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Applications are closed permanently. Thank you to everyone who has applied over the years! Before applying for a character, make sure you've read the rules and FAQ. You should also refer to the application guide to see what we're looking for in our applications. You may apply for one character per application cycle and three characters total. Please put your character's name and canon in the subject line of your application comment. Applications must be posted directly to this post and cannot be links. We will screen your application if you request it of us after we review it. Application challenges are allowed, but someone who did not place a reserve challenge cannot challenge a reserved application. Once reservations expire, an application challenge can only be placed before we process the character application of the applicant you would like to challenge. In the event of us nearing our application cap and having more applications than slots, we will attempt to choose the most well-written applications. First-time applicants will be processed first, then applications for second characters, and finally applications for third characters. We may allow more applications to be submitted than we have slots for in the name of greater selection. We will clarify in our response if an application is not being allowed into the game because of the cap or because of issues with the application not meeting the standards of the game. Canon Character Application <span style="font-size: 2em;"><font color="#509E99" face="garamond, georgia, serif">Player Information</font></span> <b>Name:</b> <b>Age:</b> <b>Contact Info:</b> <b>Other Characters:</b> <span style="font-size: 2em;"><font color="#509E99" face="garamond, georgia, serif">Character Information</font></span> <b>Name:</b> <b>Canon:</b> <b>Age:</b> <b>Gender:</b> <b>Canon Point:</b> <b>Background Link:</b> <b>Inventory:</b> <b>Personality:</b> <b>Flavor Abilities:</b> <b>Suitability:</b> <b>RP Samples:</b> Original Character Application <span style="font-size: 2em;"><font color="#509E99" face="garamond, georgia, serif">Player Information</font></span> <b>Name:</b> <b>Age:</b> <b>Contact Info:</b> <b>Other Characters:</b> <span style="font-size: 2em;"><font color="#509E99" face="garamond, georgia, serif">Character Information</font></span> <b>Name:</b> <b>Canon:</b> <b>Age:</b> <b>Gender:</b> <b>Inventory:</b> <b>World Description:</b> <b>Background:</b> <b>Canon Point:</b> <b>Personality:</b> <b>Flavor Abilities:</b> <b>Suitability:</b> <b>RP Samples:</b>

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America | Axis Powers Hetalia

[fifty]

Player Information

Name: Mel
Age: 26
Contact Info: maiiau
Other Characters: N/A

Character Information

Name: America
Canon: Axis Powers Hetalia
Age: 238 as a nation, ~400 total history, appears 19
Gender: male
Canon Point: June 2015
Background Link: Hetalia wiki, history of the United States
Inventory: America will be wearing his brown bomber jacket over pretty bog standard business casual attire (dress shirt, slacks, and scuffed up dress shoes), along with his glasses. He'll have his keys, wallet (with IDs, some credit/banking cards, a few photos, and some small amount of now useless American currency), and a (useless) iPhone.

Personality: America is loud, outgoing, oblivious, and has kind of a hero complex--in short, a giant stereotype of the United States. In short doses (or if you're especially patient) he can be fun to be around, but his energy and insistence on taking charge of things makes it easy for him to rub people the wrong way. He does mean well, though, even if he doesn't always go about things properly.

Outgoing and energetic, America is a people person more often than not--wanting to spend time on his own is an incredibly rare occasion and often a sign of something wrong. It's easy, watching him run around, to think that at all times he has more energy in reserve to keep going, like some sort of energizer bunny that runs on hamburgers. While not exactly the case, America does a good job of acting like it is, and his enthusiasm and the force with which he inserts himself into most situations can make him exhausting to deal with.

And he does use the force of his personality to get himself involved in things whenever he can. America loves to be the leader--the hero, with everyone else as sidekicks. Possibly poisoned by too much television and movies, he wants to be in the starring role all the time, and always because he is completely convinced he knows exactly what to do. This isn't always (or even often) true, but his intentions really are good even if they're obnoxious.

America often comes across as oblivious, naive, and idealistic. His crazy plans and tendency to insist people do what he says are born out of a desire to help and a belief that he really does know what to do to fix whatever's wrong. It's overconfidence born of his strength in the world combined with an already too confident personality, and given how often he'll hardly notice less forceful objections and trample over anything resembling subtlety, it's an attitude that's going to stick around. Someone who does have the force to really stand up to him is asking for an argument--though America, if anything, seems to enjoy these sorts of arguments unless he's being unusually serious.

As mentioned before, he seems really oblivious to the feelings, opinions, and actions of others a lot of the time. And this is to some degree true, but in other ways it's not, and this is where the fact that America is kind of a jerk comes in. Oh, he's a well-intentioned jerk, but he's young and he's got a bit of an ego on him, and if he reads the atmosphere in a room and decides he wants it to change, well, that old atmosphere just doesn't exist to him. Opinions and feelings that don't go along with what he wants are often intentionally ignored--that's part of why he sometimes enjoys talking to someone who will start a fight with him, because he places a different sort of value on people who won't let him steamroll them. America is smarter than he acts--he has a longtime interest in astronomy, science, and archaeology--he just doesn't always use that intelligence for the best things (though he never believes he's using it for bad things).

Now, while he is a jerk, he's not really mean-spirited. When he teases people it's just playing around, and because it's hard for him to really hold a grudge (though when he does it's very hard for him to let go of it) he doesn't really understand that when he forces his opinion on someone they might continue to resent it. He does generally try to be a nice guy; he wants to be a hero, and heroes are good people who help everyone and save the day! He just doesn't really know how to be the nice guy people want and instead acts like a grandstanding superhero to compensate. America has the potential to be a good leader--he can be charismatic, and he excels at unusual or ridiculously bold strategies that actually manage to work. When placed in a leadership role he can and has done well; he just needs to learn how to tone down his intensity.

America has a high opinion of himself. He, as far as he's concerned, is both super cool and awesome, and everyone else should think so, too. In some ways he fits bits of the jock stereotype, being athletic and kind of egotistical, but in other ways he doesn't quite slot in properly; he's too into space and comics and movies and aliens and science fiction for that. But when it comes to those sorts of things, America just thinks that they're super cool, too, so it never really occurs to him to be insecure about them.

He does have his insecurities, though. When America opens up and trusts someone, that person becomes capable of bypassing his armored ego because, when it comes to people he likes, he wants to please. Teasing is a different, less serious matter (though someone with a sarcastic enough personality can make him take teasing more seriously than it's meant to be taken), but if someone he trusts, admires, or respects seriously criticizes him sharply enough, America will take this as a sign of them deeming him not good enough or just a generally bad person and he'll take that quite badly. When America cares about someone enough to care about their opinion, he can almost seem insecure at times when that person is snapping back at him for doing something stupid. America wants to be loved and wants people to like him, and the idea of being unlikable, of being hated, is a bit frightening for him when it comes from someone whose opinion he believes in. Of course, with all this talk of trust and his opinions of those who have earned his, it should come as no surprise that America takes real betrayal (or something he perceives as one, even if the other party disagrees) very badly. It's a good way to actually win one of those hard-earned grudges from him, and building back up to "good relations" will be difficult, let alone getting that trust back again. On a more ridiculous note, America is terrified of ghosts and the supernatural. He doesn't like the idea of something he can't understand and can't punch; he goes from unsettled to antsy to running and hiding very quickly when he has to deal with that sort of thing.

Overall, America is annoying, loud, and always wants to be the center of attention. He also tries really hard to be a hero, help people out, and loves having fun with everyone he runs into. Opinions on him tend to be very polarized--it's hard to have a neutral opinion on him once you spend too much time with him. But he's not a bad guy, really. Once you get used to him, anyway.

Flavor Abilities: America will retain his conndction to the United States from his world. He won't be able to feel updates on what's happening and it will grant no additional abilities, but he will still feel like he's connected as opposed to like he just got that sense chopped off. He's also able to tell by looking at someone if they feel like a nation or not, which is pretty useless but hey.

Suitability: Playing with America's fear of the unexplained will be a lot of fun in general, of course--he's not good at problems he can't solve physically. At some point I want him to die and lose the ability to speak, probably for a full OOC month, since he's so talkative and active in that way in general and it would really upset him. I want to explore America being forced to deal with being brought down to normal human levels and not being able to just force his way through the problems in front of him, instead having to work with others on an equal level or even a level where he realizes he's not the one with the most useful skills at hand (though that would take a lot of work, it's a fun long-term goal). America hates things that even hint at being ghosts, he hates the cold, he's just generally going to hate this setting, and I think the stress of it will bring out a lot of opportunity for him to get highly emotional and reactive about a lot of things.

RP Samples:
test drive meme one
test drive meme two

ACCEPTED

[snowblindmods]

Congratulations, you’ve been accepted into snowblindrpg! Your character’s tag will be america (hetalia). Your character will wake up at six AM on day 001 in a building on square B11. The description for this building is as follows:

This house has collapsed, but some miracle of coincidence has led to it to collapse around an intact wall with an intact door, forming a single very dark sealed room to stay in overnight if you wish. The inside is covered in dust, debris, and rusting nails, of course, and there's no light inside that you don't bring in yourself, with not even a single window remaining (though there's broken glass implying some must have existed), but it's better than being outside.

Please reply to this comment with the journal you will be using for the game. After that, join snowblindrpg, snowblindooc, and optionally snowblindmemes with your character journal. After that, reply to the taken character list and player contact list and make a top level thread for your character on the search page. If you have not replied to these lists within three days you will be removed from the game and will have to apply again.

Thank you for your interest in our game!

England | Axis Powers Hetalia (1/2)

[keepscalm]

Player Information

Name: Cee
Age: 21
Contact Info: ceesawaseesaw
Other Characters: N/A

Character Information

Name: England
Canon: Axis Powers Hetalia
Age: 1088 as a united nation, ~1600 total history, appears 23
Gender: Male
Canon Point: June 2015
Background Link: Hetalia wiki, history of England, and history of the United Kingdom
Inventory: England's attire consists of a three-piece brown suit with a white dress shirt, red tie, brown belt, and brown dress shoes. He has his keys, wallet, and smartphone in his trousers pockets, and a comb, pen, and embroidered handkerchief in his inner jacket pocket. The wallet holds his IDs, bank cards, British currency, photos, and a few old receipts.

Personality: Once upon a time, there was a very, very small child with very, very big eyebrows. He had a mother and a few older brothers, and the responsibility of a whole nation on his scruffy little shoulders.

That was a long time ago, but honestly, England hasn't changed much since then. He mostly just got taller.

The most important thing to know about England is that he doesn't trust easily. Many facets of his personality and how he interacts with other people stem from his trust issues. Simply by virtue of what he is, England has lived through a lot of dirty political tricks, backstabbing, and betrayals — and he's reciprocated his fair share of it. He knows what people are capable of, so even if he sometimes dares to hope for the best, what he's expecting is always the worst. England taught himself early on to be stubbornly cynical, because idealism doesn't do you any favours when your land is being invaded before you're tall enough to properly use a longbow.

Where the problem comes in is the fact that, by nature, England isn't like that. He was always cautious, always introverted, but it was the world that taught him to be pessimistic and distrustful. So, he's always held that against the world. And, just the same, he tends to take it out on the world, too.

It goes without saying at this point that England can be hard to get along with. It's definitely not impossible; he's friends with Japan and is civil enough with Seychelles that he feels comfortable asking her to be the honeymoon location for the royal couple, plus he's downright pleasant to baby America in the 1600s. It's said that he has a soft spot for cute people, magical creatures, and children. But he's a bit easily offended (mostly because he's always expecting to be offended) and he's prone to keep people at arm's length. So, carrying on an extended conversation with him can be difficult unless one can get him talking about something he's interested in.

He's actually fairly tolerable to most people he's first meeting, unless he's in a spectacularly bad mood. He's completely capable of talking to someone without biting their head off if he doesn't have reason to think they're going to slight him somehow, though a lot of his relation to people is through shallow pleasantries and sarcasm anyway, as those are the go-to communication methods for a distant jerk like him. He's also made a habit of lashing out easily when someone says something he doesn't like, because he's got a stick up his arse and a temper as ridiculous as the day is long. Once someone does slight him, that's where everything goes all pear-shaped. England holds grudges forever. In the strip that details the Anglo-Japanese alliance, there is a note about his treatment of France that describes vindictive action as "typical" of England and that "he never forgives his enemies". His reaction to July 4th illustrates this well; even over two hundred years later, he still gets a seasonal sickness in reaction to Independence Day, and it's one of his favourite topics to drunkenly rant about. But if someone can manage to talk to him without pissing him off, he can occasionally be pleasant company.

England fancies himself a gentleman despite his propensity for poor behaviour, of course. He likes people to think that he's ruled by reason and propriety and that he can keep up the "stiff upper lip" ideal all the time. But anyone who knows England also knows that his claims to gentlemanly fame are an exercise in both pretence and futility. At his core, England is rowdy, vulgar, and selfish. The truth is, he's overemotional; he's easily swayed by sentiment, both good and bad. Pointless reminiscing and centuries-old grudges are both commonplace for England, and they both affect his actions. He's definitely gone to war over grudges before — when the War of Austrian Succession became unfavourable for Austria, England left a note for him that said "Just wanted to kick France's ass. I'm neutral now." And then, following that, he joined the Seven Years' War on Prussia's side against Austria, just because Austria had allied with France and England wanted a piece of the fight against the French forces.

It's no secret that England is a huge hypocrite in a lot of ways, especially in regards to the "gentleman" thing. He'll reprimand someone for their table manners in one moment and then jump over that same table to clock France in the teeth in the next. Not acknowledging this hypocrisy is par for the course with England, as is denying it if he's ever called out on it.

In general, England doesn't like admitting when he's wrong, and he doesn't like asking for help. It's a matter of pride. He has constructed for himself an absolutely absurd fortress built of pride and held together by a strong paste of denial. He learned many centuries ago that weakness doesn't pay, and he sees being wrong — and especially admitting to someone that he was or ever could be wrong — as a weakness. England is always right (except when he's not), and he's always strong (except when he's not). Admitting otherwise is admitting defeat. When he does confess to needing assistance or advice, it's very reluctant, as demonstrated in the recent Industrial Revolution strips. If it's for the betterment of his nation, he'll suck it up and do it, but he won't like it.

Honestly, the pride thing covers a much broader spectrum than just doing dumb, hypocritical shit; it blankets any kind of vulnerability in general, including the kinder side of human emotion. England is reluctant to make concessions of any calibre to people because he worries that they will be marked and taken advantage of.

This doesn't mean that he never does anything nice, but he tends to have regret upon doing so, due to his aforementioned tendency to view softer emotions in himself as weakness. Of course, despite this, England never learns in this regard. In much the same way as when he lets his temper get the better of him, sometimes he gets sentimental urges that simply cannot be ignored. Getting attached to someone is damning for England, because it inevitably means he's going to embarrass himself by being nice to them. And it gets worse the longer someone sticks around. Though he'd dig his own grave before admitting to it, when he cares for someone, he's in it for the long haul, even if he often seems very hot-and-cold in the short term. And he has the capacity to care very deeply for people, even if he's rubbish at actually showing it.

On the whole, England is so critical of himself and his own emotions because of low self-esteem. After all, he's just some rainy, black sheep island with no friends and no more empire to compensate for not having friends. Or so he often thinks, anyway, because self-deprecation is another of his wonderfully marketable skills. Truthfully, England does have a few friends amongst the other nations; not many, but that's asking a bit much of a group of beings that have been fighting amongst each other for centuries. However, due to his trust issues, England sometimes has trouble believing that people are genuine when they claim to like him or offer him help, so he can be a bit of an unwarranted jerk if he thinks that someone might just be playing some sort of elaborate emotional prank on him.

Oh, and about that compensating thing up there? England does that all the time. No one is allowed to know about his low self-esteem because that's — surprise! — a weakness, so England covers it up with bravado ranging from an aristocratic hauteur to a boastfulness more becoming of America than an English gentleman. He'll brag about himself, his nation, his culture, and his abilities if given the opportunity, and occasionally even when someone is going out of their way to hide the opportunity from him. Admittedly, England does tend to go on about things that he genuinely thinks are great; he has nothing but the utmost pride in his country, as is appropriate for a nation. Whenever he's faking it, he's doing it almost specifically to be contrary to something someone else said.

To keep in the spirit of being contrary and a general pain in the ass about emotions, England has refined repression into a delicately-honed craft. Arguably, this is part of the reason his own emotions are so intense and out of control; he doesn't deal with them in healthy manners, he just squashes them down and hopes they'll go away when they inconvenience him. That, or he drinks, but the repression is generally favourable over the drinking, which often becomes a messy affair of crying about the Revolution and overall being an overemotional trainwreck to anyone in the vicinity. Of course, as with all unhealthy coping mechanisms, both repressing and drinking are apt to backfire spectacularly on England, with a proverbial fireworks show guaranteed once he has tried to cram just a little too much feeling into one tiny bottle.

On the whole, England dwells on the past a great deal. This is partially a side effect of what he is; as a nation, he naturally places a high value on history. Aside from his people, England's own history is one of the most important things to him. However, practically speaking, England's unwillingness to let go of the past can be problematic for him and the people that insist upon keeping his company. The problem of England's eternal grudges goes without saying at this point, but it isn't just the bad things he clings to. He holds on to the good just as tightly — which, while sweet in theory, has its own issues. Lingering on what England sees as the glory days colours his perception of the present in a negative light, because to him, things aren't as good as they used to be. A demonstration of this in canon is the way England dwells on how things used to be between he and America back in the colonial days; America was much friendlier to England as a child, so England often thinks back on how nice it used to be, to the detriment of his current friendship with America (he used to be so much cuter).

He might not obsess over things long since passed if he weren't so damn stubborn. This is the guy who turned to piracy and privateering in the seventeenth century when he wasn't making legitimate money fast enough, conquered a quarter of the world in the name of influence and power in the nineteenth century, and kicked Germany's aerial assault to the curb despite being the last major Allied power standing during World War II. England is accustomed to fighting until he gets what he wants, often through sneaky or underhanded methods like spying and privateering. And though he no longer has the clout of the world's largest empire behind him, he still argues like he does. Of course, this goes back to the weakness thing, as well: losing is weakness, and England isn't weak. Therefore, he always has to win, even if it's a stupid argument over the proper name for chips or football.

England is so contradictory and ridiculous because, deep down — and not as deep down as England thinks — he's mostly just a huge lonely dork. England has an enormous fondness for fairy tales, myth, magic, and romance (both the classical and modern definitions of it). England was always able to see the fairies back in his world, and even had those that were his consistent companions throughout the years, which helped to ease the loneliness of being a thoroughly unpopular island nation. Even in the modern day, he can often be seen talking to what appears to be thin air as he converses with the magical creatures that live in his land. And, apparently, even the ones that don't, as he was once shown communicating with creatures from Japanese folklore while he was visiting Japan.

He got attached to the fantastical nature of magic as a very young child, and that has stayed with him for centuries. He has never stopped believing, even in spite of the fact that most other nations, with a few exceptions, can't see supernatural creatures unless they travel to England's country. Though he would rather keep it quiet, this affinity for fantasy and never-ending sentiment affects other aspects of England. As it's in his nature to want people who will stay with him like his fairies always did, and want to believe in things even when his head tells him not to, England will always slip up and show his soft side to people he gets attached to one way or the other.

It is actually possible for England to seem fairly cool and composed, but only under certain circumstances. Though the rest of his emotions are pretty out of control, it's surprisingly not easy to scare England, probably because he's spent his entire life seeing weird shit like unicorns, fairies, and ghosts. He also has a responsible streak when it comes to handling serious issues, so when that comes out, he's definitely more the picture of the in-control gentleman he tries to create. However, this isn't necessarily an uncommon trait of his kind. When it comes to their people, a nation will do whatever it takes to keep them safe. When push truly comes to shove, England can put aside all the trivial bullshit to be a capable, if not entirely personable nation. This is something England had to learn over time, though, after learning the hard way that personal feelings can never come before a nation's people.

So, to summarise this all with a tired simile, he's kind of like an onion: he has layers upon layers of defence mechanisms, and he's apt to make people cry if the layers are cut into, but if you approach carefully and cook it all just right, even onions can taste okay. It's debatable whether it was worth all the tears to get them to that point, of course, but that's a matter of personal preference. England is a vitriolic little twat with an empire's worth of trust issues, but he does truly want friends and a world where he can afford to be an idealist, even if he's unlikely to admit this to himself.

Flavor Abilities: England will retain his connection to his people (only the English ones; the other constituent countries of the UK belong to his brothers), though it will be static from the moment he comes to Norfinbury. He won't feel any changes in his population, politics, or land. He will also keep his connection to the magic in his land, but he won't be able to utilise it or feel any changes in it. He also will not be able to sense any magic outside of what's in his land and his Sight for seeing the supernatural will be gone. His ability to discern another nation at a glance will remain, as well.

England | Axis Powers Hetalia (2/2)

[keepscalm]

Suitability: England has serious control issues so this whole thing will just be miserable for him. He would hate the idea of something being able to remove him from his nation, and the thought that he could die and not wake up again as a result of outside forces would be pretty horrific to him. He's very loyal and duty-driven when it comes to nation matters, so that would be his main motivator to get the hell out of dodge as soon as possible. He's used to being alone and dealing with creepy stuff, so that wouldn't necessarily bother him too much. Cooperating with people would be far more difficult for him, and since that's a core part of the game, I'm very excited for him to have to deal with that and trust that his party members aren't going to immediately fuck him over as soon as he goes to sleep. I'd like him to lose his sight as a death penalty some time, since that would really force him to rely on someone to help him, which would be very entertaining and a good chance to develop his character and his CR. Plus, England is pretty old-fashioned, so the process of him getting used to relying on technology like the tablet for any interaction will be fun.

RP Samples: one | two

[snowblindmods]

Applications are CLOSED. Applications will open for reserved applicants only at 12:01AM EST on June 1.

[snowblindmods]

Applications are OPEN FOR RESERVED APPLICANTS. Applications will open for unreserved applicants only at 12:01AM EST on June 3.

Zelda | Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time | reserved

[sageprincess]

Player Information

Name: Jamie
Age: 24
Contact Info: jamizoid
Other Characters: N/A

Character Information

Name: Zelda
Canon: Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time
Age: 17
Gender: Female
Canon Point: After sending Link back in time.
Background Link: Zelda wikia link
Inventory:
x1 Ocarina of Time (magic removed)
x1 Goddess Harp (magic removed)
and everything she's wearing in this image

Personality:
"They say that, contrary to her elegant image, Princess Zelda of Hyrule Castle is, in fact, a tomboy!"
Graceful and kind, Zelda presents an image appropriate for a person of her royal station. She is well-spoken and polite, ever mindful of how her words might come across to others. Always endeavoring to keep a level head, she rarely raises her voice in anger, and keeps in mind that acting rashly often leads to unforeseen consequences later on. She possesses a strong moral compass, with the safety and happiness of her people always coming first. And if one treats her precisely as the perfect princess she tries to be, that is likely all that one will ever see.

The young woman underneath that image is a bit more complicated.

"This is the legend of the temples passed down by my people, the Sheikah. I am Sheik. Survivor of the Sheikahs..."
Past the age of ten, Zelda was not raised as a princess. After fleeing in the wake of Ganondorf's coup, Zelda's caretaker, Impa, instructed her in the ways of her people, the Sheikah, also known as the Shadow Folk. Impa taught her magic and music and martial arts, but above all else, Impa taught her to survive. She chooses her words carefully because she has learned the safety in secrets and silence, and how one slip up can spell disaster. She does not act rashly because acting without adequate information is what caused a great deal of the tragedy in Ocarina of Time (at least, to her eyes), and she will not repeat such mistakes. Her insight tells her which battles are worth fighting, and living to fight another day is always preferable to struggling in a battle that is already lost. It was a difficult and isolated life, being unable to truly connect with anyone except her caretaker and Link to an extent, but she survived it and came out the other end ready to reclaim her throne.

Of course, the flip side to this is that once she reclaims her title and identity as Princess of Hyrule, her training for that role is somewhat lacking. When they were able to meet, Impa may have attempted to fill in the gaps of Zelda's royal education, but doing so would be incredibly risky with Ganondorf's agents around Hyrule, and there wouldn't be any reasonable way to put such lessons into practice, besides. But Hyrule's people need her, and to that end she will improvise and act to the best of her ability. When in doubt, formality and respectfulness are her armor and shield.

"All the tragedy that has befallen Hyrule was my doing... I could not comprehend the consequences of trying to control the Sacred Realm."
Unfortunately, Zelda is not the most self-assured person in the world. The guilt over allowing Ganondorf into the Sacred Realm is an ever-present weight on her mind, and living the consequences of that mistake for seven years has left her with a fairly injured sense of self-worth. No one is more critical of Zelda than Zelda herself, especially when she fails to reach the impossibly high standards she's set for herself, and her tendencies to keep things to herself and hide behind duty often exacerbate the problem, leading to her trying to 'atone' even when no reasonable person would blame her for such things. It's an unfortunate snowball effect she's found herself in, even if she's good and keeping it under wraps much of the time.

"I waited for seven years... And... now you are back. The dark age ruled by Ganondorf the Evil King will end!"
Despite all this, however, Zelda remains a steadfast idealist at her heart. She has learned to expect the worst, true, but that doesn't stop her from still hoping for the best. Seven years of waiting in a hostile environment would wear on anyone's mind, but through her patience, determination, and hope that one day things would be better, she was still able to give Link a smile after revealing herself in the Temple of Time. Sometimes she can fail to live up to her own ideals, because as mentioned previously the standards she sets for herself can be ridiculously high, but she'll be damned if she doesn't keep trying to reach for them. It's what her people deserve.

At the end of the day, Zelda is an intelligent, compassionate woman who cares deeply for those she has given her trust and her people. She struggles with the weight of the titles destiny has bestowed upon her, as well as the trauma sustained during her seven years in hiding, but she tries her best regardless.

Flavor Abilities: Zelda will retain the ability to disguise herself as the Sheikah minstrel, Sheik. This form offers her no inherent advantages that she wouldn't also have as her undisguised self, and is purely aesthetic. I'll leave it up to the mods on whether the clothes change happens as well.

Suitability: Given Zelda's past, she will have some amount of resistance to Norfinbury's enforced isolation. Of course, how long that lasts depends on how things play out, but she's still no stranger to having to survive on her own. She could easily turn into a mentor-like figure - especially to characters younger than herself - when those who are less resilient start breaking down. On the other hand, barring some extremely traumatic event, it's likely that it will take longer for Zelda to truly open up to people given the way Snowblind is set up. It's easy to hide emotion behind text, easy to turn the tablet off when even that is too much to handle. It will be a challenge to get someone to break through those habits of hiding and see her for all that she truly is. And finally, the questions of 'why was I brought here' and 'how do I return home' will drive her to actively seek out the town's secrets. She has far too many important things to do in Hyrule to be trudging about in the snow, okay.

RP Samples:
action: test drive thread with England
network: top level test drive thread, with network prompts from Korra and Shion

ACCEPTED

[snowblindmods]

Congratulations, you’ve been accepted into snowblindrpg! Your character’s tag will be zelda (loz:oot). Your character will wake up at six AM on day 001 in a building on square V11. The description for this building is as follows:

This A-frame house consists of one large empty room and a sealed door that seems like it should lead to a basement, although there's currently no way to open it up and see.

Please reply to this comment with the journal you will be using for the game. After that, join snowblindrpg, snowblindooc, and optionally snowblindmemes with your character journal. After that, reply to the taken character list and player contact list and make a top level thread for your character on the search page. If you have not replied to these lists within three days you will be removed from the game and will have to apply again.

Thank you for your interest in our game!

Alphonse Elric | Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood

[armoured]

Player Information

Name: Fossil
Age: 28
Contact Info: bibbety
Other Characters: None

Character Information

Name: Alphonse Elric
Canon: Fullmetal Alchemist
Age: 15
Gender: Male
Canon Point: Just before the final fight with Father
Background Link: Background (World) and Background (Character)
Inventory: The armour that is his body, which includes a large loincloth tied around his waist. Additionally, a notebook and pen (what was his 'future snacks' book).

Personality: Alphonse Elric is the very definition of 'don't judge a book by the cover'. His outward appearance is that of a towering and intimidating suit of armour, decorated with conical spikes, and looming head and shoulders above mostly everyone else. But after only a few minutes of conversation, it wouldn't be hard to find out that he's anything but intimidating. In many ways, Al is a perfect foil for his older brother. Where Edward is hot-tempered, impulsive, and often impatient; Al is gentle, kind, and much more accepting of everyone around him.

One of the most defining things about Al is definitely his ability to keep hope alive, and to keep looking at life through optimistic and happy eyes. He naturally sees the glass as half full and, even in the darkest or most painful situations, he can find a way to put a positive spin on things. The most prevalent way this shows itself is in his attitude towards his armour body. For example. even though he desperately misses sleeping, eating, and even simple things like feeling the rain, he manages to put a positive spin on things by keeping a list of foods he will eat when he gets his body back.

Even Al can't deny that his armour body is a burden on many occasions, but he is still thankful to be in possession of it nonetheless, despite his brother's fears to the contrary. Ed saved Al's life by transmuting his soul into the armour, giving up his own arm in the process, and Al sees this as something to be incredibly grateful for. The depth of Ed's sacrifice showed how much he cares for his younger brother, and because even life in armour is still life and that means there's still hope that things can get better in the future.

It's in this viewpoint of looking to the future, that Al's hopeful optimism becomes intermingled with his impressive determination. The combination of these traits are what allows him to keep single-mindedly moving towards his ultimate goal - the restoration of both his and Ed's bodies - without becoming bitter from what they have already endured, or despondent about how far they still have to go. From burning down their own home so they had nowhere to return to, to following the slimmest of leads across the whole country, the theme of 'moving forwards' and continuing to hope is a strong one that never fades away. Yet despite this determination, Al remains a very moral person and never lets the end goal justify committing atrocities. For example, even though the philosopher's stone may be able to help restore his body, both he and Ed refuse to use one once they find out that human sacrifice is required to make one.

An almost natural progression of his sunny outlook on life, is Al's capacity for kindness and forgiveness towards others. He hates seeing other people hurt, and it's the injuries to the people that he and Ed meet along the way which cut him far more deeply than any hurt to himself. He often goes out of his way to attempt to shield and protect others, such as hiding a chimera girl inside his armour to try and keep her safe from the military, even if it ended up backfiring. This desire to protect and care for others, builds to such a point that eventually he snaps and declares that he "won't let anyone else be hurt for them [he and Ed] any longer."

His willingness to forgive and believe in the goodness of people, is shown the most clearly in his relationships with both Hohenheim and Scar. Hohenheim, the father of Ed and Al, abandoned their small family unit when both boys were very young and didn't return even when their mother died. Understandably, Ed is bitter and angry towards him; however, Al is shown almost immediately accepting his far-fetched life story and calling him 'Dad'. Scar has murdered many State Alchemists, and even attempted to murder Ed, but Al still entrusts the safety of May to him when it becomes absolutely necessary. All of this might make it seem like Al is a very naive and innocent person, but he's actually quite mature for his age and well aware of what the world is really like, it's simply that he chooses to believe that it can be better.

However, all of this kindness and optimism aside, Al is a very human boy at heart and, as such, has some very human failings of his own. He's by no means immune to fits of sadness and despair. His armour body is often a cause of distress to him, though he may try to cover it up, because of its severe limitations. He can't sleep or dream, he can't eat, he can't feel anyone touch or embrace him, and he can't even cry if he needs to. He desperately longs for his body back to regain all of these things, and sometimes the reminders of what he has lost are too much for him - for example, when he haltingly admits to Ed that he isn't sure how many more nights of loneliness he can bear.

His body can also make him very sensitive to the observations of others, as well as sometimes wavering in his own self confidence. He dreads being seen as something other than human, and the brief period when he allowed Barry the Chopper to plant doubts in his mind that he ever had been human led to some of the worst depression Al suffered during the series. He knows he is human within, and Ed knows he is human too, but he is always acutely aware that others may not see him that way, which hurts deeply. Of course, the loss of his mother and the subsequent attempt to revive her using human transmutation has also left deep scars on Al emotionally. The burden of guilt over what he and his brother tried to do, as well as the physical pain that Ed endured for many months afterwards, is something that never truly leaves him.

Finally, it would be impossible to talk about Al, without mentioning his relationship with his older brother, Edward. The two brothers share a connection and love that stems from being all one another has, and is deepened by the experiences they have gone through together. A large part of Al's strength comes from Ed, and his belief in his brother. He looks up to him, admiring his passion, his dedication, and his strength; and in turn takes comfort from knowing that Ed holds him in equally high regard. Yet, despite their closeness, the relationship never crosses the boundaries of being co-dependent. Al knows that Ed is competent, and so trusts him to take care of himself and return safely whenever they are separated.

Flavor Abilities: Al will retain his hollow armour body. However, as discussed here, he will still require food, sleep, and shelter from the elements to survive. Additionally, his armour is sealed shut, and damage to it will result in bleeding despite the metal casing still being empty.

Suitability: As Al is one of those people who displays their heart for all to see, and cares so deeply about others, that the ruthless nature of the environment will get to him even if he manages to shelter himself from the cold. He would also be highly affected by any psychological horrors that were inflicted (such as the cabin fever), and seeing others in distress would hit all his buttons. I am interested in exploring the contrast between the hopelessness of a horror game situation and the natural optimism of Al's character.

RP Samples:
Test drive thread - In the setting, with various separate sub-threads
Open RP post - For characterisation, with various separate sub-threads

Please note, the linked samples in the setting were written before requesting clarification about Al's body/flavour abilities, so they are inaccurate in the way he would treat the cold. In order to rectify this, I've written another sample in case more is needed.

Written sample: Network (in the setting)
[It has taken Alphonse a while to work out the tablet. The technology is vastly superior to the phone network within Amestris and, as if that wasn't barrier enough, the device is hardly made for someone with such giant metal fingers. Still, he's a fast learner, he always has been, so it's only a few days of botched note taking full of typos, and instructions from the help screen, before he's able to utilise it properly.

The first thing to be shared on the public network is a photograph. It's just the white expanse of snow that covers most of this land, but there is an incongruously placed wooden chair planted atop a snow drift. The picture fades away, because Al hasn't quite mastered broadcasting himself and the picture on the network at the same time.]

I think it's about time we took exploring here seriously. Not just to try and find our way home, but also so we can map safe routes to shelter, food, and friends. If we each place markers like this, then eventually we will have a set of rough guiding posts. Then when you pass one, you can note down where it is, and you can get back there in case of a distress call or... well, anything.

[Organisation might be a small step to start with, but it's an important first one in Al's mind.]

ACCEPTED

[snowblindmods]

Congratulations, you’ve been accepted into snowblindrpg! Your character’s tag will be alphonse elric (fullmetal alchemist). Your character will wake up at six AM on day 001 in a building on square K2. The description for this building is as follows:

The house in this case is fairly unremarkable: it's one story, consisting of two bedrooms, a bathroom, a living room, and a kitchen with an island and stools that probably served as a dining area. The backyard, however, is dangerous to travel over: there was an in-ground pool in the back, but it's long since been filled entirely with snow and then all signs of it covered over. Stepping onto it could easily lead to falling up to ten feet deep into the snow.

Please reply to this comment with the journal you will be using for the game. After that, join snowblindrpg, snowblindooc, and optionally snowblindmemes with your character journal. After that, reply to the taken character list and player contact list and make a top level thread for your character on the search page. If you have not replied to these lists within three days you will be removed from the game and will have to apply again.

Thank you for your interest in our game!

Hijikata Toshirou | Gintama | Reserved | (1/2)

[mayora13]

Player Information

Name: Elise
Age: 24
Contact Info: fromgilbo
Other Characters: n/a

Character Information

Name: Hijikata Toshirou
Canon: Gintama
Age: ≈20 [headcanon: 24]
Gender: Male
Canon Point: Somewhere between the Otsu Arc and the Baragaki Arc
Background Link: A long letter home.
Inventory: Hijikata will be wearing his typical Shinsengumi uniform, which is very basic black ankle boots and slacks with a white collared shirt, ascot and vest all worn under a semi-ornate officer's coat. While this provides him with layers, it's not particularly suited to winter weather. He will also have his wallet, though it's contents are almost impressively unimpressive for someone so high ranking. More importantly, Hijikata will be bringing along one pack of cigarettes, with two already smoked. He will also have his small, mayonnaise bottle shaped lighter. Neither will be long for this world, since he's a chain smoker. The lighter may outlast the cigarettes, but not by much. Finally, he has a useless brick of a flip phone.

Personality:

"You're the ideal samurai model for everyone. Everyone models himself after you. "

Hijikata Toshirou is the sort of man who gives off the impression that he's cool. He will always be found with either a cigarette or a sword in his hand. If it's the latter, then the cigarette is in his mouth. To be sure, he is widely respected and feared by his subordinates and the citizens of Edo. The former due to his dedication and strict rules, and the latter because they don't know he subsists on mayonnaise and anguishes if he misses his evening TV drama rerun.

The demon vice-chief of the Shinsengumi certainly has an image. He may seem like he's not all that concerned with it, given his habit of eating 'food' comprised of 80% mayonnaise and flailing his sword around in the street yelling death threats, but Hijikata is incredibly prideful.

A man defined by his pride, Hijikata holds himself to the same standards that he does others, if not higher. While this deep sense of pride does keep him on track, accomplishing a wide breadth of tasks both menial (directing traffic) and large scale (busting terrorist HQs), it also serves to make him incredibly stubborn when it comes to just about everything.

"He's lying through his teeth just because he doesn't want to lose."

Losing is not an option for Hijikata. He will fight until he can no longer physically move, lie through his teeth, or get weird surgical implants from a shady dentist before he'll admit defeat. The man's stubbornness, disguised behind a veil of brusque masculine spirit and samurai honor, typically gets him into both dangerous and absurd situations. More seriously, he is not the sort of person who will ever ask for help, preferring to shoulder every hardship himself instead of burdening others or showing vulnerability.

"Every other word you utter is 'kill'."

As a busy police officer with many important things to do, Hijikata is not a friendly man. Hijikata's demeanor may seem cool, but that is only to those giving him a passing glance. He has an incredibly short temper - or what he would consider a low tolerance for bullshit - and flings threats freely. They're not usually the most creative, instead getting straight to the point where he kills whoever is being a shit. The man takes his anger out physically, often beating up a certain coworker who, for all his bumbling, does not screw up as often as Hijikata abuses him for. Thank you for your brave sacrifice, Yamazaki. The demon-vice chief's temper is so strong that when he was possessed by a demon otaku sword, he broke free only to slam Gintoki's head into the dashboard of his cop car in anger.

Living the long suffering life of the straight man to many of the other character's jokes and outlandish personalities, Hijikata has a very no nonsense aura, and does his best to keep others on track. Every task, no matter how menial, is taken seriously - perhaps too much so. He performs by the book, and is very insistent on not only practical procedure but paperwork being completed properly. In his years as the vice-chief of the Shinsengumi, he's become very adept at writing follow-up reports for all of the idiotically botched assignments his subordinates (and himself, but don' t mention those) have inflicted on the citizens of Edo.

As the enforcer of order within the Shinsengumi, Hijikata is strict. Ruthless, even, as he cuts down foes with a smirk and yells abuse at his subordinates when they break one of the 45 regulations he's set out. The threat of 'commit seppuku' hangs over everyone in the force, with Hijikata bearing down on anyone who strays from their creed. He takes his work incredibly seriously, and is frequently shown making the mistake of trying to get something done.

"I don't care if I lose an arm or a leg, as long as I am still breathing I'll keep fighting."

When it comes to a fight, Hijikata will never back down. Clashing blades with an enemy is the foundation of Hijikata's being. He is incredibly dedicated to his training, though he does not advertise how often or how intensely he practices. Some may think this subtlety is a result of a humble streak. While humble wouldn't be the worst thing anyone's ever called him, Hijikata is more likely keeping focus from his dedication for the effect of making himself look that much tougher. A guy who doesn't need to practice to be fearsome, to cut down all of his enemies, is stronger. When Kondo confronts him on practicing in their country dojo, Hijikata argues that he simply got his hand stuck in a convenience store door. Which is apparently somehow cooler and less embarrassing than admitting he'd gotten blisters practicing.

It has been said that all Hijikata cares about is fighting, and this is not entirely untrue. While the man certainly holds the members of the Shinsengumi, and a handful of others, close to his heart, it is because of his desire to be strong enough for their sake that he fights. Becoming stronger is always one of Hijikata's main goals. The more powerful he is, the more he can do to keep others safe. Bloodlust, however, is not completely absent from Hijikata's fighting, and he does enjoy himself when he's crossing blades with an enemy.

Despite all of his angry outbursts, Hijikata is nicer than he lets on. He prefers to let people live their lives to the best of their abilities, and will interfere with attempted interference if necessary. Protecting is an incredibly important aspect of Hijikata's drive in life, but damn if he'll let it show. He wants no credit, and will often play off any helpful acts he commits with irritation or annoyance.

"He never expresses his feelings to anyone. And he never shows it on his face. The only thing he cares about is sword fighting. No one trains harder than him."

Engaging in self-sacrificing acts of violence is Hijikata's typical method of problem solving. The man is not looking to die, but he does not fear death and typically has little regard for his life when it comes to charging bazookas blazing into a dangerous situation. Hijikata fights both out of a sense of loyalty and an unyielding need to become stronger. These two things are intertwined, as his strength is used to uphold his dedication to the Shinsengumi. Though the man is seemingly callous, he is hardly incapable of empathy. Hijikata will veil any kindness he displays with agitation or manly bravado, but he is frequently motivated by the desire to protect another.

"Love and romance is nothing but an illusion."

Hijikata has a very set and narrow idea of manliness. By that same token, he has a stupidly vague idea of womanhood, and absolutely functions with a mental divide between the two. For a man who boasts that he cares for little other than strength, he is quickly thrown off if faced with a female opponent. When fighting Kyubei, upon finding out she was female, his attacks declined in ferocity and he was defeated. Those damn convenience store doors struck again, apparently. It isn't that Hijikata expects women to be subservient to him, he's simply grown up surrounded by men, so his idea of femininity is fairly limited.

When it comes to love, Hijikata has stated that it is both an illusion and for other people. The first conclusion arose from the fact that he is generally popular with women - whom he treats casually if not a bit coldly - until they observe his strange eating habits. Their subsequent appalled reaction has hardened him against believing that affection so readily expressed is genuine.

As for considering love to be out of his domain, Hijikata would not consider himself an eligible man. His career and dedication to fighting, throwing himself into any dangerous situation that arises, all could rob him of his life at any moment. When faced with his budding dangerous position and his love interest, he pushed the girl away intentionally. He was convinced that his lifestyle could never afford a partner happiness.

"I won't call you a bastard. I'm no better. I've done more than my share of bad things. I just wanted the girl I love to be happy"

When Hijikata cares for someone, he will readily sacrifice himself as the bad guy to protect them. He will get his hands dirty so that another can live a clean life, and he will always be the first to leap into a morally-grey task to spare another the complications. When he found out that the girl he loved's fiance was dealing in illegal smuggling, he went after the man's life alone. While he was aware that she could have lived a happy life not knowing of the man's crimes, the risk of her finding out or being mistreated was too great and he was willing to be marked as a heartless killer for preventing that heartache. He will sacrifice his personal relationship with someone to win their peace of mind or physical safety without hesitation, even if his comradery was something they strongly desired.

"THERE'S NOT ENOUGH MAYONNAISE!"

As stringent and strict as Hijikata is determined to be, his attitude can switch on a dime if he is under enough duress. Unfortunately, he's trying to get work done in a comedy anime, so his life is frustrating. When a situation gets ridiculous, he ardently resists being dragged into absurdity or juvenile banter by his peers, but will typically crumble and deliver something dumb anyway. Hijikata has shed real, pure, manly tears over action and children's movies alike. He is not incapable of acting like a complete idiot when faced with desperate situations such as a haunted house or the lack of cigarettes. The priority of his pride and image drops severely when he needs a nicotine fix. As for experiencing fear, Hijikata will always attempt to play himself straight and even until the last moment, when a dramatic reaction of running and hiding is unavoidable. Even then, he'll attempt to explain it away with something 'cool', like looking for a mythological figure in a vase. Smooth.

Ghosts, angry spirits, and other unexplained supernatural phenomenon absolutely get under Hijikata's skin. Aliens are the exception to this rule, since they're a normalized part of his daily life. It is things that he cannot see or explain that make him jumpy.

Some people like mayonnaise, some people love mayonnaise, and some people are Hijikata. He is nothing short of obsessed with the condiment. All of his meals consist of more mayonnaise than actual food, and he is utterly serious and dedicated to his culinary taste. While his loyalty to mayo is frequently the butt of many jokes within the Shinsengumi and from outsiders both, Hijikata is completely unphased by these attacks on the perfect condiment and will argue for it's honor every time. It's difficult to quantify Hijikata's love for mayonnaise, but to put it in perspective, he once made the entire Shinsengumi - people he purportedly cares about - eat nothing but mayo for days on end so that he could win a ticket to tour the mayonnaise factory. What he thought would be a thrilling w*lly w*nka rip off experience ended up to be an absolutely normal boring factory. He collapsed on the sidewalk afterwords. It was embarrassing.

"I don't want to disappear without accomplishing anything. I want to leave proof of my existence."

Muramasha, Hijikata's blade, is terribly cursed with the soul of a vengeful otaku. This curse took root in the man's being, forcing a personality known as 'Tosshi' to develop. An avid anime fan, Tosshi was a coward and even more socially inept than Hijikata's original flavor sparkling personality. The possession led Hijikata to make a completely separate sphere of like-minded otaku friends and fling his money into the wind on anime and merchandise. Though he was eventually able to win dominance over the pathetic personality, it still forced it's way to the surface from time to time. It is only recently after the canon point from which I'm taking him that this personality has seemingly vanished for good.

Hijikata states that this was not the actual boy killed with the sword, but a subset of his own personality - thus he has the capacity to be interested in those sorts of things. More importantly, Tosshi's desire to not fade away without accomplishing anything reflects Hijikata's own lifestyle of carving his own path out to leave behind as a mark of his existence. In this way, he is ambitious, even if he does not seek to raise his position in the hierarchy of the Shinsengumi.

(2/2)

[mayora13]

Personality con't:

"I won't allow anyone disgrace our Shinsengumi, if there's anyone who would obstruct that path, then with this sword I'll cut him to shreds"

To Hijikata, Gintoki is an annoyance. While their relationship didn't start off on the worst foot they quickly deteriorated into a pair of shitty rivals. They have very similar fears, and thus typically compete with one another when it comes to who breaks and abandons their pride first. Usually, neither of them does, and they both end up in an exceedingly stupid amount of physical or emotional anguish. Hijikata considers Gintoki a hindrance most of the time, and will not hesitate to arrest him if he gets in the way of police business. However, he does know that he can rely on Gintoki, albeit always begrudgingly, if absolutely necessary. Mostly, he wants to either not hear from him or fight him. Despite all of this, they are rather similar, and synchronize well when push comes to shove.

The Shinsengumi are Hijikata's family, and the object of his protection. When he is about to fade away, succumbing to his sword's curse, he puts aside his pride and shame to ask the Yorozuya to protect them. They are absolutely his top priority, and most of what he does boils down to acting in the best interest of the organization. Hijikata is not overly concerned with what it means to be a police officer - though he does hold to the policy of doing anything he does right - but what it means to be a member of this group. Having a group to both accept all of his violent tendencies and to protect is very central to Hijikata's being.

Kondo is the man who took Hijikata in when he was beaten bloody by other country samurai. Though Hijikata does his best to respect Kondo at all times, he will frequently slip into calling him a gorilla and has been caught making pot shots at their leader just like everyone else. However, Hijikata is incredibly conscious of Kondo's public image, and will absolutely lie to protect it. While Kondo considers him the glue that holds the Shinsengumi together, Hijikata considers this position to be Kondo's - the man's attitude and kind nature binding them all together as something that could be called a family. Hijikata is fiercely protective of Kondo in every way.

The bane of Hijikata's existence lives in the form of Okita Sogo - the super sadist whose sole purpose, so far as Hijikata is concerned, is to make his vice-commander's life a living hell. Hijikata suffers an obscene amount of abuse at the younger officer's hands, and takes it with varying amounts of grace. At times, Hijikata is able to ignore Sogo's attempts on his life, but more typically he will yell and point out the fact that Okita is after him. Everyone is way too used to it to care, though, and it's sort of become a joke among the Shinsengumi, despite Hijikata's daily peril. It is possible that Hijikata lets this happen because he understands Okita's resentment towards him, as he is perceived to have taken away not only Okita's sister (his love interest) but also Kondo and the dojo family, since he was a late comer. Hijikata's tendency to let himself be the 'bad guy' strikes again, and he allows for Okita to harbor this resentment without correction. Despite all of the potential tension between them, the two do work very well together when necessary.

Every tough guy needs a punching bag, and Hijikata's comes in the form of Yamazaki. Whenever something goes awry, Hijikata is quick to blame it on Yamazaki, always pursuing him with physical violence as his temper flares. Despite his habitual abuse of the guy, Hijikata would absolutely consider him part of the Shinsengumi that he lives to protect, and so there is very little actual animosity there. He just needs to hit someone sometimes, and Yamazaki does a great job of getting kicked.

"Welcome to Norfinbury."

Snowblind's setting is not something that Hijikata has experience with. He has encountered winters typical of Japan, but is always well equipped to deal with them. While he often sequesters himself both physically in his leisure time and literally all the time emotionally, the absolute isolation of the Norfinbury is not something he's accustomed to. He's a man of action, however, and will not wait for answers or a rescue, instead attempting to do what he can to fix every problem he runs across for himself. It's likely that he'll pick up some people to protect along the way. Though Hijikata is slow to open up and attach to anyone, it absolutely happens. He will be particularly drawn to personalities that remind him of those he's left behind in the Shinsengumi.

Flavor Abilities: Hijikata is a human, every bit as killable and frost-bite susceptible as the next grumpy jerk wandering around this winter wonderland. He is, however, very adept at fighting. Typically he uses a sword, but he is not unfamiliar with firearms.

Possessing a technique that relies largely on his physical skills, reflexes and intuition, Hijikata does not enter a fight intending to come out unscathed. He has survived many close calls with death. In fact, doing so is a fundamental element of his fighting style. He barrels in with a head on attack, leaving an opening for his enemy. When the opponent attempts to strike, Hijikata's instincts kick in and he parries the blow, using that opportunity to pressure his foe. Offense is Hijikata's best defense, and he will always attack with his full force until the fight is finished - win or lose.

Suitability: While Hijikata is not the type to fret about his life, he is absolutely susceptible to more cliche horror tropes, such as ghosts and things that go bump in the night. The setting would begin to ware on him as time went on, both because of the harsh conditions and because of the imposed solitude. While Hijikata is the type of person to cut himself off from others, he's grown accustomed to being surrounded by a loud and boisterous bunch of guys, so the stark change will get under his skin.

As the main pillar of his organization, Hijikata is very well acquainted with management and finding what needs to be done and then making it so. He will absolutely want to return home, and in an effort to increase his chances of his, he's likely to attempt to coordinate the others trapped in the Norfinbury. Hijikata isn't the easiest person to work with, so I look forward to playing with his struggles as things both work out and fail to work out, both due to other characters and the nature of the setting.

I'm also excited to explore him in a setting where he is forced to live without the typical staples of his daily life. On a humorous note, he'll be pretty damn grumpy about not having any mayonnaise. More seriously, not having his cigarettes will have some severe physiological side effects that will leave him reeling. Living in harsh terrain without his sword will also unnerve him, and I'm looking forward to seeing how Hijikata makes due without a proper weapon. He's resourceful and doesn't avoid fights, so I'm sure he'll find something.

Cabin fever will absolutely be an avenue I explore thoroughly, as hallucinations and the threat of monsters can effectively touch on all of his fears. Significant death losses for him would include anything that could incapacitate him or make him reliant on another (such as his ability to walk) or stripping a core element of his personality, like pride, bravery or anger. He's encountered these changes before, via possession from his demon sword, so I have canon basis to go off of for how his character would change and it is absolutely something I would like to explore further.

RP Samples: Network + Action

H.G. Wells | Warehouse 13

[indelibleink]

Player Information

Name: Anne
Age: 30
Contact Info: Email: buriedandreset[at]aol[dot]com Plurk: buriedandreset (Note: My timeline is private, but I'll definitely add people in the game without question!)
Other Characters: N/A

Character Information

Name: Helena "H.G." Wells
Canon: Warehouse 13
Age: 148, technically speaking. If asked, she'll say 38 which is her physical age
Gender: Female
Canon Point: Post-series
Background Link: Wiki page

Inventory: Sleeveless white shirt, scarf, sleeveless grey vest, dark denim skinny jeans, ankle boots, pair of pearl earrings (real saltwater pearls), two studded earrings and one small hoop earring (those three are for cartilage piercings on her ears), bracelet, locket, and a ring

Personality: Helena is a genius, first and foremost, and she will not hesitate to flaunt her intelligence where she can. But being a genius, she does need a constant challenge otherwise she will bore easily and sometimes bad things may result. In this, her genius is both a blessing and a curse. She has invented many things, including a psychometric time machine, as well as written science fiction novels. Hers is an active imagination, one that she cannot turn off even if she wishes too. There's always ideas bouncing around in her mind for better or for worse. She can be susceptible to becoming obsessed with her projects, such as time travel used to be an unhealthy obsession of hers. She has a great love of the sciences and mathematics, though much of what she knows about them she taught to herself or learned from friends who had knowledge in those fields.

Patience, however, is not exactly Helena's virtue. She can exercise patience, but it is certainly not something she has an endless supply of. Her patience has a limit, which can be shortened if she's dealing with someone whom she does not like or get along with for one reason or another. She does, however, have a large amount of patience when it comes to those she cares for. She isn't typically quick to anger, but if she does become angry, it is best to get out of her way. Helena can have quite a nasty temper when it is roused, and she is most certainly not the forgiving type. She will hold grudges for quite a while, and she is notorious for holding onto her anger and hate.

Extremely charismatic, Helena knows how to talk to people. She is a social creature and it takes little effort on her part to earn favorable opinions from others. Helena knows the importance of a well placed compliment or coy smile. Out-going more often than not, Helena has a very charming smile and a glint in her eye to match. Helena is flirtatious by nature. Also having been born and raised in Victorian England, Helena has extremely proper manners. Even in the modern day, she can still act quite Victorian in her mannerisms. Another thing she enjoys about the modern day is how sexual orientation is, at least for the most part, accepted and not kept completely quiet as it was in Helena's day. She herself identifies as bisexual and has had many lovers of both genders.

She was a woman born far ahead of her time, and she is bit of a dual person because of it. She feels more comfortable in modern times with intelligent women being far more accepted in society than they were in her day. Yet at the same time, she feels so very out of place in the modern world. Ever since she was unbronzed, Helena has been playing catch up in learning about the things she missed during the one hundred and ten years she spent in the Bronze Sector. She hasn't really found anywhere to truly call "home" since she awoke in the 21st Century. Inwardly, she does want to be able to put down roots, so to speak, and have a home somewhere, to feel as though she belongs somewhere. As it stands, she doesn't feel as though she really has a place she belongs, and it tends to make her feel disquiet. Though these aren't exactly things she has expressed to anyone, at least not until very recently to Myka.

However, Helena has a dark side. She is a cold-blooded murderer, though this did not come about until after her daughter was murdered. Helena sought vengeance, hunted down, tortured and killed the men who had killed her daughter. The act left her forever tainted with darkness, and she has since taken the lives of other people, both directly by her own hand, or indirectly because of her actions. She has killed both the innocent and the guilty. In the present day, she carries the weight of guilt for these actions on her shoulders, though she will never regret what she did to Christina's murderers. Everything else, she feels deep guilt and regret for. She makes a conscious choice every day to not be that person any longer, and the psychological effects from her anger and hate will always be with her. This is something she has started to come to terms with and accept about herself. She is forever changed by the events of her life, and after spending time being both psychotic and deeply regretful, she has finally found some balance within her between the dark part of herself and the lighter part. She is neither black nor white, she is, by her own view, a dark shade of grey.

Christina's death has also left her with a deep-seeded grief that she had largely been unable to let herself feel. Grief was not something she knew how to handle, and in the 1890s she buried her grief and embraced her hate and anger. While she has come to terms and let herself grieve for her daughter, Helena will always carry the pain of loss that is easily seen by others who know that similar pain of loss. Also despite progress she has made in accepting her grief and who she is, Helena does, at times, still possess a highly negative and extremely critical view of herself. While she has a great capacity for love, Helena can still feel as though she ruins the lives of everyone she comes in contact with.

Emotions can be both Helena's undoing and her salvation. When she feels strongly, her emotions can control her if she is not careful. Her anger and hate controlled her when she didn't keep them under control, and that ultimately led to her trying to destroy the world. However, she also has given up her life selflessly to save her friends, though that particular event was erased when Artie used Magellan's Astrolabe. She has come to a more emotionally stable ground recently, which was helped by her deciding to retire from the Warehouse and making personal connections outside of the Warehouse. To an extent, Helena does fear her emotions, but she now has a far better grasp on them so she can keep herself balanced instead of going to extremes.

Even though she is a deeply emotional person, Helena very rarely lets others see her softer emotions. She will hide her pain and sadness, all of the emotions that make her feel vulnerable and weak. While this is partly just who she is by nature, it is also what she was raised to do. Victorians were not open about their emotions, so Helena learned early on to keep her emotions close to her heart and put on a mask. Helena does not let people in easily and she does not show her vulnerabilities to everyone she chooses to open up to. She strongly dislikes feeling weak, and expressing her sadness and pain makes her feel weak. This, however, is something she can get past if someone is patient enough and understands her well enough to know when to push her to talk and when not to. She is innately stubborn and if she is pushed when she doesn't want to be, she will push back and dig her heels in on the matter.

Flavor Abilities: She's a baseline human, despite her age. Unless being a genius and a prolific inventor (including having built a time machine, shrink ray and a rocket in 1893, among others) count. She's also very adept at the martial art of kenpo.

Suitability: Helena is the type of person that needs puzzles and challenges, and she is an expert at unweaving both. Back home, she worked for a place in which she had to track down and acquire dangerous objects. However, she is also a bit of a jack-of-all-trades. She's a scientist (mostly biology and chemistry), she's an inventor, she's an author. She's resourceful and is not afraid to strike out into the unknown for the simple sake of gathering information or exploring new places. She loves adventure. She also has some baggage in regards to feeling alone, and pushing that button is all too much fun.

RP Samples:

Test Drive #1 | Test Drive #2 (Not quite to ten comments from my character but better idea of how she'd be in the setting with her memory intact.) | Network-style post Content Warning for some discussion of the symptoms of cholera in one of the threads

ACCEPTED

[snowblindmods]

Congratulations, you’ve been accepted into snowblindrpg! Your character’s tag will be hg wells (warehouse 13). Your character will wake up at six AM on day 001 in a building on square D2. The description for this building is as follows:

A standard single-story house with a kitchen, living room, dining room, bathroom, and bedroom. All the furniture here is modern in style--metal or plastic with either very sharp lines or no lines at all. There are framed movie posters and paintings that seem suited to a college town cafe everywhere.

Please reply to this comment with the journal you will be using for the game. After that, join snowblindrpg, snowblindooc, and optionally snowblindmemes with your character journal. After that, reply to the taken character list and player contact list and make a top level thread for your character on the search page. If you have not replied to these lists within three days you will be removed from the game and will have to apply again.

Thank you for your interest in our game!

Eiri Kaidou | The Messiah Project | Reserved

[fauxtality]

(I apologize for the length, lovely mods. Also beware of some big spoilers and mentions of attempted suicide.)

Player Information

Name: Rose
Age: 27
Contact Info: aim: ladyotrings | plurk: LadyotRings
Other Characters: N/A

Character Information

Name: Eiri Kaidou
Canon: The Messiah Project (also just shortened to Messiah)
Age: Not stated, but his actor is 23 at the time of his canonpoint so we’re going with 23
Gender: Male
Canon Point: Hisui no Shou, when he tries to stop Haku from killing himself

Background Link: Hokay, so, this canon is obscure and also not translated into English (aside from random scenes speckled here and there and two drama episodes so far) so the lovely mods will have to bear with me, here because I rely on friends’ translations at any given time. However, here is a basic overview of the canon’s setting.

And here is my write-up of his history.

Inventory: Eiri will just have the clothes on his back, which boils down to his badass Sakura longcoat and clothes he wears under it. And an empty gun holster, which is really quite sad as Eiri likes his guns. In one of his pockets, he also carries around an old and wrinkled piece of paper, which is from his sister before his entire family died. She had written the Momotarou story on it to cheer him up one day and Eiri treasures it very much, even if he doesn’t look at it as often as he used to.

[fauxtality]

Personality: For the most part, Eiri comes off as confident, sometimes even cocky. And this is pretty impressive considering his small stature. Usually people of his height would get lost in the crowd, but he manages to have a presence wherever he goes. And it’s because he’s confident in himself that this is possible.

Well, that, and he has an impressive pair of lungs that he is not afraid to use.

But that’s just the thing, Eiri isn’t afraid to make his presence known. He isn’t afraid to be seen even if it also means he makes himself an easy target for teasing (particularly from Haku or other peers). But even if he is teased, he doesn’t shrink away from others’ words, but instead takes them head-on (figuratively, though I wouldn’t put it past him to go to literal lengths, either). If he feels his reputation is at stake, he’ll confront whoever is at fault and try to set things right. He’s not even afraid to speak his mind to his authority figures, though he does hold himself back at least a little bit out of respect.

Another factor that adds to his confident demeanor is the fact that Eiri is very intelligent, as well as incredibly skilled. In the Church, he’s actually one of the top cadets. Now, some people would take a look at themselves if they were in Eiri’s position and be pretty humble about their achievements. Eiri, not so much. While he doesn’t go around announcing he’s one of the best, he does show his smugness in other ways. During briefings, he’s been known to verbally – and loudly – correct a fellow cadet’s answer to a question. He also adopts a smug smile sometimes after answering a question correctly. What a proud little shit.

It is important to note that while Eiri is still confident, he has mellowed out over time. Ever since Souma and Shuusuke graduated, and he and Haku started taking on cadets to help train and supervise, he’s grown more mature. He is responsible for more lives than just his own and Haku’s and that’s a huge deal because it means he can’t be as narrow-minded. He has fewer peers to bounce off of and more people who look up to him.

We don’t know exactly what Eiri’s reputation is within the Church. He could very easily be that insufferable know-it-all that everyone talks about behind his back, or he could be an idol of sorts in the organization. Mamiya, Ariga, Shirasaki, and Yuuri seem to respect Eiri well enough (Ariga is particularly impressed with Eiri’s gunmanship), though after Eiri has had to come to their rescue more than once, this isn’t too surprising.

And when he does come to their aid, Eiri is genuinely concerned. If there are people under his care, he will do his best to take care of them. This doesn’t mean he’ll coddle them, of course. A lot of the time, Eiri tries to give people little pointers on being more successful in a mission. Sometimes, he’ll even stop coddling from happening at all. During one mission, when it looked like Yuuri was going to confront Mamiya (they hadn’t been getting along well before that point), Shirasaki (Yuuri’s childhood friend) was about to step in and keep things from escalating, but Eiri stopped him because he knows sometimes people need to work things out for themselves, between themselves. After all, it basically worked for him and Haku.

But while Eiri is more pragmatic when dealing with others instead of emotional, there’s always an exception. And for him that exception is Haku. To put it quite simply, Haku is Eiri’s most important person. Of course, part of this is because they are Messiah and so they are expected and encouraged to grow close to one another. But in Eiri’s case, he really is fond of Haku. Fond and fiercely protective. And Haku is the one person with whom he can be himself completely.

Eiri used to hate being around Haku but after spending time with him and learning about him and literally throwing himself in the the path of a man with a gun just to bring Haku out of his own head, their relationship changed into something that is more reflective of what the Church wants out of a partnership. While Eiri tries to present himself as more serious in front of other people these days, he can still regress to his earlier days when he’s alone with Haku, and resort to yelling and stomping his feet and generally throwing a little tantrum. Of course this is if Haku decides to tease him or otherwise not give Eiri everything he wants. If Haku is behaving, then so is Eiri, and they can get along perfectly. Interestingly enough, even before they grew close, they have always been able to work together on missions without a problem.

But all of this refers to normal circumstances. If something goes wrong and Haku is in danger (physical or emotional), Eiri becomes protective. When the two of them ran into Serizawa for the first time, Eiri drew his gun and tried to make himself the focal point instead of Haku. But even at this point, he didn’t take away Haku’s freedom to act right away. He only acted when it became apparent Haku wouldn’t be able to act accordingly. So he is protective, but he also respects his Messiah and doesn’t treat Haku like a child (though Haku definitely has childish traits and sometimes need adult supervision).

However, the truest part of Eiri’s character comes out when he feels like he has nothing left in life. And when Haku appeared ready to kill himself, Eiri freaked out because Haku is, quite frankly, his reason for living. If he were to die, then Eiri would have nothing. And instead of throwing one of his iconic foot-stomping tantrums, Eiri instead pleaded with Haku to stop and screamed with seemingly every fiber of his being. He was desperate.

If Haku’s life is ever in danger, Eiri will act without any thought for his own safety. This is because Haku is just too important to him, as well as the fact that Eiri’s own jinx renders him incapable of dying (or at least it has on every occasion where he should have died so far) so he feels like he can sacrifice himself without any major repercussions.

Flavor Abilities: Eiri can go from zero to tsun in under three seconds which is kind of cool and also very annoying and an incredibly useless skill in the long run.

Suitability: For Eiri, the physical setting shouldn’t cause him much trouble. The cold will suck, especially since Japanese weather is normal and not snowy all year round, but he’s undoubtedly been trained to deal with it. His focus in Norfinbury will be to gather up as many supplies as possible and to always stay warm. It may be tempting to just huddle down because of the cold, but he knows that if he doesn’t move around, he’ll freeze. He’ll also be focused on getting back to the Church, so staying in one area is not an option, especially when it becomes clear that doing so will get nothing accomplished.

The real challenge will be the psychological nature of Norfinbury. Eiri’s own mental state is pretty stable, but because of his canonpoint, he’ll be a little more vulnerable than usual. However, once he finds Haku and (hopefully) smoothes things out with him, he’ll be able to focus on his self-appointed mission of survival and escape. Of course, just because he’s mentally stable doesn’t mean he’s untouchable. So when things start to get weird, he can look at his letter from his sister Moe, not only as a means to cheer him up, but also to keep him grounded. If he can focus on something he knows is real, then he can combat the bad feelings, at least a little bit. Haku will naturally be the stronger of his motivations, but Eiri should be able to function just fine in the long run.

Until he can’t, but that all depends on just how much Norfinbury tries to fuck him up.

RP Samples:

(Network Sample)

[The video shows Eiri’s face in the darkness, though it’s eerily lit by the tablet. But he’s clearly inside a house for the night, so this message isn’t anything urgent on his end.]

It’s been pretty quiet on the network today. Everyone must be searching pretty hard!

[He offers a bright smile, even if it doesn’t quite reach his eyes. It’s a fake, but one that’s meant well. Giving off a pleasant aura is more conducive to cooperation. Most of the time. There are always going to be jerks in the world.

(Eiri should know, he’s been one of them before.)

His smile fades out a little bit as his tone turns more serious.]

But it’s still been quiet, and considering how likely it is the majority of us are isolated, that can get dangerous. So here I am, I guess, a voice to break up the silence. A real voice.

[He quickly amends, because he knows how hearing other voices can be all too real for some people. And, even though he won’t say it out loud, the silence gets to him, sometimes, too, so even just talking to someone, regardless of whether or not they answer, is better than sitting in the darkness.

But Eiri wouldn’t be Eiri if he didn’t play up his smarter than thou attitude. Slightly. Hey, it’s good advice, anyway!]

Also for anyone who listens to reason, it’s too late to do anything else of value, so you should get rest while you can.

[And with a decisive nod, he cuts the video.]

(In Person Sample)

One of the first things Eiri notices is the crib in the room that was once painted blue, the paint chipping off the walls. It’s not the first crib he’s seen in Norfinbury and it more than likely won’t be the last, but tonight, for whatever reason, it hits him that he’s seen too many empty cribs. And empty everythings, but this is all evidence that the city once had a sizable population of children.

Once.

It won’t help anything and it won’t tell him anything new, but he runs his gloved hand over the rail of the crib. Moe had had one, of course, or rather Eiri realized later that it had been his first. He remembers, when he was younger, peering through the bars at the wriggling, fleshy thing his mother had informed him was his new baby sister.

(She had smiled so brightly. She always smiled so brightly.)

But Moe’s crib was no more. Even though she had outgrown it and graduated to her big girl bed and his parents had stored it away for a possible future use, the fire had destroyed it. The fire destroyed everything.

At least here, Eiri can deduct that whatever family used to live here wasn’t driven out by such a terrible fate. Not that that narrows down much of anything, but he can still let himself have that little bit of hope. Maybe things turned out okay for them. But even so…

Eiri carefully leans his weight on his arms against the rail. “What happened to you guys?” But the silence, insulated both inside the house and outside by the snow, offers up no answers. It’s always so quiet here, something that isn’t necessarily bad because Eiri can appreciate it for what it is, but day after day yields practically nothing to distract him from his wandering thoughts.

So he groans loudly and pushes himself off of the crib before finding his way to the nearest bedroom. It’s too late to travel any farther tonight so he might as well get as much rest as he can and yet when he flops down on the bed, the silence engulfs him again. And his mind continues to wander. This time it goes beyond the mystery of this family and the memories of his own family lost forever and rests on Haku.

Haku, somewhere out there in this miserable cold and darkness. It’s not that Eiri doesn’t have faith in his Messiah’s ability to survive without constant supervision, but…well, he worries. But he won’t mother hen him, either. If Eiri could use some rest, so could Haku. There’s no emergency anyway and even if there were, it’s not like Haku is close by (that Eiri knows).

And yet…

Huffing, Eiri pulls the tablet out of his coat pocket and sends a quick text to Haku. Nothing that requires a reply, just a reminder to actually try and get some rest and stay as warm as possible. And…

Goodnight.

Enoch | El Shaddai

[warriorscribe]

Player Information

Name: Cherry
Age: 27
Contact Info: CherryFlight
Other Characters: None

Character Information

Name: Enoch
Canon: El Shaddai
Age: Immortal, 390~400, appears late 20s to early 30s.
Gender: Male
Canon Point: Postgame
Background: I have nothing to link you, so have a story instead: Once upon a time, there was a farmer on Bronze Age Earth. Mythology said he was a priest but the author decided humbler beginnings were in order. The point is, he was so pious that God was impressed (or so the story goes), and invited him to live in Heaven and work as a scribe. While he was there, a choir of angels called the Grigori fell, enamored by humans and spurred on by his own presence in Heaven. Their children with humans, creatures called Nephilim, lived in constant pain, and ate one another to try to make it stop. This caused their innate vileness - impurity - to accumulate, and when they became too corrupt, they would become Fire Nephilim, rampaging creatures that devoured and destroyed everything in sight. Worse still, the angels were nowhere to be found. Faced with the decision to let the Nephilim destroy the world or to have control over its destruction themselves, Heaven was ready to choose the latter. Their scribe would not have his home destroyed, however. The beautiful thing about humans, you see, is they have this little thing called free will, meaning in the face of orders higher than himself, Enoch could still say no - and that's how he found himself sent back down to Earth to capture the Fallen Angels, along with the four "standard" Archangels (Michael, Gabriel, Raphael, Uriel) as swans, and a fifth Archangel, Lucifel.

It would take him 365 years. Up until this point, he had been an ordinary human, but his capabilities were magnified when he was granted the divine armor that would protect him against the agents of the Grigori and their demonic sponsor, Belial. He was also granted immortality, with all the problems that brought with it - such as having to adopt aliases and having to stay on the move constantly, especially since the acting leader of the Grigori, Azazel, was sending flunkies after him to find him. Eventually, he was able to find the Tower they resided in, hidden in a "shroud of distorted space", where they lived with their human subjects, who saw them as gods.

He climbed the Tower, with...not as much success as one would expect of an action game. The first Grigori, Ezekiel, fled higher, though he met a little girl named Nanna who told him about the way the Nephilim suffered, and about Ishtar, the legendary hero who was supposed to free them all from the false world of the Grigori. (He already knew of both of these, it's recently been revealed, though he did not know Ishtar was Ishtar, as she went by another name when he met her). He managed to successfully capture the next one, Sariel, though at the cost of making the player feel bad for him (and Enoch, though this will be detailed later), the next one was dead before they got there, Azazel ran away too...

And then there was Armaros. Armaros wasn't like the other Grigori. In fact, according to prequel manga Exodus he wasn't even one of the Grigori, he was just an ordinary angel that got sucked into their plans. He was also different because in Heaven, he and Enoch had been friends. And it's heavily implied his decision to fall was influenced by the things Enoch himself told him about Earth. Throughout the level, things that make Armaros different were brought up - the resistance group, the Freemen, do not fear him, and in fact, it's implied they communicate with him, because they're able to tell Enoch that "his feelings of friendship for a human he met in Heaven seem to be the source of his vitality". His child is a Water Nephilim, peaceful and with no desire to eat others. (It may not have been his, but the Freemen and Lucifel alike accept that it is so that's what I'm going with.) Armaros didn't even fight him immediately, instead putting on a dance number, and only after Enoch showed no intention of joining him (as the text on a poster that came with the game's official Complete Guide reveals he wants), he relented and attacked him at at last.

The fight was interrupted by Belial, the prince of The Darkness (read: Hell) who lends the Grigori power, in return for the souls of those who die within. He had taken an interest in Enoch, and captured Nanna, using Enoch's paternal nature and innate desire to protect others to bait him. Enoch took it, of course, rushing to leap into The Darkness as both Michael and Armaros called out after him.

The Darkness isn't a very friendly place. This wasn't his first trip, if the player was observant enough. Ishtar's remains were taken to The Darkness, and while it seems the Freemen had recovered some (their leader adorns himself with her bones, including an impressive skull mask), there were still some remaining in the "pits" horrible cylindrical rooms filled with rising vileness, where the cries of those trapped there gurgled nightmarishly. This was, however, his first trip outside of player control, and you gamers know what that means, right?

Yes, he was in trouble.

Lucifel recruited Armaros to rescue Enoch, because he didn't have permission to interfere directly here (lack of free will really sucks sometimes). Along the way they found Nanna, unconscious but seemingly unharmed, and watched as Ishtar's spirit entered her body. Lucifel said he'd make sure Nanna was okay and sent Armaros on his way. He found Enoch, but not in time to avoid him being corrupted and controlled by Belial. Armaros fought him and freed him, but Lucifel, apparently deciding saving him was counterintuitive to the mission, took Enoch and stranded Armaros there to die.

So Enoch was safe, physically, but not mentally. There's a difference between being covered in vileness, which seems to just sap the strength from someone, and having vileness inside one's own body, which is how Belial plays. Corrupted from within, Enoch's mind was crippled by his doubts, his pain, his fears. His body was encased in carbonite silver (I will never get tired of this joke) to protect it, and his soul was sent back to Heaven to purge the vileness, which involved confronting representations of the source of his pain and wrestling everything back into perspective. It took him several hours, but that's only from Heaven's perspective. On Earth, it was ten years. Nanna didn't just grow up - remember how Ishtar's spirit entered her body? It was her body, the reincarnation was just botched. Nanna as an independent identity was lost and Ishtar took over, swearing to Enoch she would finish what he started. Using her strength as inspiration, Enoch was able to purge the vileness and return to Earth.

He hurried to help Ishtar, catching glimpses of her fighting Ezekiel, and found her covered in vileness, either from lingering parts of her remains in The Darkness or from Ezekiel's attacks. He reached out to help her, but she stopped him and urged him to stop Ezekiel from fleeing and regaining her strength again. He successfully defeated Ezekiel and continued on after Azazel, who was guarding the domain of their leader, Semyaza. Azazel attempted one more boss transformation than usual, and was cut off by a taunt from Belial, followed by a creature that came up out of the ground like it was water, and made it into water, to boot.

Just like Armaros had in his battle.

It was Armaros, in fact. Corrupted, just like Enoch had been, except his shell wasn’t a suit of armor but a hulking monstrous thing that was very definitely Final Boss Material. He had cycling immunities, meaning Enoch had to keep picking up different weapons throughout the fight. Eventually, Dark Armaros unleashed an attack that knocked his weapon from his hands. Enoch had no way of damaging Dark Armaros any further without a weapon, but the other had no interest in attacking him. He simply stood there, while outside the arena, Ishtar had managed to drag herself up there. She pulled herself towards the fallen weapon and used the last of her strength to throw it to him, enabling him to finally put Armaros to rest (or so he assumed; in actuality Armaros had been sealed and would rejoin them much later, though that's irrelevant to this app). Enoch purified Ishtar, restoring her strength, and the two approached what was supposed to be Semyaza’s life support device. Except he wasn’t in there. Lucifel (incorrectly, but it’s not revealed in the game) assumed he’d died too, and took Ishtar off somewhere, presumably for Enoch to meet after he’d shut down the Tower.

For a smooth transition, I'll say he did meet them and spent one night camping out outside the remains of the Tower - but would wake in Norfinbury.

Inventory:
-A pair of designer jeans, stretchy and durable. (would normally be indestructible but as this enables it to be used as a tool beyond what it normally could? Nope, just a pair of jeans now.)
-A pair of old sandals, worn but still usable. Not in this weather though.
-An old, worn brown cloak with a hood, with at least two inside pockets. Probably the most useful thing he has. (does this count as a coat?)
-A handful of small bone fragments that would recite a piece of Ishtar's prophecy when he wills it, but that's been rendered inert. Utterly useless either way.
-A collection of notes given to him by the Freemen. May be used as kindling if he gets desperate enough, but he would have to be very desperate. These are the personal testaments of a people and he won't treat them so lightly. It would be on the same level as burning a book, to him (and he's from ancient times when writing was super-important so he doesn't take that lightly).

Re: Enoch | El Shaddai | oh my god my personality section is too long by itself why

[warriorscribe]

Personality: In the beginning, our only clues to Enoch's personality could be found in a blurb on the now-gone official website for the game. The first thing on his character page was this quote: "No problem. Everything's fine. All will be as God commands..." The first two sentences are his catchphrase, the third added by the localization team to underscore his piety and never seen again. What a versatile catchphrase it is! It can be used at face value, simply telling someone who's asked that he's doing well or that something they want to do is all right. But most of the time it's as reassurance to others or himself, whether in denial or in agreement with how he actually feels - sometimes, he is genuinely optimistic, but often enough it is a mask for his doubts and crises of faith.

Why crises of faith, you might ask, when his piety is one of the two defining traits listed in the blurb? Enoch is extremely pious, very faithful to God and Heaven, and willing to take a lot of pain and keep going for the sake of his beliefs. But he is human, and he can't help but recognize that God and Heaven have, directly or indirectly, caused him this pain. Taken him away from his family on Earth. Made it so he can never have a steady family again. But the presence of this recognition is not the lack of piety. I talked about the pits in The Darkness in the history section, and what vileness can do inside a person's body. What had no place in that discussion was that, without Belial's control, what drives him is a desire to destroy Heaven and The Darkness both. That is the ultimate goal corruption drives him to. It's a testament to that very piety, that such resentment and pain directed at Heaven only comes to light...well, in the dark. Of course he feels them - he is human, after all. But it's not a thing he wants to show, clearly not something about himself he likes or wants, and on top of that he is still so faithful he will not ally himself with The Darkness, either.

The next defining trait is his purity or pure heart. This isn't a childish innocence, no, he's quite old, after all. But there is an optimistic streak in him, and his sense of morality has fewer shades of gray than you'd expect from a jaded old immortal. In fact, though he is jaded and wary of new relationships, and though he's seen some of humanity's ugliest sides firsthand, he never loses his faith in humanity. Even under vileness, with all his doubts, anger, resentment, and fear on display, there was never an echo of that jealous king who ordered him killed during his long search for the Tower. Even if his pain is twisted into a desire to destroy Heaven and The Darkness, there is no sign of resentment against Earth, and no sense that Earth does not deserve to be saved. If it doesn't come out under vileness, chances are it simply isn't there. This is his purity, and this purity leads into his most striking character trait...

...Enoch is empathetic to a fault. At some point in the game's development, a prototype trailer was released, featuring a visual pun on the phrase "love your enemy". That was only the beginning. With the game's release came context, and we saw his overactive empathy in action - never overtly told, but there. There, in the way he had to say nothing or risk pain when he met Nanna, not even allowing himself even the tiniest response. There, on display in Heaven as he fought his doubts - shall we examine these? Chapter 9 is essentially dedicated to Enoch's characterization, showing us what this silent, bold warrior we've been controlling all this time has been feeling, and this is highlighted in the battles he faces that represent his doubts.

First is the tutorial battle where he fights representations of the Grigori taking the Fruits of Wisdom. He's aware that what they did is wrong, and hurts more than it helps, but understands completely they only wanted to ease the hardship of life on Earth. Second is a battle with three Martyrs - unarmed, so there is no focus on the weapons they stole, only on the men he's had to kill (and when he has killed them, where has he sent their souls? Does his holy weapon send them to Heaven or does the Tower send them to The Darkness?). These are men in identical dress, of about the same height, wearing face-concealing masks. And he cannot dehumanize them. It's easy to doubt he's capable at all. Next is a reprise of his battle with Sariel. Sariel's level consisted mostly of playgrounds for the Nephilim, where they were watched over by the spirits of their mothers (Raphael comments they are "bound" to Sariel as if this is a bad thing, but consider where their souls might be if he hadn't bound them...). Sariel seemed to care about those he lived with, and protected his world not like a king or god, but like a clan patriarch. If the game's sympathetic spin seemed odd, it will no longer - it was sympathetic because Enoch was - but wouldn't show it. While the real Sariel taunted Enoch nigh constantly, this representation of him is mostly silent, like the victim he is from Enoch's vileness-laden perspective.

And then there's Armaros. Armaros, who fell because Enoch kindled an interest in Earth by talking to him about it. Armaros, who lost his voice when he fell. Armaros, so devoted to his friend he followed him into The Darkness and faced him even in his weakened state to save him. Enoch may not remember his friendship with Armaros. But Armaros is the largest of these doubts, the one which corresponds to the longest timeskip within the intermittent scenes of what's happening on Earth. Due to his empathy and purity, Enoch has a tendency to blame himself more than he'll ever blame others (which has recently been confirmed outright by Ceta, again is in an alternate timeline but still holds pertinent characterization and world information). And he blames himself for what's happened to Armaros. Just like the Sariel battle, all you need to do is listen - the real Armaros was very quiet. But this one is vocal, giving that whale-like cry again and again. The loss of his voice is central to Enoch's pain in this regard.

Even non-sympathetic characters like the unhinged Ezekiel are not exempt. When he defeated her, he bowed his head as she cried out for her "children", even if her love was inept and misguided. He went to her side and stood beside her as her physical body died, so she didn't have to die alone. And in the prequel manga Exodus and within Ceta too, all it takes is meeting a person for him to worry for their safety, even if that person made him intensely uncomfortable in that meeting.

That's a lot of words to say he has boundless empathy and compassion. It's only by the stakes involved and the magnitude of his loyalty to God that he doesn't attempt to act directly on it with the Grigori - in any other situation, it can absolutely get him in trouble. All it would take is a skilled manipulator. (Like you all have seen already. Who remembers him letting Riki in on the whole goddamn plan?)

This empathy leads to other problems, such as a disregard for his own safety when another person is at risk. In the game, we see this when he leaps into The Darkness to try to save Nanna, and in Exodus, he leaps into a tornado to save a human soul, and then off Heaven's edge to try to break up a fight. In Ceta, he risks his life to try to purify a Nephilim and save a pair of stray sheep. He is too empathetic, too heroic. Only luck and timely intervention have prevented it from killing him so far, and should his own will to live falter this will only grow worse.

How easy is it to make him despair such that he has no will to live? It's hard to tell if you aren't being told, because Enoch lives so much for other people already. What seems like a calm exterior may be hiding deep distress, and when he has nothing else to focus on or gets a moment alone, or is pushed to the breaking point, it could come to light easily where we don't see it in the game (confirmed in Ceta, where Enoch remarks on the verge of a defeat that he no longer has a reason to be alive anyway).

Mostly, however, this despair is masked by sheer determination - and just because it's sometimes a mask doesn't mean it's not real. Even in the greatest pain, even under Belial's control, during that battle Enoch will make himself vulnerable as he struggles against it (though he's unable to break it: the moment of freedom turns him over to his pain and he only ends up thrashing in it before Belial regains control). On the flip side, it also makes him stubborn, and prone to not listening if he's made up his mind to do otherwise. This can be very good, as it ensures there is indeed a plot for his game, but I shouldn't have to tell you it doesn't exactly help the recklessness I mentioned earlier.

On a more lighthearted note, if you've seen any gameplay at all, something will catch your eye very quickly: Enoch is flashy, adding unnecessary spins and flips to almost everything he does. This could be due to a number of things, such as a love of adrenaline (sure does make you feel young again! And there is that adrenaline-charged grin when he picks up the Veil weapon for the first time) or simply for fun (in Exodus, he does dance on a table with Armaros), and the strongest canonical evidence we have for it is in Ceta, where Enoch is mesmerized by the energetic, graceful way Lucifel fights. Considering every tutorial screen in the game is Lucifel pausing time to teach Enoch about the subject at hand, it need not be confined to that timeline alone. He could have easily seen Lucifel fight for himself while we were given button explanations. (In fact, this is further backed up by Ceta, as we see Lucifel fight with a weapon for the first time and his style matches Enoch's, implying he taught Enoch his style rather than Enoch making one up to fit the weapon.) This shows that he's actually quite eager to please and impress others. Given his empathy, it makes sense: he's happy when others are.

Additionally, Enoch has a learner's mind. He's very curious, and asks questions about almost everything, as revealed in a character interview (this was also a crux of his characterization in the Book of Enoch, itself). He also picks up new concepts very rapidly. With a little instruction, he is able to pick up three rather unusual weapons and use them effectively on short notice, and this is taken to an almost comical extreme when the same is done for a motorcycle - he even manages to use the vehicle effectively in combat during Azazel's stage. It shows he has an open mind and embraces the unknown rather than being afraid of it. But this rapid learning must be under pressure - all of these examples were in life-or-death situations, and for all of this he doesn't know how to swim, indicating that it takes these exceptional circumstances (and the time to inspect or be instructed even a little) to trigger this and he doesn't simply master every new thing he encounters instantly. His learning rate is still probably better than average, but not without the mistakes and blunders of normal learners. By the way, combined with his stubbornness? This makes him a meddler. He'll get into things whether you like it or not. He did, after all, contest a ruling Heaven made.

When it comes to other people, with most he is quiet and closed off unless there is some reason to talk, whether they're in trouble, he's in trouble, or he needs information and they haven't taken it upon themselves to start talking like Nanna had. It makes it hard to get close to him at first, and I've already said why this is. But he just can't hold on to his heart - if he was good at keeping everyone at arm's length, he would still be able to minimally socialize while doing so. But no - Nanna, our best example, gets no response at all. But this assumes the other person is mortal. Fellow immortals are another story. Fellow immortals will not age and die, and fellow immortals will understand. Once he learns a person is immortal, his true, outgoing nature will likely begin to show itself in full. Or, perhaps if he feels safe or needs to talk, he'll spill everything to a mortal - he encountered a Freeman who escaped on his search for the Tower, which is what allowed him to find it in the first place. But it's more than a lifetime later before he actually arrives, and the Freemen know all about him, including his immortality. This implies he told that Freeman everything. However, he can't abide being all alone, and the isolating nature of Norfinbury and his lack of acclimation to remote communication will see to him opening up to others far more readily than he would anywhere else.

But back home, non-immortals were met with someone hard to respond to. In fact, the most important canonmates he could ever have are immortal, and are so important to him they get mentions all their own.

haku mitsumi | the messiah project | reserved

[jinxings]

(general warning for spoilers, but since it's an obscure series there's more of a blanket warning here for suicide and borderline self harm.)

Player Information

Name: Jelle
Age: 23
Contact Info: queeningsquare[at]gmail[dot]com, aim: Lunixhime, queeningsquare
Other Characters: n/a

Character Information

Name: Haku Mitsumi
Canon: The Messiah Project (sometimes just called Messiah)
Age: They never officially state his age in the canon itself, but considering he seems to be somewhere in his early to mid-twenties I'll go with the actor's age, which is 25.
Gender: Male
Canon Point: At the moment he's about to kill himself during Hisui no Shou.

[jinxings]

Background Link: There's some general information about the world itself here, but I'll write up Haku's personal history over the series myself since there's no link readily available for that. I'm sorry for the length but there's just a lot to cover even leaving out half of the less important things, feel free to skim..

Haku grew up under fairly shitty circumstances. As a young kid he had to deal with his mother's lover who constantly abused him and his older brother Sou. His older brother tried to shield him from the abuse, practically being the only one who cared for him, and brought him simple pleasures like candy (a fact that still seems to remain with Haku even now, considering the copious amount of candy he consumes all the time).

After a while it all went wrong though. During a particularly violent fit the older man started beating up Haku's brother really badly. Haku witnessed it all and called out for him to stop since he was going to end up killing his brother if this kept up, but the man didn't listen. In a fit of emotions, Haku grabbed a heavy object and beat him with it in an attempt to make him stop - but it was too much. The hit ended up killing his mother's lover instead and his older brother proceeded to take the blame instead for what had happened, wanting to protect Haku.

The incident ended up seperating the two of them - especially because of the aftermath, which Haku didn't learn of until much later in his life. The Northern Union, the biggest enemy of the organisation Haku would later join and basically a group of Not Really Great People, came to the brothers to look for a new recruit for an agent provocateur (basically an undercover agent whose primary role is to incite another person to commit an illegal act and/or falsely implicate another person in an illegal act) and wanted to recruit Haku. Sou didn't want to see that happen to his little brother and let himself be taken away in Haku's place.

Left in the world without anyone to take care of him, a young Haku was approached by Ichijima, the leader of the organisation called Sakura that trained people to be spies. Promising that Haku would be able to see his older brother again if he joined the organisation - the one thing he wanted more than anything, especially since he had no clue where his older brother was -, it was not a difficult task to convince Haku to go along.

Not that his time with Sakura was all that much better. Everyone at that organisation is appointed a Messiah: the one person they're allowed to befriend (or a little more than that, wink wonk) and have to work together with at all times. One can imagine that this sort of system makes you heavily dependant on one person for your general stability, and that's exactly what happened. Haku's codependant feelings for his brother instead transferred to his Messiah, except sooner or later disaster struck - Haku's Messiah died on a mission. It's not too strange for members of Sakura to die on missions considering the high levels of danger involved, so it was just routinely brushed off by the organisation as a whole. Not so easily by Haku himself though, but he managed to somehow pull himself through it.

Except then it happened again. After being assigned a new Messiah, the very same thing happened to said Messiah as did to the first. Once more Haku's Messiah died on a mission. And while it's not that strange for people's Messiah to die, for it to happen twice in a row was pretty unique within the organisation. Rumors started buzzing around and Haku started to be called a "jinx" - the guy whose Messiah will always die. It only further isolated him in his grief from everyone around him, turning him in a very aloof sort of person.

But then Haku was assigned a Messiah once more, his third, a new cadet called Eiri Kaidou. Since Haku at this point also believed in his own curse and was fully convinced Eiri would just die because of him too, he tried to keep the other at a distance. It wasn't too hard considering the fact that Eiri was like an angry chihuahua whose buttons were way too easy to press - annoying him and teasing him was the easiest way to keep a safe distance between them. To maybe save Eiri's life and to at the very least save his own feelings from getting hurt over losing a Messiah all over again.

Working together with another Messiah pair they grew fairly close to as friends, Shuusuke Shiba and Souma Gojyo, the pair completed quite a few missions for Sakura, with things more or less remaining the way they were. Haku was still aloof, he was still pushing Eiri away and more or less living life on auto-pilot. It didn't change until they were involved in the Higayama incident - Higayama was one of their enemies that had already tried to mess up quite a few of their missions, but by the time Haku finally came face to face with the guy himself, Higayama revealed that he knew about the whereabouts of Haku's older brother. The reveal hit Haku so hard that he seemed to mentally shut down, being unable to do anything but stand there and stare blankly even as everyone else was fighting around him. It wasn't until Eiri, his Messiah, grabbed him in the middle of a fight with Higayama and yelled at Haku to get back to his senses, to believe in him and listen to him since he was his Messiah.. right before getting shot by Higayama multiple times since it left his back uncovered.

The shock of seeing Eiri shot (and therefore facing the possibility of his Messiah dying once more) was enough to drag Haku out of his haze, since he had become more attached to Eiri than he was telling himself he was going to after all. Higayama told him that his Messiah would always die, so it would be easier to just avoid that pain and come with him and join the Northern Union (Sakura's biggest enemy). Haku refused though, saying he believed Eiri would pull through and telling Higayama off until the latter left.

Eiri did manage to miraculously pull through, surviving all the bullet wounds, and it was this event that brought the two of them together as Messiah. Haku decided he could believe in Eiri despite his jinx and stopped pushing him away as much. (The teasing stayed, though - it was far too entertaining to give up at that point.)

A few more missions later brought them to the point that their friends Souma and Shuusuke had graduated from Sakura, leaving the organisation and therefore cutting all contact with Haku and Eiri according to the rules. In their place Haku was assigned (along with Eiri) to mentor four of the new Sakura cadets and try to train them: Mamoru Shirasaki, Kaito Yuri, Ryo Ariga and Seiren Mamiya.

For a while everything went relatively well in Haku's life like that, but then everything blew up once more. Serizawa, a member of the Northern Union who had tried to mess stuff up with one of their earlier missions, was revealed to actually be Haku's long-lost brother, Sou, who had been taken away by the Northern Union and had quickly gone up through the ranks. Serizawa also revealed that he was the one who had been causing Haku's Messiah to die all along - he was the origin of the 'jinx'. Unable to watch his older brother die despite him being an enemy now and despite what he had done, Haku stopped Eiri from shooting the man during their first confrontation, leading to Serizawa getting away and a small crack starting to emerge in both their relationship and Haku's emotional and mental stability.

The real thing that shook Haku up though came during a mission they were leading the four new cadets through later on. In the middle of the action he lost his ear piece contact with Eiri, and after running into his brother there only a moment later he realised what had happened, and when one of the newer cadets came to him to tell him about it, his suspicions were confirmed - Eiri had died during the mission, adding another dead Messiah to Haku's jinx, not to mention one that Haku had grown even closer to than his previous two Messiah.

Even though Haku didn't shut down the way he did during the Higayama incident, he still was a lot less stable after it. He snapped at people left and right, acted more distant than ever seemed generally jaded about everything (when their boss told him he'd need to be assigned a new Messiah to complete the mission, Haku just snapped back to ask who would die because of him this time). He ended up mostly operating alone, only cooperating with one of their former-enemies-turned-sort-of-good-guy Misu to bring the mission to an end - until Misu betrayed him, that is. Haku was caught off guard by the action, being beaten up by Misu and his subordinates until Eiri suddenly appeared out of nowhere to save him, apparently still alive. In his beaten up stupor Haku tried to reach out for Eiri, but instead passed out from the strain.

After he returned to consciousness, Eiri explained to him that his death had been faked all along as part of the mission and that they couldn't have let Haku in on it. It was the only way to push Haku to go along with the mission and cooperate with Misu, who only fake betrayed him back there so he could get Serizawa to trust him and they could catch Serizawa off guard and capture him that way. Still emotional over the fact that it was all a big plot he was left out of, Haku ran off to confront Serizawa in the place they were keeping him. Serizawa confronted him with the fact that he had only joined the Northern Union to protect Haku and keep him from being taken instead ("I'm the monster you created", he tells Haku), only bringing Haku's emotions to a height - and when Serizawa told Haku to kill him, he couldn't. He pointed his gun at his older brother, but couldn't find it in himself to pull the trigger and kill the big brother that had been so important to him growing up, who he had longed to see again all this time. Even though he knew Serizawa was the enemy, even though he knew Serizawa had been killing his previous Messiah-- even so, he was still his brother. He still saved him, it was still Haku's fault that he became this way, or so Haku told himself.

Realising that it meant his "jinx" would never end this way (because Serizawa would still be alive and doubtlessly find some way to escape since Haku couldn't bear to see him killed), Haku ran away to instead confront Eiri, drawing his gun on him and making it seem like he was just going to kill him himself and be done with it. But at the last moment Haku pointed the gun at his own temple instead, saying that he he decided the only way for the jinx to end was for him to die. He doesn't want to see anyone die for his sake anymore, let alone see Eiri die, so it's better this way.

Just as he's about to pull the trigger, he'll find himself in Norfinbury instead.

shion ¤ no.6 ¤ reserved 1/2

[asteric]

Player Information

Name: Lamine
Age: 23
Contact Info: nacreousdream on plurk
Other Characters: n/a

Character Information

Name: Shion
Canon: No. 6 (light novels)
Age: 16
Gender: Male
Canon Point: End of volume 9
Background Link:

character page & world info

Inventory:

Shion will have on him his regular clothing and a long red toggle coat under which is a sweater. Additionally he'll be accompanied by a tiny black mouse robot named Tsukiyo (Moonlight). The robot is able to understand human speech, carry messages, and project small holograms if it is given the data one wants to project. Holograms are a piece of technology from his world though, so he won't be able to get new data onto Tsukiyo for projection right away. Tsukiyo also has a bit of personality, and he seems to have affection for people who are nice to him. He was a gift to Shion from his friend Nezumi.

Personality:

Imagine a bright, pleasant, polite young man who is poised to accomplish great things: Shion is the perfect picture of such a prized model citizen. At least he is at first, until the glamour breaks, and his actual humanity comes rushing in.

In general, Shion really is a pleasant and bright person. He has a very, very high IQ and has a set of manners which six months of living in abject poverty has not eroded. He does not hesitate to help children who come to him hurt and is rather fond of animals of all kinds—even rodents. In fact usually has an easy rapport with animals and quickly gains their trust, loyalty, and affection. When he sees people whom he perceives as weaker than him, it stirs within him a protective instinct which spurs him to help them without thinking about the consequences. At least it does when his empathy and sympathy aren't being overloaded: if he sees a mountain of corpses and the half-dead, he's not going to be able to help them at all and will actually need some help himself to pull it together. If there is a single dying man who is begging to be put out his misery, Shion will help him, even if he can't manage to strangle the man himself (and actually causes the man more pain trying to help him.)

Which is to say that Shion cares. He really, truly does. Even though he admits to himself that he does not think he is any saint and wouldn't help just anyone who came to him in need, and he says that he does not particularly like people, he actually does extend a hand to those who need it. Such behaviour brought him into contact with Nezumi, his closest friend and partner.

On his 12th birthday there was a typhoon. Not a big deal for such a technologically advanced city as No. 6, but it was a big deal for Shion. The wind and rain and noise excited him, to the point where he experienced a purely destructive impulse for the first time. He did not have time to dwell on it, however, as he had an urge to throw open his window and yell. By doing this he left himself open: and in slipped Nezumi, a twelve year old too, but a twelve year old who was bleeding, aggressive, and on the run. When Nezumi grabbed at Shion's throat, Shion didn't think to panic, however, instead he was focussed on helping Nezumi.

Shion helped Nezumi primarily by performing basic surgery to close the gunshot wound on his shoulder. (Yes, Shion could perform basic suturing at the age of twelve. It was partially his general education, partially his crazy mental proficiency.) Afterwards he gave Nezumi food and allowed him to stay in his room although he knew that, by sheltering Nezumi, he would lose all of his privileges granted to him by No. 6 because of his status as an Elite. Shion does all of this for this boy without any thoughts for what he would get out of it. And, after he does lose all of his privileges and has to move a poorer part of town, Shion tells himself that he doesn't regret it, he wouldn't have made a different decision if he had the chance. Shion isn't one to hold grudges: he means what he does and accepts the consequences for his actions.

His ability to not hold lingering grudges is also evident in his relationship with Rikiga. At one point Rikiga and Nezumi start bickering, to the point where Rikiga basically tells Nezumi that he should become a prostitute. Shion, sitting right by Nezumi, becomes so upset that he cries and physically assaults Rikiga. In the end Rikigia becomes something of a father figure for Shion. And Shion, despite Rikiga still arguing with Nezumi, drinking, and printing a pornographic magazine, is able to have an amiable relationship with Rikiga. He maintains it even when Rikiga basically says that he wants to get with Shion's mother. And, whenever Nezumi is bluntly honest and calls Rikiga a fat old alcoholic, Shion tells him off.

Although he has a massive mental intellect, Shion is not exactly the best problem solver. He is good on a theoretical level given that he possesses as much knowledge as he does. He is also good at logical thinking in that he can come up with a range of possibilities and game out scenarios. What his problem is, is that he is overly emotional. He doesn't want anyone to get hurt, and he is emotionally invested in finding the most ideal solution. Shion often advocates for a less violent way when Nezumi goes on about his hatred for No. 6 and his desire to destroy the city. He inspires Nezumi to consider that there might actually be such an option. He is able to give Nezumi hope that there might be one.

While inspiring hope in others is a vital quality for a leader, Shion does not possess many of the salient qualities desirable in a leader, at least not naturally. He is not able to make purely rational and logical decisions because of his emotions. Nor is he able to handle stress very well. He can at least admit when he's wrong, and he's earnest, but those aren't qualities which are particularly attractive in politicians.

Another one of Shion's flaws is his fatal clueless. Partially this comes from living such a sheltered and privileged life. Nezumi comments on it several times, saying that Shion is a burden because he is so utterly unable to take care of himself. Inukashi also comments on Shion and finds it hilarious that Nezumi would keep such a useless pet. On the other hand, though, a good deal of his cluelessness just seems to be a general part of his personality. He spaces out when he's thinking, to the point that he misses entire parts of conversations that are going on around him. He is also unable to recognise when someone is flirting with him. At one point an older woman with a food stall gives him free high quality cheese and calls him handsome. He thanks her, and then leaves, and later on that evening Nezumi gives him a hard time for not taking advantage of the situation. He tells Shion that he could have gotten a more if he had played along which comes as a surprise to Shion.

And, most cringe-worthy of all, is the fact that Shion doesn't realise that his best friend of many years, Safu, has a sexual interest in him. It isn't until she comes right out and asks him to have sex with him before she leaves to study abroad that he realises there was any sexual tension between them. He turns her down, of course, but he then attempts to ameliorate the situation by telling her he'll have sex with her when she returns in two years even though he obviously doesn't have any interest in it. To rub it in he ditches Safu about three seconds later when he thinks he might have found something connected to Nezumi after they've been apart for four years.

Another thing about Shion is that he is called angelic by at least two of his friends, Inukashi and Rikiga. The thing about angels, though, is that their original nature is often overlooked. Angels—in the Biblical Old Testament sense—are not kind and caring beings. Rather they are intermediates between humans and the Divine. They are designed for a function, and they have a form, but they don't have feelings. So, when they call him angelic, they mean it as a compliment, but it displays a fundamental misunderstanding.

There is a dark side to Shion that few know about. Only Nezumi has witnessed it, though Inukashi has sensed it. This dark side surfaces when he's triggered. What triggers him is primarily seeing those he cares about come to harm. He switches when Nezumi is in danger of dying twice, and he switches once when he blames Nezumi for the death of his childhood friend Safu. When he has switched, Shion is ruthless. His eyes go blank, his expression freezes, he becomes calm, and he becomes capable of acts that he is not when he is normal: namely, killing.

There is definitely some disconnect when he's in this state. He doesn't remember what he's done when he's back to normal. This is evident when he freaks out when he realises he has killed someone by shooting him. The killing really was brutal, too, as he shot the man point blank in the head. Of course the man had shot Nezumi and was going to going to shot both Nezumi and Shion to death, but still. This kind of act is so utterly uncharacteristic of how Shion normally is that it can only be explained by a complete switch of personality. He is made uneasy by this side of himself, too, so it's not something that he accepts or will settle for. It's something that he will struggle against until he defeats it.

It has to be noted that this side of his exists because it is an important issue. Nezumi tells Shion directly that it scares him. At one point Nezumi said that he didn't trust Shion because he was so willing to renounce No.6 and claim that he wanted nothing to do with it, but that is mostly a separate issue. Nezumi is scared of Shion because he doesn't think that he can predict what Shion can do. This side of Shion scares Shion too. It's apparently not something that he can control, and though he does not remember what he did, he is aware after the switch that he was not himself for a time. The third time the switch occurs he cries and apologises to Nezumi since he realises he must have been away from himself. Nezumi forgives him, he understands why Shion was so distraught about Safu, but it is still something that makes Shion a black sheep, at least until he learns how to control his swings, if he even can.

For as amiable as he can be, it's hard to say that Shion has a good sense of humour. Telling jokes is an important skill for socialising. It is, however, not a skill that Shion has. To be sure he can manage comebacks, sarcasm, and irony. After spending time with Nezumi he's learnt how to deal with the insouciance and blatant prodding Nezumi can engage in when he's in a grouchy mood. One of the ways in which Shion deals is by being sarcastic back to Nezumi,. Another way he deals is by punching Nezumi back. He doesn't punch Nezumi without a reason, though! It's more a case that he's expressing himself in a way that's equal to how Nezumi has expressed himself. If he doesn't have the skill of joke-telling, Shion makes up it for understanding when he has to change his method of communication.

Seriously, Shion isn't sadistic. The reality he has come to inhabit outside of No.6 is violent and there's no way that a person who wants to survive can't be affected by it. And, for the destructive impulses that he has, and the murder that he intensely regrets, Shion is generally a pacifistic-ish person who does not enjoy violence or conflict. In fact he goes out of his way to avoid conflict. He admits as much early on in the series.

But, as non-confrontational as Shion is by nature, he is not averse to facing horrible situations for the sake of others, and this speaks to his sense of morality, his sense of responsibility, and his loyalty to others. He refuses to give up the memories of his mother when he runs from No. 6 and figures he will probably never see her again. He does not give up on the citizens of No. 6 even though they are complicit in the abuses the people outside of the city face; he does not condemn them. Shion honestly believes that they can come to some understanding of what is going on and work towards creating a fair and equal society. Nor does he give up on Safu after she's been kidnapped, going as far as to going up directly against the government. Shion ultimately allows his other friends in the matter and (although not at first, Nezumi has to convince him to), working together with Nezumi, he directly risks his life in order to save her. When he learns that he's failed, it utterly devastates him, to the point that he becomes suicidal. Nezumi has to pull him out of an exploding room.

Overall, Shion is in general a rather smart, though simplistic kind of person who means well and isn't afraid to fight for what he believes in, if he's really convicted. His conviction might come from guilt, but guilt isn't always a bad thing. And, speaking of being simple, he does enjoy simple pleasures. It's remarked upon in canon that he is good with his hands doing things such as making clay models or doing crafts. He enjoys doing physical labour with his body, likes to organise things, and finds it rewarding to help others if they are injured.

As far as motivations go, Shion is driven mainly by his relationships with others. A good example of this is his extreme personality change when the people he cares most about are hurt: he becomes a man of action, so to speak, when Nezumi is threatened in any way. He also turns on Nezumi when he thinks that Nezumi has allowed Safu to die. Of course it helps his drive when he actually cares about another person, or if he thinks that the other person is in need. Earlier in the novels he tries to help more people than he realistically can. He becomes easily drawn into others' conflicts; he almost gets saddled with a taking care of disposing a dead body, and he is almost gets shot when he stops a storekeeper from shooting randomly into a crowd to stop a thief.

He has come to learn to more sparingly involve himself; technically, at least, since he knows to game out an emotional situation a bit more before engaging in it, but good judgement is hard to learn. What it really takes for him to become reluctant with involving himself is if he faces a truly overwhelming situation. As mentioned before, he has a hard time of it when he's facing down a mountain of dead and dying persons, he just doesn't have it in him to stop and help them. Instead he joins Nezumi in climbing up the mountain of persons to get out of the pit they've all been dumped into.

A part of motivation from relationships comes from the promises he has made people. He has promised Nezumi that he will continue to live on, so he will do so at any cost. He has also promised Safu to carry on her dreams, so continuing on into the future isn't something that he can't not do.

shion ¤ no.6 ¤ reserved 2/2

[asteric]

But relationships aren't the only thing that motivate Shion. He believes in people, but he also believes in people being able to achieve more than they have in the past. He believes in hope, and he believes in progress. This is shown by him staying behind in No.6 despite Nezumi taking off to become a wanderer. Although Nezumi is his irreplaceable partner and person whom he believes keeps him human, Shion opts to stay behind and help with the reconstruction efforts. He is shown to take on a leadership position within the reconstruction committee even if leading people is not what he is naturally inclined to do. He also believes in peace and compromise over violence, as he takes this stance several times against Nezumi even though the authorities in No. 6 had no qualms about framing him for a murder, and taking the stance led to some serious fights between the two of them.

And, when he's around people, Shion is generally interested in engaging with them and seems more than content to listen to people talk about themselves. He is able to make friends with Inukashi rather quickly even though Inukashi is a rough sort of person and generally doesn't trust other humans. Really, unless Shion sees the person as a threat or the person is directly hostile towards him, Shion is amiable. That said, Shion is more inclined to be helpful towards people he likes or whom he perceives as needing help—that is, people who are in some way worse off than himself. That might make him a bit of a jerk in some people's eyes; also a bit of a sexist, since he admits to Nezumi that one of the reason why he helped him when they were twelve was because he thought Nezumi looked like a hurt girl. The other thing that might make him come off in a bad way is his cluelessness to some social cues. Also, he's too trusting and doesn't automatically assume the worst of people, so he may come off too strong, or even seem too be faking it. Inukashi even asked him if he had some kind of mental disorder that would make him so soft.

Flavor Abilities:

He has an extremely high IQ and a wide range of practical knowledge from reading textbooks and living for six months in a slum but. Also, because he survived the parasitic bee in his neck, he has translucent white hair, violet eyes, and a 2cm thick red scar wrapped around his body from his ankle to his throat. He was born with normal brown hair and brown eyes.

Suitability:

Even if he's lived six months in the slum, Shion was bred a city kid, so the sheer physicality of the setting with wear on him at first. Mentally he'll be in a state too since the point where he's from he's just reached spring, and, to be sure, it was an awfully long winter. It'll be a blow that it will be winter again—and who knows for how long? In terms of interacting with the setting, he's going to have a hard time trusting the network. Obviously someone dropped them all there, so there's not a doubt in his mind that they're monitoring the network to keep up with what the residents are doing. This however will only make Shion more anxious as he will start to crave human contact, kindness, and warmth; it's not fun being paranoid for so long. His intelligence and massive power of memorisation will allow him to navigate the map easily, though, so he'll have to use his tablet not so often. Interacting with people tête-à-tête should be fairly easy though since he has some medical skills (like suturing a blood vessel )and will actually be able to use them provided he can find supplies.

As a consequence for a death I want him to lose his eyesight. He will be rendered useless—at least he will think he is—which will put him back into an uncomfortable mindset he's had several points in canon. And, without Nezumi around, he's really going to have to reach out to those around him so that he doesn't die again The death itself will put him in a bad state since he promised to live for others, so the reaching out for help will be extra hard when he's feeling like he doesn't deserve it. Losing his eyesight will also force him to rely more on the network.

RP Samples:

action sample & network sample ( I don't actually have ten comments in a network-type thread yet so may I use my network prompt response as a sample itself? )

Greed | Fullmetal Alchemist (2003) | reserved

[ossifragant]

Player Information

Name: Nin
Age: 27
Contact Info: kamex
Other Characters: N/A

Character Information

Name: Greed
Canon: Fullmetal Alchemist (2003 anime)
Age: 300 headcanonly; physically 32
Gender: Male
Canon Point: Episode 34; directly after leaving Al and Martel in the woods
Background Link: here; under the sections labeled “2003 anime” only.
Inventory: The clothes on his back and nothing else.

[ossifragant]

Personality:Like his name suggests, he's greedy. He says himself that he wants everything the world has to take. Women, money, status, power, eternal life-- he wants all of it. He's monumentally selfish and knows it and doesn't really care at all about Dante's goals. He claime he doesn't want to become human, and he also doesn't want to exist as her pawn.

Having been created from the remains of Dante's human lover, Greed more than likely has access to his human memories just as the other homunculi are shown to have, though they're not indicated in the show itself. One can speculate, however, that most if not all of the memories he has have to deal with Dante and being her lover given his behavior towards her—he's unable to harm Ed knowing that Dante is watching him and he inevitably finds himself drawn back to the place where he was born. It's part the fact that he really wants attention and also partially the fact that he desperately wants her attention in particular.

Somehow, despite being the homunculus that has spent the most time isolated and alone to think about revenge, Greed manages to be the least psychopathic of the seven homunculi. He's reasonably stable and though he doesn't seem especially bothered by the prospect of having to hurt or kill people, he does go out of his way to avoid it except in very specific circumstances, saying that it's "not his style." Included in this is his specific desire to avoid hurting women, which might have to do with his attachment to Dante.

Remarkably, despite his name being Greed and avarice being a key part of his personality, Greed genuinely seems to care for his friends. The chimera that he rescues from Lab 5 become incredibly loyal to him and he in turn is protective of them, urging his followers not to go through with suicidal attacks. It's probably in large part due to his own greed and selfishness that he dislikes seeing people be so selfless for his own sake. He's greedy and selfish and has trouble understanding why someone would want to die for him because he certainly doesn't want to die for someone else. Even so, he is clearly shown to mourn the loss of his followers and he urges Al to protect Martel after the death of the other chimera, also letting Al go in turn which effectively ends his search for getting his spirit attached to armor.

Maybe it's because he found himself getting attached to Al that he decided not to hurt him after all, it's not entirely clear, but it would make sense because he also knowingly engages in a fight with Ed that was extremely likely to end in his own death. To help Ed out and throw the ultimate wrench in Dante's plans, he's willing to die to give the information that the alchemist needs in order to defeat the other homunculi. That sheer amount of self-sacrifice seems to be the antithesis of what Greed exists to be, but it's also not entirely surprising that a greedy man would ultimately want to die on his own terms rather than be imprisoned for centuries once more.

It's not accurate to call him a "good" person because of his selfishness and the fact that he was willing to kill Al to figure out how a spirit attachment is done, but his bond with the chimera is proof that he does genuinely care about people, as is the fact that he eventually let Al go when he was certain that his confrontation with Dante would end in the loss of his life. He's selfish but not unnecessarily cruel; this is an important distinction. He's not "good" but he's also not evil either, floating somewhere in between. He is extremely loyal to the chimeras he broke out of Lab 5 and would absolutely never betray them even in a situation where it would be advantageous for him to do so.

Greed's hideout with the chimera is in the basement of a dingy bar called The Devil's Nest, which says that he's not afraid of hanging out with outlaws. Unlike the other homunculi who treat humans like something beneath them, Greed is at least capable of a somewhat civil discussion. He makes it clear that he's extremely strong and not someone to be messed with, but he also is fairly content being around outlaws. He's shown with his arms around human women in the hideout while discussing what to do about Wrath. In general, he seems capable of genuinely getting along with people so long as they don't treat him like trash for being a homunculus or otherwise try to provoke him.
Despite his long life and despite experience that would indicate he should know better, Greed is quick to trust certain people. It doesn't happen often, but when it does happen, he's very protective of the people who have allied with him and he has a tendency to take betrayal extremely personally. It can be difficult to gain his trust, but once a person does, he's a fairly trusting man and that is something incredibly exploitable— he was genuinely blindsided by Kimbley's betrayal despite earlier banter that seemed to hint towards him not entirely trusting the man.
A final thing to note would be the suicidal inclinations of homunculi in the original anime; it’s not that Greed would actively be looking to end his life and indeed it’s actually the opposite to a certain extent—he wants to live. However, in spite of this, homunculi are born with the innate knowledge that they are created because somebody died, and because of that they are prone to despair. Greed is never directly shown having the problem himself, but he’s one of the only homunculi not shown having this problem so it’s safe to say he is capable of feeling misery; he’s just not as immediately prone to it for the time being. Important to note that while he doesn’t go looking to end his life for most of his appearance in canon, he does provoke Ed into killing him

Flavor Abilities: Greed will be retaining both his catlike eyes and shark teeth. His eyes are just aesthetic and don’t give him an edge, but his teeth are as sharp as ever; they might make it easier for him to eat steak, but that’s about it.

Suitability: Though he’s not human, Greed isn’t immune to things such as loneliness and isolation. In fact, I want to see how he deals with prolonged periods of isolation, especially after spending more than a century in complete isolation already, cut off from the entire world. He’ll constantly be fighting his own feelings of isolation and the need to find and seek out other people for company. While at first he wouldn’t have much desire to help people figure out what’s happening, he would still want to know what’s going on and desire to feel like he’s in control of his situation.
At some point, I want him to lose his voice after coming back from death. Greed is charismatic; without his voice, he’ll find the situation’s in much more stressful, as he is used to and enjoys hearing himself talk. He also prefers to use his voice in order to get people to his side. By losing his voice, it’ll force him to start working with people and possibly even come to realize he needs to depend on others to a certain extent.

RP Samples:
Network, Action

Sakata Gintoki | Gintama | Reserved

[yorozuya]

Player Information

Name:Jas
Age:25
Contact Info: regdichab
Other Characters: None

Character Information

Name:Sakata Gintoki
Canon:Gintama
Age:late 20s-early 30s [headcanon: 29]
Gender: Male
Canon Point:Sometime after the Jail Arc and before the Baragaki Arc
Background Link:Then and now, what I protect has never changed!
Inventory: Gintoki will be wearing his normal outfit, which is composed of black slacks and a black short sleeve shirt with a high collar. He wears a white yukata over this that hangs off his right shoulder and a pair of boots. He's not particularly dressed for the weather, but such is life. He will have his wallet, though its home only to a few candy wrappers and about 1000 yen. The last issue of Shounen JUMP he was able to buy before getting his butt stuck here.

[yorozuya]

Personality:

~Warning for some series spoilers strewn throughout~

The sort of man Sakata Gintoki is relies heavily on the context in which he is experienced. In fact, referring to Gintoki as an 'experience' himself would not miss the mark. When faced with a situation where his assistance or support is needed by another party, Gintoki proves to be a righteous and valuable ally who is ready to jump into the fray without hesitation. He is a man who will answer the call of another person when he or she is faced with insurmountable odds with little interest of being compensated. Though once the calamity of the week has passed, the airs of 'Sakata Gintoki, the hero' wither away to reveal his truth identity – Sakata Gintoki, the obstinate NEET who somehow continually reaffirms his position as poor choice in role models.

Gintoki lacks the proper motivation and focus required to branch out into work beyond offering himself to complete 'odd jobs' – and even then Gintoki may attempt to pawn off on one of the other members of the Yorozuya if he deems the job far too contrived to be worth the payout. He is a man who would rather waste away on his couch, snoozing with a WEEKLY JUMP open on his chest than commit himself to strenuous labor. He continually dodges his adult responsibilities such as making payments on his rent or paying his employees, and often participates in a variety of 'get rich quick' schemes in an attempt to make easy money, so that he can avoid doing actual work for a living.

Irresponsible and blunt – Gintoki makes no attempt to hide who he is behind formalities or facades and instead presents himself in his truest form, much to the chagrin of those who associate with him.

Sorry, but I'm better at being a free agent.

As the proprietor of Yorozuya Gin-chan, Sakata Gintoki is often referred to as Yorozuya himself as a nickname coined by other characters within the series. The term literally translates to “House of 10,000 Businesses,” which in colloquial terms simply means “Odd Jobs.” The business is a small outfit that was founded by Gintoki a few years after his stint in the Anti-Foreigner War. The aim of the business is to run errands or other chores as a free agent - for a price. Granted, the business doesn't bring much in the way of money. The member of the Yorozuya – Kagura and Shinpachi – often reference the absence of a regular wage from Gintoki, though these reminders are often outright ignored by Ginoki who will continue to flip through his issue of the WEEKLY JUMP or continue his conversation as if nothing happened.

One reason for their lack of funds comes from a tendency of Gintoki avoiding jobs that include (perceived) intense manual labor, repetitive action, or anything else that could fit the category of 'unappealing' at that particular moment. In Episode 9, Gintoki even attempts to cheat during Rock, Paper, Scissors against the other Yorozuya members so that he could avoid having to tile a roof for an old man. (Incidentally, his win backfires and he is forced to tile the roof as a result of winning – rather than being able to stay back as he had planned.) If it's not laziness that costs Yorozuya cash, then it's the sheer magnificence at which the Yorozuya are able to botch a job. Blunders arise among the Odd Jobs group due to their tendency to goof-off or bicker while at work. Gintoki and Kagura especially are susceptible to being carried away in the heat of the moment, which can ultimately lead to a crucial part of the job being undeniably screwed up (case in point: the retrieval of Prince Hata's beloved pet alien- octopus, Pesu, resulted in the pet nearly dying before it grew several stories tall and began to go on a violent rampage.)

Despite his tendency to be lazy and abrasive, Sakata Gintoki will not turn down someone who is in dire need of help. If he grows invested in the circumstances surrounding a job, he will devote himself to seeing it through to the end. Often, he gets swept up in the story of a client and begins to see what is precious to his client. Once he identifies things that are precious to another person, Gintoki becomes compelled to protect it. He reasons, “If I find something falling before me, I want to pick it up,” and will put his life on the life to ensure that he does what he can to protect what is within his grasp. Upon getting involved in these jobs, Gintoki often refuses payment for his services as he is focused on something that is far more important: the call to protect someone or something.

The freedom allowed by Yorozuya's outfit provides Gintoki with the ability to pick and choose just what he gets involved with and allows him to pave his own way. The versatility behind the business allows for him to comfortably drift in and out of people's lives and gives him the security of being an outsider in most situations. He has the ability to choose his level of involvement – an important feature for an independent man such a Gintoki. While the Yorozuya proves not to be the most financially lucrative business, it is the key to exactly the sort of simple life that Sakata Gintoki seeks out in his present day.

From now on, you will swing that sword not to cut down your enemies, not to cut away your weaknesses and protect yourself. But to protect your very soul.

Sakata Gintoki did not always prescribe to a simple life. Orphaned at a young age, Gintoki spent a notable period of his life scavenging battlefield to swipe food from the dead. He quickly adapted, becoming a bit of an opportunist in order to survive. The young boy was alone and looked out for solely himself for a long period of time. During this chapter of Gintoki's life, he was approached by Yoshida Shouyou – who had heard rumors of a 'corpse eating demon' only to find the small child. He refers to Gintoki as a 'rather cute demon' and pats him on the head. Gintoki responds by immediately going on the defensive, reeling back in fear before pulling a blade he had swiped off of a corpse. Shouyou immediately recognizes the child's defiance and incredible will to survive, though he also notices the fear and distrust that cloud the child from reaching his full potential. Shouyou calmly tells the boy that a sword weilded only in self defense should be cast aside, before throwing his own sword to the boy. He tells Gintoki that he will teach him how to weild a sword properly if he accompanies him, and Gintoki quickly accepts the man's offer. Shortly after being taken in by Yoshida Shouyou, Gintoki becomes the man's pupil and begins attending classes at his dojo. It is show several times that even as a child, Gintoki retains his lazy, apathetic personality as during Shouyou's lectures he can often be seen snoozing in the back of the classroom – drooling and snoring through the teachings while the other students are intently listening. Despite this seemingly flippant disregard for his school work, its shown several times that Yoshida Shouyou's words had a profound impact on Gintoki and were crucial to making him who he is in the present. Several times in the series, Gintoki echos the words of his mentor – saying that he will protect what is in front of him in order to protect his soul. This way of life is what Sakata Gintoki has adopted as his own personal bushido – which means that despite his laziness in class, he has deeply taken the teachings of his teacher to heart.

Unfortunately during the Kansei Purge – A period where the countrys government began to work with the invading Amanto to quell the fires of rebellion that had broken out between loyalists to the old Japan and the Amanta – Yoshida Shouyou was targeted due to the possibility that he could 'create dissenters.' He was arrested by the Tendoshu and taken away before Gintoki's eyes. As they parted, Shouyou entrusted everything in Gintoki's care – asking him to protect the lives of his fellow students until he returned. Gintoki followed through on his teacher's wish and took responsibility to take care of his fellow pupils, though he also joined in the Anti-Foreigner War along with Katsura Kotarou and Takasugi Shinsuke (two of Yoshida Shouyou's pupils and Gintoki's friends) in a desperate attempt to save their beloved teacher. During the war, Gintoki quickly made a name for himself due to his merciless swordplay and his white appearance and was coined as the “Shiroyasha” - A white demon that struck fear into the hearts of both his comrades and his enemies. This ruthless way of fighting comes about from the desperate need to protect what was in front of him, and is a stark contrast from the Gintoki of present day due to the viciousness the Shiroyasha displayed on the battlefield. Though in the face of this dire time, Gintoki still displays that he has not completely departed from his bushido. When he and Katsura are faced with insurmountable odds and Katsura suggests they commit seppuku so that they may die honorably – Gintoki responds, “If you have time to fantasize about your beautiful death, then why not use that to live beautifully until the end?” In essence, he believes their souls to be too valuable to simply cast away for honor on the battlefield. Near the end of the Anti-Foreigner War, Gintoki and his friends are captured by the enemy. In this time, Gintoki is given an ultimatum; he must either kill his teacher or allow for his friends to be killed. In the end, Gintoki decapitates Yoshida Shouyou in order to keep his promise to his mentor. Though the two share a final smile with one another, it is an action that haunts Gintoki to this very day. Shortly after, Sakata Gintoki abandons his friends and vanishes from the war without a trace.

Sometime after the war, Sakata Gintoki runs into Terada Ayano – known more commonly by her professional name Otose – while she is bringing food to her deceased husband's grave. He takes the food she had originally meant to give to her husband (though he has the decency to ask if he can scavenge food from the dead this time), before he vows to her husband that he will protect Otose for the remainder of her life. Following these events – he begins to rent the space above Otose's Snack House and establishes the Yorozuya.

Such is the tragic backstory that befits a shounen protagonist – now, to get back to the subject at hand: Sakata Gintoki, the shameful excuse of an adult.

What am I doing, reading JUMP at my age? Well, a man remains a boy until his death...

Several times throughout the series, numerous other characters note the astounding level of laziness that circulates through Gintoki's being. In episode 74, Gintoki is unaffected by an epidemic that caused the people of Edo to transform into useless old men, because he already is a worthless, sluggish oldster. Sakata Gintoki often complains when faced with menial labor and attempts to weasel himself out of doing jobs that seem unappealing to him. He lacks motivation and spends the majority of his time lounging around his office and reading the Weekly JUMP or dozing on and off throughout the day. The only commitment he regularly makes seems to be to move to switch his television on so he can gawk at the weather lady that he fawns over. During episodes 202-203 – when the show comes back on the air after taking a year break – the characters are affected by an outbreak of warts that feed on the ambitions of people so that they may grow and take their image. Gintoki is once again left out of the loop, given that he was not targeted due to his lack of ambition. This albino man is content leading a simple life and scraping by while performing odd jobs for others. He is consistently behind on making his rent and often dodges the issue when confronted by Otose. Instead he attempts to mooch off of the people around him, as he would rather fall into easy money and goods in lieu of working for them.

Beyond being an infamous mooch, Gintoki is quick to flush the money he does come across down the toilet. When yen passes his hands, he is quick to spend it on frivolous things such as sugar, the Weekly JUMP (The weekly JUMP you hear? Not the Akamaru JUMP. That's a mistake a mother would make!), or getting smashed instead of putting it towards something useful like, who knows, paying the rent or his employees for starters. If he still has some dough left over after buying his own luxuries – then he is quick to shove it into a pachinko machine or into the hands of casino employee and immediately lose it all. The amount of times that Gintoki has been stripped down to his boxers because he got a little too into throwing his money away is far too many to just excuse. This useless samurai absolutely attempts to strike it rich at any opportunity. In fact, money becomes so important that in more humorous situations – Gintoki is willing to dive into just about any job if the price is right (and it doesnt go against his own morale code, but that's to be hit on more later.) When Gintoki meets Hasegawa for the first time, he is disinterested in the idea of tracking down Prince Hata's pet for the government, as the job seemed like it was more hassle than it was worth, but Hasegawa mentions that they planned to compensate them handsomely. Needless to say, Gintoki was instantly won over by the prospects of receiving a suitcase full of money and took the job – quickly (and shamelessly) changing his tune from literal seconds before.

Heres the power balance in this house: me first, sweets second. Remember that!

While Gintoki's sweet-tooth has been glossed over a few times, his devotion to sugar deserves its own section. While the samurai possesses a prickly, flippant personality – his love for sweets could be considered a 'softer' charm point within his character. Gintoki is often seen eating a variety of different sweets throughout the series and claims that he cannot make it through a day without some. Most commonly he is drinking from a carton of strawberry milk or enjoying a strawberry or chocolate parfait, though it seems as if he will shovel anything sweet into his mouth if given the chance. His former friends have even cited that his addiction for sweets has caused him 'soften' after the Anti-Foreigner War and took away his will to fight. Gintoki is rarely seen without something sugary within his reach and complains that doctors and dentists both attempt to chide him on his sugary diet (to which he usually decides that, “So what, then I'll live the remainder of my apparent short life happy.” Beyond simply ingesting sugar, he often references sweets in his long, drawn out arguments in order to prove a point. An infamous example would be the “truth about strawberry milk” spiel – in which Gintoki attempted to make a motivational speech meant to say something along the lines of “sometimes things are unavoidable and you'll have to do them even if they're a pain, and instead ended up using strawberry milk as the obscure focal point to deliver his message:

Listen up! Let's say you drink too much strawberry milk, and have to use the bathroom in the middle of the night. But it's cold outside your bed. You don't want to get up, but the urge to urinate is just too strong! You make up your mind to go! You run to the bathroom, stand in front of the toilet, and let loose! You think that all your life has led to this moment! But then you realize! It isn't the bathroom! You're still in bed! That feeling of lukewarm wetness spreads like wildfire! But you don't stop! You can't stop! That's what I'm talking about! That's the truth of strawberry milk!

Helen Magnus | Sanctuary | Reserved (1/2)

[lifewithoutrest]

Player Information

Name: Ashley
Age: 24
Contact Info: formallyintroduced
Other Characters: N/A

Character Information

Name: Helen Magnus
Canon: Sanctuary
Age: 274 (apparent age, forties)
Gender: Female
Canon Point: Post Series (ish) - I want to take her from right before the end of the last ep. Kind of mid-explosion.
Background Link: Wikipedia | More Detail
Inventory:

[1] iPhone (65% charge)
[1] Hair Tie
[1] Wristwatch
[2] Earrings
[1] Outfit
     [1] Jacket
          [1] Photograph (w/ Ashley as a child)
          [1] Photograph (Ashley as an adult)
     [1] Shirt
     [1] Pants
     [2] Boots

Helen Magnus | Sanctuary | Reserved (2/2)

[lifewithoutrest]

Personality:
While her longevity has been a blessing in her work, it has often been a curse in other ways. Imagine knowing you will outlive virtually everyone you love. This is a reality Helen lives with every day. She is painfully aware that she will likely lose anyone she gets close to, either through her work or to age. Perhaps some of her most significant losses were those of James Watson, her partner and colleague of more than a century, and her daughter, Ashley.

Over time, this awareness has come to have a significant impact on the decisions she makes and the relationships she has. It has led to a tendency to push people away, hold them at a distance. This is how she has chosen to guard her heart. For example, in Requiem when she and Will find themselves confined to a submarine, she’s frustrated because she doesn’t understand her daughter, perhaps a disconnect attributed to her advanced age. Will makes the comment then that while she invites questions, she leaves or changes the subject when a conversation turns too personal. When she finally does give him an honest explanation, her response is, “I've buried a lot of friends, colleagues, lovers; more than you can imagine. You asked me earlier how I could relate to people? Well... dinner parties are hell.” She has a unique understanding about how precious life truly is and how short it can be. Few have known so much pain, so much loss. It has made it difficult to relate to others because they lack a similar understanding.

She has adapted to this understanding by keeping secrets, particularly about herself. Helen does not share personal information easily. In the pilot, when Will presses her for answers, she tells him as little as she believes she can get away with while still satisfying his curiosity. And when he continues to push, she grows noticeably frustrated, her tone becoming more brisk. Something similar happens during The Depths when Will questions her about his scholarship, learning for the first time that she had been the one to pay for his college education. It is a matter she clearly does not wish to discuss, and even when specifically asked, there is a significant delay before she answers, as though she is trying to ignore the question.

Though she sometimes appears soft, there is no question Helen is strong, capable, and passionate about her work. We see exactly how far she is willing to go in order to protect her work when we learn about The Five hunting down Adam Worth. It is also seen in the countless times she has risked her life for the Sanctuary. However, upon first meeting her, she can often seem distant. In truth, she is quite the opposite.

Helen is a very guarded individual, as much out of necessity as anything else. The unknown length of her life, and the uncertainty of her work has left her reluctant to open up to another person. Those she allows behind her walls are few, and she selects them carefully. It means a great deal if she is willing to open her heart to you, or even simply be herself in your company.

This is not to say she is shy about intimacy. She is comfortable with herself and her body, and she is surprisingly fond of physical contact, knowing that a simple touch can often mean more than words. Countless times throughout the series, we see her laying a hand on someone’s arm or lightly touching their back in reassurance. This is most obvious when she is with those closest to her, especially with her daughter. Her body language is more apt to voice her thoughts than she is, and if one truly hopes to gain insight into her emotions, they need only learn to pay attention to her eyes.

Helen is confident, occasionally to a fault. As a good friend once said, she’s the type to leap from a cliff, hoping she sprouts wings. She also tends to take others’ burdens as her own. She harbors a tremendous amount of guilt, often blaming herself for circumstances beyond her control. While she makes it a practice not to hold regrets, her mistakes and failures are rarely far from the surface, influencing her methods and actions. Because she does feel guilty so much of the time, she has a tendency to be somewhat reckless, and she would not hesitate to put another’s life ahead of her own. One instance in which this can be seen is during Fata Morgana when they had taken three witches from a crypt, only to realize an organization known as the Cabal had claimed possession of them. Despite her own belief that they were too dangerous to remain free, when the Cabal attack her Sanctuary with the intention of stealing them back, she puts herself at risk, making it clear that should they wish to remain, she would fight to protect them.

Though Helen has lived too long and seen too much to follow any specific religion, she has a great deal of faith. She is very spiritual, in her own way. She does believe there is something greater than herself, and at times, she draws strength and comfort from that belief. Still, what truly keeps her waking up in the morning is her work. She has devoted nearly her entire life to ensuring abnormals are given protection and common courtesy, while also working to protect humans from those abnormals too dangerous to be allowed freedom. She even went so far as to destroy the Sanctuary she had considered home for decades, simply so that she could continue her work in the best way she knew how, without interference for those who would alter the balance.

One of Helen’s more interesting qualities is her sense of humor. It is very dry and occasionally almost unsophisticated. This is usually only seen when she is in the company of those she considers close friends. We see this with Will in Next Tuesday. After crashing their helicopter in an abandoned oil rig and being stranded at sea, they spend nearly the entire episode bickering. But once the real reason for Helen’s insistence on keeping him nearby is revealed, some of the tension dissipates. In an effort to lighten the heavy mood, Will makes the comment, “It's hard, isn't it? Finding someone worth anything?” to which she replies, “You're kidding, right? I mean, there's plenty of fish in the sea.”

Underneath it all, Helen is caring and compassionate in everything she does, giving to others more than she would ever consider taking for herself. She is a very unique individual who has lived through things most could not imagine, but she takes it mostly in stride. Her work is never finished, and she will not rest until it is.

Flavor Abilities: Helen is essentially your average human, however, she was granted incredibly slow aging due to being injected by vampire blood. This also means she’s been alive for an incredibly long time, and she’s picked up a number of skills in that time, such as several degrees in various fields of study, knowledge of many different languages, and skill in hand-to-hand combat as well as a familiarity with many different weapons and ingenuity to create her own.

Suitability: Helen has lived for a very long time. She’s hunted monsters and fought in wars and been thrown back through time and forced to wait 113 years just to get back to where she was. Being caught up in dangerous situations she sometimes doesn’t fully understand is sort of her element. Which is why, at first, she won’t be too troubled, aside from the how did I get from mid-explosion to sudden arctic and why have I been abducted and by who concerns.

She will definitely want to explore and try to figure out who is behind it and why it’s being done. Helen loves a challenge. She’s also very resourceful and (at least as far as she’s concerned) has been in far worse situations. She knows how to survive when she has to. But she also tends to take risks, especially if it means having a better chance at a successful mission/goal. This is also very true where other lives are at stake. Helen would always rather risk herself than someone else, but the people who follow her do usually end up paying the price while she gets lucky. I’d love to see something play out where she mentors someone or gains someone’s trust, and then something happens to them because of a decision she made or a risk she took.

However, I’d also love to see what would happen should she die because of a decision she made or a risk she took. Because there’s a part of her that is very tired of living, but there’s this other very human part of her that just wants to live. And in some ways, she’s been going like this for so long that there’s still a part of her that’s starting to think she’ll never die.

I also very much expect cabin fever in her near future because she will likely try to set up some kind of home base in the early days after her arrival.

RP Samples:

Network Sample (mentions death of a child, also discussion about an immortal wishing to die at some point in the future and some of the horrible things he’s suffered)
Log Sample (some discussion about the Titanic and obviously the deaths associated with that)

Within Setting Sample – Network (For the sake of clarity, I am using the first test drive prompt)

[She’s been here long enough now that she knows to pay attention to the tablets, but she had thought she had time yet. It seems she’d misjudged. If she’d stayed in the building she had been searching or if she hadn’t paused midway back to the next nearest building she remembers because she’d mistakenly thought she saw something to the north, perhaps then she would have made it inside before the doors locked. But she hasn’t been so lucky.]

I suppose I should have expected this to happen sooner or later. Apparently, I’m a rather poor judge of time.

[There are some disadvantages, she thinks, to being a doctor. She knows her chances of surviving a night outside in these conditions are almost nonexistent, and worse, she knows what will happen before it reaches that point.]

I expect I’m in for a rather unpleasant evening, and not likely to survive the night. Under the circumstances, I think I’d like some company while I wait.

Have there been any successful expeditions recently, useful supplies found? I believe we’d all benefit from sharing what we’ve gathered.

[Freezing to death, not the way she’d thought she’d go out. Sighing, she settles back to await the familiar voices coming across her tablet.]

George Milton | Of Mice and Men | Reserved (1/2)

[bindlestifflost]

Player Information

Name: Linds
Age: 28
Contact Info: bindlestifflost
Other Characters: N/A

Character Information

Name: George Milton
Canon: Of Mice and Men
Age: Unknown. Implied to be in his 20s or so.
Gender: Male
Canon Point: End of novel
Background Link: Timeline and Character analysis
Inventory: A tightly rolled blanket with a carrying strap, basic toiletries (straight razor, toothbrush and tooth powder, soap, comb), a pocket knife, a wristwatch, two cans of beans, a box of Lucifer matches, a deck of playing cards, work boots, socks, denim work pants and a denim work jacket, a cotton button down work shirt, undershirt, boxers, pocket change, and a belt, all things listed in canon as in his possession with the exception of the clothing details and very typical of Depression Era migrant workers. (He'll need a better coat for the setting, or he'll freeze even during the day time.)

Personality: George is a moral man who believes himself to be worse and less intelligent than he is. He is frequently down on himself for getting angry with and yelling at his closest companion, despite the fact that his frustration is often justified and over serious things that affect both their livelihoods, and blames his own lack of intelligence for not owning a farm rather than the abysmal economic circumstances of the Great Depression. By the way he speaks, it's clear he's not a very educated man, but he makes several very shrewd decisions throughout the novel and for the most part takes good care of himself and his mentally disabled friend Lennie Small, keeping them fed and working. He's good at reading people (he knows Curley is a bad, dangerous man from the moment he meets him), ascertaining threats (he also knows that Curley is more likely to go after Lennie than him), and coming up with the best course of action for dealing with them under bad circumstances (he tells Lennie to avoid Curley, but if he goes for him to defend himself). Where he falls short is in not understanding how dangerous Lennie can be and thinking that just because his very large, very strong friend doesn't mean any harm, he won't do any real harm. Nor can it be said there aren't warning signs, for Lennie has accidentally killed small animals by being too rough with them since he was a child and has scared grown adults by panicking and holding onto them too tightly.

George is a man capable of going to great extremes and acts of loyalty for those about whom he cares. At the end of the novel, he kills Lennie in a humane way rather than allowing him to be shot to death in the stomach by a mob out for his blood. He knows it has to be done, and he refuses to shy away from it. Like many migrant farm workers of Depression Era America, he has no family connections and no ties to any one place. For most of his life, his one tie, the one thing that he knows makes him different from most other men in his circumstances, is his friendship with Lennie. The exact circumstances of their meeting aren't known. What is clear is that they've known one another since childhood and that before Lennie's Aunt Clara died, George made a promise to her that he'd look after Lennie and bring him out working with him. He admits that at first he was terrible to Lennie. He took out his aggression and frustrations on him, beating him up and playing cruel pranks on him for which Lennie never hated him or retaliated. Being smarter than Lennie made him feel powerful and important. It was likely the only thing in his life at that time that did. He says that what finally made him give up his cruelty was Lennie nearly drowning by jumping into a river just because he told him to and then thanking him for saving his life because he had forgotten George was at fault for him being in the river in the first place.

This event clearly had a profound effect on George and his character. He still derives most of his self-worth from his relationship with Lennie. The difference is that now he finds the worth in taking care of him rather than tormenting him. He now has no tolerance for cruel men or bullies and hates mean people upon meeting them. His initial reaction to Curley, the ranch boss' son, is instant dislike and mistrust. He is all too aware that despite how frustrated he gets with Lennie, without him he'd be completely alone, and his life would be meaningless. He clings to the purpose caring for Lennie gives him, afraid of who and what he'd become without him. Although he's far from perfect or tender in his care of him--he's frequently verbally abusive and often complains about how much better his life would be without him--he is genuinely concerned with his safety and well being. Many of his diatribes come from worrying about him, either making himself sick from drinking tainted water or handling dead things, or from doing things that could get him jailed or worse, such as an incident in which Lennie frightened a woman so badly from grabbing her dress that she accused him of rape and had a lynch mob after him and George. For all of his harsh words and threats, there's a real underlying sense that George rides him as hard as he does because he cares. He wants both of them to be able to work somewhere long enough to earn a stake so they can fulfill a mutual dream of owning a farm and working for themselves, living off the "fat of the land." Much of George's frustration and anger comes from never being able to stay anywhere long enough to get ahead. Inevitably, Lennie gets them both in trouble and forces them to leave under dangerous circumstances. George has a temper and is quick to speak up for himself and Lennie. However, his temper is a rational, practical kind of temper, not the kind that lashes out for no good reason or is based in misplaced pride.

Over their time together, George has crafted an elaborate narrative that he uses much like a bedtime story to keep Lennie happy and motivated to do right. He speaks in great detail of the farm they'll own, down to pigeons in the windmill and a hutch of rabbits Lennie can tend. No matter how angry he is with him, he can eventually be talked into sharing the story. Lennie's belief in it fuels George's, too, to the point that when they meet up with an old ranch hand named Candy who has some money he can put toward the stake, George lets him in on it and starts putting the plan into motion, contacting a family he knows desperate to sell a land parcel. He shows himself to be patient, compassionate, and practical all in one fell swoop in sharing their dream with another who is elderly and physically disabled but can help them bring it to fruition. The head skinner Slim, a man who is universally respected by the other workers and even grudgingly by the boss' bully son, remarks on just how unusual George and Lennie's friendship is and expresses admiration for the fact that George is willing to care for him.

George is quick to point out that Lennie is good for him, too, something he's less likely to say to Lennie unless he's in a good mood and sure Lennie isn't up to mischief. He also makes an arrangement with Slim to get Lennie a puppy, thinking that if he has something to pet and love, he's less likely to get himself into trouble on the ranch. Beyond that, it's clear he also likes to see him happy and tries to do what he can to build on that. He opens up to Slim and is fairly quick to trust him both because he senses he's a decent man and because he's lonely for conversation. Although he travels with Lennie, their relationship is far more that of caretaker and child than man to man or friend to friend. George doesn't have anyone he can share his thoughts with who will understand and meet him on his own level. This need to connect drives him throughout the novel and is almost as strong as his sense of duty to Lennie's well being.

One of the most striking examples of his care for Lennie and his quick thinking outside of the ultimate act of mercy in ending his life is when Curley goes after Lennie and starts beating him up in the mistaken belief he's laughing at him. George immediately tells Lennie to go for Curley, but as soon as he sees him crushing the man's hand completely, he rushes over to try to get him to let go and wisely enlists Slim's aid. He repeatedly reassures Lennie that he did nothing wrong and at the same time does his best to make sure they won't be fired over the incident. Slim uses social shame to control Curley, and despite the frightening nature of the incident, everything seems smoothed over.

His attitude toward women is conflicted at best and characterized by a degree of casual and cultural misogyny. On one hand, he complains that if he didn't have Lennie, he could have himself a girl. It's hard to imagine that he really wants one as anything other than an outlet for sexual gratification, because on the other hand, several times he mentions how frequenting prostitutes is easier. He knows what the cost is up front and there's no trouble or messy expectations. He has an extremely low opinion of Curley's wife, calling her a tart and jail-bait, and saying that a ranch is no place for a woman, as though it's somehow her fault for any desires or bad behavior the men around her might engage in. Although many times she tries to state her case for being lonely and frustrated and having no one to talk to, George is incapable of seeing her plight as in any way related to his or the other ranch hands', instead viewing her as a threat and an outsider to their way of life. He's not entirely wrong in his assessment, for in her frustration and dislike of her husband, Curley's wife does flirt with the other men and threatens to get them in trouble. He's less worried about himself than Lennie, sensing that she could easily take advantage of his child-like mentality and get him to do something that could get both of them fired.

He also possesses the casual racism inherent to the time and culture, using words that today are considered slurs without any thought or malice behind them but also without any sense of awareness that they are hurtful or demeaning. He's dismissive but not cruel to the one black man living on the ranch, the stable hand Crooks.

Re: George Milton | Of Mice and Men | Reserved (2/2)

[bindlestifflost]

Less than a month away from achieving their dream, the whole thing comes down in tatters. While George and the other ranch hands are playing horse shoes, Lennie first accidentally kills the puppy George had Slim give him. It's while he's lamenting over this that Curley's wife finds him and has a conversation with him. She invites him to pet her hair and seals her fate. As he did with the woman's dress in Weed, he grabs on too tight and panics when she screams and struggles to get away. He snaps her neck effortlessly. He manages to recall what George drilled into his head about where to go and what to do if something bad happens and sneaks away to the river campsite where the novel opens. Candy first discovers her and very quickly fetches George. George immediately knows what has happened. Once again demonstrating an ability to think on his feet and under intense emotional pressure, George convinces Candy to let him go back to the bunkhouse and wait to tell the rest of the men. He claims it's so the others won't think he's in on it. In reality, he's stealing another ranch hand's Luger because he knows that there's no chance of saving Lennie. Curley and the other men will be too intent on carrying out their own brand of justice. He has a brief conversation with Slim about the possibility of just having Lennie locked up and somehow convincing Curley not to kill him. Both men agree it would be cruel given the state of institutions at the time and that the likelihood of putting Curley off his plans is slim to none. He initially sends the party in the wrong direction from the one he knows Lennie took to buy them some time and proves himself to be a competent liar when the situation calls for it.

He agrees to go along with the hunting party. Somehow he's able to evade them despite Curley claiming he'll be keeping a close eye on him. He finds Lennie waiting where he told him to wait. He calms him down and tells him he's not angry with him and never really has been. He tells him it's important for him to understand that. In calming Lennie down, he's also saying good-bye to him without letting on it's his intention. He still puts Lennie's needs before his own. For one last time he paints the picture of their dream and has him look away from him and over the river so he won't see the gun in his hand or be aware of what he intends to do. Somehow he manages to maintain his composure and not break down despite how hard this is for him. Twice he raises the gun and has to lower it again. When the search party gets too close, he steadies his shaking hand and shoots him once in the back of the head, making a clean kill. He then claims Lennie stole the gun, that he got it away from him, and killed him. Of all of the men in the party, only Slim really seems to understand what has happened and assures him that he had to do it. It takes tremendous self-control, strength of character, and selfless love to do what George did. He's responsible for Lennie all the way up to the bitter end.

George knows his dream is over and that without Lennie his life is as meaningless and empty as those of all the other migrant workers he has seen and known in his travels. He agrees to go off with Slim for a drink, resigned to his lonely fate and refusing even to consider still pursuing the dream with Candy and without Lennie. He seems to have no awareness of his own intrinsic worth, beaten down by circumstance and society to accept external definitions of what gives a person value or meaning, namely wealth, possessions, land, and power. It's a bleak, realistic ending for a dream that remained out of reach for most of the working poor in the Depression and a novel outlining their plight, and George is a poignant representation of that.

Flavor Abilities: N/A George is an average human.

Suitability: I want to see what happens to George after the worst has already happened. Despite the character's despair and fatalism regarding what his life will be like if he's alone, at the end of the novel he hasn't lost his moral core or become a bad man. With the game themed largely around isolation and people having to rely on their connection through the tablets, I think it will be interesting to see him coming to the realization that not only can he rely on some other people, he should and will need to in order to survive a harsh, strange environment. I'm also interested in seeing how a character as internalized and self-contained as George comes to terms with what he had to do, if he does so at all, or if he'll lock it away and compartmentalize it. I think it will largely depend on who he meets, whether they're trustworthy or not, and what his early experiences in the game turn out to be. He could either clam up even tighter or open to becoming more willing to help and be helped. There's a chance he could even wind up falling back into some sort of care-taking mode. I would find any of those paths rewarding to develop in game.

Having him deal with people of different races, walks of life and time periods, non-humans, and women is also something I'm looking forward to, because George's attitudes are societal more than an intrinsic meanness or sense of superiority. I'd like to see him having to come to terms with the fact that a lot of his assumptions and beliefs are just plain wrong. Because he's truly not a bully, I think that if someone could explain things to him in a way that made sense to him or better yet demonstrate their competence, he'd be open to changing some of those views, although I believe his discomfort with women runs a lot deeper than his feelings about foreigners and other races, particularly after what happened with Lennie. I'd really like to see him having to face some of that discomfort head on, or even having to rely on women in scary or dangerous situations.

If there's alcohol in the setting or the chance of getting his hands on it, I think he will also have to deal with some heavy drinking. He always implied that Lennie was the only thing that kept him from that, and whether initially that was true or not, I think he'd be inclined to turn that into a self-fulfilling prophecy, especially after what he was forced to do. If there isn't, then there's a chance he might indulge in some other forms of escapism if they're available.

Mostly, I feel like a physically and psychologically challenging setting like this has the potential to allow for some amazing character development, both in dark and more hopeful directions. George is a man used to going without. Life on the road is a very hard one, so the discomfort and privation will feel very familiar. However, he's also used to having someone to care for, and finding himself bereft of that puts him out of his element. I think this is the sort of setting that will provide rich RP opportunities for a character like George.

RP Samples: Sample One (In the test drive, I had no threads with any one character totaling 10 from mine, but there are more than 10 prose style comments under my top level set in the setting and not network based. If you need more, I can link others.)

Sample Two Network Prompt (Voice): [George's voice sounds tense and more than a little tired.] Been walkin' for two days now, and I still ain't found a single place with electricity. Plenty a' switches. Busted bulbs. Place had it once.

It don't make sense. Don't make sense why anybody'd just up and leave a whole town. I mean, used to see 'em back home some. Ghost towns. Most of 'em from the gold bust. They ain't like this. For one thing they don't lock you in at night.

[He lets out a soft huff of breath, almost a snort.]

Don't mind me. Been a while since I heard the sound 'a my own voice. A man could go screwy in a place like this if he don't never talk.

[spoileralert]

Player Information

Name: Alex
Age: 23
Contact Info: flamingchemist
Other Characters: NA

Character Information

Name: Stephanie Brown
Canon: DC New 52
Age: 17
Gender: Female
Canon Point: End of Batman Eternal #52
Background Link: Here is the only arc she’s appeared in thus far, so they don’t have a singular history page for her yet.
Inventory:
Spoiler Uniform, in a backpack: shirt, pants, gloves, boots, cape w/hood all in sturdy material, thigh belt and utility belt, filter mask – presumably not automated.
Wearing: pink hoodie, jeans, sneakers, t-shirt.

Personality:
When we’re first introduced to Stephanie she seems to have a positive (or at least neutral) relationship with both of her separated parents. This is key in understanding her future actions: she begins with trust and love for both her mother and father, and is comfortable with her life in the suburbs split between the two of them. While she has the instincts to be afraid when she walks in on a room full of low-tier villains, she trusts her father enough that she doesn’t immediately turn and run. Even given enough evidence to realize that her mother is in on the plan, she really wants to trust her mother when she finds herself at the house again. However, given that she does not return again afterwards she is clearly realistic about her parents’ involvement in the plans against her life.

She has some physical prowess even before being run off from her own home, as shown when she breaks into and then escapes from her father’s home. She leaps over a table, climbs a bookshelf stocked with nothing heavier than cans of soup and slips through a ventilation window all under gunfire from her own father and his friends. Although the transition from girl-on-the-run to masked vigilante is not shown, we see that at least some of her athletics come from a childhood of recklessness. She was a daredevil child who never seemed overly bothered to break a few bones.

She is confident enough in herself and her knowledge of her home to walk alone at night between her mother and father’s house, a distance which must be somewhat considerable to warrant her father dropping her off by car. It also takes a certain amount of confidence and gusto to put together a superhero getup and stand up to the man who both raised you and pointed a gun at your head. When she decides to cut and run out of Gotham it isn’t cowardice that drives her, but a bitterness towards the city that took her family from her and turned on her when she needed it most.

While she may not generally be the untrusting sort, Steph is incredibly careful, especially when it comes to her own survival. In fact, she is quicker to trust Catwoman who at the very least doesn’t want her immediately dead than Batman, whose reputation is good but allegiance is in question. Not even the friendship of the younger people under his care is enough to convince her that he’s someone she can trust without getting proof on her own. In truth it isn’t any trust in Batman or his cause that brings her back to the battlefield when she would have fled, but a trust in her new friend Harper. It’s Harper’s words in combination with a stranger’s assistance that shame her into coming back to finish what her father started.

Harper’s initial opinion of Steph is that she’s spoiled, self-centered and a jerk. While it may be true that she’s had a comfortable life and is perhaps a little bit spoiled (pun not intended), she never argues the point. She understands why someone like Harper might think the worst of someone like herself, and doesn’t hold that against her. She does however return Harper’s attitude with her own – she isn’t someone who lets people walk all over her, however much she might understand why they’re trying to.

Most importantly, Steph is clever. She’s smart enough to fake unconsciousness while the villains are revealing their entire plan, despite the alarming new knowledge that her father is planning to destroy the city. She manages to activate one of his smoke bombs and escape, gather the resources she needs and survive on her own in a hostile environment for months with no help or contact with her parents. Her street smarts and confidence are backed up by a more academic intelligence, evidenced by her relatively successful blog and her ability to use twitter to schedule a rescue from Batman. While she may not be able to talk an online audience onto her side, she is more than capable of gathering and sifting through information effectively.

Having realized that both of her parents have turned against her, Steph’s response is not one of helpless despair but determination. Being told by her father that she’s a disappointment is a sharp blow, and she becomes set on proving herself to him. While this may seem likely to turn her into a villain, from start to finish she works against her father. If she ever had any intention of joining her father in her work, she wouldn’t have published his plans online the moment she got the chance. Instead her attempts to prove herself are more linked to her own self-worth, and an attempt to cope with new knowledge about him. She ties to hold on to what’s left of their relationship and consequently her own childhood. It’s only once she’s attained the approval she so longed for that she realizes she doesn’t need or want it. She finally turns on him just as he turned on her, determined to make her own way in the world.

Flavor Abilities: N/A

Suitability:
Stephanie is a resourceful young woman who just spent several months on the run with no preparation whatsoever. From her arrival she'll be in serious survival mode, ready to locate food, shelter, warmth and weaponry. While she is intensely distrusting of everyone in Gotham, she has no reason to think assassins are after her here and will be more open to cooperating with her peers. She's a journalist at heart (even if she doesn't have the skill set) and will be eager to gather and distribute information about her surroundings and everyone in them. She will also publish any inferences or theories that arise. She will likely become the local Wikipedia, complete with inaccurate information which may end up being dangerous.

RP Samples:
Prose and also Dialogue

REVISION REQUEST

[snowblindmods]

Thank you for your interest in our game! Before we can accept you into Snowblind, we would like to see the following revisions:

Your personality section reads a bit like a background section and we would like you to expand a bit more in-depth on the traits you've covered. We would also like to know if the utility belt will be empty and what the filter mask is in more detail. Additionally, we need a network sample in addition to the samples you've provided us.

Please reply to this comment with your revisions within three days or your slot will be forfeit.

Link | Ocarina of Time

[tapferkeit]

Player Information

Name: Rosh
Age: 25
Contact Info: PM mydarkrosaline
Other Characters: n/a

Character Information

Name: Link
Canon: The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time
Age: 17
Gender: Male
Canon Point: After defeating Ganon but before he's sent back to his true time.
Background Link: Plot of the game on wikipedia.
Inventory: Link will be coming in with the Kokiri tunic and boots; The Ocarina of Time (no longer magical); and an (empty) Quiver.

Personality: The first thing that should come to mind when meeting Link is how utterly determined he is. He will plough on ahead and do what he thinks he has to until it's done. Setbacks don't deter him: when Ganondorf blasts him aside for trying to get between him and Zelda, Link immediately goes looking for the thing that Zelda threw to him, sure that it's important to their plan. He isn't deterred by how much more powerful the Gerudo King is.

Brute strength, while eventually something Link can use himself, is not his forte and he relies heavily on problem solving and wit. He isn't necessarily smart, but he has a knack for figuring out puzzles and using his smarts to get to his ends. Apart from doggedly amassing the itinerary and fulfilling the prophecies to defeat Ganondorf, we can see examples of this from when Link breaks himself out of the Gerudo fortress and when rescues himself and his horse from imprisonment in the ranch. Furthermore he uses the powers of the two witch queens, Koume and Kotake, against each other when he realizes that he can't use any of his previous weapons to hurt them. And, of course, this is nothing to how he navigates three dungeons and five temples with only occasional help from his encyclopedic fairy friend. Link might not be academic, but he's one clever cookie.

In fact said encyclopedic fairy, Navi, gives him lots of hints on how to deal with enemies but Link quickly adapts on the best ways to fight them even without her help - examples include fighting Volvagia, the lava dragon, and Ganondorf himself. Navi has no idea how to take down the dragon and cannot get close enough to Link to assist him in the battle with Ganondorf, but he analyzes their movement and attack patterns enough to deal with them. As we can see, Link doesn't solely rely on Navi for her vast knowledge, but is grateful for her presence throughout his journey. She allows him to talk to one of his best friends, Saria, whenever he plays the song that she taught him. Navi is a vital link between himself and the childhood he's had snatched away from him and as such she's a treasured part of his life. In fact, Navi is the only one who's with him from start to finish and sees everything he goes through.

It's often overlooked that one of the very first things he has to do is attempt to save his guardian, the Deku Tree, only to be told it was a hopeless endeavor and watch him die. He watches a guard die in front of him as he gives the last message that Princess Zelda left for him. For a ten year old kid, that's some pretty rough stuff! To top that off, he's then put to sleep for seven years and has to figure out how to work his adult body and come to terms with the desolation that's crossed Hyrule in that time. Despite these difficulties, Link continues onward and doesn't let them worry him.

Of course, while Link will do things that are right, it's worth remembering that he did grow up in a forest. As a result he can be a little blase about things like stealing or breaking and entering. He barges into houses and will pretty readily break their belongings and steal their things, or talk to their cows and puppies while the occupants are staring right at him. Just because he's Hylian by blood doesn't mean he was raised as one! He can be very socially awkward. He's pretty blunt (especially seen during scenes with Ruto) and doesn't always get it when people are joking (for example, agreeing to Talon's joke about marrying Malon because he found three chickens in a time limit). Nabooru teases him about growing up to be a handsome man and saying she wishes she kept her promise to him, but he takes a while to get what she was implying there. Flirtations tend to go over his head. He's not entirely certain when someone is taking the rip out of him, or if he is he isn't sure how to react to it. Finally, he doesn't get some things like becoming sworn brothers to Daruina or the magnitude of agreeing to marry Ruto after she gives him Zora's Sapphire. Again, he's clever, but not necessarily smart.

This may have its bonuses, however. While Link might be a little taken aback at things like marriage and jokes, he accepts considerably weirder things with ease. His friends becoming ancient sages? That's fine. Hideous monsters lurking under the peaceful village of Kakariko? Okay, that's gross, but he can deal with it. People mutated into spiders and only freed when someone collects and brings back their tokens? Link'll come back when he has them! A man transforming into Princess Zelda? Wow, he's surprised to see you Zelda, but he's glad! He can certainly take a lot of weird stuff in his stride.

He's a good kid, all in all. If he sees someone in distress, Link will find a way to help them out, even if it does mean taking a bit of a detour from his main quest. He's eager to help the Mask Salesman spread happiness around Hyrule by introducing people to his masks; he plays with the Skull Kids and makes friends with them; he helps old ladies find their dogs; brings mementos from sons to fathers; runs across country to get a goron eyedrops - and all without expecting a reward. The fact that he gets one is just a bonus, really.

While Link might have his struggles to deal with, he's ultimately a good person and if he becomes grumpy later in his life thanks to a wacky, hellish adventure with masks and dying alone and forgotten, well, it hasn't affected him just yet. He's a determined person who won't let up on doing the right thing, even at the expense of himself, his childhood, and his freedom. What rewards he gets are only situational; he will do the task regardless.


Flavor Abilities: Long, thin, and pointed ears that give him an above-average sense of hearing; and the shining mark of the Triforce on his left hand. The latter won't do anything but glow prettily when he's nearby someone else with the other two marks in this setting.

Suitability: Link is no stranger to vague quests. If his goal is just 'keep moving and explore', he'll do that with relative ease. In fact, it would be very unlikely for like to at all succumb to cabin fever, but very likely for him to be locked out as he overestimates how far he can travel in one day. He's not used to travelling alone, having always had his fairy companion Navi with him, so he'd be likely to make prolific use of the network, if only to touch base with another person. If he comes across someone, it's likely he would try to work together with them for a period of time. He also has some basic survival skills, so expanding on those would be interesting to play out!

RP Samples: Prose | Network

ACCEPTED

[snowblindmods]

Congratulations, you’ve been accepted into snowblindrpg! Your character’s tag will be link (loz:oot). Your character will wake up at six AM on day 001 in a building on square H11. The description for this building is as follows:

Only the living room has survived in this house, but it seals up well enough to provide overnight shelter. Of note is a very old pool table in the center of the room. It's missing pool cues and balls, unfortunately, or you might be able to play a game.

Please reply to this comment with the journal you will be using for the game. After that, join snowblindrpg, snowblindooc, and optionally snowblindmemes with your character journal. After that, reply to the taken character list and player contact list and make a top level thread for your character on the search page. If you have not replied to these lists within three days you will be removed from the game and will have to apply again.

Thank you for your interest in our game!

Clint Barton | MCU | Challenge Reserve (1/2)

[genuinepleasure]

Player Information

Name: Wolfeh
Age: 28
Contact Info: AllintheBones
Other Characters: Nadda!


Character Information

Name: Clint Barton
Canon: MCU
Age:
Gender: Male
Canon Point: End of "Age of Ultron"
Background Link:
A story about an archer

Inventory:
+Collapsible Recurve Bow: Able to collapse for easier transport, Hawkeye's bow is also equipped with a selector/transmitter that allows him to control his mechanical quiver and select which arrow head to use when.

+Mechanical Quiver: Contains multiple different types of arrow heads that can he selected via the transmitter on his bow. The quiver itself holds twenty arrows at a time along with two of each of the follow arrow heads: Grappling hook, Explosive, Smoke Bomb, Flare and Normal arrowheads.

+Tactical Suit: Always more mobility than normal tactical wear. Made of Kevlar to provide protection to vital areas such as heart and lungs.

Personality:
Clint Barton is definitely not your typical SHIELD agent or Avenger for that matter, though that second bit is mostly because he's more normal that the others.

But let's break it down, shall we?

Contrary to what one might expect from a SHIELD agent, Clint is a very easy going individual. It's hard to tell from first glance that he works for a top secret--well, formerly top secret--organization dealing with all sorts of crazy things all over the world. There's nothing out of the ordinary about him, the archer generally pretty easy to get along with, attending his kids school functions and parent-teacher conferences when he can. When he's at home, he puts aside everything that makes him apart of SHIELD in order to focus on his family. And hell, the guy owns a farm. That's about as down to Earth as a person can get.

He's a very caring individual, always looking out for those around him before himself whether it be giving a few dollars to a homeless person or willingly sacrificing himself to protect a small child from getting shot. He may not seem like it, given he can be pretty sarcastic and dry at times which we'll discuss shortly, but he has a big heart and would do anything for just about anyone that he crossed paths with, a large part of what made him a good SHIELD agent. (And potentially a bad one at times.) Being a spy, he doesn't wear his heart on his sleeve or anything like that but his actions speak far louder than his words do. (As seen by him taking a chance on Natasha and extending an invitation to her to join SHIELD rather than taking her out.)

Now, while he is a very kind person, Clint is also very sarcastic and has his own brand of wit that he uses whenever he's feeling particularly catty. He tends to always have some sort of retort to fire back at others and quips to toss at anyone he may be conversing with. Even in the midst of a fight he's usually got something to say and won't hesitate to let the banter roll off his tongue even as he fires arrows at Chitauri soldiers or Ultron clones. Some might call it a defense mechanism but, at the end of the day, Clint just likes to run his mouth and it really doesn't matter what situation he's in. There's always time for banter, even if Phil Coulson or Nick Fury would say differently.

While some may not realize it, Clint is very perceptive and strategic, traits that are rather important for someone whose weapon of choice is a bow. He always tries and stays a few steps ahead of the game, needing to be able to calculate where others are going to go in order to be able to stop them with one of his assorted trick arrows. His reaction time is fairly good as well and even if he is caught off guard he can generally still attack or defend himself, managing to get out of most situations without too much harm. (Though crashing through windows after falling off the top of a building is quite painful..) More often than not he ends up in a high spot calling the shots for the others members of the Avengers, using the vantage point to make sure his team stays safe and their mission is completed. (Not to say that he isn't in the midst of the fray just as much as any of the others, because he is. He's just really good at gauging the playing field.)

Clint doesn't take kindly to individuals that like to take advantage of others and isn't against holding grudges. If he's been wronged once before, he won't let himself fall into that same sort of situation and learns quickly from his mistakes. (Another trait that's important for his chosen style of fighting.) He's not the type of person you want to cross and, while he's quite capable of being one of the best friends a person can have, can also be one of the worst enemies you'll find yourself with. SHIELD taught him how to gauge people and act appropriately and it's a skill that he's never lost, very good at reading people and figuring out what they may be up to. He's naturally wary of most people from the jump and will either warm up to them eventually or constantly hold them at arm's length.

Clint Barton | MCU | Challenge Reserve (2/2)

[genuinepleasure]

He's got a good sense of right and wrong/good and evil, though that doesn't mean he can't see the gray area. He knows it's there and knows that he can't expect anyone to fall into one side of things or the other--hell, he doesn't most of the time because he has to do things that are questionable sometimes. Clint is more than willing to give most the benefit of the doubt unless you outright make it clear that you lean too far to one side over the other. Then he's going to just outright assume you're scum and deal with you.

Now, despite the fact that he is skilled and is an Avenger, Clint still understands fear all too well. He's a non-powered individual that runs around fights with a bow and arrow--the man is extremely familiar with the concept of fear. He's learned how to control his fears though, how to make sure they don't overcome him and is able to shove all that aside until a point in time when he can deal with it. That's not to say that he doesn't still feel fear or that it doesn't eat at his mind; he wouldn't be human if fears weren't constantly nagging at him. Clint just knows that sometimes he has to focus on the grander scheme of things rather than letting himself succumb to that which ultimately terrifies him. And going along with that, Mr. Barton trusts his team without any hesitation. He knows that if things get dangerous that he can rely on them to help him out in a pinch and, in turn, will do the same for them if they need him too. It's that level of trust that ultimately allows him to handle his fears, though it's not a level that comes easily and takes time for him to build--or requires someone he trusts completely to vouch for others. (Here's looking at you Natasha.)

If you find yourself in the archer's inner circle, you'll have a friend for life. He's a very devoted person and cares a lot for those that he calls his friends and even family members--since some people have shifted into that category--and he will do whatever he has to in order to protect them. (As seen in how he managed to keep his entire family secret and safe from everyone, even after all the information SHIELD had was dumped for public viewing.) Pep talks are something he's great at, given he's a father, and while he's generally very blunt and outright with what he has to say--because sugar coating things is for children, as Natasha might say--he's pretty good at motivating others to rise to the occasion. (He's looking at you, Wanda.)

Overall, Clint Barton is a man cut from his own mold that doesn't hesitate to just be himself not matter the situation.

Flavor Abilities:
He's an expert marksman but I'm not sure if that really fits here? Figured I'd mention it all the same. Otherwise Clint is a non-powered individual that has high level SHIELD training in hand to hand combat and spy work in general, allowing him to sneak around without being noticed if he chooses to do so. Anything that he's able to do is because of training and not so much an ability that was granted to him.

Suitability:
Clint comes from a world or strange things and odd occurrences and Snowblind is just another adventure/mission in his mind. It's something that needs to be figured out and assessed, since the danger of it all is an unknown factor, and he's willing to do whatever he has to in order to figure out what's going on while protecting everyone he does cross paths with. He's good at surviving and making the best of whatever situation he's in and in this sort of setting, that seems to be a bit of a requirement considering the nature of the place he's going to find himself in. He knows how to adapt to whatever is thrown at him and can usually handle just about anything without too much trouble. (Though later he may rant about it.) He's also very much focused on protecting those around him so he'll ultimately make it his goal to find and help others stay safe and keep them moving once he realizes that staying in one building for too long is a bad idea.

RP Samples:
+Sample 1: TDM
+Sample 2: TDM

stiles stilinski | teen wolf

[figureitout]

Player Information

Name: Celen
Age: 25
Contact Info: celen
Other Characters: N/A

Character Information

Name: Stiles Stilinski
Canon: Teen Wolf
Age: 18
Gender: Male
Canon Point: Season 4, episode 7
Background Link: Teen Wolf Wiki
Inventory: Stiles is wearing a green-grey hoodie and grey jeans, and has his backbag with him, containing his cellphone, home and car keys, a few school books, a notebook, writing equipment, and in his pocket is the deadpool list containing names of supernatural beings and how much they’re worth.

Personality:
The first thing you need to know about Stiles, and indeed the first thing you’ll notice about him, is that he’s the most sarcastic, quick-witted smartass you’ll come across. No, really. He has a quip or a dry remark for every occasion, and more often than not, these occasions happen to be him mouthing off to authority figures – but that doesn’t mean his friends are safe from eye-rolls or cutting remarks or insults to their intelligence. Stiles doesn’t really care about “politically correct”, instead saying exactly what he thinks, and usually in as sarcastic a manner as possible – this is why he may come across as blunt and even rude, especially to those he doesn’t know and doesn’t care to know. He has no respect for adults (unless they’ve earned it), and god forbid if you’ve done something to piss him off; he won’t hesitate to stand up to even those he knows could have him killed in less time than it takes to say “werewolf”.

However, these instances, where Stiles does stand up to people like Gerard or Agent McCall, or even Peter, are usually those where he is less afraid for himself and acting only on behalf of people he cares about – he mouths off to Peter because he hurt Lydia, he stands up to Gerard because he has Erica and Boyd captured, and he has a vendetta the size of Mount Everest towards Agent McCall not only because of him being a total failure of a dad to his best friend, but also because he hates Stiles’ father. This demonstrates another of the key characteristics of Stiles: loyalty, up to the point where he would do nearly anything for those he loves. He may not be the easiest person to warm up to others, but when you’ve gained his trust and friendship, he’ll stand by you until the bitter end. He doesn’t even care about himself getting hurt in the process – he lies to his father for a long time, so long that eventually the Sheriff starts to believe Stiles is a criminal, and that he doesn’t know his son anymore; even though all this hurts Stiles a lot, because he’s always been really close to his father, it’s still better than the alternative: telling the truth and risking him being in danger. In the same way, Stiles saves Scott from killing himself by stepping into a puddle of gasoline and risking getting blown up, because Scott is his brother and he’d rather die together with him than let Scott kill himself.

What has been said here may make Stiles seem like a rude, even abrasive but loyal and brave person, but he is a lot more than that: he is also easily excitable, loud and flaily, with a lot of handwaving and strange mannerisms happening as he speaks (which is, though it’s never been outright stated, a result of his ADHD). He gets excited about the strangest things, thinking Scott’s wolf-roar is the coolest thing and that searching for a dead body counts as an acceptable pastime. He laughs and jokes a lot, and doesn’t hesitate to jump around or punch the air in joy when there’s reason for it. He’s also rather awkward, especially around girls, and often puts his foot in his mouth when he says things he doesn’t exactly think through. On first glance, he might seem like rather silly, even ridiculous, as he often goes on tangents when he talks, and only half of the things he says have anything to do with, well, anything. He’s someone who would say to his crying crush to “can you give me five minutes, I know, I’m sorry, but, just sit here, continue crying”; and he’s not aware of “normal” boundaries (or chooses to ignore them), as he always listens to his dad’s phonecalls (but only the important ones!), goes through his stuff to make sure he’s not hiding anything from him, and thinks that making a copy of the key to his best friend’s house (without asking anyone) is completely an okay thing to do.

However, despite the initial impression, Stiles is also extremely intelligent, though less in a book-smart way and more in a street-smart way; he’s clever, quick-thinking, logical, as evidenced by the way he puts things together quicker than anyone else in the show. He figures out Scott is a werewolf before Scott himself does, he realizes it was Kate Argent who burned the Hale house, and not only that, he also makes the connection between Kate and Derek, something that nobody else is even close to doing. Stiles is the one with the plan, the one who “always figures it out”. Part of that is the way he is absolutely relentless in his research, when he has an idea – he gets caught up in researching, reading interesting things just for the sake of it, even if it takes all night. However, the problem with his intelligence is that he only directs his attention to things he’s interested in, so while you could say he is hard-working, he’s only so when he wants to be, when it comes to things he thinks are important. His rather unique way of thinking also means that he comes to solutions that wouldn’t necessarily occur to others.

Throughout the series, Stiles is the complement to Scott’s angelic, true morals: he’s the Sheriff’s son, but he has no qualms about appearing on crime scenes or going to search for a body just for the fun of it, or more because of his endless curiosity. He doesn’t care about rules or what is illegal and what isn’t – on more occasions than one, he doesn’t show any remorse about the idea of killing those he doesn’t care about, and steals and makes copies of key cards, while the idea that doing that is somehow worse than stealing never even crosses his mind. He seems to be a firm believer in the concept of “end justifies the means”, and if that end requires someone he thinks deserving of it to die, well, what’s the problem?

This doesn’t mean that Stiles is completely callous when it comes to the lives of others, or that his morals are entirely dark – no, on more than one occasion, he ends up saving the lives of those he doesn’t even entirely trust, or has shown signs of disliking. Human life is still something that’s important to him, and this is where him being the son of the Sheriff shows; Stiles cares about “bad people” being brought to justice, and those who have done nothing wrong being saved. The most notable examples include him saving Derek (who, just couple minutes before, had been threatening him) from drowning by holding him afloat in a pool for two hours, and trying to save Erica and Boyd (neither of whom had been nice to him, and vice versa) as soon as he sees they have been captured. In the end, Stiles does do the right thing, never outright straying on the side of what’s considered morally reprehensible, even though his morals are, on the whole, a bit on the grey side.

While Stiles has absolutely no problem showing his feelings when he’s displeased, angry or happy, he hides all the feelings that have to do with sadness or fear – his customary response to any inquiries about him being okay is “I’m fine”, even when that couldn’t be further from the truth. It seems to be a protective mechanism, both for himself and others; he doesn’t like to seem weak or admit to being afraid or hurt, but also doesn’t want to worry others, especially his father. A lot of this comes also from him feeling somewhat inadequate, being the only normal human in a pack of werewolves, a werewolf hunter, a kitsune, a werecoyote and a banshee. It takes him a while to admit it even to himself, but he knows he can’t do the things his supernatural friends can do, and he has an innate fear of being useless or causing others to get hurt because of something he’s done, or not done. His guilt complex plays into this as well, as he tends to feel guilty for things that are out of his control (such as the death of his mother, as his biggest fear is seeing it confirmed that his father blames him for her death, like he himself already does) – as a result, he tends to rush into things, trying to be as useful as he can, even when it means endangering himself as a result. This fear of being useless leads to him often believing that it is his business to take care of everything – the idea that the adults should handle a mass-murderer on the loose makes no sense to him, as he feels that he needs to be aware of everything that is going on and often feels responsible for taking care of these things. Because if he can’t do that much, figure out the things others can’t – what is he good for?

But despite these fears, he is brave almost to the point of stupidity, not only because of this inability to value himself, but also because of the loyalty that was mentioned in the first paragraph of this section – if it means saving someone he cares about, if it means catching the bad guys, there’s nothing Stiles won’t do, even if it’s something crazy like pseudo-killing himself or driving his jeep through a wall.

Flavor Abilities: Nothing supernatural to see here, so N/A! I guess the only mentionable thing would be that he will still be a part of Scott’s pack, so anyone with abilities to sense something like that would probably be able to tell.

Suitability: The supernatural and psychological horror are all too familiar to Stiles, so the setting in and of itself isn’t too different from his daily life in Hellmouth Beacon Hills, except with 100% less werewolves. He will absolutely hate the cold, and having to work together with people he doesn’t know and doesn’t trust won’t be the easiest thing for him. Stiles doesn’t do well when left to himself for too long, so he will start to obsessively gather information about the place and everything that is happening, along with trying to establish some sort of safe place.

Of course, this “safe place” and in general staying in one place for too long may end up being very, very bad for him, and especially the hallucinations, along with losing some things after death are things I’m looking forward to playing up with him. His mental state is not the most stable, especially with all the things he’s avoiding thinking about (Allison’s death, everything to do with the nogitsune, everything that is happening at his home right now), so he’ll try to combat being confined inside his own mind by being as active as he can and as organized as he can, and talking to as many people as he can.

RP Samples:
TDM threads, both network and action (10+ comments)
action sample (10+ comments)
network sample (8 comments, to be added to the 8 comments from the tdm network sample)

also since those two last samples are from an ij game and so using a different account, here's proof it's still me!

ACCEPTED

[snowblindmods]

Congratulations, you’ve been accepted into snowblindrpg! Your character’s tag will be stiles stilinski (teen wolf). Your character will wake up at six AM on day 001 in a building on square R4. The description for this building is as follows:

A standard single-story house with a living room, bathroom, and bedroom. The kitchen and dining room have had their wall collapse, exposing them to the elements and filling them with snow. The doors to the kitchen and dining room still work, however, allowing the house to still be sealed up against the elements at night.

Please reply to this comment with the journal you will be using for the game. After that, join snowblindrpg, snowblindooc, and optionally snowblindmemes with your character journal. After that, reply to the taken character list and player contact list and make a top level thread for your character on the search page. If you have not replied to these lists within three days you will be removed from the game and will have to apply again.

Thank you for your interest in our game!

Neku Sakuraba | The World Ends With You

[feelingepic]

Player Information

Name: Kaed
Age: 29
Contact Info: Katarou
Other Characters: N/A

Character Information

Name: Neku Sakuraba
Canon: The World Ends With You
Age: 15
Gender: Male
Canon Point: Post-canon
Background Link: Link!
Inventory: The clothes/accessories on his back: a dark purpleblue-and-black tank top with high collar, white shorts, giant clown shoes, wristband, belt. Also a pair of house keys, headphones, MP3 player, cell phone, and a few hundred yen.

Neku Sakuraba | The World Ends With You

[feelingepic]

Personality: Neku isn't exactly what you would call a social butterfly. By first impression alone, he is aloof, spiteful and withdrawn. Watching him walk through Shibuya, he's the epitome of seclusion - head down, headphones on and blasting, hands buried in his pockets. There's no contact with anyone around him; he's completely shut off and in his own little world.

At least, that's how Neku is before he's quite literally caught in the crossfire and thrown into the Reaper's Game.

At the beginning of the game, Neku is still this way. He had gone out of his way to keep his social attachments to a minimum, and as a result, he isn't canonly known to have many friends, if any at all. Other people only drag you down and friends only end up hurting you, so why even bother? People only seem to be there to push their values on him, but he was perfectly content with his own world. He didn't need outside influence. The world beyond his headphones and his music could just stay where it is.

After being thrust into the Reaper's Game, Neku was forced to partner up with someone or be erased. He didn't like it, but in order to survive, he was forced to bear with it. It was necessary. Due to circumstances beyond his control, he ended up playing for a solid three weeks in a row instead of just one week - each week bringing a different partner, a different set of players. And, with each other person that he encountered, Neku felt himself begin to open up. After all, he needed to trust his partner in order to succeed, right? And the more Neku began to place his trust in other people... the more he realized that other people weren't so bad. They weren't just annoying sources of noise. He began to care about them, about their wellbeing. He was changing, and it showed.

When Shiki alone was returned to life and subsequently made to be Neku's entry fee - the most important thing to a player - the very next week, he fought tooth and nail to make sure he didn't lose. That same week, he had suspected Joshua of killing him and even accused him of such, only to learn that Minamimoto had been his killer. But before Neku even had a chance to apologize, Joshua took a blast that would otherwise have killed Neku, sacrificing himself. During the next week, he felt an extreme amount of remorse for not being able to tell Joshua he was sorry. The third week, Beat defected from the Reapers just to save Neku from being erased due to the lack of a partner. With Beat at the risk of being erased within five days, Neku gladly went with him to find the Composer and put a stop to all of this.

And, at the end of the third week, when Joshua revealed himself to be the mastermind behind it all, it nearly destroyed Neku. Joshua had been the one person like himself, the one person he really could consider a true friend, and he'd been completely betrayed. Joshua gave Neku a choice, though - shoot Joshua, become Composer and do what he wished with Shibuya, or leave Shibuya to erasure at Joshua's hands. But, in the end, he couldn't do it. At the beginning of it all, he'd been prepared to sacrifice Shiki's life in order to escape the game. But when it came down to shooting someone he had considered a friend versus letting the city be completely erased... he couldn't fire the gun. Luckily, this change in Neku, who had once been so shut-off from the rest of the world, prompted a change of heart in Joshua, who stayed his hand in the end and returned them all back to life. If someone like Neku could change that much, surely the entire city could change as well.

At the end of it all, Neku came away from the Game with a completely different perspective on the people and world around him. No longer did he think of other people as annoying and in his face - having someone to reach out to, to spend time with and get to know... it made him happy. Happier than he'd ever been by himself. And expanding his horizons, extending his world out beyond himself... wasn't so bad. And having friends definitely wasn't so bad.

Flavor Abilities: None! Neku is a normal, everyday teenager post-game.

Suitability: Considering the changes that Neku went through during the game, I feel like it would be interesting to play with him being shoved into yet another survival-type situation, but this one forcing him into isolation and distant communication than coming to rely on others physically with him. After three weeks in the Reaper's Game, he had it drilled into him to trust his partner - and other people by extension - though it's still a work in progress, and I'd like to see him deal with that in an environment where he's thrown right back into going it alone most of the time. ... also, I played him at a_facility for a long while, and I just can't resist throwing him into a psychological horror situation. The muse is used to that sort of thing, sob.

RP Samples:

[ network ]

[Losing track of time is surprisingly easy, Neku has found. For all that he's tried, obsessively looking at the tablet and trying to figure out how long it would take to get back to shelter before cutoff, he's lost time in looking for something to eat. But he hasn't eaten all day. He's starving and cold, and like hell he's going to let both get the better of him.

But it's too late. He didn't find anything usable, and now, he's trapped outside. None of the buildings have any entrances he can get into, not even a hole in the wall or a basement stairwell to huddle in. Shibuya never has winters this bad, and even with the coat on, it isn't doing much to keep out the cold. If he can't find some way of finding heat, he isn't going to make it through the night.

... relying on other people... is still something kind of new. But if he's going to survive this, he has to try. He doesn't want to die from exposure. Not after all he's been through.]

... h-hey. So, uh. Is... is anyone else stuck out here?

[A shiver wracks his body, and he curls in more on himself, closing his eyes for a moment.]

Anyone else n-not from a place that's used to this kind of weather?


[ action ]

Finding a place to stay is Neku's biggest goal at this point in time. Rather, finding a decent place to stay, one that has a chance at warmth and not starving and maybe even some running water if he's really lucky. Because hey, it's been too long since he could actually shower. He could probably use one, even if it is a cold one. Actually finding a place like that, though, seems to be a slim chance, if not flat out nonexistent.

Or, it was. But this place he's standing in now seems to be just what he's looking for. A nice fireplace, some wood...! Maybe this place is abandoned. Maybe someone meant to use it and then just... didn't. He's pretty sure no one is here. But how long has this firewood been sitting out? ... maybe it would be safer to check, just in case.

Keeping his bag on him, Neku moves through the house, first focusing on the kitchen before other areas. If whoever lived here last left some food in the cabinets, he's going to take it. He can take jabs all day long about how skinny he is, because back at home he just didn't care, but here he really, really could use something on his bones. Cold isn't too kind on him.

Captain Hook/Killian Jones | Once Upon a Time | Reserved

[villainously]

Player Information

Name: Katy
Age: 24
Contact Info: go play zelda @ plurk, gmail, and aim
Other Characters: none

Character Information

Name: Killian Jones, or Captain Hook as he's more regularly known!
Canon: Once Upon a Time
Age: old as sin. Looks 30ish. Is actually more than three hundred, thanks to a very extended stay in Neverland.
Gender: Male
Canon Point: Season 2 Finale
Background Link: Wiki
Inventory: Hook will come wearing a pirate outfit, including a leather duster, a black shirt, leather pants, a leather vest and a pair of boots. It's not actually the warmest, though. He's a pirate and he carries around a great deal of knick-nacks: doubloons, more jewelry than he needs (including an earring, multiple rings, and a necklace) a spyglass and a compass, flint, a lockpicking kit, exactly one glove, a flask of rum, a paper portrait of Milah, and his namesake, even though it's been dulled (per mods).

Personality: Killian Jones defines himself by two things; that he is a pirate, and that he is a gentleman. One could certainly argue that sometimes, one cancels out the other... and in some instances, that's accurate. Sometimes he manages to be both, sometimes he is either one or the other, and it can be difficult to guess which he will pick at any particular moment. He is at his finest when the two are harmonious. He lived for a very long time where his pirate side had more or less taken over, and flashes of the gentleman were at a bare minimum. In recent times he's trying to switch that around, and while he still calls himself a pirate and fancies dressing like one, he wants to be seen as something more than that.

His pirate side influences him plenty. Pirates are known for swashbuckling, carousing, womanizing, and adventure, and all of these are accurate of Hook. He takes sailing very seriously, it is one of his greatest loves. He gave up his ship for a very good cause but he still calls himself a captain, even if his vessel has been traded to an inferior pirate. He tends to not appreciate dictation, and likes to make his own choices and live as a free man. He gives orders well and was quite respected by his crew, while he had them. He's charismatic and well spoken, both things that aided him in his captaincy.

He certainly likes the more lascivious, hedonistic sides of being a pirate, too. He is very fond of his rum, and he's quite a drinker. One might say alcoholic but Hook would rather say he's a drinker than a drunk. The fact that he's never seen without alcohol might be a warning sign. In fact, he seems to drink no matter the occasion and no matter his mood, which really doesn't bode well. Is he really an artifact of his time, where alcohol was the only safe thing available to drink? Maybe that's a part of it, but not the entirety, not that he's keen to admit it.

Hook likes women and it is very evident. He is quite a flirt, and will happily flirt with anyone that will flirt back...and sometimes with people who don't. He can be particularly lewd in his suggestiveness, and does not seem to think there is a wrong time for innuendo. He used to be a womanizer, and one who doesn't know better might think he still is, but it is all empty. He's still a flirt, yes. Nothing is likely to happen beyond flirting, though.

He's also an adventurer. He does like excitement and exploration. He's not the guy to sit on the sidelines twiddling his thumbs. Killian Jones vowed a vendetta against an immortal, invincible wizard, suffice to say he's not afraid to put his life on the line. In fact, he's a little too casual with it at times. He proclaims to be a survivor and well, he's alive isn't he? It just seems he falls into danger a little too quickly, be it from thoughtlessness or because he cares less about the possibility of dying than he really should. He'd rather go down fighting than not fight at all. Even though he cares more about preserving his life as of late, he'd still sacrifice it for the people that matter most to him.

Pirates are also known for the cruelty and bloodthirsty natures, and sadly, Hook cannot claim complete innocence from that. He can be a very destructive, dangerous individual, but generally for a purpose. Above all, Killian Jones believes in love. He'd fight for love, kill for love, and die for love. Love turned him into a monster, and love brought him back from it. Killian loves and loves intensely, and some of the best and worst things he's ever done were done for love. Unfortunately, his worst things were all pretty terrible, and during his time trying to avenge his first love, he did many things that would mark him as a villain. He's not incapable of awful things to suit his purpose, but he's also not above feeling badly for it. Especially now, he wears the darkness in his heart quite heavily. Hook sees himself as a villain and he likely always will. It's only recently that he's tried to turn himself around and he is not quite sure he believes that he can ever really overcome it, that he'll ever deserve a happy ending. He may never deserve it, but he'll die trying to get one.

Pirates can also be quite selfish, after all, and even in his best of moments, Hook is certainly that. He can be greedy, self centered, a cheat, and he is a very gifted liar. At his darkest he was constantly lying, and while he doesn't fall into that trait as often now, it's certainly still there and he will on occasion, usually to protect himself and hide his mistakes. In some ways, his greatest lie of all was when he became a pirate. It was a persona to protect himself after a grievous loss, and he has been spinning it so long that even he has started to believe that is all he is.

The gentleman in him still exists, and it has been out more and more as he tries to turn his life around. Hook is surprisingly respectful of women considering the world he is from and the sort of thinking that was prevalent. He can get pretty crude sometimes, but he would never force himself on a woman. He also wouldn't sit idly by as one is mistreated. There have been times this has been overridden by his pirate side, and he's not proud of it.

For a pirate, he can be pretty old fashioned. He's the kind of guy that will offer an arm or open a door for someone else, though it's more likely he'd do it for a woman. He's not so old fashioned that he'd wait for marriage, but he is old fashioned enough to commit himself to one person and not betray them once he does. He's not a cheater, despite a tendency to flirt. When he's with someone he's incredibly faithful. In fact after he developed feelings for someone, even with no hope of seeing her again, he still didn't take the opportunity to sleep with someone else when it was absolutely assured. The gentleman in him might want to marry the woman he loves, but his first love was already married and his newest one, well, he's got a ways to go before that's an option.

Hook has a code, and while it may not be as rigid as some of the more noble company he has started to keep, he tries to live by it. He will stand up for what he believes in, he will fight for what matters to him, he will give all he has to protect the people he cares about. That list is not incredibly long but Hook has sacrificed his life and his livelihood to protect Storybrooke on more than one occasion, even when there was no guarantee it'd get him anything. Arguably he did that because the people he cared about are in Storybrooke, but that sort of sacrifice is generally rare of villains.

Killian Jones defines himself by these two things and undeniably they are a tapestry that piece together and make him who he is. There is one last part of him, though, that has also been fundamental in shaping who he is. He's less happy to admit it, but being an orphan has also been fundamental in making him who he is and still continues to affect him, though he likes to pretend otherwise.

He once told Emma that those who are abandoned all carry the same mark, and it's true of him too. Killian's abandonment built a foundation of distrust, a need to learn to survive that certainly still affects him in his day to day life. The loneliness of a child that was not loved or cared for as they should have been will always follow him like a shadow. He craves what all lost boys do, for family and a home, and every taste of it he's ever had he's lost. He expects to be disappointed because that is all he's ever known. By choice or by fate, he always ends up alone. For some time he conditioned himself to stop trying, to stop letting people close enough to lose them, but it only made his heart cold and dark. He finally is trying to earn a place for himself, and he isn't sure he will ever deserve one, but he will fight for it anyway. He can be guarded and evasive about his past, he doesn't enjoy breaking into old unhealed wounds, and he still mourns every name he's lost. It's just that now he's trying to live for hope instead of what is already gone.

Killian Jones is not a good man. He is no longer active in villainy but he is heavy with his flaws and mistakes and nobody is more aware of them than he is. Still, there is good in him, despite his darkness, and once upon a time he used to be a man of honor. Maybe he can never really be that man again... He's still going to try. Villains don't get happy endings, but perhaps there is hope for a flawed man that wants redemption for his mistakes, and is willing to fight to get it. After all, a man unwilling to fight for what he wants deserves what he gets.

Flavor Abilities: Hook does not have any sort of magic. His extended age is from being in Neverland, not from any supernatural ability. All of his skills are purely human, though he does have a few: like navigating by the stars, swordfighting, and lockpicking!

Suitability: Hook is at a canon point that he's trying to be a better person. He will be keyed mostly into survival, and very determined to find a way back to Storybrooke to be able to help save Henry, but he will also be willing to help others. He'll at least be open to trying, despite a generally tendency toward selfishness. He has knowledge about survival, though perhaps never in a cold climate, and he can teach less able characters some hints for survival. He also knows how to navigate and could potentially make a map of the town to help other characters ICly navigate.

RP Samples:

TDM: Here, 10 comments on each equal 20!
3rd Person: Here

ACCEPTED

[snowblindmods]

Congratulations, you’ve been accepted into snowblindrpg! Your character’s tag will be killian jones (ouat). Your character will wake up at six AM on day 001 in a building on square G3. The description for this building is as follows:

Water fills the entire first floor about a foot deep, pouring from burst pipes that never seem to quite run out of water but are leaking slowly enough to as not to flood any further. The entryway is spared only by virtue of being a small area about two feet above the rest of the first floor. The living room, kitchen, and dining room are all partially flooded with stagnant water in this way, and opening the door in the hallway to the basement reveals it's entirely flooded and inaccessible unless you'd like to try diving into the murky, unsanitary darkness. The second floor is dry, thankfully, and has a master bedroom, bathroom, and guest room.

Please reply to this comment with the journal you will be using for the game. After that, join snowblindrpg, snowblindooc, and optionally snowblindmemes with your character journal. After that, reply to the taken character list and player contact list and make a top level thread for your character on the search page. If you have not replied to these lists within three days you will be removed from the game and will have to apply again.

Thank you for your interest in our game!

The Lone Wanderer | Fallout 3 | Reserved

[vaultexile]

Player Information

Name: Katie
Age: 23
Contact Info: themadmaiden
Other Characters: N/A

Character Information

Name: Hope Irving
Canon: Fallout 3
Age: 19
Gender: Female
Canon Point: Post Fallout 3, Broken Steel, Operation Anchorage and Point Lookout dlcs

Background Link: The World | The Game | DLC

Character specific history:
Hope escaped from vault 101 when she was 19. She then went on a quest to find her father and then after finding him, to set up a water purifier with the Brotherhood of Steel. She also completed many side quests along the way. Some points from her history that define her:
Main Quest:
-Did not blow up Megaton
-Did not put the virus in the water supply
-Helped the Brotherhood defeat the Enclave

Good Karma/some Side Quests
-helped Moira with her research honestly, rescued child slaves, helped runaway slaves, killed slavers, rescued the people from Bigtown and helped them defend themselves, helped traders, found a violin for Agatha.

DLC:
-Sided with the ghoul Desmond over the brain the the jar in their weird great game.

Inventory:
-A set of wasteland clothing.
-A small pouch of bottlecaps
-Nerfed pipboy : working geiger counter, radio with only static, working flashlight and the notes and audio logs already on it

Personality:

Hope started off as a sheltered, nerdy young woman who was full of hope and optimism. Then she ended up in a world where people will kill you to sell your clothes or sell you into slavery or worse. Despite all this she has managed to survive much longer then most people would think it possible. She relies on her head to think her way or talk her way through problems when she can but she realizes that sometimes you just have to use violence. She doesn't like to kill people but she wants to survive so she'll kill when she has to. She's book smart in a world that doesn't have many books and she followed in her dads footsteps in training to be a doctor when she was in the vault. She's also growing used to using death to solve problems in a way that scares her more then she'd like to admit.

Despite being in an apocalyptic wasteland and nearly dying a few times, Hope has not completely lost her sense of ....well hope, especially compared to most residents of the wasteland. She works towards a better future because she believes it is the right thing to do. She's determined to help whoever she finds and is more then a little obsessive with it. It helps cover up the fact that she doesn't know what to do with her life now that the purifier is working, the Enclave is defeated and she doesn't have a solid goal anymore.

Despite being pretty optimistic, Hope does tend to keep her emotions bottled up and wear a smile for the people around her. The radio calls her a hero and she knows that the world needs one and well, she's decided she's going to be it. That means she has to hide certain things from the people she meets and project an image of hope to match her name. Mostly because they only see her briefly before she moves on. Only the people who know her very well will get to see that sometimes she's just barely holding it together herself. She had to hide all emotions after her father died and she's still processing his death herself. She's lost her father, been kicked out of her only home for helping them and believes she's a bit jinxed. There's a reason when she's in a fever dream she comes across a bobblehead that says "Isn't it funny how everyone you get close to ends up leaving".

Hope is the sort of person who sets goals and then reaches them no matter what. Despite some people thinking she's a saint she is aware that she lives in the wasteland now is willing to do what she thinks is necessary. She wanted to find her father, moved heaven and earth till she did. She wanted to get the purifier working and avenge her fathers death. She shot the man responsible for his death even though she believes she could have talked him down and then was ready to give up her life to turn the machine on again, in fact she thought she was doing exactly that and was surprised when she woke up. She wanted to stop a cult from giving out highly irradiated water she....gave herself near lethal radiation poisoning to pretend to be their saint to tell them to quit it. She's very dedicated, even to really dumb ideas like that last one. She's only 19, every idea can't be gold. Which is another point, she's only 19 and while she's been through a lot, there's still a lot she doesn't know still.

Getting out of the vault, Hope is a lot better at talking to people then she used to be. In the vault she grew up with a small group of people in a small place, now she can wander and meet all sorts of people and then move on. She loves this. Wandering and exploring is something she needs to do and she doesn't like to stay in one place for more then a week if she can help it. She usually travels by herself or with one other person or her dog. She likes exploring alone but she also likes meeting new people who aren't trying to kill her. She has a few places to store her things but she doesn't want to settle down anywhere for good just yet.

Most people see her as naive as she believes in the best of people even when she is proven wrong many times. She treats strangers and even ghouls and the super mutants who aren't trying to kill her, well. She sees this as being nice but the trusting bit has also walked her into more then a few traps then other more cynical people might have avoided. Which is funny because to people who don't live in a wasteland, her ideas of how the world is supposed to work are going to come off as terribly cynical.


Flavor Abilities:
N/A

Suitability:
Hope is a character who explores wastelands as part of her life. This would be a new sort of wasteland to drop her in. Especially new to her as she's never experienced actual snow before just read about it or seen it in a virtual simulation. She's going to want to explore and try and map the place and figure out why she's here. She's going to think it's a virtual simulation especially after people start coming back from the dead.

I'd like her to have a few people eventually that she's willing to open up to about the stuff she just hides behind a mask. And being in contact with people instead of only seeing them rarely in her travels will help with this. Also being stuck in one location will make her very unhappy because she's gotten used to wandering freely.

Basically she's used to surviving and strange adventures and I'd like to continue this trend by sticking her in a new place.

RP Samples:
Network sample
Action sample

ACCEPTED

[snowblindmods]

Congratulations, you’ve been accepted into snowblindrpg! Your character’s tag will be lone wanderer (fallout). Your character will wake up at six AM on day 001 in a building on square L4. The description for this building is as follows:

This house has a lived-in feel even though it's abandoned. Most of the rooms are wallpapered, and the bedroom on the first floor has an especially large, fairly high bed. There are places on the walls for many, many pictures, to the point it seems like they would cover most of the walls in the hallways and bedroom, and the way the wallpaper has faded around them it's obvious some hung there for quite some time, but they're no longer there. Aside from the bedroom, there's a kitchen, dining room, two empty rooms upstairs, and two working bathrooms, one upstairs and one downstairs. The downstairs one has a shower with a ledge you can sit on, while the upstairs one has a claw-footed bathtub.

Please reply to this comment with the journal you will be using for the game. After that, join snowblindrpg, snowblindooc, and optionally snowblindmemes with your character journal. After that, reply to the taken character list and player contact list and make a top level thread for your character on the search page. If you have not replied to these lists within three days you will be removed from the game and will have to apply again.

Thank you for your interest in our game!

REVISION REQUEST

[snowblindmods]

Thank you for your interest in our game! Before we can accept you into Snowblind, we would like to see the following revisions:

We would like to know more about Masky; you mention that he's a second consciousness, so we would like to know about how this second consciousness thinks and perceives the world.

Please reply to this comment with your revisions within three days or your slot will be forfeit.

Clint Barton || MCU || Reserved

[bettercallit]

Player Information

Name: Emma
Age: 29
Contact Info: specificity
Other Characters: N/A

Character Information

Name: Clint Barton
Canon: Marvel Cinematic Universe
Age: Unknown
Gender: Male
Canon Point: Pre Avengers: Age of Ultron (post everything else)
Background Link: "Well, I see better from a distance." / "You and I remember Budapest very differently." / "None of this makes any sense."
Inventory:

✘ S.H.I.E.L.D. specially customised Hawkeye uniform.
✘ S.H.I.E.L.D. customised collapsible recurve bow with laser aim, and connecting quiver, which can function together to pick out different trick arrows as and when he requires them.
✘ S.H.I.E.L.D. I.D. badge/card.
✘ Wallet with a few cards, notes, and coins in, but, more importantly, photos of his family and close friends that he keeps with him always.
✘ Specially customised dark glasses that help shield from all problem areas in differing environments in order to get the best shot.
✘ A communications device in order to report to and check in with the team.
✘ A cell phone.

Clint Barton || MCU || Reserved

[bettercallit]

Personality:

Who is Clint Barton? Well, that's a good question. He gives so little of himself away, but, in doing so, he's also putting enough out there to pick up on and piece a picture of him together if someone were to stop and analyse him long enough.

On the outside, Clint appears to be quiet, reserved, and sarcastic with a dry sense of humour. He’s a man of few words, but he makes them count when he does have something to put across, and as he makes himself blend into the background, going unnoticed more than he really needs to, he hears and sees so much more than people give him credit for, allowing him an advantage in some situations in knowing more than he ought to and letting him craftily be overlooked; he knows how to play it just right to work a situation to turn in his favour. He’s in full control of himself, perhaps to the point of being considered anti-social by some and a stick in the mud by others, but it helps him to get the job done and keep himself in check, and it’s what he relies on to survive from day to day, never quite taking it for granted that, if he allows himself to spiral out of control, then things could be a lot worse. His tight jawed comments, especially when enraged in the face of his enemies, are somehow far more threatening and carry the promise of a deadlier side than if he were to openly fly off the handle; he’s there for one reason and one reason only, and he’s determined to achieve it by taking out the intended target so that the world is better off for it and not lose focus by giving in to his emotions – those can always wait until later. Well, unless it's the rage of either himself or someone else being wronged beyond reason by someone, which he will use as fuel to add to his determination.

Clint is so much more than merely another field agent working for S.H.I.E.L.D. as both a soldier and a spy, the former more than the latter, and a master assassin at that. He comes with a rare skill set and an uncanny talent, which puts him up there with some of the world’s best, and adding to that the fact he favours the Palaeolithic bow and arrow as his preferred weapon makes him both unique and irreplaceable in ways that most take for granted. But he never appears to be anything but modest about it, comfortable enough with his abilities to work alongside those who are superhuman and/or have superpowers, people he no doubt looks up to and respects, admires in his own way, and yet still not consider himself good enough to actually be one of them. He is human, of course, with limitations because of it, but he’s got talent that most people could only dream of, and he prides himself on maintaining it, on building it and pushing himself above and beyond in order to push those limits and be good enough to fight with them if not be part of their circle. He knows he’s a mere mortal, easy to break and sway, but he comes with such fight, a passion to be good and to do the right thing, even if he does make and stick to his own morale code, at least he’s grounded, he knows where he is, and he shrugs off temptation wherever it lies, never straying from himself and the loyalty he puts in those who believe in him enough to give him the chance and opportunity to be kept around. He'll have their backs covered as long as he possibly can.

Adding a touch of Marvel 616 canon to his character in order to fill in the background that will never be touched on, Clint comes across as a complex character, but he's straightforward if everything is taken into account. He doesn't trust easily, but having grown up with a drunken, abusive father, a mother who didn't have the means to protect him, and a brother who used him at every possible opportunity, it's hardly hardly unexpected that opening up and laying himself bare for others is something he’s learnt to avoid, keeping himself hidden away where no one can find him, to guard himself from being used and abused again is his approach to people; he’s come too far, and fought too hard to let anyone in to tear apart what he’s made of himself. If he trusts someone, they need to realise that it’s a privilege that not too many get with him, and that they’ve earned the honour, because it’s easier to break that than to find it. And he's seen enough of the world and everything in it to realise how people work, that as much as he wants to believe in them, there's a lot of people out there who lay others out on their own boards and move the pieces around; he doesn't want to be one of those pieces, and he'll do whatever it takes to make sure other innocents don't find themselves there, either.

Master assassin with perfect aim and the best training in covert affairs aside, Clint’s biggest and best weapon in his arsenal is sarcasm. He can shrug off everything and anything that hurts him, push his emotions aside to deal with at a later date if they're not useful to the current situation, if at all, and go with the flow of whatever decides to throw itself at him. But without the light-hearted sarcasm to cover everything with, he would be so much more vulnerable and exposed. It allows him to appear confident, to cover up what he’s thinking and how he’s feeling, and unless someone happens to be skilled in reading between the lines, it gets him by, even makes him come off as a huge dick at times. But he does what he needs to in order to take him from one day to the next, and if he’s not enjoying life, picking out the small things and entertaining himself with them, then what’s the point? He might struggle when it comes to socialising and being himself, living in a world of secrets and lies that S.H.E.I.E.L.D. brings, but he makes his presence known in other ways. He throws out sarcastic yet playful comments, he occasionally goes out of his way to play pranks on his fellow agents, and, if someone happens to be lucky enough to experience it, he knows how to have a damn good time and throws a hell of a party. People can say what they want about him, but he knows how to play to a crowd if he so chooses, even if those moments are few and far between. He's no doubt worn so many different personas over the years on S.H.I.E.L.D. missions, but where someone might lose themselves amongst the characters and roles that they play, he only finds himself that much more in amongst all the chaos; he knows exactly who he is, what he is, and he answers to the decisions he makes and actions he takes, because the job aside, he's not that important, just another guy trying to roll with the punches and make it to tomorrow, even if that occasionally means putting his life on the line to do it while saving the world from unspeakable evils without much in the way of credit.

Director Fury

Clint is in serious mode when he interacts with Fury on screen, proving that he takes his job seriously and pays more attention than people realise, and he shows as much respect for the man as he’s willing to openly express, carrying on the conversation in a civilised fashion, even when he’s being slightly spoken down to, pushed to do a better job the way Fury speaks to all of his agents that he thinks are good enough to do better. He also shows to Fury that he’s smarter than he makes himself appear to others, taking the bait, but not rising to it, as he explains how doors open from both sides, an aspect that the Director himself didn’t seem to consider until it’s pointed out, and, apparently, too late. But, comparing this interaction between the two of them to what happens in the companion comic, Clint can be relaxed around him, as if the two are close enough to be friends, and he’s also freely able to joke playfully, comfortable in his presence. Loki even calls him up on how he failed to kill Fury, stating that he admires the man, and Clint admits that, even though he isn’t at his best with a gun and that everything was confusing after the mind control first took hold, his loyalty to S.H.I.E.L.D. and in turn to Fury is what kept him from carrying out the task sufficiently, plus the fact that he never misses a target unless he means to backs it up.

Agent Phil Coulson

Not including Natasha, Clint appears to have a close relationship with Coulson in a way he does with few others, working or otherwise, and there’s apparent trust there not only for one of them to have the back of the other, but also for him to guide him true with his orders and for Clint to, however loosely, interpret them as he chooses, which we see in their brief scene together in Thor. Coulson doesn’t appear worried that Clint is the one pushing for a decision one way or the other, declaring it a last chance before he calls it himself, because he knows he won’t take the shot unless it’s a last resort. S.H.I.E.L.D. might be many things, but this shows a trait in Clint that other agents might not share; he’s not willing to pull the trigger unless there’s no other option without putting more people at risk, and, with what we saw of Thor, Clint didn’t have any good reason to act first and worry about the consequences later. In The Avengers, after Clint is compromised, Coulson is the one who calls Natasha up and informs her of this, perhaps because he’s one of the higher levels in security at S.H.I.E.L.D. and is initially in charge of putting the team together, but more than likely it’s because the two of them trust him, have worked directly beneath him at one point or another, possibly he was their S.O. or C.O. as Strike Team Delta, and Coulson’s endless patience and ability to smile his way through a situation no matter how dire is probably one of the things that held the three of them together, as it's a trait they all seem to carry; it’s easy to assume that people lose patience with Clint easily, especially with his way of approaching things and his sarcastic and often cheeky attitude to life, but Coulson shows trust in him, for him to wait for his order, and for him to trust his own judgement besides with the privilege of it being taken into consideration for the end result.

Natasha Romanoff

There is no doubt that Natasha and Clint are as close as two agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. with backgrounds such as theirs can be, and there are hints at a fair amount of history there between the two of them. There is footage on one of the monitors that shows the two of them fighting alongside each other, swift and sufficient, working like a well-oiled machine, and always coming as a team when the big stuff goes down. They joke about previous battles, no doubt a running joke between them to keep up morale and reassure one another that they’ve got each other’s backs. Natasha is the one who goes to seek Clint out on the Hellicarrier, the one who figures out a good knock to the head is the way to bring him back, and the one who goes to speak with Loki to make a plea for his whereabouts, even if it’s also to find out his next play, she gives away enough to let it show that Clint means a lot to her. And she’s also the one who stays with him while all hell breaks loose around them, easing him back and offering comfort the only way that she knows how; significant glances and unspoken words, a secret language that only the two of them know from years of fighting side-by-side. Clint, unsurprisingly, doesn’t appreciate having someone push everything he is aside to make way for something else, something he doesn’t recognise, and something that’s added a lot more blood to his already stained hands. He attempts to ask her how many people he’s killed, but she refuses to let him do it, to take the guilt of what wasn’t within his control, even though it’s obviously not something he’s ever going to forget. He feels every life he takes, especially the innocent lives that get caught in the cross-fire, and whether he knows it’s his fault or not, he’ll blame himself for it; if he could control whatever it was that had a hold of him enough not to kill Fury, he’ll probably wonder why he couldn’t extend it to others just because he didn’t know them personally.

But Natasha will always keep him in check, help him to focus on what he can change and forget what he can’t; they balance each other out, constantly paying their debts to each other, and, if Natasha has any say in it, using it as the reason to keep each other around because a debt should always be paid. Clint, on the other hand, never gets an opportunity to express his view on their partnership, and even if he did, he probably wouldn’t; their shared looks speak volumes and bond them in ways no one else will ever truly be able to understand. He reels her in when she goes too far afield, and she pushes him on when he's held back by the ghosts that haunt him.

The Avengers

Clint doesn’t get much of a chance to interact with the team unlike the rest of them, being thrown in at the last minute to fight in the big battle, but if it bothers him then it doesn’t show. He doesn’t speak much to them unless it’s necessary, taking orders from Captain America, who he appears to respect as a whole, and calling out things as he sees them from his vantage point. He takes the ridiculous names that Tony throws at him, mocking, but taking Stark’s own personal brand of respect and acceptance, a trait he can relate to if it were toned down a notch or two; putting enough trust in Steve to follow his command, to rely on him to both give and take plays, to allow himself to be taken under his wing; he doesn’t comment on Bruce appearing, which could be taken badly, but if he had objections he would express them, so the man who turns into a giant green ball of rage is clearly yet another thing he’s willing to shrug off and go with the flow of, and, of course, he plays off Natasha whenever he gets the chance, a working relationship in combat that might, with time and patience, form between him and the rest of the team. But he will, no doubt, take the longest to adjust and feel part of the team rather than an outsider getting a moment on the inside, least of all because he’s only human and doesn’t possess a power as such, because even Stark has his genius and his money to offer, but because he needs to work his way into things with caution, to protect himself until he knows he’s good. He'll have their backs, as he know they'll have is, because they need each other as a team to take down the enemy, but he'll be quite happy to do that from the sidelines, keeping watch until he's needed, and, when he is, he'll be there to sweep through casually and deal with the situation as he sees fit.

All in all, Clint's done and seen a lot of things, and he's quick to adjust to circumstances, if not always socially, then at least environmentally. Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. are trained and ready to go into any situation, whether it be rain or shine, desert or snow, he'll have enough knowledge to at least get him by with the basics, plus he's good at improvising, so if any tricky situation arises he'll always be able to come up with something one way or another. He makes things work, no matter how dire, and although he might not like a lot of what he's had to deal with, he does, anyway, because it's what he does, not just as a job, because he's sacrificed too much for it to just be that, but because he wants - needs - to make a difference, to help people who aren't in the position to help themselves. He's an Avenger, through and through, and he'll no doubt carry on saving the world with the most ridiculous people possible until he no longer can; it's not something he can simply walk away from for long.