Holly Heights application
OOC INFORMATION
Player: Guessy
Age: 20
Personal Journal:![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
rickroading
Contact Info: guessy @ plurk
Other Characters: Lilly Satou
IC INFORMATION
Characters Name: Shou Toramaru
Age: Appearance? Somewhere in her 20s. Actual age? Over a thousand; she's been alive since before Byakuren was sealed.
Canon: Touhou
Canon Point: Post Ten Desires
Species: Tiger Youkai / Avatar of Bishamonten
Gender: Female.
Orientation: Asexual. This doesn't mean she's incapable of close relationships, just that she isn't at all interested in the physical side.
History: Shou was originally a tiger Youkai, who was turned into an Avatar of Bishamonten (one of the Four Heavenly Kings in Buddhism; see here) by Byakuren Hijiri, a Buddhist magician who claimed to hunt youkai but in secret protected them by relocating them far from human settlements, or by taking them in herself at her mountaintop temple.
Initially, this was to extend Hijiri's immortality, but with time she came to genuinely want to help them. She converted Shou to give her shrine some credibility amongst the youkai of the mountain, who feared Byakuren and her temple (a 'famous youkai exterminator' to the human population) was there to get rid of them. Since Byakuren and Bishamonten were basically too busy to convince them they weren't, she presented him with the most honest and well-trusted amongst the youkai, Shou, to act as his avatar on their behalf.
Thus, Shou was taken in as Byakuren's disciple, and was fully converted to Buddhism and Byakuren's pacifistic teachings. Lacking Bishamonten's full confidence at first, he appointed Nazrin to keep watch on her. There proved to be no problems however, and Shou fulfilled her role perfectly.
When Byakuren's eternal youth and youkai sympathies were discovered however, she was sealed away in Makai. Shou (and Nazrin) continued her duties as an avatar of Bishamonten, keeping their youkai nature concealed; as they had not been discovered, revealing themselves would be futile and self-destructive. It's something Shou constantly regrets.
Several centuries later, Byakuren's followers were unintentionally released by the events of Underground Animalism and set out to free her; the start of Unidentified Fantastic Object. Determined not to abandon Hijiri again, she told them how to lift the seal and joined their cause. Somewhere along the line, she lost her Pagoda, needed as part of lifting Byakuren's seal, and had to send Nazrin to recover it. This was successful, and Byakuren successfully freed... despite (and partially because of) the unexpected interference from the player characters of UFO.
Post-UFO, the Palanquin Ship used to rescue Byakuren was landed near Gensokyo's Human Village and converted into the Myouren Temple, where Shou resumed her duties.
Appearance:
Can be seen here, though be warned Zun Art is Best Art.
Shou is a tall, short-haired tomboy whose hair resembles tiger stripes (I admit her art can be a little inconsistent on this).
Personality:
To make an Avatar of Bishamonten, Byakuren quite literally picked the most honest and straight-forward youkai she could find. Accordingly... well, Shou is very honest and straightforward. She's also a devout Buddhist, as you've probably gathered. She was the most trusted amongst the youkai on the mountain; her entire character is founded around being honest and dependable.
She's also extremely loyal both to Hijiri and to Bishamonten, which caused her considerable distress when she was forced to choose between the two. Post- UFO, she has simply committed to helping Byakuren whilst representing Bishamonten at the same time. She has no intention of abandoning Hijiri again.
As an avatar of Bishamonten, she tries to embody the same things he does; good fortune, generosity and punishing evil-doers. Under Byakuren, Shou is a pacifist, and will only use non-violent means to dissuade people from the 'wrong path' (in Gensokyo, danmaku is a non-fatal method of solving disputes). Good fortune is obviously a little hard to embody as a personality trait, but she is always generous and willing to help or provide advice to anyone seeking aid. Between originally being a tiger youkai, and since then an avatar of Bisamonten, Shou does not, nor has she ever thought of herself as an ordinary human. When acting in her role as Bishamonten, she holds herself to an extremely high standard, and resolves to be calm, fair and measured in all respects.
When she's not however...
Relaxed amongst friends - or drunk; 'Shou' in Japanese can also mean the colloquial term for a drunk person and fandom has jumped on this accordingly; probably Murasa's fault - she will reveal a very playful, carefree persona where her roots as a tiger youkai shine through; imagine a really big, happy, entheusiastic dog and you have the right idea. She also has a penchant for misplacing things by accident, as shown by the missing pagoda incident. She can switch between these two at the drop of a hat (unless she's drunk), and is always respectful to Hijiri and those she deems wise or in high authority.
She can also take advantage of her underlings (ie Nazrin) a little too easy; we've only seen her ask her to find the missing pagoda, which alone indicates the level of trust she puts in her, but fandom has run with it a bit and it's pretty clear Nazrin is likely the more responsible of the two; Shou does try but... well, see the above paragraph. She was picked for her honesty and dependability; whilst the dependability can be attributed to her strong sense of loyalty, the honesty is probably as much an inability to lie as it is anything else. She's far too straightforward to misdirect, hold herself back or generally be subtle. At least she understands the virtue of tact... most of the time.
In short, Shou is an honest and devout Buddhist, who takes observing his teachings very seriously. She's not the type to preach, but she will happily answer any questions people might have. She is specifically Bishamonten's avatar however; for more general information on Buddhism, she'll likely redirect people to Byakuren. Following her teachings, she treats all people equally without prejudice.
Abilities: Like all/most Touhou characters, she can fly and use danmaku spellcards (ie what create the bullet spam patterns Touhou is all about); hers in particular are slightly infamous; they involve lasers that bend and are annoyingly hard to dodge. As an Avatar of Bishamonten, she bears a spear and jewelled pagoda; representing the items Bishamonten himself is often depicted as carrying. She is not actually capable of wielding the spear as a weapon; it's purely decorative and she uses it as a walking stick most of the time; but the pagoda is central to her danmaku (it's responsible for the lasers).
Shou has lost the ability to return to her animal form; she is permanently human. Admittedly fanon tends to ignore this a bit. As a tiger youkai though, she'd probably have increased strength, stamina and a heightened sense of hearing and smell that would be lacking once she arrives.
Her canonical ability, in traditional Touhou 'vague and open to interpretation' terms, is to "The power to attract treasures"... which we have never actually seen her do, so it's not terribly clear what this does. As an avatar of Bishamonten, this is probably intended to embody his 'good fortune' aspect. In practise it probably means increased luck at finding things... ironically enough.
SAMPLES
First Person:
She has a musebox voicetest here
Third Person:
...Well. This was probably one of the more unusual situations she'd been in in her life, but if Byakuren truly was here, she knew she'd rather be here than anywhere else.
Which lead to her current objective; searching. She supposed she could call it 'hunting' but... well. That just didn't seem appropriate. And it was Hijiri.
Really, this was the sort of situation she wished she had Nazrin around for; her companion was the expert on finding things, not her. At least, knowing her, the priestess shouldn't be too hard to find. She was like that; a shining beacon of hope; hard to miss, let alone forget.
And so she wandered, street after street. It was, admittedly, getting a little late, but she still kept an eye out for anyone walking on the street she could ask for directions from, may Bishamonten grant her good fortune. She wasn't expecting to magically discern the priestess' location, but it was a fair bet others would know.
It would be a pleasant reunion, she was sure of it.
OTHER
Housing Request?: None.
Did you read the rules and FAQ?: Yep!
Player: Guessy
Age: 20
Personal Journal:
rickroadingContact Info: guessy @ plurk
Other Characters: Lilly Satou
IC INFORMATION
Characters Name: Shou Toramaru
Age: Appearance? Somewhere in her 20s. Actual age? Over a thousand; she's been alive since before Byakuren was sealed.
Canon: Touhou
Canon Point: Post Ten Desires
Species: Tiger Youkai / Avatar of Bishamonten
Gender: Female.
Orientation: Asexual. This doesn't mean she's incapable of close relationships, just that she isn't at all interested in the physical side.
History: Shou was originally a tiger Youkai, who was turned into an Avatar of Bishamonten (one of the Four Heavenly Kings in Buddhism; see here) by Byakuren Hijiri, a Buddhist magician who claimed to hunt youkai but in secret protected them by relocating them far from human settlements, or by taking them in herself at her mountaintop temple.
Initially, this was to extend Hijiri's immortality, but with time she came to genuinely want to help them. She converted Shou to give her shrine some credibility amongst the youkai of the mountain, who feared Byakuren and her temple (a 'famous youkai exterminator' to the human population) was there to get rid of them. Since Byakuren and Bishamonten were basically too busy to convince them they weren't, she presented him with the most honest and well-trusted amongst the youkai, Shou, to act as his avatar on their behalf.
Thus, Shou was taken in as Byakuren's disciple, and was fully converted to Buddhism and Byakuren's pacifistic teachings. Lacking Bishamonten's full confidence at first, he appointed Nazrin to keep watch on her. There proved to be no problems however, and Shou fulfilled her role perfectly.
When Byakuren's eternal youth and youkai sympathies were discovered however, she was sealed away in Makai. Shou (and Nazrin) continued her duties as an avatar of Bishamonten, keeping their youkai nature concealed; as they had not been discovered, revealing themselves would be futile and self-destructive. It's something Shou constantly regrets.
Several centuries later, Byakuren's followers were unintentionally released by the events of Underground Animalism and set out to free her; the start of Unidentified Fantastic Object. Determined not to abandon Hijiri again, she told them how to lift the seal and joined their cause. Somewhere along the line, she lost her Pagoda, needed as part of lifting Byakuren's seal, and had to send Nazrin to recover it. This was successful, and Byakuren successfully freed... despite (and partially because of) the unexpected interference from the player characters of UFO.
Post-UFO, the Palanquin Ship used to rescue Byakuren was landed near Gensokyo's Human Village and converted into the Myouren Temple, where Shou resumed her duties.
Appearance:
Can be seen here, though be warned Zun Art is Best Art.
Shou is a tall, short-haired tomboy whose hair resembles tiger stripes (I admit her art can be a little inconsistent on this).
Personality:
To make an Avatar of Bishamonten, Byakuren quite literally picked the most honest and straight-forward youkai she could find. Accordingly... well, Shou is very honest and straightforward. She's also a devout Buddhist, as you've probably gathered. She was the most trusted amongst the youkai on the mountain; her entire character is founded around being honest and dependable.
She's also extremely loyal both to Hijiri and to Bishamonten, which caused her considerable distress when she was forced to choose between the two. Post- UFO, she has simply committed to helping Byakuren whilst representing Bishamonten at the same time. She has no intention of abandoning Hijiri again.
As an avatar of Bishamonten, she tries to embody the same things he does; good fortune, generosity and punishing evil-doers. Under Byakuren, Shou is a pacifist, and will only use non-violent means to dissuade people from the 'wrong path' (in Gensokyo, danmaku is a non-fatal method of solving disputes). Good fortune is obviously a little hard to embody as a personality trait, but she is always generous and willing to help or provide advice to anyone seeking aid. Between originally being a tiger youkai, and since then an avatar of Bisamonten, Shou does not, nor has she ever thought of herself as an ordinary human. When acting in her role as Bishamonten, she holds herself to an extremely high standard, and resolves to be calm, fair and measured in all respects.
When she's not however...
Relaxed amongst friends - or drunk; 'Shou' in Japanese can also mean the colloquial term for a drunk person and fandom has jumped on this accordingly; probably Murasa's fault - she will reveal a very playful, carefree persona where her roots as a tiger youkai shine through; imagine a really big, happy, entheusiastic dog and you have the right idea. She also has a penchant for misplacing things by accident, as shown by the missing pagoda incident. She can switch between these two at the drop of a hat (unless she's drunk), and is always respectful to Hijiri and those she deems wise or in high authority.
She can also take advantage of her underlings (ie Nazrin) a little too easy; we've only seen her ask her to find the missing pagoda, which alone indicates the level of trust she puts in her, but fandom has run with it a bit and it's pretty clear Nazrin is likely the more responsible of the two; Shou does try but... well, see the above paragraph. She was picked for her honesty and dependability; whilst the dependability can be attributed to her strong sense of loyalty, the honesty is probably as much an inability to lie as it is anything else. She's far too straightforward to misdirect, hold herself back or generally be subtle. At least she understands the virtue of tact... most of the time.
In short, Shou is an honest and devout Buddhist, who takes observing his teachings very seriously. She's not the type to preach, but she will happily answer any questions people might have. She is specifically Bishamonten's avatar however; for more general information on Buddhism, she'll likely redirect people to Byakuren. Following her teachings, she treats all people equally without prejudice.
Abilities: Like all/most Touhou characters, she can fly and use danmaku spellcards (ie what create the bullet spam patterns Touhou is all about); hers in particular are slightly infamous; they involve lasers that bend and are annoyingly hard to dodge. As an Avatar of Bishamonten, she bears a spear and jewelled pagoda; representing the items Bishamonten himself is often depicted as carrying. She is not actually capable of wielding the spear as a weapon; it's purely decorative and she uses it as a walking stick most of the time; but the pagoda is central to her danmaku (it's responsible for the lasers).
Shou has lost the ability to return to her animal form; she is permanently human. Admittedly fanon tends to ignore this a bit. As a tiger youkai though, she'd probably have increased strength, stamina and a heightened sense of hearing and smell that would be lacking once she arrives.
Her canonical ability, in traditional Touhou 'vague and open to interpretation' terms, is to "The power to attract treasures"... which we have never actually seen her do, so it's not terribly clear what this does. As an avatar of Bishamonten, this is probably intended to embody his 'good fortune' aspect. In practise it probably means increased luck at finding things... ironically enough.
SAMPLES
First Person:
She has a musebox voicetest here
Third Person:
...Well. This was probably one of the more unusual situations she'd been in in her life, but if Byakuren truly was here, she knew she'd rather be here than anywhere else.
Which lead to her current objective; searching. She supposed she could call it 'hunting' but... well. That just didn't seem appropriate. And it was Hijiri.
Really, this was the sort of situation she wished she had Nazrin around for; her companion was the expert on finding things, not her. At least, knowing her, the priestess shouldn't be too hard to find. She was like that; a shining beacon of hope; hard to miss, let alone forget.
And so she wandered, street after street. It was, admittedly, getting a little late, but she still kept an eye out for anyone walking on the street she could ask for directions from, may Bishamonten grant her good fortune. She wasn't expecting to magically discern the priestess' location, but it was a fair bet others would know.
It would be a pleasant reunion, she was sure of it.
OTHER
Housing Request?: None.
Did you read the rules and FAQ?: Yep!