application for folkmore

[natzoom]

★ Character Information ★

Character Name: Natsume Takashi
Character Age: 16
Character Species: Human
Current Health: Healthy at the moment, but with a weak constitution
Outfit: His school uniform.

Character Canon: Natsume Yuujinchou
Link to History: Wiki here.
Canon Point: End of Season 6 (Natsume Yuujinchou Roku, aired 2017).
Canon Iteration: Original canon

★ Folkmore Roles & Attributes ★

Skills:

Tenth-grade-equivalent education about most basic things (math, science, grammar, Japanese history, etc.)

Rudimentary sewing (mending holes, sewing on buttons, very very simple clothes-making).

Basic first aid.

Canon Abilities:

A sort of "sixth sense" for any supernatural being (demon, spirit, ghost, god, etc.) and the ability to see, feel, hear and interact with them as one would a normal human.

Extremely powerful (and mostly untapped) spiritual energy, which can manifest in being able to punch/hit/kick beings that usually cannot be physically harmed, with devastating effects.

Awareness of anything other -- i.e., spells or rituals being performed, other people with spiritual gifts, etc.

Less of an ability, but the aforementioned spiritual energy makes him very appealing to spirits/demons, described as an appetizing scent/aura that they're drawn to from miles away.

Role: Familiar.
Role Qualities/Attributes: Feline attributes all the way -- cat ears and tail, claws, teeth and the eventual ability to fully change into a cat.
Role Reasoning: Natsume is described as a boy who "wants to be kind", in canon, and while he generally tries to achieve this, he is also extremely isolated and prone to intense distrust of authority figures. Therefore being in the middle, a "neutral" force, suits him best. This will also push him towards opening up and connecting with other people, another thing he tries to avoid at all costs.

★ Personality ★

Choosing Option 2!

OPTION 2 QUESTIONS (PICK 4-5) 100-300 WORD LIMIT EACH:

What was the most traumatic experience your character endured? How did this change them? Definitely the death of his father, when Natsume was about three or four. His mother died in childbirth, and he was raised alone by his father for a few years before he succumbed to Vague Unspecified Parental Illness. This began a years-long pattern of Natsume being sent to a distant relative he'd never met before, staying for a few weeks or months before his strange abilities (perceived as attention-seeking behavior by the adults in his life) prompted them to send him to someone else. His relatives ran the gamut from well-meaning, but hapless to outright abusive, but not a single one believed that the things Natsume could see or hear were real. Eventually he stopped telling people what he saw, though he couldn't stop his reactions to the monsters, which always resulted in him being sent off yet again. Prior to this, Natsume was a very energetic, playful, lively child with a streak of mischief, but over a decade of being shuffled from family to family has changed him into a very reserved, polite, withdrawn young man. He doesn't get attached easily and tends to keep people at arm's length, due to repeatedly being hurt in the past.

What is the most important and defining relationship(s) in your character's life and why? In the absence of actual close family members, Natsume didn't form any solid, lasting relationships until moving in with the Fujiwara's. It was simultaneously their kindness and acceptance of him and the odd relationship he developed with Madara/Nyanko-sensei that began encouraging Natsume to open up again. His foster parents provided stability and safety for the first time since his father died, and his gifts and abilities were honed and guided (albeit grouchily) by Nyanko-sensei, who griped and complained, but has shown genuine compassion and affection for Natsume multiple times. It's these two connections that have enabled him to begin accepting both halves of himself: the one in the human world and the one in the spirit world, rather than trying to run away from them.

What does your character feel like they struggle with still? Where could they improve? This could be physically, mentally, emotionally, or otherwise. Natsume still feels like he struggles with being a good person. He's become convinced that there's something inherently bad about him, if only because of the amount of chaos he causes - albeit unintentionally - in the lives of everyone around him. In the past he's tried to avoid that by not becoming too involved with anyone, reasoning that if he isn't a big part of their lives, it won't cause as much trouble when he inevitably screws up. However, now that he's trying to open up and make connections again, he's running into the conundrum of how to protect people without pushing them away. The biggest problem right now is the idea that someone could choose to stay near him, and that trying to keep them away is more harmful than just existing with them.

Which Taylor Swift era is your character going through right now and why? THE best question~ Right now Natsume is in his Folklore era - he's just gotten through his Fearless one, where he'd opened up his heart to others and accepted kindness and friendship for the first time and had the giddy, dizzying, amazing experience of connecting with people. Now he's in the quieter part of it, where the rush of joy fades and there are the nuances left -- the conflicts, the emotions, the interactions that don't go as well as he'd want. There's joy there (august, peace), there's grief (exile, tears ricochet there's him trying to come to terms with his past (seven), and there's the quintessential song -- this is me trying, because Natsume genuinely is, for the first time.

★ Player Information ★

Player Name: Cee
Pronouns: She/her
Are you over 18?: Yes~
Contact(s): ceedawkes or PM this journal
Who Invited You?:Link to invite!
Current Characters: None yet~
Permissions: Here
Writing Samples: Folkmore TDM & Deer Country TDM