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[lionson]

PLAYER INFORMATION

NAME: Maple
CONTACT: husbando
OTHER CHARACTER(S) IN GAME: None!

CANON INFORMATION

CHARACTER NAME: Shiro Fujimoto
CANON: Blue Exorcist
HISTORY: his wiki page

STRENGTHS: Courage - While Shiro does feel fear, he makes a point of not showing that fear. Especially not when he's leading others who may be looking to him for support. He's also the first to run into a dangerous situation to try and help, regardless of how terrifying it might be. "No hesitation" seems to be his motto.

Leadership - Shiro is a rather effective leader. In canon he's the highest ranking exorcist in the world, up until he dies, and most people who know him have a favorable opinion of him and willingly follow his directions. He's tough, but he's also fair, and he's good at delegating tasks and figuring out what people need to be where to make a mission succeed.

Kindness - This is something he grew as he got older (he was an asshole as a teenager/young adult), but Shiro is incredibly kind. He tries to see all angles of a situation, and he would rather extend his hand in an offer of help than just put someone down who may be a threat. While he can be tough, he can also be warm when the situation calls for it. Outside of work he gives off that air of 'this guy would be fun to go drinking with'.

FLAWS: Stubborn - Shiro thinks he knows what's right, and when he gets stuck on a specific point he will not back down from it. While he tries to listen (see: leadership strength), he's not always the best at accepting alternate plans, especially if what he's being told directly contradicts what he thinks he knows.

Reckless - Even at 50 he dives right in to dangerous situations with no regard for his own life. While he does give some consideration to others in his care, he is extremely reckless with his own life, so much so that he has gotten hurt because of it in the past. "It all worked out in the end" is justification he uses for this too, which makes it infuriating to deal with.

Guilt - Not every mission has gone perfectly in the past, and Shiro carries those failures on his heart. His stubbornness and recklessness do leave bodies at times, and the guilt from those failures is very personal and hard to forget. It absolutely affects how he acts, and it makes him prone to making bad choices in a poor attempt to 'make things right'. Critically, all three of his big flaws play off of each other, meaning that when he makes a bad choice due to his guilt then he ends up being too stubborn to admit that his choice is flawed and is reckless in his execution of his choice, which leads to more accidents and more injuries.

CANON ABILITIES: Abilities! tl;dr he's a 'jack of all trades' within the Order, though he favors firearms. "Able to see the supernatural" isn't mentioned in his abilities list on the wiki, but all of the major characters have it as it is assumed as a part of the setting.

AU INFORMATION

AU CHARACTER NAME: Shiro Fujimoto
AGE: 50
POSITION: Ranged Combat Instructor
AU BACKSTORY: Shiro was orphaned at a very young age, so young that he doesn't remember anything about his parents. The only thing he knows is what the House Mother told him: that his parents were killed in an accident, and since he had no other family to go to he was sent to an orphanage to grow up. Shiro's first 10 years of life were largely unnoteworthy otherwise, as he was raised as any normal orphan might be. The orphanage did homeschool all of the kids, though, and while kids were 'adopted out' regularly Shiro never saw any potential parents come in to meet the kids. It was odd, and it tickled something at the back of Shiro's brain once he was old enough to notice this, but he didn't have the context needed to truly understand why this was weird.

Then, at 10, Shiro finally found out what was going on with the orphanage. He had been chosen to 'be adopted', and one day he was led out to a car to be driven to what he thought was his new parents. But when the car arrived at a warehouse near the docks, Shiro was instantly suspicious. Why hadn't he been brought to a house? Where were his new parents? He knew something was up, but he played it cool and acted like he hadn't noticed anything at all. Then he said that he had to go to the bathroom, so the woman who had driven him over gave him a few minutes of privacy. Shiro used that time to escape out a window and sneak around the warehouse. That's how he found out that the people running the orphanage were actually from a cult, and they used the orphanage to raise children to use in sacrificial rituals. The idea being that, since they're orphans, nobody will miss them enough to go looking for them. Horrified, Shiro ran away entirely, and he spent 2 years dodging the cult and his country's version of CPS.

At age 12, Shiro met a hunter. It was a chance encounter where the two of them were sharing shelter from a rain storm for a couple hours. That time was enough for Shiro and the hunter to talk a bit, and the hunter realized what Shiro was running from. The hunter explained what he did for a living, and he offered to take Shiro somewhere that was safe from both the cult and the supernatural in general. Shiro refused this, however, and instead asked the hunter to teach him to be a hunter too. After 2 years of running, he was tired of being afraid. He now hated the supernatural, and he wanted to get rid of as much of it as he could.

The first thing he and the hunter did was destroy the cult and free the other orphans still trapped there. As they burnt the orphanage to the ground, Shiro felt a sense of satisfaction from the act. Even if he was too late to save those who had died in the years since his escape, at least no others would suffer. He would make sure of it.

The next six years saw a lot of intense training on Shiro's part. Most of it was hands-on, as Shiro stuck with the hunter he had found for most of that time. Eventually he became a hunter in his own right, and he parted ways with the hunter he had trained under in order to work by himself for a bit. His methods of fighting were risky but effective, and he preferred to only put himself at risk when he could. Still, he worked with other hunters frequently, especially when there was a particularly big fight that needed the help of many. During this time, Shiro wasn't loyal to any clan in particular. If someone needed his help fighting the supernatural, he would be there.

From age 18 to age 25-ish, Shiro traveled the world as a hunter. He took out anything supernatural with extreme prejudice, regardless of who they were or what they were doing. In these years he gained a reputation for being ruthless, and the reputation was strong enough to survive into the present day. It was during these years that he came across Moriarty (under another assumed name) and killed him. Or, well, he thought he had killed him. The bugger can't seem to stay dead.

When he was 25, Shiro came across a young child with a demonic power in her. At first he assumed she was a daemon and was ready to kill her, but he figured out that she had just been affected by a daemon's magic because she was actually a Contracted. Normally he would have killed a Contracted anyway, as they were just as bad as an actual daemon to him, but this girl was only six and Shiro didn't understand why someone so young had a contract. So instead of killing her, he tracked down the daemon she was contracted to in order to get the whole story. As it turned out, her mother had sold her soul to a daemon as an infant, which had forged the contract. This left Shiro with a dilemma: the girl had done nothing wrong, but she was still connected to the supernatural.

On the advice of one of his fellow hunters, he took this child in and raised her instead of killing her. His thought was that, if nothing else, he could teach her to be a hunter like himself and destroy the supernatural just like he does. That was the plan, at least. Within six months of adopting this girl he found himself going soft around her. Instead of raising a supernatural-killer, he found himself falling into the role of 'father' more and more, and a year later he had totally given up on teaching this girl to hate the supernatural. Raising a child had opened up his heart in ways he had never expected, and he finally found himself focusing on something other than killing.

At that point, Shiro started doing the hunter work part-time. Instead of traveling the world, he settled down in a sleepy Japanese town. He was still known as a hunter to everyone in that area, and if anything supernatural showed up he took care of it quickly. But that mainly happened on weekends or at night when the girl he was raising was asleep. "It's only for a little while", he told himself at that time, "Just until she grows up."

But then another child ended up on his doorstep. And another. And another. By the time that first girl had grown into a woman, Shiro had a dozen other children of various ages that he was raising, and he kept putting off his work more and more. Not only that, but many of the children he adopted had some sort of connection to the supernatural. One was a lycanthrope. Another was the child of hunters who had perished. As the Candles became more of a thing a few were adopted into his family. A set of twins who had the blood of both human and daemon in their veins ended up in his care as well. Shiro couldn't keep his black and white view of the world with all these shades of grey worming their way into his heart, and he finally started to accept that maybe he had been at least somewhat wrong. Maybe the supernatural were just as varied as regular people were.

In the later years, Shiro came across a starving Fey that was disguised as a cat. He fed the cat and nursed it back to health, which earned him the Fey's favor. That Fey took the name Kuro and formed a contract with Shiro, joining him in his hunt under the condition that he only hunt the dangerous supernatural beings that threaten the world. At that point Shiro was already inclined to leave the peaceful beings alone, so he agreed.

In the current day, His youngest children have just left the home to go away to college. Shiro feels too old to adopt more at age 50, and he was left with that 'empty nest' feeling. He had heard whispers of the coming Nightfall, so he decided to put his years of hunting to good use and pass on what he knew to the next generation. That's when he applied to the Academy, and was accepted to start teaching with the coming fall semester.

AU PERSONALITY DEVIATION: Shiro's personality changes throughout Blue Exorcist due to his character growth, and AU Shiro's growth will largely match that. The big difference is that, rather than being specifically spurred on by Yuri and her death (since I don't want to force any possible Yuri-appers to go along with that if they don't want to), his development is sparked by raising his kids. Different path to get there, but same conclusion.

RACE: Human
SECRET SOCIETY: Shiro pledges no loyalty to any specific hunter clan, but he has worked with many of them in the past. He's somewhat of a 'freelance hunter' and can be called on as needed, but he has a lot of trouble with following authority, and the hunter clans can he bogged down with ranks and orders a bit too easily for his liking. The feeling of "I'll work with you but no permanent bonds" is likely mutual, given his tendency to immediately take charge and be the leader any time he has to work with multiple people.

Tentatively he's connected to the clan of the hunter who trained him, as they're the ones who call on him the most, but idk if I need to name them or not. They're just 'a hunter group in Japan' right now tbh. Let me know if I need to come up with more info on them.

POWERS: Shiro has a vague 'sixth sense' of sorts, which helps him pick up on when something is not completely mundane. It is the result of one of his ancestors having mage blood in them, but that's a few generations back and Shiro has no knowledge of that connection. To him, it's just a thing he has always been able to do. He can't directly see the supernatural if they're hiding, but it feels like something is 'off' in the area when he's near someone with a lot of power. He tells most people that the involuntary reactions (shivering, rubbing at the back of his neck, his heartbeat picking up) are anxiety problems he has.

He is also contracted to Kuro, a Fey, which gives him the ability to communicate with Kuro (who otherwise sounds like a normal cat) and lets him call Kuro immediately to his side if needed. Kuro (who would be coming with Shiro and who I would be NPCing) has two forms: small and big. In his small form he looks like a normal housecat, albeit with two tails. In his big form, he big.

Besides those things, Shiro is a completely normal human. All of his 'power' is in the hunting skills he has picked up over the years.

HOUSING: Shiro needs a space that can house Kuro in both of his forms (though if it's cramped space with big form that's fine too, as long as it can physically be in the room somehow), so if the faculty housing is large enough for that then go ahead and give him a room there. If not, can he have alternate housing on campus to account for it?

RP SAMPLE
INTERVIEW SAMPLE PROMPT
(The following scenario is available to all characters who are apping in and is considered canon - all prospective teachers for the academy are interviewed by staff members to ensure they're a good fit. The definition of "good fit" seems to vary wildly from staffer to staffer.)

1. TELL US ABOUT YOUR EDUCATIONAL BACKGROUND. I didn't actually go to a real school, but I trained under a hunter for six years, and I got my high school certificate later after some self-study while traveling for work. It's basic, but I did it all on my own. Besides, the hunter experience is more important here, right? That's what I'll be teaching the kids, who care if I don't know calculus or whatever.

2. TELL US ABOUT YOUR TEACHING EXPERIENCE. I've never taught in an actual school before, but I raised kids and for the most part they're not stupid. Well, not stupid academically at least. One of 'em lacks common sense, but there's not much you can do about that. He can read at least? And all my kids know how to defend themselves too. I guess that's the most relevant part here. They won't get caught off-guard by a daemon or anything.

3. WHAT UNIQUE PERSPECTIVES DO YOU THINK YOU BRING TO THE ACADEMY?

4. WHAT, IN YOUR OPINION, IS THE MOST IMPORTANT THING FOR A SCHOOL TO PROVIDE TO ITS STUDENTS You can't make judgement calls for these kids. They have to be the ones to decide when to give friendship and when to give bullets. Nobody can really teach them that except their own personal experiences. But school, that gives these kids the tools to be able to follow through on their decisions. They're not born knowing how to talk through a problem, and they're not born knowing how to defend themselves. That's what they need to learn. And if they can learn that, then the school's done it's job.

5. DESCRIBE YOUR COMMUNICATION STYLE AND HOW YOU INTERACT WITH COWORKERS. Look, as long as people actually listen to me and follow my directions, it's fine. I don't give out orders willy-nilly, and if my coworkers can actually listen when I say "duck", then we'll get along great. I ain't making promises for any of those 'question everything' types though.

6. HOW DO YOU ENCOURAGE STUDENTS TO PUSH THEMSELVES AND TAKE THEIR SCHOOLWORK SERIOUSLY? Immersion. Kids'll take their lessons more seriously if they see an immediate use for that skill. Want a kid to practice a foreign language? Strand 'em in Chinatown or whatever and force them to find their own way back to the hotel. We're fighting creatures of the dark here, there's plenty of those around to throw kids at until the lessons stick. As long as you're nearby to intervene if things go south, it's fine.

7. HOW DO YOU MANAGE STUDENTS WHO ARE DEFIANT OR ACTING OUT? Let me introduce you to my friend, Mr. "naughty children get extra practice on the training field." Not only does it get the point across that defiance is pointless, but they actually improve their skills while they're doing it. And if they refuse to do the extra training, I'll just have Kuro chase 'em for a few laps around the school until they're more cooperative.

8. HOW DO YOU ENCOURAGE AND MENTOR STUDENTS WHO ARE STRUGGLING OR DEPRESSED? Listen to them? Kids get talked down to all the time. Sometimes you gotta just sit there and listen to them go off about their problems. I know their problems are usually dumb and easy to fix, but they're a big deal to them and you just gotta lend an ear sometimes. Most kids are smart enough to figure out what to do once they say their problems out loud anyway.

9. WHAT, IN YOUR OPINION, IS THE MOST IMPORTANT LESSON TO TEACH EVERY STUDENT WHO WALKS THROUGH OUR DOORS? "Don't kill if you can wound, don't wound if you can subdue, don't subdue if you can pacify, and don't raise your hand at all until you've extended it." Yeah, I know that's really damn ironic coming from me. Let's just say the years have taught even me a few things. The coming Nightfall is gonna be dangerous, and they might not get to apply that saying much. But we're not just training kids for that war. Hopefully most of them are gonna survive it, and they have to know how to life after it. We should be preparing them for the long haul, not just the first fight.

10. DESCRIBE A POSITIVE TEACHING EXPERIENCE YOU HAD AND WHAT YOU DID.

11. DESCRIBE A NEGATIVE TEACHING EXPERIENCE YOU HAD AND WHAT YOU DID TO TURN IT AROUND.

12. DESCRIBE A NEGATIVE EXPERIENCE WITH A COWORKER AND HOW YOU HANDLED IT. The negative experiences I have are usually because someone can't follow orders, and I handle it by explaining that they're wrong and they need to listen. That doesn't usually help, but I try to give people at least one warning before they mess things up. Then it's on them if they lose a hand or whatever.

13. HOW DO YOU THINK YOUR CURRENT BOSS OR SUPERVISOR WOULD DESCRIBE YOUR JOB PERFORMANCE? I'm my own boss right now, so should I really be answering this question? I'm not gonna lie, I'll totally give myself a perfect review.

14. WHAT WOULD YOU SAY ARE YOUR GREATEST TEACHING STRENGTHS? I'm old and I've seen so much. No matter what gets thrown at me, I've probably come across it a dozen times before and I'll know exactly what to do. Power and talent matter, but so does experience, which is what I've got to offer.

15. WHAT ARE YOUR BIGGEST TEACHING WEAKNESSES? (he is purposefully skipping this one.)

16. ONE OF THE REQUIREMENTS OF ACADEMY FACULTY IS PROTECTING STUDENTS FROM THAT WHICH MIGHT DO THEM HARM. TELL US HOW EQUIPPED YOU ARE TO DO THIS. 30+ years of being an active hunter speaks for itself, right? Plus I've got Kuro, he'll help out too.

17. WHAT ARE YOU WILLING TO SACRIFICE FOR YOUR STUDENTS? This might come as a surprise to you, but I tend to get attached to kids under my care. So probably 'everything and anything'?