Name: Holy Night, "K"
Race: Cat Spirit (Formerly a normal black cat)
Title: "The Black Happiness", "Devil's Servant", "Holy Knight", "K"
Theme Song: Bump of Chicken's "K", in which the character concept was born: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h2mH7wFiaKo

Ability:
 Ability to fulfill last wishes
 - Holy Night gave her life to her master, to fulfill that last bit of wish to have a message delivered to the master's lover. The determination and defiance against all odd and reason, plus the price that she paid in the end - all nine of her lives - transformed her into a walking piece of miracle.
 - The major ability grants Holy Night a boost in power in order to fulfill any wishes and unfulfilled hopes of those on their deathbed. At the same time it forms some sort of binding curse - Holy Night cannot deny the request as long as it's reasonably just and pure in intent, and will have to carry that request - To heaven or hell. Those that are merely defeated, for example in a danmaku battle, may trigger the same effect on Holy Night on certain conditions.
 - Minor ability applications including strengthening Last Words and Last Spells of her companions, as well as reasonably supplying the needed energy (Read: Bomb stock) from herself.


Background:

Holy Night was just another nameless black cat lost in the streets, just like any other cat that has no owner. Despite keeping her spirit high as a stray kitten, she gets plenty of ill treatment from others on the street due to being a symbol of misfortune, and often would've felt a bit down in spirit due to slights, if not downright abused. Those that abused the little kitten is, most often than not, human being.

The years of wandering did not built into resentment for human being, merely a strange form of distaste. Keeping only to herself, in order to not trouble others as much as not to be troubled by others, hiding in her own loneliness, Holy Night learned how to use the darkness and loneliness as an armor. However, that would only leads her further astray down the dark alleyway, and she would've eventually died alone in the darkness that she finds solace in...

Until one fateful night. As Holy Night wanders the street, she encountered a human, much like her - alone and beaten, but high in spirit in his own way. Smiling brightly in greeting, picking her up without much an warning, the human only whispered, "Hi there, little one. We are much alike, are we not?" ... It was love in first sight, even if Holy Night did not understand, and ran from the human. She can't understand the feeling of warmth, happiness, and kindness from the human.

The human's reaction was to chase her, much to Holy Night's surprise. As she ran, the human chased, panting and huffing, as if trying his hardest to break the loneliness in both their hearts. Felt that her eyes misting up and her legs buckle, Holy Night slowed just a bit so that the human could catch up, and was scooped up by the human's arms... Delicate, thin, smeared by smells of resin, charcoal, and acrylic paint, just like an artist.

The artist named her, "Holy Night", to commemorate the night that they met, a night filled with miracles and happiness.

Days and months passes, a winter came by and passed, and a second winter come. As the calender's pages are torn and marks are added and removed, the two grow fonder and fonder of each other. Soon enough, the two would be inseperatable. The artist would draw sketches and paintings of Holy Night, with sketchbooks after sketchbooks, canvas filled with the images and forms of the artist's best and only friend.

... The cold, harsh wind blows, and the artist fell ill. There was nothing that Holy Night could've done. Mewing sadly and licks her poor master, who lies on his deathbed, her master only gives a smile to his best friend. Handing over a letter, the artist would whisper his last wish to Holy Night. "Run, and bring this letter to my girl that waits for... this foolish boy running away from home to chase a dream."

The paintings her never sold - nobody would buy the images of a black cat, symbol of misfortune and a messenger of the devil and witches. The artist died of proverty, but even until his very last moment, all he drew was his dearest friend, pouring all his heart and soul into the art for her sake... Hence, the artist died, because of her, -FOR- her. Holy Night silently picked up the letter, and ran.

He called the cat, "Holy Night", with all the warmth and kindness that she had never experienced. And thus, she ran. She ran for her master's sake, across the land, across cities and wilderness alike. The journey was much harsher than the life she lived during her solitude - carrying a strange letter whild darting through the darkness only made the children called her "Devil's Servant", and striked at her with stones and harsh words.

But she can't give up. If there was one reason that she, detested so by so many others, was born, it was this. To carry this message, the last hope of her master back to his home. And she ran, despite being broken, wounded and crippled beyond what's reasonable for a cat to keep moving. Dragging herself forward, days after days, she've finally caught a familiar scent. Not that of resin, charcoal, and acrylic paint, but that unique scent that her master carried. Realized that there was only a few more kilometers left, with renewed vigor, Holy Night ran, until she's at the doorstep of her master's lover's house...

All the strength in her body spent, Holy Night lies lifeless on the floor when she was discovered. The girl read the letter, and was heartbroken by the news, and the beatened mess of a feline. Burying her in the garden, with a small gravestone for her, written on it a single letter, completing Holy Night's name...

The letter, "K", was the name and story of the cat, the holy knight that pranced in the night of the city, seeking for fulfill the hope of a only friend...

-------------------------------

Years later, there are urban legend in that sleepy little town. In the hospital, at the deathbed of many a patients, they would claim to have seen a black cat sitting by the windows. The cat would fulfill any wish, were they to be whispered during their last moment. Anything they wished for would come true... Or so the legend goes. Holy Night's spirit carried on even after her death, as she accepts the wishes of others that shared similar fate with her master.

Chasing after the balloon that flew away when the old man was only a young child... Finding the twin that was separated at birth... Looking and delivering a message to a friend on the other side of the world...

Years passes by, and Holy Night grows weaker and weaker, as the legend of "K" fades away slowly from human memory. Eventually, the gravestone would be forgotten, the lover of her old master would die as well. But, she can't lose to powerlessness, right? After all, she's Holy Night... Smiling and guiding the spirit of the two lovers back together, Holy Night's used up the last ounce of her power, about to be forever forgotten and erased...

Then, she heard a whisper from a child, praying to Holy Night. "One last request... I can't fall just yet." Holy Night whispered, and with a smile, appeared before the child with a smile, ready to grant her last wish...

"... I wish... to see the cherry blossom bloom, just once, just once..." The child's last request was simple, yet difficult. It was a cold winter. It was unusually long. There was no way that Holy Night can make any flower blossom in the wrong season. Holding onto the child's spirit, Holy Night surges with, once again, renewed vigor. Even if it's impossible, somewhere in the world, cherry blossom must bloom...!

... And once again, Holy Night ran, this time with a child's innocent spirit being held on her mouth. Across mountain ranges, across unknown cities, deep into a shrine in the forest of Japan... And with a leap, crossed into Gensokyo.

Enters the event of Perfect Cherry Blossom, as Saigyou Ayakashi blossoms...!



Personality:

Holy Night prefers other to refer to her as "K", but will gladly answer to either name. Unlike other cats, Holy Night is much less playful, and is often too serious for her own good - though the occasional loning for companionship again would show beyond her facade of aloofness and distance. Beyond that, Holy Night lives up to her last nickname, and acts like a knight in almost all aspects, with a strong focus on compassion, an almost compulsary need to help others in need, and an overwhelming pride in what she does. Her tone can be a bit crude at times, and filled with plenty of menace and harshness if provoked the right way. With her taking the request of the dying and dead seriously, she might prove to be troublesome for those that deals with spirits, as she resists capture for herself and those with unfulfilled wishes.

It's not in Holy Night's nature to fight. But if a fight is necessary to fulfill someone's wish, or to protect someone that she finds dear, then the hesitation would be gone in an instant - if she's willing to claw and bite her ways to deliver a message at cost of her life, a danmaku battle would hardly be out of question. In fights, Holy Night prefers dodging with feline dexterity untli an opening presents itself, and would often prefers to not fight alone. Even if she's called a Knight, Holy Night isn't afraid to run if the fight becomes unfavorable, as long as it doesn't ultimately get in the way of duty.

Holy Night's involvement with others are often to ask for help or a favor, or getting them out of her way of duty. Otherwise, Holy Night prefers the same thing as many other cats, to just lie peacefully in a warm spot and observe others. Years of doing this as a spirit (And not longer needing to worry about others chasing her away) has caused Holy Night to have a bit of an essentric habit to observe others in silence at times.



Description:

As a spirit of a common housecat, Holy Night does not look all that different from a stray alleycat at first glance. The black fur is sleek beside for spots where the furs has fallen off, and seems a bit dull in comparison with other cats that has received more tender care in the past. The tip of Holy Night's tail is flayed, with an old scar that seems to have been there since ages ago. One of her claw on her left hind leg is severely chipped. All in all, Holy Night seems like a sorry mess, even though she carries a confident stride and does not seem to mind the stares she receives for her imperfection. Occasional balls of ectoplasm rolls and oozes out of her mouth as she coughs and hacks, instead of normal balls of fur. The unnatural, light cyan eyes of Holy Night also hints at her otherworldly nature. When Holy Night is delivering a message or package, she'll carry said missive with a small sash tied around her back, but otherwise she prefers her "natural" look.


Rating:

2, Midboss, below average - as a starved holy guardian spirit taht's been without faith for far too long, and has in more than one occasion overstrained herself... The wounds and scars limited Holy Night. Were she completely healthy and in full strength, she would be as strong as any other normal Youkai - at a rating of 3. Exception: While on her duty to fulfill someone's wish, Holy Night receive a +2 bonus to rating to represent the supernatural strain she puts herself through.


Spellcard:

A large part of Holy Night's Spellcards came from Imperishable Night system, as she was introduced to Spellcard System around that time.

[Holy Night]
 - Special Spellcard: Resurrection
 - Much like Mokou's nameless spellcard during resurrection. Activates on spellcard break.
 - On activation, simple patterns would be fired in waves of semi-circles, following loop of 2N -> 2N+1 -> 2N+1 -> 2N in variable succession.
 - The spellcard itself has low amount of endurance and is easily broken, but each "break" counts as a defeat... Which can be used to trigger "last words" series.
 - Available 9 Times in an incident, as cats have nine lives.
 - Of course, the name alludes to Holy Night's name as well as the birth of Jesus in Christian religion.

Aloofness [City-Sect Black Cat]
 - Theatrical Spellcard: Cat dance?
 - Holy Night fires two beams of lasers and bounces between them, setting off a small shower of bullets that accelerates toward foes at the spell of gravity (9.8m/s)
 - The spellcard itself isn't strong or high in endurance, but due to dexterious movement during the spellcard, much of the damage is usually mitigated.
 - Weakness to homing shots and spellcards. Cats don't work well when one chases right after them and scoop them up in their arms.
 - City-Sect Black Cat refers to Alice being a City-Sect Magician.

Loneliness [Cloak of Solitude]
 - Counter Spellcard: Evasive Maneuver
 - Holy Night puffs in an ectoplasmatic wisp of smoke and fades into nothingness.
 - A fancy name for invisibility plus incorporeality, and not really much of a spellcard. However, it's a great escape method.

Defiance [Messenger in the Night]
 - Movement-Style Stress Type: Traumatic Experience?
 - Enclose and traps the opponent in rings of still bullets with gaps, and stabs at them with kunai-like bullets, forcing them to flee to another location, only to be trapt in another ring of bullets. Repeat.
 - Inspired by Holy Night's journey, being cornered and have rocks thrown at her all the time.
 - Defiance against the path planned by others is key to breaking the spellcard. See? "K" is honest.

Last Wish [Flowering Night]
 - [Last Word] Theatrical Spellcard: Perfect Cherry Blossom!
 - Inspiration drawn from Saigyou Ayakashi versus the heroines in Perfect Cherry Blossom.
 - Set intervals of lasers fanning in from behind Holy Night to front, in an atttemp to encourage movement in one central location
 - Purple scale bullets in criss-crossing pattern, accompanished with gigantic white bullets that spreads away from Holy Night in 2N pattern, getting tighter over time.
 - Represents the last leg of Holy Night's journey that brought her to Gensokyo.

Last Wish [Messenger in the Night]
 - [Last Word] Movement-Style Stress Type: Extremely Traumatic Experience
 - The name is similar to Defiance [Messenger in the Night], but those unwary might find themselves trapt by more than the spellcard itself.
 - Enclose and traps the opponents in six layers of rings with gaps in different directions, forcing the opponent to circle around the rings of bullets several times before finding an escape. The rings gets filled by bullets that explodes in all directions instead of having kunai-like bullets stabs into them.
 - The last rings of bullets in the spellcard have no gaps in between, and moves slowly toward Holy Night at set speed, with the spellcard ending right before Holy Night.
 - Feels as if it's just Lunatic version of Defiance [Messenger in the Night].
 - Represents the last leg of Holy Night's journey while alive, of course.

Last Wish [Grave of Knight]
 - [Last Word] Tombstone Slave Type
 - A slightly different spellcard than most other spellcards Holy Night has in possession.
 - Rains Tombstones with different Last Wishes carved on them, all of them with accompanied with an ideal that Holy Night protected when fulfilling that wish.
 - All the tombstones are destroyable, but cause curtains of bullets to appear and Holy Night to fire normal pattern as "punishment for destroying hopes and dreams".
 - A Boundary of Life and Death that only triggers and worsens as the tombstones are broken, instead of by time.
 - The psychological pressure from Holy Night's feats as well as self-inspiration is greater than the actual danmaku itself.
 - Represents Holy Night's entire journey, as well as final resting place.