OOC INFORMATION
What Account are you Applying on?:
Neutral_Tones
List Any Alternative Accounts (If any):
N/A
What is your discord username?:
neutral_tones
What is your timezone?:
GMT
Describe your activity on the server:
I’m pretty active overall and usually come on whenever I have a bit of spare time. Lately my free time has been shrinking, so I’m not around quite as much as before, but I still make an effort to stay involved and show up when I can.
List your current roles on the server:
Professor [AP] (leaving)
College [Bachelors]
Grade-12
Fox
Link any previous applications:
Among several Character Authorisation Applications...
What position are you applying for (Maiden or Priest)?
Maiden - Miko
What is your motivation for applying?
There's a particular quiet that settles over a scene the moment it's set at the shrine, and I've chased that feeling through every interaction I've had with the people who play its members. It's unlike anywhere else on the server, less performed, more felt. I've visited more times than I can count just to sit inside that atmosphere for a while, and if I'm being honest with myself, I should have applied long before now. I always meant to. This opening is simply the moment my excuses ran out.
But my reasons go past the atmosphere alone. I've always been drawn to understanding belief systems properly, not skimming a summary and calling it knowledge, but sitting with them, asking questions, letting them change how I see things even slightly. Roleplay has become the best tool I have for that, because it doesn't let you stay an outside observer. It asks you to live inside a perspective, if only for a scene at a time. A position at the shrine isn't just an opportunity to me. It's a genuine chance to learn something real, wrapped in something I already love doing. I don't think I could ask for a better reason to apply than that.
What do you currently know about Shintoism? Are you willing to learn more about it?
I'm more than willing to learn more, honestly, I'd call it hunger rather than willingness. In my own time I've already started building a real foundation, and it's turned into one of my favourite things to read about.
Shinto is Japan's native spiritual tradition, and at its centre sits the idea of kami, sacred presences found in nature, in ancestors, in certain places that seem to hold something more than the ordinary. There's no founder to trace it back to, no central scripture, no strict doctrine dictating belief. It isn't a religion in the way the West tends to define one, it's closer to a way of moving through the world, which is why so many people in Japan take part in its customs without ever calling themselves religious. It was never separate from daily life to begin with.
The word Shinto itself translates to something like the way of the gods, and everything about it circles back to a few quiet principles, respect for nature, sincerity, purity, and harmony between people and the world around them. Kami can take almost any form, a mountain holding centuries of weather, a river that's outlasted everyone who's ever prayed beside it, an ancestor whose memory still shapes a family, even a historical figure whose presence never quite left. They aren't gods in the commanding, distant sense. They're closer to presences worth kneeling before quietly, and meaning it.
What draws me in most is that Shinto doesn't ask you to believe first and understand later. It asks you to notice, to pay attention to the world as though it might be sacred, and let belief follow from there if it wants to. That's exactly the kind of understanding I want to keep building, not from a textbook, but from actually living a little closer to it.
IC INFORMATION
Character Full Name:
My name is Fukuma Umeko Kageyama!
Character Title:
I believe my title is 'Ms'.
Character Age:
I am 27 years old!
Character Marital Status:
I am single.
Character Nationality:
I am native Japanese!
Degree/Certifications (If applicable):
I have a Master's in Culinary Arts, and a Bachelor's in Religious Study.
Backstory
I wasn't born in Karakura, but my childhood wasn’t the easiest. My birth family didn’t really know what to do with a tiny albino girl, and when my hair grew in white instead of black, they pulled away from me. Eventually I ended up in foster care, moving from place to place and the family who took me in didn’t treat me much better. I was small, underfed, and spent most days trying to stay out of the way.
Even so, I stayed curious. I liked watching people, listening to them, learning little things. I didn’t have much, but I tried to stay positive anyway.
Everything changed when the Umeko family found me. They saw me, really saw me, and took me in with more love than I’d ever known. I was eight when they adopted me, and even though I was tiny and quiet, they treated me like I mattered. When they brought me into the family properly, I received the lindworm tattoo on my back, it's deep purple bellflower, the colour of loyalty. It hurt, but I was proud. It meant I finally belonged somewhere.
Later, coming into Karakura, the Kageyama family in Karakura adopted me in too, and suddenly I had even more people to love. I grew up surrounded by warmth instead of neglect, and I guess that’s why I’m the way I am now, upbeat, affectionate, always trying to make sure everyone feels included. I treat everyone like family because I know what it’s like not to have one.
I’m only 4'1, still small and still albino, but I’m strong in my own way. I’ve been the head of the Umeko family since I was old enough to understand what responsibility means. And when I’m not doing that, I’m usually baking. I started when I was ten, and it’s still my favourite thing, sweets, breads, anything warm and comforting.
I didn’t get the best start in life, but I ended up with more love than I ever expected. And now I try to give that same love back to everyone around me.
CHARACTER KNOWLEDGE / SITUATIONS
How does your character act around shrine grounds? How do they interact with guests and other staff?
Step onto the shrine grounds and you'll likely find Umeko already mid conversation with someone, an elderly visitor she's helping up the last few steps, a nervous newcomer she's decided needs a proper welcome, a member of staff she's insisted on helping with a task they never asked her to touch. She doesn't really believe in treating people differently depending on what badge they wear or what brought them there. A guest and a groundskeeper get the same unhurried attention from her, the same patience, and the same willingness to drop whatever she's doing because the person in front of her matters more right now than the task on her list.
If there's work going, sweeping the approach, restocking charms, guiding someone lost toward the right hall, she's usually already there before anyone's finished asking. Not out of obligation, but because she's never stopped being curious, and never stopped loving the small chance to make someone's day a little lighter. Around the shrine, that curiosity and that love just tend to look like showing up first, and staying a while longer than she strictly needs to.
You see a guest jumping around the roofs of the building and overall disrespecting shrine grounds, how would your character handle it?
shrine grounds, how would your character handle it?
The first sound out of Umeko wouldn't be a scolding, it would be her voice sharpening with real worry, calling for them to get down now, please, before anything else happens. Whatever irritation she feels about the disrespect gets pushed quietly aside in that moment, because all she can actually think about is how fast slate gives way underfoot, how one wrong step on a wet tile or one careless shift in weight turns a bit of fun into a fall nobody walks away from cleanly. Getting them down safely comes first. Always.
Only once their feet are back on solid ground does the rest of it get addressed. She'd remind them, gently but firmly, that the ground beneath them means something to a great many people, that generations have walked it with quiet reverence long before either of them arrived, and that treating it like a playground wears down something that isn't theirs to wear down. If the warning doesn't land, if they laugh it off or try again, she won't hesitate to make clear that consequences follow, because for Umeko, loving people sometimes means refusing to let them hurt themselves, or hurt what matters, right in front of her without a word said.
Why does your character want to become a shrine maiden/priest? What do they wish to achieve?
There's a version of Umeko that only comes out at the shrine, quieter than the one who bakes and fusses and calls near strangers family within five minutes of meeting them, but no less herself. That version has been visiting since she was small, lingering a little longer at the steps than she needed to, feeling something settle in her chest that she never quite had words for until she got older. She thinks now it was roots calling to her, something older than family tradition, something living in blood and place rather than just the stories she grew up hearing.
To join properly would mean finally answering that quiet feeling instead of just visiting it. She wants to grow from it, to become someone steadier and surer of herself by standing closer to something ancient and unhurried. But mostly, she wants to hand that same feeling back to the people who walk through those gates the way she once did, small, uncertain, looking for something they can't quite name yet. If she can give even one visitor a little peace, or a little joy, or if she's lucky, both at once, she thinks that would be enough to call the whole thing worth it.
What are the core values of your character? (OPTIONAL - MORE INFO IN FAQ)
Umeko’s core beliefs are gentle and straightforward: she trusts that kindness is a form of strength, that every person deserves to feel seen and valued, and that love given freely always returns in some way. She believes spirits watch over people who care for others, and that maintaining harmony between people, places, and the unseen, it is the heart of any shrine. Her devotion comes from gratitude rather than duty, making her service sincere, warm, and naturally fitting for a japanese Maiden.
What Account are you Applying on?:
Neutral_Tones
List Any Alternative Accounts (If any):
N/A
What is your discord username?:
neutral_tones
What is your timezone?:
GMT
Describe your activity on the server:
I’m pretty active overall and usually come on whenever I have a bit of spare time. Lately my free time has been shrinking, so I’m not around quite as much as before, but I still make an effort to stay involved and show up when I can.
List your current roles on the server:
Professor [AP] (leaving)
College [Bachelors]
Grade-12
Fox
Link any previous applications:
Accepted - Neutral_Tones's Culinary Arts Application
OOC SECTION What is your Minecraft username? Neutral_Tones What is your discord username? neutral_tones What is your time zone? GMT Link(s) to any previous applications on the server: https://schoolrp.net/threads/neutral_toness-language-application.69061/...
schoolrp.net
Accepted - Neutral_Tones' Chef Application
Out-Of-Character Information What is your Minecraft username?: Neutral_Tones Do you have Discord (If so, what is your discord username?): neutral_tones How old are you? (Optional): 18 What is your time zone?: GMT Describe your activity on the server: Recently I have become quite active...
schoolrp.net
Accepted - Neutral_Tones' Professor Application — Religious Studies
OOC SECTION What is your Minecraft username?: Neutral_Tones What is your time zone?: Greenwich Mean Time (GMT) What is your discord username? (eg @muffincats) neutral_tones Link all previous applications you made on the server...
schoolrp.net
What position are you applying for (Maiden or Priest)?
Maiden - Miko
What is your motivation for applying?
There's a particular quiet that settles over a scene the moment it's set at the shrine, and I've chased that feeling through every interaction I've had with the people who play its members. It's unlike anywhere else on the server, less performed, more felt. I've visited more times than I can count just to sit inside that atmosphere for a while, and if I'm being honest with myself, I should have applied long before now. I always meant to. This opening is simply the moment my excuses ran out.
But my reasons go past the atmosphere alone. I've always been drawn to understanding belief systems properly, not skimming a summary and calling it knowledge, but sitting with them, asking questions, letting them change how I see things even slightly. Roleplay has become the best tool I have for that, because it doesn't let you stay an outside observer. It asks you to live inside a perspective, if only for a scene at a time. A position at the shrine isn't just an opportunity to me. It's a genuine chance to learn something real, wrapped in something I already love doing. I don't think I could ask for a better reason to apply than that.
What do you currently know about Shintoism? Are you willing to learn more about it?
I'm more than willing to learn more, honestly, I'd call it hunger rather than willingness. In my own time I've already started building a real foundation, and it's turned into one of my favourite things to read about.
Shinto is Japan's native spiritual tradition, and at its centre sits the idea of kami, sacred presences found in nature, in ancestors, in certain places that seem to hold something more than the ordinary. There's no founder to trace it back to, no central scripture, no strict doctrine dictating belief. It isn't a religion in the way the West tends to define one, it's closer to a way of moving through the world, which is why so many people in Japan take part in its customs without ever calling themselves religious. It was never separate from daily life to begin with.
The word Shinto itself translates to something like the way of the gods, and everything about it circles back to a few quiet principles, respect for nature, sincerity, purity, and harmony between people and the world around them. Kami can take almost any form, a mountain holding centuries of weather, a river that's outlasted everyone who's ever prayed beside it, an ancestor whose memory still shapes a family, even a historical figure whose presence never quite left. They aren't gods in the commanding, distant sense. They're closer to presences worth kneeling before quietly, and meaning it.
What draws me in most is that Shinto doesn't ask you to believe first and understand later. It asks you to notice, to pay attention to the world as though it might be sacred, and let belief follow from there if it wants to. That's exactly the kind of understanding I want to keep building, not from a textbook, but from actually living a little closer to it.
IC INFORMATION
Character Full Name:
My name is Fukuma Umeko Kageyama!
Character Title:
I believe my title is 'Ms'.
Character Age:
I am 27 years old!
Character Marital Status:
I am single.
Character Nationality:
I am native Japanese!
Degree/Certifications (If applicable):
I have a Master's in Culinary Arts, and a Bachelor's in Religious Study.
Backstory
I wasn't born in Karakura, but my childhood wasn’t the easiest. My birth family didn’t really know what to do with a tiny albino girl, and when my hair grew in white instead of black, they pulled away from me. Eventually I ended up in foster care, moving from place to place and the family who took me in didn’t treat me much better. I was small, underfed, and spent most days trying to stay out of the way.
Even so, I stayed curious. I liked watching people, listening to them, learning little things. I didn’t have much, but I tried to stay positive anyway.
Everything changed when the Umeko family found me. They saw me, really saw me, and took me in with more love than I’d ever known. I was eight when they adopted me, and even though I was tiny and quiet, they treated me like I mattered. When they brought me into the family properly, I received the lindworm tattoo on my back, it's deep purple bellflower, the colour of loyalty. It hurt, but I was proud. It meant I finally belonged somewhere.
Later, coming into Karakura, the Kageyama family in Karakura adopted me in too, and suddenly I had even more people to love. I grew up surrounded by warmth instead of neglect, and I guess that’s why I’m the way I am now, upbeat, affectionate, always trying to make sure everyone feels included. I treat everyone like family because I know what it’s like not to have one.
I’m only 4'1, still small and still albino, but I’m strong in my own way. I’ve been the head of the Umeko family since I was old enough to understand what responsibility means. And when I’m not doing that, I’m usually baking. I started when I was ten, and it’s still my favourite thing, sweets, breads, anything warm and comforting.
I didn’t get the best start in life, but I ended up with more love than I ever expected. And now I try to give that same love back to everyone around me.
CHARACTER KNOWLEDGE / SITUATIONS
How does your character act around shrine grounds? How do they interact with guests and other staff?
Step onto the shrine grounds and you'll likely find Umeko already mid conversation with someone, an elderly visitor she's helping up the last few steps, a nervous newcomer she's decided needs a proper welcome, a member of staff she's insisted on helping with a task they never asked her to touch. She doesn't really believe in treating people differently depending on what badge they wear or what brought them there. A guest and a groundskeeper get the same unhurried attention from her, the same patience, and the same willingness to drop whatever she's doing because the person in front of her matters more right now than the task on her list.
If there's work going, sweeping the approach, restocking charms, guiding someone lost toward the right hall, she's usually already there before anyone's finished asking. Not out of obligation, but because she's never stopped being curious, and never stopped loving the small chance to make someone's day a little lighter. Around the shrine, that curiosity and that love just tend to look like showing up first, and staying a while longer than she strictly needs to.
You see a guest jumping around the roofs of the building and overall disrespecting shrine grounds, how would your character handle it?
shrine grounds, how would your character handle it?
The first sound out of Umeko wouldn't be a scolding, it would be her voice sharpening with real worry, calling for them to get down now, please, before anything else happens. Whatever irritation she feels about the disrespect gets pushed quietly aside in that moment, because all she can actually think about is how fast slate gives way underfoot, how one wrong step on a wet tile or one careless shift in weight turns a bit of fun into a fall nobody walks away from cleanly. Getting them down safely comes first. Always.
Only once their feet are back on solid ground does the rest of it get addressed. She'd remind them, gently but firmly, that the ground beneath them means something to a great many people, that generations have walked it with quiet reverence long before either of them arrived, and that treating it like a playground wears down something that isn't theirs to wear down. If the warning doesn't land, if they laugh it off or try again, she won't hesitate to make clear that consequences follow, because for Umeko, loving people sometimes means refusing to let them hurt themselves, or hurt what matters, right in front of her without a word said.
Why does your character want to become a shrine maiden/priest? What do they wish to achieve?
There's a version of Umeko that only comes out at the shrine, quieter than the one who bakes and fusses and calls near strangers family within five minutes of meeting them, but no less herself. That version has been visiting since she was small, lingering a little longer at the steps than she needed to, feeling something settle in her chest that she never quite had words for until she got older. She thinks now it was roots calling to her, something older than family tradition, something living in blood and place rather than just the stories she grew up hearing.
To join properly would mean finally answering that quiet feeling instead of just visiting it. She wants to grow from it, to become someone steadier and surer of herself by standing closer to something ancient and unhurried. But mostly, she wants to hand that same feeling back to the people who walk through those gates the way she once did, small, uncertain, looking for something they can't quite name yet. If she can give even one visitor a little peace, or a little joy, or if she's lucky, both at once, she thinks that would be enough to call the whole thing worth it.
What are the core values of your character? (OPTIONAL - MORE INFO IN FAQ)
Umeko’s core beliefs are gentle and straightforward: she trusts that kindness is a form of strength, that every person deserves to feel seen and valued, and that love given freely always returns in some way. She believes spirits watch over people who care for others, and that maintaining harmony between people, places, and the unseen, it is the heart of any shrine. Her devotion comes from gratitude rather than duty, making her service sincere, warm, and naturally fitting for a japanese Maiden.
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