Hanako Yanagi

Human Name: Hanako (Shiori) Yanagi
District Representing: Gion, Kyoto, Japan
Human Age: secret
Gender: Female
Sexual Orientation: Heterosexual
Birthday/Zodiac: Year of the Snake
Carnival Alliance: Mistique
Special Skills or Talents: Lures clients into the 'floating world' (which is here a state of mentality) by looking into their eyes--which is why she can "stop a man in his tracks with one look". (/SHOT)
Role in Carnival and how it relates to the history of your character:
Prostitute. Which is basically the Western (especially American) perception of geisha during...well, forever. :\ But especially at this time, it was easy for the untrained eye to confuse geisha with common whores, who dressed similarly.

Appearance:
[Reference Pic]
Makeup is more subdued, since she also has to apply it to her arms, shoulders, and lower legs now, but still is quite pale. (It's something like this. Light skin is still very much a part of Japanese aesthetics.)

Special Personal Items: Makeup (kept in a lacquerware box)
Anything Else: Quietly proud, stoic, and dead-set on the 'old ways'. She has the mentality that there are two groups in the world: the Japanese and the non-Japanese. Anyone in the latter group will never understand the former group (especially in matters concerning the flower and willow world), and can only be offensively boorish if they even attempt to. She is often frustrated that the finely detailed traditions she puts so much effort into observing often go unnoticed or unappreciated by outsiders.
However, once her makeup is removed, she loses her confidence and poise. She is secretly not sure who she really is: Shiori or Hanako.

AU Background History:
Given to the hanamachi as a young girl, and has spent most of her life in this extremely secretive society. She sold her mizuage to none other than Diederik (there was a time when the Dutch were the only ones who had any relations with Japan), when he was a much richer man and she was a maiko-soon-to-be-geisha. The hefty price he paid was what helped her start a very successful career as a geisha (what you might call Gion's 'golden age').
But as time passed, the geisha world saw decline, and nearly collapsed with the economic depression. At this time, the Dutchman showed up again and convinced her that she had better chances by emigrating to America. Having not left even the hanamachi, let alone Japan, since she was a small girl, she decided to take a chance to see the outside world. But she ended up being sold as a prostitute (which is what Diederik has mistaken her for), and consequently has developed a grudge for the Western world. (The fall of the geisha world can basically be attributed to WWII and the American occupation--during which time, American GIs in Japan began to call prostitutes 'geisha girls', giving rise to the misunderstanding that exists to this day. Since then, what geisha remain are harassed in the streets by foreign tourists as they struggle to uphold their traditions--and they don't appreciate it. But at the same time, they rely a lot on those same tourists for income.)


((fffff I'm still not so sure about making her a part of the brothel, but...oh well. :\ Good thing I have Diederik to be my token bad guy--/SHOT No, the Dutch and the Japanese just have a long history together, during Amsterdam's golden age. XD))

Accepted~ B) Odessa's new BFF whether she likes it or not-- XD

Aw yeah, hos before bros--/shotdown Lol, Hana-chan doesn't know anything about the Western world, so she will have to rely on Odessa. "And what is this thing called as...'bitch'?" "Oh, it's a really good English word--" XD