Arc #1 - Getting Involved (XP Request)

An end to Pacifism

• The Last Normal Day.
  
• Being Drawn Into Watari’s New Regime
  
• As Per Watari’s “Request” Zenji Agrees To Teach Yuki
  
• Getting A Taste Of Battle, Unfortunately
  
• Realising Things Must Change
  

Thread List

Backdrop
Zenji is a Noble of the Mystical Hatayama Clan. He has spent his life studying the Demon Arts and other Mystical knowledge. He trained at the Shin'ō Academy but after graduating he had to wait for another 50 years to join the Gotei due to family interference. Once he did so however it was decided that he wasn’t skilled enough for active combat so most of his duties consisted of support and administrative positions. Due to this, and a passive attitude, Zenji went with the flow and never grew nor improved. Meanwhile, as a member of the ruling caste, he sat out the politics of the Seireitei.


Two Peas in a Pod
For context this is the last time we see Zenji’s "normal" life. He has few worries beyond his obviously unimportant work in a Records Office and trying to get his colleague Nao to accept some form of payback for taking a horrible headache inducing mess of paperwork.

Eventually he’s able to get her to voice her desire, for Zenji to use his noble status to check in on Akimoto Tetsuya, an old friend of his too, although the naive Lord has no idea just how important the seemingly simple idea is to her.

He also lets her know about his Estate’s Gardens being open to the public and a tranquil place to let go of some stress after noticing her apparent overworked status.


A Noble Guest?
Zenji starts of believing this to be a surprising, but benevolent, visit due to his ignorance of the purge Watari has conducted amongst the Clans.

It soon dawns on Zenji exactly what has happened and the weight that the meeting holds for not only him but his entire Clan. During this thread Zenji reveals his own knowledge, hoping to show his own meagre power and usefulness, as well as trying to impress upon Watari the mystical knowledge his Clan has at their fingertips.

By the end of the meeting Zenji has more or less bowed to Watari’s superiority and been forced to get involved, for the first real time, in aristocratic intrigue. Now armed with the knowledge of the new Great Clans as well as being given a list of names for individuals that Watari “requested” he treat as if they where friends of the Hatayama.


Teaching Wolves New Tricks
Zenji receives a teaching request from somewhere higher up the Chain of Command and plans to dismiss it due to having no experience instructing Soul Reapers. However seeing the name of Yuki he realises it's one of the ones provided to him on a private document by Watari from the previously mentioned meeting. Afraid to anger the Suzumei Lord with his refusal he accepts.

This event largely shows Zenji trying to teach Yuki how to use basic Kido but, when that fails, it becomes more about working out the problem behind her weakness.

Towards the end however some discussion turns towards the recent noble events. Zenji admits to feeling some guilt and conflict over his Clan’s status as political outsiders, perhaps in seeking to rise above it all they simply allowed corruption to spread while they turned away and refused to acknowledge it. He gratefully receives a feeling of absolution from Yuki and promises to help her however he is still unwilling to take the steps the Great Clans have against the corrupt nobles believing that the evil of assassination and murder can not bring a lasting good outcome.


Know Your Limits
Zenji goes on a rare patrol, away from his office, but things escalate quickly. His partner, a rookie of the 5th, is caught in battle with a Hollow and Zenji rushes in to support.
Starting off afraid and feeling sorry for himself his initial plan is to just run but then he sees Suki, the rookie, in the Hollow’s grasp. So he acts.

During this battle he acts uncharacteristically aggressive and combative. He throws everything he has at the Hollow to stop it and protect Suki with his Kido Skill far outweighing the strength he has in his Soul to continuously cast powerful spells. He even applies a little unusual Hatayama spellcasting to try and preserve Suki’s life. His Zanpakuto also speaks to him for the first time ever during this conflict as Zenji finally acts like the Soul Reaper nobleman he was supposed to be all along.

Finally using a bit of strategic thinking he is able to bind the Hollow, disguise his retreat and run. Unfortunately he’s too exhausted and wounded to realise the poor girl wasn’t breathing anymore.


The Reaper's Healer
This is a final realisation for Zenji after waking up healed by a Mortal and realising there’s a lot out there he doesn’t know the nature of. Despite everything he did, and believing he had succeeded despite his weakness, he finds out the whole fight was for nothing because Suki died likely before the fight even ended. Giving his deceased comrade a blessing so that her soul may pass on peacefully. He promises that he’ll be better and not let something like this happen again so that her death won’t be in vain.

By the end of this first arc he has resolved to grow and become stronger so that he can be a true Shinigami whilst also having faced the dangers of letting his Clan continue it's tradition of only passive input into the politics of the Noble Clans.

We begin at five stars and add or remove based on notable additions or glaring omissions.
+0 - Writing - Writing is solid, characterization is good. Provided the contrast between Watari in A Noble Guest through the use of the sake cup to dash a cigarette butt and how Zenji felt about it was some very good stuff. I'm not sure how well the dialogue between him and his spirit goes, a little too much show not tell when it comes to highlighting his foibles. A Zan Spirit is certainly meant to be a narrative tool to help them overcome their weaknesses but, used too bluntly it's like a cudgel.
+0 - Story - The first post Two Peas in a Pod is a stellar character introduction. The arc is a bit weakly defined in connecting these threads but it's a solid introduction to the character. I really like the connection between The Reaper's Healer and Know Your Limits, but I don't think it ties in as strongly to the questions the first couple of threads raise..
+0 - Growth - It's a fine establishing arc, I think the post towards the end of Know Your Limits is solid, I can definitely see Zenji is changing as a result of his harrowing conflicts.
+0 - Impact - You provide some good fuel for each of your thread partners. A lot of very good world building.

I'm going to pull fiat here, while none of the sections on their own hit +1 I think overall you have a lot of strong sections here that I intend to grant it. Come at me.

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

5 Threads x 6 Star Rating = 600 EXP!

Make sure you app for that first release soon before I gotta kill ya!