| By nerfherder-han | Part of the Altered Perspectives continuity. |
| “ | Maybe she's leading a double life of fighting maternal crimes, being the vigilante mom we all need yet do not deserve. | ” |
–Yu, In My Eyes, Chapter Four | ||
Ayumu Burakgazi is the main character and narrator of the Altered Perspectives series, which her first appearance being in In My Eyes. She is a former mundane who Ascended under unusual circumstances shortly before the disappearance of her friend, Clary Fray, and currently lives in the New York Institute for the remainder of her search.
Biography[]
Yu is the first and only child of Izumo and Erkan Burakgazi, born in Vancouver, Canada and having grown up there until the age of six. Shortly after her sixth birthday, Yu and her parents were required to move to Brooklyn for her mother's job working in a small-time orchestra, and the trio eventually settled in the area for the next eleven years.
Personality[]
Yu has a rather outgoing personality that often puts people off, partially due to the level of passion that she exhibits on a daily basis. She's known for being brash and sarcastic, often using informal language when talking to others, and on more than one occasion has gone so far as to threaten people who get in her way or pose a danger to those around her.
She's known to her friends as a girl who makes poor decisions, and she's willing enough to admit that it's true. Yu acts on impulse, following basic fight or flight responses in drastic situations, and often acts out based on her emotions when rational thought is too difficult to hold on to.
Despite her aggressive and passionate nature, Yu is often at times conflicted with herself and often experiences moments of self-consciousness and self-deprecation, such as when Isabelle had compared Yu to Clary in regards to appearance. After the hit and run incident, following which she began to see the Shadow World, Yu constantly finds herself at war with her heart and feeling conflicted over what feels right. She's extremely protective of her friends, Clary and Simon, and often finds herself putting herself between them and danger; despite how much she's reminded to be careful, Yu still can't help being a human shield for her friends' sakes.
Physical Description[]
Yu has short, dark brown hair that's styled in a shaggy above-the-shoulder cut. Her eyes are dark green, much like her mother's, and her skin is a light shade of brown. Yu is tall for most girls her age, standing at almost six feet, and is considered bulky in a way that suggests muscle mass. In actuality, Yu is just more robust than most girls - her shoulders are broad and her figure is somewhere between hourglass and inverted triangle, while her overall appearance is said to resemble all of the women in the Burakgazi family. Yu's nose is described as "annoyingly narrow", while her lips are thin and her eyes are a thin almond shape.
Skills and Abilities[]
- Nephilim physiology: Being Nephilim, Yu possesses a variety of enhanced physical and mental abilities granted to her by the blood of Raziel in her veins and also by the angelic Marks of the Gray Book. She also has the power to perform tasks unique to their species, such as the ability to use and call on the power of angels for their seraph blades. This also includes enhanced strength, agility, stamina, and coordination, which only improves over time and practice.
- Runic Magic: Due to the angel blood in their veins, all Shadowhunters are able to apply runes on their skin without any real danger. These Marks, in turn, give varied effects that serve to benefit the wearer.
- Enhanced strength: Through means that are still unbeknownst to both Yu and the Clave, her Ascension has also provided her with a greatly enhanced strength that's allowed her to punch tear a hellhound's jaw clean off its face. This has brought up many questions as to her lineage among the Institute's residents.
Possessions[]
- Personal belongings: Yu has brought a number of her belongings with her to the Institute to accommodate her during her stay. Most notable of the items brought are her ukulele and laptop.
- Seraph Blade: Found in Jocelyn's room after discovering the Frays missing, Yu has since held onto the blade - named Ridwan - in the hopes of learning how to properly use it.
Etymology[]
Ayumu is a unisex Japanese given name, and is characterised as "歩夢"; it uses the characters for "walk" (歩) and "dream/vision" (夢).
Burakgazi means "warrior for the faith" in Turkish. Burak was the name of the Prophet Mohammed's horse that he rode when he ascended to Heaven.
Yu (also written as Yuu or Yū) is a common unisex Japanese given name. Its meaning can vary based on the kanji used to write it; Yu's name is written as "勇", which roughly translates to "courage".
Trivia[]
- Yu is allergic to peanuts and morphine
- She is bilingual, able to understand Turkish and English
- Yu can recognise choice kanji based on what she's seen in her mother's letters to her grandmother, but struggles too much to pursue the language
- Yu is ornithophobic, meaning that she has an irrational and abnormal fear of birds. This is first seen when she reacted negatively to being around Hugin, Hodge Starkweather's raven.
- Despite how dangerous it is, Yu refuses to leave the Institute without her dog, Elmo, by her side.