IC INFORMATION Characters Name: Kyouko Kasodani Age: Unknown, but appears young enough to pass for a young teenager Canon: Touhou Project Canon Point: Post Ten Desires Species: Yamabiko, a youkai of mountain echoes. Dog-like in nature. Gender: Female. Orientation: Given she'll be in a child slot, it's not really an issue, but it should be noted that Touhou does not give any canon indication of its characters having sexuality. Subjects of relationships and sexuality never come up. Their orientations are therefore left entirely open to interpretation. Due to the prevelence of femmslash in the fandom, I personally default most of them to bisexual. Especially considering they are stuck in a time period before Japan's major westernization that introduced the concept of homophobia.
History:Touhou wiki link Appearance:http://i.imgur.com/8grSQ.jpg Kyouko has teal hair and eyes and brown, furry ears and tail. The ears and tail, dog-like in appearance, are traditional physical characteristics of yamabiko. When preparing her echoing power, her ears vibrate rapidly. This is another aspect that comes from myth, and can also be seen in the Pokemon Audino, which is also based on the yamabiko. Personality: "She lives in the mountains, and when she hears a joyous sound, she replies back with a loud voice. A good youkai with kind heart."
Kyouko is among a race of youkai called yamabiko which don't partake in the normal terrorizing of humans that some youkai do. In spite of her jokes about "filling the morning with their screams", Kyouko is generally nice to the heroes of the story (except for Youmu, for reasons to be described later). She is kind spirited and will try to help out anyone that needs it. It's just her way, really.
Being a neophyte of the Myouren Temple, Kyouko studies Buddhism quite extensively, and tries to reflect the principles of that faith. She can echo sutras from memory, and will often quote various sutras and precepts as the time calls for it ("Greetings are the heart's oasis.") when going about her duties. Given her primary duty is to greet temple visitors, her audio memory comes in great handy. It also helps that she's cute.
Kyouko is also very enthusiastic. It may be because she's young, but she has great energy, even for as early in the morning as her scenes in canon take place. Before dawn she is sweeping, cooking, greeting visitors, accepting challenges from interlopers, and basically preparing the whole temple before anyone else is even awake. Her energy channels into her greeting, giving a hearty "Good morning!" to the heroes, far louder than some would expect (much to Marisa's annoyance, actually). She goes about everything with this sort of gusto, and is all smiles during.
One thing she doesn't tolerate is killing. When Youmu shows up at Myouren with her swords drawn, Kyouko treats her far faaar differently than she did the other heroes. She becomes aggressive and righteous, shaming Youmu for daring to kill anyone, be they fairies or youkai. Youmu, of course, hadn't killed anyone at all, but Kyouko jumped to the conclusion anyways and attacked with a fury the other heroes were not subject to. Whether this had to do with her Buddhist training or something deeper in her past is unknown.
Kyouko, unfortunately, has become a bit bored with her life in the temple, though. While she tries her best and is dutiful, a lot of the deeper meaning of her training is lost on her and her restless youthful energy has desperately come out in other ways. She formed a rock band with Mystia Lorelei as a result and has started really throwing herself into music with a message of rebellion and punk rock culture. In some ways, it coincides with her Buddhist beliefs of challenging one's perceptions of reality. But in most ways... she's still just a kid and frustrated with the world.
Now for a bit of headcanon/filling in the blanks.
There is something of a depressing point to be made about the matters that drove Kyouko (and others like her) to Myouren Temple to begin with. Given it's a temple for youkai, they often take in those with nowhere left to go. Human reason and science forced Kyouko out of her home in the mountains, her entire existence threatened by the denial of the supernatural. Even with her constant smile and high energy, there is that weight still carried with her. She doesn't show it often, and prefers to not talk about it, but it's still very much reality.
It is thought, perhaps, that her darker treatment of Youmu has something to do with this. The idea of dying, of being killed or wiped out, frightens her deeply. Existence for youkai born outside of Gensokyo is extremely grim. They have no protection from xenophobic humans, who would wipe out youkai either directly or indirectly by no longer respecting their existences. Kyouko is no exception to this, as she was likely born outside Gensokyo.
She attached herself to Buddhism because she honestly had nothing left. The emptiness of secularism was frightening, threatening to pretty much unmake her. Now, with spirituality on her side, she echoes sutras in the mountains of Gensokyo, retaining her place in the way of the world as a youkai. And it scares some humans, too. That's always a nice bonus. But what she really wants is for them to believe again...
Abilites: As a Yamabiko, Kyouko has power over echoes. This means she can control soundwaves once she's heard them personally at least once. This means she can do things like change the volume of sound, imitate sounds and voices, and project soundwaves to such an intensity that they can be used as a form of self-defense. She can also create "echo chambers" that form from walls of sound, bounding soundwaves off of one another indifinitely. She mostly uses this power to memorize sutras and perform music, as well as her ever cheerful greetings of paritioners to the Myouren Temple. Other:
Third Person: It was funny, the sort of things that reminded her of her old life. A particularly chilly breeze, the leaves that rushed past, and the sound, oh the sound of it all... She felt herself stopping in her chores to take a moment to just experience it, take it in, and reflect on it. This world, she had to remind herself, was unnatural. There was no feasible way for her to truly experience the crisp autumns of Gensokyo, or any natural place, here. But it still felt so... nostalgic. She set her broom against the wall and stepped out onto the lawn, sitting herself down.
Maybe... maybe there was at least some natural beauty to this place. A sign of the totality of life. A breath of the Buddha in the world. Maybe. She would have to ask anesan later about it. But it certainly carried with it a sort of peace they didn't have back home. And maybe, just maybe... she was a little grateful...
Oh well. Enough of that. Kyouko quickly hopped back up, humming an old mountain song to herself as she picked her broom back up and continued her sweeping. She would have time to reflect later. Whether it was at the temple, or in this strange place, she still hard work to do, after all.
OTHER Housing Request?: If you could put her with Nazrin, that'd be spectacular. Did you read the rules and FAQ?: Yes. Would you like your application to be unscreened?: yes
Edited (for some reason I didn't get that last prompt in my copy of the textbox, herp) 2012-10-05 22:35 (UTC)
REVISION REQUEST Your app is looking great so far! However, there are some changes to be made before full acceptance can be given:
I could possibly be wrong, so you might have to disregard this, but I have become under the assumption that most Touhou characters are anywhere from hundreds to thousands of years old. If this is the case for Kyouko, then she would have to have an adult slot regardless of her appearance. Please specify an age for her, and clarify if she is like other Touhou's or if I'm wrong in this knowledge.
Please reply with your changes within three days time. Thank you!
While you're not incorrect, we really do have absolutely no idea how old Kyouko is and her behavior and personality and portrayal in canon is all consistent with youth. She doesn't date herself like some characters do, and there's no indications that would lead to a reasonable estimate.
I, personally, would not at all feel comfortable playing her as an adult regardless of how old she literally may or may not be in canon. It is why I mentioned she'd be in a child slot.
Admittedly, I have never personally played the games and know extremely little about the fandom and canon in general. Re-reading her wiki and going over various other pages and sources, however, I have to say that it makes sense that she would be around the age of the other characters in the games, being a youkai and based on the other characters ages, and it seems odd that while the other youkais are extremely old, she's only a teenager. Normally, I don't question headcanon or something that can be variably interpreted, but as this is something that can go against the rules, I have to scrutinize it carefully. As stated in the rules, a character's place in a spousal or child slot has nothing to do with appearance or mentality, it is how many years they have been alive. While it's tricky to estimate with characters with unknown ages, based on the ages of the other characters, I personally think it's safe to make an estimate which places her in the realm of the other cast mates and to not make her the odd one out as the only person with a two-digit age. I believe that other Touhou characters also have a bit younger of personalities but are still placed in adult slots because of their assumed age. I only stress this because of how explicitly stated it is in the FAQ to place people based on how long they've been around and there are several more childlike characters in adult slots because they are much older than they look and I can't make an exception based on a headcanon or a hunch. Even if she can pass as a child or teenager, however many years she's been in existence will always trump appearance.
If it's a matter of sticking to hardline rules of the game, then I suppose it can't really be debated. Which is fine. If she absolutely HAS to go into an adult slot, I can push my own concerns about that aside. I'd definitely still enjoy playing in the game in spite of it, so it's not really a make or break issue.
If she has to be slotted in an adult slot, then I'm okay with it.
I would like to assure you that the adult and child slots are labels and for game mechanics and most characters are treated as they appear. There's no obligation to do anything related to being an adult (relationships, jobs, etc); you can play in the game the same way regardless of what slot your character is placed in, it's just to discern who is an adult and who is a child and it's only in events that a divide is seen, and it will normally be on days like Mother's Day or Father's Day, but all events are in good fun and are never forced on a character; most events are all inclusive. So Kyouko will be seen the same way, other than the initial "oh my mom looks like a teenager..." thing, but after that it's very likely the experience will be no different at all! I hope this quells any unsurities you have.
ACCEPTED Congrats, your application has been accepted! Your character is now living at 1457 in Holly Heights, with a spouse slot. In order to get the ball rolling, here's what you need to do:
Comment back with the journal you'll be using for your character so that they can be accepted into the communities.
Create an IC Mailbox post on your characters journal that is not friends only. You are also free to treat this as an information holding post with your character's family and address listed if you wish.
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Kyouko Kasodani / Touhou Project / Reserved / pt. 1
Player: gonsai
Age: 26
Personal Journal:
Contact Info: aim = gonsaifong
Other Characters: n/a
Kyouko Kasodani / Touhou Project / Reserved / pt. 2
Characters Name: Kyouko Kasodani
Age: Unknown, but appears young enough to pass for a young teenager
Canon: Touhou Project
Canon Point: Post Ten Desires
Species: Yamabiko, a youkai of mountain echoes. Dog-like in nature.
Gender: Female.
Orientation: Given she'll be in a child slot, it's not really an issue, but it should be noted that Touhou does not give any canon indication of its characters having sexuality. Subjects of relationships and sexuality never come up. Their orientations are therefore left entirely open to interpretation. Due to the prevelence of femmslash in the fandom, I personally default most of them to bisexual. Especially considering they are stuck in a time period before Japan's major westernization that introduced the concept of homophobia.
History: Touhou wiki link
Appearance: http://i.imgur.com/8grSQ.jpg Kyouko has teal hair and eyes and brown, furry ears and tail. The ears and tail, dog-like in appearance, are traditional physical characteristics of yamabiko. When preparing her echoing power, her ears vibrate rapidly. This is another aspect that comes from myth, and can also be seen in the Pokemon Audino, which is also based on the yamabiko.
Personality:
"She lives in the mountains, and when she hears a joyous sound, she replies back with a loud voice. A good youkai with kind heart."
Kyouko is among a race of youkai called yamabiko which don't partake in the normal terrorizing of humans that some youkai do. In spite of her jokes about "filling the morning with their screams", Kyouko is generally nice to the heroes of the story (except for Youmu, for reasons to be described later). She is kind spirited and will try to help out anyone that needs it. It's just her way, really.
Being a neophyte of the Myouren Temple, Kyouko studies Buddhism quite extensively, and tries to reflect the principles of that faith. She can echo sutras from memory, and will often quote various sutras and precepts as the time calls for it ("Greetings are the heart's oasis.") when going about her duties. Given her primary duty is to greet temple visitors, her audio memory comes in great handy. It also helps that she's cute.
Kyouko is also very enthusiastic. It may be because she's young, but she has great energy, even for as early in the morning as her scenes in canon take place. Before dawn she is sweeping, cooking, greeting visitors, accepting challenges from interlopers, and basically preparing the whole temple before anyone else is even awake. Her energy channels into her greeting, giving a hearty "Good morning!" to the heroes, far louder than some would expect (much to Marisa's annoyance, actually). She goes about everything with this sort of gusto, and is all smiles during.
One thing she doesn't tolerate is killing. When Youmu shows up at Myouren with her swords drawn, Kyouko treats her far faaar differently than she did the other heroes. She becomes aggressive and righteous, shaming Youmu for daring to kill anyone, be they fairies or youkai. Youmu, of course, hadn't killed anyone at all, but Kyouko jumped to the conclusion anyways and attacked with a fury the other heroes were not subject to. Whether this had to do with her Buddhist training or something deeper in her past is unknown.
Kyouko, unfortunately, has become a bit bored with her life in the temple, though. While she tries her best and is dutiful, a lot of the deeper meaning of her training is lost on her and her restless youthful energy has desperately come out in other ways. She formed a rock band with Mystia Lorelei as a result and has started really throwing herself into music with a message of rebellion and punk rock culture. In some ways, it coincides with her Buddhist beliefs of challenging one's perceptions of reality. But in most ways... she's still just a kid and frustrated with the world.
Now for a bit of headcanon/filling in the blanks.
There is something of a depressing point to be made about the matters that drove Kyouko (and others like her) to Myouren Temple to begin with. Given it's a temple for youkai, they often take in those with nowhere left to go. Human reason and science forced Kyouko out of her home in the mountains, her entire existence threatened by the denial of the supernatural. Even with her constant smile and high energy, there is that weight still carried with her. She doesn't show it often, and prefers to not talk about it, but it's still very much reality.
It is thought, perhaps, that her darker treatment of Youmu has something to do with this. The idea of dying, of being killed or wiped out, frightens her deeply. Existence for youkai born outside of Gensokyo is extremely grim. They have no protection from xenophobic humans, who would wipe out youkai either directly or indirectly by no longer respecting their existences. Kyouko is no exception to this, as she was likely born outside Gensokyo.
She attached herself to Buddhism because she honestly had nothing left. The emptiness of secularism was frightening, threatening to pretty much unmake her. Now, with spirituality on her side, she echoes sutras in the mountains of Gensokyo, retaining her place in the way of the world as a youkai. And it scares some humans, too. That's always a nice bonus. But what she really wants is for them to believe again...
Abilites: As a Yamabiko, Kyouko has power over echoes. This means she can control soundwaves once she's heard them personally at least once. This means she can do things like change the volume of sound, imitate sounds and voices, and project soundwaves to such an intensity that they can be used as a form of self-defense. She can also create "echo chambers" that form from walls of sound, bounding soundwaves off of one another indifinitely. She mostly uses this power to memorize sutras and perform music, as well as her ever cheerful greetings of paritioners to the Myouren Temple.
Other:
SAMPLES
First Person: Anything under this tag should do
Third Person:
It was funny, the sort of things that reminded her of her old life. A particularly chilly breeze, the leaves that rushed past, and the sound, oh the sound of it all... She felt herself stopping in her chores to take a moment to just experience it, take it in, and reflect on it. This world, she had to remind herself, was unnatural. There was no feasible way for her to truly experience the crisp autumns of Gensokyo, or any natural place, here. But it still felt so... nostalgic. She set her broom against the wall and stepped out onto the lawn, sitting herself down.
Maybe... maybe there was at least some natural beauty to this place. A sign of the totality of life. A breath of the Buddha in the world. Maybe. She would have to ask anesan later about it. But it certainly carried with it a sort of peace they didn't have back home. And maybe, just maybe... she was a little grateful...
Oh well. Enough of that. Kyouko quickly hopped back up, humming an old mountain song to herself as she picked her broom back up and continued her sweeping. She would have time to reflect later. Whether it was at the temple, or in this strange place, she still hard work to do, after all.
OTHER
Housing Request?: If you could put her with Nazrin, that'd be spectacular.
Did you read the rules and FAQ?: Yes.
Would you like your application to be unscreened?: yes
Revision Request
Your app is looking great so far! However, there are some changes to be made before full acceptance can be given:
Please reply with your changes within three days time. Thank you!
Revision
I, personally, would not at all feel comfortable playing her as an adult regardless of how old she literally may or may not be in canon. It is why I mentioned she'd be in a child slot.
no subject
no subject
If she has to be slotted in an adult slot, then I'm okay with it.
Accepted
ACCEPTED
Congrats, your application has been accepted! Your character is now living at 1457 in Holly Heights, with a spouse slot. In order to get the ball rolling, here's what you need to do:
I hope you enjoy your stay here!