GENERAL APPLICATIONS

[paradisamods]

GENERAL APPLICATIONS

General Applications | Returning Character Applications | Game Imported Character Applications

If you wish to apply for a character, then please copy and paste the form in the box below into a new comment to this post. Do not link it from another journal.

If your application does not fit into one comment, split your application into as many comments are needed. You can mark them as part 1, part 2, etc if you feel the need. A mod or helper will reply to it in a timely fashion.

If you are applying for a character you reserved recently, please put 'Reserved Character - ( Character Name )' on the subject line.

Applications take on average 3-7 days, depending on how accessible canon is. If a revision is requested for your application, you have 72 hours to make the noted revisions. If after 72 hours revisions are not made, the application will be declined and must be resubmitted.

Please space your paragraphs properly; improper spacing may be grounds for a decline over writing quality.

<b><big><big>PERSONAL</big></big></b> <b>NAME:</b> <b>PERSONAL JOURNAL:</b> <b>EMAIL:</b> [ Required. ] <b>AIM:</b> [ Optional, but recommended. ] <b>CURRENT CHARACTERS:</b> [ If applicable. ] <b><big><big>CHARACTER</big></big></b> <b>CHARACTER NAME:</b> <b>SERIES:</b> <b>CANON POINT:</b> [ After which point in their canon storyline does the character enter Paradisa? ] <b>LOSS:</b> [ Paradisa takes something precious from residents when they arrive, as a "price" for a ticket to paradise. This can be an object, an ability, a memory –– anything precious to the character. What is your character's loss, and why is it precious to them? How would losing this effect them? ] <b>ABOUT THE CHARACTER:</b> [ 500 WORDS MINIMUM. Please describe who the character is, including any relevant details from their history. This will be a measure of your characterization and understanding of the character; who they are, what drives them, how their experiences have shaped them. For a rough idea of what you should consider when writing this, please see <a href="http://paradisamods.dreamwidth.org/14746.html">What We're Looking For.</a>] <b>ABILITIES:</b> [ If applicable, provide a summary of your character's supernatural, magical or technological abilities, or anything that might make them otherwise exceptional compared to your average human being. Links are welcome if the character has too many abilities to expand on here.] <b>THIRD-PERSON WRITING SAMPLE:</b> [ 250 WORDS MINIMUM. In a third-person perspective, write a couple of paragraphs featuring your character. It will used as a measure of your characterization and writing ability, so we advise to choose a premise that will best demonstrate those things. ] <b>FIRST-PERSON JOURNAL SAMPLE: </b> [ 100 WORDS MINIMUM. In the first-person voice, write as if the character were making an entry in their journal, ideally using little to no action descriptors. It should be long enough to show that you have a grasp of the character's voice. ] OPTIONAL: If you prefer, you may link to sample threads in place of writing a 100 word sample. The replies from your character should equal or exceed 100 words. ] <b>INTENT: </b> [ BONUS QUESTION. What draws you to play this particular character? Ideally, what would you like to do with the character in Paradisa? There is no wrong answer, and no penalty if you don't have one; we're simply curious.]

Comments

Reserved Character - ( Giovanni Auditore )

[deadlybanker]

PERSONAL
NAME: Cocorose
PERSONAL JOURNAL: coco_rose
EMAIL: nsx.commander@gmail.com
AIM: nsxcommander
CURRENT CHARACTERS: None


CHARACTER
CHARACTER NAME: Giovanni Auditore
SERIES: Assassin's Creed
CANON POINT: After death
LOSS: The Memory of Maria Auditore
Giovanni loves his wife and relies heavily on her support. It would be a great loss for him not to be able to remember her. With out her memory he would of course feel terribly guilty for having forgotten her and doubtless very alone as there would be an empty place in his heart.

ABOUT THE CHARACTER:
The Auditore family was a noble lineage who lived in and around the Italian city of Florence. Domenico Auditore, the original founder of the family, constructed a villa in the town of Monteriggioni essentially granting the family control of the walled city and through the years their power and influence grew. But, the prestige and authority were a cover for the family's secretive lifestyle. The Auditore were Assassins. They saw it as their duty to take up the sword to put an end to those corrupt and power hungry individuals who sought to manipulate and control the populace. The Assassin Order seeks to maintain the free will of the citizens and will step in to destroy any plot dreamed up by their rivals the Templars, who think the only way to achieve lasting peace and a perfect society is to limit free will.

Giovanni and his older brother Mario were born into this lifestyle. They were nobles, used to the privileges of money and as he says, "I am Giovanni Auditore and like my ancestors before me, I am an Assassin." He takes a great deal of pride from the fact that his family has this long heritage of fighting for the cause of freedom. It is a heritage he means to pass on to his own children once they are old enough.

He and Mario were trained as assassins from a very young age but their views on the Order took different paths. They both followed the Creed of the Assassins and were loyal to the cause but Mario lived for the thrill of battle and Giovanni wanted a simpler more peaceful life in addition to his work as an assassin. In order to achieve this Giovanni took lessons on banking and other more intellectual studies alongside the usual assassin training while Mario focused more on the art of war. He built up a small army of mercenaries for himself and did not start a family of his own. While Giovanni would go on to get a normal job, marry, and have several children. This divide in their beliefs may have caused quarrels between the brothers because eventually Giovanni decided to leave home and move permanently to Florence. This move had the effect of placing physical distance between the brothers. From then on Giovanni’s family kept in contact with Mario and they knew of him, but they seldom saw each other. We know this because later when Mario meets his nephew Ezio does not recognize him. We also know that Mario disapproved of some of Giovanni’s choices because during that same meeting the elder assassin shakes his head and makes it known that he felt Giovanni was foolish for not having given his sons more instruction on their assassin heritage.

Giovanni and Mario lived very different kinds of lives so far away from one another but they were still brothers and did still try to support one another. When a mysterious Piece of Eden was discovered hidden in the dry well of Monteriggioni Mario turned to Giovanni to see the piece moved out of the city and into the safe keeping of the Assassin Order. And when trouble struck Giovanni’s family in Florence they made their escape to Mario’s protection in Monteriggioni. They might have argued and disagreed from time to time, but they were still brothers and did love one another.

In order to make the kind of life he wanted possible Giovanni learned the necessary skills to become a banker and settled down with the woman he loved. Maria was his soul mate in every sense of the word. She seemingly understood what he wished he could say with only a glance. She was his most trusted confident and one of the few people he entrusted his secret of being an assassin to. When injured during a mission it was to Maria he returned. She patched him up with no condemnation just a sense of relief that he was able to return to her at all. Giovanni admitted once to his son Ezio that he used to be a rouge who started fights and flirted with all of the pretty young ladies too, but when he met Maria that changed for him. She became the only woman he looked at and loved with all of his heart.

He and Maria had four children over the course of several years: Federico, Ezio, Claudia, and Petruccio. Giovanni loved and was very supportive of all of his children. He tried to show them the correct way to treat others without lording over them. Though he might have offered a small lecture now and then, Giovanni allowed his children to make their own mistakes and learn from those. He even seemed amused by the antics they got into, especially when they reminded him of the kinds of mischief he used to cause. We see this after Ezio beat up a rival and then spent an entire evening out of the house at his girlfriend's place. After a short lecture Giovanni laughed at Ezio's exploits of the night before and gave his son a pat on the shoulder. He understood the nature of youth but still wanted to make certain his son knew he needed to behave better in the future. He did spoil his children. Their troublemaking was seen as acts of mischief, to be discouraged but still amused by, and no real punishment was ever offered to correct the behavior. In addition since they were rich the family wanted for nothing. They were well known in Florence and often the patrons of fine works of local art. He shielded them from the hardships of life and from their Assassin heritage, thinking to offer them training once they were older. He might have been foolish in that but Giovanni wanted his children to have a normal childhood, without the weight of the Assassin cause on their shoulders. In his eyes they needed that time just to be themselves and it did work. His children were happy and spirited until his death.

As an assassin Giovanni took his work very seriously. He might have smiled and joked with his family but once he put on those robes he took on a sterner expression. He completed his missions in the quickest way possible, killing those that need to be killed and holding off to capture others from whom valuable information might have be gained through questioning. He was not bloodthirsty and he took no great pleasure in having to kill. It was just something that needed to be done in order to protect others. He was skilled in hand-to-hand combat as well as many different kinds of weapons and could use anything from a throwing knife or sword to a pike to eliminate his targets. Giovanni was an expert free runner and he used these skills in battle or to trail enemies to discover their hidden secrets. Like all Assassins Giovanni fought for the rights of those people who can not fight for themselves. He wanted to see peace and justice exist for all men and he would back leaders who shared those same beliefs. We see this in his support of Lorenzo de Medici. Giovanni accepted many missions for Lorenzo because he knew the man would do his best for the citizens of Florence.

Giovanni believed mankind was capable of so much more than it had accomplished so far. As he himself said, "There will come a day in which men no longer cheat each other. And on that day we will see what mankind is truly capable of." This belief is what Giovanni fought for, the promise of a better future for all.

Unfortunately the life of an Assassin was dangerous. In 1467 Giovanni undertook a series of missions in which he tried and failed to stop a Templar scheme to weaken the power of the Medici family. Unknown to him at the time an old family friend, Uberto Alberti, had been swayed by the Templars and was working behind the scenes to betray Giovanni and his family. Using a false claim of treason Uberto had Giovanni and his two sons, Federico and Petruccio, arrested. Ezio was out running errands for his father at the time or he would have been arrested too. Even though Ezio brought Uberto proof clearing his father of the crime he was accused of Giovanni and his two sons were executed in the public square the next day. Giovanni swore revenge before he died and that intense feeling would carry on here. His pride, love for his children, despair at their ultimate deaths, and desire to see the wrongs done to his family righted have burned the name of the betrayer, Uberto, and the Templar Grand Master whose schemes he was trying to stop, Rodrigo Borgia, into his mind. In his grief killing them might end up as an obsession for him.

[deadlybanker]

ABILITIES:
Giovanni was trained in the ways of the assassins from a very young age. This being the case he is skilled with several different types of weapons. He can also handle unarmed combat or redirect attacks aimed at him so that the attacker loses their weapon or ends up as a human shield for the assassin.

In addition to the fighting skills he has learned Giovanni is also a skilled free runner. He can scale the sides of buildings and hop from one rooftop to the next. Usually this is used to avoid capture by authorities or to trail a spy without being seen.

Giovanni has non-assassin skills too. He has learned the banker’s trade, he is intelligent, and he is often able to break codes. He is able to translate several pages of the codex by himself, but he could never find all of them in order to read the entire message.

Some Assassins have enhanced skills that allow them to use a sixth sense called Eagle Vision. This is a unique way of looking at the world that he can use to track people, find hidden passages, discover traces of blood, or determine whether or not the person he is looking at is an enemy. Giovanni might be able to use his Eagle Vision to determine if a character is an enemy or not. In Assassin's Creed Canon enemies will glow red and allies glow blue. Targets, people he intends to kill or steal something from have a gold aura. Finally any one who is neutral like an everyday citizen will have a grey aura around them. As a note most guards regardless of affiliation glow red, since they would be on the watch for anyone acting suspiciously. His son Ezio has the skill and it does seem to be something often passed from father to son so it is likely Giovanni had it too.

THIRD-PERSON WRITING SAMPLE:
The crowd roared at the announcement but he didn't hear the taunts they shouted and those who cheered only served as more fuel for his anger. He spat back, denying the charges, crying out for the justice he and his family were never going to see.

Federico... Petruccio...

Sharing this fate for his mistakes...

He met the wide frightened eyes of his youngest. The lad's arms were bound behind his back as his were, a rope around his neck. While his eldest stood on his other side tied in the same manner. How could this be happening?
To lose his life, his family, all because of the actions of a traitor... a man he had once trusted enough to call a friend. Giovanni spun back on his accuser unleashing all of his rage in a fervently delivered speech.

"You are the traitor, Uberto... and one of them! You may take our lives this day, but we will have yours in return, I swear! We will–-"

The ragged vengeful screams gave way like the boards beneath his feet cutting his furious speech short, choking him, as the rope dug deeply into his neck until he could hear nothing, see nothing...

The soft silk beneath his fingers and flower scented air that filled his lungs was a jarring contrast to that horror. He reached instinctively for his neck clawing for the rope that was no longer there as surprised to find it missing as he was to realize he could breath freely again.

Giovanni sat up on the plush bed taking in his rich new surroundings with an eerie disbelieving calm. The room was lavish, even putting rooms in Palazzo Medici to shame with its needlessly extravagant canopied bed, large paintings on the walls, and gold trimmed moldings. Even the floor, what parts of it were not covered with intricately woven rugs, was inlaid with expensive foreign woods and precious stones. This richness was beyond anything he had seen before, but that being the case... This could not have been a building in Firenze. If it was not one of his patron's homes, not a Medici estate, then it could not have been Lorenzo's return that had saved him. Then who? Just where was he? And where were his sons? Where was that traitor... Uberto?

He slid from the bed, finding his way to the nearby desk on feet made unsteady by the traumatic method of his arrival. Though soon he was walking with ease just as if that event had been nothing more than a terrible nightmare.

The papers on the hardwood desk were gone over as he searched for a name or maybe an address but finding neither Giovanni turned his attention to the fountain pen set laying next to the inkwell. He had been too far away from his weapons in the hidden room of his Villa when the guards had come for him though he supposed even if he had been carrying any they would have been taken from him before his being imprisoned in the Piazza della Signoria. There were no weapons visible in the room, not even a letter opener, but in the skilled hands of an assassin the sharp nib of the fountain pen he clutched might become the method of someone's death.

Armed as he now was he took a deep breath and slipped out into the hall. He would find the answers to the questions he had and take revenge for the wrong done to his family.

FIRST-PERSON JOURNAL SAMPLE:
Dec. 29, 1476 - ??

Buona sera,
Usually I set a date to journal entries but in this case I find I can not. I know I have been in this place for a week but the date, the year, I am clueless on what those are.

Given all that has happened, I suppose I should be grateful that I have the luxury of being confused at all.

This place has been some what explained to me but I would still like to know how the dead can exist among the living. It might have made sense if this were some method of purgatory, a stopping place between this world and the next, but if the living can arrive here too... Is there no limit to the power this castle holds?

I trust your answers will help me understand my situation better.

Distinti saluti,


INTENT: I love obscure or unsung characters in canons. For Giovanni personally, I liked him in Assassin's Creed II but when I saw him in action in his own story in the short movie Assassin's Creed Lineage I really grew to love him! I have played him in a game before but now that it is moving towards endgame I would like to find a new home for him.
Paradisa is a game I have looked at in the past so I decided to finally give it a try. I'm not sure how Giovanni will fit into the setting, I usually leave that up to character interaction in the game to decide, but if the city needs a banker I am sure he could find a job doing that or assisting an established business with money management of some kind. His skills as an assassin might be useful during a plot or event. I would kind of just like to see where this goes.

David Haller

[hitokiridirk]

PERSONAL
NAME: Dirk
PERSONAL JOURNAL: hitokiridirk
EMAIL: stellarvisionary@hotmail.com
AIM: XDarkLuminaireX
CURRENT CHARACTERS: N/A


CHARACTER
CHARACTER NAME: David Charles Haller, aka Legion
SERIES: X-Men
CANON POINT: X-Men Legacy v2 #24
LOSS: His ability to use any form of his teleportation mutant power. David has several sub-personae that possess the ability to teleportation or space-folding, most notably being The Origamist, a sumo wrestler and space-folder. While David will still be able to "fold" things other than himself, he can't use The Origamist's, or any of the other teleportation powers he possesses.

ABOUT THE CHARACTER: David's life is, to put it mildly, complicated. The only son of Charles Xavier, he manifested a multitude of mutant powers at a very young age, after witnessing the murder of his stepfather. This unfortunately led to David developing an extreme form of Dissociative Identity Disorder, with each of his many mutant powers being bequeathed to his many alternate personalities. As a result of this, David has spent most of his life strapped to an exam table in an induced coma, so much of his knowledge of life comes from what he's telepathically gleaned from others. David has a hunger to prove himself, to live up to his father's legacy as best he can, but isn't always sure how to go about it, which led to the creation of the Age of Apocalypse alternate universe, after David traveled back in time and attempted to kill Magneto, in order to prevent him from being a threat to his father's dream of mutant/human coexistence.

Though David wants to do what he thinks would make his father proud, he nevertheless rejects the more reactionary methods of the X-Men and all of the groups related to them, preferring more pre-emptive methods, using his own, and others' ability to see into the future, and then using his myriad of powers to stop threats before they have a chance to come threats. David has an arrogant streak which shows itself from time to time, with David arguing with himself over what he should do, given what he is capable of doing in a given situation "I have all the power in the world and a just cause. What does one scared wee child stand against that?" It's these moments that reveal that, while David has all the power in the world, he doesn't possess the wisdom to know when best to use it, and ends up relying on the opinions and approval of others to justify his actions, for good or ill. Despite that, David is shown to be a brilliant strategist and planner, manipulating events to play out how he wants them to, or at the very least using his powers to make them appear as though they are, and has been shown capable of bluffing his way through situations that would otherwise be beyond his ability, in those rare moments when he loses control of his abilities.

The most defining characteristic of David, however, is his loneliness. In an ultimate expression of irony, David's mind, and indeed David himself is shown to thirst for human contact. This is at odds with David's mistrustful nature, and his tendency to want to keep people at arm's length out of fear of being hurt or rejected. Despite this, he learns to trust people, recruiting his own team of X-Men to help him in his various endeavors to both live up to his father's legacy, and to stop him should he potentially become the "World Wrym", a mutant-eating entity that is a possible future he tries desperately to avoid.

ABILITIES: David is an Omega-level mutant who's base mutant power is the ability to spontaneously generate new mutant powers for his own use. As a result, there is literally no power that David couldn't potentially have, though this is tempered by his mental illness and lack of self-confidence, which makes accessing his powers a feat of will on his own part.

THIRD-PERSON WRITING SAMPLE: The first thing that David notices is a splitting headache, and he thinks to himself "How am I alive?" He'd just made the effort to literally wipe himself from existence, and yet...here he was. Alive. Possibly hung over. Definitely flesh and blood. As his vision clears, David sees himself sitting on a snowy field, a large castle of undeterminable architecture looming in the distance. Under normal circumstances, David might question how he'd gotten...wherever it was that he was, but given the past year, he knew better than to question such things. Sitting nearby is his journal, which he hears chattering away the way only a magical talking book can. Flipping through its pages, David can see that he's not the first mutant to set foot in...Paradisa? But he knows that Paradisa's never seen his like before. Given that he just saved the world from his own hubris, David decides to keep it that way. He'll use his powers, of course, but never when anyone's looking. He'd learned from his mistakes, and really, this world didn't need the "God Mutant" to make things worse for the people stuck here.

Picking up the chattering tome, David flips to the most recent of pages, keeping his physical and mental voices silent, simply observing as people from all walks of life and all realities went about their business. He was almost tempted not to say anything, to let the people of Paradisa believe that they weren't plus another resident, but then he thought better. Better to let the people know he was there, and that he could help, than for them to learn that he existed when things went wrong. "Hullo there. My name's David Haller. Guess I'm stuck here now."

FIRST-PERSON JOURNAL SAMPLE: Funny thing, death. Y'think it's the end, that all o' your life's choices lead ta whatever's causin' your untimely demise, but often it's just one bad choice, some random bit o' bad luck that catches ya off-guard. I used ta think that when the end came fer me, that it'd be some grand event, some great bloody be-all, end-all battle fer the ages. And it was, believe me, but really, it all came down ta my own weakness. I saw a future I didn' want, but all the bloody causality paths were leadin' me there, whether I wanted it or not.

It's all bollocks. All o' it. Every one o' us is in charge o' how we live, an' how we die. We each rule ourselves. Tha's what the end taught me, that it was me makin' a choice ta put right what went so, so wrong.

Then there's this place, takin' away all o' that meanin', sacrifice with no payoff. I don' know how you people can stand it.

INTENT: David is a character that I strongly relate to on a personal level, having been through many of his psychological troubles as a child. I think that he would be fun to have around in Paradisa, due not only to how powerful he is, but what his experiences in trying to make the world better, while having all of the power to do so, have taught him.

REVISIONS

[paradisamods]

Hello there! We'd like to see some revisions on your application before we go ahead and make a decision.

First of all, we feel as though the abilities section is insufficient. Because of David's potential for developing new power spontaneously, we would like to see this explained more thoroughly. How do you plan on playing this out in Paradisa? Will he spontaneously develop powers, or will you be sticking to those that are present in canon? Please explain this mechanic further so we know what to expect and if we need to put nerfing/power restrictions in place to keep him from doing anything potentially gamebreaking.

Secondly, we would like to see a deeper analysis of his personality, particularly in regards to his psychology. You mentioned briefly that he has DID and lacks self confidence, but only in passing; because his condition is so integral to his character, we would like to see his complexities further explained to ensure you have a strong grasp on his characterization.

Please return your revisions within 72 hours. Thank you!

Maria Thorpe - Reserved

[givetheslip]

PERSONAL
NAME: Jaina
PERSONAL JOURNAL: effervescible
EMAIL: jaina.x@gmail.com
AIM: JainaX
CURRENT CHARACTERS: N/A

CHARACTER
CHARACTER NAME: Maria Thorpe
SERIES: Assassin’s Creed
CANON POINT: Soon after the conclusion of Assassin’s Creed: Bloodlines
LOSS: A “lovely ring" given to Maria by her mentor Robert de Sable when he took her under his wing in the Knights Templar. It meant a great deal to her at one time, and she wore it even after de Sable’s successor has no more use for her. At the canon point she’s coming from, her loyalty to the Templars is gone anyway, but the loss of the ring is symbolic in a way, because as she says herself, it’s her last tie to her former life. Now she’s at a crossroad with almost nothing left from that life.

ABOUT THE CHARACTER: Maria Thorpe is an English noblewoman born during the 12th century. Always boisterous by nature, she tried to fulfill the expected duties of a woman of her station after her parents arranged for her to be married at age 18. Finding herself unhappy and unsuited for such a life, she left her husband, was granted a convenient annulment to let her ex-spouse save face, and soon ran off and disguised herself as a man to join the Templar Order and the Third Crusade in the Holy Land, with the ambition of eventual knighthood.

Although the Grand Master of the Templars, Robert de Sable, discovered her true gender, he also saw Maria's true potential, and made her his steward. When Robert surmised that he was the next target of the Assassin Altaïr, who had tracked and killed eight key members of the Order, Maria took his place as a decoy at a funeral for one of Altaïr's previous targets. The funeral was a trap, and when Altaïr attacked 'Robert,' Maria fought toe-to-toe with the Assassin until he got the better of her. However, once Altaïr understood the ruse, he chose to spare Maria as she was not his target. He quickly went after the real Robert and was able to kill him.

One month later, Maria had fallen from favor with the Templars, as other members and more specifically the new Grand Master, Armand Bouchard, did not think as highly of her capabilities as Robert had. She met Altaïr once again when he came to investigate the remaining Templars as they were moving their operations to Cyprus, and she blamed him for ruining her life, despite sparing it. After he defeated her once more, he brought her with him to Cyprus as Templar bait and a potential source of information.

Maria had previously been unaware of the Templars' true plan to create order in the world by enslaving people's minds, but she began to understand the truth in Cyprus, by listening to Altaïr's words (with a great amount of initial skepticism) and gathering information for herself during numerous escapes. Eventually, she and Altaïr both made their way to the Templar Archive in the city of Limassol, where the Order stored precious artifacts and knowledge. Facing off with Armand Bouchart, Maria finally learned the truth of the Templars' goals and fought with him before being defeated. After Altaïr fought and killed Bouchart in turn, the two helped each other escape from the Archive, which had been emptied of most contents and was being shelled by cannons to destroy all evidence it had been there.

Afterward, the two enemies-turned-allies discussed their individual futures, with Maria speculating that she might continue East, perhaps to India, and Altaïr expressing that he, too, would go East first as part of his plan to learn about about the world and the mysterious Apple of Eden artifact. They became traveling companions and eventually lovers, marrying in Cyprus two years later; however, I will be taking her from before the offscreen point at which they became romantically involved.

“I'm what they call the unusual one in my family. Growing up, I always preferred the boys' games. Dolls weren't for me, much to my parents' continued exasperation. I used to pull their heads off."

Maria Thorpe may have steered her life down a path incredibly different from that which was expected, leading her to become a cross-dressing warrior, ambitious would-be knight and friend of Assassins, but she didn't start out as someone who broke the rules just to be contrary. As a child, she indulged in activities unsuitable for a girl of her time and class, but when she grew into adulthood, she didn't object to the standard arranged marriage either, instead hoping that she would be embraced for her whole character and not just her role as wife. When she concluded that this would not happen, it marked the last time in her life that she went along with someone else's plans for her instead of making up her own mind.

Unencumbered by the weight of a 'proper' societal role, Maria is a resourceful, brave person with a practical mind. Her choice of joining the Crusades as a way of exiting the life in which everyone's expectations had been let down—including her own—was as much about taking on a role that fit her personality and making a fresh start as it was support of the war's purpose; Maria demonstrates skill in battle, but shows no bloodlust or enjoyment of killing for its own sake. She is also cunning enough to successfully disguise herself as a man long enough to prove her worth to Robert, a powerful leader.

Engage her in conversation, and Maria is either refreshingly straightforward or—if you get on her bad side—somewhat abrasive. She's not one to go out of her way to be rude, but she doesn't mince words, to others or to herself. Enemies and subordinates will get a sharp tongue-lashing, and if she's in a bad situation, she won't lie to herself or cling to optimism to make herself feel better. Back her into a figurative corner, and she might stew in frustration for a while, but she'll manage to keep a clear head...most of the time. Because Maria has limits, and when pushed far enough, she has a tendency to let her anger get the best of her. Her anger at her fall from favor with the Templars is a major contributor to her losing the second fight with Altaïr (along with his superior skill), and as a captive, she lets a piece of information slip once or twice before catching herself. While she's not a total hothead, it's a weakness that can be exploited by someone who's good at pushing buttons.

In any environment, whether it's familiar or unknown, Maria thrives when given the opportunity to act, to contribute, in a manner that makes use of her capabilities, especially when it will make a notable difference. There's no doubt that her life running a proper English noble household would have been its own kind of work, but she expressed serious distaste for the “hierarchies and politics of the staff," along with her limited ability to express her whole personality. It doesn't have to be a perfect situation; life as a soldier and steward in the Crusades obviously suited Maria more than her previous station, but she later acknowledges that Robert exploited her potential as much as he recognized it. For a time, it was a bargain she was willing to make.

The strong mind and determination that brought Maria to the Crusades are also what keep her going through difficult times once she's there. She has her own ideas about what she should be doing, and she's not about to allow others to dictate whether that will change or not. After the new Templar Grand Master made it clear that he considered her incompetent or a traitor and no longer welcome among their high ranks, it would have been more convenient for her to immediately ally herself with Altaïr, who had made overtures of wanting her to understand the Assassins' perspective, but her beliefs didn't change quickly just because her situation did. It's important to Maria that she ask her own questions, make her own investigations and come to her own conclusions. For her, it's a matter of finding a balance, neither locking her into a single point of view forever nor being overly credulous. As her future self will one day remark, “It is one thing to have a mind that is open. It is quite another to have one so open that the birds can shit into it." And while she does have a sense of pride, once she does change her mind about the Templars and about her own life, she’s not too proud or embarrassed by past actions to accept Altaïr’s help, or to help him in return.

"Everything I worked for in the Holy Land, I no longer want. And everything I gave up to join the Templars... I wonder where all that went, and if I should try to find it again."

At the canon point I've chosen for her, Maria's life could take her down any number of new paths, and even she doesn't know precisely which one it will be, or where she'd like it to lead. One thing she does know is that she still plans to move forward, finding a new place for herself in the world rather than going back to something known and safe. As neither a wife nor a Templar, it's also the first time in more than a decade that she's had no title around which to base her life. It's not something she would have chosen, but it is something she's at peace with. For Maria, the important thing isn't where she ends up; it's that she find what will be, for her, the right way of getting there.

ABILITIES: No supernatural abilities, but Maria is an adept fighter who is skilled at swordplay and general combat. She is stronger than the average woman of her time period (arms and armor can be pretty heavy) but not superhumanly so.

THIRD-PERSON WRITING SAMPLE: Sample thread.

FIRST-PERSON JOURNAL SAMPLE: Sample thread.

INTENT: I love Maria as a character, and this canon point is a lot of fun because her whole world has changed even without dropping her into a jamjar land. She can’t go back, and she has a lot of decisions to make about where she’ll go as she moves forward, and no obvious path. I really enjoy exploring how she changes as she meets new people and is faced with situations she’d never face in canon. Also y’all have a bangin’ AssCreed cast.

Maria Thorpe | APPROVED

[paradisamods]

Your application has been approved. Go ahead and create your character journal, then comment on this entry and join paradisa, paradisalogs, paradisaooc, and paradisabeyond. Thank you!

If you'd like, you may also join paradisamemes, our meme community.

( reserved ) Tali'Zorah vas Normandy

[keelahs]

PERSONAL
NAME: Amanda
PERSONAL JOURNAL: battlepanties
EMAIL: piratebento@gmail.com
AIM: n/a
CURRENT CHARACTERS: n/a

CHARACTER
CHARACTER NAME: Tali'zorah vas Normandy
SERIES: Mass Effect
CANON POINT: end of Mass Effect 2

LOSS:
As a loss Tali will lose all memories and knowledge of geth, including the ability to even hear/understand the word. When spoken by others it will come through her helmet as distorted and intelligible. This particular loss was chosen for a number of reasons that relating to both Tali personally as well as those of her entire race.

Geth were created by her people as a virtual intelligence unit to be used for labor and as disposable warriors. Over time they were modified for more complex tasks, eventually becoming sentient. When the Quarians became aware of just how sentient they had become their government panicked declared martial law on their homeworld. This in turn caused the geth to defend themselves, eventually giving the entire quarian race little choice but to flee their homeworld. Since then the quarians have taken the part of scavengers across the galaxy in search for a new home. It is due to this that most quarians have an incredibly negative connotation towards them, Tali included.

In order to return to her people as an adult, Tali's offering as the end to her pilgrimage was a copy of information about the geth extracted and copied with permission from Shepard. This information not only allowed her to return to the fleet and gain her title as an adult, but once fully decrypted could possibly even be what the quarians needed to one day overthrow the geth and return to their homeworld.

Even after her pilgrimage Tali continued to gather information, carefully selecting pieces of geth to send to her father as a part of research. Tali thought he was simply gathering information, however his work eventually lead a geth outbreak on the ship his research was done on. Due to the outbreak, Tali was nearly exiled as the one to send the pieces in the first place, but regained her honor by saving the ship. In this time she found her father's last words recorded on his omni-tool, stating that the work he had performed was all in hopes to one day put an end to a geth so that he could build her a house on their homeworld.


ABOUT THE CHARACTER:

At the beginning of Mass Effect, Tali is but a young quarian on her pilgrimage to be accepted towards adulthood among her people. As a quarian, she is expected to bring back something useful in order to return to to the flotilla as a rightful member. Much of her early personality is not only shaped by her journey, but many common traits that are found among those of her people as well.
Like most of her people, Tali is incredibly advanced technologically, particularly where it comes to maintaining and converting technology as well as recovering data from geth memory cores. When it comes down to it, quarians choose to recover what most species would melt down. Tali even states that she picked up on reassembling disused parts at an incredibly young age, as expected of most young quarians. As one forced to live upon a migrating space fleet her knowledge of ships comes off as rather impressive to the average human. Most of her time through the games is spent in the engine room in both fascination for the advances the ship is equipped with as well as aiding in her own expansive knowledge.

The quarian race puts a heavy emphasis on the survival of the Migrant Fleet and little else. It is due to this that those of the flotilla are a rather insular group, caring little about the goings on of what happens outside of their people. It is expected of every quarian to pull their own weight, becoming very community-oriented rather than by living by individual needs as is normal for most other races. A high value is also put on family and ancestry and because Tali is the only daughter of the senior member of the Admiralty Board a lot is expected of her to perform at a higher level than the average quarian child, she is also expected by many to one day follow in his footsteps. Though Tali states as a younger child she had it rough due to her father's position, she has grown to accept and appreciate how hard he pushed her. It is naturally due to this that she is excels, particularly when it comes to the work she performs for Shepard and the Normandy.

Most other species treat quarians as second class citizens, not only for unleashing the geth and in turn losing their embassy with the Citadel. It is not uncommon for them to be seen as thieves and scavengers, often because they are not allowed to have real jobs and are forced to scavenge parts for their ships. Shepard was the first to really treat Tali as an equal in allowing her to fight along side her as well as aid her in her Pilgrimage in providing information on the geth to her people. Due to this Tali is not only grateful, but incredibly loyal to Shepard and anyone who is willing to treat her as an equal.

Tali deals with general conversation with sarcasm and a rather dry sense of humor, often making it difficult to tell if she is serious or not. She can be quick to annoyance or even anger in instances, particularly on things she feels strongly about, including the treatment of her people or her stance on the geth. However, even when angered she is quick to bounce back once she cools down, which is rarely more than a short period of time (sometimes even within minutes). In most instances she is very set in her beliefs with a very solid black and white view of right and wrong with little room for grey space.

Like most quarians, most of her motivations are decisions are focused around what is best for her people. While she recognized that some of their beliefs are not always perfect, she accepts that they are still her family and worth fighting for. Her primary motivations lay in giving her people a better life than what they have, whether going above and beyond for the sake of her people while on her own pilgrimage so that they may gain the information to return to their homeworld or taking a stand for the right's of the young. Even upon her first encounter with Shepard in the second game she refused to rejoin her right away-- it is not until she is sure that a young, sick quarian has returned to the flotilla safely that she can willingly give herself to the cause.

Tali's loyalty to the flotilla and her people is particularly displayed when she learns that she is to stand a trial on her exile from the Migrant Fleet, something quarians consider the ultimate punishment. Tali is not only confused, but upset that she is potentially standing trial for exile when her purpose was to not only help the fleet, but her father in his research as well. The name Tali'Zorah vas Neema is stripped from her upon her trial, in turn going by Tali'Zorah vas Normandy. Tali is first outraged that she has been stripped of her proper title, but when she calms down and Shepard speaks with her she is equally honored to be considered a part of the "Normandy" family, only furthering her loyalty towards the Commander as not only a member of her crew, but a friend as well.


ABILITIES:
As a quarian, Tali has incredibly advanced knowledge in technology, particularly when it comes to space ships, recovering data as well as maintaining and converting technology. In a fight she comes in handy with her abilities as a skilled mechanistic, with a specialty in ai hacking, deception and use of her combat drone to aid in taking down the enemies. As for weapons, she is equally skilled in the use of pistols as well as shotguns.

More on Tali's abilities can be found here

THIRD-PERSON WRITING SAMPLE:

Living in a static location was something that would prove to be difficult to get used to for the quarian. Growing up the flotilla ever moving from one solar system to the next. Even her life on the Normandy was non-stop movement in an act to save the world from the reapers. Not only did the castle not move, it was on solid ground, made of materials that were hardly suitable if invasion where to take place and far too large for Tali's tastes. Even her room within the castle was bigger than any house she ever imagined.

Even worse was living in a place with so little technology. Tali couldn't see how people could manage it, though she heard the occasional complaints. Since a child she had been so used to tinkering, yet there was no engine room to maintain and no element zero to be found. Without distraction she only felt more compelled to worry that the castle would crumble down around them in attack at any second.

Her time so far had been spent well, mostly exploring and learning her way around the castle, but even that became boring after a while. In the attempts to find something to occupy her restless mind, Tali paced around her room with her journal held up with one hand. Someone out there bound to have some idea of fun, or at least a good distraction.

"Pool party," she read out loud, not bothering to properly respond to the journal entry or any following. "Pass. I'd rather not risk infection." When you lived in a suit, swimming for leisure was useless.

"Lost cat--" She tilted her head slightly. "I'll let you know if I find it."

She flipped the page, this time she frowned. "Keelah... Your friends are better back home than here." Not that the castle was terrible to her thus far, but in her short amount of time there she'd heard enough rumors.

The next page was one that actually piqued her interests. "A bar, hmm? Now that I can get behind." She paused, before responding with a quick answer-- "Count me in." Even if she didn't drink, Tali was one of the rare few that actually enjoyed large crowds, likely stemmed from her childhood on the busy flotilla. She was bound to at least find someone or something to keep her busy there.

FIRST-PERSON JOURNAL SAMPLE:
You know, where I'm from no one bothers to even print books on paper anymore. Everything is done digitally and through the extranet, including means of communication. I never imagined I would be using such backwards means for such things-- magical journals? Laughable at best and hardly secure.
I never really realized how much I took technology for granted before my arrival here. I guess that's to be expected from a quarian. We thrive off living on space ships, not some castle made of rocks. Even structures like this are rare in most parts of the galaxy and I have to admit I fear how structurally sound it would be under attack.

Even the elevator here is so slow that I've only gone up two floors since I started this. Though I guess I really shouldn't complain, it's better than taking the stairs.

INTENT: I would like to explore different sides of Tali you don't get to see in game, particularly concerning living in a place with little to no tech. In addition I'd love to play out how receptive she'd be to those outside of her flotilla and The Normandy, especially as one whose race is usually looked down upon.

REVISIONS

[paradisamods]

Hello! We'd like to see some further elaboration on Tali's relationship with her father, particularly in regards to his absence in her life. You touched on this briefly both in your Abilities section as well as the About section, but we would like to see some further analysis.

You have 72 hours to return your revisions. Thank you!

DECLINED

[paradisamods]

We're sorry, but we are declining your application. Your third- and first-person journal samples both do not meet our standards, in that we do not hear his voice in either of them and the third-person sample in particular strikes us as being OOC. Your personality section also has headcanon to an excessive amount, and your proposed loss is insufficient as well.

Since asking for revisions on all of these sections would require in essence an entirely new application, we are choosing to decline instead.

Thank you for your interest in Paradisa. You may re-apply for this character or apply for a different character at any time.

Reserved Character - ( Altaïr ibn La-Ahad )

[theflyingone]

PERSONAL
NAME: clarissa
PERSONAL JOURNAL: n/a
EMAIL: miso_soup_addict@yahoo.com
AIM: n/a, or misosoupaddict
CURRENT CHARACTERS: n/a

CHARACTER
CHARACTER NAME: Altaïr ibn La-Ahad
SERIES: Assassin's Creed
CANON POINT: end of game
LOSS:

• Hidden blade. The hidden blade has been the Assassins' weapon of choice, sort of like a trademark. It almost defines them. Altaïr doesn't place as much importance on material possessions as he once did, but he will still make efforts to get it back or make a new one in Paradisa. It is very useful, stealthy, and lethal. He'd probably try to get some money together and get several blacksmiths in town to make the parts, which he would put together.


• If this is too easy of a workaround and is not acceptable to the mods, there's the option off losing ALL his other weapons as well (longsword, short blade, throwing knives). He would attempt to reacquire them the same way. He may also resort to stealing, since these weapons are not specialized like the hidden blade.


• If this is also too easy of a workaround, he can lose his Eagle Vision. Altaïr uses it to discern between enemies and allies, find targets and information, etc. (See ABILITIES below.) He sometimes uses it as a way to tell if he can trust someone or see an enemy in disguise. It's an important ability to him, one he was born with. He'd feel vulnerable without it, though he would do his best not to show it. Losing it would make him more suspicious of everyone and the Paradisa world in general, since it's more secret than his weapons. This distrust may hinder his ability to make strong allies or close friends.

ABOUT THE CHARACTER:

Inventory

Assassin outfit (undergarments, tunic, overtunic, hood, sash, pants, boots)
Leather armor (belt, bracers, greaves, knife sheath, sword sheath)
Hidden blade, longsword, knife/short blade, 15 throwing knives
Small emergency supplies in belt pouches (snacks, water, ointment, sewing kit for wounds, etc.)

History:

Altaïr's wikia (spoilers for the entire series)
Assassins/Hashshashin/Asasiyun

"Nothing is true; everything is permitted."

This maxim reminds Assassins that the laws of society are fragile, not to be taken as absolute truth. People have the right to choose their actions, however they must do so wisely.

Tenets of the Assassin's Creed:
1. Stay your blade from the flesh of an innocent.
2. Hide in plain sight.
3. Never compromise the Brotherhood.

Altaïr was born in 1191, during the High Middle Ages and the Fourth Crusade. Most of his cultural influence will have come from the concurrent Islamic Golden Age, and anything European travelers might have brought over with them. However, his worldview is aligned with the Assassins, who view themselves as apart from society. The Assassins chose not to take either side of political squabbles, and the above maxim of their Creed reflects that. Their main goal was peace, in all things. They saw the world as an illusion, and did not submit to it, instead seeking out the truth for themselves. They recognized that "laws arise not from divinity, but reason." They sought to view the world objectively and logically.

Altaïr's character design and assassination technique were modeled after the eagle, a bird of prey who watches victims with keen eyes before striking quickly and leaving just as swiftly. His name means either "the bird" or "the flying one" in Arabic, and is the brightest star in the constellation Aquilla – The Eagle.

His birthparents, like all Assassin parents, were not allowed to be emotionally close to their children. According to Assassin's Creed: The Secret Crusade, his mother died in childbirth, and his father was executed by the Saracens when Altaïr was 11. Altaïr instead looked to his master, Al Mualim, for guidance. The Assassins being the only life he has ever known, Altaïr aspired to become a Master Assassin. Altaïr has trained in the art of movement, the blade, and various other stealth and assassination techniques since he was a child. Most of his time as a youth was spent in training, instead of with a family. Assassins earned their keep by doing missions. From what we see of Altaïr's (re)progression in rank, Assassins was not given a better blade or armor until they reached the appropriate rank.

It is implied by the opening of the gate to the garden that Assassins accepted into the Brotherhood (and of a suitable age) were allowed access to the harem there. The garden (as well as numerous other things in the Assassin's Creed series) is a reference to the book Alamut by Vladimir Bartol, where the Mentor would drug initiates with hashish and lead them to believe they had glimpsed paradise and the beautiful women (houri) there. This promise of afterlife riches would then cement the bond of the new Assassins to the cause and eliminate their fear of death. Whether this exact method of initiation happened is not clear in canon (or actual history), but the results are the same: Altaïr, at least, does not fear death, putting himself time and time again in danger's path for the Brotherhood.

Those Assassins of higher rank became scholars, and the fortress boasted an impressive library. Much effort was put into schooling initiates so they could blend into any culture with ease. Altaïr converses with Assassins in his own native Arabic, and also speaks the languages of his victims: Turkish of the Islamic Golden Age, Middle English, Old French, and Middle High German. Since many Middle Eastern works were written in Persian, and most Christian books were written in Latin or Greek, it can be assumed that Altaïr learned at least a little of these during his training.

The Knights Templar are presented as the Assassins' longtime enemies. Altaïr in particular had a vendetta against them one year before the events of Assassin's Creed. His last love, Adha, had been captured and killed by Templars. He had spent the better part of a year hunting each Templar responsible, finding no comfort in killing every last one.

Altaïr rose to the rank of Master Assassin and became Al Mualim's favorite. But during a mission in Solomon's Temple under Jerusalem, Altaïr broke all three tenets of the Creed: He slayed an innocent man who was in his way, blew his cover by openly challenging Robert de Sable, and in doing so compromised the two Assassins with him; Kadar died, and Malik lost his arm. Upon returning home, Al Mualim stabbed Altaïr for it, as their custom dictated. He thought he tasted death, but instead woke to Al Mualim telling him he had been stripped of his rank and all his possessions. Taking everything from Altaïr allowed Al Mualim to remold him. "You are a novice, a child once more, as you were on the day you first joined our order. I am offering you a chance at redemption. You'll earn your way back into the Brotherhood."

Altaïr took care of nine targets as asked. On the way he uncovered the conspiracy of the Knights Templar surrounding the treasure sought by both the Templars and the Assassins: the Apple of Eden. Robert de Sable, Grandmaster of the Knights Templar and Altaïr's last target, revealed that Al Mualim had been working with the Templars all along. When Altaïr returned home to everyone being mind controlled by Al Mualim via the Apple, he tried to make him stop his evil scheme. When Al Mualim refused to give the people their freedom back, Altaïr killed him. The Apple rolled from his master's hand and began to display a hologram of the Earth. Altaïr stood mesmerized by it. Its ancient and hypnotic power rendered him unable to destroy it like he had planned. This is the point from where i will be taking Altaïr.

Re: Reserved Character - ( Altaïr ibn La-Ahad )

[theflyingone]

Personality:

His quick promotion to Master Assassin had stirred up some dissent, which wasn't helped by his arrogance. Before his failure at Solomon's Temple, Altaïr regarded fighting and killing as ways to show off his skill. Altaïr would often return from a mission to looks of admiration, yes, but also jealousy. As Al Mualim's favorite, he was used to competition and rivalry, and his aggressive manner encouraged it. He initially responded to his demotion with anger, especially when novices, who were supposedly beneath him, tried to help him. He cut their words short, saying they were in his way. He claimed he could do everything himself without their help.

He was at times insufferably rebellious. Both Al Mualim and the Bureau leaders spend half the game berating Altaïr for rash actions and not shutting up. Altaïr had a habit of turning his head and avoiding someone's eyes when they said things he doesn't want to hear, much like an indignant teenager being scolded. A conversation with an informant revealed that, before he got a swelled head, Altaïr used to work in cooperation with his fellow teammates. As Altaïr regained his rank piece by piece, he attempted to work together with people again, but he had to also regain their trust.

Altaïr saw Al Mualim as the closest thing to a father. He didn't have the good fortune to know he could do better. When we first met Altaïr, it was clear from his struggle for Al Mualim's approval and the excuses he tried to make about his mistakes at Solomon's Temple that he had experienced years of emotional deprivation. He dealt with it by being aggressive, and, in Abbas's words, was "loathe to share the glory" of a successfully completed mission. Despite his lack of patience and constant questioning of some of Al Mualim's methods, he was eager to regain his rank and his master's approval again.

Emotion was a weakness in Al Mualim's eyes, one Altaïr was raised not to show. We do not see the Levantine Assassins greet each other with much physical affection, such as the (bro)hugs common among Middle Eastern men of the time. Altaïr harbored affection privately. His time with Adha in 1190 had him considering laying down his blade. Some fellow Assassins knew of Altaïr's involvement with Adha, though it is unclear how much exactly. After her death, he responded to inquiries about her whereabouts with silence. Though Altaïr killed the ones responsible for Adha's death, he realizes that revenge did not bring him peace. He still wakes from nightmares of the terrified face she wore in her last moments. With what happened to her, he suspects a life of peace is merely a dream that can never be a reality for him. He's not sure if he can feel the same way about another woman again. (Anyone who has read his Codex will know that he eventually did some years later, with enemy-turned-ally Maria Thorpe; she was his better half until death.)

Altaïr was constantly questioning everything, from the laws of society, to Al Mualim, to the threads that bound his nine targets together as – he would later find out – Templars. It was Al Mualim who taught him to question the world, and Malik who counseled him to never know, only suspect. Altaïr makes every effort to see facts for himself, to place trust in what he sees with his own eyes. He has little patience for manipulation of himself or others. He will never blindly follow anyone. He would become frustrated at Al Mualim's reticence and speaking "in circles." He even risked Al Mualim's death threats when he demanded to know more about the men Al Mualim had sent him to assassinate. He did not know for sure if his master would kill him for that insolence. He said he "took a leap of faith."

Altaïr is habitually straight and to the point. He demanded (later, asked politely) information quickly, and gave large amounts of information quickly and succinctly, not stopping to make small talk. He only took a moment to vocally contemplate when he was with someone he trusted, about something that had been troubling him for some time. In his interactions with civilians and noncombatants, Altaïr may seem frustrated at their unsubtlety in delicate situations. Everything is unsubtle to a man trained in stealth, and especially to a man who has learned from the mistake of blowing his cover. In addition, other characters in Exsilium may see his reticence as rude, and... it probably is. But he is secretive for a purpose. He doesn't want to compromise the Brotherhood.

Assassins are trained not to hesitate in the face of danger, but merely show discretion before acting. Altaïr is accustomed to hiding in plain sight, and making his first strike his last. He demonstrates extensive observational skills that help profile his targets, and there is a lot of information (visual, cultural, psychological) he must retain. During his hunt for the nine Templars, Altaïr completed all the reconnaissance and information gathering as directed, which was necessary in order to even get close enough to his targets. If a mission went differently than planned, Altaïr counted on his own ability to adapt to change. It has saved him countless times, though his friend Malik cautions him on relying on it too much. Malik acted as Altaïr's (often harsh) conscience when it came to discretion. Altaïr would exchange equally harsh words with him while on his hunt for the nine. Just before leaving for his last target, Altaïr finally apologized to Malik, owning up to his inflated pride and his mistakes at Solomon's Temple. Malik responded that Altaïr was no longer the man he once was, and had nothing to apologize for.

It is strongly implied through the game's system that Altaïr followed the Creed very closely – at first to regain his rank and keep his life, then because he felt remorse for his mistakes. His arrogance cost the life of one Assassin, and the left arm of another. And, though the Templars already knew the location of their hideout, Al Mualim convinced Altaïr that it was he who led them to battle on their doorstep, resulting in more lives lost. It took effort and a shelving of great pride to own up to his mistakes, but Altaïr did want to redeem himself. He realized what it meant to have the power to hold someone's life in his hands. He saw his own arrogance and pride reflected in the cruel men he was sent to kill, and he "learned what becomes of those who lift themselves above others." He spared Maria Thorpe, Robert de Sable's double, because she was not one of his nine targets, though she was a Templar and his enemy. Altaïr was looking to do away with the needless killings he once employed, and to place others before himself in more ways than one.

Part of the Creed forbids the killing of innocents, but Altaïr took it a step further, going out of his way to help civilians being tormented by the corrupt guards paid to protect them. A staunch believer in free will, he cannot tolerate the oppression of others, and he risks his life to prevent it. Altaïr elaborated to King Richard, "My concern is for the people of the Holy Land. If I must sacrifice myself for there to be peace, so be it."

Because Altaïr has seen Crusaders and Saracens commit unspeakable acts in the name of a benevolent God, he says he doesn't believe in such a thing. In Solomon's Temple, when he, Kadar and Malik viewed the Arc of the Covenant – an extremely important religious artifact from Biblical times – he told the novice Kadar not to be silly, there is no such thing. However, Altaïr will fight for people's right to choose their beliefs. "Men must be free to do what they believe." When the Templars take people's freedom in exchange for peace, Altaïr is ready to pit himself against them.

The events of the summer of 1191 left little time for merrymaking, however Altaïr is not without a sense of fun. His job requires he complete missions with as much stealth as possible, but he also loves a good sword fight, as evidenced by his occasional shit-eating grin when successfully dispatching several opponents in a row. He repeatedly uses the rooftops to his advantage, even if civilians comment that he is "acting like a child." To be fair, once a person has learned to use the city's surroundings to get around in the unconventional way of their choice, it is hard to adhere to the mundane. Altaïr has a focused directness that results in wanting to get things done quickly, and the goal of parkour – to get from point A to B as swiftly and efficiently as possible – meshes nicely with that. The Animus's mechanic of collecting flags to sync with more of Altaïr's memories imply that he walked, climbed, and jumped everywhere. He conducted more than just business on rooftops. A few years after the events of the first game, c.1196, it is revealed that Altaïr has no qualms about passionately conceiving his children outside on high towers – in enemy territory.

Though he has gained a new wisdom and inner peace, it's just that: new. His better understanding of the Creed has changed him into a calmer, wiser man, but he still has a little difficulty connecting with people on a personal level. He has great compassion for his fellow man, but has grown up in an environment that did not teach him how to show it. He has trouble even putting into words any doubts and insecurities he may have, even when in the company of someone he trusts. Altaïr is a good leader, with experience spearheading missions in small groups as a Master Assassin, but he is not yet a mentor.

ABILITIES:
A sixth sense, dubbed Eagle Vision (video here), can be activated while standing still and at full health. This intuition shows people's true intentions, and can even lead one in the direction of an unseen target. Red = soldiers/enemies, blue = allies, white = informants and hiding places, gold = assassination targets. Permissions post here
Altaïr fights with: longsword, knife/short blade, throwing knives, fists, swordfighting while on horseback, hidden blade (retractable blade hidden in the left bracer, for which their left ring finger is removed)
Pickpocketing, eavesdropping, interrogation by fists, parkour, climbing almost any building.
Leap of Faith: Experienced Assassins can jump from dangerous heights to land safely in a pile of hay/leaves
All Assassin initiates had to be well-educated to help them infiltrate various cultures. Altaïr is able to blend in plain sight with groups of both European and Middle Eastern scholars.
He's also pretty good at drawing.

THIRD-PERSON WRITING SAMPLE: [ Arriving on Exsilium's moon base. On the moon. Yeah. ]

One moment Altaïr had been standing in the shock and chaos of his latest kill; the next, waking up alone on a transport pad in a strange, cold warehouse. It took all his will not to tackle the first person he encountered and demand answers. As it happened, a few were supplied to him. But not enough.

He took one look at the starry view outside and reeled. An untimely step off a building in Damascus was one thing. Finding himself in lodgings on the moon was another entirely. Surely these fools wouldn't garrison so far away from the Earth...! Altaïr composed himself. In the halls, he didn't gawk or show any indication that he felt extremely out of place. He spent most of his time mapping out the corridors in his mind's eye as he walked down them at an unobtrusive pace. When he was still, he favored the wall, turning a watchful gaze on everything and everyone.

The sort of technological mechanisms that were described to him upon arrival sounded like something out of a fairytale. Altaïr did not care for fairytales, but he was a curious mind determined to see everything as clearly as possible. He got out his tablet. Apparently this folding glass, this reflecting book, was "on," but the instantaneous sending and receiving of letters was not possible at this time. He quickly turned it over in his calloused hands, the absence of his left ring finger not hindering him in the slightest. The thing bore no response, and Altaïr's patience -- what little was left of it -- wore thin. His jaw set, and he muttered a small curse in the Arabic of his time.

FIRST-PERSON JOURNAL SAMPLE: Talking with a future mutiny co-conspirator

INTENT:
Altaïr was my first muse, and i found him to be a fun, versatile character to play. He's a bag of dicks turned loyal student turned unwitting mentor. He is very passionate about his beliefs, a violent extremist, and a kind man. I also love history, adventure, and nice asses.
Honestly i love getting him into trouble, so there will probably be a bit of that. When i'm not torturing him, he usually holds stealth/sword classes, spars, explores, stalks enemies, nerds about books and lofty ideals, and helps old ladies cross the street. He may try to recruit Assassins to fight for freedom and peace, but only if he trusts them.

Cheese Sandwich | My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic

[preformthisneigh]

PERSONAL
NAME: TF
PERSONAL JOURNAL: teeff
EMAIL: welshwerecat@googlemail.com
AIM: fanoftodd
CURRENT CHARACTERS:
Anthony Crowley | Good Omens | onlyanapple
Ben Paul | The Walking Dead | indiectcause


CHARACTER
CHARACTER NAME: Cheese Sandwich
SERIES: My Little Pony: Friendship is Heresy Magic
CANON POINT: The end of S4E12; Pinkie Pride
LOSS: Cheese is a drifter, very much a loner, who never stays in one place for any longer than a few days at a time. As such, his loss will be if he tries to go any further than the town (or the equivalent of that distance in any direction), he'll be zapped back into the castle lobby. This will force him, for the first time since he was a colt, to actually live in a place and bond with the people within.

ABOUT THE CHARACTER:

History

Cheese was born in Manehattan, the largest city in Equestria, and undeniably the least friendly. Cripplingly shy, Cheese spent his foalhood in solitude, unable to make friends, and too nervous to try. When he reached colthood, he packed up and left the city, not even sure himself what he was looking for, just knowing he needed to leave. Manehattan sucks, never go there.

Eventually, he stumbled into Ponyille, where a filly Pinkie Pie was throwing a party. Seeing how happy the ponies were, thanks to the joy Pinkie brought them, Cheese realised that was the life he wanted to lead. To make others happy in ways he was not. With his epiphany, he gained his Cutie Mark, the mark all ponies receive when they discover their destiny and role in life. Using Pinkie as his benchmark to aspire to, Cheese became a drifter, travelling around Equestria with only the rubber chicken (aptly named 'Boneless') Pinkie dropped as company. Using his 'Cheesy Sense', he went wherever he knew a party needed him, always leaving when the party was done.

One day, this sense lead him back to Ponyville, where Pinkie was planning Rainbow Dash's birthiversary bash. Seeing a chance to finally show his idol how good he was at being a party pony, Cheese won the crowd over with his skills, unaware that he was actually making Pinkie feel less able in the process. After her Heroic BSOD, she challenged him to a goof off, to decide who would headline the party, which he accepted after she goaded him into it by calling him 'boneless'. What followed was a polka driven crack trip, with each party pony trying to outdo the other, forcing Rainbow Dash into judging the contest. When Pinkie realised that Rainbow was decidedly not having fun, she forfeited the contest, allowing Cheese to win, much to his confusion.

Pinkie, being dramatic, packed up to leave Ponyville, being stopped in time by her friends. Cheese joined them, explaining to her and he didn't want to take her place as Ponyville's resident party planner, only that he wanted her to see what he'd accomplished in his life. He finally admitted his past to her, and how she'd been the reason he'd found his calling in life. Ecstatic for this reveal, Pinkie agreed to frontline the party together with Cheese, and the most amazing party Equestria had ever seen was the result. After the party was over, Cheese gave Pinkie Boneless as a memento of his time in Ponyville (Boneless, it turns out, being the Rainbow Key of Laughter) before pulling out a second chicken, Boneless 2, and heading off into the sunset.

Personality

On first meeting, Cheese comes across as a fun loving, friendly and overall happy pony. Most of this is true. He honestly wants to spread joy and laughter everywhere he goes, to have ponies feel wanted and important in ways he never was as a youngster. He doesn't want a repeat of his own past in other ponies, so he goes out of his way to make everypony happy. He's wacky and off-the-wall to be certain, but he's got a whole lot of heart to go with it.

He throws his all into making parties, after all that is his calling in life, to the point where he doesn't necessarily notice how others aside from his party subject are actually feeling. He can very easily get swept away by his own enthusiasm. Dancing around, playing his accordion and generally being wacky can sometimes make him come across as abrasive and annoying, without him realising it.

Despite all of this effort, he still has done nothing to fix the loneliness he's suffered from all his life. He never settles down in one place, to make actual long-standing friendships. As soon as the party is over, he packs up and heads off down the road again. He's great at making himself memorable, at playing to the crowd, but he's not so great at making himself a friend. Seems that you really can fake not having social anxiety when you need to. For all the work he does on making other ponies feel happy, he still remains a loner at heart, even eating a cupcake on the outskirts of the party once it's dying down. He doesn't seem overly sad about this fact, he's simply accepted it for who he is and is content with his own company.

However, this loneliness doesn't help much with his general state of mind, which is...eclectic at best. He constantly talks to an inanimate object as if it can answer him, and has developed something of a borderline multiple personality. He switches between Wacky Fun Party Cheese and Stoic Drifter Cheese regularly; the former being his regular self and the latter being a Clint Eastwood-esque persona. Though it's certainly not a defined multiple personality, there is definitely a stark difference between how he acts when he switches between these modes. He's still obsessed with parties, regardless of how he's acting at the time.

He's worked hard at becoming as good a party planner as he is, and often his pride in this fact can trip him up. He really dislikes it being insinuated that he's in any way cowardly or does not have what it takes to go the distance. As a result, he will rise to just about any foolish challenge and give it his all in order to win, without actually thinking of any potential consequences that would come with his victory.

Eccentric and cheerful, Cheese is the best pony you'd want on the job for cheering you up, just don't expect him to stick around for too long afterwards.

ABILITIES: Oh boy here we go.

As an Earth pony, Cheese does not actually posses magical abilities. But like Pinkie, as a party pony he has certain skills that defy both logic and physics.

Cheese-y Sense - A sixth sense that allows him to know when a party is in the works anywhere in the world. It comes across as a weird body tremor. It's unknown if he can use it for things beyond parties, such as Pinkie being able to foretell disasters with hers.

Hamerspace - What is says on the tin. Cheese can access hammerspace, pulling all sorts of crap out of seemingly nowhere. Obviously, he will no longer be able to pull anything game breaking out.

Physics Breaking - The laws that govern everything else ever are just suggestions to party ponies. He laughs in the face of gravity and scoffs at space-time. He's also known to lean on the 4th wall on occasion. How is this done? Nopony is brave enough to ask.

Earth Pony Attributes - He has all the regular attributes of his race; strength, stamina, a prehensile tail and the inability to fly or make magic.

THIRD-PERSON WRITING SAMPLE:

Cheese knew a lot of things. He knew how to play a mean accordion solo. He knew how to stuff a piñata full of cake without anything going stale. Heck, he knew how to make an ice cream moat (the secret was in the chocolate sauce). The thing Cheese knew the most though, was when a place needed a party, and boy, this place needed a party.

And so, he'd set to working on the biggest space he could find, which ended up being the ballroom, and working his magic. From the ceiling, he hung enough streamers to make the entire upper space look like a rainbow of crepe paper, and on the windows he hung an array of castle-shaped window charms, catching the light and throwing it around the room. The result was simple, but pretty. He wasn't sure what the strange two-legged-not-pony creatures actually liked in terms of celebration, so he figured he'd better start small and work his way up as the night wore on. Maybe at some point he could introduce them to some apple dunking or something, though how they could pick up anything in their tiny narrow muzzles he didn't know.

He waved happily at any of them who entered, curiously wondering what was going on. He promised them all that in but a few hours, they'd experience the greatest party they'd ever known, and to come back when the music started pumping. Most of them had looked either confused or deeply cynical, but Cheese didn't mind. He knew he had the skills to make good on his promises. As he put up a giant disco ball, preciously balanced on a ladder that was clearly not meant for ponies, he grinned down at his rubber chicken, lying on the floor.

"Well, Boneless Two, I think it's about time to put the music on and see how these guys boogie down!"

FIRST-PERSON JOURNAL SAMPLE:

Wow, I've gotta say, I've travelled all over Equestria, and I've never seen a place like this before. The only castle I've ever seen is in Canterlot, and this sure isn't Canterlot. I mean, the lack of unicorns totally gives it away.

Anyhoo, I have a really important question to everyone here listening through this magical book. It's the most important question you'll ever have to answer so you need to think super hard on your answer and make sure it's not lame in any way. Okay? Okay. So my question is this:

How long has it been since you all had a really awesome party and would you like one right now?

Okay so that's two questions, so sue me. I accept answers in all ways up to and including being written on the back of a napkin. So long as it has some sort of delicious sauce still on it.

Thank you!

INTENT: I got sucked into the dark void that is My Little Pony again and there is no hope for me. But no, he's a fun, easy going character to play, and it's going to be interesting taking him out of his comfort zone and forcing him to stay in one place for an extended time.

REVISIONS

[paradisamods]

Hello! We'd like to ask for a revision on Cheese's loss. While we understand your intent, we'd like to see it rephrased or reworded because as it is, it's too close to game mechanics that are already in place. (ie., that characters cannot leave the castle for extended periods without being drawn back.)

Wanting him to deal with his drifter nature and inability to make interpersonal connections is perfectly valid, but we are going to have to request you find a different loss to accomplish this.

haytham kenway ✠ assassin's creed ✠ reserved

[shallwe]

PERSONAL
NAME: Crystal
PERSONAL JOURNAL: nerdangel
EMAIL: octoberrain08 @ gmail
AIM: kyotoshowgirl
CURRENT CHARACTERS: n/a


CHARACTER
CHARACTER NAME: Haytham Kenway
SERIES: Assassin's Creed
CANON POINT: June 17, 1778 after Connor decides to be a big baby about Washington. (post-Sequence 10's Broken Trust)
LOSS: Haytham's loss will be all memories pertaining to Charles Lee. Senpai will never notice him now. Charles is Haytham's right-hand man/successor. So, he's pretty obviously a fairly important person to Haytham. As far as Haytham is concerned, it will probably frustrate him to no end that he knows there's someone he doesn't remember, but he can't make himself remember no matter how hard he tries. It's also likely to have an impact on his relationship with his son since aside from squabbling about Assassin vs. Templar philosophy, Charles Lee has always been a sore point between the two of them. So yeah. Interesting all around. B)

[shallwe]

ABOUT THE CHARACTER:

Prior to the death of his father, Haytham was raised as an Assassin (though unknowingly). As such, his father trained him not just in swordplay, but also in thinking. Haytham was taught to question everything and to not simply accept someone's word as truth. When Reginald Birch took Haytham under his wing, Haytham was immediately attracted to the Templar way because it was far more black and white than what his father had presented him with. But Haytham didn't experience a massive crisis of faith or agonize over his decision to join the Order because it was still his decision. In a way, he was still upholding his father's beliefs because he was questioning his father and he's managed to hold fast to his beliefs in the Order - order, purpose, direction and all that good stuff is the way to peace not that silly freedom bullshit the Assassins keep trying to pass off as anything other than chaotic - ever since.

As he trained, Haytham became an efficient killer. He was able to get in, take out his target, and leave without being detected. But more importantly, Haytham once held onto a code as far as killing was concerned. Haytham never approved of the brutality and indiscriminate killing Braddock employed when he was with the Order and when Braddock's loyalties eventually drifted away. In his later years, however, Haytham started to adopt the notion that the ends justify the means. The more Haytham saw of people - such as what became of his half-sister, what happened to Holden, and the numerous betrayals of people he once trusted - the more convicted he became in his beliefs that humanity was ultimately weak and needed to be controlled in order to achieve peace.

As far as the way Haytham presents himself, he can be best summed up by a single word: aristocrat. He's congenial and charming when he wants to be and still has some of that same charisma he was outright oozing with when he was younger. (Lee-kouhai really wanted Kenway-sempai to notice him.) As a result, Haytham didn't have a very hard time befriending people or making them feel at ease with him because he knows how to move about in a social sense. Not much of that is happening in his twilight years, but Haytham is far less concerned with making friends than he is meeting his goals so it's just a skill that's not as handy as it used to be. Haytham does still hide much of himself from others, however. It's not that he doesn't have emotions, he just prefers to filter them as much as possible. Part of it is out of politeness and what's proper in particular social contexts, but part of it is also incredibly manipulative. Although Haytham does still retain a belief in honesty, he has much fewer qualms about withholding information in his later years because he recognizes that it gives him the upper hand. Even the most carefully laid plans - of which Haytham has many because he's a smart and calculating man who tries to abstain from being impulsive - require leverage if they're going to be successful. So, what's a little callousness and lying? It's for the greater good, so it's fine.

There are times, however, when Haytham has difficulty hiding his emotions. One such example is when Connor informs Haytham of Ziio's death and he does display a moment of legitimate regret and sadness to hear of it. Haytham had, in fact, loved her in his own way at one point. And while many decades had gone by, Haytham still did wonder aloud about what might have been. Partially, of course, to manipulate Connor, but also out of genuine thought. Another is just, well, get him started about the Order. Not much else will get under Haytham's skin enough to have an open display of anger, but he speaks with such passion about his beliefs and the Templar ideology that his temper quick to flare in response to it being questioned/opposed. That said, Haytham can also be ridiculously scathing and sarcastic. Especially when it comes to a certain someone.

Speaking of that certain someone, Haytham's relationship to Connor is best described as an antagonistic distant relation. Although father and son stand at very opposite ends of the paradigm and Haytham recognizes Connor as an obstacle to achieving his goals, Haytham does not actively wish ill upon his son. He actually makes attempts to reconcile with him arguing with him literally to the death about why the philosophy/stance of the Templars is far greater and all around better than the philosophy/stance of the Assassins. Granted, Haytham is still taking an all-or-nothing stance and really he needs/wants Connor's agreement (because to Haytham, there's no way the Assassins and Templars can ever unite), but this is a man who kills with little discrimination these days. The fact he's not just purely making attempts on Connor's life speaks to more of a basic care toward Connor in that he wants to save his son from what Haytham believes to be naive and overly idealistic beliefs about the world/humanity. In a really weird and twisted way, Haytham is looking out for Connor in just about the only way he knows how - passing along his father's teachings about questioning things. Just don't question him, okay? Father knows best. Sssshhh.

In short, a very dramatic statement about Haytham Kenway would be that he is someone who has been forged in violence, betrayal, and suffering going all the way back to when his father was killed and his childhood home burned. But a little less dramatic, he is someone who has witnessed a great deal of loss and betrayal and because he has seen these uglier sides to humanity, he clings to the rigid black & white thinking of the Order to the point you could very well label him a zealot. As a result, Haytham has abandoned his earlier code when it comes to violence and is far less discriminant in who he opts to kill. Likewise, Haytham has shut himself off from most people and feels only a minimal amount of care towards his son. It's enough that he feels as though he needs to save Connor while also trying to respect Connor's wish to sever ties with one another all the same. There are, however, still shades of a younger Haytham to be seen. Haytham is still intelligent and cunning and he can still command. He could even still be congenial and friendly if he wanted to be with others. But much of this is overshadowed by the violence he's mired himself in and his willingness to do whatever it takes to achieve his goals regardless of who suffers or dies as a consequence.

ABILITIES:

Freerunning/Stealth: Haytham might be getting up there in age, but he hasn't really slowed down all that much as far as his parkour skills are concerned. He can scale buildings stealthily like it's nobody's business. Haytham is also adept at picking locks and pockets when the need for it arises. Or if there's no time for that, you can always just football tackle him through any door. He makes a pretty useful battering ram, okay.

Combat: Trained in swordsmanship since he was old enough to hold a wooden sword, Haytham is an incredibly skilled in close quarters - both armed or unarmed. Haytham also is not a bad shot with a pistol or musket. He also doesn't have much of a problem in terms of improvising if need be. So basically, you have a quick thinker who's adaptable in a fight and decent with pretty much any weapon you put in his hands. He is, again, getting up their in years, but he's still a formidable opponent.

Eagle Vision: Because Haytham comes from a bloodline that's got First Civ/Those Who Came Before/Precursor blood in it, he also possesses Eagle Vision. This is essentially a sixth sense in which Haytham can read the intentions of people around him. It makes for quick identification of friendlies, enemies, neutrals, and targets with handy-dandy color-coding.

Razol || Magi: the Labyrinth of Magic

[rapscalliongirl]

PERSONAL
NAME: Hotaru
PERSONAL JOURNAL:gekifire
EMAIL: allthetags@gmail.com
AIM: n/a
CURRENT CHARACTERS: n/a


CHARACTER
CHARACTER NAME: Razol
SERIES: Magi: the Labyrinth of Magic
CANON POINT: Chapter 213, when the three white magi appears
LOSS: She lost the ability to say the word "Fanalis". This is what she is; a race that was once a hunting tribe (and who lives in shapes of wolf like creatures in their home continent), but who was made slaves for their strength and heightened senses. It's why she was made a slave, and it's why she was freed by the captain of the Reim Empire Fanalis Corps, and it's a race she has learned to be proud to be part of.

Razol || Magi: the Labyrinth of Magic

[rapscalliongirl]

ABOUT THE CHARACTER:

Razol was born as a Fanalis, a tribe of hunters from a place called the Dark Continent. Everyone in this tribe is born with instincts of a fighter, with incredible, inhuman, strength, and extremely good senses; that is, with very good eyes, ears, nose. But Fanalis are also not human at all, and their true appearance is not that even similar to a human. They look more like a kind of wolf than anything else, with skin of metal, shimmering red. But this form is nothing that a Fanalis take as long as they're outside the area of the Dark Continent, or close by within the Rift that separates the Dark Continent from the rest of the world.

Another thing that Fanals are born with is a thirst for blood. They are not a barbaric race in itself, but Razol, just like every other Fanalis, loves the thrill of a fight, and the heat in her blood as she rips through her enemies. But despite the skills and instincts that Fanalis are born with, it doesn't mean that she hasn't trained to gain the level of skill that she has risen to, but it does mean that the strength that she is born with (strength to supernatural levels, even) can be something that she loses track on at times. She is proud of her strength, and sometimes doesn't remember that most people don't have similar strength. She loves to fight, and blood thirst is a thing. If she gets caught up in a good fight with a skilled opponent, she is unable to hide her glee and lust for fighting. Humans, weak people, those she does not care for, and most of all those that she is to fight (be it one single person or a whole population), tend to become seen as prey. This might not always be expressed in words, but her joy for fighting and eagerness to rip people apart can show in a mad glint in her eyes or the grin on her lips when she fights, or talks about fighting strong opponents.

Razol was since the start a cheerful little girl, who loves those that she cared for. She wanted nothing than smile and laugh. She used to live with her family when she was little, and she wanted to always be by their side, always to be protected by them, and to always protect them in return. Running around wherever she could get – up and down streets, walls, roofs, everywhere is something that she loves more than anything. Running is her greatest passion, not even losing to fighting. It is a feeling of freedom, and she finds the feeling of almost flying, even though she has no wings, to be absolutely amazing. And with the high speeds that she is able to reach, has trained herself to reach, she loses to no one in speed.

But because of the Fanalis' natural abilities and their differences, they are sought after to own. And not in a master/servant relationship, either. Fanalis are often kidnapped from their homes and families, for the sake of being forcefully turned into either slaves, or soldiers. Razol was among one of these kidnapped Fanalis, and she was captured to be sold at turned into a slave at a very young age. She used to live with her family until then, but was because of capture separated from them. She isn't sure if they are alive, if they are slaves or if they are free, and she wished every day that she could see them. While she was captured, she was able to stay sane by thinking of them, and it kept her able to resist much longer than she would have been able to if she hadn't had any loved ones to think about while she was stuck.

But being turned into a slave is nothing that anyone wishes for, ever, and it's not a good experience. Slaves always are marked with chains around their ankles, and those chains stopped her from running. But most of the time, it was a specially made set of shackles around her ankles, and around her wrists, and a thick collar around her throat, that she was forced to wear. These shackles were made to withstand any resistant, and even someone with strength like a Fanalis is uncapable of breaking them while they wear them. For many ears, she wore those shackles, and they left scars that won't ever heal, no matter how much time passes. To make her obedient, her owners did everything to break her. They tore into her flesh, leaving wound upon wound, tearing up old wounds to the point that they scarred. She was locked up in a very small cell which she could barely lay curled up in, when they didn't harm her. It was only a small break from the pain there, though, and for someone who loved running and to see things move about around her in colors, it wasn't very pleasant in the cell either. It was cold and dark, and even there she sometimes got hurt by people in passing. Because of this, she became frightened of small, confined spaces, where she was unable to move. Even somewhat bigger rooms scares her, if they're dark, and the scent is similar. She dislikes rooms without windows with a passion, and has on occasion made her own windows in some. This situation overall made her distrusting of those that seek to harm her, and those who tries to enforce their power over her. She only trusts people who are nice and does not smell of ulterior motives.

She was freed a few years ago by Mu Alexius, the captain of the Reim Empire Fanalis Corps, and was invited to come to his country. Because he freed her, she became very loyal to him and to his goals, and she would follow him anywhere. She thinks that he is cool, and cool, nice people like the captain are her favorite. She has fallen in love with her brethren, and sees them as friends and family, even if she got off to a rocky start with some of them. They all have similar pasts and can relate to each other, they are all seen as monsters by most, because of their inherited abilities, and they are the reason why she has become able to trust, as well as smile, again.

So despite what she has gone through in the past, Razol is a cheerful young lady, who loves bodily contact like hugs, to a degree of having little sense of personal space. She loves making friends, and anyone cute is a good to go with. If they're funny, that's an added bonus, and if they happen to be strong enough to compare with her, now that's the best. But friends. She loves her friends and would give everything, even her life, to protect them. She lost her family once, and does not want to lose the one she has now. Because of this, her attachment once it sticks, goes deep and makes it her a very loyal friend. She loves her friends, but letting anyone in to the deepest rooms of her heart, where the nightmares from her childhood are locked up, is something she has certain difficulties with. The nightmares resurface at times, but she'll just smile and pretend like nothing afterward. Not thinking about them is her way of keeping them away. The only ones who are clearly aware of them, that she has talked with about them, is her best friend Yaqut, and captain Mu. She dreams of a country of freedom for her people, and for the Fanalis to never be enslaved ever again. Being a slave only caused her suffering, and she does not want more children of the Fanalis to have the same terror filled childhood as she had. Sure she might play it off cool, and pretend that it didn't do much to her, but whenever she feels like the world's the worst, she smiles and pretends that everything is alright.

Besides a good fight, she likes to work out. Lifting weights is the basic, except her weights needs to be a bit heavier than your normal gym weights. It's better strength training to lift blocks of rocks, or maybe a building. Not that she wants to risk breaking any poor persons home, but if she found an abandoned building, she would try it out. Physical activity is the best to work out a sweat. But she also loves to eat and drink, and eats loads and loads of meat not only for the sake of getting enough energy to work her body. She's a muscle idiot, after all.

She's not the brightest girl in the Fanalis Corps, but she's not the dumbest either. She doesn't in particular enjoy studying, but she at least wishes that she were able to write. But, without her complete understanding of why, her mind shuts off when she tries, like a wall is pushed between her and the rest of the world. Still, she's a remotely good tactician, and has picked up things from her captain and the other more educated members of the troop. She's a soldier, dedicated to her captain, her Lady and her country. She has little education besides fighting, and there are a lot of words that she does not know the meaning of. She's not stupid because of that, though, just not educated. But not knowing how to write is nothing that really bothers her, even if she would like to be able to read at times. Fighting for the sake of her captain and his dreams are what she has dedicated her life to, as thanks for saving her from slavery.

Pitch Black | Rise of the Guardians

[corknut]

PERSONAL
NAME: Iddy
CURRENT CHARACTERS: n/a


CHARACTER
CHARACTER NAME: Pitch Black
SERIES: Rise of the Guardians (film only)
CANON POINT: post-film
LOSS: His ability to instinctively know what people's worst fears are. It's a power he's had for all of his existence, so the loss of it would really throw him off-- and frustrate him, because it'd make his fearmongering that much less effective. He'd still be able to feel other people's fear when they're scared, but when they aren't, he'd have no clue what to go off of if he wanted to freak them out.

ABOUT THE CHARACTER:
Pitch is a spirit of fear-- the Boogeyman. He's been around for millennia, and he would be the first to tell you that he isn't going anywhere anytime soon. Unlike his main enemies, the Guardians, Pitch doesn't need to be believed in to exist-- but that isn't to say that belief isn't important to him. He may not need it to survive, but he does want it, desperately. The less people believe in him, the less power he has over them-- possibly even to the point that he might as well not exist for all that the people around him know. In canon, he's practically at this point already. People routinely walk through him, they can't hear him when he talks, and it's commonplace for parents to tell their children, "Don't be scared, there's no such thing as the Boogeyman". And he hates it. He doesn't expect to be liked, but he deeply wants recognition and respect-- things that he simply doesn't have.

He's also lonely. He's the only "bad" spirit to appear-- or even be mentioned-- in the movie, and it's pretty clear that he doesn't have anyone to team up with. The mortals can't see him because they don't believe in him, the other spirits avoid him because he's a sketchy asshole, and he likely has always spent almost all of his time on his own. (As an interesting aside, he seems to have at least some level of genuine fondness for his nightmare horses-- he gets snarly and grumpy at them when he's frustrated, but he also strokes them, talks to them, and has a favorite one that he rides a lot. They in turn treat him much like a pet would treat its owner, though they do get riled up and drag him back to his underground lair in the end, when he's defeated and afraid-- like Pitch, they go for fear above all else, no matter who it comes from.) At one point, he offers friendship and an alliance to Jack Frost, another lonely spirit who's comparatively very young and hasn't yet found his place in the world. When Jack turns him down, he actually looks quite hurt for a moment... before that hurt turns to vindictive anger, anyway. Where things like rejection and belittlement (real or perceived) are concerned, his mood can change on a dime, and he can be frighteningly quick to anger. This-- along with his general nature-- means that he gets into fights a lot, especially when he's pulling off his Master Take-Over-the-World Plan. In battle, he's generally a pragmatist. He prefers to fight when he can, but when defeat is likely he's not above admitting it to himself, and in those situations he's been known to choose to try to flee instead. For all his bluster, he's well aware that he's not the most powerful being in the world.

I'd argue that by the time the movie rolls around, Pitch's biggest motivators are revenge and desperation. He's incredibly bitter towards the Guardians, who have put a lot of effort into making the world a happier, less scary place for kids (and therefore, in Pitch's mind, making him less relevant to their lives). They have a great many things that he wants for himself-- respect, recognition, belief-- while he's regulated to second class status, and has to deal with fewer and fewer people taking him seriously or acknowledging his existence. In a pre-canon comic titled Pitch Black (unlike the other Rufftoon comics, this one was officially released by Dreamworks and can presumably be considered official canon, which is why I'm including it here) that takes place about six hundred years before the movie, there are some interesting differences in his personality and behavior. He actually acts rather amicably towards the newly-formed Guardians, and even briefly entertains the idea of forming an alliance with Santa Claus (he suggests that Santa reward the good kids with toys, and Pitch scare the naughty ones into behaving; Santa vetos this and encourages him not to go too overboard with the fear thing). Ultimately, though, he turns down the offer to ally with them and become a Guardian himself. At the end of the encounter, he expresses confusion as to why the Man in the Moon had felt the need to form the Guardians, and wonders if it was because he thinks that fear has no place in the world anymore. This is implied to be the real beginning of his downslide: when he starts to go from being an unpleasant, creepy spirit who is nevertheless fine with the nicer beings giving people hope and wonder to balance out his fear... to being an over the top villain who wants to completely eliminate those nicer beings and cover the entire world with darkness. Were his actions or his goals justified? Hell no. Were the Guardians right to take him down? Hell yes. But after centuries of seeing his power decline, it's not too surprising that he ended up snapping and deciding that desperate times called for desperate measures.

All of that said, he's far from a tragic woobie who just needs a hug to make him all better. Loneliness or not, sadness or not, he's still the literal embodiment of fear-- and that's never going to change, even when he isn't actively trying to take over the world. He could make friends with someone, sincerely like them, and enjoy their company, but their fear and nightmares would still be wonderfully delicious things to him. He's capable of being cordial-- even genuinely so!-- but he's still a creepy fucker who lurks in closets and delights in the terror of children. He's pretty damn divorced from humanity, and he knows it.

ABILITIES:
Shadows: He can do all kinds of nifty things with his shadows-- whirl them around in the air, wrap them around things, make shapes out of them (such as his clothing, or a giant facsimile of himself that he made appear at the North Pole at the beginning of the film), and so on.

Darkness: Is Pitch's favorite thing. He's very, very good at blending into it, and can even use it to travel-- he can walk into a patch of darkness in once place, and emerge in a patch of darkness someplace else. That said, he doesn't seem to be able to create it out of nothing (which is one reason why he prefers the night; he's more powerful then). If he's in a wide open space with no places that are dark enough, he's screwed.

Nightmare sand: A corruption of the Sandman's dream sand. In many ways, it functions similarly to his shadows, though the things he creates with it seem to be more solid and tangible-- his shadow-clothes, for example, shift around and blend into his body, and it's not always clear where he ends and they begin; on the other hand, he uses his nightmare sand to make nightmare horses that he can ride and touch, and weapons that he can actually fight with (he prefers a scythe, though he uses a bow and arrow at one point for a long-distance attack). The horses are essentially Pitch's minions, and they can do all kinds of nifty things like change their size (sometimes appearing the size of a small dog, and sometimes appearing as quite a bit bigger than an actual horse) and gallop through the air. They can't speak, but they appear to understand when Pitch talks to them and gives them directions, and they can communicate with each other (he has a whole herd of them). All that said, though, he isn't the Sandman, and so he can't create the sand-- he can only corrupt it (though since he's gotten practiced with it, things that are made from it don't disappear unless they're destroyed or turned back into dreamsand). This means that it probably counts as a belonging, not a power, and thus wouldn't come with him to Paradisa if I'm accepted. Unless I'm told otherwise, I'm going to operate under that assumption, though I'm including it in the app because it'd be something that he could do if Paradisa ever got a Sandy.

Fear/nightmares: He's not called the Boogeyman for nothing. Pitch specializes in bringing fear, and lately, his favorite way to do this is through giving nightmares. When the Sandman's around, he does this by tainting the good dreams that he gives people. With people who are awake, his mere presence is unsettling, and he's very good at planting scary ideas into people's heads and letting them run with it... or, at least, he used to be. Since the Guardians came to power, less and less people have been believing in him, and therefore less and less people have been affected by him. Now nightmares are his best bet, because people are more susceptible to such things when they're asleep-- and his favorite targets are children, because they're more impressionable in general. Unfortunately, he needs his nightmare sand to give nightmares-- so in Paradisa he'd be stuck with enjoying the nightmares that people are already having, without being able to directly implant them.

If I'm accepted, I won't have him use any of these powers against other characters without their permission! I'll have a permissions post for everything, especially the darkness teleportation (because he could theoretically use it to get past locked doors or into residents' rooms) and the fear-spreading.

THIRD-PERSON WRITING SAMPLE:
The wardrobes that the castle put in each bedroom were glorious. And Pitch didn't say that lightly-- he was, after all, what one might call a connoisseur of closets, from overly-spacious walk-ins to detestable and cramped wall insets. These were just right, size-wise: big enough for him to slip into without difficulty, but not so big that they were practically their own room. And the craftsmanship was impressive, too. Ornately-carved wooden wardrobes weren't a Boogeyman's necessity by any stretch of the imagination, but really, compared to some of the ugly "modern" behemoths people had started putting in their rooms during the eighties? Paradisa could have done a lot worse.

But, of course, the wardrobe wasn't the main event. He wasn't even in his own. The owner of this particular closet was a little boy of about eight years of age. Pitch had found him through the journals, when the child had-- unwittingly and publicly-- written an entry asking the other residents for advice on getting rid of bad dreams.

Unfortunately, he simply would not go to bed. A new arrival, Pitch mused to himself. Still reveling in the freedom of not having a bedtime. But he could be patient. New arrivals meant new nightmares, and he was just itching to find out what sort of terrible things this boy dreamed about at night. War and destruction, perhaps? Or seeing the death of a friend? So many children here seemed to come from violent, unstable situations, and while this was regrettable for them, it was wonderful for Pitch. So many scared little dreamers, and he didn't even have to lift a finger.

After about two hours of waiting, the boy finally started to yawn and rub at his eyes. That's right. You're so tired, and so young. Children need their rest. Go on, lie down.... And soon enough, he did, setting aside his journal and climbing into bed. Showtime.

Pitch gave it another ten minutes or so before he quietly slid open the closet door and slid out, stretching (crouching in closets for hours on end was murder on his back). Soundlessly, he glided across the floor and over to the bed, leaning down over the small, still form.

"Oh," he breathed. "This is a good one, isn't it? What a treasure." Monsters, destruction, uncertainty, death... fear. It was all there.

"How kind of you to advertise yourself to me," he murmured to the sleeping child, as he settled in to watch, listen, and absorb. "I do believe I'll be a repeat visitor."

FIRST-PERSON JOURNAL SAMPLE:
Have a few threads!

INTENT: He's fun! I like villains who have some complexity behind them, and explanations (though not necessarily excuses) for why they do what they do. I don't have any particular plans for him if I get in, to be honest; outside of tagging around and getting CR through him being a creeper, I'd just play it by ear. Also, I've been in the game several times in the past, and I've always liked it! I'll admit right here that a driving reason behind my last two drops was that I had a lot of difficulty with the old activity check, and so ever since I heard that it had been changed to allow threads to count, I've been looking for an excuse to come back. 8]

Pitch Black | APPROVED

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Hijiri Minase | Yami no Matsuei

[omgbear]

PERSONAL
NAME: Oni
PERSONAL JOURNAL: oniogre
EMAIL: oniclaws@gmail.com
AIM: ask if absolutely necessary
CURRENT CHARACTERS: n/a


CHARACTER
CHARACTER NAME: Hijiri Minase
SERIES: Yami no Matsuei
CANON POINT: End of the Devil's Trill arc, after he receives the flowers from Tsuzuki and makes his promise to dedicate his songs to Tsuzuki and Hisoka.

LOSS: Hijiri will lose his ability to read any kind of music. This includes finger diagrams, written lyrics and anything that would otherwise put a song into written (or drawn) form. Hijiri's musical talent is precious to him, and losing the ability to learn new songs as easily as before would put quite the impact on his confidence levels, especially when it comes to his ego regarding his musical prowess. He would have to find alternatives if he ever wanted to learn something new, or forever be stuck in a rut of being unable to advance his skills in any way.

ABOUT THE CHARACTER: Hijiri is easily considered a most charismatic and sweet teen. He easily charms people with a likeable and pleasant personality, drawing them in with a positive outlook and wonderful attitude. Save for the few jealous of his musical abilities and charm, Hijiri makes friends easily with just about anyone. This is shown at the hospital, when the doctor comments on how all the nurses adored him during his stay, to the others at his school commenting on how they were bullied without him around to look after them, to his quick bonds with Tsuzuki and little Kazusa.

But that's not to say he gets close easily. While he makes it no secret that he enjoys all the attention he gets, whether it's through his music or charming personality, there's no evidence to say he actually gets particularly close to people all that much. He puts more importance and effort into his music, and his social life apparently suffers for it. This is made more evident when his demon possession gets the better of him at school, and save for a handful of girls who go to get him help, it turns almost the entirety of the student body against him with rumors and distrust. When he does get close, he devotes his attention to those people, and to their physical and mental wellbeing. When their lives are in danger, despite his own life being in as much danger as Kazusa's, he constantly asks after her and tries to ensure her safety.

With all this, there's also a level of self-reliance. While it doesn't normally become problematic, it does lead to some of his more rash and stubborn behavior, especially when it comes to his pride. This is most evident in his stubborn insistence that he can take care of himself when he's told his life is in danger by supernatural forces and that he should be protected, even despite the fact that he had already been driven to attempt suicide by those same forces. He outright told Hisoka and Tsuzuki that he didn't want them taking him into safe custody and only relented after repeated attempts on his life ending in several near-successes had Tsuzuki and Hisoka not been tailing him.

For all his good traits, though, Hijiri can be arrogant and rude, especially when it comes to "lazy rich snobs" or similar types of people. People who look down on others (especially for being "common" or somehow less "worthy" than themselves) are automatically on his shit list. His classmate Saionji and the demon Sargatanas are both examples of people he outright dislikes. When faced with these people, he has no qualms with picking fights if they piss him off. Pick on someone he likes, and he will fight back. On a similar tangent, he doesn't hesitate to pick out the flaws in other people. But that doesn't mean he can't pick out the good traits, too.

Hijiri likes to believe he's a good person, and admits the only time he ever felt his existence was wrong and sinful, was when he was being manipulated by Sargatanas and the cursed violin. In that light, it's safe to say he normally thinks of himself in a positive light, and has the ego to match. Perhaps the most remarkable of this, is that he can project this positive light on other people. It brought Tsuzuki out of the depression and visions brought on when he's imprisoned in his own mind and gave Tsuzuki the strength to start fighting back against Sargatanas. It's almost a power in itself, but really, he's simply just that sort of compelling person.

ABILITIES: Hijiri is an average human. For the most part, he is healthy and reasonably athletic. When it comes to the violin however, it is easy to see why he is considered a prodigy. His skill level is on par with the world's greatest musicians, as he is able to learn and play even a difficult piece like the Devil's Trill. His musical brilliance and good standing with his school suggests he also excels at his other school subjects. It is also suggested that he would probably know how to cook, since he lives on his own and likely relies on his own as much as he can.

THIRD-PERSON WRITING SAMPLE: The lights were bright onstage, blotting out most of the faces of the audience before him. The few he could see, their faces lit with the same lights that nearly blinded him with their intensity, looked on in eager anticipation. They wanted him to play. He was ready, yet he still strained to see past the lights. searching. Out there, somewhere, Hijiri wished to see two faces in particular. But, try as he might, he couldn't find them, and the crowd was growing restless. He had to start without them. He raised the bow to the strings of his violin and he could hear a collective intake of breath.

This is it, he thought. My greatest performance yet. He wouldn't disappoint his devoted fans. The first notes ring out, and he closes his eyes, losing himself to the music. Under his nimble fingers, the strings on his violin vibrated and sang, bringing him great delight as he played. The Devil's Trill was a complicated piece, but Hijiri was quickly making it his own. For how could he deny what it had come to mean for him? He felt newer, stronger, and better than ever with the threat of Sargatanas behind him.

He reached the height of the song, and a pleased smile curved his lips. Here and there he heard the whispers. Not of fear and suspicion like before, but rather, whispers of awe and admiration. Not a singer person could deny or doubt his talent. To Hijiri, nothing could be better than the admiration he gained for his talent.

The song reached its conclusion, and the crowd erupted into cheers. He raised his instrument, drinking it all in, then took his bows. There was not denying it; be belonged on the stage, sharing with the world such beautiful things as a song. There could be no better place for him.

FIRST-PERSON JOURNAL SAMPLE: Aah, not again! Why does this keep happening to me? I'm never going to get used to a new violin at this rate. The universe is being unfair. All I wanted was to play my music. What a pain...

Well, I suppose there's no use dwelling on it. I wonder if this castle has a music store? Or a music room. Either would be good. It's all magic, isn't it? That's what I heard, but I haven't seen too much of it yet. Just the huge room I woke up in. It's a little big, and very overwhelming for someone who just got here. Is there a map? Maybe it would be a little easier if there were a map somewhere.

Heheh, it's so funny talking to a book! I'm glad I figured it out, though!

INTENT: Hijiri is very different from my straight-up heroic type, and far different from my socially awkward or inept characters, and that alone makes him interesting and new to play. Also, this will be my first time apping as a part of an incoming cast, so that in itself should be a new and fun experience as well. I always app with the intent of creating a long-term plan to give characters room to grow and develop within the environment and plot given by the game premise.

Hijiri Minase | APPROVED

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harry monmouth; the hollow crown (1)

[reiks]

PERSONAL
NAME: Take
PERSONAL JOURNAL: pharos
EMAIL: neverwinged @ gmail
AIM: flippiting
CURRENT CHARACTERS: N/A


CHARACTER
CHARACTER NAME: Prince Harry Monmouth (Hal)
SERIES: The Hollow Crown
CANON POINT: After the battle of Shrewsbury.
LOSS: Ability to get drunk. Hal is very well known for his outrageous shenanigans at the local taverns, getting thoroughly wasted and partaking in various seedy activities, anything from theft and pranks to fooling around with prostitutes. It’s his personal favourite escape when the life of a crown prince gets to be too much, and for a little while he can pretend he’s a common man with only common problems. It’s also his favourite social activity, and the best way to make new friends, so it’ll be quite a bummer being the only sober fellow at the party.

ABOUT THE CHARACTER: While it’s not officially known that the historical young Henry V of England was ever rebellious or unruly in his early years as a prince, it is Shakespeare’s plays and interpretations that have made the idea known and generally accepted, and it is this interpretation that brings to life the young - and very, very unruly prince Hal in the Hollow Crown series.

Much against his father’s wishes, Hal is indeed a rebellious young man, and as such he is at fault for most of the sour relations between them. It isn’t as though neither cares for the other, in fact it is quite the opposite; yet, their differences in their views both political and personal cause considerable strife amongst them.

Hal sees himself unfit, and not ready to live this life. As such, he routinely disappoints his father by leaving the palace and his studies behind in order to live among the more seedy lowlifes of the kingdom. Hal knows that his is an inescapable fate, but for the time being, he wishes to enjoy his life and live to the fullest, while he still can. He’s seen the toll it has taken on his ill father, and he does not look forward to the day it will be his.

A drunkard and a royal tease, Hal prefers to spend his days at taverns and speakeasies, seeking the company of unfavourable men like Ned Poins and John Falstaff. In Falstaff, Hal sees a sort of surrogate father, someone whose company he enjoys and encourages his seedy behaviour, while Poins is a bit of a troublemaker who tempts Hal into pranks and general mischief. Hal is easily swayed into this behaviour - not naive, but simply eager for a carefree life before he must take on the responsibility and burden of the crown.

Yet, in one of the play’s more famous soliloquies, Hal admits that the lifestyle he lives is an act. Doing so lowers the expectations of everyone around him, his father especially, and then one day he plans to emerge as a great and noble hero, as he sees himself underneath that mask. In battle he is a decent strategist, and in life he proves he is capable of making the difficult decisions that any ruler may have to make. It is a deceitful plan and incredibly selfish of him, but a role he plays well, and his scheme will one day prove him to be a great king, winning the love of his people and the respect of his father.

Hal is still a good man, almost to a fault. He cares for and loves his family and kingdom, and when confronted with the negative side of his actions by his father, he steps up to the task of winning back the king’s trust and faith in him. King Henry claims in front of Hal that he thinks the places of his son and one Harry Percy may have been switched at birth, for how noble and proper Percy has grown while Hal an embarrassment to his name. It breaks Hal’s heart to hear his father berate him so, and it is that moment that he swears to God that he will correct the mistakes he’s made with the life he’s lived, and prove to his father that one day, he will be proud of his oldest son. He does love his father, but he fears that his father does not return it and seeks to earn his favour once more.

His outside demeanor is warm and friendly, eager to make friends and surround himself with a large group of good people. Perhaps he trusts a bit too easily, his choice in company sometimes only kind to him because he is a prince who may one day share the wealth, and while he may care greatly for these people before, betrayal of his trust is not something he easily forgives. He isn’t cruel, but sometimes his pranks and games could be seen as such, whether it’s by teasing a slow server boy or frightening an old man to loot his pockets. But it’s all in good fun.

After he overhears Falstaff slandering his name, Hal does lose his faith and trust in many things. It isn’t long after that when his father passes, and he ascends to the throne as a lonely and somewhat bitter man, perhaps even regretting his decision to live that lie.

(2)

[reiks]

ABILITIES: Hal is only human, so he has no supernatural powers or abilities. Physically, Hal is of average strength and agility, though he gets winded a bit quickly in strenuous activity. He is a decent fighter with a sword and shield, eventually going on to be known as England’s great warrior king- but he has a few years yet to reach that pinnacle. Right now, Hal can only be considered average and able. He has exceptional alcohol tolerance as well, despite his frame. Considering his upbringing, Hal has a strong education, fluent in both English and French and well learned in writing, arithmetic, though his attention span wavers and he has difficulty keeping focus. He needs to really force himself to concentrate, but when he does he is an exceptional student. He has very strong political views, believing in a strong military force to intimidate opposing kingdoms rather than bend to the will of others. But he can be a good negotiator, provided the situation ends in his favour.

THIRD-PERSON WRITING SAMPLE: Sample log

FIRST-PERSON JOURNAL SAMPLE: (network post, re: superhero curse)

I do apologize, as I realize the hour is quite late indeed, and more likely than not there are plenty of you in need of catching up on lost beauty sleep. It will not take long, I assure you, I only make a small request.

As a result of recent ... shall we say, capers, it would appear that I find myself in need of a tailor, or seamstress. For some reason, I was entirely convinced that I could fly, but in order to do so, I was in need of- well. A cape. Suffice to say, my efforts were in vain, and I've now utterly ruined a prized possession of mine.

It would be thoroughly appreciated if someone could repair the damage I've caused to the poor thing. While I currently have little means of payment, surely we could reach some agreement.

I thank you for your time and consideration. You've my utmost gratitude.

Reserved Character - (Ellie)

[nohalfway]

PERSONAL
NAME: Mel
PERSONAL JOURNAL: zombiegrits
EMAIL: spitinmyocarina@gmail.com
AIM: turntechism
CURRENT CHARACTERS: n/a


CHARACTER
CHARACTER NAME: Ellie
SERIES: The Last Of Us
CANON POINT: end-game
LOSS: The butterfly knife that once belonged to her mother.

ABOUT THE CHARACTER: "I should stomp on your fucking balls." ...

Ellie is the product of a broken world. Born somewhere around 2018, Ellie came into the world 6 years after the spread of an extreme infection that stole the entire world and left it in shambles. Her parents died at an early age for her, leaving her the child of every camp and quarantine zone run by a corrupt post-apocalyptic government. She was always a problem child, being transferred from military school to military school after beating up other students, stealing, escaping, and just acting out in general. She's defensive, feisty, and not afraid to pick a fight where she sees fit.

But there's also a soft side to her-- Ellie is just a teenager, having barely experienced puberty and growing up. She made friends with another student around her age, if only a bit older, named Riley, who had generally the same temperment as her. It's because of Riley that she's able to find fun in the darkness of their world. Ellie loves to joke around, her interest in terrible puns and dreams of playing actual video games making her the normal kid that she really is deep down. Her sarcasm and sense of humor are still the likes of a budding teenager, given how much of a smart-ass and rebel that she can be at least 99% of the time. Even throughout her adventure across the country with Joel, she still has a fire about her that never goes out.

She's the only person holding the key to the cure, which is a heavy weight to carry on her shoulders. And although all seems lost throughout her adventures, her life and her integrity remain the only part that means something to her. She's a fighter, first and foremost, and a child later. Even in her young age, she's smart and quick-witted, fully educated on how to defend herself and those around her.

But that doesn't mean she necessarily holds trust. Ellie has had trust issues her whole life, casting out those she doesn't see fit or rightful in her personal space. Anyone and everyone, to her unfortunate opinion, is an enemy first. It's how she was raised, but that doesn't mean she won't give them a chance. Ellie wants so much to have friends and family, but the closest she's gotten to that at all have either lied to her, died, or turned into infected. The only ones who have honestly tried for her are a part of a government rebellion group, or those who have gotten in the way of her own views of justice-- Namely, Joel.

And although she believes her own sense of justice and righteousness has been stepped on and destroyed, that surprisingly hasn't taken the kid out of Ellie. She's a fun-loving, humorous, and curious individual. When her walls are down, all she wants is to try and find her own smile among the disarray and destruction that is the world she has grown up in. So don't be afraid to try and get close to her, she might just let you in.

ABILITIES: Ellie is a normal human being, but is significantly talented in self-defense, archery, guns, and first-aid for her age.

THIRD-PERSON WRITING SAMPLE: "Swear to me-- Swear to me that everything you said about the Fireflies is true."

A silence... Deafening in its presence as the young girl looks to the much older man before her. Many years, seasons, and happenings have visibly aged the face of the man who has dragged her across this godforsaken country. Joel was the only means of getting her to the Fireflies, taking her to the only doctors who could extract the tumor which had blocked the infection lying underneath an old bite. Ellie was the cure, the only cure to her understanding... But Joel had insisted she wasn't the only one. He'd taken her from Marlene, from the Fireflies... And from becoming one of the infected herself.

Joel's eyes cast downward, glance shifting to the left briefly before locking right back onto her.

"I swear."

She can feel it in her bones that he's full of shit, that this was all for nothing. But deep in her gut, deep in her heart, she feels like nothing can be done.

"... Okay." She says, her voice cracking only briefly when she wants so much to call him out. But nothing follows. Nothing but more silence.

And Ellie doesn't remember much more beyond that. Maybe they just kept on moving, maybe they went back to Tommy. Maybe.

But all she sees now is darkness, her body relaxed, warm and heavy as her muscles rest from a journey that might as well have lasted a million years. And she opens her eyes-- When did she fall asleep?

Ellie groans, rising from the unexpected slumber with eyes glued shut as she lifts her arms and stretches, a loud and lingering yawn following.

"Yaaaaaaaaaahhhhhhhhhhhhhhoooly shit when did I fall asleep?"

She smacks her lips a bit, hands lifting to her face to rub her eyes before they open. Ellie expects either Joel to wake up next or already be there to answer, but nothing happens.

"Feel like I went into a freaking coma. I can barely feel my toes. All I know is I'm fucking starving, how's about some breakfast, Joel? If any deer don't decide to be dicks, we can..."

And nothing.

"... Joel?"

Ellie had opened her eyes to an empty room, and not just any empty room. She's used to dilapidated walls and roofs, wood and stone caving in from different sides of an abandoned shack in the middle of nowhere. But this is significantly different. Her hands slowly lower as her mouth goes agape, eyes scanning a elegantly decorated room from something she's only heard of in shitty childhood stories.

And somehow, in the awe and shock, all Ellie can do is nervously laugh.

"Ooookay, I've been off the anesthesia for some time now. No way I'm still this fucked up."

She quickly throws off the blanket, rising to her feet when she finally registers the world around her. Stone walls, clean and sophisticated decor, and out the window? The teen throws herself to the opening where she finds a world outside that she'd only heard of in ridiculous fairytales. The rolling hills and the grand palace she sees, it makes her rub her eyes and her heart pound.

"What the hell?"

While it may be a paradise, that's not how Ellie takes it in. It's an inconvenience, an unknown place where anything could go wrong, and she's just wondering what the fuck she's on and who's kidnapped her more than anything else. She digs into her pockets, searching for... Something. And the panic only seems to get worse when nothing is there.

"Where's my..."

Left pocket, right pocket, back, shoes, shirt... empty.

"Where the fuck is my knife?!"

Ellie's heart beats out of her ears and chest, and she frantically throws everything in the room around her, still finding the search fruitless until she shouts at the top of her lungs.

"What the fuck is going on here?! Where's all my stuff?! Where am I?!"

FIRST-PERSON JOURNAL SAMPLE: Okay... Okay.

So I'm all for traveling, surprises, and bullshit.

Oh yeah, I'm all for the bullshit. I'm all for being thrown into some bumfuck Egypt kinda place, no one answering my questions, and fucking nabbing all of my shit.

Someone is going to get their eyes gauged out and their fingers hacked off, and it's gonna be the asshole who thought it'd be useful to snag all my stuff. Don't think I won't find you, because I will.

Oh, and when I do? It'll be motherfucking war.

And while we're at it, it'd be real nice to get some answers as to where the shit I am. Because I'm not in the mood for this and I'm way too old to play fairy princess.

[ And this is where Ellie not only shuts off the feed, but slams it. ]

INTENT: I absolutely LOVE Ellie. She's a strong, quick-witted, and smart young woman who has a fire to her. She's really funny, loves her fair share of puns and games, and can really make fun out of a terrible situation. I'd love to play her off other characters and give her a decent life, considering the life she lead well before was hardly kind to her.

Ellie | APPROVED

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Kate Beckett

[themuse]

PERSONAL
NAME: Bex
PERSONAL JOURNAL: runninginheels
EMAIL: thexwoman at gmail.com
AIM: n/a
CURRENT CHARACTERS: n/a


CHARACTER
CHARACTER NAME: Katherine Houghton Beckett
SERIES: Castle
CANON POINT: 6x03 "Need to Know", right after she gets fired.
LOSS: Kate will forget having read all of Richard Castle's books and, in extension, forget their significance to her. While this won't necessarily have an effect on her relationship with Castle specifically, Kate was a really big fan of Castle's books before she met him, to the point that his books helped her cope with her mother's murder. Losing that will make her lose the significance that his writing had to her in terms of her mother. The fact that Castle's Nikki Heat novels were basically love letters to Beckett will also be a factor; but since their relationship is mostly independent of his books, it should not heavily affect their romance. There will, however, be a certain dimension to her memories of how they got together that will suffer from this loss, and she will lack feeling that deeper connection she felt to him that existed prior to them working together.

ABOUT THE CHARACTER: Kate Beckett is a serious and devoted homicide detective, and she's dedicated to her job and her team. She also has a pretty harsh origin story; her freshman year of college her mother was murdered, and the killer wasn't caught. Saddled with grief, Kate put any previous plans on hold and joined the police force right out of college, desperate to find justice for her mother and closure for herself.

After her mother's death, her father's choice addiction became alcohol; Kate's addiction was the case. Kate exhibits an obsessive personality when it comes to her work and specifically her mother’s murder, and it became an all-encompassing drive for her through much her adult life, often causing her to blindly throw herself into any situation where she thought she might solve the case and causing her to endanger her own life on multiple occasions. Although she has managed to move on with her life in recent years, her tenacity continues in her work. She’s still a bull dog in the precinct, taking on the most complicating cases and touting one of the highest closing rates in the NYPD. She has a fierce sense of honor and dedication to her job, and prizes justice over all. While she is able to fiercely bring many killers to justice, it also gets her into trouble on occasion, such as causing her to lose her job in DC at the beginning of season 6. While she appreciates and system and does her best to abide by it, Beckett feels that her loyalty lies with the people she is sworn to protect.

Due to the pain of her mother’s death, Beckett learned to cope with her pain by compartmentalizing the different facets in her life. For a long time, she kept her personal life staunchly separated from her professional life, to the point that not many of the people she worked with knew much about who she really was. Because of the trauma associated with her mother’s death, Beckett made the conscious decision to change her personality; she put up a barrier against forming any serious relationships out of fear of getting hurt, and hid away the parts of herself that had once been fun loving and happy. It isn’t until Castle is introduced into her life that those walls begin to fall, and Beckett begins to realize she’s been missing out on a lot of enjoyment of life by being so closed off.

Unfortunately, due to her ability to so seamlessly compartmentalize, Beckett is also fairly good at lying. For the most part she keeps her lies simple, or confined to investigations, but there have been times when she’s lied – particularly to Castle – about more important things, such as the job she was offered in DC at the end of season 4. That seemed to have been a breaking point for them, however, when Castle resolved the issue by proposing to her and illustrating to her that she could have a life and be the person she wanted to be and he would still fully accept and support her.

When she is shot at the end of season 3, it becomes a serious turning point for Beckett. She suffers from PTSD and while she is aware her shooting makes it manifest, she is of the understanding that her mother’s death truly triggered the sadness, fear and disappointment that has ruled her life. Although she almost once again allows herself to fall back into that pit of despair, Castle’s support and staunch loyalty helps sway her, and Beckett once again makes a conscious decision to change herself – but instead of closing down, she opens herself up to him and the new life that she can pursue with him.

While Beckett is often characterized as an ice queen and fairly distant, this is shown over the course of the show to be the personality she created for herself to cope with the loss of her mother. As the show progresses and Beckett begins to open up to Castle, her personality softens over the years. She is deeply sympathetic, and often exhibits her own feelings and thoughts about things by projecting onto others. For example, cases where children lose their mothers prove to be particularly difficult for her, and she tends to relate strongly to the families of all of the victims of her cases. It is clear that because she was unable to solve her mother’s case, finding that closure for other victims helps make her own pain easier to bear.

For all her dedicated professionalism and often prickly personality, Beckett also has a fun side; she is playful with Castle, especially when they are alone, and enjoys verbally sparring with him as well as the people she works with. Although she is very put together and proper in her work sphere, she has a number of hobbies, and we learn she enjoys cooking, motorcycles, reading, and even used to cosplay at science fiction conventions in college. Beckett has a sweet tooth and is totally addicted to coffee. She also tends to be sentimental, particularly about objects she owns that remind of her of her mother, and admits to having boxes and boxes of items that she’s never let go of.

For as closed off as Beckett has been most of her adult life, she has managed to form some deep and meaningful friendships. Her teammates, Ryan and Esposito, are two men she deeply respects and always trusts to have her back. Her relationship with them is almost of that of siblings, and she teases them but also tries to be there when they need her, as they are for her. Castle is her partner, both in the work and personal spheres, and the first person she seems to have allowed to cross between her staunch compartmentalizing. She trusts him implicitly. Although they started out on rocky ground when he decided - against her will - to shadow her, she grew to respect him as an investigator and as they grew closer, fell in love with him. Castle’s daughter, Alexis, was someone that Beckett essentially watched grow up; on occasion, Alexis would come to her for advice, and although they drifted apart for a while, they were able to reconnect and Kate is learning to find a new place in Alexis’ life now that she is going to marry her father. Castle’s mother, Martha, is someone that both amuses and surprises Beckett, and they have developed a unique and affectionate bond over the years. Finally, there is Beckett’s father. After her mother’s death, Beckett helped him overcome his alcoholism, and it seems to have brought them closer. Jim was one of the first people to realize how Beckett felt about Castle, and he often challenges her to truly think about the choices in her life and make sure she is not making decisions based on the fear surrounding her mother’s death.

Beckett still struggles with being closed off, although she is reaching a point in her life where she is learning to not let her fear determine her choices. She still harbors anger for her mother's death and a desire to solve it, but she now values her own life over her mother's death and has become more cautious in her actions concerning that investigation. She is finally allowing herself to think about the future, rather than being locked into the past, and with that has come the opportunity for her to truly develop as a person independently of her devastating loss. While she still struggles on occasion with being honest and open with Castle, she’s learning to trust, and in turn, be more honest with herself and what she wants out of her life. Although she is still developing after many years of being trapped in her own pain, she has found a loving family who continue to challenge her and help her move past her previous misfortune and towards a future where she can finally embrace the person she truly is.

ABILITIES: Beckett is a homicide detective through and through. Tenacious, intelligent, stubborn, and with an obsessive attention to detail, she's a staple in the force, having even gone as far to be the youngest woman in the NYPD to make detective, because she's awesome like that. And she's way more awesome than Castle. She can also shoot guns better than Castle, beat up suspects better than Castle, get confessions better than Castle, and she looks better in a dress than Castle. Did I mention she's better than Castle? At everything? Well, everything except making up insane stories about murders based on no evidence, but that's why she's the cop and he's the writer.

Also, she's really good at running in heels.

THIRD-PERSON WRITING SAMPLE:

Castle's apartment was eerily silent once McCord left. Beckett had managed to keep her composure, but once she was shut safely back into the confines of the familiar loft, she wasn't sure what to do next.

"Beckett..." She could tell he was ready to say something, probably to try to be comforting or encouraging but she didn't want to hear it.

"Excuse me."

Beckett moved quickly towards his office, slipping through the bedroom and straight into the bathroom. She sucked her bottom lip into her mouth as she secured the door shut, turning to lean against it before she buried her head in her hands.

She knew she'd done the right thing. She saved someone's life, essentially, but at a cost. Her job, her new life in DC with Castle. The life she'd nearly lost him for and now she had nothing to show for it. Nothing.

Raking her fingers through her hair, Beckett stared up at the ceiling and tried to slow down her mind. Her thoughts were racing as fast as her heart and she had to calm down, think it through step by step. So, she didn't have a job anymore. That was... fixable. Castle would be supportive - he wasn't thrilled about moving to DC and, anyway, when wasn't he supportive? Her hand moved to her chest, fishing out the chain that held her engagement ring and she wrapped it in her palm, holding it so tight that the diamond dug into her hand. The chain held her mother's ring too; a constant remind of her past, and her future. Who she was and who she was ready to become.

And she knew she had two choices. She could do what was easy for her, natural; be angry, be obsessed, find a way to fix it, beg for her job back, fight for what she had lost. Or she could do the one thing she had never been any good at.

She could move on.

Dropping the rings back down her shirt, Beckett jumped when she heard a knock on the bathroom door. "Kate? You okay?"

Beckett opened her mouth to respond, but paused for a moment instead, staring down at her feet. Her past had made her who she was, for better or worse. It had brought her here, to this moment, and she didn't regret it. But the past was also gone. She couldn't mend it, couldn't change it, it was out of her control. But the future, well, that was a different story.

"Yeah," she finally replied. "Yeah, Castle, I'll be fine." And for the first time in a long time, she knew she would.

FIRST-PERSON JOURNAL SAMPLE: A sample thread from a current game.

INTENT: I've been playing Beckett for a number of years, and I really enjoy her complexity as a character; she is both vulnerable and kick-ass, and her changes over the years in the show are very dramatic and serve to make her incredibly deep. I really like discovering more about her through the canon as well as RP, and she serves to be a surprising character and a lot of fun to play with in pan-fandom RPs. I'm interested in playing her at Paradisa specifically because I like the idea of losses, especially for a character like Kate who is very defined by her memories, experiences and abilities. I feel that having the opportunity to deny her those factors, even for a short period of time, will be a good opportunity to delve more deeply into aspects of her character that I don't always get the chance to explore in other games.

Kate Beckett | APPROVED

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Jenny Scott | Assassin's Creed

[toyboat]

PERSONAL
NAME: Sarah
PERSONAL JOURNAL: blackhearts
EMAIL: mugsy.c.lee@gmail.com
AIM: stiletto theft
CURRENT CHARACTERS: molotov


CHARACTER
CHARACTER NAME: Jenny Scott
SERIES: Assassin’s Creed IV: Black Flag
CANON POINT: Post-game, on the way back to England
LOSS: Jenny’s loss is the ability to remember or hear her mother’s name, Caroline. This is important because, until her death, Caroline raised Jenny alone, creating such an impact that Jenny would later altogether refuse her father’s surname as a sign of respect to her late mother. For now, whenever the name “Caroline” is said, Jenny will only hear waves crashing on the beach.

ABOUT THE CHARACTER: Jennifer Scott was born in 1713 to a de facto single mother in Bristol. Her father, Edward Kenway, was gone to the New World for fortune and fame, and her mother, Caroline Scott, had been estranged from him since before Jenny’s birth. As such, Jenny was raised by her mother alone, with her father unaware of his daughter’s existence, and practically no contact between the family.

In 1720, Caroline died of smallpox. Jenny was left in the care of others, presumably her grandparents and the Scott family servant Rose, until 1722, at which time she was sent to Great Inagua to be reunited with Edward, who had recently been enlightened as to Jenny’s existence. The two soon set out to return to England.

Jenny is a curious, adventurous little girl, unafraid to cross the ocean alone, unintimidated by and warm to a father she has never known. In fact, despite knowing that Caroline had never told Edward about their daughter and thus that he is perhaps not fully prepared to be a father, Jenny immediately accepts him as a parent, forgiving his absence and speaking to him as if he’d always been there for her. On their trip home, she wants to see whales and pirates, to have a full-fledged adventure with her father -- this is probably due partially to the fact that the Scott family was wealthy and proper, influencing the way Jenny was raised. She arrives on the island dressed in elegant clothing, as opposed to skirts that might perhaps be more suited to the climate. Suffice it to say, Edward would probably have been the more lenient parent!

She is also thoughtful and creative, noting that, if the definition of a ship is something that can carry a boat, that must mean that everything is a ship, aside from her boat bath toy. This is not to say she’s without a stubborn side -- she continued to refer to her father’s ship as a “boat” despite his multiple corrections, only truly rectifying her error so that she might be allowed a turn at the helm, something she was very excited to be able to do.

In other words, Jenny is very much a bright little girl, happy and excitable, even despite her background. She acknowledges being sad over her mother’s death sometimes, but quickly brushes that off, as she knows her mother was unhappy (probably due to the illness and estrangement of her husband) before her death. She thinks her father’s presence in her life is better late than never, and is genuinely excited to begin a life with him.

Finally, Jenny seems to truly love anyone she can regard as family, even having only known them for a short time. While she doesn’t lack for a healthy dose of caution, once told that someone is safe and cares for her, she is absolutely content to open up to them, to try and engage them on her innocent level. In the castle, she’ll have even more family than she could have thought of, which will be interesting to experience.

ABILITIES: None! She is a regular, fairly-pampered little girl. It should be noted that she does have the potential for Eagle Vision, just like all other First Civ/Precursor descendants such as her father and brother, but canon never specifies whether she actually has it or uses it. But seeing as she’s still a small child, I see no point in even thinking about it for her.

THIRD-PERSON WRITING SAMPLE: Jenny did rather like the castle. It was pretty and comfortable, and it was happy to give as many dollies and toys as she could think of, much to the chagrin of her father’s storage space. It was early morning today, and she was still in her shift as she moved the furniture within a large dollhouse, setting the table for her toys to have breakfast.

“Oh, and what will you make for you children, Lady Kensington?” she said, holding one doll at eye-level before placing her in the kitchen. “The maid’s been sick, you’ll have to make breakfast all by your lonesome.”

The doll danced through the dining room to the kitchen in Jenny’s hand, getting ready to prepare food for her children, when there was a small crash in another room of the dollhouse.

“Captain Dancer, no!” Jenny cried, dropping the doll to lie on the floor as she reached for the crab that’d climbed into the first-floor sitting room and knocked about the furniture. Being just a normal crab, of course, Captain Dancer clicked his pinchers as he was placed back into his nearby bowl with his small ship and tiny treasure chest.

Jenny regarded him crossly as she turned the sofa and chairs back right side up. “Kensington Manor is not any place for a rowdy sea captain,” she scolded her pet, showing him a small piano with a new crack in the side. “Look, now little Victoria will never be able to finish her lessons, will she?”

With a sigh, Jenny replaced all the dollhouse furniture and set Captain Dancer’s bowl back on its shelf, just in time to hear her father call her for breakfast.

“Coming!” she answered, racing for the door. The saga of the Kensingtons and their break-in would have to wait for later.

FIRST-PERSON JOURNAL SAMPLE: Test drive threads with multiple castmates!

INTENT: Honestly, I put her on the test drive as a lark, but I really enjoy playing her! I’ve never played any kind of child character before, and definitely a nice change of pace from playing an adult. Other than that, I figure why not round out the Kenway family even more, and maybe make Edward’s life a little easier?

Jennifer Scott | APPROVED

[paradisamods]

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Anne Bonny | Assassin's Creed

[ohrot]

PERSONAL
NAME: Ren
PERSONAL JOURNAL: blahblahlawblog
EMAIL: haiirochou@gmail.com
CURRENT CHARACTERS: Cassandra Cain, Carley


CHARACTER
CHARACTER NAME: Anne Bonny
SERIES: Assassin's Creed
CANON POINT: Post-game
LOSS: Ability to read maps or remember where cities and ports are on them. While it might not prove a big hindrance in Paradisa itself, the knowledge that she can't anymore, that one of the basic duties of a quartermaster has been taken from her, will cause her a great deal of self doubt and strife. After all, what kind of navigator can't navigate?

ABOUT THE CHARACTER:

Anne left Ireland at a young age, married young, and ended up in Nassau by the time she was sixteen. It was there that she flourished, growing into a young woman with a passion for life and a desire to live it to the fullest. Working at a tavern where great men came and plotted their plots for a free Nassau, a free life where they could do as they chose, it opened her eyes to a lifestyle that could be so much more fulfilling than being married to a man who was quickly becoming more and more of a bother.

She was the object of much attention while in Nassau, but contrary to popular belief she didn't take on many lovers and none were as interesting as Jack Rackham. His flirting was painfully obvious and something that amused her, but it was ultimately his profession - that of a pirate - that truly drew her to him. She learned to handle a pistol from him, but in the end it was James Kidd who really shaped her into the pirate she would become.

Once Anne learned that James was really Mary Read, a woman who lived the same as men like Edward Kenway and all those other fearsome pirates, the spark was struck for good. She took to learning everything she could from Mary, a mentor who was more interested in seeing her come into her own than anyone had been before that. Sure Rackham encouraged her rough ways, but it was Mary who honed them and made her into a proper pirate.

The three of them took up together and quickly Anne Bonny and Mary Read became an infamous pair, and it's not a stretch to say that those days were likely the best ones of Anne's life. Doing as she pleased with her lover and her closest friend, free to live a life on the sea far away from everything that had held her back and made life so dull once before.

But it couldn't last. After a hard battle Mary and Anne were beaten by the English navy and brought to prison, where they revealed they were both pregnant to avoid a hanging. True to herself to a fault, Anne taunted the judge by promising to keep getting pregnant each time she was up for trial again, but in the end that stay was her first and only. After a daring rescue, Anne managed to escape, but it wasn't without great cost. She lost Mary on that day, and shortly after her son was born he passed away as well.

A broken woman, Anne was taken in by the Assassins to recover and it was then that she learned about Edward's true calling. Instead of letting herself be mired in sadness over all of the loss she had felt, she joined him as his quartermaster to fight beside him against the Templars to ensure the freedom that she had so fought for wouldn't be taken away from every man and woman.

Though her time in prison cooled her a little, her fire hasn't gone out completely. Quick-witted and with little patience for fools, she has no problem telling off anyone who displeases her with a vocabulary that's only benefited from the additions of such a rough and tumble lifestyle. She can hold her own in a fight and outside of one, but she isn't without her soft side as well. Whether it's playfully flirting or standing beside someone because she knows they have it in them to improve, she'll always be there to support those she cares about however she can.

ABILITIES: No super powers or anything like that, but she can wield a sword and shoot a pistol just fine. She's also got some experience on ships, being that she was partnered up with Mary and Rackham and later on, was Edward's quartermaster.

THIRD-PERSON WRITING SAMPLE:

The boat ride, it's certainly not the first for Anne. There was the one from Cork, the one from the colonies with her first Jack, the one from Nassau with the second, Rackham. Countless others all between, less memorable shipmates, some as she could even call family.

None were like this. Wracked with pain, Mary there, lifeless, head moving in time with the lap of the waves against the sides of their little boat. Ahead of her, Ah Tabai rows on. There's a fire in her belly and burning behind her eyes and her cheeks are wet. She can't seem to forget the look on Edward's face, the slump of his shoulders once he'd turned away.

Mary's pretty head nods along with the rocking of the boat. She could be sleeping, if only her chest would move. Anne slides down off her seat and into the bottom of the boat, aware of the dull sound of Ah Tabai's voice warning her no, the baby, but she knows better. This baby, Rackham's boy, it's not long for the world now.

Edward, they could have named him. Not another Jack, for certain. She lifts Mary's head now, smoothing her hair back and letting it rest in her lap, what there is of one now that her stomach is all swollen with child.

There was a song her Ma used to sing her, Anne remembers. Way back when she was little, some old Irish lullaby on the nights where she couldn't get to sleep, but the words don't come to her. She hums the melody instead, keeps Mary safe with her, and lets Ah Tabai take them where he will.

Maybe if she just closes her eyes, all this will have been a dream. She can hope that, can't she?

FIRST-PERSON JOURNAL SAMPLE: Samples here and here on the test drive.

INTENT: I love characters that are as strong as Anne is despite the lot they've been given by life, and her dynamics with the cast already in the game are ones I'm dying to explore more. Plus why not balance out this sausage party of an asscreed cast with another totally awesome kickass lady?

Anne Bonny | APPROVED

[paradisamods]

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Alexis Castle | Castle

[raisingdad]

PERSONAL
NAME: Lauren
PERSONAL JOURNAL: sparks_fly
EMAIL: laurensmuses[at]gmail.com
AIM: N/A
CURRENT CHARACTERS: N/A

CHARACTER
CHARACTER NAME: Alexis Castle
SERIES: Castle
CANON POINT: At the end of 6x03 “Need To Know”
LOSS: Alexis will be unable to read or study for more than 30 minutes without getting a severe migraine.

ABOUT THE CHARACTER:
Alexis is the 19 year old daughter of Richard Castle, a murder mystery writer slash consulting detective for the NYPD. Her mother, Meredith, is an actress who is kind of flighty and has been in and out of Alexis’s life. She was raised mostly by Castle and his mother.

The first thing one notices about Alexis Castle is that she’s very mature for her age. While she, for the most part, looks her age, she is 19 going on 30. She has the kind of real maturity that women do not usually reach until their mid-twenties, instead of the “maturity” that college girls believe that they have. Alexis is polite, patient, respectful and good-natured. Where this came from is anybody’s guess, considering that her father is a manchild with a penchant for grown up toys and her mother is a flighty actress who zips in and out of her life. Somewhere, Alexis managed to find stability.

Mostly her maturity helps to ground her father, who it almost seems like she is raising instead of vice versa. Alexis is what could be considered a “good girl”. She generally doesn’t party, use drugs, drink or have sex. She also hates lying to people, particularly her father. One time, after skipping over the turnstile at the subway, she tearfully confessed to her father what she had done as though she had robbed someone at gunpoint. Alexis has loosened up a bit as she’s gotten older, including getting drunk on the night of her graduation from high school. The hangover experience was so bad though that she doubted it would be something she would be doing very often. Her idea of fun is mostly the clean kind, including spending time with her dad. They love to play laser tag around the apartment and Alexis is usually the champion.

Alexis is incredibly loyal to her family, particularly her father. She knows that some people kind of see him as a screw up (even if she probably doesn’t know the half of it), but Castle took his job of raising her very seriously and did an exceptionally good job at it. She will always be grateful and loyal to him because he gave up a lot of his partying lifestyle after she was born. Alexis is number one in his life and, for the most part, Alexis reciprocates. After Kate Beckett, her father’s partner and muse, was shot at the end of Season 3 and Kate’s doctor boyfriend blamed Rick for it, Alexis physically lashed out at the doctor and had to be restrained. She won’t tolerate anyone talking badly about the man who raised her.

Her daily temperament is usually cheerful and curious. She has a tendency to brighten up her father’s day and enjoys bantering with him. Despite her maturity, Alexis did have a twinge of naiveity from growing up in such a sheltered environment. Much of that changed in Season 5 when she was kidnapped by terrorists in connection with her mysterious grandfather, a man she had never met who works as some kind of spy operative. Since then, her natural trust in people has waned, though her sense of curiosity remains.

Alexis Castle is obviously smart, most notably in the area of book knowledge. She got excellent grades in school, enabling her to be the class valedictorian. She attends Columbia University in New York (after briefly flirting with the idea of going to Stanford in California) where she is studying to become a forensic examiner. Unlike her father, Alexis has a natural ability and interest in science. While still in high school, she took an internship in the ME’s office in order to gain some on the job experience. Alexis’s kidnapping incident served to highlight that she is also very clever and resourceful. She was able to figure a way out of the cell she was being kept in and had almost made a full escape. She’s able to reason and use the clues in her environment to solve problems. It’s rare that a person has both book smarts and natural street cleverness.

Alexis can also be incredibly hard on herself if she doesn’t achieve what she hopes to. She was initially rejected from Stanford and she took it extremely hard. She sets much higher academic and personal standards for herself than her father does. Failure is something that she greatly fears and has a level of perfectionism that can sometimes sabotage what she’s trying to accomplish if it doesn’t turn out exactly the way that it should.

Over the summer, (between Seasons 5 and 6) Alexis went on an educational trip to Costa Rica where she met a guy named Pi - who can best be described as a surfer dude hippie vegetarian. For whatever reason, Alexis adores him, though her father is less than thrilled, especially because Alexis essentially moves him into their apartment after returning from Costa Rica. As of the end of 6x3, Alexis is a bit annoyed at her father for not telling her in person about his engagement to Kate and how this will affect their relationship.

ABILITIES: Alexis has no supernatural or superhuman abilities other than what is mentioned in the personality section above.


(I’ve linked both samples due to length. If you’d rather have them posted here I’d be happy to do so.)
THIRD-PERSON WRITING SAMPLE: http://alteredstates.dreamwidth.org/6946.html

FIRST-PERSON JOURNAL SAMPLE: http://alternet.dreamwidth.org/10813.html

INTENT: I’ve played Castle for a while and when I discovered that he was already spoken for in this game, I wanted to still play someone from the canon. I decided to give Alexis a try because I think it would be interesting to look at things from her perspective in relation to Castle and Beckett. Also the slightly strained relationship between she and Beckett is something that I don’t feel has been explored that much on the show but would love to do in RP.

REVISIONS

[paradisamods]

Hello! Thank you for your interest in Paradisa. While we understand the significance of Alexis's loss, we'd like to request you revise it slightly. 30 minutes is quite a long time for any effects to kick in, particularly because it's possible to simply time it so she can only read for 29-ish minutes a pop without getting migraines. We suggest either lowering the time limit (5-10 minutes or something similar), making the effect even more severe, or coming up with a new loss entirely.

You have 72 hours to return your revisions. Thank you!

Veronica Mars

[earthtomars]

PERSONAL
NAME: Mal
PERSONAL JOURNAL: mustakrakish
EMAIL: deanpants@gmail.com
AIM: cognitiverecalibration
CURRENT CHARACTERS: N/A

CHARACTER
CHARACTER NAME: Veronica Mars
SERIES: Veronica Mars
CANON POINT: Post S02E22 - "Not Pictured"
LOSS:

Her ability to write. It's as if she's forgotten how to form the letters, and though she can still read and try to find herself a workaround or two, it's going to severely limit her note-taking abilities, as well as an ability to interact on certain levels over the Paradisa network. As a tiny little private investigator of her own right, this is going to be an endless source of frustration for her, unable to even take down a simple Post-It note for herself.

ABOUT THE CHARACTER:

Meet Veronica Mars: That skank who's done at least half the guys in the school. At least four of them were teachers in order to get the grades she's pulling in. Have you seen all of her absences? They're probably doctor appointments to check up on that bastard child she's carrying of one of the school's finest. I hear it's Duncan Kane's. I hear it's Logan Echolls'. I hear it's Dick Casablancas', if you remember the way they made out at that Shelly Pomroy party. She knows four types of martial arts, she knows at least two ways to kill a man just by hitting him in the face, she knows the president and she's on the FBI'S Most Wanted list. Her hair's fake, so's her chin, so would be her tits if she had the moolah for it.

What a cretin.

Of course, that's if you believe the stories.

Take two. Meet Veronica Mars: The run of the Neptune High rumor mill. She's not actually pregnant, and she can swear up and down that the blond's not out of a bottle but it's not as if it'll change much. She knows and hears plenty of the things that people say about her around school - it's difficult not to - and it's all fun and games until someone fucks with her clique. Then it gets personal. Until then, she's ambivalent.

See, the thing is, Veronica used to belong to that group, used to have status and support in this town, used to be a normal teenage girl with a mother and a family and a boyfriend and a best friend. It's hard to remember a time when Veronica Mars was among Neptune's elite, now that she's slipped so far into the "dregs" of society, but so long as she can keep the connections she has, well, she's not going to be complaining too much. She can cast on about them and reminisce all she'd like, but those days are far behind her and she's become all the more of a person for it. They rebuilt her. They had the technology.

Who was once a shiny and bright-eyed girl with all the naivete in the world had her life come crashing down around her, and it all started with the murder of Lilly Kane. There's a story to be told, a complex and weaving one about movie stars and tampering with evidence and supposedly bumbling local sheriffs not seeing eye to eye with the whole of the world, but in a word, it left her family broken and Veronica all the more jaded for the matter. Her and her father's adventures turned into a job, her best friend became nothing more than a memory, and Veronica Mars grew up.

The creature she is today is a far different beast than the one she started out as, though that's not to say that it wasn't a good base for her to start off of. Her parents raised her well, and raised her strong, but nobody was really prepared for just how strong Veronica might come back, and it was with a vengeance. She's become a sort of private investigator in her own right, carrying on in her father's footsteps for cash and chickens. She's short, she's small, she has an overabundance of sarcasm and pop culture references up her sleeves (both of them, that's how much), and she carries a piping hot can of taser on her if you really want to try to make her day, when all else fails.

Veronica takes after her dad in plenty of ways, and least of all of that is her intelligence. She's been compared to a miniature Sherlock Holmes, or perhaps a more adult Nancy Drew, able to draw easy connections between case files and evidence she's gleaned on her cases. It's rare one goes unsolved (and that's in due part to a frankly riotous amount of stubbornness), and it's all thanks to everything she learned from her father. Research, sources, scandalizing pictures; you name it and she can probably procure it. She takes on everything from lost dogs to potential terrorism, murder, rape, all with a kind of tenacity that's beyond her years. She's older now, wiser, and she applies all of her skills she has with an unapologetic vengeance.

That's not to say she's all equal parts razor edges and a hard shell. Veronica's in touch with her emotions like any girl her age, and she can fall victim to her gut instinct because of it, often jumping the gun on her cases and her relationships because of a newly innate sense of mistrust. She takes on cases for people who need it, no matter how paltry in comparison - half because she's a sap under all that steely exterior, and guilt trips like no tied shoelace ever could.

Despite it all, Veronica presents a cool outside and a jovial one at that. She's constantly poking fun, cracking jokes for a little levity (even under pressure, even in potentially life-threatening situations) and keeping that quick wit sharpened like an axe; it's her only and best weapon against the rest of the world, and she plans on wielding it. She's passionate about what she believes in, works on both snap decisions (generally when she's angry or upset) and oodles of forethought (she has, after all, infiltrated even the head of security at Kane Software's own office with simple and sleek plans), and can switch from naught to sixty in under 0.4 seconds if you really get her riled enough.

In a nutshell, Veronica is a feisty bit of a thing with enough cheery misanthropy to power a major city, unpolished around the edges, but overbold as anything and twice as bright. She can and fully intends to take the world by storm.

ABILITIES:

Veronica's certainly got her proclivities and her strengths, and they range from photography to basic car repair to a mean taserin' arm, but overall she's simply your regular, human, teenage girl and as such has very human limitations.

THIRD-PERSON WRITING SAMPLE:

Okay, Veronica. Just because you've found yourself on the roof of an extremely large castle in the better part of South Nowheres, Country Unknown, it doesn't necessarily mean you've been kidnapped. Sure, you've done this whole song and dance before, the memory loss. All part of that one, big night. And what a reminder it serves here and now while you stand atop Hogwarts in all its glory. At least you have your underwear on this time. But just about as many questions unanswered: Two.

Who the hell did this? And why to me?

Veronica draws her camera out of her bag, peering out over the rooftop and onto the city below. She'd be lying if she said that it wasn't a nice view - beautiful, in fact, she thinks as she snaps a few shots and meanders closer to the roof's edge to get a good look. She could try to reason with herself and all the renaissance faire glory that came with the town she saw sprawling out beneath her sneaker toes, but none of this made any sense. But someone sure took the time to make it look nice.

Why here? Wherever here was? Why a castle? I haven't tripped across any hungry vampires shooting claims of Vanting to Suck My Blood, so as far as I can figure, at least it's safe to assume it isn't Dracula. But the city, the room she'd woken up in, the stone beneath her feet. Lavish, meretricious. A little more Ritz-Carlton than it was stalactites and stained glass, but. Well. "Let's not rule out Transylvania just yet," she murmurs to herself as she takes a few more photos and checks them out on her camera screen.

Time to figure out who the bad guys are.

FIRST-PERSON JOURNAL SAMPLE:

[ DICTATED ]

[ There's the sound of paper shuffling around, the pages of the book being rapidly flipped through before the thing's just slammed down onto a dresser regardless. Veronica shouts at first, ] Okay! Empty book! No means of answers, patience wearing thin! Oh boy.

[ Her voice meanders, and it's clear she has no idea that she's actually being recorded right now, just kind of ranting to herself as she stands akimbo over the journal. ]

You know, it's really one thing to roofie and kidnap a girl, but not even a handcuff to the bed? Locked drawers, giant safe in the corner? Bear traps? They bought me clothes? Kind of creepy, dudes, kind of creepy! [ Maybe it's not her first kidnapping. But then again, maybe it's not exactly something a 17-year-old girl just gets herself used to. ]

[ Her breath is puffing a little, almost panicked, but when she speaks up again, her voice is resolute and decided. ] We're doing two things, Veronica. We're getting out of this room, and then we're knockin' in some doors. Okay. [ She claps. ] Here we go! Chins high, eyes front, karate - chop.

INTENT:

Oh, Veronica. My little pixie. She's an absolute joy to play, from the sarcasm to the jokes to the Holmesian side of her investigating into the people here and the castle itself. I can't wait to stretch Veronica's imagination based on what she's going to end up seeing here, and I'm absolutely excited to be playing her again for the first time in years. She's an old muse and an incredibly fun muse at that, one that I'd love to see set loose on Paradisa.

Veronica Mars | APPROVED

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reserved character; riley abel | the last of us

[000129]

PERSONAL

NAME: Ashley.
PERSONAL JOURNAL: frisky @ dw.
EMAIL: neverdieftw @ gmail.com.
AIM: neverdieftw.
CURRENT CHARACTERS: Vriska Serket, thiefoflight.


CHARACTER

CHARACTER NAME: Riley Abel.
SERIES: The Last of Us.
CANON POINT: The end of the Left Behind DLC.


LOSS:

Riley cannot sneak out or leave the safety of the castle walls any time after nightfall without the explicit permission of an adult. This will be a devastating loss because Riley is definitely a headstrong teenager who is seen sneaking out in literally 90% of the canon in which we see her. While she does seem to take a little bit better to adult direction (though mostly in regards to the Fireflies), she would much rather do her own thing on her own terms.

ABOUT THE CHARACTER:

If you know a few things about your typical rebellious teenager, you'll get a rough idea of Riley Abel. And if you know a few things about how the world is ravaged against any sort of infected plague that turns your friends and family into flesh eating abominations, you'll definitely know what kind of shit this girl has seen.

In a world where there is little hope, where people die from getting their guts ripped out-- either by soldiers, ravaging hunters, or, of course, the infected themselves-- you have to learn to harden yourself, and quickly at that. Riley was no stranger to this, having watched her own father rip her mother to shreds, and then having to take up arms in order to kill him. Just like every other survivor, right?

Orphaned, she had spent her life at a strict military academy in Boston for her protection from the infected, which of course, she considered completely bullshit since that protection came with a price-- eventual training to become a ruthless soldier who went about to push the remaining quarantine zone inhabitants around. If not that, than simply scraping by, living off meager food rations and a complacent way of thinking at best.

Yeah, she doesn't quite agree with their way of life.

Riley simply wants to break free of that system, and because of this, she delves deeper into the rebellious niche, going so far as to focus all her determination for the sake of a hallowed rebel group known as the Fireflies. In such a shitty world, she puts all her faith in what the group stands for, and even risks her life to aid their efforts, sneaking out and sabotaging the soldiers who linger about the quarantine zone. It's the one thing that keeps her going.

The other important aspect of her teenage life aside from her hunt for the Fireflies is a "new kid" by the name of Ellie. As someone who doesn't take too kindly to the defenseless being pushed around by the powers that be, she met her by "rescuing" her from a group of kids their age, scaring them off by threatening to stomp their balls. She really has no patience for that kind of nonsense. While she does go out of her way to act facetious toward Ellie, if not lightly antagonistic, she does take to her spirit quickly, especially since Ellie seems to share her same inclination for fighting back... if not getting into trouble.

They would quickly get into the habit of looking out for one another, no matter who got in their way. Of course they would find themselves closer to one another, Riley finding solace in her partnership in between her attempting to get deeper and deeper into the ranks of the Fireflies. It's not like they could run away together or anything. Things would be a hell of a lot worse; it was just another way to die, and a lot faster at that.

It would be a rough year since they had met, Riley coming to terms with what she wanted to do with herself, her dreams gradually conflicting more and more with her close relationship with Ellie. Even after being threatened, she would continue to pursue Marlene, the Firefly who insisted that she would eventually be maimed or killed if she joined their ranks. Her persistence-- not to mention a few other conflicting feelings-- would seek to cause a rift between the two young girls, but hey, follow your dreams and ideals, right?

She'd disappear to do so, but upon returning to say "goodbye" to Ellie in her own backhanded way, she would show her the time of her life if she had anything to say about it. To hell with Marlene saying she'd get her into trouble. She would always find herself fighting for what she felt strongly about, and this was no exception. Even when they would find themselves walking the line between life and death, she would continue fighting. It was better than taking the easy way out. That just wasn't her way.


ABILITIES:

Riley is your average athletic teenage girl in a post-apocalyptic zombie scenario. She can run at a decent speed and pace for quite some time without getting too winded, and we see her being able to jump long distances (for example, from one rooftop to another). She can also climb and navigate around her terrain like a resourceful pro and tussle with other teenagers her age-- as well as hold her own against a few infected. She knows her way around a gun, but doesn't really exhibit anything too special with her skills in that aspect. No supernatural or otherworldly powers for her!


THIRD-PERSON WRITING SAMPLE:

Riley would find herself with her fingers digging through her hair, eyes closed as she listened to Ellie next to her. She tried so hard to focus on her over what she knew was eventually going to happen. God damn it. She should have been more careful. Ugh, she started to think of what stupid decisions she had made, how they were so close to getting away from that horde of infected...

There was no way she'd let all those feelings show on her face. How could she be so selfish? She was trying to make her "finding the light" easier on the both of them, but she just dug them both deeper into a pile of shit. If she had just listened to Ellie, they would have been out of the mall before the infected heard them.

She drew in a breath once, slow, lifting her head to acknowledge Ellie, taking her words in. There should have been a bucket list for the two of them, right? It was just too bad they had so little options at this point.

But she wouldn't let it get the better of her.

"What, my night on the town didn't take your breath away?" She's say,her voice low, labored, insisting on sounding far from bitter. There would always a hint of sarcasm in her tone. It just made things easier.

She curled her lips as a reassurance. Why not go out cracking jokes? Ellie was all about jokes.


FIRST-PERSON JOURNAL SAMPLE: Turtles!


INTENT: The Last of Us was just so good oh my god. I just want to be part of the cast here at my home game. It also doesn't hurt to have a character also be a queer POC. Yay, representation!

Riley Abel | APPROVED

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( reserved ) Anna

[elsaplz]

PERSONAL
NAME: Amanda
PERSONAL JOURNAL: battlepanties
EMAIL: piratebento@gmail.com
AIM: n/a
CURRENT CHARACTERS: Tali'zorah vas Normandy (keelahs


CHARACTER
CHARACTER NAME: Anna
SERIES: Frozen
CANON POINT: After entering Elsa's ice castle, but before Elsa's reveal.
LOSS: As her loss Anna will be unable to taste sweets of any kind no matter how much she stuffs in her face. Reason being is Anna's undying love for sweets, in particular chocolate. Several times through the movie she can be found stuffing her face with them. Losing sweets will be the biggest let down of the century for her.

ABOUT THE CHARACTER:

Though Anna may be Princess of Arendelle and second in line to the throne she is hardly what one would consider a "typical princess". Anna is carefree, energetic, quirky, fun-loving and even a little bit on the klutzy side. She slides down banisters, jumps on couches, tromps through mud and stuffs her face with chocolate without a care in the world. Though she may not be exactly the perfect definition of Princess, she cares deeply for the people around her and is almost loyal to a fault.

As a child Anna was almost inseparable to her elder sister Elsa. That all changed one night when Elsa’s magic accidentally struck her, causing her parents to choose to not only wipe memories of her sister’s powers, but to reduce the staff and separate the girls from one another until Elsa could control it. While it was to only be temporary at first, Anna thought her sister chose to shut her out and never really understand why. This left Anna was a sense of loneliness that was in turn made worse upon her parents death three years prior to the start of the story.

Growing up almost her life with just a staff did not settle well for an energetic, fun-loving girl like Anna. More than anything she wishes to fill that long-standing empty hole of loneliness with the sound of laughter and people within the halls of her castle. It is almost as if Anna feels as if she needs to be surrounded by people in order to truly feel alive. As a direct effect of having so little social interaction as a child, she’s not exactly a pro at conversation. When speaking, Anna is incredibly prone to rambling, often going off on tangents and even saying things that don’t entirely make sense, often as if she has a lack of filter from brain to mouth. Most of these seem to come out most when she’s nervous or unsure of herself. She’s not the most environmentally aware either, prone to klutziness or accidentally hitting others when particularly excited.

Anna is the kind of person that leaps before thinking, a trait she had even as a child. This trait is as much as a strength as it is a weakness. While she may have been too young to really have a sense of responsibility, it was her own recklessness that caused the king and queen to reduce the staff and separate her sister from her. While riding down a banister or swinging three stories up may not exactly be safe it’s the same sense of fearlessness that saves the lives of herself and others around her as adult. This is particularly viewed in the presence of Kristoff numerous times. In one instance she lights their supplies on fire in turn to throw it as a pack of wild wolves (almost hitting him in the face in the process) where in another cuts the rope to save their lives when dealing with a particularly fierce snow monster only to safely land in the snow two-hundred feet below. It can be even said that Anna is particularly lucky, as most of those encounters could have gone very badly.

When things get tough, Anna is not one to sit around and wait for someone else to save the day. This is particularly seen when she takes full responsibility for her sister, proclaiming that she is the only one that should go after her. Though she recklessly chose to go without any supplies, a single horse and no guard it’s clear she takes initiative when it comes to things of importance and isn't afraid to get into a tussle. She’ll do whatever it takes for those around her, whether it’s fruitless or not. When it comes down to it, Anna’s rather easy to wind up, as seen when Krisoff calls her “feisty pants”. If she thinks it’s necessarily, she’ll rush into a fight whether she’ll win or not.


The best example of both Anna’s recklessness and extreme need for companionship was her willingness to marry a man she hardly knew for a day. Before even running in to Prince Hans she had it in her mind that Elsa’s coronation was the only day she would ever find love. It almost made Hans’ job easy to find a woman who was willing to marry him “just like that”. So keen to fall in love she even chose to spend the remainder of the coronation with Hans rather than Elsa, who she had scarcely seen in well over ten years. She’s quick to defend the idea of true love with a man she barely knew to anyone that dared question her. Her confusion with companionship and love is most clear when she defends her choice with Elsa, claiming “I can’t live like this anymore”. Her proclamation is not about her wish to marry Hans, but about living a life in a lonely, empty castle with a sister that won’t even talk to her.


This quickness to trust and accept is not exclusive to Hans, but viewed among other interactions as well. She is quick to trust Kristoff as well, though largely out of necessity for a guide up the north mountain, but once she joins him she never questions him for a moment. Not only is she quick to accept Kristoff's preference and interesting choice of friend (Sven) and family after the initial shock wore off, but she displays this same nature with Olaf as well. It's not every day you encounter a talking snowman, but once the initial shock wears off he's really part of the gang.

What made Hans’ job easiest of all was Anna’s own view of herself. As the second in line for the throne, Anna considered herself “completely ordinary”. When speaking about herself, she says it’s “just me” as if she’s nothing worth really getting excited over. To Anna, it’s her sister that is the special one. In fact, she believes in her sister more than anything and though she could have held a grudge against her, she didn't. Not only does she take responsibility for Elsa for covering all of Arendelle in snow, she believes more than anything that together they can break the spell. Even when Elsa doesn't believe in herself, Anna never stops and in the end it’s their sisterly bond that breaks it. Willing to do anything for her sister even if it meant putting her own life in danger, Anna chose to sacrifice herself to save her sister of a measly “true loves kiss”.

Anna's idealism, optimism and determination is unwavering not only when it comes to her sister, but all situations. Even when it seems as if all hope is lost she doesn't give up. This is seen time and time again through the course of the movie. Not only does she keep going after she loses her horse, but even after Elsa sister strikes her heart. Despite the chill that slowly takes over her body, she never gives up her hope even for a second. Words like "I can't" are never for a moment uttered from her mouth, even when she is on the verge of freezing she keeps going strong.


ABILITIES: Anna is "completely ordinary" as far as magic or special abilities go.

THIRD-PERSON WRITING SAMPLE:

The first thing that hit Anna was the warm breeze that carried the smell that was purely identifiable with spring. It only took a few seconds for her process that she was clearly no longer within Elsa's ice castle. "Elsa?" she called out, glancing around her surroundings. She was clearly within a castle entrance, but it was neither Arendelle's nor had the structure remotely similar to the one Elsa had created. "Elsa?" she called out. Voices could be heard down the hall, but none identifiable as her sister.

"Kristoff?" she called the name of her traveling companion next as she wandered through the entrance and into the room where the voices were coming from. Though she was probably more following her nose than anything, considering she was headed towards the kitchen (when was the last time she ate anyway?). There were people that stopped and looked at her when she entered. Had she seen food, she likely would have stopped and stayed a while, but she was on a mission. "Oh, sorry. I didn't mean to interrupt, I'll just..." she motioned back towards the entrance and scurried back out.

"Where could they be?" she asked herself. Maybe this really was her sisters castle and they were still waiting outside? Doubtful. Anna had spent enough times within her own castle to know how to identify that the structure was more sprawled out than the one her sister had created, but it was at least worth a check. Of course, she always believed in the possibility of magic but now had solid proof that it existed-- Maybe, just maybe she had been whisked away, and if she had it was very possible that her friends had to. It was decided then, she'd check outside first before anything else.

Several feet from the entrance edoor her foot landed in something identifiable as wet. "Huh?" she looked down at what her booted foot had splashed into, only to find it had found a rather decently sized puddle of water. At first, she didn't think much of it and was ready to continue on, but something else caught her eye. A twig? Not very large and probably from outdoors, but-- "Oh no" she gasped, hands flying to her mouth. "Olaf!" Jumping back, she bent down to kneel before the puddle. "I'm so sorry. I should have known better-- Of coursec it's not winter here! Oh no, what have I done." A pang of guilt. She should have let Kristof warn him that he would melt in the warmer weather.


"Poor guy..." she gently patted the water. "I'm so sorry, but don't worry! I'm going to make sure you get to enjoy it, even if it means guarding you myself!" To prove a point, she straightened up and put her hands on her hips. "That's right, anyone who even thinks about ruining your fun is going to have to get through me" She stood even taller, lifting her chin and glaring around with what she had at least assumed was a rather menacing expression aimed at no one in particular. Finding her sister and Krisoff could wait until she was done preserving what was left of an innocent snowman that didn't know any better.


FIRST-PERSON JOURNAL SAMPLE:
dictated;

So I know I should probably say something about this totally amazing castle. I mean, it's not every day you just happen to fall into a magic castle with magic journals and who knows what else. [ She just takes a moment to let that settle in. ]. Don't get me wrong, I couldn't be more excited. But, there's a tiny tiny little problem I've run into. It's kind of lucky I found this thing on me, who knows what would happen if I didn't!

Let's start by saying the place I came from wasn't exactly the warmest. Long story short, my sister kind of froze the whole thing over and I had finally made it to her ice castle before I ended up here-- But that's not what I'm here for! I mean, I'd love to see my sister and all if possible, but worrying about that can wait until later.

Long story short, I kind of have this friend. My friend is... Well, I'm just going to say it. My friend is a snowman. Crazy, I know, I know. Talking snowmen-- Yikes! I was pretty frightened at first, but that's a story for another day. My friend-- The snowman-- Olaf-- Well, I'm just going to say it-- [ She takes a deep breath and says the next part really fast. ] Olaf is now kind of a puddle of water at the castle's entrance.

There, I said. I know we should probably mop him up, but he always wanted to know what summer was like. I feel like he deserves at least that much, even if he does have to spend it as a puddle. So please, please, please don't step in him or mop him up. I'll take care of him myself after he's had at least a few days to enjoy the weather.

INTENT: My primary purpose is to take her from a place in canon where she needs to grow naturally. I'm also interested in playing her interactions to finally being in a place surrounded by other people.

Anna | APPROVED

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REVISIONS

[paradisamods]

Hello! Thank you for your interest in Paradisa. Before we give you a final decision, we'd like to see some revisions on your application.

The first person sample is very short and does not give us a very good sense of Tauriel's personality. The extra meme sample, while very introspective, is somewhat short on dialogue. We would like to request another sample similar to something you might post in the game, so we have a better idea of what to expect.

We would also like to request you make a more concrete decision about her abilities and skills. While we understand that canon isn't very clear on what she can and cannot do, we would like for you to definitively say what her skills are one way or the other so we know what to expect in Paradisa.

In addition, please be mindful of your formatting. Standard practice is to double space each new paragraph.

You have 72 hours to return your revisions. Thank you!

Carol Danvers 1/?

[capnwhizbang]

PERSONAL
NAME: Michelle
PERSONAL JOURNAL: octorok
EMAIL: boysenberrypies at gmail
AIM: skyward strike
CURRENT CHARACTERS: N/A

CHARACTER
CHARACTER NAME: Carol Danvers (Captain Marvel)
SERIES: Marvel Comics (Earth-616)
CANON POINT: After Captain Marvel #1 (2014)
LOSS: Her memory of Kit Renner. Kit, aka "Lieutenant Trouble", is a little girl who hero worships Captain Marvel. After Carol lost her memories as a result of the events of "The Enemy Within" storyline, Kit became a bright light in an otherwise dark world. She was a beacon of hope, helping to educate Carol and teach her about her life through a comic she drew herself. Carol will feel a distinct pang of emptyness once the memory of her-- the girl who believed in her unconditionally-- is gone.

Carol Danvers 2/3

[capnwhizbang]

ABOUT THE CHARACTER:

"... we're gonna get where we're going, you and me. Death and indignity be damned... We'll get there. And we'll be the stars we were always meant to be."

- Helen Cobb, Carol's childhood hero

Carol is a brilliant and fiercely independent woman with a strong personality and indomitable willpower. When she sets her mind on something, she sees it through to the end, come Hell or high water. There is simply no adversary too great for Carol to handle. As a child, she dreamed of becoming a pilot, and was often discouraged due to gender stereotyping, the wishes of her domineering father, as well as the fact that she seemed to live in her brothers' shadows. Possessing such a strong will, even at a young age, Carol not only pursued her dreams but made them a reality. Her hard work earned her an unusual degree self-reliance in the process. From becoming a pilot in the Air Force, to a top CIA agent, to working in a male-dominated industry as a journalist, Carol proved she could not only do what her male peers could, but that she could do it better. As a feminist, she's even challenged Captain America on his views. She is very confrontational when someone crosses the line.

As strong of mind and body as she is, it's no surprise that she cannot back down on a dare. Multiple times in her history, friends and foes alike have challenged her, and every single time she comes out on top. Backing down would make her weak, and if there's anything Carol Danvers isn't, it's weak. But that doesn't mean she's perfect. Despite her strength, there were times in her past when she was unable to cope with the tragedies in her life, and resorted to drinking as a crutch. Events such as Mar-Vell's death and Rogue stealing her lifeforce and powers were two such tragedies. Fortunately, Carol got clean with the help of fellow teammate and alcoholic Tony Stark, and now has control of her life once more. Her memories and most of her powers seem to have returned, as well as her emotional attachment to the former.

Her strength is only rivaled by her compassion and sense of justice. Despite being a fierce opponent who is more than willing to beat the tar out of baddies when they deserve it, she also possesses a strong moral compass that guides her words and actions. Even when she encounters Rogue-- the mutant who stole her memories and powers-- on a mission to the Pentagon to erase data on the X-Men, she puts aside her grievances with the villain to focus on helping the X-Men, who have helped her so much in her recovery after the incident. She is also faithful to her country, going as far as joining the sides of those in favor of the Superhero Registration Act.

Carol might also be something of a nerd. Recently, she's taken to making Star Wars references and even has a cat named Chewie. She is in love with outerspace and has been since she was a child. This love hasn't waned even as she's grown into an adult. In fact, she has always had a strong connection to space, and in recent canon has decided it is where she belongs.

Ironically, while she is one of the strongest females in the Marvel Universe, she has two great weaknesses that have done way more harm than good in her life: her pride and her stubbornness. Being independent and self-sufficient, she is loathe to take help from anyone. Asking for help would demonstrate weakness. The passion she feels for her work as a superhero makes her stubborn beyond measure, something that, in recent canon most especially, has cost her everything. After discovering that the disgraced Kree warrior and villainous figure from Carol's past, Yon-Rogg (now known as The Magnitron), had returned, and that he was planning on using Danvers's brain as a power source to recreate a Kree city in New York's sky, Carol made the ultimate sacrifice. Despite being told she could not fly due to a lesion in her brain that would cause major brain damage the more she flew, she flew anyway. Taking to outerspace to break the link between her brain and Magnitron's power source, Carol sacrificed her memories as the lesion destroyed that part of her brain to save the city.

Though she is heralded as Earth's hero for her efforts to thwart Magnitron's plans, her memory loss has resulted in a disconnect between herself and her friends and teammates. This disconnect, and the desire to find her place in the universe, is what causes her to leave Earth.

"Have you ever seen a little girl run so fast she falls down? There's an instant, a fraction of a second before the world catches hold of her again... a moment when she's outrun every doubt and fear she's ever had about herself and she flies. In that one moment, every little girl flies. I need to find that again. Like taking a car out into the desert to see how fast it can go, I need to find the edge of me...

And maybe, if I fly far enough, I'll be able to turn around and look at the world... and see where I belong."

- Carol Danvers

ABILITIES: Carol's powers were originally derived from those of Captain Marvel, though they have since diverged and increased to become uniquely her own. This has made her one of the most powerful female heroes in the Marvel Universe. Due to being a unique Kree/human genetic hybrid, Carol also possesses the potential to wield vast cosmic power, which was fully realized during the period when she became Binary and which she can still attain under the right circumstances.

Super Strength: When she originally became Ms. Marvel, Carol's strength level was such that she could lift approximately 50 tons under normal conditions. This made her many times stronger than heroes such as Spider-Man, but not as strong as others such as the Thing. Ms. Marvel was shown easily lifting and hurling cars and tanks, tearing through five-inch steel with her bare hands, and shattering reinforced concrete with her fists. It was this strength level that the mutant Rogue acquired after stealing Carol's original Ms. Marvel powers.

Being captured and experimented on by the Brood awakened an almost godlike level of power in Carol due to her unique Kree/human genetic configuration, causing her to become Binary. As Binary, Carol could tap into the energy of a white hole, giving her class-100 strength, meaning she could easily lift well over 100 tons under normal conditions. Her strength level became so great that it was never accurately quantified.

After losing her Binary powers and reverting back to Ms. Marvel, Carol's strength dropped much closer to its original level, though it was still greater than before. She could now lift 75 tons under normal conditions, making her approximately fifty percent stronger than she was prior to losing her powers to Rogue. Under extreme circumstances Carol has shown the ability to tap into her cosmic Binary powers once again, allowing her to reach class-100 strength levels for brief periods. She has also shown an ability to achieve class-100 strength if she has absorbed a great deal of external energy.

Recent tests by Avengers scientist Hank Pym have shown that Carol's base strength level is still increasing. Even when not augmented by any additional energy, Carol can now lift 92 tons and strike with a similar level of force, and Pym has theorized that this is likely not her limit.

Super Speed: Carol has the ability move at supersonic speeds, making her literally too fast for the human eye to follow. She can achieve speeds of at least Mach-3 during atmospheric flight and has shown the ability to hit even greater velocities when the need arises. At her Binary power level, she could achieve faster-than-light speed and journey across the galaxy under her own power.

Super Agility: Ms. Marvel possesses great superhuman agility and reflexes to compliment her superhuman speed. She can perform acrobatic feats far beyond that of the finest human athlete and easily evade bullet-speed projectiles. During the period after Rogue took her powers, but before she regained them, she was stated to have been in peak physical condition - again the result of being a Kree/Human hybrid.

Super Stamina: Carol can exert herself at maximum effort for up to 24 hours before tiring. During the Skrull Empire's assault on New York, Carol single-handedly fought off a massive Skrull invasion force for an entire day without rest, successfully keeping the city out of enemy hands until reinforcements arrived.

Flight: As previously mentioned, Carol can fly at speeds of at least Mach-3 in the atmosphere. She is a highly agile flier and can turn on a dime in midair, even while traveling at great velocity. Since she is also a talented and highly-trained fighter pilot, Carol's advanced knowledge of flight mechanics and aerial combat allows her to easily outmaneuver most opponents in the air.

Invulnerability: Carol is impervious to most forms of damage and can absorb a tremendous amount of punishment without injury. She can survive unharmed in the cold vacuum of space. She is bullet-proof and such attacks merely bounce off her skin on contact. More powerful attacks such as rockets, mortar shells, and bombs are only slightly more effectual, due to the fact that she can absorb their explosive energy. She is unfazed by blows delivered from opponents weaker than her and can withstand blows even by those who are stronger, though continuous and repeated hits by opponents of such great strength can eventually wear her down. She is also impervious to most forms of energy attack, and in fact such attacks can make her stronger (see Energy Absorption, below).

Energy Absorption: Carol has the ability to absorb a wide variety of energy and utilize it to further augment her own super-strength, speed, invulnerability, energy projection, and other powers. This ability was not present before Carol became Binary, and could be an after-effect of having once been Binary (as Binary, Carol could absorb and wield energy equivalent to that of a binary star system). Extremely high-energy attacks may eventually overload Carol's absorbing ability, but she has shown that she can absorb and utilize energy up to the magnitude of a nuclear explosion. Carol has also shown an ability to absorb magical energy (though not without consequence), recently demonstrated when she helped Doctor Strange defeat a formidable magic-wielding villain named Warren Traveler.

Energy Projection: Carol can generate extremely powerful photon blasts, which are roughly equal in force to Iron Man's full-strength repulsor blasts. If she has absorbed a great amount of energy, Carol can generate even stronger energy blasts. Like her energy absorption power, Carol did not originally possess this ability prior to becoming Binary, though it has now become one of her signature powers.

Regeneration: In the event that Carol suffers an attack that is actually powerful enough to overload both her invulnerability and her energy absorption power, she possesses a super-healing factor and is able to quickly regenerate from almost any injury. Her healing rate is accelerated even further if she is able to absorb and utilize external energy to aid in the process. She has fully recovered from nuclear explosions and attacks of similar magnitude in a matter of hours.

Danger Sense: One of Carol's original powers was a precognitive sense, called her "seventh sense," which allowed her to subconsciously recognize danger before it occurred. It was this sense that triggered her early transformations from Carol Danvers to Ms. Marvel. Her seventh sense also allowed her to subconsciously predict an opponent's attacks before they made them, greatly enhancing her fighting and tactical prowess in battle. After Carol's original powers were stolen by Rogue, her seventh sense was lost, and because it was a subconscious power, Carol was uncertain whether it had returned even after regaining her powers. Eventually, certain incidents left no doubt that her seventh sense had since been restored.

Minor Molecular Control: Carol possesses a limited degree of molecular control, which she can use to transform regular clothing into her Captain Marvel costume and vice versa. This power works almost instantaneously, and has the effect of changing her from Carol Danvers to Captain Marvel in much the same way that Clark Kent can become Superman in the blink of an eye.

Cosmic Awareness: As Binary, Carol possessed cosmic awareness, much like that of the Silver Surfer. She could visually perceive all types of energy patterns and was instantly aware of any significant disruptions in space. She seemingly lost her cosmic awareness after losing her Binary powers, though like her other Binary abilities, her cosmic awareness can re-emerge under the right circumstances.

Other abilities: Apart from her powers, Carol possesses many other skills and abilities that she developed on her own. Her advanced military training along with her Kree warrior skills naturally makes her a very dangerous hand-to-hand fighter. When used in combination with her many superhuman powers, she becomes a truly formidable adversary. As a CIA agent, Carol developed highly advanced espionage skills, including infiltration, surveillance, interrogation, and disguise. Traveling around the world as an intelligence agent she learned to speak several other languages, such as German and Japanese, as if they were her first language. After her time in the Air Force she became a renowned fighter pilot in the Marvel Universe, and is also skilled at flying aircraft and spacecraft built by the Kree. Her advanced flying knowledge is used to great effect when fighting enemies in the air.

Because Carol's genetic structure was merged with Captain Mar-Vell's by the Kree Psyche-Magnitron, she has intimate knowledge of all aspects of the Kree race, including their language, culture, customs, politics, and technology. Though she is virtually half-Kree, she has never been emotionally tied to them, and sometimes has gone against Kree authority on certain matters. During her time as Binary she spent considerable time away from Earth, gathering valuable knowledge on other advanced alien races such as the Brood and the Shi’ar.

A more artistic ability Carol possesses is her writing talent. She had been a freelance journalist for some time and was also a magazine editor in New York. She is an accomplished author and has published several books, including a popular science-fiction novel based on her deep space adventures with the Starjammers.

bilbo baggins | tolkien's the hobbit | pt 1

[lachrymosity]

PERSONAL
NAME: Lassie
PERSONAL JOURNAL: lachrymosity
EMAIL: justincriedariver@gmail.com
AIM: snapplingly
CURRENT CHARACTERS: None


CHARACTER
CHARACTER NAME: Bilbo Baggins
SERIES: Tolkien's The Hobbit (Movie canon)
CANON POINT: At the end of the movie, Desolation of Smaug.
LOSS: Bilbo's “Magic Ring” (The One Ring)

ABOUT THE CHARACTER:

Bilbo Baggins starts out in the beginning of this adventure as a completely respectable Hobbit with no need for the excitement or nasty mischief he was prone to getting himself into during his childhood. After the deaths of his parents, Bungo and Belladonna Baggins, Bilbo set aside all those foolish notions of escapades that led him into forests searching for Elves and returning home tracking mud and leaves everywhere and turns to a life of respectability befitting a Baggins of Bag-End.

That is of course until Gandalf comes into his life and decides to shake things up quite a bit.

At first Bilbo regards the idea of adventure with outright surprise and dismissal and later on the arrival of the Dwarves only further his reluctance at taking on the title as the Company’s Burglar. In the company of Dwarves he’s over shadowed, mostly ignored, and made fun of to his great displeasure. While he tries to be as polite as any proper Hobbit host in that situation he doesn't have much of a backbone yet to stand up in his defense against any of the Dwarves, least of all Thorin Oakenshield who takes the cake in looking down upon Bilbo. In the beginning Bilbo doesn’t believe in himself in the way Gandalf seems to believe in him, but even knowing that Thorin’s blunt and cold demeanor towards him still stings enough to nearly send him home at one point later on.

pt 2

[lachrymosity]

Still, he ends up accepting their offer on the whim of his Tookish side, his eagerness for an adventure rekindled by Thorin and his Company’s plight to reclaim their home and by Gandalf’s insistence that there is more to Bilbo than even he believes himself. The beginning of their quest has a rocky start and leaves Bilbo more than once wishing to return home to his comfortable smial and warm bed and this only serves to prove Thorin’s judgment over him; that he really does not belong on this quest.

Of course there really is more to Bilbo than meets the eye. His cleverness and quick thinking saves the company from becoming the Trolls’ dinner and then later on from the Spiders of Mirkwood and then from the dungeons of Mirkwood itself. From the point of discovering the Troll cave where Gandalf gifts Bilbo with Sting, Bilbo’s courage slowly grows from his fear of being such a small creature in such a large and dangerous world. Throughout most of his time with the company he doubts himself constantly, feeling the heavy weight of Thorin’s judgment especially on him wherever he goes. Yet while he may doubt himself and his ability to be what Gandalf believes he can be he sticks with the company even after Elrond’s generous off to stay in Rivendell.

He very nearly leaves at once point, just before being attacked by the Goblin’s, but he proves himself again when instead of running away when he had the chance, now with the new found power of invisibility granted to him by the One Ring, he returns to the company.

“(…) And that’s why I came back. Because you don’t have one. A home.”

After his encounter with Gollum in the caves and the discovery of his courage there Bilbo begins to recognize a change in himself and how he is seen by Thorin. Bilbo’s growing bravery is best characterized by saving Thorin from Azog and later when they are free from the current danger of being eaten by Wargs Bilbo and Thorin’s rocky relationship evolves from unwelcome and unneeded to a potentially wonderful friendship between the two. From here Bilbo sees Thorin and his company as part of an, admittedly strange, family and he would without a doubt lay down his life again for any of them if the situation arose. Thorin especially becomes a strong focal point in nurturing Bilbo’s growing courage, his passion to reclaim his family’s home again inspiring Bilbo to strive towards becoming someone worthy of Thorin’s trust and Gandalf’s confidence in him.

At this point Bilbo has more of a backbone than he did when he first left Bag-End and he shows it by speaking up more frequently around the Dwarves and Thorin, although whether anyone really listens to him aside from Thorin and Gandalf is up for debate. Still they manage to survive all the way past Beorn’s, past the Orcs, and all the way into Mirkwood where things really start to fall apart for everyone, especially Bilbo. After a scuffle with a giant trapdoor spider he nearly loses the One Ring and he finds him nearly sick by the idea of losing it. It’s one of the first of small, but many, signs of Bilbo slowly losing himself to the whims of the One Ring. While Sauron doesn’t come into power again for another 60 years Bilbo’s obsession over the Ring only extends as far as possessiveness and uses it only to avoid unpleasant company after he returns to Bag-End at the end of his adventure. In the end he is still able to give it up to Gandalf and thus proves himself to be stronger than Smeagol (Gollum) was when he first came into contact with the Ring.

He rescues the Dwarves again with no short amount of luck and cleverness yet again from the dungeons of Mirkwood and sends them on their way to Laketown and from there to the Lonely Mountain. While at the Overlook he shows hesitance at continuing on without Gandalf, but doesn’t press the issue with Thorin much farther than that out of trust that Thorin knows what he’s doing. Or he hopes so anyways.

When it finally comes to facing the dragon, Smaug, Bilbo asserts himself to Balin that after coming this far he must at least do his best to fulfill his part of the contract.

“I promised I would do this… and I think I must try.”

Of course the very idea of facing a dragon would have been enough to send the Hobbit he was at the beginning of this adventure scurrying back into his smial, but by this point is very much not the same Hobbit he was all those months ago. Much like his encounter with Gollum, he barely survives his encounter with Smaug through well-spoken riddles, twisting words, and the power of the Ring even as he fears for his life and very soon for Thorin’s sanity as well when he’s held at sword’s point by him over the Arkenstone’s whereabouts. It’s from this point that Bilbo begins to realize that maybe Thorin isn't completely unaffected by the goldsickness as he may have claimed to be and the thought of that scares him almost as much as watching Smaug descend upon Laketown.

Kyo Soma | Fruits Basket

[wedged]

PERSONAL
NAME: Helen
PERSONAL JOURNAL: valdemar
EMAIL: sparkling.onions (AT) gmail.com
AIM: awesomesen
CURRENT CHARACTERS: N/A


CHARACTER
CHARACTER NAME: Kyo Soma
SERIES: Fruits Basket
CANON POINT:

Chapter 95. It's December 31st. Because the other members of the family are going to the Soma house for New Years, Kyo and Tohru (neither invited) decide to spend it with Kyo's father at his dojo.

LOSS:

Positive memories of Kyoko Honda.

When Kyo was young, he met Kyoko, who formed a huge impression on him — she was effectively the second person he'd ever met who was kind to him, and he visited her many times over the next several months, learning about her and her daughter, who he grew sort of protective of by extension (while he never met Toru, he felt she deserved to be cheerful; nice people should be allowed happiness). Eventually they lost contact due to Kyo's own stubbornness, but ten years later Kyo witnessed her death in a car accident, something he blames himself for (if only he'd pulled her out of the way!). To make matters worse, her dying words also seemed to blame him for the accident.

Kyo will remember the accident and her dying words, and remember that there was a time that he admired and liked her, but will be unable to recall anything about her but her death/his role in it; likewise, all he'll remember of his childhood with her was him running off in an angry fit, without remembering why he was upset. He'll still know that she was important to him; even that he liked her a lot, but he won't be able to remember why or any details; just a big blank topped by a car crash. He will also be unable to remember his promise to her (to look after Toru), but will remember that he made a promise of… some… sort. The end result? A lot of frustration all around.

ABOUT THE CHARACTER:

The Soma family is cursed. In each generation, children are born possessed by the spirits of the animals of the zodiac. There is only one person possessed by each animal alive at a time, and at times it is years between the death of one and the birth of another, but any child in the family may be born so cursed if a spot is "open." A possessed child has an affinity with their animal, and more than that, will physically transform into that animal when injured, under severe stress, or when hugged by a member of the opposite gender. The curse must remain a secret, and those afflicted are usually treated coldly, rejected, or abused for bearing it. Those who inadvertently discover it must be made to forget. Parents often reject cursed children. In the end, the only "bonds" these people easily make are between one another… the other cursed and 'God.' But they have one other comfort: whether possessed by the rat, the horse, or the dog… they are not possessed by the cat.

According to the legend, when God told the animals to come to his banquet, the rat tricked the cat, giving him the wrong date. Because of this, the cat missed the banquet, and is not a part of the zodiac. The cat is an outsider. He can never belong. He is pathetic, cursed, and exists only for the others, the real zodiac, to pity and look down upon.

Kyo Soma is the cat.

Put simply, Kyo's early years were not easy. Locked away by his mother, who eventually committed suicide over what others said — to Kyo's face — was the burden of raising him, he was abandoned by his father and ostracised by everyone he met. Kyo was well aware that he was hated, even at the age of only five or so, and reacted by lashing out. While being adopted by someone who genuinely loved him did much to ease that pain and anger, Kyo remains a short-tempered, and profoundly angry person. He can't stand being mocked or scorned, but he also doesn't trust kindness, which is usually borne from pity. Although he's on good terms with most of the members of the zodiac, he knows his fate is, upon graduation from high school, to be locked away in a room the rest of his life. He knows he's not truly "one of them," even if he gets along with them.

Deep down, Kyo is an intensely self-hating person. Although he protests and objects and gets angry in the face of scorn and rejection, he's heard all his life that he's a monster, and more than half believes it. Maybe he didn't kill his mother in action, but his existence caused her to want to die. His true form is a disgusting monster, and something he's deeply ashamed of. Early in the series, his shame over his curse causes him to hesitate instead of pulling a woman out of the way of an oncoming car, and her death creates even more self loathing. No matter how he tries, he'll fail. No one wants him, no one needs him, he'd be better off if he didn't exist. He's a monster and no one loves him — those that say they do are only pitying him, or don't understand how terrible he truly is.

Kyo isn't the sort of person to wallow in this, however. Instead, he externalises, forces the feelings away and onto other people, finding ways to blame and hate them instead of himself. This displays most prominently with Kyo's cousin Yuki, the rat of the zodiac. On the surface, Yuki has always lived the privileged, accepted, admired life Kyo can never have; even without trying, Yuki one-ups Kyo in everything he does. Worse, Kyo's mother's suicide note mentioned Yuki: If she had to have borne a cursed child, why couldn't it have been the rat? He's the perfect scapegoat for Kyo, and this feud is only encouraged by the head of the Sōma family, who told Kyo that if he can defeat Yuki at something — anything — he will be accepted and not locked away. Yuki is the perfect person for Kyo to direct his anger on because, he later admits, he's too afraid to direct it on himself.

The upside to Kyo's externalising, if anything, is that it does help him get by in day to day life. Kyo can be somewhat standoffish and cool when he's feeling vulnerable, but he's noted to be the sort of person who makes friends and socialises easily when he isn't thinking about it; while prickly and awkward around strangers, it's a transparent sort of prickliness that leads to a lot of banter and teasing and embarrassing nicknames for Kyo. He's straight-forward and energetic — not in the cheerful sense, but in the sense that he does nothing half-heartedly. He's angry, he's loud, he reacts strongly to everything, he challenges people to races or fights; he's competitive and doesn't often think things through (okay, more like never). For this reason, he's also sort of an idiot, as is often pointed out. It's not like he lacks intelligence exactly, but his upbringing left him more or less completely unaware of pop culture or technology, and that is only compounded by his strong reactions, extremely straight-forward manner, and utter lack of thinking ahead (and bad habit of not listening when people are talking). He also tends to be somewhat gullible when he doesn't know something. Better to act like he knew all along!

Not far below the surface is a strong desire to be loved and accepted. While he's deathly afraid of pity, of being hated and turned from, Kyo seeks love and affection and responds very quickly to it, no matter the source. Shortly after meeting Toru Honda, an outsider aware of the curse and one of the kindest people in the universe, Kyo began to fall in love with her. She was kind, she liked him even though she knew he was the cat, and he was completely unable to resist growing close to her. Likewise, his adoptive father met Kyo at his angriest and most hurt, and Kazuma's basic kindness won Kyo's love and loyalty very quickly. While he attempts to act aloof and uncaring, he laps up any genuine affection shown, and responds in kind with a much gentler, calmer side, and fierce loyalty and protectiveness. Even if he still privately frets somewhat about the sincerity of it, he's entirely unable to stay away from any kindness shown, and the influence of this love and affection shows: as Fruits Basket continues, Kyo grows less angry and less short-tempered, far less aloof, and much more honest with himself about his fears and emotions.

ABILITIES:

● Kyo is, first and foremost, possessed by a cat spirit. When under severe mental or physical stress, or embraced by a member of the opposite gender, he will involuntarily and instantly transform into an orange cat. He retains his human mind and ability to speak in this form, and it wears off — leaving him naked — after a random period of time. This possession comes with several other side effects: cats are drawn to him and Kyo has an affinity for them — he doesn't seem to care about them much one way or another, but they do what he wants them to; he's distasteful of water and dislikes swimming, and rainy days leave him noticeably lethargic and grumpy; his favourite foods are all fish; he enjoys being in high places, and he can also land on his feet after jumping from second story windows! His possession also explains his colouring; Kyo has orange hair and eyes, which is commented on many times for how unusual it is, and is usually assumed dyed.

○ Kyo also possesses a "true form," unlike the other members of the zodiac. He wears, at all times, a bracelet made out of red and white human bone, which he never, ever takes off, whether awake, asleep, or bathing. If his beads are removed, he instantly transforms into a grotesque, reptilian monster that can run quickly and has long, sharp claws. This transformation brings him intense shame and misery, and Kyo has one hell of a complex about them, never taking them off. However, if they are removed, he will eventually change back to human on his own. (Only to transform back, presumably, if the beads are not replaced.)

● Kyo's father, Kazuma, is a teacher of martial arts, and Kyo has been taught since he was adopted by him. He's stated to be a black belt, and shown to be quite skilled and dedicated to his training. His dream, in a world where he would be allowed to do so, would be to take over his father's dojo, showing he's really quite serious about it.

○ Mundanely, he's a surprisingly competent cook, and has shown himself to be good at various household tasks and light repair; he has plenty of practical skills, when he chooses to make use of them!

THIRD-PERSON WRITING SAMPLE:

He wakes up before the alarm, the sort of sudden, complete wakefulness that makes Kyo suspect he must have heard a noise, or had some sort of bad dream. He doesn't hear anything now, and any dreams are just dregs (and better off so), so he allows his body to relax and turns his head to check the time. 4:27. So, not too early. The room is dark but for the glowing numbers of his alarm clock and residual light from outside, but Kyo sits up, stretches, and crawls out from his futon without bothering with a light. He dresses just as easily, the cat spirit compensating for the darkness without his even having to think about it. He's the first one awake; Shigure and Yuki won't be up until the last possible minute, and Toru doesn't usually get up until around six. Only for her sake (screw Yuki) is he careful to be quiet, leaving his room and heading downstairs, putting on his sneakers and slipping out the door for a run.

He likes this time of day. When the world is silent and empty and cool, no one bothering him, no one looking at him, no one thinking about him at all. The sun comes up gradually, and he runs along his usual route, not thinking of anything in particular but pretending he's not making a circle, pretending he's running away for real, for good, to somewhere. But that isn't allowed. Some fragment of the night's dream bubbles up, and he frowns — the scratchy feeling of cheap curtains, dirty glass, mom's hand tight on his shoulder, pulling him back — and pushes the thought back into the darkness. He completes his run and jogs back to the house, and by the time he's done washing up, he can smell breakfast cooking. He towels off his hair — he hates the feeling of being damp — and doesn't quite hesitate (the dream; stay inside), leaving the quiet of the bathroom to head for the kitchen. Anyway, he ran for forty minutes; he's hungry.

Toru smiles at him, so bright, and tells him "good morning!"

FIRST-PERSON JOURNAL SAMPLE:

here!

INTENT:

Kyon has lived his entire life in, basically, an abusive cult; getting to know people outside of that can only be good for him, and help him grow as a person instead of remaining "locked away" as he tends to do. While at his current canon point he has made steps towards opening up to some people, he still has a long way to go — in other words, I'd like to see how he can be developed in a different setting!

REVISIONS

[paradisamods]

Hello! Thank you for your interest in Paradisa. Before we give you a decision on your application, we'd like to see a simplification of Kyo's loss. As it is, it seems somewhat complicated.

Please return your revisions within 72 hours. Thank you!

[yay_heiress]

PERSONAL
Name: Lexie
Personal Journal: lexichi
EMAIL: ZebraLibra@live.com
AIM: Lexora4@mac.com
CURRENT CHARACTERS: None


CHARACTER
CHARACTER NAME: London Tipton
SERIES: The Suite Life on Deck
CANON POINT: Near the series finale, before she graduates high school.
LOSS: London has lost her ability to wear high heels. Platforms, wedges, stilettos, stacked, chunky... she can't wear anything with a steep incline or above an inch high. This will quite emotionally affect London because as a fashionista and a lover of expensive designer shoes, heels are all she ever wears. Not being able to wear the footwear she loves will have her pouting. In addition to that, it was a plus to wear them for an added height boost, considering she's only 5'2''. She'll definitely start to realize just how tall everyone is.

ABOUT THE CHARACTER: London Tipton is a rich, beautiful and conceited heiress who grew up in the pent house suite of the hotel that her father, Wilfred Tipton owns. The Tipton hotel where she originally resides in Boston is only one piece of the international chain of hotels scattered across the globe. (Yes, she’s a Disney Channel charicature of Paris Hilton. Eh? Eh?) Given her money related star status, she is often hounded by the paparazzi, and always wants to look her best to avoid being captured in an icky photograph in the tabloids.
Her birthday is never actually stated, but London has mentioned the fact that she is a Libra. Towards the end of the series, she’s nearing about 19 years of age. She inherited her looks from her Thai mother, so two words sum up her general appearance: Hot Asian. She loves being surrounded by beautiful and lavish things, and she grew up having most things done for her. It takes her a while to appreciate what she has, considering the fact that hardships rarely come her way. Although she is ridiculously rich, she doesn’t hold back from being quite generous every once in a while. Let’s just say that when she tips a waiter, it’s about equal to a month or two of his salary.
London has quite a reputation for not being very smart. In fact, she has been held back in her classes a few times, making her a little older than her classmates. Her ignorance of the way regular people live, and the presumption that she’s never opened a book in her life, are seen in many different ways, from adorable to annoying. She’s been to three different high schools in her father’s attempts to get her to concentrate. But her lack of attention span and interest only in herself block her from learning much. As a result, she tends to be quite naïve, and learns most things from experience.
From a young age, London hasn’t had her parents around very much. They divorced when she was very young, and since then, she’s had a revolving door of step-moms totaling about 15. She doesn’t see her father very often, considering he’s always away on business, and only one of her step-moms has ever really tried to reach out to her. (Presumably step-mom number 12.) She has grown a bit of resentment toward her father and all of his ex wives, but he wins her over with expensive and shiny things. Her father also tends to smooth things over with trips to many international locations where she would be spoiled with fantastic purchases and expensive gifts. London often brings her purchases back to rub in the faces of the poorer inhabitants of the Tipton hotel, otherwise known as her friends and classmates.
London sometimes takes out her frustrations on her friends (or simply forgets that they’re not her lap dogs,) by gloating, reminding them of her status, bribing them to do her bidding, or being just plain unfair. Of course, they have been known to take her down a peg or two when she steps out of line. This has not only made London more tolerable for them most of the time, but it’s made London realize how lucky she is that they never really abandoned her, like some of her rich friends have done in the past. She even lets her generosity take over in response to their kindness, and will often return a favor that she takes to heart tenfold.
The Tipton hotel isn’t the only place where London resides. Her most current home away from home is aboard the cruise ship the S.S. Tipton. When London’s grades failed to improve, her father placed her aboard the cruise ship where he had implemented a floating boarding school. Most of her friends were lucky enough to attend the sea school as well, in addition to some new ones, and they’ve helped to keep her grounded and focused. For the most part.

[yay_heiress]

ABILITIES: London’s greatest ability is fashion. It doesn’t account for much to the normal person, but she’s quite fashion forward and can make anybody over, whether they want a makeover or not. She also has the ability to make most young men bend to her whim and do her bidding, but it might not blow over so well in Paradisa. That, and the fact that she probably owns more credit cards than Paris Hilton herself.

THIRD-PERSON WRITING SAMPLE: As the sun shines through the large window, London stirs, not quite able to do more than feel the warmth of the sun. Curling up onto her side, she takes in the softness of her bed.
So soft… this is way different from that lumpy old life raft I went to sleep on…

The heiress rolls onto her back again and pushes herself up into a sitting position. With a yawn, she pulls back the silken sleep mask embroidered with the word Princess in perfect calligraphy. As she squints, her eyes adjusting to the light, her vision becomes clearer, capturing unfamiliar surroundings. The faint smile on her lips turns into a look of confusion as she realizes she has no idea where she is.

“Bailey?” she says, looking for another bed to her left. But there’s none. Just the vast expanse of bed that she’s on, covered with unfamiliar bedclothes. She looks around again and the smile returns, this time as a grin. “They finally moved Bailey out of my room and they redecorated it? Eee! Yay me!” she says with a happy squeal and a clap, tossing the covers off and jumping to her feet. She looks at that soft bed, wrinkling her nose at the gaudy pattern. “These sheets are kind of tacky, but that can be fixed.”

Her attention is drawn to the fact that there’s a lot more natural light than she’s used to on a cruise ship. “They even replaced that stupid port hole with an actual window!” She hurries to the window and tosses back the curtain, peering through the glass. Instead of endless ocean, she can see what appears to be a stretch of land, covered with beautiful scenery and dotted with adorable buildings. “Hm. We must be docked somewhere,” she says cheerfully. She skips to the vanity, a pitiful frown forming on her face when she realizes that her makeup and her cell phone are nowhere to be found. “I bet Bailey took my phone and makeup as payback for getting kicked out. Now how am I supposed to text Moseby?” After thinking about it for a second or two, she gives a shrug, flipping her hair as she sets her sights on the closet. “I guess I’ll have to just get dressed and go find him.” Without a second glance, London makes her way to the closet and opens the door.

“Ahhhhhhhh!” The sight she sees makes her shriek, her arms flailing as she stumbles back from the threshold. Perching on the edge of her bed, she clutches at her chest, gasping for breath. “C-c-c-closet… empty…!”

FIRST-PERSON JOURNAL SAMPLE: Ooh! A diary with my name in it! It’s pretty, but they emptied out my closet to give me this thing? Oh well, I might as well write in it until I can go shopping again. Some of that stuff was last season anyway.

Oo, look, a hair feather! [She tucks the quill pen behind her ear.] Now all I need is a pen… Or a dictator, to write down what I say! Too bad this book doesn’t just copy what I say on its own.

*gasp* It does! Wait… I didn’t write any of this! I didn’t say any of it either. They exchanged my clothes for a notebook that’s already full? Uh! Worst interior decorators ever! I should tell daddy to have them fired!

INTENT: I've played London here before, and although I'm starting her off on a clean slate, I really miss writing her. I miss the game, the CR she's made, and the people I've played here with! My schedule has died down a lot since I've had to drop, and I feel like I'm definitely ready to take her on again and be as active as the game calls for.