thenine: (Default)
The Nine ([personal profile] thenine) wrote2016-11-03 01:29 am

Applications

APPLICATIONS




Since the game is in the closing process, applications are permanently CLOSED.
Reserves are currently CLOSED.

Please be sure to review our FAQ, rules, and taken page!

Player Cap: 38/60

Please note that reserves only hold the character for you to apply with. Should all player slots be filled before the end of the scheduled application round, applications will close at that time. Due to the limited number of player slots, revision requests will be given a 24 hour window for re-submission.

To submit your application during an open round, copy and paste it directly in a comment here. If your application exceeds the character length, please only use one top-level and reply to it with as many comments as needed.

Please title your comments in the following format:

CHARACTER NAME | CANON | RESERVED/NOT RESERVED

Player



Name:

Age:

Contact:

Preferred Pronouns:

Other Characters: If this is your second character, please list your first here.

Character



Name: Please include any known aliases as well.

Age:

Memory Option: (1, 2, 3 -- see HERE for more information).

Established Status
: Y/N. If yes, please state for how long (up to five years, more information can be found here) and detail briefly what they've been doing since they've come to Overjoyed. Please note that no memory regains will be possible prior to game-start: this option is only available to allow you to better establish your character and their potential organizations/business/etc.

Canon:

Canon Point:

Citizenship: Please review the settings guide and job guide, as not all characters will have citizenship. This will be very important for plot events and will not be easily changed once accepted, so consider your options carefully.

Job: See our jobs, FAQ, and culture pages for more information. Who they work for--whether it's The Company, The RAC, or another option, will have a significant impact on their daily lives. The most important thing to bear in mind is that the job should make sense for the character--we probably wouldn't have Gundam Wing's Heero become a pastry chef (though that would be its own level of awesome), and likewise, Ash Ketchum probably isn't suited for biomedical engineering.

* Level: For characters who are applying as members of the RAC, please state the level you believe is the most logical starting point for them. Keep in mind that no one begins higher than a level 4.

Abilities: For an overview of how your character's canon powers can translate to Overjoyed, please review the FAQ, powers guide and/or hit up the brainstorming meme where a mod will be happy to work with you. In short, we will only be nerfing those abilities deemed game-breaking, but will require that magical abilities translate into more scifi iterations of themselves. Additionally, you will need to classify your abilities between minor and major and explain why you chose that classification. Minor abilities will be available from day one, but major abilities can only be regained through AC purchases.

This section should also include any standard physical or mental abilities that are noteworthy about your character.

Personality: We expect this section to be thorough and as comprehensive as possible. While we understand that the nature of an AU-bending game will skew a canon personality, we ask that you refrain from heavy use of headcanon and, in the instances where you do use it, provide your logic and reference canon to back it up. Things to consider in this section: How do they react to conflict? What are their strongest traits and their weakest points? In their worst moments, what are they like? How about when they're at their best? We want to see well-rounded characters--no one is perfect and no one is completely flawed.

CRAU: Yes or no. If yes, please provide a brief summary of the world setting they're coming from, the developments and/or formative experiences that occurred during the time they were there, and a link to the game's main navigation page.

AU History: This is the section where you will blend the world setting with your character's original history. Because we realize that this isn't the easiest task, we want to make it as painless--and as fun--as possible. If you're struggling for ideas, please don't hesitate to hit up the brainstorming meme. Your history does not need to mirror canon precisely--some things just won't translate well at all, but try to stay as true to the original path as you can. The people tasked with rewriting your character's memory would try to align it as closely to true experiences as they could.

Original History:
If canon: A wiki link is sufficient as long as it covers the pertinent details and pertains to the specific universe in which you're pulling your character from (anime, manga, game, etc).

If OC: Please provide a detailed account of their life and general world setting of their original universe. If possible, try to limit this section to no more than 1000 words, but know that this is more of a general guideline for your moderators' sanity than unbending rule (so if you feel that you need to write more to convey important details, we understand).

Inventory: Items that your character had on their person at the time of leaving their universe will be permitted, though some may change form when entering Overjoyed to suit the environment (i.e., if you had a magical pocketwatch, it would probably look slightly different now.) For application purposes, please list any items within their possession at the canon point you'll be taking them from, and describe any changes the items will undergo.

Samples: Please provide either (A) a sample written within the game verse or (B) two threads, only one of which may be network, wherein at least one is set within game verse (i.e., tdm).

Miscellaneous Notes: Is there anything you would like the mods to consider that didn't quite fit into the above sections? For original characters, please note your PB here. Otherwise, feel free to add anything pertinent that didn't quite fall into the above categories.

Template





brokeassgoing: (Default)

Badou Nails | DOGS: Bullets and Carnage | reserved

[personal profile] brokeassgoing 2017-02-04 01:06 am (UTC)(link)

Player



Name: Liz

Age: 26

Contact: gingerfarts @ plurk

Preferred Pronouns: she/her

Other Characters: none

Character



Name: Badou Nails

Age: 21

Memory Option: 1

Established Status: 2 years

Canon: DOGS: Bullets and Carnage

Canon Point: The end of chapter 101

Citizenship: Westerly

Job: Infobroker/jack of all trades/Private Investigator

* Level:
N/A

Abilities
Badou has the average strength, endurance and abilities of a normal human being since he is one 100% viable human. Despite having a long-time smokers set of lungs, he has an uncanny speed boost when it comes to running in the opposite direction of danger. Though he prefers to use his surroundings when it comes to defense and exit strategies (long winding paths through the underground, secret tunnels, an entire mahogany desk, whilst being tied up in a spinning chair he located some guns and went to town, using the spin), when Badou is put in a bind without the aid of nicotine, his marksmanship seems to improve just as his psyche snaps. The handling of his Mac 10’s becomes sharp, accurate and deadly, which puts him on the same level as his partner (who trained military style) in terms of skill.

Honing his skills of an information broker since a young age for pure survival, Badou has been able to apprehend information from gangsters (bypassing the entirety of their mob) to government secrets from before the records had been destroyed in the wars of old. How does he do this? Not regenerative zombie abilities, but secrecy, hard work, persuasion, sleuthing, and tears. Though he is more of the information sort than tech, it isn't a reach to assume he knows how to at least jurryrig some tech and and know how to work around data and its encrypted temperament.

Speaking of his breaking psyche, Badou has taken on the habit of his older brother (smoking) so well that, should he run out of cigarettes, he will snap and become completely blood thirsty to get out of said situation and return as quick as possible to find nicotine. This normally happens when he's in danger. This mode not only makes him bloodthirsty, but it also removes any inhibitors he might have had (for instance, his targets at one point, twin re-generators who were trying to kill them: he no longer pulled his punches), as well as aids his aim. Already a formidable marksman, his no-cig mode makes him a force to be reckoned with.

STRENGTHS:
• Instincts
• Determination
• Curiosity
• Intelligence
• Mouth (talking his way out of situations)
• Nicotine fits
• Homemaking (independence)
• Self-preservation
• Sleuthing
WEAKNESSES:
• Mouth (talking his way into situations)
• Low pain tolerance (whining)
• Temperament
• Depth perception + limited peripheral vision



Personality:

For a man who is so obsessed with the thought of being hard boiled that he’ll rent Mark of the Killer from the video store, at first glance you can’t really call him that. You can see him screaming and crying, flying like a bat out of hell out of a situation he’s nosed his way into, cursing and regretting it. Badou shrieks, he shits, he smokes and delivers that well needed comic relief to a gang of depressing killers. When he isn’t screaming, he’s rather aloof, laid back and jaded, nearly to the point of being apathetic. He isn’t afraid to tell it like it is, despite how untactful it may be. But he does have tact, probably. Somewhere. And that might have been it, if his screen time remains as it is. Badou is a man of a tiring regimen of contradiction: ‘save for the future’ (there is hope) in the same place as ‘the entire city is full of trash’ (acceptance that things are The Way They Are). Badou is a realist above all else.

Unlike his older brother who was always looking for a story to make it big, to break the mold, Badou knows with stunning clarity that change cannot come from one person. He lives his life desperately, from job to job and paycheck to paycheck, precisely because of this. Water is wet, crime pays, and he’s got to put food on his table. Despite how hysterical he is, he lives with realistic values: food, cigarettes, money, and emergency counter-measures. (In canon his place of residence has never been shown—now this might just be because of lack of screen time, but even Naoto’s old residence and Heine’s have been shown. Badou appears to be the type of guy who doesn’t want people knowing where he lives, and it makes sense with how many goons go after ‘Eyepatch’) He is paranoid and has lost his trust (in the way things Are that couldn’t happen to him and Dave, in the untouchableness that comes with youth, in the aftermath) in what he knows, has painted his own life over into some shadow out of necessity and yet--

A paranoid guy should probably make for a complete asshole, someone stony and stingy and cares not for anyone in this world. But Badou has clients, contacts, allies. For someone who doesn’t trust as far as he can throw someone, trusts the facts, he says, of a man who is nothing but a prickly pear: he’s only human. Of a young woman who seeks revenge and herself: can’t you do any normal girl stuff. He’s terrified of so many things, cowardly to a fault, but he isn’t terrified to know people, to read them and learn them. When he isn’t the punchline, Badou can be a downright friendly guy.

As crass and disgusting and whiny and obnoxious as he is, he has his charm. Its in the way he laughs way too loudly and talks crassly about things no one wants to hear, in the way he briskly tells Heine the kids they had freed wouldn’t have their hands held but they’d tough out the future. In the way he doesn’t sugarcoat anything. In the way he brazenly says he won’t put his nose into anyone’s business but tries so hard to steer everyone else out of the way of the underground mystery. Badou gives free candy to kids that come into his part time job with their moms for shopping, he HAS a part time job; Badou functions as a (very broken) member of society. He has carved out this future he has claimed he’s removed from his past, from the learner’s fee of his brother’s story. As a child its clear he looked up to his brother, quietly took in his lectures and (ill-advised) advice, and as an adult, he claims to be different than him. Perhaps unbeknownst to him, he’s taken on a few of Dave’s habits, such as his recklessness and impulsiveness, jobs that might get him killed, cigarettes, and being chased by goons.

Badou is a man that cannot escape the past, and though he claims otherwise (‘he was useless, I was always better without him [Dave]’ and ‘I won’t be like you’) he runs straight at it. He is a man frozen in time; he still looks for his brother though he faults him for his fall into the abyss. (He hasn't even cut his hair in 7 years, time has trapped him here) He functions and goes through the motions, creates this life, but he is still searching for answers he couldn’t grasp as a kid. He is a walking contradiction, and what he says doesn’t often match up with what he does. In these claims he often says he doesn’t take on jobs that could be dangerous and get him killed, but that’s overwhelmingly untrue—the reasoning behind these, however, isn’t to make the world a better place. He isn’t a hero and he doesn’t pretend to be. He is, however, sympathetic. More often than not the times he does ‘take out the trash’ of his city it’s by accident or via a job. He claims he isn’t looking for his brother, or revenge, but when faced with his killer he comes out guns blazing.

Comedic relief, danger zone, complete train wreck: Badou is all of these things, and definitely stupidly foolhardy, but he quickly determines wild ways to get himself out of situations. Get bombarded by goons of a wounded gangster? Kick and throw furniture on them, barring their path to his behind. Badou could have been left as comedic relief, as the occasional voice of reason and danger in the throngs of the plot, but over all else, he’s damn interesting and damnably annoying, too much to ignore. And above everything else he’s compelling. And squeezed in there: he knows things the others don't.

How this translates over to Overjoyed:
As a man already paranoid enough, the world of overjoyed makes him incredibly aware of toeing the lines of the traditional yet sometimes fragile factions of the world. He wouldn't call himself neutral, he's very self interested, but he still remains the kind of guy who, though he says he doesn't stick his nose in other people's business...still sticks it right in there. If it will bring him trouble (dissent among the RAC, pep rallies for the resistance, company sponsored bull) he's going to be dragged kicking and screaming. How do you stay neutral within all these parties including a neutral party who can't leave your ass alone? (lookin at you killjoys) He's working on it but not succeeding.

Though he is no part of the resistance, he ends up doing work for them, but he remains with a grain of trust within the ranks as someone who might be annoying but at least he gets the job done. On the other hand he can be trusted within the killjoys ranks to be a giant pain in the ass whether it be his ass with a warrant or with him as the middle man. Again, his fingers are in too many pies but he's doing his best to keep it all separate.
Edited (i'm just gonna kill myself) 2017-02-04 01:07 (UTC)
brokeassgoing: (on the job)

[personal profile] brokeassgoing 2017-02-04 01:08 am (UTC)(link)
AU History:
When a man and a woman fuck around but somehow still remain friends they somehow make two babies and work on child support-- Badou is born to an info broker mom and a questionable dad in Westerley and grows from a little guy into a slightly bigger little guy wanting nothing more than to survive and have a roof over his head. Can't survive on your dreams, unlike what his brother lectures on rooftops every other night. On a that's no moon with a scarcity of green that heals what actually ails you, Badou learns hard lessons just like any other boy: keep your head down, fight for what belongs to you until you can't or until you learn what's worth dying for (which he still has trouble with) and don't go for broke. His older brother does his best raising him when their parents inevitably fall to the wayside but he has his own dreams too. Somewhere out there someone has to care how the Company has handled a serial missing persons case from all of the planets, someone, out there, has to have some inkling as to what the government is up to-- somewhere, out there, there's a connection to soldiers in black masks seen at the scene of the crimes....Reporters have reputable sources, don't they? And the elder Nails had plenty in his little black book, ones who weren't so happy to squeal, to give him the story he wants to break to the heavens.

Ultimately the investigation into the Company, the (puppet) government, and what is suspected (and now known) to be their mysterious pet project leaves the elder Nails dead and Badou with a steep learners fee. From the tender age of 14 he raised himself, gaining odd jobs here and there in Old Town, stacking levels 2 and 3 warrants to his record as he grew, until he built up a reputation for brokering info to the highest bidder. (But never too high-- never again). He proceeds to exchange information between multiple parties-- from tunnel rats to scarbacks to killjoys-- all for a nice price. When the info isn't sweet enough he settles for investigating missing cats, cheating spouses, the like. Blackmail keeps his wallet fat and his calves trim. And when that didn't work out, he finds himself employed by a duo who would rather keep mum as the word: a scarback with a loli fetish and the queen of the Tunnels. He isn't stupid: he knows the jobs they send him on, turf wars and warrant busting, technically belong to the hard working resistance members. He's satisfied, for now, to brush off any membership to any party other than his own.

But his work with the scarback and the (not so self proclaimed) queen bring him ass to pavement with a man with one of those pasts that takes you beyond the tunnels-- to a place only rumored to be below. The scarback, Bishop, introduces him to someone who would end up being a prominent bane of his existence-- both professionally and in this clusterfuck of an adventure. Together Heine, Badou and two others with the same connection to that place, that project, kick up the dust of time and go down, down, down.

The faces of the Quad are clear cut as mud? However many faces they have at once? Not so much. From beneath them it devours.

CRAU: No.

Original History:
Between squabbling nations and the ever-present and hungry race to the top, humanity has phone lines that reach space, have been able to make ‘sex dolls’ in the form of beings with DNA spliced between animal and human, and a government whose leader they’ve never seen. Their sacrifices have been their dignity, their safety and even their children. Especially their children. In a world where power hungry, agenda fueled people have robbed the Earth of four seasons, Badou was raised presumably by his older brother Dave. Within 100 plus chapters of the manga their parents have never been mentioned, and Dave is at least eight or more years older than Badou, thus it isn’t a stretch to assume the older Nails has raised him from a young age. For many years it was just Dave and Badou, the Nails brothers; Badou can attest to more or less being responsible for both of them when it comes to the more realistic issues, from bills to household chores to sewing up underwear.

Dave was a freelance journalist who, like this brother in a few years, sniffed at trouble until it snapped back at his heels, had a knack for trouble and goon throw downs, and caged cigarettes just as badly. The two of them scrapped to get by, (Badou would later complain how Dave couldn’t even do one household chore, thus he shouldered the responsibility), riding on the coattails of the justice Dave would discover in that seedy city. Badou, like many young boys in the face of an older, cool sibling, followed at Dave’s heels and picked up many’a thing about the city he ran around in. When Dave discovered too much in the serial missing person’s case (strange soldiers dressed in black who wielded katanas were seen in the area at the time of each crime) he was murdered. Badou in turn received a very steep learners fee in the form of the scar on his right hand and the removal of his right eye.

That was 7 years pre-canon, and in that time he’s had to fend for himself. He’s made a reputation for himself not just as an information broker for the highest bidder, but also as a private investigator and hired gun. Despite his efforts to stay away from cases and information that could get him killed again, Badou finds himself drawn into the underground, a rumored ‘underneath the underneath’. Beneath this city lies a deeper, much darker swirl of political sandtraps, a genetically engineered kindergarten of children forced to kill and never to die, the laughter of one mad, mad woman, and most importantly, the answers Badou is looking for. Too bad for him he’s once again bitten off more than he can chew. The good news is, this time he isn’t alone: he’s got a crew, tangled together in this web, who are good at taking on the leftovers.


Inventory:
[2] Mac 10s
[7] Cigarette packs
[3] Plastic lighters
[1] Camera
[2] Hip holsters
[1] Hunting knife
[4] Ammo cartridges

Samples: TDM
Toplevel TDM
something action-y from a different game
If this isn't enough I can write out another sample it's no biggie!

Miscellaneous Notes:

I got a big nothing captain.
joyriding: (Default)

Neal Caffrey | White Collar | Reserved

[personal profile] joyriding 2017-02-04 01:09 am (UTC)(link)

Player



Name: Caten

Age: 29

Contact: [plurk.com profile] vikinged

Preferred Pronouns: they/them

Character



Name:
Goes by: Neal Caffrey
Full name: Neal George Caffrey
Born: Neal George Bennet
Name in witsec: Danny Brooks
Other known aliases: George Devore, George Danvery, George Donnelly, Nicholas "Nick" Halden, Dr. Leonard Parker, Steve Tabernackle, Benjamin Cooper, Gary Rydell, Victor Moreau, Chris Gates, James Maine, Neal Armstrong, Neal Craig, Neal Mcalli, William Grey... the list goes on.

Age: 28

Memory Option: 2, full AU

Established Status: full five years

Canon: White Collar

Canon Point: After 'The Burke Seven' in s2.

Citizenship: Killjoy, so none

Job: Killjoy

* Level: 3


Abilities: Neal has episodic skillsets, depending on what's needed for a case or what the writers though would be awesome to include in an episode. Which means that after six seasons, the list of what Neal can do is getting a little ridiculous. But here's an overview of the most important ones:

General forgery: Neal is capable of forging paintings, sculptures (clay and marble, at least), booze, diamonds, rubies, stamps, bearer bonds, signatures, IDs, even a dinosaur egg once.
Escape artistry: He can escape most bonds, handcuffs, etc., either through picking the lock or slipping free.
Breaking and entering: Including bypassing alarms, etc.
Con artistry: He's a very capable liar, and is very good at pretending to be other people, and making someone do what he wants. He invents aliases for himself on the spot.
Surveillance and counter surveillance: How to learn about your mark and avoid being caught by the FBI, all in one fell swoop!
Base jumping: Also rappelling, and similar skill sets. No fear of heights detected.
Languages: He speaks eight!
Pickpocketing.
Firearms.
Fencing.
Defusing bombs.

Personality: When Neal was finally captured by Peter Burke, he was charged with everything from theft to various schemes and cons, his specialty being art forgeries. Hundreds of crimes were tied to his name, even if a lot of those were only rumors. And in the end, only a single charge actually stuck.

Neal is good at what he does. He's highly intelligent, and he's also charming, friendly, disarming when he wants to be and challenging when that suits his needs. He's a con man through and through, someone who has made himself multiple aliases, both for the purpose of his cons and in order to evade arrest. His facade is flawless, and he always knows the right angle to play in order to get what he wants-

Or so say the people who don't know him all that well.

When we first meet Neal, he's hatched a plan to escape prison, which really just involves walking straight out of there, wearing a guard's uniform and his veneer of confidence. And it works, but the fact is he's only got three months left on his sentence. It's not the best time to plan an escape, when a little bit of patience would mean he could walk out of there, free to start over. But Neal Caffrey is entirely ruled by his heart. His girlfriend broke up with him suddenly, and he needed to talk to her to find out why, and to see if he could fix it. And for that, he got his sentence extended for another four years.

And that's Neal. He says image is everything, and he'll dress himself up in $10k suits and a bright smile, facing the world like he's got nothing to fear, but the truth is it's all about the people. He'd do anything for his girlfriend, even after she dumps him (twice). He'd do anything for his friends, and it's notable that whenever someone complains about a problem, his first response is always "what can I do?" Even if it might get him into trouble, even if he'll be arrested or even if it means risking his other friendships. He's always there for those he cares about.

And the other reason he's so willing to do those things is that he never considers potential consequences. He can hatch absolutely ingenious plans for stealing artwork, but the truth is his mind is always on his target and to him those complicated plans are still the easiest solution for getting from point A to point Z. He'll dismiss the things that can go wrong, because you can't make it as a conman if you're not prepared to take a few risks. Risks are fun. If he has to jump off tall buildings to escape, then so be it, he's done it before and it went okay then.

He's also single-minded with his plans, and if any emotions are involved that only strengthens those tendencies. Obviously his plans are always the best ones (his confidence isn't faked), and anyone trying to suggest a different plan will be shot down or ignored. And if the suggested alternative would be slower on top of that, he acts as if that means that plan won't even work at all. That taking the safe route is somehow risking everything.

(Of course, the FBI has been known to give him time limits when his position with them is getting a little rocky: solve this crime within a week or you're back in prison. It's understandable if he gets a little impatient then.)

Neal has survived because he's smart, but also because he's lucky - a luck which inevitably turns on him. And he's composed up until the second where he's completely falling apart. That's Neal: Either/or, always.

But he's a good friend, and fun to hang out with. He likes giving gifts and showing off, he'll pour your favorite drink if you need the company and he'll keep his distance if he senses you want some space. He likes to tease and joke and bicker, more than anything. He rarely gets angry - it takes something big for that, and he usually lets it go again fairly quickly. If he doesn't, that's actually a fairly huge sign of trust.

And speaking of trust: If you're Peter, then forget about his perfect façade. He picks his pockets just to show off, and is disappointed if he isn't caught. He shows up at his house unannounced, inviting himself to breakfast, which means leaving his radius - him going there sets off all sorts of alarms; he doesn't care. It's about attention, because Peter is someone he respects, someone he wants to be friends and partners with, and clearly this is the way to go about that. But thankfully, that kind of behavior is saved mostly for the lucky agent who caught him. Twice. He can consider it an unexpected bonus.
joyriding: (003)

[personal profile] joyriding 2017-02-04 01:09 am (UTC)(link)
AU History: This is the story Neal was told growing up: His father was from Leith, and worked for the Company. However, when the Company decided to take on a smuggling ring, Neal's father ended up in the line of fire, and was killed by the criminals he was going after. Unfortunately, since the smuggling ring was still active, Neal and his mother, as well as his father's old partner, all had to flee the system.

Neal grew up in a completely different part of the Jay, dreaming of one day returning to the Quad. He didn't remember anything about it, as he'd only been three years old when they left, but his fantasies were all about joining the Company himself and taking down the very same smuggling ring his father had been after. He studied hard as a kid and as a teenager for that purpose, even went so far as to teach himself how to use firearms so he'd be prepared for one day facing criminals head on.

When Neal turned eighteen years old, and had plans to head immediately for the Quad, his father's old partner decided he deserved to hear the truth: His father hadn't been caught in the crossfire - in fact, he wasn't even dead, although she didn't know what had happened to him in the end. They'd had to flee because his father had betrayed the Company, working alongside those smugglers and helping them evade Company guards. After he'd been caught, he'd sold out the smuggling ring in order to save his own ass, and managed to make enemies of everyone. That's why they'd had to flee.

Neal took learning the truth about his father with his usual grace: he ran away from home, and hasn't been in contact with them since. Because reaching out would mean having to deal with the truth, and that's just not something that happens in the world of Neal Caffrey.

His plans of joining the Company were also forgotten. Instead he found himself relying on his many skillsets to survive, and found that he was also really good at it. At least, when it came to using those skillsets to break the law. So he started stealing his way across the Jay, forging invaluable artworks and selling them as real, picking up statues in one system and fencing them in the next. He made himself multiple aliases, and got himself a bit of a reputation, though no law enforcement agency managed to even get a confirmed picture of him.

That is, until he made his way to the Quad after all. It's a mystery why he decided to go where his family was so despised, although some rumours say he was chasing after a girlfriend. In the end, though, he liked it there, and gradually made the system his home base.

Early on during his time in the Quad, he made it into the radar of one Peter Burke, killjoy and professional ruiner of Neal's fun. Actually, Neal put himself on his radar by introducing himself to him - mentioning nothing of his criminal activities of course, and there wasn't a warrant out on him yet, so the risk was small. But as it turns out, Peter would be the one to eventually connect his many thefts back to him. He linked the crimes together, and started taking on warrants to recover what Neal had stolen, and eventually was able to prove who was behind these crimes (for an extra bonus).

With a warrant officially out on him, Neal had to start being more careful. In theory. He saw it as a challenge, enjoying the chase, Peter always just a few steps behind him. He even kept in touch, sending him birthday cards, a nice bottle of hokk, and making sure to only ever call to chat when he knew he'd be waking Peter up.

Eventually Neal's luck ran out, though. He did some work for a group of criminals, but because Peter was catching up to him he was unable to finish the job. These criminals weren't too happy with him, and in desperation Neal called Peter to make him catch the group instead. He did, but he also caught Neal.

Neal was sent to Westhole prison, where he immediately started planning his escape. Fortunately for him, though, he'd grown on Peter. And Peter was worried about what a long stay in prison would do to someone like Neal. He started cashing in favors, using every connection he had, trying to get them to agree to release Neal into his custody instead. He fought for Neal's chance to redeem himself, and prove he could be helpful to the Quad as a hole. And it helped that while Neal had robbed half the galaxy blind, he'd also made friends with the other half. Some very important people were fond of him.

The deal went through. If he proved useful and was willing to do a lot of favors for the Company, they'd agree to release him. And so Neal was handed over to Peter, but with very strict conditions as to what would happen to both of them should Neal return to his life of crime.

It took some time for Neal to "prove himself" and work off the contract he had become bound by. But he liked working with Peter even more than he'd liked being chased by him, and the two of them proved to be a good team. And a year later Neal was given permission to rip up those papers (which he did, literally and dramatically), and do what he wanted with his life.

A week or so later, he became a Killjoy.

CRAU: n/a

Original History: his wikipedia entry

Inventory: A set of lockpicks, a sketchpad and a few pencils. His bespoke suit turned into something equally impressive and tailored, but in a style that actually makes sense in this universe.

Samples: one & two
Miscellaneous Notes:

Peter Burke | White Collar | Reserved

[personal profile] gauntlet 2017-02-04 01:10 am (UTC)(link)




Player



Name: Lynn

Age: 21+

Contact: PM this journal, please!

Preferred Pronouns: She/her etc

Character



Name: Peter Burke

Age: 43

Memory Option: 1 (Deteriorating AU, with the caveat that I'll probably only use the memory regain option to facilitate easier integration for anyone else apping from from White Collar.)

Established Status: Yep! The whooooole five years.  I'd like for his (canon) FBI experience to make it possible for him to test into level 4 of the RAC, but whatever the mods think is appropriate for him is fine!  Either way he's spent the last five years pretty comparably to how he does in canon; being totally played by Neal Caffrey, pursuing Neal Caffrey with a vengeance, finally catching the little shit, and forming the Jay's most unlikely partnership.

....so generally, he's spent that time eating, sleeping, and breathing Reclamation Agentness, gaining a reputation for being both very, very good, and very, very boring.  As boring as you can possibly be in this universe.

Canon: White Collar (2009-2014 television show)

Canon Point: Immediately following 2x10 "Burke's Seven"; Peter has just been reinstated with the FBI after disproving false allegations of his involvement in like, so much murder. 

Citizenship: Authorized non-citizen

Job: RAC Agent

* Level: 4

Abilities: Peter's canon hews as closely to "reality" as possible; he has no superpowers or special abilities beyond those accrued by training and experience.  That said an extensive career with the FBI means he is highly proficient in the following areas, which, I am assuming - please correct me if I'm wrong! - all qualify as passive, being practical, possible abilities that don't involve breathing fire and aren't canon specific.

ATHLETICISM |  Beyond the specifications he's required to meet to pass his career physical, Peter was at one point skilled enough to be recruited into professional sports; he can manipulate his own body weight, run long distances, leap moderately high walls in a single bound if he, you know, backs up a lot, and for some barely defined reason ride a horse and tango!.  (Because Tim DeKay can and when you have that shit available on a show you should use it, that's why.)

ARREST/CONTROL TACTICS: More centered around restraint without injury for either party than combat with the aim to cripple an opponent, but 300% useful for chasing down a fleeing target, especially when the warrant level dictates they be taken alive.  He's also trained as a boxer, although most of his experience in unarmed fighting came from experience in the Quad, not his previous life.

FIREARMS | FBI qualifications require an 80% success rate of fire (all draws from concealment) from varying distances, meaning 48 or better out of 60; Peter has given instructional courses, which demands at least 90% (54).  In Overjoyed this will be just slightly modified to give him a broad understanding of the Quad's weaponry as is appropriate.   

INTERROGATION/INTEL GATHERING | By nature Peter is pretty reserved, but he's skilled in talking to people when it counts: asking the right questions, conveying a sense of trustworthiness, etc.  That's the preferential alternative before any actual interrogation is required, but he's had training in that too.  

INVESTIGATION | Includes but is not limited to: pattern recognition and tracking, criminal profiling, critical reasoning, and basic forensic science and psychology.

Personality:

"There's a right way to do things and a wrong way.  [Justice] is restoring order, not furthering chaos."  

Unsurprisingly for someone whose real memories are of the FBI, Peter is primarily motivated by the restoration and maintenance of order in society.  He's staunchly selective about the warrants he'll take; if he believes they're for selfish or just, you know, shady purposes, odds are he'll avoid that client.  This means he doesn't take many Company jobs, and while that may not make him the belle of the popularity ball, it also means he can sleep at night; it's easy to see which of those are his top priority.  The RAC's purpose is, for him, the closest thing to law enforcement the Quad has, and lawfulness should serve the body it governs.  Warrants don't always bring justice, but they're a start, and Peter believes internal changes within a corrupt system will only succeed on a long term basis by replacing them with a better alternative.

"Real love is fighting like hell to hold on to every moment you have with her. It’s making a life together and making it work no matter what happens."

When a person's moral code is that important to them, it's also unsurprising they'll cling to it with everything they've got, and by extension Peter approaches his whole life that way.  He's tenacious in his personal relationships, won't give up on a case at work long past the point where anyone else would concede defeat, and works at skills until he excels.  It makes him a good friend and a good partner, willing to sort through conflict before grievances can build up and make things more difficult to deal with later.

Peter: I'm calling a truce. I may have rushed to judgment.
Neal: You had judgment on speed dial.


While that stubbornness brings out some of Peter's best qualities, it can also make him afraid to try new ideas, or give up on tried-and-true strategies that just won't work under the special circumstances his canon often hurls him into without such as a by your leave.  He fights Neal's unorthodox methodology until it's clearly successful, and considering how frequently that happens, takes a ridiculously long amount of time to give him slightly more latitude.  Working with Neal has made him relax his strictures a little in that capacity, especially when his wife or co-workers support those ideas.  Obviously in canon he won't have had that to rely on, but Neal also had much more of a blank slate to prove himself, so it's effectively six of one, half a dozen of the other.

On the other hand, when he's wrong he's willing to admit it!  Even if it's hedging like in the above quote, he's self-analytical and reflective enough - and focused on wanting to excel - to examine his mistakes and learn from them.

"Amazing what someone will say when they don't think that you speak the language, isn't it?  Let's see what they were saying behind the back of the bumbling FBI agent."

A further example of self-awareness: Peter is fully cognizant that his simple tastes (he genuinely loves deviled ham and I am sorry), plain way of speaking and straight-forwardness can come off as ~bumbling, but he's made that work for him by playing up the "aw shucks, pardner" presentation of his personality when someone underestimating him is to his advantage.  But underneath the folksiness is a dude whose accounting degree earned him offers from several Fortune 500 companies, so he's not exactly a slouch in the brainiac department.  You could actually go so far as to say he is, in fact, a giant nerd, considering how much his childhood loves for dinosaurs and space and, you know, stamp collecting, still make him giddy as an adult.  He's a big believer in science, wants his explanations rational and backed up with evidence, making him at best an atheist-leaning agnostic; he's too reserved to voice that opinion to anyone he doesn't know well (...also that's just not a very smart idea and we just spent a paragraph talking about how Peter is bright), but when he's comfortable enough he'll demonstrate skepticism on a level that finds the idea of faith in an invisible guy in the sky antiquated and quaint.

Taking this analytical approach into the rest of his life as well, he prefers to problem solve with Reason, often allowing him to deescalate what could be potentially violent situations on the job before they can really start.  As mentioned in Abilities he has enough skill with people to appeal to what is important to them and present it as a reason not to, say, shoot the FBI agent they, and by they we mean Neal, have faced down with an ancient pistol that would probably explode if fired.  

On the other hand, of course, as is not uncommon with the calm, cool and tightly overwound, when a loved one is threatened that rational approach becomes very difficult to maintain a grip on; Peter's temper very rarely gets the better of him, but when it does there's kind of a terrifying guy under there!

Overall, the Peter most people will interact with is more reserved than engaging, but generally agreeable and sometimes the spouter of truly terrible puns, and all-around everything he presents himself to be: the homegrown American (....if there was an America, canonically) blue collar Joe, who likes baseball and eats cereal for breakfast and is just a little mistrustful of the overly fancy, though uh.  Fortunately this version of blue collar does not come with barrels of racism etc, because that would be gross and I would be playing a different character.  It's not easy to gain his loyalty, but once a person does they have it for life; he'll go to bat for you and he will swing for the fences.

I'd like to note I am very proud of myself for concluding this with a baseball metaphor.

[personal profile] gauntlet 2017-02-04 01:11 am (UTC)(link)
AU History: Peter was born on Leith, and raised in that generally pastoral setting, learning mostly farm related work as he grew up.  It was pretty clear early on that that wasn't where his passion was going to be, though, and his parents were understanding enough that he wasn't like, shackled to their little plot of land.  His initial plan was to take skills accrued in accounting and go to work for the Company, a job that would have been both lucrative and safe, but also one he knew he would stagnate in quickly.  He wanted to do something that effectively made the world a better, safer place; while not all jobs RAC agents were offered fell under that description, the idea of being able to choose his own warrants sold it to him.

He tested in at level 4; he was athletic and knew enough about weapons training from that whole pastoral thing (as is demonstrated to us by the Special Purity Sisters), and honestly--level 4 is where he's happy.  As dedicated as he became to the job he could have made level 5 an eventual goal, but he's almost completely uninterested in taking kill warrants.  So instead his immediate aim became being the best level 4 he could possibly be, and considering he was doing absolutely nothing else with his life, that was a pretty successful endeavor.

That's not to say he didn't have friends, generally other RAC agents, but the job always came first--here is your personification of the warrant is all, bros.  He was picky as shit about what and who he'd work for, and while that meant he didn't necessarily make as much money as some of his fellows, it also meant he was doing work that made him happy and gave him purpose.

Then, as it was written in the scripture, Neal Caffrey happened to him.  His player was nice enough to let me nick this bit, so I'm not just ...a hundred percent regurgitating what they already wrote.

"Early on during his time in the Quad, he made it into the radar of one Peter Burke, killjoy and professional ruiner of Neal's fun. Actually, Neal put himself on his radar by introducing himself to him - mentioning nothing of his criminal activities of course, and there wasn't a warrant out on him yet, so the risk was small. But as it turns out, Peter would be the one to eventually connect his many thefts back to him. He linked the crimes together, and started taking on warrants to recover what Neal had stolen, and eventually was able to prove who was behind these crimes (for an extra bonus).

With a warrant officially out on him, Neal had to start being more careful. In theory. He saw it as a challenge, enjoying the chase, Peter always just a few steps behind him. He even kept in touch, sending him birthday cards, a nice bottle of hokk, and making sure to only ever call to chat when he knew he'd be waking Peter up.

Eventually Neal's luck ran out, though. He did some work for a group of criminals, but because Peter was catching up to him he was unable to finish the job. These criminals weren't too happy with him, and in desperation Neal called Peter to make him catch the group instead. He did, but he also caught Neal."

When Neal was sent to Westhole it might have bothered Peter more than he thought it would, but--that was how things worked.  He hadn't been inside very long when Peter came to visit him, and it turned out Neal already had a plan for his release, which was entirely unsurprising; if nothing else Peter had learned Neal always had a back-up.  The idea was this: a flagship program where criminals with special skills could work with professionals, getting time off their sentence based on how useful they could be.  If the program failed, no one lost except the prisoner--but if it was successful, the Company could claim it as their invention, and in theory make it quite profitable.  

Peter was not terrifically sure about this.  But he also wasn't sure someone like Neal would survive hard labor, and sometime during their magical game of cat and incredibly smartass mouse, he found he'd started to like the little shit, so--he took the risk.  Their partnership was initially quite a rocky thing, for basically everything I said in personality up yonder; speaking of risk Neal wanted to take approximately all of them, while Peter preferred caution up to the point where it became necessary to discard.  Neal claimed to also prefer this, they just uh.  Vastly, vastly disagreed on where those points fell.

But it couldn't be denied that Neal's knowledge base and skills made him an asset as a teammate, and after a year it was deemed he be essentially released.  He's still officially Peter's responsibility, and will definitely catch hells if Neal returns to his ~criminal ways, but for now - and foreseeably ever - they've made it work.

CRAU: Nope!

Original History: Peter at the White Collar Wiki

Inventory: Glock 19 9mm, concealed carry shoulder holster w/ mag pouch; I would imagine the holster can stay the same while the gun is replaced with something more canon compliant?  Whatever is the Basic Handgun equivalent.  Other than that everything he'd have on him is pretty average Guy Who Works in An Office--suit Neal disapproves of, car keys, wallet, briefcase with case files, etc.  

Samples:

#1: with Neal
#2: with Steph Brown

Miscellaneous Notes: White Collar, a summary in two gifs:

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Juvia Lockser | Fairy Tail | Reserved

[personal profile] lacuscular 2017-02-04 02:29 am (UTC)(link)

Player



Name: Lili

Age: 20

Contact: PM this account or [plurk.com profile] enoshima

Preferred Pronouns: She/Her

Other Characters: N/A

Character



Name: Juvia Lockser

Age: 18, 21 in game (+3 in game years)

Memory Option: Full AU, Deteriorating

Established Status: 3 years

Canon: Fairy Tail

Canon Point: CH 499

Citizenship: Westerly

Job: Company Enforcer
lacuscular: <user name=sasscons> (Default)

[personal profile] lacuscular 2017-02-04 02:31 am (UTC)(link)
Abilities
In canon, Juvia is a water mage. Rather than physically fighting, she relies heavily on her water magic to protect her. From birth, she has been given the abilities to manipulate and conjure water from the environment and within herself, using it both as a defense and an offense. Her emotions also can amplify the intensity/strength of her powers. If she feels an emotion strongly enough, her water will be affected by it as well (rage - water will be searing hot, etc). Juvia, for the most part, uses a variety of spells in canon, with the most recognized ones being

MAJOR
Sierra: A full body transformation resembling Water Body, used by Juvia in a state of strong agitation or other influencing emotion (e.g. jealousy or rage). Her strong emotions cause her full body transformation to heat up/boil.
Water Jigsaw: Juvia may transform her body into a rapidly spinning cone, which is surrounded by a swirling mass of blades. The blade's properties resemble Water Slicer. It is a short-ranged attack directed against a single opponent.
Water Lock: Juvia has the ability to materialize a large circular mass of water, and unlike the Water Dome, it contains no oxygen inside. This spell is used to capture enemies and incapacitate them by suffocation.
Water Cyclone: Juvia casts a whirling torrent of water which resembles a cyclone.
Water Nebula: The creation of two columns of water, which rotate around each other and forms a helix that pushes the opponent with huge force, causing massive damage. It is used primarily for long distance attacks against a single opponent.
MINOR
Water Dome: A large dome made ​​of water that can camouflage with the ocean. The size can be modified for individual use or to contain a group, and the structure is able to float on water.
Water Slicer: Juvia creates a single wave of multiple blades that resemble scythes, typically used as projectiles.
Water Cane: Juvia creates a whip-like structure made ​​of water, used like a whip, usually being an extension of her own hand.
Water Claw: An attack where Juvia slashes with her water-covered hands, creating a torrent of water that engulfs her target.
Water Bubbles: Bubbles of water which can be used as containers that stores oxygen. This can be worn by different users and the bubble size is modified according to Juvia's will.
PASSIVE
Water Body: A spell that Juvia keeps consistently going throughout the series, letting her body and clothes materialize at will.

But because magic isn't a thing here, Juvia will have enhancements that she's received throughout the years of doing dirty work before joining the Company, and liquid based programmable matter. The programmable matter will act as a way to gather 'ammo' for her equipment-- essentially sucking the moisture out of the air or any of its surroundings, with the equipment being the way for her to control it.

The equipment, in question, will be her clothes made of the matter. They'll be designed to act as a medium between the two, with the articles in question transforming into the water she will use to fight. Juvia will already have a pair of gloves, boots, and her hat to start off, with the potential of more clothes being added in the future. Rather than individual spells like in canon, her abilities would be as follows:
◾ Being able to form weapons out of water (Water Slicer, Water Cane).
◾ Creating bubbles of water to attack with, or alternatively use to trap people with abundance or lack of oxygen (Water Lock, Water Dome).
◾ Creating swirling, torrents of water (Water Cyclone, Water Nebula).
◾ Encasing water around her hand to 'claw' at her opponents (Water Claw).

Personality:
Underneath her cold exterior, Juvia is a very warm person. She has the capacity to care for people to often extreme levels, with her feelings being the driving factor to just about everything she's done in her life. Juvia is a person that is easily influenced by her emotions, so much that she will throw any kind of rationality to the window to follow what her heart tells her to do. Even if it means throwing a fight to capture her true love, or showing off her skills just to capture someone's attention, it doesn't matter.

And she is, by heart, a people pleaser. Juvia likes to help anyone that cares for her, or anyone who shows her some time of day. Being isolated for most of her life, she appreciates any type of interaction given to her. Despite that appreciation, there is always that lingering paranoia-- that suspicion she has for just about anyone who talks to her or even looks at her without a direct connection within her life. Because of the constant teasing and comments from peers throughout her childhood, she finds it directly hard to trust anyone. And even with carrying the fearsome reputation of 'Juvia the Rain Woman', Juvia actually has the tendency to jump to conclusions. Extreme conclusions. Conclusions that tend to end up with her assuming people are trying to trick her, or have some ulterior motive to even speaking to her. Even times where her lack of knowledge of how the real world functions (outside of shady organizations), limits her ability to socialize. There are some foods she doesn't know how to eat properly without struggling.. Some things that she doesn't necessarily draw connections to (i.e. two guys fighting over her?? they're obviously in love with each other) even if it's obvious to everyone else what's going on.

For Juvia, she likes to focus on one thing at a time. It's a better method for her in terms of working, especially considering how stubborn she is. She's the type of person where once she starts something, she has to see it through, no matter what. The type of person that will stubbornly follow someone that she loves until they love her back for months on end. Persistent enough to fight off people she thinks are her ''rivals'' in love just to establish her place as #1 Girlfriend. She has the (obvious) capacity to be obsessive, to the point where if there was someone she liked-- she'd make dolls of them. Pillows, blankets, life-sized replcias.. even towels with their faces on it. With someone she's romantically interested in, she becomes insufferably bold. So much that she'll proclaim her love at every second-- being the direct opposite of how she usually presents herself. All because, in that person, Juvia sees her happiness reflected in them, rather in the actions she does herself.

The recipient of this affection, in canon, is Gray Fullbuster. The person to show her what it truly means to live and who granted her the ability to see the sun for the first time in her life. He broke her out of her non-stop pessimism and gloom, essentially giving her purpose to do better with her life and to win him over. Juvia's desire to be loved, and naturally obsessive behavior, is the driving force behind her continually chasing Gray despite being rejected time and time again. She clings onto the belief that he will return her affections some day, so long as she keeps molding herself into the type of girl she think he'll like. Juvia, even with pure intentions, will often times resort to extremes to get something if she desperately wants it. And while she started off with just loving him for his muscles, she grew to adore his personality and weird quirks, even adapting them to become closer to him. She makes lunches for him, pastries, takes care of him-- wanting to live the dream of being his Housewife literally for the rest of her life.

Even with pushing herself onto him, she is aware that she can be a bit of a problem for someone if she continually imposes herself on them. She's brought it up to Gray many times in canon, only to end with him reassuring her that he doesn't mind, bringing her hopes to an all new high. Even though it was his magic and muscles she loved at first, the longer she's with him, the more compassionate and understanding she became, wanting to put his happiness before his and expressing concern for both him and their friends. To throw her life on the line for him, and other's. She cares a lot about the people she deems important, enough to where she would sacrifice herself in battle if it means protecting the other party. Something she did for Gray when she was pitted against him in a battle to the death, all because she couldn't bear hurting him. Juvia does this multiple times with many guild members of Fairy Tail as well, purposely limiting herself so that she can properly protect her family. Her ability to care about others, and how far it goes, is her ultimate downfall, with it being used by many enemies.

Loyalty is something that Juvia takes very seriously. She feels indebted to those that are willing to take her in and give her a home among them, skewing her vision towards people she may see as enemies. While she's typically neutral towards most, if a Guild she feels loyal to wants her to go out on a mission to defeat someone, she will readily do it with little regard for the other party unless they really pose a threat. Morally, it's only after she joins Fairy Tail that she starts to feel any type of remorse for behavior like that, refraining from it in the future as to now 'let down' her Guild. She tends to reflect and change herself to properly fit into whatever environment she's in, wanting to be accepted as quickly as possible. If there's anyone she perceives as a threat to either herself, or the faction she stands for, she will have no hesitation in fighting them. Juvia is stubborn in many ways, but especially if it means hurting her friends. She'll refuse to die, lay a hand on them, or put them in a position where they'd get hurt. She would harm herself before having to do the same to a friend. She is supportive, being there as much as she can for the people who have made themselves present in her life.

While she isn't good at talking, Juvia is very empathetic. Without being aware of it or not, Juvia tries to relate to other's as much as she can. Even if she's suspicious of someone, if they're in trouble or feeling odd, she'll go through the effort of finding out what's wrong. Having been in a perpetually bad mood throughout her life, she understands the affect emotional turmoil can have on someone, thus willing to expend her own time and effort into understanding someone. And despite how downtrodden she naturally is, she is always polite to anyone she meets and attempts to be as kind as she possibly can. Even with making her agenda directly fixed around Gray and everything that he does, she makes it a point to say hi to people within the Guild. Juvia's circle of friends outside of them being associated with Gray consists of exactly one person, even with knowing so many members.

With limited interaction with normal people that aren't affiliated with shady organizations or Fairy Tail, Juvia becomes very shy and painfully awkward. Because of this lack of experience, combined with low self-esteem from her generally gloomy atmosphere, she is easily influenced by the opinions of others. She desires acceptance from her peers, a group to belong to, and someone to sate her desperate desire to be loved. While it may not show directly, its always going to be her actions that will be a response to what she's heard (making dolls to ward off rain because of kids teasing her, etc). Juvia, many times, puts herself down for her faults and inability to create a better life for herself.
Edited 2017-02-04 05:25 (UTC)

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genji shimada | overwatch | reserved

[personal profile] instalock 2017-02-04 02:45 am (UTC)(link)

Player



Name: rie

Age: 26

Contact: [plurk.com profile] fleeting

Preferred Pronouns: she/her

Other Characters: N/A

Character



Name: Genji Shimada

Age: 35

Memory Option: 1, deteriorating AU.

Established Status: 4 years.

Canon: Overwatch

Canon Point: post-Dragons short

Citizenship: None. (former Qreshi, assumed dead)

Job: He technically doesn't exist, so I'd say "none". Works for the Resistance in a multitude of capacities. He runs a ramshackle bar called The Sparrow's Nest in Old Town which is actually a Resistance cell meeting point, but the bar is registered under someone else's name.
instalock: (Default)

genji shimada | overwatch | reserved

[personal profile] instalock 2017-02-04 02:46 am (UTC)(link)
Abilities:
Minor
He was trained at length in swordplay as a child, and took to it like a fish in water. When he "died" and was brought back to life by hack-mods, his augmented reflexes have made him a deadly opponent on the battlefield. He can scale walls of great heights, dash across short distances at inhuman speeds, and ninja his way into hard-to-reach areas.

His coordination is such that he can deflect bullets out of the air with his short sword/wakizashi.

Given his upbringing, he likely trained with a number of different weapons, but his mainstays are his tachi/dragonblade, his wakizashi, and his arsenal of shuriken. He's not a strength-based brawler; he's the type to dart in, kill off his enemies before they can react, and dart back out (in gaming speak, he's the DPS flanker meant to target squishies). He can hold his own due to his skill with his sword and his speed/agility, but his preference is to follow the ninja way™.

Major
He can summon a spirit dragon after a period of intense concentration. Its existence is tied to his bloodline ("Only a Shimada can control the dragons"); it affords him augmented strength and speed for a short period of time. That said, as discussed with the mods on Hanzo's brainstorming post, in game they'll only be aesthetic projections.


Personality:
Genji's story is the sort of cautionary tale that Yakuza leaders tell their children at night. Live too hard, love too carelessly, and you'll find yourself dead by your own lack of fortitude.

He was a playboy. Dyed his hair lurid green, spent his days sleeping through Hanamura and beating all the high scores in the local arcade. His family, the Shimada clan, represented a curious meeting of the old and the new - though traditional values were emphasized, their business relied on the lack of traditional values in all others. The modern bushido, footnotes scrawled in blood. Genji had little care for his family's dark dealings: as the younger of two sons, he was not subject to the same expectations that his elder brother, Hanzo, faced.

He felt little remorse at the unbalanced state of affairs. Naturally brilliant in swordplay, charismatic, handsome, likable — these were all traits that Genji knew he possessed. And he wielded them all with astonishing skill.

It took his father's death and his brother's subsequent stumbling fall to put him to rights. Hanzo, urged by the clan to blot the stain of Genji's existence, has no choice but to do so.

Overwatch saves Genji. He remains with the group for several years, but Genji himself has changed too severely to revel in the camaraderie of a new family. His brush with death had only been skirted by an Overwatch doctor's brilliance: he emerges as a monster half-man and half-machine, everything that his family's prejudice had taught him to hate. When he leaves Overwatch, he leaves a bitter, half-wrought shell of the bright young man he once was. He wanders without motive for months, eventually finding himself in Nepal; there, a friendly omnic monk named Zenyatta takes him under mentorship.

Genji, stubborn as always, initially does not take well to Zenyatta's teachings. He is too angry and too hurt to think of accepting what he has become. It takes years of patience and friendship for Genji to embrace the ideals of harmony and balance that Zenyatta bestows upon him, but the payoff is obvious: he returns to Overwatch a different man.

The Genji of the present has regained much of the confidence of his youth, tempered now with forbearance and wisdom. He is friendly with many of the Overwatch members, though not overly so; his early days amongst them were likely rife with tension, and it will take time for Genji to reach the place of tranquility to which Zenyatta had sought to guide him. He can freely joke about his appearance if prompted, but he still has a great deal of shame holding him back from self-acceptance. He speaks often of feeling like an outcast, even in the Nepali hills amongst Zenyatta and his omnic brothers.

Even so, his inner turmoil is kept sealed tight within his heart, shared only with Zenyatta. He has calmed, he has gentled, he has forgiven his brother. He laughs easily. He retains his cockiness when thrown into mission after mission. He chuckles when he passes a ramen stall that he'd frequented as a young man, though his changed physiology has made the experience impossible to replicate. He has a sharp tongue when provoked, but even then he remains in the playful shallows of insult.

To expand upon his reconciliation with his brother - Genji approaches after ten years of distance, offering a hand in forgiveness and urging Hanzo to join Overwatch. Genji's demeanor during the fight-cum-conversation is calm and unaffected, warmth surfacing only in his parting remarks. But a visit to Genji's room in Nepal reveals a shrine to their shared childhood: a painting of the Shimada dragons, a lone picture of the brothers in their youth. His ceremonial garb, a fraternal twin to the garment Hanzo owns, stands proudly in the middle of the room. Genji loves his brother deeply despite the ills that have befallen him — the act of forgiving the ultimate betrayal says much about the sort of man that Genji has become.

Forgive, because we only have power over our own hands. Forget, because a sweeter future deserves more contemplation than their bitter past.

All in all, Genji can best be summed up in a few words: cocky, energetic, well-meaning. His training with Zenyatta helped a shadowed young man staunch his fears of stepping into the light.

He also has a really nice ass.

kirkwalled: (Default)

marian hawke | dragon age | reserved

[personal profile] kirkwalled 2017-02-04 03:29 am (UTC)(link)

Player



Name: Squee

Age: 23

Contact: [plurk.com profile] claptrap / chinhands (aim) / bonerfart#6874 (discord)

Preferred Pronouns: She/Her

Character



Name: Marian Hawke

Age: 35ish, most likely!

Memory Option: 1!

Established Status: Yes! She'll have her AU memories though more clearly are the ones of her past five years in the Quad. Just a sort of intense lingering of "I hate everything about my life, what the fuck" when she thinks of Kirkwall.

Canon: Dragon Age

Canon Point: Right after Here Lies the Abyss, after she heads out to Weisshaupt at the end of the quest.

Citizenship: She's not from the Quad and therefore has her citizenship via the RAC.

Job: Hawke will be a RAC Agent!

* Level: Hawke will be a Level 3 Agent on the cusp of becoming a Level 4. She most likely has the qualifications but hasn't yet pursued it because of her own hesitations to commit to the job.
kirkwalled: (Default)

marian hawke | dragon age | reserved

[personal profile] kirkwalled 2017-02-04 03:31 am (UTC)(link)
Abilities Hawke's a warrior which means most of her strength is pretty much every day physical work but! She is specialized in the Reaver class for warriors. This means essentially that at one point in her life, Hawke drank a bunch of dragon blood and so when she bleeds during a fight, she grows stronger. Now, of course, there aren't any dragons here to drink from -- so a more natural hardiness might work better here. As in, even though she might not look it, she can take a beating and she can give a beating. Hawke, of course, is the type of character to not really question this sort of thing. "Wow, I can take on ten dudes with no problem?? Haha, must be luck." - Hawke, probably.

Personality:
❝ I'm really not trying to make a stand. I just keep ending up in these situations. ❞

In most Bioware games, the main character is left entirely up to the player. Their choices, personality, appearance and even their species are defined by what the player wants. After that, most characters are sent along the same route give or take a quest or two. Hawke is the main character of Dragon Age 2, the second installment in the franchise and unlike the other protagonists, her personality is much more laid out. Dragon Age 2 tells the story of Hawke as her and her family travel from Lothering during the events of the first game to Kirkwall, a city across the sea and with enough problems of its own. It covers the course of a decade, broken up into three Acts and is given in the frame of Varric Tethras telling Hawke's story to Cassandra Pentaghast as she questions him about Hawke's life in her search for Hawke. This is important because it colors all of Hawke's experiences, from the happy to sad ones in a dark light as the story asks -- what happened to Hawke?

Hawke's personality is chosen by the player at the very beginning of the game, shaping the entire tone of Hawke's interactions with other characters from then on. There's three choices to choose from -- a Diplomatic/Helpful Hawke (Blue), a Sarcastic/Charming Hawke (Purple), and a Aggressive/Direct Hawke (Red). For the purposes of this app, I'll be talking about a purple Hawke who has made primarily purple dialogue choices in her interactions. Some dialogue choices overlap because at her core Hawke is pretty much the same, but the tone and general packaging comes off slightly different depending on the chosen personality.

The thing about Hawke is Hawke only ever wanted to help her family, throughout the game that's her major goal -- to provide stability and comfort for her family. Being the eldest child of the Hawke family and with their father gone, Hawke was looked to as the one who would shoulder the family's burdens. This is pretty obvious from even the start of the game when the family is escaping Lothering just after Hawke and Carver escape the battle at Ostagar to reunite with them. Most decisions made in that sequence about the family's fate have the final say made by Hawke and while a lot of that is because Hawke's the main character of the game, it does factor into Hawke's personality. Hawke's the one who agrees they should go to Kirkwall, Hawke's the one who leads them outside of Lothering and through the Wilds, Hawke's the one who makes the deal with Flemeth to get them to Kirkwall. Even when they arrive at Kirkwall, Hawke's the one who decides whether they should spend a year working with the mercenaries or smugglers. Hawke has the final say in her family and amongst her group of friends and this gives an enormous sense of responsibility to a person who might not want it.

From there on out, this responsibility is what leads Hawke through the game and Kirkwall. Hawke shapes Kirkwall, and the whole world, because she spends most of her time trying to make decisions that will help her family. She chooses to go to the Deep Roads to get her mother and sister out of the slums, she saves the city from the Arishok because she's the only one who can and she chooses to side with the mages or templars in the end because the choice is forced upon her and no one else is stepping up the plate. Hawke, especially a Hawke with a sarcastic personality, has shown time and time again that she does not want to be a hero but she keeps ending up in situations that call for someone to do the right thing so she does. That's Hawke's major downfall, the fact that she just wants to do the right thing. Everything else comes secondary and there was no way for Hawke to predict that her choices had a hand in helping Kirkwall, and the rest of Thedas, spiral out of control.

At the beginning of the game, it's easy to see that Hawke does a lot of things for kind of self-serving reasons. Her goals are simply to make enough coin to help her family out. She'll take any odd job that's presented and do it for pay and if those jobs spiral out of control sometimes -- she'll do her best to resolve it anyway. Hawke's a good person, fundamentally, but she's not looking to save the world. Hawke's main priority is the well-being of her mother and sister and herself. Everything else is secondary to that, even far later in the game when Hawke becomes someone the city looks to in times of crisis. It's obvious, through the way Hawke dismisses it, that Hawke isn't entirely pleased with being that figure but knows it's the right thing to do. The game continuously puts her in the way of events that lead Hawke into the path of becoming "Champion of Kirkwall" and when you look at it, it's obvious none of these events were in Hawke's control. The game spans ten years and a few random happenstances of Hawke being at the right place at the right time (or the wrong place at the wrong time) is what brings everything to the climax -- in which Hawke becomes partly responsible for inciting the Mage-Templar War that spreads through all of Thedas and is a major catalyst for the events of Dragon Age: Inquisition. This is why Varric is questioned by Cassandra Pentaghast because if Hawke started it, maybe Hawke could also stop it.

This though, just explains the burden of responsibility that builds over the course of the game and is part of what Hawke carries on her shoulders. Hawke without this burden, just her personality and how she interacts with others is pretty simple. She's a nice person but approaches most things with a good humor that doesn't let things go beyond the surface level. This is necessary when you've lived a life like Hawke -- moving around all the time in an effort to protect the apostates in her family. She's personable, always with a clever quip in response and a ridiculous idea on how to get something out of someone else. Hawke's the type of person who if you promise her one thing, she'll trick you into doubling it. It doesn't make her a bad person, she's just too clever for her own good. This type of behavior gets Hawke into trouble a lot and is probably what helps Hawke's rather infamous reputation build in Kirkwall.

A sarcastic Hawke is much less antagonizing than an aggressive one but this doesn't mean Hawke isn't inappropriate in way too many a situation. It's actually pretty obvious during a purple Hawke's interactions that she isn't entirely comfortable with heavy emotion or situations that require sensitivity. Even at the death of her brother, she tries to rush along the situation and tries not to dwell in the grief. This is even more blatant when Saemus is killed during Act Two and Hawke's response to the Viscount's grief is an ill-timed joke that makes the Viscount bite back sharply at her. She really makes a terrible hero because of that since sure, she saves people quite regularly but those looking for sensitive words or a shoulder to cry on will not get it from Hawke. It's not an odd thing when compared to the responsibility pressed upon her because if Hawke's supposed to be the stable one, the one who makes the hard calls, she has to be the one to pull back from a situation. So, she makes jokes. The jokes help.

Still, Hawke isn't entirely selfless. She's quite ambitious and while most of it revolves around dragging her family out of the slums, Hawke likes the reputation she's acquired. To be considered the most feared, the most sharp, the most cunning person in all of Kirkwall -- that's something Hawke approves of a lot. She doesn't want the responsibility, but the infamy is something that Hawke relishes in. It helps stroke her ego and gives her a kind of confidence to keep moving forward. If she can be as big as the legend about her is, what can go wrong? Even back in Act One, when Hawke's still relatively unknown by the city -- if she's confronted by either Athenril or Meeran at night for possibly betraying them, she tells them how stupid the move is because she's "carved her way through half of Kirkwall" to get where she is. Hawke has no problems owning that. Hawke's confident about her abilities, assuming she can outfox whatever nefarious ne'er do well crosses her path. She's still confident when she moves higher up in the world and has to outfox politicians and Arishoks. There's a thrill Hawke gets out of it, being able to be so untouchable that even those in power can't touch her. It makes Hawke a lot of enemies throughout the game, especially when she comes back from the Deep Roads wealthy beyond her dreams.

Her ambition is obvious when Hawke's first move after coming back is to purchase the Amell estate and restore the old name of her family. She still has the bone deep loyalty to them and for her, helping her mother is jut part of rising to the top in Kirkwall. If she can provide stability, security for her family that makes what she's done to earn her reputation all the more worth it. It probably makes sense then, that Hawke's rise to power ends up taking her family from her along the way. She might be untouchable by the people in power, but Hawke isn't untouchable by fate. At the beginning of the game, Carver or Bethany die depending on class choice. Later on, bringing the sibling to the Deep Roads causes them to be plagued with the darkspawn taint and forced into the Grey Wardens or die. If they're not brought, the sibling still leaves -- either Bethany to the Circle or Carver to the Templars -- and then after that, when she's lost two out of three of her family members, her mother is murdered by an insane blood mage trying to resurrect his dead wife. Nothing about Hawke's reputation could have stopped this. Not a blade, not a spell, not one piece of coin. Hawke's life was doomed from the start and Hawke just has to deal with it.

This all brings a lot of darkness to Hawke's life and after Hawke's mother is killed, it's the beginning of the end for Hawke. There's a subtle shift in her personality from the good humored lowlife mercenary who just cared about getting her next drink to the respected and wealthy Champion that has lost so, so much. Hawke doesn't dwell on emotions and for good reason but there's an odd dissonance in the game after these tragic events happen where Hawke still approaches things with the light, insensitive humor that she approaches everything else. There's no real conversation about her grief given and it can only be assumed that Hawke's just... burying it which isn't terribly odd when it's implied that Hawke blames herself for everything that's happened. None of these circumstances she could have stopped but because Hawke carries the burden for everyone else, she feels responsible for each bad thing that happens. All of this combined with the general chaos building in Kirkwall during Act Two and Act Three, is all part of Hawke's fall from glory.

One of the sadder things about Hawke is how perpetually unlucky she is. Every decision she makes has good outcomes and bad outcomes and usually the bad outcomes come back to bite her in the ass years later. It's like stated above, Hawke just wants to do the right thing but there's no right thing for Hawke in this story. Hawke will always spiral slowly into Kirkwall's madness, always lose her family, and always end up running from Kirkwall in the end. All these events are important to Hawke's personality though because the lack of control on Hawke's part is so vital. Hawke doesn't make things happen, Hawke has things happen to her and she just deals with the mess she's left with. Her simple need to care for her family and shoulder their burdens extends through the game with her shouldering the needs of Kirkwall and trying to fix them. Hawke never wanted that role, but it's the one she's been given.

Hawke cares deeply for her family, she cares deeply for her friends, and in the end she cares deeply for her city too. She's not the type to wax poetic about her care but it's through her actions that she shows it, from dueling the Arishok for Isabela's life and saving Fenris from his old Master, this is how she shows what they mean to her. Hawke prefers action over anything else and while Hawke's actions usually throw her right into some really bad situations, if she thinks she's doing the right thing she'll keep going. She might show hesitation or mild regret for the what she's been put in, but she pushes through anyway because she's not the type to give up. She's resilient and undeterred when given a goal and while sometimes that goal might just be "make some coin to feed her mother and sister tonight" and at others it might be "save all of Kirkwall from the wrath of a crazy templar" she'll do them both. Hawke will always follow through, even at the cost of her own safety and one day, maybe Hawke will learn how to say no. That day's just not today.

Also, Hawke's maybe a little tiny bit crazy too.

(no subject)

[personal profile] kirkwalled - 2017-02-04 06:38 (UTC) - Expand
bywolves: (shadow hood)

Royce Melborn | Riyria Revelations | Reserved

[personal profile] bywolves 2017-02-04 04:28 am (UTC)(link)

Player



Name: Flurry

Age: 24

Contact: @tahdis on plurk

Preferred Pronouns: she/her

Character



Name: Royce Melborn

Age: Somewhere in the 30sish range.

Memory Option: AU Memory Deterioration

Established Status: Y, two years

Canon: Riyria Revelations

Canon Point: End of Avempartha.

Citizenship: Westerley

Job: Professional thief (or whatever you need him to be) for the lower corrupt nobles of the Nine.

Abilities:
Royce is a half-elf, which means he’s got elf abilities, but in this game, they’re all technological advancements he’s paid for using the cash he’s gotten from his noble jobs:
→ Enhanced senses - hearing and seeing, being able to hear great distances away and see further than a normal hearing, plus night vision.
→ General immunity to extreme weather: he doesn’t seem to be bothered much by the cold or heat, because elves in Elan are ridiculous

As for other abilities that aren’t racial or passive based:
→ Stealth/Acrobatics: Royce is small and nimble and quiet, and he’s damn good at being a thief. He’s got like a 19 in dexterity, essentially. He can climb, walk silently, and stay in the shadows to make sure nobody sees him.
→ Lockpicking: Royce is an accomplished lockpicker.
→ Imitation: Royce is a good actor and liar! He blends in well when he needs to and can imitate a voice or accent if he needs to after listening to it for a while.
bywolves: (Default)

[personal profile] bywolves 2017-02-04 04:29 am (UTC)(link)
Personality:

Royce is an orphan who grew up on the streets of one of the dirtiest, lowest, crime-filled cities in Elan, which should give one somewhat of an insight into the way he turned out as an adult. His earliest memory is fighting a dog for a piece of bread when he was six, and life didn't get much better from there. Royce didn't live as a child; he survived, clawed his way to any semblance of stability, and each time he did, that stability was yanked out from underneath him. It's soured him to believe in the worst of people.

Royce doesn’t like to talk about himself much, but the books do give us some significant insights on Royce as a character through how other characters describe him. Arcadius, a character in the books who knows Royce decently well, mentions that Royce "... doesn't make friends easily, and doesn't make it easy to be his friend." That is absolutely true. Royce is paranoid, suspicious and distrustful of just about everything he comes across, especially other living beings. Royce does not trust people enough to turn his back to them, let alone attempt relationships. He does not like people, and he doesn't especially think highly of their intelligence, either. He's rude and blunt, not intentionally, but just because he doesn't really care what other people think of him. Similarly, he's not shy about letting people know what he thinks of them. Royce is quick to remind everybody he knows that people are always looking for the best way to serve themselves, especially to people like Hadrian, his much more optimistic partner. He expects people to be rude, self-serving, and ready to throw anybody under the bus in order to get what they want, and he expects this of all people, from children to adults to peasants to nobles. It's only natural that this sort of preconceived idea is going to make people more likely to dislike him off the bat, too, so it's sort of just a negative feedback loop. Royce expects people to be jerks, so he's a jerk first, and when they respond like someone normally does to unjustified hostility, he uses it as evidence that all people are selfish and awful.

Royce follows the same rules he thinks everybody else does. He defines right and wrong by the moment, by what is best for him -- wrong is everything else. If he’s hungry, he steals food. If someone is in his way and won’t move, he stabs them. If he feels he needs to lie, he does. Royce’s morality is simple in that way. He doesn’t believe right and wrong are objective things, that they vary from person to person, and trying to follow any sort of code is a waste of time. The world is cold and indifferent, and nothing Royce can do will change that, even if he wanted to. Which he absolutely doesn’t.

It’s not just people that Royce doesn’t think highly of, either. He doesn’t think much of himself. He doesn’t expect special treatment or sympathy from others, and doesn’t really think that he’s worth saving or that he needs saving. He's been dealt with a hand that's less than favorable, but he makes it work for him and doesn't pine for something better. Any pity is met with disdain and rolling of the eyes. Royce tries to stay detached from being a person with real feelings because he’s had hope taken away from him so many times he doesn’t think it’s worth it. The author of the series himself says, "Even Royce doesn't like to be Royce."

For Royce, his own personal existence and worth is just another unremarkable thing. The only reason that he's still alive is because he's "... just too stubborn to lie still and over the years had grown too mean to give in", according to Royce himself. For instance, the end of The Crown Tower, Royce and Hadrian are terribly injured, trying to make it back to a city so that they can patch themselves up. They jump off a tower, swim through a rushing river, and fend off a bunch of guards with bows, all while the two of them are sporting stab wounds. Royce gets through all of it without much complaining, and he doesn’t have much of a reason to other than he wants to finish the job and prove Arcadius wrong. Life kicks him into the mud, and he stands back up again, over and over, because... well, spite, essentially. He won't give in that easily. He’s not suicidal and he’s not looking for death, he’s just apathetic and pessimistic to the max about life.

It probably isn't surprising that someone this misanthropic prefers to be alone. Royce does, or so he says, but that doesn't make him less of a lonely person. He pushes people away from him intentionally, because he expects them to do it first, which means only the most stubborn people last. Hadrian Blackwater and Gwendolyn DeLancy in particular are the best examples of people who have lasted. These are the people he tries harder for, the people who have given him a little humanity. He tries to be better for the sake of Gwen and Hadrian, who are both incredibly positive influences in his life. While they don’t exist in his false memories, they’re still important parts of his makeup.

Hadrian is Royce's partner in crime of ten years, and knows Royce better than anybody else. He's cheerful, personable and hates to kill people, which means he's the exact opposite of Royce. The two balance each other out; Royce's cynicism weighs him down a little less when Hadrian is around, and Hadrian is far less likely to let his trusting nature get him murdered when Royce is around. Being Hadrian’s partner for years has softened Royce a little, and has made it easier for him to be a person rather than a demon. Despite the fact that they bicker like a married couple, they're the closest thing either one of them has to a brother. Royce would never admit it, but he'd take a bullet (or sword, in this case) for Hadrian.

Gwen, too, is important to Royce. Probably even more important than Hadrian. Gwen is the first people in his life to show any sort of romantic interest in Royce, and the poor guy has no idea what to do with it. She’s kind, patient, and loving, but her sarcastic and ruthless streak makes her absolutely perfect for someone like Royce. She’s not afraid to call him out on his bullshit, and she constantly reassures him that she wants him, no matter what or who he is. The love that she shows him is instrumental to Royce’s growth as a person to the point where Royce starts to measure most women he meets by the standard she’s set. He starts to see the world as a little less dark and awful when she’s around, and maybe thinks he’s worth something after all.

To give one an idea of how important Gwen is to Royce, there’s a part in The Rose and the Thorn where a government official by the name of Exeter beats Gwen for not knowing the answer to his question. Royce sees Gwen with all of her bruises. The rest of the book is devoted to Royce’s intricate plan of retaliation, which is to get Exeter alone, with all of his guards far away and distracted. Royce then proceeds to drag Exeter out to the town square, cut off most of his fingers, removes his eyes and ears, strings him up on a statue, and nails a sign that essentially reads “Don’t mess with the girls of Medford House” to Exeter’s chest with Exeter’s own dagger. This is even after Exeter pleads with Royce to not take his life because Exeter is trying to uncover a conspiracy to kill the king of Melengar - to which Royce responds that he’s not sure why he should care about that, and that Exeter really shouldn’t have hurt Gwen. Royce does not take kindly to people hurting those he loves (because he has so few people he does), to the point where not a lot else can sway him from murder.

But that’s in the second book, ten years before his current canon point. Royce grows a little more into a human, after twelve years of Gwen and Hadrian. Because of them, Royce is willing to listen to other opinions rather than just do things his own way. He kills less, has developed some sort of sense of right and wrong (instead of just doing whatever suits him best at the time), and is kinder. A little. He’s still a jerkass, especially to strangers, but he has the capability to trust because he has relationships that haven’t burned him. Royce can be loyal, and he can absolutely be sweet (in his own tsun sort of way). He’s got a soft spot for kids, especially ones that are struggling, and to some degree, disadvantaged women.

Not to say that the side of him that gruesomely murdered a noble to prove a point isn’t still there. For as much as Hadrian and Gwen have managed to soften Royce up, he’d still probably take out a kid or a woman if they crossed him. It’s just in his nature to be an assassin, to do what keeps him and the meager amount of people he cares about alive. And this is especially so, in a place like this, where he doesn’t have the memories of the people who have softened him up.

AU History:

Royce's false memories are not incredibly far off from his canon ones. He was born on Westerley - his mother died in childbirth and his father was nowhere to be found. He doesn't remember a whole lot of how he got to where he was - maybe he was adopted or looked after in an orphanage until he could make it to the undercity tunnels. There, he lived for years, working with the Tunnel Rats, making his way as a thief or whatever anybody needed him to be. During that time, he met his best friend, and they were inseparable. Even when his best friend found a girlfriend, they just added her to the fold. Unfortunately, in his early twenties, he got a little too cocky, and scared someone higher up in the gang into setting him up. That higher up set Royce up to murder his best friend's girlfriend - horrified, Royce tried to talk it out with his best friend, but his best friend refused to listen. A day later, Royce was picked up by the Company for being an Illegal - all of Royce's proper digital citizenship was destroyed, and Royce was sent to work on mining Yttrium.

Somehow, Royce survived his sentence. He's still not sure how.

But his sentence was up. Ten years, and he was still alive. They released him, and he was set back into Westerley with weak lungs and what one might refer to as a sour attitude. The man who set him up in the first place found a quick and sudden death - he wasn't expecting Royce to show up ever again, after that sentence. Royce spent months planning his revenge on both the man who set him up and his best friend, and executed the former quietly in the middle of the night. As of now, nobody knows that Royce is responsible for this.

Royce spent the next few months trying to figure out what to do. Eventually, he was approached by one of the lower level Nine members, a cousin of one of the families, who offered a large sum of money in order to do some dirty work for him. Starving and out of work, Royce agreed - and succeeded in the job. While he doesn't quite advertise himself, he is known as a man who can get whatever dirty deed you need done, for a reasonable price and a quick turnaround. He goes by Duster, where he can, where he needs to.

The most major difference from canon is he doesn’t know Gwen or Hadrian, here - this will make him far less likely to hold back on being a bad person, until he finds surrogate Gwen and Hadrians.

But the top echelon of society isn't exactly Royce's cup of tea. He's getting sick of this whole corrupted noble thing - but he'll keep doing it, because the cash is good and Royce likes to be able to afford to eat.

(no subject)

[personal profile] bywolves - 2017-02-04 04:30 (UTC) - Expand

Francis Scott Key Fitzgerald | Bungou Stray Dogs | Reserved

[personal profile] moneyfight 2017-02-04 04:52 am (UTC)(link)

Player



Name: Ruri.
Age: 30 years old.
Contact: PM this journal, level50teapot (aim), marvelouscheer#4580 (discord).
Preferred Pronouns: She, her.
Other Characters: None.

Character



Name: Francis Scott Key Fitzgerald.
Age: 32 years old.
Memory Option: 2.
Established Status: 5 years.
Canon: Bungou Stray Dogs.
Canon Point: Chapter 45, after acquiring the Eyes of God.
Citizenship: Leithian, self-employed entrepreneur and leader of the Guild.
Job: He is a rich bitch with a legitimate image but criminal dealings.

Abilities

Bungou Stray Dogs characters all share a name with an author and born with an ability that is related in something they've written in some way. There does not seem to be any rhyme or reason for how any of them receive these abilities, however. Not everyone has full control over them; not everyone even knows that they have such abilities. But those that are aware and those that do use their abilities are called "Gifted" by the general population.

Fitzgerald's ability is known as The Great Fitzgerald. Whenever he "spends money," he gains more in physical strength, vitality, dexterity, etc. The reason for the quotation marks is when he throws cheques in the air, literally making it rain, that is considered spending money. If he spends enough money, he becomes almost in a god-like state -- very little is actually able to damage him, and he is able to contend against supernatural transformations/attacks (e.g. Atsushi's literal tiger arms, Akutagawa's Rashomon) with his barehands. Like with little trouble, he is able to kick through the walls of a reinforced battleship.

The only real drawback to this ability is that it depends wholly on money and has a set-timer for how long he can use it. What it means that it's a problem that it is dependent on money is that once he has used all his funds; he can't access his ability anymore. He becomes as normal as anyone else. Also there is a limit to how long he can use his ability; he cannot just use it and have the ability active for an entire day, for example. It isn't known how long he can use his ability, just that there is a limit to it.

His ability in terms of "using" money is never fully explained. When he falls off of Moby Dick (the ability of Herman Melville that manifest a giant flying whale), he has spent all of his money-money but the wedding ring he wore was "devoured" by his ability and allowed him to live. In "devouring" it, the ring disappeared. But when he used the ability with Louisa Alcott, she said she would give him everything she had which he used in his ability to fight a gang -- but nothing disappeared from her. It is assumed, then, that any monetary worth that anything has is gone from the object so he can't use the same object twice.

In Overjoyed, he'll be tossing chips in the air rather than cheques. All of them have varying levels of joy tied to them, and he'll stack them as need be (that is throw multiple in the air if it seems like the situation requires it). They house state-of-the-art nanobots that are bound to his body which augment his physical state just like The Great Fitzgerald would. Positive is that they're temporary (much like the time-limit his actual ability has) so there's no lasting or any damage done to his body in using them. However, each chip has a one-time use and costs quite a lot. So he has to be somewhat stingy in how and when he uses them.

But as far as actual fighting abilities, he seems to be quite well apt at them since he uses his body with his ability instead of an ability itself to fight. And even without his power, he was able to dodge the sudden attack from Kyouka. She was able to cut a shallow cut on his neck, but he survived the encounter unscathed other than that. So he is someone who can fight on his own, but would rather give himself an edge to win.

Personality:

Fitzgerald is a dick. There is absolutely no getting around it. But he is a multifaceted dick. He is a dick with dreams.

A lot of his personality, due to his ability, comes back to money. He treats every encounter that he has with someone as something like a business meeting. That is, there has to always something to be gained from the encounter and if there isn't, why would he waste both their time? And if only the other person is benefiting from it, what good is that to him and his own? That said, when dealing with anyone, he attempts to have the terms to be fair across the board -- or tipped more into his favor, like any good businessman. It is just unfortunate that so many of the people that he interacts with just do not understand his intentions or his mindset.

Only a few people were able to fully understand Fitzgerald. He doesn't mind that he isn't understood; it doesn't matter to him if he personally is understood. What matters to him is that people comprehend his goal. If his people can't get what he's after, how can he hope to ensure success? So, no, it isn't important to him that he's well-liked or connects with anyone on any deep level. Unfortunately, because he is fine living as a solitary individual, those that work with him get the impression that he doesn't care about them; that he would willingly throw them away at a moment's notice. And that is not true.

If a person is "his," they are "his." He is going to defend and protect them to the best of his ability. Now, will it be a way that they understand? No. Like in the case of Lucy, her ability was found out and beaten by the Agency. Because she could no longer fight against them -- that is Fitzgerald forbid her from fighting against them anymore; she considered herself no longer of worth in the Guild. She begged to be of some use still in the Guild so he made her a maid. He didn't consider that she'd think that was a downgrade to her previous standing; he didn't think she would be humiliated by the reassignment. She wanted to be useful and he wanted to ensure she was safe, so he made her a staff member. And even when she betrayed the Guild, he did not have her killed on the spot. So, really, the problem is that he has very little empathy for normal people.

He has been living in rich society for so long that he just doesn't understand any normal person's feelings or thoughts. Such as, he was unable to figure out why Margaret Mitchell would throw her life away to protect Nathaniel Hawthorne when she had her family to think about; he considered that to be exceptionally foolish. If someone has something they want to do, they should focus only on that rather than becoming burdened by any other feeling. If they lack resolve, they lack the means to complete what they've set out to do. But he would not purposely or order the sacrifice his own to achieve his end-goal. And he honestly gets upset with people who would willingly throw away their people to save themselves. A boss's job is to his own; when their backs are against the wall, that is when a boss is supposed to support and save them.

Fitzgerald has some rules for success. It's uncertain how many that he has, but those that are known tie very well into his personality and why he's so easily misunderstood.

"Never leave the most important part of the job to somebody else."

As much as he trusts his own people, he would never leave the most important part in anyone's hands but his own. This may be interpreted that he doesn't have faith in their abilities, however. It is more that if his plan should win-or-fail, it will be completely on his shoulders. He is going to take the full responsibility if something is achieved or lost. Because he is putting everything that he is on the line; he believes that he will come out on top. He feels this is different than those fighting for others; fighting for their boss. Everything that everyone has done and lead to the final moment -- he is the one that will see if it comes to anything.

That is the one thing to understand about Fitzgerald is that he has extreme resolve and constitution. If it has to be done then he is going to be the one to do it. It isn't for anyone else to carry that burden and he doesn't consider it a burden at all.

"Don't be fettered by others' values."

Fitzgerald has his own values -- and those are the most important ones. He doesn't care about the morality of his actions in the eyes of others. He doesn't care if he's seen as a monster; he's fine with it, actually. When he explains his reasons to Atsushi and Akutagawa, he wasn't attempting to have them understand or pity him. It was his ultimatum; this is why he was doing it and everyone else is collateral damage. And that is it, if a person isn't "his," he doesn't care about them. At all. If his actions caused the deaths of thousands, for instance, he could easily shrug it off.

But what matters most to him is his family -- his wife and now deceased daughter. Everything that he has been doing has been for their happiness. He is fine with lying to his wife if it makes her happy; he's fine with pretending that his daughter is still alive even if it eats at him to be unable to mourn her. It is the one concession that he gives and he gives it all to them. There is no one that he loves more; no one he would sacrifice more for.

"People are more predictable when given a good chance that they can't pass up."

Let's be honest here; he buys people. People that are down on their luck and he sees some worth in them. He will offer them the money that they need to escape whatever situation that they are in. No matter what anyone says, money is what allows anyone to fix their lives. That is why he believes that while people don't understand him, he understands people. He understands that as soon as they are put in particular situations, they are much more willing to listen to him; much more willing to act in the way he wants. The idea that good intentions and kind words can keep a stomach full, a family together, and a roof over one's head is ridiculous! It's a child's tale and everyone knows it -- even if they claim don't.

"Be powerful."

One important fact about him is that he doesn't consider being powerful means that he should do anything for the weak or the poor. That is not the point of a capitalist society. To create a revolving door for everyone whose hands are out, that will not make a strong person. A strong person is someone who is able to pull themselves up and create something from nothing. That is what he did for himself. In canon, he grew up poor and desolate but made himself into the man he is today. He fought for everything he had; even if it meant killing people to get it. One cannot hope to gain anything in character, in person if they continue to hold their hands out waiting for someone to do it for them.

In short, same verse same as the first: Fitzgerald is a dick.

Francis Scott Key Fitzgerald | Bungou Stray Dogs | Reserved [2/2]

[personal profile] moneyfight 2017-02-04 04:52 am (UTC)(link)
AU History:

His parents were Leithians and chose to move to Leith rather than live in a lackluster existence on Qresh. He had been told repeatedly in youth about his social status and while they may be doing better than the Westies; the Fitzgeralds are still nothing in the eyes of society. Their blood only means that they are able to acquire choice land to live peacefully. His beginnings were not humble; he had servants and never had to worry about if he would get a meal at the end of the day, but he was dissatisfied. The Fitzgeralds had a beaten way to view their lot in life and he dreamed of much more than inheriting some small patch of land.

What money that he had to his name, he started to buy into less than legal organizations. Said organizations just took him as a "bored rich boy" that they would be able to bleed dry within a few years. With ruthless tactics, he took control of the businesses out of the original owners' hands. He "cannibalized" what he gained in order to achieve more power, more status within the criminal world. Sure, he would never be as well-off as the Nine, but he would be his own elite in his own world.

He set up a front business that he continuously added to in order to have a "legitimate" appearance to society while continued to grow and build his Guild. Now in his early twenties, he was considered a self-made man that had assets that were said to almost rival the Nine's families. But his furious attempts of growth and power slowed down considerably as soon as he met Zelda. She was the daughter of another wealthy crime boss, and she was offered to him so to bring their two "businesses" together. Yet while a marriage proposal was being thrown at him so carelessly, he realized that he did love her. She had the same dissatisfaction with her lot as he did, and had a fire in her wanting to change it.

Fitzgerald married her and did the only thing that would be right by her. He destroyed her family's criminal organization, ruined her father and took in the remains to make his own Guild strong. She would no longer be used as a pawn for anything and could live knowing that those that had used her were now living in some forgotten corner of the Quad. She was not terrified or bothered by his cruelty and instead loved him more for it. In the early years of being married to Zelda, he lived far more peacefully than he ever had. Yes, money continued to pour in but save for the destroying Zelda's family, things were quiet. It was considered the Golden Age of the Guild.

The two had a daughter and it seemed like the peaceful times from the Guild would continue -- until his daughter grew ill. She was away at boarding school but returned quickly when her health started to fail. He believed at first she was just homesick, but mind having her stay at home if it made her feel better. But his daughter's illness grew worse and worse to where she could not even leave her bed. Fitzgerald spent everything on the latest treatments, the latest medicines, everything for her. But nothing worked. Her health continued to deteriorate and Zelda's mental stability started to fray.

Eventually, Fitzgerald had to create a special room in his manor for his daughter. She was placed in statis that would ensure she wouldn't die, but did nothing about the illness itself. It was like keeping a living corpse of his daughter; one that slowly drove his wife mad. He took Zelda's moments of hysteria as just being normal with all the stress that they were under. He made excuses after excuses for her until he couldn't anymore. Until he came home one day and Zelda asked him if their daughter had called him from boarding school. It was in that moment that he could not bring himself to break her delusions.

The Guild returned to its ruthless beginnings. He started buying those in the Company, those in the RAC, anyone that he could so that he would have eyes and ears everywhere. Fitzgerald looks now for a cure for his daughter and believes that will bring his wife back to her senses. Zelda has since been moved to a smaller manor -- for fear that she would stumble upon the room where their child is "sleeping" -- with a large staff to tend to her. He calls her every day, always at the same time; he lies and tells her that their daughter called and gives her updates on her life.

He feels like something is breaking, but he feels like after everything he has accomplished that he can bring it back together.

CRAU: None.
Original History: Here

Inventory:
+ The clothes on his back (and what fantastic clothes they are!).
+ A tape-recorder.

Samples:
Futurology TDM.
Overjoyed TDM.

Miscellaneous Notes:

(no subject)

[personal profile] moneyfight - 2017-02-04 06:39 (UTC) - Expand
moneyman: (Default)

Vaughn | Borderlands | Reserved

[personal profile] moneyman 2017-02-04 05:07 am (UTC)(link)

Player



Name: Alison

Age: 21+

Contact: [plurk.com profile] clickboom

Preferred Pronouns: She/her

Character



Name: Vaughn

Age: 27

Memory Option: 1 - AU Memory Deterioration

Established Status: Yes - four years as a Company lackey

Canon: Borderlands

Canon Point: End of Episode 4

Citizenship: Leith

Job: Accountant, The Company

Abilities: He's good at math? That's really about it.

Personality:

"The list of things that might kill us keeps getting longer... I hadn't even thought about moonshots. Rakks, skags, bandits, dehydration, heat stroke, regular stroke, stroke stroke... whatever that is, that murder pile. The list just keeps getting longer... I've never felt so alive!"

Yeah, Vaughn's a bit of a weirdo. Virtually no one in Tales from the Borderlands could really pass as normal, but Vaughn's... quirky, to say the least. From getting ridiculously excited about finding an old (pardon me, vintage) watch-calculator, to idly poking a former coworker's dead body with a stick, to sudden outbursts of loudly-proclaimed confidence (as seen in the quote above), he's definitely a lot more than just the nerdy sidekick. The story is primarily about Rhys and Fiona, the two main characters, but it's also very interesting to see Vaughn go from an excitable but panicky and insecure accountant to a leader as he adapts to life on the unforgiving planet Pandora.

The game introduces him as Rhys's best friend, "the money man." He's babbling enthusiastically about the promotion Rhys is about to get (supposedly), how they're moving up in Hyperion's ranks, how he's going to buy a gun—one of the things about Vaughn that you learn early on is that he's very chatty. He talks when he's excited, when he's nervous, when he's totally grossed out, when he's pretty sure he's about to die (which is pretty often in a place like Pandora)... really, it's when he gets quiet that you know something's off. He also has a strange tendency to get really excited when he survives danger: in the scene the above quote comes from, after breathlessly recounting all the crazy things he and the others have lived through since arriving on Pandora, he starts screaming up at Helios (the Hyperion space station he and Rhys live and work on) that he's not afraid... only to be immediately spooked by the sound of Rhys receiving a call. So much for that.

Needless to say, Vaughn's kind of an insecure guy, at least for the first three episodes. You get the feeling that he's fully aware he's a nerd. He's pretty short, made worse by the fact that his posture is usually slouched forward, and yet when he and Rhys get separated from the girls on Pandora he takes his shirt off and ties it around his head, revealing that he's... surprisingly ripped. When questioned, he waves it off that he had an exercise bike put in his office. While it's possible he simply wanted to get in better shape, it also seems likely that his decision to try to bulk up may have been motivated by insecurity. He also tends to point out when he does something even mildly impressive, hoping to be acknowledged ("This is so cool, right? D-did you guys see me? I mean, how cool I was?"). A lot of this comes from comparing himself to Rhys, who's been the Cool Friend at least as far back as college. This isn't to say Rhys isn't himself a giant dork; the difference is that Rhys looks like he might be cool, whereas Vaughn's look pretty much screams "nerd." Back then, Vaughn was often left out of things (like parties) that Rhys had no trouble getting into. At one point in the game he actually approaches Rhys about this, afraid he might end up being left behind:
"Down here on Pandora, I've seen how amazing you are at all this stuff. I mean, hanging out with Vault Hunters, crazy Atlas technology, fighting insane mobsters... and—and you've just been playing it totally cool the whole time. So I—I guess... look... I'm not gonna get left out on the curb again, am I?"

He's a loyal friend, but his loyalty does come into question once early on when it's revealed that he went in on a deal to sell Rhys out. Vaughn vehemently denies that he would have gone through with the deal, claiming it was only to get Vasquez off of them. Whether Rhys believes him (and whether he forgives him) is dependent upon player choice, but it seems likely that he was telling the truth based on his past dedication to helping Rhys achieve his dream of running a company (which apparently involved some unsavory things—he makes an offhand comment about it "haunting his dreams"), and the fact that he doesn't show any sign of disloyalty throughout the rest of the game.

The chaos at the end of episode 3 marks a turning point: he's either absent or mostly absent depending on player choice for episode 4, and that's the last you see of the nervous and insecure Vaughn as he had been. When you meet him again in the final episode he's a new man: the leader of a large group of Hyperion refugees called the Children of Helios. As the only one among them with any actual experience surviving on Pandora, Vaughn quickly assumed the role. Deep down, he's still the chatty, friendly guy he's always been, but he finally seems confident in himself. It's some really satisfying character development, to say the least—a transformation, perhaps, into the kind of person he always wanted to be but was too weighed down by insecurity and a tendency to exist primarily in Rhys's shadow. The faithful number-crunching sidekick finally steps into the spotlight as a capable leader of a group of people who look to him for guidance in their new home in a dangerous land. It's really pretty heartwarming.
"Man, if it wasn't for the smell of this rotting monster carcass, this hug would be perfect."

Also, he really likes hugs.
moneyman: (Default)

[personal profile] moneyman 2017-02-04 05:08 am (UTC)(link)
AU History:

Vaughn was what one might call an "accident." Born to an aging Leithian couple living on Qresh in service to the Kendry family, he was an unplanned (though perhaps not unwanted) addition to a family already consisting of two grown children, both of whom had long since set out on their own, and parents who were in no position whatsoever to be raising another child. Retirement was still years away, and after two long stints working hard to serve their employers, they weren't exactly excited by the prospect of spending it taking care of a kid. It wasn't necessarily that they didn't love him (though he would spend many idle moments wondering about that later), but work came first, mostly out of necessity. Between that and a certain degree of unspoken resentment, he would never be their first priority.

Fortunately for his parents, a golden opportunity fell right into their laps when another branch of the Kendry family put out a strange request: a contracted, live-in "friend" for their own child. It was perfect—they'd be compensated heavily, gain more favor with the Kendrys, and solve their little "problem," who just happened to be the same age as the Kendry child. They offered Vaughn immediately and without any sort of family discussion, and within a week he was gone, with only a couple of half-assed hugs as a send-off.

The Kendry kid's name was Rhys, and he was kind of a brat.

Having both experienced life thus far with significantly negligent parents could have been a bonding point early on, but it wasn't. Rhys's response to his parents hiring someone to be his friend was mostly anger, because it was his parents themselves that he wanted attention from, not some random servant kid. With the AI who looked after Rhys as their only other company, Vaughn took the brunt of Rhys's loud indignation and not-so-subtle classism. Unsurprisingly, he spent much of the first few weeks crying, which only annoyed Rhys even more. Their relationship was tumultuous at best, and remained that way for some time. But the contract was for ten years—a fact neither of them were privy to until one day nearly a year later when, during one of the rare calls from Vaughn's parents, his father finally admitted it to him in a brief moment of guilt. At that point, upon sharing the information with Rhys (who was furious, of course), he proposed a kind of truce: they still had nine years left together, so trying harder to get along was in both of their best interests. They didn't hate each other, so why not attempt to avoid having a mutually miserable childhood? Eventually, Rhys reluctantly agreed, and they started over.

...Sort of. Rhys's self-importance and disdain for the lower classes were both deeply ingrained, so even after they finally graduated to actual friendship, he often treated Vaughn poorly. Trying to ignore it was Vaughn's main method of coping, but sometimes that didn't work. One night years later, after a particularly volatile argument, he snapped and walked away from the estate, too angry to even realize that he wouldn't make it far. This turned out to be even more true than he could have known when he was kidnapped.

It wasn't long after blacking out and waking up on a strange ship that he realized the whole thing was a mistake. A pair of masked men had abducted him under the impression he was a child of one of the Nine, hoping to make a fortune in ransom money. It took the entire night and most of the next day before their intelligence (for some definition of "intelligence") finally backed up his frantic assertions that he was, in fact, "no one." During that time, he tried to escape—a plan he immediately realized was flawed, on account of them being on a ship. Despite his failure, he felt strangely exhilarated by the attempt, so he went on to try and fail two more times, spurred on by a rush of adrenaline that he'd never felt before in his short, extremely sheltered life. Between the sheer annoyance of his continued (though ill-advised) escape attempts and the fact that he was probably worth nothing anyway, he was finally dumped unceremoniously in an area not far from where he'd disappeared from. From there, he managed to find his way back to the estate; reunited with Rhys, he recounted the entire story with bizarre enthusiasm, flushed with excitement despite Rhys's surprising distress in reminding him he could easily have been killed. A search party was quickly called off, and his abductors were caught not long after in another, similarly-incompetent attempt at kidnapping a rich kid.

His unlikely awakening as a thrill-seeker aside, things got better after that. With the hopes of becoming something other than a servant someday, he started to study accounting—he was always good at math, and he'd been handling financial matters (something Rhys was above doing) for years, so it made sense. Their friendship continued to be imperfect and sometimes even strained, but it grew stronger as the years went by, and by the time they were teenagers they were virtually inseparable. Despite an extremely rocky start, they had become best friends. Still, some of the same problems remained, and soon enough the contract was at its end. They were both technically adults now, and while Vaughn's status on Qresh was very low, he was nevertheless free to go. But with no desire to go home and a friendship bordering on codependent, he initially decided he'd stay—until another night and another argument, that is. They fought over the same things they'd always fought over before, but this time it was different: Vaughn decided he'd had enough for real, and finally told Rhys in no uncertain terms that he was leaving. He had no idea where he'd go, but he did know he didn't have to be treated that way—they'd keep in touch, maybe, but he was done. It wasn't until the day he meant to leave that things hit a permanent turning point: Rhys, in a show of emotion that completely shocked him at the time, begged him to stay. Rhys always got what he wanted, he knew, but this was different. There was a sincerity in his friend's words that he'd never really heard before, and it was enough. To Rhys's great relief (and, admittedly, his own), he decided once again to stay. Things were never really strained between them again.

Soon, with the helpful influence of his parents, Rhys got a cushy job at the Company, effectively moving him to Leith. This left Vaughn alone (and lonely; he couldn't remember the last time he was alone) in a giant house that wasn't even his for a little while, but only long enough for Rhys to pull some strings of his own to get him a job in accounting. Elated to escape his status as a servant and to reunite with his best friend, he left the estate on Qresh to join Rhys on Leith. It'd be perfect, he thought. After actually starting the job, though, he rapidly realized he was naive to think so—he wasn't a servant anymore, but many of his new Company coworkers knew that he was, and that was all it took. It was the same behavior and attitude he'd experienced from Rhys in the beginning: generally, people looked down on him, and not just because he was almost a foot shorter than some of them. Fortunately, he'd endured enough of that growing up that he got over it fairly quickly, choosing instead to ignore the looks and the condescension like he did in the past. It wasn't a good way of dealing with it, but just because Rhys had changed his mind about him didn't mean the Company at large ever would. He had a normal-person job, and he got to work vaguely alongside his best friend, so for years he couldn't complain.

Not until Rhys, in a feat of incomparable stupidity, implicated himself with the Resistance. Then there was some complaining.

Most importantly, it meant Rhys was constantly putting himself in danger. Vaughn had come to the perplexing conclusion that danger was fun at a young age, sure, but that was for him. It didn't apply to Rhys, especially when he wasn't even there with him. Thus began a strange amalgamation of emotions, ranging from fussy to envious. How could something be so terrible and yet still kind of awesome?

Envy sometimes overtakes him, especially when he's sitting at a desk crunching numbers and not doing something more exciting—literally anything, for instance. Fussiness usually wins in the end, what with his best friend's safety always at risk now, but for the most part the two exist together.

Both of them would probably get him into just as much trouble someday.

CRAU: N/A

Original History: Game wiki with full plot summary

Inventory: 1 pair of weird enhanced math-glasses, 1 totally awesome (not really) "Atlasio" watch, 1 bowtie that also plays music for some reason

Samples: TDM, Non-TDM

Miscellaneous Notes: None!
salvaging: (pic#)

rey | star wars | reserved

[personal profile] salvaging 2017-02-04 05:10 am (UTC)(link)

Player



Name: Elle

Age: 20

Contact: [plurk.com profile] regnant

Preferred Pronouns: She/her!

Other Characters: N/A

Character



Name: Rey

Age: 19

Memory Option: Full AU (with the possibility of regaining memories should canon elaborate on her backstory some more, if that's all right!)

Established Status: Y

Canon: Star Wars

Canon Point: The end of Star Wars: The Force Awakens

Citizenship: Westerley

Job: Mostly odd jobs here and there, fixing/building things when she can get a hold of the parts, but otherwise whatever she can get!

* Level: N/A


Abilities:
She has the Force! We talked about two main ways to translate it, or at least two of the possible abilities.

JEDI MIND TRICK: "These are not the droids you're looking for," etc. Allows her to persuade others to a super-normal extent. For example, in canon, she's able to tell a Stormtrooper "You will remove these restraints and leave this cell with the door open" in this clip, albeit with difficulty. Will be translated as tech in her head that lets her interface with memory nodes in other people's heads with player permission.

FORCE PUSH: It's a push... with the Force. You guys suggested translating this into biotics, where she could create a mass effect field through the use of Element Zero nodules embedded in her tissues, which I'm totally okay with!

This doesn't translate everything ever that Force-sensitive people can do, but honestly, I'm more than happy to just stick with these two things if you guys are, since the Force is so hard to translate.
Personality:

Rey has been on her own much of her life. Due to this, she's had to grow up faster than the average kid; she learned to scavenge, make money, and take care of herself far before most people would. More than anything else, this defines her.

This has its upsides — she's incredibly competent for a girl just coming into adulthood, for one. Her survival skills are quite refined, due to both her intelligence and natural adaptability, and she is scrappy as hell. Rey has never had anyone to fight for her, so she's had to learn how to fight for herself; she protects what she has, which is admittedly very little, but includes things such as her pride. She does what she must to survive, but she refuses to be pushed around. If she doesn't stand up for herself, no one will.

She's fiercely independent, although as a downside, almost too much so; she has no idea what it's like to have someone take care of her, or to even have someone care much about her at all. Her life of solitude is all she's familiar with. Because of this, her social skills are questionable. She's certainly not incapable of having decent conversations or anything of the like, but she lacks close friendships due to the demands of her life. Focusing on surviving another day has always been more important than making friends. She isn't unfriendly, necessarily, but she is a tad rough around the edges at times. There is often no point in wasting time making small-talk with others, because her time is so limited as it is; for this reason, she can be somewhat brusque. She's not one for pleasantries or politeness.

Still, she's kind at heart, and when the opportunity to make a connection with someone who has shared life experiences arises — Finn, for example, in her canon history — she takes it. Rey clearly craves companionship and a sense of belonging, two things she has never really had. However, there's a bit of internal conflict here. While she desperately wants to bond with others, she also has to be wary of them. No one has ever stayed by her side before, and she fears losing others, because after all, loneliness has become her default state.

Her main problem, though, is not that she is incapable of forming close bonds, but more that she has rarely been given the opportunity to due to her unique life circumstances. She has very little free time to spend making friends, and for someone in such a vulnerable position, it's more likely that others will take advantage of her or pose some sort of danger than it is that they'll help her out of the goodness of their hearts. Despite her hunger for companionship, she can't afford to let her guard down.

This ever-present conflict between who she is and who she has to be permeates every aspect of her life. She is almost callously practical and dreamily impractical at once, as impossible as it seems; it's because her nurture, her external life, is constantly warring with her nature, her internal life. For as long as she can remember, her life has told her to be harsh and cold, yet on the inside, Rey remains soft. She's still a young girl, playful and excitable and optimistic, but in order to survive she has had to become more realistic as well.

Overall, her life has been rough. She's grown accustomed to loneliness and living a decidedly difficult existence, things that would likely harden anyone. Still, Rey isn't bitter or jaded. Somehow, despite everything she's been through, Rey still has hope. She has hope that someday she'll have a family and somewhere she'll belong despite the lack of evidence supporting it; it's almost a foolish amount of hope, but it's hope nonetheless, and that's what keeps her going through all the difficulty in her life.

Despite everything, there's a light in Rey that has never gone out. More than her independence or her adaptability, this is what truly shows the kind of person Rey is. Her life has been dark and difficult, filled with sadness and loneliness, but she has not let it extinguish her fire. As practical and unrefined as she can be, she is still compassionate and hopeful and understanding, even though it would be so easy to become cold and unfeeling in her circumstances. She never uses her experiences as an excuse or a crutch -- her life is her life, but every day she gets up and survives without complaining. She's a trooper through and through, resilient no matter what the odds.

AU History:

Brainstorming Meme Link! Rey was born in Westerley, but much of her very early life besides that is unknown, even to her. She knows she had parents at one point, but her memory of them is foggy at best. She can't have been much older than four or five the last time she saw them. All she really knows about them is that they passed away in a tragic accident; she has never really been told this, but she chooses to believe that they loved her very much.

As an orphaned child, Rey was left in the "care" of Unkar Plutt, a man known as a junk boss who made a living off of trading for pieces of salvage. Their relationship was not familial, and hardly even pleasant most of the time. At best, they had a transactional relationship, the both of them needing something from each other but neither of them particularly happy about it.

This was her life for a long time: waking up, working, eating, sleeping. She had no hobbies or friends because she had no time for them if she wanted to eat. She was already getting screwed out of hard-earned money by Plutt, and she couldn't afford to lose more. Plutt was also her only interaction most days, and exceedingly unpleasant; the person she knew best in the world, and he was awful. It wasn't a good one, but still, she managed to eke out a life for herself even as an orphaned street urchin on Westerley.

Rey worked exclusively under Plutt for a while, scavenging for parts which she would exchange with him for food, but eventually began to strike out on her own, frustrated with how often he took advantage of her work and short-changed her. She still traded with him when the opportunity arose — she couldn't afford to completely refuse to work with him — but she took every other opportunity that showed itself to her as well, no longer working solely for him.

She continued to scavenge when she could, but she also took whatever jobs were available to her at the time. Anything she could do, she chose to do; she had a natural knack for engineering due to all her work dismantling machinery to scavenge for parts, so she would attempt to fix small things for pay. Although she didn't enjoy it, she would also do manual labor, since those jobs required little from her in the way of qualifications. She had no experience besides what Plutt had given her, so most of the jobs were unpleasant and difficult, but she never complained unless she felt she was being mistreated or cheated.

She has only just come into adulthood, and very little has changed in her life. She still spends much of her time doing odd jobs and simply trying to make do with what little she has. She has considered becoming a Reclamation Agent as her next big step, but has made no moves to change her life as of yet; her current existence is far from perfect, but it's all she knows.

CRAU: N/A

Original History: X

Inventory: The only real important thing in her inventory right now would be Skywalker's lightsaber. I'm not sure if this is something she'd be allowed to have in game, and if so, if you'd like me to change it to something more like a stun baton? I'm also totally willing to forgo it completely. Just let me know!

Samples: TDM!

Miscellaneous Notes: I hope all this makes sense -- thank you guys so much for helping me out on the brainstorming meme! If anything doesn't work with the setting, please let me know and I'm more than happy to change it. ♥

(no subject)

[personal profile] salvaging - 2017-02-04 06:43 (UTC) - Expand

(no subject)

[personal profile] salvaging - 2017-02-04 06:50 (UTC) - Expand
somnusrex: (Default)

Ryner Lute | Legend of Legendary Heroes | Reserved

[personal profile] somnusrex 2017-02-04 06:55 am (UTC)(link)

Player



Name: Heather

Age: 34

Contact: mutedtempest everywhere online; email is heathar@gmail.com or pm the journal

Preferred Pronouns: She/Her or They/Them, whatever works I’m not bothered enough to care

Other Characters: not a one!

Character



Name: Ryner Lute (Feruna Lieutolu)

Age: 20

Memory Option: 1, Deteriorating AU

Established Status: Yep. 5 years completing training and working on the ground for the Company.

Canon: Legend of Legendary Heroes

Canon Point: Sequel, Volume 5, chapter 5

Citizenship: Leithian by birth, sold to the military at age 5

Job: Company Enforcer

* Level:
Midlevel! Ryner’s very capable but lacks ambition or the desire to advance much, so he’s basically a grunt who is sometimes tasked with things that require a little more effort/knowledge. He’s under the direct command of his friend Sion Astal, who actually has ambition. Who’d have guessed?
somnusrex: (Default)

[personal profile] somnusrex 2017-02-04 06:58 am (UTC)(link)
Abilities

Yikes, this is going to be a dissertation. My apologies.

Skills:

Hand to Hand Combat: Ryner is very proficient in basically all levels and types of fighting, but especially in hand to hand. He has been trained for it as long as he can remember, and his reaction time is very swift. He is easily able to think on his feet and to see movements coming, and while this skill is enhanced by his modifications, it is also one he has possessed inherently since birth.
Assassination techniques/training: Ryner underwent this training as a preteen and is thus exceptionally capable of murdering people while going undetected. He hates it, though, and even when assigned to do so he tends to simply ignore orders. The training also taught him to use stealth and concealment tactics.
Strategy: Due to his training, Ryner has spent much of his life learning and analyzing tactics and strategy in a military sense. He is quickly able to ascertain necessary information on enemy formations on both an overt and covert level, and has the sharpness to see through
Research skills/Comprehension: Ryner is very adept at research and is able to analyze information very quickly and accurately. This is due, in game, to being specifically trained to do so; in canon it’s more of an inherent ability that he hones through lots of practice (like the whole two years in a jail cell with nothing else to do). He is said, in canon, to have a very high “comprehension ability.” In game, I’m translating this to competence in not only strategy, tactics and academic areas but for technology as well.

Minor:
Invisibility In canon, Ryner is able to “hide his presence” at will so that he is completely invisible and unable to be detected. In Overjoyed, this will again translate to his modifications, which will allow his cellular structure to disperse in a way that makes him undetectable. This is, however, only for a short period, and is not nearly as advanced a technique as Sion is able to use with his refractive shield…thing, but is a precursor to that sort of technology. It’s a simple dispersing of matter for a short time.

Passive
Invulnerability> While not on the same level as Sion’s (since Sion was a later version of the modifications, thus sporting a stronger instance of the biometrics) Ryner is quite difficult to injure or kill. He can be incapacitated, but it takes a good deal more effort than it would for someone without his modifications. Major body injury is needed to get him off his feet for any real length of time, and killing him will take some work.

Powers
Magic Canonically, Ryner (like all mages) is able to use magic and cast spells using magical arrays created from energy, often taking elemental forms. However, Ryner’s magical powers far surpass any of the other characters in LOLH, and he has had the title of “The Greatest Magician of Roland” from a very, very young age. He is able to not only identify and analyze but also adopt and use any spell he sees and use it against his enemies on sight, a very special skill in canon as magic is something unique to a particular country and not normally learned without extensive talent and training, and even then, the greatest mages tend to only be skilled in one country’s magical repertoire.

In Overjoyed, Ryner’s abilities can be explained by biological modifications made by the military. Ryner was the first of the so-called “test subjects” to survive the extensive modifications which mimic his canon ability/curse of Alpha Stigma. This ability allows him to analyze and duplicate any magic he sees, from any country and of any structure and composition, but at the cost of ultimately driving him to lose control and destroy everything around him before killing himself or having his life taken. The Alpha Stigma is not unique to Ryner in the LOLH verse, but he is the only one able to come back to himself after going berserk, which he has done several times (always being brought back again by those he’s close to). This is later explained to be a facet of the abilities he has as the Lonely Demon, although this part of himself isn’t awakened until quite a bit of time has passed in canon, and I am bringing him to Overjoyed just before this part of himself is “awakened.” Therefore, his version of the Alpha Stigma modification will have no greater explanation or recourse, and should he overload of information, the consequences in game could be dire, leading to his breakdown/death or to the destruction of, well, quite a lot.

The Alpha Stigma-like ability in-game is a biological mod, allowing Ryner to analyze and understand all sorts of technology interfaces, from any origin or sector (minor). The ability to use this knowledge on sight (major, obviously) will be nerfed in game, as he would need to have the correct programming installed in order to make use of it. However, he is still able to analyze and understand it, as an attempt by the Company to intercept and subvert any plots and attacks against them. It is a major ability, along with it being able to act as a sort of malware, able to infiltrate any type of software and dismantle it from the inside (again, a major ability). Ryner’s modifications are so complex that they can be described as having a sort of “personality” of their own when activated, and Ryner has to be very careful to keep himself in check when using any of his enhanced abilities.

While other experiments of this type were carried out, they were eased down quite a bit upon the experiments that came after Ryner.. He is currently the only such Company experiment in existence. While others have scanning systems and are able to analyze people for programmable matter (as does Ryner), he is the only one able to analyze all technology and its workings at such an instantaneous level. While this can be a very useful skill to have, it is not without cost, and he is plagued by severe migraines on a regular basis (nearly constant). There is also the distinct and very real possibility of an overload of information, causing something akin to him going berserk in canon. In Overjoyed, this would translate to him simply erasing any sort of tech, not destroying or saving any of it, merely making it disappear. This would, fairly obviously, be Very Bad News for everyone. It would also be a major ability, of course.

In canon, all mages have the ability to perceive the energy flow of the world around them, including the nature of the people they’re surrounded by and any ill intentions they might hold. Ryner is often said to feel a “killing intent” from people in his immediate vicinity, since he tends to get himself into situations where people want to kill him.

-- This will translate in game to a biometric scanning system integrated into him, and will allow him to scan for and detect people who carry modified biology in any capacity.

Since I feel I should list at least some of Ryner’s spells in canon and how they might translate in-verse, here’s a short list. Ryner can use any spell he sees on sight, though, so this is far from a complete list. He grew up and was trained in Roland and as such, Roland’s magic is the most familiar to him, but he often uses that of other countries in canon when the need/opportunity presents itself. His most used magic is lightning magic, although this won’t translate to the game at all.

It should also be noted that in the LOLH verse, magic is not confined to only known spells. Mages are able to craft and design their own, depending on their ability. Ryner definitely has this ability and has begun to use it, but he is new to it and many of his attempts are simple additions to what already exists. Due to the nature of his Alpha Stigma, he finds copying other spells easier and more effective than taking the time to make up his own.

Roland Magic:
WHAT I SEEK IS THUNDER: IZUCHI (Major) Summons a bolt of lightning upon casting.
WHAT I SEEK IS WATER MIST: MISUMI (Major) Tidal wave. Or a big torrent of water. Take your pick.
WHAT I SEEK IS THE BURNING FIELD: KURENAI (Major) Pretty much a rain of fire from the sky.
WHAT I SEEK IS IRIDISCENT DESTRUCTION: KUURI: (Major) Creates a single beam of light used to destroy. This is able to be modified to include many beams of light, as is shown in the sequel.

--None of these spells will translate into game verse!

Estabul Magic:
I OFFER THE CONTRACTED WORDS, LETTING THE SLUMBERING MALICIOUS SPIRIT DWELL WITHIN: (Major) The caster is surrounded by a blinding light, and their speed is increased by quite a lot, including the speed at which magical arrays can be crafted. This is one of Ryner’s go-to spells in canon, and he uses it often.

-- Will translate in game to the manipulation of his own matter allowing Ryner to increase his speed for very short intervals.

I OFFER UP THIS CONTRACT TO BARE THE WICKED SPIRIT BEAST THAT DANCES THROUGH THE SKY: (Major) This spell can be used either offensively or defensively. Offensively, a number of wolves made of light attack the enemy. Defensively, it surrounds the caster’s legs in light and grants increased agility.

--Will not be translated in game

I…think that’s it. Basically he’s going to have tons of mods allowing him to analyze tech of any sort and destroy it should the need arise, yay. He and Sion also share a neural link, which will just add more pain to everything. Huzzah.

(no subject)

[personal profile] somnusrex - 2017-02-04 07:00 (UTC) - Expand

Re: REVISIONS REQUESTED

[personal profile] somnusrex - 2017-02-05 00:01 (UTC) - Expand
demonly: (Default)

Rin Okumura | Blue Exorcist | Reserved

[personal profile] demonly 2017-02-04 09:58 am (UTC)(link)

Player



Name: Jamie

Age: 19

Contact: [plurk.com profile] ishimarus or PM this account!

Preferred Pronouns: She/Her

Other Characters: N/A!

Character



Name: Rin Okumura

Age: 18 (15 canon age + 3 years in verse)

Memory Option: Full AU Deteriorating

Established Status: 3 years

Canon: Blue Exorcist

Canon Point: Ch. 85

Citizenship: Leithian

Job: A grocery worker; he has aspirations to do further things in the food/service industry, but is content for the time being.
Edited 2017-02-04 22:41 (UTC)
demonly: (pic#6628352)

[personal profile] demonly 2017-02-04 10:59 pm (UTC)(link)
Abilities

In his canon, Rin is the son of Satan and as such possesses a number of different abilities and enhancements to his body.

MAJOR

☆ Blue Flames - Flames that are made of pure energy, hot to the touch and capable of burning any substance - including the soul. They are Satanic in nature, and while generally associated with destruction, are also capable of healing curses or other magically induced ailments. He can control these at will, sometimes without the Kurikara needing to be drawn. Under his control, they can range in temperature from being gently warm to scorching hot. He is immune to their effects.

☆ Full Demon Form - Along with elongated ears and the appearance of horn-like growths on his head, this form allows his speed, strength, and regeneration to be further enhanced. It is in this form that his flames are at their most powerful. This translation of this would have been genetic modifications from the result of the experimentation done unto him as a child, and could be a form that he could come to activate or deactivate through the action of drawing his sword - it would probably activate in response to the wielding of any weapon as a fight or flight reaction, as he was bred for militant purposes, but for the sake of the direct translation, it would activate with the drawing of the Kurikara. In his canon, he eventually learns to control this form for quite some time but in this verse, it is likely that he would only be able to use it for short periods as it would cause tremendous strain on his natural body.

☆ The Kurikara - To best translate the necessity of having the Kurikara being "unsheathed" to awaken his powers, drawing the blade will instead cause there to be flames lit across it, most likely through a mechanism of lighting some sort of gas. Because they are regular flames in nature, they would lack the supernatural destructive ability generally associated with him in his canon - and the blade would require maintenance on his own part to keep it running. It would also be quite dangerous to wield, making the user especially susceptible to burns along with requiring years of practice to use it safely.

→ ☆ Satan Slash - He is able to emit blue flames in the direction and trajectory that he slashes his sword.

→ ☆ Satan Bomb - By stabbing the Kurikara into the ground, he is able to perform a mid-ranged attack that creates explosions in locations of his choice.


MINOR

☆ None! He has no completely defensive abilities that are unrelated to the paranormal, which does not exist in this verse.


PASSIVE

☆ Enhanced Strength - In canon, he'd typically be able to bend metal or break bones in single punch with relative ease. Translated into this verse, considering that he originates as a human experiment, he'd probably max out at 3X the normal human capacity. However, the use of his strength would deteriorate over time of use - for instance, constant use in a fight would mean his strength would gradually deteriorate over the course of the fight until he is at only a 1X rate. It would take time for the rate to return to 3X, probably a span of hours and exerting enough energy to get to 1X would leave him extremely tired.

☆ Regeneration - Normally, he would be able to heal from serious wounds (gunshot wounds, impalement, etc.) in an hour or less, but his regeneration rate would be much slower in this verse - at about 2X regular human speed. This would have been implemented from genetic modification done unto him by the experimenters, allowing his cells to regenerate at twice the speed of a regular human being's.

☆ Swordsmanship - He is moderately okay at the use of the blade, but it is clear that he hasn't had much proper training. Rin is skilled enough to defend himself, but he isn't a pro by any means.


Personality:

First and foremost, Rin is a kind boy.

His exterior is that of someone who appears impulsive and angry, but this is only because of his quick-to-act attitude and his die-hard need to protect others. He is the kind to voice his opinions; to rebel against things he disagrees with out of passion. But it is all out of the kindness of his heart – he truly, truly believes in the value of everyone’s life, even his enemies. Through and through, he is entirely against the killing of (human) others, firmly thinking that everyone has the opportunity to change and grow. Maybe that’s naïve of him, but it best encapsulates his world view - the phrase that resounds in him most is 'use your power for a gentler purpose'. To be gentle to others and use his strength for the purpose of good and protecting people is his whole life motto. Because of this high value he places on human lives, he is willing to throw himself in front of others to protect them – strangers and friends alike. More often than not, he uses himself as a shield to protect others; he cares not for the injuries he sustains so long as innocent people stay safe and unscathed.

Despite having such a caring attitude towards others, he is not so kind to himself and thinks of himself quite lowly. Since he has been able to conceive it, he struggles with understanding his own ‘humanity’ and sense of self-worth, generally perceiving himself as an outcast who can be neither fully human nor fully demonic. It has been a long and arduous road for him to accept his non-fully-human status, but since doing so, he has taken steps in the direction of being able to believe in his humanity. But there are still times in which he questions why he is alive at all, as dark as that may seem. He has an extreme lack of self-confidence, and is easily prone to having doubt in his abilities.

Rin's number one priority is always those dear to him. In general, he's very supportive and encouraging no matter what, even if he doesn't quite understand the situation (which is actually more often than not) - his natural way of thinking is to cheer people on, never to bring them down. If his friends and or family is insulted when he is around, he always defends them in their stead, going as far as to instigate fights with those that carry out such actions. Perhaps this is indicative of him having a hot-temper, but he is just very serious about protecting the people close to him. Despite how negatively he can react towards people whom dislike those whom he cares about, Rin is surprisingly accepting of other's opinions (for mundane things, obviously not for egregiously harmful opinions) and doesn't go out of his way to alter or argue with thoughts that collide with his own. He has a respect for people's own way of thinking, as he himself doesn't enjoy getting preached to and having beliefs shoved down his throat.

As previously stated, he has a natural want to help and aid others, and is constantly worrying for other's sake. Some might call him a bit mother hen-ish, especially towards those that he considers family. He'll cook for people he cares about, worries about them being well-fed, the whole nine yards. Even if he is incapable of helping someone, he will still offer (most of the time), finding happiness in an ability to be useful to someone else. In that sense, he is kind of selfless; there isn't anyone that Rin puts himself in front of or above. He can be kind of rough at showing it at times, due to his underdeveloped social qualities, but he is capable of being kind to just about anybody. Rin is caring, kind-hearted, and noble. He truly, genuinely, and wholly wants the best for everyone, and is definitely someone worthy of trust and loyalty.

Rin is someone that cares about family deeply - and definitely needs family to feel secure. He has the utmost respect for the family structure as he wholly regrets not respecting it before his guardian passed away, and tends to reprimand those that do not do the same. To those who spite their fathers, he is hostile and quick to remind them that everyone's parents won't be around forever. While this may seem nosy, he is type to encourage others to apologize and move past their differences so that they can enjoy their time while they are both still alive - mostly, so that they do not repeat the same mistakes that he has made. While he's already a super protective person to regular everyday people and his friends, he is especially so towards his family, not allowing one negative word to be uttered about them in his presence.

That being said, Rin is extremely forgiving - even to those who wrong him on numerous occasions. Even when others say things that harm him, he can generally come to understand why they are being said, having enough empathy to see things from other people’s viewpoints. While his feelings may be hurt from harsh words, he is not the type to hold a grudge – but he will contest those that talk poorly of him just based on his blood. When he is in the wrong, he is the kind to try to give unspoken apologies (offering food, doing something nice for the other, etc.), not particularly enjoying the act of verbally or formally apologizing.

Despite Rin's genuinely noble personality, it's a well known fact that he isn't all that mature. In fact, he still cries over emotional movies, and gets excited over silly or simple things. He's easily distracted by food, he gets excited at the prospect of travelling to new places and sightseeing, and he has an extreme fear of flight. Rin is completely not above calling people joke-ish names in an argument, because he really does have no limit to his immaturity - he can go as far as sticking his tongue out and crossing his arms, refusing to do whatever he's being told like a stubborn child. In addition, that stubborn attitude gets him places, as he is nearly always going against what others tell him to do and can often get his way if he refuses for long enough...it's impossible to break his will. It should be noted that he is also very forgetful, to an extent that he will forget things on simple errand runs and forget people's names whom he has met on multiple occasions. He also is known to complain about menial work because he is somewhat lazy when it comes to doing nit-picky tasks, but while he grumbles, he'll get around to it if one gives him the right shove. As a result of his laziness, he is quite the bad student academically; he claims to learn better when moving around rather than sitting in a desk.

As a whole, despite his headstrong and boisterous aura, he really is just a people person. Good at reading them, good at caring for them, good at protecting them. Even if he is awkward or confrontational, it all boils down to his immense love for other living things, even if that love is not always reciprocated towards him. And that makes him stronger than anything.


AU History:

Life began for Rin as a human experiment for the Company in attempt to create a human weapon.

While there had been similar human-modifying experiments as his, he had many complications with the procedure over time - as the early years of his life went on, he became increasingly violent and uncontrollable as a means for a weapon, definitely unfit for the purposes that he was created for. Despite being bred for militant purposes, he was defiant and headstrong, and would frequently injure the attendants that came near him. Eventually, the Company decided that he was no longer of use as an experiment and was dumped on an (luckily inhabited) planet in the J-Star cluster.

Following being abandoned on a J-Star cluster planet, he was pretty much left to survive on his own - or perish. Because many of his features brand him as clearly a human experiment, he was largely shunned by the inhabitants of the planet he landed on, which only stroked his short temper and violent behavior. He lived primarily on scraps and made use of the training he had received at the Company for survival in order to keep himself alive - sometimes sleeping in alleyways and other dubious places definitely not suited for a child. At some point, he would have stolen the blade he is now in possession of out of necessity to defend himself, not having known of it's enhancements when he stole it but learning to use it effectively. Around the age of 7, a travelling Scarback Monk came across his dirty, half-starved self, and offered him refuge, which after a bit of resistance, he accepted. At the promise of living somewhere where he wouldn't be cast aside as a demon among society, his young heart couldn't refuse.

From then, Rin moved to the Scarback Monastery on Leith, still a bit hostile and wary but desperately yearning for a place to call 'home'. It took him months, possibly even years to grow to trust the monks entirely, slowly adapting to their lifestyle letting down heavily guarded walls that he had erected as the result of his less-than-comfortable upbringing. Rin was especially vulnerable at this point in time as he was beginning to unlearn much of the dehumanizing rhetoric to which he had been around his entire life, and it is the reversal of this rhetoric that was taught to him by the monks that made him eventually see them as somewhat of a makeshift 'family'. Over the course of many years his aggressive attitude would eventually fade into something much more calm, definitely from the aid of the monks' teachings.

Up until his teen years, he lived in the Monastery and rarely traveled down the mountain, unless it was in the company of another monk or inhabitant at the monastery, preferring to stay sheltered rather than go outside as he still held reservations about his experiences with the attitudes towards his experiment status. As a result of this, he is mildly naive and isn't too knowledgeable about much of anything outside of his own experiences in the Monastery and with the Company.

In more recent times, now that he is of working age, he has been starting to venture out more and more and has become increasingly curious about the world outside the Monastery.


CRAU: N/A!

Original History: Here!

Inventory: Just the clothes on his back and the Kurikara.

Samples: Here, and here.

Miscellaneous Notes: N/A
unpromising: (ɪ ᴡʜɪsᴛʟᴇ ᴍᴇ ᴀ ᴏɴᴇ ᴍᴀɴ ᴛᴜɴᴇ)

qrow branwen | rwby | expired reserve

[personal profile] unpromising 2017-02-04 04:54 pm (UTC)(link)

Player



Name: Monica
Age: 25
Contact: [plurk.com profile] staves or pm!
Preferred Pronouns: She/her
Other Characters: Leo Elster ([personal profile] slotted)

Character



Name: Qrow Branwen
Age: ~39

Memory Option: 1
Established Status: Y, 1 year

Canon: RWBY
Canon Point: Post Volume 4

Citizenship: Authorised non-citizen
Job: Reclamation Agent
* Level: Four


Abilities
Skill ➤ Combat
Qrow is an expert fighter such that he's capable of wielding three different weapons: a scythe, a sword, and a shotgun. He's also ambidextrous and can use either hand for fighting. He usually uses his left hand when he uses his weapon as a sword and a gun, but he uses his right hand when it's a scythe.

Skill ➤ Transfiguration
Not much is revealed in canon as to how Qrow is able to transform into a crow, but it is one of his abilities. In-game, he'll have the ability to control a robotic (but seemingly realistic) crow to be used for spying and/or reconnaissance.

Passive ➤ Aura
In RWBY, every person has an Aura. This is something like a bonus HP bar that they have, and once it's depleted, the characters are able to receive mortal injuries. In the game's setting, this will be translated into him having a lot of endurance.

Passive ➤ Semblance
A semblance is the manifestation of one's innate power, and it's usually unique to each individual. Qrow says his Semblance is Bad Luck, and it's innate and something he can't control. He doesn't have bad luck, but he ends up bringing misfortune wherever he goes. When people get too close to him, they end up being unlucky or disaster strikes them. In the game's setting, Qrow's semblance will just mean that he has good luck, such that those around him end up having less luck than what he has.

Personality:
Hunters in the world of Remnant are renowned fighters who protect the world from the evils of Grimm, as well as other threats to mankind. Qrow Branwen is a veteran Huntsman who even goes so far as to take missions by himself for very long periods of time. These kinds of missions take him away from his family and contact with all kinds of people. Needless to say, he's got a bit of a reputation as as an expert Huntsman! One would think that somebody hardened by such adversities would end up being professional in terms of work and communication, but that's not Qrow at all.

Qrow is almost always drunk, and if he isn't drunk, he'll make sure he drinks until he's slightly wasted before doing things. Along with his drunkenness comes a rude and crass attitude, and slightly foul-mouthed. He's quick to insult someone, not even caring about their social standing or rank in the community. Whether it's a general in an army or a special operative, Qrow will not mince words. If he doesn't like them, he'll make sure they know.

He's not rude all the time, though, even though he may come off as such. He's very straight-forward, and won't even spare the feelings of even somebody he likes or respects. If he ends up hurting the other's feelings, then that's fine—it's not his loss. Despite this, though, Qrow is actually someone who conceals the truth rather than being 100% honest most of the time. These secrets he keeps are mostly about him or his past, or what it is he actually does for the sake of Remnant. He also isn't the type who would treat someone any different just because they're a family member or a friend. And if he can, he'll use his connections to his advantage, even if it could compromise the other's safety. That's just how he works. It's his job first before everything else, including relationships.

Despite that, though, he actually cares for a lot of people. He purposely distances himself from his contacts because of his Semblance: Misfortune. His Semblance affects him greatly because his Semblance is not something he can't turn off. Because of this, anybody close enough to him will experience misfortune or bad luck. Some examples would be the literal meaning of misfortune; that things would start falling apart and almost injure the person. Another example would be someone getting physically close to Qrow that they end up breaking a glass. Qrow's just a bringer of misfortune, something he's very self-conscious of. He doesn't like that his Semblance is this way, but he's resigned to the fact that he'll just have to live by himself without getting too close to people. He'll end up hurting more people that way.

Salt aside, he has a fun side. Fun for him, anyway! He's not above starting fights with people, especially if it's someone he actively dislikes. There's some excitement in being able to beat up somebody he's not fond of, and there's a lot of fun in getting somebody he hates embarrassed in public. He's also not old enough for video games! He still plays, and is really, really good at what he plays. He's just someone who has no shame. He doesn't care what happens to the people around him, nor does he care about what happens to him. When he was younger, he put on a skirt thinking it was a kilt. It was embarrassing for him, but he sure carried himself with pride, even hitting on some girls while wearing it. His childishness extends to him making inappropriate quips, as well.

Take away most of Qrow's salt, as well as a small percentage of his abrasive nature and you'll get a more sober Qrow. He does have his serious and professional fight. Despite his childlike nature, he is still a veteran and expert Huntsman who has experienced the darker things in life. He may present himself as incompetent and almost careless at times, but he does know when to take things seriously. Qrow is well aware of what is important and what isn't, and he'll do whatever it is that needs to be done in order to achieve his goal. His methods may be a little underhanded as he would even go so far as to use his own niece as bait, but he makes sure that no casualties are involved.

Qrow might have experienced a lot of violence in his life, and in fact, even encourages violence at times whenever he starts fights, but he's against killing. He grew up raised by a tribe of bandits and thieves, so he's seen people get killed by the hands of those whom he grew close with. It's something that disgusts him, Qrow can also be insensitive most of the time, but family issues are very touchy matters to him. He's upset with his sister for leaving and not being in contact with her daughter. He may have resigned himself to loneliness, but he does value his family a lot, even though he doesn't have one of his own.

His image is that of a "cool uncle", in that he actually is badass, cool, and has had some inappropriate escapades. He plays video games and he's an exceptional fighter who even made his own weapon. But at the same time, he's a bit of a mess who's always drunk and has bad relations with mostly everybody, even those whom he is working with to protect the world. He'll present himself as a suave guy with a hint of salt, and maybe he'll even be a nice guy if needed.

Just don't ever, ever call him old.

AU History:
Brianstorming meme.

A bit far away from the Quad is a small planet known for… well, nothing. It was a planet that was barely alive. Lived there are tribe of thieves and bandits who did whatever they can in order to feed themselves, get money, and survive. Things were rather difficult for this tribe, but they certainly made things easy for them by killing them. Qrow Branwen happened to be one of the kids who grew up with this tribe. As such, Qrow was taught how to kill with all kinds of weapons—small or big, sharp or blunt. But Qrow wasn't fond of this lifestyle that he led. At the age of seventeen, he left the tribe and decided never to come back. It was only years after he had left that his plan on never returning was made known to the tribe. He was seen as a traitor.

He manages to scrounge up enough money to travel to another planet—to Qresh, Qrow enrolls himself in a combat school. It's not so he can continue killing, but it's so he can do the opposite. To protect mankind and all other creatures that live in the universe… or at least, that's what he hopes to achieve. Upon graduating, he joins the RAC and pledges neutrality. It's a lot different from the kind of job that he actually wants, but he feels that he'll still be able to attain what it is he wants. In a way, he's still protecting people by accomplishing warrants.

Qrow managed to get up the ranks pretty quickly. He didn't get along with much of the other RAC agents, because as much as he loved and how good he was at fighting, he never took anyone's life unless it was absolutely necessary. He was regarded as a chicken for his history of not having killed a lot of people, but he doesn't consider this a big deal.

Even though he had that sort of history within the RAC, he was still respected for being an excellent combatant. It's why he was tasked to be a combat instructor to any and all Killjoys who have recently joined, and those who want to keep themselves sharp—mentally and physically. He's not the most effective instructor such that he always comes to "work" drunk. Or if he comes to work sober, he'll drink on the job and get drunk in the process. Still, even when inebriated, he's still no match for most of those he has to train.

Eventually, he takes on a warrant that required him to travel for a long period of time. Nobody's seen or heard of him because of this job of his, and he's gone for years. It's only very recently—in the time period of the game—that he's come back, accomplishing the tasks on the warrant he took up. There's a lot of Killjoys whom he probably doesn't know, but he tries to be a good senior to the other members and he tries to befriend them. And by befriend, piss them off in very, very annoying ways. (ie. he's definitely started a fight with at least one RAC agent in a group of two.)

It's after finishing his warrant that he thinks he should be promoted as a Killjoy. He's been working for the RAC for years and even goes so far as to train other members of the RAC. It's not that he thinks it's absolutely necessary for a promotion, but it would be nice. Throw him a bone, RAC! He's been loyal for ages. And this is why he's mostly salty about everything, including being a Killjoy.

CRAU: No.

Original History: Link.

Inventory: His weapon, and a flask.

Samples:
One
Two

Miscellaneous Notes: n/a

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[personal profile] unpromising - 2017-02-05 01:18 (UTC) - Expand
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Arturia Pendragon (SABER) | Fate/Zero | Reserved

[personal profile] iuramentum 2017-02-05 04:02 am (UTC)(link)

Player



Name: Clamor

Age: 25

Contact: [plurk.com profile] macabreclamor, Discord upon request.

Preferred Pronouns: She/Her

Other Characters: N/A
iuramentum: Icon - <user name=milktea-x site=livejournal.com> (♔ 27)

[personal profile] iuramentum 2017-02-05 04:08 am (UTC)(link)

Character



Name: Arturia Pendragon ("Saber")

Age: Unknown. Appears to be early twenties.

Memory Option: Deteriorating AU.

Established Status: Yes. 5 years; 3 as military (Company enforcement), with 2 spent as a RAC agent.

Canon: Fate/Zero

Canon Point: Ep. 15, "Golden Radiance"

Citizenship: Authorized non-citizen

Job: Reclamation Agent

* Level:
Level 2, undergoing vetting process in preparation to make the jump up the ladder to Level 3.

Abilities For the sake of neatness, Abilities will be grouped according to Passive ("always active") -> Minor -> Major.

PASSIVE ||

Heroic Spirit: A mechanic that may or may not be used, Heroic Spirits are the physical embodiment of a mythical figure. As such, they retain memories, personalities, and the skills or advantages of their namesake. Unfortunately this also means that as a magical construct, they require a partnership with a Mage to anchor themselves to the physical plane - not counting the constant threat of having 3 Command Seals hanging over their head, which can quite literally force them to kill themselves if their Master demands it. For the sake of keeping things easy, Saber will not require a contract to sustain herself, but may seek to form one with another character with sufficient CR later down the line. Any developments with the Heroic Spirit contracts will be discussed with mods before use.

Master Swordsman: Saber's honed her skill with a longsword to match just about anyone on the field of combat regardless of what weapon they choose to carry. (Unless you keep your distance than she's kinda boned BUT NOT ENTIRELY. See "Instinct" further below for details. )

Spirit of Valour: Chivalry and honour are really cool, okay. Saber performs best when the Knightly code of conduct is actively being fulfilled before, during, and after combat.

Mana Burst/Physical Fortitude: A.k.a Saber is Really Goddamn Strong for someone that looks tiny and frail. In canon, this is attributed to reinforcing herself with mana, but in Overjoyed she will be stuffed to the gills with nanites stimulating muscle groups to increase power output, and anchoring tendons/bones/etc to prevent damaging herself due to the enhancements themselves. Naturally, she will be particularly vulnerable to EMP attacks because of it.

MINOR ||

Instinct: This one's a little oddly described in the wiki, but the short of it is being able to 'predict' the best course of action to take at the time. This may be a gut feeling that she should duck just before someone throws a punch, or that stepping in one unusually quiet area would set off an ambush. It doesn't mean she's entirely infallible, as she must be aware of what to look for or what to at least be suspicious of, but she can dodge or deflect arrows/bullets when completely in-tune with her opponent. Shortcomings include being able to dodge the initial projectile but not the following explosion, or being able to identify an attack/trap/etc as "overwhelming force" but being unable to do anything about it. With cybernetic enhancements made to her nervous system, eyes, and quick-twitch muscle groups upon joining the RAC, it should have the same effects as her being all eyes-up-the-ass-awareness in F/Z-verse.

Magic Resistance: Saber's particularly resilient to magic thrown her way, including Command Seals to some degree. Tech-wise, she'll possess a skin weave enhancement to be resistant to only endothermic attacks.

Magic Circuits: Saber's potential is limited only by what mana her Master can supply. But in Overjoyed there are no Masters, so... METABOLISM LIKE HELLAAAAAAAAAA. Having all those nanites and tech grafted into her system is great since she'll have deeper reserves to energy to burn through, but in exchange she must be constantly monitoring herself for starvation symptoms as the enhancements themselves tap into whatever her body has stored naturally (fat, muscle, etc). If neglected, she will weaken and possibly die at twice the speed of a regular person as she effectively consumes herself to keep the nanites and whatnot functional.

Noble Phantasm - Invisible Air: In canon, a tightly controlled cylinder of air which keeps the length and breadth of her sword hidden. Tech-wise, Saber will have a stock of single-use ampules that maintain a temporary field of invisibility around her weapon, slotted into the sword's pommel.

Blessing of the Lady of the Lake: Acts as a free pass in the sense of not being impeded by water, meaning she can move on the surface of lakes or rivers as surely as if she's walking on solid ground. Best mimicked by a pair of water-walking boots with highly hydrophobic soles and some sort of stabilizing tech to keep her from toppling facefirst into the drink.

MAJOR ||

Noble Phantasm - Excalibur, Sword of Promised Victory: "Swords are op as shit and totally acceptable to bring to a gunfight: the anime". Excalibur is Saber's ace in the hole, containing the raw potential to be crowned with the title of an Anti-Fortress Noble Phantasm; basically a short and sweet way to say that it can really and truly fuck up just about any defensive structure known to mankind. In canon it functions as a kind of mana amplifier, resonating with Saber as she draws in ambient magic ("Glory", stated as hopes and dreams of all soldiers dying on the battlefield, past, present, and future) and unleashing it all in one massive wave of destructive power. AU'ed, Saber's sword instead pulls every nanite she has to offer out of her body through her hands (Causing severe internal damage as it does - weakening bone tissue, causing microtears in muscle fibers, etc as the nanites force their way out via the shortest route - her increased metabolism will also be pushed into overdrive to compensate for the sudden loss of energy stores, sapping what remains of her natural strength), concentrating destructive power which is then directed outwards from the tip of the blade. Needless to say Saber will be unable to continue fighting once her nanite supply has been depleted, and must seek medical attention immediately afterwards to avoid permanent injury or death. Excalibur has a very obvious, very lengthy windup time that paints a "HEY I'M DOING SOMETHING SUSPICIOUS YOU SHOULD INTERRUPT ME" bullseye on her chest, so it's not something to show off lightly as a party favor... or to use at all outside of only the direst situations.


Personality: A knight first, a king second, a servant third.

Saber's entire being revolves around the concept of sacrifice of self for the good of others, shouldering the burdens and dreams of an entire nation to lift them higher from their sorrows at the loss of her own happiness and personal freedoms. She is, at her core, unwavering in her loyalty to her country and the people she leads, and this is precisely why she's often remarked upon as a king that was unable to touch the hearts of her knights - a cold and distant figure elevated to unreachable heights on the pedestal of kingship.

She laments this choice during the later parts of the Zero series, questioning if her lack of personal attachments is what drove Lancelot to madness, unaware that guilt was the root of the problem. Had she chosen to punish him for his dalliance with Guinivere instead of forgiving him, he may have been able to see Saber as a tragic but ultimately human figure rather than an object worthy of fanatic adoration.

The arguments between Saber (King Arthur/The King of Knights), Rider (Alexander the Great/The King of Conquerors) and Archer (Gilgamesh of Uruk/The King of Kings) mostly consist of debating the pros and cons of each ruler's philosophy. Archer and Rider can at least agree on one point: Saber's stance on kingship is an unattainable dream she killed herself for, and therefore the least effective. After all, who in their right mind seeks the thorny path of the martyr? If you died with regrets, you weren't worthy of kingship. Of course these are ultimately self-centered views of the world which Saber nonetheless accepts the criticism with a generous dash of distress. That doesn't however, make a lasting impact outside of slightly changing the wish she has planned for the Holy Grail; from "I wish to save my country", that wish becomes "I wish I never became King" in the belief that if she failed so spectacularly, it would be best for someone more worthy to take up the mantle.

This selflessness carries through to most parts of Saber's life in the Grail Wars; she sees herself as a tool to be wielded, not a person to befriend, and tends to become deeply uncomfortable if treated differently because of her gender or apparent age. Most attempts at bridging her self-imposed hermitism is met either with puzzlement or polite refusal as she steps up her attempts to keep others at arm's-length. Servants don't require sleep, food, or petty luxuries, after all.

However, if not for Irisviel's nigh constant overtures of friendship, she would have been content to remain isolated in whatever corner she'd be left in until her services were needed. As it is she greatly values Irisviel's presence, as she treats Saber like any other unremarkable person instead of either a figure of myth or as an unthinking Servant. Under the shell of cool composure, Saber is very unsure of her sense of self-worth and identity and as a result she can be somewhat shy or skittish if drawn out from her facade of detachment, but she can be a devoted and protective friend if that relationship is nurtured.

As the title "King of Knights" suggests, honour, valour, and chivalry are all major variables in how Saber ticks and why she behaves as she does. Although she is aware that she is a glorified pawn in a war she has no stake in, Saber still treats rival servants with respect at first meeting, and even manages to build some rapport with Lancer that carries on for quite some time - exchanging compliments if one or the other lands a telling blow, or executes a strategy that the recipient wasn't expecting. The battles become something to look forward to, to savour in it's entirety when no outside forces are actively interfering. On the field of combat with a worthy opponent even the Grail War ceases to exist for a time.

This sense of honour puts her at odds with her contracted Master, Kiritsugu Emiya, who prefers to operate in a less direct manner when facing opponents. This ranges from using Irisviel as a 'decoy Master' to assassinating rival Masters, and so on. Although she finds this method of combat distasteful, Saber is mindful of being no more than a tool in Kiritsugu's arsenal, so she puts up with it without complaint.

Suffice it to say she is fundamentally a lonely person so used to isolation and secrecy that she isn't quite sure how to reach out to others in a constructive manner (that isn't basically beating each other up). Given time and opportunities to step out of her comfort zone, that may change for the better.
Edited (Fixing citizenship! o7) 2017-02-05 04:47 (UTC)

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Corrin | Fire Emblem: Fates | Not Reserved

[personal profile] affinities 2017-02-05 01:37 pm (UTC)(link)

Player



Name: Jo

Age: 31

Contact: [plurk.com profile] synodic / asterism#8860 @ discord

Preferred Pronouns: She, her

Other Characters: N/A
affinities: (Default)

[personal profile] affinities 2017-02-05 01:37 pm (UTC)(link)

Character



Name: Corrin

Age: 18

Memory Option: 1

Established Status: 1 year. He's been coming to terms with his life being turned upside down, and trying to track down answers about why things turned out as they did with regards to his family.

Canon: Fire Emblem: Fates (Birthright path)

Canon Point: Birthright Endgame/post Chapter 27

Citizenship: Qreshi but living on Leith

Job: Sheltered lump/land owner


Abilities: Minor | Dragon Fang: In canon, it's a skill that randomly allows raw damage to be doubled. In game, it will be a burst of nanites that gives Corrin the ability to strike a target twice as hard as a normal person. It will activate randomly in game as well.

Major | Dragon transformation: By utilizing a dragonstone, Corrin is able to transform into an ancient dragon. This entails undergoing a full body transformation into a huge, actual dragon. In game, this will simply be tapping into his innate power and increasing his strength and endurance to roughly double that of his normal levels. To keep in line with being vulnerable to magic in canon, taking a hit from high-tech weapons will disrupt his nanites and cause him to take extra damage.

Passive | Dragon Ward: A skill that occasionally allows allies to take only half damage. In game, friends/allies will sometimes not take as much damage from a hit as usual. This may be chalked up to good luck.

Passive | Hoshidan Noble: This adds a boost to skills used by allies. Similar to the above skill, this may be seen as simply having a bit of luck, as an ally may hit a little harder/use a skill more effectively.

Combat | Corrin is an accomplished swordsman, wielding a katana in combat. He can also use staves in a supportive, healing role in combat, but I don't see that coming to play in game too much, unless he has a bit of medical tech that can temporarily accelerate wound healing at a cellular level on others. When using the dragonstone, he is able to wreak a lot of havoc with his attacks. As mentioned above, this will be be nerfed down to being stronger in combat in game.

Personality:

Growing up in a secluded fortress after suffering amnesia about his early childhood, Corrin had every reason to grow up bitter about his circumstances. Instead, when we first meet him in the game, he is a friendly, loving person. He takes being teased in stride, and isn't shy about teasing the people he cares about, especially family. While he does long to see the outside world, the fact that his siblings can and do visit him and spend time with him, as well as the fact that he gets along well with his retainers, allows him to feel connected to others. Whether training with his brother or engaging in good-natured ribbing, he appears to be well loved himself due to his amiable nature.

Corrin's sense of kindness extends to those deemed to be his enemies as well. When ordered to kill enemy combatants, he outright refuses on the grounds that it's cruel and unnecessary. Though this draws the ire of others, he stands his grounds, refusing to murder in cold blood. This extends to other enemies that he meets, from former childhood friends attacking him to people obviously sent to kill him. By staying his hand and offering mercy if not outright friendship, Corrin wants to believe in the best of everyone. Even when confronted with the truth of his birth, which leads to him realizing that the family he grew up with wasn't blood-related, and choosing to side with his birth family despite them being nearly strangers, he feels like he is doing the right thing. As he bears no ill will towards his siblings that suddenly become his enemies, he still loves them and works to avoid having to confront them as much as possible. His sense of justice and doing the right thing are part of what lead him to choosing to fight for his birth family as well; after witnessing the murder of his mother, he cannot go back to his previous life, and becomes determined to see justice brought down on her killer as well as bringing an end to the war his family is engaged in.

While his habit of trusting in people and trying to see the good in them despite their actions or what others might think lends itself to his ability to win people over to his side, it can also lead to others criticizing him for being too naive. Still, this often makes people want to place their trust in him in return, and allows him to forge relationships that might otherwise not develop were he to be more suspicious.

It probably doesn't hurt that Corrin is also genuinely sweet to those he cares about, even if they aren't close. He's quick to apologize for being a burden on someone else or not acknowledging their own struggles, as he can feel that he isn't thoughtful enough when it comes to being there for others. He can be susceptible to his own emotions, however, which can be seen in the way he doubts himself or his ability to lead, and the fact that without a dragonstone to keep him in check, his own emotions might overrun him to the point where he loses his humanity.

Being kind and sociable isn't all there is to him, however. It's impossible to ignore the fact that he is caught up in a war he never asked to be in, and he does continue to want to prevent as much fighting as possible, but he can be fiercely determined to see things through. In battle, he does his best to support his allies. Outside of battle, he never gives up on trying to find a solution that causes the least amount of suffering; even when fighting his own family, he pleads for an end to to their struggles through more peaceful means. Even in the thick of war, he makes every attempt to spare as many lives as possible if he can help it.

When that doesn't work and he is left with no choice but to fight, or in the case of losing people dear to him, Corrin will continue forward. Backing down isn't an option, as it would be an affront to everything the people around him fought and died for. Even when it's painful, he acknowledges that not giving up is the best way to honor someone's memory.
This spirit carries over even when facing seemingly impossible odds. When confronted with a battle that should be impossible to win, Corrin doesn't back down, and goes so far as putting his life on the line in order to secure victory and protect those around him.

The extremes between Corrin's personality may not seem to make much sense at first; a man who won't kill enemies in front of him and a warrior who isn't afraid to face certain death if it means victory, but they are two sides of the same coin. It's because Corrin values both those who are close to him like his family and friends, and those he doesn't even know, like villagers threatened by war and even enemy troops that he acts the way he does. In his eyes, nobody deserves to suffer, and those who would bring suffering and pain on others must be stopped, by force if necessary. It doesn't take much to make him care about anyone, and once he does he'll go to the ends of the earth for him.

AU History: For most of his life, Corrin was a middle sibling of an especially well-off Qreshi family. He lost his memory sometime in his youth, however, and for his own safety and health, was kept hidden away on a remote estate. Growing up there wasn't too much of a burden on him, as he had loyal servants and was constantly visited by his siblings, who kept him in high spirits. He took it in stride that he was kept locked away; obviously it was for his own good, and he simply had to wait for the chance to prove himself ready to venture beyond garden walls.

This finally happened when, allowed out of the manor for the first time to see the outside world, he was given a gift and sent to one of the land blessings being held at another distant estate. However, it turned out to be a trap and when the micro-tech in his gift turned out to be a weapon meant for discreetly killing a particular party guest. Unbeknownst to him, the politics of well-to-do families involved him and his family without event a hint of the political turmoil drifting his way.

Nevertheless, the plan he was unwittingly roped into worked; the guest was assassinated and he was at the heart of the murder. Due to the stress of being used to commit a murder and the ensuing chaos (quickly swept under the rug and later dismissed as an accident, to save face), Corrin found himself losing control of his emotions and practically going feral; he was mentally unstable to the point he couldn't be reasoned with, and attacked another guest, nearly killing them. The situation was quickly defused when someone thought to use a high-tech device attuned to Corrin to stop him. Using the device allowed Corrin to get himself under control and return to his senses, though now he must carry it with him in order to maintain control.

Whisked away from the commotion, Corrin was shocked to find out that the people he thought were his family were in fact not related at all, and he had been abducted as a child and hidden away, in order to have his land shares stolen. In addition, he happened to be carrying an unstable strain of nanites in his blood; after he was abducted as a youth, his injuries required medical attention and the use of said nanites. These could augment his skills as well by allowing him to tap into more strength than normal, but without control would lead to a feral state of mind that he might not recover from. With these revelations, and soon to be of age, Corrin agreed to flee with the people claiming to be his birth family, in order to discover the truth about his past and right the wrongs he had inadvertently been caught up in. He's been lucky enough to be around a family that genuinely does care about his well-being, even, which has made it both easier and more difficult to think about his previous relationships with the rest of the people he considers his siblings.

Since these events, Corrin has voluntarily stayed on Leith, with brief visits to Westerly when he feels especially hungry for information, as he wants to avoid any more 'incidents' like his first outing, and because he feels like he is able to more freely work towards peace with all of the members of his family, both 'adopted' and blood-related. So far he hasn't been able to come up with much, but as he becomes more familiar with the world outside of posh estates, he is beginning to see that it isn't just his life that is more complicated than he thought. The quad is far more complex than he thought, and he wants to do what he can to help everyone, not just himself.


CRAU: No.

Original History: Here and Here, for Birthright specifically.

Inventory: Dragonstone - a bit of micro-tech that he keeps on his person at all times and keeps his nanites in check, preventing him from going 'feral'.

Blazing Yato - His katana, but made by the best Qreshi artisan swordsmith instead of being a magic sword. The wide blade still glows, and striking someone with it will do the normal damage a blade would in addition to delivering a mild electric shock.

Samples: TDM prompt #2

[There were just so many dead. It was difficult to quantify it simply in terms of numbers. This many died in this section of town, that hospital lost this many patients. Those were the kinds of figures that fit neatly on Company lists. They would be taken into account by anyone with an estate needing migrant workers that wanted to ensure productivity didn't drop due to too many dead workers.

Stepping around a pile of what he hopes is simply runoff from a broken gutter, Corrin frowns to himself as he looks up at one of the hospitals that are still functioning at this point. How useful could he really be, here? He's come against the advice of some of his siblings, but the idea of staying safe and protected while these people suffered wasn't one he could comfortably live with. shouldn't he be offering what help he could? He could retreat back to where it was safe and clean, but this was all these people had.

He can do this. He can do this. It would be shameful to expect to care for his own lands and not be willing to do any actual work where it mattered, himself. He knows that's not really a conventional way of thinking, and that most people would say that there would always be more Westies to fill the gaps where workers were needed, but still. ]


Hello? [And hopefully he wasn't talking to an empty hospital after all. There's nothing for it but to follow through, and enter the hospital. If not here, then somewhere else would need help.]

I'm not here to steal anything. [Which had been a problem earlier in the day; he has no desire to repeat a scuffle over discarded pill bottles. He hasn't decided if the darting motion around a corner that he just saw is reassuring or not.]

I just wanted to know-- Is there anything you need that I might be able to help with?

//

TDM prompt #3

[It's no surprise that they would show up here. This is the perfect time to stir up even more discontentment and add more fanatics to their fold. True Leithans, posted up just about anywhere one might wander through the bazaar. It's so easy to blame others for your problems, especially now, especially here. Corrin shakes his head and puts his hands up to signal that no, he doesn't want to join a circle of conspiratorial looking people giving dark looks to anyone that looks like they don't belong.

He jumps slightly when one of them raise their voice, demanding to know why he doesn't want to help, is he some kind of traitor? He even steps back as they get even louder, telling him that they'll come for his lands next, and his entire family is going to end up just as dirt-poor as the rest of the rabble trying to get free handouts if he doesn't do anything.]


Those are people you're talking about, did you know that? [He isn't about to raise his voice, because that's all the man wants. A public fight would probably add to the flames of resentment being stoked by him and his friends.]

Everybody is tense right now, so I don't think it's the best time to be talking about this, do you? I know we're all feeling unsure about all of this, but surely you'd be willing to give talking a cha--

[Nope, okay, definitely the wrong approach. Being screeched at and chased through the bazaar isn't how he thought his day was going to go, but every day is an adventure. He just hopes this one can end with just a little less excitement.

He finally gets clear of the crowd, where people might get hurt, and turns to face his pursuers. Drawing his weapon, he readies himself, muttering a preemptive 'Sorry'. All they have to do is stand down, and everyone will be able to go about their business. That's all he wants, really.]


Miscellaneous Notes: I tried to leave the AU history vague in some areas in case anyone else wants to app from the same canon and details need to be worked out later with regards to differing storylines, but if I can expand on anything, please let me know. I also did this without doing the brainstorming meme, so I'm open to any suggestions/nerfs as you see fit.
stressors: gift! please dnt. (Default)

shirogane "shiro" takashi | voltron: legendary defender | reserved (expired...)

[personal profile] stressors 2017-02-05 02:17 pm (UTC)(link)

Player



Name: nika

Age: 21++

Contact: pm this journal, please!

Preferred Pronouns: she/her

Character



Name: shirogane, “shiro” takashi.

Age: 25

Memory Option: 1 – au memory deterioration.

Established Status: yes – about 1 year “working for the Company.”

Canon: voltron: legendary defender.

Canon Point: season 2 ending.

Citizenship: leithian.

Job: company enforcer (driver for the resistance; but with a tracker in his arm, he's not really an active spy).

Abilities

  • HAND-TO-ROBOTIC-HAND // Even without the flashy tech, Shiro has been shown upon numerous occasions to possess a fairly impressive ability to fight. Thrown into the gladiator ring long before his right arm was made of metal, he used both his strength and wits to defeat opponents larger than him. Even in the heat of the moment, he possessed the mettle and intelligence to strategize around an electric orb-slinging alien, and to bring it down by coordinating his counters to its attack patterns. In addition, he was only armed with a sword at the time. He was named the “Champion” according to his numerous victories while he was Zarkon’s prisoner, and barring his experience in the Galran coliseum, he has shown various circumstances where he is plenty capable of holding his own in a fight. Punching drones; taking on some giant furry about twice the size of him. He has also, on one occasion, demonstrated some familiarity with alien firearms.


  • . . . NO, SERIOUSLY, ROBOTIC HAND // As far as his actual glowing arm is relevant, however, it will be listed as a major power to be regained at a later date – perhaps in disparate parts. After all, he is able to use it as if it were made of some kind of blade: slicing circles through metal, using it as a weapon in battle. It also gives him a fair bit of inhuman strength as demonstrated in the above video. In addition, it is capable of tuning into Galran technology, as he is able to use it to log into their technology . . . which may not be an entirely relevant power in the Quad, but may as well be worth noting.


  • I BELIEVE I CAN FLY // The man drove two other dudes from Earth to Pluto; he escaped a battleship and possibly flew himself a lightyear or two to get back to Earth; he gets onboard a sentient robot lion, and doesn’t even need training wheels. Anyway, the man can fly like MJ (spacejam.mp3 starts playing in the distance).

  • stressors: gift! please dnt. (pic#10980455)

    [personal profile] stressors 2017-02-05 02:19 pm (UTC)(link)
    Personality:

    note: vague and outright spoilers for season 2 of Voltron ahead.

    From the beginning, Shiro has always been a leader.

    Although not explicitly stated to be an officer at the Galaxy Garrison, he certainly has the uniform and the medal to imply he must have been a pilot of high rank. He is described by a peer (read: Lance) as a legend and a hero – and as the first pilot to travel out to Kerberos, a moon orbiting around Pluto, he certainly seems to have the ability to go where no man has gone before. As the oldest member in a team of five paladins, Shiro is given the Black Lion, the head and centerpiece of Voltron, a legendary robotic weapon with the power to defend the universe. He establishes a connection with his Lion unlike that of the other paladins, and he is able to fly, close his eyes, drop, and pull up before his Lion collides with the hardpan surface of the dry earth (at what might be more than 25 meters per second squared). Even without the time or training wheels necessary to learn to pilot something so great, Shiro flies his Lion without the difficulty that might come from operating its advanced machinery for the first time. As one of the top pilots coming out of the Garrison, Shiro makes it clear that he can lead the front in the sky.

    Barring his talents, he possesses the mindset necessary for leadership. Goal-oriented and efficient, Shiro is a team player that can give direction. He can plan the infiltration of an enemy’s central command; he can coordinate the rescue of a hostage king. He leads the Lions into battle after battle, directing the attacks, forming swords and shields and taking direction when it is necessary. The thing is, Shiro always seems patient, always seems focused. He quiets down the squabbling of the other paladins, and even when confronted with their panic, he calms them and directs the team’s energy and talents to a common objective. More than a leader, he is a team player – willing to hear the suggestions of the other paladins, and capable of adapting to their input. After all, he cannot defend the universe alone.

    Because the thing is, from the very beginning, Shiro has also been awfully human.

    And with being human comes kindness, after all. Upon being captured on Kerberos, he is put in line to fight gladiator battles for the entertainment of a hostile alien race. Instead of letting his teammate fall in the ensuing fight, Shiro shoves him to the ground, and plays the part of a blood-thirsty fighter to take his place. In the ring, they make him fight. They leave scars, and stress enough to turn his hair white; they take his right arm and replace it with a weapon. In the wake of trauma, Shiro escapes an enemy ship with no memories of the horrors he had endured there. Instead, his memories come in jolting images at the most inopportune times – in the middle of a battle, at the point of a sword, while trying to interrogate an enemy commander; post-traumatic stress disorder isn’t, after all, triggered per your convenience.

    And during those episodes, he isn’t the usual Shiro. He isn’t so calm, isn’t so collected, not in charge of the control that is his mainstay. His easiest moments are those where he simply stops – with the caveat that it occurs when he’s not at sword point and meant to be constantly in motion to dodge attacks. The worst moments are when he panics, when he’s frantic and not himself. The Galra have tried to turn him into a monster, and there’s a part of him that’s afraid that they’ve partially succeeded. His right arm, after all, is no longer something human.

    A lesser man might grow callous after enduring infliction. It’s testament to Shiro’s character that even after everything he’s had to endure, he is not hardened enough to make the necessary sacrifices that might save him a fair bit of grief. When Allura is captured by the Galra, he leads the team into infiltrating their command center despite previously stating that it was impossible to overcome their army’s forces if they attacked them head-on. He’ll face his fears, and he’ll do what is necessary to save a life, even if the necessary is impossible. He lost his team once, and he’s probably killed countless in the gritty thrill of an alien coliseum. Redemption isn’t just a single story arc to him.

    Because in the end, Shiro is still kind.

    His teammates are more than just his crew – they are his friends, his comrades. He’ll ask after their well-being, and he’ll let them confide in him. He asks after Keith when he lashes out; he calls Pidge, Katie, and comforts her in her time of frustration. Because it’s all about trust, too. He confirms the bond between himself and an arguably sentient robot lion by speaking of it, by earning its trust rather than seeking power enough to wield it. Kindness is the motivator in Shiro’s brand of leadership: he leads his team out on rescue missions, and gives proper direction when the castle picks up distress signals from the strangeness of space. It’s about defending the universe and saving as many lives as they can.

    . . . and besides all that serious stuff?

    Shiro occasionally has a sad sense of humor.


    AU History:

    It wasn’t a bad life.

    As far as Shiro remembers, he was born to a well-off Leithian family. He was popular, had good grades in school and played ball for the team for two years. He was charismatic, friendly. He was the town hero for a time after personally attending to a string of burglaries that shook their local neighborhood. Everything he did was extraordinarily charmed. After all, he had the makings of greatness from the very start. Whatever he sought to do in the future was backed by his family’s blessing, his natural talents. His mother buys him a motorcycle at sixteen years old, and he rides out to the hills to watch the ships take off into the stars already dotting an endless sunsetting sky.

    It wasn’t a bad idea. Working the land with his father’s crew was a humble option. They tell him he’s bound for better things. He left home as a young hopeful with his family’s encouragement and tuition enough to see him through a training academy for up-and-coming police officers, for pilots. It’s not long until he enlists into the military, and they see his knack for flying their machines, for driving bigger, better things than the police’s jeeps and cars. At the recommendation of one of their highest ranking officers, Shiro enlists into the Company’s law enforcement agency at the age of twenty.

    Like everyone that came before them, they tell him that this is a better thing. He had no reason to disbelieve them. Living on Leith in a small, agricultural town had kept the gossip at bay. His family had thanked the Company for their rights to the land, and produced a modest amount of produce for export. As far as outside influence goes, the Company didn’t have many reasons to send its agents into such a small city.

    It wasn’t a bad run. Military had given him his fair share of battlefield horrors. Coming back from that was almost a milk run – being tasked to train newer recruits, to pilot ships to transport soldiers. One day, they send him to Westerley with guns and bombs in his hands, and wasn’t bad became redefined.

    It was a bad run, but it could’ve been worse. For the mess of bodies the Company leaves behind, he escapes with a scar across his nose and white hair from the radiation. He loses his arm, and he wakes up with a foreign, metal monstrosity in its place. After the second day in the hospital bay, he realizes there’s no one there to keep him company. He lost a few of his peers that day; he lost a little Westie girl that he watched get shot right between her eyes. Half of him is truly, faultlessly loyal to the Company, to the protection of the Quad’s citizens, and his belief that he could make a difference. That this was better. The other half is torn, had watched the Nine command the Company to bomb a rundown settlement in Westerley for a little misconduct, had watched them kill the women and the children and he’d felt the shrapnel along his own fingers. He remembers them trying to brainwash him into accepting them as monsters.

    It doesn’t work.

    He recovers fast in the days that follow, even if the episodes never disappear. He takes on recruits, but he refuses the missions. Guns tremble when he picks them up, but his hands are always steady when they grip a wheel, when he flies the transport. Even though the Company’s scientists are brilliant minds, he explains that he’s still adapting to his arm; that nothing seems to work the way that it used to; that maybe it’s just a lack of sleep. The Company has little use for something broken, but one day, they make him transport a ship of two select criminals to Westerley: some glass-eyed boy and his bird-boned father.

    Of course, the ship never docks. Shiro takes it off course for an impressive, substantial number of miles before the Company catches wind of the activity. Pilot error, their documentation will later say. The papers won’t mention a thing about the exploding turbine (an insurance measure, after all, for the more dangerous prisoners that escape their bindings and take control of the wheel). Or how, even then, he’d managed to steer the smoking ship close enough to bring him and his two passengers onto Arcturus.

    It was one of his worse ideas. The Company’s is there to greet him. They laugh in his face. They beat the prisoners in front of him and then, as a show of “good will” in the face of his desertion, to respect his unusual desperation to save a pair of dirty Westies, they try to send the prisoners into the ring.

    He takes their places, instead. They humor him.
    He spends hours in the fights that take place. Loyalty is overthrown by survival instincts, redemption, misplaced attachment. Everyone in the ring is a monster, and he breaks their bones, and knocks out their teeth with his metal arms. They’re sturdier than his glass-eyed prisoners, and at least they can take it. He spits out blood, and comes close to blacking out, but he fights and he fights until the Company is satisfied.

    The worst happens – because they’re not.

    One day, they dock on Westerley. They drag his beaten body into its outskirts, push him into an over-large basement and tell him to fight again, this time to kill. He thinks he remembers seeing these faces on high level warrants back home, but he can’t be too sure. The first time they give his opponent a blade, he remembers taking it from his pockets and jamming it into his back, over and over. He doesn’t know why the Company bothers to keep these executions secret – what sort of sick thrill they might get from making a blood sport of it. He tries not to think about it. It’s still enough to send him thrashing and yelling at night by the time he even manages to fall asleep.

    Sometimes, he wishes they had the mercy to kill him in the ring. But they threaten his two prisoners (they tell him that they’re in prison; that they won’t rot or dehydrate if he continues to cooperate). They threaten his family. They put an incendiary tracker in his arm and tell him to shut up. He’s still Company property, and he’s still a good driver. They don’t make him fight in the ring if he promises to pilot for their Enforcers, to lie low.

    One day, he meets a Resistance spy working within the Company. She tells him that she can still use him, that although he’s being tracked, she can still use a capable driver. That she can come up with excuses to have him fly out so far into Westerley – to have him visit Leith. So he drives them. He shuts up. The times they actually manage to really use him in their subterfuge, he fights harder than he ever remembers fighting. He wants the rebels to win. He wants justice for all the bloodshed.

    But as long as he’s being tracked there’s not much that he can do for the Resistance.


    CRAU: n/a!

    Original History: here and here!

    (no subject)

    [personal profile] stressors - 2017-02-05 14:21 (UTC) - Expand
    caninity: (pic#10963447)

    heine rammsteiner | dogs: bullets and carnage | reserved

    [personal profile] caninity 2017-02-05 04:19 pm (UTC)(link)

    Player



    Name: Jenn

    Age: 30

    Contact: [plurk.com profile] gilboat

    Preferred Pronouns: She/her

    Other Characters: N/A
    caninity: (pic#10963414)

    [personal profile] caninity 2017-02-05 04:20 pm (UTC)(link)

    Character



    Name: Heine Rammsteiner

    Age: Early 20s

    Memory Option: Memory deterioration (1)

    Established Status: Five years

    Canon: Dogs: Bullets and Carnage

    Canon Point: Chapter 89

    Citizenship: Westerly

    Job: Free agent


    Abilities 
    Minor
    Heine has inhuman physical strength, sharpened senses and breakneck reflexes. His immune system is impenetrable and he automatically heals from injury -- especially death. Cuts, bruises, maiming, all of it goes away in a matter of seconds. This is due to the  Kerberos spine implant he received in underground experimentation. With the implant, he can regrow limbs (though it's a painful experience) and evade death, unless someone beheads him. Canonly, recovery is instantaneous. In-game, the process will be slowed (hours+) depending on/reflecting the injury.
     
    Minor
    In addition to being a walking godmode, predictably, Heine's good at using (but not limited to) blades and firearms. He carries two pistols on his person, and his accuracy exceeds what one may consider normal. Hand to hand combat is something he excels at, and he's capable of alternating between ranged and close quarters with ease -- he's capable of holding his own more often than not.

    Major
    His Kerberos spine is unique to others, in that he's been implanted with a leader version. This means he can control other test subjects who have a Kerberos spine implant, though he has yet to willfully do so. There's a metaphorical(ish) "second person" (ALTER EGO) -- a "Dog" living inside of Heine and can take control of him in specific instances of strife. When under possession of the Dog, Heine is more brutal and thrives off of violence. When he wakes from that state, he often has no recollection of what he's done. For the sake of staying relevant, I'll be temporarily(?) suspending his ability to control other subjects.
     
    Personality: Heine can easily be described as antisocial, preferring to keep quiet and observe, which serves as no excuse in regards to his lack of friends. When he does talk, he's usually being an asshole -- or unfeeling enough that he's teetering the line of 'awkward' and 'dick'. Though derisive in nature, it isn't totally his fault (re: history). He's standoffish and apathetic at best, usually, which doesn't help his case. His only friend ("friend") is his partner, Badou. They work well together and often save eachother's butts from life-threatening situations (when they aren't being assholes to one another) and have formed a unique bond due to their precarious lifestyle as information brokers.
    They also compliment eachother in douchesthetics.
     
    One glaring weakness Heine exhibits is a distinct, consistent fear of women, girls, females. He suffers from gynophobia in a form of PTSD prompted only by physical contact, even benign in nature. It ties back to the way his mother, Angelika Einstürzen, treated him in his earliest memories and her twisted sense of love, as well as the fact that he killed his "sister", Lily, with his own hands. 
    As an experiment in the underground, Heine underwent a spine transplant. Specifically, he was implanted with the 'leader spine', which forced an alter-ego to inhibit his body/mind, otherwise known as 'the Dog'. It often takes over and speaks to him as a conscience (ironic) would when he's in a life-threatening situation, typically, and thrives off of pure violence. Initially, he was said to be a good match to house the leader spine -- he's certainly strong enough to do just that, but Heine lacks an interest. After all, the first time he was driven into berserk mode and allowed the Dog to take over, he killed a vast number of his peers, as well as the most important person in his life at the time -- Lily.
     
    To say that he's haunted by, and exists primarily in the past would be an understatement. It's why he has a difficult time forming and maintaining relationships of substance. While he was produced as a killing machine and doesn't necessarily want to proceed through live as such, it's all that he knows. He's violent by nature and takes pride in his various capabilities; it's easier to distance himself from potential tragedies and expound on what he already knows. He's fearless in his violent undertakings, primarily because of his nearly-immortal status in life. He doesn't fear pain, though he definitely feels it as anyone else would. Regrowing limbs is especially excruciating, despite his recklessness attitude when engrossed in a fight. Most of the time, it actually seems like he wouldn't mind being killed, once going as far as to advise his foe to aim for his head 'next time'.

    All of this being said, he does manage to extent his social circle somewhat. He meets Nill, a young girl who is also a product of genetic experimentation. Because of this, he sympathizes with her right away and saves her from a prostitution ring. She's someone who reminds him of Lily, and in turn, she sees him as a kind person despite his inclination for violence. She manages to bypass his phobia and they sustain a tender bond.
    Naoto is another woman Heine's begrudgingly allowed into his life. At first, they clashed often and consistently. Their fighting styles compliment one another, however, and over time they're able to form a shoddy understanding of one another. They aren't colored on the best of terms, but some's better than none and he doesn't mind physically (favorably) engaging with her.
     
    Heine seems to hold everyone at arm's length regardless, as a proxy to his own dangerous capabilities.He genuinely enjoys fighting, which pins him at a crossroads. He's not so unfeeling as he'd like to be, however, and will stick his neck out for those close to him. He's far from someone who regularly fights for justice (like, say, your run of the mill shounen hero) but won't hesitate to intervene for the sake of a friend or something that personally affects him. He doesn't stray far from his comfort zone (dubious) but often falls into trouble without meaning to. While he doesn't necessarily believe he has a future, he does end up pursuing the goal of erasing the source of his past trauma(s). A hurdle in this is provided by his brother, Giovanni, who insists on trying to rouse the Dog within him each time they encounter one another, with the explicit purpose of bringing him back to their mother so that she can use him to her liking.
     
    All in all, Heine's a guy who can't escape his past, even when he's asleep. While others may forge conflicting reports about him, at the end of the day, he's his own biggest critic.

    AU History: The nature of the Kerberos Project was to create super soldiers underground tunnels in Westerly,. Several series of children (theorized as test tube babies, orphans or donated through more nefarious means is unclear) were altered with a Kerberos Spine, complete with a metal collar that bands their throat. Faithful dogs that would serve unconditionally. Heine wasn't among first course (earlier series all tended to be failures), but a pawn amid the Rammsteiner variety. 
     
    Every child was dressed the same, lacking any and all memories upon waking from surgery including their own identities, driven to kill, be torn apart, regenerate and kill again. Granted powers that can only be achieved through the spine implant, their senses and reflexes are comparable to that of a feral animal, reworked as the perfect tool for war, complete with excelled healing abilities, including the talent of regrowing lost limbs and organs. Immortality.

    A woman, identifying herself as their mother, urges the group of subjects to fight, maim and kill failure experiments. Heine is especially doted on, told he'll be loved if only if he becomes the perfect weapon. It's unclear how he's able to, but Heine somehow manages to permanently kill his co-experimentees in addition to the failures, including someone he deems a little sister. Shortly thereafter, he's freed from his 'pen' by Handsome Jack, he's cut loose in Westerly whereby he keeps a low profile -- not out of fear, but nature. It isn't long before a Scarback by the name of 'Bishop' (later: Ernst Rammsteiner) pairs him up with a similarly wayward (but not too similar) Badou Nails to earn himself a proper living and put his skills to use.

    Skills he's more or less using to regularly save Badou's ass. Their friendship is established in a helter-skelter of near misses, paybacks and unadulterated violence, sometimes aimed at one another. The income isn't bad, either. For the record, their missions are typically skewed in favor of the resistance, and while they seem to be the unsung heroes, Heine is a reluctant aid 9/10 times.
     
    CRAU: N/A

    Original History: Here!

    Inventory:
    • One black Luger P08 Pistol.
    • One white Mauer C96 Pistol (attached to his belt by a chain).

    Samples: Here and here hot off the press! If you'd like something more, say the word.

    Miscellaneous Notes
    darklighthero: (Default)

    Jak/Mar | Jak 3 | RESERVED

    [personal profile] darklighthero 2017-02-05 09:59 pm (UTC)(link)
    Name: Dark

    Age: 29

    Contact: plurk- fatedzone/redscribbles- plurk, pm, skype-darknessred1

    Preferred Pronouns: She/her

    Other Characters: N/A

    Character



    Name: Jak/Mar

    Age: 18

    Memory Option: Deteriorating Memory AU

    Established Status: N/A

    Canon: Jak 3

    Canon Point: End of Jak 3

    Citizenship Citizen

    Job: Information Broker for the Resistance

    * Level:


    Abilities
    Minor Jak is a known athlete. He is seen running fast and swinging off a pole with precision.
    Minor Jak knows how to Hoverboard. He can do various flips etc.

    Minor- Jak has the ability to use a morph gun with interchangeable weapon mods.

    Red Mod-

    Scatter Gun: This weapon operates like a shotgun. One shot of this gun has high firepower and can hurt multiple opponents within a short distance.

    Wave Concussor- A chargeable blast that can be used near the ground. Once used, it takes 5 bullets each charge. It is medium range.

    Plasmite RPG- A grenade gun that shoots grenades out of it.

    Yellow Mod-

    Blaster- A gun that has a laser aim and shoots like a rifle that shoots yellow eco lazers.. Has accurate aim and a straight shot on it.

    Beam Reflexor- A gun that shoots yellow eco into lasers and has the ability to bounce off the walls.

    Gyro Buster- The weapon releases a small drone like device that shoots yellow eco lasers at the enemy.

    Blue Mod-

    Vulcan Fury- Jak’s weapon is shaped much like a machine gun. This gun shoots the eco of speed, blue eco lasers. It shoots multiple blue eco lasers at the same time.

    Arc Wielder- Releases a large wave of electricity from the gun.

    Needle Lazer- This gun mod releases three laser heat seeking bullets at a enemy.

    Dark Mod- Uses Dark eco

    Peacemaker- Uses a growing ball of energy to lock on a target and hit them.

    Mass Inverter- Allows Jak to lift enemies for a short time with the gun

    Super Nova- Allows Jak to shoot a rocket launcher like missile.

    MAJOR ABILITIES TO BUY LATER FOR AC POINTS

    Major Dark Jak- This is Jak’s dark form and alter ego, a beast bent on destruction and bloodlust. Jak’s anger problems stem from this form and only come up when Jak loses control of his emotions.

    Strength and Claws- This is part of Dark Jak. This form gives Dark Jak a bit of extra strength to fight. Dark Jak can use his claws in battle.

    Dark Blast releases an arc of dark eco bolts, passing through its subjects, often picking them up and blasting them away with streaks of dark energy following them.

    Dark Bomb is a very powerful attack (normally a dive attack). During this attack, Jak jumps into the air and drives his fist into the ground, releasing a powerful, large-radius shockwave of dark eco, destroying enemies within its proximity, sending them flown back a large distance.

    Dark Strike - Allows Dark Jak to shoot a large mass of concentrated dark eco at his intended target. Dark Strike is often used to break down obstacles. This attack is powerful and has a very long range.

    Major Light Jak
    Flash Freeze- Slows down time around Jak while he continues to move at normal speed. Ideal for beating time challenges as it also affects the timer.

    Light Flight- Allows Jak to flap his wings in succession essentially allowing him to glide. Each consecutive flap of the wings gives Jak less and less altitude so it is not full-fledge flight.

    Light Regeneration- Jak uses light eco in this form to heal himself.

    Light Shield- Can protect himself from enemy attacks.

    Personality: Jak is a anti-hero that would put his mission in front of him over his morals at times. He won’t hesitate to ask questions though if it interferes with his main goals. His goals are good but he does pretty bad things to accomplish those goals. Between his life at a young age, his motivations are purely good. He wants to save the world from the Lurkers planning to attack the village and change Daxter back to normal. He also stops Gol and Maia from taking over the world.
    His positives of being adventurous, brave and silent allows him to live a semi-innocent life.

    Being the troublesome teenager doesn’t always have its perks because about the puberty age, Jak starts to be tortured in prison. He is no longer the innocent boy we see at a young age. He is now spewing curse words, angry and hard to control. His goals are now changing from protecting the world to protecting self interests. This shows in Jak’s anger at anything and everything around him. His goals early on in life is to use people for his self interests and he joins with the wrong crowd to achieve those goals. However, he makes up for those mistakes later. He is not all bad however. He cares about his friends and allies and isn't afraid to call them on their bull.


    AU History: Born in

    CRAU: Nope

    Original History: Jak’s history all wrapped up in a nice little wiki page: http://jakanddaxter.wikia.com/wiki/Jak

    Inventory:

    1X Hoverboard
    1X Morph gun and gun mods
    1X Eco samples

    Samples: http://overjoyed-memes.dreamwidth.org/1027.html?thread=576771#cmt576771 (Sample 1)

    Miscellaneous Notes:
    https://media.giphy.com/media/5GIQdwDysqZHO/200.gif
    Edited 2017-02-05 23:01 (UTC)
    reburden: pixiv id: 1032043 (Default)

    grim reaper | goblin: the lonely and great god | not reserved

    [personal profile] reburden 2017-02-06 04:11 am (UTC)(link)

    Player



    Name: Val
    Age: 26
    Contact: PM, valbo#0987 @ Discord
    Preferred Pronouns: she/her/"hey you"
    Other Characters: n/a
    reburden: pixiv id: 1032043 (Default)

    [personal profile] reburden 2017-02-06 04:12 am (UTC)(link)

    Character



    NOTE: This app contains major spoilers for the series, particularly the latter half.

    Name: Grim Reaper/Kim Woo Bin/Wang Yeo
    * All names are written in Eastern order in this app
    Age: ??? Technically 300-some odd years but looks mid-to-late 20s
    Memory Option: 3 - Blank slate
    Established Status: 2 years
    Canon: Goblin: the Lonely and Great God
    Canon Point: End of Episode 13

    Citizenship: Westerley
    Job: Apothecary assistant
    * Level: N/A


    Abilities: Grim repears are too OP, pls nerf. But okay, let's try to break all of these down.
    MINOR
    • INVISIBILITY -- Less part of his biological set of fancy grim reaper abilities and more to do with the hat he wears in canon, he is able to become invisible to the human eye. This is in appearance only, and people would still be able to bump into him/hear him if he made any loud noises. This would make most sense as an item regain equipped with some sort of cloaking device/refractive shield rather than an ability. I'll be sure to buy this from the AC bank!
    MAJOR
    • ABILITY TO CHILL/FREEZE OBJECTS -- What it says on the tin. He can lower the temperature of inanimate objects, as well as of the atmosphere around him, to the point where they are completely frozen. I'm translating this as chemicals contained in nanites that are released and subsequently consume a lot of heat as part of the reaction
    • TELEPORTATION -- He has the ability to move from location to location, almost instantaneously. For the sake of not having to deal with this headache, I'm just going to translate this as part of the whole invisibility schtick: if someone can't see him move from place to place, it looks like teleportation.
    • TELEKINESIS -- He has the ability to move objects with his mind, including other people! Pretty standard stuff. Instead of actually giving him telekinesis in OJ, I'm thinking of twisting this into a more hallucinatory effect caused by drugs/poisons contained within nanites -- the object wouldn't actually move but the other person would believe 100% that they're seeing a fork dance across the sky, or whatever.
    • MEMORY MANIPULATION -- Part of a grim reaper's arsenal of abilities, he is able to wipe parts of a person's memories, ranging from as brief as the previous few minutes to as broad and general as "everything bad that's ever happened to you." He can also implant suggestions and alternate explanations for events that have happened. The easiest way of translating this would probably be via neural biotics of some sort that interface with another person's memory and rewrite/alter existing memories.
    • COERCION -- Sort of relating to memory manipulation, he can "compel" others to act in a certain way or believe certain things, ranging from "you just saw a boar" to "you will never want to be friends with this person again." It'd be done via the same neural biotics listed in the memory manipulation part but I'm listing it separately since it's slightly different.
    MAJOR**
    **NOTE:I'm listing these separately since the way I'm hoping to implement them walks a fine line with regards to game mechanics. In Goblin, there's the concept of past lives - former lives someone has that they no longer remember anything of when they are reborn/reincarnated. I was wondering if it would be possible to equate 'past life' in Overjoyed to a character's 'canon life', just to be able to tie a little more into game premise and setting. I've detailed the specific abilities and their technological translations below in case they'd be permissible, if not I'm happy to nix these entirely since they won't come into play otherwise. Let me know! I really should have posted to the brainstorming meme but I literally decided to do this yesterday.
    • PAST LIFE MEMORY ABSORPTION** -- In canon, he has the ability to see a person's past life through skin-to-skin touch. The number of memories seen is determined by length of touch; the longer he touches someone, the more memories he sees. I'm translating this way more loosely in OJ and specifically targeting manifesting this as microscopic devices/nanites embedded in his fingertips that prod a random section of the cortex, scan resulting brain activity, translate that activity into loose images, and send it back to him. I'll be sure to check with other players before using this ability.
    • PAST LIFE MEMORY TRANSFER** -- Along with his ability to see snippets of a person's past (and past life), he can also transfer those memories back to a person if they've forgotten them--but with a caveat: it has to be done via kiss. As far as doing this in-game goes, it would be nerfed so that he'd return one memory per kiss (rather than someone's entire canon life) and the mechanic would be based on nanites in his saliva that provide some sort of disruption to the tech that implanted the false memories in the first place. I'd also be more than happy to check in with the mods before using this ability.
    Personality:
    Wang Yeo, king of Goryeo, is a man who is feared by his servants and his people, and who craves love and affection but cannot see it when it is presented to him. He is a man who demands to be the most important in the eyes of all those around him and expects all those around him to bend to his every wish and whim. But despite wanting to be adored, what he really wants is to be loved and no longer so alone, and it's those fears and anxieties regarding being alone that make him easily manipulated, to the point that he becomes nothing more than a puppet for another man.

    The grim reaper, nameless envoy for deceased souls, is a different man, despite being the reincarnation of Wang Yeo. He is a stoic man who works long hours for little pay, treats all those around him with respect, and is content being one out of many in a sea of other grim reapers. Which is not to say they're all made out of the same mold--the reincarnation of Wang Yeo (let's call him Grim Reaper with both words capitalized) has his own individual quirks and annoyances. He doesn't enjoy being teased or made fun of by those he doesn't know, and has a childish petty streak that runs surprisingly deep when it comes to getting even for any supposed slight. He can hold his own quite well, refusing to be swayed by anyone who challenges his decisions. When it comes to the souls he's sending on to their next life, he is surprisingly compassionate and just, allowing lovers separated by years and distance to reunite once again while delivering punishment to any who believe they are exempt from the universal rules of life and death. But for the most part, Grim Reaper has no particular desire to remember who he used to be or even become anyone

    Until he meets a woman named Sunny on the street one day and cries at the sight of her.

    It's then that he finds himself drawn towards human culture and human individuality and it's then that we see for all that he is a supernatural being, Grim Reaper is surprisingly human at heart, subject to the same woes and emotions any other person might go through. He fixates on Sunny and how best to woo her, and spends an inordinate amount of time quizzing a fellow housemate on how best to appeal to women. He panics when Sunny takes an interest in his unofficial landlord Deok Hwa and assumes it's because Deok Hwa has a business card and he doesn't, whereupon he subsequently hounds multiple people on whether they have business cards and where he might be able to obtain a business card. He gets jealous and protective when a strange man approaches Sunny one day and promptly abuses his reaper powers without a second thought to get him to go away. He spends an inordinate amount of time stressing over coming up with a perfect name - he later settles on 'Kim Woo Bin' - whether or not he has a religion, what he supposedly likes as Kim Woo Bin. It's a bit awkward and definitely raises more than a few eyebrows, but for a while Sunny's charmed by it and Grim Reaper is, for probably the first time in his life, happy, giving in to his own selfish desires rather than operating as a unit part of a larger whole. He loosens up, smiles more, and even offers advice to his reaper coworkers despite his previous penchant to remain strictly professional. Everything is fine, more than fine.

    Until it isn't.

    His quest to become a man with whom Sunny can be happy with eventually stutters to halt, roadblocked by uncomfortable revelations that he might have been someone who caused Sunny - and his reluctant friend-slash-landlord-slash-housemate Kim Shin the goblin - a lot of pain in a previous life. For the first time, he's plagued by worry and self-doubt and fear that things might not work out between him and Sunny, and that his uneasy friendship with the goblin might slowly be crumbling apart. He spends too much time wondering how he can make their lives happier and better, even though they play no role in the work duties he's supposed to carry out. Speaking of work, he starts disregarding the rules carefully put in place: requesting name cards of impending deaths for personal reasons rather than professional and abusing his memory wipe powers in order to help a friend out. Slowly, he begins to value the friendships he's made rather than the important duty he's been given.

    Because though he is a different man shaped by different experiences, the one thing he does share with his former self is a deep desire to form relationships with others and be accepted by those he likes. With the gobin, once his enemy and then his friend and now back to being his enemy again. With Ji Eun-tak, the missing soul he was supposed to report 19 years ago but to whom he now regularly goes to for advice. With Sunny, the woman destined to be his love interest no matter which life he's in. And it's those relationships that have the most impact on him, changing him from a cog in the neat and punctual cycle of life and death to an individual, a man able to recognize his own desires and connect with others on a personal level.

    (no subject)

    [personal profile] reburden - 2017-02-06 04:12 (UTC) - Expand
    servitor: (Default)

    Nyx Ulric | FFXV | Reserved

    [personal profile] servitor 2017-02-06 04:25 am (UTC)(link)

    Player



    Name: Lina

    Age: 26

    Contact: [plurk.com profile] alebrije // alebrije#3012 @ discord

    Preferred Pronouns: she/her

    Other Characters: Hanna King
    servitor: (Default)

    [personal profile] servitor 2017-02-06 04:25 am (UTC)(link)

    Character



    Name: Nyx Ulric

    Age: 35

    Memory Option: Deteriorating AU

    Established Status: 5 years

    Canon: Final Fantasy XV (Kingsglaive, specifically)

    Canon Point: End of movie

    Citizenship: Westie, currently in the Company

    Job: Company Man

    Abilities

    SKILLS

    • Hand-to-hand combat

    • Free-running

    • Weapons training: gun usage, knife usage, sword usage

    • Precision driving

    • Spec ops training

    • Black ops training: including covert operations, infiltration, stealth, and so on



    MAJOR ABILITIES

    • Magic: in canon, he is granted access to use a variation of the King's magic, with a caveat: the ring bearer and wielder of the magic of the Lucii must be alive. This magic includes the following:
      • Elemental magic: specifically creating lightning bolts and fire balls at will

      • Force fields

      • Warping: Nyx's weapons are imbued with the ability for him to warp, which is pretty much teleportation. It instantly snaps the user from one place to wherever the weapon is going in a flash of glass, ash, cinders, and fire.




    His elemental magic will be translated as chemical-based hack mods, while the force fields while be translated as a piece of tech embedded into his gloves. The warping will also be translated as phasing tech via hack mods. His kukri serve as anchor points and triggers to switch between fully solid and essentially smoke. Each phase lasts at most 5 seconds. Any longer will result in adverse effects.

    Personality:

    Nyx Ulric, at his core, is a caring man, one who feels deeply but manages, for the most part, to keep his emotions under control. Among his peers, Nyx is known for both his capacity to be cool under pressure, and to do really stupid shit. For this he is nicknamed "Hero" because, you guessed it, he's a big damn hero.

    A guilt complex fuels his heroic streak. He was unable to save his sister from the attacks on Galahd, so in turn, he fights hard and does absolutely whatever he can to never be so helpless. Only once does he explicitly mention his feeling of helplessness to Luna, but clearly it continues to haunt him 12 years after the fact. Perhaps it's his capacity to feel so deeply, or perhaps it's his need to carry this memory to continue with his current life, but nonetheless, it drives him towards accomplishing impressive feats. He is known to have been one of the more gifted and adept users of the King's magic and he displays his prowess without fear or hesitation.

    Of course, the heroism could be read as arrogance and recklessness. Nyx has little to lose without a home and without a blood family. What he has now are only his comrades, and the hope of a future. He's learned to accept death, as well as having no true home to ever go back to. Nyx is, at his worst, a vagrant, a man who is a victim of the brutality of war and diaspora. Galahd is lost and destroyed, and his ties to it are tenuous at best. Though we have no concrete evidence of it, it's safe to assume that the braids he wears and the tattoos he sports are commemorations of Galahd, as his best friend since childhood Libertus also has braids and tattoos.

    With so little to lose, well... he's learned not to really hold back his tongue. What he says, he fully believes, and sometimes, that means breaking orders. Our introduction to Nyx in Kingsglaive is him going back to save his best friend against orders. When questioned, Nyx says he follows his heart, and so long as it beats, he follows that. Naturally, he got demoted to the lowest of low work for his insubordination. Nonetheless, though Nyx is a loyal soldier, if he feels something is wrong, he will go out of his way to do the right thing and tell the truth, no matter what. His need to tell the truth goes beyond even respect for superiors. He very nearly accuses King Regis of killing hundreds upon hundreds of innocents, and he pretty much tells off the astral beings known as The Old Kings to, essentially, go screw themselves, even as he lay dying and literally burning. Imagine, if you will, Nyx laying on the ground, knees shot out, laughing hysterically while his arm is on fire. That, in a nutshell, is Nyx Ulric.

    As mentioned earlier, he believes in a future. Hopeful, but not naive, Nyx will see something through to the bitter end if it means something better is at the end. In a way, he could be seen as somewhat Machiavellian. To protect the future, to ensure the ring would reach Prince Noctis, he accepted the incredibly stilted terms of exchanging his life for a few hours of unbridled power. Don't be mistaken, though, because he would readily give up his own life instead of his friends' lives. Nyx was offered the power of the Lucii if he sacrificed a life, and he blew off the offer entirely. It was simply unacceptable. Nyx is a man of sacrifice, knows exactly where he stands if not by his own self-awareness, the constant reminders from people within Insomnia who harbor deep hatred and xenophobia for the refugees.

    He has no loss of identity, for he knows where he comes from, but in brief moments we see his hesitation and the anger that comes in attacking his heritage. A guard attempts to get a rise out of him. Instead, Nyx chose to ignore the man as best as possible, keeping down the anger. Yet, he says to the Kings, that he is nothing. He has nothing, now comes from nothing, so now, he is simply nothing but a man and a soldier without a future to call his own and a past long gone.
    Edited 2017-02-06 05:38 (UTC)

    (no subject)

    [personal profile] servitor - 2017-02-06 04:25 (UTC) - Expand
    contritumella: (010)

    river tam | firefly | expired reserve

    [personal profile] contritumella 2017-02-08 10:23 pm (UTC)(link)

    Player



    Name: Era

    Age: old enough to buy my own booze for a dozen years or so

    Contact: plurk: a_new_era discord: era#9221

    Preferred Pronouns: she/her/hers

    Character



    Name: River Tam

    Age: 19

    Memory Option: Deteriorating but only in a very limited sense and River knows herself to be the most unreliable narrator, so. Out of everything going on she's not too worried about this detail.

    Established Status: yes; 5 years present! More info in her AU history section.

    Canon: Firefly (show) & Serenity (film)

    Canon Point: post-film

    Citizenship: Undocumented

    Job: stowaway at the moment

    * Level:


    Abilities

    Minor: Combat: River was trained every single day for over two years to be an assassin by the largest government power in her canon. Thus, she is exceptionally skilled at hand-to-hand and weapons combat, be it blades, firearms, or whatever is accessible at the time. In episode 1.09 War Stories, she looks down a hallway of people shooting at her and Kaylee (the ship's engineer), turns back around a corner, and fires blind into the hallway, hitting each assailant with perfect precision.

    In the general sense if River can lift it, she can use it. If she can't lift it, she can use her own fists and feet.

    Minor: Telepathic Input: In canon River is a telepath; however she is a telepath with very little by way of control and can only receive information - she is incapable of doing any telepathic projection. At times her ability makes it very difficult for her to tell the difference between what is actually happening in front of her and what other people are merely thinking about/remembering/associating with the moment. She can't turn this ability off at all - it controls her a great deal more than she controls it, even at her most lucid. She can perceive secrets, desires, lies, anticipated actions. In the canon story "Crystal" by Brett Matthews, River is given a combination of drugs by her brother that accidentally allows her full access to her precognitive ability. Otherwise, her precognition is limited to a very small window of time and could be better understood as a sense of either good or bad to come or the possible futility of an action as opposed to a definite and clear vision of the future.

    SO since this is a funky sort of power for a tech driven world I'm gonna call it an augmentation to her brain; there's definitely tech in there, and it's interacting oddly with all the other people who have had their memories changed and I'm going to put a line of sight limit on the ability when dealing with new/unfamiliar people especially.

    Minor: Genius Intellect: There really aren't any limits to what River can do if she found a way to approach a problem. River takes to things the way fish take to water. No matter what it is; dancing, fighting, mathematics, River is able to understand it and improve upon it (to the annoyance of others, at times, in regards to religious texts and other things that are not considered in need of improvement) with very little effort on her part.

    This also goes hand in hand with her fighting and balancing abilities; to her it's all math and art, which means she's efficient and graceful no matter what she's doing.

    She can dance, shoot, engage in close-quarters combat, and pilot a spacecraft with little to no conscious effort on her part. And she is very good at whatever she does put effort into; no matter what the quantity of said effort is, the quality of her work will always be genius level.

    Personality: At first glance, River seems like a severely emotionally unbalanced young woman with no brain to mouth filter who has a rather short attention span and a penchant for thinking things are games when they are, in fact, much more dangerous and put herself and others at risk. Prone to mood swings and bursts of shouting rage and throwing things, it easy to say that the initial understanding of her personality is accurate.

    But it's incomplete.

    River isn't so much mentally ill as she is traumatized; two years of experiments, brain surgery and mental conditioning turned a genius teenager who was bored with the typical schooling and somewhat telepathically sensitive into a young woman who cannot stop herself from feeling, saying, thinking, doing whatever comes into her mind. This includes information from the minds of other people, things they never have told her aloud or never intended for her to know. She deals with this the best way that she can; when she is lucid and happy everything is a game, even dangerous situations until they become glaringly obvious and must be dealt with. Because when she is not lucid, or when she is not happy, she can't stop remembering and hearing things that she doesn't want to remember or hear. When she's not happy or when she's scared she has even less control over the mind that's been altered to give her as little conscious and subconscious control as possible.

    At lot of this changes when she's with Simon, her older brother. Because he is ultimately the person who spends the most time with her, the person she trusts and the person who took her out of the hell she was trapped in, a lot of the River from before the Academy shines through in his presence; the genius child, the bratty little sister. Their relationship is almost co-dependent, or could be argued as such already, considering that they're on the run from the law that would throw him in prison (or kill him) while shipping her right back to the people who did so much damage to her in the first place and they were close before anything terrible happened to them. The fact that their presence on Serenity is a constant issue of recurring conflict and that their parents refused to help Simon when he originally approached them about his concern that something was happening to River, they honestly don't have anyone to fully depend on other than each other. Or at least, they didn't, before the events of film, which worked to cement their status as crewmembers of Serenity.

    I mention her shift around her brother because without someone directly in that role River will gravitate towards people who fill that space either in parts or whole, and the people she comes to trust will see more of the personality that River has when she is with her brother in canon than the one she has while interacting with strangers.

    She has an active (and highly understandable) phobia to medical situations in which her brother isn't involved. Even when he is, that bratty part of her will come out unless it's something that truly reminds her of the Academy, in which case she will panic and flail and try to get away. If something is serious (to her - which is usually a life or death situation to anyone ELSE) then River does what she understands needs doing, though it takes a lot for her to get there. In her case? That means dealing with it with her own two hands, and with whatever weapon is nearby. And thanks to her own inherent abilities and what the Academy has done to her, River Tam can do absolutely anything she puts her mind to - and quite a few things it puts itself to on her behalf.

    She loves to dance, hates wearing shoes, loves wearing dresses and has absolutely no sense of when not to be nosy.

    AU History: Alright, so.

    At the age of 14 is chosen to go to a prestigious Quad school. It's pretty standard stuff, and she excels for the 2 years she's there, makes friends, doesn't speak often with her family. It's a bit of a happy blur in her mind these days, as she was in her ideal environment, intellectually stimulated and challenged while learning languages and dancing alongside things like theoretical physics.

    Then, when she's 16, she was transferred to a new school. This place was different; there was a lot of testing, and limited access to her classmates. The first year was nothing but physical training and a battery of exams which she assumes she passed because she didn't die.

    So.

    Queue up a few more years of being in a mix of training, half-forgotten surgeries, and long periods in a small, dark tube while her brain feels like it's being filleted in seven different ways. She has no idea about the telepathic uplink, because everyone she has interacted with as the school were shielded from what her brain can do without trying.

    It'll be fun, getting used to that level of noise.

    She has woken up at the school with no idea what's going on to her in particular or to the Quad in general and no one familiar and HERE WE ARE! The immediate follow-up will either be handwaved or logged out!

    Original History: Here.

    Inventory: Just the clothes on her back! A sweater, a sundress, a pair of combat boots. Also, a set of plastic dinosaur toys that were in her pocket.

    Samples: one & two.

    Miscellaneous Notes: I...am using an Asian pb (specifically Lee Ji Eun) because while I love the franchise there's really no reason not to. I COULD WRITE AN ESSAY ABOUT RACISM IN FIREFLY but I'm not gonna, because I love you.

    <3!

    [personal profile] contritumella - 2017-02-09 07:03 (UTC) - Expand
    lefthandfree: (Default)

    JAMES BUCHANAN “BUCKY” BARNES | MARVEL CINEMATIC UNIVERSE | NOT RESERVED

    [personal profile] lefthandfree 2017-02-10 04:00 am (UTC)(link)

    Player

    Name: Curt
    Age: 18+
    Contact: pm, [plurk.com profile] crashfade
    Preferred Pronouns: no pref
    lefthandfree: (Default)

    [personal profile] lefthandfree 2017-02-10 04:01 am (UTC)(link)

    Character

    Name: James Buchanan “Bucky” Barnes, The Winter Soldier, The Asset
    Age: 99 (biologically ~30)
    Memory Option: 1
    Established Status: Y. 5 years with the RAC
    Canon: Marvel Cinematic Universe
    Canon Point: Near the end of Civil War, just after using the shield with Steve to play 2v1 Pong against Tony.
    Citizenship: None (Killjoy)
    Job: Killjoy (turned Resistance operative)
    * Level: 4

    Abilities
    His abilities are all passive and learned though natural means, making them Minor classification.
    Super Soldier: Through serum enhancements, he has attained superhuman strength, enhanced athletic abilities (speed, stamina, and reflexes), and increased healing factor. Though his strength is greater than that of an average human, it's nothing game breaking.

    Combat Specialist: His training for and during WW2 gave him the basics, but the training he received as the Winter Soldier bolsters his fighting abilities to be less situational and highly adaptive to his surroundings. He fairs extremely well in close-quarters combat with or without weapons in any setting, though he has a preference toward concealable items and knives.

    Cybernetic Arm: His left arm was damaged beyond repair and replaced by Zola with an experimental prosthetic, considered one of the prime achievements of Hydra technology even in modern day canon. While he already has enhanced strength, the durability and construction of the weaponized limb further augments the physical power output of Bucky’s left arm. Though the metal it’s constructed with is not specified, it’s capable of tearing easily through most materials, including other metals, when needed. Generally speaking, Bucky uses it as a defense, tool, or back up plan rather than as a means of attack.

    Master Marksman: His experience with firearms during the war made him a skilled shot with mid-range and long-range guns and rifles. With Hydra’s training regiment, he was exposed to a wider array of guns, but his personal leanings are always toward riflery and accuracy whenever possible. This is most evident in Civil War when he opens Natasha Romanoff’s weapons locker and specifically takes out a multi-range scoped rifle with an expanded ammo magazine.

    Master Assassin: Trained to be Hydra's Asset, he is well versed in guerrilla warfare tactics, particularly in manhunting without leaving a trace and hiding in plain sight. He’s also skilled in free-running in urban environments and maintaining escape for long periods of time.

    Master Tactician: He adapts extremely well even in high-stress and high-danger situations (guy stole a motorcycle from a guy driving in the opposite direction without batting an eye, I mean c'mon). He makes use of his surroundings to help better afford him victory or escape (e.g. apartment fight in Civil War).

    Polyglot: He's multilingual, capable of speaking English, Russian, and Romanian at the least. Though those are the only languages explicitly provided in canon, it's implied that he's aware of several other languages through his training to be the Winter Soldier.

    Personality:
    Unlike most, charting out what makes Bucky who he is comes across like a mess. Even as a mind map, things tend to get buried in the cross wires. Everything he feels and expresses are an amalgamation of all the things he’s ever been. He’s a mixed bag and what you see is not necessarily what you get, even if sometimes he is exactly who you think he is. To add to the confusion is the fact that Bucky has gained significant control over how he even allows himself to express anything anymore, and that makes it even harder for most to tell what his intent is at all. Before getting into that, though, it would be best to revisit all the things that Bucky used to be.

    Before the war, he was already known as a smooth talker and a popular guy all around. He was silver tongued, especially with the ladies, and always made the best with every situation he was given because the world is extraordinary, and he wants to experience every last bit of it. Beyond being a fun-loving joker, he knew how to weigh out other’s expectations and act accordingly, which added to his ability to win people over. Perseverance was also key, not only for him but for Steve as well as the two of them wouldn’t have made it through their childhoods without struggling to make ends meet during the Depression. Since childhood, he has always watched Steve’s back, and even if Bucky has never been as quick as Steve to want to fight against every last bully, he’s always known right from wrong regardless, and it drives everything he ever does, for himself, for his friends, and, above all, for Steve. If there is anything he feels he can do or should do, he does it without hesitation because this is who he is at the base, a doer who believes in doing the right thing, even when no one else wants to.

    The loyalty he has for others remains apparent even entering the war. He did everything to fight and protect, for himself, for his country, and for his brothers in arms, and remained unyielding to enemy tactics, constantly trying to find openings and ways to undermine his eventual captors at every turn. Though momentarily beneficial, his obstinate behavior toward being a prisoner of war eventually proved too influential to the mindset of other prisoners’ for Hydra’s liking. Because it was clear his headstrong nature would not be easily defeated, he was eventually subjected to torture in order to whittle down the seemingly ceaseless bravery he brought with him. Eventually succumbing to the torture, his sense of self becomes lost in a haze until his eventual rescue. Though the initial impact of this on Bucky seems minuscule, it eventually proves to be the pinhole through which his identity is torn asunder.

    Even after his initial rescue, it’s apparent that the original luster of his personality has been swallowed up by, at the least, war and shell shock, PTSD. The whimsical side of his personality gets lost, disappearing between the cracks like it never had prior to enlistment. His humor grows more dry, and his quips grow flat. Even his positivity suffers, and though Bucky adapts quickly and easily, he cannot escape what the trauma from war and torture have done to him. Still, like most others in the same situation, he kept going because he needed to, because his country needed him to and because Steve needed him to. The strong-will and determination he exhibited before and during capture returned in full force, being bolstered further by his fellow Howling Commandos who, while also tired of the war itself and wishing for its end, stayed strong together knowing that what they fought for made every little struggle worth it. If only he hadn’t fallen during his last mission, Bucky wouldn’t have all the regrets he has now.

    Becoming the Winter Soldier whited out everything. While his memories are blocked rather than taken from him entirely, it’s enough to remove the essence that makes James Buchanan Barnes who he thinks he is, even now. Through various conditioning methods, his self-awareness and presence become locked and unavailable to control his body. He instead responds as a tabula rasa, taking orders and acting on them, regardless of how counter-intuitive or morally unsound he would normally find them. For decades, this was who he became, and while under the surface there is always a glimmer of what can’t be completely scrubbed away, there was never anyone or anything to bring the real James Buchanan Barnes back to the surface during that time since he was already a well kept secret and then long presumed dead.

    Needless to say, Steve breaking him out from that cycle is something he is forever grateful for. If it never happened, Bucky knows he would still be where he had been, doing things he never wished to do. That he has escaped it does not overwrite his own wrongdoing, however. It was his life that was used, and only through his actions had those things happened. Even without consciousness to the fact, it’s his own body, and Bucky knows to take responsibility for it since no one else ever will. It’s the right thing to do, even if Steve doesn’t want him to carry that burden. Things will never be simple again, even if he wishes for them to be.

    With free-will returned to him, he relearned everything he could about who he had been to better understand who he should be now. While painful to face, Bucky understands that without acknowledging it he can never move forward. It’s the realization of how much damage he has done and how little can fix it that keeps him from letting Steve find him again, at least until the events of Civil War. He knows what Steve is always willing to sacrifice for him, and Bucky doesn’t want anymore sacrifice at all for anyone, well-intentioned or not. Bucky’s only goal now is to do everything he can possibly do for the greater good. It’s the only way he can make up for everything, and so that is the lot he chooses, even at the cost of being placed into cryogenic sleep again.

    Bucky’s personality as it is now has more or less stabilized by the start of Civil War. Given his awareness of what he is capable of, as who he was before, during, and after WW2 through the Cold War, it greatly opens up his comprehension of how he is seen and reacted to by others, especially from his experience as the Winter Soldier. The fact is that he never stopped being a soldier for decades, and that makes him approach everything far more methodically than is typically normal. His actions are heavily calculated and rely predominantly on what he thinks is expected of him. To accomplish this, he draws from everything he knows he can do, including everything he had been long before.

    Very rarely do his genuine emotions appear. As such, Bucky will lie through his teeth and play the full part until he either gets what he wants, needs, or simply tires of the ruse and wants to move on to something else. To that end, it also means that he has a tendency toward burying his own emotions. He is always wearing a mask, and while seemingly different for others, for Bucky, they are all the same mask because none of them are really him. Which is ironic at times when the mask will happen to be so close to being him that it should be him, but having been forced to compartmentalize things as the Winter Soldier, he personally isn’t aware of it really being him, even if it might actually be. To put it short, he’s uncomfortable in his own damn skin, and he hides it so well he even has himself duped.

    Beyond what is essentially his PTSD coping mechanism, Bucky still wants to be who he was and so still strives for the things he has always believed in, predominantly doing the right thing even if it means he suffers for it. The bitterness he has left over from everything that was done to him keeps him on track, and for better or for worse, he ignores most everything else in favor of accomplishing it, most especially himself and his own well-being. He essentially punishes himself out of guilt. While he is aware that he does this, his feelings don’t amount much in the greater good as far as he’s concerned, so he’s, unfortunately, just going to keep ignoring it until the cows come home.

    (no subject)

    [personal profile] lefthandfree - 2017-02-10 04:03 (UTC) - Expand
    whydogs: (Default)

    Julianne "Jill" Stingray | VA-11 HALL-A | RESERVED

    [personal profile] whydogs 2017-03-04 01:05 am (UTC)(link)

    Player



    Name: Jon

    Age: 31

    Contact: Private messages through DW work fine.

    Preferred Pronouns: Male/Him

    Other Characters: None
    whydogs: (12)

    [personal profile] whydogs 2017-03-04 01:06 am (UTC)(link)

    Character



    Name: Julianne "Jill" Natalie Stingray

    Age: 27

    Memory Option: Option 1, Memory Deterioration

    Established Status: 2 Years

    Canon: VA-11 HALL-A

    Canon Point: Post-Game, "Good" Ending.

    Citizenship: Westerly.

    Job: Bartender at The Royale.

    * Level: N/A


    Abilities Jill has no special abilities. She's just a typical human.

    Personality: Jill is as down-to-earth and relatable as one can get. Though she’s the main character of her game and lives within a city full of crime, corruption, scandal, and inflated prices, she has absolutely no desire to take down the corporations that are controlling the city she lives in. Instead, her main concerns are making sure that all of her bills are paid and that both her and her cat have a roof over their heads. Though she’s ended up living paycheck to paycheck, Jill understands that sometimes life just doesn’t turn out the way one wants. After making it through college and finishing all her courses, she realizes that she’s already in her 20s and has no idea if she was actually comfortable with the direction that life was going in.

    Rather than accepting a promising offer to go straight to work and waking up in her 40s to find out that she’s just going through the motions, Jill takes a leap of faith to instead take back control of her life. It was control she felt was slipping away largely due to her (at the time) girlfriend’s insistence to keep on her college education and to accept that job offer, wanting to make the decision for her. Terrified of the idea that she would spend the rest of her life doing something she won’t enjoy, Jill abandons both her relationship and the job opportunity so that she can pursue a life of “freedom.” The violent split is something that she keeps thinking about throughout the years, wondering about how she should at least get back in touch to at least apologize and to "formally" break up, despite still having feelings for her.

    She takes a job at a relatively unknown bar located in one of the rougher parts of Glitch City and makes the best of it. Though it isn’t an outcome she ever expects for herself, Jill genuinely enjoys her job as a bartender and goes about it with all the professionalism it deserves. She makes sure that her clients are taken care of and receive good service and have an overall pleasant experience. As pleasant as it can get in a Glitch City bar, but she still gives it her all.

    Her clients comment at how she gives off a “cool bartender” impression, while a few anonymous comments mention that she’s just “full of herself.”

    Though Jill isn’t necessarily hard to talk to, she’s largely sarcastic and withholds a fair a bit of information about herself. She has low tolerance for people encroaching on her personal space and for being the center of attention, in addition to overall foolishness at her expense or at the expense of the sort of peace and quiet that she’s come to expect in VA-11 HALL-A. Admittedly, the bartender also admits to having an immature sense of humor, trying to hold back laughter whenever she has to serve a “Bad Touch” to her clients, or when one of her regulars makes repeated weiner jokes.

    Aside from that, Jill herself remains very frank and intelligent. She’ll speak her mind and even play devil’s advocate as often as she can get away with while being on the clock. Jill also swears and drinks regularly and will openly talk about sex if the conversation goes that way, though she'll still keep details about herself a bit closer to her heart, unless it's someone in her circle of friends that really wants to know. In comparison to that same circle of friends (an attractive hacker, an android sex-worker, a co-worker with a mysterious past, and a boss with a mechanical arm and a past in pro-wrestling) she remains largely ordinary. Ordinary, yet endearing. She loves her job and loves being able to hear all sorts of stories from her clients. Not because of any love for gossip, or to sell the information to the news outlets, but out of a simple love of knowing that people can come from all walks of life and they all come to her for a drink a little piece and quiet.

    She refers to herself as just a friendly ear. Someone who won’t judge and will instead just listen and talk to you, and hand out some advice when needed. Maybe laugh at a corny joke or pun when nobody else will.

    Unless it's an objectively unfunny joke.

    In that case you're just shit out of luck.


    AU History: Jill's family and upbringing is a typical case of wanting to work hard so that you can eventually find something better for yourself. It's an incredibly long-term goal, and these are very uncertain times, but Jill has just kept on marching forward and doing what's expected of her. Sometimes one plus one really does just add up to two. People need jobs filled and Jill needs a roof over her head.

    And food. You need that, too.

    There's no real tragedy, or story of vengeance, here. The worst you'll find is that she prefers to go by "Jill" instead of her full name due to name calling and ridicule back during her childhood years. Aside from that, she doesn't really keep in touch with parents as much as she'd like. Not because they're on bad terms, but because she prefers to unwind and relax in her cramped apartment after a hard day of work.

    Shit still sucks now that she's an adult, but she just takes it a day at a time. Jill herself has always been smart and dependable. Someone who really gives their best effort at a job without asking for anything in return. It's just unlucky that she's born a Westie and that no matter how hard she tries, there will always be wall that she will never be able to break through. So she just takes whatever job she can find until finally settling as a bartender over at The Royale. It's hardly what she would've wanted for herself, but at least her licensing and paperwork is in order and her bills are paid almost on time.

    What she would really like is to up the quality of the drinks there, as the cheap shit they serve is practically an insult to real beer. But as much as she'd like, it's not like Jill has the money or the social standing to make it happen. Still, she's a reliable worker and at this point, she's even earned herself a couple of regulars that specifically ask for her.

    Occasionally she'll hear some of the clients make conversation or plans that may or may not be legal, but Jill just keeps minding her own business. She's not really looking to join anybody's revolution.

    She can just change lives one drink at a time.


    CRAU: N/A

    Original History: Background Information

    Inventory: Her coat, work uniform, and smartphone.

    Samples: "Thanks for stopping by. Please come again."

    The rush was dying down and she finally had a moment to take her break. She stepped outside for a moment, the cold air not enough to warrant bringing out her coat. Leaning against the wall, she pulled out a cigarette and lit it up. It was infrequent habit of hers, sometimes going without one for months and months, only to pick it back up for a night or two. It was really a night just like any other. People coming and going, all of them wanting their fix for the night, or just a place to get away from it all. The Royale... was far from perfect, that much was obvious.

    You could find a better, less shady bar just about anywhere else. But even so, it was her job to serve drinks and damn it all if she wouldn't do her best at that.

    The people that would stop by, some of them had truly hit rock bottom, and she saw it as her responsibility to change that. Serve them a drink and just listen to what they had to say. From where she stood, what she could do was pretty limited. But honestly, some people would be happy with just someone who would listen to them.

    Someone to talk to.

    Jill was the type of bartender who would offer that, along with apologizing every now and again to how shitty the drinks were known to taste. Sometimes her clients would talk to her about changing the way things are and going about that with some pretty extreme methods. It wasn’t something that she always agreed with. Yeah, being a “Westie” was pretty rough, but using violence and just outright murder… Jill couldn’t really agree with that. If they wanted to do that kind of stuff, fine. Just keep her out of it, or don’t tell her to begin with. She had enough problems to begin with.

    “Break’s over.”

    She put out her cigarette and headed back inside.

    “Time to mix alcohol and change a life.”

    Though Jill shook her head shortly after saying that to herself.

    “Bah, still doesn’t sound right.”


    Miscellaneous Notes: Can't really think of anything here.

    (no subject)

    [personal profile] whydogs - 2017-03-05 22:47 (UTC) - Expand

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