[Application] Shirotaka <8th Division>

[Aquila]

I haven't been able to sleep in over 24 hours, so it may be a tad shaky/overdone, if so I will change it.
Name:
Shirotaka (referred to as Shiro)

Gender:
Male

Age:
Age at Death: 25
Current Age in Soul Society: 50(?)

Appearance
Shiro is approximately 6 feet two inches tall weighing in at 180 pounds. He looks slightly scrawny, but in reality Shiro's musculature is very compact and he is both stronger and tougher than he seems when you are actually looking at him. He has a gaunt face with a long scar that runs down from the top of his scull from the right side and curves down and ends down at his jaw . His usually wears a white long sleeve shirt underneath a white sleeveless tunic that goes down to his knees and it is cut in the front so he can move, this is also tied to him with a blood red sash at his waist. For pants he wears a pair of white cloth pants that are tied with red cloth at his ankles. One peculiarity about Shiro, is that he does not where anything on his feet, preferring to get a feel of the earth that he is about to spill blood on. Shiro has the hair on the sides of his head cropped close to his skull while he keeps his loose black hair on top of his head about an inch and a half long, any longer and he considers it 'unruly' and bothersome. He also trys to keep a neutral smell so he can't be sniffed out by his target/enemy. In public Shiro always wears a bandanna of some sort to hide what he looks like because he has made a lot of enemies working as a freelance assassin in the lower districts over the years (note this is the only thing that constantly changes about him, he has many different styled ones). Shiro wears a silver necklace that has the upper beak of a Hawk that he befriended when he first arrived in the 80th district as well a tattoo if it over his heart. Though, the bird has long since died, he uses the necklace and the tattoo as a memorial to the only friend he had while living in the Rukongai (This is also where he gets the last part of his name). Shirotaka's skin is pale, which is why most of those who know him call him just 'Shiro' instead of his given name.

Personality
Shiro has been often described by his peers as 'taking stoic and taciturn to a whole new level'. This is without a doubt true, he only speaks when he has to or when it is relevant to his current situation. If he ever does speak it is usually with a sarcastic, dry humor often criticizing another person (but in the interest of making them realizing their faults, but this is mostly misunderstood by they those who don't know him and they see him as a cold hearted jackass). But to those who do know him (the very few that do) they them as a kind man who would die for those in need. Shiro also has a high sense of justice and will punish those who do acts that he believes is wrong and immoral. But along with his sense of justice, Shiro also believes that the law may bended (if not broken) to do whats right. Under pressure, Shirotaka often retains his 'cool' and calm demeanor and is able to react rationally when things go badly. (sometimes this is also seen as his ability to not react at all to dire situations)


Yeah I know, my biography is too long, sorry but I got caught up in writing it!

Biography
Shirotaka doesn't remember anything before about age five, not weather he was born in the Soul Society or weather or not he died on earth and was sent to the Soul Society by a Soul Reaper. All he remembers was the pain and suffering of his upbringing in the eightieth district of the Rukongai.

Shiro was abandoned (at least that is what he calls it) in the last and wost district with in the Soul Society. It was ruled by a tyrannical 'noble' and a gang of thugs that would take and do whatever they wanted even if it was completely immoral. They didn't allow anyone above poverty level (unless they proved themselves to be as ruthless as the rest of the gang members) and that was the best one could be in the 80th, all others would be slaves to the ruling class.

Now, Shiro was actually found on the by tyrannical noble, while he was out inspecting his district, alone on the street taking his dieing breath. Not having a legitimate son of his own the noble took Shiro in as his sole heir to the district and to train him how to be a tyrant. Now throughout the seemingly endless years serving the noble as a son, Shiro was used more as a personal slave doing every menial task that the tyrant didn't absolutely need to do (is: washing him, feeding him, testing his food for poison ect....). But Shiro was taught how to punish those who did the noble wrong and how to keep the people 'in order' (sometimes Shiro was forced to punish people himself).

Needless to say Shiro despised this and what he had to do for the noble, and one day he finally snapped. Now, the noble had a great lust and every night he would take a young girl (one way too young) and rape her, this was Shiro's opportunity to take revenge upon the Noble and punish him for his sins because this was the only time the vile man was completely unguarded and vulnerable.

Shiro waited in the shadow's of the room, not moving and barely breathing for fear of disturbing the environment. He was poised to strike the second the Noble would enter the room. His heart was pounding in his ears, his blood wait boiling in his veins Shiro could barely take the pressure of his anticipated kill when the Noble finally entered the room. But the chosen girl for the night was in front of the Noble, protecting him from attack! Shiro had to wait until the lustful act started so he could guarantee his revenge. Shiro's heart was racing, bile about to fill his mouth as he watched the foreplay. He clutched the knife he stole from the kitchen earlier as the act finally started. He rushed out of the shadow's and glided across the floor, the Noble didn't realize his danger until it was too late. Shiro plunged the blade in to the nape of the Noble's neck, killing him instantly. Blood gushed everywhere, staining Shiro's servants tunic as he rolled over the hefty body freeing the girl of the Nobel's embrace, she had passed out.

The reality of the situation wad finally hitting him and realizing that the Nobles thugs would not be happy about the death of their leader Shiro picked up the girl and carried her far away until he could not run anymore (ending up in the relatively more peaceful 70th district). He gave the girl to the orphanage that they had there, but before he departed the young girl said ”, Thank you Shiro”. Which was a complete shock to him because he was only ever called 'boy' by the Noble. He finally had name. Shiro nodded back at her as a thank you and then left her for ever to wreak his vindication upon those who would invade the individual rights of the people of the Rukongai, Shiro became a Righteous Assassin of the Soul Society.

[Aquila]

The Hawk:


A few days after he was saved then enslaved by the Noble Shiro found a baybe white hawk, who seemed to wander away from its nest and its parents, relating the tiny bird to himself Shiro started to take care of it. He fed it mealworms that he had found in the kitchen, as well as small bits of rice. As Shiro grew so did the Hawk, it grew to it's full size within a year and was soon feeding on small vermin and other birds that inhabited the Nobles estate. Shiro managed to hide the presence of his 'friend' from the Noble until one day (a few days before his escape) he found the hawk. In a fit of anger at Shiro's insubordination the Noble cast the bird into the fire pit, cooking it and then eating it in front of Shiro's eye's. Shiro keeps the upper beak of his white hawk on a silver chain around his neck, a memorial to the memory of Shiro's only friend from the 80th district. The last part of Shiro's name, Taka, come from the bird he kept when he was young.

How he earned his skill:


From when he was first taken in by the Noble, Shiro was used as a spy, to rat out any usurper's or traitor's amongst those who served him. Shiro eventually became very adept at sneaking in the shadows and hiding in plain sight, even as he grew larger Shiro could sneak up on a conversation and listen in on them without realizing his presence. This is how Shiro became stealthy.

Not only was Shiro an informant to the Noble, but he was a great source of entertainment. Shiro was often forced to fight others who were the captivity of the Noble to the death. This is how he learned how to fight and how to become an expert killer.

How he was recruited into the Daikokubashira Academy:


For about thirty years after murdering his former master, Shirotaka became an assassin, an assassin for good. He would kill all those who infringed upon the rights of the citizens who lived in the higher districts, bringing a small sense of safety amongst the innocents who lived in the region. (although there were too many thugs for him to take out so they still had to on guard. But at least the grip around their neck was loosened for the time being).

One day while wandering around the 76th district Shirotaka came upon a peculiarly dressed man (he dressed way to fancy to live in the higher districts). The man was holding up a poster with a picture on it and It was of Shiro! His adrenaline peaked and his eyes widened,” Soul Reapers where hunting him”, Shiro thought to himself. Thinking quickly he ducked behind a wall, but it was too late, the Shinigami had seen him!

“Hey you!,” the man screamed," I order you to come over here now!”
But Shiro wasn't willing to accept his execution, so he ran. He ducked into hidden ally ways climbed over buildings and dived through merchant stands, but nothing he could do could get rid of the Shinigami. In fact the Shinigami was actually catching up with him!

Shiro had only one chance left, he had to fight the Shinigami. Shiro stopped in his tracks and spun around, catching the man off guard, and Shiro kneed him in the gut as he drew a knife that he hid in his sleeve. But the Shinigami was too quick and drew his Zanpakuto, throwing Shiro to the ground, it was over.

“DON'T EVER ATTACK A SHINIGAMI!," The man yelled as he grabbed Shirotaka's hand.
“This is your punishment!," The Shinigami said as he cleanly severed Shiro's index finger on his left hand.,” Oh yeah Shirotaka, you are hear by a student at the Daikokubashira Academy, good job.”

Shirotaka almost bled out that day, but it was still one of the happiest days of his life.

Division applying to:
8th Division- Tactical Stealth Operations

Zanpakutou
http://www.todoespadas.com/images/HMoreno/HM-FalcataV1.jpg=A falcata
Shirotaka's Zanpakuto is a Falcata that is three feet long. It has 30 inch blade and a six inch enclosed hilt (like a sabers). The blade is colored black, so black it seems to consume the light around it while the hilt is pure white and shaped like the head of a bird. The sheath is made of black hardened leather. Shirotaka tends to wear his Zanpakuto on his back so the sheath doesn't interfere with the movement of his legs and so it doesn't up against something.

Shirotaka prefers to fight without a weapon, only bringing out his Zanpakuto when he has to either kill someone, threaten someone, when he has to kill a hallow or when things are getting to tough to handle using just his body to defeat his foe. But even when he does have his Zanpakuto out, Shiro often uses his legs and off hand to catch his opponent off guard and to set him up for a killing blow. The thing is once Shirotaka looses the upper hand hand or the element of shock/surprise, and he is facing a better straight forward swordsmen he will back away and strike from an odd angle to regain it.
Also when things are truly getting bad for Shirotaka, he has developed a technique where he would throw his Zanpakuto so it would go outwards and then curve back inwards to strike his opponent from the right side, while he would do the same thing, attacking from the left.
Sample mission:

I will put this up tomarrow, I am sleepy!
*yawn*

[Cyclonus_Zaero]

*blinks* That is an amazing App for a first go. The only thing that I feel needs to be expanded upon is Zanpakuto, mostly cause I'm a stickler for fighting styles described in this category. So just add your chara's fighting style to Zanpakuto and ofcourse the Sample Mission, but you know that. Lastly I would like to wish you good luck and bid you welcome to BARPG.

-Capt Cy

[MagicalBells]

Your application is very detailed. I would say Shirotoka's personality is a bit like Tenshi, but not at the same time. That should prove pretty interesting. :p

The only thing I would like to say is you should consider spacing out your application including the sample chapter when you post that up. It helps with the reading to have gaps in between paragraphs. Other than that, I'll await your sample chapter and move on from there.

[Aquila]

Thank you for the compliments!
Also, sorry for my lack of knowledge but who is Tenshi?:)

Sample mission:
1,987 words.
“ Alright recruits, listen up!," the instructor yelled at the front of the class," after these past six months of classes and instruction, I am sure you are itching for some real combat training!”

Several students cheered in relief, Shirotaka just sat still in the back of the class room half listening half day dreaming about finally becoming a Shinigami.

“ Tomorrow you will be breaking off into to teams of seven, I will choose the teams so people are not paired up with their friends which would promote laxity in the team. Now I suppose you mutts are wondering what you are finally being trusted to do? Well it will be a hunt of sorts, each teammate will have to face off against the other six. Each person will have a piece of white cloth to tie to themselves, if that cloth gets removed, you are considered 'dead' until the next round. Also each person will be given a practice sword and if a killing blow is landed upon you you are also 'dead'. Now if you do manage to beat all of your teammates, you will be rewarded with a meeting with the Captain of the squad you want to join and maybe gain some leverage with them, so you might actually be chosen to join a division!"

“Question," Shirotaka said as he raised his hand," what if we hurt our teammates?”.
“You may hurt your teammates, just don't kill them, break their bones or mortally wound them, do what is necessary to achieve victory."

“This is going to be fun," Shiro though to himself," I finally get challenge myself”.
“Any more questions? Good, now go home get some sleep and get ready for a day of hurt, class dismissed!” The instructor ordered.

++++++++
The next day class started early, instructions were given at a more in depth level and everyone was split up into their groups and sent off into separate area's as to not disturb each other. Each group was also led by a senior student of academy to act as a judge and to make sure no one dies. Their senior student was a tall skinny girl with striking blue hair who seemed like she would want to be doing other things at the time. Shiro's team had 4 other male students and two female. Two of the males were large and bulky and seemed like they were absolute power houses, but extremely slow, another male was about Shiro's size and looked like he would prove to be his biggest challenge within the group and the last male was short and skinny who obviously prided himself at being fast (Shiro knew this because he always saw the kid running everywhere). One of the females was about five foot eight and seemed like an arrogant stuck up jerk, he would take a measure of pleasure in taking away her flag and the other girl was about five foot four and didn't seem to confident in herself and looks like she wouldn't make too much of a challenge to him, in fact she seemed like the weak link in the group.


“OK freshmen listen up!" The Senior yelled over the group chatter," You loud mouth (referring to one of big guys) you will go first, then the other big one, then the noisy girl, then short kid then, Blondie then short girl and then you, the quiet one, you will fight last. That is the order in which you fight alone in. You will start a half a kilometer away from each other, so the person who is alone gets a chance to hide, now get to your positions!," The Senior ordered.

When they were far enough from their other teammate, Shirotaka finally broke the silence amongst the group. “OK, in order to take our target out without loosing to many people, we need to play on his weaknesses and strengths. We will send out two people he is absolutely sure he can beat, that will be you and you," Shiro said while pointing to the Short Kid and the Short Girl," the rest of us will shadow them and wait for the big fella to strike and once that happens we will ambush him, trapping him between our two forces. Anyone have any objections to this plan?”

“Know for such a quiet boy, you are quite the tactician, I don't thin even I could have come up with a better plan!” The cocky girl said," Hey wait a minute, come to think of it, I don't even know your name, in fact I do believe this is the first time I have even heard you speak! So what is your name anyway?”

“Just call me Shiro," he replied just as the Senior student shouted for the combat to commence.

Needless to say Shirotaka's plan worked out each time, only loosing only 1-2 students each time. Except in the fight before his where that Short Girl actually managed to take out four of of the six who were attacking her, which is surprising because only she learned that the plan was the same each and every round. But no matter it was Shiro's turn to be challenged and he had three big advantages over the rest. Firstly, he knew exactly what they were going to do and secondly, he had barely taken part in any of the previous rounds so he was still fresh and still able to fight at full strength. Thirdly, he knew how each of the others fought and Shiro could counter their moves.

Once he got to his starting point, Shiro took his flag, which he had tied around his waist and tied it around his neck, to play on his teammates fear of actually hurting each other. After that he adjusted his practice sword so it was on his back, so it wouldn't get in the way.

“ You know you are supposed to wear that around your waist, doing that could potentially make it your hangman's noose," the senior said as she pointed to the white cloth around Shiro's neck.

“The instructor never said where the flag had to placed, just that it had to be on you and whats the point of combat if there is not a chance you can die," Shiro grinned at the Senior," Just start the match I want to fight".

“Your loss," the Senior student said as she pressed the buzzer that signaled the start of the match.


A screeching noise filled the air and the aggressors sprinted into the formation that Shiro had set up for them hours before. Instead of heading headlong into the fight Shirotaka did not move far at all, he climbed up into the nearest tree so he could see which direction the vanguard would come from and from there he would strike.


Shiro sat on his perch like a gargoyle, motionless yet ever watching. Minutes went by like hours as the shadow of the tree seemed to consume him. Completely unnoticeable to those who weren't already looking at him, he waited for the bait. The breeze whipped around his face, the noise of the rustling leaves seemed to overpower any other sound, everything was in balance, until there was finally the disturbance that Shiro was searching for.

His teammates vanguard finally came into view. It was the two biggest of the group, blundering in his direction and talking like idiots. Their hands where on their practice swords, to most it would look like they were on guard, but Shiro knew that they just got a huge sensation of power from carrying a weapon. Shiro waited until the two were under his perch, and that would be when he would strike.

Finally! The two were underneath him and they didn't even suspect his position. Shirotaka sprung out of his tree yelling," Fools, do you think you can beat me with my own plan!?”

Before they could even react, Shiro had landed behind the man closest to him, he ripped off the flag before he landed. Once he fully hit the ground, Shiro squatted low and kicked out the others knees, making him crash to the ground so. Shiro hand flipped over the big guy's back, ripping off his flag in the process. Feeling another presence behind him, Shiro partially unsheathed his practice sword, deflecting a killing blow o the back of his neck. In response Shiro kept low to the ground and spun around on his toes and palmed the noisy girl in the stomach and stole her flag too. The Short kid also tried to surprise him, but he ways focusing to much of his power into his swing and it passed right over Shiro's head. Taking advantage of the kids overshoot, Shiro booted him in the chest, bringing him to the ground and taking the flag off of his winded body. All that was left was the Short girl and his equivalent. “ This should be easy," Shirotaka thought to himself.

“Draw your weapon!” his equivalent shouted," I want to fight you on equal ground!”.

Shirotaka stood up, his arms loosely dangling at his side, he saw his equivalent standing firm with his weapon drawn, with the Short Girl standing in the same standard position behind him. “No, that wouldn't be a challenge," Shiro responded as he charged head long at his double.

His opponent was standing strong, it was suicide to attack him so directly. But Shiro wasn't that stupid, instead he slid beneath his opponents legs (due to the power stance he was in there was a large enough opening) and stood up behind taking the flag. “Sorry but you are 'dead'," Shiro said calmly.

From behind him he hear something crash to the ground.

“Crap!," he yelped as a pair of arms sawed themselves under his chin and as a pair of legs wrap around him. He was actually taken to the ground by the Short Girl.

“I give up, I am 'dead'!" Shiro said, as he tired to suck in air.

“Thats good," a quiet voice said as Shiro's body was released and he stood up.

“I can't believe you of all people took me out, I definitely underestimated you," Shiro replied as he took off the flag he had
wrapped around his neck to hand to the Girl.

“Thats good, but you actually tore off my flag when I jumped on you," who said shyly as she bent down to pick up her flag.

“No, no, no, in reality you would have killed me just then, so you did take me out and for that I respect you," Shiro said as he bowed his head," and by the way, you may call me Shirotaka, that is my full name,"

[Aquila]

After the final round, the group headed back to the class rooms for review and debriefing, they found out that they were the last ones to finish and had fought the longest out of all the groups. On they way back, they engaged in an in depth conversation about the fighting that had just took place, even Shirotaka took part, making his first set of friends amongst his classmates, they are the only ones who know him as Shirotaka besides the professor.


“My group did exceptionally well,” said the blue haired Senior as she spoke with an air of authority," Shiro acted as the leader of the group from early on in the fighting, getting the rest of the students into a predictable pattern of attack from which he could counter when it was his time came to fight, taking out 5 out of six of his opponents. She also did well (pointing to the Short Girl), taking out four of the six that attacked her and taking out Shiro after he dominated the rest of the group in thirty seconds.”

“Good, good, but is a shame that no one managed to kill of the rest of their group... oh well."

“Thats not true Sir!!" the Sort Girl screamed," Shirotaka did take off my flag when I jumped on him. He does deserve to meet with a Captain!”

“No!” scolded Shirotaka,” I don't need to meet with a prissy Captain to carve my way into the Gotei Thirteen!” Suddenly Shiro could no longer speak as his heart stopped as a seemingly massive presence entered the room.

“Oh, I don't think were are that prissy," the Captain said with a sly grin on his face.



I fix the paragraphs when I get back home because I have to go do something right now. I will also add to my Zanpakuto description when I get back as well.

[Cyclonus_Zaero]

Very nice sample mission and the fact that you'll be editing it later is noted. Tenshi is another Moderator/Captain on the Message board, well the user is blackheartz but his character's name is Tenshi... You get it... Anyway, that is who Tenshi is.

[Aquila]

Ok I just read through my sample mission again and I can't believe all the individual words I left out as well as part of the combat scene. But I will definitely go through it again in an hour or so, just in case.

Zanpakuto Fighting Style
Shirotaka prefers to fight without a weapon, only bringing out his Zanpakuto when he has to either kill someone, threaten someone, when he has to kill a hallow or when things are getting to tough to handle using just his body to defeat his foe. But even when he does have his Zanpakuto out, Shiro often uses his legs and off hand to catch his opponent off guard and to set him up for a killing blow. The thing is once Shirotaka looses the upper hand hand or the element of shock/surprise, and he is facing a better straight forward swordsmen he will back away and strike from an odd angle to regain it.
Also when things are truly getting bad for Shirotaka, he has developed a technique where he would throw his Zanpakuto so it would go outwards and then curve back inwards to strike his opponent from the right side, while he would do the same thing, attacking from the left.

[MagicalBells]

Tenshi is a mod of the BARPG but he is also the caretaker of the 8th division, which is why I find it interesting Shiro has similarities to him. :p

I do have one thing to make note of. When you have a sentence in quotes, commas always go inside of the quotes. This is opposite for pauses before quotations. Commas go before the quotes begin. I'll show you what I mean:

“The instructor never said where the flag had to placed, just that it had to be on you and whats the point of combat if there is not a chance you can die”, Shiro grinned at the Senior”, Just start the match I want to fight".

This sentence will serve for both of my examples. Two commas are out of place here:

“The instructor never said where the flag had to placed, just that it had to be on you and whats the point of combat if there is not a chance you can die,” Shiro grinned at the Senior,” Just start the match I want to fight".

I know it seems like I'm being picky, but this will prevent you from being docked any points when you start writing up missions. Other than fixing up that, whenever you get everything situated feel free to submit a finalized application whenever you like.