OoC: Island App
[original thread here]
Your character's name (last, first): Cho Hakkai
Series your character's from: Saiyuki/Saiyuki Reload/Saiyuki Gaiden (the manga, primarily.)
Background info on your character:
Imagine, if you will, a man in his early 20s (22 or 23) with a kind smile, wearing a green tunic and a monocle over his right eye, telling you cheerfully that you really ought to stop getting cigarette ashes on Jeep's seats, please, or else I'll turn this car around and you'll be sorry, mister -- and you have Cho Hakkai in a nutshell. Hakkai acts as the responsible chauffeur and nanny and occasional doormat, making sure that his companions all eat their vegetables and clean-up after themselves -- in short, he's the mom. He also has to frequently act as the group's healer, both in the physical and emotional sense.
His pastimes include drinking sake (though he never seems to get drunk), shopping for supplies, cooking meals, and being generally nagging, level-headed, intelligent, and right. He tends to have amazing luck at games of chance as well, such as poker and mahjongg, much to his companions' annoyance. Hakkai is always polite and seems to be eternally cheerful -- except when his friends' lives are on the line, in which case Hakkai is all business. All extremely violent, blowing-stuff-up, tearing-youkai's-guts-out-with-his-bare-hands-while-wearing-a-warm-smile business.
Despite his sunny demeanor, Hakkai has an extremely tragic past. (Cue sad violin music here.) When he was a human known as Cho Gonou, he and his older twin sister, Kanan, were separated by their parents' divorce at the age of three. Gonou's mother disappeared when he was five, after which he was raised in a Catholic orphanage. When the siblings were reunited at a university in Chang'An at the age of fifteen, they fell in love with one another and had an intimate and romantic relationship, which lasted for three years or so. It wasn't until after they had initially met that they realized they were related -- but for one reason or another they continued their relationship, knowing full well that their romance was sinful. After they moved to a small, peaceful town, Gonou got a job as a tutor and taught young children from families in the town and orphans alike.
It seemed all was well until Kanan was kidnapped by the Hyakugan Maou clan, -- a group of youkai whose leader, Hyakugan Maou, was infamous for abusing and toying with beautiful women before killing them when he became bored. After discovering that the other townspeople had allowed Kanan to be taken to save their own daughters, Gonou kind of totally flipped out and killed half of the town before going after the Hyakugan Maou clan. He bathed in the blood of 999 youkai, but was too late to rescue Kanan. When he finally reached her jail cell, she managed to take hold of his knife and killed herself and the child she was carrying right in front of his very eyes. It was after this that he came in contact with the blood of his 1000th youkai and was magically transformed into a youkai, himself. (His demon form allows him to control and use the vine markings on his body as actual vines to tie people up and things. Or he could temporarily spice-up a bland wall with a tasteful vine pattern~!)
Fully prepared to die or be killed for his sins, Gonou somehow crawled away from Hyakugan Maou's castle, despite his near fatal wounds, and ended-up in the middle of a road. He was found and nursed back to health by a half-youkai, half-human man named Sha Gojyo, and then later "arrested" for his crimes by the Buddhist priest, Genjyo (or Genjo, depending on the translation) Sanzo, and his ward, a youkai (or something close to it) named Son Goku. When brought to trial before the Three Aspects of Buddha (or the Sanbutsushin), Sanzo offered to become something like Gonou's parole officer, allowing Gonou to be free so long as Sanzo kept an eye on him.
The Aspects agreed and had Cho Gonou change his name to Cho Hakkai and begin life anew; he decided to turn over a new leaf and move-in with Gojyo -- he was concerned, you see, because Gojyo didn't seem to know when trash collection day was. Due mostly to the influences of his three new companions, he decided to live his life for himself, rather than living the rest of his years with the weight of his lover's/sister's death on his shoulders, as well as the deaths of the hundreds and hundreds he killed. Even so, he still isn't completely happy with himself just yet. And he still kills people, mostly at Sanzo's request or in self-defense (or in order to defend others), but there's not quite as much flipping out.
. . . Usually.
But mess with his best friend, or his guardian, his guardian's monkey son charge, or his pet dragon (who, incidentally, is capable of transforming into a Jeep) and he will fuck your shit up, using his chi attacks or in hand-to-hand combat. After he politely asks you to die, of course. It would be rude otherwise!
A few years after they all initially met, Hakkai is traveling to the West with his three other companions (and has been for just over a year, at this point in canon), on a holy pilgrimage to India from China. The Three Aspects ordered Genjo Sanzo (along with Son Goku, Sha Gojyo, and Cho Hakkai, of course) to stop some evil experimentation being performed in India to revive the sinister youkai lord, Gyumaou, who had been sealed away for refusing to live peacefully with the humans. These experiments have also created the Minus Wave, which caused local youkai to go crazy and want to eat tasty human flesh. Hakkai is immune to the Minus Wave only because he wears youkai power limiters, which come in the form of three earrings, nearly at all times. The limiters reduce his youkai power, as the name suggests, and allow him to appear human. The less he wears them, the more likely it is for him to be turned by the Minus Wave.
Sample post: (First person point of view, please)
Oh my, this is quite a surprising change of scenery, isn't it, Hakuryu? I know we were supposed to go find water, but I didn't quite expect to find this much.
Wha~at? Please don't look at me like that, it wasn't that bad of a joke, was it?
But come to think of it, I don't recall the map indicating a beach anywhere near where we set up camp, do you? How unreliable! I certainly hope it isn't grossly outdated. It just wouldn't do for us to have to work our way back after we've already journeyed so far -- and I would hate to think of how many blood stains I would have to wash out in our laundry after Sanzo vented his frustrations out on our would-be assassins. Once we find the next town, we'll have to exchange maps without any of the others noticing. It'll be better for everyone's health if we keep this mix-up just between the two of us, then, Hakuryu. Are we agreed?
Well now, we shouldn't dawdle around here for too long. As nice as the water looks, we should head back so I can go get dinner started -- everyone would get so cranky otherwise. We'll tell the others about the beach and return when everyone is properly rested, all right? Let's just retrace our steps, then--
Oh! I'm sorry, Hakuryu, I didn't mean to jostle you, I was just a bit startled. Ah, do you recall these palm trees being here just a moment ago? I don't remember having passed by them when we arrived here. Goodness, I certainly hope my memory isn't going. Oh dear, it almost looks as though I'm becoming an old man, ah ha ha. That's odd, I don't believe I've ever seen this particular species of palm tree before . . .
. . . Ah, I see. . . So it's like this, isn't it. It's rather troublesome, but -- Hakuryu, I don't believe we're in China anymore.
A list of things your character might have on them after they got snatched up and put on this island:
- his clothing
- his pet dragon, Hakuryu (a.k.a. Jeep), who uses Hakkai's shoulders as his perch
- er, lockpick(s). (why, yes, I am serious. xD)
Your character's name (last, first): Cho Hakkai
Series your character's from: Saiyuki/Saiyuki Reload/Saiyuki Gaiden (the manga, primarily.)
Background info on your character:
Imagine, if you will, a man in his early 20s (22 or 23) with a kind smile, wearing a green tunic and a monocle over his right eye, telling you cheerfully that you really ought to stop getting cigarette ashes on Jeep's seats, please, or else I'll turn this car around and you'll be sorry, mister -- and you have Cho Hakkai in a nutshell. Hakkai acts as the responsible chauffeur and nanny and occasional doormat, making sure that his companions all eat their vegetables and clean-up after themselves -- in short, he's the mom. He also has to frequently act as the group's healer, both in the physical and emotional sense.
His pastimes include drinking sake (though he never seems to get drunk), shopping for supplies, cooking meals, and being generally nagging, level-headed, intelligent, and right. He tends to have amazing luck at games of chance as well, such as poker and mahjongg, much to his companions' annoyance. Hakkai is always polite and seems to be eternally cheerful -- except when his friends' lives are on the line, in which case Hakkai is all business. All extremely violent, blowing-stuff-up, tearing-youkai's-guts-out-with-his-bare-hands-while-wearing-a-warm-smile business.
Despite his sunny demeanor, Hakkai has an extremely tragic past. (Cue sad violin music here.) When he was a human known as Cho Gonou, he and his older twin sister, Kanan, were separated by their parents' divorce at the age of three. Gonou's mother disappeared when he was five, after which he was raised in a Catholic orphanage. When the siblings were reunited at a university in Chang'An at the age of fifteen, they fell in love with one another and had an intimate and romantic relationship, which lasted for three years or so. It wasn't until after they had initially met that they realized they were related -- but for one reason or another they continued their relationship, knowing full well that their romance was sinful. After they moved to a small, peaceful town, Gonou got a job as a tutor and taught young children from families in the town and orphans alike.
It seemed all was well until Kanan was kidnapped by the Hyakugan Maou clan, -- a group of youkai whose leader, Hyakugan Maou, was infamous for abusing and toying with beautiful women before killing them when he became bored. After discovering that the other townspeople had allowed Kanan to be taken to save their own daughters, Gonou kind of totally flipped out and killed half of the town before going after the Hyakugan Maou clan. He bathed in the blood of 999 youkai, but was too late to rescue Kanan. When he finally reached her jail cell, she managed to take hold of his knife and killed herself and the child she was carrying right in front of his very eyes. It was after this that he came in contact with the blood of his 1000th youkai and was magically transformed into a youkai, himself. (His demon form allows him to control and use the vine markings on his body as actual vines to tie people up and things. Or he could temporarily spice-up a bland wall with a tasteful vine pattern~!)
Fully prepared to die or be killed for his sins, Gonou somehow crawled away from Hyakugan Maou's castle, despite his near fatal wounds, and ended-up in the middle of a road. He was found and nursed back to health by a half-youkai, half-human man named Sha Gojyo, and then later "arrested" for his crimes by the Buddhist priest, Genjyo (or Genjo, depending on the translation) Sanzo, and his ward, a youkai (or something close to it) named Son Goku. When brought to trial before the Three Aspects of Buddha (or the Sanbutsushin), Sanzo offered to become something like Gonou's parole officer, allowing Gonou to be free so long as Sanzo kept an eye on him.
The Aspects agreed and had Cho Gonou change his name to Cho Hakkai and begin life anew; he decided to turn over a new leaf and move-in with Gojyo -- he was concerned, you see, because Gojyo didn't seem to know when trash collection day was. Due mostly to the influences of his three new companions, he decided to live his life for himself, rather than living the rest of his years with the weight of his lover's/sister's death on his shoulders, as well as the deaths of the hundreds and hundreds he killed. Even so, he still isn't completely happy with himself just yet. And he still kills people, mostly at Sanzo's request or in self-defense (or in order to defend others), but there's not quite as much flipping out.
. . . Usually.
But mess with his best friend, or his guardian, his guardian's monkey son charge, or his pet dragon (who, incidentally, is capable of transforming into a Jeep) and he will fuck your shit up, using his chi attacks or in hand-to-hand combat. After he politely asks you to die, of course. It would be rude otherwise!
A few years after they all initially met, Hakkai is traveling to the West with his three other companions (and has been for just over a year, at this point in canon), on a holy pilgrimage to India from China. The Three Aspects ordered Genjo Sanzo (along with Son Goku, Sha Gojyo, and Cho Hakkai, of course) to stop some evil experimentation being performed in India to revive the sinister youkai lord, Gyumaou, who had been sealed away for refusing to live peacefully with the humans. These experiments have also created the Minus Wave, which caused local youkai to go crazy and want to eat tasty human flesh. Hakkai is immune to the Minus Wave only because he wears youkai power limiters, which come in the form of three earrings, nearly at all times. The limiters reduce his youkai power, as the name suggests, and allow him to appear human. The less he wears them, the more likely it is for him to be turned by the Minus Wave.
Sample post: (First person point of view, please)
Oh my, this is quite a surprising change of scenery, isn't it, Hakuryu? I know we were supposed to go find water, but I didn't quite expect to find this much.
Wha~at? Please don't look at me like that, it wasn't that bad of a joke, was it?
But come to think of it, I don't recall the map indicating a beach anywhere near where we set up camp, do you? How unreliable! I certainly hope it isn't grossly outdated. It just wouldn't do for us to have to work our way back after we've already journeyed so far -- and I would hate to think of how many blood stains I would have to wash out in our laundry after Sanzo vented his frustrations out on our would-be assassins. Once we find the next town, we'll have to exchange maps without any of the others noticing. It'll be better for everyone's health if we keep this mix-up just between the two of us, then, Hakuryu. Are we agreed?
Well now, we shouldn't dawdle around here for too long. As nice as the water looks, we should head back so I can go get dinner started -- everyone would get so cranky otherwise. We'll tell the others about the beach and return when everyone is properly rested, all right? Let's just retrace our steps, then--
Oh! I'm sorry, Hakuryu, I didn't mean to jostle you, I was just a bit startled. Ah, do you recall these palm trees being here just a moment ago? I don't remember having passed by them when we arrived here. Goodness, I certainly hope my memory isn't going. Oh dear, it almost looks as though I'm becoming an old man, ah ha ha. That's odd, I don't believe I've ever seen this particular species of palm tree before . . .
. . . Ah, I see. . . So it's like this, isn't it. It's rather troublesome, but -- Hakuryu, I don't believe we're in China anymore.
A list of things your character might have on them after they got snatched up and put on this island:
- his clothing
- his pet dragon, Hakuryu (a.k.a. Jeep), who uses Hakkai's shoulders as his perch
- er, lockpick(s). (why, yes, I am serious. xD)