(no subject)

[hisokathemagician]

PLAYER INFO.
✖ Handle: Tetra
✖ Contact: Tetravolte; Plurk: tetradecimal ; Email: tetradecimal at pandemona dot net
✖ Are You Over 16: Y
✖ Other Characters Played in Consignment: N/A
CHARACTER INFO.
✖ Character Name: Hisoka
✖ Canon: Hunter x Hunter, end of the 13th Hunter Chairman Election arc
✖ Character Appearance: Link
✖ Character Age: 28
✖ Pick A Number: 405, or 404

✖ Canon Setting: Hunter x Hunter takes place in a vaguely modern-day world with many parallels to 21st century Earth, including cell phones, motor vehicles, and the internet. Many of the world's locations take cues from those existing on Earth, such as "Yorknew City", and NGL, a poor dictatorship that shares aspects with countries like North Korea. Beyond that, however, the similarities end: the world is full of bizarre animals, unexplored forests, and ancient ruins.

Besides the major nation-states, the most powerful organizations in the world consist of elite practitioners of Nen, a naturally-occurring life energy present in all living beings that can be harnessed to achieve great destructive or healing power. The most famous of these, the Hunter Association, bestows upon its members access to vast information networks, transportation subsidies, unparalleled employment opportunities operating anywhere in the world, and more.

Hunters like Hisoka are almost always eccentric, unconventional, selfish personalities that constantly butt heads with each other -- to the detriment of the hapless general population, who often end up as collateral damage. Generally speaking, though any human can learn to harness and perceive Nen, relatively few ever learn and most are unaware it exists.

✖ Character History: http://hunterxhunter.wikia.com/wiki/Hisoka#Plot

✖ Character Personality: Hisoka, by his own admittance, is a whimsical liar: fickle, unpredictable, and unreliable. Though he can go to amazing lengths in the pursuit of a given goal, he can also change his mind in an instant, discarding an object or person that he once valued highly as if they had never mattered to him at all. He lives wholly in the present, rarely bothering to recall his past or even remember people he’s met unless they make a particularly strong impression on him. And naturally, he lies for the sake of lying. Hisoka is a wild card whose only true master is himself -- basically the definition of Chaotic Neutral.

Hisoka is introduced early on as a participant in the Hunter exams, the extraordinarily demanding yearly field exam through which would-be Hunters can qualify for membership in one of the most prestigious professional organizations in the world. Unlike many of returning examinees, however, Hisoka had apparently been on the fast track to passing the test with flying colors during the previous year’s exams... at least up until the point where he decided he took a disliking to one of the text examiners and killed him, at which point he was instantly disqualified.

Hisoka quickly lives up to his reputation by attacking a full-fledged Hunter and killing off several of his fellow examinees under the cover of dense fog. It is only when the protagonist, Gon, draws Hisoka as his target in an ambush battle exercise, however, that the more sinister aspects of Hisoka’s personality surface. After agreeing to allow two of his fellow examinees to pass him unharmed in exchange for an extra test point, Hisoka becomes uncontrollably excited by the look of defiance and potential he sees in their expressions; overwhelmed by the sudden need to kill, he murders his next opponent in a deranged, berserker fit, incapable of being reasoned with or stopped until one of them is dead.

Unlike many characters in Hunter x Hunter, Hisoka doesn’t merely enjoy killing -- he derives some kind of perverse sexual pleasure from it. He lives for the moment in which he can take on a truly skilled opponent, the moment when he can skirt death by the nearest of margins, the moment in which he can snatch victory not through brute force, but through a combination of luck, adaptability, and the perfect application of abilities he’s honed just for such enjoyments. As such, he’s inherently fascinated with characters he believes can give him that thrill, or those in whom he sees the potential for greatness. Hisoka is especially enamored of young, inexperienced fighters who have not yet come into their true power. So enamored of them, in fact, that he needs to constantly restrain himself from going too far in his bouts with them and killing them before they can mature. Instead, Hisoka will often lend them assistance or dispense helpful advice on how to improve, all the while lamenting that “unripe fruit always looks the most delicious” and anticipating the pleasure he’ll derive from their deaths down the road.

For this reason, the other characters see Hisoka as a dangerous deviant: someone whose abilities are to be respected, even feared, but whose questionable motives and lack of conventional fear makes him inherently unstable and frightening. For his part, Hisoka seems neither ashamed nor overly concerned about the way people perceive him. Interestingly, Hisoka is able to fit into normal society (at least temporarily), as he is cordial and perfectly capable of following rules when he has no reason to break them. Rather, he seems to enjoy operating within them on occasion, treating them as an amusing handicap for himself. Ultimately, however, Hisoka finds normalcy boring; if forced to behave himself for long, he will amuse himself however he is able.

Despite his outwardly cordial nature (and the clown getup), Hisoka is a seasoned and deadly opponent, easily capable of making snap decisions, gauging an opponent’s power at a glance, and thinking of unusually adaptive ways to apply his (admittedly kind of lame-sounding) abilities to pull victory out of the proverbial hat. Though he’s no slouch in a stand-up fight, it is the same unpredictability and reckless abandon that Hisoka displays in other facets in his life that make him dangerous. Hisoka is the kind of character who will allow a dangerous opponent to sever both of his arms in order to win while performing a convoluted magic trick, or risk making enemies of one of the most infamous criminal organizations in the world just for a shot at dueling their leader.

Hisoka doesn’t have any friends in the conventional sense, but he does manage to maintain fairly friendly (or at least not outright antagonistic) relations with several characters throughout the series. These tend to fall into two categories: seasoned professionals whose abilities have caught his notice (such as Machi of the Phantom Troupe or Illumi of the Zoldyck assassins) or children whose potential he’s taken an interest in (Gon and Killua). Hisoka constantly savors the thought of a fight with the former, but will put aside his desires in order to maintain business relationships so long as the other party doesn’t overly excite him. He delights in playing games with the latter and even goes out of his way to help them develop, though he must similarly be careful not to become too enamored of the potential he sees in them, lest he lose control of himself and thus ruin his chances for a thrilling battle in the future.

✖ Character Powers & Skills: This link provides a thorough explanation of Hunter x Hunter's Nen system, which revolves around deploying one's life energy to achieve various supernatural effects, much like the idea of ki. For convenience's sake, I've outlined the abilities Hisoka should know below.

As a Transmuter, Hisoka has an innate talent for transforming his aura to mimic the qualities of another substance. For example, a Transmuter might be able to give their aura the properties of electricity or thread with incredible tensile strength. Hisoka has taken advantage of his talent to develop his Texture Surprise and Bungee Gum powers (described in full below), which allow him to create elaborate forgeries and modify his aura to mimic the properties of rubber and chewing gum. It is Hisoka’s resourcefulness and physical prowess, however, that truly make these abilities shine.

Hisoka is incredibly swift and strong by baseline human standards, easily capable of picking up large concrete slabs and kicking them across a fighting arena, moving faster than a normal human can react to, etc. When he employs Nen to reinforce his existing abilities, however, these physical attributes are enhanced across the board, making him an incredibly tough hand-to-hand combatant who basically has the ability to rope his opponents in and force them into close-quarters combat with him. The bad news is that since he’s a Transmuter leaning towards Reinforcement (which itself specializes in boosting physical prowess), Hisoka has essentially chosen abilities for himself that perfectly complement his talents and personality. The good news is that he has displayed no Conjuration abilities at all, which means that at least people don’t have to deal with him literally pulling weapons out of thin air.

Hisoka has access to the following abilities available to all Nen users:
Ten: The ability to shroud the body with aura, preventing it from leaking away from the body. Ten provides a basic defense against Nen attacks, deflects physical damage, and turns aside mental/emotional assault. Practitioners using Ten can appear as though their bodies are covered with invisible armor, as they can absorb violent physical damage or even bomb explosions with no real harm done to them.

Zetsu: Stops the flow of aura, concentrating it within the body. This allows Nen users to conceal their presence from anyone who might otherwise sense their aura, and become more sensitive to the aura of those around them. For this reason, a practitioner in the midst of Zetsu has an enhanced ability to track the presences of others; animals in the wild are described as natural users of Zetsu, as they learn to use it to hide or stalk prey. Zetsu also aids the body in healing, since it prevents aura from leaking out of the body. However, it also leaves the user almost completely defenseless to attack.

Ren: Allows a user to quickly produce large amounts of aura centered around the body. Ren grants increased strength and durability, but it is most useful in that it can be used to pool aura for the use of other Nen abilities. In addition, a demonstration of Ren combined with directed malicious intent has the power to freeze a normal person in their tracks, or instill terror or outright panic -- an effect that is amplified when the target has no idea what's going on. A layman might mistake someone who uses Ren as someone who has unnatural charisma or a frightening presence.

Hatsu: The transferral or release of Nen to fulfill some purpose. For example, a sudden expelling of aura into a wall through Hatsu can produce the physical equivalent of someone attacking the wall with a sledgehammer or wrecking ball. Depending on how it's used, Hatsu can also be used to jolt open the aura-emitting nodes within a person's body, forcing all their aura to flow out at once and instantly allowing them to perceive and control aura. Unfortunately, this is also extremely dangerous; if the target is unable to bring their aura under control quickly enough, they could lose consciousness. For this reason, few scrupulous Nen practitioners ever attempt this.

Shu: Shu allows a user of Nen to extend their aura around an object, allowing them to use that object as if it were an extension of their own body. This is the technique that allows Hisoka to make his solitaire cards as sharp and as hard as metal knives.

Gyo: By concentrating aura into a specific body part, Gyo allows users to strengthen or enhance one area of the body, but leaves the rest of the body more vulnerable. Gyo is most often used in the eyes, allowing a Nen-user to see aura and things which would otherwise be hidden (e.g. Nen objects hidden by In).

In: Completely conceals the presence of a Nen-user's aura. It is often used on a Nen-user's Hatsu ability to make it invisible to other Nen-users (for example, Hisoka uses In to make his Bungee Gum invisible and thus harder to avoid). In can be countered by using Gyo to enhance the eyes or by sensing aura through the use of En.

En: Extends aura around the user’s body further than normal, often in the shape of a sphere. Someone using En can feel the shape and movement of anything entering this sphere. However, this technique is also extremely draining, especially for novice practitioners. Those who master En are typically able to extend their En to a circle of a 50m radius, but as Hisoka is of the Transmutation Nen type, I think a 25m radius would make sense.

Ryu: The real-time use of Gyo (the adjustment of aura concentration in various body parts) by a Nen-user in battle. For example, the use of Gyo to increase the amount of Nen in a fist as one strikes with it, to increase damage done; or to increase the amount of Nen in an arm as it is used to block a blow, for extra defense.

Ken: A defensive technique where a Nen-user maintains a state of Ren over their entire body, allowing them to defend against attacks from any direction without the need to use Gyo. Ken is as useful as a defensive position, but is tiring to maintain. Additionally, it is not as strong as Gyo on any given part of the body, since it protects the whole body evenly. Because of that, it is used to guard when one wants to be cautious.

Ko: An enhanced version of Gyo in which all of an individual's aura is concentrated into one particular body part. Zetsu is used to completely stop the flow of Nen in all other parts of the body. This makes that one body part exceptionally powerful, but leaves the rest of the body completely unprotected. This is used by some Nen-users as an offensive technique (a Ko-punch would carry all 100% of your aura with it), but it is a risky move — leaving the rest of one's body unprotected in a fight against another Nen-user is generally not a good idea.

Hisoka has two powers that are unique to him alone:
* Bungee Gum: Hisoka can alter his aura's consistency into an incredibly sticky substance somewhat akin to bubble gum, albeit much stronger. It can be used to pull opponents within punching range for a flurry of rebound pummels. Bungee Gum can both stretch and contract, depending on what Hisoka desires. It can be attached either by extending his aura toward his target or through direct physical contact. Additionally, Bungee Gum can also be molded into various shapes, such as a sheet or a string. It is so reliable and durable that it can act as a shield against attacks or as a means to return them to their originator. When not attached to Hisoka's body, Bungee Gum cannot stretch more than 10 meters. He has shown the ability to alter his Bungee Gum´s shape and colour.

Hisoka generally attaches Bungee Gun to his opponents in one of two ways: by using In to make it invisible (except to those using supernatural sensory abilities) and stretch it toward them from a distance, or by simply making physical contact with them and transforming the aura that touches them into Bungee Gum.

* Texture Surprise: Hisoka can apply his aura to any thin surface (such as paper or cloth) and change its surface appearance. He mainly uses this ability for deception. For example, he can use Texture Surprise to make his cards invisible to the naked eye, forge letters, or give himself the appearance of being tattooed. If anyone actually touches the forged surface, however, they will immediately notice that it feels like cloth/paper/whatever it really is.

Hunter x Hunter generally treats rudimentary Nen abilities like Gyo and Ren as trainable skills and specialized abilities like Texture Surprise as powers; additionally, Hisoka's general strength, speed, etc. are basically Charles Atlas Superpowers that anyone in theory could achieve, provided they had talent and endless hours of free time.