Scorched App
Out of Character Information
player name: Cocoa
player livejournal: momijizukamori
playing here:
where did you find us? via Batty/Kaien-mun and a rec by Amber/Greenie (who played Arthur from Merlin at one point I believe)
are you 16 years of age or older?: Yes
In Character Information
character name: Jyuushirou Ukitake
Fandom: Bleach
Timeline: pre-HM arc (chapter 230)
character's age: Approximately 2000. Appears to be in his late 40s.
powers, skills, pets and equipment:
Jyuushirou is a highly skilled swordsman, being proficient both with a single blade, as well as more complicated dual-wielding techniques. To non-mages, the sword he uses simply seems to be a particularly high quality antique katana, with a red hilt-wrapping. It appears to be both well-used and well-cared for. Anyone with mage or spirit sight, however, will be able to tell fairly quickly that the sword - named 'Sougyo no Kotowari' or 'Truth of Pisces' - is a fairly powerful magical weapon, one that is tied intrinsically to Jyuushirou's own soul, and other shinigami will know it for what it truly is - a 'zanpakuto' or 'soul cutter'. Due to Sougyo no Kotowari being, literally, an extension of his consciousness and soul, Jyuushirou is able to utilize the sword's special powers. The sword has two levels of power release - shikai and bankai. As a captain, he's capable of both, but his bankai form has not been revealed, and thus will not be used here.
The shikai release command is 'All waves, rise and become my shield, lightning strike and become my blade' . At this, the sword splits into two katana-like blades, connected by a heavy red cord threaded with charms. The swords are unusual in that they have an angular, bladed hook jutting out of the blade, allowing them to be used as a defensive weapon as well as an offensive one. The strikes these deal are a little stronger than normal, as they're backed up with raw magical power. The blades also have a special power in this form - the left one can absorb magical attacks, which are then directed through the right blade, back at the opponent. The charms on the cord allow Ukitake to alter the timing of the energy redirection, making it more difficult to dodge. Maintaining shikai form, however, is a bit of an energy drain, and Jyuushirou generally prefers to fight with the sealed form of the sword unless he needs the extra power. He is also shown to be able to release to shikai without using the incantation - it is unknown whether doing so requires more spiritual energy than using the incanation, however. The spirits of the sword also occasionally manifest themselves to his, either in dreams or meditative trances, taking the form of a pair of androgynous, white haired children, dressed in old-fashioned blue ceremonial robes. These two are very playful, and defintely a bit mysterious. They do not currently have the strength to manifest themselves to others, however. He is also likely able to use hand-to-hand combat skills, though it is uncertain how proficient he is at it - it is, however, one of of the core skills taught at the academy.
Jyuushirou is also a fairly powerful user of spiritual energy, in the form of kidou. He is capable of using a large number of combat spells (which generally exist as as various manipulations of pure energy) and binding spells (which generally keep their target from moving, although some exist as shield spells as well), and can cast them at a very high power without using the long incantations usually required to empower the spells. Due to his spiritual strength, he also has a rather high level of reiatsu - spiritual pressure, which can theoretically be used to overwhelm an opponent through the force of raw power alone. He can also use a number of movement techniques generally known as flash step - it allows the user to cross short to medium distances instantaneously, and do things they normally couldn't, like standing on air, or jumping up to tall tree branches. As a shinigami, Jyuushirou can also see and talk with ghosts and spirits, and can perform a rite known as 'soul burial', which sends ghosts on to the next world.
canon history:
Bleach wiki link
Jyuushirou Ukitake is the oldest of seven children (five brothers, two sisters) of a minor noble family in Soul Society, the land of the dead. While the exact age is uncertain, he became ill with an unknown lung disease, similar to pulmonary tuberculosis, at a fairly young age - one of consequences of which was the bleaching-out of his natural black hair to pure white.
Despite his illness, he enrolled in the Shinigami Academy, most likely not long after it was founded, and trained under Yamamoto Shigekuni Genryusai. It was during this time that he also met and befriended Shunsui Kyouraku. These two were the first of the Gotei 13 captains to be trained at the academy, and thus, at present, are likely to be the oldest captains save Yamamoto himself, and Retsu Unohana, who Ukitake refers to as 'senpai'. Ukitake's division is the 13th.
Much of his early history is unknown - while he appears in the Turn Back The Pendulumn flashback arc, taking place just over a hundred years before present-day, he has only a minor appearance, and we glean little from this save that Kaien Shiba was not yet his lieutant and second-in-command yet, though he was on good terms with the Shiba family as a whole.
A number of years before the starting point of Bleach, an unidentified Hollow killed a squad of 13th division members lead by Miyako Shiba, Kaien's wife and Ukitake's third-seat officer. Kaien, wishing revenge for his wife's death, went to confront the Hollow, accompanied by Ukitake, and by an unseated division member, Rukia Kuchiki. Rukia initially follows Kaien towards the fight, but Ukitake holds her back, telling her that there are two kinds of fights - a fight for survival, and a fight for one's pride. Kaien's fight is of the second nature - one to defend his own honor, even if it costs him his life. The hollow's special power, however, is to absorb a shinigami's zanpakuto and powers, as well as being able to mimic their appearance. It does this to Kaien, and then turns on Rukia and Jyuushirou. Jyuushirou tells Rukia to run, and draws his own blade to cut down the hollow now wearing his lieutenant's face and body. Unfortunately the stress brings on an attack of his illness, and he starts coughing violently, and is unable to fight. Rukia instead fights - and kills - the hollow, and with it Kaien as well.
After Kaien's death, he does not appoint a new lieutenant, and instead most of the work of running the division falls to his two joint third seats, Kiyone Kotetsu and Sentarou Kotsubaki. His first major role within the main Bleach timeline is during the Soul Society arc. When he gets word that Rukia's execution date has been shifted forward, he puts his effort towards saving her, first attempting to convince her older brother, Byakuya, to intervene, and then requesting an audience with the Central 46 council. When these measures fail, he takes somewhat more unorthodox ones, enlisting Kyouraku's aid and somehow obtaining a Shihouin artifact capable of of actually destroying the Soukyouku, the blade used for execution of captains. They destroy the blade, helping to save Rukia, and then face down a wrathful Yamamoto, who is angry his two former pupils have disobeyed the law, and thus, him. Their fight is interupted by Aizen's appearance and subsequent fight on Soukyouku Hill, and the matter is not revisited.
As Ichigo and his friends get ready to leave to return to the human world, he is the one to give Ichigo his substitute shinigami badge, as thanks for saving Rukia. As Soul Society prepares for the upcoming battle against Aizen, he is the one to research in the archives what Aizen had been accessing, and discovers that it was documents relating to the key to the realm of the Spirit King. He is also shown watching Orihime and Rukia train together in one of 13th Division's training yards, and expresses approval of their friendship.
personality:
Jyuushirou comes off immediately as a very friendly person - not invasively so, as he's unfailingly polite and socially aware enough to realize when he's starting to be pushy, but he does tend to treat everyone around his as an equal or as if they're part of his family. He's a very good listener, and as such is very easy to put trust in - trust which he will not betray, if he can help it. And while he doesn't trust in people blindly, he does not hold back his faith in others, and is very protective of those he cares about.
When it comes to dealing with his superiors, he's usually quite formal, although not to the point of being cold about it - it's simply that he's deferential to authority. At the same time, though, he has a very strong moral code, and /will/ question orders that violate his personal honor. He also takes a certain amount of pride in his independence, and is a very hardworking person, often taking on more than is expected of him, a trait he acquired as a way of proving himself to people who thought his illness made his weak or incapable.
When the situation demands it, he's very quick to drop the cheerful, friendly attitude and get serious. He fights honorably, but he doesn't play around. Fighting is a means to an end for Jyuushirou, not an end in of itself. He likes being strong, likes being able to protect the people he cares about, but he doesn't enjoy hurting people - it is simply a necessary evil.
Mentally, he's quite intelligent, both in terms of everyday skills and book-knowledge - he is frequently shown doing research for the various crises Soul Society encounters in the archives, along with Kyouraku. He's also quite good at understanding people, which leads to a strong knowledge of his subordinates' strengths and weaknesses, allowing him to place people in positions that they are well-suited for. This has earned him a reputation as a skilled leader with his peers, and a reputation as a thoughtful superior to his subordinates.
Emotionally, his weakness lies, somewhat ironically, with his strong sense of honor and pride. Because he was very sheltered as a child due to his frequent illnesses, he puts a great deal of faith in being able to do things for himself, and will sometimes push himself past his limits out of stubborness. He is also sometimes guilty of putting a sense of pride and honor before actually getting the job done, or allowing others under his command to do so, which can have serious consequences - for instance, Kaien's death.
why do you feel this character would be appropriate to the setting?
While Bleach is not a survival/horror canon, it does exist in a strongly supernatural setting, and some elements of the series (particularly Hollows and the Arrancar) do lean strongly towards supernatural-horror. Ukitake is also essentially the leader of a military unit, and as such is used to deal with strange, unusual, and dangerous circumstances on a fairly regular basis.
Writing Samples
Network Post Sample:
Linked sample 1, TST AU version
Linked sample 2, TST AU version
Third Person Sample:
Third-person prose log 1, TST AU version (heavy conversation/character interaction)
Third-person prose log 2, TST AU version (introspection/emotional-dynamic)
DR action-post-style log, canon version
Anything else? I am sorry those linked logs are long sob