the streets. It still doesn’t ride the way she would like – too jerky and uppity and tumultuous – but she’s getting the hang of it, especially since she had to save her friend Tombo with it.
Orange Bag – Kiki owns a shoulder-strap pale orange bag that leans a little bit on the bigger side. When the Heartless appeared, she frantically threw things into it until she was swallowed by the darkness. As a result, it currently contains:
1 (one) change of clothes;
20 (twenty) Euros (which are of no use in the worlds, as she’ll find out);
1 (one) hairbrush;
1 (one) can of cat food; and
4 (four) bread rolls of varying sizes.
She also has her cat on her.
MINI PROFILE: JIJI
Name: Jiji.
Gender: Male.
Age: Same age as Kiki, perhaps a tiny bit older; as he’s a magical animal familiar, he ages with Kiki, so he is literally thirteen years old.
Species: Magical cat.
Powers/Abilities: Jiji can speak with all animals, and sometimes translates what they say for Kiki, should she ask. He can also talk to one human, and that is Kiki, his human familiar – though he can understand what all humans say. Him speaking with Kiki is heard by all others as his disgruntled “meow.”
Appearance: Jiji is a jet black cat with a permanently bemused expression. He’s quite small, and when sitting upright, he could sit right in the palm of Kiki’s hand. His fur is sleek and well-groomed.
Personality: Thought most can’t understand it, Jiji has a smart mouth. Sarcasm is his third language, if meowing and Kiki-talk are his first two; he has a comment for nearly everything Kiki does, and usually mentions things in a deadpan manner. He doesn’t excite easily, though when he does – such as seeing a mug with a cat on it that looked like him – it can be quite cute. He acts as Kiki’s conscience in many ways, being a bit more cautious and pragmatic than she is, and is far less likely to toe the line. He’s got a kitty girlfriend named Lily, as well, and with her presence has become a bit more laidback.
History: He’s been around Kiki ever since he was a little kitten and she a little girl; they discovered each other when Kiki was just rambling onto the stray kitten in her backyard and he was talking back to her. They’ve been nigh inseparable ever since… though, there was the rocky time when Jiji and Kiki could no longer understand one another. However, that time has passed.
Picture: KikiAppearance: Kiki is a young, recently turned thirteen-year-old girl that is a little short for her age – about 4’9”. She’s also a bit skinny and shapeless, weighing about a hundred and ten pounds. Her skin is quite pale – and made all the more white by the black dress she usually wears. She has short, dark brunette hair that reaches about her chin, with a fringe of bangs on her forehead. Her eyes are a very similar shade of dark brown, which jump out on her pale, round-cheeked face.
Typically, Kiki wears the standard witch’s garb that has been traditional throughout the years: a shapeless black dress that looks a little violet and makes her seem a bit peaky. She has on a sleeveless white undershirt and poofy white undergarments underneath the dress (and as she’s up in the air a lot with her dress flowing out around her, she’d better make sure she’s properly covered). Her shoes are flat, red, and sensible – great walking shoes that don’t fall off while she’s flying. Since the whole ensemble is rather dark, Kiki likes to throw in a bright, bright red bow in her hair that’s nearly half the size of her face; she’s often commented on the “dumb” attire, wishing for something prettier, but others have convinced her that she looks pretty in it – pretty, young, and enigmatic.
Personality: Kiki is a darling girl in a lot of ways. Raised in a small town where her mom was the well-known resident witch – and, by extent, Kiki was known as well – the family of witches was loved in a lot of ways. She was well acquainted with everyone in the village, and had a group of giggling girls as her closest friends. Because of this, Kiki is friendly and trusting almost right off the bat; she sort of expects the feeling of community, and is rather shocked and disappointed when it is missing. She is very mindful of her manners when speaking to adults, and has a reputation for being mature and easy to deal with.
However, that’s not to say she doesn’t have a reckless streak. Kiki loves to explore and poke around – often to the extent where Jiji will get anxious or irritated. She doesn’t think of the consequences as much as she ought to, and runs the risk of getting in trouble for things like that. She is very responsible, on the other hand; she’s punctual, manages her time well, and has a lot of her priorities in order. For instance, she knew that she couldn’t just count on Osono’s kind heart to feed her all the time when she had a store to manage and a baby on the way, so Kiki went out and got her own groceries and spent her money wisely.
Despite whatever maturity she may have achieved, Kiki is still a young girl at heart – and a spirited one at that. As a thirteen year old, she’s started thinking about boys, and one in particular – Tombo – has caught her attention… and she his. She also has a petty, jealous side, where she complains about not having anything pretty to wear, or is insecure when other girls her age say things that can be construed as snide comments. When offended, she becomes defensive and sullen, and has a very hard time letting go of a grudge.
Still, at heart, Kiki is kind, upbeat, friendly, optimistic, and loyal. She spent time helping out two darling old ladies despite the fact that she might be late for a party that Tombo wanted her to go to – and, because of deliveries she had to make, didn’t end up going at all. While she and Jiji may exchange barbed comments once in a while, the two are close friends who care about one another very much. Not one to let the idea of a brand new world get her down, Kiki faces her future with courage, determination, and a spirit that is very much her own.
Original World: Koriko. (this is actually the name of the city where Kiki spends most of the movie, but I feel as though that’s better than saying “An alternate universe Earth in the 1950s where World War II never happened and where witches exist.”)
Current World: undecided as of right now; if anybody's got an idea where the little witch should land, let me know.
Movie/Video Game(s): Kiki’s Delivery Service (Disney’s 1998 English dub)
History: Kiki was born into a world that is much like Earth; however, the year was in the 1950s, and World War II had never taken place. Another important distinction is the existence of witches, who had shared the world with mankind for eons. There were very few of them – as witches only ever seem to be females – and typically a “resident witch” in each town, city, or village.
Kiki’s mom was an herbalist witch, who specialized in alchemic remedies to cure various ailments. Her dad was a normal sort, a bit nerdy… and she was also daddy’s little girl in a lot of ways. She grew up in that small, tightly-knit village with little contact to the outside world, so she ended up borrowing her daddy’s radio a lot to hear the happenings. She grew up with Jiji, and the two were close friends.
And then she turned thirteen, and she couldn’t be more excited. Traditionally, a witch leaves the house at thirteen years of age to live a year on her own – typically in a city or village where no other witches lived. When the night of her departure came, Kiki packed up her things and her cat and headed off on her mother’s old broom to the sea, where she hoped to find a city that she would like.
However, the port city she found – Koriko – was lovely on the eyes, but the people were not the sort of community she was used to. The first day there was hard, as she had no place to stay and few were willing to take her in. It wasn’t until she made a delivery for the heavily pregnant baker Osono did the woman offer to give her lodging and free breakfasts. In repayment, Kiki would mind the shop and help with the baking once in a while, and they also planned to start a delivery service, since Kiki’s flying abilities would be quite useful in that sort of venture… and Kiki would eventually need to find some way to sustain herself. And thus, Kiki and Osono began “Kiki’s Flying Delivery Service,” which operated in the bakery.
On that first day, Kiki also met a young boy named Tombo who was an aviation enthusiast and loved that Kiki could fly. He endearingly nicknamed her “Miss Witch” in his frantic and excited attempts to talk with her. But Kiki found him obnoxious and worried that he was a clown out to make fun of her, so she gave him the cold shoulder, and only snubbed him harder when his friends threw out laughs and jibes. Still, they would cross paths often, and Kiki slowly grew fonder of him.
Soon, Kiki was to make her first delivery; however, due to a gust of wind and a couple of angry birds, the delivery was lost in the woods, and she had to pick her way through the forest to get it back. Because of this, she met the artistic hermit Ursula, who would end up becoming her friend in Koriko as well.
Kiki grew closer to Tombo, and in fact went out on a lovely outing with him one day. When his friends came along and seemed to be judging her, Kiki grew upset and sullen, and walked all the way back to the bakery. After some fretting, she realized she could not longer speak with Jiji, and that she couldn’t fly, either, and in her attempts to try she accidentally broke her mother’s sturdy broom, rendering it unusable. Heartbroken and confused, “Kiki’s Flying Delivery Service” was forced to be put on hold until her powers came back.
In an attempt to rekindle the spirit within her, Ursula invited Kiki out to the forest cottage to talk about art and the like. After inquiring about the problem, Ursula wondered if Kiki was facing something similar to “artist’s block,” where she felt unmotivated and depressed and couldn’t get her spirit to work properly anymore. The painter suggested that Kiki should find a source of motivation; perhaps that would get her to fly again.
One day not long after that, Kiki was out visiting some elderly friends of hers who had been customers when a terrific accident happened on live TV: a dirigible had gotten loose because of the summer winds and Tombo was lifted into the air with it, barely hanging onto a rope. Terrified of losing her friend, Kiki raced to the scene and acquired a broom from a street custodian. The world also seemed to be growing a bit dark, and it wasn’t beyond her notice that strange dark portals had started appearing and icky dark creatures were crawling out of them. Still, she urged the broom and her powers to work, and soon she was off the ground – though it was jerky and hard to control, she made it to Tombo as the world continued to darken.
She saved Tombo from the fall, but when she went to lower him on the safety trampoline, it spontaneously erupted into a portal of darkness and he was dropped right in. Horrified, Kiki flew home with Jiji on her shoulder – who could miraculously speak to her again. Osono and her husband were nowhere to be found, and the sky was growing darker all the time. She shoved some random things into her orange bag, slung it over her shoulder, and ran downstairs to get some rolls of bread, suddenly worried about the premonition she was having that this would be a long journey. Out of nowhere, the house was suddenly being swallowed by darkness, and she barely had time to mount the custodial broom before she and Jiji were sucked in and spiraling through the blackness.
Role Playing Sample: [atrb=width, 450,true][atrb=border,0,true][atrb=cellSpacing,0,true][atrb=cellPadding,0,false][atrb=background,http://i201.photobucket.com/albums/aa302/yukineko109/Kiki_bg-2.png]
“Tombo!”
For a moment, the world had seemed safe – despite the chaos below and the wrecked clocktower, the mounting clouds and the creatures attacking innocents – safe and sound and okay. She had saved Tombo; his sweaty palm was clasped in her own, and she was barely hanging onto the broom as it floated downwards to the safety trampoline. She thought she’d saved him, and with her powers back, everything had to go back to normal, it had to; she’d thought that reversing the event would be enough to make all the bad go away.
But the trampoline turned to darkness before their very eyes, and she was left watching as Tombo was helplessly sucked inside, her hand dangling out for him as he vanished before her very eyes. Another shriek of his name passed her lips, but there was nothing for it; it was like he was completely gone.
Suddenly, she felt the vortex of the darkness sucking at her, too, so with every bit of strength she could muster, she kicked her leg back over the unruly broom and clenched her teeth. A light weight landed on her shoulder, and she glanced around, eyes wide – but it was Jiji, her brave cat who had somehow picked his way through the maddening crowd and leapt up to her from some soul’s shoulders. “Kiki, can you hear me?” came a familiar voice that was too anxious for her taste, and despite the catastrophe, there was at least some assurance that the two could talk again.
“Mmhm,” she hummed with a sharp nod before propelling herself back into the air again, taking care to avoid hitting the wall of the crumbling clocktower. “C’mon, broom!” she muttered with increasing fear as the world screamed and erupted all around her. Jiji’s ears were flat against his skull as he crouched low on Kiki’s shoulder, his eyes as wide as saucers; the two of them had never seen anything as terrifying as the world breaking up before their eyes.
But there was one thing on Kiki’s mind, and that was the darkness was taking people to different places. She could see glimpses of the difference sometimes – bright sunlight here, a leafy tree there, but mostly bubbling, roiling darkness. Whatever the case was, she had a feeling there was some traveling that needed to be done… and she was horribly worried about Osono. So she leaned low on the broom and sped off, kicking her leg out against building walls whenever the jerking broom veered off course. Her intent was enough to control the broom for the moment, and she zigzagged all the way back to her home.
The empty windows were a bad sign; she had a feeling that there was nobody home. Kiki dove up the stairs, wrenching open the door to her little attic room and started grabbing at things, shoving things around, throwing items haphazardly into her sturdy orange bag. Jiji never moved from her shoulder, apparently too scared to do much but quiver and shake. Well, for all his talk, somebody had to be the pragmatic one here, and she supposed it was her.
Not really noticing what she ended up throwing in – only hoping it was necessities – Kiki slung the bag over her shoulder, grabbed her broom, and ran down the stairs, jumping down from the last three. She kicked open the basement door to the bakery, calling out with rising hysteria, “Osono? Osono!?”
Nobody answered. Kiki swallowed her fear back and started shoving some rolls of warm bread into her pack. The darkness was creeping into the usual cheery bakery, and she let out a shriek at the sight of a pair of yellow eyes blinking at her in the most disturbing fashion; Jiji jumped about a foot in the air and came back down on her shoulder with his claws out, and she winced at the momentary pain.
There was no time to think. She kicked open the door again, mounting her broom and intending on flying to where Tombo had fallen – but the buildings were all crumbling and getting sucked into vortexes and there was too much chaos. She pushed herself off the ground, the broom jerking uncontrollably underneath her –
– and quite suddenly the whole world went black.
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Questions/Comments/Suggestions? All right, so, I know in the original Japanese, Kiki never talks to Jiji ever again. However, in the Disney English dub, he does speak for a last time, and I prefer that ending. I don’t think anybody will mind too much if I choose that?
