CHARACTER RECLAIMS

[powersthatbe]

From now until endgame, Synodiporia is closed to new applications. However, players who dropped or idled characters but who do not have a behavioral strike against them may reclaim characters at any time. Dungeons and app windows are no longer necessary. Simply comment below with "I'd like to bring [character (username)] back!" And we'll take it from there. Players already at 3 characters who wish to bring back a 4th or 5th may do so so long as they're current on AC. Players wishing to bring in characters above 5 may request special mod permission. If you are uncertain if you qualify to reclaim, please email us at synodiporians@gmail.com and ask!

Comments

SAMPLE APP

[notinthecards]

P L A Y E R;
NAME: Matt
AGE: 29
PLAYER JOURNAL: matt-doyle
TIMEZONE: CST
CONTACT: c.matthew.smit@gmail.com , japhethtrisko at AIM, mattnificent at plurk

C H A R A C T E R;
NAME: Remy LeBeau
CANON: Marvel 616
POINT IN CANON: just after X-23 #22, taking up a faculty position at the Jean Grey school.
AGE: thirtysomething.
APPEARANCE: 6’1”, 180 lbs., long brown hair, red-on-black eyes, a penchant for trenchcoats and tailored suits, lean but muscular.
CANON HISTORY: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gambit_(comics)#Fictional_character_biography
CANON PERSONALITY: Moody, mischievous and hard to predict, Remy Lebeau is a gambler in nearly every way, and playing his cards close to his chest is the least of it. Cultivating an air of mystery enjoying a certain amount of distrust and tension, Remy cares passionately about people, and very little about principles -- so except for his personal loyalty, there are very few rules, laws, or standards he won't break on a whim for the people who matter to him, or in a moment of compassion. Still, as much as he likes flirting with suspicion and maintaining a reputation as a rogue, Gambit can be too hurt by distrust, at which point he tends to run, reinvent himself elsewhere, and try again... easily wounded, but still irrepressible. Scheming, thieving, frequently looking for an angle or a cheat, that underlying emotional vulnerability and compassion is always Remy's saving grace.

Complicating matters, Remy is also an almost compulsive traitor. Forever untrustworthy, he has time and again tried to keep his friends safe by capitulating to a wide variety of villains, working with them as long as they meet his terms, sometimes doing terrible things before double-crossing them yet again. Breaking promises to protect his loved ones, Remy drives them away, a perpetual cycle of betrayals and redemptions that, on some level, validates the way he sees himself. He’s a man who will do whatever it takes, who will always gamble, always bluff, always cheat. That he does it in the name of defending those he betrays from threats they didn’t know of or couldn’t face is ironic and contradictory in many ways

When things aren’t so tense, Remy is mellow, fun-loving, carelessly witty often well past the point of faux pas, encouraging others to relax, not to take things so seriously, to loose their inner hedonist… but as a trickster, a teacher, and a counselor, at various times he’s put even those traits to use in serious ways, prying into friends’ personal affairs or assisting them in ways from the laudable to the interfering & truly unwanted. His unwavering defensiveness of others is omnipresent, maybe even more so than his dishonesty.

POINT OF DEPARTURE: n/a
ABILITIES: From the Marvel wiki:

“Gambit has the mutant ability to tap into the potential energy contained within an object and transform it into kinetic energy upon touching it. When Gambit thus charges an object and throws it at a target, the object releases this energy explosively on impact. Gambit is unable to use this power to charge living objects.

Gambit's ability to tap energy also grants him superhuman agility and dexterity, as well as creating a static interference that shields his mind from detection and intrusion by even the most powerful telepaths.

Gambit also possesses a hypnotic charm that allows him to exert a subtle influence over any sentient mind. This power allows Gambit to compel others to believe what he says and agree with anything he suggests. More powerful minds have proven immune to Gambit's charm.

Gambit is bilingual in English and French, and also possesses the ability to throw small objects - including knives, throwing spikes, and playing cards - with extraordinary accuracy. He is also a skilled duelist and fencer.”

Gambit is also considered a world-class burglar, capabale of bypassing all but the most incredible security systems known to man.

INVENTORY; a collapsible bo-staff, lockpicks, a switchblade, ten decks of playing cards, half a pack of cigarettes, a trenchcoat and a silk necktie.

ANYTHING ELSE WE SHOULD KNOW? It’s my intention that Remy be among the most experienced Travelers around, having completed at least thirteen Jaunts. While his memory was scrambled in Moebius like everyone else’s, he still has a lot of experience and good instincts on Jaunts, and does his best to mentor new arrivals, the devil on everyone’s shoulder as compared with Joscelin’s better angel, willing to do anything to get everyone out of an investigation in one piece.

S A M P L E S;
FIRST PERSON: http://thoughtformed.dreamwidth.org/935271.html?thread=48049511#cmt48049511
THIRD PERSON:
Remy smiles at the men across the table as he dealt the cards. Smiling cost nothing, and it made everybody happy. Wasn’t that better? The more relaxed they are, the less attention they pay to their cards, and that’s a benefit, no doubt, even if it’s not the one he’s after. They never trust him, men like this, but that’s fine. He doesn’t need trust. Just the right kind of mistrust. They need to know Gambit can be bought, that he cheats at cards and they can’t catch him, that he’s a trivial, venal man, exactly the same contemptible sort as they are, but more slick about it. These kind of men, they value slick, but they don’t respect it. That’s just fine. Let them see the Cajun hustler they expect, cutting the cards in showy ways but shuffling honest. Let them get comfortable with the greed and hedonism - he’ll have a pretty good time while he takes them for the ride, no?

And then, after he’s made them like being cheated out of their money, eventually they offer him more, to be reliable to them by being unreliable to someone else. That kind of logic he never understands. How can they be that short-sighted? But even if he doesn’t believe it, he knows it's true. He can use it just fine. And once they bought and paid for him? That’s when the real game would begin. More smiling, more bluffing, more friendly distrust… and then, eventually, the cards come out again. He likes that part.

Re: SAMPLE APP

[powersthatbe]

ACCEPTED!

SAMPLE APP

[detectivewonder]

C H A R A C T E R;
NAME: Tim Drake
CANON: DC Comics (pre-reboot); Postgame @ Thoughtformed.
POINT IN CANON: Gates of Gotham #5, after the end of Red Robin.
AGE: 21.
APPEARANCE:5’5”, pale, black hair, blue eyes, and the build of a gymnast or a professional martial artist. Well-dressed in civilian style, he also has his Redwing suit - a semi-bulletproof armor-quality red and black outfit with a high-tech mask and a utility belt full of superheroish accessories.
CANON HISTORY: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tim_Drake#Introduction
CANON PERSONALITY: Tim Drake has been defined by three things from a young age. His intelligence, his determination, and his desire to do good. Raised in a rich, privileged, and happy family, he had the support to believe he could accomplish anything he set his mind to -- and the independence and drive to actually try to do it. At nine years of age he deduced the identities of Batman and Robin, based on a glimpse of Robin’s acrobatics and a memory of his family’s friendship with the Graysons. Keeping this secret, but continuing to observe, he first entered the world of superhero vigilantes at thirteen, when he presented Dick Grayson, who had left the position of Robin to become Nightwing, with a statistical analysis and argument showing that without Robin, Batman was self-destructive and prone to taking too many risks. When he failed to convince Dick to return to being the Boy Wonder, with both Batman & Nightwing in a high-risk situation, he donned the costume himself, with no prior training, and successfully saved them both, thereby effectively hiring himself as the new Robin.

Behavior like this is characteristic of Tim. Thoroughly analyzing (and often over-analyzing) a situation, he will decide what’s right, what he feels needs to be done for the greater good, and he will pursue that course regardless of any other considerations, with our without support. Tim is a crusader as well as a detective.

Always protective of his friends and family, Tim is gradually made a grimmer person by a long series of tragedies, including the loss of his father, his best friend, and his girlfriend (among others) within the space of a single year. While this does not alter his character, exactly, it makes him more determined, to or past the point of obsessiveness, and accentuates his tendency to be high-handed and controlling when he believes he’s helping others by doing so. But even in the darkest places he’s been, Tim has always managed to cling to his touchstones and his grasp of what was right, often surprising everyone around him by sudden reversals when he realizes he is about to cross a line or moral threshold.

Tim also has a tendency, always present but more accentuated after his string of tragedies, to compartmentalize his life. What he is doing as Tim and what he is doing as Robin are treated like the actions of separate people, which can be incredibly damaging to his social life, but is also part of his sudden reverses and unpredictable behavior, as he leaves one persona or identity to enter another, thereby changing the rules he follows and the priorities he holds.

POINT OF DEPARTURE: After the end of Red Robin, Tim spent four years trapped on the island of New Moore, an SoL jamjar setting with regular reality distortions shaking things up. In the small community there, without his usual multi-million dollar budget, he had to go back to the basics to continue as a vigilante, building (inferior) equipment when his broke down, setting up his own surveillance network, doing his own computer security. At various times, working with Torchwood, the Young Avengers, the Avengers, and the Persona 4 Investigation Team, Tim came face-to-face with his own issues about control, secrecy, and surveillance. Gradually, usually while being dragged kicking and screaming, Tim became more relaxed and more open - which isn’t to say he’s not still a highly compartmentalized total paranoid; only that he’s learned to respect a few more boundaries and situational ethics and be aware of his own tendencies. Over those years, Tim earned a BS in Criminology & Chemistry (although he was pulled across universes before graduation); continued his typical string of romantic disasters, and inherited a coffee shop - the front business behind which Torchwood New Moore operated.

Given the unpredictability of the reality-shifting phenomena, the small population, and the density of heroes and vigilantes, Tim became gradually frustrated with his effectiveness as a vigilante and the poor security of his secret identity. For quite some time, he nearly stopped rooftop patrolling, preferring to work remotely, Oracle-style, monitoring his surveillance network and doing communications and tech support for the New Moore Torchwood & Avengers teams. When he returned to action, however, he ‘came out’ as Red Robin, reasoning that a secret identity was no longer a practical possibility and that he needed to control the release of the information so it could not be used against him. Finally, in recent months, using his considerable savings & profits from the coffeeshop & his work with the Avengers, he started to go high-tech again, designing the Redwing suit & identity to be more publicity-friendly than Red Robin.

ABILITIES: Tim’s main skill is being a superlative detective and an incredibly fast learner. However, he is also in peak physical condition, although in no way superhuman. He is proficient in a wide variety of martial arts, including aikido, bailangan, capoeira, judo, jujitsu, karate, kung fu, ninjitsu, and savate; & is acknowledged as being the world’s best bojutsu fighter. He’s also an incredible gymnast and acrobat, with extensive skill in escapology and parkour. As a teenager, he’s also a world-class expert in several scientific field, including computer science, chemistry and genetics; conversant in biology and mechanical engineering, well-read in military and scientific history and classical literature, and speaks at least some English, Arabic, Cantonese, French, German, Japanese, Mandarin, Navajo, and Russian.

INVENTORY; Tim would have arrived in his current vigilante outfit, made of high-quality bullet-resistant material, with night-vision goggles and a bluetooth device embedded in the mask. He would also have a smartphone (actually, a Starkphone) loaded with a number of hacking and surveillance-related apps & high-security cryptography, a collapsible staff, a few dozen throwing discs, and a grapple gun, plus lockpicks and a few other miscellaneous utility belt tools.

S A M P L E S;
FIRST PERSON:
http://thoughtformed.dreamwidth.org/1129271.html

THIRD PERSON: http://synodiporia-ooc.dreamwidth.org/6327.html?thread=57527#cmt57527

Re: SAMPLE APP

[powersthatbe]

ACCEPTED!

lydia martin ♕ teen wolf ♕ 1/?

[homemademolotov]

P L A Y E R;

NAME: Anne
AGE: 23
PLAYER JOURNAL: trustme_imthe
TIMEZONE: EST
CONTACT: trustmeimthe; tavrosno[at]gmail[dot]com
OTHER CHARACTERS PLAYED: N/A

lydia martin ♕ teen wolf ♕ 2/?

[homemademolotov]

C H A R A C T E R;

NAME: Lydia Martin
CANON: Teen Wolf
POINT IN CANON: 3x22, De-Void, after being kidnapped by nogitsune!Stiles
AGE: 17
APPEARANCE: how done? so done.
CANON HISTORY: Teen Wolf wiki

CANON PERSONALITY:

Before getting into the nitty-gritty of Lydia's personality, it's necessary to briefly go over one aspect of Lydia's life that the Teen Wolf wiki sadly glosses over, which is her home life. Which sucks. Mr. and Mrs. Martin divorced recently, and it was apparently pretty messy - so messy that both parents started using Lydia as a means of one-upping each other and proving who was the 'better' parent, even going so far as asking her to choose who she was going to live with after the divorce. It's fair to assume, then, that Lydia's home life has been incredibly unstable in the past several years, with her parents constantly fighting. It's also heavily implied in the show that she is suffering severe emotional neglect at the hands of her parents. She seems to live mostly with her mother, who deals with her emotional response to seeing Peter as the alpha in season one by medicating, possibly even sedating her so heavily that she mistakes one of her classmates for Jackson. By season three, this appears not to have changed in the least: Lydia wakes up screaming from a night terror thinking she's heard a noise and calls out in case it was her mother, then scoffs at that possibility, because that would mean her mother "would have heard me screaming". What does all this mean? Well, Lydia can't get attention and validation at home, because her parents are too consumed with hating each other to have time to attend to her needs, so Lydia seeks attention outside the home.

For the majority of the first two seasons, Lydia in effect had two personalities: the one she created to get attention from her peers, and the more genuine Lydia under the surface. While this dichotomy has not entirely disappeared in season three, Lydia has begun to unite her surface and deeper halves, both out of necessity and out of a desire to be true to herself and protect her friends.

This is not to say that "surface Lydia" is not "real Lydia" - rather, this "version" is more adaptive to the life Lydia was used to living up until recently. Surface Lydia has a heavy focus on external beauty, which often serves as a mask for her true emotional state. While she might be angry as hell or scared out of her mind on the inside, if she's beautiful and put together enough externally, she thinks she will be internally. One of the most significant Lydia-centric scenes of the first season shows Lydia after first catching sight of Peter as the alpha at the video store. Her face is tear-streaked, she's clearly terrified, but she doesn't allow herself any time to process what she's seen. Instead she cleans herself up and reapplies her makeup, straightens her hair, and hides her reactions to everything she's experienced.

She has a good reason for hiding her emotional state. Fear and empathy don't fit well with her cooler-than-thou, mean girl exterior, and Lydia feels as though she needs to be a mean girl in order not only to be popular, but to be the most popular - not just to be liked, but to be loved. If her parents aren't going to love her, her peers are damn well going to worship her. She acts cool and uncaring not because she actually is, but because it's adaptive, in a way: it gets her a certain level of admiration as an untouchable popular girl, and it keeps her from getting hurt. Because of her parents' emotional betrayal, she doesn't trust people very much, and it's easier to keep people away than to deal with the pain of someone getting close and then hurting her. If anyone does try to penetrate her cool exterior, she relies on her quick wit and abrasive sarcasm to keep people at arm's length.

The thing is, Lydia's not just witty. She's a genius. Literally. Genius-level IQ, incredibly focused on school, with all kinds of incredibly intense goals. She's excellent at chemistry, math, Latin - she wants to win a Fields Medal when she grows up - basically, she's going to outpace everyone else from Beacon Hills the second she leaves high school. She used to keep this intelligence under wraps, but the more she is kept aware of the increasingly volatile situation in her hometown, the more she makes herself useful, proving herself not only knowledgeable about a surprising range of topics (particularly sciences) but a highly skilled problem solver, even when the problem is "and then there were a HUNDRED WEREWOLVES and none of them liked each other at all". More and more, Lydia has come out of her shell as a clever girl and is seeing her smarts as not just a long-term asset but something to be very pleased with herself about in the context of her current life. She enjoys being useful as well as being popular, being someone who can create a solution rather than just be a damsel in distress.

In short, and relating back to all of the above, Lydia craves power. Whether it's social, emotional, physical, intellectual, or psychological, Lydia wants to be powerful so that she no longer has to be saved. She is a survivor of extreme physical and psychological trauma above and beyond the other kids in her loosely-knit pack due to Peter Hale's bite and subsequent posthumous invasion of her mind and hardcore psychological manipulation. She is vulnerable as a result of this trauma, but she is also angry because of it, and it has made her seek out solutions to her own mysteries when no solutions have been easily forthcoming.

The unfortunate truth is that it appears that Lydia's heritage and origins as a banshee are literally the only supernatural occurrences that are un-researchable. Pretty much what she knows is the name, the fact that she knows when people are about to die, and whatever bullshit Peter Hale happens to be spewing on any particular day (since he knows everything). She has been walking in the dark, using her power blindly even though it frightens her because she doesn't know what else to do to help her friends. As she says, she is something, and she is damned if its unknowability will keep her from saving their lives.

That said, the unknown is absolutely what Lydia fears the most. She was kept in the dark about the existence of the supernatural for months while her friends carried on their werewolf soap opera around her, while she was haunted by the specter of Peter Hale, and while her boyfriend turned into a lizard monster - all of which she still harbors a pretty legitimate grudge about. In the end, she seized power in a way that was unwise (by allying herself with Peter) but which was also the only way she knew to survive, thrive, and protect those around her. To extrapolate, this indicates her desperation in the face of the unknown. She has faith in her friends to a certain extent, but what she prefers over faith is cold, hard fact and, ideally, foreknowledge and a very sharp weapon. Mysteries eat at her, and surprises and the unknown can paralyze her. Lydia works best when she has hard facts and a solid plan; when she doesn't, she flounders and either freezes without taking any action or acts impulsively.

Lydia's relationships are generally complicated. She is a tough friend to have at times; she doesn't mince words when she thinks you're being an idiot and can seem self-absorbed, particularly if she feels you're getting in the way of something she deems personally or socially important. However, while becoming friends with Lydia can be difficult, being her friend means you have someone who's on your side no matter how pissed off she is at you, and who will stop at nothing to protect you, even if she's scared and confused and would really rather be watching The Notebook. Lydia is frighteningly loyal to the people she unconsciously considers to be her pack (which currently consists most significantly of Allison, Scott, and Stiles), and is far, far closer to them than she could ever be to her family.

Finally, Lydia's romantic relationships tend to be complicated. Her attitude towards her male peers evolved in recent years towards who makes the best status symbol - or maybe more accurately, her perpetually declining relationship with Jackson Whittemore has soured her attitude towards equitable relationships in general. With Jackson entirely out of the picture, Lydia has gone through a few cycles of boy toys and seemed content with that until recently, when she professed a desire "not to be with the bad guy anymore". Currently she seems to be in a place of, well, sex is great and she will have it, but Beacon Hills keeps exploding, so maybe no dating right now. Which, all things considered, is a reasonable attitude.

toshizou hijikata | hakuouki (1/2)

[hakodate]

P L A Y E R;
NAME: Sam
AGE: 29
PLAYER JOURNAL: dekaja
TIMEZONE: MST
CONTACT: estamir
OTHER CHARACTERS PLAYED: none yet

C H A R A C T E R;
NAME: Toshizou Hijikata (he's used to using family name first, though, so he'd be introducing himself as Hijikata Toshizou)
CANON: Hakuouki
POINT IN CANON: Late chapter 9 in Hijikata's route of the video game, just before the battle of Hakodate. As per here, however, I will also be taking some anime events into account that don't conflict (namely, Souji's death scene).
AGE: 33
APPEARANCE: Here - wait, no.

This is his usual look; his hair and eyes change when his powers are active, leaving him looking like this.

CANON HISTORY: I find the Hakuouki wiki to be pretty insufficient, so I'm just doing this from scratch. Also trying not to go overboard and keep it at least reasonably brief, so I can elaborate on things if it's needed. /o\

Hijikata comes from a family of farmers, but from a young age he was never satisfied with his place in life. Not wanting to be a farmer for the rest of his life - and knowing he didn't stand to inherit anything as the youngest son anyway - he undertook an apprenticeship to become a merchant, but he wasn't satisfied with that, either, and left home to sell medicine from his family's recipe on the road - stopping in dojos to request matches on the way, because what he really wanted was to become a samurai.

As far out of reach as that seemed, everything changed when he met Kondou Isami.

Kondou came from origins as humble as Hijikata, but had been moved up in rank through being adopted by Hijikata's brother-in-law, the master of the Tennen Rishin-ryuu sword style, and seeing that gave Hijikata hope for himself as well. He began frequenting the Shieikan dojo, and he and Kondou became very close. Although Hijikata hadn't really accomplished anything with his life thus far, Kondou insisted that he simply hadn't found the direction that suited him, and that his dream to become a samurai wasn't ridiculous at all.

Kondou inherited the dojo when the previous master retired, but they fell upon hard times, and keeping the doors open was a constant financial struggle. A hatamoto planned to nominate Kondou as an instructor at the shogunate's military academy, but the offer fell through because of Kondou's low-class origins. It was a harsh blow to Kondou's confidence, but then they heard about the Roshigumi - a group of ronin being gathered to serve as protectors of the shogun, an honorable enough excuse for them to close up the dojo without attracting gossip, and that would pay enough money to provide for Kondou's family. Hijikata talked Kondou into it, swearing that he'd push Kondou up in the world and get him the recognition he deserved, and they left for Kyoto.

Their early time in Kyoto was difficult. The Roshigumi was small, underfunded (as they didn't receive the pay they were originally promised), and reliant on Serizawa Kamo's connections to Aizu to get them any kind of authority to police the streets - however, Serizawa was ruthless and abusive, and his actions did little to endear the Roshigumi to the people of Kyoto. From the beginning, the group was clearly falling into two factions, under the two main leaders of the Roshigumi - Serizawa and Kondou. And it was during one of their disagreements that Serizawa said something that would stick with Hijikata for the rest of his life: that if he wanted to raise Kondou up, Hijikata needed to become a demon, and not hesitate to make an enemy of everyone, if that was what it took.

During this time another issue was arising, behind the scenes - the shogunate brought them a substance called ochimizu, which would supposedly present a solution to their manpower problems - but although anyone who drank it increased their physical abilities far beyond that of a human and gained the ability to rapidly heal from wounds, they lost their sanity in the process, becoming a mindless, bloodthirsty monster. Although Hijikata was opposed to experimenting with the ochimizu, he was overruled by Serizawa, and Niimi took charge of working behind the scenes to try and mitigate the side effects and come up with something more suitable for widespread use.

Although the Roshigumi eventually received better official recognition from Aizu, and renamed to the Shinsengumi, their other problems persisted. Serizawa's behavior became more intolerable, and Niimi disappeared with the ochimizu and all of the research on it. Hijikata led the rest of the Shieikan faction in hunting down and eliminating Niimi, and planned Serizawa's assassination - which was successful, although things got a bit more intense when planned after Serizawa drank the ochimizu during the fight.

Some time after Serizawa's assassination, however, another problem fell into their lap - while hunting down and disposing of a few of their men-turned-rasetsu that had gone rogue, the Shinsengumi found they had a witness. Hijikata decided to bring the boy back to headquarters and decide what to do with him, but the boy was in fact a girl - Yukimura Chizuru, the daughter of the doctor who was responsible for developing the ochimizu, and who had come to Kyoto in search of her father after his disappearance. As this was also a goal of the Shinsengumi, they decided to keep Chizuru around, giving her protection in exchange for her help with their search, and making her Hijikata's page as a cover.

Although they were initially disinclined to trust her, Chizuru proved her loyalty time and time again, going from simple chores and errands to acting as a messenger to give them the warning they needed when they won their reputation in the Ikedaya incident, and accompanying them to the front during the Hamaguri Gate Rebellion - battles that introduced them to a trio of highly formidable opponents, first among them Kazama Chikage, a man apparently working with Satsuma. She also was let in on their most closely guarded secret - the ochimizu - when Sannan decided to test the new revisions to the formula on himself, spurred on by feelings of uselessness from a crippled arm.

More pieces of the puzzle came together over time - Kazama revealed himself to be a demon, in pursuit of Chizuru because she too was a demon and there were few pureblooded females of their kind. The demons were working in tandem with the Satsuma and Choushuu rebels, and claimed that Chizuru's father was doing the same, having abandoned his former shogunate ties.

The situation was steadily getting worse for the Shinsengumi, as well. The political situation began to shift against the favor of the shogunate. Heisuke was mortally wounded in the fallout from an internal dispute and had to drink the ochimizu to survive. Kondou was shot in an assassination attempt and sent away from headquarters to recover. Things came to a head when the battle of Toba-Fushimi broke out, and despite having three times the rebels' numbers, the shogunate forces were quickly pushed back by their opponents' superior weapons and tactics. Hijikata sent Inoue and Chizuru to bring reinforcements.

Instead, they found Kazama.

Hijikata arrived just in time to find Inoue dead and Chizuru being overpowered; enraged, he attacked Kazama, but while he was able to force Kazama to reveal his true form, that form proved too much for him to handle, and in a moment of desperation, Hijikata turned to the ochimizu and became a rasetsu himself. The fight intensified, but Kazama found the upper hand again, and Hijikata was saved when Yamazaki took a blow meant for him - and gave him a much needed reality check, bringing him to his senses to oversee the retreat to Osaka Castle...and then to Edo, when the shogun pulled out first and ordered his troops back.

From there the war became a frustrating dance of trying to get the support they needed to wage war from the higher-ups, eventually leading the Shinsengumi to be ordered to Koufu Castle - where they suffered a devastating defeat that decimated their numbers, crushed Kondou's confidence, and proved to be the final straw for Shinpachi and Sanosuke, who left. Hijikata pushed on, trying to organize them and bounce back, sending Saitou to take most of the troops to train with new firearms, trying to bolster Kondou's confidence again - and then their position was surrounded, and when Hijikata tried to take a stand alone to let Kondou and Chizuru escape, Kondou refused, ordering Hijikata to escape while he stayed. No amount of yelling, arguing, and pleading from Hijikata was enough to change his mind.

Hijikata was a barely restrained wreck, for a time after that; after regrouping with Ootori Keisuke and the remains of the shogunate's army to continue the retreat north, he took Utsunomiya Castle with a handful of soldiers and a manic energy that suggested he didn't have much interest in continuing to live. Kazama was there on business of his own, with a sword that inflicted wounds a rasetsu's advanced healing could do nothing for, and Hijikata was forced to leave the front to recover - and was shouted down by Ootori, who inadvertently echoed Yamazaki's parting words, providing Hijikata with another much needed reality check; when they received reports of Kondou's execution, Souji managed to drag himself out of his own sickbed long enough to punch Hijikata in the face - and then die protecting him before his wounds had finished recovering, because despite their difficult relationship, Hijikata's life was what Kondou wanted more than anything.

The retreat north continued, with Saitou choosing to stay behind and fight with the rear guard in Aizu while the remains of the Shinsengumi continued on to Sendai; Sannan and Heisuke went ahead to see what support they could secure while the main army caught up, but when Hijikata and Chizuru caught up, they were nowhere to be found. Chizuru was kidnapped by a group of rasetsu commanded by her father, who brought her to the castle, where Sannan was also waiting. Hijikata soon met with Heisuke and caught up; one standoff later in which Sannan revealed he'd been playing both ends against the middle, the rasetsu were wiped out, Chizuru's father died to protect her, and Heisuke and Sannan had burned out their lifespans, and turned to dust, leaving Hijikata all but alone - save for Chizuru.

As the alliance made one last retreat, north to Ezo, Hijikata forbade Chizuru to come with them. Chizuru said "to hell with that" and made her own way after them, with a little help from Ootori, and her appearance on his doorstep forced Hijikata to realize just how poorly he'd been functioning without her - and to admit that maybe he was in love with her.

Of course, the enemy's still got overwhelmingly superior numbers and they're right on Ezo's doorstep, so he might not have a lot of time left to think that over further.

[hakodate]

CANON PERSONALITY: To understand Hijikata, one has to understand his relationship with Kondou, because it's the cornerstone of his motivations, his actions, and much of his behavior.

Hijikata had an ambition to make his way up in the world before he met Kondou, and he had a dream to become a samurai, but it's not until after he meets Kondou that he finds the drive to follow them through - not for himself, but for Kondou. Before Kondou, he didn't know how to make what he wanted a reality; Kondou was one step ahead of him on that same path, and told him it wasn't a ridiculous thing for him to want to become a samurai. And Hijikata, for his part, gives Kondou the support he needs when he falters in that belief himself before they leave Kyoto.

Serizawa has a moment that sums it up best - he observes that Hijikata sees his dream in Kondou and gave it up himself to entrust it to Kondou, and each of the two has what the other lacks. Kondou has the charisma to attract people to him; Hijikata has the wits and the pragmatism to do what needs to be done, no matter how unpleasant. Kondou has the vision of where they're going; Hijikata has the plan to get them there. They balance each other out, and they both believe in the other more than in themselves - but they both feel they have to live up to what the other sees in them, and that bond is the fuel that keeps them both going.

For all that he dislikes Serizawa, Hijikata takes the man's advice to him - to become a demon - very seriously, to the point of being nicknamed "the Demon Vice-Commander" later on. He is willing to be ruthless when he has to be; it was Hijikata who put the Shinsengumi's Code in place, and Hijikata who holds the men to it - or gives them a choice between seppuku or drinking the ochimizu if they break it. He cuts down one of his own men at Utsunomiya to set an example for those considering turning and running. He's absolutely a hardass when he deems it necessary, and especially early on in canon, it's necessary quite often; Kondou is the kind one who can rally people around him, and Hijikata is the iron fist behind him who keeps them in line and makes sure they're getting shit done.

It's important to remember, on the other hand, that the hardass act is to some extent just that - it's an act, not the full sum of Hijikata's personality. He's ruthless when he deems it necessary, but he does it with reason, and there are moments that clearly show his softer side - from his initial refusal to kill Chizuru on the spot when he finds her (which would be a far easier way to protect the Shinsengumi's secrets), to much of his behavior towards her throughout his route. After he's had some time to start coming to terms with Kondou's death, it's also easier to see the nicer side of him come out in how he treats his troops; near the end of his route Ootori observes that he's been a lot nicer to his men, and he's shown personally pouring sake for each of his soldiers, talking to them to try and keep their spirits up - it's the kind of friendly morale-booster that earlier in the story would likely have come from Kondou. He's not incapable of kindness by any stretch, and Kondou's death gives him a reason to bring it out more often - because with his other half gone, he's in a position where he has to be everything as a leader, rather than just filling in the other half of the good cop/bad cop dichotomy for Kondou.

He's hard on himself, perhaps a natural consequence of the fact that his life is centered around somebody else. In the flashback where Kondou's appointment at the military academy is cancelled, Hijikata blames himself for not doing anything about it even as he chastises Souji for blaming him. He apologies to Saitou for some of the early problems faced by the Roshigumi, telling him that it's because of their shortcomings that the men have to put up with the situation. He takes on too much and runs himself into the ground, and after Kondou's death the only thing keeping him alive is the fact that as his men remind him - he is the Shinsengumi, and if he dies so does the organization. His willingness to live for his own sake is at a critical low after Kondou's death, but his devotion to maintaining everything he and Kondou fought to build is absolute, and it's that devotion and responsibility to the Shinsengumi that pulls him back from more than one mad, self-destructive rampage.

And despite the fact that his relationship with Souji is often abrasive and highly complicated, he still feels deeply responsible for him; having watched him grow up, Hijikata tends to look on him as a younger brother - kind of an immature pain in the ass, but someone he's still deeply protective of and who he doesn't want to see go down the wrong path. He tries to send Souji home to Edo early on, reasoning that Souji's heritage leaves him far more opportunities in life than he and Kondou have available to them; Souji reacts to that by making his first kill, to prove that he can be useful, and Hijikata worries after that about whether Souji understands the weight of taking a life. He wants the best for Souji, but he has an undeniable talent for managing to make matters worse because he's not sure how to handle him.

One more point worth noting is that Hijikata's low-born background is a sometimes subtle, but always undeniable, influence on his behavior. He's a bit rougher in his mannerisms than most of the cast (and the localization of the video game in particular shows it by translating him as something of a pottymouth), and many of the differences in his thinking and Serizawa's - especially regarding their treatment of other people - are rooted in the fact that Serizawa thinks like someone who was born to the samurai class and can get away with mistreating those below him, while Hijikata clearly knows what it's like to be on the bottom and finds that kind of behavior contemptible. He plays the game socially where he knows it's required - he's far too pragmatic not to realize that they need connections to get ahead - but he has much less patience for the classism that surrounds them, and near the end of canon, he and Ootori have a conversation about how it doesn't matter where you come from, but what you make of yourself.

POINT OF DEPARTURE: --

ABILITIES: As a rasetsu, Hijikata's physical strength, agility, and endurance go beyond human capability, and he is able to heal from physical injuries at a very rapid pace; most wounds are seen to close within a few seconds. (This healing factor only extends to physical injuries, however - it's shown with Souji to do nothing to cure diseases.)

This power comes at a price - rasetsu are nocturnal, and suffer from discomfort or outright pain when they're active in the daylight. They also suffer from a powerful compulsion to drink blood, which tends to rear its head in sudden attacks of extreme physical pain - although it's possible to wait these out rather than giving in and drinking blood, it's not pretty; most rasetsu are eventually (or immediately) driven mad. Last, their abilities are drawn directly from their own life force; if a rasetsu makes too much use of their ability to heal and burns out their own lifespan, they turn to ash on the spot - although Hijikata hasn't been one long enough to run into that problem yet.

As far as more mundane abilities go - he's a very gifted swordsman. As the vice-commander of the Shinsengumi (and the one to make most calls despite being outranked by Kondou), he's a proven leader, originally in a more police-like capacity but also in larger scale military engagements, once the Boshin War breaks out; he has experience dealing with logistics, politics, and strategy, and he's seen to be effective at what he does, despite having unfavorable conditions standing in his way. He's also a skilled interrogator (read: torturer).

He's also an amateur poet! A notoriously bad one, but hey.

INVENTORY; The clothes on his back, a pair of swords (his katana, the Izumi-no-Kami Kanesada, and a wakizashi). A revolver, although he's far more comfortable with his sword and isn't carrying extra ammo, so it's likely to be a last resort at best.

ANYTHING ELSE WE SHOULD KNOW? Hijikata will be coming in as a veteran Traveler, so he's been around the World Series for a bit already - a fair amount of time, in fact, but as he's lost all memories of previous jaunts as a side effect of Moebius, he's not actually sure how many jaunts he has been on. (I'm thinking, though, that he's been on about ten, if that works.)

S A M P L E S;
FIRST PERSON: one and two; the first is a bit better representative of his general behavior but Chizuru brings out his softer side, which I think shows up a bit better in the second.

And test drive threads for good measure: one and two.

THIRD PERSON:
That swirling black portal had appeared again, and no veteran Traveler would ever mistake what that meant.

Hijikata, especially, was never a man one could accuse of being stupid - at least, not in the sense of lacking any sense of logical pattern recognition. His willingness, at times, to fling himself headfirst into those patterns thinking to change them out of sheer determination, on the other hand, might be a bit more suspect.

And so there wasn't much surprise when he was one of the first to step forward in that hasty, hurried discussion of who was going in - before they ran out of time to go in at all. It might be taking a stupid risk with no guarantee of reward, but that much might as well summarize his entire life before Traveling, and more to the point -

As much as he might deny it if asked, Hijikata was starting to get attached to some of his longer-running fellow Travelers, whether he thought of them as comrades in arms or as stupid kids who needed looking after. (Or in some cases, both.)

He gave the portal a long, hard look, one hand resting at the hilt of his sword. There wasn't really any way to know what to expect out of these things, but it didn't mean it wasn't possible to do anything to prepare oneself mentally - and going in at anything less than full readiness could be a disaster for more than just those of them about to jump in there. "Anyone not ready, now's the time to speak up or get the hell out of the way."

They were no substitute for the comrades he'd already lost, and nor would he ever want them to be. But with as much experience as he had in losing people he'd wanted and been obliged to protect - as comrades, or as kids he shouldn't be leading straight into the jaws of death (or as both), he was damned if he was going to leave another one lost when the means to do something about it was sitting right here in front of him.

lila zacharov ☛ curse workers ☛ 1/?

[gitanes]

P L A Y E R;

NAME: Anne
AGE: 23
PLAYER JOURNAL: trustme_imthe
TIMEZONE: EST
CONTACT: trustmeimthe; tavrosno[at]gmail[dot]com
OTHER CHARACTERS PLAYED: N/A

lila zacharov ☛ curse workers ☛ 2/?

[gitanes]

C H A R A C T E R;

NAME: Lila Zacharov
CANON: Curse Workers
POINT IN CANON: Right before the start of Black Heart, after she has begun carrying out missions for her father as a full member of the Zacharov family.
AGE: 17

APPEARANCE:

Lila is a young human woman, small-to-petite, with light features, one blue eye and one green eye, and blonde hair. It's worth noting that while I am using Freya Mavor as a PB, Lila's hair is not quite as long due to recently having chopped off a bunch of dreded hair due to Spoilers. She also has a necklace of keloid scarring at the base of her neck, able to be hidden by a collar. Lila will, given the choice, dress in simple but expensive clothing in black, red, and white; she will, unless in incredibly dire straits, will also be wearing gloves 24/7 - similar to these, thick and strong, but with full back-of-the-hand-to-wrist coverage. Here she is again.

CANON HISTORY:

History of White Cat through Black Heart, by Anne with sarcastic commentary. If this is not sufficient that's completely understandable, given that it's told more from Cassel's perspective - just let me know and I'll rewrite.

CANON PERSONALITY:

The first, most formative thing to know about Lila is that she was born to lead. As heir to one of the leading crime families in the United States, she has known from her very first conscious moment that she's set to inherit his legacy, and that knowledge has shaped her actions and experiences for her entire life. Furthermore, it has shaped the way other people react to her, changing the way she reacts to them - her existence a cycle of expectations, assumptions, and displays of power.

"Ambition" is the word voted most likely to have Lila's face next to it in the dictionary. While, yes, she can conceive of other routes her life could take besides being head of the Zacharov family, none of them have the same sense of pride and family, and therefore none of them could ever be as worthy of her pursuit as rising in the ranks of the family. Not only does she intend to get to the top and lead the men her father leads, on some level she also clearly intends to surpass him. To build on his legacy, but also to make her name more memorable and more infamous.

Part of this is out of necessity. Another thing Lila has always known is that she would be a woman doing what is traditionally a man's job, leading men, needing to inspire men. Besides which, her father, while repeatedly showing that he has faith in her ability to lead, seems to also be instinctively protective of her, trying to shelter from the messier nature of mob life in the way that he may have sheltered her mother. Certainly he treats her as younger and more vulnerable than she is, which only fuels Lila's ambition to be bigger, stronger, more than her father ever was. She resents him, too, for treating her like she can't be exactly like him, even though on some level she logically understands his reasoning.

Her drive to go above and beyond often translates into ruthlessness. She's learned cruelty and hard-heartedness from her father, and she takes advantage of every opportunity to practice them. Like anyone who is successful in a crime family, Lila is used to violence and death; she doesn't flinch at death or pain and is accustomed to torture and assassination. When she learns that she or her father is a target, she doesn't blink, she reacts, compartmentalizing her emotional reaction in favor of making a plan. In this way, she is an exceptional leader, refusing to allow enemies to rattle her in most situations.

Most. She's not always logical. Lila operates on the principle of an eye for an eye. In fact, when she's personally wronged and especially when she feels trapped, she is capable of moving past ruthlessness and into pure murderousness. After her imprisonment at the hands of the Sharpes, she's ready and willing to walk Cassel off a roof and rip the rest of the family apart with her bare hands if she has to. She repeatedly expresses her frustration that she can't do this, especially towards Barron and Philip, and is still incredibly (justifiably) bitter towards Cassel despite the fact that he has no memories of the incident.

Bloodthirstiness aside, Lila could easily be termed a sadist. It should be noted that, torture and horrific murder and assassination aside, she seems to be a consensual sadist - she takes pleasure in other people's pain, but only if they are also taking pleasure in it. She also derives pleasure from being deferred to; this runs the gamut from people paying her due deference as Zacharov's daughter to people who will jump when she says jump, stop breathing when she says stop breathing, jump off a roof when she says jump off a roof. The clearest example of this tendency is Lila's relationship with Cassel, which is admittedly complicated by the fact that he ruined her life and then his mother worked her to love him. Even when they were very young, though, a significant portion of the basis of their relationship came from his blind obedience to her and her ability to inflict pain on him without feeling a twinge of conscience.

Not that Lila is a sociopath. She very much is not. It's more like she's got all the same morals as an ordinary person shoved slightly sideways. What she has been taught from a very young age is that in order to survive, she and her family must be superior, they must rule; the government is the enemy, as are ordinary non-worker citizens, when they're not people to be fleeced and taken advantage of. Even other workers are almost always subordinates. In truth, the Zacharovs are worker royalty, and Lila has always been a princess.

So, yes, Lila is spoiled. In her early years, before she underwent the worst, cattiest puberty ever and got serious about her calling as a mafia queen, she utilized her wealth and privilege much more as a weapon against her peers than as a tool for success. Nowadays, she is still used to the finer things in life and she's still entitled to some extent, but she also uses her access to said finer things as a means of comporting herself as she and her family ought to be represented. She dresses well, drives expensive cars, and goes to an exclusive school, but if she did any less she wouldn't be a Zacharov. It's half about ambition, once again, and half about boosting confidence.

Which Lila does not have nearly as much of as she'd like you to think. Here's the problem: when the brothers of the boy you have a crush on try to get him to assassinate you, then he turns you into a cat, and you're kept in a tiny cage that's rarely cleaned for three years, only let out once in a while to work people - you go a little crazy. Or, to be more specific: you lose all sense of self for a while there. Lila specifically states that she tried to tell herself stories, fairy tales, to keep herself stable and grounded, but eventually they ran out. She had nothing more to remind herself that she was human; she lost time; she became something not quite herself, until she finally found a way to get Cassel to set her free again.

Anybody who is that powerless for that length of time is going to have serious post-traumatic reactions, but for Lila, whose entire self-image was built on her own power, it shattered her. When she came back to herself, she was still, in essence, a thirteen-year-old in a seventeen-year-old's body, and as immature as that implies. She had to - is having to - grow up incredibly quickly, and to compensate for her lost time she has become more ruthless, more sadistic, and more willing to sublimate her own emotional stability for the sake of success. More than that, she's furious. Her life was taken away from her and she was only able to get partial revenge. Her solution to this unresolvable emotional dilemma is: climb higher, climb faster, climb harder, take down everyone in my way.

It's as impossible to omit the Sharpes from this section as it would be to omit the Zacharovs. The Sharpes have shaped the Zacharovs' fates for decades, ever since Cassel's grandfather first started working for Lila's father. They have specifically had a huge, almost entirely negative influence on Lila. In quick sum: older brothers Barron and Philip made an alliance with her cousin Anton to kill Lila and put Anton next in line to take over the family; Cassel, who was obsessively crushing on her as a young teenager, turned her into a cat and then had his memory wiped so he couldn't change her back; Barron kept her in a cage for three years without taking any measure of care of her; after Cassel changed her back and Lila was just starting to get her life back to normal, Cassel's mother Shandra emotion-worked her to love him; Cassel dicked around with her emotions as a result and ultimately almost raped her while she was under the influence of the emotion work. The conclusion here being that Lila blames the Sharpes for everything bad that has ever happened her, while also having Cassel as a very specific complicating factor. He's responsible for a lot of awful things, true, but she also always liked him - that and now she has to like him. Even though the emotion work has mostly worn off, her feelings are and will continue to be all tangled up in that curse until and unless someone can take if off her. So she loves him, but hates him, and hates him for being someone she loves. Just as Cassel will never fully get over her, she will never fully get over Cassel. Even though she wants to kill everyone genetically related to him. That's another thing she'll never get over.

maladicta ☀ discworld ☀ 1/?

[deshabille]

P L A Y E R;

NAME: Anne
AGE: 23
PLAYER JOURNAL: trustme_imthe
TIMEZONE: EST
CONTACT: trustmeimthe; tavrosno[at]gmail[dot]com
OTHER CHARACTERS PLAYED: N/A

maladicta ☀ discworld ☀ 2/?

[deshabille]

C H A R A C T E R;

NAME: Maladicta
CANON: Discworld
POINT IN CANON: Several months post-canon, after the conflict with Zlobenia starts looking like bad news bears (again).
AGE: Age unstated in canon. She's implied to look about 19, headcanon states actual age is around 124.
APPEARANCE: Mal is pale, slim, of average height, and gray-eyed. Her hair is black and cut stylishly short. Her clothes - men's - are always neat. She has abnormally, though not supernaturally, long canines. Overall, she strikes one as androgynous enough that her confidence allows her to portray herself however she desires. I use Vladlena Shevelova for Mal's PB for several reasons, one of which is not the makeup/piercings, which Mal does not wear/have. That said, this is probably the closest image I have.

CANON HISTORY:

A useful wiki article on Nosferatu sanguineus. & here's a thing on Borogravia, Mal's home country. & a plot synopsis, but I'm still going to tl;dr.

On the Disc – an aggressively whimsical semi-parallel version of Earth – there was a country called Borogravia. Borogravia was proud; Borogravia had a mad god (Nuggan) and a dead duchess, both of whom gave a great degree of false hope to a poor and barren nation; Borogravia made war. For years and years, because it could, until there was nothing but war in Borogravia, and it had run out of sons. When a country that loves war runs out of sons, and when propaganda stops working because of that nasty tendency of people to come back from war with fewer arms and legs than they left with, those who enter into warfare tend to have very individual motivations. In the case of what came to be termed in Borogravia the Monstrous Regiment, they were also not sons.

Eight young women cut off their hair, put on trousers, and joined the army to fight for the glory of the Motherland!!, except not really, because generally they were running away from rather than towards something. Maladicta certainly was. Tired of not getting respect from her family (because female vampires are meant to be sexy, not clever or strong or independent), Mal joined the Ins-and-Outs and quickly detected that her idea was not particularly original. She was surrounded by women.

Unfortunately, these eight women were the last recruits of the current war with Zlobenia, and as such were given shoddy equipment and told to go to the front lines posthaste. Before this could happen, however, the recruiting corporal (name of Strappi), a political spy for the highest Borogravian military authority, became so thrilled at the idea of heading to the front lines that he pissed himself and deserted, significant largely because a) he gave away the squad's position to the nearby Zlobenian infantry, and b) he stole Mal's coffee. Mal really needed her coffee; without coffee she would kill for a cup of . . . well, blood. [See powers section]

But speaking of the Zlobenians: those plucky girls manage to capture and humiliate (that is, kick in the fork and strip) the infantry forces, although it might have interested them to know that Prince Heinrich of Zlobenia, the heir to the Borogravian throne and a major reason for the war's outbreak, happened to be in that infantry party . . . and was the one kicked in the fork . . . and actually became quite angry about it. Due to the exciting influence of the Free and Fair Press of city-state Ankh-Morpork, the story of Prince Heinrich's ultimate humiliation at the hands of a small group of green recruits quickly became a hot topic of conversation across the Disc and instantly changed political attitudes towards Borogravia from They are insane and must be stopped (possibly accurate) to They are plucky underdogs and we should support them.

Due to confusing verbal and tactical maneuvering by the Ins-and-Outs' tremendously inexperienced Lieutenant Blouse, the regiment ultimately ended up making its way to Kneck Keep, a vital Borogravian stronghold which had been taken over by Zlobenians. Along this trip, the lack of coffee became an issue. Having substituted her addiction to human blood for an addiction to coffee, Mal began experiencing flashsides, or hallucinations of alternate realities – in this case, of the Vietnam War. As the squad made its way to the Keep, Mal got so close to reverting to her original addiction and attacking one of her fellow soldiers that she nearly had to be staked through the heart – until a blessed bag of beans dropped from the sky and nearly concussed her. (Said bag of beans had been dropped by Commander Vimes of the Ankh-Morpork City Watch, who was keeping an eye on the Ins-and-Outs for complicated political reasons.)

An unconscious yet thoroughly caffeinated Mal (she sucked the caffeine directly from the beans through the bag, which is apparently a thing you can do if you're desperate enough) was left outside the Keep with their Sergeant Jackrum while the others disguised themselves as washerwomen to get inside the fortress. Mal was quickly caught and imprisoned by Zlobenians within the Keep; the others quickly followed (partially because no one believed they were actually women). After a complex series of power shifts within the Keep, the Borogravians retook it and, in their turn, became tremendously offended at the presence of women within their army, despite the fact that the squad (sans Mal, who was still unconscious) had freed them from their cells.

A court-martial was called – but not officially, since a court-martial is only for proper (that is, male) soldiers - and the top brass of Borogravia was about to disregard the squad's achievements and send them home when Sergeant Jackrum returned and revealed that about, oh, one third of the entire military was of the female persuasion. Halfway through this exciting development, the semi-divine Duchess of Borogravia possessed one of the recruits and demanded that Borogravia let go of her and of Nuggan and that the generals return home to save their people form starvation.

It was only after this, in the confusing and frequently condescending peace negotiations, that Mal revealed that she was really Maladicta. This was met with a general lack of offense from the squad, and everyone was sent home with a pat on the back and a none-too-subtle hint not to come back. The female generals stayed silent about their identities. There was a nice march to and party at the capitol, after which Mal disappeared to put her head on straight for a few weeks. Once tensions started rising with Zlobenia again - just a few weeks later - she returned to the regiment and rejoined Polly in training a new generation of soldiers to be a whole lot less stupid than the last generation.

Elijah Mikaelson ♚ The Vampire Diaries/The Originals ♚ 1/?

[trapsfortroubadours]

P L A Y E R;

NAME: Crystal
AGE: 23
PLAYER JOURNAL: nerdangel
TIMEZONE: CST soon to be EST
CONTACT: roomwithamoose or PM is fine.
OTHER CHARACTERS PLAYED: n/a

Elijah Mikaelson ♚ The Vampire Diaries/The Originals ♚ 2/?

[trapsfortroubadours]

C H A R A C T E R;

NAME: Elijah Mikaelson
CANON: The Vampire Diaries/The Originals
POINT IN CANON: The Originals 1x16 'Farewell to Storyville'
AGE: 1000+
APPEARANCE:

Elijah is approximately 5'11" and of average build with brown hair and eyes. Though these days he's been seen sporting clothes a little more casual than suits all the time, he does always dress neat and clean. That also means no facial hair. He also typically looks as though he comes from money no matter how casual he dresses. He is really freaking handsome.

CANON HISTORY: Boop.
CANON PERSONALITY:

From the outside, it is readily apparent that Elijah is a serious man. For example, his facial expression is often hard to read or slight at best, he is usually quite to the point in a conversation, and he is a ruthless killer when it suits his purposes, showing absolutely no remorse or regret. However, this doesn't mean that Elijah is completely out of touch with emotions. He, instead, chooses not to let his emotions take so much control over his actions that he loses the ability to plan or think ahead - which is something he does quite well. When Elijah is angry, he doesn't lose his temper in an explosive manner. Losing control would, more or less, be an antithesis of behavior to someone like Elijah who controls his emotions as well as his words when dealing with other people. Instead, Elijah's anger is a cold rage that's just brewing beneath the surface that he redirects into energy and motivation to seek revenge/justice such as when he kidnapped Elena to motivate the Salvatores into stopping Esther or snapped Agnes' neck for trying to kill Klaus' unborn child.

Moreover, Elijah's emotions are not all entirely negative and cold and he doesn't lack a softer, more compassionate side. He has been shown to have a sense of humor - even if it's a bit on the dry, dark side of the spectrum - and he has been shown to care for others. He has a respect for particular individuals as well as human life in general (and his family/siblings, but more on that later) best exemplified by the extra lengths he went to in order to preserve Katerina's life both out of compassion and caring for her and the aforementioned regard towards human life. He also struck up a deal with Elena to protect those she loved while waiting for Klaus to arrive rather than making his sole focus Elena. Part of this was, of course, to encourage compliance, but Elijah does not revel in nor desire to engage in what he would deem unnecessary bloodshed. He finds that kind of behavior abhorrent and openly shows disdain for it whenever his siblings - particularly Niklaus and Rebekah - engage in it.

As to why Elijah tries to keep a very calm and cool exterior while not letting emotions cloud his judgment too much, it's because he very much has an emphasis on loyalty/duty and honor - which means making deals and ultimately means maintaining a perfect p-p-p-poker face (mum mum mum mah). Elijah places such a high emphasis on loyalty and keeping promises that the expectations extend both to others and himself. Best case for others is the way in which he chooses to handle Trevor and Rose after they offer him Elena to make up for their transgression of allowing Katerina to turn and flee. Elijah spares Rose because he admires the loyalty she showed towards her friend (having no real prior/specific ties to Klaus), but he punishes Trevor with death because he directly betrayed Klaus and Elijah, in his opinion, with no real excuse.

In regards to the importance of loyalty and honor that Elijah places on himself, that's most evident when it comes to betraying Elena & co. during the sacrifice. He was already torn because of his inherent loyalties to Klaus as a sibling no matter what the circumstance (again, more on that at eleven), but he had to make a decision between his duty towards his remaining siblings and his duty towards his promise to Elena. These sort of expectations to behave honorably and not to use underhanded/dirty tactics is also seen again when Elijah leaves a note for Elena apologizing for the earlier mentioned kidnapping. At the time, he felt justified because she had lied to him. But after a verbal smackdown courtesy his mother, it really sank in to Elijah that he had been manipulative and had been willing to sacrifice Elena's life instead of finding some other way to avoid bloodshed. He basically was not behaving any better than his other siblings in terms of treating human life like nothing more than tokens in a power play when it's convenient causing all sorts of existential drama, cognitive dissonance, etc. And when it's convenient, it's usually in relation to his family.

So this makes a very convenient segue into talking about that.

...Finally.

Family trumps and overrules everything in Elijah's life/framework. Elijah will hold to every single promise and word he gives until his family is in danger. Then everything is thrown out the window and he is ruthless in exacting what he views as justice though it's sometimes just revenge dressed up in a really pretty gown.

Family is the source of who and what he is, it gives him purpose, and it's, of course, made up of the people he's known and loved the longest/most in his entire existence. Although canon does not always give explicit examples, it's very easy to infer that each and every single one of the Mikaelson children feared and respected their father (except Klaus, but his daddy issues are not the point). Being the eldest surviving son, there are implicit (and likely explicit) duties of eventually being passed his father's mantle as the patriarch of the family. Elijah, more or less, already became the patriarch of the family even before they were turned into vampires when it came to looking after his siblings (and his mother at times) anyway because Mikael is the definition of an emotionally unavailable and abusive parent. Elijah's siblings have come to rely upon Elijah for his help and emotional comfort as seen through his relationship with Klaus - trying to help him break the curse to free his werewolf side - and his relationship with Rebekah - having more heart-to-heart conversations with her than anybody else in the family. There are generally no lengths in which Elijah is not willing to go for his siblings either because he is essentially their only or one of the very few sources of unconditional love for a bulk and majority of their lives both as humans and vampires.

As mentioned earlier, Elijah was clearly torn about killing Klaus when he had the opportunity for more than just reasons of finding and freeing his other siblings. The fact of the matter is, while there was a point in which Elijah would have done anything for Klaus and that point has passed, he doesn't hate his brother or wish him that sort of extreme ill. Nor does it mean that Elijah would be unwilling to do anything at all for Klaus. Elijah is merely disappointed with the way Klaus chooses to do things like dagger his siblings, shed a lot of unnecessary and innocent blood, be entirely selfish, saying that if Elijah doesn't return with Katerina he's gonna pay the price with his life, etc. He would much rather see Klaus dealt with in a far less permanent manner and taught to behave in a much more honorable manner. He has that wish for all his siblings and that is his current raison d'être.

Although Elijah did not immediately forgive Klaus for daggering him (again), he still holds onto the belief that Klaus can grow and change. Elijah believes that the child Hayley is carrying will be the solution to this particular conundrum. As such, he's quickly accepted Hayley as family and has sworn to do everything in his power to keep her and her baby safe even if that means keeping them safe from Klaus himself. At the same time, Elijah is having to battle against his feelings towards Hayley. Elijah has allowed his romantic feelings before take up too much of his attention in the past with Katerina and Celeste both though especially when it came to Celeste. While Elijah spent most of his days with Celeste, Klaus went more or less unchecked and causing a number of problems for both New Orleans and the family. Klaus eventually lashed out at Elijah for neglecting him by killing Celeste. Elijah doesn't want to see history repeat itself in regards to Hayley and so squashes down his feelings for her as much as possible. Because at the end of the day, there is nothing that Elijah won't do to try and save Klaus from himself and that's why he refuses to abandon his duty as an older brother any time in the near-future even if that means putting his own wants and needs on the backburner.

Ezio Auditore ⇌ Assassin's Creed ⇌ 1/?

[outlets]

P L A Y E R;

NAME: Crystal
AGE: 23
PLAYER JOURNAL: nerdangel
TIMEZONE: CST soon to be EST
CONTACT: roomwithamoose or PM
OTHER CHARACTERS PLAYED: n/a

Ezio Auditore ⇌ Assassin's Creed ⇌ 2/?

[outlets]

C H A R A C T E R;

NAME: Ezio Auditore
CANON: Assassin's Creed
POINT IN CANON: June 26, 1488 - After Ezio's been inducted into the Brotherhood and been charged with watching over the Apple. No pressure. (Sequence 11's Play Along)
AGE: 29
APPEARANCE:

Ezio is of average height and toned build. He typically can be found in his armor and white assassin robes + cape because he's such a fashionista as you know he do. He also usually has a small arsenal on him - hidden blades, sword, dagger, throwing knives, smoke bombs, poison, crossbow, hidden pistol, etc. Ezio at this age is clean-shaven and keeps his hair tied back regardless of whether his hood is up or down. The other noticeable feature about him is a vertical scar on the corner of his mouth. (in-game character model)

CANON HISTORY: Beep.
CANON PERSONALITY:

Prior to the death of his family, Ezio lived a relatively carefree lifestyle. He was popular all around with a number of loyal friends and held in high regard by women. He was also fiercely loyal and protective of his family, having a strong bond to his parents and siblings. Betrayal, murder, and conspiracy, however, have stripped Ezio of his carefree attitude and forced him to inherit responsibilities he knew nothing about. But Ezio has not lost everything. Through his training, Ezio has learned to be more in control of his emotions - particularly his hot-blooded temper - and likewise learned to be more thoughtful (stopping to ask questions) and less impulsive. He's also never lost the bond of loyalty to his family throughout the years, using that as a source of strength alongside the Creed.

At the beginning of Ezio's training, anger and a thirst for revenge guided his blade and his actions. He didn't care so much about why his family had been betrayed, his brothers and father murdered, but the simple fact that they were. Ezio was rash with a hair-trigger temper, pushed easily by Vieri de' Pazzi's final words into disrespecting his corpse. The more Ezio learned, however, the less and less revenge drove him from target to target. Because Ezio is still a passionate man, he's prone to his temper from time to time if the right buttons are pushed (namely anything to do with his family). However, he has learned to exercise control over it and does not let his emotions get the better of him quite as easily as they once did. He is able to show mercy to the conspirators and does not extend their suffering once he has struck. Part of the reason Ezio began exerting control over his emotions is because over time, Ezio also came to realize the importance of the work Assassins such as his father had dedicated their whole lives towards. He gradually began to see it less as a choice and more as a duty he could not walk away from any more than he could walk away from his family. The further his understanding went, the more he came to realize that he needed more than just physical discipline.

He also realized that he needed mental discipline. Ezio knows that he is far in over his head and he also knows that his father's work has barely begun to scratch the surface. He knows that everything goes beyond his desire for revenge and this matter will shape the world he knows for good or for ill depending on the outcome. Over time, Ezio has learned to be more thoughtful and ask more questions at least to himself if not others. Although he has not quite yet reached the maturity in this regard that he will eventually reach as Mentor to the Italian Brotherhood, this is the beginning. He stops focusing on eliminating each target one by one and tries to discern information/motivation from each of them as he gets closer and closer to Rodrigo Borgia. Ezio is beginning coming to his own understanding of the Creed - nothing is true and everything is permitted - that will carry him through the rest of his life. He stands against everything the Templars envision for the world and fights against them to protect the personal freedoms and individuality of humanity. Even as young as he is, Ezio is capable of befriending most anyone because, despite being a nobleman, he doesn't automatically look his nose down on anyone for being different. If anything, Ezio has come to value the differences among people because it offers new perspectives and means of accomplishing things together. This is the basis in which Ezio will eventually strengthen and rebuild the Brotherhood in Italy in the years to come. As it stands now, it is somewhat unrefined and he does not have the leadership experience to fully bring it altogether, but the seeds are there.

As far as how Ezio is on an interpersonal level, he is still very much the charmer. He flirts playfully with women, he still understands and appreciates a joke. Ezio is also a loyal friend to those that accept his friendship. He will do whatever is necessary to keep the people he cares about safe from harm and that is especially true of his family. (But more on that in a bit.) People, generally, take to Ezio very quickly as a result. But there is also a time and place for behavior like that. No longer a child, Ezio understands the difference. When the need arises, he focuses. And Ezio's focus is truly a force of nature once he does begin to focus. He's incredibly tenacious and determined once his mind is settled on something. Nowadays, he tries to think through a problem a little bit before tackling it - now that some of his impulsivity/anger has taken a backseat - making it so that he typically doesn't have to try, try again. But if he has to try again? You bet your ass he will get right back on that saddle and try again.

As far as family is concerned, Ezio is still incredibly loyal to his family. As mentioned before, his family is still somewhat of a hot button issue for him and taunting him too much will cause him to let emotion take over. Harming his remaining family will result in the same. One his first priorities will always be to ensure the safety of his mother and sister as Ezio is still the overprotective brother to Claudia and the dutiful son to his mother. He tries to do right by his father by continuing his legacy and trying to dismantle the Templar Order while solving the mysteries of the past. He also tries to help his mother through her depression by remembering his younger brother, Petruccio, and continuing to collect eagle feathers throughout Italy. Lastly, although his uncle Mario is family, Ezio was not immediately so respectful towards him or necessarily adhered to what he said. However, Mario has become a mentor-figure for Ezio, not as a replacement for his father, but somewhat as a substitute. It's through his uncle Mario that Ezio has learned the most about his heritage, his duty, and the Creed.

So, to sum it all up, Ezio was once on a different path than he finds himself on today. He thought his father was merely a banker and had no idea of the secret war that was being fought every day between Templars and Assassins. He still can sometimes allow his emotions to overtake his judgment as he remains a passionate man, but he has learned to exert far better control than he had in the beginning. Family is one of the most important things in this world to Ezio and he would do anything to keep them safe, to avenge them, or to remember their memory. He is a loyal friend, open to and fully willing to embrace differences, and a flirt when it comes to the ladies. He's come to have a basic understanding of the Creed that will only deepen as he gets older as he continues the fight to protect the free will of humanity from the dominance of the Templar Order.

POINT OF DEPARTURE: n/a

[the1rule]

P L A Y E R;
NAME: V.
AGE: 25
PLAYER JOURNAL: vvvvv
TIMEZONE: GMT -5
CONTACT: v__
OTHER CHARACTERS PLAYED: N/A

C H A R A C T E R;
NAME: Aria T’Loak
CANON: Mass Effect
POINT IN CANON: Mass Effect 3, prior to regaining Omega
AGE: Ol… d? I’d put her in the ballpark of 275 solar years old.
APPEARANCE: Here we are.
CANON HISTORY: Wiki link!

CANON PERSONALITY: Aria likes to win. Underneath it all there might once have been some fundamental tenuousness driving her forward, a need to prove and improve, to demonstrate capability, but if it ever existed it’s long since been subsumed by the pleasures that power and dominance in and of themselves provide. Her competitive streak brought her to the top of her world, the microcosm that is the lawless space station of Omega, where a largely unchallenged rule allowed her to partake of the rewards of being powerful, ruthless, and feared. Aria is clever and dangerous, calculating but also volatile, and utterly amoral. Morality is, after all, meaningless in the face of personal gain – and less than useless, in Aria’s mind, when applied to most of the galaxy, most of the members of any species, her own included, who she sees as ultimately expendable.

Despite her self-interest and callousness, however, Aria is not an ineffective ruler. That she chose to establish her dominance over an otherwise lawless space station frequented by smugglers, mercenaries, criminals, and outlaws of all persuasions is telling in and of itself, demonstrative of that desire for a challenge, but the end result is a strong regime which manages not only to inspire genuine loyalty but impose order on the chaotic world of Omega. Part of that is her ability to inspire fear – her ruthlessness, her power, her keen mind, and her domineering personality all serve to make her appear even greater a force to be reckoned with than she is. This doesn’t make her completely secure in her position, but it does inspire in her sufficient hubris that the hostile takeover of Omega by Cerberus forces catches her by surprise, and ultimately results in her driven out to seek refuge on the Citadel.

Not one to take a challenge like that laying down, Aria demonstrates another trait: she is intensely vengeful, willing to risk her life and throw away hundreds of others to take back Omega if she needs to and regain face and her de facto throne. In the mean time she uses her shrewd mind for bargaining and manipulation to regain control over the various mercenary organisations she used to command in preparation of her grand return.

[the1rule]

POINT OF DEPARTURE: N/A
ABILITIES: Aria is a trained Asari commando, capable of using a variety of firearms with some skill and, more notably, a powerful biotic, capable of creating and manipulating mass effect fields in order to manoeuvre objects and people, generate gravitational vortices to crush or tear, or erect temporary protective barriers around objects or people. Her species is also capable of a limited degree of thought and memory sharing on physical contact via the initiation of something like your standard sci-fi mind meld; generally this is used for purposes of reproduction, as all Asari are female and their own genetic material is 'remixed' based on a blueprint provided by a member of any other species before being passed on to their offspring, but can be repurposed for the quick transfer of information -- quick, but not efficient, as it takes a great deal of effort and is quite draining.
INVENTORY; Her clothing, an M-12 Locust SMG and a few heat clips, her omni-tool, her biotic amp.
ANYTHING ELSE WE SHOULD KNOW? Not that I can think of!

S A M P L E S;
FIRST PERSON:
No shit? Listen; I've heard the sob story before, you're not gonna win me over unless you promise me something.

[Aria inclines her head, lets the music and the buzz of the club take over from her for a few seconds. This is where we are. There's someone around every corner just waiting to fleece you... or kill you.]

Now, I don't care what you do to anyone who isn't mine. I don't care who you fuck over and who you fleece; if they wanna take it up with me later, fine, and if they've got the capital to back it up when they do you'd better make damn sure you're off the station when it happens. Give it some time I might even forget. But if you even think, if you have even the slightest inkling of trying to fuck with me, I will make sure you regret it. Profoundly. Don't touch my things.

[She maintains eye contact for what she knows is just too long, just enough to be profoundly uncomfortable before settling back in her seat and adopting a faint smile, arm slung over the back of the sofa where her fingers curl lovingly around the grip of the shotgun secured to the back.]

As long as you can do that, I'd say we're in business.

THIRD PERSON:
Afterlife is loud, brash, vital; everything that Aria needs it to be, it is. Sanctuary, battleground, business venue, courtroom; what needs doing on Omega gets done here. There are reasons for that. There are reasons her predecessor set up shop here, reasons she killed him here, reasons she took over the throne: because anyone who's going to assert their dominance over an entire space station full of pirates, smugglers, criminals, and vicious mercenaries needs to do it publicly and in style. If she were afraid to show her face, Aria would hold no sway. If she sits here, not quite among the people but among enough of them as to blur that distinction? Maybe they'll make the mistake of thinking she's one of them.

They must have, too; business is good. Booming. Trade in just about anything anyone could ever want filters by under her nose and all she has to do is inhale to know exactly what she stands to gain and where. People pay lip service and for the most part they toe the line, and that's all she asks. That, and a handsome enough cut to remind them who they should be deferring to.

It was surprisingly easy, in the end. She sits back and looks up at the dancers, a smile on her lips. It doesn't bother her to exploit her fellow Asari like this -- why should it? If one of them is clever enough and talented enough maybe she'll shoot Aria too, and continue the dynasty, as it were. Not anytime soon, of course. It hardly matters -- they can wait. They'll outlive the members of most of the other species in this bar. That feels good too, good like she's got a boot to their throats and she doesn't even have to try. Being the boss does have its benefits.

[casabianca]

P L A Y E R;
NAME: V.
AGE: 25
PLAYER JOURNAL: vvvvv
TIMEZONE: GMT -5
CONTACT: v__
OTHER CHARACTERS PLAYED: N/A

C H A R A C T E R;
NAME: Peter Guillam
CANON: Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy (2011 film with backstory nicked from the book)
POINT IN CANON: End of film.
AGE: 38
APPEARANCE: Image link it is.
CANON HISTORY: Peter Guillam was born in 1936 in Bletchley, England, where his mother was working as a cryptographer for the British Intelligence services. His father, a French businessman, was stationed in France during the war, spying for the service (MI-6, referred to amongst those in the trade as ‘The Circus’) into which he would later be drafted himself. His childhood was not wholly comfortable – mother busy, on-call around the clock, and father entirely absentee for much of his early years – but nor was it particularly difficult. His friendships were few, but important, his family comfortably middle-class.

He was an above-average student, which combined with his perfect bilingualism and family history made him a good candidate for Circus recruitment, and so during his university career he was recruited and trained as a field agent. He showed a talent for the job, and was eventually made head of a modest network in French North Africa. The assignment was considered particularly difficult, but he handled it well until the cover of he and his agents were blown by an unknown double agent working in the Circus, and he was forced to flee while much of his network was arrested and hanged. After that, identity known to enemy networks and therefore unable to return to fieldwork, he was reassigned at home, given a position behind a desk working as the head of the Scalphunters, the department of the Circus responsible for assassinations, blackmail, burglary, kidnapping, and other rough, short-term jobs.

In roughly 1973, one of Guillam’s agents, a Ricki Tarr, failed to return from assignment and was assumed defected. Some time later, Tarr contacted Guillam surreptitiously to arrange a meeting, claiming he feared for his life because he was in possession of information some within the Circus would kill to keep quiet. That information was that there was a mole, a deep-penetration agent, among the upper echelons of the Circus, passing information to Moscow. This was the spark that would draw Guillam into a seedy and dangerous operation, spying on his own under the direction of a retired superior, George Smiley, in order to weed out the mole and render the Circus’ operations and agents safe again, an operation which is ultimately successful but reveals uncomfortable truths about both of their pasts.

[casabianca]

CANON PERSONALITY: Peter Guillam’s personality has been irrevocably altered by his work. Spywork changes people; like his coworkers, he is bitter, disillusioned by years of seeing the worst of people and giving the worst of himself in the interest of protecting people with whom it has become impossible for him to relate. Years of carefully-manufactured paranoia regarding even his own colleagues has similarly rendered him incapable of trusting wholly or easily. His training and the demands of the job have made it similarly difficult to be honest, including to himself, which inspires in him a degree of self-loathing and jadedness regarding the world as a whole.

Nonetheless he is different from his colleagues in some respects – perhaps it’s his youth, or perhaps it’s a stubborn refusal to let himself become like them, but Peter is also, as the novel states, “a chivalrous fellow whose conscious loyalties [are] determined by his affections.” Those he admires, he tends to trust and consider to a greater degree than might be safe for a man in his position. This can be seen most clearly in his relationship with George Smiley, a brilliant but seemingly absent-minded fellow reaching into his 60s for whom Peter cares unconditionally and who he obeys with relatively little question, even when requested to commit treason and retrieve documents from the Circus itself. Upon learning the identity of the mole, a man he had considered a friend and who had, clearly, blown his cover and nearly gotten him killed, he is shocked and wounded, angry where the more experienced Smiley betrays only ice and weariness. He is similarly easily roused to anger when something is done to offend those to whom he has made his loyalties; Ricki Tarr’s perceived betrayal and, in the novel, tendency to make jokes at George Smiley’s expense rouse his ire.

That isn’t, of course, to say that he is volatile – in most cases his emotional responses are calculated, or at least put aside as the moment necessitates. He’s capable of being warm and charming even when suspicious, and is sufficiently hesitant to show his hand that it’s difficult for anyone beyond his colleagues to get to know him. His romantic relationships are few and furtive, characterized by a necessary distance which, along with his paranoia, ultimately renders them short-lived too. He is, therefore, instilled with a profound loneliness he doesn’t believe he will ever be able, much less permitted, to dispel, hand in hand with a self-loathing which is at times wry and humourous but just as often bitter and genuine. He makes vague grasps at a normalcy he’ll never have, while at the same time lamenting the loss of his ability to work in the field and the constant doses of adrenaline and excitement that provided him.

The sum of all the influences which have shaped Peter Guillam render him a complicated man, outwardly playing the charming flirt while inwardly he approaches every aspect of his life and ever person in it with a bittersweet and uncomfortable mix of emotions which very rarely crawl to the surface.

POINT OF DEPARTURE: N/A
ABILITIES: Peter is a wholly average human, no supernatural abilities. He's clever and adaptable, though, with a working knowledge of various types of encryption, as well as encyclopedic knowledge of clothing codes and related signalling systems in use by the British intelligence service during his era. He knows how to disguise and smuggle documents, how to kill people quickly and quietly (though he's hardly ever had to do it and doesn't care to), and how to navigate the world of espionage -- at least that to which he's used, but the talent might well carry over in some ways elsewhere.
INVENTORY; His clothing, bag containing a 1974-era British driver’s licence under a false name, a Webley Mk. IV revolver and handful of cartridges, notebooks and other sundry items, along with a set of lockpicks and some monetary notes hidden in the lining.
ANYTHING ELSE WE SHOULD KNOW? Not that I can think of!

S A M P L E S;
FIRST PERSON:
Have you ever been to Hong Kong?

[Easy, conversational; you don’t brief a man like you know he’s going away to die, even if he might well be, you brief him like it’s business, like there was never any doubt he was going to come back.]

Either way you and I will be flying there tomorrow. We’ve been spinning a legend for you. James Eldridge, Corporal, unremarkable but respectable career. Passport, identification, and we’re dipping into the Reptile fund for you as well. I’ll be running you locally; this needs doing quickly and quietly. It goes without sayin that it’s also highly classified. If anyone else asks, I wanted to talk to you about an opening in our Kabul station.

[Easy, flat; this is just the preliminaries, the really interesting bit, the main attraction, the bit to get any Scalphunter’s blood pumping is yet to come.]

It seems one of our operatives has disappeared Kowloon-side. The circumstances don’t suggest foul play. By all indications he packed up and disappeared of his own accord, and in a bit of a hurry too, which anyone would, carrying what he absconded with. We expect he’ll buy his way across the Chinese border with it, and Kowloon is too close to the border to risk a large-scale operation. The usual methods won’t do. We have pavement artists on the ground, keeping an eye out – all indications are he’s hiding in the Walled City. You’re to go in after him, and you’re to find him. You’ll play the soldier on leave, bit of adventure, drink, opium, prostitutes, the usual lot. Might help your case to find more adventure than Corporal Eldridge would’ve bargained for, but play it careful. It’s a beast of a time getting anyone in and out if you need help.

[He shuffles the papers in front of him, letting that sink in. The poor bastard.]

If you find a way to take him alive, I’m sure the Inquisitors would love to have something to do, but the gents on the Fifth Floor just want him kept this side of the border, doesn’t much matter to them if he’s a corpse. You’ll be provided a weapon once we arrive. Communication with the landed team will be carried out primarily via clothing cold and dropbox. We’ll do our best to open other lines, but you may well be on your own.

THIRD PERSON:
(Spoilers for TTSS towards the end whoops)

It hadn’t always been like this. The world wasn’t always so complex. Peter remembers; mum at her work never entirely registered when the grass was green and sun-warmed and all one really had to worry about was falling down and scraping one’s knees, or getting into a scrap with the thick-set boy up the road who’d learned sooner than most do that sheer inertia is so often all one needs to get whatever one wants. Even coming back nose blooded and a few pence lighter, bubblegum mysteriously absentee (‘musta fell out my pocket, mum, honest’) save for empty wrappers lining pockets was no great shame. One lay on one’s back in the sun and licked the dusty traces of flavour from the paper scraps before tossing them up for the wind to take, and so passed summers. Occasionally daddy came home across the Channel. Never for Christmas, never for Easter, but they pretended all the same, and so the grand dinners felt like some special secret meant only for the Guillams to share. Papa venait, il sortait; c’était la vie, and sometimes they spoke his language at home, he and mum, and that was their secret too.

Not much of one, of course. There are plenty of kinds of inertia, and the big bloke up the road had heard enough of his fat, drunkard father’s vented spleen to know the words by which to stopper the language in Peter’s mouth: poncey French fairy, worthless little gobshite. It stopped meaning much of anything at all when Peter saw through the window one evening the collision of the back of a thick, hairy hand and his tormentor’s jaw. That had been his first introduction to the chain of injustices, how one ill deed begets so many others elsewhere.

In that light he should’ve known that he was likely to come of this shattered. That the weariness which tugs at his eyelids and pulls his head downward is the inevitable culmination of an operation, any operation like this. On the other hand, there’s never been, in his time, any operation exactly like this one. None that cast light on the sort of insidious underbelly to the Circus which Peter desperately tries to avoid.

Certainly there had been none which brought sharply to the forefront that thing he sometimes still dreams about, either. The old woman who owns the house keeps the heating on too high. It’s not like Casablanca, but it makes his skin crawl, and he can still hear the sound of the man behind him in his memory breathing, breathing vindication. He stands, as it happens, as Bill Haydon, his friend Bill Haydon, his colleague, trusted, unrepentant in his chair, caught out but unbothered. A gentleman, some might say, to the last – Peter knows better. This isn’t courage. This is the bold insolence for which he had adored the man, once.

Rather it had been Bland, who is, or Alleline, the little prick – he might have believed that more easily, more readily than he can this. It has to be true, though. The trap was foolproof, and he knows that they haven’t failed, logically and in his heart of hearts. They’ve caught their man.

That’s what so clever about it, really, he thinks dully. They’d have believed it of anyone else too readily, caught them too soon.

Stiles Stilinski | Teen Wolf pt 1

[rozpetac]

P L A Y E R;
NAME: Bethany
AGE: 27
PLAYER JOURNAL: bethany_lauren
TIMEZONE: Central Standard
CONTACT: booknerdguru@plurk ParadoxTheWriter@ AIM
OTHER CHARACTERS PLAYED: (only applicable if you already play in the game)

C H A R A C T E R;
NAME: Stiles Stilinski
CANON: Teen Wolf
POINT IN CANON: After 3a. 3 “Fireflies”
AGE: 17
APPEARANCE: Here
CANON HISTORY: http://teenwolf.wikia.com/wiki/Stiles_Stilinski
CANON PERSONALITY:
A little vision of the start and the end

Stiles is the only child of John Stilinski and his wife and Beacon Hills is his entire world. He's lived there all his life, playing in the woods and walking the streets, and going to school there. There are very few parts of the town where he is not immediately known as Stiles, the Sheriff's son. There is no part of the town that has not felt his presence at least once.

He has always lived in the same house, it is the place where his parents decided they were going to make a life together. It has always been a home full of love and laughter and warmth. Stiles has always had these walls to run back to, these same rooms that radiate comfort.

These things have always been true of him. He has always had his home and his family. He was fortunate to grow up with parents who loved him, even with the ADHD that made a lot of things harder. Who accepted him for who and what he was and always encouraged his curiosity. He got his insatiable need for knowing more from his mother, who always had the answer for whatever question he could possibly think up.

This was where he learned about love and family, that when you commit wholeheartedly to people, you invest in them, protect them, you love them, and that makes you stronger. It makes you unbreakable. You can get through anything if you have family next to you.

These were the lessons he learned at his parents' knees. Faith, love, loyalty, commitment.

Stiles' life before was like the fairytales that his mother told him before bed every night, she would always end storytime with a kiss to his forehead, telling him that he was proof that "happily ever after" did happen.

And then she died. And so did Stiles' belief in the world of make-believe. A Lost Boy no more, it was time to grow up.

And my heart is a hollow plain - For the devil to dance again

These things are true of Stiles after Her.

He made a promise to her before the end. To take care of his dad and to be good and to never forget what family is.

This is how he keeps his promise.

He takes over the cooking for his dad. He also takes out the trash, buys the groceries, and brings in the mail. One day, he notices a letter from the doctor. Regular physicals are part of life for his father, making sure that the Sheriff is always in good fighting condition. Always good to go when the town needs him. These results aren't great and Stiles is smart enough to understand what they mean.

So he goes through the cabinets and does some research and makes a plan. The last three doors down gives him a copy of her cookbook in return for mowing her grass and he starts cooking healthier foods, foods that will help lower his father's cholesterol, keep him healthier, keep him alive.

He's always been good at schoolwork. Too good sometimes and it makes him a little cocky, just that much more of a smartass. He's smart and he knows it. He doesn't dance anymore. His sense of rhythm died with his mother. He's found other ways around the ADHD, coping mechanisms for the static in his head, the buzz that keeps him always needing to go and do and study and read and be better. School is a good distraction, it keeps his brain busy, keeps him out of his dad's hair for a bit.

He can't leave him totally alone. Not for the first couple of months, Dad will eat when he puts food in front of him, sleeps only when his brain can shut off, mostly on their couch wrapped around the afghan that Mom's mom had sent before Stiles had even been a twinkle in his parents' eyes.

He starts exaggerating the truth here and there, not wanting to bother his dad. He's the Sheriff, his job is hard enough, and Stiles doesn't need to add to it.

He gets into Lacrosse because of Scott and it's good for him. It makes his dad grin and that is what keeps him going back for practice after practice despite never actually getting to play in any of the games. Scott is good for him, keeps him from beign a complete nobody lost in the halls of Beacon High and he tells himself that as long as he has Scott and his dad, he can keep on, keeping on, as one counselor put it.

He falls in love with Lydia Martin. He thinks his mother might have liked the girl with the prettiest hair and smile he'd ever seen. He's not discouraged when she doesn't pay attention to him. He remembers that the patient hero always walks away with the beautiful princess as long as the hero keeps the faith.

So he tries to be a good student (straight A's but behavioral issues, he gets bored easily in class okay?), a good son (trying to make Dad's life as easy as possible counts right?), and a good friend (this at least is one area where he knows that he's good. Him and Scott, nerdbros for life.) and tries to just make it through high school alive.

The saints can't help me now, the ropes have been unbound

Scott gets bitten by a werewolf. And everything that Stiles has grown to love changes. In a way, it's the best thing to ever happen to him. Balancing the need to understand Scott's new furry problem, keeping up with the schoolwork, and making sure his Dad is okay has made him feel more alive than ever.

There are new additions to their circle of friends, Scott falls in love, and his lady-love, the Huntress-Juliet to his Wolfy-Romeo brings Lydia (and Jackson) with her. The rest of the lacrosse team floats in and out after Scott is named co-captain. It's an interesting change.

He meets more wolves. Turns down the offer of a lifetime. Learns a lot of things really fast. Scott isn't the only one who's not quite the same. He has a spark inside him, something that can make the impossible possible. He's still developing his control over it, but with time and practice, he'll make himself a force to be reckoned with.

He gets better at lying, if there is one thing that dealing with the rogue Alpha/psychotic Uncle and the lizard boy who almost became a dragon controlled by a completely bugfuck nuts grandpa on a vengeance kick has taught him, it's that not everyone is cut out for the knowledge of this world. Scott's mother took days to come around to the idea that her son was now a werewolf. And seeing his father get hurt because of the kanima...that cannot ever happen again.

So Stiles will lie and cheat and steal and do whatever he has to do in order that his father is safe from the terrors that stalk the night. That there will be no reason for anyone to even think about possibly using Stiles' father against them, against him. Stiles himself cannot walk away from this world now that his eyes have been opened.

But he made a promise to his mother to look after his father and this is the best way to do that. No matter how much it hurts.

Except that might not be possible with the virgin sacrifices all over town and his father in the dead middle of the investigations. Especially when one of the victims is an old friend of Stiles’ and he’s the last person to see her alive.

And when there are now rival wolves trying to take their territory from them, any way they can.

And Stiles cannot afford to let them succeed and he will die trying in the attempt to save his father from being aware of this other side to their sleepy little California town.

Re: Stiles Stilinski | Teen Wolf pt 1

[rozpetac]

POINT OF DEPARTURE: N/A
ABILITIES: Stiles has a spark of magic in him. It's not really well-defined or under control yet, but it is there. It functions on will and thought primarily - he’s still working on that whole controlling it thing.

INVENTORY; one bottle of adderall, a phone, a pen, 56 cents, and two vials of mountain ash.
ANYTHING ELSE WE SHOULD KNOW? Stiles is great at the research and keeping trivia/knowledge in his head.

S A M P L E S;
FIRST PERSON:

Spaceship. Spaceships, actually.

[What the hell. That one was...he doesn’t think he has words for that one. At least not words that don’t also come accompanied with wild hand motions as well.

Because that’s how Stilinskis roll okay? Hand motions and babbling.]

So spaceship. And the confirmation that Sir Thomas More was full of shit. Because there’s no such thing as a true utopia, I mean, not if you’re involving sentients because there’s always that wrong thing, that seedy underbelly. I mean Blade Runner should have been fiction, but it’s more like reality there.

But then again, also spaceships! With Faster Than Light capability and that’s just...the science behind the FTL drives...and shit, the Tannhauser Gates would have been really cool to see if we could have done it. If they even existed here.

[because he got to see spaceships there and see some of the literature about the FTL and how people hated it because there was this talk about possible radiation sickness with prolonged exposure to the FTLs and that was bullshit for a lot of reasons and from what he’d read - people were over-sensationalizing like they always did.]



THIRD PERSON:

Liminal Space a -freaking - gain.

Granted it was kind of a relief to be back here since well that last universe…he’d learned a lot, sure, but it was a darker world. Much darker than the one he’s originally from and while he was able to, for once, get away without a single bruise...he wasn’t terribly fond about the person he’d been in there. Or how easy it had been to slip into that role.

How easy it had been to just stop caring. He’s not sure what that says about him, more than that he’ll always do what needs to be done for the people he considers his family. He always had and always will.

Even if that means doing things that he knows they wouldn’t be okay with. That they would expect him to not be okay with.

A lot of this whole Traveler thing he’d been excited about - hopping through universes, learning new skills, and having non-stop adventure after adventure. It’s like dreams come true and if this were a comic book or novel, he’d be the most loyal follower ever. This kind of thing was his jam. Granted he’d never stopped to think about how much it would suck in other parts of it. Like leaving his dad and the pack behind with so much that they hadn’t yet figured out. Between their missing pack and then also the sacrifices that were going on, something bad was going to hit them again, something worse than the kanima or psychopathic Gerard “Hunter God” Argent.

But there was no way back that he’d been able to find so far and he’d always preferred to throw himself into whatever was in front of him to keep from having to deal with…

Yeah, anyways. So Liminal Space this time was kind of awesome. Looked like the Death Star control room with a ball pit in the middle and it only took him half a thought before he was hurling himself towards it.

Because when you don’t actually want to think of home and family and dead people you couldn’t save...Liminal Space as that space between spaces, the waiting room between universes and adventures sometimes wasn’t the greatest place to be left alone with you and your thoughts.

And then sometimes Liminal Space gave you a ball pit on the Death Star to indulge your inner five year old.

He’ll go back to trying to figure out all the puzzles in a moment.

Joscelin Verreuil | Kushiel series

[protect_and_serve]

P L A Y E R;
NAME: Matt
AGE: 29
PLAYER JOURNAL: matt-doyle
TIMEZONE: CST
CONTACT: c.matthew.smit@gmail.com , japhethtrisko at AIM, mattnificent at plurk

C H A R A C T E R;
NAME: Joscelin Verreuil
CANON: Kushiel’s Legacy series by Jacqueline Carey.
POINT IN CANON: towards the end of Kushiel’s Chosen.
AGE: ~22.
APPEARANCE: Tall, blonde, with high cheekbones and a pointed chin, generally wearing the grey of his former order, hair clubbed at the back of his head, and always carrying two daggers, a sword, and a pair of vambraces.
CANON HISTORY: http://kushiel.wikia.com/wiki/Joscelin_Verreuil
CANON PERSONALITY:
Tightly wound. Joscelin is the middle son of an old traditionalist knight, and so was sent to serve in the Cassiline Brotherhood, celibate monk-priest-bodyguards in a country where sexual hedonism is literally an act of worship. Formal, moral, unbending, Joscelin is still every bit the disciplined Cassiline: even though he has now been outcast and forsaken the majority of his vows, they mean no less to him, and he is damned in his own eyes. But Joscelin is more than a rigid prude. He is loyal beyond measure, curious, possessed of a passionate sense of wonder, with a very dry sense of humor, a flair for the dramatic, and, most of all, an extremely short and volatile temper.

The discipline, however, is still vital. Every failure, every lapse he experiences, is a sting to his pride, a goad that motivates him further. And as a priest who has forsaken many of his vows, Joscelin has a constant well of shame and failure to draw on for motivation. The only thing that is nearly as important to him as his own brooding sense of inadequacy is his stubborn devotion to the one purpose he still has: keeping the woman he loves safe.

Love and loyalty kept him serving as bodyguard to a courtesan when they were sold into slavery, escaped, informally tried for treason, and sent on a suicide mission. Even later, when his devotion was tested by her returning to her old profession, as hurt and jealous as he was, he stayed with her until he believed she was marrying someone else.

While Joscelin’s first reaction to anything new is rejection or skepticism, time and again he slowly becomes more fascinated, more involved, learning the ways and languages of new countries. It’s also the mindset with which he approaches sex, when his vows finally gave way with Phedre. That curiosity is a trait of his family and his lineage, whether it’s inherited or cultural.

On the surface, like most Cassilines, Joscelin appears humorless. But in private, he relaxes more, laughing especially at the follies of his friends… and on at least one notable occasion, that sense of humor, in part, lead to him masquerading as a wandering storyteller, a job he took to with no little hesitation, but in which he flourished, demonstrating an unexpected gift for creativity and good humor, playing with and fascinating children,weaving epic bold-faced lies, and displaying a side utterly unlike the sober bodyguard. That capacity to accept and expand, to realize that he can be more than he is, has lead to Joscelin surviving many situations a less flexible man would have failed in.

Then there’s the temper. Joscelin is impatient with his own failures, with the faults in others’ characters, easily frustrated by bureaucracy and flowery diplomacy, by ornate court manners, by anything relating to style over substance, and most of all my any hint of betrayals of trust, large or small. That anger can range from irritation to murderous fury, depending on the scale of the offense, but when he is pressed or balked, sooner or later, it always emerges, usually in a cold shutdown of his social reactions and a reversion to sullen, disciplined blankness, but in private, there’s often impassioned shouting (followed by stalking off to sulk monastically, practicing his martial disciplines or kneeling in vigil and praying).

Finally: loyalty, curiosity, sense of duty and defensiveness… when it suits him, Joscelin is an excellent teacher. Especially with those he considers young or innocent, he has a patience that belies his temper, and becomes difficult to offend - he knows they don’t mean anything by it. And as a former monk thrust into world traveler, politics, and a hotbed of sexual intrigue, he has a certain sympathy for fish out of water.

Wry, self-contained, pious, driven by shame at his own failures, Joscelin can be a mass of contradictions. Time and again, Phedre’s enemies have underestimated her bodyguard as someone simple - in mind or in motivation. And the few who have lived to regret that underestimation regret it deeply.

POINT OF DEPARTURE: n/a
ABILITIES: Like all D’Angelines, Joscelin has angelic blood in his veins. This does little more than make him incredibly, ridiculously beautiful. Like all Cassiline brothers, he was trained for ten years in swordplay and bodyguarding, and is superlative at both. He fights with ppaired daggers when defending, or a longsword when fighting to kill, and rather than rely on heavier armor solely uses vambraces. He’s a (defrocked) priest of Cassiel, and so has some theological training, as well as some academic knowledge of history & languages of his world, all of which he’s since had more practice in. Before the age of ten he lived on a farm, and since the age of twenty he’s a seasoned world traveler, so he has some outdoorsmanship & wilderness survival-related skills as well.
INVENTORY; vambraces, daggers, longsword, religious iconography, leather thong hairties.
ANYTHING ELSE WE SHOULD KNOW? Like Remy, Joscelin has been here for over thirteen jaunts, although he cannot remember clear details before Moebius. He does his best to mentor and protect new Travelers, and teaches them to do as little damage in each new world as possible. While Remy focuses on the selfish - Travelers protecting Travelers - Joscelin’s aim is to keep them from being responsible for any kind of destructive or immoral act, no matter what task the Trumps may have set them to.

S A M P L E S;
FIRST PERSON:

“No. Don’t copy me.” Joscelin frowns, leaning in as if the girl isn’t holding a knife to correct her posture, tapping her instep with his toe to broaden her stance, lifting her elbow. “When I fight with daggers, I cut, and I use the hilts. The aim is to cause pain and disable the opponent without serious injury. I swore vows to uphold that discipline…” For a moment, his face is a silent thundercloud as he thinks on it, then he breathes out and shakes his head.

“But those are my vows, not yours. If you fight to defend yourself, drive the blade as deep as you can. Don’t stop striking. If you use the edge, pretend you’re paring an apple, and curve deeper. You’ll sever muscles that way, especially in the arms. And arms are a good target - you can keep your distance, rather than worrying about reach. If you are closer, aim high in the stomach, but stay below the ribs.”

As he speaks, he draws her hand forward, tracing the flat of her blade across his wrists, over his stomach, watching her seriously and without fear.

“What if I want to fight the way you do? To be like you?”

At her question, a sad, hard-edged smile crosses his face, and his eyes looked into the distance, at something or someone unseen.

“Don’t,” he answers. “Don’t wish for that, whatever you do.”

THIRD PERSON: http://synodiporia-ooc.dreamwidth.org/6327.html?thread=25783#cmt25783

Re: Joscelin Verreuil | Kushiel series

[powersthatbe]

ACCEPTED!

Neria Surana (The Warden) | Dragon Age: Origins

[unabatedly]

P L A Y E R;
NAME: Kal
AGE: 24
PLAYER JOURNAL: queensland
TIMEZONE: EST
CONTACT: PM or onlydawn
OTHER CHARACTERS PLAYED: N/A

C H A R A C T E R;
NAME: Neria Surana (The Warden)
CANON: Dragon Age: Origins
POINT IN CANON: Just after allowing Morrigan to pass through the mirror at the end of Witch Hunt DLC, two years after the main game
AGE: 19
APPEARANCE:
Elven appearances in Dragon Age have changed throughout the course of the games. But what's been typically true is that they are more willowy in frame (typically, but not always) and that they are usually slightly shorter than your average human. Dragon Age II gave them creepily long necks. The most recent look they've given elves is this, which is what I'll be using for a reference.

In Surana's case, she has dark skin and black hair and hazel eyes. She is slightly shorter than your average human female (a little over five feet) and is rather thin. The model for Origins presents them with thin arms and legs and that's what I'm going with for her. She is fairly young, too: she is 17 at the time of Origins and 19 during Witch Hunt.

Her PB for playing purposes is Jessica Parker Kennedy.

[unabatedly]

CANON HISTORY:
The Warden & Warden-Commander
Magi Origin, or her prologue level and backstory
Main Story Plot
Awakening Plot

CANON PERSONALITY:
Surana, like all malleable protagonists, has a personality that is chosen by the player. The options in Origins are slightly more ambiguous than in latter games, though many choices reflect a core three personalities: Diplomatic, Charismatic/Charming, and Aggressive. Though they are not so black and white as Dragon Age II, they routinely follow a similar path structure and allow for the player to try a diplomatic approach, make a witty side remark, or simply attack a target or act rudely. Other options also allow the player to take advantage of origin-specific differences, which include race (dwarf, elf), class (mage), and gender (male/female). As such, Surana's personality mostly favors the diplomatic approach, with a few side remarks about her status as a mage and a sharp comment or two about her race as an elf.



Surana, like many mages in the Circle of Magi, is a mage driven by curiosity. Magic is an art that will allow her growth throughout her entire lifetime, and spells take a long time to learn and to develop to perfection. As there are many skill trees for mages, it also means that she has the potential to expand her repertoire of power to greater heights than that of a warrior or rogue. But with this curiosity also comes wariness and caution, something (hopefully) drilled into every mage at a young age. "Magic exists to serve man and not to rule over him." Over and over she is told this and, truthfully, anyone would begin to believe such diatribe. But to Surana, this is a rule that is meant to be followed: outside of this law exists anarchy and blood magic, and a desperation that often costs a mage's life to a Templar sword or to the demons in the Fade. Surana asks questions of those she meets both inside the Circle and outside in Ferelden (and the game gives you many opportunities to ask as many questions as you'd like), even to the point of perhaps frustrating some people. But Surana is also a quick learner, picking up patterns and forming her own opinions (right and wrong) from what she's been given. A prime example of this is a conversation with Sten concerning Qunari children: Surana may ask Sten why children are not raised by their parents in the Qun and though Sten responds with clipped answers and hardly any information with them, there are options to pick up on the patterns and draw a proper conclusion. In this case, it is that the priests raise children and the Qun in its entirety is the "family" unit for the children. Though parents do not have the same roles, the children are cared for by all and nurtured so that they reach their potential.

It is also, perhaps, important to note Surana's privilege in knowing so much within the Circle, even if there are constraints to her learning. In the game, it is possible for Surana to engage in conversation - and, as always, to eavesdrop - with others around the Circle and to come to the conclusion that Irving himself has taken Surana as a teacher. Though many young and budding mages are taken to be apprentices by the older enchanters and elder mages, no other mage is mentioned to be Irving's pupil. Not much is said on this, to be certain, but it can be derived that being the private pupil of the First Enchanter has more privilege than most positions, and is also a position of protection. This ensures that the First Enchanter can teach some of the brighter pupils and, also, allows the First Enchanter to know precisely when that mage is ready for their Harrowing. As this is speculation and, thus, a moot point, it also can give some insight into Surana's loyalty to the Circle both in the beginning of the game, towards the end, and during Awakening: Surana is loyal to the people in the Circle and those who are empathetic to the plight of mages, but not necessarily to the structure of the Circle itself. This also sheds light onto Irving and Surana's relationship, which is an amiable one, founded on trust and reliability. When Surana returns to the Circle, Irving is surprised but glad to see her, and is even more proud of her accomplishments when she stands up to and defeats Uldred.

But with this privilege comes one of the most hazardous of all emotions within the Circle: pride. The strongest of the demons in the Fade are Sloth, Desire, and Pride. Surana encounters all three on her journeys in the Fade, but it is Pride that lays a trap for her (using both Rage as a decoy and Sloth as a side test). Though she ultimately evades it, it speaks volumes to what initially draws her to her power as a mage. As Irving's apprentice, she has been given the best, and so she sees the world through the rose-tinted glasses of a privileged scholar. Though her position may have been alienating (and there is evidence to point to that, too, when Surana speaks of being an elf among humans in the tower) it also gave her benefits that the others did not have, and this is rather telling to her position. She does not have to worry about becoming Tranquil or failing her test. Instead, she fears disappointing others, especially Irving and her companions.

People are drawn to Surana, both out of necessity and out of their own forms of curiosity. But they stay because of a few select traits that are not uncommon but shine within her. The first is her iron will and her determined attitude to finish a task that's been put in front of her. Part of this stems from that fear of disappointment, but it is also in part because she refuses to give up (pride, again) and believes any sacrifice is worth the cost...so long as that sacrifice is personal and others are not wrapped up in her struggles. This is why she drinks from the flask at Warden's Peak, despite knowing the research Avernus has spent his life on. Blood magic, however forbidden, can give its bearer the power to combat the impossible. Though Surana is not a blood mage*, she gives herself two powers associated with blood magic solely in her position as a Warden so that she has the strength and power to fend off the darkspawn that threaten to destroy the land around her. This is something the demons can comment on in the Fade and in battle: Pride, itself, tells Surana how much potential she has even in the beginning, and Desire offers Surana whatever she wishes in the hopes of being set free. This has, however, sometimes come off as headstrong. An example is the scene with Mordock from Redcliffe, she can convince him that they will succeed, and it sounds a great deal like boasting. In part, it is.

[*In the ability tree, these two powers are separate from the Blood Magic skills, and thus I am counting them separately from a logistics point of view but not from a morality standpoint.]


The second trait is her conscientiousness, tied together with her patience and her willingness to listen. Though Surana is patient and is a good listener (you have to be when your companions all tell you their life stories), she is more than willing to do her own share of talking. When it comes to certain characters (Sten and Shale, to say the least) it's nearly impossible to give them the silent treatment if you wish to have any sort of bond. In the Circle, Surana learned to listen, to obey and to do as she was told. Diligent as a student and not expecting to ever teach in turn, Surana eventually learns that speaking does have its benefits. She displays courage in standing up to Uldred in the Circle Tower, and the authority of a Warden at the Landsmeet before Loghain. As inexperienced as she is (and she is inexperienced, make no mistake about that), she has learned over the course of her journey that there is a time to listen, a time to speak, and a time to act. This only becomes more obvious as she takes on the mantle of Warden-Commander and she begins to enact her own decrees and rules. Though she is hardly fit for the role (and being the Hero of Ferelden doesn't exactly give her the proper credentials for anything), she slowly comes into her own, though she is reluctant and hesitant at first. But the changes in tone can be seen in dialogue, where there are fewer uncertainties and more declarations. Surana goes so far as to even challenge a Knight-Commander for the release of an old friend, and she manages it (with more than a few complications).

With this comes a willingness to please others. She hopes to balance her companions with defeating the Blight and she hopes to juggle their needs and desires over the good of the situation. Earning their favor is important to her, to an elf who has had few friends and now has no home and no family to turn to. She is alone in a world that fears and reviles her and what few friends she has are more important to her than all of the gold in Thedas. In them she finds kinship and safety, as they all respect her if nothing else. These are also her biggest influences in her time away from the Circle. Morrigan, a witch of the wilds, teaches her to be fearless and unapologetic for who she is. She is a mage above all else and should not fear what people believe of her. Alistair teaches her of family and kindness, and she finds a kinship with him being the only Wardens in Ferelden. In Leliana and Zevran she finds adventure and friendship, and tragic lives that have made them bolder, more cautious, and protective of what little they have in life. Sten and Shale teach her strength and fortitude, not just from enemies but from the verbal assaults from friends. It is Sten who challenges her authority and even strikes out at her once, forcing her to stand up for herself or be trampled upon. Wynne gives her hope for mages who struggle, and she finds wisdom in her advice. Oghren, last but not least, teaches her to be headstrong and loud, to not back down, to get up even when all hope seems lost. Who wouldn't want to please these people, this family she's made? But they are also impossible to be pleased at once, and so Surana loses herself in befriending one person and neglecting someone else. The consequences of this are not so dire but still she is afraid of disappointing them, and struggles to keep everyone alive and happy for so long as they travel together.

Surana, for all that she sounds strong and likeable, has plenty of weaknesses. As mentioned before, her willingness to please everyone and find a happy medium often leads to neglecting others and trampling on their concerns. Origins in particular can throw many difficult decisions at the Warden, specifically when it comes to moral choices. Surana does what she believes is best and, in being the loudest voice, wins out. But not all of her decisions are good ones. In choosing the next dwarven king, she unwittingly brings an entire house to ruin (Dragon Age II verifies that if Harrowmont is chosen over Bhelen, then his entire line is slaughtered to prevent insurrection). In giving into the demands of a forest spirit, she has the Keeper of a Dalish clan killed to protect his people. She wastes time returning to the Circle Tower to help Connor when he is possessed and puts Lady Isolde and Bann Teagan in danger simply because she believes there's a chance. She even goes looking for a dead prophet's ashes to cure a sick man. Some of these turn out 'for the better' in some circumstances, but that outlook is only for the privileged and for the victors. Surana is the victor; the people she harms even accidentally will never forget the blow she has given them, and that is a test she has neither passed nor learned to accept just yet, young as she is.

In Awakening, Surana is much more vocal about what she wants and the future that she endeavors to have, but again, at what cost? In protecting apostates, she is willingly going against Templar orders and endangering her comrades simply to aid her own beliefs. She shows ill regard to noblemen to the point that they specifically try to hunt her down in an effort to kill her and take back the lands of the Keep. The two most difficult decisions Surana must make in Awakening boil down to this: choose saving the Keep and the Wardens or the innocents in the city of Amaranthine, and side with the Architect to potentially stop all Blights or destroy him for what he's done. And Surana, learned and prideful, kind and driven, chooses what's best for her and those around her, not necessarily what is best for the whole and for everyone involved. Is there guilt over the decision? Absolutely. Surana carries the weight of guilt on her shoulders more than anyone else. But she must keep going or she will never grow; she must keep walking or she will never reach her destination; she must protect what is hers or no one else will.

Eren Jaeger | Aot/SnK

[reachforthekey]

P L A Y E R;
NAME: Matt
AGE: 29
PLAYER JOURNAL: matt-doyle
TIMEZONE: CST
CONTACT: c.matthew.smit@gmail.com , japhethtrisko at AIM, mattnificent at plurk

C H A R A C T E R;
NAME: Eren Jaeger
CANON: Attack on Titan / Shingeki no Kyojin
POINT IN CANON:
AGE: 15
APPEARANCE: http://www.dreamwidth.org/userpic/7492886/2151946 or sometimes http://www.dreamwidth.org/userpic/7492838/2151946
CANON HISTORY:
http://shingekinokyojin.wikia.com/wiki/Eren_Yeager
CANON PERSONALITY:
Eren is a stubborn, angry, independent short-sighted shonen hero with a dream… with some substance and motivation to take him beyond the stereotype.

Stubborn
When Eren gets an idea in his head, he’s reluctant to let go of it. From joining the survey corps, to insisting that a friend could never be a traitor, to dismissing his friends, or insisting that the world outside the walls is the common heritage of humanity, Eren repeats himself, doesn’t give ground, and will center his actions and his life around a few ideals. He commits, one hundred percent.

Angry
When it comes to motivation, Eren has always been driven by a deep wellspring of rage, as much as any otehr kind of determination. It’s unclear how it began or where it came from, but the confinement of humanity has infuriated him since childhood. Abuse or oppression of others, willful blindness or cowardice, all manner of offenses wake up that anger, and since he was in a small child it’s been true that when he has the rare opportunity to truly release that boiling, contained rage, it’s fatal to others. Eren is a teakettle, a timebomb, a hot mess. On some level, he is angry about the basic unfairness of the world, and he carries that rage with him under wraps every day. Very little can alleviate the pressure much, or for long.

Independent
Eren has a strong distaste for charity or even help. He believes in his own potential and capability, and hates being coddled or protected in any way, especially when it means risk or sacrifice from others. This is clearly an irrational tic on his part, but he will try to shrug off assistance unless it is forced on him or the necessity of it is explained.

Short-Sighted
As with his independence and his stubbornness, well, Eren is not the brightest of people. It isn’t that he’s stupid as much as that he’s slow. He doesn’t think things through thoroughly, lets emotion trump reason, doesn’t always consider consequence or probability, and time and again thsi gets in his way as he is last to accept some basic truth. This is especially notable in a series where characters rarely character the idiot ball - Armin may understand things fastest, but the rest of the cast catches on to new revelations quickly and accepts change and surprise. Not so with Eren, who has to have his face ground in something before it really sticks.

Shonen Hero
Outspoken, dutiful, determined, loyal to his friends to a fault, Eren exhibits most of the typical traits of a shonen protagonist. But interestingly, this determination and loyalty, rather than saving the day, is often treated as a character flaw - Eren is irrational and bullish. The stubbornness and independence, also classic shonen hero traits, still get him in trouble more than they help him out, too.

With A Dream
What makes Eren terrifying and compelling is not so much his rage as his focus. He is ambitious, not for himself, but on humanity’s behalf. He believes in freedom, in human potential, and pushes himself and those around him to realize it, often treating others harshly if they don’t live up to his ideals (despite not really being in a position of authority, he’s still vocal about his disappointment in or anger at others. Outspoken Shonen.) As much as anything else, it’s that dream he shares with Armin - that humanity will inherit the earth once again - that defines him.

POINT OF DEPARTURE: n/a
ABILITIES: Apart from pure shonen stubbornness and brashness, Eren’s skills are martial. He’s trained in combat martial arts (best in his class) and at the use of three-dimensional maneuver gear, and was good enough to be in the top ten of his graduating class of cadets overall. He has a substantial pain tolerance, can regenerate lost body parts or heal wounds, can ride a horse, as a young child he was capable of killing a man in cold blood, and… oh. Right. The other thing.

He can turn into a fifteen meter tall rage monster.

http://shingekinokyojin.wikia.com/wiki/Titan_Shifter

A self-inflicted injury plus an act of will and a specific set goal or purpose allows Eren to become a Titan, usually an unusually muscular fifteen-meter beast who maintains Eren’s prowess in unarmed combat whether or not Eren is conscious. As a Titan, Eren may be anything from a mindless cannibal to himself, driving a massive body - his sense of purpose may have an effect on this, but it isn’t clear. If he becomes a Titan while tired or distracted, it may be mindless, or smaller than usual, or may only partially form, leaving him with a mostly-useless shield of skeleton and muscle around him. Eren’s Titan form shows less regenerative ability than others, though he can regenerate in human form, and more substantial acts of strength appear to superheat his flesh. It’s been suggested that other classic Titan abilities - healing or hardening his flesh - might be learned rather than innate, but if so, he hasn’t learned them yet.

Finally, it appears Eren has an untapped ability to be a (or The) Coordinate, and command mindless titans with a scream. This appears to be an extremely significant ability, but we know very little about it, and it has only been employed once so far (unless his shouts of challenge to previous Titans he fought counted, which is unclear).


INVENTORY; a Survey Corps uniform; a set of 3-D Maneuver Gear with swords; and a key worn as a pendant on his neck.

ANYTHING ELSE WE SHOULD KNOW? In Syn, I’d be interested in having Eren, as a veteran Traveler, have focused on learning to make his Titan form smaller and more manageable when he transforms - 3 to 5 meters. Still the same risks of him being berserk or senseless, no more control in any other aspect, but frankly in RP settings a 15-meter monster is usually going to either be big enough that it’s overpowered, or too large for a confined setting and so pretty useless.

If this isn’t an acceptable modification of his powers, that’s fine by me, and I can just do the 15m thing rarely or emphasize that, well, usually he gets stuck! But I thought Eren learning to scale it down might make things easier on everyone.

S A M P L E S;
FIRST PERSON:
http://synodiporia-ooc.dreamwidth.org/6327.html?thread=29623#cmt29623
THIRD PERSON:
http://synodiporia-ooc.dreamwidth.org/6327.html?thread=47799#cmt47799

Re: Eren Jaeger | Aot/SnK

[powersthatbe]

ACCEPTED!

Still discussing specifics for the more compact Titan forms - we'll let you know!

Wes Janson | Star Wars

[nicerear]

P L A Y E R;
NAME: Sam
AGE: 29
PLAYER JOURNAL: dekaja
TIMEZONE: MST
CONTACT: estamir
OTHER CHARACTERS PLAYED: Toshizou Hijikata (hakodate)

C H A R A C T E R;
NAME: Wes Janson
CANON: Star Wars
POINT IN CANON: 9 ABY, shortly following the conclusion of the Thrawn campaign, around the time of his promotion to Major.
AGE: None given, but as his contemporaries Wedge Antilles and Tycho Celchu were born in 21 BBY, I think a similar date of birth is a reasonable assumption, putting him at around thirty years old at his canon point.
APPEARANCE: sans the eye-blinding orange flight suit
CANON HISTORY: can I tell you how nice it is to play someone with a decent wiki for once

CANON PERSONALITY: The first thing people usually notice about Janson is his sense of humor; while all of the old-guard Rogues display pretty good senses of humor in the novels and comics focused on the unit, Janson is the one who's generally regarded as the smartass, jokester type of the group. He's had a long pranking career, he's usually got a quip at the ready, and he's very much a guy who believes in having fun while you can, because you never know what's going to happen tomorrow. (Myn Donos, notably, remarks that he's "asking for career advice from a nine-year-old" when he goes to Janson to speak about his troubles and gets Janson jumping on his bed while encouraging him to do some more stupid, spontaneous bullshit and try to enjoy his life more.)

Still, despite that reputation - as well-deserved as it is - he's not immune to his moments of gravity. It's especially evident in the responsibility he feels for lives under his protection; some of Janson's most serious moments come in dealing with Kell Tainer, the son of the man who was Janson's first kill as a pilot - an ally who had a panic attack and had to be shot down before he endangered the mission and got the entire unit wiped out. Janson's regret for how things went down is obvious, and he and Kell eventually manage to reach an understanding about what occurred. His sense of responsibility is also obvious in how he handles the news that one of his training squadrons was wiped out in an ambush; the only joke he can manage is a somewhat bitter observation that he and Hobbie must be a real pair of incompetents to lose the people they trained so easily. When Myn Donos, the last survivor of that squadron, has a breakdown after a mission triggers his memories of that ambush, Janson is overheard with Wedge trying to figure out how they can cover it up to their superiors and buy Myn some time to pull out of it before his entire career gets vaped over the incident. He has some surprisingly pointed words of wisdom for Wedge when the other observes that he's leading children and getting them killed; Janson admits that that's the truth, but also points at the fact that most of the unit in question have a lot more issues they're dragging around than the average soldier, and that under Wedge's guidance many of them have made incredible progress in overcoming their problems.

(And if nothing else, the very fact that Janson's lasted through the transition from the Rebellion to the New Republic and shows no difficulty remaining settled in the rank structure shows that he knows how to cut the crap when it counts.)

He may not be terribly serious in manner, most of the time, but Janson is dead serious about his duties and protecting his comrades, and has earned commendations for bravery in action. Like most of his fellows, he doesn't have a problem throwing himself straight in in the face of danger, whether that's hopping into a bar fight (his temper is noted for being a bit on the short side) or flying a shieldless fighter straight into the middle of a heated battle. He's not the person you'd want at your side for a delicate diplomatic negotiation, but even if he can seldom resist the temptation to be a smartass, he's good at keeping his wits about him when it counts, and he has a - unique, somewhat irreverent - brand of wisdom from his decade in active duty that he's always willing to share with the next generation of starfighter pilots.

POINT OF DEPARTURE: --

ABILITIES: Most notably, Janson's an ace starfighter pilot with a solid decade of experience under his belt; while he's best known for serving with X-Wing units, we've also got canon for him flying Y-Wings and TIE fighters on combat missions, and it's quite possible he's flown similar craft as well. He's also done some time as a flight instructor for new pilots, and has served on commando missions. Janson is also a talented gunner, having earned the highest order of gunnery awarded in the Alliance's ranks.

INVENTORY; The clothes on his back, a datapad, a comlink, a blaster (with a couple of spare power packs).

ANYTHING ELSE WE SHOULD KNOW?

S A M P L E S;
FIRST PERSON: As the upstanding, fair-minded man I am, I figured I'd give this Virtu thing a fair shake before I started judging. Come on, who can't think of a few dozen great ways to use a simulator that can come up with anything you want on the fly?

For the record, they didn't all involve fast ships and attractive women.

For the record, ninety-five percent still isn't all.

But you know, snubfighters made out of solid Corusca gems get old faster than you'd think. That's the problem here - you get everything just by thinking of it and it stops being fun.

[A long-suffering sigh.]

And the sad part? It's still tempting to waste half the investigation screwing around with this thing, because who knows when I'll get back in the cockpit of a real X-Wing again?

THIRD PERSON:
As his landing skids hit the deck and he started to run through the power-down sequence, Janson had to admit to himself that the run could've gone a lot better.

Granted, there was a hole in the intel that they couldn't have done much about, and quite a few more TIEs than they'd been advised to expect - but even if they'd had their hands full, the Imperial transport making the jump to hyperspace had been the very thing they were out here in the first place to prevent, and in the grand scheme of things, the few extra fighter kills they'd racked up weren't really worth the failure of the mission as a whole. Of course, the fact that the defenses here were tighter than they should've been was intelligence in its own right, and the spooks would probably have a field day with that, but -

"Wes. Stop thinking like an officer." He leaned forward and banged his head once against the front of his cockpit.

General Cracken's people were going to have a field day with this, but he was quite decidedly not one of General Cracken's people. He was just a pilot who'd gone out there, flown his best, and was one post-mission briefing away from dragging the rest of his comrades out to celebrate - since after all, it could've gone a lot better, but it also could've gone a lot worse.

They'd faced stiffer opposition than they expected, but every single one of them had made it back to tell the tale, and in Rogue Squadron, that was never worth taking for granted.

Re: Wes Janson | Star Wars

[powersthatbe]

ACCEPTED!

Rebekah Mikaelson | The Vampire Diaries/The Originals | 1/3

[easily]

P L A Y E R;
NAME: Katie
AGE: 26
PLAYER JOURNAL: superkappa
TIMEZONE: PST
CONTACT: superkappa @ plurk. You can also pm this journal
OTHER CHARACTERS PLAYED: none

C H A R A C T E R;
NAME: Rebekah Mikaelson
CANON: The Vampire Diaries/The Originals
POINT IN CANON: post 1x16
AGE: over a thousand years old -- though she was roughly about 17 or so when she was turned
APPEARANCE: appearance
CANON HISTORY: history

Rebekah Mikaelson | The Vampire Diaries/The Originals | 2/3

[easily]

CANON PERSONALITY:

Rebekah, at first glance, seems like a spoiled brat. And to a certain degree, she is. She's used to getting her way. Over the centuries with Klaus, he's given into her whims often (as long as they didn't interfere with what he wanted, of course), encouraging this behavior. This also comes from the fact that she was young when she was turned, barely an adult. Considering that she can pass as a high school student it’s not hard to imagine she was in her late teens or so when she was turned. It also would explain some of her erratic, childlike behavior She's petulant, impulsive, and often throws temper tantrums. She herself mentions that as a human she had already been extremely stubborn. As a vampire, that trait was amplified.

She's cheeky. She likes playing with people, getting on their nerves. Most of the time, she seems to treat like a game. Delights in torturing people, in compelling them to do what she wants. To do things just because she can. One such example is how she tries to get between Caroline and Tyler. She doesn't really have a reason to do this other than needing to watch Tyler because he's one of Klaus' hybrids, but she decides early on that she wants to take anything she can from Caroline. Why? Because she's better than her. And because it's fun. She wants to see the other girl suffer.

She enjoys being a vampire, much like her brother Klaus does. Revels in it even. When she talks about the first time she drank blood, she describes it at euphoric. She loves the feel of the power, the control she has over someone's life or death. Or their actions. There's little she can't do as a vampire, and she enjoys every moment of it. She never chose this life for herself, it's not something she wanted, but now that it's been handed to her she's going to take advantage of it. It's not going to go away, so might as well enjoy it as much as she can.

On the other hand, for as much of a petulant child as she can be sometimes, she is extremely loyal to those she cares about most. This is seen the most with her brother, Klaus. She promised him that after their mother turned her back on him, she never would. It would be her, him, and Elijah. Together as one, always and forever.

Which is why when Klaus and Elijah divide, she takes Klaus' side. She said she would never turn her back on him, and she meant it. Sure, sometimes they fought, and sometimes she got pissed off at him, but she always came back to him. Eventually she always found her way to his side again. There was no one she was closer to than Klaus. It was true when they were humans, and even more true when they become vampires. It seems as if she could forgive him for anything, even staking her and keeping her dead for ninety years. As she once pointed out, she doesn't have a lot of options. He was her brother, and it beat spending an eternity alone. The line of course is drawn when she finds out that he was the one to really murder their mother. Some things were unforgivable. Some things had to be punished, no matter what. But it still breaks her apart to betray Klaus, to try to help bring upon his demise. It is not until he disowns her, clearly choosing his hybrids over her that she finally can begin to break away from Klaus, but whether that lasts long term or not remains to be seen.

But that love, that loyalty, it blinds her. It consumes her. She doesn't do anything half assedly. Anything she feels she feels with great intensity. Love, anger, betrayal. Everything is an intense experience for her, whether she'd like it or not. She doesn't know how to take things slowly. She just throws herself into things with almost reckless abandon. Even when she was human this was true – as seen in the flashbacks where she tried to murder her father for how he would abuse her brother. When Elijah describes her behavior when she sees something she views as an injustice he calls it “terrifying” – and it is.

This especially applies to her anger. She states that she's inherited her father's temper and there definitely seems to be some truth to that. When angry, she almost loses control of herself, often acting out of spite or jealousy in order to make other people suffer as much as she has. If she's angry, there's a good chance that nobody around here is all too happy either. She tends to make sure of it. And if she feels she or her family has been wronged, she will let nothing stop her from evening the score. When Alaric kills her brother, Niklaus, she knows she cannot let any more of her family dies, so she kills Elena so Alaric will die. An eye for an eye.

Rebekah is also known for her astute perception skills. She tends to see her right through people's lies and ulterior motives. This is first seen when she talks to Stefan about Mikeal and she points out that he is obviously not on their side. Klaus mentions that she has an ability to detect lies but whether this is an actual supernatural ability or just a natural talent of hers heightened by her state as a vampire is left open to interpretation. Either way, she's good at reading people, and not easily tricked. When Damon tries to flirt with her and distract her, she plays along, and then shows she isn't falling for it by skewering him with a marshmallow roasting stick. Though her deep rooted desired to be loved and accepted can cloud her judgment sometimes, as seen by some of her later interactions with Damon.

Though she has chosen her life with Klaus, her life on the run, sometimes she's shown to long for something more. The normal life that she had been denied ever since she got turned into a vampire. Not to mention the resentment that has begun to grow over centuries as Klaus became more twisted and abusive towards her.

This is seen particularly in the flashbacks during the 1920s, when she enters a whirlwind romance with Stefan. She entertains the idea of leaving her brother, of finally just living for once instead of always, always running, and he neutralizes her for it. When she's brought back, Stefan is no longer interested in her, so she seems to try to move on from that. But that desire to be more than she is, to have something close to a normal life, that remains. Which is why she joins the cheerleading team, and goes to school functions like the bonfire. So she could enjoy the sort of young adult years that were robbed from her because the life that was forced upon her. These are also seen in the flashbacks with Marcel – where we see she was so in love she was willing to bring her father into town and betray her brother for the chance of freedom and love.

Despite her age, she is in many ways still just a young girl. And that's greatly due to the fact that she was never really able to grow up. This fact is sometimes manipulated, like when Elena stabs her while she gets ready for the homecoming dance, or when Matt gives her rides home in order to distract her. It was most taken advantage of however back when she was in love with the hunter Alexander who promised her a cure that could make her human. She longed to get married and have children with him, but it wasn’t meant to be, he daggered her and her whole family instead.

She’s been described as “the girl who loves too easily”, “just a girl who loves blindly and recklessly even if it consumes her” and a “hopeless fool”. All of these apply to her in some form or another; she is desperate for love and affection. All she wants really is to be loved; it’s that simple. And because of that, she falls for guy after guy, usually ending up hurt or back with her brother again. She never learns, not really. But she’d rather that then the alternative. She’d rather love too much than not at all. All she’s ever really wanted is to love and live life on her own terms – a choice she’s never really had until now – her brother Klaus has finally released her and it’ll be interesting to see how that changes her here.

POINT OF DEPARTURE: N/A
ABILITIES: As a vampire, she has all the normal abilities like super strength, speed, accelerated senses, mind compulsion and a healing factor. Some of those abilities like the speed and healing are even greater than regular vampires due to her being an original. An Original can also compel other vampires, something a regular vampire cannot.

On top of that, normal weaknesses such as vervain don't harm originals nearly as much due to how rapid their healing is. Original vampires can also sense when people are taking or wearing vervain.

Rebekah herself is said to have an heightened lie detection ability and can often read the intentions of the people around her.

Originals are weak to the sun, but Rebekah has a ring that keeps her safe from that. A white oak stake from the tree that was used in the creation spell is the only thing that can kill an original permanently. However, a knife dipped in the ash of a white oak tree can temporarily kill them, leaving them paralyzed until the knife was removed.

Also, like all vampires, they cannot enter the homes of humans without being invited in.

INVENTORY;
1 long brown coat
1 brown tank top
1 pair of jeans
1 pair of boots
1 pair of gold hoop earrings
1 daylight ring
1 pair of underwear + bra
1 pair of socks
1 set of keys
1 wallet of fake ids and the like

ANYTHING ELSE WE SHOULD KNOW? not much really

chizuru yukimura | hakuouki

[tealeafs]

P L A Y E R;
NAME: Jelle
AGE: 21
PLAYER JOURNAL: devilism
TIMEZONE: GMT+1
CONTACT: queeningsquare[at]gmail[dot]com, queeningsquare, aim: Lunixhime
OTHER CHARACTERS PLAYED: n/a

C H A R A C T E R;
NAME: Chizuru Yukimura
CANON: Hakuouki
POINT IN CANON: Chapter 9 of Hijikata's route in the game after he confesses.
AGE: 22
APPEARANCE: The outfit on the top left! She's supposed to be disguised as a boy, but even in canon it's not terribly convincing, especially when she opens her mouth, so I wouldn't blame people for not falling for it at all. In her demon form her hair is white, her eyes yellow/golden and she grows a set of horns on her head like so.

[tealeafs]

CANON HISTORY: I'm sort of briefly skimming over some things to keep it from being super long, but if there's anything unclear, please just ask!

As far as Chizuru used to know, she's lived in Edo in nineteenth century Japan with her father all her life. During the series it's revealed to her though that she used to live with the eastern demon clan - the Yukimura - in a village before it was destroyed by humans. Only Chizuru and her twin brother Kaoru managed to escape the slaughter of the clan, but were seperated slowly after. Kaoru was taken in by the Nagumo family while Chizuru was taken in by the half demon Kodo Yukimura. Over time Chizuru forgot all about those times, the fact that she's a demon and her twin brother since she was still so young when it all went down and Kodo just told her that he was her father. So instead Chizuru grew up normally among humans from that point on, often taking care of the house since her "father" was a doctor who often left her there by herself while she tended to the house and waited for him to come back.

Until one time he didn't come back. Chizuru, of course worried by this development, disguised herself (unconvincingly) as a boy and set out to find her father who had gone to Kyoto. She managed to immediately run into a group of ronin (warriors who don't belong to any specific domain) and was cornered by them until the ronin were killed by others. Not that this development improved her situation by a whole lot, since her "saviors" didn't seem to be all there. They were laughing wildly while covered in blood, their hairs white as snow and their eyes glowing red. Chizuru was however saved a second time by a group of men from the Shinsengumi - an organization who served the shogunate and kept the peace in Kyoto. They took down the white-haired men, but since Chizuru had seen it all go down she was a liability to the group. After all, the white-haired warriors were actually rasetsu, a kind of vampire-like people with enhanced strength who have urges to drink blood and practically go crazy because of it, and the fact that the Shinsengumi were experimenting with these kind of warriors on orders of the shogunate was supposed to be kept a secret. It's why the three men - Toshizou Hijikata, Hajime Saitou and Souji Okita - decided to take Chizuru with them to their headquarters to find out just how much she had seen.

While she was interrogated there they however found out that she wasn't a boy and that she had come to Kyoto in search of her father - the exact same father who had just happened to help the Shinsengumi with the rasetsu experiments and had recently gone missing. For this reason the group decided to not have Chizuru killed but instead keep them with them so she could help them look for Kodo.

Although she was nothing more than a definite outsider at first, the girl started growing closer to the members of the group (mostly the captains since she couldn't really interact with the rank and file soldiers) over time. And in turn Chizuru only felt more indebted towards the people who had kept her alive, keep her fed and gave her shelter and who she talked with and slowly became more and more friendly with. She tried to do more and more her best to help them out whenever she could, even helping in key battles like the incident with the Ikedaya inn, where she ran across town just to be able to deliver a message to Hijikata. No matter whether it were big things like that she could do or small things like making tea, she just did her utmost best to try and help the group out. And although the captains tried to keep the information about the white-haired men she had seen on her first day in Kyoto a secret from her at first, eventually Chizuru found out about that as well.

But that wasn't the only thing she found out about. The Shinsengumi started repeatedly running into a man called Chikage Kazama who claimed to be a demon - and who claimed Chizuru was a pureblooded demon as well, which came like a complete surprise to her since she didn't remember anything about the early years of her life. Moreover, Kazama wanted to claim Chizuru as his wife since female demons with pure blood were so rare, and it was only the Shinsengumi's protection that prevented her from practically being kidnapped by him straight away.

The conflict with Kazama reached a climax while the Shinsengumi were trying to protect the magistrate's office at Toba-Fushimi. Chizuru went with Inoue to get reinforcements since it was practically an impossible battle for the Shinsengumi who were up against much more modern warfare like guns and cannons, but on the way they instead ran into Kazama. Inoue tried to fight him but was instead - to Chizuru's horror - killed by the demon, but just as Chizuru was about to try and fight him herself Hijikata stepped in to protect her. It's practically impossible for any human to actually stand a good chance against a skilled demon in a fight though, so the whole thing led to Hijikata taking the ochimizu (water of life) that would change a human into a rasetsu so he would actually stand a chance against the demon. However, it was still not entirely enough, and Yamazaki took a killing blow in Hijikata's place to protect the man before the battle ended without a victor.

Chizuru was crushed by the sadness over the deaths and the guilt of Inoue having died protecting her and Hijikata having thrown his life away by taking the ochimizu to protect her, but they still had to keep moving on. The girl travelled along with the rest of the Shinsengumi only to see them lose more and more of their numbers, including Kondou who surrendered and sacrificed himself to save Hijikata. Since Kondou and Hijikata were so close it was a huge blow to the latter, but Chizuru still tried to do all she could to be there for Hijikata and console him, telling him to not blame himself over Kondou's death, even if it was mostly fruitless. But that didn't mean that the girl gave up in the slightest - she remained at the man's side, trying to take care of him and even letting him drink her blood whenever his bloodlust as a rasetsu would play up.

But even so, circumstances just seemed to get worse and worse. Okita died fighting after having been sick for so long, Saitou decided to stay behind to fight an impossible battle and both Sannan and Heisuke used up all of their life span as rasetsu and turned to dust. Even Chizuru's own father died when they found him again at the castle in Sendai - he had been making a group of improved rasetsu there just so he could restore Chizuru's clan again to its former glory, but in the end all the rasetsu were wiped out and Kodo himself died while protecting Chizuru.

Even though the Shinsengumi had been such a big and bustling group before, it was practically down to just Hijikata and Chizuru at this point. Not to mention that the soldiers that were left fighting on the side of the shogunate were practically pushed more and more into a corner to a point where it was obvious they were just going to lose the war. But Hijikata didn't stop fighting and so Chizuru didn't stop following him where he'd go - until Hijikata himself told her to stop. Even though she tried to plead with him, he told her to not come with him to Ezo and left her behind alone on the mainland. Thanks to a little help from Ootori and her own stubbornness though, Chizuru was able to make it to Ezo all the same later and meet up with Hijikata again, refusing to leave him alone this time. And it's with that action that Hijikata gives up his own stubbornness and tells her that he needs her and wants her to stay with him - that he's in love with her.

Rekka | Garo

[rekkaning]

P L A Y E R;
NAME: Jay
AGE: 24
PLAYER JOURNAL: n/a
TIMEZONE: Eastern
CONTACT: PM this journal or maskridden
OTHER CHARACTERS PLAYED: n/a

C H A R A C T E R;
NAME: Rekka
CANON: Garo series - two movies (Red Requiem and The Tougen Flute), one TV show (Garo: Makai Senki)
POINT IN CANON: not very far past Tougen Flute
AGE: 20
APPEARANCE: Link.

[rekkaning]

CANON HISTORY:

Red Requiem:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Garo:_Red_Requiem
In which Rekka makes her first appearance as an abrasive young woman who wants to avenge her father. The protagonist berates her for her poor defensive form (since she's so obsessed with offense), Rekka learns a thing or two, and they take down a monster.

Makai Senki (eps 17, 22, 24):
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Garo:_Makai_Senki_episodes
In her appearances, Rekka helps the main character, meets another Priestess, and kicks ass and flies on golden magical balls.

Tougen Flute:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Garo_Gaiden:_Tougen_no_Fue
In which Rekka meets evil Priestesses, fights with her friend in a misunderstanding of the evil Priestesses' making, almost gets sacrificed to a monster, and learns the value of ~strength~.


CANON PERSONALITY:
Rekka is abrasive and impulsive, but has a self-reflective side. In Red Requiem, she's introduced as someone who wants to fight a Horror (this universe's monsters) that she would not have been powerful enough to deal with. She's blunt and mouthy—she tells the sagely character to shut up and seals his mouth (though to be fair, he called her "little girl," she did threaten she would do it if he called her that again, and the protagonist clearly agreed with her action).

She's also reckless—she beat up a bunch of brainwashed humans in her haste to chase the bad guys, saying in the heat of the moment that if they'd gotten brainwashed it was their own fault and they were no different from Horrors. However, after the incident, she apologizes, demonstrating that, though reckless and impulsive, she is self-reflective and is able to acknowledge when she's wrong. This vein continues through to Tougen Flute, when she verbalizes the ~lesson~ she learned in that movie—that no one can get stronger alone. She continues being impulsive but on the flip side, continues to be self-reflective.

Her biggest sticking point is strength, physical strength in particular. She grew up in a society that told her she couldn't be a Makai Knight (Makai Knights were created because the Makai Priests didn't have the power to deal with Horrors; Rekka's dad was a Makai Knight so she wanted to be one when she was younger) so by Red Requiem, she focuses heavily on offense in her fighting. During the course of Red Requiem she learns to cooperate with the protagonist, but more because she respects his strength/station. It isn't until Tougen Flute that she lets go of the "need strength alone" notion, but during Makai Senki her stance on it had obviously softened—she doesn't fuss about strength when sparring with the protagonist (he actually tells her that she'd gotten stronger, though she later says that no, he'd just gotten weaker [he'd been poisoned]), and later comes to train with a Makai Priestess. In Makai Senki it's largely implied that Rekka has largely stopped trying to be like a Knight, aiming instead to increase her aptitude at Priestesshood. She does not, however, ever stop aiming to be stronger.

For all her impulsiveness, she is also pretty stoic, sometimes coming off as cold. However, that's just what her face is like. When it gets right down to it, she'll always jump in to save people (or, once, to smack people around when in a hurry to chase her enemies :V ) but she definitely has a "help people" ethos. In Tougen Flute, she spontaneously joins a fight when a fellow Priestess was in trouble, and (also in Tougen Flute), when it looked like her friend had murdered someone, she jumps immediately to "YOU BETRAYER." Her affection for her friend does not take precedence over her morality.

In short, she has a non-emotive face that belies her brashness, and behind the brashness lies a big heart.

POINT OF DEPARTURE: n/a

ABILITIES:
Rekka is highly acrobatic.

Also ~magic~: "Priestess" seems to just mean "magic-user" in the world of Garo. Priest/esses use Makai Brushes, which are basically magic wands to do magic with, though magic comes in brush and non-brush varieties. Rekka in particular can put bursts of magic into her punches/kicks without the use of a brush. Summoning goldfishies young Makai Dragons (used primarily for scouting, though Rekka has an attack where she summons a bunch of them to attack a la PIRANHAS) is a bit of a signature for her.

There isn't a definitive list of what Makai Priests can do, but here are some things that Makai Priests have pulled throughout the series:

- lightning. Standard Makai Priest/ess attack. The Priestess draws a circle in the air with a brush (though it doesn't always have to be a circle, sometimes it's a fancy twirl), voilà lightning bolt. Non-fatal.
- fly. Rekka's variant involves standing on a golden glowing ball.
- paper charms. Effects vary from obfuscating a Horror's presence to sealing things to using them as walkie-talkies.
- Nogome. Spell to pull a Makai Brush back into a Priestess's hand.
- sense magic in objects. The Priestess that's good at this has been able to read the magic purification level of an object, and to read if Rekka had touched a tree.
- summons. Come in several varieties. There's one that just looks like a plain ol' firebird. There's one that looks like a brush drawing, with moving parts. There's Rekka's specialty, little fish-looking things no larger than the size of her hand.

INVENTORY;
Makai Brush
a dagger
a book of multipurpose paper charms

ANYTHING ELSE WE SHOULD KNOW? I'm pretty sure she can charm ordinary paper to make new ones. She can't, however, make new Makai Brushes (the bristles are made from special pelts).


S A M P L E S;
FIRST PERSON:
I don't know what this Traveler stuff is about, but if I'm going to get involved in this, there need to be rules. One, don't get in my way. Two, I need to call somebody. He—She—They can help me, both of them. I'm sure they'd help. But what exactly is the problem with this new world? If it's a Horror, I need to report it to the Senate.

But if I succeed, I need to go back to my own world. You can't keep me. I have my duties in Kantai. A Makai Priestess's duty is to—

Are you listening? I said I can help you, but I can't stay to fix all your problems for you.

[The expositor shrugs and says, "You'll see soon enough."]

What's that supposed to mean? You're the one who asked for help. Hey. Don't turn away from me.

[She grabs the expositor's arm, but becomes aware of everybody else tensing and watching her. She hesitates, but lets go.]

Take me back. Don't tell me you can't.

[Exposition goes here.]

... Very well. I'll do this quest, I'll finish it quickly, and then get back. Just watch me.

[Cue flounce.]

THIRD PERSON:
She'd arrived at a world with trains, that much she could tell. She'd run from empty car to empty car, getting increasingly nervous at the lack of life. Her frustration had come to a head in the last car, and she could only hope no one came to investigate the cracked seats and strange singe marks until she was well away. Rekka furtively took a quick glance around as she stepped off, and, after taking in the general shape of the station, spotted the neon exit sign over a staircase.

Her gait slowed as she neared the top of the steps. What kind of world was waiting for her? One overtaken by Horrors? She hadn't received any information about this world. Perhaps the problem with this world was something simple, like communing with a Spirit Beast. But she didn't think so. Surely the ones who could travel through worlds could give her details if the quest were simple; she couldn't imagine Gajari, for example, being this vague. Perhaps the world beyond was merely the Northern Forest, or even the Promised Ground. In that case, getting out would be tricky.

She was stalling. There was no point to speculation when she'd find out in a minute. She kept her Makai Brush at hand as she ascended closer to the exit. A few steps below street level, she touched the wall above the handrail, but her ability to read objects wasn't that good. All she sensed was that the wall was cold. She didn't see anything threatening from her vantage point, either, but just in case, she held up her brush and summoned a young Makai Dragon; the little orange fish-like creature swam a circuit around her once before proceeding ahead.

Zelman Clock | Black Blood Brothers

[eyes_on_fire]

P L A Y E R;
NAME: Laure
AGE: over 30
PLAYER JOURNAL: (quixotic_dreamer)
TIMEZONE: CST
CONTACT: reflected[.]stasis[@]gmail.com
OTHER CHARACTERS PLAYED: N/A

C H A R A C T E R;
NAME: “Crimson-Eyed” Zelman Clock (eyes_on_fire)
CANON: Black Blood Brothers
POINT IN CANON: Post-manga, which picks up and goes five chapters past the anime.
AGE: Looks 18, is actually over 800

APPEARANCE: Zelman is shorter than most of the other vampires in his series - only 5'7", with dark red hair layered down to just past chin length. He has smooth, ivory skin and unusual blood-red eyes that earned him the nickname of 'Crimson-eyed Prince'. Despite his usual slouch, is casual style of dress, or the laid-back air that surrounds him, he moves with a natural grace and confidence.



CANON HISTORY: The Wiki

While we know that Zelman is well over 800 years old and the oldest vampire in the Special Zone, we don't actually know much more than that about Zelman's past. What we do know is that Zelman was alive and in Poland in the thirteenth century, when he was given the Kiss of Death at a young age, probably between sixteen and eighteen given his appearances. Unfortunately, Poland of that time was economically, socially, and religiously fragmented - full of unstable internal conflicts and plagued with civil strife, religious upheaval, and foreign invasion.

And it was during this time that the ‘Old Blood’ vampire, the “War God” Asura, sired him. It’s unknown how long he lived in Asura’s House after that, but it’s estimated that within roughly a century there was a war within this ‘Chaos’ bloodline that demanded his descendants prove their worth - as such, Zelman was the last vampire standing in the end. He is the last descendant and strongest of his bloodline, and the inheritor of the God Flames. After this, he’s been considered by the vampire world as the Hunter of the Ancient Night, the Child of the Fire God, and the Crimson-Eyed Prince.

There is little to no information about him between these events and the start of the anime - roughly 700 years’ worth of personal history, though for headcanon purposes, I will say that he spent his time traveling across Europe and Asia, building various networks and profiting off of conflict, war, and eventually organized criminal activity to stave off boredom in the lull that followed the war within his House.

And then The Kowloon Shock happened in Hong Kong.

Unfortunately for Zelman, he wasn’t there for that battle - possibly in Tibet at the time - but it was this conflict that confirmed the existence of vampires to the human population, thanks to the new and epidemic circumstances surrounding the creation of the Kowloon Children who, unlike the Old Blood vampires, don’t need to intentionally bestow the Kiss of Death (which involves feeding the human some of the vampire’s blood) in order to turn a human into a vampire. All the Kowloon need to do is bite their victim (Human OR Vampire alike) and they’ll turn - even if they were drained dry. It was in that battle between the Old Blood and the New that the Silver Blade, Jirou Mochizuki, killed the Kowloon King, whose ‘children’ were brought to the point of near-extinction before the Special Zone was created within a barrier that kept the Kowloon off of the island as a secret ‘haven’ for the remaining vampires - even as the media reported the complete eradication of vampires to cover the existence of the remaining Houses.

It was shortly after the Special Zone was established that Zelman arrived there. He didn’t waste time upon arrival - he immediately began gathering humans and vampires alike, regardless of the station or status of them. Broken bloodlines or street thugs - they’re all the same to him. Weak needing protection that he could use for his own purposes in order to create his own faction outside the main Houses: The crime syndicate called The Coven.

The Coven is notoriously lawless and his reach long through them, giving him connections on every level of society in the Special Zone, through all the Yards (districts within the zone). It was their presence and his influence throughout the city that earned him a seat with the city officials in less than ten years.

However, once The Coven was established, he lost interest in their daily mechanizations - in what I figure is a pattern for him, he simply got what he needed and got bored. Everything fell into a system of operations, there was little to no open conflict, and his attention drifted away from the mundane workings of his Coven. He found temporary amusement by taunting his human assistant, Sayuka, knowing of her desire to be the only human he fed from, though it wasn’t enough to alleviate the tedium of what life in the Special Zone had become for him.

And then Jirou returned with his little brother Kotarou, who is the reincarnation of Alice Eve, one of the two Source Bloods for all vampires.

While the other Houses turned Jirou away, Zelman welcomed them freely and even went so far as to tell them they had a standing welcome in his House, despite his Second-in-Command attacking them openly in the middle of the crowded float market. To him, both brothers were fascinating in their own ways and Jirou the harbinger of interesting times in the foreseeable future. His offer was politely declined by Kotarou, who stated that while he liked Zelman, Zelman was a ‘bad guy’ and he and his brother would rather fight for justice! Instead. If anything, this only served to pique Zelman’s interest even more, which prompted him to leave the offer on the table and say that he was looking forward to their next meeting, regardless of whether they were enemies or not.

Later, once Cassa Warlock entered the Special Zone and attempted a second Kowloon uprising, he busied himself helping a lost Kotarou find Mimiko and stopping Cassa from biting the Compromiser. He used his flames to destroy the stockpile of tainted blood packs meant for consumption by the vampires residing in the Special Zone before Cassa made a tactical retreat, but not before she told him about her giving his Coven samples of the blood packs. More annoyed than anything, he returned to his House and proceeded to ruthlessly and coolly burn down all his members to ash, to keep the Kowloon infection from spreading.

Once he’d gotten his own House back in order, he put in a token effort to help the other Houses in the war by tracking down Cassa and intercepting them from atop a bridge as they tried to escape via boat. He held them pinned down with his Fire for a long moment, though their ability to withstand as they were, caught between the ocean and his flames amused and vaguely impressed him enough to eventually have him relent conveniently as Kain neared the scene again, with the idea that if they couldn’t catch the invaders after that, he’d just have something to taunt them with later.

After that, however, things settled down, Jirou went to work for Mimiko at the Company, and business continued on as usual for Zelman. You know, receiving unexpected gifts of weapons and humans for trafficking in order to earn his and the Coven’s protection and such. Life as usual for the Special Zone.

Zelman Clock | Black Blood Brothers | 2/3

[eyes_on_fire]

CANON PERSONALITY: Zelman is, in a word, bored. He has been for well over half of millennia, since the fall of his House, and yet it was that first century as a vampire that has shaped him the most.

He’s seen what happens to even the strongest of bloodlines when the patriarch loses the ability to ‘hear’ his Blood, how it devolves into an all-out war to prove themselves between the sire and his children. Because of that Zelman has a certain ruthlessness in him forged by that war that enabled him to kill and survive until he was left as the lone descendant of the warrior Asura’s bloodline. He alone inherited the Fire God’s flames from that implosion within his House and in doing so; it gave him a singular focus on himself and his Blood. To him, the weight of the ‘voice’ and guidance contained in the Blood that he inherited from his sire, the blood that carries a thirst for chaos and combat, is the true Legacy of their bloodline.

And it’s a weight he carries with ease, no guilt or remorse for being the last of them to be found. After all - he has no reason to feel either.

Thus, he’s careful to listen to the ‘voice’ of his Blood, lets it guide him more than anything that happens around him ever could. It is largely because of this that he has such fine control over both his actions and emotions considering he’s had roughly 800 years to observe humanity and vampires alike. He has a fairly long fuse on a cool burning temper, making him more prone to being annoyed than angry in most situations.

He’s usually calm and laid-back, but always watching those around him, especially those he finds fascinating - which is no easy feat, gaining his attention, given his somewhat jaded view on the vast majority of mediocre beings that surround him. To him they’re so boring because they’re easily manipulated through their wants and desires, their greed. They don’t offer any resistance; much less hold any particular mystery or originality that would make them interesting. And so for him, dealing with them is more a game than anything else.

Whether it’s his underlings, or someone to feed from, they’re there more for a moment’s amusement than anything else and once they’ve served that purpose, he doesn’t really care what they do. He often acts as if he can’t be bothered to rein them in when they do excessive things but then, they are criminals, cutthroats, and younger bloodlines of lesser vampires.

The concept of morality, of right and wrong, are not ideals that he’s invested in at all. As a matter of fact, when asked if he’s a bad person he’ll say yes, but there’s fun perks to being a ‘bad guy’. Laws, crime, honorable actions, they’re all polite faces to hide behind, so far as he’s concerned. He’d rather show you his confident, knowing smirk from the start then laugh at the surprise when they realize his fangs actually bite. In this way he comes across as more ‘human’ than the other vampires in his canon, save possibly Cassa. He’s one of the few Old Bloods that have constant contact with ‘regular’ humans and vampires instead of just the scions of the great houses, therefore he’s more comfortable with the modern world and it shows in everything from the way he dresses to the way he talks at times.

He’s got a sharp wit, which he often shows through sarcasm and taunting his peers, and in the way he reveals his more introspective side to Kotarou over ramen, when they were discussing the legacy of their Blood.

However, it’s the anticipation of real chaos, chaos that can make things move that he anticipates, and the possibility of true combat that earns a measure of excitement, all revealed in his eyes since his customary slouch never really changes. He’s looking and waiting for the one person that he can fight against without restraint. Someone that can truly match him in power and bloodlust but since he hasn’t found anyone that measures up yet, he’s content to sit back and watch the other Houses vie for power while he amuses himself pulling strings beneath them. In other words, he accepts the status quo with a touch of old acceptance and resignation, which all lead back to the fact that he’s bored, again.

POINT OF DEPARTURE: N/A
ABILITIES: His strongest ability is called Eye Ignite It is a focused attack that calls forth ‘God’s Fire’ - flames that move at his bidding, with nothing more than a shift of his eyes. He can choose what burns and how hot, as well as the duration of the flames - with the strongest level of this being a gigantic ball of flame as big as a medium-sized house. His control of flames is absolute, even to the lesser extent of snapping his fingers to light a cigarette or lighting candles without looking at them. And he can disperse said flames with nothing more than a deliberate blink.

He can use this ability to such a degree that he usually battles while standing in a relaxed slouch, both hands in his pockets.

The Eye Raid is his second strongest ability which only requires focused eye contact to establish and allows him to physically control the bodies of both humans and vampires alike. It locks them in a stasis where they sit or stand so that they cannot move their limbs at all without his permission, though they’re still capable of speech. He can also use this ability to force those under his control unconscious - and while all vampires appear to have this ability, it’s the Old Bloods, like himself, that can control larger groups for longer times and with less overall effort.

Though not strictly telepathic, he is capable of sensing the activity of other or new vampires as they arrive in the Special Zone which, by the looks of it, is roughly the size of a large city, split into 10 districts.

Like all vampires, he has naturally swift regenerative abilities, though feeding while injured will practically instantly heal him and he has considerably heightened sensory facilities as compared to a human’s. He possesses super-strength and quicksilver reflexes that enable him to jump to impossible heights or drop from them to land gracefully. Vampires in his canon are capable of walking along building faces as if they were strolling along the street, laws of physics be damned. His vision is sharper over longer distances - enough to be able to see clearly for roughly a half mile and his hearing exceptionally acute (enough so that when he focuses, he can listen to a person’s heartbeat). He has a sharp sense of smell that enables him to smell another person’s scent on someone, or tell which vampire has already been close to a human for feeding or otherwise.

He can eat and drink regular food and alcohol and does so quite often - though his favorite things are ramen and a cool can of Coke - and he rather enjoys smoking.

He’s naturally immune to human disease and illness and the old superstitions of garlic, stakes, and crosses have no real effect on him, aside from annoying him. Holy water, salt water and sunlight, however, are more persistent problems. They don’t kill him, but they do weaken him to a literal skeleton state if the exposure is high enough. Organs, muscles, and skin regenerate quickly enough once he’s dry or in the shade, but without feeding directly after such exposure he is in a weakened state.

Blood Resonance is another unusual ability that actually falls more in line with a weakness. When a vampire drinks a person’s blood, an ‘echo’ forms between them. Meaning that with their blood in his body they can not only read his thoughts, but feel any of his unguarded emotions as well. For the human, this also means that they can see and hear that which the vampire is seeing or hearing in addition to knowing his exact location. It’s because of this that the human can sometimes ‘sync’ movement to match Zelman’s, though not always. While the resonance is in effect, the human may receive fragments of memory from Zelman, especially if his guard is lowered (a rare instance).

However all of these effects have the caveat that the older vampires like Zelman can choose how much of all of the above that the human experiences. This effect usually only lasts for about an hour or so and the reason it occurs is because their blood, before it gets broken down by Zelman’s system, resonates with its own - the theory of like calling to like. Because of this, the effects are not reversed. He cannot read the humans thoughts or emotions at all because his blood isn’t in them to resonate back with him.

He can move about during the daytime, but he is nocturnal by nature. And, of course, his biggest weakness is silver - which is capable of maiming or killing him.

**There will be a permissions post for the Eye Raid and Feeding abilities (to include resonance effects), along with a clarifier should any of his powers get nerfed for the world setting. As an additional game restriction I’m going to say his ability to turn another character into a vampire is either removed or plotted with mod approval. (Not that he’ll ever find that out - 700 some-odd years and still the last of his bloodline means he’s not willing to share his Blood with just anybody.)

INVENTORY; He’ll be arriving with nothing more than the black-and-white track suit, sneakers, and cap that he’s wearing along with a few pieces of jewelry, his wallet, and the pack of cigarettes in his pocket.

ANYTHING ELSE WE SHOULD KNOW? A quote!

“Our true essence is our Blood. The Blood we inherit endlessly is the truth behind Black Blood. It is difficult to hear its voice, but when you’ve wandered off your path, it’s not wrong to clear your mind and listen to the Blood flowing within. Your Blood will not betray you, yet the Bloodline will end when one can’t trust his Blood Anymore.”

I think that this quote is the most honestly revealing thing he says - both about how the Black Blood works and his own past. Since we know that there was a war within his House, I’d say that Asura lost his trust in his Blood, which was the cause of the conflict, and that as the last man standing; Zelman had that lesson seared into his heart. So much so that he trusts to his blood more than anything and places little value on anything else when it involves dealing with others.

***It should be noted that sexuality for him is opportunistic at best and that for their canon, being fed upon is a sensation more exquisite than sex itself for humans and vampires alike – so much so that it’s considered a dangerous form of addiction for humans, should they be fed upon too often. As one of the oldest bloodlines, however, he really doesn't need to feed all that often so it shouldn't happen too much.

Ambrose | Tin Man 1/?

[wholeheaded]

P L A Y E R;
NAME: Keri
AGE: 33
PLAYER JOURNAL: kseda
TIMEZONE: EST
CONTACT: AIM: mirzath, keriseda
OTHER CHARACTERS PLAYED: n/a

Re: Ambrose | Tin Man 2/?

[wholeheaded]

C H A R A C T E R; (NOTE: this app is partly scavenged from this one and this one.)
NAME: Ambrose "Glitch" Langwe (his surname is 100% made up)
CANON: Tin Man
POINT IN CANON: two years (or annuals, to use Ozian phrasing) post-canon
AGE: roughly 45
APPEARANCE: Ladies. Fellas. People. Ambrose is 5'10" and has a slender dancer's build, with pale skin, brown eyes, and curly dark brown hair that is noticeably turning silver. Of note there is a metal zipper on his head, starting at the center of his hairline and running to the back of his skull. His fashion sense is a bit eccentric by 21st-century standards; expect a lot of waistcoats, embroidery, and the occasional ascot. He likes basic black, earth tones, and dark reds.

CANON HISTORY:
As his pre-canon history is sketchy, I've tossed in some generally accepted fanon and bits of headcanon to flesh it out a bit. More detailed canon info can be located at Wikipedia. And since the wiki entry is awful, I'll elaborate:

Once upon a time Ambrose was chief adviser to the Queen of the Outer Zone and had a reputation for being the smartest man in the land. While he dabbled in several areas he was primarily an inventor, and he designed many creations for the people of the O.Z. He was very close to the royal family, and the Queen thought of him as a friend rather than just a member of her staff.

Then it all went wrong. The queen's eldest daughter became possessed by the spirit of an ancient Witch, her younger daughter was sent to the Otherside (aka Kansas) for protection, and civil war broke out when the Witch began to seize power. The queen and Ambrose were eventually captured, and Ambrose was ordered to give up his plans for the Sun Seeder, a machine allegedly intended to slow the suns and extend the growing season to help the famine-ravaged land.

The Witch, however, wanted to use the machine to bring eternal darkness to the Outer Zone. Even after extensive torture Ambrose refused to help her and so she had him headcased: removed part of his brain and sealed his skull closed with a zipper, a procedure usually performed on criminals to make them docile prisoners of their own minds. With the brain matter containing the plans in her possession the Witch had no more need for Ambrose and so sent him out to fend for himself.

Soon he forgot his real name and began calling himself Glitch, as that is what he did - forget things, repeat himself - and it seemed fitting. For years he wandered the land, until one day he met a girl looking for home, a man who'd lost his heart, and another in need of courage. Together the four of them set out on a quest to defeat the Witch, return the queen to her throne, stop the eternal darkness of the Double Eclipse, and along the way find out their missing were Within Them All Along.

...except the other half of Glitch's brain, of course, which was conveniently being kept alive in a jar in the Sorceress' tower.

garrett // thief

[blackhand]

P L A Y E R;
NAME: Kyah
AGE: 10+ years to the required age
PLAYER JOURNAL: craftings
TIMEZONE: EST
CONTACT: ChromaDestino, radicaldevilarm (AIM)
OTHER CHARACTERS PLAYED: N/A

garrett // thief

[blackhand]

C H A R A C T E R;
NAME: Garrett
CANON: Thief (or Thief 4, if you prefer)
POINT IN CANON: After Chapter 7
AGE: in his 30s
APPEARANCE: Found here
CANON HISTORY: The reboot
CANON PERSONALITY:

“If there’s one thing this city’s taught me, it’s that you can put a price on anything. Secrets, reputations… a life. And trust? If you have to ask, you can’t afford it.”

Garrett is the exact opposite of what you would call a hero. Selfish, isolated, self-centered and a survivalist, his main focus is on himself, and the pride of his reputation. Known as the “Master Thief” within the City’s underbelly, he is the best there is, and no one else can come close. A man who focuses on his reputation and his skill set, Garrett is incredibly unpredictable, adapts brilliantly to changing situations, and can disappear from view into the shadows in the blink of an eye.

And this is something he does on a nightly basis.

The City is a cesspit, and it is no stranger to things that are foul and improper. Garrett makes a living being a thief, and not by just being a thief, but being the only thief within the City to do the most outrageous and impossible heists, all against the odds. Most would say he’s driven by greed, or by a sinister want to make everyone else’s lives miserable, and half his would-be captors would rather have him hang by sunrise than even think of giving the man a second chance. He is a mysterious figure, one that eludes their tries to ensnare him, despite the many ones they do (and boy, are some of them extravagant), and he is beyond frustrating for the authorities who want nothing more than to wring his neck.

But for all that they believe Garrett is, they are extremely far from the truth. The master thief doesn’t steal for greed. In fact, most of his treasured loot isn’t because it was there- but because it was a challenge to get it. Garrett believes in quality over quantity (though let’s be real here, you leave a trinket out and a thief comes around, that thief is gonna steal it, he’s no exception), an ideal of once “stealing to live,” now “living to steal.” He lives for the challenge, the ultimatum of demanding him at his best, putting his life at risk, his skills to the test, to prove not only that he’s the best, but also make sure he stays the best. Ideas such as robbing a book from a brothel, saving a friend from a burning/exploding jail and at the same time finding the majestic vault within said jail and looting that while the building is falling apart- he takes these with stride, with confidence that he can not only do them, but he can do them well, and without getting caught. It’s with this confidence that he pulls off some of the most spectacular heists, keeps his reputation going, and returns home with a new trinket and a vast amount of pride.

Speaking of pride, that is a huge part of who Garrett is, though at first it may be hard to tell. Outwardly, Garrett isn’t the kind of person who you’d consider to be social. He has a habit of judging people before meeting them, studies them far too much with scrutiny, and doesn’t speak unless he wants to. He’s arrogant and stubborn, at least when it comes to him knowing what he wants and how he wants to approach it- try to tell him how to go somewhere, or how to do something, and he’ll blatantly choose his own, because he knows it’s better. This has helped him, and hindered him, depending on what situation you look at. His mannerisms are what you’d define of a typical asshole; he’s cocky due to his years of experience, he snarks because most of the time he believes people are dumb (and sadly enough, they usually are), and he’s witty when the time calls for it. Garrett is also a very brooding and sulking kind of man, one who is a loner and prefers to stay that way. He believes that if he’s alone, he has no one to concern himself with, and therefore no one to hold him back. He prefers solitude and the quiet compared to noise, and chooses this because it’s better to trust yourself than to trust someone else. Trust someone else, and you risk emotions showing through, risk showing weakness in a world that is unkind and unforgiving. Trust no one, and survive for your own sake.

But despite this harsh outlook on life, Garrett is not entirely heartless. His morality is a complex gray, one that has darks and lights and is a very difficult side to put him on, if he can be on a side at all in the first place. While most may consider him on the low end of the social life of the City, the master thief insists he has more morals than most in his line of work. Firstly, he avoids conflict if confronted, choosing to instead remain hidden and avoid problems unless it’s necessary. It’s not a good idea for a thief to clash with a sword, as he says, and that’s something he adheres to. Secondly, he chooses stealth whereas other thieves choose brutality- which is why most of them are dead, and why most of their loot is now in Garrett’s possession (see what I mean when he thinks people are dumb? this is why). Finally, he doesn’t kill. Not unless it’s absolutely necessary, as a last resort. Being a thief, one of the last things he wants to do is draw attention to himself, and a dead guard only promises a large amount of reinforcements high-tailing their way in his direction. If the guard or citizen is a threat, his first action is to knock them out, and let them regain consciousness in their own time. He’s a thief, not a murderer.

There is also the point about his relationships. His main concern has always been for himself, but through the course of the game, Garrett proves that while he is a selfish person, he can care for others (and it both scares and pains him that he can). Erin is a major factor in this, as we constantly see her throughout the game. The thief has always had a soft spot for her, and wanted her to thrive as he has in the City. He took her in when she was young, showed her the ways of being a thief, and gave her a chance at something better. Erin, however, was naïve, and more often than not, their personalities clashed, causing him to help in the only method he knew how to- to be harsh and eventually, send her on her way. By doing this, he was trying to help her understand that the City was not a game to play, it was a place you had to survive, or be hung by the neck until dead.

It didn’t end well for either of them.

But when it came to saving her, to trying to fix things and make up for what happened in the past, he is reluctant to play the hero until it is pointed out why he is the only one who can be the hero. For the first time in his life he’s being asked to do the right thing, and if he doesn’t, the consequences will be far worse than if he does help. It strikes a very rough cord in him, a moment where he wants to deny that he’s emotionally attached to anyone, but knows better than to throw that part of himself away, much as he wants to. Because deep down, inwardly, letting go of that means he’s no better than the assassins or the lowlifes in the City. So with reluctance, he chooses to play the side of the good guy for once, and it’s a rare encounter for him as a whole.

Another person he cares for (even if he’s loathe to admit it) is Basso. Basso is his middle man, his “employer,” if you will, and the closest thing Garrett has to a friend. Basso is the one who usually connects Garrett with jobs around the City, and also locates some of the toughest and most impossible heists for the master thief to grab at. He’s a man the thief trusts, and that is a rare thing indeed, and one he does not abuse nor willingly state unless it’s with a client. Basso is just “that one guy” who’s a friend of everyone, and also really sleazy at the same time. It’s kind of why Garrett likes him. He’s predictable when it comes to earning coin.

Overall, the master thief is a complex and complicated man, someone who has had to survive on his own in the streets since he was a boy, in a world where it’s far easier to die than it is to live. Garrett has fought against the odds the entire way and made a name for himself doing something most people would call immoral, but it’s one he thrives and lives for all the same. He is a thief, someone guided by the challenges he can find, and the pride that comes when those challenges are accomplished. But more importantly he is a man who has a morality compass, an odd one at that, but it’s there and that’s what makes him different. And, quite frankly, he wouldn’t have it any other way. Not for all the loot in the world.

Jocelyn Xavier | Marvel 616 AU

[abetterway]

P L A Y E R;
NAME: Sage
AGE: 24
PLAYER JOURNAL: shobogan
TIMEZONE: EST
CONTACT: shobogan at plurk
OTHER CHARACTERS PLAYED: N/A

C H A R A C T E R;
NAME: Jocelyn Xavier
CANON: Marvel 616 AU
POINT IN CANON: Several weeks after the flashback in Uncanny X-Men 161.
AGE: 30
APPEARANCE: Xavier is currently in her thirties. She has light blue eyes and dark, prominent eyebrows. By the time she was eighteen, she'd gone entirely bald. She's prone to dressing formally; crisp collared shirts, smooth dark vests, sleek tailored trousers. She prefers neutral colours. She may uses a manual wheelchair made in the early sixties.
CANON HISTORY: Jocelyn was born to Brian and Sharon Xavier. Brian was, ostensibly, a wealthy nuclear researcher. He was in truth a geneticist, and part of clandestine project that studied mutant children. While Sharon disapproved of the tests, arguing on their young daughter's behalf, Brian was all to willing to use her as an experiment. Otherwise, he largely ignored her.

When Xavier was seven, her father died in an explosion at the nuclear facility the project was based in. His colleague, Kurt Marko, was quick to comfort Sharon. He ultimately convinced her that Xavier needed another father figure; that, largely, is why Sharon married him. 

She would soon come to regret it. Marko was abusive towards both her and Jocelyn, and his own son Cain. 

When Jocelyn was ten years old, her psychic abilities began to develop. She could feel the suffering of her mother and step-brother as keenly as her own. In time, she gained some measure of control; she'd purposely link her mind to her mother's, in order to share and soothe her pain. 

There was only so much help young Jocelyn could give. Sharon had been driven to alcoholism, and it took her life before her daughter reached eleven. Jocelyn was left alone with Marko and Cain. Her brother suffered the brunt of the abuse, and she couldn't help but feel guilty for it.

Still, when she had the opportunity to leave at sixteen in the form of a scholarship to Oxford University, she seized it. She'd always excelled academically, even without the use of her psychic abilities. She decided to pursue the field of genetics herself, hoping to do true good with the knowledge. 

When Marko died in a lab explosion, Xavier didn't grieve for him.

She met another genetics student named Moira Kinross. Xavier had long realised she was attracted to women, but this was the first time she dared to act on it. Fortunately, Moira shared the attraction. The two even decided to try living together.

Then, after Xavier had earned five Ph.D.s, Cain was drafted into the army, on the eve of the Korean war. Jocelyn still felt responsible for him, despite their strained relationship. She'd been honing her psychic abilities, and she used them to secure a place in his unit. She learned to pass as conventionally male without use of telepathy.

The war was, to be brief, utter hell for Jocelyn. She couldn't shut out such intense emotions; she experienced all of the hate and terror and suffering around her. She felt the deaths of enemies and allies alike. That was how she learned to construct such rigorous mental shields; it became her only option for survival.

It made it easier, just a bit, to take lives herself. 

Eventually, she managed to secure a place in search and rescue missions – focusing on liberation, rather than slaughter – and she learned to use her powers as an alternative. She used them, too, to help counsel and rehabilitate her fellow soldiers. 

It wasn't enough.

Receiving a letter from Moira breaking their makeshift engagement only made matters worse. Then, when she attempted to stop Cain from deserting, she thought she saw him die. 

The war had taken the love of her life. It had taken her brother. It should have been no surprise, really, when it took her legs as well.

It was to be her last month, after three years in hell. Even Xavier couldn't account for every variable, particularly when she was more focused on rescuing others than protecting herself. The bullet shattered her spine, ruined her spinal cord, and paralysed her for life.

As soon as she was able, she chose to travel the world; she needed to know there was more to it than chaos and bloodshed. In Kirinos, she found those who helped heal her spirit.

The war did give her something, though; the knowledge that she wanted, beyond anything else, to preserve life. To give everyone a chance to shape the future of the world.

That's why, in Cairo, she decided to confront the mutant crime lord controlling the thief's quarter. He was the first fellow telepath she'd ever met, and it became her first psychic battle. It was a struggle – another steep learning curve – but ultimately, she won. 

For the first time, she realised just how dangerous her fellow mutants could be. She decided it was imperative to unite humans and mutants against such threats.

Soon after, she received a message from her friend Daniel Shorman, a psychiatrist who'd worked with traumatised soldiers. He was now in Haifa, Israel, running a clinic for Holocaust survivors, and he needed Xavier's help.

That's where Jocelyn met Ada Lehnsherr, currently going by Mara. She was a survivor herself, volunteering at the clinic.

Both of them were amazed when Jocelyn sat down with Gabrielle Haller, Daniel's catatonic patient, and brought her back to consciousness without, apparently, saying a single world. She had, of course, entered Gabrielle's mind, sharing in the woman's trauma before manually dismantling the wall she'd built. 

Together, Jocelyn and Ada helped Gaby recover and adjust. The three become very close as they travel Israel. Xavier found a kindred spirit in Mara; she had a keen intellect, a vast appreciation for the wonders of the world, and a passionate drive for change.

But there was a fundamental difference between them. Xavier still believed humans and mutants could live in harmony. Mara, however, had experienced firsthand the atrocities committed to people simply for being different. She considered Xavier a rampant idealist, and believed the only way for mutants to secure their safety was to hold ultimate power.

Their mettle was tested when Baron von Strucker, a Nazi war criminal, kidnapped Gabrielle for the knowledge locked in her mind. Together, Xavier and Mara mounted a rescue. It was then that they finally revealed to each other what both had suspected – that they themselves were mutants.

Mara was utterly ruthless in her assault, while Jocelyn focused largely on rescuing Gaby – just as she'd done in the war. She used her telepathy to set Strucker's Hydra agents against each while Mara battled their leader.

Mara levitates them both out of harm's way, steals Strucker's gold, and murders him. Despite Xavier's protests, she leaves alone.

After spending some time more with Gabrielle, Jocelyn, too, forges her own path. 
CANON PERSONALITY: Jocelyn likes to think of herself as wise and objective, a mediating force in a frenzied world. 

In some ways, this is true. She began as a gentle, thoughtful person, and she strives to remain that way. She tries her utmost to be fair and compassionate, and for the most part it comes easily to her.

However, her past has left its mark on her. Jocelyn knows how it feels to be helpless, unable to protect yourself or the people you care for. She's sworn never to feel that way again, and that vow has formed into an intense need for control. 

For better or worse, she has the power to seize it. Along with this comes a certain arrogance, compounded by the sense that she knows what's best for other people.

Always, Jocelyn is a strategist, even in her day to day life. It's simply how her mind works, calculating and analytical; she plays to win. This isn't to say she can't be sincere and compassionate, even fun and silly - but for the most part, it's mind above heart. Occasionally, it can seem that she doesn't have the latter.

She's not above manipulating people, with or without her abilities, to further her goals. It is, after all, for the common good, and she's not truly hurting anyone. She'll avoid that as long as possible; she had to maim and kill in the war, and it sickened her to the core. She felt those people die.

Her ideals were, essentially, forged in blood and fire. They're consequently very hard to deter, and she finds it difficult to compromise. Perhaps, if she was more willing, she and Ada could have come to an accord. 

It's something she'll always regard wistfully. There are so many things she regrets, and part of her crusade of protection and unity is making up for her own mistakes, her own inabilities to act. She takes too much responsibility on herself. It is, in part, out of her own arrogance – why shouldn't she be able to control the world around her?

She wonders, in her darkest moments, if that's why Moira broke it off. If her first love saw through all the pretty lies she tells herself. So many people in her life just leave, one way or another – surely it isn't coincidence.

Usually, though, she's stalwart in her own righteousness. She needs to believe in herself, in her dream, if she's going to achieve anything. What is she, without that?

Jocelyn has chosen a difficult path. Many simply won't take a woman seriously, regardless of her credentials. Now, in a wheelchair, people are more likely to pity than respect her.

She won't let that stop her. 

POINT OF DEPARTURE: Jocelyn is an AU of Charles Xavier.

Being a woman very much influenced who Jocelyn is. It gave her a perspective the Xavier in canon lacked. She knows what it's like to be dismissed and derided at a glance. She knows what it's like to bear persecution without power. She can hear people objectifying and deprecating her before they ever say a word. 

Because of that, she can sympathise more easily with less diplomatic approaches, even if she doesn't agree. She understands enduring distrust and resentment. She won't sacrifice true equality for grudging acceptance. 

If anything, her need for control is more pronounced, simply because people were less inclined to give her any, even over herself.

Her home life was also different. She was even closer with her mother. Marko didn't respect her the way he would have a stepson, and Cain didn't resent her as he would a brother. As a result, Marko's abuse was more direct, and the losses of Sharon and Cain were harsher. She's been left a bit more raw and withdrawn. 

The second biggest divergence is the way she lost the use of her legs Charles had his legs crushed in a battle against an invading alien; Jocelyn was paralysed in the Korean war.
ABILITIES: Jocelyn is a skilled, powerful telepath. She can both read and influence peoples' minds. At this point, she cannot significantly alter them, not permanently, nor can she erase memories. 

She's able to access the astral plane, and fight mind-to-mind with other telepaths. She's killed a man this way. (Well. Mostly.)

She has no taste for violence, but she was a soldier for three years, and studied Eastern martial arts afterwards; she can defend herself physically if she needs to. She remembers all too well how to use a gun.

She has experience as a therapist, mostly through working with her fellow soldiers.

She has a Ph.D in genetics, biophysics, psychology, psychiatry and anthropology. 
INVENTORY; The clothes on her back – a tailored suit, worn but elegant – and her manual wheelchair.
ANYTHING ELSE WE SHOULD KNOW? Nope!

S A M P L E S;
FIRST PERSON: Her first Network Post for Outer Divide.
THIRD PERSON: Jocelyn has, as it turns out, absolutely no musical talent whatsoever.

Daniel plays the piano beautiful, fingers flying over the keys in a natural, graceful cadence. It's irritating, when her own attempts remain clumsily mechanical. Reading the music came easily enough; it's putting that knowledge to any use that gives her trouble.

Gabrielle, on the other hand, has been picking it up quickly. Daniel's hands guide hers as she goes, and Jocelyn feels her heart twist in her chest.

It's not fair, really. She hasn't said anything, and it would be a heinous breach of conduct besides. She was Gabby's doctor. And yet, with Ada gone her own way -

“Are you all right?” Most people couldn't tell the difference – she keeps too tight a reign for that - but Gabby is different. Jocelyn musters a smile, and shrugs her shoulders.

“I was merely...daydreaming.”

“Well, that's why you're not learning anything.” Daniel's tone is light, teasing, and Gabby's laughter is soft and kind.

“Surely it's all right for her to be bad at one thing.”

“Of course, but you know it's infuriating her.”

They know her entirely too well. It reminds her of Moira, poking every sore spot with a grin and a wink, shaping her into something softer.

She can't hold on to anyone, can she?

Better, probably, to leave them now, while they can still laugh with her. It's about time she makes progress, anyway; she can't sit here sketching out fantastical machines and distant plans forever.

Gabrielle's gaze remains concerned. She senses, perhaps, that something has changed.

Jocelyn will leave before she asks again.

revisions

[powersthatbe]

We like a lot of this app, but we're going to request revisions on personality and point of departure. In both cases, it feels to us as if the characterization given is in broad strokes, and we're having trouble getting a human, organic feel that would give us a better idea of what Jocelyn would be like in specific circumstances. You've done a great job showing the dramatic circumstances that forged her! But we'd like more specifics, more concrete examples, more human moments that give us a better sense of her day-to-day self.

If what we're asking for isn't clear, you're welcome to email the modbox and ask for clarifications.

Eridan Ampora (Hemostuck AU) ♒ Homestuck Part 1

[fathomsbeloww]

P L A Y E R;
NAME: Isabelle
AGE: 24
PLAYER JOURNAL: vibishan
TIMEZONE: EST
CONTACT: shipoftheseus on plurk
OTHER CHARACTERS PLAYED:

C H A R A C T E R;
NAME: Eridan Ampora
CANON: Homestuck (Hemostuck AU)
POINT IN CANON: Some time in the half-sweep between Lost Teeth Like White Jewels and With Ghosts Who Wait.
AGE: Almost eight sweeps - so, like 16ish.
APPEARANCE: Eridan’s a humanoid alien – thick grey skin, triple-tined earfins, gills on his torso, sharklike obviously carnivorous incredibly sharp dentition, backward-angled zigzag candy-cane corns, yellow claws and eye sclera, and purple blood and irises. He’s got black hair, usually gelled into a truly stupid splendid coif, with a purple streak dyed in the center. Unlike canon Eridan, he’s pretty ragged-looking, scuffed and scarred, with a bullet hole through one fin, and his dress still tends to vain and stylish but secondhand and much-mended. Unlike canon Eridan, he doesn’t wear glasses, even though he’s totally nearsighted. General Look.

CANON HISTORY: wiki is here

CANON PERSONALITY: Canon Eridan is one of the most devisive characters in homestuck. He's a lonely, awkward, nerdy kid who covers over his insecurities with flashy dressing and ill-advised braggadachio; he starts off as pompous royalty and completely (understandably) goes to pieces when his world is destroyed, and the system that valued him with it, and his friends and romantic prospects unanimously stop putting up with his shit. He's dramatic, capable of real dedication (as seen in the implied years of working helping Feferi hunt prey for Gl'bgolyb, which protects the landdwellers he ostensibly hates, and even his wrongheaded campaign against the angels, which he pursues with a stalwart, dogged determination in the face of fear and severe difficulty) and occasional sweetness (admitting he was wrong and apologizing to Kanaya in one of the walkaround flashes). He feels like he's important and misunderstood and unappreciated, he wants romance and has no idea how to get it, and he's hurt and angry at being ignored and rejected by his entire peer group at once: all very relatable.

On the flip side, he's actually a pretty terrible person. He's completely bought into his society's prejudices and its celebration of violent conquest, to the point of openly genocidal ambitions, though he doesn't seem to act on these before the game destroys their world, and he is functionally thirteen. He's less the equivalent of a neo-nazi than the very callous reddit-style unsophisticated libertarian asshat who thinks the poor should be left to starve because bootstraps, without any understanding of what that means for actual people, including the people he knows. Still a profound failure of empathy, but not as actively malicious and hateful as we tend to associate with the word 'genocide'. He says he wants to kill all the landdwellers in the world, but they also make up most of his friends. He's like the kid who daydreams about blowing up his school because he's miserable, but never really tried to go through with it - until his world and worldview collapsed around him, and he snapped.

He's oblivious to social cues because he's hideously self-absorbed. He's arrogant, whiny, and entitled to the point of becoming extremely dangerous to the people around him when he doesn't get what he wants. He's petty, stubborn, carelessly destructive, and doesn't think before he acts. He destroys the matriorb - the only hope of rebuilding his wiped out species - attacks the (in his eyes, unworthy low-caste) boyfriend of the girl he has a crush on, and murders her and one of his other friends who tries to stop his rampage. When he gets to his planet in the medium and meets the angels, he launches immediately into a quest to wipe them out, and can't be dissuaded even though they clearly aren't meant to be game opponents.

Eridan in canon is a pathetic, tragic figure: a kid with a lot of potential who buys into and tries to live up to a terrible cultural ideal that encourages the very worst in him; who in fact pretends to be a lot more heartless than he is for the sake of that ideal until that pretending crystallizes into irrevocable actions; who never gets a chance to grow up and grow out of his worst mistakes because he can't adapt to not being on top of the heap, lashes out disastrously, and gets himself killed, to everyone else's vague relief.

POINT OF DEPARTURE: The Hemostuck AU takes the entire anarcho-militant society of canon Alternia and flips it upside down. Instead of the fuscia empress and blue-blooded nobility running down the rainbow of colors to peasant yellows, oranges, and rusts, Hemostuck has a rust-blooded Empress, yellow-green nobility, blue-blooded dockside gangs and rabble, and seadwellers as the scum at the bottom who are feared as wild subtroll monsters but not respected in the slightest. Gl'bgolyb - the small eldritch abomination whose genocidal singing keeps the lowbloods in line - no longer exists.

Instead of being ruled by a squabbling, long-lived, hyperviolent nautical aristocracy, Alternia is ruled by the short-lived, more even-tempered, cooperative, and psionically-powered warm bloods. The society is much more condensed and urban, and is run by merchants and bureaucrats rather than a single brutal capricious dictator, but it's still an expansionist military empire, based on skewed hypercapitalist meritocracy with instead of purely on blood color.

Eggs are laid in huge clutches every ten sweeps (about twenty-one years), leading to discretely segmented generations called cohorts. The first cohort
lives on the home planet, where they are raised by nurturing albino animals called lusii (as in canon) and by carapace servants and a few adults chosen by the reigning bureaucracy (unlike canon). They are expected to build a society, and everything about that society is geared toward getting everyone trained up to join the fleet in space and contribute to the growth of the Empire, and everyone who can't contribute, keep up, or hold their own gets themselves killed before Ascension day. It's a candy-colored libertarian fever dream by way of Neverland and steampunk with a heavy helping of the Red Queen hypothesis.

In this world, a lot of Eridan's core personality is, in fact, exactly the same: he's still got the same boneheaded tenacity in spite of all odds or sense, he's still vain and stylish and melodramatic and a bit femme, he's still an outrageous and kind of terrible flirt, he's still overinvested to an unhealthy degree with the people he cares about, he's still arrogant and brash and horribly awkward and insecure underneath, he still desperately wants to be loved. He's still a horrendous military history nerd. He still doesn't give a single frothy cuttleshit about 99% of the people he meets, and he still has a huge capacity for resentment and absolute fuck-everything burn-the-world violence.

But because he's been stomped on all his life, because he's been at the bottom of a cruel and arbitrary hierarchy instead of the top, he doesn't have the same utterly toxic Nice Guy entitlement that canon Eridan has. Instead of inflating his ego, the messages he's internalized have completely denigrated him, and instead of glorying violence, his society glorifies work, useful contribution (although it is still much more casually and constructively violent than human society). Instead of being self-absorbed, AU Eridan is pretty selfless, in the most basic sense, in having very little sense of self-worth except in terms of how he can make himself useful to other people. His canon selfishness becomes something more noble when it expands to include a few people close to him, for whose protection and prosperity he will absolutely put his neck on the line again and again. Furthermore, although he doesn't give a damn about most people he meets, he's capable of spontaneous empathy and sacrifice on behalf of complete strangers, because he knows what it's like to be helpless and hurt.

His love of fashion is no longer just about showing off, it's about refusing to let the world grind him down, and about proving himself sane, civilized enough to care about being presentable, is a form of self-defense against a world that sees seadwellers as more wild animal than troll. His relentless stubbornness and pride become defiant in the face of degradation rather than a hubristic means of degrading others. He's still a smartass, but he's also learned, through painful necessity, to adapt in ways his canon couterpart didn't. Eridan still isn't great at yielding or picking his battles - except when he does, because he can't fight his whole society and he has to get by.

Another key difference in the Hemostuck universe is that fear and contempt for seadwellers - and their lack of power - has lead to cumulative environmental degradation of the seas, which are toxic from manufacturing runoff, sewage dumping, and in some cases deliberate poisoning, anoxic in huge swathes, and well on their way to ecological collapse. This has the effect of making seadwellers and their animal caretakers much more prone to sickness and madness, which simply reinforces their lack of worth and inhherent danger in the eyes of landdwellers. Consequently, Eridan's lusus/caretaker, seahorsedad, died when he was quite young, probably around 3 or 4 in human terms, leaving him orphaned. He and Feferi (who never had a lusus) ended up colonizing the same shipwreck, and decided to take care of each other.

He and Feferi are moirails, a form of nonsexual troll romance that involves nurturing, calming, and supporting each other, protecting each other, and being a comforting/stabilizing/conciliatory influence. (In canon, Feferi and Eridan begin as moirails but break up because Eridan wants to be matesprits - the sexual form of love - instead, and is an absolute entitled manipulative douchebag about it.) They love each other much more deeply and sincerely than canon, but it's still not very healthy: instead of being mismatched and uncommunicative, they're severely codependent. Because her exceptionally low fuschia blood makes her even more of a target than an ordinary seadweller, Eridan insists that Feferi never come to shore or interact with land-trolls at all, leaving her resentful, lonely, and restless.

Eridan himself goes to shore to sell cuttlefish that Feferi raises, do scutwork, and scape together enough cash to buy what necessities they can't scavenge or build themselves, including sopor, the expensive chemical that helps trolls sleep without constant terrible daymares (they're nocturnal). When he's around ten in human terms, a simple feelance body-dumping job turns into a chaotic mess filled with far too many chases and stabbings, and although terrified, he fervently pretends to be a collected hardboiled badass as hard as he can through the insanity that ensures, then has a small meltdown in Sollux's office when it takes then-apprentice spymaster a worryingly long time to locate a denomination of coinage small enough to give him his promised payment. He ends up hired long-term as an agent, and then archagent of Sollux's network, as well as his kismesis (troll romance beased on hate/rivalry/competition).

His life consists of being bilked and patronized by customs agents when he tries to sell Feferi's wares, getting attacked, assaulted, and humiliated for being a seatroll, performing seriously badass antics when necessary, raising the occasional terrifying flesh-eating zombie because the god of vengeance he only half believes in likes him a lot, and a lot of silly teenage romantic drama.

part 2

[fathomsbeloww]

ABILITIES: He's got gills, so he can breathe underwater, but his tissue is adapted for saltwater. He can breathe freshwater but if he stays in it too long, it will kill him. He's cold-blooded, has webbed toes, and is built to comfortably withstand a wide range of temperatures and the intense pressures of the deep sea without trouble. He's got an incredibly strong constitution, can eat anything from poisonous blowfish to septic fluid to actual jet fuel without a problem, although he's hideously lactose intolerant, and milk is the only thing that makes him sick. He can keep going on fumes even after taking a lot of damage and recover from almost anything faster than a human if he gets a chance to rest. He has decent night vision, but he's nearsighted, as well as bioelectric sensitivity in his fins that lets him sense nearby people and other sources of electricity. His horns are more like insent antennae then ungulate horns, and they're sensory organs as well, picking up pressure, air currents, and the shape of spaces. Both his fins and horns are overwhelmingly sensitive if touched or damaged, as are his gills. (Going after his fins in a fight is not unlike a human going after the eyes. Sadly it happens to him a lot.)

He's also considerably stronger than a human of his size. Feferi can just about benchpress a whale, and while he's not in her league, he could probably carry a car if he got a good grip on it. He's fast, agile, and has been getting in and out of serious fights for his life for years. He's used to carrying only a small clam knife, but he's also a good shot with a rifle. He's excellent at sewing thanks to years of mending and adjusting his own clothes, a pretty good carpenter, welder, electronic repairman/troubleshooter, and general handyman due to fixing up their shipwreck of a hive, a good sailor and a decent cook.

Lastly, as a favorite of the God of Light and Rain, if he kills someone by slicing open their abdomen and pulling their guts out, and he really needs it and the stars are right, they'll turn into a revenant: a mindless, fast-moving flesh-hungry zombie oozing corrosive black smoke and killing everyone they can reach until they are literally hacked to pieces.

INVENTORY; One titanium and topaz spade ring, one nickle and abalone diamond ring, assorted other cheap rings, one golden bee pin, one small clam-shucking dagger, two easily concealed switchblades, and one shank made out of a spoon. A well-used pocket sewing kit with two spare buttons. A palmhusk - basically a cheap, sturdy smartphone with some biotechnobabble fibrous elements that he mostly uses for texting.

ANYTHING ELSE WE SHOULD KNOW? Hemostuck trolls are Ken dolls instead of tentadick horrors, this is ficverse canon, I'm sure you are delighted to know it.

S A M P L E S;
FIRST PERSON:

[The taste of his mindvoice is a little bit alien, cool and slippery and indescribably violet, in a way that does and doesn't dovetail perfectly with liquid tenor, warbling velar consonants, and slouch-casual dockside diction. It's colder than usual today, raw like all of them are, filtered to a few people who went hunting with him down Moebius's hallways, a few people he trusts.]

Well if that weren't a lark and a half through the Violet Sister's own flipping drydock dayterror. Some nights I am upright grateful to have a bright god of vengeance and secrets, woulda dedicated the whole heapin horrorshow to her if I knew where a building keeps its guts. And no, you hornless alien wigglers may not share, she don't give a microscopic krillshit aboat any a you, on account of you ain't seadwellers.

[He doesn't really want to talk about it any more than anyone else does - but he's too proud and too tactless not to be contrary as regards precisely that impulse. He is too fucking tired of chunks of his skin belonging to every-glubbin-body as wants to bite off a piece to let this be the thing that makes him curl up and lick his wounds in silence.]

Anyways, we got a bit of proper ocean on the other side a the castle made of air-filled expansible petroleum product sacs, an I need a fuckin swim. Anybody mind watchin my jacket? I ain't gettin that neon-spotted water in it for love nor money, and I damn well aint lettin it vanish neither, it's swag as fuck an I got most of the creepy red bloodstains out.

I'll owe you. A smooch or a song or a bit a sewwin or sparrin, you know I'm good for it.

[Under other circumstances, he might make a crack about being flippin irresistible, on account of how he absofuckinlutely is, but he doesn't have the heart for it tonight. He just wants to feel the cool cleansing tingle of salt in his gills. Next time, folks.]


THIRD PERSON: He never spent much time underwater back on Alternia - on account of the oceans being poisonous oily wrecks, slow sick deathtraps, and he is the sanest seadweller anyone's ever met and keen to keep it that way - but he still thinks in three dimensions plus rather than two, in depth and current, z-axis angles and the edge of an algal bloom's enticing anoxic near-invisible spiral arm reaching to catch the unsuspecting rather than the gravity-bound plain of terrestrial geography.

It takes him a lot less time to get used to the spacial configurations of liminal space than it does to the idea of not seeing Fef or Sol or Kar again for a good long while - he flatly refuses to imagine he might miss Ascension day, no matter what otherworldly forces are screwing him now - or how he's newest neighbors to so many glubbing mammals. He never bothers to try to orient himself to an up, just triangulates where he wants to go vis-a-vis what all he wants to keep a clear view of, and just which kinds of madness he is willing to leave at his back. He flips himself until he's content with where his eyes and fins and feet are facing, slices diagonally through the air with easy intent.

He gravitates to boats, always, no matter what style or era or planet of origin. He's in some kind of hadal-explorer saucer now, all synth-smooth space-age unscratchable hypercarbon, a little teacup shape just large enough to sit in, bobbing along on a magma ocean that is mostly made of bright red and gold silk scarves. He has the observation dome down, and occasionally reaches over the side to scoop out a scarf with a bit of nice embroidery, something Kanaya would have liked. They don't last, but it doesn't matter, as long as he keeps accumulating them, bits of soft pretty comfort.

He's been sleeping dry for a month without his moirail and it is straight up uncanny amazing that he hasn't gutted everyone yet. It helps that nowhere they go seems to have Alternia's pan-rattling ghost problems, but he's still twitching from daymares and aching for the cool thick sluice of sopor on his skin. He gets a flicknife and his needle out, slices up a few of the gold and coppery scarves just to hear that inimitable silk-shred sound, then starts stitching the tatters into a kind of herringbone pattern of glimmering interlocking diamonds. Something Gamzee would call miracles. Something the Premier himself would be proud to tie into a cravat. Something that would make a truly excellent garrote. Eridan loves his faithful little knives but sometimes you need clean and quiet. He makes sure the embroidered patterns match by motif - flowers, perfect, and bronze-on-brass vines not so far from tentacles on the next, the whorls similarly angled - as he lines them up. If it's got to be done - and sooner or later, he reckons, shit is going to go from nonsensical to outright vicious - no reason not to do the thing with style.

Sansa Stark | A Song of Ice and Fire

[canbebrave]

P L A Y E R;
NAME: Sam
AGE: 21
PLAYER JOURNAL: powers
TIMEZONE: MST
CONTACT: plurk: starfires
OTHER CHARACTERS PLAYED:n/a

C H A R A C T E R;
NAME: Sansa Stark
CANON: A Song of Ice and Fire
POINT IN CANON: Post-Joffery's Wedding
AGE: 14
APPEARANCE: here
Her appearance will match that of her on the show, played by Sophie Turner, even though I'll be playing her from book canon.
CANON HISTORY: http://awoiaf.westeros.org/index.php/Sansa_Stark
CANON PERSONALITY: Soft-Spoken, Sweet Sansa Stark. Sansa is known by all that meet her at first as polite, well-mannered girl. She's been trained in the art of being a lady since childhood, so this should come as no surprise, but she's good at it. She's good at charming people, at smiling softly and chattering on about pointless topics that make others feel like they matter. She's good at lying to save face, if need be, and she's good at winning other’s hearts.
A dreamer at heart, Sansa would like to believe in fairytales and happy endings. At her core, that is who she is. A girl who trusts in others, who wants nothing more than for her knight in shining armor to sweep her off her feet. Sansa wants to see the good in people. She wants to trust in others, and to believe they won’t hurt her. Unfortunately- circumstances have forced her to face up with reality. Sansa’s world is a dark, miserable kind of place, with very few specks of good. Because of this, she’s had to become a little colder, a little more cautious. A little more calculating.
Sansa does not consider herself to be brave. She didn’t have the courage to run away like her sister Arya- and she’s never wielded a sword like her bastard brother Jon, or led an army and fought in a war like her brother Robb. Yet, bravery is one of Sansa’s defining traits. She has to be brave to survive. In her canon, Sansa lives in the city of the enemy, and fights every day just to stay alive. She may not be the fighting, dashing into wars kind of brave, but instead, she’s a smart, calculated brave. She’s the kind of brave that stays alive.
Though she saves face in front of people she sees as mattering- Sansa can be a little haughty and stuck-up. She was raised to be a fine lady, then a queen, then the king’s sister-in-law, and so forth. She hasn’t exactly mastered the art of being humble or understanding, and at times she’s downright unaccepting. While she’ll always attempt to be just and fair- that doesn’t mean she doesn’t see herself as above other people. In Sansa’s mind, every thing, and every person has it’s own place. It’ll take time, and much practice to convince her otherwise.
But above all, it’s important to remember- Sansa still has her kindness. She holds it in her heart, she hides it at times, but it’s still there. It’s what drives her at her very core, a desire to be good to others, and a hope that others will somehow be good to her. Despite all that has happened to her, all the abuse she’s sustained, she keeps this about her.
POINT OF DEPARTURE: n/a
ABILITIES: While Sansa's no magician or fighter, she's an excellent hand at needlework, a semi-good liar, and is very used to surviving in adverse environments.
INVENTORY; She'll have arrived in a silver gown, with sleeves that almost reach the floor, lined in purple felt. In her hair, she had a hairnet with amethysts.
ANYTHING ELSE WE SHOULD KNOW? i hope not bc i cant think of anything right now.

S A M P L E S;
FIRST PERSON: It's come to my attention that everyone else seems to be offering their services to each other. I don't have much to offer, but I suppose I might as well.... [Her voice drifts off, as if she's going to another world, deep in her thoughts. After a few seconds, she catches herself, and starts speaking again.] I might as well return the offer. It's only polite.

I can use a needle and thread, if you would be so kind to provide the supplies. I used to make my own gowns, once upon a time. ...Bring me the supplies before we're whisked off again. I can be useful.
THIRD PERSON: Sansa stood there in the doorway, her mouth shaped in an ‘o’ shape for just a fraction of a second. Her thoughts raced through her head, a mile a minute, and she quickly remembered to be polite and shut her mouth. ’A lady does not gape’ Her septa’s reminder was one of the thoughts racing by, as she cast her gaze away. She gripped the doorway with one hand, while her cheeks began to grow to the color of apples. What could she do? ’Lie. Don’t let them think you’re judging them.’

She rose her head up again, making eye contact with her friend. Trying to keep her emotions off her face (though her eyes are a giveaway, she still hasn’t perfected lying, how has she not perfected it after all these years, why?), she steadied her voice. She had to choose her words very carefully here, lest she offend someone. Everyone was so different here, but the same basic rules of conversation still applied.

“It’s certainly… very complimentary of your body. I’m sure he’ll be…enchanted, by what he sees.” There. That surely wouldn’t offend her friend, right? She smiled just a hint of a smile, feeling a little relieved already with the words out of her. A little white lie, no harm done there. If she told her friend the truth- that she was wearing less clothes than the whores in the whorehouse, and that it was extremely unbecoming, she likely wouldn't still be her friend.

Curse these strange other worlds and their ridiculous garments called miniskirts.

[powersthatbe]

ACCEPTED!

SOUJI OKITA ; hakuouki ( reserved )

[creatic]

P L A Y E R;
NAME: seiko
AGE: 27
PLAYER JOURNAL: seiko
TIMEZONE: GMT - 5 { EST }
CONTACT: inabox
OTHER CHARACTERS PLAYED: -- --

C H A R A C T E R;
NAME: Souji Okita
CANON: Hakuouki
POINT IN CANON: ( Mixed media okayed here ).

Anime Sequence: Episode 18, Game Sequence: Hakuouki: Hekketsuroku (Chapter 8 of Hijikata's Route/Chapter 5 of Okita's Route)

So, I'll be using information from the visual novel, the anime, and part I of the movie to try and flesh out his situation as much as possible without straying much from Hijikata's route. He'll be dying as he did in episode 18 of the anime. This is mostly concerning Chizuru, since she's only a love interest in his route—well, maybe a little more than just his route but thanks for taking that away from him, too, along with Kondou-san, Hijikata-san. But, it's okay, since he lost to Hijikata for Chizuru-chan's love, Kaoru was the next best thing. W O W.

oh my god don't reject me, it makes sense in my head, i swear. See more here.

AGE: 26
APPEARANCE:

General appearance. ( his eyes are normally green, though, so here's another. )
Rasetsu appearance.

CANON HISTORY:

i. A Let's Play
ii. A Wiki
iii. This trainwreck pretending to be a wiki
iv. Okita's Reimeiroku route (in list)
v. Laure's Canon Write-up for Souji (used with permission. she's also already in game and can be contacted at elvellyn if verification is needed that she allowed this.)
vi. Historical Okita Souji @ Wikipedia

specific events. these events can vary in game depending on players choice/route following or different from the mixed media being used for his history, so to clarify important events/his knowledge of things, I'm just going to list them here!
● When Kazama Chikage and Souji cross paths in Ikedaya, Chizuru does come to interfere between the two of them.
● Next, Chizuru accompanies Hijikata to Mt. Ten'nou where Chizuru again meets Chikage (and Hijikata meets him for the first time).
● Following the movie version of events, Souji meets Kaoru while out with Chizuru but has a flare-up of his tuberculosis and collapses against a tree in a coughing fit. Kaoru approaches him to give him 'his' (at the time, Kaoru is presenting himself as a woman) handkerchief before departing.
● During the second raid on Shinsengumi HQ (in Chapter 3, I believe around summer 1867...) Chizuru ends up jumping in the way to protect Hijikata when Chikage gains the upper hand on him during their fight and almost kills the Vice-Commander.
● Chizuru goes to retrieve Heisuke at Aburano Koji rather than assist with Itou's assassination.
● Again, following movie version of events here because they don't as heavily involve Chizuru and thus won't conflict with Synodiporia's Hijikata and Chizuru's version of events. After Kondou is shot in an attempted assassination, an ill Souji overhears and also finds a vial of ochimizu that's been left unintended. He steals it and takes it, tracking down and slaughtering the assassins before getting into a fight with Kaoru, as well. The fight ends with Kaoru putting a silver bullet through his shoulder, injuring him and he passes out ( and has no recollection of who came to drag him back to HQ or how/when ).
● Hijikata and Kazama cross blades at Toba-Fushimi after Kazama cuts down Inoue when he tried to protect Chizuru from him. The demon reveals his true form in the fight with Hijikata, but in turn Hijikata drinks the ochimizu in a desperate attempt to prevail in the conflict. Yamazaki is mortally wounded in the conflict protecting Hijikata.
■ Souji is left behind in Kyoto by the rest of the Shinsengumi with the last words Hijikata says to him ( "We'll be waiting for you." )
■ When news of Kondou's capture and execution reaches him, he leaves Kyoto in search of Hijikata in order to confirm ( more like in an attempt to deny to himself what the truth is ) what happened. He finds Hijikata with Chizuru and they get into a fight Souji flips his shit on Hijikata ( who has the most beautiful and profound way of wording the heavy topics just like his poetry ) and punches him when faced with the truth that Kondou is dead and leaves. BUT NOT BEFORE SAYING HE 'LL NEVER FORGIVE HIM. :) :)
■ And, like the awesome relationship they have, Souji goes and gets himself killed so he doesn't have to forgive him. Actually, it's more like despite his feelings, he knows what Kondou wanted and what Kondou wants is what Souji's life is dedicated to. He understands Hijikata's life was more important than anything to the late Shinsengumi commander, so when he overhears a plot to assassinate Hijikata while he's recovering in town, he doesn't hesitate to stand in their way. Despite his failing health, he fights until the end until his rasetsu form uses up the remainder of his life-force and he disintegrates into dust.

[creatic]

P E R S O N A L I T Y ;
❝. . .If you really want to live, trust your luck.❞

SO OKAY, my eyes are like bleeding by now here but let's go i can do this section i'm freaking out like a Chihuahua, though!! also im so sorry for all my shitty commentary i tried to actually be mature and take it out but i've been looking at the screen too long HAHAHA :C

Anyway, you know that whole 'people are like an onion' thing? It fits Okita Souji perfectly.

Yeah, you know, this one:








So, now that we got that defining point of Souji's personality mentioned, we can continue with everything else.

The Okita Souji that he presents to the world is very different from the one that he really is ( or that he feels he really is but more on that later ). To the general population, he's cheerful to a fault and hardly ever serious ( although when push comes to shove, he can and has said to be ruthless, even historically ), playful and—from a distance—it could be said he even seems to be a rather happy person. He does have a terribly morbid sense of humor, often threatening the protagonist of the series with talk of killing her, but for the most part he is seen as a tease and a complete ass-buster, particularly when it comes to the vice-commander of Shinsengumi, Hijikata Toshizou. It's very clear that Souji adores Kondou Isami, the commander, as well.

Nothing really out of the ordinary in terms of a general person, and without further digging or observation, one could very well see him that way for the entire time they know him. And, to be fair, that isn't all that surprising when one thinks about the makeup of human nature. It's natural to defend deeper and darker secrets and the social penetration theory ( also this is the actual onion metaphor i was referring to ) supports that there will almost always be far more to a person than is ever shown on the surface, only slowly revealed piece by piece as one gains trust.

For Souji, getting him to trust anyone is almost as difficult as getting him to give someone the opportunity to gain his trust in the first place. He's very closed off and anti-social beyond the others he knows in the Shinsengumi ( and even then, he's not super impressive there, either ). He has an obviously difficult time making friends which can be seen just by his interactions with the two protagonists of the Hakuouki series, Yukimura Chizuru and Ibuki Ryunosuke. The thing is that he doesn't seem to care that he lacks the ability to reach out to others and form bonds with them.

Which, makes sense when past circumstances are brought to life.

Born into a samurai family, Souji was raised by his older sister after the passing of their parents, but she struggled to support them until she finally married. However, once married, it became obvious she couldn't take care of him any longer and left him in the care of the Kondou Shuusai as a private pupil at his Shieikan. There, he was quiet and kept to himself, doing his tasks without complaint, although that didn't mean he didn't feel anything in response to what he considered abandonment by his sister. He was also bullied by other pupils at the Shieikan due to his smaller size and his attitude in refusing to let them have the satisfaction of seeing him cry.

Mitsu's letting go of him to the Shieikan is what could be considered the final straw to his view of the world and its defining emotions—about love, about loyalty, and about companionship. From his eyes, he saw her act as the final proof that people would always abandon him, would always leave him alone and there was no such thing as the 'love' so many talked about. With the treatment he received at the Shieikan, especially by the other pupils, the world became painted as a cruel place where everyone was out for themselves, a place to get ahead by bullying and hurting those weaker than themselves, and that anything kind done was only done for personal gain. He wasn't accepting of this view, either, and seeing the world in such a negative way made him spiteful and mistrusting of everyone. Even Kondou Isami, who would eventually become his everything, was subject to Souji's decathexis along with his poor opinions of human nature. So, the need to make friends or other social acquaintances is a useless skill from his point of view.

It's true that Kondou eventually changed his mind, but the key point is that Kondou changed Souji's mind about one person and one person only: Kondou himself. Souji has always been and continues to demonstrate with his treatment towards others that he is fine with this single exception and has no desire to seek more like that in his life.

"But there is someone who wouldn't lie. There is someone I can trust. It's Kondou-san who showed me these.

So I want to repay him. I don't know if it'll make him sad, but it's the only thing I can do. Even if I have to become a sword that can only kill, since it's what Shinsengumi needs now, I will."

—Reimeiroku, Chapter 6 of Okita's route.


Despite that, it's not to say he can't be friendly when he wants to be and although he generally will ( and does ) come off as an insensitive jerk, for a lack of better way to sum it up, he is a generally good person. Confused and warped in the head super crazy, but a good person. He wants to do the right thing—but he also believes himself to be an awful person. In fact, he believes this so much, the entire outward appearance he projects to the world ( besides the ruder aspects ) isn't so much to mislead others as much as it is to mislead Kondou and have him think he is exactly as Kondou wants to see him as.

He does have his friends, however, and while— I'M NOT GOING THERE BECAUSE HIJIKATA-SAN WON'T GET HIM A POCHI!!!! —they're very few, he's fiercely loyal to them towards the end.

If nothing else, the one thing Souji seeks not to be is a hypocrite. He may not let many in, but those he does are never subject to what he, as a child, experienced. He will not betray them and he will never say he feels something for them when he doesn't. Saitou Hajime is the one he's closest to and is the only individual that has a better idea of what lies beyond Souji's demeanor ( although Shinpachi and Heisuke do reveal in various places that the Shinsengumi captains as a whole know more about one another than they let on even to people such as Hijikata and San'nan ) and their relationship is a unique one. But, let's leave it with Saitou and Okita are best friends and most comfortable with and understand each other and both give each other the treatment they both crave so badly: to be treated normally when the rest of society views them as anything but.

It also is worth noting that Souji's general approach to other people is dictated solely by Kondou's opinion of them, willing to extend his tolerance for their presence so long as it makes the other happy.

Still, in spite of all of that, both Chizuru and Ibuki show that it is possible to get through to him—the one thing that works well with him is persistence. Perhaps it's because he trusts little else, but relentless and pure effort especially in the face of constant rejection is not something humans can fake for long. And he will go out of his way to take care of those people, even if he gives little hint of how he feels about them.

❝Hate me all you like.
I will continue killing.
What awaits me will only be hell.❞

The problem is, every person, even the most dedicated and purest of individuals out there, has their flaws. Nobody's perfect and Souji himself is so far from perfect. On the plus side, he's aware of this. On the not-so-plus side, he's aware of this.

His entire view of the world is exactly like a child's, even if with a more morbid tint. There are psychological studies on theories as to what causes an adult to never pass into adulthood in all aspects, but regardless as to why, the fact remains that he lacks the proper mature perspective necessary as an adult to live as a normal individual does.

Souji sees only in black and white, never in grey. It's not just a result of stunted emotional growth, either. It's a choice and he has no reason to want to change it ( although it is seen in his route that he is capable of otherwise, if someone were to work hard enough to showing him ). As he is, he doesn't seem to comprehend things that should be basic ( the value of a life—including the value of his own, recognizing love and care from others, having his own individual thoughts and feelings to live his own life, manners, etc. ) to a human being. The scariest part of that is that what he DOES seem to understand is that he should act or feel differently judging by the way the world around him reacts but he just doesn't care enough ( or at all ) to want to understand why or otherwise change. What he's doing has given him the only thing he wants—Kondou accepting him and not hating him—so anyone telling him he needs to change his way of life is easily and immediately dismissed.

Of course, this simplistic nature extends to become troublesome beyond simple responses to situations in general society or in relation to his respect for life. It creates a very different type of hurdle and one that Souji finds himself constantly almost impossible to pass in terms of his closest people beyond Kondou ( because, yes, they do exist and one in particular exists that he suffers greatly with as a result of this very thing ).

And—to further support the immaturity problem—when Souji doesn't get his way, he can be the biggest little shit. He can take matters into more dangerous territory ( especially if they are insulting or otherwise suggesting Kondou in any negative light ), but he's been shown to whine and throw a fit just like a toddler might, as well ( particularly with Hijikata ). Although he does calm down over the years, it's mostly due to Hijikata's change of action ( that is, him respecting a request by San'nan to let the other look over Souji rather than Hiiikata interfering anymore ) than any level-up in his maturity on Souji's part. And no one quite affects him like Hijikata does, meaning there's a lot less for him to fight with and face these flaws he has in his closed little world.

❝Both you and I don't have anything.
So unlike those who are in abundance, I am attached to the only treasure I have in hand.
The last thing I want is for him to dislike me.
I would rather die than to see him sad.❞

Souji has a very clear outlook on his life and what he wants to do with it. Unfortunately, with this clear outlook, he isn't really struggling to find his place in the world and that's another thing that makes it so difficult to associate with him. He's already decided what he's worth and all that he can be versus what everyone else wants him to be. Even as someone who wants nothing more than to make Kondou happy, he merely accepts that no matter how hard he tries, he will never be able to be what Kondou wants. He doesn't understand ideals, he can't be a good person, none of these things matter to him and he has found it difficult to find a reason to fight beyond simply doing it for Kondou. He admits this, but it seems his fears halt him from confronting these things ( he sounds like he's confronted them and accepted them, but the reality is he's turning his back on them ) and working to be whatever it is that he currently isn't.

What others think of him doesn't concern him nor does what he accomplishes for himself. With this, his fears are still just as they were as a child. He fears being alone. He fears being left behind. He fears being hated by the person he loves. So, he hides his real self away from everyone, but mostly away from Kondou for the sake of not jeopardizing his relationship with the older man. Instead of trying to be what he is convinced he can't be, he pretends to be it while being exactly what he trusts and knows himself to be. And, that is being the sword of the Shinsengumi; a weapon, a tool, and nothing more than a means to an end.