Post by Osamu Shimazu on Jun 3, 2016 13:09:17 GMT -5
Shinigami
Squad Two
I D E N T I F I C A T I O N
Name / Alias: Osamu Shimazu / Shimazu
Gender: Male
Age: 65 years
Apparent Age: 25 years
Height: 6'3" (190cm)
Weight: 120lbs (54kg)
Hair Color: Black
Eye Color: Steel blue
Positive Traits: Eager, curious, pragmatic, calculating, disciplined.
Negative Traits: Timid, conniving, disturbed, merciless, surly, apathetic, aloof.
Loyalties: The Second Division, its respected authority, and by extension the Gotei claim Osamu's allegiance.
Snapshots
Squad Two
I D E N T I F I C A T I O N
Name / Alias: Osamu Shimazu / Shimazu
Gender: Male
Age: 65 years
Apparent Age: 25 years
Height: 6'3" (190cm)
Weight: 120lbs (54kg)
Hair Color: Black
Eye Color: Steel blue
Positive Traits: Eager, curious, pragmatic, calculating, disciplined.
Negative Traits: Timid, conniving, disturbed, merciless, surly, apathetic, aloof.
Loyalties: The Second Division, its respected authority, and by extension the Gotei claim Osamu's allegiance.
Snapshots
- Born to the Shimazu Family in the Seireitei, 1952.
- Introduced to the basics of Shinigami Zankensoki at the age of 15, 1967.
- Enrolled in the Shinigami Academy, subsequently receives “Andromeda” at the age of 22, 1974.
- The nightmares begin, and Osamu learns his Zanpakutō's backstory, 1975.
- Osamu graduates the Academy at the age of 28, 1980.
- Osamu activates his Zanpakutō's abilities for the first time at the age of 30, 1982.
- The nightmares intensify, 1982.
Physical Description: Exceptionally tall and gaunt, the latest recruit-on-the-rise in the Second Division turns many heads. Sunken steel blue eyes adept at syphoning an area clean of any useful information dot a worn, taut face with pursed lips and an unfriendly grimace. Narrow shoulders diminish his already slender frame, a thick black mass of hair pulled back in a tight ponytail between his shoulder blades. Long, slender arms sport thin, nimble fingers seen often enough fumbling with the folds of his uniform or tapping endlessly at the pallid black hilt of his accursed blade.
Osamu dons the standard garb of the Shinigami, the shihakushō. A white shitagi beneath a black kosode and hakama, complete with a white obi sash. When inhabiting a gigai is necessary, Osamu tends to stick to inconspicuous, ordinary outfits such as plain, colored dress shirts, black leather jacket, blue jeans, and leather boots. As he was taught in the second division, sometimes the best way to remain hidden is to become part of the crowd.
He's got himself the voice and tone of a snake. His quiet, even-paced, and almost soft voice lull friend and foe alike, them never expecting such tenacity, be it in battle or against wits, from such a quiet and soft spoken individual. Thanks to his training in the Second Division and his relatively unique lifestyle, it seems almost fitting his movements are quick, intentional, and precise. Each wave of the hand, and step of the foot seem rigid and part of some grand scheme.
Less is more to Osamu; where some flourish and make extravagant gestures, Osamu is as efficient and precise as possible. The quicker one does what they do, the less time an opponent has to pry and discover your motives, predict your actions, or put a stop to you.
Spiritual Description: Osamu's reiatsu manifests as slow rising, purple gas, released from Osamu's very skin, billowing into faint but dense clouds above him before evaporating into thin air, the amount reliant, of course, on the reiatsu exuded.
Distinctly, those afflicted by overdoses of Osamu's power report an intense bout of dread ranging from something as minor as labored breaths and varying degrees of frigidity, to uncomfortable tightness in the chest, stomach, throat accompanied by nervous sweats. This is no doubt related to his unique relationship with his zanpakutō, Andromeda.
Acutely aware of his reiatsu's effect on opponents, he's taken to studying the conscious manipulation of the emotional impact of one's reiatsu thinking of it as a powerful tool both on and off the battlefield.
E M B O D I M E N T
Personality: It seems that through and through, Osamu is perfectly suited for the Second Division. Assassins, covert agents, and otherwise conniving and unfriendly individuals populate the Second Division, and Osamu possesses many of the traits of his comrades. Above all, he values efficiency, precision, and success. It is imperative to him, as a member of the Second Division, that nothing come between him and the success of his objective, be it friend or foe. A firm believer in the saying, "if you aren't with me, you are against me," he holds no reservations about taking business and justice into his own hands in the name of the Soul Society. Unfriendly, cold, and apathetic, he doesn't have many, if any, actual friends. Instead, he chooses to build functional working relationships where his willingness to work with others to help them accomplish their ends allows him to amass favor points, so to speak, building on a network of colleagues and allies he can call on later to accomplish his own ends, should he need. His career in the Second Division is his pride and joy; as he advances through the ranks, it seems only logical to him that so, too, will his understanding, control, and mastery of that cursed blade of his, a task and accomplishment in its own right.Osamu dons the standard garb of the Shinigami, the shihakushō. A white shitagi beneath a black kosode and hakama, complete with a white obi sash. When inhabiting a gigai is necessary, Osamu tends to stick to inconspicuous, ordinary outfits such as plain, colored dress shirts, black leather jacket, blue jeans, and leather boots. As he was taught in the second division, sometimes the best way to remain hidden is to become part of the crowd.
He's got himself the voice and tone of a snake. His quiet, even-paced, and almost soft voice lull friend and foe alike, them never expecting such tenacity, be it in battle or against wits, from such a quiet and soft spoken individual. Thanks to his training in the Second Division and his relatively unique lifestyle, it seems almost fitting his movements are quick, intentional, and precise. Each wave of the hand, and step of the foot seem rigid and part of some grand scheme.
Less is more to Osamu; where some flourish and make extravagant gestures, Osamu is as efficient and precise as possible. The quicker one does what they do, the less time an opponent has to pry and discover your motives, predict your actions, or put a stop to you.
Spiritual Description: Osamu's reiatsu manifests as slow rising, purple gas, released from Osamu's very skin, billowing into faint but dense clouds above him before evaporating into thin air, the amount reliant, of course, on the reiatsu exuded.
Distinctly, those afflicted by overdoses of Osamu's power report an intense bout of dread ranging from something as minor as labored breaths and varying degrees of frigidity, to uncomfortable tightness in the chest, stomach, throat accompanied by nervous sweats. This is no doubt related to his unique relationship with his zanpakutō, Andromeda.
Acutely aware of his reiatsu's effect on opponents, he's taken to studying the conscious manipulation of the emotional impact of one's reiatsu thinking of it as a powerful tool both on and off the battlefield.
E M B O D I M E N T
Part of the reason Osamu is so emotionally closed off and distanced from his peers is because of Andromeda, his Inner Spirit. Robbed of the chance to be a normal Shinigami with a normal blade and spirit, instead he was passed on a blade of a family member before him, and one before them, and so on. The toll Andromeda takes on its master is evident: they get warped. The twisted, nightly visits Andromeda pays where the master is tortured for what seems an eternity in sleep paralysis messes with their mind. Lack of sleep -- fear of sleep, even -- pushes one to their limit, coupling the lack of energy with one's duties as a Shinigami makes for an understandably short tempered and unhinged individual. On the other hand, the nights of torture have lended Osamu many new and effective interrogation ideas... so maybe it's not all bad.
Achievements
- Became the Head of the Shimazu Clan at the age of 22, 1974.
- Successfully graduates the Shinigami Academy, enlists in the Second Division at 28 years old, 1980.
- At long last, activates his blade's Shikai.
Goals
- To become the first of the Shimazu to subdue (or master) Andromeda of the Cursed Set.
- To become the most forthright master of the Shinigami's Demon Arts.
- To see justice served in the name of the Seireitei.
Z A N P A K U T Ō
Zanpakutō Name: Andromeda
Sealed Zanpakutō: Measuring in at three feet, six inches (106.5 cm) and a fourteen inch (35.5cm) hilt with a modest curve, the scratched, notched, chipped, and otherwise tattered blade Osamu claims as his own. A pallid black sheath, presumably bamboo, protects the worn weapon from any manner of further abuse or wear-and-tear. Torn black silk clings to the hilt, their frayed ends dancing in the wind. An indistinct hexagonal guard, in as much disrepair as the rest of weapon, still manages to protect its master's hand from harm.
Zanpakutō Inner World: Osamu's blade is unique in a myriad of ways. Not only is the blade, "not his own," in that it is passed down to each Head of the Shimazu at the time of his or her induction into the Shinigami Academy, and not only does the blade communicate not with speech but with emotion and imagery (almost unanimously evil-natured), but also that the Inner World is variable. Accessible only through sleep and never -- yet -- through meditation, Osamu's Inner World takes the form of wherever he happens to be sleeping at the time. In the Second Division Barracks? Then his Inner World is of the room he sleeps. Of course the surroundings become distorted and warped in oftentimes fearsome ways, including but not limited to: extinguishing of all light sources, objects taking on different and unnatural colors, stationary objects moving as though by an unknown force, extremely cold temperatures. Basically, his Inner World is the landscape by which his nightmares and spirit plague him. Ever evolving, ever changing.
Zanpakutō Appearance: Andromeda takes the form of a roughly six foot tall, three dimensional, expressionless shadow. Andromeda lacks facial features such as eyebrows, eyes, cheeks, a mouth, a nose. Instead, his skin is simply matte black, unassuming and simply devoid. It's more a monster from nightmare given physical form. Andromeda begins visits on the precipice of Osamu's field of vision as he lay motionless, inching closer and closer, favoring rough movements over fluid, humanlike ones. Whereas most Shinigami's spirit's possess a blade of their own, Andromeda has yet to be witnessed wielding anything.
Zanpakutō Mannerisms: Eternally silent, Andromeda is seen more as a menacing figure to Osamu than a, "second half," as Zanpakutō are regarded by most other Shinigami. The method by which Andromeda communicates in particular is different: instead of willing and passive conversation like other Shinigami are capable of, Andromeda comes only in the dead of night as Osamu sleeps, prompting an inescapable episode of sleep paralysis. Stuck halfway between asleep and awake, his mind wanders, producing sensations and images foreign to a fully awake mind while harboring the perfect environment for Andromeda to "begin.". Despite having no displayed capability or intent for speech, Andromeda manages to convey both its demeanor and purpose for an imposed-visit. Additionally, there's not a single time Osamu can recall that a visit from Andromeda didn't end without a measure of his own sanity dissipating afterwards. To be absolutely clear, this creature of silent menace, harassment, and dread is a monster Osamu has, over the past few years, come to resent and abhor, for visits are accompanied by hours upon hours of paralysis, dread, and violence to which Osamu lacks the capacity to influence.
Zanpakutō Release Phrase: Defy, Andromeda.
Shikai Appearance: Upon the release of Andromeda -- mind you, Andromeda is not the true name of the blade, merely a nickname based off the Shikai form -- the blade sheds its corporeal form, revealing a black, starry, and galactic blade with an ever changing backdrop of the cosmos and a form that just manages to slip your tongue. Is it a longsword? An axe? Perhaps even a spear. Whatever it is, it's only got a three and a half foot range. Additionally, a cosmic aura clings to the blade, shifting between purples, reds, whites, blues, and yellows while the blade itself turns pitch black with faint purple outline. Around the blade, light seems to warp in a sort of gravitational lensing, visible to the naked eye.
Shikai Ability: As far as Osamu has deduced, his best guess for what Andromeda is doing is manipulating gravity on an admittedly small scale. It seems to him that gravity all around his weapon is increased directly proportional to the strength behind the swordstroke, resulting in massive boosts in speed of even the most basic and rudimentary strikes, so long as enough power is put behind the swing. To date, this is all Osamu has managed to accomplish in terms of unlocking the secrets of the weapon that isn't even truly his own. He's sure, however, there's plenty more secrets to be discovered...
H I S T O R Y
Origin: Born to the Shimazu family not even a century ago, Osamu grew up learning his place: a vassal and servant to the once-prestigious Amai. They took care of their subjects, and the treatment was never poor. In fact, quite the opposite. Osamu and his family, as well as numerous others, grew up affluent, well spoken, well groomed, and with a certain degree of status. As most men in service to the Amai were tasked with, Osamu had taken up Zankensoki by the age of fifteen. Before long, he would be guarding the Amai compound entrance with dozens of other privately trained soldiers. By the time of the Amai's fall from grace, the Shimazu freed themselves of service to the Amai and had taken up residence in one of the nicer Rukon districts nearest the Seireitei.
Following Osamu's twenty second birthday, his father fell incurably ill, his life ending only a season later, starting the chain of events that would land Osamu where he now is toiday. Being the oldest of his siblings, it was Osamu's duty to claim the Shimazu for himself, and that included becoming a fully fledged Shinigami and joining the Spiritual Arts Academy. As all recruits are, Osamu was given a blade. Unlike the other recruits, however, he recognized the blade as his late father's. He protested for one of his own, though learned of an agreement between the overseers at the Academy and some nameless authority in the Shimazu of generations passed. As fate would have it, this blade was now his own.
Rise to Power: The nightmares began immediately, hitting Osamu full force. In these nightmares, Osamu would remain awake for hours and hours on end, observing his surroundings. Eventually, a black figure would emerge from the shadows, staying just in Osamu's peripherals, and with it came an overwhelming sensation of anxiety, fear, and danger. Unable to move, effectively paralyzed and stuck in place, Osamu would watch as this creature came to him night after night bringing with it awful vibes, though never harming him. At this point, the only detriment is caused aside from emotional discomfort would be keeping him awake at night. For while his body was indeed asleep, his mind was as awake as could be. He resolved to overcome this issue, looking to his zanpakuto for answers. He decided to keep his focus on his studies and his blade, determined to see the Academy and its teachings through.
When Osamu realized the nightmares weren't going to end, he thought it best to mention it to the Academy staff. It was then he learned the truth: while other students received an asauchi, Osamu had received an already developed weapon. They didn't know its name, though it was referred to as Andromeda, though they couldn't say why. He'd learned that when the original owner of the weapon never managed to master it, he decided to pass the blade down the family tree until eventually one of his kin could manage. And so as the blade changed owners generation after generation, so the "curse" developed. Each owner, Osamu learned, became afflicted with nightmares not at all dissimilar to those he was experiencing. They'd lost sleep, became distant and irritable. Most fell to the madness of the blade early on, the blade simply eating their will to live. Not Osamu. He'd take the dark circles around his eyes as trophies, as testements to his tenacity, dedication, and hard work. He'd continue his studies in the Academy and make short work of each and any task given. He'd made up his mind: if this zanpakuto was the reason for his sleepless nights and torment, he'd force it to submit and bend to his will. He'd teach is who's boss.
But first, he had to become a Shinigami.
Call to Action: By the time he was twenty eight, he was fully enlisted as a member of the Second Division. Not given any specialized tasks, he acted as a tag along for members of other Divisions, coming along as backup, intelligence, or scouting. He'd made it a priority to continue his studies into the application of Shinigami Demon Arts in both non-combat and combat operations, coupling with intense training at manipulating, concealing, reading, and interpreting his own and others Spiritual Pressures. Mission after mission he completed with his comrades both in and out of the Second Division, though he still didn't have his own Shikai like his peers. After the realization that the figure from his nightmares was actually his zanpakuto spirit, the nightmares seemed to diminish, though never cease. He'd taken to giving it his all during these nightmares to break the paralysis and fight the spirit with every bit of willpower he could. The better he got at keeping the spirit at bay, the more tenacious the spirit got. Eventually, it shifted from keeping its distance and only imparting foul energy to physically interacting with Osamu's paralyzed body. In jagged, sharp movements the creature would come at his unmoving body, striking at it with incredible force, climbing on top of him and strangling him until he thought his eyes would pop out. And yet before he knew it, he was back among the world of the awake, his heart pounding and sweat pouring down his face.
In addition to Andromeda's physical advancement, it also began a mental war. He'd bombard Osamu's mind with images, thoughts, concepts, and ideas. Blood splattered windows, a short but vivid snippit of his own suicide, whispers of slitting the throats of his fellow Shinigami as they slept. In addition, it seemed that at any given moment somewhere in his field of vision, "defy" would be written in blood. Splattered against the wall, on Andromeda. If it wasn't somewhere he could see, then the word was filling his mind to capacity, leaving him with nothing to think about except the word. When finally Osamu managed to break the paralysis, he felt compelled beyond reason to assert his defiance. So defy, he shouted. When next he blinked, he was awake, Andromeda nowhere to be found. And in his hand, a glowing cosmic blade...
