Reiko Natsume (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
friendcontracts) wrote2017-04-09 10:20 pm
friendcontracts) wrote2017-04-09 10:20 pm
BE MY FRIEND NOW FOREVER: A Quick Guide and Permission Post on Reiko's 'Book of Friends'
Reiko, like her grandson, has a strong spiritual power. For a general guide on how strong check Takashi Natsume's guide on spirits. Along with Natsume, Reiko is on the highest end on the spectrum. She can see spirits, youkai, gods, akayashi and the like. She talks to them, generally preferring their company.
There is a huge difference, though, in Reiko's personality that requires a permissions post. The last sentence of the guide says it all: Capable of controlling spirits if you defeat and obtain their name.
Reiko has a collection of names of spirits. The Book of Friends. Natsume has inherited it after death but Reiko is the one who created it.
The Book of Friends is a collection of names of spirits Reiko has defeated. Some people might call this conquering, enslavement, and so forth. If she has their name, Reiko has enough raw power and acquired skill to make them obey her.
Reiko, at her core, is a very lonely person. Challenging spirits is her way of connecting to them--taking their name is the same thing as writing down someone's phone number to her. Even though this might be considered enslavement, Reiko rarely uses the names in the Book. These are reminders of her deeds, her friends. She'll brag of her conquests but she'll only use the names contained within if she must.
What does this mean for your character?
Due to the unusual nature of the community, Reiko will be interested in taking names from certain members here. This post will show how it can be done and reversed.
Is your character human? This is the biggest question. If the answer is yes then Reiko will have very little interest in taking their name. What if your character is dead? Or a magical girl? Or a wizard? Or a Servant who was human but is now a Heroic Spirit or an angel or whatever?
If the answer is yes to the question above, do they have any special abilities or skills that might make Reiko or anyone else mistake them for being non-human? Basically, Reiko is skilled in dealing with spirits and the like but she can be fooled. She sometimes can't tell whether a person is human or not. Even if your character still can be counted as human, she might still be interested in taking their name.
If your character isn't a human, can Reiko notice? Basically, are they obviously not human? This includes obvious things such as wings, being blue, being impossibly tiny or being as tall as a house. This also includes more subtle things such as possessing a strong aura or really anything that can 'tip' someone off.
Can Reiko take your character's name? She has enough power to take the names of gods. It's not said whether she can take a human's name but that's mostly due to her dislike of humans in general--due to the strange nature of the community it might happen. As to why she would, it'd be the generally same reason why she normally does: she's lonely and wants to connect to another individual (humans excluded).
There are other reasons why she might, though. She has stolen the names of several evil spirits to bind them so she might try the same trick with troublesome community members. Really, this is a question of do you want her to? If you don't want to, that's fine. Reiko might still challenge your characters but you can have them win (and get something from Reiko instead) or have them decline all together. She probably will just give up on them after that.
If she can, what would be the best challenge for Reiko to propose? To get a name, it's not good enough for Reiko to just find out a person's name and write it down. No. She has to beat them in some way and the owner of the name has to write it down themselves. This has to be their true name, not a title or a nickname.
As for the challenge itself, it can vary on the situation. Normally Reiko fights the spirit but this always isn't the case. Reiko's smart, she's not going to challenge someone to fight her if she knows they can just step on her and be done with it. She's challenged a powerful spirit to a game of rock paper scissors, after all (and won). So, no, they don't have to fight for Reiko to be able to get their name. She might win in a foot race, beat them in a word game, out prank them, or whatever you can think of. She always chooses something that she believes she has a chance of winning at.
If Reiko does steal your character's name, is it alright if she keeps it? Like I said before, she probably won't use it. She might use it to gain a favor but it's more likely she'll just put it in the Book of Friends and never touch it again. If you allow her to use it then we can plot shenanigans and such later.
If you want your character to get their names back (as quickly or as slowly as you want) then that's easy, too. Reiko won't give them back, she's quite fond of her slaves--I mean, friends. But her grandson? Well, he's dedicated to return every name she's ever stolen so Takashi can return your character's name with little trouble.
Handy Dandy Text Box for Name Stealing
Also, since Reiko's like her grandson, I'm also including the permissions from his post as well for further help.
There is a huge difference, though, in Reiko's personality that requires a permissions post. The last sentence of the guide says it all: Capable of controlling spirits if you defeat and obtain their name.
Reiko has a collection of names of spirits. The Book of Friends. Natsume has inherited it after death but Reiko is the one who created it.
The Book of Friends is a collection of names of spirits Reiko has defeated. Some people might call this conquering, enslavement, and so forth. If she has their name, Reiko has enough raw power and acquired skill to make them obey her.
Reiko, at her core, is a very lonely person. Challenging spirits is her way of connecting to them--taking their name is the same thing as writing down someone's phone number to her. Even though this might be considered enslavement, Reiko rarely uses the names in the Book. These are reminders of her deeds, her friends. She'll brag of her conquests but she'll only use the names contained within if she must.
What does this mean for your character?
Due to the unusual nature of the community, Reiko will be interested in taking names from certain members here. This post will show how it can be done and reversed.
Is your character human? This is the biggest question. If the answer is yes then Reiko will have very little interest in taking their name. What if your character is dead? Or a magical girl? Or a wizard? Or a Servant who was human but is now a Heroic Spirit or an angel or whatever?
If the answer is yes to the question above, do they have any special abilities or skills that might make Reiko or anyone else mistake them for being non-human? Basically, Reiko is skilled in dealing with spirits and the like but she can be fooled. She sometimes can't tell whether a person is human or not. Even if your character still can be counted as human, she might still be interested in taking their name.
If your character isn't a human, can Reiko notice? Basically, are they obviously not human? This includes obvious things such as wings, being blue, being impossibly tiny or being as tall as a house. This also includes more subtle things such as possessing a strong aura or really anything that can 'tip' someone off.
Can Reiko take your character's name? She has enough power to take the names of gods. It's not said whether she can take a human's name but that's mostly due to her dislike of humans in general--due to the strange nature of the community it might happen. As to why she would, it'd be the generally same reason why she normally does: she's lonely and wants to connect to another individual (humans excluded).
There are other reasons why she might, though. She has stolen the names of several evil spirits to bind them so she might try the same trick with troublesome community members. Really, this is a question of do you want her to? If you don't want to, that's fine. Reiko might still challenge your characters but you can have them win (and get something from Reiko instead) or have them decline all together. She probably will just give up on them after that.
If she can, what would be the best challenge for Reiko to propose? To get a name, it's not good enough for Reiko to just find out a person's name and write it down. No. She has to beat them in some way and the owner of the name has to write it down themselves. This has to be their true name, not a title or a nickname.
As for the challenge itself, it can vary on the situation. Normally Reiko fights the spirit but this always isn't the case. Reiko's smart, she's not going to challenge someone to fight her if she knows they can just step on her and be done with it. She's challenged a powerful spirit to a game of rock paper scissors, after all (and won). So, no, they don't have to fight for Reiko to be able to get their name. She might win in a foot race, beat them in a word game, out prank them, or whatever you can think of. She always chooses something that she believes she has a chance of winning at.
If Reiko does steal your character's name, is it alright if she keeps it? Like I said before, she probably won't use it. She might use it to gain a favor but it's more likely she'll just put it in the Book of Friends and never touch it again. If you allow her to use it then we can plot shenanigans and such later.
If you want your character to get their names back (as quickly or as slowly as you want) then that's easy, too. Reiko won't give them back, she's quite fond of her slaves--I mean, friends. But her grandson? Well, he's dedicated to return every name she's ever stolen so Takashi can return your character's name with little trouble.
Handy Dandy Text Box for Name Stealing
Also, since Reiko's like her grandson, I'm also including the permissions from his post as well for further help.
/late
Character's Name, Canon, and Journal: Jak, Jak & Daxter series;
Is your character human? Eh, sort of? J&D-verse characters are basically human with pointy ears and weird hair. But Jak specifically runs into issues - he's been experimented on in a super-soldier program, and then been given counteracting powers basically by means of being a chosen hero. So he's some sort of mutant/mystically-empowered-chosen-one... thing.
If the answer is yes to the question above, do they have any special abilities or skills that might make Reiko or anyone else mistake them for being non-human? If she gets directed to him by someone who thinks "pointy ears = elves/demons/whatever", or someone who's mostly aware of his powers, which consist of "turn into a very pale person with horns and throw around dark energy, or turn into a glowy person with wings and heal/shield himself/slow down time/fly". Dark Jak could easily be mistaken for a demon, and Light Jak for some sort of angel or spirit.
If your character isn't a human, can Reiko notice? Sure thing. Not like he really hides it that much.
Can Reiko take your character's name? I've got no problem with it. Jak would probably take offense if he knew the effects, but he's liable to accept challenges as a matter of pride.
If she can, what would be the best challenge for Reiko to propose? Uh... geez, IDK. Jak actually fights fairly mundanely unless he needs to use his powers - but mundane for his world involves a mixture of unarmed combat and ludicrous Swiss Army guns that do everything from shoot energy bullets to lasers to remote-controlled drones to reversing gravity. Alternatively, he likes racing, and he's fairly good at accuracy challenges or deathtrap-obstacle courses. He's so-so at actual intelligence things, though; he's not stupid, but he prefers his problems to go away when he punches them.
If Reiko does steal your character's name, is it alright if she keeps it? Kind of like Yuri above, he's liable to challenge her back if she wins, purely out of pride. Again, if he finds out about the potential to control him, he's not going to be happy. And Jak being unhappy has this nasty habit of resulting in explosions if asking nicely doesn't stop the problem (for varying values of nicely).
What manner of invisible creatures are in their world? Basically all the weird stuff in Jakworld is right out there, visible and trying to kill people. But Jak can turn invisible in Dark form.
Is Reiko allowed to see them? Sure, why not for Dark Jak. He's unlikely to ever be invisible on camera. She might or might not notice the Dark Eco/Light Eco stuff about Jak in normal form, maybe? All the other stuff everybody can see.
If yes, are there specific instances where she wouldn't be able to? Don't think so. Some Metal Heads have cloaking devices, I think?
Anything else I should know? Probably not. I'm sorry, Jak's the complicated one.
Character's Name, Canon, and Journal: Zelgadiss Graywords, Slayers,
Is your character human? No. Well, okay, one-third human, but that's probably enough to qualify as not.
If the answer is yes to the question above, do they have any special abilities or skills that might make Reiko or anyone else mistake them for being non-human? He's blue and has stone skin. Oh, and he can do magic, but humans in his world can do that too.
If your character isn't a human, can Reiko notice? Again, pretty obvious, so yes.
Can Reiko take your character's name? Sure, why not.
If she can, what would be the best challenge for Reiko to propose? Here's the problem - if Zel knows the stakes of the challenge, he's not going to want to go through with it unless he thinks declining would be the same as losing. Well, that or if winning will get him something he wants badly enough. Zelgadiss isn't just a bruiser - he's pretty smart, too, and excellent at tactical planning as well as being skilled at both magic and swordsmanship (and very hard to hurt thinks to being made of rock). He's pretty cool-headed, but he could be goaded into a challenge on the grounds of his skill or just his intelligence, especially if he thinks he has a good chance of winning.
If Reiko does steal your character's name, is it alright if she keeps it? Probably not, honestly. If Zel loses his name but becomes aware of a way to get it back, he's probably going to pursue it.
What manner of invisible creatures are in their world? Here's the jackpot invisible-creatures wise; Zel's world has sort-of-demonic creatures called mazoku, which feed on negative emotions and can hide their true forms, most of their being existing on the Astral Plane. There's also dragons (though most of the ones that take on human form aren't around anymore), and occasionally just plain ghosts as well.
Is Reiko allowed to see them? Sure, I guess, but as far as I know most mazoku aren't ever really given canonical true forms, because seeing into the Astral Plane isn't really a thing people do in Slayers-verse. If we ever pick up a Xelloss again, run it by their player - he's the most prominent mazoku in canon and one of the few with revealed true forms (an inverted black cone).
If yes, are there specific instances where she wouldn't be able to? Some creatures are sealed off on the Astral Plane (the Demon Beast Zanaffar is the example that springs to mind), rendering them mostly immune to Astral attacks (which target the mind/soul and are very effective on mazoku because their true being is over there and they don't have the body/soul duality most creatures do). If Reiko's spirit-vision gets run as see-into-the-astral-plane, that'd probably block her off, too.
Anything else I should know? Again, most creatures have a body/soul duality thing going on, and some spells reach into the Astral plane (some shamanic attack spells, which are Zel's specialty, and tracking spells among them). IDK how that would interact with this.
Character's Name, Canon, and Journal: Leila, Fire Emblem,
Is your character human? Yes
If the answer is yes to the question above, do they have any special abilities or skills that might make Reiko or anyone else mistake them for being non-human? She's really sneaky. But no, not really.
If your character isn't a human, can Reiko notice? N/A.
Can Reiko take your character's name? Sure, not that she'd bother.
If she can, what would be the best challenge for Reiko to propose? Leila doesn't do brute force, but she's fast, intelligent, and stealthy. She'd try to get all the conditions down first, though, and if she finds out what having her name taken would do, she'd refuse in a heartbeat - Leila's got her loyalties already.
If Reiko does steal your character's name, is it alright if she keeps it? She's another who'd try to get it back quickly; Leila is loyal to the government she serves and doesn't want divided loyalties.
What manner of invisible creatures are in their world? Bugger-all. Okay, dragons can take human form sometimes. And maybe she'd be able to distinguish morphs from normal people.
Is Reiko allowed to see them? Sure, I guess. If we ever actually get someone playing a manakete (dragon in human form) or a morph, ask them.
If yes, are there specific instances where she wouldn't be able to? Can't think of any.
Anything else I should know? Nope, FE world is fairly boring.
Character's Name, Canon, and Journal: Pretty Butterfly, Discworld,
Is your character human? Yep
If the answer is yes to the question above, do they have any special abilities or skills that might make Reiko or anyone else mistake them for being non-human? Nope, just hits hard.
If your character isn't a human, can Reiko notice? N/A
Can Reiko take your character's name? Sure, fine. She wouldn't like it either. (Basically all of my characters have stronger-than-average feelings about autonomy, apart from Leila, whose issue is, again, divided loyalties.) Again, not that Reiko would bother anyway.
If she can, what would be the best challenge for Reiko to propose? Butterfly's a very skilled but completely mundane martial artist, so she'd probably think she had a good chance of winning physical challenges. She's also very intelligent, but she can be a bit naive, so a challenge that involved tricking her is quite possible.
If Reiko does steal your character's name, is it alright if she keeps it? Basically all my pups boil down to the same answer - I'm fine with it, but they're going to try to get it back. Zel and Leila will probably only try if they think the process actually can be undone; Jak and Butterfly are liable to try regardless, because they have knee-jerk reactions to basically any authority they don't like.
What manner of invisible creatures are in their world? Ghosts, mostly. And it's up in the air how much they exist. Also gods and various anthropomorphic personifications (the Four Horsemen, Time, Fate, etc.), though Death and War are the only ones who've been spotted anywhere near Butterfly.
Is Reiko allowed to see them? Sure, most people who are at all supernatural or even close to being exposed to them tend to be able to.
If yes, are there specific instances where she wouldn't be able to? Probably not. If Reiko can't see them they probably aren't there (which would be weird on its own, especially for anthropomorphic personifications who have a tendency to technically be everywhere).
Anything else I should know? Reiko can probably see octarine (the eighth color, which you have to be magical to see and is sort of greeny-purple).
... Wow, that got long-winded, especially considering several of them have very similar answers.