Post by Aramis Tezuka on Apr 6, 2012 2:09:52 GMT -5
-Opening-
Password 1: [Definitely Amazing]
Password 2: [Great Scott]
Type: Soldier
Affiliation: Soul Society
Rank: Academy Student
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-Basic Information-
Name: Aramis Tezuka
Age: 24
Birthday: October 31
Blood Type: B+
RP Sample (Optional): Aramis stood in line. He was at a local takoyaki stand. He heard it was fairly poor quality, but he'd never eaten Takoyaki in his life, so he figured if he got a bite here, there was nowhere to go but up. Plus, everytime he ever went somewhere for the supposedly delicious meal, it was gone. Last one sold mere minutes before he got there! Well, no more! He was going for the second rate stuff today! ....wow that sounded way better in his head.
Aramis had a book in his hands, while he was waiting in line, seemingly oblivious to the rest of the world. William Shakespeare's "The Merchant of Venice." Aramis seemed completely absorbed in the book, unable to communicate with anyone. Which is why he was knocked slightly when someone tried to walk past him, bumping by him. His mind briefly registered an apology but he didn't even respond. He was barely keeping up with the line.
Finally he was at the forefront of the line. A young man with wildly spiked reddish black hair, and a scar on his cheek was in front of him, and all that stood between Aramis and finally tasting Takoyaki. So perhaps Aramis would have been dismayed when he saw the man walk away with no less than five trays of the delicious snack. Aramis walked to the front of the line, as the stall tender asked him what he wanted. Aramis looked up at him and finally spoke. "Do you think it would be possible to cut off a pound of flesh without causing bleeding?" He asked curiously and innocently. The man stared at him for a moment. "Huh." Aramis kept speaking without missing a beat, despite the other man's confusion. "I'd like some takoyaki please." He requested.
"Oh... Umm.... sorry. We're fresh out." "This is a takoyaki stand isn't it. There should be takoyaki if that's all you sell." "Sorry kid. That guy there took the last of it." The tender admitted, pulling up a "Closed" sign on the stall. Aramis heard grumbling and general discontent behind him as the line dissipated.
Aramis himself stood in front of the stall for a little, even after the tender left. Then he turned away. "I see... someday...." He remarked, as he strolled away. His spirit didn't seem too damaged, nor did he seem to angered about it. He simply buried his nose in his book again, turning the page, as he walked through the street, causing no shortage of chaos with the traffic, as drivers tried to brake, to avoid hitting him.
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-Appearance-
Height/Weight: 5’8/150 pounds
Physical Description:
As can be seen, Aramis isn't the most intimidating of specimens at a glance. He isn't particularly huge, being only 5'8, and has a fairly slim build. He has Caucasian skin, and perhaps his most striking feature is the unique color of his hair. Aramis carries himself fairly upright, rather than slouched like some people, and moves about with an air of some dignity.
Aramis's (second) most distinct feature is his olive green hair. It's not dyed, it's naturally that color. He has moderately copious amounts of it, that he lets float freely around his head, including thick bangs that hang in front of his bespectacled eyes, requiring him to occasionally brush them aside. Aramis lets his glasses low on his nose most of the time. They're not huge, they're scholarly glasses, with narrow rectangular lenses and thin frames. In truth, Aramis doesn't NEED the glasses, but they do help. The difference between wearing his glasses or not wearing them is really just the difference between high-def television and not high-def. Aramis's eyes are the same color as his hair, a startling olive green.
Aramis isn't particularly physically imposing, as mentioned above. He's not particularly muscular, and has far from broad shoulders. He lacks even a four pack, but at the very least, has a comfortable build. Slender yes, but certainly not skinny. His arms are just as slender, not thick and powerful like some people's.
In terms of clothing, Aramis favors one of two outfits. His normal outfit consists of a gray jacket overtop a black sweater (see pic). He'll usually wear a regular white T-shirt underneath the sweater. He favors comfortable blue jeans, with white socks and sneakers, for his casual attire. He certainly has more "dressy" clothes if he wants to, but doesn't normally wear them. However, for walking around Soul Society, Aramis will wear the traditional Shinigami garbs, with one notable change. He wears a glove over his left hand, and has the sleeve lengthened on that side so that it completely covers his arm, hanging too far over, completely hiding his entire left arm from sight.
This is not without good reason. The glove Aramis wears covers all five fingers, and is black in color. And the reason Aramis takes the effort to conceal his left arm is because his left arm is proof of his demonic heritage. Aramis's left arm is most unlike his right arm. Notably more muscled, and appears to be more shadow than flesh. Like a physical shadow. That is the best way to describe Aramis's arm. A chain of some unknown red metal protrudes from the shoulder of the arm, and winds its way around his arm, many times, like a physical restraint. It ends in a small, but dense iron weight, weighing roughly ten pounds. Aramis's left arm is completely hairless, and has no nails. Instead his fingers are akin to talons, razor tipped. In short, Aramis basically has prehensile daggers for fingers on his left hand.
Fortunately, Aramis's right arm is free of this demonic taint, and bears no chain, which is good. Because it'd be very difficult to do stuff if you constantly have to keep both your arms completely hidden. That arm, as mentioned, although possessing some muscle is quite slender and doesn't exactly scream "power!" Aramis is also right handed, so he uses that hand for most things. Aramis wears his zanpakuto on his left hip. The sheath has a small hook on it, so that he can attach it to the belt of his jeans if he needs to, but most of the time, since he spends much of his time in Soul Society, simply slides it into his obi.
A particularly interesting feature, however, is that Aramis bears a metal shackle on his left arm. This shackle was designed by Squad 12 to mask his demonic reiatsu as well as create an illusion of his arm being normal. Despite this, Aramis still maintains to wear the coverings.
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-Personality-
Dislikes:
Noisy People: Aramis HATES noisy people. They can’t ever seem to appreciate true art. They’re too busy listening to themselves talk!
Knives: Aramis is kind of afraid of knives. He doesn’t like how a weapon so small can cause so much damage.
Hollows: Horrible monsters. They need to be stamped out! Eradicated! Etc!
Arrancar: Huh. So Hollows regained a little bit of their sanity. Not a huge improvement, they’re still monsters.
Akki: Hatehatehatehatehatehate. They’re abominations! Ten times worse than hollows! No… a hundred times worse! A billion times worse!!!!
Stephenie Meyer: Twilight. NEXT!
Nicholas Cage: Wicker Man. Ghost Rider… pretty much anything he’s ever been in. NEXT!
Geoffrey Chaucer: For such an avid lover of literature, Aramis actually really doesn’t like Chaucer that much. Ah well. Always gonna be at least one black sheep.
Rebecca Black: Good GOD her music is terrible. Good parodies though... still. Not enough of an excuse.
Justin Bieber: Like Rebecca Black. But worse.
Dying: Not… exactly high on Aramis’s list of priorities at all.
Killing: Aramis despises killing, believing that if he’s forced to do so, then somewhere along the line, he’s failed utterly.
Likes:
Literature— Aramis is a big fan of literature. He often has his nose in some book, usually long ones, and can be so focused on it that he can actually exclude the outside world.
Classics—Related to his love of literature, Aramis is particularly a fan of the classics. Shakespeare, Dunn, Vern, Huxley, etc.
Shakespeare—Aramis is quite fond of Shakespearean literature, and studies his plays somewhat extensively when he has the time.
Music: Aramis also has an immense fondness for good music. GOOD music, not that terrible modern day music. He has an intense weakness for classical music, from the likes of Bach, Mozart, etc.
Art: If you haven’t noticed a theme here, Aramis likes the finer things in life, and art is no exception. Ironically though, he has no great love of “Great Art.” He sees no difference between a Picasso, and a drawing by a ten year old. He just loves the concept of art.
Drawing: Aramis is really quite a fan of drawing. He’s notably a fan of manga-style artwork, which he’s steadily improving at.
Poetry: Although Aramis can’t write a single stanza, he does admire poetry, and considers it the highest form of art, painting pictures with words.
Shinigami: A trait inherited from his mother, no doubt, Aramis has a soft spot for shinigami and is far more forgiving towards them than other spiritual entities.
Humans: Although Aramis respects shinigami, he outright ENVIES humans, and blames his lack of artistic talent on the fact that he has no human blood within him.
Quincy: Aramis actually quite likes Quincy. Rather, he likes their method of dealing with problems. Complete destruction. No forgiveness. He aspires to be like Quincy in how he deals with Akki.
Doors: Because they’re doors. I don’t need a reason.
Flaws:
Bipolar: Aramis has something of a bipolar disorder, mainly due to his Akki heritage. Normally, he can control this condition, but whenever he releases his Zanpakuto, he inevitably falls prey to it, his mood, and even personality rapidly shifting.
Shyness: When not in Saisei Oni, Aramis is very shy and likes to avoid speaking or involving himself with others, a major social failing.
Bookworm: Aramis can often become TOO absorbed in his literature. As mentioned in his likes, he can become so engrossed in his books, that he can often exclude the outside world completely. This often transpires as him ignoring others even as they’re speaking to him!
Habits:
-Grading people’s words: Aramis has a tendency of putting a grade onto a response to one of his questions. His grade is determined by how much he likes the response, or is impressed by it, though it’s fairly easy to get a grade of “A+”
-Avoiding questions: Aramis rarely, if ever, answers a question directly. He will almost always answer with a nonsequitor. Ask him how he’s doing and he’ll tell you what he’s thinking about. Tell him something uncomfortable to know and he’ll ask you how you’re doing. Whether through obliviousness or just wanting to redirect questions, Aramis can be hard pressed to answer a question.
-Conversation enders: Aramis very often uses phrases that will just outright end any line of questioning. He uses the phrase “Dunno” particularly often.
-Quoting: Aramis quite enjoys the opportunities where he can quote one of the classics, particularly Shakespeare, and seizes the chance whenever possible.
Fears:
Saisei Oni: Aramis is petrified of his Saisei Oni. To him, Saisei Oni is more akin to a curse than a blessing. He loses his sense of self in his demonic form and is therefore terrified of it.
Akki: Aramis has a deep seated fear of these apparitions of hell, despite owing his parentage to at least one of them. He fears and despises Akki, causing him to be uncharacteristically touchy around them. Even the subject of Akki is enough to invoke this reaction in him.
Killing: Aramis is fearful of killing. In his perfect world people would be neither killed, nor be killed. He’s not exactly one for the “law of the jungle” in other words, and is extremely hesitant to kill people as a result.
Ignorance: Aramis is fearful of lack of knowledge. The horror of not knowing is far worse to Aramis than the horror of what is known. Aramis has managed to use this fear to his advantage, however, basing much of his fighting style upon instilling this fear in his opponents.
Knives: Aramis REALLY doesn’t like knives. His battle cry may as well be “knives are scary” when one is around, and he will make excessive motions to avoid being hit by one. Oddly enough he doesn’t share this fear with other bladed weapons, just those that are shorter than twelve inches in length. Perhaps it’s the fact that he doesn’t like it that something so small can be so lethal, and so easily concealed.
Losing himself: Aramis is terrified of losing himself. What this means is anyone’s guess, but the closest meaning could be he doesn’t want to lose sense of who he really is, something that happens every time he releases his Saisei Oni, and what created his fear of it in the first place.
Goals:
Overthrow Hell: Yep. You read that right. Aramis despises hell. Though he appreciates the place for its contributions to art, and Dante’s “Inferno”, his own heritage and links to that place have caused him to take up arms against his infernal abode. He desires nothing more than to see Hell overthrown and broken, and seeks to obstruct its designs at every turn. Granted, this usually takes on the form of just roaming around hunting down Akki, but it’s a start!
Kill his father: Aramis fully plans to murder the being that brought him into this world. There really isn’t much more to it than that, besides that he wants to destroy the being that he feels “cursed” him with his existence. He has been hunting his father for a long time, though has little evidence to go on.
Alignment: Neutral Good
Aspect of Hell: Darkness
Overall Personality: At a glance Aramis is a nerd. A very, very peculiar nerd, who speaks constantly in non-sequitors and peculiar metaphors. He can be extremely difficult to read at times, as he will often answer questions with completely unrelated topics. Ask him “how’s your day been” and you will get an answer to the effect of: “Do you ever wonder what clouds taste like?” And he’ll fully expect you to answer it too. He also frequently uses phrases like “dunno” or “whatever.” All in all, an extremely difficult person to make heads or tails of.
Aramis does genuinely enjoy the fine arts, however, as well as linguistics. His nerdiness can often be seen through the fact that he is almost always carrying around a book. These aren’t casual bookstore fiction books, or even nonfiction. These are classics. Maybe it’s a Poe anthology, or one of Thomas Hardy’s works. Maybe it’s even William Shakespeare’s “Hamlet.” Regardless of what it is, Aramis is always carrying around one of these books.
Aramis spends much of his spare time at home. Where that home is, tends to vary, as Aramis moves around a lot. Normally he settles for simply renting out a three to four room flat, and sticking around for a month or two, before moving again. Regardless, he does spend a lot of time at home, simply vegging out on the couch, watching TV, or drawing. A pretty casual life.
However, that’s his spare time. Aramis’s “job” of sorts, is hunting Akki. That right. He hunts Akki. Thus far, he’s had very little success, however, in part due to his low power. With that said, he is surprisingly good at locating Akki, and, due to his involvement in the spiritual world from birth, is frequently able to contact someone who can deal with the Akki he cannot.
Why does he hunt Akki? Because he hates them. Aramis hates and despises Akki, and when the subject of the devils comes up, Aramis’s personality notably shifts and becomes much more direct than usual. His hatred of Akki stems from his father, and his disgust of his own arm, which he inherited from his demonic parent. He is very much embarrassed by his arm, seeing it as more of a curse than a blessing. Something that marks him as different, and “inferior” to others. He knows that because of that arm, he will never be able to access Bankai like those of his shinigami heritage, nor will he ever be able to access the full powers of his demonic heritage (not that he would want to). He is trapped in the middle, with the barest of minimums from both sides. Aramis feels he is trapped between two worlds but cannot truly enter either, which contributes to his aloof personality.
Aramis is often quite hesitant to make lasting relations with people because of his lifestyle, always moving around, and also because he doesn’t want to bring others trouble. He’s a compassionate fellow at heart, and doesn’t want to be anymore of a burden on the world than he feels he already is.
Despite the above comment, Aramis is far from emo. Actually, while incredibly embarrassed about the state of his arm, Aramis is pretty content most of the time. He feels what he is doing is worthwhile, which gives him a real drive, and makes him feel as though his existence is meaningful.
Apart from killing Akki, Aramis has a thirst for knowledge. He always tries to know more, to study, and to obtain new information. Although his memory isn’t nearly photographic, he can learn incredibly quickly, which he takes great pride in. He’s a huge bookworm, particularly enjoying poetry. Indeed, if there’s something Aramis likes above anything else, it’s poetry.
Aramis is something of a pacifist and in most situations will try to avoid conflict. During battle he constantly tries to avoid killing his foe, and merely forcing them to surrender, or simply back off. Regardless of the condition of his foe, if Aramis can get someone to back away, he considers it a victory. He doesn’t care if others believe this to be weakness, he thinks that it takes much more skill, and more power to defeat someone without killing them, than to simply kill them.
But even though he’s content, it’s not all flowers and sunshine. Aramis has his deeprooted fears and the thing Aramis fears most is himself. Or rather, what he’s capable of. Aramis knows that despite his tender-hearted nature, the blood of a literal devil flows through his veins, symbolized by his left arm. He therefore is constantly beset with darker urges. His demonic blood urges him towards murder, and Aramis constantly tries to battle these forces. Nonetheless, they have caused him to become somewhat paranoid, and even bipolar.
Because of his devil blood, Aramis is prone to sudden moodswings, occasionally completely breaking character, and revealing something quite sinister beneath his kindhearted (if a bit peculiar) exterior. This can be unnerving to someone whether they know him well or not, and can even freak out his enemies, who have often become accustomed to the pacifistic foe, and seeing this shift can be rather unsettling.
This personality emerges in full whenever Aramis is forced to use his Saisei Oni. His entire personality shifts completely as he can no longer deny the demonic influence his father’s blood has upon him. In this form, Aramis is sadistic and cruel. He delights in the pain of others, and finds nothing less than pure joy at the suffering of his enemies. Aramis aims to make anyone he finds unappealing suffer to the maximum extent he can, using his powers to fill them with terror, drowning in darkness. He wants his victims to scream for it to end before he will lift his blade to finally end them.
Quite a contrast from his normal self, this demonic Aramis has no issue with killing. Indeed, he relishes the action of murder. Yes, murder. Killing someone is too tame for what Aramis does to those who force him into Saisei Oni. Even murder is almost too tame. Once his darkest urges are released, all that typically remains of those unfortunate to cross Aramis’s path are little more than carcasses that barely even resemble what they used to be. It is this gore and massacre that Aramis takes pure pleasure in. He hates ending someone’s life quickly, preferring to take his time, slowly carving them up right to the final blow.
As a direct result of this considerable shift, Aramis avoids releasing his Primera Etapa, actually fearing it. Even in situations where his life would be threatened, he fears to use it, because of the knowledge that he’ll lose himself in his bloodlust. However, the sole exception to this would be in facing other Akki, in which Aramis knows his pacifistic nature would get in the way of killing them. Only against other Akki will Aramis willingly use his Saisei Oni. Against any other foe the knowledge of what it does to him prevents him from using it. In addition, he knows that when he uses Saisei Oni he draws upon his Akki powers—the part of him that he despises. The only reason he uses it against Akki is because he considers it poetic irony that the Akki be slain by their own demonic powers.
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-Powers-
Fighting Style: Aramis’s fighting style is based in deception. He always aims to keep his opponents in the dark, both figuratively and literally. Ensure that his opponents never truly understand what is going on. Aramis employs the use of psychological warfare, intending to confuse his opponents and instil fear in them. Aramis knows that fear and confusion are powerful weapons, and can oftentimes end a battle without anyone having to die. It causes opponents to make desperate moves, resulting in them making critical mistakes in battle.
Aramis doesn’t particularly like battle though, or killing, and so usually attempts to avoid killing his opponent when possible. His favourite use of his zanpakuto’s ability to render a foe unconscious, making the need to fight them further pointless. If Aramis’s foe flees in fright, or surrenders peacefully, it is the best possible outcome for him. However, being a user of deception, Aramis is all too aware of the potential for an opponent to try and feign surrender themselves. Thus although he is pleased when an opponent surrenders, he is often cautious, often requesting his opponent completely disarm themselves, before daring to lower his guard (and occasionally forcing his opponent to leave or restrain themselves if they are eminently capable of unarmed fighting).
In terms of release, while Aramis is very comfortable releasing his Zanpakuto, he is extremely reluctant to use his Saisei Oni. He is very much aware of how dangerous he can become in that state, and therefore avoids releasing out of fear of killing his opponent needlessly. However, if he feels his life, or the lives of others are truly endangered by his opponent, only then will he choose to use his Primera Etapta. Most of the time, however, he relies solely on his Shikai to overcome an opponent.
When not released, Aramis makes primary use of his zanpakuto. He is not particularly well versed in hand to hand combat, so aside from an occasional kick or punch during a blade lock; Aramis will generally avoid using his body to inflict damage. His Shikai has influenced a fighting style where landing a blow is more important than landing a significant blow. Aramis’s sealed fighting style is based on the idea that small wounds add up over time. On the one hand, it’s highly elusive as Aramis plays on the very edge of an opponent’s attack range, and rarely commits to his attacks enough that he can’t pull back if something unexpected happens. It’s also very effective when it comes to utilizing feints.
However, the primary con of the style is that battles tend to be rather drawn out, and due to Aramis’s non-committal nature of attacking, it can be very difficult to actually finish off an opponent. His style is highly effective at landing blows, but ineffective at landing effective blows. Aramis is often forced to release his Shikai as a result, in order to finish his opponents off.
Speaking of his Shikai, although Aramis is uncomfortable using his Saisei Oni, he has no issue at all, using his Shikai. In fact, he is almost trigger-happy with its use, employing it in most of his battles to finish off his opponent’s. Aramis’s initial Shikai fighting style is quite different from his normal one. Due to the two edges of his Shikai, Aramis commonly will utilize “one-two” attacks, making a forehand strike to erase a target, and then a backhand slice to actually inflict damage on an opponent (while simultaneously erasing another part of them.
When in release, Aramis utilizes a fencing based fighting style, based on precision and quick blows, over fight ending strikes. Staying in line with his basic fighting premise, landing the blow is more important than landing the decisive blow. Aramis will frequently employ feints and parries, ensuring he keeps his distance from his opponent, attacking primarily with thrusts and only using the aforementioned back slice if his opponent makes a mistake. That’s really the idea of Aramis’s style. Poking and prodding his opponent into making a mistake and then capitalizing on that mistake.
As mentioned above, Aramis relies on deception when he fights, and often will outright lie about his zanpakuto’s capabilities. He will freely demonstrate its abilities, usually by striking an opponent’s sword with his zanpakuto to make it seemingly disappear to the opponent’s eyes. He’ll then inform his opponent of his zanpakuto’s power. That his zanpakuto can “erase the existence of anything it touches.” Though a lie, given its display, Aramis can often convince his opponents into believing it, and often will affect their fighting style as a result.
To uphold his lie, however, Aramis has to make certain sacrifices, in that he cannot freely aim at targets that would give his lie away. For example, if he were to slash someone’s torso and make it disappear, the opponent would recognize that he had lied, as the rest of their body would still be attached to the space that their torso had occupied. This means that when Aramis fights with his Shikai he typically aims for an opponent’s extremities, aiming to make their arms, legs and, if he can, head vanish. His primary target is usually the head, as he can render an opponent unconscious with a single solid blow to the noggin.
However, occasionally he meets a crafty opponent who can figure out his Shikai’s true ability, and realize that it doesn’t actually erase whatever it touches. Against such opponents, Aramis will often decide to use his power to affect the terrain. Against most opponents, even knowing the power, they will not be able to see through it, allowing Aramis to set traps using the terrain. Traps his opponents will be unable to account for due to not being able to sense them.
In the direst of circumstances, Aramis will turn his power on himself, making himself undetectable. This is a last resort technique, as it’s possible for him to actually render himself unconscious by doing this. However, if successful, it grants Aramis a considerable advantage over most opponents as he can attack them with impunity. Though this could quickly turn suicidal if his opponents can actually see through his ability, against those who cannot it can prove an effective means of getting in his crucial attacks.
Occasionally, however, Aramis will be backed into a corner and the situation will be dire enough that it bears releasing his darkest urges. His Saisei Oni, Primera Etapa. This form Aramis dislikes using, because it alters his entire fighting style into something he feels is far more sinister.
Before covering how he uses his Primera Etapa powers, it is crucial to note the changes to his overall fighting style. While before, Aramis would use a highly defensive fighting style, his style becomes a lot more aggressive, willing to take a blow to inflict one, if it calls for it. Like before however, he prefers to inflict shallower cuts to deeper ones. However, not out of any desire not to commit to an attack. He does so for two reasons. The first is because he only needs a shallow cut to get in the toxins on his blade. The second is because he wants to maximize his foe’s suffering. To make them suffer in agony for forcing him this far.
Indeed, Aramis’s new fighting style is a lot more sadistic compared to before. He delights in causing pain to his opponents. However, despite his love of seeing his foe suffer, his blows are fuelled by killing intent now. Now, Aramis seeks to end the life of his foe. He wants to kill his foe at their lowest, consumed by the darkness of their own despair and hopelessness. A complete shift from his original fighting style.
In Saisei Oni Primera Etapa, Aramis takes advantage of his opponent’s normally weakened sensory abilities and takes his time killing them. He leaves light wounds on them, as, with their dulled sense of touch, a light wound is harder to notice than a deep one. Plus, he only needs to get a small cut to inject his poison, taking what little his opponent can see away from them, as they will not longer even be able to judge vague distances in their near blindness.
In Primera Etapa, however, Aramis is impatient and easily frustrated. While he’s happy to take his time cutting his opponent to ribbons, he doesn’t like it when his opponents actually prove capable of fighting back in complete blindness and therefore will not hesitate to unleash his Segunda Etapa if he fears he’s losing control of the fight.
Upon unleashing his Segunda Etapa, Aramis now devotes himself entirely to landing even one blow, even if he must take a serious wound in return. Once his opponent has been poisoned by him in Segunda Etapa, they are often much easier to deal with, as Aramis can usually take their back with relative ease, due to their balance being so terrible. At this point if the battle is not decided quickly, it is rare for Aramis to lose, but if it seems his Saisei Oni Segunda Etapa is not enough then he will use his final trump card.
That is, Aramis will use his Shikai again. Now combining all of his releases into a single form, Aramis will go on an all-out offensive, using his opponent’s lack of senses to his advantage. If his opponents could see through his Shikai before, it is very rare they can see through it a second time, while under the influence of his Saisei Oni’s power. He will continuously aim for the opponent’s head, to render them unconscious, so that he can finish them with ease.
Aramis’s hand to hand combat skills are, sadly, somewhat underdeveloped. He focused too much on swordsmanship, plus his demonic arm has caused him to avoid using it in battle whenever possible. So learning hand to hand combat is difficult for Aramis. His style is somewhat reminiscent of boxing. In fact that’s what it is. Kickboxing that Aramis self-taught himself. He emphasizes using jabs to open an opponent up to blows, and then will use powerful kicks to actually do damage. He actively avoids using his demonic arm, except for defence, which he will use to block blows head on, only deflecting blows on occasion.
Aramis is a bit of a team-fighter, but when working in groups he prefers ambush tactics. That is, only one of the fighters engage head on, and the other waits for the opportune moment to strike. Due to his zanpakuto and Saisei Oni this is actually pretty easy for him to accomplish. Even his teamfighting can be based on deception. If for whatever reason, Aramis is using Saisei Oni, he can deceive his opponents into thinking wrongly of an ally’s abilities. He can use his Saisei Oni’s power to make his foe think his ability is his ally’s. Naturally, this really only works if his opponent is unaware of his presence.
Still, once his Saisei Oni is active, Aramis has no qualms sweeping in and joining the fight, before his opponent realizes they’re dealing with a two on one situation. Their deprived senses will often fail to realize they’re facing two foes until it is too late. Something Aramis delights in using to his advantage.
Saisei Oni Overall Ability: The main theme of Aramis’s Saisei Oni is attacking his opponent’s senses. Aramis’s Saisei Oni can be looked at from two perspectives in this manner. Abilities tied to his form enact his Aspect of Hell by trapping his opponent in perpetual darkness, depriving them of their senses, sanity and reason. He can do this through using his reiatsu to dull their senses, suppress their ability to detect reiatsu, and inspire fear in them to lessen their instincts.
Also, his Dark Aura becomes 100 and his Light Aura becomes 0 in Saisei Oni, for all the difference that makes. This is due to the radical shift in personality that Aramis undergoes when he uses his Saisei Oni (see personality and fighting style).
Saisei Oni Appearance: media.pcgamer.com/files/2011/03/nocturne-resize.jpg
In Saisei Oni, Aramis's left arm, essentially takes over the rest of his body. His entire body becomes more akin to a living shadow than actual flesh and blood. Orange highlights spread across his face, and two piercing blue-white lights serve as eyes. His legs fuse together and vanish into little more than a wispy tail of shadow that trails behind him as he moves. This tail is essentially intangible, or, if it is a legitimate part of his body, is clearly not attached to any nerves, and he can safely ignore any blows that strike there, as they pass through it, as if through mist.
This leaves his torso. As mentioned his body is more akin to a living shadow, and when cut, does not bleed normal blood, but rather a black ichor, that appears to function similarly. Various orange stripes cover his arms, forehead and cheeks, not unlike war paint.
Aramis also sports a few extra bits that form in his Saisei Oni, similarly to how some shinigami sport new outfits from their bankais. Aramis sports two large metal shoulderpads that can protect his neck and his upper arms from attacks. They are trimmed with silver, but their color is black and orange, in alternating patterns that flow inwards. On his forearms are two massive arm braces, attached to two long, deadly retractable blades. By the word "retractable" it's clear that these blades are not exactly normal to look at and indeed they are not. Rather, they fold in on themselves, not unlike a night-stick or those toy lightsabers you can buy in a costume shop. They have three separate segments, but, at Aramis's will, can extend out, locking into place. At their full length, they extend roughly two feet out from Aramis's hands, but are rather broad as well. From the blade's outer "blunt" side, there protrude four long spikes. Three on the base of the weapons and an additional one on the first extension. They are colored the same as the rest of his outfit-- that is, orange, black and silver.
Saisei Oni Primera Etapa Techniques:
Paranoia: Paranoia is a terrifying ability that defines Aramis’s Primera Etapa. It automatically targets anyone Aramis recognizes as an enemy within about half the maximum range of his energy sensory stat. If Aramis possesses an instinct higher than one of his target’s Sensory Stats then that stat is reduced by half of the difference between the two. For example, if Aramis has an instinct stat of 200 and his target has a Senses stat of 100, then his opponent’s Senses stat is lessened by 50 points (200-100=100. 100/2=50). This affects both Senses AND Energy Sensory, but does not affect his opponent's Instinct. In Saisei Oni Segunda Etapa, this technique is enhanced, the total amount deprived of an opponent’s Sensory stats being equal to 75% of the difference, instead of half.
Limitations/Drawbacks: Paranoia requires a target’s sense stat to be lower than the user’s instinct, or it will not work at all. Additionally, Paranoia cannot drop an opponent’s stat below 10 (though if it is below 10 to start with then it will not raise the stat to 10). Additionally, it only works as long as Aramis both A. recognizes the target as an enemy, and B. is capable of sensing the target with his own Energy Sensory. If both these criteria are not fulfilled the target will be immune to Paranoia.
In either form (Segunda Etapa or Primera Etapa) this ability requires an activation cost of 200 reiatsu for each target the user desires to affect.
Deceive: In his Primera Etapa, the blades attached to Aramis’s arms are coated in a particularly virulent toxin. If someone is cut by the blades and the toxin enters their bloodstream, it attacks the target's senses of sight and hearing, causing hallucinations and causing the target to imagine noises. Targets afflicted by this poison will find their vision heavily blurred, and their hearing will be distorted, and will being hearing things and noises that aren't actually happening. They will find it almost impossible to focus on a target, as the poison will cause them to hallucinate copies of Aramis, that will vary from two doubles to six. These doubles are virtually indistinguishable from the original except that they do not effect the environment around them, and coupled with the target's blurred vision, makes successful attacks on Aramis highly difficult.
Limitations/Drawbacks: First of all, targets with extraordinary senses (above 400) will suffer heavily reduced effects from this ability, suffering only minor blurring of vision and almost no distortion of hearing, though the hallucinations will remain. Secondly, the poison is not permanent and will only last for 4 posts. Being highly resistant to poisons will help those afflicted by this, with every post in poison resistance reducing the duration by 1 post (so a 3 in poison resistance will make the effects of this poison only last a single post, while a 1 in poison resistance will result in a duration of 3 posts instead of 4).
It is also possible to counteract the poison with extraordinary senses, or by having a natural immunity to toxins. Opponents with senses of over 200 (300 in Segunda Etapa) will be able to discern distances normally, despite the poison. The duration of the ability will also reduce by one post for every point of poison resistance the opponent has.
Saisei Oni Segunda Etapa Techniques:
Terror: Terror is an enhanced variant of Paranoia. Like Paranoia, it is inflicted on any target Aramis deems an enemy, one which he is capable of sensing with his Energy Sensory. Also like Paranoia, the area of effect is limited to half of Aramis’s energy sensory range. Terror is exactly what it says on the tin. It inspires feelings of terror and horror in an opponent, their fear dulling their instincts and causing them to slow down. Enemies under the influence of Terror have their instinct stat reduced by half the difference between Aramis’s instinct and their instinct. Furthermore, the target’s speed is also reduced, due to terror and fear dulling their movements. Someone under the influence of Terror has their speed reduced by half the amount that their instinct is reduced (in other words 25% of the difference between Aramis’s instinct and the target’s instinct, not counting points in Fearlessness (see below). Unlike Paranoia, Terror has the potential to drop either stat to 0 (in the case of instinct, it could be assumed that the target is so terrified that they can no longer think and are flailing helplessly. In the case of speed, it can be assumed that they are simply frozen in terror, unable to move from fear).
Limitations/Drawbacks Terror has the same limitations as Paranoia. Namely, if the target’s instinct stat is higher than Aramis’s they will be unaffected by the technique. Furthermore, Terror will only work on targets who are already affected by Paranoia. Opponents who have put points into fearlessness will also be able to resist the technique to some degree. With one point in fearlessness, the amount instinct is reduced by is reduced to only 1/3 of the difference between the stats. With 2 points, it is reduced to 25% of the difference between the stats. If a character is truly without fear (ie. 3 points in Fearlessness), then Terror only reduces their instinct by 10%. The speed lost through fear is similarly affected (half, one third, one fourth of the amount lost from instinct).
To activate Terror, the user must expend 100 reiatsu for each target they wish to affect. In order to be viable to be targeted by Terror, the desired target MUST be affected by Paranoia.
Cripple: This is Aramis’s final technique, enhancing the poison on his blades. In addition to allowing the original poison (see Deceive) into the bloodstream, it injects this new toxin. Weakness attacks the target’s sense of balance, offsetting it to the point that the target becomes unable to stand, and even crouching may prove difficult to do without wobbling unsteadily.
Like Deceive, this technique also has a short duration of only 2 posts (by the victim). Those afflicted by the poison will be able to stand normally on the third post after being wounded, though, like Deceive, the poison can be refreshed by wounding the target again.
Poison resistance will not affect the duration of this post unless maxed out, however will still help the user. With a poison resistance of 1, someone will at least be able to maintain stability in a crouched position. If it is level 2, then they will be able to stand albeit very unsteadily, and will likely be unable to maintain steady footing. If they have fully mastered poison resistance, then the duration of the poison will only last for a single post, but otherwise they will suffer as though they had level 2 immunity to poison.
Additional Powers:
Zanpakuto Release phrase: To release his zanpakuto Aramis holds his blade horizontally in front of him, body held off to the side. He then recites: “Fade Away, Revenant.”
Zanpakuto sealed appearance: i03.i.aliimg.com/img/pb/421/931/261/1281499672288_hz-myalibaba-web5_2059.jpg
In its sealed form, Revenant takes the form of a standard katana. It is of typical length for a sword, with a slightly curved blade, three feet in length. The hilt is covered in coarse red cloth, with a silver band in the middle. The base of the hilt is made of copper and painted silver. The blade itself is quite typical for a katana, being single edged, with a tip for thrusts. The blade is polished and bears no hint of chipping or rust, implying the care Aramis puts into it.
The sheath is also fairly remarkable. Although it is made only of painted wood, it is a glossy black in color, with broad silver bands causing the color to alternate in a unique pattern on the blade. The end of the hilt is gold painted brass. Purely decorative and very light, but still kinda cool to look at. The sheath isn’t made for any particular tricks such as concealing the length of the blade and is a perfect fit for his sword.
Zanpakuto Released Appearance: michaelch2013.files.wordpress.com/2010/01/moc_rapier.jpg
When released, Revenant takes on the form of an elegant rapier. The blade is three feet long, and the handle an additional foot. The blade is elegantly tapered and razor edged on both sides. The tip is so pointed as to draw blood with little more than contact with the skin. The blade is thin, both in width and thickness, a mere two centimeters at the thickest, and the width is about half an inch in length. The handle is a glorious gold, and quite ornate, with a handle crafted and colored in such a manner that it appears to be made of wood! An egg shaped pommel rests at the hilt of the blade, serving as a counterweight, and a hand guard twists its way up the blade to the crossguard, forming into an ornate hand guard just above the crossguard of the blade.
Zanpakuto Overview: Revenant’s abilities are all passive. Aramis often claims that Revenant is able to “erase anything it touches” but this is a lie, designed to hide the true nature of his zanpakuto. If knowledge is power, then ignorance is weakness. A trait Aramis likes to imbue in his foes, making his zanpakuto out to be far more than it actually is. This can drastically change how his opponent fights and means he can transition with ease into other methods of fighting and continue to take his opponent by surprise.
Revenant is an illusion type Zanpakuto, with its powers tied into the physical senses. Anything that Revenant’s blade touches, whether with the sharp edge, blunt edge, or flat of the blade, becomes undetectable to any of the physical senses. Sight, smell, taste, touch and hearing will all fail to detect anything that has been struck by Revenant. It also affects lesser senses as well, such as one’s sense of balance (for example, if Revenant were to strike someone’s leg, their body would no longer register the leg as being there and they would fall down).
Revenant’s abilities are tied to this power, and making it more complete, so that the opponent will fail to notice obvious things (such as that their hand will not close around the space where the object they were holding used to be). The power affects both biological and inanimate targets, and is cancelled by being touched a second time. Even if something affected by Revenant’s powers is part of an opponent’s body, their body will cease to register the part as being there anymore. The person will have no feeling in that limb at all, as though it were not even there. However, it will still respond to commands, instead of falling lifeless, the owner just won’t be aware that it is.
Zanpakuto techniques:
“Vanish”: This is Revenant’s primary ability. It operates passively and cannot be prevented, even by Aramis. Anything that touches the blade of Revenant’s released form is rendered impossible to detect through one’s physical senses. It cannot be seen, tasted, felt, smelled, or heard. As mentioned above, even lesser senses, like someone’s sense of balance will not register the object. To any onlookers, it will appear to have made the object completely disappear. The effects of Revenant will be removed if something under the effects of its power touches the blade a second time.
Even if Revenant’s target is the part of someone’s body they will lose all feeling in that limb. If an arm is vanished, the owner will no longer be able to feel when they’re holding something, and it will, for the most part, feel as though their arm was cut off. No feeling whatsoever. All sensory abilities of a body part will cease if the part is under the effect of Revenant’s power. This makes it particularly devastating if Revenant can touch an opponent’s head, which will “erase” the brain, ceasing all sensory abilities in the opponent and rendering them essentially unconscious, as a result. This can be prevented, however (see below).
However, there are still ways to notice objects that have been rendered undetectable in this manner. First of all, anyone with an energy sensory stat of over 200 will be able to make out the vague outlines of the objects. Even if the object does not normally have a reiatsu itself, the illusion around it will be visible to someone of high enough energy sensory. In accordance to the vanishing body part scenario above, they will retain all the senses of the bodypart if their energy sensory is at least this high, as well as avoid being rendered comtatose by a blow to the head.
Second of all, it may be possible to notice how the environment reacts around it. An object that has been vanished is still there afterall, and still has a physical mass. A stone can still be tripped over, a vanished limb can still be snared. Furthermore, if someone were carrying a great weight, they would still be burdened and affected by the weight, even though they would not feel it themselves.
Some individuals are also quite talented at resisting illusions, and therefore it is easier for them to penetrate Revenant’s illusions. With 1 point in the skill “Illusion resist” (or similar), a character need only have over 150 points in Energy Sensory to pick up on the illusion. With two points it only needs to be over 100, and with three points it only needs to be above 50.
There are a few notable drawbacks to the ability. The first is that there’s no physical indication of whether or not an opponent can see through it or not. This means it’s very easy for an opponent to let Aramis fall into a false sense of security, as he is incapable of knowing if they have seen through it or not, rendering him potentially vulnerable to an attack he did not expect. The second is that Aramis cannot control it. Anything the blade touches is affected by the ability, even if Aramis doesn’t want it to. Furthermore Aramis himself is not immune to the effects of Revenant, and if touched by his own blade will be affected the same way his opponent would be.
“Blind spot”: This ability is a secondary technique surrounding Revenant’s abilities, and makes the illusion produced by “vanish” complete. Objects affected by “Vanish” also cause minor visual illusions to prevent the opponent from seeing through an illusion too easily. For example, if an opponent were holding onto the object that was vanished, they might notice that their hand will not close around the space that the object once occupied. Blind Spot covers this hole, deceiving an opponent’s mind into believing they can close their hand around the space, the mind tricking itself into seeing the act if they attempt it. It is this same ability that allows someone to fail to notice the excess weight they are carrying if Vanish affected a heavy object they were carrying.
Breaking Blind Spot is notably easier than breaking Vanish, however. The way to break Blind Spot can be overcome in the same manner as breaking “Vanish” but with a few extra methods. It is possible to pierce through Blind Spot with over 150 points in Senses, in which the target will be able to see through the illusion and realize their hand isn’t actually closing, or whatever the effect may be. Like with Vanish, this can be reduced with skill in resisting illusions. For characters with a score of 1 in illusion resist, only senses of 100 are needed. With 2 points a Senses score of over 50 are required, and those with a Resist Illusion of 3 can immediately see through this as long as their senses are not 0.
This technique is also very limited in its effects, and can only make the mind overlook minor things. The fact that the grass bends away from a sword when it is dropped in the grass, for example. Additionally it only affects objects already under the effects of Revenant’s “vanish” ability. It cannot make the mind ignore something like actually being wounded by an “undetectable” item, or tripping over a vanished rock, or similar. Only minor things that would otherwise give the illusion away at a glance, and is limited purely to the visible spectrum. For example, if Aramis were to use Vanish on a tree, an opponent would still hear the sound be slightly muted when coming from behind it (provided his/her senses were sufficient to notice the difference).
Other Techniques (Kido, Cero, Etc.): [Insert Below.]
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-History-
Birthplace: Soul Society
Current Residence: A small apartment in Tokyo
Memorable Figures: None
History: [Place below.]
