application
[ CHARACTER INFORMATION ]
Name: Watanuki Kimihiro
Age: 17
Gender: male
Fandom: xxxHolic
Timeline: end of chapter 185
History: handy wiki link
Character Personality:
Watanuki is a kind and friendly guy, always willing to help a stranger, hard-working, and pretty much 'good' to the core. Equally though, he can be loud, prickly, rash, stubborn, and rarely knows what's good for him. Though at first meetings he tries pretty hard to be polite and friendly to most, Watanuki isn't the type to cover up his feelings about other people. If he likes you, it's pretty easy to tell. If he clashes with you, well, you and everyone in a 20 block radius is going to know about it. He isn't, however, the type to let his personal feelings get in the way of him taking the 'right' course of action. When he says he hates someone, he almost always means he's more than happy to tolerate and help them, even if it is at the cost of the occasional screaming match. As it is, Watanuki isn't the type to genuinely hate a person; canonically, he has never been shown to have any real hatred towards anyone, even the people or spirits who have caused him harm.
As much as he's a nice guy, his mood can change at the drop of a hat, he's easily riled, and cis prone to sarcasm and kvetching; this is particularly obvious when he's with his boss, Yuuko, or his friend, Doumeki. When dealing with people he really takes a shine to though, like his friends Kohane, and most obviously Himawari, Watanuki is all sweetness and light. Generally open about his immediate feelings, he doesn't keep most of his internal monologue internal, and sometimes has a tendency to say whatever comes to mind, especially when he thinks he's alone. While he's snappy and doesn't tolerate jokes made at his expense easily, he's quick to change his tune and doesn't hold much against anyone. He values his relationships greatly; before going to Yuuko's shop, Watanuki was a very lonely kid, having no family or friends to turn to, having been considered weird at school due to his abilities; because of this, he will do his utmost for the people he considers closest to him. He also has a tendency to complain when he's asked to do something he's not happy about, but that doesn't stop him from diligently completing any task given to him - despite his foibles, he's the kind of guy who takes his responsibilities very seriously. He's also very practical, both in that he's great and cooking and household chores, and in that he prefers to take action over being passive.
Watanuki isn't always particularly quick on the uptake; while he's good at reading social cues and can get on with people easily, for someone who can see all sorts of strange things, he often doesn't see what's right in front of him. His willingness to see the best in people means he sometimes ignores, both consciously and not, a persons bad traits. It took him a very long time to notice that Himawari, one of his best friends, was literally bad luck to be around. Though he's not always the sharpest tool in the shed, Watanuki has gotten rather good at adapting to even the strangest people and situations after the initial shock. He can, however, be very bullheaded about accepting changes he doesn't like, and if he's decided a course of action, he will stubbornly stick by it, even if he knows it's a bad deal. Though he considers things and takes the action he believes is the one that will best serve everyone, his idea of acceptable self-sacrifice doesn't always match up to everyone elses.
Having grown up without parents, Watanuki is quite fiercely independent. In the past, he has always tried to struggle on by himself instead of asking for help, especially if the help would make things much easier on him or inconvenience someone else. As such, Watanuki performs better in situations where the responsibility to help someone lies with him, but he isn't always great at helping himself. As he's grown, he has become a lot more able to ask for support from people, but he still can get flustered or embarrassed asking for help. Watanuki's desire to solve other people's problems hasn't always worked out for the best; in the past, his self-worth has been particularly low, leading him to make decisions that would 'help' other people without caring about the cost to himself. Through the people he has met working at the shop, Watanuki has since learned that what happens to him matters to his friends; he has also learned that he can help by doing what he can, instead of trying to stretch beyond his means.
While he is generally a lively guy, both in cheer and anger, Watanuki can be prone to moments of undue sadness; in the past, due to his subconscions understanding that he is a person that should not be, and in the present as a result of his much more conscious worries about the nature of his existence and of the experiences he's had. Though he tends to recover with apparent ease from these episodes, and tries to keep them to himself, it can be very jarring to see in comparison to the rest of the persona he projects. While the source of a great deal of his angst has been lifted, it was under unhappy enough circumstances to be effectively replaced by another sadness.
Character Abilities:
Watanuki's main ability lies with his sight. Thanks to it, the supernatural world is no mystery to him; he can see and interact with all kinds of ghosts, spirits, monsters, strange things - just about anything supernatural you can think of. And if a person is holding on to a particularly nasty regret or habit, it tends to manifest in a way he can see, too. Though he originally wished to be rid of this ability, it has served him well, allowing Watanuki to see the perils from the other world that used to be attracted to his unusual existence; and as a result of the changes he has undergone, Watanuki can see all sorts of positive and lucky things, too. Very recently he was given the chance to be rid of this ability, as per his wish, but decided to keep it, making it his most valued ability. He also has a strong connection to the world of dreams, having been able to speak to people and travel through dreams in the past (with help). While it's been a useful ability and allowed him to gain insights, it's also left him falling asleep at completely inopportune times.
His practical skills are second to none; having lived alone and on the cheap for a long time, and having spent so long doing a myriad of chores at the shop, he's a dab hand at sewing, gardening, pretty much any household-related thing you can think of, and is an excellent cook. Watanuki is also pretty athletic and energetic - you have to be, to outrun ghoulies - and his speciality in weird movements mean he's pretty flexible, too.
Character Weaknesses:
Unfortunately for Watanuki, his interactions with the supernatural haven't exactly been pleasant. He can interact with ghosts and spirits physically, which conversely means they can interact with him physically; being in the presence of malicious spirits or people whose hang-ups are particularly pernicious can also have a profoundly negative physical effect on him. In the past this hasn't been helped by the fact his unusual existence draws in mostly negative spirits; however, more recently, the changes he's made has meant less have them have been drawn to him. This hasn't removed the threat they pose, though.
His pigheadedness and willingness to help people are also a considerable weakness, leading Watanuki to sometimes make what most other people would consider poor or dangerous decisions. Once he gets involved in someone's problems or sets himself on a course, he won't be convinced out of it. While his choices don't run so close to self-sacrificial these days, he is still overly stubborn once they're made.
As the result of a wish he made for the sake of the person closest to him, Watanuki has gaps so wide in his memory that you could build a whole neighbourhood in there; these include things like the names of his parents, what year he's in at school (and consequentially, his age), the face of the building manager who has put him up since childhood, and pretty much anything that doesn't pertain to his experiences in the shop as a teenager and a few noteworthy encounters with the supernatural world.
And, most importantly, Watanuki's greatest weakness is the nature of his existence. 'Born' under complicated clone-and-time-travel-related shenanigans, he isn't someone who is actually meant to exist, at all, ever. This disparity between his existence and a world where he shouldn’t exist is what caused him to be followed by bad spirits, leave him lonely for most of his life, and attracted most the misfortunes that have befallen him.
[ MEISTER ONLY SECTION ]
Why your character should be a Meister:
He's not the strongest, or the fastest, the most cunning, or the one with the most stamina. In fact, as a fighter, he scrapes the passing grade; but Watanuki has the will, determination, and strength of character that would make him a hard-working and improvement-seeking Meister, even if it's slow work. And even if he complains a lot.
Beyond that, as a Weapon he would be more tempted to fall back on the old standard of trying to do everything on his own; as a Meister Watanuki is better-positioned to both seek out and accept help from others, both willing to take the lead and take advice when he's out of his depth. Watanuki is this kind of guy who works better and smarter when looking out for the wellbeing of another person, even seeking to reign in the recklessness of others, and again as a Meister would be better placed to both do that, and through it reign in his own reckless urges. Basically he would behave more sensibly - and therefore more usefully! - as a Meister than as a Weapon.
Meister Ability: Soul Perception
[ SOUL INFORMATION ]
Soul Description: kind, stubborn, impulsive, earnest, dilligent, neurotic
Soul Appearance: something like this! though probably not so happy-looking right now. It’s also worth noting that anyone particularly good at understanding souls would be able to tell something or other about his nature as something unnatural. But only if they’re really good!
