Post by Hatoyama Satsuki on May 27, 2008 7:22:50 GMT -5
Character's Full Name:
Hatoyama Satsuki.
Is the character a ninja?
Yes.
Character's Appearance (and Condition xD):
Satsuki is a small, fragile-looking person. It's not her height at fault, as she is quite tall, at least for her age - 162 centimeters (5'4"). The problem lies in her bone structure, which is so weak that, looking at her, you might think that, if only you squeezed her wrist a little too strongly in your normal average hand, the bones in it would break. That is not far from the truth, since she suffers from a certain degree of calcium deficiency, and it has been common for her to emerge with a couple of broken fingers just from using her hand to soften an unlucky fall to the ground after stumbling over something. This is also what causes her complexion to be very pale, even compared to those of people who spend most of their times indoors, despite her actually not being that sort of person.
Due to that bone structure, she has been unable to develop healthy musculature as well. She only weights 41 kilograms (90 lbs). Her movements are weak, often slow, and even her eyesight and reflexes are delayed sometimes. She would definitely not be able to keep up with a person who excelled in speed; it would be pointless for her to even try. Sustained effort is out of the question completely, since she can't even run for thirty meters at a decent speed without tiring overmuch, or even spraining an ankle if she's not careful. In addition to this, there is also an underdeveloped case of asthma, which also prevents her from physical activity, as well as makes her vulnerable to various factors in the atmosphere, from a mere sudden temperature change to the classic tobacco residues. Although she would not be unable to breathe, like in the case of a person more affected by this condition, she would begin to find it difficult and bothersome to do so normally.
Obviously, although she gets plenty of sleep, these factors also cause her to look tired, frequently creating vague dark circles under her eyes (which are, by the way, naturally green in color). It would be clear to any viewer with some experience that those dark circles are indeed not caused by lack of sleep, but by some minor health condition that isn't being properly taken care of. She often uses her medium-long straight black hair as a cover, allowing what used to be bangs, now overgrown to the point where they touch her lower jawbone, to hang freely on the sides, along her cheekbones, and cast shadows over most of her face. At the back, the hair is even longer, tips touching her shoulder-blades, but there it usually stays tied into a simple low-base pony tail.
In regards to looking feminine, there isn't much to speak up for Satsuki's case, this being yet another area in which she is physically underdeveloped. There is almost a complete lack of curves everywhere, and only the obvious weakness of her body and the too-soft and oval shape of her head make her impossible to mistake for a male. This is the present situation, although as a child it would have been difficult to tell that she was not a sickly boy. Even now, the sickly part has not changed, only the likelihood of her being classed as her true gender has grown significantly.
For the clothing part, while outside, Satsuki can rarely be spotted without wearing her regular shinobi outfit, which consists of comfortable leather sandals, long baggy pants, and a short-sleeved shirt, all the same color, black. She also wears bandages on her forearms, not with a decorative purpose, but fixing small weapon pouches against her skin, containing mostly smoke and flash bombs, since anything heavier would greatly deter her movement. She takes great care to tie the bandages right up to the edge of her sleeves, in order to hide the skin on her arms from sight, since it permanently holds old traces of calcium chloride injections. This is also the reason why she chooses to wear this outfit even on her free days, if she goes outside. At home, though, she usually wears light, fluid materials in all sorts of colors (preferring weak nuances like beige or chocolate), always one or two sizes above hers, and her shirts are always long-sleeved.
Brief Character History:
On a particularly cold June 5, around the same year as the famed Kyuubi attack on Konoha, that's when a child was born to a family which did not need one very much, nor had wanted it to begin with. Hatoyama Hiroshi and Kawagichi Reika, although deeply in love and married for over five years, were poor and could barely make a living for themselves, as all the money they made as shinobi went to calcium treatment for the wife and her mother, Osaragi Tomomi. They both suffered from a rare case of deficiency in that substance, caused by the uniqueness of their chakra. Some said that this condition, which had started with Tomomi's father's aunt and passed down in the family only to female descendants, was a kekkei genkai. This was due to this chakra type acting in various ways as an anti-Genjutsu defense mechanism like no other had been signaled before it. Unfortunately, it had its disadvantages, eating away to sustain its existence, first at the calcium in the bearer's blood, and later, when the levels there became too low, at the bones themselves. As such, the two other females that had presented it so far had died at under 30 years of age, and it was a great miracle that Tomomi had lived to be 45 and see her daughter still married at 25. Perhaps it was because the density and capacity of that chakra in her were weaker than those of her predecessors, which did not give much hope to Reika, who presented far greater amounts of it than any of the others had.
So no, the small family did not need a child at all, so they had found no joy in the fact that Reika discovered one night that she was pregnant. They had considered abortion right from the start, and discussed it to great lengths, finally deciding that they would pray to the Gods that the child was male. Their sadness was only greater when their offspring was born at the beginning of summer season, and they found her to be a girl. She was named Satsuki by her parents, although they did not intend to keep her long enough to see whether the name fit what she would become. It would be, as much as it broke their hearts, just another case of a family giving up a child they could not raise. Their decision, however, only lasted for around a week, until the day Tomomi was found dead in her house, in circumstances that did not seem suspicious to outsiders of the family, but which made Hiroshi and Reika suspect suicide. Perhaps the aging woman had felt the need to sacrifice her life so that a younger, barely starting one, would gain a measure of peace. With that belief unspoken, but strong in both the parents, a need for them to honor that sacrifice was also born, and so they kept the child and gave her as much love and shelter as they could.
They hoped, at first, that Satsuki would perhaps be the point where whatever genes had been responsible with that unusual chakra had ceased to be passed down. She had not been particularly small and weak as a baby, like her predecessors had. But as she grew up, she slowly lost that state of normalcy and began to display signs that she, too, had inherited the trait, although not as strongly as her mother. Reika's own condition worsened at a visibly quickened pace after she gave birth, and it was clear that her life-span had been reduced by that great effort she had been through. In only two years after her daughter was born, she died on the very same day that Satsuki was celebrating her second birthday, although the child was far too young to understand that much. She only knew that a prominent figure in her life was suddenly gone, did not return anymore; in her later years as a child she already wouldn't even be able to remember the face, just the warmth of a body and some stray gestures. Instead, all her affection had to go to the father, her only remaining relative, since his parents had also died a while ago, on one of their missions. Hiroshi too made his daughter the center of his existence, refusing to leave her alone for prolonged periods of time, which caused him to set aside any ambition he may have had and settle as a mere Genin team instructor. He kept his daughter in the house as much as possible, and called many different medic nin and even civilian doctors to see her, all to ensure that perhaps she would survive longer than her mother had.
In that way, Satsuki's childhood was quiet and marked by her only remaining family tie. She had no friends, and wasn't even enrolled into the shinobi Academy when all the other kids her age were, her father preferring to teach her basic chakra manipulation techniques on his own. She never had any real interest in such things, either, preferring to read children's books or lie down in the grass, watching the sun until her eyes stung, or following the flight of butterflies and various insects. Because she was kept in the house a lot of the time, and had to bear through numerous medical examinations, as well as take calcium shots very frequently, she treasured her outings more than other children did, and grew to love being outdoors. Even though she never went far from home, she would sometimes even sneak out at night, to try and count the stars. One can only imagine Hiroshi's dismay when he found his daughter sleeping on the porch of their house the first time, but realizing that she needed more freedom, he allowed her that small bit of self-indulgence.
And so, things were smooth, dull, everything routine. Until one day that would forever etch itself into Satsuki's mind as the most important event in her life. Perhaps she was selfish to out-rule the two deaths in her family that had built up her life with such ease, but she had been too little to be impacted then, while by the time she was 9, a new experience would be a lot more shocking. And that experience did arrive, in the form of a girl two years older than the sickly child, healthy and full of life, daughter to a rich family and as such, selfish and spoiled. When Hatoyama Satsuki and Ishiyama Hotaru met, there was some sort of instant connection between the two completely opposite girls, as if through the very force of their differences, the two understood each other better than words would ever manage to make anyone else understand either of them. It happened on a bridge, while Satsuki's father was away on a mission and the girl, unable to bear being indoors on such a beautiful day, had gone out for a short walk. She held a ribbon in her hand, taking great pleasure in watching it waver in the wind as she walked, paying no attention to the people she passed by. And one of those people was Hotaru, followed by her two personal guards, and sulking over her lack of freedom. Hotaru envied the opposite state of things that seemed to be the case with Satsuki, and so she was compelled to talk to that girl who had something she wished was hers as well.
After that time, Hotaru came to visit Satsuki often, and Hiroshi didn't see it as a bad thing that his daughter should have a friend, although he felt a little intimidated by the difference in station between himself and Hotaru's family. The parents, however, were as unconcerned with that as their daughter, albeit a little distant, so Hiroshi grew slowly used to that state of things as well. In only two months, Hotaru had become as big a part of Satsuki's life as anyone ever could. But that peace was only an illusion. Unlike the young Hatoyama, the Ishiyama family's daughter was ambitious and wanted to get far in life, a project in which there was no room for questioning that she would draw her dear new friend. As such, she, who was already a Genin, pressured against Hiroshi's will and pleas, and used her family's influence, to have Satsuki enrolled expressly into the shinobi Academy of the village. She simply wouldn't take no for an answer, and eventually her wish had to be granted, as were all others before in her pampered life. And so it came that Satsuki, although reluctant herself at first, came to attend classes in the Academy. She was a late comer, but Hotaru supported her and tried to speed up her development in every way she could think of, ranging full-spectrum from training chakra control together to even taking Satsuki along on easy Genin missions and teaching her the lore of the countries, history, politics and various villages.
When it came to her classmates in the Academy, and even to her teachers, Satsuki was greatly looked down upon in the beginning, since no one could comprehend why someone weak like her would even think she would make a good shinobi. Not to mention why someone like Hotaru would also think that. They saw Satsuki as some sort of caprice of the rich girl, a mere plaything that Hotaru would grow bored of. That state of things lasted only until the different chakra that resided within her was discovered, after which understanding came swiftly to people, and her teachers began to take the right approach, telling Satsuki to focus, naturally, on Ninjutsu. However, it quickly became clear that she was not suited for that either, since her memory was strange and she couldn't remember things in an organized manner at all, which caused her to constantly forget strings of hand-signs even as short as three. As such, there was only one other path left for Hatoyama Hiroshi's unusual daughter: ironically, that of Genjutsu, the very art which her chakra denied the effects of upon herself. This, it was discovered, came naturally to the girl indeed, and she excelled in this domain, although she was never considered a prodigy or an exceptional student, since she was weak in every single other area. However, her talent in that one field was just enough for her to graduate at around the same time as most kids her age did, at 12. By that time, Hotaru was already training and preparing for her first attempt at the Chuunin exam, so Satsuki was still far behind, but at least she had grown to know a life, and she was grateful to her friend. They remained close.
Since she had now trodden down the path of the shinobi, there was no reason for Satsuki not to continue along it, even though her physical condition only worsened. She was still young, and her chakra still found plenty of calcium reserves in her blood due to the constant shots, so there were no real reasons to worry yet. Onward with the training.
Character's Personality:
Satsuki's main personality trait is that she was born with the capability of controlling her temperament very well, which allows her to be calm and collected where most people would have extreme reactions like panic or outrage. It doesn't mean that she does not feel strong emotions; on the contrary, she is very passionate, but she is also capable of hiding what she feels from anyone if she so wishes. This has only helped with building an exterior image for herself that is not entirely in tune with her real self. Part of this is the fact that she simply feels tired most of the time, and would like to save her energy for use where it is truly needed. She doesn't like getting into face-to-face arguments, she says she doesn't mind much the fact that people will have opinions about her that won't always balance on the good side, and she fails to feel resentment or hate even towards people who do things that disagree with her stated morals. Or, to be more accurate, she doesn't take the time to think about other people as being right or wrong, nor does she attribute such concepts to herself. She just thinks that people should do what they want, and so should she. All of this stems from a feeling of contentment she has concerning her life and herself in general. She does not see her condition as a hindrance, but merely as something that needed to be taken away so that she would be given something else instead. However, since it is one of the consequences of lack of calcium, she is prone to periods of depression, in which she, as anyone else would, over-dramatizes her situation and wishes things could be different.
In her relationship with other people, Satsuki is the adept of giving others exactly that which they openly ask for. This is because she likes to be direct with the expression of her own beliefs, opinions and feelings, and she dislikes it when people beat around the bush. To take an example, let's look at a trivial situation such as Hotaru getting a new haircut which doesn't look very good on her. Naturally, when she would ask, even if she mentioned that she wanted honesty, a person would feel tempted to sugarcoat reality and tell her that she looks just fine. Satsuki, however, would know that even if she asks for honesty, Hotaru would like to hear something nice. Instead, though, she would tell exactly what she has been asked for, which would be that the haircut doesn't look that good. By this, Satsuki feels as though she is hinting that people should be more clear about what they truly want, and shouldn't ask for things they're not ready to receive just to make themselves look cooler. She thinks that they shouldn't be so afraid of speaking their minds and just being themselves.
The down side of such an attitude is that it approves of openly displayed things like angst, drama and pity baiting. Of course, Satsuki herself does not see this as a down side, nor does she realize that due to how sheltered she has been, and used to being a center of attention, first from Hiroshi and then from Hotaru, she is ultimately very selfish. She pardons herself far more mistakes than she allows other people to make around her, and although she looks like a nice person, if she's in a bad mood she can be a harsh critic. This wouldn't be bad, if only she didn't fail so obviously when it comes to also practicing what she preaches. If she happens to be told she has made a mistake that she previously criticized in somebody else, she will easily come up with some hardly solid proof that her situation is somehow different. Even though she's only finding herself excuses, she will be satisfied with herself that way. On short, she believes that due to her being in her condition, she should be treated better than other people and given more benefits. It happens very often that she needs and even craves attention, cases in which she frequently makes use of her weak physical shape very often to fake being hurt or not feeling well just to obtain that attention. She is capable of bearing a grudge to people who ignore her on purpose when she does that, since she believes that just because that's what she openly asks for, she deserves to receive it.
Despite those faults, though, if someone has enough patience with her, Satsuki's attachment will be deep and likely worth all the trouble. She is a person who would never let a secret from a loved one slip past her lips, not even with her last dying breath. The same way she loves to receive praise, attention and proof of other people's affection for her, she will also offer these in huge quantities. If she were to have a child, she would be the type of mother who pampers her beloved offspring every single second of the day, making that child the only focus of her life. As a friend or lover, she's the kind of girl who will gladly work all day on all sorts of small gifts she can give to her dear ones for no reason at all, just wanting to see them smile. But as willing as she is to show her true feelings towards others, she is also very easy to offend, and if she feels even the slightest bit rejected or hurt, she could instantly leap to the opposite end of the line and become spiteful, looking only for ways to insult and hurt the person who did that to her in turn. In all possible ways, her general emotional behavior is immature, that of a child that hasn't been properly educated. Which is true, since Hiroshi has been very permissive with her, and Hotaru, being very focused on reaching goals, has encouraged this behavior since it usually got Satsuki what she wanted.
Character's Starting Age:
16.
Character's Chakra Type:
Suiton.
Character's Starting Abilities:
GENIN-LEVEL
[Canon]
Kai – Dispel
Kai is a Ninjutsu technique which allows the ninja to avoid the effects of a Genjutsu illusion. After forming the needed handseals, the Genjutsu technique will not affect the ninja. The ninja can also use the technique on another individual who was unable to avoid the attack. After forming the needed hand seals, the ninja touches the one affected to end the affect of the spell.
[Custom]
Osore – Fear
This is a Genin-level Genjutsu passed down in the Hatoyama family, which Hiroshi taught Satsuki when she was still a child, to ensure that she would not be completely without protection when she went outside of the house. The technique is activated only if the target is not outside the propagation area of the small whistle the caster has to let out, as the chakra necessary is transmitted through that sound in this case. (Since sound disperses after traveling a certain distance without being reflected off anything, that distance delimits the area of this jutsu.) This will only work on creatures with a certain level of intelligence, so for example it will have no effect on a bee, even if it is in the area, simply because its nervous system is incapable of processing the data it receives, but it will work on a rat or a dog, because it has a centralized nervous system capable of producing delusion. At the same time, it will most likely not work on humans either, since their intelligence level is already too advanced for fake images to be forced on them in such a simple and brusque manner (although it could work on schizophrenics or other people whose mental conditions already have a predisposition to lose focus on reality). What exactly the jutsu does is play on natural or instinctual impulses of the target. What happens to the target is that it imagines the caster to be something it fears greatly, and if the shinobi performing the technique was skilled enough, the target may also view itself as being chased or threatened by that something. This is done so as to activate the target's instinct to flee, so that is why it is less likely to work on a human, who is able to force back such instincts.
[Custom]
Moumoku – Blindness
This is a very simple Genjutsu that will only work on mammals with a respiratory system that is developed enough to differentiate scents. That is because the necessary chakra is transmitted by spreading any substance with a poignant smell, like perfume or alcohol, in the air around. If the target inhales the scent (and as such, the particles of that substance), the Genjutsu will be at work. All it does is attack the nervous system and cause a very rapid deterioration of sight, ending in temporary blindness. Depending on how much of the substance (and chakra) was inhaled, and on the user's skill, the blindness may last anywhere from a few seconds to the several minutes it takes for the body to naturally eliminate all substance particles. Breathing fresh air that does not contain the said particles would, of course, speed up that process, and likely the target's vision would clear gradually, not all of a sudden.
[Custom]
Mimishii – Deafness
This is a very simple Genjutsu, pair to the Moumoku technique, meaning that it is usually cast in conjuncture with it. Same as its pair, that will only work on mammals with a respiratory system that is developed enough to differentiate scents. That is because the necessary chakra is transmitted by spreading any substance with a poignant smell, like perfume or alcohol, in the air around. If the target inhales the scent (and as such, the particles of that substance), the Genjutsu will be at work. All it does is attack the nervous system and cause a very rapid deterioration of hearing, ending in temporary deafness. Depending on how much of the substance (and chakra) was inhaled, and on the user's skill, the deafness may last anywhere from a few seconds to the several minutes it takes for the body to naturally eliminate all substance particles. Breathing fresh air that does not contain the said particles would, of course, speed up that process, and likely the target's hearing would return gradually, not all of a sudden.
[Canon]
Shunshin no Jutsu – Body Flicker Technique
Shunshin no Jutsu is a basic Ninjutsu technique. The ninja will appear and disappear in an instant, allowing them to retreat or attack suddenly. To facilitate the movement the ninja will often use nearby elements such as mist, sand or leaves to mask their appearance or disappearance. ((Satsuki knows this technique, but she is wary of using it, since the surreal speed at which she is transported from one place to the other when doing so has a high chance of breaking some her bones. If it is only a small distance, this will only be thin, small bones such as her fingers, but if it is a longer distance, her ribs or arms and legs may also be at risk. This is why this technique is her resort for escape in only those situations when she can do nothing else.))
CHUUNIN-LEVEL
[Custom]
Kyokkai – Distortion
This is a regular visually activated Genjutsu, and it has a very singular purpose, having been designed specifically for defense against long-range attacks relying on precision (such as someone shooting a bow or throwing kunai or shuriken at the caster). When this Genjutsu is cast, anyone looking at the caster will find himself or herself unable to perceive the shinobi's exact location. They will notice that the person's image is wavering in the air as though it was only a ghost or an illusion and as though the wind could carry it away and disperse it any moment. It is an effect similar to when one is drunk and loses the focus of their sight, and depending on the caster's skill it can and it will even go as far as "seeing double" or triple. Naturally, it will become very difficult to aim those precise attacks properly in such conditions.
[Custom]
Shissou – Disappearance
This semi-advanced Genjutsu technique is activated visually. The shinobi surrounds himself or herself with chakra and becomes invisible, or surrounds an object or another person with his or her chakra to render it invisible. (If the caster chooses to perform this on a target other than himself or herself, that target will still be visible to him or her, of course.) The technique works in two ways. It can either be cast when a person was already looking , in which case the target will become instantly invisible to that person. In this case, the disadvantage is that if someone who hadn't been at the scene arrives (or if someone who hadn't been looking when the technique was cast looks that way), this new person can and will be able to see the invisible target. The second way to cast this is to render the target invisible to anyone who wasn't looking at that time. In this case, of course, anyone who was already looking will still be able to see the target. Either way, the invisible target will remain invisible to all those who could not see it even if it attacks or moves a visible object, and even if it touches the same objects at the same time as a person who cannot see it. (Although likely an opponent would be able to guess its momentary position if it did that.) However, the invisibility will wear off if the invisible target directly touches someone who previously couldn't see it.
[Custom]
Sanketsu - Suffocation
Like Moumoku and Mimishii, this is another Genjutsu that will only work on mammals with a respiratory system that is developed enough to differentiate scents. That is because the necessary chakra is transmitted by spreading any substance with a poignant smell, like perfume or alcohol, in the air around. If the target inhales the scent (and as such, the particles of that substance), the Genjutsu will be at work. What it does is cause the target to think it is suffocating, in a manner similar to as though there was no more oxygen in the air. In reality, this is not the case, but only the fact that the target's mind has actually been tricked and commanded the body to stop breathing of its own volition. The danger is that, if the target does not dispel the Genjutsu, it is possible for them to lose consciousness, in which case the Genjutsu has a fifty percent chance of being dispelled by the abrupt change, but if this doesn't happen the target might even truly suffocate to death. However, if the target realizes what the Genjutsu is doing, or manages to dispel it by other means, it can simply resume breathing to save itself. Although, of course, they might get ragged breathing depending on how long they were without oxygen.
Kekkei Genkai:
Yes, unnamed. [Admin Edit: Approved.]
Role-Play Example:
[This role-play's nature was humorous. It was actually part of a large group effort at parodying our long-term characters. Rina (Oro) knows. I can write seriously dramatic ones if needed. xD;]
Wind flooded in through the open window now, in tune with the swaying of branches in the distance, outside. Behind the tall woman, the deep blue folds of her cloak swished, and on the sides of them blush-colored smoke rose from the floor and poured towards the window in puffy trails, leaving a faint smell of jasmine that held in it those other hidden scents from old dried blood, ancient books, and alchemical formulae that had spilled on the floor and tables. It was a very convenient method of cleaning the air in the room, to burn essences in the Brazier of Concealment, and very fortunate indeed that the artifact did not function very well, other than to produce industrious quantities of smoke, without the spell she used when activating its actual power. This way she could explain to any that happened to set eye on it that this secondary use for it was actually its main. Few need truly know that it was the artifact used to magically hide Zanthora's castle when need be, during times of war and simply in other… cases of people looking for her, which were truly not that few. An item like that was very powerful, anyway, and even though she would have loved being envied by others, it would have disturbed her peace if everyone found out what she had and came to try and obtain it. Not that she was defenseless, mind you, but Zanthora simply did everything she could to ensure not much effort was needed for her to have a secure place of her own where she could conduct her research and experiments without being interrupted by ignorant fools.
Too much. For the interruptions still happened sometimes, like now. You'd expect her to be a lot more outraged by what she had just heard, and she wouldn't blame you. She had expected herself to be angrier, but she had just smoked some soothing substances that she wasn't going to bother naming for you just earlier. So nothing had happened with her, other than stepping to look outside, with her hands akimbo and fingers squeezing her hips a little tight, enough for it to hurt on the left side, where each finger had a ring encrusted into it. For yes, those artifacts, along with the magical little gems inserted similarly into the skin on her right arm, were all that kept Zanthora alive. Why encrusted into her skin and not just worn? Simple. The gems formed runes, and the rings needed to remain fixed in a certain place on her finger at all times. If even a single one of these elements were to move the slightest bit, disturbing the patterns of the magic they created, Zanthora would die. It would be painless but, you see, there is still that problem, namely that death is irreversible sometimes. Such as when you've been working a bit too much with black magic and certain pacts would cause your body to turn into ash. Even the head priest of the temple would be quite pressured if he had to deal with resurrecting that. Or more like, if he had to find a way to explain that even his divine abilities were no match for the disaster.
With a loud sigh (okay, maybe a little more dramatic than required, she would admit that much), Zanthora snapped out of her thoughts.
"Child molester?" she finally replied, turning around and raising her hand for… what would have liked to be a very persuasive gesture, a large arc through the air. And it would have been, she was sure of it, had the move not found that stupid lamp to hit halfway through. No matter. At least the head didn't fall and break. Anyway. She would resume, "How would I be a child molester? Don't these simpletons know I'm a woman? That would be kind of difficult, you know."
Those stupid rumors the bard, Yldor, brought in from the village and teased her with so bluntly earlier were seriously absurd. He had moved through two other topics since then, but it was still the first thing she would brood quietly on while she had her back turned on him. Those nosy and intellectually impaired villagers had no vision at all. How could a woman molest children? She had only kidnapped little noisy sniveling brats under 8 years old, it would be next to impossible to do anything with those. She'd understand where they got those ideas if she had at least abducted 14-year-olds or something like that. Those would have at least been able to serve her physically, if she was to decide to persuade them for some unknown reason to have sex with her. Or maybe those simians actually thought she… Ah, but those were thoughts better left not entirely formed, before she would get a headache from the irritation they could cause. Don't misinterpret here, Zanthora was proud to be a sick woman, but her kind of sick was a little different, more visionary than simple molestation. Less along the lines of sticking pointy objects into already existing holes of living things, and more along those of creating new holes with sharp things. Generally in the abdomen or thorax, and only after the target was unconscious or already dead.
Although it's an interesting idea to see how they'd react, just once. Maybe I should try that next? Imperceptibly, the woman shook her head. Away with such thoughts, unworthy of a woman like her, who dedicated her time to much more important discoveries. And right at the time, there was also the more pressing matter of the bard's other concern, so she walked over to the table in the middle of the room, where he had laid out some maps. Ah, she would not forget the careless way he had shoved her precious jars and other receptacles aside to lay out his unimportant papers – she glared at him for that from across the table. Even though he hadn't actually damaged anything, her reproachful look told him, he could have. Then and only then, after that was done, did she give in to his demands. She cast her eyes out to the hand-drawn replicas of what people knew to be their world, from various explorers and travelers who had actually visited the many corners of it. Zanthora doubted the accuracy, and that some drunkard hadn't just invented some of those ridiculous-sounding lands, but let's not get into that.
"That's horrible!" she exclaimed almost immediately, reaching out to point at something on the map. Although she may not have looked like it, and even though she had fumed over a different matter, she had indeed listened to Yldor's detailed explanations as she stood to look out the window. "With that fool Garbol in a crucial point like this, the entire region will fall! Who in the pits of hell was behind that decision? Tell them I want to speak with them right at this moment!"
Only then did she notice that all through her rant, no one had been listening to her at all, and the silence in the room was complete, despite the fact that she had eight guards in there. Eight of the elite, that was for sure, but even they wouldn't stand completely still and make absolutely no move without a reason. She looked up and noticed that Yldor's hand actually was no longer on the map like she had thought, and he wasn't even fixing her with his eyes anymore, but his head was turned, and the expression etched into his features was disturbed, to say the least. Shocked, to be more exact, as he looked at something beyond her.
"What?" Zanthora snapped, impatient to start this important discussion now that she had found something so outrageous. "Did I say that thing about the children out loud?" Her eyes began to follow Yldor's to see if he was looking at anything in particular, and she turned around for that purpose. "I was only jo-" She choked completely on her last word, and her own eyes widened, staying fixed on what they had just found.
Gwydion. Here, of all places. How had that nuisance even entered? Ah yes, he must still have that magical wardstone she gave him the last time, when they… It didn't matter. Flashbacking should be banned and punishable by law. The thing was, the jerk had found his way in some time during her distress from earlier, and it could not be tolerated that he came to just stand there with that kind of insolent smirk on his face. Not even bothering to greet her with a polite word or something. Preferably even apologize for leaving like that last time, without even letting her know. She estimated his position and compared it to that of the nearest deadly trap in the room that she could trigger. It wasn't close enough, and he would be too skilled to be caught in it from that distance. He probably even knew where the traps were, or what sort of thing to expect from them. After all, this would be only the… what was it… 236th failed open attempt she had made on his life? That could wait until later.
"What do you want?" she asked, making her tone as cold as she could. Which, since this is Zanthora we speak of, meant something close to the tantrum of a child playing superior while upset with a parent.
Hatoyama Satsuki.
Is the character a ninja?
Yes.
Character's Appearance (and Condition xD):
Satsuki is a small, fragile-looking person. It's not her height at fault, as she is quite tall, at least for her age - 162 centimeters (5'4"). The problem lies in her bone structure, which is so weak that, looking at her, you might think that, if only you squeezed her wrist a little too strongly in your normal average hand, the bones in it would break. That is not far from the truth, since she suffers from a certain degree of calcium deficiency, and it has been common for her to emerge with a couple of broken fingers just from using her hand to soften an unlucky fall to the ground after stumbling over something. This is also what causes her complexion to be very pale, even compared to those of people who spend most of their times indoors, despite her actually not being that sort of person.
Due to that bone structure, she has been unable to develop healthy musculature as well. She only weights 41 kilograms (90 lbs). Her movements are weak, often slow, and even her eyesight and reflexes are delayed sometimes. She would definitely not be able to keep up with a person who excelled in speed; it would be pointless for her to even try. Sustained effort is out of the question completely, since she can't even run for thirty meters at a decent speed without tiring overmuch, or even spraining an ankle if she's not careful. In addition to this, there is also an underdeveloped case of asthma, which also prevents her from physical activity, as well as makes her vulnerable to various factors in the atmosphere, from a mere sudden temperature change to the classic tobacco residues. Although she would not be unable to breathe, like in the case of a person more affected by this condition, she would begin to find it difficult and bothersome to do so normally.
Obviously, although she gets plenty of sleep, these factors also cause her to look tired, frequently creating vague dark circles under her eyes (which are, by the way, naturally green in color). It would be clear to any viewer with some experience that those dark circles are indeed not caused by lack of sleep, but by some minor health condition that isn't being properly taken care of. She often uses her medium-long straight black hair as a cover, allowing what used to be bangs, now overgrown to the point where they touch her lower jawbone, to hang freely on the sides, along her cheekbones, and cast shadows over most of her face. At the back, the hair is even longer, tips touching her shoulder-blades, but there it usually stays tied into a simple low-base pony tail.
In regards to looking feminine, there isn't much to speak up for Satsuki's case, this being yet another area in which she is physically underdeveloped. There is almost a complete lack of curves everywhere, and only the obvious weakness of her body and the too-soft and oval shape of her head make her impossible to mistake for a male. This is the present situation, although as a child it would have been difficult to tell that she was not a sickly boy. Even now, the sickly part has not changed, only the likelihood of her being classed as her true gender has grown significantly.
For the clothing part, while outside, Satsuki can rarely be spotted without wearing her regular shinobi outfit, which consists of comfortable leather sandals, long baggy pants, and a short-sleeved shirt, all the same color, black. She also wears bandages on her forearms, not with a decorative purpose, but fixing small weapon pouches against her skin, containing mostly smoke and flash bombs, since anything heavier would greatly deter her movement. She takes great care to tie the bandages right up to the edge of her sleeves, in order to hide the skin on her arms from sight, since it permanently holds old traces of calcium chloride injections. This is also the reason why she chooses to wear this outfit even on her free days, if she goes outside. At home, though, she usually wears light, fluid materials in all sorts of colors (preferring weak nuances like beige or chocolate), always one or two sizes above hers, and her shirts are always long-sleeved.
Brief Character History:
On a particularly cold June 5, around the same year as the famed Kyuubi attack on Konoha, that's when a child was born to a family which did not need one very much, nor had wanted it to begin with. Hatoyama Hiroshi and Kawagichi Reika, although deeply in love and married for over five years, were poor and could barely make a living for themselves, as all the money they made as shinobi went to calcium treatment for the wife and her mother, Osaragi Tomomi. They both suffered from a rare case of deficiency in that substance, caused by the uniqueness of their chakra. Some said that this condition, which had started with Tomomi's father's aunt and passed down in the family only to female descendants, was a kekkei genkai. This was due to this chakra type acting in various ways as an anti-Genjutsu defense mechanism like no other had been signaled before it. Unfortunately, it had its disadvantages, eating away to sustain its existence, first at the calcium in the bearer's blood, and later, when the levels there became too low, at the bones themselves. As such, the two other females that had presented it so far had died at under 30 years of age, and it was a great miracle that Tomomi had lived to be 45 and see her daughter still married at 25. Perhaps it was because the density and capacity of that chakra in her were weaker than those of her predecessors, which did not give much hope to Reika, who presented far greater amounts of it than any of the others had.
So no, the small family did not need a child at all, so they had found no joy in the fact that Reika discovered one night that she was pregnant. They had considered abortion right from the start, and discussed it to great lengths, finally deciding that they would pray to the Gods that the child was male. Their sadness was only greater when their offspring was born at the beginning of summer season, and they found her to be a girl. She was named Satsuki by her parents, although they did not intend to keep her long enough to see whether the name fit what she would become. It would be, as much as it broke their hearts, just another case of a family giving up a child they could not raise. Their decision, however, only lasted for around a week, until the day Tomomi was found dead in her house, in circumstances that did not seem suspicious to outsiders of the family, but which made Hiroshi and Reika suspect suicide. Perhaps the aging woman had felt the need to sacrifice her life so that a younger, barely starting one, would gain a measure of peace. With that belief unspoken, but strong in both the parents, a need for them to honor that sacrifice was also born, and so they kept the child and gave her as much love and shelter as they could.
They hoped, at first, that Satsuki would perhaps be the point where whatever genes had been responsible with that unusual chakra had ceased to be passed down. She had not been particularly small and weak as a baby, like her predecessors had. But as she grew up, she slowly lost that state of normalcy and began to display signs that she, too, had inherited the trait, although not as strongly as her mother. Reika's own condition worsened at a visibly quickened pace after she gave birth, and it was clear that her life-span had been reduced by that great effort she had been through. In only two years after her daughter was born, she died on the very same day that Satsuki was celebrating her second birthday, although the child was far too young to understand that much. She only knew that a prominent figure in her life was suddenly gone, did not return anymore; in her later years as a child she already wouldn't even be able to remember the face, just the warmth of a body and some stray gestures. Instead, all her affection had to go to the father, her only remaining relative, since his parents had also died a while ago, on one of their missions. Hiroshi too made his daughter the center of his existence, refusing to leave her alone for prolonged periods of time, which caused him to set aside any ambition he may have had and settle as a mere Genin team instructor. He kept his daughter in the house as much as possible, and called many different medic nin and even civilian doctors to see her, all to ensure that perhaps she would survive longer than her mother had.
In that way, Satsuki's childhood was quiet and marked by her only remaining family tie. She had no friends, and wasn't even enrolled into the shinobi Academy when all the other kids her age were, her father preferring to teach her basic chakra manipulation techniques on his own. She never had any real interest in such things, either, preferring to read children's books or lie down in the grass, watching the sun until her eyes stung, or following the flight of butterflies and various insects. Because she was kept in the house a lot of the time, and had to bear through numerous medical examinations, as well as take calcium shots very frequently, she treasured her outings more than other children did, and grew to love being outdoors. Even though she never went far from home, she would sometimes even sneak out at night, to try and count the stars. One can only imagine Hiroshi's dismay when he found his daughter sleeping on the porch of their house the first time, but realizing that she needed more freedom, he allowed her that small bit of self-indulgence.
And so, things were smooth, dull, everything routine. Until one day that would forever etch itself into Satsuki's mind as the most important event in her life. Perhaps she was selfish to out-rule the two deaths in her family that had built up her life with such ease, but she had been too little to be impacted then, while by the time she was 9, a new experience would be a lot more shocking. And that experience did arrive, in the form of a girl two years older than the sickly child, healthy and full of life, daughter to a rich family and as such, selfish and spoiled. When Hatoyama Satsuki and Ishiyama Hotaru met, there was some sort of instant connection between the two completely opposite girls, as if through the very force of their differences, the two understood each other better than words would ever manage to make anyone else understand either of them. It happened on a bridge, while Satsuki's father was away on a mission and the girl, unable to bear being indoors on such a beautiful day, had gone out for a short walk. She held a ribbon in her hand, taking great pleasure in watching it waver in the wind as she walked, paying no attention to the people she passed by. And one of those people was Hotaru, followed by her two personal guards, and sulking over her lack of freedom. Hotaru envied the opposite state of things that seemed to be the case with Satsuki, and so she was compelled to talk to that girl who had something she wished was hers as well.
After that time, Hotaru came to visit Satsuki often, and Hiroshi didn't see it as a bad thing that his daughter should have a friend, although he felt a little intimidated by the difference in station between himself and Hotaru's family. The parents, however, were as unconcerned with that as their daughter, albeit a little distant, so Hiroshi grew slowly used to that state of things as well. In only two months, Hotaru had become as big a part of Satsuki's life as anyone ever could. But that peace was only an illusion. Unlike the young Hatoyama, the Ishiyama family's daughter was ambitious and wanted to get far in life, a project in which there was no room for questioning that she would draw her dear new friend. As such, she, who was already a Genin, pressured against Hiroshi's will and pleas, and used her family's influence, to have Satsuki enrolled expressly into the shinobi Academy of the village. She simply wouldn't take no for an answer, and eventually her wish had to be granted, as were all others before in her pampered life. And so it came that Satsuki, although reluctant herself at first, came to attend classes in the Academy. She was a late comer, but Hotaru supported her and tried to speed up her development in every way she could think of, ranging full-spectrum from training chakra control together to even taking Satsuki along on easy Genin missions and teaching her the lore of the countries, history, politics and various villages.
When it came to her classmates in the Academy, and even to her teachers, Satsuki was greatly looked down upon in the beginning, since no one could comprehend why someone weak like her would even think she would make a good shinobi. Not to mention why someone like Hotaru would also think that. They saw Satsuki as some sort of caprice of the rich girl, a mere plaything that Hotaru would grow bored of. That state of things lasted only until the different chakra that resided within her was discovered, after which understanding came swiftly to people, and her teachers began to take the right approach, telling Satsuki to focus, naturally, on Ninjutsu. However, it quickly became clear that she was not suited for that either, since her memory was strange and she couldn't remember things in an organized manner at all, which caused her to constantly forget strings of hand-signs even as short as three. As such, there was only one other path left for Hatoyama Hiroshi's unusual daughter: ironically, that of Genjutsu, the very art which her chakra denied the effects of upon herself. This, it was discovered, came naturally to the girl indeed, and she excelled in this domain, although she was never considered a prodigy or an exceptional student, since she was weak in every single other area. However, her talent in that one field was just enough for her to graduate at around the same time as most kids her age did, at 12. By that time, Hotaru was already training and preparing for her first attempt at the Chuunin exam, so Satsuki was still far behind, but at least she had grown to know a life, and she was grateful to her friend. They remained close.
Since she had now trodden down the path of the shinobi, there was no reason for Satsuki not to continue along it, even though her physical condition only worsened. She was still young, and her chakra still found plenty of calcium reserves in her blood due to the constant shots, so there were no real reasons to worry yet. Onward with the training.
Character's Personality:
Satsuki's main personality trait is that she was born with the capability of controlling her temperament very well, which allows her to be calm and collected where most people would have extreme reactions like panic or outrage. It doesn't mean that she does not feel strong emotions; on the contrary, she is very passionate, but she is also capable of hiding what she feels from anyone if she so wishes. This has only helped with building an exterior image for herself that is not entirely in tune with her real self. Part of this is the fact that she simply feels tired most of the time, and would like to save her energy for use where it is truly needed. She doesn't like getting into face-to-face arguments, she says she doesn't mind much the fact that people will have opinions about her that won't always balance on the good side, and she fails to feel resentment or hate even towards people who do things that disagree with her stated morals. Or, to be more accurate, she doesn't take the time to think about other people as being right or wrong, nor does she attribute such concepts to herself. She just thinks that people should do what they want, and so should she. All of this stems from a feeling of contentment she has concerning her life and herself in general. She does not see her condition as a hindrance, but merely as something that needed to be taken away so that she would be given something else instead. However, since it is one of the consequences of lack of calcium, she is prone to periods of depression, in which she, as anyone else would, over-dramatizes her situation and wishes things could be different.
In her relationship with other people, Satsuki is the adept of giving others exactly that which they openly ask for. This is because she likes to be direct with the expression of her own beliefs, opinions and feelings, and she dislikes it when people beat around the bush. To take an example, let's look at a trivial situation such as Hotaru getting a new haircut which doesn't look very good on her. Naturally, when she would ask, even if she mentioned that she wanted honesty, a person would feel tempted to sugarcoat reality and tell her that she looks just fine. Satsuki, however, would know that even if she asks for honesty, Hotaru would like to hear something nice. Instead, though, she would tell exactly what she has been asked for, which would be that the haircut doesn't look that good. By this, Satsuki feels as though she is hinting that people should be more clear about what they truly want, and shouldn't ask for things they're not ready to receive just to make themselves look cooler. She thinks that they shouldn't be so afraid of speaking their minds and just being themselves.
The down side of such an attitude is that it approves of openly displayed things like angst, drama and pity baiting. Of course, Satsuki herself does not see this as a down side, nor does she realize that due to how sheltered she has been, and used to being a center of attention, first from Hiroshi and then from Hotaru, she is ultimately very selfish. She pardons herself far more mistakes than she allows other people to make around her, and although she looks like a nice person, if she's in a bad mood she can be a harsh critic. This wouldn't be bad, if only she didn't fail so obviously when it comes to also practicing what she preaches. If she happens to be told she has made a mistake that she previously criticized in somebody else, she will easily come up with some hardly solid proof that her situation is somehow different. Even though she's only finding herself excuses, she will be satisfied with herself that way. On short, she believes that due to her being in her condition, she should be treated better than other people and given more benefits. It happens very often that she needs and even craves attention, cases in which she frequently makes use of her weak physical shape very often to fake being hurt or not feeling well just to obtain that attention. She is capable of bearing a grudge to people who ignore her on purpose when she does that, since she believes that just because that's what she openly asks for, she deserves to receive it.
Despite those faults, though, if someone has enough patience with her, Satsuki's attachment will be deep and likely worth all the trouble. She is a person who would never let a secret from a loved one slip past her lips, not even with her last dying breath. The same way she loves to receive praise, attention and proof of other people's affection for her, she will also offer these in huge quantities. If she were to have a child, she would be the type of mother who pampers her beloved offspring every single second of the day, making that child the only focus of her life. As a friend or lover, she's the kind of girl who will gladly work all day on all sorts of small gifts she can give to her dear ones for no reason at all, just wanting to see them smile. But as willing as she is to show her true feelings towards others, she is also very easy to offend, and if she feels even the slightest bit rejected or hurt, she could instantly leap to the opposite end of the line and become spiteful, looking only for ways to insult and hurt the person who did that to her in turn. In all possible ways, her general emotional behavior is immature, that of a child that hasn't been properly educated. Which is true, since Hiroshi has been very permissive with her, and Hotaru, being very focused on reaching goals, has encouraged this behavior since it usually got Satsuki what she wanted.
Character's Starting Age:
16.
Character's Chakra Type:
Suiton.
Character's Starting Abilities:
GENIN-LEVEL
[Canon]
Kai – Dispel
Kai is a Ninjutsu technique which allows the ninja to avoid the effects of a Genjutsu illusion. After forming the needed handseals, the Genjutsu technique will not affect the ninja. The ninja can also use the technique on another individual who was unable to avoid the attack. After forming the needed hand seals, the ninja touches the one affected to end the affect of the spell.
[Custom]
Osore – Fear
This is a Genin-level Genjutsu passed down in the Hatoyama family, which Hiroshi taught Satsuki when she was still a child, to ensure that she would not be completely without protection when she went outside of the house. The technique is activated only if the target is not outside the propagation area of the small whistle the caster has to let out, as the chakra necessary is transmitted through that sound in this case. (Since sound disperses after traveling a certain distance without being reflected off anything, that distance delimits the area of this jutsu.) This will only work on creatures with a certain level of intelligence, so for example it will have no effect on a bee, even if it is in the area, simply because its nervous system is incapable of processing the data it receives, but it will work on a rat or a dog, because it has a centralized nervous system capable of producing delusion. At the same time, it will most likely not work on humans either, since their intelligence level is already too advanced for fake images to be forced on them in such a simple and brusque manner (although it could work on schizophrenics or other people whose mental conditions already have a predisposition to lose focus on reality). What exactly the jutsu does is play on natural or instinctual impulses of the target. What happens to the target is that it imagines the caster to be something it fears greatly, and if the shinobi performing the technique was skilled enough, the target may also view itself as being chased or threatened by that something. This is done so as to activate the target's instinct to flee, so that is why it is less likely to work on a human, who is able to force back such instincts.
[Custom]
Moumoku – Blindness
This is a very simple Genjutsu that will only work on mammals with a respiratory system that is developed enough to differentiate scents. That is because the necessary chakra is transmitted by spreading any substance with a poignant smell, like perfume or alcohol, in the air around. If the target inhales the scent (and as such, the particles of that substance), the Genjutsu will be at work. All it does is attack the nervous system and cause a very rapid deterioration of sight, ending in temporary blindness. Depending on how much of the substance (and chakra) was inhaled, and on the user's skill, the blindness may last anywhere from a few seconds to the several minutes it takes for the body to naturally eliminate all substance particles. Breathing fresh air that does not contain the said particles would, of course, speed up that process, and likely the target's vision would clear gradually, not all of a sudden.
[Custom]
Mimishii – Deafness
This is a very simple Genjutsu, pair to the Moumoku technique, meaning that it is usually cast in conjuncture with it. Same as its pair, that will only work on mammals with a respiratory system that is developed enough to differentiate scents. That is because the necessary chakra is transmitted by spreading any substance with a poignant smell, like perfume or alcohol, in the air around. If the target inhales the scent (and as such, the particles of that substance), the Genjutsu will be at work. All it does is attack the nervous system and cause a very rapid deterioration of hearing, ending in temporary deafness. Depending on how much of the substance (and chakra) was inhaled, and on the user's skill, the deafness may last anywhere from a few seconds to the several minutes it takes for the body to naturally eliminate all substance particles. Breathing fresh air that does not contain the said particles would, of course, speed up that process, and likely the target's hearing would return gradually, not all of a sudden.
[Canon]
Shunshin no Jutsu – Body Flicker Technique
Shunshin no Jutsu is a basic Ninjutsu technique. The ninja will appear and disappear in an instant, allowing them to retreat or attack suddenly. To facilitate the movement the ninja will often use nearby elements such as mist, sand or leaves to mask their appearance or disappearance. ((Satsuki knows this technique, but she is wary of using it, since the surreal speed at which she is transported from one place to the other when doing so has a high chance of breaking some her bones. If it is only a small distance, this will only be thin, small bones such as her fingers, but if it is a longer distance, her ribs or arms and legs may also be at risk. This is why this technique is her resort for escape in only those situations when she can do nothing else.))
CHUUNIN-LEVEL
[Custom]
Kyokkai – Distortion
This is a regular visually activated Genjutsu, and it has a very singular purpose, having been designed specifically for defense against long-range attacks relying on precision (such as someone shooting a bow or throwing kunai or shuriken at the caster). When this Genjutsu is cast, anyone looking at the caster will find himself or herself unable to perceive the shinobi's exact location. They will notice that the person's image is wavering in the air as though it was only a ghost or an illusion and as though the wind could carry it away and disperse it any moment. It is an effect similar to when one is drunk and loses the focus of their sight, and depending on the caster's skill it can and it will even go as far as "seeing double" or triple. Naturally, it will become very difficult to aim those precise attacks properly in such conditions.
[Custom]
Shissou – Disappearance
This semi-advanced Genjutsu technique is activated visually. The shinobi surrounds himself or herself with chakra and becomes invisible, or surrounds an object or another person with his or her chakra to render it invisible. (If the caster chooses to perform this on a target other than himself or herself, that target will still be visible to him or her, of course.) The technique works in two ways. It can either be cast when a person was already looking , in which case the target will become instantly invisible to that person. In this case, the disadvantage is that if someone who hadn't been at the scene arrives (or if someone who hadn't been looking when the technique was cast looks that way), this new person can and will be able to see the invisible target. The second way to cast this is to render the target invisible to anyone who wasn't looking at that time. In this case, of course, anyone who was already looking will still be able to see the target. Either way, the invisible target will remain invisible to all those who could not see it even if it attacks or moves a visible object, and even if it touches the same objects at the same time as a person who cannot see it. (Although likely an opponent would be able to guess its momentary position if it did that.) However, the invisibility will wear off if the invisible target directly touches someone who previously couldn't see it.
[Custom]
Sanketsu - Suffocation
Like Moumoku and Mimishii, this is another Genjutsu that will only work on mammals with a respiratory system that is developed enough to differentiate scents. That is because the necessary chakra is transmitted by spreading any substance with a poignant smell, like perfume or alcohol, in the air around. If the target inhales the scent (and as such, the particles of that substance), the Genjutsu will be at work. What it does is cause the target to think it is suffocating, in a manner similar to as though there was no more oxygen in the air. In reality, this is not the case, but only the fact that the target's mind has actually been tricked and commanded the body to stop breathing of its own volition. The danger is that, if the target does not dispel the Genjutsu, it is possible for them to lose consciousness, in which case the Genjutsu has a fifty percent chance of being dispelled by the abrupt change, but if this doesn't happen the target might even truly suffocate to death. However, if the target realizes what the Genjutsu is doing, or manages to dispel it by other means, it can simply resume breathing to save itself. Although, of course, they might get ragged breathing depending on how long they were without oxygen.
Kekkei Genkai:
Yes, unnamed. [Admin Edit: Approved.]
Role-Play Example:
[This role-play's nature was humorous. It was actually part of a large group effort at parodying our long-term characters. Rina (Oro) knows. I can write seriously dramatic ones if needed. xD;]
Wind flooded in through the open window now, in tune with the swaying of branches in the distance, outside. Behind the tall woman, the deep blue folds of her cloak swished, and on the sides of them blush-colored smoke rose from the floor and poured towards the window in puffy trails, leaving a faint smell of jasmine that held in it those other hidden scents from old dried blood, ancient books, and alchemical formulae that had spilled on the floor and tables. It was a very convenient method of cleaning the air in the room, to burn essences in the Brazier of Concealment, and very fortunate indeed that the artifact did not function very well, other than to produce industrious quantities of smoke, without the spell she used when activating its actual power. This way she could explain to any that happened to set eye on it that this secondary use for it was actually its main. Few need truly know that it was the artifact used to magically hide Zanthora's castle when need be, during times of war and simply in other… cases of people looking for her, which were truly not that few. An item like that was very powerful, anyway, and even though she would have loved being envied by others, it would have disturbed her peace if everyone found out what she had and came to try and obtain it. Not that she was defenseless, mind you, but Zanthora simply did everything she could to ensure not much effort was needed for her to have a secure place of her own where she could conduct her research and experiments without being interrupted by ignorant fools.
Too much. For the interruptions still happened sometimes, like now. You'd expect her to be a lot more outraged by what she had just heard, and she wouldn't blame you. She had expected herself to be angrier, but she had just smoked some soothing substances that she wasn't going to bother naming for you just earlier. So nothing had happened with her, other than stepping to look outside, with her hands akimbo and fingers squeezing her hips a little tight, enough for it to hurt on the left side, where each finger had a ring encrusted into it. For yes, those artifacts, along with the magical little gems inserted similarly into the skin on her right arm, were all that kept Zanthora alive. Why encrusted into her skin and not just worn? Simple. The gems formed runes, and the rings needed to remain fixed in a certain place on her finger at all times. If even a single one of these elements were to move the slightest bit, disturbing the patterns of the magic they created, Zanthora would die. It would be painless but, you see, there is still that problem, namely that death is irreversible sometimes. Such as when you've been working a bit too much with black magic and certain pacts would cause your body to turn into ash. Even the head priest of the temple would be quite pressured if he had to deal with resurrecting that. Or more like, if he had to find a way to explain that even his divine abilities were no match for the disaster.
With a loud sigh (okay, maybe a little more dramatic than required, she would admit that much), Zanthora snapped out of her thoughts.
"Child molester?" she finally replied, turning around and raising her hand for… what would have liked to be a very persuasive gesture, a large arc through the air. And it would have been, she was sure of it, had the move not found that stupid lamp to hit halfway through. No matter. At least the head didn't fall and break. Anyway. She would resume, "How would I be a child molester? Don't these simpletons know I'm a woman? That would be kind of difficult, you know."
Those stupid rumors the bard, Yldor, brought in from the village and teased her with so bluntly earlier were seriously absurd. He had moved through two other topics since then, but it was still the first thing she would brood quietly on while she had her back turned on him. Those nosy and intellectually impaired villagers had no vision at all. How could a woman molest children? She had only kidnapped little noisy sniveling brats under 8 years old, it would be next to impossible to do anything with those. She'd understand where they got those ideas if she had at least abducted 14-year-olds or something like that. Those would have at least been able to serve her physically, if she was to decide to persuade them for some unknown reason to have sex with her. Or maybe those simians actually thought she… Ah, but those were thoughts better left not entirely formed, before she would get a headache from the irritation they could cause. Don't misinterpret here, Zanthora was proud to be a sick woman, but her kind of sick was a little different, more visionary than simple molestation. Less along the lines of sticking pointy objects into already existing holes of living things, and more along those of creating new holes with sharp things. Generally in the abdomen or thorax, and only after the target was unconscious or already dead.
Although it's an interesting idea to see how they'd react, just once. Maybe I should try that next? Imperceptibly, the woman shook her head. Away with such thoughts, unworthy of a woman like her, who dedicated her time to much more important discoveries. And right at the time, there was also the more pressing matter of the bard's other concern, so she walked over to the table in the middle of the room, where he had laid out some maps. Ah, she would not forget the careless way he had shoved her precious jars and other receptacles aside to lay out his unimportant papers – she glared at him for that from across the table. Even though he hadn't actually damaged anything, her reproachful look told him, he could have. Then and only then, after that was done, did she give in to his demands. She cast her eyes out to the hand-drawn replicas of what people knew to be their world, from various explorers and travelers who had actually visited the many corners of it. Zanthora doubted the accuracy, and that some drunkard hadn't just invented some of those ridiculous-sounding lands, but let's not get into that.
"That's horrible!" she exclaimed almost immediately, reaching out to point at something on the map. Although she may not have looked like it, and even though she had fumed over a different matter, she had indeed listened to Yldor's detailed explanations as she stood to look out the window. "With that fool Garbol in a crucial point like this, the entire region will fall! Who in the pits of hell was behind that decision? Tell them I want to speak with them right at this moment!"
Only then did she notice that all through her rant, no one had been listening to her at all, and the silence in the room was complete, despite the fact that she had eight guards in there. Eight of the elite, that was for sure, but even they wouldn't stand completely still and make absolutely no move without a reason. She looked up and noticed that Yldor's hand actually was no longer on the map like she had thought, and he wasn't even fixing her with his eyes anymore, but his head was turned, and the expression etched into his features was disturbed, to say the least. Shocked, to be more exact, as he looked at something beyond her.
"What?" Zanthora snapped, impatient to start this important discussion now that she had found something so outrageous. "Did I say that thing about the children out loud?" Her eyes began to follow Yldor's to see if he was looking at anything in particular, and she turned around for that purpose. "I was only jo-" She choked completely on her last word, and her own eyes widened, staying fixed on what they had just found.
Gwydion. Here, of all places. How had that nuisance even entered? Ah yes, he must still have that magical wardstone she gave him the last time, when they… It didn't matter. Flashbacking should be banned and punishable by law. The thing was, the jerk had found his way in some time during her distress from earlier, and it could not be tolerated that he came to just stand there with that kind of insolent smirk on his face. Not even bothering to greet her with a polite word or something. Preferably even apologize for leaving like that last time, without even letting her know. She estimated his position and compared it to that of the nearest deadly trap in the room that she could trigger. It wasn't close enough, and he would be too skilled to be caught in it from that distance. He probably even knew where the traps were, or what sort of thing to expect from them. After all, this would be only the… what was it… 236th failed open attempt she had made on his life? That could wait until later.
"What do you want?" she asked, making her tone as cold as she could. Which, since this is Zanthora we speak of, meant something close to the tantrum of a child playing superior while upset with a parent.
