OOC INFORMATION
IGN (In-Game Name):
aspenlover69 (applying)
aslaniy
goegrieveeur
jauheliha
What is your discord username?:
kamiillentee
What is your timezone?:
GMT+10 / AEST
Describe your activity on the server:
I strive to log on for at least 1-2 hours a day, although I’m capable of logging on for 6-8 hours a day, depending on my IRL workload. My activity has decreased for two main reasons: I’m in my final year of high school, and I haven’t had any factions to dedicate my time to since leaving KPD and EMS. Since I joined SRP in 2022, I have maintained a near-constant stream of activity, save for OOC circumstances that prevented it and my most recent month-long break from the server. I have amassed roughly 50 weeks (or ~350 days) of playtime across my accounts over my two years of playing.
My typical weekly availability is listed below.
| Sunday | Monday | Tuesday | Wednesday | Thursday | Friday | Saturday |
| 6 AM - 12 AM ~18 hours | 3:30 PM - 12 AM ~8.5 hours | 3:30 PM - 12 AM ~8.5 hours | 3:30 PM - 12 AM ~8.5 hours | 6:30 PM - 12 AM ~5.5 hours | 3:30 PM - 12 AM ~8.5 hours | 6 AM - 12 AM ~18 hours |
List your current roles on the server:
I have no faction roles.
Link any previous applications:
ACCEPTED - Surgeon Application
ACCEPTED - KPD Application
What position are you applying for (Maiden or Priest)?
I’m applying to be a Shrine Priest.
What is your motivation for applying?
I wish to reintegrate within the community, with the shrine as a medium. As of late, I’ve felt more hesitant to enter roleplay scenarios due to anxiety and not quite knowing how to begin an interaction. I believe that not only will I have the chance to learn more about a religion that I’ve been interested in since I first joined, but also that I’ll feel more confident in talking to new people. I believe that being a part of the shrine will allow me to have a sense of direction in roleplaying with others; a sort of “entryway” into starting interactions with a different side of SRP than the more fast-paced, work-focused side I'm accustomed to.
I stated before that I’ve been interested in the shrine and Shintoism since I first joined the server. My attention continuously drifted away from it, and I never really focused on learning more about its practices and beliefs like I wanted to. I ended up shying away from applying due to my lack of knowledge and inexperience in Shintoism and Japanese culture as a whole, along with my hesitance to join a community with nobody that I knew - I had only just joined SRP, after all. I eventually turned towards KPD and EMS, since that’s what most of my friends gravitated towards, and I wanted to follow them to spend more time together and open up my world further than the little bubble I’ve grown used to being in.
I’ve since freed up my time on SRP after resigning from my previous factions, and I’ve grown to feel a bit more confident in the community; having met a decent deal of people from the government factions and some from the sports faction. Not only that, but a few of my friends have also applied to be shrine workers. I have the confidence of knowing that, should I be accepted, I will have at least one familiar friend within the faction to rely on and have fun with - which I believe is an important factor to play in gaining motivation to continue logging on and being active in a faction.
What do you currently know about Shintoism? Are you willing to learn more about it?
I’m a beginner when it comes to understanding the history and practices of Shintoism, but I’ve been working to delve deeper and learn more about it. However, I’m not too familiar with some of the names of certain practices or items used in different ceremonies, although I have a simple understanding of what some items are used for.
Shinto can be translated to “way of the gods.” To my knowledge, Shintoism is primarily a set of practices and beliefs that revolve mainly around respect towards nature/the world, and familial ancestors - all of which can be seen as “kami.” Because of this, it isn’t necessarily categorized as a religion by all who practice it. Shintoism is also somewhat interlinked with Buddhism, but it is widely speculated as to whether they are the same, or which came first. Shintoism is also deeply integrated into Japanese culture and can be seen in many practices such as the various holidays, celebrations, and festivals in the country. It also has no major texts/scripts like the Bible or the Quran. Many followers of Shintoism engage in practices such as purification, prayer, rituals, and offerings. Shinto shrines are open to all visitors; however, respectfulness and adherence to their practices should always be observed. Other than shrines, kami can also be worshiped within one’s own home, or in sacred, natural places.
Followers of Shintoism believe that there can be ⹂kami,” or a sort of supernatural entity, in pretty much anything. There can also be unique kami for different concepts, tangible or otherwise. From my research, I’ve learned that there are countless numbers of kami - the more prevalent ones such as Izanami and Izanagi who are the ‘creators’ in Shintoism, Amaterasu the Sun Goddess (often denoted as the “Supreme Deity” in Shintoism), Susanoo the Sea God, and Tsukuyomi the Moon God, and other kami such as the kamis of knowledge, rice, disaster, and so forth. There can also be kami in worldly things; for example, there was once a train station that was built around a great tree that was believed to house a kami.
I believe that the kami that is worshiped at the Shinsei Seinaru Monastery is Chiharu-Yamatsumi.
Torii gates are seen as a gateway between the mortal realm and the realm of the kami/gods, which is why those who pass through it often stop to bow out of respect and walk along the sides to allow passage for the kami.
“Shide” are the white zigzag-shaped strips of paper that are often seen attached to the shimenawa hung around sacred/holy places, such as shrine entrances. “Shimenawa” are ropes that mark these holy grounds, and are used to ward away evil spirits. They can be of any size, but are often white - this is because the color white is seen as a symbol of purity or spirituality. The color red is a symbol of peace and prosperity.
“Suzu” are any type of bell within a shrine that is used to ward off negative energies or evil spirits, and are used in part of a ceremony when making an offering to the kami.
Another practice within Shintoism is purification. There are multiple ways of purification, such as a prayer from a priest or even salt, but the main one I’ll focus on is purification via water. It is most commonly observed when first entering into a shrine, as there will be a basin of water with a ladle. This purification ritual, known commonly as “temizu,” can be performed by rinsing water over the left hand, and then the right, pouring water into your palm to cleanse your mouth, and finally rinsing the handle of the ladle. It is important to remember not to spit this water back into the basin but onto the ground.
There is also the Kagura dance, which has been previously performed on SRP before. It is a ritual dance to summon and energize kami, and can also be seen as a sort of “theatre” to tell their stories. I believe that the Kagura dance can be traced back to the story of when Amaterasu locked herself up in a cave and was coaxed out of it through an entertaining dance, which brought light back to the world.
Wedding ceremonies often take place with a priest and the bride’s and groom’s families. There is typically the exchange of vows and rings, as well as prayers, offerings to the kami, and drinks.
Funerals are not typically held within shrines, as death/the body of the deceased is often seen as impure. This is why you will sometimes hear that people “live as a follower of Shintoism, and die a Buddhist,” as Shinto funerals are primarily developed from the rituals of a Buddhist funeral. I think that priests don’t usually perform funeral rites, but I’ve seen it before on SRP.
IC INFORMATION
Character Full Name:
She extended a roughened, scarred hand out in invitation for a polite handshake. Her unwavering, penetrating gaze contrasted starkly with her courteous greeting-
“Flores. Carmine Flores. Pleasure to make your acquaintance.”
Character Title:
The corners of her lips curled with a hint of discomfort.
“Just Flores, please. I prefer not to use honorifics.”
Character Age:
It seemed as though she had relaxed somewhat, as the topics shifted back to a more ‘comfortable zone’ for her. How peculiar - asking for her title was uncomfortable, but her age wasn’t?
“Twenty-seven. I’ll be turning twenty-eight this December.”
Character Marital Status:
She folded her hands together - bare of any jewel-topped accessory, although it boasted several dark Elysium rings.
“I am divorced. I have no intention of remarrying.”
Character Nationality:
Judging by her fiery ginger hair and primarily Latinx features, along with her unrefined manner of speaking Japanese, Flores wasn’t from around here.
“I’m an American citizen. I lived in the Midwest for the majority of my life before moving to mainland Japan, then Karakura.”
Degree/Certifications (If applicable):
Those crystalline blue eyes turned icy-cold, if only for a fraction of a second. She cleared her throat, wringing her crooked fingers together. Such an innocuous question, to warrant such a harsh momentary glare.
“I don’t have any degrees. I have a certification in first-aid from when I worked as a detective, but I suppose it’s unlikely to be beneficial for this position.”
Backstory
CW: Abuse
⹂muscle to muscle and toe to toe, the fear has gripped me, but here i go”
Her earliest memory is of skipping on a sidewalk with her parents, both holding her hands and swinging back and forth. Of laughter and ‘I love you’s and feeling safe, nestled in their arms, protected from everything bad in the world. Like she was on top of the world at only four years old, like she had the whole world in her itty bitty palm. Like she could do anything because her parents believed in her.
Her second earliest memory holds only pictures, wisps of words in a cacophony of noise. Sitting in the backseat of a car, six years old, her father’s eyestoowrongtooempty catching hers in the rearview mirror, his sentences strung together in an incomprehensible buzzing. Like the singing of the dog-day cicadas in her backyard. She thinks her mother was gushing over the latest sermon on living for God that Father Mulbury gave, but she’s uncertain- she can’t remember.
⹂my heart sinks as i jump up, your hand grips hand as my eyes shut”
Her parents were largely religious, often attending their local church and many of their events, enrolling their beloved daughter into the church’s elementary school to be raised with the teachings of a Christian education.
She remembers perfectly red nails digging into her cheeks, still chubby with baby fat, the flying of spittle as her mother screamed into her face. She doesn’t remember why. She doesn’t remember what she did to deserve the crack of her father’s knuckles against the side of her head. She remembers watching the clock hands tick by, and telling herself that it never lasted very long. It would be the same, now.
⹂she may contain the urge to run away, but hold her down with soggy clothes and breezeblocks”
Different scenes blink rapidly in her head, like a film roll that was cut and glued back with sections missing. A teacher slapping her palms with a ruler for questioning his teachings, rather than following faithfullyblindly like a sheep. Crying into her mother’s arms as she comforts her and tells her that she will always love her little girl, and help bring her back to the right path. It is drilled into her head at every lecture, at every service, that her thoughts cannot be trusted. Sitting on the swings and blowing dandelions with the little boy next door who also goes to the same youth service as her.
Confessing to a sin that she never committed, pinned beneath the intrusive stare of two dozen fellowsheep believers. How she has to place her trust in God, and, in turn, their church. Feeling like her heart and mind are opening up to the truth, and finding community and love in her faith. That everything else, everyone else, is full of sin and evil, wanting to corrupt their honest beliefs. It was the highest honor to be able to lend one’s life to the Lord, as the church had.
⹂germolene, disinfect the scene, my love, my love, love, love”
It began with small cracks; with fissures in the edges. Not much, but enough to make her waver. She never looked, terrified of what it would show her. That her entire reality was built within an apocalypse, and to everyone but her, it was normal. Did that make her the outsider? Did that mean she was imagining this apocalypse? Clawing her way out only left her with more pain and scars than before. The cracks spread until the illusion shattered beneath it all.
The time after is a cold blur, something she bore witness to, not experienced. She married that boy who lived next door, and was emancipated, whisked away from the communal life to instead be a doting wife. She grew to care for him, but… so many aspects of that old life sprung up in her time with him. She shouldn’t have been surprised - they grew up there together, after all.
⹂but please don’t go,”
Her memory of this time buffers and skips in the same way as a scratched-up CD. It comes back in flashes, in nightmares that bring her to a state impossible to properly portray - only to be glazed over with a fog, unreachable.
Somewhere along the way, they had waltzed their way back to the church, standing beneath that anguished Savior dying on a cross.
The evening unfolds into the spilling of blood, a defiant struggle for the right to continue on, the breaking of belief, and the tarnishing of faith. An irreversible damage, branded onto her soul with a scalding-hot iron. In the same way that a prey animal is hell-bent on escaping from a hunting predator, its focus tunnel-sharpened ongetoutgetoutgetout survival to avoid getting devoured by a cruel vicious maw; so was she.
A breeze of legal documents and a light-packed suitcase later, and she was out. It almost seemed too easy, save for the processing of the divorce papers, but that would be sorted out in due time. The quiet and calm left her on edge, constantly looking over her shoulder to make sure that they weren’t out here, looking for her, chasing after her like hounds on a bloodtrail.
⹂i love you so, my lovely”
Her earliest memory is of skipping on a sidewalk with her parents, both holding her hands and swinging back and forth. Of laughter and ‘I love you’s and feeling safe, nestled in their arms, protected from everything bad in the world. Like she was on top of the world at only four years old, like she had the whole world in her itty bitty palm. Like she could do anything because her parents believed in her.
Her second earliest memory holds only pictures, wisps of words in a cacophony of noise. Sitting in the backseat of a car, six years old, her father’s eyes
⹂my heart sinks as i jump up, your hand grips hand as my eyes shut”
Her parents were largely religious, often attending their local church and many of their events, enrolling their beloved daughter into the church’s elementary school to be raised with the teachings of a Christian education.
She remembers perfectly red nails digging into her cheeks, still chubby with baby fat, the flying of spittle as her mother screamed into her face. She doesn’t remember why. She doesn’t remember what she did to deserve the crack of her father’s knuckles against the side of her head. She remembers watching the clock hands tick by, and telling herself that it never lasted very long. It would be the same, now.
⹂she may contain the urge to run away, but hold her down with soggy clothes and breezeblocks”
Different scenes blink rapidly in her head, like a film roll that was cut and glued back with sections missing. A teacher slapping her palms with a ruler for questioning his teachings, rather than following faithfully
Confessing to a sin that she never committed, pinned beneath the intrusive stare of two dozen fellow
⹂germolene, disinfect the scene, my love, my love, love, love”
It began with small cracks; with fissures in the edges. Not much, but enough to make her waver. She never looked, terrified of what it would show her. That her entire reality was built within an apocalypse, and to everyone but her, it was normal. Did that make her the outsider? Did that mean she was imagining this apocalypse? Clawing her way out only left her with more pain and scars than before. The cracks spread until the illusion shattered beneath it all.
The time after is a cold blur, something she bore witness to, not experienced. She married that boy who lived next door, and was emancipated, whisked away from the communal life to instead be a doting wife. She grew to care for him, but… so many aspects of that old life sprung up in her time with him. She shouldn’t have been surprised - they grew up there together, after all.
⹂but please don’t go,”
Her memory of this time buffers and skips in the same way as a scratched-up CD. It comes back in flashes, in nightmares that bring her to a state impossible to properly portray - only to be glazed over with a fog, unreachable.
Somewhere along the way, they had waltzed their way back to the church, standing beneath that anguished Savior dying on a cross.
The evening unfolds into the spilling of blood, a defiant struggle for the right to continue on, the breaking of belief, and the tarnishing of faith. An irreversible damage, branded onto her soul with a scalding-hot iron. In the same way that a prey animal is hell-bent on escaping from a hunting predator, its focus tunnel-sharpened on
A breeze of legal documents and a light-packed suitcase later, and she was out. It almost seemed too easy, save for the processing of the divorce papers, but that would be sorted out in due time. The quiet and calm left her on edge, constantly looking over her shoulder to make sure that they weren’t out here, looking for her, chasing after her like hounds on a bloodtrail.
⹂i love you so, my lovely”
CHARACTER KNOWLEDGE / SITUATIONS
How does your character act around shrine grounds? How do they interact with guests and other staff?
Flores is no stranger to order and courtesy. She acts in deference to the traditions of the space, adhering to its practices and treating it as the sacred ground it is. She remains mindful and respectful to the shrine, as well as its visitors and staff, to keep the tranquil peace of the grounds.
Even with her stiffness when it comes to amicable encounters, Flores makes an effort to greet and welcome those that visit, encouraging connection with the kami and educating those that wish to learn more about Shinto. Despite her initially cagey and distrustful demeanor, she’s not entirely emotionally and socially inept - being attentive and approaching situations sensitively
With other staff… Well, it’s difficult for her to feel comfortable connecting to people that she’ll no doubt have to be around frequently. Even knowing the importance of communication and teamwork, she still struggles in asking for help and leaning on others in times of need. It’ll take time for Flores to learn that coming out of her shell won’t result in receiving the sharp spikes of malice, but that it can bring gentleness, and love, and warmth - if only she would welcome it.
You see a guest jumping around the roofs of the building and overall disrespecting shrine grounds, how would your character handle it?
Her first instinct is… irritation. The lack of respect for these sacred grounds - but acting as an image of hatred and anger wouldn’t be very becoming of a priestess, now would it? Flores takes a deep breath to calm the flare of fire crackling along her shoulders, reminding herself that lashing out like she’s oh-so used to, isn’t appropriate here. She would call out to the guest to gain their attention, and, upon receiving it, would explain in a calm yet authoritative, firm tone that they should not be jumping around. Not only because it is disrespectful to the kami and the grounds themselves, but also due to the risk it poses to their safety and the safety of other visitors. She would offer up alternative forms of entertainment at the shrine, or simply tell them to take their hyperactivity elsewhere. If this fails to evoke compliance, then Flores will merely resort to requesting a blacklist and phoning the local police to have them removed from the grounds, to ensure the peace of the shrine is preserved.
Why does your character want to become a shrine maiden/priest?
Oh boy… What a loaded question. If you were to ask her, she would merely say that she wishes to connect with these beliefs and learn to find solace in her place at the monastery. But- it goes deeper than that. Funnily enough, despite applying to work here at the shrine, she struggles to fully connect with the beliefs of Shintoism due to her own past with Christianity and religion as a whole. Perhaps she finds some comfort in the perspective that Shintoism isn’t quite a religion - and she hopes that such a peaceful atmosphere, combined with the welcoming aura of the staff, will help her learn to heal her relationship with faith and spirituality. She wants to find peace and a purpose, and to grow in her understanding of what exactly drives people to spirituality, when her own experiences with it were so sickening. Despite her harsh outer appearance and reluctance to let others in, she is driven by a desire to help others - as seen prior in her previous job as a detective, both in Karakura and on the mainland. However, she’s shifted towards a more hands-on, personal approach. After all, such a position had really only placed her at the forefront of hatred of those discontent with the system, or those rebelling against legal authorities… which certainly doesn’t do any good for a person’s wellbeing. Through this role, she hopes to learn of a more pure and harmonious perspective. One that she hopes will be the key to finally finding spiritual peace for herself.
Attachments
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