The Indigo League (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
indigo_league) wrote2016-05-03 09:48 pm
indigo_league) wrote2016-05-03 09:48 pm
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Botan | Yu Yu Hakusho | not reserved
Name: Mozart
E-mail: inzivil @ gmail
Preferred Contact: noctowl @ plurk
Timezone: PST
Current Characters in Victory Road: N/A, this is a re-app! This is the same journal I used when I played Botan before, too.
Character
Name: Botan
Series: Yu Yu Hakusho
Timeline: Post canon (manga) + the years she spent in Johto
Canon Resource Links: Here is actually quite an effective synopsis of the series and takes care to point out the differences between the anime and the manga, as Botan's role was rather expanded (if only slightly) in the anime, I can expand upon anything as needed.
Personality: A point has been made repeatedly that nobody knows much about Botan. Really. At all. Her coworkers seem to know about aspects of her personality, but basic little details like her blood type or her birth date seem to have been lost in the sands of time. She's secretive about herself and a lot of things concerning the Spirit World is what anybody would be able to pick up from her as a default impression. If they're really thinking about it. They're probably not, Botan's usually kicked that impression out of the way by being herself.
That doesn't mean she's unfriendly, one wouldn't really expect it from someone that's so secretive that even her author apparently doesn't know basic details about her, but she's quite open and friendly to most everyone (more than likely all, unless they are demons in the early part of the series). She likes to help them out as best she can, once they become her friends this increases twofold and her loyalty to them runs very deep (although anything she might be able to tell them is, as always, in conflict with her loyalties to the Spirit World, mostly Koenma. She'll often dodge the subject or have to have it be forced out of her if it's official Spirit World business or something Koenma is planning.)
Botan will often offer advice to them as well for the better (or at least what's better in her view, which is mostly "this will make you happy, you should go for it!" it's unknown if this is because she's been alive for so long and has seen the consequences of certain actions or lack of actions, but the way she speaks almost suggests such a thing) her penchant for helping others even extended to the spirits she would visit, even with Yusuke in tow in the early stages of the series (while he was dead).
Though sometimes she couldn't do much since it was against protocol and got flabbergasted with Yusuke for outright ignoring that and—for example—dragging off an attached spirit to "go have some fun" she eventually learns that Yusuke is An Exception to the Rule and is actually a much healthier influence for the souls of the deceased as well as living humans (much to his own surprise as well as the entirety of Spirit World's, apparently they never thought that a human would relate to another human most effectively, go figure). But that doesn't mean she just sat back with an "oh Yusuke" her exasperation with him never ends, even as time passes, their relationship can be compared to an older sister being annoyed with having to look after her little brother.
Things were often out of her hands in the beginning of the manga and though she disliked it, it was just how things were and she had to quietly accept it since non-human spirits such as herself weren't allowed to interfere with the affairs of humans. Indeed, they weren't even allowed to really interact with humans until they were dead, though Botan herself seemed to show an interest in doing so due to her own outgoing nature and endless fascination with the subtle ties between different human beings (read: being overly invested in their relationships like it's a daytime soap) and she integrates with humans easily, though she has a bit of trouble with not blabbing about Yusuke's exploits as the Spirit Detective in the beginning or things that she shouldn't have been witness to as a human but was as a spirit.
As time goes on, when people become more familiar with her and Yusuke's work as the Spirit Detective, there are less "hilarious misunderstandings" born from her slip of the tongue (though in the early stages she makes up stories in response to Yusuke saying that he doesn't want his close friends and mother to know about the Spirit Detective thing yet).
Botan has been shown several times to be self-sacrificing, though she doesn't put herself on a pedestal or remind people of the fact that she risked her neck for them, it's often her acting on instinct for the safety of her loved ones. Yeah, she gets scared, she has a sense of self-preservation if someone is directly threatening her, she doesn't want to piss off Hiei in particular, but she'll still get snippy and irritable with him if he's implying that he doesn't want to help one of their friends, especially not when they're in danger right at that very moment. She becomes more aware of the fact that there's no real thought behind this (literally) throwing herself in the way of something dangerous for others, sometimes for people she doesn't even know that well, but realizes are good people and need to be protected.
Her other friends make the comment that she's "tough" and she'll recover from whatever trauma was sustained from the act; not just physically, Botan has often had to bounce back mentally from things that take a toll on her emotions (which as I've mentioned before are actually very very delicate). Though in the beginning she hides herself away when she's upset so her friends don't have to see something as simple as her crying, they catch onto it anyway and reassure her that it's okay, she can be upset all she wants and lean on them for support (this was a conversation between herself and Shizuru after she took Genkai's soul to the afterlife). Needless to say, she was touched by the sentiment and though a situation like that didn't happen again, presumably she took the advice to heart.
Botan doesn't often distrust anyone outright (the opposite, in fact, she usually greets them with a howdy doo or the Japanese equivalent and treats them like an old friend), though in the beginning she defaulted to thinking demons were harmful to humans and the Spirit World as a whole, due to the deception and manipulation of King Enma. Having everything turned upside down like that when they found out the whole scandalous secret was shocking, but she ultimately stuck with Koenma and Yusuke, supporting them throughout the various trials without a single second guessing of herself even if the head of all of this chaos is the king of the underworld. She believes in Yusuke and she believes in Koenma, as they are her friends and very important companions to her, that's all she needs to go out on a limb and do something ridiculously risky for all reasons.
As things ended up way more peaceful in the end, she seemed a lot more relaxed (a feat for someone that already acted carefree), actually appearing in the living realm in her human form more often to spend time with Yusuke and their friends. The jury's out on if she became more open about the doings of the Spirit World, about 100+ years of habit might be a little hard to break even for someone as adaptable as Botan. This isn't to say that she's as cagey as before, no, Botan's as upbeat and optimistic as ever--being an observer of her friends' happiness as always and enjoying it whilst pushing it along as much as she's able to.
Since being in Johto, Botan has gone through a couple of changes that are absolutely horrifying: the act of being human and having to deal with love, loss, heartbreak, mortality, her own transient nature as a spirit and feeling like an intruder in a peaceful human life, feeling frightened and tricked by her own memories in comparison to her friends' (which was actually a simple anime continuity versus manga continuity problem, not that she ever figured that out on such a meta level). She confronted her own desires and wants as a newly-minted human, especially with regard to romance since she comes from a world that's more "behind" as far as humanity's attitude towards sexuality is concerned (the Earth of YYH can be argued to be set in the 90s).
She started thinking about...herself and what she wants for once (the horror) rather than pushing herself down and diminishing her problems. She began to not be so secretive about what's bothering her, became angry when she felt like it (though she still apologized later for acting in the moment). She's had to confront feelings of loneliness more often, too, but weathered them to the best of her (human) ability. She's still a supportive and loving person, heck she's actually been referred to as a "mom" more than once, though it makes her cry with sentimental feelings every time (that still has not changed, Botan is Botan after all). Botan is not just observing humans anymore, she is one, and it makes her abundantly happy, without feeling guilty about duties she should be fulfilling.
-The highly unnecessary sum up that I still did anyway of her strengths and weaknesses:
+ Wisdom! You wouldn't think so just by looking at her, but Botan is actually quite wise to the ways of feelings and romance (although as is often the case, some of her more unwise actions and statements contradict this)
+ Optimism! She gets knocked down, but she gets up again. It's pretty impossible to break her hope and cheeriness.
+ She can talk to animals. Yes really. To be fair to that, in the universe of YYH animals have a more sensitive sixth sense than humans do. In Johto this transferred as her being able to speak with Pokemon (not that the Pokemon always spoke back to her, she wasn't gonna force them).
+ Loyal! Even if she's not strong and even if she's being threatened with death, Botan's loyalty remains undaunted.
- Botan can be...kind of...really annoying, and a bit of a know-it-all by virtue of her literally being hundreds of years old and very in tune with humans. She used to actively observe and study them like she was in a zoo until she, uh, cut that out, but her chipper invasively friendly personality remains.
- Very, very sensitive. As explained in her personality. She'll cry or get upset over something when pushed too much and sometimes it results in her isolating herself to avoid anyone seeing her crying.
- Cagey. She's working on it, but it's still her instinct to hide things about herself and something that she feels is important to hide.
- Blabbermouth. Yes, this is considered a weakness as Botan LOVES to talk, she loves it. What she doesn't love is realizing she's about to say something she shouldn't and getting nervous. She'll try to cover it up. She'll often fail. It's weird. It's awkward. It's Botan.
Pokémon Information
Affiliation: Breeder
Starter: Greavard
Password: Atomic Fireball
Samples
RP Sample: Thread from my musebox about a very special VR reunion.
Victory Road Sample:
Botan had been watching the Greavard that was now her companion for the past 30 minutes.
What she was able to observe was that it enjoyed running around in circles.
Looking at her 'gear, she was able to figure out that "it" was actually a "he", not that Greavard stood still long enough for her to get much of a word in.
"Well, I have to give you a name," she says to herself before whistling to get the attention of Greavard.
He stops, tail wagging eagerly, and comes to her, mouth open wide and unnaturally long tongue lolling.
Supposedly, according to the dex entry, just being around Greavard would slowly drain the life from whatever it's in the presence of.
Botan doesn't see that as she looks down at the Pokemon, she sees an excited, happy creature. She hears him panting over and over again: "friend! Friend! Friend! Be my friend? I'll be a good friend! I'm a good boy! I'm a friend!" She sees his tail wagging and thinks of the rumors persisting that Greavard are the reborn spirits of dogs that were lonely, without human companions.
That is ultimately her job, even if she's a human, isn't it? She takes care of lonely spirits. Most would groan at still having to do their jobs even when in another world...she's not one of those people. Being a friendly face to keep someone that's inherently lonely company was the best part of her job as a guide to the afterlife.
Botan kneels, holding out her hands for Greavard to sniff (which he does so with gusto, in addition to licking with an oddly cold tongue). "There there, good boy...good boy. I'm your trainer. My name is Botan. Are you all right with battling? I won't ask you to if you don't want to. I'm a Breeder, so I won't have to do it much--"
The Greavard interrupts, standing up on his hind legs in an attempt to jump up onto Botan. "Yeah-yeah-yeah--I'll battle! Battle-play-battle--Botan. Good. Friend. Pretty. Smells nice."
She smiles a little crookedly down at the sweet Pokemon. "All right, all right, good boy...good boy. Why don't I name you...Houta."
朋太. It's not themed after ghosts or flowers, like she did before, and regardless of what she says the meaning is, Houta seems happy to be given a name, now hopping up and down even more so, his whole backside wiggling along with his tail wagging.
"Houta! Me! I'm Houta, me! Friend! Big friend!"
Botan giggles, scratching her fingers deep into Houta's fur under his chin. "Yes, that's right! Houta--big friend!"
Technically the kanji read as "friend" and "thick" or "fat" in addition to "big" but...he seems so happy, she's not going to take that away from the little guy.
"We're home, Houta...this is our home. We've got a lot of friends to take care of, all right?"
"Lots of friends! SO many friends! Me, Houta, me, I'm happy!"
She is, too. She is very much happy, too.
Accepted!
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