[Spirit Class 7] Joshua Jehanna

» Name: Joshua Jehanna
» Alias: None currently, "'nless you count Lazy Ass..."
» Age: 465
» Birthday: August 24
» Gender: Male

» Association:
The Gotei Thirteen, Formerly;
- 11th Division, Unseated
- 8th Division, Unseated

The Gotei United, Currently;
- 7th Division, 9th Seat

» Appearance Written:
Joshua is easily picked out of a crowd, despite his unassuming stature and easy-going mannerisms. Of average height and weight (around 5’10 and 150lbs) he might have been ordinary if not for the length of crimson hair that falls to the small of his back, kept under a distinctive hat the man refuses to leave go of. In addition to the hat, Joshua keeps his coat from his time in the Rukongai and prefers to wear it over the usual Shinigami uniform whenever he can get away with it though he will make a grudging exception when caught or during important events. His brown eyes are often alight with laughter, a joke never far from his tongue. Indeed, Joshua’s appearance is capped off by his nonchalant attitude and smile. Despite his somewhat lithe appearance, Joshua has a fighter’s muscle hidden under his unusual garb.

» Appearance Image:


» Personality:
Above almost everything, Joshua is a people person. He possesses an outgoing personality and carefree attitude that both makes conversation easy for him and easy with him. He is generally able to get most people to talk and open up, and thus a reputation among some of his division mates for being an uplifting force. He also has reputations for being incredibly lazy, which is warranted as he is, and lacking talent, which is unwarranted. He does prefer to relax and take things as they come rather than worry about the proper procedure, and will shirk some of his duties in favor of finding a nice place to take a nap when the day is suited for it (and every day is). Put simply, Joshua does not see the point in living a stressful and hectic afterlife.

This is not to say that Joshua is lazy in all things, and he certainly isn’t lacking talent. Mostly, Joshua does not want to deal with the hassle of responsibilities associated with the higher ranks in Shinigami society. However, he has no interest in being weak either; he keeps his own training regimen strictly even if he doesn’t brag about his own strength. He is not shy about using his strength as well if it helps someone; this is in fact part of how he’s ended up with a seated position while actively avoiding trying to do so. He is not the kind of person who can sit by and watch people get hurt, be they someone he knows or otherwise. And it that brings him some misfortune, well, that’s just how Lady Luck has decided to see it played. No sense in stressing about the small things after all.

Which is also not to say that Joshua plays such things fairly all the time either. He has a sharp mind hidden behind that lackadaisical expression, and more cunning than most would guess. He has no problem fudging the results of a bet, should the outcome favor everyone in the end. He also has a bad habit of gambling, though surprisingly he has no gambling debts to be called in. Joshua is a firm believer in luck, and thinks that it dwarfs the weight of skill when discussing the matter. However, he’s never found having an excess of either to be a burden.

» Likes:
Gambling, fighting, women, jokes, lazy afternoons, food...


Life in the Rukongai[1658 - 1775]
If you asked Joshua, the beginnings of his story really weren’t that different than what you’d hear from any number of Shinigami that got their starts out in the Rukongai; lives filled with great stretches of boredom, punctuated by burst of intense violence. Ask anyone from there, and they’ll tell you that violence was never truly far away in the Rukongai. Often however, the threat of it was enough to dissuade anyone from pulling steel or raising a fist. All of this was true for Joshua as much as any of those others, but he would understate it all the same. From the time Joshua awoke out in the Rukongai he always found he’d had a way with cards and dice and violence. He’s also always had a way with people, and he used that skill to avoid conflict as often as he used it to incite it.

Joshua spent a great many years in the Rukongai, traveling between the various districts and making a name for himself in the gambling houses and with the ruffians. He was no stranger to a fight, and his swordsmanship was no simple thing. He had a knack for bladework, and what’s more he enjoyed it. He enjoyed the skirmishes of those days, the thrill of a fight and the aggravated yells at his banter. He didn’t so much enjoy the killing, but sometimes that was the hand Lady Luck dealt; he was not shy about blood, and if someone was too dumb or drunk or high on their own renown then sometimes all you could do was put them down and shuffle them off to somewhere else in the cycle. For the most part though, Joshua avoided wracking up too many bodies. He took jobs where he could find them, and spun dice and card in the pursuit of money and food.

Food was mostly a status symbol as far as Joshua found it. Shinigami had food, and even needed it. Anyone else who lacked the power wanted it for the taste, to prove they could get it, or as leverage when someone came to lean on them a little harder than normal. Joshua was just as much a part of those games as anyone else, at least at first. Food made for a bright spot in the endless afterlife, and he enjoyed winning it with dice and blade. As time moved steadily on however, Joshua began to recognize a pull that was drawing him towards the center of the Rukongai. Towards the Seireitei. It would take him a bit longer to recognize that his occasional wants for the specific tastes of food was not ‘normal’ any longer; it was the sign of an awakening spiritual power. This presented Joshua with a dilemma however; he valued his freedom, the knowledge that his course was guided only by his whim and fickle chance. The Seireitei represented power, knowledge, and responsibility. Whether he wanted that to be a piece of his life now or not was something he had to wrestle with for a long while. About a day. It seemed that Lady Luck had bestowed him with greater potential, so it that was his hand all he could do was play it.

Shino Academy[1775 - 1780
Joshua just squeaked into the Academy Class of 1775, strolling in as the entrance exam was beginning. Which he should not have been able to do, as the time had passed to be admitted to the entrance exams. Supposedly, as would get out later, Joshua wagered the equivalent to two years worth of bounties against being allowed through the doors in a coin toss and won. His skill with a blade was obvious in the entrance exams, and he demonstrated the necessary criteria to be attain admission to the Shino Academy.

What followed was an interesting meander for Joshua through the Academy’s curriculum, taking a smattering of lessons that seemed to interest him and otherwise appearing to shrug off much of the rest of it. He earned, fairly, some ire from some of his instructors for his blasé attitude towards the lessons they taught, as well as earning some from a few of his fellow students who he did not get along with. It may have had something to do with not knowing who their parents were or something, or the trouncing they received when they threatened violence. For the most part though, Joshua kept his nose clean as well as he could.

By his fifth year though, Joshua began to bore of the curriculum and the same faces he’d been seeing in his class. Transferring to a new class this late into the game didn’t seem worth it, so instead Joshua requested to take the exit exam a year early. Understandably some of those previously mentioned instructors balked at this idea and would rather have been Joshua spend another five years in the Academy to ensure he’d learned his lessons. Instead, Joshua offered them a wager once more; he would be allowed to take the exit exam early, and if he failed he would drop out of the Academy all together to venture back into the Rukongai instead of burdening them with his continued existence. The instructors took the bait, and Joshua graduated a year early.

Should any ever bother to go back and check Joshua’s records from his time in the Academy, they will find something interesting. Despite his apparent lack of interest and lazy behavior through the entirety of his time at the Academy, he scored a passing grade of sixty on all of his tests. Exactly sixty, on every test for five years.

The Gotei Thirteen: Eleventh Division[1780 - 1837]
Upon graduation from the Academy, Joshua was not picked up by any particular Division at the outset. He’d been an unremarkable student from all appearances, and his graduation early hadn’t drawn much attention since some of the instructors hadn’t wanted to speak too loudly about their lost game of chance. This left Josh with the chance to pick what Division he wanted to approach for admittance, and his choice was rather easy to begin with. The Eleventh Division was a lot like the Rukongai where he was from in those days, ruled by strength and ruffians. He got along swimmingly with them. After a few rounds of drinks, brawls, or some mixture combined with his natural ability to get along with most people that is. He was no top dog here; there were plenty of members who could whoop his ass in a straight fight, though he was skilled enough to never look too bad. He liked it; this was a place that felt like it was sharpening his blade, like he was already learning much more than he did in the Academy in a practical sense.

There were some downsides to his choice, as he’d learn later on. While his practical combat ability was forced to grow it was also forced to narrow. The Division had opinions on Kidou and the like. While Joshua could understand such an outlook in some sense, it did seem a bit foolish to him to leave half a hand of cards on the table because you didn’t like the color. Still, there was practical swordsmanship and combat prowess to be gained here and he took in as much as he could. Eventually though, he decided it was time to wander to another Division and start rounding out some of his capabilities. He bid farewell to his friends in the Eleventh Division, reminding them that they weren’t all that far away and he’d come back and visit. He is, in fact, still on great terms with many of the former Eleventh Division members who had survived Soul Society’s rocky history since.

World War Three[2002 - 2012]
Once Aizen had been defeated Joshua expected, like most others, that things would return at last to normal. Instead, a new threat arose from a realm none had known of prior. The chaos the demon race brought with them into the world upset everything and there was no standing idle if you wanted to live. Joshua certainly did, and so he threw himself into the fray that would change the realms forever. Luckily in such a chaotic time as World War Three things can easily be lost, and many acts of daring and heroism could pass without comment. Primarily Joshua saw his end of the conflict on its front, the World of the Living. He mostly avoided participating in the combat around Karakura Town. He reasoned it that the majority of the Captains would be stationed there, confronting the most powerful of the demons and Hollow-kind alike. Not only would such a stage likely get him noticed or killed or both, but he figured his limited power could be put to more efficient use elsewhere. The surrounding cities of Japan were under just as much danger from the demons who were pushed back from Karakura, from the Hollows who had failed and needed nourishment to replenish themselves.

It was in the countryside during this time that a battle pushed Joshua forward in terms of power. He’d set out with a few others to investigate signs of a Demon that had roamed out away from the cities to find easier prey to torment. It had left clues in its travels, homes destroyed by more than neglect and never too far apart. Joshua picked up on it at the third such house, which was unfortunately one too late. The demon exploded from the still smoldering rubble of the house, a great brute of a creature with blood in its eyes. It had been hoping for Shinigami to appear, and lo here they were. None of Joshua’s group were of particularly great power, as they hadn’t expected a particularly great threat. With five of them in total, numbers were substituted for strength by the people organizing things. Luckily, in this case, Joshua’s facade of mediocrity would prove a boon. Eventually. First, there was a battle to be had.

The demon was greater than any one of the group, even Joshua, could take on their own. Two of the member couldn’t even get through its skin with their blades. The demon laughed, amused by the encroaching despair. For all the Demon’s bulk, it was surprisingly quick to boot. Pinning the creature down was proving too much for the group, and even Joshua had to admit they were on the back foot. Even once he started taking things seriously. He was fast, just under a match for the creatures speed. He certainly had the power to get through the creature’s defenses. But he couldn’t keep it down. The creature’s wounds would begin to knit shut. As things began to look grim, Joshua heard something. A noise on the wind, or in his mind. He had been making attempts to reach out to his Zanpakutou spirit, to coax her into conversation and find her name. She had returned his attempts with disdain. Now though, something had changed.

As Joshua reached out for those words, the world around him shifted. He found himself out of season, as the ground was now covered in a thick blanket of snow. The trees around him also seemed to have been frozen to their cores; this was no place of stillness though. Some unseen wind set the whole of this forest in motion, and that motion set the sounds to song. The swaying and clinking of ice producing a strange rhythm that was comforting for him to hear, and it was broken almost as soon as he realized he liked the sound of it by the sound of snow crunching underfoot. He turned his eyes to find a strange woman regarding him, not a dozen steps away. She was clad in strange blue clothing, with black hair and eyes that glowed a soft blue. She held a blade in her hand, though not yet in a threatening way. Joshua was not slow; he had a good idea who this was.
“For one who doesn’t like to talk, ya find interesting times to strike up a conversation.”
“For a coward, you find yourself in quite the few fights.” she retorted, earning an uncharacteristic frown from Joshua.
“Hey now, you take that back. I might be plenty of unsavory things, but I ain’t no coward.”
“A matter yet to be settled. You hide your skill and power from others to avoid the responsibility of facing stronger opponents, lest you-”
“Now that’s a lie and you damn well know it. I ain’t afraid of no fight, and I ain’t afraid of facing my death on the battlefield. And you KNOW it. Don’t play coy with him missy, I ain’t so dense and to not know who you are and where we stand,” Joshua cut in, the joking mannerisms fading for a few moments. “Though I don’t know the why yet, I don’t know if it’ll much matter with the route this conversation has started on. Iff’n your planning on prattlin’ on in this disapproving way, best let me go and get about the business of killing this demon and/or dying in the process of it.”
“You would truly walk back from here and face the monster outside, even with the knowledge you might perish?” the woman countered, though there was no real surprise in her voice.
“It ain’t gonna go away just because I’m busy chatting in my head, now is it? If you ain’t interested in helping me, then I’d kindly ask you to stop distracting me. I’ve either got to figure out how to take the thing down or else get the rest of these fools out of this situation.”
“If it’s an option; I ain’t afraid of meeting my death again on the battlefield, but if given the option I do think I prefer living. And I prefer not watching others die. Whatever path I can take to those ends, is worth considerin’.” The lady nodded along, knowing the answer.

“I been trying to get you to share more than a dozen words for several years now, and you choose this time among them all to make an appearance? Well, you got something you want to talk about other than throwing an insult you know is both false and has a good chance of unbalancing me? Because I’d love the help, but if you’re not willing I’ll have to see what side of the dice Lady Luck has for me out there.”
The lady let out a sigh, and stepped a few steps closer as she shook her head.
“And what exactly would you do with my power, should I grant it to you?”
“Isn’t it obvious? Cut off the monster’s head with it.”
“Even if that were to bring your facade to its close?”
“My issue to worry about. Besides, I ain’t ever been shy about using my strengths to help those what need helping. I’ve just been better at passing off the credit. Likely do something about like that here. Your power ain’t gonna sit idle in my hands, I’ll be putting you to work. We just may be dodging most of the paperwork about it is all. What you say? Willing to work with me?” Joshua asked, holding out a hand. The lady looked at him, an eyebrow raised for a few moments, before an unmistakable smirk blossomed on her face. He laid a hand in his.
“Very well, though I’ll hold you to that. You may call me...”

“Naru Kōri” Joshua said, back in the World of the Living. He’d stood still for only a few moments, hardly a second at best, and the demon had rounded on him as it sensed a weakness. What it found was a rising power, followed by a deep cold as steel and ice carved their way through its outstretched hand. Joshua’s blade had changed, his Shikai achieved in a moment of danger and desperation. He didn’t waste much time on fanfare or celebration, instead keeping to his word. In the end, he cut the demon’s head from its shoulders. When time came to file the report for it all, Joshua did his fellow Shinigami a favor and offered to fill out the combat reports for the lot of them. Most of the credit he gave the group as a whole. Word of the appearance of his shikai miraculously never made it into the report. Strange that.

The Hundred Year Gap[2012 - 2117]
In the wake of World War Three and the following reconstruction, Joshua returned to his artifice of largely keeping his actual strength out of the public eye as best he could. Between the group that had seen the first appearance of his Shikai and various other individuals that had seen Joshua throw into fights more seriously, there was a small group of Shinigami who knew the game. However, Joshua had played his part well prior and his reputation for laziness and generally avoiding conflict with most Shinigami had cemented the view that he was nothing particularly special as a Shinigami in the public eye. Anyone trying to prove otherwise had a bit of an uphill climb, and given that there wasn’t really anyone that Joshua knew of that was trying all that hard.

Of course, all that was just the public show. Joshua may have been adamant about avoiding getting a larger share of paperwork, but he had no such interest or compunction to remain weak. After all, Joshua enjoyed using his blade. He enjoyed the thrill of combat. He just didn’t care much for the fanfare or responsibilities that normally invited here in the Gotei. So while he continued to keep up the appearance of laziness (such a grueling task, you know) in public, Joshua threw himself further into his training. Shinigami being secretive about their training regimes was nothing new, and few could keep track of Joshua or bothered to try when he wandered off. He did, on occasion, seek out others for training though. Those he could convince to share their time. These individuals had the hints that Joshua was not quite the slouch his reputation painted, though he was careful to not reveal the extent of his strength. Working on blade work or Hoho techniques showed his aptitude for the skills without revealing too much.

Despite her initially chilly demeanor, Joshua continued to seek out and interact with Naru Kōri. True to his word, Joshua did not let her sit idle. He had to tread somewhat carefully, but only so much. Joshua was not so concerned with his artifice that he would let others suffer by not using his power, nor was he so committed as to let himself take unnecessary wounds for its sake. Instead, Joshua opted to instead explain away his successes and pass away the credit when he could. It turned out that letting others take the bounties and talking them up in the Division went a long way to convincing them to keep the fame and credit. That was just fine, obviously, with Joshua; he got the chance to stretch his metaphorical legs and use his strength, and then kept his hands clear for more paperwork. He could never fully escape it of course, but less was better.

Eventually, Joshua had to make a call to shift out of the Eighth Division. His old tricks for keeping away the notoriety was reaching its limits, and at that point it was the best course of action. He opted, after some consideration, to try out the Tenth Division, citing an interest in both the Division’s general atmosphere and an interest in the different locations the Division covered as his main reasons for wanting a transfer. Within this new Division his reputation preceded him, and it proved relatively simple to melt away into the background as far as the power hierarchy was concerned. As usual, Joshua got along well with most everyone in the new Division that he interacted with. His training continued, and he had to begin using the same tricks once again. He could tell that, with the repetition beginning, he was only going to be able to keep up this charade for a limited amount of time as compared to how long he was, hopefully, going to live. That, however, was a problem for Future Joshua.

Gotei, United[2117 - Present]
Between the passage of time and events, a decision was made. The Gotei, which had stood forever as far as Joshua was concerned, needed to change. At least according to the higher ups. To that purpose, the Divisions were to be collapsed and their focus...adjusted. He could see the logic in it, and there were certainly worse ideas. Some did not like the idea, some grumped and grumbled as who could join the Gotei United was expanded to allow Mod Souls and others. It didn’t bother Joshua all that much, which was not surprising. Besides, Joshua was busy considering how best to take advantage of this new opportunity that had been afforded him.

With the shift in priorities, and the general refinement of the Divisional duties, it was obvious that some Divisions were going to balloon in size. More faces to fade into. With the shrinking of the number of Divisions as a whole, it also would be easier to keep his hands clear of the paperwork. He did, however, have to decide which of the two larger Divisions he would best fit into. Either Divisions Sixth or Seventh were the most likely in his mind, though Division Eight held some promise as well. In the end though, Joshua figured he could maintain his relative obscurity best by being able to vanish into the general chaos of the World of the Living more than in the Rukongai.

His training continued largely unchanged, until recently. In the last few years, Joshua has recognized that he may well have the capability of reaching a new plateau of power. His bond with his Zanpakutou had deepened, and his power grown, to the point that he could likely begin achieving that most sought after ability; Bankai. And so Joshua had done nothing in pursuit of it. Little wonder why; Bankai by its very nature is not subtle. To begin training it, let alone when he achieved it, would blow the lid clear off his game. With things in the realms beginning to get busy again, that would be an unbearable amount of paperwork to get involved in, and so Joshua has put off pursuing that power. It has not gone unnoticed. Naru Kōri has begun to agitate for more, his displeasure becoming quite clear. This puts Joshua in a conundrum, which he has not found the answer for just yet.

There was one other snag in Joshua’s careful game, a sign that his strength may be growing to the point that he may not be able to stay out of the spotlight much longer. It had started as a simple disagreement over drinks and cards. One of the players couldn’t pay up his side of a bet, and in his drunken state he bet the other thing he had of value; his Seat in the Division. Joshua thought he had a good read, even in his own inebriated state, of the man in this game and thought it a bluff. So he called; it would add to the cover if he looked like he took a shot at a seat. It might by him some slack once the rumors ran their course. Imagine his surprise when the man in fact was bluffing, just not in the way Joshua had expected. He’d expected with his terrible hand of cards that he would lose all the same. The Ninth Seat was not terribly happy, and called Joshua a cheat. Joshua, understandable annoyed, called him lacking in understanding of the game.

Things...escalated.

One drunken brawl and sobering up later, there was a general agreement that a drunken brawl and game of cards was no way to determine a seat in a Division. If it had been left at that, things wouldn’t have been much more notable. Alas, our former Ninth Seat could not help running his mouth to Joshua’s determent. Joshua let the calls of him being a cheat slide, because sometimes he was. He let calls of his record slide, because they were fabricated. He made a show of being annoyed, but did not object too much. Until the Ninth Seat called Joshua’s skill subpar, saying that sober Joshua could not hold a blade to his own and that Joshua was too cowardly to prove others. Joshua’s pride finally got the better of him.

After a quite public trouncing at that point, with no alcohol involved, Joshua could not exactly back out of what he’d done. It was obvious that at the very least, he was strong enough to have that seat. The cracks had begun to build too high for him to avoid. For all the years spent running that artifice however, Joshua did not despair much. If this was the hand Lady Luck was going to deal him, there wasn’t much good swearing and crying was going to do. Nothing to be done by play the hand out, same way Joshua has always done.


» Deadly Swordsman:
Joshua has been wielding a blade almost as long as he has been in the Spiritual World at this point. While he has shirked off many things, his training with his blade is not one of them and while he makes no loud proclamations of it(quite the opposite) he is incredibly proficient with his weapon of choice. Indeed while Joshua may believe that fully ditching any of the combat styles of the Shinigami is foolish, he would also be hard pressed to say that he hasn't specialized in his swordsmanship and speed over the others.

» Light on His Feet:
To compliment his close range swordsmanship, Joshua has also taken to training his speed and agility to close the gap against monsters. Hollows can fire laser beams and the things the Demons could do were downright nightmarish; he found being quicker than the other guy was often the difference between survival, becoming a smoking ruin, or worse. While nowhere near the being able to claim he is in the same realm as the fastest around, it would be folly to underestimate Joshua's speed.

» Charming Smile:
Joshua naturally has a way with people, an easy going charisma that he uses endlessly to get out of trouble or to help others. He enjoys conversation almost as much as a good fight or a good nap. He rarely abuses it at others expense, but there are times. He also has a bad habit of conversing with those he fights, often to their annoyance. He's not so kind as to not take advantage of it either.

» Lucky, in Some Ways:
In many ways Joshua is simply lucky. Occasionally, he makes his own luck. Often, he simply lets things fall out as they will to see where it takes him.


» Hakuda:
Easily Joshua’s weakest area of combat prowess. He understands the basics, but only the basics, and finds them not really useful for much other than ‘polite disagreements’ with others over games of cards, dice, and the like. While he is of the belief that leaving any card on the metaphorical table is a poor decision, he is occasionally hypocritical; he doesn’t find much use for his Hakuda and doesn’t have a plan to invest much more time in it. If he is in a situation where he’d be forced to use it, he’d be more likely to attempt an escape.

» Hoho:
Joshua’s second most proficient Shinigami art, if not outright tied for first. Joshua mostly utilizes the basics Hoho skills however; he knows of the more advanced techniques, and even toys with looking into them eventually, but has thus far simply polished up the basics of Shunpo and the like to an incredible degree. He is a close range combatant mostly, and he sees having the ability to close that gap and engage of significant importance.

» Kidō:
Kidō falls in the middle of Joshua’s combat capabilities; while not neglected in the way Hakuda is he also has not taken the time to really polish up the skills in question, leaving him about average for his level of power. He certainly believes Kidō to be powerful (its magic, ya know?), he views it mostly as supplemental to his combat style rather than the focus.

» Zanjutsu:
Joshua’s most polished combat ability, tied only possibly by Hoho, Joshua has found the natural synergy between Zanjutsu and his own Martial Skill much to his liking. The forms in Zanjutsu compliment his preferred combat patterns, and he has proven to have a good relationship with his Zanpaku-tou spirit despite their differences. Joshua’s capabilities with a blade are one of the few skills that is more widely known despite his lazy reputation, and its not hard to see why.


» Zanpakutō Name:
Naru Kōri (鳴る氷) [Meaning Ringing Ice]

» Zanpakutō Spirit:

» Zanpakutō Spirit Personality:
Naru Kōri is a somewhat stern and serious spirit, certainly fitting her ice element at a glance. She values strength, skill, loyalty, diligence, and surprisingly compassion. Joshua wouldn’t exactly describe her as the ‘Ice Queen’ some might expect from that list. To him, she conjures the image of warm house covered in a driving snow; there is cold, yes, and a harshness to it all. Under that though there is a warmth of hearth and home. Naru Kōri might disagree with this assessment, though not terribly loudly. She finds her wielder...acceptable, for the time being; he has strength and skill, a loyalty to his comrades, a compassion for others, and a diligence in his training. Only his training, however. She permits him to shorten her name, though only in conversation. She finds his constant slacking off in other duties, or other facets of his training, to be rather irksome and has little reserve in speaking her displeasure. Though it has grown into more a teasing nature now than it began as. She waits, however, watching Joshua’s growth and seeing if he matures into what she believes he can be, and whether he is worthy of the powers still locked away. His reluctance to seek out the next step of her power in pursuit of continuing this farce is more irksome still.

» Inner World:
Joshua’s inner world is a massive, snow covered forest stretching for miles in all directions. The trees of this forest are frozen through, more akin to crystal than wood, and an unceasing wind dances among the boughs. This wind sets the inner world to song, as the swaying frozen leaves and branches create a constant low music. Joshua has always found himself, when here, in a large clearing that affords him sight of a strangely clear evening sky with a low hanging moon in the distance. He rarely finds himself alone; Naru Kōri is usually waiting for him. She seems bothered by neither the snow nor wind nor song.

» Sealed Zanpakutō Appearance:
See the blade Naru Kōri is holding.


» Shikai Release Phrase:
“Sing in their bones,”

» Shikai Appearance:

» Shikai Abilities:
» Frozen Wounds
The wounds inflicted by Naru Kōri are difficult to heal, as the Zanpakutou immediately seals any wound she inflicts with a layer of durable ice. This ice keeps the wounds inflicted by her from being healed by magic or abilities that would normally do so (such as regeneration or kidou) if the skill level of the ability is below Joshua’s Zanjutsu level. The ice can be broken or melted off, possessing a Durability equal to Joshua’s Zanjutsu skill. Once this ice is cleared the wounds can be healed normally with no further adverse effects. In addition, the ice from this ability will melt on its own after Joshua seals his Zanpakutou.

» Echoing Chill
Any target afflicted by Frozen Wounds is considered “marked” by Naru Kōri. When a marked target is struck the ice from Frozen Wounds emanates a wave of chilling energy through the body, potentially dealing damage to the afflicted target (based on Joshua’s Zanjutsu level) and slows the target by 30%. This slow lasts for 1 post and does not stack either in duration or effect. The strength of these effects is not modified by the number of wounds on the target; they either are marked or not.


While Joshua possesses the skill to have begun down the road of learning his Bankai, he has purposefully not done so. Generally speaking, the training for one’s Bankai is not what you might call a “quiet” or “subtle” affair and it would certainly blow his cover of being no one of import to the higher ups. As such he has chosen to not pursue it thus far, much to the rising ire of his Zanpakutou spirit.

» Bankai Name: [What is your zanpakutō's release phrase?]

» Bankai Release Action: [Does your shinigami do any physical action to release their bankai? Feel free to remove this if not.]

» Bankai Appearance: [What does your shinigami's bankai look like?]

» Bankai Abilities: [What abilities does your shinigami gain in bankai?]


(To Find Out about what these skills are for, please READ THIS THREAD before you try doing anything to it)

General Skills
» Durability: Grade D
» Speed: Grade C
» Strength: Grade D
» Martial Skill: Grade C

Will Skills
» Willpower: Adept
» Deduction: Adept
» Focus: Advanced

Shinigami Skills
» Hakuda: Beginner
» Hoho: Advanced
» Kidō: Adept
» Zanjutsu: Advanced


Joshua let out a long yawn as he sat at the edge of the building, the tallest one in this small town. It was a whole six stories tall, and while not much compared to some of what he’d seen in the World of the Living it was the tallest thing for miles here, providing him the perfect vantage point to watch for much of anything. And the best place to be out of sight should he feel like laying back down and taking another nap. The weather had turned however, clouds moving in and dampening the sunny day he’d gone to sleep in. While Joshua actually quite liked the rain, it was not exactly ideal weather to sleep under. Now if he went inside it might be better, but there was always the chance someone inside would be able to see spirits. Then there would be a lot of commotion about the strange man sleeping on the table, and the commotion as those who couldn’t see him had an understandable confusion about the woman yelling, and all of that was in no way conducive to a nice nap on a rainy day.

Not that napping was really what Joshua should have been doing at the time anyway.

There had been a few Hollow attacks in the area, and so in typical fashion someone was sent to be stationed here. Joshua didn’t mind that at all; he enjoyed the chance to see new places. Thus far though it had been three days and nothing had happened. Which was great, don’t get him wrong. A nice peaceful retreat from the happening in the Division, he liked that, but he could not shake the feeling in his gut about it feeling off.

Out there was a predator, stalking its prey while he napped.

He didn’t much like that. Not at all in fact. It would be much better if the Hollow stalking this area revealed itself so he could sort it out then enjoy the next day or two in peace again until he finally had to file in the report. Protocol said he had at least that long, to make sure there weren’t more Hollows working out the area.
“But it just has to be a sneaky creature, doesn’t it? Why’s it gotta screw up my schdeule?”
“A good challenge to ensure you stay awake for once.” came an unexpected reply of a familiar voice. This was a hint of playfulness in the cold tone that by now Joshua recognized.
“Rare that you speak up when I’m grousing, Naru. You worried about something?” he chided back.
“Just that you’re habit of sleeping on the job will get us both killed, as ever,” came the spirit’s reply. She may have grumped and grumbled a lot about his habits, but Joshua was happy for the chance at conversation. Everything here had been so bo-

Joshua’s eyes snapped up as he felt a ripple in the air, the faint stirrings of power in the distance. A smirk lit up his features as he shoved himself off the edge of the building. He caught himself with a platform of reishi just a few feet down.
“Time to go to work.”