Hu Tao

Player Name: Jade
Contact: bronnichiwa @ discord
Invited by: I've infiltrated the base.
Other Characters: Rose, Raiden Ei

Character Name: Hu Tao
Canon: Genshin Impact
Canon History: Here!

Canon Personality: STRENGTHS: One of the first things that people tend to notice about Hu Tao is that she has a very whimsical nature. To call her "eccentric" would be putting it mildly; some people dance to the beat of their own drums, Hu Tao dances to the beat of an upbeat funeral dirge. This easygoing nature is easily a strength, however. Hu Tao works as the director of a funeral parlor. In Teyvat, being responsible for heralding souls to the afterlife is a heavy responsibility, and she has to traverse the boundary of life and death on a regular basis. Her whimsical nature and adaptability allow her to carry out this work without breaking under the weight.

Of course, that's not to say that she doesn't take her responsibility seriously. Hu Tao is very driven, especially where it relates to her job. In her past life, she became the director of the Wangsheng Funeral Parlor at thirteen, an extremely young age. It's not a responsibility that she feels resentment towards, however. Hu Tao is proud to be the director of the Wangsheng Funeral Parlor, and this is no more clear than when she carries out funeral rites. Hu Tao believes that each funeral should be a personal experience, and tailor-made to the person that its celebrating. When the situation calls for it, she can be uncharacteristically somber, and she strives to ensure that all clients are brought into the afterlife with dignity.

In her current life, she doesn't serve as the director, as both of her parents are still alive. However, she has helped perform last rites since she was very young, and she carries the same attitude towards them that she does in canon.

Both her whimsical nature and sense of responsibility are underscored by Hu Tao's stubbornness. In canon, when Hu Tao's grandfather passed away, she attempted to follow him to the boundary of life and death. She stayed there for several days, even after she had run out of food, in order to bid him farewell. It was only after a spirit told her that his spirit hadn't lingered---none of the directors of the Funeral Parlor had--that she returned home.

WEAKNESSES: While Hu Tao's whimsical nature is a strength where it relates to her job, it is also something that can distance her from other people. Hu Tao's personality has, to put it mildly, made her appear as off-putting to the people of Liyue. In her past life, Hu Tao once named a pair of lion statues and proclaimed them her pet cats, and only left when she decided they were "grown up." To Hu Tao, it was a decision that made sense. To the people of Liyue, it was an incident that cemented her as "odd." In New York, they weren't statues of lions. She did still claim statues of her pets though.

Hu Tao also has a tendency to fail to read the room. In certain aspects of her job, she excels. She knows when to let clients in on the "truth" of the afterlife, and when to put on a show. However, due to dealing with death so frequently, she often forgets (or willingly overlooks) how morbid conversations about death can appear to others. One of her recent attempts to help the Wangsheng Funeral Parlor involved her attempting to sell "Buy one, get one half off" services and selling services in bulk to the adventurer's guild. These efforts went over about as well as expected.

Finally, Hu Tao can be a nuisance. As stated before, she has the best of her business at heart, but appears to be eccentric. Hu Tao tends to torment the people around her, albeit on purpose or accidentally. To many, she is referred to as a "troublesome child." On at least one occasion, she's tried to bury an acquaintance, believing that they were dead and wanted to go to the afterlife (said acquaintance was a zombie, and doing just fine).

MOTIVATIONS Hu Tao's primary motivation is serving as the director for the Funeral Parlor. As much as her nature hints otherwise, she tries to do her best while carrying out her duties, and she understands the role she's inherited. To maintain the balance between life and death is an extremely important job, and she does her best to ensure that balance is maintained.

MUNDANE INTERESTS Hu Tao's hobby is poetry. She is known as the "Versemonger of the Darkest Alleys" and spends her free time wandering at night for inspiration. One of her most trusted friends is a fellow author and poet named Xingqiu. Her and Xingqiu are known to get into poetry battles with their fellow friend Chongyun serving as an umpire. She's also written two poetry anthologies, although neither has been published.


AU Name: N/A
AU Birthday: July 15th
Faction: POKEGO!

AU History: Hu Tao was born to two people who owned a funeral parlor in New York City. Growing up, her family didn't hate technology, but they didn't see much need for it. Instead, Hu Tao grew up helping around the family business. Through constant exposure to death, Hu Tao grew up with a healthy (possibly bordering on unhealthy) love of the supernatural.

This happily collided with her other hobby--photography. Around the time she was a teenager, she started doing her best to try to capture ghosts on camera. Through local newspapers, directories, and at least one library computer, she chased every ghost story she could find. None of them bore fruit, but at least she got some good pictures out of it.

At least, none of them were real until they were. When she was 15, she followed a lead to a local cemetery. It turns out that this was not a tall tell, and was in fact caused by a spirit gate. POKEGO had dispatched an agent to investigate, and that agent happened to run into a very curious teenager with a camera. One thing led to another, and Hu Tao joined POKEPUPS within the month.

She utilized POKEGO's scholarship program to pursue a degree in the arts. This lasted until her first real mission, where she "fell off the beaten path" (so to speak), and spent a whole two years lost in the Spirit Realm. For many people, this would be terrible, but Hu Tao rather enjoyed her time there. She got a lot of awesome shots, and learned a lot about the realm in the process.

Upon re-emerging, the higher ups weren't sure quite what to do with her, so they ended up sending her to Kaisou. To quote, "what's the worst that could happen?"

AU Personality Differences: None that are major. Technology isn't really a thing in Genshin, and in this AU she grew up with a NOKIA phone that had snake installed (but she was only allowed to call in emergencies). Though her family is still alive in this AU, it doesn't really effect her personality.

Element: N/A
Purchased Powers: Weird Eyes (1 Point) WHY DO HER EYES HAVE FLOWERS IN THEM? who knows.
Boo Tao (4 Points) She has a ghost friend that will hit enemies for her.
Staff of Homa (3 Points)
Guide to Afterlife (6 Points, based on enhancement. Counting physical and fire damage separately). Hu Tao has the ability to increase her physical abilities and do fire damage for a time, at the cost of taking more damage.

TOTAL: 14 Points.
Starting Pokemon: Litwick!

➤ Player
Name: Jayne!
Contact: bronnichiwa
Other characters ingame: N/A
Invited by: I'm already here and you're never going to be rid of me.

➤ Character
Name: Hu Tao
Canon: Genshin Impact
Canon Point: Let's go with pre-Chapter 1!
Age: 16

History: Here!

Personality:
STRENGTHS: One of the first things that people tend to notice about Hu Tao is that she has a very whimsical nature. To call her "eccentric" would be putting it mildly; some people dance to the beat of their own drums, Hu Tao dances to the beat of an upbeat funeral dirge. This easygoing nature is easily a strength, however. Hu Tao works as the director of a funeral parlor. Being responsible for heralding souls to the afterlife is a heavy responsibility, and she has to traverse the boundary of life and death on a regular basis. Her whimsical nature and adaptability allow her to carry out this work without breaking under the weight.

Of course, that's not to say that she doesn't take her responsibility seriously. Hu Tao is very driven, especially where it relates to her job. She became the director of the Wangsheng Funeral Parlor at thirteen, an extremely young age. It's not a responsibility that she feels resentment towards, however. Hu Tao is proud to be the director of the Wangsheng Funeral Parlor, and this is no more clear than when she carries out funeral rites. Hu Tao believes that each funeral should be a personal experience, and tailor-made to the person that its celebrating. When the situation calls for it, she can be uncharacteristically somber, and she strives to ensure that all clients are brought into the afterlife with dignity.

Both her whimsical nature and sense of responsibility are underscored by Hu Tao's stubbornness. When Hu Tao's grandfather passed away, she attempted to follow him to the boundary of life and death. She stayed there for several days, even after she had run out of food, in order to bid him farewell. It was only after a spirit told her that his spirit hadn't lingered---none of the directors of the Funeral Parlor had--that she returned home.

WEAKNESSES: While Hu Tao's whimsical nature is a strength where it relates to her job, it is also something that can distance her from other people. Hu Tao's personality has, to put it mildly, made her appear as off-putting to the people of Liyue. Hu Tao once named a pair of lion statues and proclaimed them her pet cats, and only left when she decided they were "grown up." To Hu Tao, it was a decision that made sense. To the people of Liyue, it was an incident that cemented her as "odd."

Hu Tao also has a tendency to fail to read the room. In certain aspects of her job, she excels. She knows when to let clients in on the "truth" of the afterlife, and when to put on a show. However, due to dealing with death so frequently, she often forgets (or willingly overlooks) how morbid conversations about death can appear to others. One of her recent attempts to help the Wangsheng Funeral Parlor involved her attempting to sell "Buy one, get one half off" services and selling services in bulk to the adventurer's guild. These efforts went over about as well as expected.

Finally, Hu Tao can be a nuisance. As stated before, she has the best of her business at heart, but appears to be eccentric. Hu Tao tends to torment the people around her, albeit on purpose or accidentally. To many, she is referred to as a "troublesome child." On at least one occasion, she's tried to bury an acquaintance, believing that they were dead and wanted to go to the afterlife (said acquaintance was a zombie, and doing just fine).

MOTIVATIONS Hu Tao's primary motivation is serving as the director for the Funeral Parlor. As much as her nature hints otherwise, she tries to do her best while carrying out her duties, and she understands the role she's inherited. To maintain the balance between life and death is an extremely important job, and she does her best to ensure that balance is maintained.

MUNDANE INTERESTS Hu Tao's hobby is poetry. She is known as the "Versemonger of the Darkest Alleys" and spends her free time wandering at night for inspiration. One of her most trusted friends is a fellow author and poet named Xingqiu. Her and Xingqiu are known to get into poetry battles with their fellow friend Chongyun serving as an umpire. She's also written two poetry anthologies, although neither has been published.

Abilities:
Guide to Afterlife
Hu Tao sacrifices some of her health/stamina in order to enter an elevated state. In this state, she's able to attack with Fire and do Pyro damage.

This also allows her to use Blood Blossom, which places a blood blossom on the enemy, damaging them over time.

Additionally, Hu Tao has the Spirit Soother ability which allows her to call upon one of her ghostly friends to hit nearby enemies. When she does this, she also heals herself. Thank you, ghost friends. Hu Tao appreciates you.
Inventory: Harmony Hexagon Hat, Spear of Homa, Vision

I have read through the FAQ and understand that my character may be required to participate in plot events: You got it!