Hanako's first level-up

» Name Of Character: Hanako Yamada
» Link To Character: Hanako Yamada

» Upgrading: I'd like a tier-up, higher 4-range?

» Why: Hanako has found a place in the Gotei and even some experience under her belt. Training comes along nicely and overall I think she actually did get stronger.

The New Captain's Summons
Bit of a rough start. Hanako found herself in tryouts for the 4th division which kind of got out of hand. A lot of fighting(albeit with no killing intend) against far superior opponents. Even if Hanako was outclassed by a mile, she tried to do what she could and, if nothing else, didn't give up.
However, she didn't join the 4th but reapplied to the First Division, in which she currently serves.

Business as usual
The first actual mission as a Shinigami, after joining one of the Divisions. Rumors of people vanishing in Outer Rukongai. She and her Partner were dispatched to investigate. However, it wasn't just routine like they initially thought. Turned out almost everything in that mission had been an illusion, starting from the partner, Hanako set out, and ending with a fight against Hollows. The first few battles Hanako could win deceptively easy, but then she was overwhelmed by seemingly hundrets of enemies. Only that this, too, had only been an illusion. Probably only one Hollow, a shrouded mystery-figure was real and according to it the whole thing was an illusion to fuck with Hana's mind. She found some clues after that but has no idea for what.
Even if all illusion, the practice of her skills, especially fighting again, was very real to Hanako.

(For the record: Originally I had a partner for that thread, only he vanished from the site. And since no one else had interests in that thread and I wanted to continue it, I chose to do it solo)

A Day at the Dojo
It begins with normal training for Hanako and, after Carter arrives, a sparring match. During that match he, unconsciously, pours a truckload of salt in Hana's wounds, meaning: her past. Long story short, she kind of looses her shit but that quickly changes into an emotional breakdown, after she realises that her anger towards Carter has no reason at all. He, on the other hand, just stays calm and, instead of berating her for her poor emotional control, offers tea and a metaphorical shoulder to cry on.
This is one majorly important moment for Hana, since she always was in kind of a defensive mode. She felt like a hollow shell, because, according to her memories, she was about seven years old. And her biggest fear was that, if somebody managed to crack the shell, she would collapse and everybody would find out there was nothing but a void and she didn't really exist as a person. But this day the shell definitely got cracked, but she didn't disintegrate to a pile of shards and there was not just a void. So this was an important lesson about herself and she also made a friend along the way.
This will also lead to some other encounters, like the one with Ulv and the still ongoing training with Magnolia and the encounter with Hime, all of them have and underlying commonality that Hana starts to integrate into the Gotei and her Division, starts to seek out help from others, rather than stay in solitude, and openly shows her admiration for strong female role models like Abalia, Magnolia and Ulv, for example. The goal to follow their example starts to grow, even if she has no clue at first how to achieve it.

Oh yeah, some hand-to-hand-combat training happened also.

If that thou hast the gift of strength...
Hanako seeks out Ulv Auber. She had witnessed her at the tryouts for the Fourth and was deeply impressed by her strength and power. So she asks her for help in becoming stronger. Well, Hana didn't really think it through and thought about Ulv training her or telling her a secret. Instead she gets a lot to think of, for example that the physical strength and raw power of the Captain Commander isn't above Hana's own, maybe even lower, yet she is Captain Commander and one of Hana's role models.
Things get even more confusing for Hana, when Ulv, more or less unplanned, shows her physical touch beyond a sparring. This is another crack in Hana's shell, but one that, for the time being, gets instantly filled with confusion. Still, you could say Hana begins to suspect she is only a human (soul) after all.

Also: Ulv showed Hanako the basics for the Earth-Grasping-Step, so I would like to add that to the skill list at untrained or beginner (she never executed the step successfully so far)

» Extra: I don't really know what I can ask for all that. In my opinion she has come quite a way in a short time, so it would be nice if something came from it. I take as much as I can get but would definitely appreciate some help in gauging what all that is worth. Thank you.