Snowblind Moderators (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
snowblindmods) wrote2015-04-06 10:43 pm
snowblindmods) wrote2015-04-06 10:43 pm
Application
| Application | |||
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. Original Character Application | |||
REVISION REQUEST
While we do appreciate concrete examples in a personality section, at the moment your personality section reads too much like a history section; currently, everything seems to have simply been reworded from the wiki. We would like to see more critical examination of his traits and the motivations behind them instead of just that they're there. We would also like to see how he typically acts in social situations and, more generally, how his character can be seen to have had an active part in his history and not his history being the driving force behind all of the things that he does and feels.
Additionally, we would like a sample of Cloud addressing the network more directly, as the available top level you have isn't especially demonstrative of this and, in general, we would like the application proofread for grammar.
Please reply to this comment with your revisions within three days or your slot will be forfeit.
REVISIONS
Personality:
Cloud has, since childhood, had a desperate need to prove himself - and on a more subconscious level, has always wanted to be accepted by those around him. He's almost obsessive about becoming his ideal self - or, more realistically, the idea of what his ideal self would be to those around him. This is his entire motivation for leaving home to join the army with hopes of one day getting into SOLDIER, and truly his motivation for most of what he does and how he reacts to many of the situations he's placed into.
To accompany this, he also has a range of self-esteem issues. As a child, Cloud was often picked on and an outcast from the rest of the community, driving him to become shy and humble. Because of this he doesn't believe he actually is good enough for those who have chosen to stick by his side and place their faith in him. He's extremely hard on himself for not living up to his own ideals. So much so that it actually keeps him from doing what he wants to do the most - prove himself. He honestly believes at times that he's not fit to help anyone. This causes him to make some rather poor decisions. Telling Reno and Rude to go save the children who had been kidnapped while he talks to Rufus is a really good example of this.
Cloud's strong desire to protect those he cares about stems from losing two of the most important people to him: Zack and Aerith. Despite neither death actually being his fault, he blames himself for not being strong enough to save either of them. His failings - both imagined and actual, whether they were in his control to change or out of his control - keep him from moving forward. It's his own self-blame and self-doubt that keep him from becoming the person he believes everyone wants him to be - when in actuality, the only one he's letting down is himself for not living up to the perfect ideal he's formed for himself within his own mind.
This is further perpetuated by the promise he made to Zack before he died - that he would be his living legacy. That he would uphold his honor, his pride, and his dreams as SOLDIER. Twisting this together with his own ideals, he forms an unreachable idea of what he should be or of what he thinks everyone wants him to be. When he forms his fake persona, he goes about showing this in the wrong ways by being cocky and cold and uncaring, as if acting like he is the best at what he does will actually make him the best.
His views on himself and on those around him, including the state of the planet, are broadened and shifted by the friends he makes. It's these friendships and connections that work together with his own desire to prove himself that form other aspects of who he is. He's kind because he knows what it's like to be treated poorly. He's loyal because he's had such exceptional displays of loyalty shown to him in the past. He cares so deeply about those around him because they offer him something he can't offer himself: acceptance.
Cloud is often called upon to reassure those around him, and he normally does so in the most dorky way possible. He tells Tifa at one point not to worry about it only being the two of them because he'll make a big enough ruckus for everyone. This is something inherently Cloud, a trait that really doesn't come from anyone else's influences. He can also be downright sassy when the situation calls for it and has a witty and almost dry sense of humor. He also lacks any real hint of subtlety and can often be very blunt, choosing to get right to the point instead of beating around the bush. These traits begin to emerge when he finally starts to push past the mental road block formed by unrealistic ideals and the notion that he has to be someone he's not in order to be good enough. Cloud often lets his own thoughts get the best of him - he is truly a person who lets himself hold himself back. These things leaking out and bubbling to the surface are signs of the start of his self-acceptance, leading him to become more confident in who he is.
Cloud is the sort of person who carries the weight of the world on his shoulders - both imaginary and realistically. His desire to prove himself is, in part, his motivation for wanting to stop Sephiroth each and every time he threatens the safety of the planet. Honestly caring about those who are around him - the friends he's made and has come to care for so deeply - and the safety of every innocent person on the planet and not wanting them to suffer a fate similar to his is the other. He is exceptionally kind and will do anything within his power to keep those around him from suffering, even willingly taking on that suffering himself. He is selfless because of all of the things he has been put through because of other's bad decisions and the desire to not see similar things happen to anyone else.
That isn't to say he doesn't make his own poor decisions - this is the person who willingly handed the Black Materia over the Sephiroth and hid his Geostigma infection. Cloud often reacts to things without thinking them entirely through, only paying attention to his first instinct and not the consequences that may follow. He hands over the Black Materia because he allows himself to blindly believe he was nothing more than a puppet, never really taking any time to actually think about the differences between what he knew and what he was being told. He willingly hides his Geostigma infection because he believes seeing him in such a state (and eventually dying) will inflict more suffering on those he cares about. So, he disappears without explanation, causing the exact of opposite of what he intended.
Cloud doesn't have the greatest skill set when it comes to social interactions; he can best be described as an awkward turtle. He is, however, kind to everyone he meets, not wanting to make anyone feel outcast as he did growing up. He is pretty open minded given everything he's been through and experienced. He's willing to listen to people talk and to try and give advice or be reassuring in return. It takes him a while to warm up to people and to open up to them, not wanting to get close in fear of losing them. This is another false ideation that the people he gets close to tend to end up getting hurt and he has no control over stopping it. He comes to realize that some things are beyond his control, but if he lets the things he couldn't stop cloud his vision, he won't be able to see the things he can.
These things can make him seem stand offish at first, but once he begins to feel comfortable around someone, his true nature comes out, the previously mentioned dorkiness and sassiness especially.
Network Sample One:
[Network]; video; @fenrir; [OPEN]
[What’s up, Norfinbury? Have any of you ever wondered what a chocobo looks like when it's molting? Because if you have, all you’d have to do is look at the current state of Cloud’s hair and you’d pretty much have your answer. The normally impenetrable spikes are positively drooping, falling into his face and plastering against his head in the most unattractive of ways.]
Anyone know where I could find some shampoo? [He’s already figured out he’s going to have to deal with ice cold melted snow being dumped over his head if he actually wants to be clean. Come to terms with it.
What he can’t come to terms is with is smelling like he actually belongs in the pen with the chocobos.] Or a comb. [Or something to dump on his head and soak up some the grease.] I’d be willing to trade.
[He’s pretty sure Zack wouldn’t mind being traded to another team. It was for a good cause, after all.]
Network Sample Two: Starter and Thread with Kunsel
ACCEPTED
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
Thank you for your interest in our game!
no subject