→ OOC
□ Name: Teru
□ Age: 23
□ Contact: wishuponthenightskies @plurk
□ Journal: wishuponthenightskies @ Dreamwidth
□ Do you play anyone in Ariel?: No

→ IC
□ Name: Rukia Kuchiki
□ Journal: fuyunomai
□ Series: Bleach
□ Canon point: Bleach Manga Chapter 570 - Closer Closer, after Rukia defeats As Nodt
□ History: http://bleach.wikia.com/wiki/Rukia_Kuchiki#History
□ Personality: Initially born into a lower class, Rukia retains her modesty even as an adopted member of the nobility. She is graceful and "clean", as Renji puts it, yet chooses to talk to ordinary people. As a child in the Rukongai, living in one of the more hardened districts at that, Rukia learned early on that it is every man or woman for himself, but chose not to live that way and to help others, such as Renji and their friends, survive. She knew the ways of the hard streets and was easily able to get what she needed to live whether it meant stealing or outsmarting someone else for personal gain. There was no room to be soft-hearted in a place like that. She tends to speak very roughly and like a man or boy might speak when in a relaxed setting, but around nobles or people of higher stature she can be very formal. This again harkens back to her modest demeanor despite her harsh life.

From Byakuya Kuchiki's initial introduction and subsequent flash backs, it is blatantly apparent that her relationship with her adopted brother is rather distant. She is grateful to be taken in and yet his very presence seems to intimidate her as he often times displayed a cold attitude towards her, never acknowledging her achievements the way a normal brother might. This has since changed and the two have become closer due to the influence of Ichigo on both Kuchikis. Rukia was found to be the younger sister of Byakuya's late wife, causing problems in the family as she had been a commoner like Rukia and he'd married her against his clan's wishes. This is the set up for a lot of emotional strife to come in the Soul Society arc.

Rukia is the type of person who readily puts burdens upon herself and accepts things as they are presented to her – such as her execution and her feelings of guilt for the death of Kaien Shiba. She was ready to lay down and die, not knowing Ichigo had come to save her, and when she first met Kaien's siblings she tries to apologize and openly grovel to them which angers his sister, Kukaku Shiba. This is not the first time she has expressed such intense humility, stemming from her own feelings of self worth or lack there of that come from getting ahead of others the "easy way" by being adopted by the Kuchikis, something she was looked down upon for by other squad members when she first joined the Gotei Thirteen.

When Rukia learns of Ichigo's attempted rescue mission she initially is upset and concerned for his safety and that of their friends, however reluctantly she made them in her time in the world of the living. She tries on several occasions to tell him to go back to his world and to leave her to her fate, only to be roughly shot down. She later recalls this experience and the feeling of hope she was given by being rescued, during her fight with Aaroniero as she had come there to save Orihime Inoue from the loneliness and uncertainty that she had experienced herself, during her confinement and near execution.

However caring she is of her friends, her cool and lone demeanor often prompts her to hide her personal troubles from them. When they were first accepted to the Academy, Rukia found it hard to relate to others, the same as Renji. She took solace in that they still had each other but it was obvious even then that he was coming into his own. Their relationship changed when Byakuya Kuchiki adopted her into his family. Renji expressed his enjoyment, while masking his true feelings, and dismissed her discontent. Ever since then Rukia takes her feelings and hides them away, not wanting to burden others, most likely knowing how he truly felt. This incident puts a distance between them for at least 40 years up until the main story line and is resolved after her almost execution.

Rukia, in the past, has had trouble opening up her heart and had difficulty making friends. We see a bit of this in the early story arc when she interacts with Orihime and the other girls at the high school that she meets while in the human world. She does not want to form attachments, learning first hand from her brother at that point that it was a foolish endeavor to try and would only result in disappointment, or in this case her leaving them behind. This is something Kaien Shiba, the former lieutenant of Squad 13, tried to help her over come.

When she first joined her Squad, she felt nervous and insecure at how much farther ahead everyone was than her and worried about making attachments due to her sometimes cold nature. She was taught to be formal and distant, much like her brother is when we first meet him. Kaien forces her to drop that, giving her a normal greeting as a lieutenant to his subordinate. Whereas someone else might have treated her as the Noble she was and treated her as if she were higher up than they themselves might be. This sort of thing baffles but delights her, though she still felt unable to measure up to being someone her brother could be proud of. Her one greatest regret was the death of Kaien Shiba, even a hundred or so years later. It affected her so deeply that she willingly gives herself up for execution, thinking that the only option to help Ichigo escape death when Renji and Byakuya come for her and the only way she can atone for this great regret.

Rukia is clueless about the ways of the modern Human World. Silly things like TV shows baffle and delight her and the food and culture often times is seen as strange to her. Rukia's favorite foods are noted to be cucumber, eggs and rice dumplings, though you can forget letting her near appliances or things that require some complicated way of use - such as juice boxes. She did however learn to master these things over time, through the length of her stay with Ichigo and his family. She is an accomplished actress, being able to act her way through a number of tough situations, such as getting out of trouble with school teachers or convincing the Kurosakis to let her stay at their house. Over time her relationship has grown from mentor to friend to Ichigo, Orihime, and the others. Though, she is still the first one to jump in and give any of them advice when they have doubts or are in a difficult situation.

In a normal setting, Rukia can be very brash, often times scolding Ichigo with a kick or a punch. This behavior will sometimes extend to Renji or someone else in rarer cases. She is often times instinctively able to know when something is wrong with a loved one, for example after the fight with Juhah Bach, Rukia can tell Ichigo has something huge on his mind whereas Shinji does not sense this distinction in his demeanor. There are several other instances of this with Ichigo and probably several with Renji, as children and in later years. She is shown to be able to sense each other's reiatsu and discern a location and if one of them has released their zanpaktou. This is shown several times, most notably during the Soul Society arc when Renji fights Ichigo and again in the Hueco Mundo arc when Rukia is fighting Aaroniero. She was also able to sense by fluctuations in Byakuya's reiatsu that he was gravely injured during his fight as well, during the Quincy's invasion of Soul Society.

Rukia always has trouble finding clothes that fit her, when inhabiting a Gigai in the Human World and this often wound up leading to her stealing clothes from Ichigo's sister, Yuzu. As far back as her days in the Rukongai, Rukia likes to climb to high places. Rukia also likes everything that is rabbit-themed or resembles a rabbit. She becomes quite sensitive when someone insults her obsession with rabbits. This obsession is exploited by Riruka during their fight in the Xcution arc as a weakness of hers. I find this personally to be one of Rukia's weaker battles, as a trained soldier should be able to over come such a minor weakness. That is probably one thing I can disagree on in her characterization, but Kubo's the god of his own world I suppose.

People often have difficulty understanding her drawings, which are typically rabbit-like. Byakuya seems to share this taste in art with her, often times giving her tips in omakes on how to properly draw something. Neither is actually very good at it. She also doesn't like when someone complains about their quality. In summary – while Rukia tends to be insecure about herself and her choices, she is generally one of the strongest female characters in Bleach for her ability to kick ass and always pull the Ichigo out of a funk if he gets into one. While she isn't always strong about herself she is always there for a friend in need.

Lastly, it should be noted that given the setting, Rukia's personal history and quirks might clash a bit with sexual situations. She is not the most adept at the ways of the modern world and will not be able to approach sex in a casual manner. She can be stubborn but she is far from foolish when it comes to her own survival. She knows she has limits and if those limits are tested and she must do what she must do to survive in a place like Ariel, she will. There is no question about that. Rukia has always been a strong character and someone who makes no bones when she doesn't like something and this will not be an exception. If something comes between her and her friends then she will conquer it head on even if it means doing something she might find deplorable. Shinigami are older than the modern world and therefore their belief systems often reflect that. Rukia is unmarried and more than likely untouched. This will be something she will have to face head on and is more than capable of doing so.
□ Age: 150+ at the start of the manga, give or take a year after the time skip. Physically she looks at least 17-18.
□ Gender: Identifies as and is physically female
□ Appearance:
Height: 144 cm (4'8½")
Weight: 33 kg (73 lbs.)
Rukia is on the petite side, generally one of the shortest characters in the series, and has short (roughly chin length) black hair with violet eyes. She tends to dress very conservatively and wear nice long dresses, presumably made by Ishida, when not in her school uniform or her shihakushou.
□ Abilities/Powers:
Expert Swordsmanship: Rukia knows the basic levels of Zanjutsu, the art of swordsmanship and accompanied by a zanpaktou, of which she seemed to have only mastered the rudimentary skills. By her own admission, she has less talent in swordsmanship than Kidō. However after much training by her former mentor, Kaien Shiba, her skill drastically improved. She has shown herself to be capable enough to hold her own in a battle, most notably defending herself from attacks from the 9th Espada, while he was using the expert swordsmanship skill of her former mentor, Kaien Shiba.

Her zanpaktou, Sode no Shiraiyuki, is said to be the most beautiful sword in Soul Society and one of several ice types (Hitsuguya's Hyorinmaru being an example of another we've seen in canon). The guard, the hilt, and blade are all pure white in it's released state, or shikai, and it's release command is “Mai”, or “Dance”.

• Shikai: In it's Shikai, or first releasted state, Sode no Shiraiyuki's attacks consist of three 'dances': Tsukishiro, a pillar of ice, extends in a circular shape and freezes anything between the sky and ground caught within it. Hakuren is essentially an a blast of ice which extends from the blade, engulfing the enemy. Lastly, Shirafune is Rukia's final technique. Whenever Sode no Shiraiyuki's blade is broken in it's shikai state, Rukia can call out this attack to reconstruct the blade and it will pierce anything standing in it's way of reconstruction. More recently, it is revealed that her zanpaktou's full potential is much more than just shooting blasts of ice and reconstruction of the blade.
  
  Sode no Shiraiyuki lowers the body temperature to absolute zero over a period of 4 seconds, during which time Rukia uses her ability to manipulate her own reishi inside her body to keep herself from truly dying while physically she is considered deceased. This keeps her from being susceptible to physical damage or anything that might penetrate her blood stream such as As Nodt's fear inducing abilities (until he releases his Volstang ability). Anything she or her blade touches instantly freezes within that four second frame.
  
  
• Bankai: Rukia's Bankai is newly introduced and while there is not much known about it, given the theme of ice and cold, it is obvious that it's abilities revolve around that. The first glimpse we get of it is a great white light blasting through the skies and the earth below, resembling her second attack in shikai, Hakuren. Her bankai is called Hakka no Togame or White Mist Sentence.
  
  In Bankai, Rukia also takes on a bit of a costume change and is enveloped in ice from head to toe. The blade and guard both change in design, the blade itself becoming what looks to be glass. Rukia is unfortunately still inexperienced with it, given how new the technique is to her and even injures herself slightly while trying to unthaw. Byakuya has to stop her and remind her to do so slowly or risk injuring herself.

Expert in Kido: Rukia's greatest strength is her knowledge of Kidō, or Demon Arts, amongst her known skills are those for binding and destruction. However, as she has said herself, while her Kidō skill at the Shin'ō Academy were the highest of her class, her abilities were just average when she joined the 13th Division. Through continuous training, she has greatly developed this skill, able to use a Hadō #73 without incantation to considerable effect. Generally Kido are numbered between 1 and 99 at most, as seen in canon and usually only seated officers, lieutenants and captains are said to be the most skilled at using Kido without incantation. Rukia is a quick thinker, able to switch from Zanjutsu to Kidō without delay upon losing her Zanpakutō. She can use one high-level Kidō after another in rapid succession without incantations and still have considerable control and power. She has also shown great skill for using various spells in unique combination, even using multiple spells simultaneously, though she requires the incantation for high-level spells simultaneously.

Enhanced Endurance: Rukia has noticeable resilience. She was able to withstand being impaled by Aaroniero's Nejibana, in conjunction with his Gluttonería and finish him off before losing consciousness. During the fight in the recent arc she faced an opponent far beyond her strength level and that of other lieutenants and others in her squad but managed to come out of it still alive, though barely. She is also able to withstand Tenjirou's White Bone Hell and Bloody Pond Hell which has been proven difficult to do by his subordinates who were wearing wet suits when they helped Ichigo.

Enhanced Strength: Despite her size, she is actually powerful enough to defeat most any superior opponent. Even without the aid of her Zanpakutō, she is still a formidible adversary. She is able to throw a person even larger than herself, and withstand Yammy Rialgo's brute strength when he nearly crushed her.

One thing that can be noted is that before the time skip in the manga, Rukia was not even allowed a seated position in her squad as Byakuya deemed it too dangerous for her to take such a post. This has since changed as she has taken up the previously vacant lieutenant seat (previously occupied by her deceased mentor, Kaien Shiba).

□ Personal Items: 1) Clothes! These can be either her shihakushou that she wears for work purposes or some yukata/kimono to wear in her down time. 2) Her zanpaktou 3) Her cloak and hat that she wears upon her return to Soul Society from the Zero division (pictured here)

□ First Person Sample: here

□ Third Person Sample: here

How do I... oh!

This is Rukia!! Please leave a message and I will reply as soon as I can!!

Thank you.

[ooc: Let me know if it's IC or OOC in the Subject!! c:]

Hi! Please feel free to drop me a message here if you have any suggestions for how I might be able to play Rukia better, if you feel that I'm not quite up to snuff or whatever you feel is necessary to make sure I stay true to Rukia's character!!