Post by Administration on Feb 21, 2010 2:23:21 GMT -5
Chance me now
I'll be everything I'm not
Hope's the child of what luck brings
Points to faith in higher things
Character Name: Arashiyama Kiyoshi
Shitennou Name: Sutekh
Age: 18
Birthdate: February 19
Personality: Rather theatrical and with a temper, Kiyoshi has a bit of a tendency to stand out from the crowd in most circumstances even when he isn't trying to. While he tends to seem to march to the beat of his own drum, he ultimately keeps certain rigid yet private personal guidelines as he goes about his business. When an obstacle presents himself, he'll plow right through it just to achieve his goals without any regard to the consequences. For the most part, as troublesome of a person he might be, he thrives on attention and thoroughly enjoys being a social creature. To preserve his bonds with other people, he tends to keep up a charming and occasionally affectionate act to cater to them, but it is rather rare that he feels the way he professes. When he does, however, he's unusually tolerant of the quirks of those rare people.
As a result of his privileged upbringing, Kiyoshi is generally perceived to be shallow on the surface. The problems of 'common people' tend to perplex him, and he has a hard time sympathizing with the plights of others when he considers his own difficulties so much more important. Despite that, he's carefully honed skill in reading other people so well that it seems almost uncanny. He doesn't always care about them, but he tends to have an idea of what might be wrong with them. Never one for anything he might deem too brutish, he likes to follow rather gentle pursuits with his free time; the arts are an enjoyment second to none, and he does love following the fashion scene.
There is another side to Kiyoshi that doesn't often openly see the light of day, and that is intrinsically entwined with his role as Sutekh. That's the part that isn't completely connected to reality, easily lost in his art and to his dreams. He cannot seem to sit idle for very long, compelled to keep active and pursing his purpose. Order and structure make him uncomfortable in ways he can't exactly define, but he's convinced himself that everything will fall into place if only he can find Attis. If it doesn't, he isn't really sure just how that will change everything.
Physical Appearance: Standing at five feet and seven inches and with a weight of about 110 pounds, Kiyoshi is a very delicately built young man. His hair is naturally curly, and usually tamed into a bell flip style with his bangs covering one eye. He generally dresses respectably in designer styles with a definite bent towards an affluent prep-style chic. Additionally, he tends to rather shamelessly wear subtle jewelry, make-up, and far more unsubtle nail polish.
Strengths: Charismatic, tenacious, an excellent liar, a talented artist and trained in a number of traditional arts, and is a particularly skillful long-range magical combatant.
Weaknesses: Capricious, obsessive, has a short temper, is incompetent at many everyday tasks, obsessive, and is physically fragile without much stamina in comparison to his peers.
Dreams: To complete his mission, but he isn't entirely sure beyond that. All that will matter will be that he is able to do as he wishes without any other considerations needing to be made.
Habits: When agitated or nervous, Kiyoshi tends to absently chew on his fingernails. Stubbornly, despite it being both arrogant and an incredible social faux pas, he rarely speaks standard Japanese and instead clings to his Kyoto dialect in most situations.
Background: Eighteen years ago, the eccentric heiress of the Arashiyama family, Misora, gave birth to a son of undisclosed paternity. Though the family had always been considered renowned for their unique talent in the precious gems trade and, more specifically, the jewelry industry with their elegant designs valued by the elite of society, the scandal damaged their prestige even though it didn't affect their fortune. Nonetheless, his mother resolved to raise her son, Kiyoshi, at their family estate and for a few years away from the world until controversy died down. One of his most vivid memories of early childhood was of when he had run off from his mother on a trip to Tokyo; in the end, he found himself looking up with wide eyes as the Pact of Endymion was agreed upon. It was that event that shaped his entire life into what it is.
Thrust head-first into an entirely different world, Kiyoshi quickly realized that he had to use his meager influence as a child of privilege to support the Shitennou while trying (and, in some cases, failing due to all sorts of complications that came with being so young) to hold good relations with them. Simultaneously, his mother and his tutors kept his free time to a minimum as he was educated in the arts to prepare him for his future, and traditional practices that had been points of pride in his family for generation. Ever precocious, he caught on by himself how to go about influencing others and innuendo, how and when to lie in order to charm those around him into giving him what he wanted. Even though their contemporaries might have considered him "the Arashiyama bastard" when he was out of earshot, he was a force to bargain with among his youthful peers. The ambitious boy garnered many connections within high society nonetheless. And to this day, he still works to cultivate all of his connections to a certain level of usefulness. In that that time, he even managed to make some friends, including the charming Koekami Bao-yu who he met at a party when he was quite young and was instantly charmed by. They were two of a certain kind, and a deep bond was fostered by mutual ambitions and traits.
When he turned thirteen, again his world shifted. This time, it was Kiyoshi who took his future in his own hands. He managed to convince his mother to send him to school in Tokyo with no more than a family retainer to keep an eye on him. Though he admitted that he was doing it to become acknowledged by his father, no one knew how he'd gone there to try to help pull the Shitennou together however he possibly could. Eventually acting to firmly establish his cover once he settled in, it wasn't too long before he befriended the Prime Minister's daughter, Hisakino Himeko. At first, even though they were half siblings, all that mattered was finding a way to be acknowledged by his father and to be put in the best place to keep watch over the city. It failed, a rather bitter defeat at the hands of Himeko's mother, but he instead found that he had one person willing to support him just for who he was. As it stands, Kiyoshi lives alone with his retainer, Fujimoto Hideyoshi, in the apartment next door to his--the older man enjoying a semi-retirement as he lets his young master play at being an independent boy.
Yet all this time, Kiyoshi has been standing ready and waiting for the beginning of the end.
Of Whom I Serve
Residing Power: Storms
Uniform Description: The standard shitennou uniform with light blue piping, dark blue cape that has an orange silk lining. His belt and choker match his cape's two colors respectively. He also wears simple white gloves, and black leather boots.
Attack Name: Sunder Heaven
Description of Attack: At his will, with or without the call of his ability's name, Sutekh is able to command the weather itself. With simple gestures, he commands the air around him to shape to his will. It is sympathetic to the original weather conditions and the seasons, however, and as such tend to form to what could potentially naturally occur at the time. (In the winter, for example, he's more likely to bring forth a miniature blizzard than a thunderstorm. Alternately, during exceptionally dry weather, he might only be able to kick up a windstorm.) It has a lengthy casting time--from less than a minute if the storm is already at hand to several minutes depending on how dramatically he shifts the weather--and disturbs a small local area.
Once the stage is set, he is able to direct very small, concentrated weather blasts with the same theme as the storm itself--be it directing low accuracy lightning with the shock power roughly on par with a taser, a sudden scattershot flurry of hail, or buffeting blasts of wind to pitch his enemies aside. The power of these attacks are proportionately dependent on his own strength, and will wane as he continues to fight--considering his low physical stamina, he's helpless by himself if he doesn't end combat quickly.
(Note: he's found that engaging his power can, seemingly randomly, can introduce a disturbance that may change weather patterns over a wider scale.)
Your Nickname / Alias: Julia
Your Contact Information: julia {dot} rping at that gmail dot com thing
How Did You Find Us?: Originally? I'm not entirely sure. One day I wasn't here, and the next I was.
Roleplaying Sample:"Poor things," the young man sighed as he joined her, and there was a certain scathing humor coloring his tone. He was smirking, the faux pity in his voice displaced entirely by his amusement. "Poor us, really. Such a burden being beautiful."
He winked impishly then, expression relaxing as he strode across the room to stand by her vanity. One hand on his hip, he leaned against the wall and looked her over.
Bao-yu looked like royalty, he noted. Like displaced royalty, a princess without a kingdom of her own. There was some measure of bitterness there; she was the next closest thing in that regard. A member of the corporate aristocracy that deserved far more than certain other people.
Far more than people who, on account of the timing of their birth, stood to gain everything in their lives while doing nothing to earn it. People like him, for example.
People like him, indeed.
"You really are looking lovely, by the by," he added quite a bit more genuinely, comfortable with openly admiring her appearance. There was nothing more than just an appreciation of aesthetics in his gaze, though there might have been a little bit of envy as well. "Oh, what I wouldn't do for hair like yours... but I'm not here to gush over how you look, mm?"