App for Proxima Beta
Dec. 3rd, 2013 05:44 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
inthecenterfoldPLAYER INFORMATION
➤ NAME: Frudence
➤ AGE: 27
➤ JOURNAL: volksdaemon made the reserves but frudence is my main journal
➤ CURRENTLY PLAYED: Schuldig (Weiss Kreuz)
CHARACTER INFORMATION
➤ CHARACTER NAME: Sha Gojyo, Gojyo being his given name.
➤ SERIES: Manga/Anime - Saiyuki (Gensomaden Saiyuki/Saiyuki Reload/Saiyuki Reload Gunlock) by Minekura Kazuya.
➤ CHARACTER AGE: 23.
➤ REFERENCE: Sha Gojyo was born to a human mother and a youkai* father, but his mother wasn't his father's wife. Both blood parents committed suicide and tried to take Gojyo with them but obviously failed. After that Gojyo somehow found himself in the "care" of the woman he came to call Mom - his father's legal wife, a youkai, and mother to his older half-brother. Even though she beat him, yelled at him, and could only be comforted by his older brother, Jien, he wanted to make her happy. One day, Mom tried to kill Gojyo, and Jien made the desperate decision to stop her by killing her instead. To the present day, Gojyo carries two scars on his left cheek from where his mother scratched him. The brothers parted ways and didn't see each other for approximately 15 years.
*Youkai live longer than humans, tend to have elemental powers, and are marked physically by a small tattoo somewhere on their body, elongated ears, and fangs. In Gojyo's case, the element is water because he is a "kappa", or water demon.
This next interim period of the series - after Gojyo lost his mother but before the Ikkou (traveling party) begin their journey in the main series - is known as the "Burial arc". The only part of this detailed in the first series (Gensomaden Saiyuki) is how the four met, explained later. Anyway, in the Burial arc we learn that Gojyo wandered the streets and learned, probably with the help of a youkai named Banri, how to play cards, rack up a beer tab, and become quite the lady's man. Gojyo was already very capable of street-fighting, but Banri taught Gojyo how to live off that and cards. Gojyo himself is a "taboo child** ", but most humans don't realize this while most demons do. Thus, Gojyo has lived among humans for most of his life and feels more comfortable in their culture.
**Taboo children are half-youkai and so-called because it is a social taboo for the two races to fornicate. They are marked physically by blood-red hair and eyes; apparently possess no elemental powers; and yet they do have some measure of extraordinary strength, speed, and life expectancy.
Gojyo is particularly close to one of his companions, Hakkai, because they met each other a few months before meeting the other two. Hakkai was "Cho Gonou" then and nearly dead, lying face down in the rain when Gojyo took Gonou back to his house and had a doctor look at the turned-youkai. Eventually Gonou recovered and was just about to leave Gojyo's company when a buddhist priest (Genjyo-sanzo) showed up at his door with a monkey-like boy (Son Goku) and demanded the "mass murderer" be turned over. Long story short, Gonou was not sentenced to death and took on the new name Hakkai to begin his penitence, but he and Gojyo are still best friends to this day as a result of the mess.
Gojyo wields a staff-like weapon with a crescent blade at the top and a chained spade at the bottom, summoning it with his youki -- the magical powers youkai possess and use in a variety of ways. In the show, it is called a 'shakujou', but is closer to the "cresecent-moon-toothed spade" (yueyachan) that Chinese Buddhist priests used as both a traveling staff (with clanging rings) and a shovel to dig graves. The story of how he acquired his weapon is this: Gojyo and Goku knocked over two urns where sacred weapons were being contained, and when the urns cracked open, the weapons claimed new owners. The "staff" claimed Gojyo and the only way to separate them would have been for Gojyo to die - an option, it's worth noting, Sanzo was openly in favor of.
Three years after the four men met, Gojyo's destiny caught up with him. He was summoned to journey with Genjyo-sanzo - among the highest ranking of Buddhist priests but without the shaved head or abstinence from killing, drinking, or smoking - to India to stop a "Minus Wave" from turning all youkai into ravenous, mindless beasts. His other traveling companions include the legendary Son Goku - the Sage Equaling Heaven - and Cho Hakkai, a human cursed for killing 1000 youkai by being himself changed into a youkai. This is the rag-tag group that Gojyo travels with for a year and a half at the time he is pulled from.
In Gensomaden Saiyuki (the first series published), the Sanzo Party fought against a youkai prince, Kougaiji, and his team (Jien among them, now called Dokugakuji) to keep Sanzo's sutra in his possession. It was during this time that the team first caught a glimpse of Goku's berserk "Seiten Taisei" form - the "Great Sage Equaling Heaven". Only through the intervention of Kanzeon Bosatsu (Merciful Goddess) was Goku calmed. What drove Goku berserk was seeing Sanzo nearly die of blood loss from a gaping hole in his stomach. Kanzeon Bosatsu replaced Sanzo's lost blood with some of Gojyo's - she acquired it through a kiss - but it left Gojyo so weak he fell to his knees. It should be noted that Kanzeon Bosatsu thought it would actually knock him unconscious.
In Saiyuki Reload, they continued their journey westward, fighting a variety of youkai along the way and finally going up against Kami-sama - a man who called himself "God" and stole Sanzo's sutra. During the struggle, all four Ikkou (traveling party) members nearly died, but it also forced them to learn more about each other's fighting styles and unite them more as a team as well as friends. All of this happened over a game of mahjongg, a game they played often during the trip because it requires 3-4 people.
Most recently, they encountered a man by the name of Hazel and his attendant called Gato. This whole portion is the 'Even a Worm' arc, but appears in Saiyuki Reload: Gunlock in the anime versus Saiyuki Reload in the manga. Hazel is a Christian (?) bishop with the power to trap youkai souls in his pendant (with the Star of David on it), then release them into the dead bodies of humans, seemingly bringing the dead back to life. But they've changed - the biggest difference is that their eyes become yellow and they despise youkai, going crazy at the sight of them and chanting "Kill Youkai" while attempting to do just that with their own hands. Hazel 'revives' humans who fall in youkai attacks, because he desires to kill all youkai and make a world exclusively for humans. He thinks that he and Sanzo have identical goals and therefore seriously questions why Sanzo travels with "monsters". Naturally, this does not sit well with Hakkai, Goku, and Gojyo. The way that Gojyo deals with it is by mocking Hazel's accent, which is translated as a southern accent.
In the last battle, Gojyo was reminded of how powerless he was in comparison to his fellow travelers. Goku was ambushed with a nearly fatal attack that left Sanzo so distraught he ran off to confront who he supposed to be Goku's ambusher. This left Hakkai and Gojyo to deal with the problem, which they did by choosing to remove Goku's limiter***, thereby transforming Goku into his insanely powerful form - Seiten Taisei, The "Great Sage Equalling Heaven" - that could heal himself and survive the attack. The bad thing about that is that Goku's STTS form is completely berserk - he doesn't distinguish between friend & foe and lives only for himself; Gojyo and Hakkai knew that when they removed Goku's limiter, but it was the only way to keep Goku alive. To stop Goku from going on a killing spree, Hakkai removed his limiters as well to combat Goku. Hakkai's Youkai form is not much better than Goku's STTS form, but Hakkai has a stronger personal will, so he has a greater chance of coming back to his senses while still transformed. Unfortunately, Gojyo had to actually stop Youkai-Hakkai from killing Goku, and Gojyo nearly got his head chopped off by Hakkai in the process. Goku was finally knocked unconscious after a cooperative effort by Hakkai with Gato to elotrocute Goku, after which Gojyo placed the limiter back on Goku's head. However, he still had to help tend to Hakkai's wounds and stopped Hazel from stealing his best friend's soul, screaming, "He's not dead, damnit!" Bearing the weight of both Goku and Hakkai - Goku under his right arm and Hakkai leaning on his left shoulder - Gojyo left the town to find Hakuryu**** and take them to a safe place where they could rest and recover. On his way out, he scorned Sanzo for abandoning Goku when Goku needed Sanzo the most. "Sorry, dick. I've got my hands full. So I can't beat you senseless right now."
***Limiters in Saiyuki canon are the name of small metal objects, usually a kind of jewelry because we've seen earrings, a bracelet, and a headband among others. A limiter does two things for youkai: 1) dampens their power levels by varying amounts and 2) magically creates a facade that makes the youkai appear human. Goku and Hakkai both require limiters to not only stay sane but protect them from the Minus Wave; Gojyo, being only half-youkai, doesn't require a limiter and can slip into most human settlements with ease.
****Hakuryu is the name of the small white dragon that travels with the party, usually in the capacity of their transportation because Hakuryu can transform into a jeep. Since, "Jeep" or "Jiipu" was copyrighted, they had to change the name for the anime, but it's a lot easier to distinguish between Hakuryu's forms by using both names - Hakuryu for his dragon form, and Jeep for his vehicle form. Hakuryu is essentially Hakkai's pet and thus I did not request Hakuryu coming to the game along with Gojyo.
➤ CANON POINT: Between acts 33 & 34 aka The Even A Worm arc parts 20 & 21 (Saiyuki Reload Gunlock book #7); Sanzo has abandoned his three traveling companions (recovering from the Seiten Taisei versus Youkai-Hakkai battle) to travel with Hazel and Gato. It's completely Manga-verse -- no Homura arc or Movie, as they were anime-only. :( Gojyo is not physically injured, but suffered emotional damage detailed below.
➤ SEXUALITY: Bisexual -- there is a gap in Gojyo's backstory from age 12 to 19, when he is completely alone. By 19, his apartment has magazines with naked men on the cover and he shamelessly uses “beautiful company” to cope with his problems. By 22 he enjoys sex and his favorite compliment is bijin, gender-neutral hottie, versus ojouchan / missy. Gojyo’s streetfighting career didn’t begin until 19, so from 12 to 19 child prostitution is most likely how he survived. This would explain his canon awareness of LGBT tendencies, including a regrettable familiarity with trans* slurs.
➤ PERSONALITY:
Gojyo is best described as a playboy with a heart of gold. His favorite things in life are cigarettes, booze, and sex. While on his own, he used booze & games with strangers to get through the day and love with strangers to get through the night. All the while, feeling like his hanyou status (half human, half youkai) would not allow him to enjoy life because neither human nor youkai wanted him. By remaining with the humans, Gojyo stood a chance at hiding the nature of his birth. To earn money, he became an excellent gambler - playing cards and mah-jongg - and something like a petty thief along with Banri. In his low moments, he retreats to these familiar pursuits.
After meeting Hakkai, Sanzo, and Goku, Gojyo was confronted with the idea that "there are other things in the world that are red". Basically, that he can enjoy life in spite of his "taboo" birth. He becomes a raucous brother-figure to Goku, a best friend to Hakkai, and a pain in Sanzo's side, regularly stopping the journey to do "good deeds" that Sanzo would have otherwise looked over. For example, two brothers were being deceived by a man called "Kami-sama" and Gojyo in fact left his companions (who at first continued on their journey without him) to try to help the brothers, nearly dying in the process. Hakkai also says to Gojyo at one point, "you make a terrible villain". While Sanzo and Goku both accuse Gojyo of being "lecherous", it is nearly always harmless flirting. In fact, the girls he hits on will often indulge his advances and it is only then that Gojyo "gets in trouble" -- being smacked with a paper fan by Sanzo and teased verbally by Goku. In essence, while he enjoys sex, he can actually restrain himself, and is more interested in love, which he has never experienced and has said before that he'd "like to experience it at least once".
This also goes back to his history: he's the only child of a married man and his mistress, who both decided to commit suicide & tried to take Gojyo with them. Afterwards, he ended up in the care of his father's legal wife and her son Jien (Gojyo's half-brother and a full youkai), but his "mother" was so distraught by what happened that she often abused Gojyo physically & mentally. To stop her, Jien engaged in intercourse with his own mother. She still cried all the time and that was why Gojyo (approx. age 12*) was wiling to die if it stopped his mother's tears. As a result, Gojyo doesn't think he's ever experienced love in his whole life, not even familial love - although Jien may disagree.
*At first, canonically this occurred when he was 8. Later in canon it was retconned to age 12.
That's why "there are other things in the world that are red" is so important. Aside from the slight trauma that affects Gojyo every time he sees a haunting visage of his mother, for the most part he's gotten over himself and his hanyou issues - at least, a lot more than his three traveling companions have. He's the only one unaffected by the rain, for instance. He regularly keeps Hakkai's depressing moods in check, reassures Goku when he doesn't understand something (because chances are good Gojyo doesn't either), and is many times the only one bull-headed enough to stand up to Sanzo and his emotional constipation. Even while the four of them are stuck in a cramped vehicle on an incredibly long journey, Gojyo's main desire is really just to have a good time - laughing with his buds, smoking & boozing it up, chasing a little tail here & there, make a little money gambling to buy nicer stuff... So long as he's with those three, it's fine. That goes back to the desires of his past life's self: Kenren promised Goku they'd be together forever, but Goku's three heavenly friends died & were reborn as mortals. Subconsciously, Gojyo is carrying out Kenren's wish, since Gojyo is his reincarnation. That dream is in the process of shattering when Gojyo is being pulled, hence his brief relapse. He'll get over it in a day or two. (Note that this is a very different reason to be upset than his heritage and Mom traumas.)
By the point at which I have pulled him from, Gojyo has discovered a streak of intense loyalty to his traveling companions - the people he considers to be truly friends - and occasionally steps up to a fierce battle for nothing more than to keep the group together. Each time, Gojyo becomes quite frustrated because he actually has very little in the way of extraordinary abilities. He has some increased strength, a great deal more endurance, and some improved speed and dexterity, allowing him to jump and swing his bladed staff. Despite all that, his fighting style remains crude - mainly tavern-brawling, including punches and kicks - and his only "magical" ability is his power to summon his weapon, which comes from the weapon itself. Some extraordinary talents - ability to hold his breath for long periods of time, impressive charisma, as well as elevated strength/endurance/speed/dexterity - are often ascribed to his heritage as a half-water-youkai, only vaguely reminiscent of the kappa of Japanese myth that he is often called as a nickname.
➤ POWERS:
-- Some enhanced strength, speed, and stamina, including jumping agility. This is of an 'extraordinary' level, i.e. better than humans but not up to "super" status. He'll never beat speedsters in a foot race, he'll never jump tall buildings in a single bound, and he'll never bench-press a bus. This is just a bit watered down from "shounen series physics" like you see pulled in Bleach or Naruto and entirely due to his Hanyou heritage.
-- Summon weapon (the "shakujo/staff", see description in History) and telekinetic control of the weapon's chain. Basically he can make the chain do some interesting tricks in battle that should really not be possible with physics. To summon the weapon, he needs only hold out his hand and think about it, then it will appear with a small burst of light. Dismissing it works the same way. The spade end is static.
➤ SUITABILITY: For one thing, the technological aspects won't bother him; his world is pretty anachronistic as is. Sanzo pays for their trip using a credit card, he uses condoms during sex, and a drama CD even mentions cellphones. For as easy as it will be to get Gojyo in the sack, I really want to see if he can earn and maintain a steady relationship. He genuinely does want to know what love feels like, and the nature of games like this switching up partners will also test that - probably not for him, but for his partner(s). Special note: Gojyo is actually infertile, but is not aware of this. Probably the only way he'll ever find out is if the scientists tell him when he gets there (because they fixed it?) or if someone apps his brother Jien/Dokugakuji or the villain Dr. Nii, because they're the only ones who know in canon. If the scientists would fix this, I'd love to know because children are a very touchy subject with him and could prove a very interesting subplot I've never played out anywhere else.
➤ FIRST PERSON EXAMPLE:
[Video as he lounges in his bed, cigarette dangling from his lips.]
Well, shit. I really didn't think this could ever happen. No, seriously this is the most unthinkable thing that could ever happen to me. This truly must be hell. [He lets a breath of smoke out.]
I actually want to get back on the road, in that heat, with the monkey bitching in the backseat. [He sighs and slumps over.] Wow, who'd have thunk it - that I'd miss sleeping bags and campfire food. [He stares down at his box of cigarettes, which he brings into view of the camera] And I'm almost out now, too...
Say, help a guy out would ya? Anybody know this brand, HI-LITE? Or maybe something close enough would do - as long as it's good.
➤ THIRD PERSON EXAMPLE: Proximeme thread
➤ NAME: Frudence
➤ AGE: 27
➤ JOURNAL: volksdaemon made the reserves but frudence is my main journal
➤ CURRENTLY PLAYED: Schuldig (Weiss Kreuz)
CHARACTER INFORMATION
➤ CHARACTER NAME: Sha Gojyo, Gojyo being his given name.
➤ SERIES: Manga/Anime - Saiyuki (Gensomaden Saiyuki/Saiyuki Reload/Saiyuki Reload Gunlock) by Minekura Kazuya.
➤ CHARACTER AGE: 23.
➤ REFERENCE: Sha Gojyo was born to a human mother and a youkai* father, but his mother wasn't his father's wife. Both blood parents committed suicide and tried to take Gojyo with them but obviously failed. After that Gojyo somehow found himself in the "care" of the woman he came to call Mom - his father's legal wife, a youkai, and mother to his older half-brother. Even though she beat him, yelled at him, and could only be comforted by his older brother, Jien, he wanted to make her happy. One day, Mom tried to kill Gojyo, and Jien made the desperate decision to stop her by killing her instead. To the present day, Gojyo carries two scars on his left cheek from where his mother scratched him. The brothers parted ways and didn't see each other for approximately 15 years.
*Youkai live longer than humans, tend to have elemental powers, and are marked physically by a small tattoo somewhere on their body, elongated ears, and fangs. In Gojyo's case, the element is water because he is a "kappa", or water demon.
This next interim period of the series - after Gojyo lost his mother but before the Ikkou (traveling party) begin their journey in the main series - is known as the "Burial arc". The only part of this detailed in the first series (Gensomaden Saiyuki) is how the four met, explained later. Anyway, in the Burial arc we learn that Gojyo wandered the streets and learned, probably with the help of a youkai named Banri, how to play cards, rack up a beer tab, and become quite the lady's man. Gojyo was already very capable of street-fighting, but Banri taught Gojyo how to live off that and cards. Gojyo himself is a "taboo child** ", but most humans don't realize this while most demons do. Thus, Gojyo has lived among humans for most of his life and feels more comfortable in their culture.
**Taboo children are half-youkai and so-called because it is a social taboo for the two races to fornicate. They are marked physically by blood-red hair and eyes; apparently possess no elemental powers; and yet they do have some measure of extraordinary strength, speed, and life expectancy.
Gojyo is particularly close to one of his companions, Hakkai, because they met each other a few months before meeting the other two. Hakkai was "Cho Gonou" then and nearly dead, lying face down in the rain when Gojyo took Gonou back to his house and had a doctor look at the turned-youkai. Eventually Gonou recovered and was just about to leave Gojyo's company when a buddhist priest (Genjyo-sanzo) showed up at his door with a monkey-like boy (Son Goku) and demanded the "mass murderer" be turned over. Long story short, Gonou was not sentenced to death and took on the new name Hakkai to begin his penitence, but he and Gojyo are still best friends to this day as a result of the mess.
Gojyo wields a staff-like weapon with a crescent blade at the top and a chained spade at the bottom, summoning it with his youki -- the magical powers youkai possess and use in a variety of ways. In the show, it is called a 'shakujou', but is closer to the "cresecent-moon-toothed spade" (yueyachan) that Chinese Buddhist priests used as both a traveling staff (with clanging rings) and a shovel to dig graves. The story of how he acquired his weapon is this: Gojyo and Goku knocked over two urns where sacred weapons were being contained, and when the urns cracked open, the weapons claimed new owners. The "staff" claimed Gojyo and the only way to separate them would have been for Gojyo to die - an option, it's worth noting, Sanzo was openly in favor of.
Three years after the four men met, Gojyo's destiny caught up with him. He was summoned to journey with Genjyo-sanzo - among the highest ranking of Buddhist priests but without the shaved head or abstinence from killing, drinking, or smoking - to India to stop a "Minus Wave" from turning all youkai into ravenous, mindless beasts. His other traveling companions include the legendary Son Goku - the Sage Equaling Heaven - and Cho Hakkai, a human cursed for killing 1000 youkai by being himself changed into a youkai. This is the rag-tag group that Gojyo travels with for a year and a half at the time he is pulled from.
In Gensomaden Saiyuki (the first series published), the Sanzo Party fought against a youkai prince, Kougaiji, and his team (Jien among them, now called Dokugakuji) to keep Sanzo's sutra in his possession. It was during this time that the team first caught a glimpse of Goku's berserk "Seiten Taisei" form - the "Great Sage Equaling Heaven". Only through the intervention of Kanzeon Bosatsu (Merciful Goddess) was Goku calmed. What drove Goku berserk was seeing Sanzo nearly die of blood loss from a gaping hole in his stomach. Kanzeon Bosatsu replaced Sanzo's lost blood with some of Gojyo's - she acquired it through a kiss - but it left Gojyo so weak he fell to his knees. It should be noted that Kanzeon Bosatsu thought it would actually knock him unconscious.
In Saiyuki Reload, they continued their journey westward, fighting a variety of youkai along the way and finally going up against Kami-sama - a man who called himself "God" and stole Sanzo's sutra. During the struggle, all four Ikkou (traveling party) members nearly died, but it also forced them to learn more about each other's fighting styles and unite them more as a team as well as friends. All of this happened over a game of mahjongg, a game they played often during the trip because it requires 3-4 people.
Most recently, they encountered a man by the name of Hazel and his attendant called Gato. This whole portion is the 'Even a Worm' arc, but appears in Saiyuki Reload: Gunlock in the anime versus Saiyuki Reload in the manga. Hazel is a Christian (?) bishop with the power to trap youkai souls in his pendant (with the Star of David on it), then release them into the dead bodies of humans, seemingly bringing the dead back to life. But they've changed - the biggest difference is that their eyes become yellow and they despise youkai, going crazy at the sight of them and chanting "Kill Youkai" while attempting to do just that with their own hands. Hazel 'revives' humans who fall in youkai attacks, because he desires to kill all youkai and make a world exclusively for humans. He thinks that he and Sanzo have identical goals and therefore seriously questions why Sanzo travels with "monsters". Naturally, this does not sit well with Hakkai, Goku, and Gojyo. The way that Gojyo deals with it is by mocking Hazel's accent, which is translated as a southern accent.
In the last battle, Gojyo was reminded of how powerless he was in comparison to his fellow travelers. Goku was ambushed with a nearly fatal attack that left Sanzo so distraught he ran off to confront who he supposed to be Goku's ambusher. This left Hakkai and Gojyo to deal with the problem, which they did by choosing to remove Goku's limiter***, thereby transforming Goku into his insanely powerful form - Seiten Taisei, The "Great Sage Equalling Heaven" - that could heal himself and survive the attack. The bad thing about that is that Goku's STTS form is completely berserk - he doesn't distinguish between friend & foe and lives only for himself; Gojyo and Hakkai knew that when they removed Goku's limiter, but it was the only way to keep Goku alive. To stop Goku from going on a killing spree, Hakkai removed his limiters as well to combat Goku. Hakkai's Youkai form is not much better than Goku's STTS form, but Hakkai has a stronger personal will, so he has a greater chance of coming back to his senses while still transformed. Unfortunately, Gojyo had to actually stop Youkai-Hakkai from killing Goku, and Gojyo nearly got his head chopped off by Hakkai in the process. Goku was finally knocked unconscious after a cooperative effort by Hakkai with Gato to elotrocute Goku, after which Gojyo placed the limiter back on Goku's head. However, he still had to help tend to Hakkai's wounds and stopped Hazel from stealing his best friend's soul, screaming, "He's not dead, damnit!" Bearing the weight of both Goku and Hakkai - Goku under his right arm and Hakkai leaning on his left shoulder - Gojyo left the town to find Hakuryu**** and take them to a safe place where they could rest and recover. On his way out, he scorned Sanzo for abandoning Goku when Goku needed Sanzo the most. "Sorry, dick. I've got my hands full. So I can't beat you senseless right now."
***Limiters in Saiyuki canon are the name of small metal objects, usually a kind of jewelry because we've seen earrings, a bracelet, and a headband among others. A limiter does two things for youkai: 1) dampens their power levels by varying amounts and 2) magically creates a facade that makes the youkai appear human. Goku and Hakkai both require limiters to not only stay sane but protect them from the Minus Wave; Gojyo, being only half-youkai, doesn't require a limiter and can slip into most human settlements with ease.
****Hakuryu is the name of the small white dragon that travels with the party, usually in the capacity of their transportation because Hakuryu can transform into a jeep. Since, "Jeep" or "Jiipu" was copyrighted, they had to change the name for the anime, but it's a lot easier to distinguish between Hakuryu's forms by using both names - Hakuryu for his dragon form, and Jeep for his vehicle form. Hakuryu is essentially Hakkai's pet and thus I did not request Hakuryu coming to the game along with Gojyo.
➤ CANON POINT: Between acts 33 & 34 aka The Even A Worm arc parts 20 & 21 (Saiyuki Reload Gunlock book #7); Sanzo has abandoned his three traveling companions (recovering from the Seiten Taisei versus Youkai-Hakkai battle) to travel with Hazel and Gato. It's completely Manga-verse -- no Homura arc or Movie, as they were anime-only. :( Gojyo is not physically injured, but suffered emotional damage detailed below.
➤ SEXUALITY: Bisexual -- there is a gap in Gojyo's backstory from age 12 to 19, when he is completely alone. By 19, his apartment has magazines with naked men on the cover and he shamelessly uses “beautiful company” to cope with his problems. By 22 he enjoys sex and his favorite compliment is bijin, gender-neutral hottie, versus ojouchan / missy. Gojyo’s streetfighting career didn’t begin until 19, so from 12 to 19 child prostitution is most likely how he survived. This would explain his canon awareness of LGBT tendencies, including a regrettable familiarity with trans* slurs.
➤ PERSONALITY:
Gojyo is best described as a playboy with a heart of gold. His favorite things in life are cigarettes, booze, and sex. While on his own, he used booze & games with strangers to get through the day and love with strangers to get through the night. All the while, feeling like his hanyou status (half human, half youkai) would not allow him to enjoy life because neither human nor youkai wanted him. By remaining with the humans, Gojyo stood a chance at hiding the nature of his birth. To earn money, he became an excellent gambler - playing cards and mah-jongg - and something like a petty thief along with Banri. In his low moments, he retreats to these familiar pursuits.
After meeting Hakkai, Sanzo, and Goku, Gojyo was confronted with the idea that "there are other things in the world that are red". Basically, that he can enjoy life in spite of his "taboo" birth. He becomes a raucous brother-figure to Goku, a best friend to Hakkai, and a pain in Sanzo's side, regularly stopping the journey to do "good deeds" that Sanzo would have otherwise looked over. For example, two brothers were being deceived by a man called "Kami-sama" and Gojyo in fact left his companions (who at first continued on their journey without him) to try to help the brothers, nearly dying in the process. Hakkai also says to Gojyo at one point, "you make a terrible villain". While Sanzo and Goku both accuse Gojyo of being "lecherous", it is nearly always harmless flirting. In fact, the girls he hits on will often indulge his advances and it is only then that Gojyo "gets in trouble" -- being smacked with a paper fan by Sanzo and teased verbally by Goku. In essence, while he enjoys sex, he can actually restrain himself, and is more interested in love, which he has never experienced and has said before that he'd "like to experience it at least once".
This also goes back to his history: he's the only child of a married man and his mistress, who both decided to commit suicide & tried to take Gojyo with them. Afterwards, he ended up in the care of his father's legal wife and her son Jien (Gojyo's half-brother and a full youkai), but his "mother" was so distraught by what happened that she often abused Gojyo physically & mentally. To stop her, Jien engaged in intercourse with his own mother. She still cried all the time and that was why Gojyo (approx. age 12*) was wiling to die if it stopped his mother's tears. As a result, Gojyo doesn't think he's ever experienced love in his whole life, not even familial love - although Jien may disagree.
*At first, canonically this occurred when he was 8. Later in canon it was retconned to age 12.
That's why "there are other things in the world that are red" is so important. Aside from the slight trauma that affects Gojyo every time he sees a haunting visage of his mother, for the most part he's gotten over himself and his hanyou issues - at least, a lot more than his three traveling companions have. He's the only one unaffected by the rain, for instance. He regularly keeps Hakkai's depressing moods in check, reassures Goku when he doesn't understand something (because chances are good Gojyo doesn't either), and is many times the only one bull-headed enough to stand up to Sanzo and his emotional constipation. Even while the four of them are stuck in a cramped vehicle on an incredibly long journey, Gojyo's main desire is really just to have a good time - laughing with his buds, smoking & boozing it up, chasing a little tail here & there, make a little money gambling to buy nicer stuff... So long as he's with those three, it's fine. That goes back to the desires of his past life's self: Kenren promised Goku they'd be together forever, but Goku's three heavenly friends died & were reborn as mortals. Subconsciously, Gojyo is carrying out Kenren's wish, since Gojyo is his reincarnation. That dream is in the process of shattering when Gojyo is being pulled, hence his brief relapse. He'll get over it in a day or two. (Note that this is a very different reason to be upset than his heritage and Mom traumas.)
By the point at which I have pulled him from, Gojyo has discovered a streak of intense loyalty to his traveling companions - the people he considers to be truly friends - and occasionally steps up to a fierce battle for nothing more than to keep the group together. Each time, Gojyo becomes quite frustrated because he actually has very little in the way of extraordinary abilities. He has some increased strength, a great deal more endurance, and some improved speed and dexterity, allowing him to jump and swing his bladed staff. Despite all that, his fighting style remains crude - mainly tavern-brawling, including punches and kicks - and his only "magical" ability is his power to summon his weapon, which comes from the weapon itself. Some extraordinary talents - ability to hold his breath for long periods of time, impressive charisma, as well as elevated strength/endurance/speed/dexterity - are often ascribed to his heritage as a half-water-youkai, only vaguely reminiscent of the kappa of Japanese myth that he is often called as a nickname.
➤ POWERS:
-- Some enhanced strength, speed, and stamina, including jumping agility. This is of an 'extraordinary' level, i.e. better than humans but not up to "super" status. He'll never beat speedsters in a foot race, he'll never jump tall buildings in a single bound, and he'll never bench-press a bus. This is just a bit watered down from "shounen series physics" like you see pulled in Bleach or Naruto and entirely due to his Hanyou heritage.
-- Summon weapon (the "shakujo/staff", see description in History) and telekinetic control of the weapon's chain. Basically he can make the chain do some interesting tricks in battle that should really not be possible with physics. To summon the weapon, he needs only hold out his hand and think about it, then it will appear with a small burst of light. Dismissing it works the same way. The spade end is static.
➤ SUITABILITY: For one thing, the technological aspects won't bother him; his world is pretty anachronistic as is. Sanzo pays for their trip using a credit card, he uses condoms during sex, and a drama CD even mentions cellphones. For as easy as it will be to get Gojyo in the sack, I really want to see if he can earn and maintain a steady relationship. He genuinely does want to know what love feels like, and the nature of games like this switching up partners will also test that - probably not for him, but for his partner(s). Special note: Gojyo is actually infertile, but is not aware of this. Probably the only way he'll ever find out is if the scientists tell him when he gets there (because they fixed it?) or if someone apps his brother Jien/Dokugakuji or the villain Dr. Nii, because they're the only ones who know in canon. If the scientists would fix this, I'd love to know because children are a very touchy subject with him and could prove a very interesting subplot I've never played out anywhere else.
➤ FIRST PERSON EXAMPLE:
[Video as he lounges in his bed, cigarette dangling from his lips.]
Well, shit. I really didn't think this could ever happen. No, seriously this is the most unthinkable thing that could ever happen to me. This truly must be hell. [He lets a breath of smoke out.]
I actually want to get back on the road, in that heat, with the monkey bitching in the backseat. [He sighs and slumps over.] Wow, who'd have thunk it - that I'd miss sleeping bags and campfire food. [He stares down at his box of cigarettes, which he brings into view of the camera] And I'm almost out now, too...
Say, help a guy out would ya? Anybody know this brand, HI-LITE? Or maybe something close enough would do - as long as it's good.
➤ THIRD PERSON EXAMPLE: Proximeme thread
