Basil

 ....You know it's been awhile when you don't even really remember how to Permissions Post. u.u;;;

Um.  This will get reworked after I get a chance to acquire a brain. In the meantime, have a placeholder.

OOC Information
Name/Alias:Cleo
Age: 23
E-Mail//MSN//AIM: novuscompositio on AIM
How did you hear about Badfic? Dude, I used to play in Manor back *hipster glasses* before it was mainstream when you were on LJ.

IC Information
Character Name:"Basil" Basilicum
Name that appears on plaque: Basil
Character Journal: basilicum
Canon:Katekyo Hitman REBORN!
Point in Canon: Before Future Arc
Age: 15
Birthday: July 23
Appearance: Canonically, he's said to be "of Italian descent", I assume him to be half. That said, he's got a bit of that gorgeous olive complexion. Height-wise, he probably stands at about 5'5". He has layered dirty blond hair, with the longest strands falling to about his shoulders. His hair does tend to fall down in his face, and is usually parted in such a way that when it does fall in his face, that it tends to be over his left eye. His eyes are a very striking blue colour. His main outfit in canon consists of what seems like an open black business suit coat with an open white button up dress shirt, over what seems to be a bright red t-shirt, with black dress pants and black dress shoes.

Abilities: Rain Flame, Hand-to-Hand combat, Fights with a weapon known as Metal Edge
Personality:Fairly quiet boy, very reserved. He is extremely kind, but is prone to being a bit on the shy side, mostly because he doesn't want to overstep boundaries. He's prone to caring quite a bit for the people he does wind up getting to befriend, and doesn't particularly care for meaningless fighting. He's surprisingly fluffy for someone who is supposed to be training for a job with the External Relations team for the Mafia. Don't be fooled by his fluffy exterior; he has been trained how to kill.....he just really prefers not to. Left to his own devices, he won't go looking for a fight, either. He's just happy to be making the best of whatever life throws at him, really, and trying to get along with the people around him best as possible.

He's actually pretty humble, the sort of thing that was heavily drilled into him as a part of the discipline portion of his training. Though humble, and rather pointedly unused to the concept of casual praise for small accomplishments, he's not suffering from a lack of self-esteem. Despite this, however, you could probably cause him to have a mental gear-jam if you praised him too much over something or gave him too much recognition.

Since he was sheltered so much when he was growing up, he's been left to pretty much take his Master's word as gospel truth....including the times when Iemitsu thought the kid knew better than to believe some of his tall tales. So, just about everything counts as some kind of new experience to him. This makes him amazingly adaptable, but at the same time, also means that he has no frame of reference for the rest of the world aside from what his Master may or may not have told him. This means that, given some of Iemitsu's penchant for exaggeration and tall tales and sense of what is a "harmless prank", the kid has a lot of really special misconceptions about the world. There are a great deal of things that someone his age but with a more normal upbringing would know that he wouldn't necessarily know. It wasn't until he started being able to go off on his own for this mission or that that he even knew that there was such a thing as an internet, for instance. Since so much of the world is pretty new to him, he's actually pretty childlike in some ways.

He's fairly prone to optimism, also. He will find some way to see something good in every situation that he may find himself in. This can be frustrating to those around him, but he is quick to take a hint and to back down if he senses that his attempts to be optimistic/share his optimism are unwelcome.
Strengths:
There has been a great deal of emphasis put on etiquette and manners when he was growing up, but this was also considered "part of his training" with regards to establishing a rather firm sense of discipline in situations where it would matter. Given that he's not one to seek out meaningless battles, it's not unheard of for Basil to try to politely feign a lack of knowledge about something or someone, or to find some other excuse to use before trying to slip away.

The mere fact that he's been as sheltered as he has, lends itself to him being weirdly adaptable to new situations, due to lacking a frame of reference for "what is normal for the rest of existence". This was only aided by some of the things he'd learned from his Master over the years from some of his stories. It seems unlikely that he'd take something as utterly unusual as being randomly turned into a Pony, for instance, as being something to get worried over. In fact, he would probably wind up making the best of it, especially once he grasped that the events last only for a week.

He is a capable fighter, mostly in hand-to-hand and close-range combat. He's been training since he was taken in, so he's very well aware of a variety of ways to hurt, disable or even possibly kill someone. Along with other assorted survival skills, like a grasp of what is a safer bet for food in the wilderness, ways to improvise shelter, that sort of thing. He may also know how to set and disarm some traps. But, despite the amount of training he's had in these things, he still prefers not to resort to it at all if it can be helped.

Weaknesses: Naiveté. He has lived a VERY sheltered life and is ridiculously naive when it comes to a lot of things. He's rather prone to taking his Master's word as Gospel, and failing to catch when Iemitsu is exaggerating or even outright making things up. That said, if he's heard something about someone being dangerous, he's also all the more likely to hide and try to avoid them at all costs. He's not one to go looking for fights. He's not a pacifist, since he will fight if it comes down to it, along with going to arms for a cause he believes in. However, he doesn't like fighting meaninglessly when it's not for something like training purposes. See also: Why he will avoid the people he was warned of, if it was at all possible, only fighting as a last resort.

His formality is also a bit of a weakness, since he's gotten it so hardwired that he can't really turn it off, even when someone like Tsuna is insisting that it's not needed to use such formalities and that such a manner of speaking is archaic and not needed in today's day and age. That said, someone asking him to just cut it out tends to cause a mental gear jam, much as he decidedly does not have this problem with languages other than Japanese.

The mere fact that he's lived a somewhat sheltered life also is a weakness in and of itself. He doesn't seem to have a very good grasp on how to deal with people of his age range outside of very specific circumstances, for one. For two, paired with his limited knowledge of the world and some of the misconceptions he'd been fed over the years, he really isn't familiar with much of anything at all. Factor in how naive he is, and someone who is talented in the various methods of exploitation could probably wrap him around their finger. Or, at least convince him to do some ridiculously silly things for their amusement.

History: Since much isn't really said in canon about Basil, there's a decent amount of headcanon here. Please bear with.

Half-Italian boy orphaned at a very early age. Iemitsu stumbled across him and decided to take him under his wing, quite possibly because he almost reminded him of someone. Iemitsu kept the kid ridiculously sheltered, focusing on training him and being a strict parental figure. Unfortunately, Iemitsu is also prone to things like being a blunt instrument, and failing to realize when someone isn't quite on the same page as he is. That said, he would get off to telling a story, and Basil would believe it, not knowing any better as he was that sheltered, and Iemitsu not realizing that the kid didn't know any better.

...You can see how this got to make for some spectacular things.

Basil learned Japanese by means of reading copies of old Samurai texts in their language of origin. He was also partly convinced that Japan was today just as it was toward the end of the age of the Samurai. Where people still spoke in such an overly formal archaic manner and wore traditional clothing in addition to cooking and cleaning in a traditional fashion. This is why his speech is so sorely over-formal and dated.

. . . It does not help that Iemitsu seems to've thought it was "harmless, albeit amusing" to encourage the kid to be excessively formal in Japanese.

Basil still thinks himself to be speaking Japanese, upon his arrival to Manor, which is why his speech will be painfully outdated in nature. Because it is the English equivalent to the sort of Japanese he is using.

He was about 12, when he was first introduced to the Dying Will Pills; little capsules that force his body into a Dying Will state. He was only permitted to take one at a time for a very long time, until the Master gave him permission to try taking two at once to induce a Hyper Dying Will state while helping Tsuna train for the Ring Battles, but I get ahead of myself.

Three years pass, he's now 15. He's given a very important mission; to get a small box containing the Vongola Rings to Tsuna(who happened to be the son of his Master). However, he was intercepted by Superbi Squalo of the Varia who made off with his package upon pummelling the boy and discovering its contents. Fortunately, it was a partial decoy. Squalo had only succeeded in getting the one half of each individual ring. The other "half" that made the rings seem complete, was fake.

It wound up being officially declared that there had been a conflict between who should be the next leader of the Vongola, and that the outcome would be determined by means of a set of battles between Tsuna and his team and the Varia.

Tsuna and the team of guardians Reborn had assisted him in assembling, had to then begin training for the looming Ring Battles. Tsuna was training with Reborn for the first part, until it was revealed that Basil had recovered from his injuries. From this point on, Basil becomes Tsuna's sparring partner during the training sessions, even going so far as to eventually consume two Dying Will Pills at once to force a Hyper Dying Will state. Basil had even admitted that he found it to be extremely hard on his body, but he was still willing to do what he could if it meant helping Tsuna be ready for his fight.

Basil is often seen during the Ring Battles, among the spectators on the sides. He'll occasionally comment on things, or seem concerned about the goings on in the match. He lacks much in the way of a pivotal role here beyond that. He also attends the Ring Battle Victory Celebration party with the others.

Shortly after this, as in the next few days, he leaves to go back to Italy.

...Unfortunately, as this is where I'll be taking him from, he obviously doesn't quite get there.

First Person Sample:

[The image flashes on, if you look closely, you can see a teen leaning down to pick up the device that he seems to've clumsily dropped by accident.]

...Is this...recording a message..?

. . .

[He stares at it, as though his mind had gone blank. Was this being broadcast somewhere or something? That seems like a security risk. All of this seems like a potential security risk. Where is he anyway?.....That's an idea...]

...If this message doth happen to be received by the proprietor of this fine residence...

...With all due respect..

...Wherefore do I find myself in this place, knowing not at all how I came to be here?

[A gentle smile, with a hint of bashfulness to it.]

Thine accommodations art truly magnificent, and I do offer thee my sincerest of thanks for thy kindness. However, methinks that my Master shan't appreciate my tardiness to report back to him.

It is my sincerest hope that one who is evidently so very thoughtful, could please attempt to understand my plight and assist me. Trouble with one's superiors is something that one is best avoiding, as I'm sure you're well-aware.

...ahm.....

......

[And there is just staring at the device stupidly again, not sure how to turn this off or what to do with it at all at this point. You'd almost think he'd never encountered a Blackberry or anything before..]


Third Person Sample:

Slowly, the young CEDEF agent stepped out into the hall of the Manor. Cautiously, he looked up and down the quiet corridor. What hour had it been? Where even was this place? It didn't matter. He needed to find a way to get communication to outside. To back home. Much as he sincerely doubted that his Master would believe him if he were to report that he'd been mysteriously abducted, without knowing who his abductor was nor what their motives were, but that there'd been no attempts at torture for information or....anything less than ridiculous levels of hospitality regarding his bedroom arrangement.

There had had to be another shoe. There always was, or so he was told in his training. Was this the "prepping" stage? That stage designed to lure you into a delicate state of false security, only to roughly pull the rug from out beneath you and make any torture for information seem all that much worse?

...But this hostess, this Author, seemed so nice. After all, she was thoughtful enough to supply him with just about everything it seems like he could possibly need. Admittedly, he could easily get by with just the clothing on his back, but that's besides the point. Bottom line is that the proprietor of this residence seemed to be thoughtful. Thoughtfulness should be appreciated, not dissected and the worst being assumed.

Obviously, there was nothing at all to worry about in this situation. He was going to be fine, and trying to think like he was trained to do just wasn't going to work. Though, it never really seemed to. Not for an extended period of time. It's almost like his mind just wasn't wired that way. He could only get so far into the paranoia hole before he started trying to talk himself out of it on some kind of subconscious reflex or something.

Links: Basil's page on the Reborn! Wiki
Notes: I think the biggest thing is, as stated, that my headcanon is he thinks he's speaking Japanese and that he's not so ridiculously formal in anything OTHER than Japanese, therefore if he were to think of himself as speaking in English, he'd suddenly stop being so excessively dated in language. If that makes any sense.

Also, headcanon dictates that Basil carries a small flask of "Magic Water" [read as: Sake] with him everywhere he goes. Because his Master swears by it as being a "Universal Remedy" that "Solves, Fixes and Cures Everything". Note that he has no grasp of what "alcohol" is and that he's illegally smuggling a flask of it around with him wherever he goes in case he finds himself in a real bind.

Bonus: Basil actually seems like he might actually last longer than some of my previous attempts at playing at Manor. The kid sort of seems to be made of teflon and fluff, as far as some things go.