DUTY AND HONOR Q&A
CHARACTER - INTERPERSONAL
How are the reincarnated Espada different from their old selves?
Physically, not by very much. They all retain the same basic physical build and facial appearance, with the obvious differences being Ulquiorra's skin tone and all of their various Hollow-mask fragments and Hollow holes. Hallibel's hair isn't quite so blonde, and Grimmjow's hair is naturally black, although he dyes the tips of it pretty much the same blue it was when he was an Espada. All of them have the same eye color they previously did.
Their personalities vary a little more. Although the same essential personality traits are still there, they've also been tempered by their human lives. All three of them are a little more laid-back and open. They're not in a situation where letting their guard down for a split-second is likely to result in their death, so a lot of the fear and natural results thereof is gone. Hallibel is still reserved and a little slow to trust, but she's studying Psychology and likes to analyze people first. Ulquiorra is still introverted and a bit taciturn, but he believes in love and kindness as well as despair. And if Grimmjow has changed the least of the three and still fights for the love of violence, well, the MMA scene pays well and he's good at it, and he keeps the fighting confined to the ring. Mostly. Except when he's drunk, in which case a few barstools might have to be replaced, the police called, and a drunk and disorderly charge worked off by volunteering at a local dojo, but that might just be Fate working to bring him back into Ichigo's circle of influence.
How are Fumio and Byakuya actually related?
They share a great-grandfather, making them second cousins. Fumio's grandfather, Norio, the Chief Archivist for the Kuchiki Clan, is Ginrei's baby brother.
So, ARE Rukia and Hisana really Byakuya's half-siblings?
Yes, they are. Although there's no way for the characters within the story to determine it, Byakuya's father, Kuchiki Kouga, sired them both during an extramarital affair with a Rukongai woman. Ise Nanao was sired in between Hisana and Rukia, meaning that Kouga was in various relationships with at least three women simultaneously. Kouga's promiscuity virtually guarantees that Byakuya has other half-siblings he knows little or nothing about, but they're not likely to play a part in the story at this point.
Byakuya correctly suspects that his bluff to the King's Guard Tu following the birth of Rukia and Ichigo's twins (that Hisana and Rukia are bastard offspring of Kouga's), is true, based largely on Rukia's startlingly similar appearance to himself and Ise Nanao, who he knows is his half-sister. But as he considers Rukia his sister anyway, it makes no difference in how he treats her.
What's with Ichigo's sexuality? Is he flirting with Grimmjow in Chapter 29?
Ichigo is straight. As he has joked previously, he is one of the few completely straight characters in my story canon. However, he is, if you will pardon me stealing sentiments off a bumper sticker, 'straight but not narrow.' He's completely comfortable and secure in his sexuality, and doesn't feel the need to defend it by acting like an uber-masculine idiot.
As for flirting with Grimmjow... sorta? He's capable of acknowledging that Grimmjow is an attractive individual, even if he's not attracted to him. He is physically comfortable around Grimmjow, either despite or because of their mutual history, and the massive levels of angst Ichigo is displaying following Grimmjow's reappearance are mostly because he feels responsible for Grimmjow being tortured by Kurotsuchi. Because Ichigo didn't kill Grimmjow in their battle (regardless of the fact he had no desire or intention to kill Grimmjow) and later lost his powers, he was unable to save him from Kurotsuchi until over a year had passed. Ichigo, in his typical form, is guilt-tripping himself in a spectacular fashion over not having spared Grimmjow that fate.
Speaking of the Espada, why does Ichigo trust them so fast?
His instincts (including Zangetsu's) told him they were trustworthy. While he's mentally assigned them a kind of 'probation period' to determine whether or not they'll remain in the category of allies, he's also elected to give them the benefit of the doubt. His previous interactions with Grimmjow and Ulquiorra have actually helped him build trust towards them, rather than the opposite.
In BoH Chapter 24, Ichigo accuses Isshin of just standing around being useless while Ichigo saves the life of a child struck by a car. What gives?
Isshin wasn't actually as useless as Ichigo was implying - he was keeping the parents from disrupting their son's treatment, which is important, and while he did hesitate at the sight of the injured child, it's actually because elements of the accident made him think about Orihime's brother Sora, one of the few patients he was never able to save. The memory shocked him for a few crucial seconds and he hesitated. Ichigo was just using the longstanding problem of Isshin's destroyed relationship with Ryuuken to vent his frustration on his father - Isshin wasn't actually being useless. He also had faith in Ichigo's ability to save the child.
How does Gin feel about Hitsugaya's relationship with Rangiku and Kin?
Although it's not actually in set the same universe as the Duty and Honor series, my one-shot The Taste of Smoke actually sums up a lot of what Gin is going through pretty well, even if it does do it through Ichigo. Powerless and bereft, he's put in the uncomfortable position of having to entrust the safety of those he cares about to someone else, when he'd much rather be able to fight the battles himself. Gin doesn't trust easily, particularly not where the safety of those precious to him is concerned. If it has to be anyone else, though, Gin is glad it's Hitsugaya who's taken over as the default protector of his 'girls'. There is a level of trust between Gin and Hitsugaya, and Gin has faith in Hitsugaya's strength, intelligence, and willingness to protect Rangiku and Kin.
Does Kin want to know her father?
If you asked her, she would answer a very firm 'no'. This is not entirely true. It hardly needs to be explained that Kin has abandonment issues. Although she would never admit it out loud, she always felt that Gin should have been able to sense within Rangiku's reiatsu that Rangiku had become pregnant (he couldn't have at the moment of conception; for the change to become detectable, even to someone like Unohana, takes a few weeks), and Kin believes - although possibly only on a subconscious level - that Gin left Matsumoto *because* Matsumoto became pregnant. None of this helps her inferiority complex and self-hatred. Keep in mind that Kin is still *very* young - she is, in fact, quite a bit younger than even her classmates, Haru and Ko, but was fast-tracked through the Academy due to Shinsou joining her - and still sees the world very much in black and white. Her moral structure is still that of a young person, in which everything is dealt in absolutes.
However, she trusts and listens to Hitsugaya, perhaps somewhat more than she does her mother, and Hitsugaya is much less emotionally involved with the subject of Gin. Because of listening to Hitsugaya, Kin is becoming a little curious about who her father actually is as a person, rather than what she grew up hearing, which was 'traitor' and 'war criminal.' Hitsugaya, although he has since ceased encouraging her to trust her father, knowing that openly challenging her beliefs will only make her defensive, is leading by example in that he actively trusts Gin. He and Matsumoto will occasionally sneak Gin into conversations when Kin is visiting the Tenth Division and standing somewhere within earshot.
All of this is actually serving to create more emotional conflict within her, because she both fully trusts Hitsugaya and fully believes that Gin is evil and wrong. However, Hitsugaya does not believe Gin is evil and wrong, ergo Kin spends a lot of time being emotionally conflicted and angsty and basically a teenage girl.
What's Masa's issue with Renji? And everyone else?
Other than the fact he's a sociopathic dickhead? No, seriously. He is a sociopath. And also a dickhead. Masa is a relatively distant relation of Byakuya's, and was raised by a very old, very set-in-his-ways, and very classist uncle. Masa's parents weren't around when he was growing up (I don't know whether they died, divorced, or just took off), and his uncle took over raising him in a very isolated environment rather than sending him to the main branch of the household to be raised with the rest of the youngsters.
Do not feel that Masa's nature is entirely a matter of his childhood environment. He was petty, cruel, and utterly self-centered even as a youngster, and never developed the ability to feel empathy for other beings. Being raised by a bigoted jackass uncle didn't help, but it's doubtful that he would have turned out much differently even under the care of the full Kuchiki House. He sees anyone who is not a blood noble as worthless and generally disposable, unless he can use them for something, like Tsutomu. But people, any people, are basically dime-store tchotchkes to him. Break one? Replace it. Not satisfied? Throw it out and replace it. He keeps Tsutomu, damaged though he is, because he's put a great deal of time into training Tsutomu to be his ideal servant, and believes that Tsutomu is utterly broken to his whims. Tsutomu, on the other hand, is starting to get a little sick of the presumption.
I'm not certain what Tsutomu's history is, but he, like his master, is also a sociopath, and, as you can tell from the story, misogynistic to the point of pathology. Freud would assume he had issues with his mother. Freud would probably be right. Chances are decent that Tsutomu's mother actually was a Rukongai prostitute, since that seems to be his default belief of a woman's status. Tsutomu is also highly conditioned to follow orders, but only orders of those he feels are worthy (this may have come from his mother's clients, in that the people who had money were the ones who deserved to have their wishes obeyed?). He follows Masa partly because Masa is a noble and therefore powerful (even after Masa's expulsion from the Kuchiki House, both Tsutomu and Masa believe that Aizen will grant Masa control of the Kuchiki House, as Aizen promised initially to secure Masa's loyalty.) Tsutomu is also loyal to... whatever the hell he believes Aizen's ideals are, although I'm really not certain what his interpretation of them is.
Masa's specific hatred for Renji is because Renji, who was not born to nobility, secured power, position, and title through his strength and dedication. Because Masa believes that only noble blood makes one worthy of power, he sees Renji as both the utter antithesis of his beliefs and the embodiment of all he despises. He's also aware that Renji is significantly more powerful than him, and greatly resents that. Doubly so because Renji now has rights under the Kuchiki name, which Masa has now lost, in large part because of his history with Renji, when he bought Renji as a child whore.
Do you have datasheets for your OC officers/characters?
Not really, but I can put them together if anyone is interested, just let me know.