[Application] Mitsunari Ishida ; Haven

[unbending]

Name: Cal
Contact Info: Plurk: kalisona || AIM: carriwitchets
Other Characters Played:
Morgan | intendance | Fire Emblem: Awakening
March | xyresic | March Story
Requested apartment: With Sakon if at all possible!

Character Name: Mitsunari Ishida
Canon: Sengoku BASARA
Canon Point: Post his red route, from Sengoku BASARA 3
Background/History:

Mitsunari @ SenBASA wiki
SenBASA @ Wikipedia
Mitsunari @ Wikipedia

Personality:

The first thing that stands out to anyone meeting Mitsunari is that he more or less embodies the trait of loyalty. For Mitsunari, picked up and taken under Toyotomi Hideyoshi’s wing, there is nothing more important than serving the Toyotomi with all of his being, and that’s not an exaggeration. If Hideyoshi orders it, it will be done. It doesn’t matter what it takes, and really, to give anything less than his everything to the Toyotomi is unacceptable to him—in himself and in others. He certainly has no issues with snapping at others for wasting time, wasting effort, wasted things that would have been better put towards serving the Toyotomi properly.

That was his entire life—well, until Ieyasu killed Hideyoshi.

The most important thing in Mitsunari’s life is loyalty—then it serves to reason that his most hated thing is betrayal, and that is certainly the truth. Betrayal is something sinful, unforgivable and utterly wrong; he hates it with all of his being. Ieyasu not only killed his lord, he betrayed the Toyotomi entire, so it is really no wonder that Mitsunari hates him so fervently and furiously.

But let's step back for a moment. To start, Mitsunari is an extremely straightforward person. There’s very little that isn’t obvious about him from first meeting; he isn’t the sort to hide things or pretend to be something he isn’t. In fact, he’s almost painfully honest at all times. Lying is something detestable and unacceptable, and he will never indulge in something as sinful as that. It would be hard to meet someone more honest than him, in fact. If he says he will do something, he will do it. This is a man who would not just never stab someone in the back, the very thought would never cross his mind. He’s a man of extremes as well—he takes responsibility for his subordinates’ misdeeds and even goes so far as to offer his own life in payment for their disgusting deeds of betrayal in one route.

Because betrayal is detestable in all ways, and for it to happen under his own banner is something he could not allow to go unaddressed; he would take responsibility for it, and to him betrayal must be paid for with repenting and death. In that sense, his actions are all very logical according to his own moral code.

Because he really is that stubborn. In an era distinguished by bushido ways of thought, when the man Mitsunari has dedicated his life to is killed, suicide is simply not an option. Giving up on life like that is pathetic to him—so he finds another purpose, namely revenge on Ieyasu (in Hideyoshi’s name, of course; how else could he continue to function?). As Yoshitsugu puts it, “It is useless to try to make us retreat. Mitsunari will never retreat.” He will not retreat, he will not back down and he will not forgive that which he considers unforgivable. And so, as broken and shattered he is after Hideyoshi’s death, he can carry on so long as he finds a purpose to devote himself to, one entirely for Hideyoshi.

…But because of all of this, he is not very easy to get along with—or to like. He is the most dependable of allies in pure trustworthiness—but he is also bitter, temperamental and uncaring. He has a terrible temper, lashing out in words and actions when upset. It doesn’t take much to set him off, either. Threats flow easily off of his tongue, inventive and dark, and he sees no issue with threatening an ally with his sword if need-be. Because after Ieyasu’s actions, he’s paranoid as well; his fellow general betrayed him, and so he is suspicious and afraid that his new allies will do the same. His paranoia, as is the Mitsunari way, manifests in anger and threats as well.

He probably doesn’t hate you. Really.

And yet he is capable of being reasonable. He is suspicious and frustrated—but he accepts his new allies nonetheless (though certainly his advisor Yoshitsugu’s advice helps there). And he accepts them into his ranks fully, to the point that he is rather upset when his ally, Motochika Chosokabe, is attacked by another. Because Motochika is his ally, and while he expects Motochika’s loyalty, it means Motochika has received Mitsunari’s as well. It’s just a given. That’s the sort of man he is. When someone has earned his loyalty, they will have it, unflinchingly.

Of course, Mitsunari is more than his loyalty as well. With his temper and his bluntness, it’s very easy for him to offend people—not that he cares if he does. Because in general, “other people” don’t matter to him. It is for this reason that he so easily brushes off insults to himself--the opinions of others truly don't matter to him, so long as they are speaking in reference to Mitsunari. Of course, the moment someone insults Hideyoshi, that is a different matter entirely and he will quite literally be out for their blood...but as for his own self, it doesn't matter what the world thinks of Mitsunari the Dark King.

And with this utter disregard for other's opinions comes a certain understanding of how Mitsunari acts and functions. He's childish, quite frankly. When he is upset he throws temper tantrums, lashing out and overly reacting extremely poorly. He can easily be provoked through the use of the Toyotomi name, and his temper can be set off very easily. But it's only because he has nothing else. Honestly, Mitsunari is pure--not pure good, or pure evil, but just pure. His character is described as a "fallen angel", and his alternate costume even has wings embroidered in the back to acknowledge this. He's so straightforward and pure that he can't understand the motivations of others when they are more obscured, and often he is incapable of understanding other lifestyles.

And on top of all of that, he's a little...unhinged. By a little, of course, I mean extremely unhinged, rather off the deep end by now, if the way he can laugh maniacally while killing others can be believed. He lived for a purpose--that purpose was Hideyoshi, until Ieyasu killed him. When Ieyasu killed Hideyoshi he shattered Mitsunari's life and purpose; while the samurai was able to pick himself up, it was only because he had something else to dedicate his life to, namely chasing Ieyasu down for revenge (in Hideyoshi's name, of course). But by the end of his red route, Mitsunari has killed Ieyasu as well, at which point he quite thoroughly snaps, realizing he killed his only purpose for living at that point (as well as one of his very few friends) and declaring his own sins. In the end, his own honesty came to break him down further; how else was he to feel knowing that he had lived in a delusion?

So yeah. He's not entirely sane.

But in the end, Mitsunari is, at his core, unchanging and unbending. He would sooner snap in half than compromise his core values--his loyalty, his honesty, and his purpose for his life, the Toyotomi. So while he is combative and temperamental, childishly throwing temper tantrums and screaming his displeasure at times, he is also a very steadfast and loyal ally, and it's truly no wonder so many people stand by him by the end of the his route in the game.

Abilities/Powers:

Sengoku BASARA is an interesting case in that the characters have off the wall badass abilities, but there are normal humans as well, and nobody comments on the abilities. It seems as though ridiculous fighting skill and ability is a human thing in Sengoku BASARA but only for the lords/generals/poster-boys.

So Mitsunari's technically human abilities are to fight like this all the time.

Yeah.

But for a more in-depth explanation, Mitsunari fights using an ōdachi in the iaijutsu style of swordplay. To put it more simply, he fights by unsheathing his sword, slashing, and sheathing his sword again immediately. He's just wickedly fast at it. He can often move faster than the eye can see (or the game camera can follow), and looks as if he practically teleports from place to place. (He can run faster than horses in certain modes, it's truly ridiculous.) He is also associated with the element of shadow, which...doesn't do cool things like electricity or fire, dammit. It does make him very black and purple. Sometimes he glows. Depending on his weapon, it allows him to absorb health from the enemy.

A list of his game skills can be found here; a demonstration can be found here. He's most notably the fastest character in a game full of superhuman abilities and ninjas, but on the flip side, he's a twig, and very fragile. He is the epitome of a glass cannon and relies on being too fast to be hit in order to fight.

Otherwise, he's very good at creative death threats. Seriously.

Items/Weapons: Only his sword; he doesn't actually own anything else
Sample Entry: At the test drive!

[Two weeks after arriving in Haven, Mitsunari was finally used to the technology of this world enough to know how to properly work the device--and some desire to finally actually use it. It didn't mean he liked it (he doesn't like much about this world, to be fair), or was comfortable with it, but at least he could function it. And thus the tone he adopts is one that is authoritative as he stares into the phone, expression flat and unamused.]

I am Ishida Mitsunari of the Toyotomi. It has been brought to my awareness that this means little to many of you.

[His tone and expression should say very clearly that he does not care and perhaps you should educate yourselves, ignorant peasants. But he has to move on to more important matters, proud as he is of his name and standing. And so he dismisses it with a tch.]

No matter. I have an inquiry for you.

[An ever so slight pause, and what might be a grimace. Yes, it took him two weeks to bother introducing himself to the others of this place, because he simply did not care who else was trapped in this world. How did that matter?

However, over the past two weeks or so, this question has been slowly wearing on him. Bit. By. Bit.]

Where are the cowardly wretches who have brought us here? I would introduce them to the edge of my sword, and decorate the walls of this pitiful farce of a living arrangement with their organs!

[So that's fun.

With that and a quiet tch, he lifts his chin and awaits an answer--and it had better be one he likes.]

Sample Entry Two:

Haven was a fitting punishment for the sins he had committed.

For a time, Mitsunari had truly believed that he had died, and that this was the special sort of hell that was reserved for sinners like him. For those who were blinded by rage and revenge and did not see that killing one's friend for the sake of one's lord led only to more suffering--

Well, he had good reason to think that Haven was his punishment. He was content with that, as far as being content goes; it would give him time to suffer and repent and perhaps, perhaps, if Lord Hideyoshi gave him permission, then he would die. It was a fitting end to his life, at this point.

But then Mitsunari learned that Haven was not his punishment. Rather, Haven had taken him away from his repentance and that--that was unacceptable. So though he ached for what he had lost and found it nearly impossible to stand with the weight of all he had done bearing down on him, he simply had no other choice. He would make them pay--each and every one of them--for taking him here. He would make them suffer for their presumptuousness. And he would find his way back so that he could repent properly.

It was motivation enough to carry on. After all, the Toyotomi had no room for cowards, only the strong. And for his lord, Mitsunari would do anything, even if it meant painfully piecing himself back together again in an unforgiving world and taking on a shadow plot that was far, far beyond him. All he wanted was to suffer properly, quietly, in peace.

But there was no room for that, and so Mitsunari took up his sword once more, narrowed his eyes, and managed to stand.