My looong app for inu_prelude
name: Janet
age: 19
email: japonte@rollins.edu
AIM handle: Either LijOrOrli or TragicHoushi
Yahoo handle: LijOrOrli2003
journal to be used: starry_oblivion
roleplaying experience: A year and a half of doing tabletop/live action RPing. About a year of doing on-line RPing (mostly just the tabletop/LARP characters, switched over to an Internet setting). Inuyasha RPing since October of ’04. Specialty character is Miroku, but I’ve played nearly every male character in the series at one point or the other (and trust me, that’s a lot of ground to cover).
IC information:
Name: Sesshoumaru
Age: Appearance-wise, early 20s. Actual age-wise, that depends on whether or not you think the movies are canon. If you do, then he’s 500+ years old. If you don’t, then he’s (at the time of this RP) only a little older than he looks, I believe.
Race: Inuyoukai.
Skills & Powers: Tenseiga, a sword that can heal and restore lives. If used expertly, this sword can restore 100 lives in one swing. He also has poisonous claws, out of which he can actually shoot his venom. He controls what can only be defined as an energy whip that can wrap around and slice his opponents. In his true dog form, he is large enough to crush the average-sized human like a bug, and can emit a poisonous miasma with his breath (his composure rarely ever allows him to transform, though). He also possesses heightened youkai senses and abilities, such as advanced sight and hearing, and the ability to reach phenomenal speeds and jump very high (but then, what anime character can’t?). Lastly, he can also fly.
Weaknesses: Sesshoumaru gives the outward appearance of being a conceited, cold-hearted bastard. At this point in his life, he is pissed beyond belief over the fact that his father would give his bastard son the powerful Tetsaiga, leaving Sesshoumaru with a useless sword that can only save lives. Indeed, the Tenseiga was given to Sesshoumaru because his father feared that he was beginning to get too ruthless and power-hungry, hoping that the knowledge that he had the ability to save lives would teach his eldest son some compassion. Sesshoumaru wants things his way, and if someone refuses to give him what he wants, then this person has no right to stay alive.
Appearance: Tall and thin, this inuyoukai with the long, fine, straight silver hair would have a rather delicate face if not for the purple stripes upon his cheek and the crescent moon of the same color on his forehead, his ears lengthening to a pointed tip. His golden eyes usually give the façade of being far off in contemplation. The white and red of his clothing seem almost to be a symbolism of a sort of tranquility splattered with blood. His black and gray armor guard his shoulders with dangerous-looking spikes, and tied about his waist is a long obi of gold and purple, colors of royalty. He wears a furry boa over his right shoulder (conjecture has it that it’s a tale, but I’ve had no solid proof of that yet and so will not claim it to be so). In his true demon form, his is a large white and gray dog with the same markings upon his face, red eyes, and a long lolling tongue, giving him an air of rabidity.
Personality: Sesshoumaru is a man of few words. He does not bother to answer his servant Jaken’s questions, unless it is with a simple, “Shut up, Jaken.” Unlike his half-brother, he does not talk for long expanses of time about how he is going to rip his enemy apart if he does not get his way. Rather, he will simply state that he needs to pass, or that he requires the services of the party in question; if he is refused, he will simply kill the person before him or do something equally horrific to express that it would be in the person’s best interest to obey him. Actions speak far louder than words. He is a proud youkai, knowing that he comes from a line of great inuyoukai lords. He occasionally refers to himself in the third person, in a similar way the kings of old used the royal “we.” Rarely has he ever smiled without malicious intent, and will proudly proclaim that emotions are for the weak.
However, there is still a small smidge of humanity deep within him. Though normally a solitary creature, there must be a reason why he allows Jaken to become his servant, why he has yet to succeed in killing Inuyasha despite his obvious strength over the hanyou, and why he ultimately saves the life of Rin. His inherent anger at his father and hatred towards his half-brother are deeply-rooted, but every-so-slowly dissipate over the passage of time. Could it be, perhaps, that Sesshoumaru is indeed a creature capable of contact, capable perhaps (with even more time and lots of coercing) of love?
Backstory:
Born to two powerful youkai, Sesshoumaru spent much of his childhood watching his father rule over the Eastern Lands. Many was the time that youkai allies came to beg the great Inu no Taisho for assistance in dealing with impious but powerful enemies. Because of his strength and naturally good heart, Sesshoumaru’s father had many connections about the lands that would be of help to bring aid to these friends. The youkai lord’s wife, however, resented her husband concerning himself so much with the affairs of others. A proud, regal woman, she brought Sesshoumaru up to believe that it was his goal as a new generation to be stronger than his father, and more intelligent than to allow himself to bend to the whims of others. However, this led the young Sesshoumaru to include both his parents in that grouping, and he grew up far too quickly, taking his responsibilities upon himself and disregarding his parents’ rule in his life. Try as he might, his father was never able to reclaim his son, for the boy had grown cold, distant, and ambitious.
Many years passed, and Sesshoumaru managed to rid the West of the lesser youkai, proclaiming himself lord of the Western Lands. A rumor grew upon the wind that his mother was dead and father had mated with a human, and that the woman was due for birth any day now. Shocked that his father would taint his family lineage with the blood of a human, Sesshoumaru went to his father’s land to disclaim the rumor. Alas, upon encountering his father and inquiring as to the story’s validity, Sesshoumaru learned the dire news that he was to have a hanyou sibling. It was then when his father imparted upon him the Tenseiga, meaning to leave the Tetsaiga to the younger child as an inheritance. Sesshoumaru threw the sword to the ground, demanding that he have the great Tetsaiga rather than this cheap imitation, which will only undo the damage it causes by breathing life back into the dead, health back into the wounded. Inu no Taisho turned his back upon his son, telling him plainly that Sesshoumaru would do well to learn the joy of restoring life rather than the hapless killing of those who he deems as lesser beings. Sensing the tension that came from Sesshoumaru, the elder youkai lord asked, “Do you intend to kill me over a sword?” With narrowed eyes, Sesshoumaru answered simply, “Yes.” After some time, his father turned and began to walk away from him, saying, “Then that is only further proof that I made the right choice in leaving you with the Tenseiga.” Sesshoumaru noted his father’s hand gripped about the hilt of the Tetsaiga at his waist, and the only thing that kept him from actually attacking his father was the knowledge that he would be dead at the slightest aggressive movement. Alone, Sesshoumaru looked down at the useless sword he had dashed upon the ground. With hardly an expression of the fiery anger he felt, Sesshoumaru turned and went back to his lands.
It was not long afterwards that he was told that that had been the final night of his father’s life. Inu no Taisho sensed his new child’s arrival and fled to where the infant was being born. Protecting his human mate and his newborn son from a jealous jilted suitor, it seemed, the great youkai lord fought with true emotion, and met his end. He saw his new child for but a few brief moments, it was whispered, and only managed to give him the name Inuyasha.
Inu no Taisho had left word with his allies to send his elder son his inheritance. Lifting the sheathed sword from the hands of the blacksmith Totosai, Sesshoumaru asked levelly, “And what of the Tetsaiga? Surely it was not entrusted to a baby being raised by a human woman?” Totosai looked at the miniscule flea demon named Myouga on his shoulder and then returned his eyes to the young youkai lord. “No, Sesshoumaru-sama. Your mighty father has hidden it so that the boy will not find it until he is powerful enough to wield it.” Tying the sheath about his waist, Sesshoumaru seemed to be concentrated on his methodical movements as he spoke. “Heh. Powerful. That whelp will know nothing of the true power of Tetsaiga.” He raised his golden eyes to look at the old youkai before him. “Only this Sesshoumaru can wield such a weapon, and you will tell me where it is.” Stuttering, Totosai shook his head furiously. “N-no, Sesshoumaru-sama! I do not even know of its location. The only one whom your father trusted enough with such information is-“ He looked to his shoulder, but the cowardly flea had disappeared. “M-Myouga!”
More enraged than he let on, Sesshoumaru sent Totosai away, knowing that it would not be the last he would see of the blacksmith. Looking down at the useless “weapon” at his waist, Sesshoumaru wondered what had been going through his father’s mind when he decided to give his eldest and only legitimate son a worthless sword. Indeed, the only reason he conceded to wear the sword was in remembrance of his father, of the legacy he must uphold. “Inuyasha,” he murmured under his breath, already loathe of the sound of the name. I will find Tetsaiga. And when I do, I will make you rue the day of your birth… and of our father’s death.