Post by Hazuki Tsukimiya on Jan 6, 2016 11:11:07 GMT -5
yo gimme master zanjutsu, it's my first mastery and I rekt Shinpei with it just now
Hazuki has trained in the Shinigami arts since she was very young. She's a pure-born soul and with both parents in the Gotei, there wasn't much strange about that. Until his untimely death, her father (mother was more of a Hakuda kind of woman) spent a fair amount of time with Hazuki in their garden, playing at swords together. It wasn't, strictly speaking, just for fun—Hazuki was destined for the Gotei and her parents were both very eager to pass on as much of what they knew in order to better prepare her for it. After his death, Hazuki came to see Zanjutsu not only as something fun with which she associated time spent with her late father, but also as a necessary tool to ensure her own survival in the future. Her father's skill had not been enough. She would have to be better still.
Given that she had been introduced to and begun studying under her mentor long before her enrollment in the Academy, it should be fairly obvious that the classes offered there—and the opponents she faced in them—weren't of much use to her. Her problem, in many ways, was that her education (while hands-on in a way that only a truly dedicated mentor can provide) did little to provide her with real-world experience. She carved through the Academy class with ease, and her growth under her mentor was considerable, but she had never been in a real fight. She had a solid grasp of the fundamentals, and her mentor's tutelage was intended not only to elevate her skills further but to eliminate the misguided principles of the noble warrior code. Survival comes first, and after that, victory. Honor does not factor. Win by any means necessary.
Hazuki did not disappoint. While she has no particular style to call her own at present (and this is where further development in the skill would take her), what is most prominent in the way she wields her sword versus Shinpei is a ruthlessness combined with a mentality that form is a result of function—not the other way around. Shinpei learns this the hard way; as a single-minded man he has spent countless hours practicing his form, and he adheres to form to his own detriment when faced with someone like Hazuki, who doesn't care about rules or honor. She's in it to win it, so to speak, and her repeated insistence on throwing proper blade etiquette out the window in favor of something she knows will work is what keeps throwing her opponent off guard. It's only one thread, but it's a clash between two very dedicated practitioners of their art and for Hazuki, it cannot be stressed enough that this is the first time she engages someone in an actual fight where winning or losing matters. Shinpei's lewd bet notwithstanding, she has too much to gain from winning to consider losing an option. There's no polite handshake or "it was a nice try, anyway" after this.
So she puts her long and arduous years of theory into practice and emerges triumphant in her first foray into real combat, proud of herself and grateful to the lessons she has learned along the way. She's proven to herself that when the going gets tough, Hazuki is fully capable of getting going, and My Little Captor was just as much a mental triumph and move past the "games played with toy swords and toy intentions" as it was a solid victory that she earned over another skilled swordsman. She's a blooded warrior now, not just some theoretical whiz kid. In my mind, she was at Master Zanjutsu on a purely technical level since before her first appearance on the site, but without a way to prove this to herself, she was required to remain at Advanced. She's overcome that particular hurdle now, and in so doing has come into her own.
Hazuki is a character that is going places that only her blade can take her. With no Shikai (yet) she has nothing else to fall back on, and must rely on her skill and skill alone This first mastery is the start of the journey that will define her as dangerous in a very real, very down to earth sense. There's no hocus-pocus about her, not yet, and Zanjutsu is key to that. What will follow will be the development of a style to call her own and in time, her deep comfort with and reliance on the blade as a physical object will set the backdrop for the development of her blade as a spiritual one.
edit also fun thing that deserves mentioning: there's a cute tie-in with the way Hazuki is and the way she uses her sword. She's got a sharp tongue, yes, but it's her bluntness that really takes people aback :^)
Hazuki has trained in the Shinigami arts since she was very young. She's a pure-born soul and with both parents in the Gotei, there wasn't much strange about that. Until his untimely death, her father (mother was more of a Hakuda kind of woman) spent a fair amount of time with Hazuki in their garden, playing at swords together. It wasn't, strictly speaking, just for fun—Hazuki was destined for the Gotei and her parents were both very eager to pass on as much of what they knew in order to better prepare her for it. After his death, Hazuki came to see Zanjutsu not only as something fun with which she associated time spent with her late father, but also as a necessary tool to ensure her own survival in the future. Her father's skill had not been enough. She would have to be better still.
Given that she had been introduced to and begun studying under her mentor long before her enrollment in the Academy, it should be fairly obvious that the classes offered there—and the opponents she faced in them—weren't of much use to her. Her problem, in many ways, was that her education (while hands-on in a way that only a truly dedicated mentor can provide) did little to provide her with real-world experience. She carved through the Academy class with ease, and her growth under her mentor was considerable, but she had never been in a real fight. She had a solid grasp of the fundamentals, and her mentor's tutelage was intended not only to elevate her skills further but to eliminate the misguided principles of the noble warrior code. Survival comes first, and after that, victory. Honor does not factor. Win by any means necessary.
Hazuki did not disappoint. While she has no particular style to call her own at present (and this is where further development in the skill would take her), what is most prominent in the way she wields her sword versus Shinpei is a ruthlessness combined with a mentality that form is a result of function—not the other way around. Shinpei learns this the hard way; as a single-minded man he has spent countless hours practicing his form, and he adheres to form to his own detriment when faced with someone like Hazuki, who doesn't care about rules or honor. She's in it to win it, so to speak, and her repeated insistence on throwing proper blade etiquette out the window in favor of something she knows will work is what keeps throwing her opponent off guard. It's only one thread, but it's a clash between two very dedicated practitioners of their art and for Hazuki, it cannot be stressed enough that this is the first time she engages someone in an actual fight where winning or losing matters. Shinpei's lewd bet notwithstanding, she has too much to gain from winning to consider losing an option. There's no polite handshake or "it was a nice try, anyway" after this.
So she puts her long and arduous years of theory into practice and emerges triumphant in her first foray into real combat, proud of herself and grateful to the lessons she has learned along the way. She's proven to herself that when the going gets tough, Hazuki is fully capable of getting going, and My Little Captor was just as much a mental triumph and move past the "games played with toy swords and toy intentions" as it was a solid victory that she earned over another skilled swordsman. She's a blooded warrior now, not just some theoretical whiz kid. In my mind, she was at Master Zanjutsu on a purely technical level since before her first appearance on the site, but without a way to prove this to herself, she was required to remain at Advanced. She's overcome that particular hurdle now, and in so doing has come into her own.
Hazuki is a character that is going places that only her blade can take her. With no Shikai (yet) she has nothing else to fall back on, and must rely on her skill and skill alone This first mastery is the start of the journey that will define her as dangerous in a very real, very down to earth sense. There's no hocus-pocus about her, not yet, and Zanjutsu is key to that. What will follow will be the development of a style to call her own and in time, her deep comfort with and reliance on the blade as a physical object will set the backdrop for the development of her blade as a spiritual one.
edit also fun thing that deserves mentioning: there's a cute tie-in with the way Hazuki is and the way she uses her sword. She's got a sharp tongue, yes, but it's her bluntness that really takes people aback :^)
