Hoshi "Nagareboshi" Shirogane (Final)

[Pretzelparty]

Name: Hoshi “Nagareboshi” Shirogane

 

Sex: Female

 

Age: Mare

 

Species: Pegasus

 

Eye Color: A minty green color that matches her mane.

 

Coat: A slightly washed out caramel color.

(color: http://tinyurl.com/jbbo56n)

 

Mane & Tail: Her mane is a minty. Almost ethereal looking green with streaks of slightly darker shades of the color dotting it, kept in a slightly messy, wavy style. At the ends of her mane it seems to curl up slightly when it grows particularly long, thankfully she tends to cut it just above her neck. She is almost never seen without her characteristic, forest green cap, a school colt’s hat with a pin in the band: the pin being the grinning face of a fox. Usually her mane is pretty neatly swept back beneath her hat but every now and then some bangs form from the more unruly locks. When the visor of her cap is off one can see she has a solo lock of red in her mane in the form of one unruly bang that seems to droop between her eyes, when her hat is removed sometimes several locks of hair can cover one of her eyes entirely.

 

(Hair color: http://tinyurl.com/z7qb9xx)

 

Physique: One of the first things one might notice about Hoshi’s height. She stands slightly shorter than the average mare. Not small enough to be comparable to a filly, but perhaps a very young adult. Her build is very sleek, agile, and toned looking. The muscle she’s developed and trained regularly having a surprising amount of strength to them despite her comparatively small stature.

 

Residence: A medium sized apartment in the watertrough district.

 

Occupation: Golem Trainer at the Polohama Dome

 

Cutie Mark: A shooting star with a shining whistle at the front and three glittery tails following behind.

 

One day during a sleepover with a friend, they saw her and Kuzu doing their little routine and recommended they try for a mini golem fighting club. The club mostly consisted of enthusiasts of the massive battles held in the dome off the coast, which up until this point Hoshi had never really been at all interested in. She only had a limited understanding of the rules in that the overall goal was to either force the opponent out of the ring or leave them unable to continue. In her first bout against one of the challengers her age she lost quite thoroughly. Her opponent using a heavily armor but hard hitting model that knocked Kuzu out of the ring and walked away with barely a scratch, Kuzu however took a great deal of damage and needed some repairs done.

 

Deeply sore and worried about her friend's well being, she was originally fine never going back. Kuzu on the other hoof seemed to keep wanting to drag her back there. It took a lot of effort on her golem's part but soon she relented and came back, but this time with a strategy. In the last battle she attempted to play it in the same manner as her opponent and simply push him off ring, This time she tried a new method.

 

Kuzu Drew in close and then when the other golem tried to wrap it's arms around her ducked away and hopped backwards, only to shoot forward like a spring and deliver a strong kick that pushed him farthe back. Unlike the previous bout which ended when kuzu was caught in its grasp and then blown across the ring, The Fox golem bounced about in quick bursts, each quick kick she landed pushing her closer and closer to victory and soon achieving it with only some minor damage to Kuzu's hind leg. Despite the damage, Hoshi and Kuzu were elated. Amidst the excited cheers of classmates and unfamiliar faces a small flash of magic and her mark had appeared.

 

Unique Traits:

Trainer of Kuzunoha:

Trainer of one the age’s most popular battle Golems, Kuzunoha. A lighter weight Golem in the shape of a red fox with some modifications made that allow her to switch between running on all fours and standing upright in a fighting stance. The material Kuzunoha is composed off are not as hard as some of the tougher armored golems in the league but her speed is unprecedented, aided by a powerful core crystal that can dramatically increase the golems attack speed in short doses that can be used to devastating effect against even the better armors golem’s of the league. When entering this mode the increased burning of magical energy gives Kuzunoha the appearance of extra tails depending on the multiplication of the striking speed, when in this state Kuzunoha’s color seems to shift from red to a golden yellow. It’s armor is noticeably harder around the “paws’ on either pair of limbs.

 

Martial Artist:

Since she was young, Hoshi had been interested in the martial arts. DEspite the family’s Dojo in Ryushima not being terribly popular, being taught her ancestor’s fighting style and blending it with her mother’s knowledge of other forms of martial arts, Hoshi created her own style and is constantly attempting to evolve it further. Even then she cannot really say she calls it a style so much as a philosophy… Regardless of the details, It has given Hoshi impressive awareness and keen reflexes.

 

Golem Trainer Prodigy:

Thanks to the nature of her talent, Hoshi is very good at connecting with and bonding with Golems. Kuzunoha and Kuzu are the ones she has the strongest bonds with, but she has a knack for being able to get on the good side of most of these magitech constructs: be they big or small.

 

History:

 

A small apartment in the district of Polohama known as “Tech Town” , That was where Hoshi's story started. At that time the Shirogane family Her mother was a martial artist, her father a Golem maker: he sold the smaller pet models in a shop on one of the less busy streets. When she was born, her parents noticed a star shooting across the nightsky. Taking the event as a sign, they named her Hoshi: Star.

 

Hoshi as a child had a fervent interest in three things: Yokai, Martial arts, and Golems. This Trinity of interests are among the things that shaped her. Since she was young she would practically beg her mother to tell her stories of some of the oldest stories about the Yokai. Her favorite breed of those mysterious creatures were the kitsune. While her father had a soft spot for the mighty Okami, Hoshi thought the cunning and tricky fox was far more interesting in the stories. On one of her early birthdays, Hoshi was given a small, red, fox shaped golem. She named the little one Kuzu after the kudzu plant, a legume she had a strange fascination with: Seeing the plant as a symbol of unending growth and versatile uses.

 

The filly and Kuzu were an inseparable pair growing up, the little golem being an inquisitive but loyal companion. Many of the hours in her fillyhood that she spent watching the martial arts tournaments held and goofily mimicking the movements of the fighters she rooted for, her companion moving in sync right beside her. Once her cutie mark came in she took to the idea she felt it presented with an impressive momentum.

 

Her highschool years were somewhat turbulent as she pursued her recently set goal. Club participation was mostly in the martial arts and golem trainer's clubs... and also the Ouendan. In the former she learned the more scientific aspects of hand to hand combat in many different forms. In the latter she made a small circle of friends that would eventually become her crew. Many nights of her high school years were taken up by the debates between her and team as they tried to figure out what Golemic design they would enter once they were old enough to enter their first tournament and finished saving up enough to build a full scale battle golem. Many ideas were thrown around but due to the insistence of the two candidates who wanted to be the trainers of the group and in the end it was decided on by vote: What golem design they would go with and who would train it.

 

The vote was overwhelmingly in Hoshi's favor... the design being, of course, a fox. Some of the components of Kuzu's design were incorporated into the new Golem design and soon the team decided that since in a sense Kuzu was where this new Fox golem came from: She should be called “Kuzunoha” or “Leaf of Kudzu”. The opposing candidate did not take to the result, ultimately decided to leave the group and start out on his own.

 

Hoshi and her team's start began with a small entrance tournament. To say they breezed through it was far from the truth. Asking the team today they would say that they attribute the victory they earned there as a combination of the skill of their trainer, the hard work of team tending to Kuzunoha and an amount of luck that would make a maneki-neko do a double take. They made it though, and their efforts brought an incredible amount of prestige in the dome and a growing legion of fans.

 

Now reaching an almost unprecedented soar in the ranks as the clever trainer and her nimble, durable, and hard hitting golem managed to beat out their opponents in spectacles that rarely fail to please the crowd whether they lose a battle or not.

 

Hoshi herself was actually rather put off by the celebrity status she was getting. She never wanted to let it interfere with her work with Kuzunoha and was very selective of the appearances on shows or in public she made. To call her reclusive would be a stretch though, as she has had moments where it is clear she does enjoy making people cheer for her or anypony else: her gestures and mannerisms when caught by fans show she clearly enjoys making subtle but dramatic gestures when the tide in her battles usually turns. Her impressive rise to fame having earned her the nickname “Nagareboshi” among the crowds.

 

Despite the fame that she, her team, and her golem has earned... she has stated she has no plans of retiring and aims to be the reigning champ of the highest Golem battle tournament there is, no matter how long it takes her. Even with all those potent ambitions she carries within her and the fame she has in her homeland, she hasn't given up on the idea of romantic aspirations. In fact recently she had received a letter from someone in the shogunate's staff... requesting she present herself up as a bride candidate. An offer she has actually accepted, She however hasn't told anyone besides those directly involved about and is trying not to let word get out to the media about it. As focused as she is on her career she had not paid much attention to the political scene so really at this point all she knows is that the Shogun is a Ryuma... at the very least meeting him will be interesting.

 

Personality:

 

In some ways, Hoshi is a product of her environment. She loves music, games, fashion, manga, anime, but especially (and most obviously) Golem training. One of the traits of hers that is usually the first to notice would be her unconventional fashion choices. Her most consistent strange choice for an accessory being an old fashioned schoolcolt's hat with a cartoonish grinning fox face pin attached to the front above the visor. The sight of her with her visor facing forward but off to the side being almost iconic to the point she can blend into a crowd by tilting it backwards at the opposite angle. The cap is actually her father's old cap having been refurbished and refitted (and slightly modified in terms of the pin) to her head: She wears it mostly because she attributes his influence as being what set her down her path in life.

 

Around others a good way to describe hoshi is cool on the outside but burning with passion within. She tends to be polite and respectful in conversation with strangers and newcomers so long as they are in return, usually she saves any bluntness for her closest friends and teammates. IN the case someone is rude or just in her mind unpleasant she isn’t above the occasional verbal jab or snark at their expense. In the dome Hoshi is very similar, if more wary. Among past opponents they may also describe as an incredibly gracious sore loser in that most fights she and her golem loses, if she fights someone again she usually comes back with a strategy designed to make up for the past failings and highlight the flaws in her opponent’s approach. Despite this reputation she rarely has ever shown malice to any opponent, the only exception being one of her team’s early tournament matches when an opponent underestimated her and insulted the team and Kuzunoha a few times before the fight… and even then she doesn’t consider it her proudest moment despite the roaring of the crowd that day.

 

When off the job, Hoshi tends to live her life fairly simply and tends to spend her downtime in the watertrough’s less wealthy areas, in the arcade’s of the tech district (usually on the dance machine), or just browsing stores and meeting with her teammates and friends. Due to her popularity she often wears clothing that lets her blend into crowds better than her Ouendan outfit and cap combination she’s usually seen in the Arena with. Seeing as her job with Kuzunoha can be kind of time consuming she tends to bond with her golems in less conventional ways, For Kuzunoha she focuses on martial arts lessons and drills she seems to enjoy to prepare her both for the fights and for the recreation. In regards to her fashion interests she can regularly be seen reading magazines on the latest trends and debating herself over what clothes she wants to wear versus the ones she actually can wear.

 

While Hoshi is very good at training and connecting with golems in general, her knowledge on the magitech engineering and certain other finer details are not too well honed, if she could handle every aspect of the maintenance of Kuzunoha she wouldn’t need her team. She does have a good eye for telling where to have Kuzu aim during fights and analyze her opponent’s body language, she can sometimes overestimate certain aspects if left without consultation. Another fault that her teammate’s regularly have to remind her about is that sometimes she tends to overspend on certain things she likes… be they the outfits she buys, or the time spent in the various other stores in the tech district. Another issue that she tends to hear no shortage of complaints would be her stubborn insistence on continuing on with her plans regardless of her physical state, such as one dome battle where she showed up with a fever and a bad cold that had her pass out at the end of a very tough match.

 

Summary:

 

A determined but cool headed neighponese mare. Eager to prove her skill and make a mark for herself, her team, and her golem in the annals of the Polohama dome’s history. Respectful, dedicated, energetic internally, and occasionally snarky, Hoshi is a mare hoping to enjoy her life and live comfortably. While by no means -the- champion of the Golem fighting tournaments, Hoshi and her team are a rising star in the scene that have been focusing fully on realizing their dreams. With her as the official face she has already earned celebrity status in Neighpon but still tries to keep her personal life at least somewhat quiet.

[SteelEagle]