Okita's Mask Brings All the Boys to the Yard
Name: Alice. Ket's all right, too, though.
Age: 19 (I'm going to turn 20 in Japan and 21 in America, so I get to turn legal for booze twice! Kind of wasted on someone who's not interested in drinking, but I might do it on my 20th just for novelty's sake.)
Describe your personality positively in seven words: Loyal, brave, creative, inspiring, independent, empathetic, protective
Describe your personality negatively in seven words: Temperamental, stubborn, naive, tactless, sometimes too slow to let things go, bitter, reckless
Do you have any talents or special skills? I'm pretty musical (play the violin, a bit of guitar, and sing, and I'm picking up the shamisen)...I like to think I don't suck too hard at writing and art. I'm intelligent enough, and while I'm a slow runner, I have good reflexes and an ability to get back up after all manner of bad things, physical or psychological) happening to me and keep going (which I think is a talent, seeing how easily some people give up and break). I'm a renaissance girl, I guess--pretty good at a lot of things. Also, I pick up languages a lot quicker than most people.
What do you do on your freetime, if you do have freetime? Haha, free time...Uh, I'm on exchange in Japan this year, so I spend a lot of my free time just wandering around, doing things on impulse--going to temples, museums, or just around whatever district I happen to be in and seeing what's going on. Other pastimes involve writing, drawing (a friend and I are planning to write a comic, though it's far from presentable at this point), fencing, swimming, sort of freeform sparring with my friends, reading whatever I can get my hands on, advising friends and strangers on tough issues, rpgs...A lot of things, really, though those are near the top of the list.
What annoys you? Selfishness, refusal to see the potential for positive change in a situation because it's easier to deal with the same old negativity, when people forget I'm a vegetarian, disloyalty.
What is important to you, in your life? My friends are everything to me--I'm a little codependent in my devotion to them, almost. Paradoxically, the concept of personal freedom/empowerment is also a big thing for me. Also, living as well as I can, in the sense of upholding things like loyalty and perseverance and helping people in need no matter what.
How would your dream lifestyle be? Firstly, there would be a sushi-maker robot that went with me everywhere I went. Secondly, I would be either independently wealthy or have tons of funding from a university, which I would use to travel the world and study languages and linguistics (and have wacky misadventures) to my spontaneity-addicted, geeky little heart's content.
Do you have a goal in life? If so, what is it? Well, there's a lot of things I want to do. I want to be infinitely more awesome at the things I'm goodish at now...I want to contribute to international women's and gay rights...I want to settle on a particular martial art long enough to get good at it...A lot of things. And I always, always want to take good care of the people I care for and stay close to them.
What are your thoughts on yaoi love? Yaoi and yuri, bring them on! All you need is love, love, but I'm personally a bit sick of how badly it keeps turning out for me. I tend to internalize things out of the mindset that I'm strong enough to take the bad stuff for everyone else, so the ends of the two romantic relationships that I've been involved in (one 2 years, the second one year) hit me particularly hard. I'm a loving person in general, but I'm thinking that great outpouring of affection will remain platonic for a while, because frankly, I'm not keen on getting myself hurt so badly that I drag all my friends down with me yet again. I'm bitter and hurt enough for now.
What do you think of the Amantos? ...They're lovely running-joke fodder? Also, Imperialism for the utter and complete lose.
Which Gintama characters do you like and why? ...All of them? =D I like Zura because his moments of silliness stand out so much more against his (comparative) sanity...Gintoki wins on all kinds of levels, of course...Kagura always makes me smile...and Okita and Hijikata (especially around each other), because they're badass and hilarious.
What is your favorite recurring joke? They're all great...Somehow, Sadaharu biting people's heads never gets old for me, nor do the ridiculous episode names.
Find something special about you, and tell us about it. It can be a weird thing that happened to you, a strange habit, anything.
-Hm. Uh...In high school (went to an all-ages school), my best friend and I used to split the younger kids into armies and have epic battles with wooden swords all over campus.
-I wrote my most recent term paper on gender non-normativity and homosexuality in shounen manga, and it was 35 pages with bibliography.
-I tend to dress in a weird mix of reverse-drag and blatantly feminine things (i.e., long skirts with a beat-up second hand leather jacket and a fedora, or a bodice with manpants and boots).
-I am vaguely addicted to sushi and four different kinds of tea.
-I fence with all three modern weapons, but saber has a special place in my heart, because slashing is fun. I also reenact (late Renaissance Scottish noble and Anne Bonny, among others), and one of my proudest moments ever was when I smacked my instructor in the head with a buckler during a late Renaissance dueling techniques demonstration.
-Last Halloween, I had to use the persuasive power of my cleavage to talk a bartender out of giving me free alcohol--you wouldn't believe how hard it is to get some goddamned pineapple juice at that bar!
You can post a picture or two here, but please, no cosplay:
(Edited slightly after posting for spelling mistake, hope that's ok!)