Soul/Student
How will people know you in this world?
Name: Alexander Corbett Holmes
Age: It is hard to tell his age, as no one ever sees his face, and even if you were to look at it, it is just a blank slate. The rest of his body holds an ageless look, with perfect blemish less skin and no defining features to speak of besides his tattoo. He is probably somewhere around 20-30 and his actual age is somewhere between 100-150, respectively.
Gender: Male
Image is everything...Isnt it?
Height and weight: 5’10” approx. 150 lbs approx.
Hair and eye color: Alex has no hair, and it is rare for someone to see his head. If they were to, they would see a perfectly flat dome, with no trace that hair had ever grown there. Underneath his mask, Alex has no eyes. He does not even have eye sockets, just a blank area of skin where eyes should be.
Appearance: Alex is not the largest man you would see. In fact, he is rather small looking. This does nothing to deter the creepy aura that seems to hang around him at all times. Whenever someone goes near him, they tend to want to edge away from him and keep out of his path, as if there was something wrong with him, which there is. He is missing a part of his soul, and although most do not know this, they still have a subconscious need to stay away from him. He does not help this by wearing a white hollow-like mask at all times and walking with an odd swagger that some could consider almost demonic. Not having eyes though, he does not really care what he looks like.
Alex wears pants that are tight to his body, and the top is just a plain black shirt. Over the shirt is a long trench coat, but both of these tops are cut off at the shoulder. This allows you to see his arms, and would let you see his tattoos if he did not wrap bandages over them. Extending from under the trenchcoat is a dark black hood that shades Alex's face and keeps his bandages from giving him away when he is sneaking around. He has never been able to grow hair anywhere on his body, and for some reason he has no blemishes or any scars to be seen. Even when he gets large gashes on his chest and back, when they heal they leave no marks behind.
Another thing people would notice is the large tattoo on his back, the only thing that relates to Alex’s past whatsoever. It is a pentagram with two large spikes coming from below the two points of the star that point to the sides of his body. It is covered in a strange text that no one he has met can deceiver, and because of his blindness he cannot read it. The tattoo extends farther than that, coming down the back of his arms and curving around at the last moment to stop at the back of his hands. The arm tattoos almost look like mathematical formulas, but these are also written in the same strange language. On the back of both hands are two more pentagrams.
As Alex has no hair, he always keeps his head completely wrapped in white cloth, with only small holes for his ears. This is mainly so that even if his mask falls off, no one will see his blank face. The cloth wraps around and ties at the back of his neck, and a long strip hangs down to around his waist level. Another point, no one has ever seen Alex eat, and this is because he has no need for food, unlike all the other spiritually powered beings that abide in the Soul Society. It seems the part of his soul that desired food was lost along with his distinguishing features.
How strong is your resolve?
Personality: It is hard to tell what Alex is thinking, because he barely shows any emotion, not only because of his lack of facial features. He just sees no need to, as social graces are completely lost on him. Why does another person care whether Alex is sad or happy, excited or bored. Really, it is none of their business. What he does understand, however, is that sometimes people need him to acknowledge that he is hearing them, for some odd reason. This does not mean that he will actually do this, it just means he understands it. Often, while someone is talking to him, he will be off doing something completely different, all the while showing absolutely no outward signs that he is paying attention. He still hears what they are saying and registers it, but he doesn’t show this to people.
When fighting, Alex completely ignores his enemies, If they talk to him, he just takes that moment to attack, not waiting for them to finish their sentence. He sees their lack of focus as a weakness, and thinks that anyone who would be foolish enough to try to speak to their enemy is either too weak to fight or stupid. Either way, he always goes for the kill quickly and efficiently, never leaving his enemies time for their last words. There would be time for that when they had been reborn.
Alex does not get along well with other people. It’s not that he tries to be distant and frightening, it just happens to him. So, he has learned to live without emotional contact. That being said, when he is forced into a situation like that, he will often be confused and this confusion often leads to anger or despair, as he cannot express his confusion in a way that the other person would understand.
Strengths:
Quiet § When it is quiet in an area, Alex is able to relax much easier, as because of his los of sight and smell his sense of hearing has improved greatly.
The dark § Although he does not really understand what the dark is, he knows that when he is in it his enemies are at a large disadvantage, and this pleases him.
Makes friends easily (On his side anyways) § The loss in his soul has made him almost unapproachable. Because of this, anyone who actually comes and has a conversation with him, he automatically takes a liking to. Even if they are an asshole to him, he would probably just laugh it off. (Of course, laughing is hard with no mouth, but you get the point.)
Fighting § It is one of the few things that Alex is good at and able to fully do without the use of his eyes and mouth, and thus he has become good at it over the years, and enjoys it to no end. Especially because his enemies fear him for all the right reasons.
Weaknesses:
HE IS BLIND § Nuff said?
Complex emotions § Another side effect of his partial Soul is that, while he can still feel complex emotions, he does not understand them, and most likely never will. Things like love, hate, trust, friendship, and anger will never make any sense to him, even though he feels them.
Lack of fear § He absolutely hates fear, and anyone who shows it, whether it be of him or anyone else. It pisses him off that anyone would let such a useless emotion sway their feelings towards someone or something. This also means he does not feel fear, as such, and often gets himself into situations that will not end favorably for him.
Anything incorperal § Things that do not move around on the ground or have no reitsu signature piss him off, as he has no way of locating them. This includes ranged weapons and things like planes.
With every past there is a future
History: On a day, long long ago, a child was born. He was not born into poverty, nor into wealth, but into a modest home with simple values, the type of home that passed on those values to their children. They generally involved christian tendencies, and large amounts of fear and punishment to get their children on the right path, but they seemed to create a good breed of kids, ones that people would look on and say, "You know what, he is a good guy." Unfortunately for this child, the household he was born into would not be his home for long.
A few months after his birth, the small boy, now named Alex, was taken from his parents. Although he himself never knew what had become of them, if someone were to look into it it would seem as if the family was erased from existence. There is no longer a record of their lives, and just as it was with his parents, no one outside a small group knew of what happened to the boy. It was as if he had never existed to most.
But to the boy, all as not over. He was raised, if one could call it that, in a small dungeon cell in a keep somewhere in the mountains, not that he ever even saw its location. He was rarely allowed to leave his cell, and when he did it was to get the small amount of exercise that they allowed him and the other boys who had been taken captive. They would go into a small indoor hall and be given a ball to do with what they wished for an hour, always once a week. It was rare for Alex to partake in this particular event, as he was not interested in sports.
Often, Alex had wished that he had had at least a small window overlooking the outside world. With his lack of knowledge, any window to anything would have warranted praise and excitement. But no, instead Alec learnt all their was to know about the small cell where he spent the frost 8 years of his life. He knew every nook and cranny, where all the bugs generally stayed. In fact, he named all of the larger bugs that lived in his cell, and would cry for hours when one died.
On the day he turned 8, he was taken before a large group of cloaked figures. They looked him over, and, after he was deemed worthy, he was given to one of the men, to take home and be used as a slave. This was not any normal slave trade, however. These slaves would toil for their masters for ten years, whilst under a binding spell of loyalty, and then would be sacrificed to the small cult's demon master.
Before he could begin the next stage of his life as a slave, however, Alex had to go through the binding ritual, supposed to keep him forever loyal to the one he was bound to. Tattoos were placed over his back and arms, all inscribed with daemon's names, and in the center of it all, the name of his new master. He was then taken down out of the mountains, a bag over his head the whole way, until he was thrown painfully into another cell in the basement of a much more dank house.
Fortunately, after the initial day of imprisonment, Alex was given much more freedom. He was, of course, a slave, and thus was working constantly at all hours of the day, but the perks were worth the slavery, at least for now. He got to look out of windows, see people on the busy streets, watch as gardeners tended the garden, (He was not able to go outside and see the garden for himself, but watching through the windows was enough.) and help the cooks prepare the meals for his master and his guests.
After a few years of this though, Alex became angered by his imprisonment. He began to demand to go outside, speak with someone other than his master. He was denied again and again. He eventually became sick of the treatment, and at the age of 17, only a few days from his birthday, and the day he was to be sacrificed, he murdered his master using a fire poker.
He ran for what seemed liked days, catching rides on carts with random travelers until he was so far away that no one old find him. He eventually found work in a labor yard. The work was dangerous, but it paid well enough for him to buy a small plot of land outside the town. He then quit his job and began to farm, after being showed how by one of his neighbors.
At the age of 24, Alex now had a respectable farm and was making enough income that he began to attract local women looking for a husband. He would turn them down again and again, always saying he was not looking for anything like that. On one such an occasion though, he fell in love with the woman at first sight, and her with him. They were married the next month, and lived together happily for many years. They had a child, a baby girl, and Alex began to think his life was going to be perfect.
Unfortunately, it could not last. Alex and his family were attacked one night by a beast that none of them could see, Alex as forced to watch as first his child was killed, and then his wife. He ran, and managed to escape the beast. He left everything behind that night, and began to drift aimlessly across the world, looking for new happiness.
He never found it. One night, while sleeping under a tree, Alex looked over the field and saw his wife standing there, arms spread wide, waiting for him. He got up and ran to her, but it was not his wife when he got there, but the same beast who had attacked them that night, using his wife's soul to lure him away. He was first killed physically by the beast, and it began to devour his soul swell.
Out of nowhere, a man in a black robe jumped from behind the beast, and with one mighty swing of his sword, cleaved it in two. But when the man in black went to release the lost should who the beast had been attacking, he saw something that dismayed him to no end. The soul before him had no face, no distinguishing features of any kind. It seems the beast had only absorbed part of his soul, and now the man was doomed to live his life in the Soul Society faceless. With a sigh, the man in black tapped the soul with his sword, letting it return to the Soul Society.
Alex awoke sometime later, the sun of the Soul Society beating down on him. He could feel the heat, and hear the bustle of people walking around him, but he could not see it. And when he tried to call out for help, he found his mouth unable to move. Not as if he could ever have moved it though. It was as if the mouth had never even been there, that there were no muscles connected to his lips. He would have cried, except he found he had no eyes whatsoever.
Alex wandered through the Rukongai for days, no one stopping and taking pity on him. Anyone who walked anywhere near him would instantly walk quickly away trying their best to stay away from one so tainted. And the few who did get past the strange aura would instantly back away once they saw his face. This existence lasted for much longer than it should have. Soon the days stretched to weeks, and then to months. Still, Alex wandered, although now he was finding he could sense where people stood, almost like a glowing shape in his head that let him see them. Still, it was no replacement for his eyes.
Written sample: - Quote :
- The cold expanse of the night sky did nothing to perturb Alex. He could not see it, did not know it was dark, and even if he could he would have enjoyed it. The dark had always protected him, always been there when he needed it. He was more comfortable with it than the light anyways, as it always kept his enemies eyes off him and gave him natural cover. If Alex had known it was dark right now, he would have smiled, that being if he had a mouth. These jobs were much easier to complete when he did not have to worry about onlookers.
Alex was lying down on top of one of the buildings in the rukongai. He was wearing his standard squad two uniform, a dark suit designed for stealth. The hood was pulled tightly over his head, and his arms, although usually uncovered, had loose sleeves over them, covering the dual zanpakutou that were strapped to his arms. The Zanpakutou were on edge, excited to taste the flesh of Alex’s enemies, just as he was excited to grant them that pleasure. But he had to be patient. He knew from the report that the deserting shinigami had been seen in this area before, and he was not going to let the man slip past him.
A spike in reitsu drew Alex’s attention, He saw, in his mind, a bright spike of black reitsu walking down the street. He did not recognize the flavor of the reitsu, but he knew it was too large for a regular rukongai member to posses. As the spike grew closer, Alex was able to make out the man’s features. The sonar from his zanpakutou let him see what the reitsu could not. He saw a high brow, long hooked nose and pointed chin, all on a man about 5’8” and extremely skinny. He matched the description he had been given by the Squad two informant.
Alex waited for him to walk passed, and then went into motion. He stood, completely silently, and hopped down from the roof, landing softly on the ground. His footsteps made no sound, and his reitsu was sealed so tightly that not only a captain would have been able to sense it. He crouched low to the ground and moved from wall to wall. Luckily it was night, otherwise he would have had to triangulate the heat from the sun and the walls near him to find the shadows, something that irritated him to no end. With eyes he would have been the most powerful assassin in the squad two. Instead he was mediocre, left in the bottom rungs of the squad, hunting down bit piece shinigami deserters.
He was getting close. Soon, the man turned a corner, going down a small alleyway. Alex followed him quickly, making sure not to lose sight of him. He was too far into the alleyway when he realized that it was a trap.
A group of shinigami, also deserters Alex assumed, jumped from the rooftops and landed on either side of Alex, cutting off his escape. Alex stood still, refusing to show any sign that he had been caught unawares. The shinigami he had been chasing laughed and walked back towards him, motioning for the group blocking his way to part so that he could walk through. He then stood not 5 feet from Alex, a snide grin on his face. Alex could not see the grin, his sonar was not that detailed, but he knew it was there. The man was about to lavish in his victory, Alex knew it. But he would not give him a chance.
The man opened his mouth to start speaking, and Alex struck. In a second, he was standing right beside the man, his left arm punching him in the stomach. When the other men looked closer though, they saw it wasn’t only a punch. Alex’s zanpakutou was released, and had stabbed right through the man’s stomach and out the other side. With a quick flex of his wrist, the blade withdrew from the man with a sickening shlerp. Alex let him fall to the ground unceremoniously, and before the others could get their bearings, he began his attack.
The first two shinigami fell without complaint, Alex’s two zanpacto tabbing them both through the neck. He withdrew the blades quickly, and his sonar picked up two simultaneous attacks coming from the two men to his side. He spun, his blades making a loud shink noise as they extended from their sheaths. He stood now, one knee on the ground, with his blades pointed in opposite directions, each blocking the vertical strikes from his two enemies. He pushed off their blades and did a spinning kick close to the ground, tripping the man in front of him. As he fell, his right hand blade sliced open his neck, while Alex’s left hand parried the other man’s blade. Alex then jumped in the air, flipping away from the last man, and landed softly on the roof above the alleyway.
Alex tipped his head to the side as the last man jumped up as well, landing on the opposite rooftop. He looked like he was about to say something, but Alex did not give him the time. In a second, he had shunpoed directly at the man and had stabbed both his blades through the man’s neck. He spluttered out his last words before falling to the ground. With a quick nod and a check to make sure there were no more shinigami around, Alex re-sheathed his blades and walked away from the area. He did not know it, but he was quite literally drenched in the blood of his enemies, and his sleeves had been ripped off, revealing his slightly glowing tattoos.
Fri Sep 30, 2011 1:08 pm by Risa
Subject: Alexander Holmes 
