[OOC] Profile
Player Information
Name: Nyx
Personal Journal: minilovely
Contact Info: gilded chrysanth [AIM]
Character Information
Name: Nue Houjuu
Source Canon: Touhou Project
Age: At least 800 years old, but probably older. Appears to be in her early 20s.
Role In Canon: Supporting character.
History: Here. Post-Ten Desires.
Personality:
Nue is, first and foremost, a youkai-like youkai. That is to say, she doesn't have much in common with humans. One might even go as far to say she dislikes them; in Marisa's B scenario, it's revealed she resents Byakuren's group for doing what she perceives as "siding with" humans. When she finds out Byakuren has actually set up a temple for the use of youkai, she quickly changes her tune, even joining her eventually. Either way, though, it's not an active dislike. Rather, it seems to be born of an "us vs. them" mentality, probably thanks at least in part to her having been sealed away by a human in the past.
Nue likes picking on humans, generally in the form of frightening them. Actually, she likes frightening humans a lot, generally using their fear of the unknown to scare them. She seems to consider this a large part of her identity, more or less defining herself by the fact that she's a mysterious youkai with an unknown form-to the point of wanting to kill the heroines to keep her true form a secret. She also seems to take great pride in her ability to frighten humans; when Sanae makes it apparent that she doesn't know exactly what a nue is, Nue is shocked and dismayed, stating that she "used to be famous."
She's also a bit of a troublemaker in general. Because she resented Byakuren's group and felt excluded by them, she attached her Seeds of Non-Identification to something needed to revive Byakuren and scattered its pieces. She only feels remorse for this after discovering the truth about Byakuren's intentions, the implication being that she wouldn't care otherwise. It's also revealed that she's a bit of a coward when it comes to facing the consequences of her actions. Despite wanting to join the youkai temple, she's initially too afraid to do so because she is worried the others will know what she did to the Soaring Vault and scorn her accordingly.
But what Nue is really afraid of is the thought of being sealed away by humans again. This, in addition to the desire to have her true form remain a secret, is what drives her to attack the heroines with such aggression when they meet her. After they defeat her, she begs them not to seal her away again, even going so far as to make it clear she would rather be cooked and eaten. Her sealing has also left her with a bit of claustrophobia; while it's nothing severe, she does note that she never wants to be in "such a dark and cramped" place ever again.
Since joining the Myouren Temple, however, some of the more troublesome aspects of her personality have diminished. Byakuren wants harmony between humans and youkai, and a fair number of people from the Human Village are stated to visit the temple as well. As such, Nue has had to rein in her more aggressively anti-human behaviors. Presently, though she still tends to be initially wary of them, she is more willing to give humans a chance, and she makes a point to restrict her scaring to humans that are not accepting of youkai. She might even be capable of making friends with humans that don't think she should be exterminated or sealed away.
Unfortunately, her progress on this front is hindered her own prejudices and stubborn attitude, which causes her to miss the point of a lot of the Buddhist teachings she is supposed to be observing. In addition, she often looks for loopholes to allow her to continue to act as she has in the past. It doesn't help that her change in attitude is only partly a genuine effort on her part. Though she is attempting to behave in a manner more befitting of someone affiliated with the temple, a lot of the time she's just acting a certain way because that's what's expected of her, not because that's how she genuinely wants to be.
Overall, though, she tries hard to be good and live up to Byakuren's expectations. The consequences of her past mischief-making weigh heavily on her conscience, and she tends to be acutely aware of trouble she's caused the veteran members of the temple when dealing directly with them. As such, she always does her best to help them in any way she can, hoping to make up for her past behavior with hard work. Not that she's always successful-when she calls in Mamizou to serve as back up against Toyosatomimi no Miko's group, for example, she ultimately only ends up making more work for Byakuren.
One final note: Nue thinks of herself as fairly old and mature. In several of the scenarios, she laments being beaten by "such a young girl," and in Marisa's B scenario she comments that it must be nice to be so young and adventurous. There's probably a bit of pride associated with this as well, meaning people who treat her as anything less than an old, mysterious, and powerful youkai will offend her and make her feel patronized.
Abilities:
flight- Like most Touhou characters, Nue is capable of flight via levitation.
danmaku- Also like most Touhou characters, Nue is capable of using a form of magical combat known as danmaku, which centers on elaborate patterns of magical bullets. (See here, here, and here.)
seeds of non-identification- Also called Seeds of Unknown Form, Nue is capable of attaching these to any physical item or person, including herself. This effectively hides the appearance of the object/person to those that don't already know what/who they're looking at, instead causing them to see whatever they expect to see. So, for example, while Byakuren's group could see the fragments of the Soaring Vault for what they were, the heroines saw the unfamiliar objects flying through the air as UFOs. If someone looks at an effected object/person with no preconceived notion of what they're meant to see, they simply see a ball of light.
The Seeds themselves take the form of small snakes, which may have some small level of sentience themselves, as Marisa notes they appear to "run away" when removed from the object they're attached to. On the other hand, they could simply be drawn to return to their source without any real thought on their part. (Their form might not be fixed, either; Marisa says the snake "turned into a bird" and flew away when describing the phenomenon to Reimu and Sanae, but it's unclear if she meant this in a literal or figurative sense.)
Name: Nyx
Personal Journal: minilovely
Contact Info: gilded chrysanth [AIM]
Character Information
Name: Nue Houjuu
Source Canon: Touhou Project
Age: At least 800 years old, but probably older. Appears to be in her early 20s.
Role In Canon: Supporting character.
History: Here. Post-Ten Desires.
Personality:
Nue is, first and foremost, a youkai-like youkai. That is to say, she doesn't have much in common with humans. One might even go as far to say she dislikes them; in Marisa's B scenario, it's revealed she resents Byakuren's group for doing what she perceives as "siding with" humans. When she finds out Byakuren has actually set up a temple for the use of youkai, she quickly changes her tune, even joining her eventually. Either way, though, it's not an active dislike. Rather, it seems to be born of an "us vs. them" mentality, probably thanks at least in part to her having been sealed away by a human in the past.
Nue likes picking on humans, generally in the form of frightening them. Actually, she likes frightening humans a lot, generally using their fear of the unknown to scare them. She seems to consider this a large part of her identity, more or less defining herself by the fact that she's a mysterious youkai with an unknown form-to the point of wanting to kill the heroines to keep her true form a secret. She also seems to take great pride in her ability to frighten humans; when Sanae makes it apparent that she doesn't know exactly what a nue is, Nue is shocked and dismayed, stating that she "used to be famous."
She's also a bit of a troublemaker in general. Because she resented Byakuren's group and felt excluded by them, she attached her Seeds of Non-Identification to something needed to revive Byakuren and scattered its pieces. She only feels remorse for this after discovering the truth about Byakuren's intentions, the implication being that she wouldn't care otherwise. It's also revealed that she's a bit of a coward when it comes to facing the consequences of her actions. Despite wanting to join the youkai temple, she's initially too afraid to do so because she is worried the others will know what she did to the Soaring Vault and scorn her accordingly.
But what Nue is really afraid of is the thought of being sealed away by humans again. This, in addition to the desire to have her true form remain a secret, is what drives her to attack the heroines with such aggression when they meet her. After they defeat her, she begs them not to seal her away again, even going so far as to make it clear she would rather be cooked and eaten. Her sealing has also left her with a bit of claustrophobia; while it's nothing severe, she does note that she never wants to be in "such a dark and cramped" place ever again.
Since joining the Myouren Temple, however, some of the more troublesome aspects of her personality have diminished. Byakuren wants harmony between humans and youkai, and a fair number of people from the Human Village are stated to visit the temple as well. As such, Nue has had to rein in her more aggressively anti-human behaviors. Presently, though she still tends to be initially wary of them, she is more willing to give humans a chance, and she makes a point to restrict her scaring to humans that are not accepting of youkai. She might even be capable of making friends with humans that don't think she should be exterminated or sealed away.
Unfortunately, her progress on this front is hindered her own prejudices and stubborn attitude, which causes her to miss the point of a lot of the Buddhist teachings she is supposed to be observing. In addition, she often looks for loopholes to allow her to continue to act as she has in the past. It doesn't help that her change in attitude is only partly a genuine effort on her part. Though she is attempting to behave in a manner more befitting of someone affiliated with the temple, a lot of the time she's just acting a certain way because that's what's expected of her, not because that's how she genuinely wants to be.
Overall, though, she tries hard to be good and live up to Byakuren's expectations. The consequences of her past mischief-making weigh heavily on her conscience, and she tends to be acutely aware of trouble she's caused the veteran members of the temple when dealing directly with them. As such, she always does her best to help them in any way she can, hoping to make up for her past behavior with hard work. Not that she's always successful-when she calls in Mamizou to serve as back up against Toyosatomimi no Miko's group, for example, she ultimately only ends up making more work for Byakuren.
One final note: Nue thinks of herself as fairly old and mature. In several of the scenarios, she laments being beaten by "such a young girl," and in Marisa's B scenario she comments that it must be nice to be so young and adventurous. There's probably a bit of pride associated with this as well, meaning people who treat her as anything less than an old, mysterious, and powerful youkai will offend her and make her feel patronized.
Abilities:
flight- Like most Touhou characters, Nue is capable of flight via levitation.
danmaku- Also like most Touhou characters, Nue is capable of using a form of magical combat known as danmaku, which centers on elaborate patterns of magical bullets. (See here, here, and here.)
seeds of non-identification- Also called Seeds of Unknown Form, Nue is capable of attaching these to any physical item or person, including herself. This effectively hides the appearance of the object/person to those that don't already know what/who they're looking at, instead causing them to see whatever they expect to see. So, for example, while Byakuren's group could see the fragments of the Soaring Vault for what they were, the heroines saw the unfamiliar objects flying through the air as UFOs. If someone looks at an effected object/person with no preconceived notion of what they're meant to see, they simply see a ball of light.
The Seeds themselves take the form of small snakes, which may have some small level of sentience themselves, as Marisa notes they appear to "run away" when removed from the object they're attached to. On the other hand, they could simply be drawn to return to their source without any real thought on their part. (Their form might not be fixed, either; Marisa says the snake "turned into a bird" and flew away when describing the phenomenon to Reimu and Sanae, but it's unclear if she meant this in a literal or figurative sense.)