Gimme the Joose (XP Request)

Working Title: I'm terrible at writing non-release requests.

Threads:

Thread Tracker:

Prologue
An Examination in Time - Complete
For Science! - Complete
Noble Meet Up - Complete

Act 1 - Here Be Dragons
Alice in WatariLand - Complete
Something From The Otherside - Ongoing
Silence is so Freaking Loud! - Complete
A Noble Guest? - Complete
Enter the Dragon I- Ongoing
No Smoking Allowed - Complete

Your Story:

We meet Watari Suzumei a few months after his graduation seemingly lacking any mentioned purpose outside of a self-justified sense of justice and a loosely referenced bloody past. Watari could be considered an 'established' character within the Bleach Sakura setting as he doesn't show much development in the couple of threads he is in internally but the external actions he performs grow more and more grandiose as his threads progress. Watari does evil things because he believes it’s for the greater good, the peak of this is in the noble meet-up thread.

THEN ARC 1 HAPPENS.

Watari is resolving the fallout of the Noble Party still self-justifying that he did the right thing at the time, but as ripples echo across the Soul Society his plans for the future bring him to conflict through Yuki Kameko. She challenges Watari who sees them as being two sides of the same coin, to be a better person, something he takes to heart because she seems to be the only person who actually wants to understand him.

We see Watari in multiple threads trying to work out how to correctly “set his Zanpakuto on fire” and as he figures out how to do it he reveals he wants to learn how to fight with a “flaming blade”. This will most likely manifest as a custom skill on top of proving his zanjutsu mastery but I probably need to do more with Zanjutsu before this could be considered a mastery request.

By “No Smoking Allowed” - Watari’s past has slowly been unravelling because of Yuki - he must confront his Zanpakuto to the allusion of what his smoking represents, his denial of what he is. By accepting where he’s from and the scars he bears Watari is in prime position to head towards unlocking Bankai as his understanding of what Bezaliel represents grows.

Is Watari a better person by the end of this? Probably not.

But he’s more morally grey then he was before.

Let's dive right in to Watari, resident monster and site villain, haha. I jest. (not really)

We begin at five stars and add or remove based on notable additions or glaring omissions.
+0 - Writing - Solid writing, I think Watari is an interesting and capable dude and I think you write him well. The use of cigarette addiction as a metaphor for the parts of his nature at odd with Yuki is a bit of good spice I really like,
+1 Story - A little bit of filler here and there doesn't detract too much here. I like it a lot actually, I think you have crafted a very Bleachy story that is well executed and I am excited to read the directions he goes and the people he interacts with.
+0 Growth - Some solid growth here especially spurred by his relationship to Yuki in a reasonable and well-earned way but that feels at odds with Enter the Dragon, by far the most overt and monstrous act to date. I think this absolutely worthwhile and good progression, this is conflict but it is building to pay off, not the payoff.
+0 Impact - What I said on your release holds true here, you're the site owner so I'm not going to grade you easily on the impact that carries the site story forward in a manner that feels more like site owner than the player so Noble is fine! But, you do an excellent job of helping players out, but this is an expected level of impact for the # of threads present. Definitely trending up. I'm very tempted to give an additional here, but such is the price of being the owner.

Good work all around. Keep in mind you have two ongoing threads. I am comfortable grading them but be warned. If you don't wrap those threads up in an appropriate way, I will take XP from this award with interest!

If you'd like to wait, you are more than welcome to! Otherwise,

Congrats! This is a solid SIX STAR request! Go ahead and link this post to your profile and redeem for

9 Threads x 6 Star Rating = 1080 EXP!