![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
Entry tags:
Forest Covered App
( PLAYER INFORMATION )
Name: Ruddy
Contact:![[plurk.com profile]](https://plurk.com/favicon.ico)
ruddyowls or PM
Are you over 17?: Mhmmmmmmmm
Characters in Forest Covered: Nope!
( CHARACTER INFORMATION )
Name/Work Name: Natsume Takashi/Shiki
Canon: Natsume's Book of Friends
Canon Point: After chapter 65 of the manga, stressing out about Reiko's "forbidden" contracts.
AU/CRAU: Nope
Age: At least 16 by his canon point; possibly nearly 17.
History: Natsume's story really begins with his grandmother, Reiko. It's said by spirits and exorcists alike that Natsume Reiko could see spirits, that she was both beautiful and spiritually powerful, and that she was always, always alone. She died young and presumably unmarried, but not before giving birth to Natsume's mother. Little is known of her; only that there are unconfirmed rumors she, too, was very spiritually powerful.
Natsume remembers very little of his parents or his early life; his mother passed away shortly after he was born, and his father passed away when he was just a toddler. On top of this, the pain of remembering the home and family he lost was too much for a small child to bear, so it's implied that Natsume suppressed a lot of his childhood memories as a coping mechanism.
Like his grandmother, Natsume could see spirits, but with no one to teach him and only a child's understanding of what he saw he didn't realize at first that nobody else could see them. His erratic behavior and sudden outbursts when spirits startled him frightened the relatives who took him in and made him seem strange to the other children at school, so his living situation for the first fourteen or so years of his life was very unstable. His relatives passed him around, seeing him as just a burden; he experienced a lot of abuse, neglect, and bullying from family members and other children. Eventually some distant relatives of his father's, the Fujiwaras, took him in and Natsume found himself living in the same rural town his grandmother had lived in as a girl. Which is kind of where everything goes nuts because one day Natsume accidentally breaks the barrier on an old shrine in the woods and releases Madara, a powerful spirit sealed inside a lucky cat figurine who knew his grandmother and wants something from Natsume called the Book of Friends.
Apparently, in these parts, Natsume Reiko earned herself a reputation among the spirits. An outcast among humans because of her ability to see spirits, Reiko entertained herself by challenging every spirit she met to a duel, and if they lost, she forced them to write their names in a notebook she called the Book of Friends, binding them as her servants. Reiko collected the names of many, many spirits, some of them very powerful; whoever possessed this notebook possessed the power of all the spirits named within, which is why Madara wants it. Instead, Natsume makes a deal with him: if Madara will protect him while he attempts to return the names contained in the book to their owners, he can have whatever's left of the book if and when Natsume dies, to which Madara agrees. Nicknamed Nyanko-Sensei for his lucky cat form, he becomes Natsume's guardian and teacher.
As the word spreads around, many spirits come to Natsume to have their names returned, and still others seek him out to try and take the book for themselves or to exact their revenge on Reiko (because the spirits don't understand time or gender in human terms, they don't know Reiko is dead and mistake Natsume for her). Some spirits come to him, hearing about his generosity in returning names, asking for him to help them with their problems. Despite being tired and exasperated by all the attention, Natsume does his best to accomodate most of their requests. He ends up making human friends like Tanuma Kaname, who can sense but not see spirits, and Taki Tooru, whose grandfather was a magician who studied spirits and used arcane circles to try and see them. He also befriends a number of youkai, like Hinoe, who takes the appearance of a human woman and was once in love with his grandmother, and Misuzu, a massive, vaguely horse-like spirit. He also (sort of) makes friends with Natori Shuuichi, a star actor and secret exorcist who, unlike Natsume, doesn't particularly care for spirits.
His contact with Natori in particular drags him into the culture and politics of exorcists; though the profession is something of a dying art, there is still a significant society of exorcists with their own laws and customs that gather together on occasion to share their trade secrets with one another. The most notable group is the Matoba Clan, a clan of powerful exorcists who united many of the other powerful clans under one banner. Their head, Matoba Seiji, is cruel and exploits and source of power he can find in order to keep his clan powerful, which brings him into frequent conflict with Natsume, who disagrees with his methods and refuses to join the Matoba clan. Matoba still manages to exploit Natsume's spiritual power on at least one occasion by blackmailing him, but for the most part, Natori tries to keep Natsume away from the Matoba clan and safely out of harm's way.
Natsume eventually finds out from Natori that both Taki's circles she uses to see spirits and the contracts Reiko made with the spirits in the Book of Friends are actually forbidden by exorcist law; the circles bring normal people into contact with spirits and place them in danger, while contracts made using the true name of a spirit are cruel and dangerous to the spirit in question. Hence why all of Natori's shiki (familiars) and those belonging to other exorcists are bound by a pseudonym instead. This concerns Natsume, because if exorcists found out about the Book of Friends not only would someone like Matoba potentially exploit its power, but Natsume could get in a lot of trouble. Add to this that Natsume starts to wonder if Reiko did something terrible and cruel by contracting all those spirits - Natsume's kind of stressed about the whole thing and struggling to come to terms with his grandmother's legacy, whether good or ill.
Personality: When Natsume first moves in with the Fujiwaras, he's a troubled child at best, nearly his whole life spent being tormented by spirits, bullied by humans, and abused and neglected by relatives who didn't want him. Lack of confidence, low self esteem, and an inability to trust make it hard for him to interact with other people and make friends with the other students at his new school. He lives under the assumption it's his fault his relatives treated him poorly in his previous homes, because he acted strangely and could see strange things. As a defense he's developed a chronic lying habit - he works hard to keep his ability to see spirits a secret from everyone around him, he keeps even normal, everyday troubles to himself, and tries his best not to cause any problems for anyone else for fear of being thrown out of his new home or ostracized by his peers again. He's lonely, he doesn't talk much, and he keeps to himself because he's not sure how to talk to people. He actively dislikes spirits and hates that he's able to see them, because it's only brought him trouble and continues to do so even in his new home.
All of this gradually changes, though. Between the unexpected and unconditional kindness of the Fujiwaras and his friendships with other people his age, Natsume slowly begins to open up and become more comfortable in his new home. Though Tanuma and Taki can't see the things Natsume sees, their own encounters with the spiritual world mean they can at least understand a little of what he deals with on a regular basis, and slowly but surely Natsume becomes more willing to talk with them about the spirits he encounters.
In the process of returning the names in the Book of Friends, Natsume gets little glimpses into the spirits' memories of his grandmother. Some of them hated her, some of them loved her, all of them recognized just how lonely she truly was, and many of them had stories of how she would surprise them with selfless kindness at the strangest of moments. His encounters with the spirits who knew Reiko give him a connection to his grandmother, and as he learns more about her and her relationship with the spirits, he softens toward them, finding that in a way they aren't so different from humans - they cry, they laugh, they have things they care about, the same way humans do, and in a way they were Reiko's only friends. Even when he meets exorcists like Natori, who understand what it is to be an outcast like Natsume because of what they can see but don't particularly like spirits because of it, he still can't bring himself to feel the same. Even though he's found friends and family in humans, he's still fond of the spirits because he's met so many of them, listened to their troubles and experienced their strange sort of otherworldly affection.
The more kindness Natsume receives from humans and spirits alike, the more he wants to be kind, too. Even though the exorcists he meets encourage him to let go of the spirits - after all, most who can see aren't lucky enough to be able to live a happy life among humans as well, and since Natsume has that, he shouldn't need the companionship of spirits - Natsume finds himself unable to choose between the two worlds. He doesn't hate the fact that he can see spirits like he used to, nor is he an outcast among humans anymore. Instead of choosing, he ends up caring for both equally. He learns to accept his abilities, and to accept the painful memories of his childhood, because those experiences have made him who he is now. He becomes fiercely protective of his friends, both human and spirit, and will go to any lengths to protect them. The lonely, reticent, quiet boy who arrived at the Fujiwaras at 15 gradually becomes more confident, selfless, reliant on his friends, and stops hating the fact that he can see spirits.
There are still secrets, though, that Natsume can't let go. He doesn't tell the Fujiwaras or most of his friends about what he can see - because even though now he knows they'd believe him, he'd rather they still have their peace of mind instead of constantly worrying about him. And he still resists telling Taki and Tanuma about most of his spirit problems, because he's too afraid they'll get involved and get hurt. Even as he becomes more open and secure, he still prefers to deal with things alone rather than burden others. This is why he hesitates to tell Natori about the Book of Friends, too, because even as they become closer Natsume's afraid Natori would worry about him, and of what would happen if the book fell into exorcists' hands - especially now that he knows Reiko's contracts were forbidden.
Because even though he remembers his grandmother fondly, the same way Taki remembers her grandfather, they've both learned that their grandparents' legacies aren't all sunshine and rainbows, and some of the things they did were dangerous, would make them outlaws by exorcists' standards. Now Natsume has to wrestle with how he feels about the Book of Friends, a treasured inheritance from Reiko but also, apparently, a cruelty for the spirits whose service it binds.
Debt: Natsume's debt is not his own, but rather belongs to his deceased grandmother, Reiko. Reiko defeated and contracted a great number of spirits when she was living, making them write their names in the Book of Friends to bind them to her service; however, because this forces the spirits to give away their true names, causing the contract to last beyond the master's death and potentially bringing harm to the spirit in question, exorcists consider it cruel and have outlawed this type of contract. So, basically, Reiko racked up a ton of debt in her lifetime by forming forbidden contracts with the spirits she fought. A ton of debt that's been passed on to her grandson, Natsume Takashi, since Reiko's kind of dead.
The witch may or may not have threatened to curse the Fujiwara household and bring misfortune upon everyone Natsume comes into contact with if he doesn't pay off Reiko's delinquent debts, but psh, that's just a technicality. Ironically, Natsume's work name while bound to the witch's service is Shiki, the term for an exorcist's familiar - or at least the legally contracted ones.
Suitability: Maybe the witch is bluffing. Maybe there is no curse, maybe she's not going to inflict terrible misfortunes on his friends and family, but Natsume's not willing to take that risk. If it means he has to go into the witch's service to pay off Reiko's debt, that's fine; he'd rather this than let anything bad happen to anyone he cares about because he wouldn't do her bidding. And maybe, just maybe, he feels a little bit responsible for whatever wrong Reiko might have done by contracting her spirits using their true names; maybe he feels a little bit of vicarious guilt on his grandmother's behalf.
But he finds he's terribly homesick, all the same. He misses the Fujiwaras, he misses his upstairs room with a view of the roof and the woods below, he misses his human and spirit friends, he even misses Sensei's endless lectures and complaining. He can deal well enough with the spirits in Koriko, he's been doing it all his life, but they aren't the spirits he knows back home and he finds himself lonely when he scans the crowd and can't find a familiar face or form anywhere.
He keeps all that to himself, though, and serves with a fake smile and an air of nothing wrong, because it wouldn't do to bother anyone else with his troubles or disappoint the patrons with a dismal attitude. Instead, when he's alone in the employee's quarters, he curls into a ball with his blanket over his head and tries to imagine he's back home.
Previous Game Info: N/A
Inventory: Natsume carries very little on him that wouldn't be found on an ordinary teenage boy, so the possessions the witch took are mostly negligible: his coat and scarf and school uniform, his bag with his texts and notebooks, maybe a half-empty water bottle, a first aid kit, and some spare inks and brushes because he's picked up a spell or two from Natori and the memories of Reiko he's seen.
The only really important thing she took was the Book of Friends, and that's really important, because Natsume never lets it out of his possession. He fears what might happen to it in the witch's hands; if she might do something terrible with it, or damage it and thus cause harm to the spirits whose names it contains. He'd like to get it back if he can, as soon as possible.
Abilities, Strengths, and Weaknesses: In some respects, Natsume's just an ordinary boy. He's no weapons master and he doesn't have the advanced spellcasting arsenal of an exorcist. But in many respects, he's not ordinary at all.
Natsume possesses great spiritual power, just like his grandmother; it lets him see spirits back home where they're normally invisible, and they, in turn, can sense his uncommonly powerful spiritual aura - so much so that, unless they're close enough to catch the very human smell that is Natsume's, he's frequently mistaken for a spirit himself. Because of this, even though he's not physically strong, he can strike down spirits much larger than himself with simply a fist or a kick. Natori notes that Natsume's quick to pick up spells and seals that most exorcists would have to practice quite a bit to get right; he can sense powerful spirits and track their presence if he concentrates hard enough, and he even once exorcised a dangerous spirit from his home by himself. He also possesses a limited clairvoyance where the memories and emotions of spirits are concerned; he can occasionally see into their memories or experience what they're feeling, especially while asleep.
But there are drawbacks. Natsume's spiritual aura attracts a lot of unwanted attention from spirits who are either curious, or just want to absorb some of that power for themselves. He's especially sensitive to the poisonous auras that some spirits give off, and gets sick from it easily, or gets a headache in the presence of too much spiritual energy at once. And because he has no formal training, he's limited in means to protect himself; he knows maybe one or two circles for exorcism and a protective charm that's been used on him once or twice. He's quick, and clever, and has a lot of raw spiritual power, and that was enough to protect him before Madara; it might not be enough now, though.
( SAMPLE )
Characterization Sample: In either prose or bracket text, please give us a piece that adequately displays both your character's voice and their introspection, as displayed in your personality section.
Your sample may be reused from previous applications (seriously, who's gonna notice) or older threads linked to us, so long as they fit those criteria.
Name: Ruddy
Contact:
Are you over 17?: Mhmmmmmmmm
Characters in Forest Covered: Nope!
( CHARACTER INFORMATION )
"There are two things Shuuichi keeps in mind whenever he is dealing with Natsume. The first is that Natsume is only sixteen, and the second is that Natsume will sacrifice himself equally for his close friends, casual acquaintances, youkai, and even his enemies." [x]
Name/Work Name: Natsume Takashi/Shiki
Canon: Natsume's Book of Friends
Canon Point: After chapter 65 of the manga, stressing out about Reiko's "forbidden" contracts.
AU/CRAU: Nope
Age: At least 16 by his canon point; possibly nearly 17.
History: Natsume's story really begins with his grandmother, Reiko. It's said by spirits and exorcists alike that Natsume Reiko could see spirits, that she was both beautiful and spiritually powerful, and that she was always, always alone. She died young and presumably unmarried, but not before giving birth to Natsume's mother. Little is known of her; only that there are unconfirmed rumors she, too, was very spiritually powerful.
Natsume remembers very little of his parents or his early life; his mother passed away shortly after he was born, and his father passed away when he was just a toddler. On top of this, the pain of remembering the home and family he lost was too much for a small child to bear, so it's implied that Natsume suppressed a lot of his childhood memories as a coping mechanism.
Like his grandmother, Natsume could see spirits, but with no one to teach him and only a child's understanding of what he saw he didn't realize at first that nobody else could see them. His erratic behavior and sudden outbursts when spirits startled him frightened the relatives who took him in and made him seem strange to the other children at school, so his living situation for the first fourteen or so years of his life was very unstable. His relatives passed him around, seeing him as just a burden; he experienced a lot of abuse, neglect, and bullying from family members and other children. Eventually some distant relatives of his father's, the Fujiwaras, took him in and Natsume found himself living in the same rural town his grandmother had lived in as a girl. Which is kind of where everything goes nuts because one day Natsume accidentally breaks the barrier on an old shrine in the woods and releases Madara, a powerful spirit sealed inside a lucky cat figurine who knew his grandmother and wants something from Natsume called the Book of Friends.
Apparently, in these parts, Natsume Reiko earned herself a reputation among the spirits. An outcast among humans because of her ability to see spirits, Reiko entertained herself by challenging every spirit she met to a duel, and if they lost, she forced them to write their names in a notebook she called the Book of Friends, binding them as her servants. Reiko collected the names of many, many spirits, some of them very powerful; whoever possessed this notebook possessed the power of all the spirits named within, which is why Madara wants it. Instead, Natsume makes a deal with him: if Madara will protect him while he attempts to return the names contained in the book to their owners, he can have whatever's left of the book if and when Natsume dies, to which Madara agrees. Nicknamed Nyanko-Sensei for his lucky cat form, he becomes Natsume's guardian and teacher.
As the word spreads around, many spirits come to Natsume to have their names returned, and still others seek him out to try and take the book for themselves or to exact their revenge on Reiko (because the spirits don't understand time or gender in human terms, they don't know Reiko is dead and mistake Natsume for her). Some spirits come to him, hearing about his generosity in returning names, asking for him to help them with their problems. Despite being tired and exasperated by all the attention, Natsume does his best to accomodate most of their requests. He ends up making human friends like Tanuma Kaname, who can sense but not see spirits, and Taki Tooru, whose grandfather was a magician who studied spirits and used arcane circles to try and see them. He also befriends a number of youkai, like Hinoe, who takes the appearance of a human woman and was once in love with his grandmother, and Misuzu, a massive, vaguely horse-like spirit. He also (sort of) makes friends with Natori Shuuichi, a star actor and secret exorcist who, unlike Natsume, doesn't particularly care for spirits.
His contact with Natori in particular drags him into the culture and politics of exorcists; though the profession is something of a dying art, there is still a significant society of exorcists with their own laws and customs that gather together on occasion to share their trade secrets with one another. The most notable group is the Matoba Clan, a clan of powerful exorcists who united many of the other powerful clans under one banner. Their head, Matoba Seiji, is cruel and exploits and source of power he can find in order to keep his clan powerful, which brings him into frequent conflict with Natsume, who disagrees with his methods and refuses to join the Matoba clan. Matoba still manages to exploit Natsume's spiritual power on at least one occasion by blackmailing him, but for the most part, Natori tries to keep Natsume away from the Matoba clan and safely out of harm's way.
Natsume eventually finds out from Natori that both Taki's circles she uses to see spirits and the contracts Reiko made with the spirits in the Book of Friends are actually forbidden by exorcist law; the circles bring normal people into contact with spirits and place them in danger, while contracts made using the true name of a spirit are cruel and dangerous to the spirit in question. Hence why all of Natori's shiki (familiars) and those belonging to other exorcists are bound by a pseudonym instead. This concerns Natsume, because if exorcists found out about the Book of Friends not only would someone like Matoba potentially exploit its power, but Natsume could get in a lot of trouble. Add to this that Natsume starts to wonder if Reiko did something terrible and cruel by contracting all those spirits - Natsume's kind of stressed about the whole thing and struggling to come to terms with his grandmother's legacy, whether good or ill.
Personality: When Natsume first moves in with the Fujiwaras, he's a troubled child at best, nearly his whole life spent being tormented by spirits, bullied by humans, and abused and neglected by relatives who didn't want him. Lack of confidence, low self esteem, and an inability to trust make it hard for him to interact with other people and make friends with the other students at his new school. He lives under the assumption it's his fault his relatives treated him poorly in his previous homes, because he acted strangely and could see strange things. As a defense he's developed a chronic lying habit - he works hard to keep his ability to see spirits a secret from everyone around him, he keeps even normal, everyday troubles to himself, and tries his best not to cause any problems for anyone else for fear of being thrown out of his new home or ostracized by his peers again. He's lonely, he doesn't talk much, and he keeps to himself because he's not sure how to talk to people. He actively dislikes spirits and hates that he's able to see them, because it's only brought him trouble and continues to do so even in his new home.
All of this gradually changes, though. Between the unexpected and unconditional kindness of the Fujiwaras and his friendships with other people his age, Natsume slowly begins to open up and become more comfortable in his new home. Though Tanuma and Taki can't see the things Natsume sees, their own encounters with the spiritual world mean they can at least understand a little of what he deals with on a regular basis, and slowly but surely Natsume becomes more willing to talk with them about the spirits he encounters.
In the process of returning the names in the Book of Friends, Natsume gets little glimpses into the spirits' memories of his grandmother. Some of them hated her, some of them loved her, all of them recognized just how lonely she truly was, and many of them had stories of how she would surprise them with selfless kindness at the strangest of moments. His encounters with the spirits who knew Reiko give him a connection to his grandmother, and as he learns more about her and her relationship with the spirits, he softens toward them, finding that in a way they aren't so different from humans - they cry, they laugh, they have things they care about, the same way humans do, and in a way they were Reiko's only friends. Even when he meets exorcists like Natori, who understand what it is to be an outcast like Natsume because of what they can see but don't particularly like spirits because of it, he still can't bring himself to feel the same. Even though he's found friends and family in humans, he's still fond of the spirits because he's met so many of them, listened to their troubles and experienced their strange sort of otherworldly affection.
The more kindness Natsume receives from humans and spirits alike, the more he wants to be kind, too. Even though the exorcists he meets encourage him to let go of the spirits - after all, most who can see aren't lucky enough to be able to live a happy life among humans as well, and since Natsume has that, he shouldn't need the companionship of spirits - Natsume finds himself unable to choose between the two worlds. He doesn't hate the fact that he can see spirits like he used to, nor is he an outcast among humans anymore. Instead of choosing, he ends up caring for both equally. He learns to accept his abilities, and to accept the painful memories of his childhood, because those experiences have made him who he is now. He becomes fiercely protective of his friends, both human and spirit, and will go to any lengths to protect them. The lonely, reticent, quiet boy who arrived at the Fujiwaras at 15 gradually becomes more confident, selfless, reliant on his friends, and stops hating the fact that he can see spirits.
There are still secrets, though, that Natsume can't let go. He doesn't tell the Fujiwaras or most of his friends about what he can see - because even though now he knows they'd believe him, he'd rather they still have their peace of mind instead of constantly worrying about him. And he still resists telling Taki and Tanuma about most of his spirit problems, because he's too afraid they'll get involved and get hurt. Even as he becomes more open and secure, he still prefers to deal with things alone rather than burden others. This is why he hesitates to tell Natori about the Book of Friends, too, because even as they become closer Natsume's afraid Natori would worry about him, and of what would happen if the book fell into exorcists' hands - especially now that he knows Reiko's contracts were forbidden.
Because even though he remembers his grandmother fondly, the same way Taki remembers her grandfather, they've both learned that their grandparents' legacies aren't all sunshine and rainbows, and some of the things they did were dangerous, would make them outlaws by exorcists' standards. Now Natsume has to wrestle with how he feels about the Book of Friends, a treasured inheritance from Reiko but also, apparently, a cruelty for the spirits whose service it binds.
Debt: Natsume's debt is not his own, but rather belongs to his deceased grandmother, Reiko. Reiko defeated and contracted a great number of spirits when she was living, making them write their names in the Book of Friends to bind them to her service; however, because this forces the spirits to give away their true names, causing the contract to last beyond the master's death and potentially bringing harm to the spirit in question, exorcists consider it cruel and have outlawed this type of contract. So, basically, Reiko racked up a ton of debt in her lifetime by forming forbidden contracts with the spirits she fought. A ton of debt that's been passed on to her grandson, Natsume Takashi, since Reiko's kind of dead.
The witch may or may not have threatened to curse the Fujiwara household and bring misfortune upon everyone Natsume comes into contact with if he doesn't pay off Reiko's delinquent debts, but psh, that's just a technicality. Ironically, Natsume's work name while bound to the witch's service is Shiki, the term for an exorcist's familiar - or at least the legally contracted ones.
Suitability: Maybe the witch is bluffing. Maybe there is no curse, maybe she's not going to inflict terrible misfortunes on his friends and family, but Natsume's not willing to take that risk. If it means he has to go into the witch's service to pay off Reiko's debt, that's fine; he'd rather this than let anything bad happen to anyone he cares about because he wouldn't do her bidding. And maybe, just maybe, he feels a little bit responsible for whatever wrong Reiko might have done by contracting her spirits using their true names; maybe he feels a little bit of vicarious guilt on his grandmother's behalf.
But he finds he's terribly homesick, all the same. He misses the Fujiwaras, he misses his upstairs room with a view of the roof and the woods below, he misses his human and spirit friends, he even misses Sensei's endless lectures and complaining. He can deal well enough with the spirits in Koriko, he's been doing it all his life, but they aren't the spirits he knows back home and he finds himself lonely when he scans the crowd and can't find a familiar face or form anywhere.
He keeps all that to himself, though, and serves with a fake smile and an air of nothing wrong, because it wouldn't do to bother anyone else with his troubles or disappoint the patrons with a dismal attitude. Instead, when he's alone in the employee's quarters, he curls into a ball with his blanket over his head and tries to imagine he's back home.
Previous Game Info: N/A
Inventory: Natsume carries very little on him that wouldn't be found on an ordinary teenage boy, so the possessions the witch took are mostly negligible: his coat and scarf and school uniform, his bag with his texts and notebooks, maybe a half-empty water bottle, a first aid kit, and some spare inks and brushes because he's picked up a spell or two from Natori and the memories of Reiko he's seen.
The only really important thing she took was the Book of Friends, and that's really important, because Natsume never lets it out of his possession. He fears what might happen to it in the witch's hands; if she might do something terrible with it, or damage it and thus cause harm to the spirits whose names it contains. He'd like to get it back if he can, as soon as possible.
Abilities, Strengths, and Weaknesses: In some respects, Natsume's just an ordinary boy. He's no weapons master and he doesn't have the advanced spellcasting arsenal of an exorcist. But in many respects, he's not ordinary at all.
Natsume possesses great spiritual power, just like his grandmother; it lets him see spirits back home where they're normally invisible, and they, in turn, can sense his uncommonly powerful spiritual aura - so much so that, unless they're close enough to catch the very human smell that is Natsume's, he's frequently mistaken for a spirit himself. Because of this, even though he's not physically strong, he can strike down spirits much larger than himself with simply a fist or a kick. Natori notes that Natsume's quick to pick up spells and seals that most exorcists would have to practice quite a bit to get right; he can sense powerful spirits and track their presence if he concentrates hard enough, and he even once exorcised a dangerous spirit from his home by himself. He also possesses a limited clairvoyance where the memories and emotions of spirits are concerned; he can occasionally see into their memories or experience what they're feeling, especially while asleep.
But there are drawbacks. Natsume's spiritual aura attracts a lot of unwanted attention from spirits who are either curious, or just want to absorb some of that power for themselves. He's especially sensitive to the poisonous auras that some spirits give off, and gets sick from it easily, or gets a headache in the presence of too much spiritual energy at once. And because he has no formal training, he's limited in means to protect himself; he knows maybe one or two circles for exorcism and a protective charm that's been used on him once or twice. He's quick, and clever, and has a lot of raw spiritual power, and that was enough to protect him before Madara; it might not be enough now, though.
( SAMPLE )
Characterization Sample: In either prose or bracket text, please give us a piece that adequately displays both your character's voice and their introspection, as displayed in your personality section.
Your sample may be reused from previous applications (seriously, who's gonna notice) or older threads linked to us, so long as they fit those criteria.