000; APPLICATION

[no_hiding_place]

OOC
alias; Mol
timezone; PST/NorCal Timezone
chat; lefttostagnation on AIM, comixology on gtalk
character journal; no-hiding-place

IC
name; Mihashi Ren ("Renren")
age; 16, born 05-17
position & team; Starting Pitcher, Nishiura.
koushien dream email; feedmemanju@koushiendream.net

history; Mihashi is the only child of a literature professor (Naoe, currently employed by Saitama Daigaku) and former-delinquent-rich-boy-turned-underpaid-and-overworked-school-staff-member (Reiichi, currently an administrator at Mihoshi Gakuen), and has loved baseball since elementary school. He first learned to play (and to pitch) from a childhood friend, Hama-chan, who lived in the same apartment complex that Mihashi and his (eloped!) parents lived in at the time. Even when Mihashi's family had to move out of the apartment complex, Mihashi stuck with baseball - or more specifically, with pitching. He was never formally trained in the sport, only learned through years of hard work on his own, and as such his pitches are unique and his control is exceptional. Mihashi eventually moved to Gunma to live with his cousins so that he could attend Mihoshi Academy's all-boy middle school, and there he was made the team's ace. All was not sunshine and roses, however, as his grandfather was the primary trustee of the school as well as its namesake. Mihashi's teammates in middle school (with the exception of one childhood friend) didn't understand or appreciate his truly amazing pitch control because of the slow speed and low power of his pitches, and it was quickly decided that Mihashi had become the ace out of favoritism. He spent the next three years isolated, intensely bullied and miserable, but refusing to give up the pitcher's mound. Mihashi knew that baseball was supposed to be a team sport, and that what he was playing with the other boys at Mihoshi was not baseball, so finally at the end of his third year of middle school he decided to give up.

Mihashi moved back in with his parents in Saitama, where he enrolled in his mother's alma mater, Nishiura. Nishiura, it turned out, had only just founded a baseball team and needed a pitcher. Though Mihashi had not intended to continue playing, his love of pitching wouldn't let him give it up. He blurted out his position when directly asked, and was then introduced to the most incredible strategist and catcher he'd ever met: Abe Takaya. In spite of their personality differences, Mihashi deeply admires and respects Abe, and desperately wants to make him proud. Mihashi is currently working hard with his new catcher and his new teammates to become a real ace.

personality; Mihashi is a man without confidence. Already naturally inclined towards shy obedience, his experiences at Mihoshi ruined his belief in his abilities. In spite of that, Mihashi is intensely focused on the one thing he loves more than anything else: pitching. Though he doesn't always believe in his own talent, he refuses to give up his spot on the mound once he has it. He works with devastating vigor on the things that matter to him. His greatest fear is being a disappointment, and letting down the people that he cares for. He is incredibly shy, sensitive, and gives off an air of vulnerability. He attracts bullies like fruit does flies.

Mihashi both loves and hates authority figures - his first assumption is that everyone around him is in a superior position to him and behaves accordingly, with swift and obliging obedience because he is eager to please. Even when he doesn't understand or doesn't know how to do something, he will try to do it rather than ask for help, because he is usually too afraid of being a bother to protest. The biggest difficulty in his relationship to his superiors is the sneaking suspicion he has that they all despise him, the trouble he causes, the things he can't do, and the sensation he has that the only reason for him to be held in regard by anyone is because of favoritism or worse, pity. In spite of the fact that he has been training himself to pitch since he was seven and that he has incredible control over his placement and types of pitches, his confidence is close to zero. He simply can't imagine that he really deserves anything he has. He is constantly apologizing.

But in spite of his timid, cry-baby attitude, Mihashi is not weak-willed. His determination in the face of long-odds, hatred, and abuse is unmatched. Mihashi could endure daily torture for years without having his determination worn down (and has, though 'torture' is almost certainly too strong a word for what happened at Mihoshi). He is both honest and trustworthy, and he values bluntness because he is so prone to overthinking his situation and relationship with others. Mihashi will fiercely stand up for his friends or allies, even if he believes they hate him, because he can't ever seem to bring himself to hate anyone back. Some of this is because he thinks that he deserves disdain, but it is also a testament to his resilience and his willingness to acknowledge and embrace his own flaws and his role in his own troubles.

Mihashi is always surprised when others are kind or even just civil with him, and because he is always waiting to be despised or hurt (be it physically or emotionally) he has become extremely skittish. He is very slow to open up to others, but once he gives someone his trust it is unfailing and comes with the sort of loyalty one might expect from a puppy. His insecurity makes him desperate to please his friends and the people he admires at all turns, but his fear makes him a poor judge of how to do that. He often overthinks his words and actions, which renders regular conversation with him almost impossible. He is prone to misunderstanding and being misunderstood, but though his first instinct is to run and hide from his problems, he can and does muster the resolve to face them head-on for the sake of others. He thinks of himself as being incredibly selfish, because of how desperately he clings to pitching and the mound, but would give up virtually anything else for the sake of his teammates.

Mihashi is the kind of person who tries so hard to be inconspicuous that he draws attention to himself. He is short for his age with a very lean build made mostly of sinewy muscle. Though he has relatively broad shoulders for his frame, Mihashi affects a timid posture, and tends to "shrink" by hunching his shoulders up and forward slightly. His mannerisms and soft, relatively high-pitched voice make him seem younger than he is.

Mihashi almost never makes eye contact, even with his friends, and doesn't look like the kind of person who could handle himself in an awkward social situation, much less in a competetive sport. The positive side of this is that he's often written off as totally non-threatening. He holds a lot of tension in his back and tends to tremble, but when he's on the mound, his hands are steady. He walks in quick short steps, his run is more of a stumble, and though he's prone to tripping and falling, heis very flexible. Mihashi usually sits with his legs tucked under him, and has the uncanny ability to practically flatten himself against the ground when he is afraid, embarassed, or depressed. He sleeps holding a baseball. Though he has a fierce stammer, he thinks and writes with a smooth flow. Having something to do with his hands helps Mihashi get his words out of his mouth.

Overall, Mihashi is a sweet boy, somewhat sentimental, and naive when it comes to relationships. No matter how much he might want to change himself, he doesn't entirely believe that it's possible. Self-doubt aside, he is constantly working to improve his skills as a pitcher, even to the point of disregarding his health. He has a very keen sense of empathy, and it combines with his sensitivity to give him a subtle and nuanced understanding of the people around him and their feelings, no matter the fact that he has difficulty expressing his understanding and sympathy for their situations. Amazingly, Mihashi holds no grudge against the team that bullied, tormented, and destroyed his confidence during middle school. He is quick to forgive and very slow to anger, but no matter how much empathy or sympathy he feels for someone, his almost compulsive desire to pitch (and, dare he even think it, win) makes him incredibly competitive.

strengths & weaknesses; Mihashi's greatest strengths are his flexibility, his aim and pitch control, and his determination. Since he was a young boy and first became fascinated with baseball, Mihashi has worked hard for the sheer joy he gets from pitching. He likes having a catcher who'll work with him, and because Abe assured Mihashi that he believes in his pitching skills, Mihashi trusts Abe completely. Mihashi's trust in Abe and his belief in Abe's skills make him bold and frightening on the mound, in that he will throw a fastball straight down the center of the plate or change his pitches rapidly from outside to inside to outside or high to low to high if Abe asks him to. Mihashi's trust in Abe and Abe's lead frees him from the heightened anxiety that comes with throwing difficult or risky pitches. This is not to say that Mihashi doesn't occasionally have opinions of his own about the lead or how and what she should pitch, but that he trusts Abe to know what is best. He's slowly getting bold enough to risk making suggestions to Abe about the lead, though he's most comfortable asking why not this instead of that.

Mihashi's physical flexibility combines with his mental determination to make him resilient in spite of his small frame and delicate constitution. Even when he falls (literally and metaphorically), Mihashi has an uncanny ability to bounce back and recover quickly. Especially in times of extreme pressure, Mihashi is able to push through tough and frightening situations.

The only reason that Mihashi has been able to refine his pitch control and aim to this point is because of his stubborn determination. Growing up, if Mihashi was awake he was thinking about or practicing pitching. Though he almost never applies that determination to anything outside of pitching, if Mihashi truly puts his mind to something, he'll work until he gets it done and gets it right.

With weaknesses, it's hard to know where to begin. Mihashi's determination, probably his greatest strength, is also a source of trouble and frustration. He really will work himself to death if he's left to his own devices. Mihashi has a very keen sense of empathy, which allows him to feel strongly for his friends and teammates, but also makes him vulnerable to emotional manipulation. Mihashi has a very strong sense of intuition and is by no means an idiot, but unless something truly interests him, he simply won't put out the effort to learn or remember it. Even in the realm of baseball, which is Mihashi's life, his obsession is pitching - so while he can remember every pitch he throws during the course of a game and how it was handled (or not handled) by the batter, he has no head for batter's preferences in general, and has a very hard time learning statistics quickly and retaining the information they contain.

In spite of his good aim and careful technique with regards to pitching, Mihashi's got very little power in his body. He is a quick sprinter but doesn't have stamina to run for long distances, is so tightly-wound that he easily exhausts himself. All of the technique and care that he puts into his pitches makes for a sharp contrast with his somewhat clumsy batting and baserunning techniques, and his clumsiness in general makes injury a serious danger, since he flings himself completely into the sport while he's playing it and often forgets (however temporarily) about his own wellbeing in spite of the fact that he believes strongly in the importance of a player maintaining his health. Though he's not bad at pacing himself during the course of a game, he often gets a fever the day after a stressful event, like a test or an important match. His weak personality and willingness to put himself down also make him difficult to work with in any situation.

Mihashi is frightened of a lot of different things - loud noises, large dogs, judgement from others, and voicing his own true opinions. He is often caught up in misunderstandings because of his personality. When Mihashi is on the mound, he's capable and trusts in his catcher to help him avoid the things he's most frightened of (hits and runs), but it is also true that Mihashi's uncertainty is contagious and it tends to roll off of him in waves.

Mihashi's huge appetite and high metabolism make him a hard guy to accomodate when it comes to packed lunches and long days of practice, and even when he eats twice his share, he doesn't gain much weight because of his stress level. His anxiety fuels his insomnia, as well, so often Mihashi will go for days unrested. Mihashi's confidence is a delicate thing that needs regular maintenance, and without reassurance he gets easily lost and second-guesses most of his decisions. He's difficult and finicky, and his habitual certainty that everything that goes wrong is because of him makes him a bit ego-centric; it takes a certain type of person to manage him. He has a hard time making friends, and is a poor judge of character.

SAMPLES
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