.:Okumatta Application:. Naoki

Name: Naoki
Age: Appears 19 (Is actually 200)
Gender: Male
Job: Bookstore Employee - Specializes in helping out customers and organizing the shelves. When there's no work to be done, he enjoys working his way through the store's collection of novels. It's not uncommon to find him curled up in some corner of the shop with a book on his lap.

Creature: Kodama (A tree-dwelling spirit)

Abilities:
    ° Water Absorption: Similar to a tree, Naoki is able to absorb and store water at will. Because he never carries an umbrella, and out of habit, he'll often do this absentmindedly on rainy days to keep himself (more-or-less) dry.

    ° Plant Communication: He can understand and communicate with most forms of plant-life.

    ° Blessing/Curse: Naoki is capable of blessing those who respect him, and cursing those who act or speak ill of him. His power over this, however, is relatively weak, and his influence most often manifests itself in the form of an especially good or bad day. This ability is rarely used.

Born in an isolated mountain range almost 200 years ago, Naoki was one of the many kodama who called that area home. He very quickly befriended the other spirits, and many of them became family to him. Although not much younger than most, Naoki was regarded by many of the kodama as a younger brother for his naive curiousity. One of only a handful of those born on that specific mountain range -the others, travelers -Naoki would listen in admiration to the stories that would be shared: of adventures and mysteries of far-off places. It was in this way he spent his early life.

The forest he inhabited overlooked a small village, and it was common for the humans living there to visit the forest for lumber. Knowing that it was necessary for their way of life, the kodama grudgingly accepted the cutting of the trees. That is, as long as those hosting the tree spirits were left alone. The humans however, were ignorant of the spirits' existence, and continued to leisurely cut down the trees, until one had the misfortune of cutting a kodama -or more specifically, Naoki.

The human, ignorant to the pain he was inflicting, chopped three times at the tree. The human had noticed something pouring out of the cuts he was making -more, he had felt it because it was too dark to distinguish -and he had initially dismissed it as sap. By the third chop, however, he knew there was something wrong. The liquid was too thin; there was too much. He pulled out a flashlight to examine it, and he was pale with fright, dropping the axe. Blood. The tree was bleeding. Panicking, he rushed out of the forest, and run back to town where he would share his discovery of the tree that bleeds.

Once the human had gone the kodama materialized out of their trees and curiously went to examine what happened. Naoki, barely able to leave his tree, was now laying against it with an arm pressed to his stomach, blood dripping between his fingers. In that moment, pain was all he knew. He couldn't think, and his vision was blurred. Seeing what had happened the spirits were furious, and instead of acting on revenge, focused their efforts towards helping their brother. They dressed the wound and did all that they could until the only healing left was to be done by Naoki alone. With much prodding, as he was still on the brink of death, Naoki reentered his tree and fell into a long, deep sleep. Although it was questionable whether or not he would ever wake up, Naoki persevered, and 50 years later emerged from his tree for the first time since. There was no one there to welcome him.

He spent a couple of months wondering the forest, calling to his family, but the entire place had changed. It didn't even feel like the same forest. In a last desperate attempt to find out what happened, Naoki traveled to the human village only to find it just as deserted as his forest -instead of finding answers, he was finding questions. With no one left to tie him to his birthplace, Naoki began to travel. Although it was under bleaker circumstances than he had hoped, he still found himself enamoured by the places he encountered, and was thrilled that he was finally creating his own stories.

This constant moving about, however, was exhausting for him, and by the end of his travels, Naoki was in desperate want for a home. It was around this time that he stumbled into Okumatta. After staying in town for a couple of days, he fell in love with the village and decided to stay and start up a new life. And although it was no kodama forest, he had high hopes.