battlearmor

PLAYER INFO

Name: Luciano
Contact Information: gueyprince
Time Zone: EST/EDT
Characters Played: Maya Fey


CHARACTER INFO

Character Name: Kuranosuke Koibuchi
Character Canon: Kuragehime/Jellyfish Princess

History: Wiki

AU History:

Not much is different for Kuranosuke in Union. His mother, Lena, was a Steel-Fairy Beauty Queen and Contest Queen who had an affair with his father, Keiichiro Koibuchi. When she became pregnant with Kuranosuke, Lena was forced to live away from Keiichiro to quiet any rumours about the affair-- and because, of course, Keiichiro could not live with both his wife and his mistress while still being respected as a politician.

Kuranosuke always adored his mother, Lena, who had no problem letting Kuranosuke play with her clothing and pokémon. He came to love fashion from Lena's beautiful clothes, often paid for by Kuranosuke's father, as well as the beautiful fairies Lena surrounded herself with.

The most important fairy to Kuranosuke was Lena's Togekiss, Pearl. Pearl was Lena's closest companion and contest partner, and helped to raise and care for Kuranosuke. Lena's last gift to him before their separation was her Togekiss's egg, and he named the Togepi that hatched 'Pearls' after the Togekiss.

When Kuranosuke was about 14 years old, he came to live with Keiichiro as well as Keiichiro's wife and his son, Shū. He could no longer see or contact his mother thanks to his father's rules, but never gave up on his love for fashion. Kuranosuke's habits seemed to embarrass his family, but quite frankly, Kuranosuke lacked and still lacks any fucks to give. There is no milder way to say so. Lena, after that, left Union to find other horizons. Many people say she must have gotten lost in the wilderness, as no one has heard from her; Kuranosuke, however, doesn't believe that in the slightest. He believes she is somewhere, and believes Keiichiro knows where.

Until he was done with school, however, Kuranosuke did present as male for the most part. Drag only became a real hobby for him after school, at which point no one could really tell him not to.

His love of fashion and experience from his mother encouraged him to research and enter contests, but he soon grew tired of the contest scene. Not only did he tire of contests, but of nobles in general. To him, they are troublesome and noble youths only care about politics-- or worse, all they'll talk about is parties and sex. Kuranosuke considers himself past that; all his life he'd been chased by girls and it only caused him trouble.

Nowadays, Kuranosuke would rather be surrounded by pokémon. He's looking for diamonds in the rough; people and pokémon who aren't traditionally considered 'pretty' but who have a passion that intrigues him. For the first time since his Togepi hatched, he's ready to start making friends with Pokémon and try to spread his fashion knowledge-- not to homogenise people, but to give them confidence.

He hasn't seen Lena in years, but his biggest hope is to somehow weedle Lena's address out of Keiichiro or Keiichiro's political friends, or even out of Shū. He longs to see his mother and her wardrobe just one more time.

Canon Personality:

Kuranosuke Koibuchi, as you find out quickly upon his introduction, is a crossdresser. He's not gay, not a transvestite or transgender, and not even a drag queen according to his own standards; he simply enjoys dressing in pretty things and doesn't see anything wrong with being a boy in a dress and makeup. Whether he totally tricks some dude into thinking he's a chick or everyone knows he's a dude in drag, it's perfect for him.

This lean, tall, blonde kid has a serious sense of style. Amongst the girls living in the housing complex called the Amamizukan (known as the Amars or the Sisterhood), he's what's known as a Stylish-- not "he is stylish", but "he is a Stylish." It's a noun to them, a noun completely foriegn to their poor Otaku existences.

The Stylish, to the Amars are unreachable idols, too high to be touched but too dangerous and frightening to be revered. In their fear of being bullied, they've created a world in which they are the underdogs to the Stylish without even getting to know one.

Kuranosuke, though, is a different Stylish-- one Tsukimi, the series's heroine, labels as a beautiful boy princess. Kuranosuke could command a veritible army with the strength he portrays when in drag, causing him to be a source of harmless envy for the nerdy Tsukimi. He doesn't like girls to be hurt, after all, which is how he and Tsukimi met in the first place; when Tsukimi tried to save a spotted jellyfish from the pet shop where it was housed with a Moon jellyfish that could kill it, the only boy on staff at the pet shop freaked out at Tsukimi's insistence and pushed her over.

That's why Kuranosuke is friends with Tsukimi at all, and why Kuranosuke is also a problem-- or, as he's known to the Amars, Kurakko. The Sisterhood hates nothing more than they hate men, and allowing a man into Amamizukan is a sin worse than death to them.

But how could Tsukimi tell the boy who helped save her beloved spotted jelly that they can't be friends? At the low cost of his outward identity as male, Kuranosuke gets to hang out with Tsukimi and the Amars, who he's become rather compassionate toward.

And he doesn't seem to mind one bit.

You see, Kuranosuke lives a life he's rather inclined to want to get away from. Part of the reason he dresses in drag at all is because of the fact his half brother and father are politicians, and he absolutely doesn't want to be associated with that. He'd rather hang out in dresses with high fashion gals-- or he used to, anyway.

After becoming bored with those high fashion girls, Tsukimi walked into his life and fixed his problem; she is a diamond in the rough, a girl he can make a princess. And it's not some fetish thing: Kuranosuke's beloved mother, who he hasn't been able to contact since he came to live with his father, always said that all girls are princesses. It's not entirely about looking pretty or being some Disney standard, either. Kuranosuke genuinely wants Tsukimi and the Amars to see the beauty within themselves and become successful, and to him, part of that is being able to navigate the fashion scene. People respect the well-dressed, after all.

He's adamant about this, too-- and to the point that he will even let his own appearance go back to his boyish, lazy ways if he can focus on getting these girls prettied up. See, to Kuranosuke, clothing isn't just clothing. It's the way people see others. It's defense. As he makes clear in both the comic and in the anime, life is a battle; in what may his most iconic speech, he declares that to fight that battle, the amars must "put on [their] armor".

His adamance is a trait apparent not only in his goals to princessify these girls, but in his need to have a real friendship with them. To Tsukimi, Kuranosuke mentions that he hasn't really had a family dinner in a long while and wishes he could have made that happen with the Amars instead of being so overbearing that he caused them to reject him at first. As his friendship with the Amars and Tsukimi continues, his adamance becomes more apparent as he even tries to keep the Amamizukan from being torn down.

The Amars who see him only as Kurakko might not know how important their friendship is to him, but they do show a real improvement in happiness and activity as a result of the relationship. Toward the end of the animated portion of the series, in fact, Bonba and Mayaya encounter two stylish who absolutely adore Bonba's afro and Mayaya's style, learning that maybe the Stylish aren't as scary as they thought after all.

Even though he's kind of the epitome of Good Guy Not Nice Guy, Kuranosuke's still kind of a kid-- he's just out of highschool and has his moments of immaturity, too. Those moments are usually reserved for interacting with his brother but are not to be confused with his rebelling against his father. His 'weaponising' of femininity to free himself from what his father decides is right is an act of independence, not of immaturity. With his brother, however, Kuranosuke can get downright idiotic. He becomes jealous of his brother and Tsukimi's mutual crush after realising his own feelings for Tsukimi, and even gets stressed out at the fact his brother is still a virgin.

What may be the most interesting thing of all, however, is that all of Kuranosuke's moments of weakness occur when Kuranosuke is no longer in drag and/or pretending to be Kurakko. In drag or acting feminine (because Kuranosuke doesn't always act like a girl while he's in drag), Kuranosuke is at his strongest and most commanding. Although some of his strong moments are shown while he's acting masculine/masculine presenting as well, almost none of those moments of weakness happen while he's acting feminine. If he ever shows weakness or stress, it's while he's in 'boy mode', for lack of a better term.

All in all, Kuranosuke's an incredibly multifaceted character, but he's still just an accent to Tsukimi's story. To her, he's a beautiful boy princess, but to himself? He's the princess maker, and he's out to show the Amars just how amazing they were born to be.

AU Deviation:

There is very little to change in Kuranosuke's AU. He and his mother, however, are from a different part of Japan than his father, and lived there until Kuranosuke was in highschool. Thus, he must have lived far from them in Union, probably toward the outskirts.

Obviously anything having to do with his brother, who is an appable character, will have to be handwaved or danced around until such a point as a brother appears. Everything else aligns rather well, though.

Through his highschool days, Kuranosuke would have been a coordinator or at least training to be one. Now, however, he's bored and tired of that scene and is more inclined to take care of 'underdog' pokemon and people. He's got a high affinity for Pokemon and believes them more interesting than most humans.

Canon Abilities:

Kuranosuke is an incredible fashionista and designer, though he doesn't appear to be an illustrator. He also seems to have studied some form of self defense, or at least is pretty damn good at kicking people in the shins. He's got grace and charisma as well, and commands attention wherever he goes. Well liked by girls especially, Kuranosuke's abilities are otherwise... really human and kind of boring. But hey, fashion!

Enlightened Abilities:

Kuranosuke will be a kindred soul as his specialty is in communication, not illlustration. He's more of a fashion marketer than a designer, after all; Tsukimi is the illustrator.

He will be Fairy-Fighting type and absolutely freaking fabulous. As he levels up, he will be able to "control his fashion" via some fairy moves. While he won't actually be conjuring up clothes and makeup, he'll be able to use fairy abilities to create illusions of a sort, dressing himself up in whatever he imagines. The better his fashion, the stronger his defense; however, his defense is at his lowest when he presents as male instead of in drag. Anything that cancels out his mirage will leave him in his normal, un-made-up blonde state, and probably in some sort of underwear.

These abilities will not immediately be apparent, though he will have enough experience with it in the beginning to know it is both something he can (limitedly) do and also improve in.

As Kuranosuke has no ties to any objects of supernatural nature, he will not enter with an enhanced item. He will, however, regard pearls fondly thanks to his mother.

Starter Pokémon: Togepi

Notes/Special Considerations:

None, as the importance of Kuranosuke's politician father is more relevant to his brother.

SAMPLES

First-Person: Test Drive

Third-Person: (This is written in prose from an independent narrator’s perspective. Here we want to see an insight into your character’s unspoken behavior -- actions, thoughts, their view of their world, etc. The minimum here is two paragraphs. If we do not get a good sense of your character’s behavior, we will ask for more. If you link an outside entry or thread, the minimum is 20 comments from your character in two threads/with two characters.)

Questionnaire: (Kuranosuke is honest in all of his answers.)

-What would you say the role of Pokémon is in your life?
They're friends, duh. Isn't that what they are to everybody? Pearls-- my Togepi, you know-- she's been my buddy since I had to leave mom. She's... pretty much all I've got of her.
-What would you say the most important occupation is within Union?
Jeez, I dunno. Probably the guys who keep the trash out of the streets, if I'm honest. Better than those politicians, anyway, and I mean, I'm not gonna do it. Savior help whoever does.
-What aspects and traits do you respect most in your individual fellow man?
Generally guys who aren't assholes. Kind of hard to find. Also a lot less fun to hang out with than girls are, but you never know. And hey, if they know anything useful, they're my kinda guy.
-What do you look for in the Pokémon with whom you bond?
I dunno. They just... have something about them, you know? Like, Pearls's been here since I got to Union, whatever. But the pokemon I get along with, well... how do I say this...? They're interesting. They're looking for something, and I know I can help them.
-What do you think your Pokémon respect most about you?
Well who else do they know who can pull off french lolita in the summer?
-A human has attacked a wild Pokémon who retaliates in defense. How do you respond and whom do you defend?
Whoa-- the pokemon, duh! Who the hell gave him the right to attack a pokemon like that? Seriously, people walk around like they own it all...
-You are alone and bereft of your Pokémon allies, upon what strengths do you rely on to see yourself safely home?
Well, shit, I'm probably screwed, unless there's other people around. If there's someone I can bum some supplies or directions off, it's all a metter of a quick makeup and some pouty lips to see me home.