application
Out of Character Information
player name: Cassie
player livejournal: tokyocentricity
playing here: None yet.
where did you find us? Through Mi and Batty. Mi's on my plurk, and I've seen her talk with your Sebastian (never caught a name) about the game, and then I heard you guys had a Kaien, and it was Batty who finally convinced me. xD;
are you 16 years of age or older?: 22 in a few months. b
In Character Information
character name: Shiba Miyako
fandom: Bleach (anime, since the events surrounding her death differed)
timeline: Post-death.
character's age: Over a century, I'd imagine? It's honestly really hard to gauge ages in Bleach. /fail
powers, skills, pets and equipment: Miyako possesses a number of powers and abilities typical to Shinigami - an extremely long lifespan, high physical stamina and an inherently high level of spiritual energy, able to be manipulated to bolster agility, speed and power. Spiritual energy is used in other ways, such as the casting of kidou spells, a field in which Miyako is also proficient. As a third-seat, her spiritual energy is fairly high, though it doesn't yet approach lieutenant level. Still, she can exert a fair amount of spiritual pressure, which is considered an offensive ability in and of itself. She's a talented swordsman, able to simultaneously take on a number of seated officers alone, without shikai. She carries a zanpakutou sealed as a standard katana.
After her arrival in Anatole, her unsealed zanpakuto takes the form of a pair of glaives with ornately carved handles. They stand almost six feet tall each, and with one in each hand, she can use them to create a repelling shield in front of herself, which throws back anything that strikes it. A more complex and difficult technique called 'Flower of Life' allows her to create a dome-shaped shield of similar properties by stabbing the glaives into the ground on either side of the space she wants to protect. Neither of these shields is infallible, but both are capable of repelling most physical attacks as well as lower- to mid-level kidou and/or magic.
canon history: We first meet Miyako as the third-seat officer of the Thirteenth Division, and the wife of the Thirteenth Division's vice-captain, Shiba Kaien. It was through her position in the Thirteenth Division that she met Kuchiki Rukia, the youngest (adopted) daughter of one of the other three noble families, AKA 'our stalwart heroine.' Rukia viewed her as a role model, admiring her not only for her better qualities, but for her position, and her ability to have earned it as a girl in a boys' game, so to speak.
When an unexpectedly powerful Hollow attacked a Thirteenth Division patrol group, Miyako, the highest-ranking Shinigami there, was the only one to come back alive. She was unconscious, but expected to survive. That night, however, she awoke and attacked several members of the division. It became quickly apparent that she was no longer herself. When she came face-to-face with Kaien, she was able to take brief control and retreated, fleeing into the woods.
Kaien was the one to follow her, though his captain and Rukia weren't far behind. He was determined to put down the Hollow in control of her, to avenge her pride. As it turned out, the Hollow had more surprises in store. It took possession of Kaien as well, forcing Ukitake to step in, though he, too, wound up failing (due to his illness, not a lack of strength or preparedness). When Hollow!Kaien came after Rukia, Kaien (like his wife before him) succeeded in maintaining enough control not to harm someone he loved, and impaled himself on Rukia's sword.
Rukia has always blamed herself for Kaien's death, despite the fact that it was Miyako's involvement that caused it, and this guilt has been a large factor for her throughout canon, including (arguably) her choice to give Ichigo her powers at the very beginning.
personality: In a nutshell, Miyako is one of the nicest people you'll ever meet. Not to say that she doesn't have her bad points, or that she isn't (at least capable of being) a bitch, just that you have to know her well to see any of that. (Or get on the wrong side of a fight.)
She's unpretentious, not the type to put on airs, and she greets the world with open arms. With strangers and friends alike, she's consistently considerate, generous and patient. She loves to help and to teach, making her an excellent role model and mother figure for many of the younger Thirteenth Division recruits.
While she's inherently somewhat shy, being a member of the Gotei 13 has helped her to overcome that; the more she rose in the ranks, the more she discovered people were looking to her for answers, assistance, advice and protection, so she learned to set aside her natural uncertainty in favour of courage. Her time as a third-seat has bolstered that courage with self-confidence, earned through years of continuing success as a Shinigami.
Also enhanced during her time at the Thirteenth Division was her inclination toward nurturing. Growing up, she always played the part of the big sister to her friends, and that carried on into adulthood, manifesting now as an occasionally overbearing tendency to be something of a mother hen.
It's easy to put a stop to that, though: Miyako is quick to give in when faced with any angry kind of conflict. She hates making people angry or upset, and it takes a lot of pressure to make her stand her ground in a serious emotional confrontation. Her emotions often get the better of her, which not only clouds her judgment at times, but is also the root of her tendency to shirk conflict.
When it comes to physical conflict, however, she rarely yields. She's brave in the face of danger, and still wears a brave face when she isn't. Most of this is because she's confident in her abilities as a Shinigami, as well as her Division's ability (read: her captain's ability, her husband's ability) to protect her, should the need arise. She's also not the type to question orders, even if she finds them reprehensible; she'll carry them out and she'll mourn over it later.
why do you feel this character would be appropriate to the setting? Miyako's job in her canon was essentially to vanquish monsters. This setting, with its beasts and bad mojo, won't exactly be a cake walk for her, but she'll definitely be capable of dealing with it.
Writing Samples
network post sample: There's a DM post here, but if that's not sufficient....
[ The feed seems to have accidentally gone live, since it opens to the corner of a table. It's a little unsteady for a bit, and eventually, you can hear a quiet voice in the background. ]
... Wait, 'video on?'
[ The view abruptly spins, and a young woman's face comes into focus, brows knit. ]
This technology isn't quite the same as what I'm accustomed to.
My name is Shiba Miyako, and... I'm not sure I'm supposed to be here. [ She pauses for a long moment, looking at something beyond the Forge, across the room. Unless this is some place you go after you die, which doesn't make any sense in conjunction with what she knows.... ] I don't remember coming here, at any rate. I just... woke up here.
If anyone could tell me where 'here' is, that might be a start. For now, I suppose I'll take a look around and be glad that Hollow's gone.
third person sample: Receiving no immediate response via the device, Miyako tucked it away and took a quick look around the room. Even the inside of it was unfamiliar; the architecture was distinctly Western and not modern, to boot. She felt supremely out of place in her shihakushou.
There wasn't much to see: the furniture was sparse, the decor unwelcoming in its absence. Soon enough, Miyako found herself at the lone window, opening it slowly. The air outside was less musty than the room, but it still had a strange, lingering scent, and it was cool and damp. There were people out there, though, people with spirit energy, and that fact alone was inherently comforting. It would be far worse to be the only one here, or to be surrounded by creatures she didn't recognize and couldn't feel. Even if the people outside weren't Shinigami, they were welcome.
She breathed the air deeply and slowly, waiting for her racing heart to calm. Her hands were trembling on the sill, but there was no one here to see them. Her patrol group was all dead. As far as she could recall, so was she - the last few moments in her memory weren't promising ones. If she closed her eyes, she could see them again, so she kept them open and gazed out at the city.
Not far away from the building she leaned out of, a stone archway towered over the people. Images flickered through its center, dizzying and as unfamiliar as the rest of it. Whatever that was, it made the hairs on the back of her neck stand up.
Still, the people were down there, and she wasn't getting any answers just sitting in this room, was she? She pulled the device from her kosode and examined it again. Nothing seemed to have changed yet. In her experience, waiting around for the things you needed rarely worked out. She'd waited for Kaien for years before she finally took things into her own hands, after all. Since then, she'd learned that many other things were much the same.
If she wanted an explanation, she'd have to go get one.
anything else? I hope it's not a problem that this app is in my temp journal and I posted the reserve with my main. (unsure) The info on this journal does mention that it belongs to tokyocentricity, though.