Understand the secrets and have some fun

[these_balls]

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Route 29 has closed as of May 30th. For the continuation of the game, please visit victory_road!

Applications will be normally checked during the weekend following the first and third Sunday of each month unless otherwise stated, and we will allow one application per person during one application cycle. Remember, the most characters one player can have at a time is currently set at five.

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<u><b>Player</u></b> <b>Name:</b> <b>Personal Journal:</b> <user name=""> <b>E-mail:</b> <b>AIM/Plurk/Etc.:</b> <b>Timezone:</b> <b>Current Characters in Route:</b> <b><u>Character</u></b> <b>Name:</b> <b>Series:</b> <b>Timeline:</b> <b>Canon Resource Links:</b> Here we would have the links to wikis and other information sites. If none of those seem to provide enough information, feel free to add more about the character here. However, please do not use this section as a full history section unless your canon is ridiculously obscure. General rule of thumb: if there are a good amount of descriptive resources, please just link them and use this section to add in what may have been left out, as opposed to writing an entire history section. <b>Personality:</b> Give us at minimum 2-3 full paragraphs of how you understand your character's personality. Talk about basic characteristics, any major developments over the course of their canon, their motives, their social behavior, and anything else you can think of that shows off your knowledge of this character. <b>Strengths/Weaknesses:</b> Try to cover the good points of what they can do, their life skills (not necessarily powers, but things they're just good at). Go into their biggest fears and what they just can’t do. <b><u>Pokémon Information</u></b> <b>Affiliation:</b> What career path will your character be taking? Breeder, Trainer? Or maybe even down the dark path of becoming a member of Team Rocket? Note: All Rocket members start as grunts. (For right now, only those three positions are available, whether your character chooses to follow their assigned path or not.) <b>Starter:</b> What starter pokémon do you want your character to have? Please use the list linked above to choose from. Certain pokémon have an orange star next to their names; if you choose one of these starters (Deino, Zorua, Litwick, Pikachu, Scyther, Dratini, Bagon, Gible, Axew, Ralts, Riolu, Beldum, Larvitar, Eevee, or Beldum) you must provide reasoning. You do not need to explain your reasoning for pokémon other than those listed above. <b>Password:</b> This is where you'll put the passwords from the Rules and the F.A.Q. There are two words, to assure you've read both. <b><u>Samples</u></b> <b>First Person Sample:</b> The sample must take place in Route_29's setting. Eight sentences is the minimum. This is a PokéConnect post--one that will be on the character's journal, broadcast to the network. Although it is short, it needs to show how your character would communicate with others, as well as be descriptive enough to express the character's voice without sounding too generic. <b>Third Person Sample:</b> The sample must take place in Route_29's setting. The minimum is 300 words. Please note that what we are looking for is an inner working into the character’s thoughts and actions, and how the character responds to the setting, not something that could be taken as an excerpt fanfic. You may use other characters to bounce your characters actions off of, but everything should still be mostly from their point of view.

Comments

Leonard Church | Red vs Blue | Not Reserved

[motherfucking_ghost]

Player
Name: Shawna
Personal Journal: shadowesque
E-mail: ladyintime9 a gmail
AIM/Plurk/Etc.: aim: bewd ceo, skype: shadowesque13, plurk: shadoweque
Timezone: EST
Current Characters in Route: N/A

Character
Name: Leonard Church/Alpha
Series: Red vs Blue
Timeline: Near the end of S6E19 (therefore, despite the huge revelations surrounding this character, I'm not treating anything as spoilers because it's been like 7 years)
Canon Resource Links: RvB wiki link

Personality: Church is angry. While he is not the murderous, malevolent ball of concentrated rage that Omega is, Church still has a lot of his own multitude of frustrations to throw around. He deals with a lot of stupidity from the universe and everyone around him (and himself); his initial reaction to a lot of things is likely going to be either sarcasm or barely concealing that his last nerve is getting worn on. Expect yelling (possibly high-pitched) and creative cursing and epithets.

A lot of it tends to be because his ego is rather large. He took charge of his own team when their captain died, even though he technically hadn't received a promotion, and he thinks himself a competent leader--more competent than any of you chucklefucks, at least. It's true that out of the Reds and Blues, he does seem to have a knack for understanding situations (or at least rolling with the punches after a moment of WTFing) and coming up with plans of action that might even have a chance of working. But really, he gets screwed over...or screws himself over...before most plans have a chance to work. Which is pretty angering. Tex was once described as the embodiment of failure (the Director's failure, more like), but honestly, it's something Church has got in spades. Doesn't keep him from trying, because someone has to do something, and sadly, it tends to fall on him. Even inadvertently.

Under the pride and the better-than-thou attitude, Church can come across as just a bro who'll shoot the shit and make light. There's also a well of care and responsibility he will vehemently deny, because, tch, he isn't a pussy. Despite his frequent assertions that he hates his own teammates, ain't nobody messing with his clique, and he gets distraught and gutted at the idea of one of them dying. It's probably the most abusive of friendships you'll see around. It's a good way to describe his relationship with his on-again off-again 'girlfriend' Tex: abusive, complicated, but deeply involved and loving to an actually kind of scary degree that gets explained as an even scarier degree in later seasons by OTHER Churches. They're people that tolerate him, people he's been living with and around for a long time, and, sure, sometimes they accidentally kill him and he holds a grudge, but they're his people, damn it, and nobody's going to hurt them but him if he can do anything about it.

The thing to understand about Church--the thing to understand about the Alpha--is that there are a lot of pieces missing. While he has a complete personality with a complete range of emotions as far as anyone (including himself) is concerned, the reality is is that he's had a lot of blanks to fill over the years. And he's only very recently learned any of this, something he hasn't had the time to really compute or deal with yet. His memories are a jumble of his own, the Director's, and things he mostly made up or cobbled together to fill in the spaces missing when Epsilon took everything awful away. And while he shows the basics of each of the traits of the AI ripped from him (creativity, logic, rage, etc), he's not any one of these things, and what's there is just a fraction of what he used to be. Before about an hour prior to entering the game, he had no idea about any of this, and the information that he's a fraction of a tortured AI based off a genius with a fucked up moral compass is...hard to swallow. Viewed like this, in many ways it's like he's had to work twice as hard just to seem like one complete and whole person. The reason he feels so responsible for people, guilty when something goes wrong even if it isn't his fault, cares so deeply even when he doesn't want to, is because he did care once upon a time, he did have responsibility, and that was used against him to make him think it was his fault in scenario after scenario where he was told the Freelancers had died. He doesn't remember that, but the traits have carried over anyway like deeply embedded scars on his psyche. Everything that he is is the remnants of another man's brain, warped by torture, and cobbled back together anew by his experiences with the Reds and Blues.

This show is a comedy!

When he's emotional, his words stutter, pause, create janky and jagged edges in conversation wherein he tries to reach for words that slip away from him. When he's lying, he's easy to catch for being so bad at it. When his anger erupts like a bitter spewing volcano or he tells exaggerated tall tales to inflate his ego, he doesn't necessarily mean to cause a scene, but attention is something he generally likes to subconsciously have. He's pretty much unable to keep his opinions to himself, vocal and chatty in all the wrong ways, and despite not wanting to show his squishier sides, tends to have his heart sewn directly onto his sleeve and lined with neon lights. He is a person, damn it, and no one Freelancer is going to tell him otherwise, even when the evidence is in front of his face screaming a name he doesn't remember.

Learning how to work a fully human body with no space-age armor? Also going to be a fun learning experience to screw with his perceptions and perceived senses.

Strengths/Weaknesses:
+Leadership
Comes up with plans of action that usually aren't terrible. Isn't afraid to take charge and order other people around...and, sure, do some stuff himself, I guess. Takes responsibility. ...Takes responsibility even if something isn't necessarily his to take. Usually ends up doing the right thing even if the right thing sucks. Eventually. Probably.

+Loyalty
If you're in his group, you're one of his. And nobody but him is allowed to antagonize you. Or shoot you. Hey, I didn't say he'd like you. And despite all appearances, he gives a damn.

+Experience
...with weird shit. Is this shit going to be especially weird? Yes. Yes it is. But, look, after time travel that may or may not have actually happened, blowing up, getting blown up, dudes birthing alien babies, talking bombs, and his life being a lie, he's not exactly about to go catatonic. It helps(?) that he's been around idiots for so long, people who aren't constantly in the middle of bullshit is going to be pretty welcome.

-Big Mouth
He doesn't have much in the way of a brain-mouth filter and tends to speak his mind. This does not always go well. In fact this frequently doesn't go well. He tends to mouth off to people he really shouldn't in particular.

-Aiming
He has none. His kill count is...really low if you don't count team kills. Expect him to miss with pokeballs frequently, honestly.

-Emotions
Anger. So much anger and frustration. He doesn't seem to know what the words 'emotional regulation' mean. Could really use some therapy, for real. Tends to be abrasive in the face of the emotional states of others. Slightly...unstable from both past torture and recently being alone on a base for over a year.

-Is A Major Asshole
'nuf said.

Pokémon Information
Affiliation: Trainer
Starter: Voltorb
Password: Peppermint Bark

Samples
First Person Sample:
[See Church. See Church sit on the edge of a bed. See Church sit on the edge of a bed, grumping.]

Okay guys. I'm no homeowner expert, or a landlord, or have any legal understanding of building...stuff. But I think some basic rules should apply across the board. And across the universe. Like, if you have a place to rent out or sell, if it's a hotel room or an apartment or an air mattress on the kitchen floor, you should let people know certain important aspects.

Like if the place is fucking haunted. That should be a law!

[As if on cue, while Church speaks, a Haunter flits about behind him, making all manner of silly faces.]

It's a couple very simple things you should line up if there's something wrong. No wifi, bedbugs, and paranormal activity. I don't ask for much. All I want is a bed with clean sheets and a bathroom that flushes and has hot water, and--

[He abruptly turns around, and the Haunter blinks out of sight.] DON'T THINK I DON'T KNOW YOU'RE THERE! KNOCK IT THE FUCK OFF! I KNOW A THING OR TWO ABOUT GHOSTS, PAL. I WILL HAUNT THE SHIT OUT OF YOUR SPOOKY ASS AND SEE HOW YOU LIKE IT THEN!

[There's some static and a purple haze as, oh, looks like a ghost is interested in the device.] Haun... Oh no you do not, Casper, you get your unfriendly self away from that thing so help me.

Anyone know of any Ghostbusters in the area?!

Third Person Sample:
An honest to god hamburger. Several things go through his mind at once at the smell of greasy fast food at a joint on the corner: he recognizes the smell of hamburger, he has never smelled a hamburger, he can imagine the taste of a hamburger, he has never had a hamburger, he is hungry, he has no recollection of eating before and yet he is also absolutely certain he's eaten before.

Church ignores all of this contrasting input because holy shit he's never been this hungry in his life after wandering around, on foot, with people want to fucking fight his angry explosion-orb, and also various wildlife that either wanted to give him the evil eye or ran the hell away like wildlife should do in the face of man. Granola bars? He's a grown-ass man; he does not get sustained on the likes of granola.

"Pretty sure you can't come in with me," he tells the Voltorb that's chosen to follow him around endlessly, who just glares at him. It's a perpetual glare. He's not convinced those eyes aren't just painted on. "I mean, I don't think I can swing explaining you as a disability...ball. So just...sit. Good boy. Now stay. Staaaayyy..."

Voltorb continues to glare at everyone and everything but does not follow or even flee to the nearest person to freedom. So. So far so good. Church has to count up his money, and he's hardly loaded, but fast food is fast food, and fast food is cheap. Burger. Big burger. With the works. Large fry. Soda. He'd rather a beer, but whatever, he's also technically never had a beer either, but he's not going to sweat the small stuff.

It is absolutely the most delicious thing he's ever eaten. He slumps back in his seat at first bite, trying not to make obscene noises in the middle of a public food chain. But who cares because this is amazing. (Briefly he wonders if Voltorb eats, but his mute partner has yet to reveal a mouth. More for him!) And this is supposed to be bad for people? No wonder Grif does nothing but eat all day. He savors the taste and refuses to wonder if that bull-looking critter is what the meat's made out of.

He comes out nibbling on the remnants of the fries, and sure enough, Voltorb is waiting grumpily by the door and rolls alongside him. Church glances at a fry, then down at Voltorb. And crouches down to offer the nibble. "Do you even eat...?"

Voltorb stares. And then gives him a shock for his troubles. "Okay, sheesh, fine! You're a robot, and robots don't eat! I get it! I'm gonna fucking dump you in the bottom of a lake if you do that again."

[these_balls]

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Thank you! See you in the Pokémon world!

Aqua | Kingdom Hearts | Not reserved

[prismbloom]

Player
Name: Michelle
Personal Journal: xehanoot
E-mail: sweetstacking@gmail.com
AIM/Plurk/Etc.: sweetstacks
Timezone: PST
Current Characters in Route: n/a

Character
Name: Aqua
Series: Kingdom Hearts
Timeline: Post-Birth by Sleep
Canon Resource Links: Here.

[prismbloom]

Personality:
Aqua is, first and foremost, a kind and compassionate young woman. When she meets young Kairi in Radiant Garden, she treats her very sweetly, accepting the flowers the girl has gathered for her. Sensing the girl's light, though she only just met her, Aqua protects Kairi and is seen smiling the whole time she interacts with her. Aqua is willing to go to great lengths to protect and save her friends: She willingly, and without hesitation, casts herself into the darkness in an effort to save Terra at the end of the game. Aqua's kindness in general allows her to forge bonds quite easily. She helps Cinderella escape her stepfamily and later protects her with her own body when an Unversed attacks; she assists the Disney Townspeople with their Unversed problem when the resident "hero" turns out to be useless; she convinces the Grand Councilwoman to give Experiment 626 a less harsh sentence after forming a bond with the alien and accepting him into her circle of friends. Aqua is a sensible young woman as well as being quite empathetic: When she first meets the alien Experiment 626, she realizes right away how he must feel after seeing his own Wayfinder. Her capacity for kindness is shown too when she convinces the Grand Councilwoman not to dispose of Experiment 626; she also seems shocked when she learns that he will be banished. Aqua further emphasizes her compassion when she asks the alien to add her to his bond.

Aqua's strength of heart is incredible--and that's an understatement. It's this strength of heart that allows her to become a Keyblade Master, and it sets her upon the path she truly thinks is right. Her strength of heart comes in part from her faith in the people she loves. It affords Aqua an amazing amount of resilience: She is able to travel the realm of darkness for a decade without any protection. Aqua's faith also comes from this strength of hers: She knows that, as long as she has her friends, things will work out in the end. Though Terra is nowhere to be found after the incident at the Keyblade Graveyard, Aqua is certain that she will see him again--and that Terra will be there to help guide Ventus back to the light. Though she can be serious for a good portion of the time, there's quite obviously a softer side to Aqua, one that she rarely shows to anyone who's not close. Aqua believes in miracles (like Ventus's waking up after a prolonged period of time) and true love. She sees it when Snow White's prince delivers to her true love's kiss and she wakes up (prompting the flashback to Ventus's own waking) and when Prince Phillip slays the dragon Maleficent. Aqua clearly states to the fairy after she returns to her usual form, "It's the power of true love that defeated you....You don't even know the first thing about it. You're too clouded by darkness to see that there's something greater." To Aqua, then, true love is the thing that trumps even the darkest of evil: Yen Sid tells her that "Just as long as you love him...then Ventus will be able to find you when he wakes. He can follow that love back to where he belongs--the realm of light." Thus, for Aqua, love is the ultimate form of light, and in her darkest times, she relies upon her friends to carry her through.

Aqua's circle of friends is the single most important thing to her: Aqua knows that, as long as she has her friends, things will work out in the end. Though Terra is nowhere to be found after the incident at the Keyblade Graveyard, Aqua is certain that she will see him again--and that Terra will be there to guide Ventus back to the light. Her determination is also what drives her; she doesn't give up until she sees something to its end--see when she goes to find Terra in order to make sure he doesn't fall into the darkness. For her friends, Aqua would do pretty much anything. She goes to great lengths in order to ensure that they are safe, and Aqua knows the bonds she forges are of utmost importance. She believes the best of her friends, no matter what; even when she has reason to doubt them, Aqua takes action to get to the bottom of what's actually happening. She openly tells Yensid that he's wrong and that Terra couldn't possibly have been responsible for Eraqus's death, after all. It's because of this loyalty that she feels so hurt when Ventus lashes out at her, and why she feels so awful when Terra is not made Master alongside her. Partly out of responsibility, Aqua follows Terra when he runs from home, and partly because she cares so much about him and Ventus. It could also be said that it's more out of Aqua's love for the two that she fights so hard to find and take them back home. Unfortunately, she is pretty single-minded on this mission, which she believes in very strongly, which causes friction between her and the two boys. A point of contention and conflict throughout Aqua’s story, then, is actually her loyalty. She's often pulled in two directions, though, since Terra and Ventus have their own agendas and have no wish to return home. Therefore, Aqua is caught between following orders and letting her friends stretch their wings, so to speak. Aqua’s very obviously unsettled and bothered by the fact that she is choosing to follow Eraqus’s orders over letting the boys do as they wish. In this sense, she can be a bit singleminded. Aqua is very rigid in what path she takes, and she rarely strays from it, even when she’s aware of what consequences might arise from this.

And so Aqua is stubborn. Because she believes so strongly in her friends, Aqua sometimes comes off as a little high and mighty sometimes. Her faith in them very rarely wavers, and when it does, Aqua becomes visibly conflicted: She's troubled, confused, and she wants to know the truth. Such conflicting emotions come through in her interaction with Master Yen Sid: After being informed that her master's star has blinked out and he has been struck down, Aqua lashes out, slamming her hands on Yen Sid's desk. She outright states that Yen Sid's claim is absurd. Because Aqua believes so much in Terra, she refuses to believe, and thus decides to go look for him--and the truth--herself. When it comes to her friends, Aqua does not want to believe the worst of them; she stubbornly goes out and absolutely has to prove otherwise. Her stubbornness also results in her ultimate fate of wandering the darkness: She refuses to give up on Terra, which results in her being unable to return home. And even before she sets out on her journey, though, Aqua is almost painfully overbearing. Ventus's safety is of utmost importance to her, and though she knows he's been training just as Terra and Aqua have, she still worries incessantly about him. In nearly all of their interactions, Aqua acts the mother to Ventus: She tells him to go home and, during the Mark of Mastery exam, she literally tells him, "Go wait in your room." While being protective is not necessarily a bad thing, the boys see it as such: It's her overprotective nature that ends in Ventus's thinking of her as awful. It can even be argued that Ventus and Terra may believe Aqua doubts them and their abilities, since she's so insistent on their returning home.

Her sense of justice and judgment is incredible and rarely ever wrong. Her way of thinking and her beliefs are fairly rigid, but she's not unreceptive to new ways of thinking: In Castle of Dreams, when the Fairy Godmother states that she mustn't fight darkness with light, Aqua wants to know why. She is, admittedly, a little naïve about light and darkness; she wants to eradicate the darkness, because it’s what she’s been taught. However, the Fairy Godmother convinces her that there’s more to it—and so Aqua’s view of the world becomes less rigid, less black and white. Aqua is pretty good at reading people, too; she knows Maleficent is no good from the moment she sees her, and she immediately picks up on the Tremaine ladies's inner darkness. Aqua's judgment also works in reverse: She senses the light within others, too. Similarly, Aqua is incredibly respectful to those she perceives as being in a higher position than she: Upon meeting Queen Minnie, she treats her as she would any new acquaintance, with kindness; the moment she discovers Minnie's status, she's visibly embarrassed and flustered, and excuses herself and questions her manners. Minnie tells her not to be so formal, but Aqua treats her with respect still. Similarly, Aqua addresses the Grand Councilwoman as "ma'am," and willingly follows her orders to capture Experiment 626. Furthermore, the scenes with the Grand Councilwoman show, as stated previously, her strict adherence to orders she's given.

Aqua is also exceptionally adaptable. Perhaps it's because of her exposure to odd things practically her whole life, Aqua rarely blinks an eye when it comes to fighting Unversed or talking to highly intelligent animals (looking at you, Disney Town). Aqua knows very well her responsibilities and does not hesitate to do whatever it takes to ensure she can accomplish what she must. As such, Aqua is quick on her feet. When faced with Unversed and a vulnerable small child, Aqua works with little hesitation: She grabs the girl and rushes off to take her to safety. Afterward, she dives right into the action, easing into it like it's completely natural. Aqua manages to adapt to the most extreme of situations: During her time in the realm of darkness, she manages to hold onto herself and survive completely on her own.

As level-headed as she is, Aqua can have a serious temper. It's triggered when her friends are threatened, most of all. Because Aqua's sense of justice is so strong, she tends to be very protective of her friends or those she knows as innocents. When facing off against Braig, she essentially spits in the face of his "mind games," defiantly telling him that tearing them apart won't work. Her friends are definitely the button to push in order to get a rise out of Aqua: Vanitas's breaking Ventus's wooden Keyblade angers her (which even gets an insult out of her, as she calls him a "freak"). Similarly, in Deep Space, when Gantu goes against orders and attempts to dispose of Experiment 626, Aqua faces off against him with no hesitation. She perceives his actions as going against what's right--and so she becomes a little less levelheaded and a little more impulsive.

Additionally, while she has an incredibly strong sense of justice, this results in her holding a grudge. And, boy, can she hold a grudge. When Aqua perceives something that’s been done wrong, she doesn’t let anyone forget it. This can be seen as arrogance—and while Aqua upholds a large amount of respect for authority figures, it doesn’t quite extend to those she thinks have done wrong. Aqua isn’t afraid to lash out and toss a biting remark or two at whoever she perceives as a wrongdoer (Hades and Maleficent, for example). And Aqua has very little respect for those who immediately make her uncomfortable or ping her “bad guy radar”; she can even be resistant to listening to said people, even when they try to convince her otherwise. Aqua is very no-nonsense when she feels offended about something; she doesn’t mince her words, which can come off as annoying at best and insufferable at worst.

It’s her determination that’s truly incredible. Aqua is incessantly proactive; she can be seen as the true hero of Birth by Sleep. It’s very rare for Aqua to not follow something through. An active force of her own, and a very major one, Aqua is constantly cleaning up messes. Indeed, she doesn’t leave a place until she is entirely sure that things are all wrapped up. This determination, too, lends itself to her sacrificial nature. Aqua is aware that she’s responsible for the rift and Terra’s becoming distant with her and Ventus, and she does not give up on him until she’s literally fallen into darkness. Outside of her circle of friends, though, Aqua is determined to accomplish things that are necessary. She willingly allows herself to get caught up in other worlds’ affairs—mostly because she’s a Keyblade Master, and Keyblade Masters are there to uphold and restore balance to all the worlds. Basically, Aqua never stops moving or acting. She kickstarts a lot of events and ties up those loose ends… even if it’s a big mess. Aqua's determination and resulting being bestowed the title of Keyblade Master is especially impressive when you consider Eraqus's words at the beginning of her exam: She and Terra are two of the youngest prospective Masters in a very long time. Aqua works hard, and it shows: She's strong, determined, and willing to put her life on the line in order to accomplish what she needs to.

As Aqua has grown up with just her two friends, she is a bit socially awkward. When Zack asks her out on a date, she is flustered and embarrassed, and it takes her a while to compose herself. Aqua is incredibly humble and downplays her abilities: Even though she is a Master, she calls herself a "trainee," and when offering her help to anyone, she states that she'll "do her best" instead of flaunting her abilities. While Aqua clearly shows that she's capable of being a Master--no small feat--she isn't too willing to outright show confidence. Therefore, despite Aqua’s intense focus on her goals and duties, she does have a soft side. Without a doubt, Aqua believes that true love is the strongest force there is. For someone so outwardly serious, Aqua’s surprisingly very... mushy, for lack of a better word. She has a soft heart despite her (seemingly) hard exterior. This belief in miracles and true love even results in her mouthing off to Maleficent; she knows love is a powerful force, one that can pierce the darkness. Even after everything Aqua has been through, she always returns to that belief. It’s what saves her when she’s about to give up in the realm of darkness. It even gives her hope when she meets with Ansem the Wise; when she learns there’s a glimmer of light, she cries because she’s so happy and relieved. In the darkest hour, then, Aqua’s hope can be rekindled—and in a big, big way. She also puts a lot of stock in dreams and wishes, too; her dream to become a Keyblade Master sustains her throughout her training, and results in her accomplishing just that. At the same time, while Aqua’s age is not known canonly, it’s very obvious that she’s mature for her age. Aqua can sometimes be very emotional, but she still manages a strong sense of maturity. She’s able to resolve disputes (such as in Deep Space; she’s responsible for Experiment 626’s exile and not death) with a quick word or two. It’s obvious that Aqua takes great care in all of her interactions. Nothing she says is ever half-hearted or insincere; she’s remarkably earnest and perceptive. Aqua, then, is a pretty good mediator most of the time. She can discern a situation from being there for a few short moments.

It’s this that allows her to easily decide on a course of action, and she always follows through, even if it means disregarding her own well-being, which she actually tends to put aside. She actively puts her life on the line several times throughout her story, and she does so without a second thought to what that might mean for her. Aqua has little concern about her own safety. She instinctively tosses aside her own well-being in order to make things right or protect someone. Indeed, Aqua actually cares little for herself throughout her story—as long as she accomplishes her goal, she doesn't see any reason to worry about herself. Aqua does not give herself time to recuperate; instead, she’s constantly moving and doing things in order to uphold balance and order—and protect pretty much everyone.

[prismbloom]

Because Aqua’s been raised the way she has—as a warrior of light, destined to uphold balance between all worlds—she tends to take more responsibility than she needs to onto herself. Aqua is a Keyblade Master, after all; Keyblade Masters have a duty to complete, and if she doesn’t complete it, what good is she? In the Realm of Darkness, she is very much unsettled when she sees what fate has befallen the Castle of Dreams. Because Aqua wasn’t there to prevent the fall, it’s likely she blames herself. She seems to believe she is the one that has to clean up messes, so to speak; she leaves no loose ends, but at the cost of her bond with others. Her singlemindedness leads to her somewhat neglecting her friends (or, at least, leads them to believe that she doesn't care about them); because she’s internalized her duty and that she must do whatever it takes in order to fulfill it, she can come off as too arrogant. After all, Aqua’s very serious, to the point where it can be seen as very off-putting. She’s so caught up in her responsibilities that everything else comes second, even her own safety.

Her time in Destiny Islands, along with the few times she’s not around anyone else, shows another side to the calm, collected Master. It’s here that her doubts are truly revealed. She’s actually afraid that she’ll be unable to repair the rift between her and her friends. As such, she becomes more subdued, which extends to her visit to the Keyblade Graveyard. These doubts are harsh, and Aqua knows as much—but she herself is not exempt from them. However, she does voice them to Terra, at risk of sounding too harsh or sounding as if she has very little faith in him. Yet she still voices her doubts, because Aqua cannot lie to her friends. (It's this inability to lie or withhold information, too, that results in Ventus's calling her awful in Radiant Garden). Aqua has been trained and raised to do what is right, and when she doubts herself, she’s very obviously unsettled by it. Aqua’s used to being sure of the path she walks; her journey calls all that into question, though, and it makes for a self-critical moment or several. For someone who’s so rigid in her sense of justice, when she questions it, it has a very big effect on her. Aqua then questions herself and her motives, and becomes much less sure of herself and her actions. It’s especially apparent how caught up in her emotions she can be when she’s trapped in the darkness. Enough time with her thoughts leads her to believe there’s nothing to do but give up. However, in the end, she does find her hope: Because she knows there is someone to believe in, Aqua knows things will work out.

Strengths/Weaknesses:
✔ KINDNESS: Aqua is incredibly kind--she's willing to go out of her way to help her friends or anyone in need, a mindset instilled in her by her master, Eraqus.
✔ LEVEL-HEADED: Easily the most level-headed of the trio, Aqua is pretty much the one who cleans up her friends' messes. She's usually the voice of reason, and knows what to say to comfort someone or calm them down.
✔ PROTECTIVE: Aqua will throw herself in the way of danger to save someone--whether she knows them or not, as long as she's certain they're innocent. Aqua's basically the epitome of a knight; as a Keyblade Master, it is her duty to protect the worlds and those in them.
✔ TRUSTWORTHY: She can be counted on for pretty much anything--she carries out her duties and does it in the way she believes is right; i.e., not giving into darkness.
✔ ADAPTABLE: Aqua manages to blend well into the worlds to which she travels. Her journey throws a lot of curveballs at her, but Aqua is a quick thinker and manages to stay steady throughout her journey. While Aqua does get unsettled, it never really lasts for long, because she bounces back pretty quickly.
✔ RESPECTFUL: When she knows someone is in a higher position than she, Aqua goes out of her way to show respect. For instance, when she meets Minnie and realizes that Minnie is a queen, her whole demeanor changes, and she apologizes for her "rudeness."

✔/✖ DETERMINED: To the point where it makes her seem a little overbearing. Aqua is stubborn and it is difficult to dissuade her from something once she's set her mind to it. She knows her insistence on taking Terra and Ventus back home causes friction in their relationship, but she still soldiers on and takes burdens upon herself. She doesn't give up, not even when the situation seems hopeless.
✔/✖ LOYALTY: Related to her determination, Aqua is very firmly loyal to her friends--but also to her duties. Unfortunately, these two conflict throughout her journey, and it wears on their relationship.
✔/✖ JUDGMENTAL: Aqua tends to be very accurate in her judgments--she knows how to read people fairly well! She's respectful, yes, but if someone rubs her the wrong way, she tends to have a pretty sharp tongue. Aqua isn't afraid to speak her mind to those who don't impress her, but sometimes, it makes her come off as a bit high and mighty. Essentially, she may come off as thinking she's better than those who give the wrong impression, and she definitely doesn't hold back.
✔/✖ SACRIFICIAL: Aqua goes to great lengths in order to protect her friends. Unfortunately, this sometimes results in her pushing herself to exhaustion or passing out--and at the end of her story, she willingly and without hesitation jumps into the darkness after Terra.

✖ TEMPERAMENTAL: Aqua, when her berserk button (i.e. her friends) is pushed, tends to lash out. She stays fairly level-headed, but once someone has threatened a world or her friends--or someone who's innocent--she loses her cool. Another side of her temper is also her ability to hold a grudge--and, honestly, it's pretty impressive. Get on her bad side, and Aqua won't give you a second chance.
✖ WORRISOME: In the quieter moments of her journey, Aqua shows another side of herself: she worries constantly. However, she bottles it up and doesn't talk to anyone about her darker moments. Because Aqua worries so much, she seems to lose faith in herself at times, and doubts herself and everything she stands and works for.
✖ AWKWARD: Aqua has grown up with just her two friends and her master. As such, she doesn't know how to react to someone asking her out on a date--she becomes incredibly flustered and doesn't know what to do with herself. Because she's been pretty secluded from other worlds, too, Aqua can come off as a bit arrogant, too. Similarly, Aqua downplays her abilities constantly; she's a Master, but she's still unsure of herself and what she can do.
✖ STRICT: Aqua is very much the "mom" character in... well, all of Kingdom Hearts. Even though Ventus makes it abundantly clear that he does not want to go home, Aqua is still set on taking him home. Her strictness, too, causes friction in her friendship with the boys, even up until the end (... when she tells Terra she's worried he'll fall to the darkness again).

Pokémon Information
Affiliation: Breeder
Starter: Azurill
Password: Peppermint Bark

Samples
First Person Sample:
[ When the screen comes on, someone's looking very proud. The tiny Azurill Aqua had started out with is now a Marill, and she's practically beaming. ]

I was surprised to wake up and see Bubbles had evolved. She certainly seems very proud of herself; she hasn't been able to settle down one bit since I woke up.

[ Aqua gives the little one a pat on the head, and that's probably another reason (aside from that pink pokepuff she's eating) she looks so darn happy. ]

I've heard Azurill evolve from a strong bond of friendship--and it's not just Azurill, but others, too. What others evolve in this way, I wonder? How do you personally show how much you care for them?

[ Aqua pans the camera around the room she's in. It might be surprising for anyone who doesn't really know her to see a counter covered in different-colored pokepuffs. ]

I've found these are very good ways to show affection, and they seem to love them. If you'd like any, I'd be more than happy to send some to you--or we can meet and I can give them to you that way. After all, we all love to spoil our Pokemon, don't we? What better way to show our appreciation than with a treat? [ ... ] Of course, as long as they don't eat too many and get sick.

Third Person Sample:
To be honest, Aqua hasn't been here for very long--but she is perceptive enough to know when something shady is going down. It's not uncommon knowledge that Team Rocket is exceptionally shifty; it's something she learned quickly. That there are those who would steal innocent Pokémon from their trainers is absolutely...

"Unforgivable," Aqua says, her mouth set in a hard line. The girl in front of her is crying, and Aqua's heart aches for her. This is where she feels most comfortable: helping people is kind of her thing. She kneels down, placing a comforting hand on the girl's shoulder. "I won't let them get away with this. I'll do my best to bring back your--"

"--Spheal," the little girl says with a sniffle, and Aqua wipes her eyes with a handkerchief.

"Your Spheal," Aqua repeats, and beside her, her little Azurill lets out a soft coo. "Go find somewhere safe to wait. I'll find you once I've recovered your Spheal."

"Thank you!" the girl says before taking off, the handkerchief clutched tight in her hand.

It's not difficult to find the Spheal--it's run (no, rolled) away as fast as it can from the figure in black. Still, Aqua spots said figure almost immediately. She straightens, eyes narrowed and icy as she approaches them. Most of her lessons, she's taken to heart, but not letting wrongdoers go unpunished is definitely one she adheres to.

Luckily for her--and the girl who's sure to be fretting over her lost Spheal--she makes quick work of the member.

"It's alright," Aqua assures the Spheal as she kneels down. It's a good thing she keeps puffs with her at all times, because the Spheal looks like she could use a pick-me-up. "I'll take you back to your human, but first--" she withdraws a deep brown puff from her messenger bag and offers it to the Pokémon, "eat up. You must be starving after all of that."

"Spheal," she replies, quivering slightly as she takes the puff. Aqua's eyes soften, and the Spheal takes a pretty sizable bite of the puff. Aqua's glad she picked well: The Spheal practically bounces along, munching happily on the puff.

"Dumpling!" the little girl says with a gasp, and she runs over to scoop the Pokémon up. Aqua beams, kneeling down once more to hand the little girl a card.

"If you need anything else, please never hesitate to call me and let me know. My name is Aqua--and if I'm close to you when you need something, I'll do my best to help you as quickly and as well as I can."

Aqua hadn't thought of the day as troublesome in any way, but if she had, she's sure the bright smile on the girl's face would be enough to make it that much more worth it.

Hitoka Yachi | Haikyuu!! | Reserved

[donoteat]

Player
Name: Aki
Personal Journal: akrous
E-mail: revolutionbegun at gmail
AIM/Plurk/Etc.: perimones
Timezone: UTC -6
Current Characters in Route: n/a

Character
Name: Hitoka Yachi
Series: Haikyuu!!
Timeline: Ch 98
Canon Resource Links: character wiki

Personality:
Yachi thrives as part of a team, growing and learning alongside others that she can support and who support her in turn. On her own, however, it's like before she joined her school's volleyball club and attained a sense of purpose: painfully timid, with few aspirations and low self-esteem. Joining a team allows her to take the first step to overcoming her insecurities, learning that strength is not something people either have or don't, but rather something people acquire. It took a lot to start overcoming this mindset, as her self worth was so low to the point that she likens herself to an extra in a play, thinking that if she absolutely had to be included, there is nothing about her that is special or stands out, so she is destined to remain into the background. Even without anything more asked of her but to observe the volleyball team, she is reluctant to become their manager because of the contrast between her complacent life and the team that strives as far as winning nationals, their dedication both moving and shaming her, because she has never taken initiative in anything or was needed by anybody before. Neither believing herself to be useful or knowing how to apply herself, she instead focuses on how her presence would affect others rather than considering her own wants, thinking the team would be better off without the burden of a manager who knows nothing about volleyball, no matter how much she has grown to admire the sport and the team.

While uncertain how to move forward by herself, Yachi is deeply affected by the words and actions of others, and follows through with the momentum provided. She is completely discouraged when her mother, with good intentions of tough love, mentions how rude it would be if she did things half assed while the team is giving it their all. She understands and agrees with the reasoning, falling silent because there are so many reasons why she shouldn't join, versus the one reason why she should: she wants to. The current manager Kiyoko tries to encourage her when she recognizes Yachi's hesitation about joining the team, relating to the fact that she had no experience with volleyball or being a manager either, and telling Yachi that she doesn't need a grand reason to do things, just curiousity is enough. These words resonate with Yachi, staying in her memory and allowing her to reconsider her mother's advice against joining the club. With one opinion for and one opinion against, and Yachi still being unable to decide, she seeks out another team member, Hinata, for his opinion on what she should do, uncomfortable at making such a huge decision that would impact many people other than just herself. He forcibly takes her to talk to her mother: when put on the spot, she draws courage from Hinata's audacity and stands firm with little hesitation, realizing that she will always be stuck in limbo unless she takes action. This is the first time she decides for herself and declares what she wants, moving her mother to tears and giving her the confidence to join the team, discover her personal strengths, and begin doing things on her own accord.

In growing alongside others, Yachi turns the trivial qualities she overlooked in herself around to become significant to the team. The thought of being a burden or unqualified was what always held her back, but in a team that makes it clear that simply her presence is appreciated, those worries become unfounded and she's willing to help to the best of her ability, whether it's offered or asked. Through her skill in graphic design, an interest of hers she never thought could be important to anybody else, she creates a poster advertising the team that becomes a major source of funding. Her classroom knowledge and ability to organize concepts and explain ideas, also qualities that weren't special because they're simply her good study habits, allow her to tutor two of her team members so they wouldn't fail their exams and miss matches. Experienced in managing anxiety, she helps get rid of a team mate's nerves before a match. She is very empathetic, quickly becoming close to Kikoyo and allowing the older manager to open up much more than she has to the rest of the team, as well as befriending the other first years on the team and looking out for how they're doing inside and outside of practice. Emotions tend to run high as a default when she becomes involved with others, especially compared to how her life was before joining the team, keeping her head down and staying by herself instead of eating lunch with friends or joining after school clubs. She cries when two members of the team get into a physical fight, voice trembling too hard for them to hear her pleas to get along, and tears up again when Kiyoko mentions the tournament being her last as the manager, lying that a mosquito flew into her eye when Kiyoko tries to get her to stop crying. As much as possible, she wants to keep the team together because 'manager' isn't just a title or a job for her; the team created a place where she is welcomed, needed, and belongs.

There are some things, however, that you just can't power through, and paranoia is one of those things that follow her throughout her life. Easily intimidated by those she has just met, whether it's in fear or in awe, Yachi is on near constant high alert for even the most mundane reasons. When she meets Kiyoko for the first time, she's immediately lost in her thoughts of how impossibly beautiful the older girl is, and later freaks herself out with the unfounded thoughts of fangirls attacking her for standing next to Kiyoko, escalating the manager's beauty to the point where she is idolized by fanatics that target anybody that gets too close. Unable to recall someone's name who she's been introduced to once, she's on high defence, imagination reeling to the extent of imagining herself unable to get a job because she is terrible at remembering names, ending up on the streets and scavenging food from the trashcans, and having to sell her organs to stay alive. Stray volleyballs become bullets and assassins after being warped by her imagination, towering high schoolers become giants about to kill and eat her, and a goateed club member frightens her into honorifics. But while an overactive imagination puts her on nonstop fight-or-flight, it's an aspect of herself she does not try to change, using it to manage her anxiety rather than suppressing it. With this method of coping, saying these exaggerations out loud make them sound ridiculous and trivial, not like when she agonized over becoming a manager for so long and let her anxieties fester.

All she needs is a little nudge to get going, someone to pull her back when she goes too far, and she shines just as brightly as anybody else.

Strengths/Weaknesses:
+ graphic design: As her mother is a graphic designer, Yachi learned about layouts and color combinations since she was little. Aside from being able to communicate through means other than words, she has high spatial intelligence so that her game sense is very good despite poor athletic ability with zero experience in the sport.
+ academics: As a first year in high school, she's in one of the college prep classes, easily absorbs and uses new vocabulary, and has a habit of taking notes on things she doesn't know. Borrowing aspects of graphic design like space, images, and color to communicate ideas, her school notes are neatly organized and very easy to learn from, so once she has learned something, she can teach it right back.
+ perceptiveness: As she gets to know people, she notices little things about their mood, such as partners not getting along, someone who is always calm and collected looking more fired up than usual, a normally timid team member expressing his frustration with particular force, or another member looking kind of down despite wearing an intense expression.
+ dedication: Although she might have to be pushed into it, once she find something she is interested in or makes a promise to do something, she'll follow through. She was originally panicked into agreeing to observing the volleyball club by mistake, but went to the gym instead of running away, and after becoming the team manager, has started learning terms and tactics, and helping out during and after practice by putting balls into play. She continues to design posters to help the team after her first poster helped fund the necessary transportation.
- easily panicked: "Current Concern: What she would do if she ended up in a situation where she died or was about to die." The littlest things frighten her, and while it's good to be on alert for danger when you're traveling out into the wilderness on your own, it can't be good for the heart day in and day out. She's quick to jump to conclusions, be it about people or situations, and apologizes profusely at wrong assumptions.
- low self-confidence: It's a habit that's hard to break, especially taken out of her place on the volleyball team and dumped somewhere new with things she's never tried and people she's never seen. While she's begun doing things on her own, she was never without support before, so the thoughts will reemerge: she doesn't know anything about Pokémon, how can she take responsibility in raising one?
- physical condition: She has poor reflexes with others having to jump in and save her from getting hit by stray volleyballs, gets extreme anxiety over school athletic events, and worries about her body image compared to other thin or busty girls.
- names: It takes her a while to learn people's names, although she will recognize people she's met before and refer to them by appearance (Tsukishima as "tall glasses guy") or first impression (Ushiwaka as "the absolute champion"). Luckily for her, Pokémon are very helpful in repeating their names.

Pokémon Information
Affiliation: Trainer
Starter: Totodile
Password: Peppermint Bark

Samples
First Person Sample:
[It's a video feed... though it's hard to tell when half the screen is covered with leaves and the others half with blond hair and eyes flickering to the side instead of focusing on the screen.]

Somebody help me!!

[The whisper is hard to make out under the ragged breathing, unfortunate if Yachi really needs the help, but there's a reason why she's hiding in the bushes and the reason is the Pokémon she's just released from its ball.]

This thing said something about "Totodile." Is that what it's called? It looks like a crocodile-- or an alligator! Alligators are the ones with the blunt snout and the teeth-- The teeth!! [Forget about whispering now.] What do I do if it bites!? I don't know where the hospital is! Are Totodiles poisonous!? Do I amputate or-- UWAHH!!

[There's a blur of green and yellow as the PokéGear tumbles through the branches and into the air before the image stills again, pointed straight up at the sky with blades of grass hugging the edges of the screen. The Totodile has found her.]

Good boy... Stay... [What should be a calm and soothing voice sounds more like a desperate plea, but what else is there to do when faced with a Totodile but to bargain for your life? Yachi has no idea what she should do to prevent being mauled by an animal; the closest she's ever had to that experience is pet dogs you can distract by throwing a ball or stick and having it give chase. Without the luxury of time, this is what she decides to do with the abundance of sticks from the bushes behind her back, a fairly large branch flying across the screen's field of vision and ---KRCKKKK--- the sound of splintering wood.]

totototototodi~le!

[There's a lengthy pause, then something between a laugh and a sob.]

That's it? You just wanted something to chew on? You look really happy...

Third Person Sample:
Three Pokéballs lay in the palm of Yachi's hand: one is her starter, another is a gift, and the last is empty. If there's anything that shook her more in her few days walking around, it's that Pokémon are everywhere. No longer taken by surprise every two seconds, she's still going to have to learn to fight, as much as it makes her nervous, in order for her Pokémon to grow stronger and to catch others for protection while she makes her way from town to town.

The first time she sent out her Totodile, she nearly had a heart attack thinking it'd beheaded the poor Rattata (she remembers the PokéGear announcing the name as she recalled Totodile in panic while Rattata took the chance to escape), so this time it's her second Pokémon that she sends out: a skittish little Sandshrew, quite possibly a larger ball of nerves than she is.

"Are you alright fighting?" she asks, kneeling down to pat one hand on Sandshrew's head like she knows comforts it. They're both new at this, but naïvity is no excuse for getting her Pokémon hurt when she can avoid it, so she unpacks her bag to lay her notebook flat on the ground, filled with notes about the names of Sandshrew's attacks, tips of strengths and weaknesses, any information she could get from her PokéGear or other experienced trainers she's talked to in order to make sure she has everything she needs to know. Taking her time to read through the notes so she won't forget anything in the middle of the battle, she lets Sandshrew stretch its limbs, nose pointing into the dry dirt around her feet.

What kind of Pokémon would be easy to begin with? That Rattata was small, but those teeth still looked like they could hack off a finger or two if it got too close. The other most common Pokémon are Pidgeys, but Sandshrew is used to being underground, not fighting in the air. Or they could try-- Her thoughts are interrupted by Sandshrew's cry, and she looks up from her notebook to find a wild... A, uh... She flips open her PokéGear and reads the name off the top of the screen: Sentret, but there's no time to go through the sparse information listed before the cute, but very angry Sentret charges in.

Sandshrew dodges just in time, but can't do anything else without input from its trainer. What's the best way to battle a Sentret? She's never seen one before! How is she supposed to-- "Defense curl!" she shouts, and Sandshrew curls into a ball just as the Sentret's claws swipe the tough hide. She's bought more time and can protect her Pokémon this way, but it won't hold out unless she fights back, so again her eyes flicker to the notebook laying at her feet, trying to think of a way to keep her Sandshrew safe but drive Sentret away at the same time.

She wrote down... on the second page... boxed it because Sandshrew had just learned the attack-- "Rollout!" Still tightly wound into a ball, Sandshrew maintains its defense while building speed as it circles its opponent, finally releasing its power by launching itself straight at the target on Sentret's stomach and knocking it onto the ground.

CHANCE!!

With all her might, she flings the Pokéball straight at... Sandshrew. A red light engulfs the Pokémon and the ball returns to her hand before she scrambles to pick up her notebook and bag and get out of here before the Sentret recovers.

[these_balls]

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[mylittlesniperrifle]

Player
Name: Silas
Personal Journal: gilbo
E-mail: twilightforestlullaby@gmail.com
AIM/Plurk/Etc.: chromatus
Timezone: PST
Current Characters in Route: Lightning Farron, Roxas, Dipper Pines

Character
Name: Epsilon
Series: Red vs Blue
Timeline: End of season 10
Canon Resource Links: Here

Personality:
Epsilon is one of the main characters (as of season 7) in Red vs Blue, a comedy about space marines. He happens be a fragment of the Alpha A.I., also known as Church. Though they share personalities, Epsilon does stand apart from the original with traits of his own which manifest in a variety of ways.

Originally when Epsilon appears as a character in Recreation, he is shown to not really have a personality of his own at first. Instead, he takes on the forms of one of the other AI fragments, Delta, to communicate with Caboose to relay information about where they can attain a form for him. When he is implanted in the artifact in the desert, he assumes the personality of the original Church, though none of the memories remained. His ‘memories’ were instead stories incorrectly told by Caboose until he regains all of his memories later on when traveling with Carolina. As each ‘memory’ is revealed, more quirks appear in his personality.

Epsilon is an angry person, which can manifest in verbal or failed physical ways. When things irritate him, such as when he’s trying to monologue inside the containment unit he’s trapped in, he snaps at Tucker, since he was the source. When still without a proper body, the team finds out that when angered, Epsilon was able to use a laser beam, so Grif, Sarge, and Simmons try their best to make him mad as the Meta and Washington chase after them. Caboose is the one who bears the most brunt of Epsilon’s temper, since most of the things that come out of Caboose’s mouth are nonsensical to the degree where Epsilon can’t help but snap. Being called ‘best friend’ by Caboose tends to be a common trigger. There is also no member of either the Blue, Red, or the Freelancers that hasn’t been completely cussed out at one point or another by Epsilon as well.

An ego follows as another thing that makes Epsilon stand out even more from the original Alpha AI. When he first arrives in the desert with Caboose, he relishes in the fact that he is being worshiped by the aliens there, even making up a song about how great he is as they do. He also finds it great that he has a laser beam in his unit when they make it go off the first time on accident, bragging about it though he really has no control of it. These two things feed directly into his thinking that he’s all that and a bag of chips compared to other people. Epsilon’s monologue at the beginning of the arc where he is first trapped in the memory unit shows how high his sense of self-importance is.

Since being an AI, he has a pretty high intelligence and analytical skills. Unfortunately, coupled with his aforementioned temper, it doesn’t always come through. There seems to be at times a complete lack of common sense as well as sometimes the obvious solutions escape him, as when they are forced to fight an army of Tex AI controlled bots. Washington is the one who reminds him of what Epsilon can do to cut this battle short, something that had escaped the AI fragment at the time. He can see things other people can’t in situations, such as when the fake world he’s trapped in inside the containment unit is failing instead of it being destroyed by an earthquake as Sarge had claimed. With his being a different fragment from the other AI’s, Epsilon is capable of high levels of introspection. He is more than aware of what he actually is, and what the Alpha was lacking, such as when he realizes that the only reason the Alpha was the way it was is because of Tex.

Remorse is something only Epsilon has been really shown to have compared to the other fragments. He genuinely feels bad when he yells at his friends when he wanted to impose his will on them to find the director and eliminate him. Epsilon realized that as soon as even Caboose left him that he had done something very wrong. He does his best to apologize to them and letting them know just how much of a jerk he was, showing how much more human he can be. Despite asking for forgiveness, he is not the type to easily forget those who have wronged him. Carolina is the one in the end encouraging him to do just that so he could move on and become a better person. Epsilon does feel sadness at the end of season 10 when he decides to leave his friends behind in their new home instead of joining them. This decision was seen as hard for him, the last thing he leaves with his friends was a sniper rifle (which may or may not have ever been found or even thought of.)

There is a hint of what one could call happiness in his programming. Those moments are short lived as something always interrupts it, such as whenever Caboose talks. He shows briefly that he is happy when he meets up with Tex again, which she destroys by trying to kill him as she seems to do when she’s around him.

Epsilon is a mess of personalities. Yes, there is loyalty to his friends and the need to help mixed in there, but deep down inside he might just be a pissed off old man trapped in the body of something that will never die or age unless he’s erased from the world.

Strengths:

Leadership – The ability to make sound decisions for his team, even if they don’t listen to them either at all or not until it’s too late. This shows that even though he really hates it, he does take somewhat seriously sometimes since he’s the one who decided to be the leader. No one else wanted to take the job, and someone had to!

Memory – Despite a hiccup when he accidentally erased his short term memory when he was inside of an artifact, Epsilon retains everything he’s been told. Being an AI unit made him capable of downloading and storing vast amounts of information that he can call upon at a moment’s notice. (As long as the memory is there for him to access)

Voice of Reason – Though largely ignored just like his leadership, when things don’t make sense or seem too extreme, he’s quick to point out in a condescending way that maybe they should think of something else.

Body Jumping – He’s an AI. Meaning that if someone has an open AI slot in their armor, he can jump from one person to the next as long as they have an open radio signal open. This means that he can interact with a large number of people, but is still capable of maintaining secrecy in these conversations since no one can force him to reveal what he knows. This becomes vital when Tucker wants to know if Carolina is a spy without her finding out.

Weaknesses:

Temper – Prone to bursts of cursing, yelling, and just being a grumpy asshole. He’s not the type for physical violence when pushed, and even if he was, this guy has no luck and will either miss or somehow get himself hurt even if he tried.

Monologue – Epsilon has an awful habit of introspection that seem like a waste of time to those around him. He does this out loud, too, where everyone can hear him in his apparent pursuit of philosophical conversation. It’s not apparent if this is due to boredom or him just being a general smug bastard.

Lazy – If he doesn’t give a damn about something, don’t expect him to do anything. He is more than happy to just stand there and watch other people do work, or just… you know, stand there beside them and not do work with them. It can be quite hard to get him motivated unless you’ve got the right trigger or reward for him.

Lack of patience – This guy is awful at waiting for things. The first to rush people, he will quickly become an annoyance when he thinks the task shouldn’t take as long as it should. Even if it is a task that requires patience and calm.

[mylittlesniperrifle]

Pokémon Information
Affiliation: Trainer
Starter: Porygon – F.I.L.S.S. (Phylis)
Password: Peppermint Bark

Samples
First Person Sample:
[This will be a very basic audio message, accidentally sent to the network.]

Day 3 of being lost in the tall grass on Route 29. There are no locals for miles, only cats with gigantic, soul sucking eyes that follow you as you walk past them. F.I.L.S.S. assures me they aren’t a threat as long as I keep the armor on. It’s not like she’s the one trying to fight those things off. Can she even fight? The Dex told me that she could, but the damn thing won’t get out of the gear no matter what I say to her.

[There’s a snickering noise which is followed by a pleasant voice.]

Would you like to keep recording this journal entry?

[There’s a clearing of the throat before Epsilon continues.]

I swear if one more of those damn things attacks me, I’m using my gun…. Wait… [There comes sounds of fumbling and other metallic noises.] There’s no bullets! What the hell! Who takes a god damn gun to a mission without bullets!

[Wait for it-]

GOD DAMMIT, I DIDN’T NEED BULLETS AS AN AI… You know what? Fuck this! [Something heavy lands on the ground with a thud, and all that is heard is the sound of boots crunching on grass as the gear shuts off with a click.]

Third Person Sample:
This world was hell. At least to this "die-hard" soldier. From the get-go Epsilon knew he was not cut out for this. After many tests to see just how real this body was, he was covered in bruises, and there was dings on his armor. The sweating under all that metal made him feel uncomfortable and wet, the saltiness getting into the small scratches he had, making him feel itchy all over. Anger had given way to exhaustion, which had given way to a numbness as he made himself keep walking through the tall grass on the way to the next town.

This is not something he had been warned about human bodies. Nope. The biological urges, just how tired someone could get, that no matter what position you were in some kind of discomfort was bound to happen, none of it. Being a real human was miserable. There had been a perk to all of this though…

The greatest discovery he made when he found out that he was indeed human was food. Food was great! Food was amazing! Food was way better than anything he had ever come across. The bento box took no time at all to be devoured by Epsilon, each bit giving him pleasure he had no idea could exist. He had been curious, offering the thing in his gear some food, but it politely declined in a voice that reminded him all too much of F.I.L.S.S…. of course there was immediate regret when all the food was gone. Where was he going to get more? Despite what the thing he had eventually dubbed F.I.L.S.S. said, Epsilon did not trust those berries that she had kept urging him to eat.

"I hope this is a dream. What I wouldn’t give to go back to being just some computer program…" He laid down on the ground, feeling that hollow ache in his muscle, and let out a sigh that could possibly be heard for miles. "Wait, can AI even dream? Would it be like that Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep type shit? Why the hell would they dream of sheep in the first place… Why am I here? What god did I piss off to be thrown into this world where cats want to kill me, birds can tear my head off, and I’ve got something constantly making snide remarks and laughing at me?......... you know what, F.I.L.S.S.? This is almost awful enough to make me wish Caboose was here. At least I’d have someone to yell at. Or Carolina. Hell, I’d take Tucker and those damn reds over the Shining cats. Anything but this…"

A soft beeping noise came from the gear at his hip, but it fell on deaf ears. Epsilon had passed out. With a sad beeping, the gear switches off, letting the noise of nature around them take over.

RYŪNOSUKE TANAKA • HAIKYUU!! • RESERVED

[monkcut]

Player
Name: owlie
Personal Journal: moxies
E-mail: --
AIM/Plurk/Etc.: pm this journal
Timezone: UTC
Current Characters in Route: --

Character
Name: Ryunosuke Tanaka
Series: Haikyuu!!
Timeline: Post ch. 193
Canon Resource Links: here.

RYŪNOSUKE TANAKA • HAIKYUU!! • RESERVED

[monkcut]

Personality:

When most people first meet Ryūnosuke Tanaka, they'll probably think— ah! A delinquent. The skittish might find themselves shaking uncomfortably under his sharpened glare, and the stronger willed might notice that . . . he's not that scary. He's just trying way too hard with the whole intimidation look. Tanaka is just that— a young man that thinks he's a pretty cool guy, and that first impressions should leave the mark you would want to leave. He demands respect in a pretty straightforward way, and tends to loom over other boys and make faces at them, trying to scare and intimidate them with his looks, which is what usually tends to spring glare offs and verbal fight warnings (call it some sort of show of masculinity, if you will). He's no stranger to scuffles, or at least trying to start them— Tanaka is a wired second year, prone to disliking others at first sight; loud, hot blooded and easily thrown off his cool into something fired up, angered and ready to exchange blows at the tip of a hat. From giving him odd looks to being the new kid on the block— this guy is bound to make the face at you at some point, and depending on the situation, he just might call you out, no matter where or when.

Tanaka is simply like that— a provoker, and sometimes he doesn't even do it on purpose, even though it may seem like it. It's something in his nature to do; you can bet that when he proves a non believer wrong, he'll howl and yell about his comeback, talk them down with insults and— take off his shirt and wave it in the air in victory. If not that, well— he'll give you his best monk imitation and send hell spikes flying to you. Or maybe you're a friend, and you've done something funny? He'll laugh at it, tactlessly, and depending on the person it could or not cause a disturbance.

As comedic as it can be, Tanaka takes all this and more seriously, and it can tie fairly well into how protective he is with those that fall into his circle of friends. He threatens those that look down on not just him, but his teammates, especially his underclassmen, and uses that to his favor— he doesn't miss a beat, and the day he does back down on his own, you can stop calling him Tanaka. In fact, in such situations he only seems to grow, and the more moxie that's stirred in him, the more unstoppable Tanaka can become. He lacks in composure, but his fighting spirit excels in contrast.

Aside from being a protective dragon uncle, Tanaka is pretty caring under all that macho— he looks after those younger and older than him once they're to his liking, and will go the few extra yards to keep them all in peace with each other. If he has to whip out the FISTS OF FURY, he isn't above it, shown when he comes rushing into the gymnasium after being called by a distressed Yachi, witnessing both Hinata and Kageyama assault each other physically— only for both to get angrily punched out of it by Tanaka himself. He's shown to hold Nishinoya back from doing something more than grabbing and pushing their ace spiker, Asahi, after a lost match, and even go as far as to scold Noya for disrespecting their ace once he returns from his suspension— only because he called him a coward for not returning. He cares, and cares a ton about the well being of his peers, and once earning his respect, you'll pretty much have a guard dog at your heels. He's supportive, earnest and sincere with his words to them despite a certain roughness to it— and also adores being a good senpai (for those who deserve it, at least).

That doesn't go without mentioning the team's beautiful third year club manager, Kiyoko Shimizu, who he sprawls himself out for her to step on along with Nishinoya— the duo drool and cry over her beauty, and despite usually getting ignored, it's what makes him (them) even crazier about her. Completely head over heels, Kiyoko is one of the people Tanaka would fight a crowd for, and quite possibly an outlet to how alone he feels in terms of relationships. It's mentioned that he had once tried to help a first year get around the school, and just one look at him caused her to scream and run away— he's just like any sixteen year old single dude . . . A girlfriend is one of his actual goals, and despite his enthusiasm for Kiyoko, Tanaka is shown to actually be a little shy with girls at first sight, shown when Yachi is first introduced ( possibly because of what happened to him before . . . ). But, that doesn't mean he's a blundering mess— perhaps just a bit cautious nowadays!

We know that Tanaka is an excellent wing spiker, Karasuno's second best right next to the ace— his mental strength is like a steel blockade, making him a frightening attacker that blasts through walls and keeps fighting with his very being, even when he's cornered— and that's what makes his spikes frightening. When he scores, he isn't subtle about it either— he puts on a show. He cheers and yells, he bellows out with every breath his lungs can put forth . . . Tanaka really, really likes spiking, shown during one of the team's training arcs to get so emotional about blasting through blockers that he couldn't speak right. Just like all his other teammates, volleyball plays a pretty big part in Tanaka's life and daily routine, and what's made him more . . . Well, Tanaka.

Unfortunately, all that vigor towards sports doesn't always shine in other important things— school for example. Tanaka's grades aren't that rad (poor all around), shown to sleep in class, skip studying, and overall slack off when it comes to academics, booksmarts and timeliness (he usually over sleeps and shows up late to volleyball practice). Some people could go the extra mile and call him stupid— it's probably true. But if it's support you need, Tanaka's probably your dude and more.

He can be unnecessarily loud and obnoxious, annoying and troublemaking, but if anything— on top of it all, he is a bro, and all you have to do is get on his good side. Or be a lovely young lady, please, just don't be afraid of him.

Strengths/Weaknesses:

• strong willed!
Tanaka is a strong guy. Not just physically, but mentally as well. There's absolutely nothing that can hold him back once he gets started, and it's this that makes him a powerful force when it's all about getting the job done. He'll do it his way, though.
• protective!
Tanaka is a guy that cares about his friends— he's completely loyal, respects them, and keeps a sharp eye out for them. He'll pick fights if he has to, or at least feel like he has to to keep his friends and turf on the higher end.
• athletic!
The guy's got massive smacking power due to being a wing spiker. He's lean and toned, and while he can slack, he's a pretty adept guy when it comes to moving around (and playing volleyball). That's also if he wants to, of course. ( not part of athletic ability, but he also has excellent hearing )
• provoking.
He provokes people. Sometimes intentionally, sometimes not. He bursts out laughing various times at his friends for something they do (such as Nishinoya), and other times he angers people with his own verbal pokes and intimidating stares. He pretty much looks for fights.
• temper.
He gets angry pretty easily, and what he usually retorts to is violence, needing to be held back by his peers.
• GIRLS.
they are his weakness. no matter if they ignore or flat out insult him— he'll probably like it, and be completely oblivious to any foul play. because girls are angels.
• What's a book?
Exactly. He's pretty dumb, s2s.

RYŪNOSUKE TANAKA • HAIKYUU!! • RESERVED

[monkcut]

Pokémon Information
Affiliation: trainer.
Starter: scraggy.
Password: peppermint bark!

Samples
First Person Sample:

[ the first image that pops up is bam. this one. what's wrong with him??? maybe he's feeling sick? or maybe he does look a bit intimidating— depends on who's looking. and on his shoulders is a little guy who seems to be . . . making the same face, a scraggy that leers and glares ( or at least tries to ) next to her ( yes, her ) trainer's face. ]

You. Yeah, you, tough shit. Who else am I lookin' at, huh?

[ "mmmm?!" chimes in the scraggy, leaning over to better position her stink eye to the camera. ]

We're itchin' for a real battle, y'hear me? You think you're tough enough to take us on? [ he holds the camera over and a little bit in front of him, then leaning back and rearing his head to continue his look, and holding up a hand to give the universal "bring it" gesture— the intimidator. the scraggy continues to mimic, growling between her teeth. fear me!!!! ] 'Cuz Jaeger here? He's gonna rip you a new one. [ jaeger makes a hacking sound, like those macho men getting ready to spit except this happens. she's quickly trying to suck it back up so tanaka doesn't see-!!!! ] Think you can handle it? Huuuu— Uh?

[ splat. looks like that earlier spit trail took too much of a dive down with no way back up, sticking to the trainer's jacket with more than enough of a sound to make him turn his head, and totally lose focus! he groans loudly, free hand smacking his forehead as the other holding his device swinging down. ]

You gotta be— C'mon, not again!! [ he sighs, and jaeger hangs her head, displeased with herself— but if tanaka's something, he's a good support, patting the lizard over the head. ] It's fine, alright? Here— Y'need to whip it out!! Like this—

[ . . . no you don't want to see how disgusting that probably is, as it already sounds. at least you can't really see anything other than blurry images or the darkness of his pants— along with the approving squeaks of his pokémon as he spits at the ground. yeah . . .

this is for real. ]

Y'got that, right Jaeger? [ squeak!!!! she's ready now!! ] Alright, make it count this time, yeah? [ eager huffs!!! alright!!! and with that, he grins, raises the camera to get the angle of his face once more, before counting. ] Three, two . . .

[ one. and there's the face again. the both of them.

woops ]

You. Yeah you, tough shit.

[ please intervene ]

Third Person Sample:

Ryūnosuke Tanaka was a tenacious young man— He doesn't make a habit ( or even a happening ) of giving up, and even after his third loss to Falkner, he's hitting his head against a wall, both literally and metaphorically, sitting by a building with his back against the wall, neck craning to look up, and fingers tapping against the metallic bolts of his bagpack. Strategy wasn't something up his alley— he was more of a 'charge through first' kind of guy. But what if charging through just never works? Jaeger, the small Scraggy by him, had a type disadvantage— and one look at the Pokémon makes him sneer at the thought, catching her brief attention as he huffs into the air.

"Ppphh— Disadvantage my ass. As if that's gonna hold us down."

Apparently, he just needs to keep ramming himself into it. At some point, their hard work and determination would pull through, he knew it would. Of course, a second Pokémon could help pretty well, but . . . They've made it this far the way it was, worked to their fullest to get it right, and now he's determined to prove it! A type disadvantage's got nothing on them!! Jaeger just needed to get a good and fast start up to trigger moxie. Then she'd be a freight train.

Tanaka folds his arms against each other, shifts his legs, and dips his head down as he watches her snack. He thinks, blinks, dips his head to the opposite side of his shoulders— until he grins, mouth sharp and quirking lips in a dangerous curve, slamming a fist into his palm and booming with sound—enough to make the Scraggy jump.

"That's it!!" The teen laughs to himself, turning over to his teammate.It's so obvious now! "You just gotta evolve!!"

Man. He felt like a genius— and surly this would work! They just had to train, train, and train even more! But with Bellsprouts and Pidgeys? It makes Tanaka lean back, giving a hum. "It just can't be something too weak for ya' . . . We need some challengers. Good ones."

The Scraggy lifts her head, tiny paws holding onto the loose skin around her waist, and then shrilling with excitement. She'll be so cool. So cool. The lizard was quirky, but definitely hard working and simply dying to be cool—! Meanwhile, Tanaka shifts around for his things, shuffling a hand into his bagpack to retrieve his Pokégear, and boasts.

"And I know the perfect way to get 'em over. Give me your best Scary Face!"

Jaeger squeaks while nodding, and doing just that— giving the trainer her most devastating death glare. Hnnnnnn, she growls, and Tanaka roars with proud laughter.

"Perfect! Definitely well done!!" He holds his arm out and kneels for the Scraggy to grapple on and shift herself to his shoulders.

"Y'know how to spit, right?"

And thus, Tanaka proceeds to prepare to threaten the entire network. Accidentally.

Akari Oozora | Aikatsu! | Not Reserved

[creatinglight]

Player
Name: Jen
Personal Journal: preternatural
E-mail: magentahazes at gmail dot com
AIM/Plurk/Etc.: magentaskies
Timezone: EST
Current Characters in Route: Weiss Schnee

Character
Name: Akari Oozora
Series: Aikatsu!
Timeline: Post-series
Canon Resource Links: Aikatsu Wiki, and additions below:

After her time at Aikatsu! Boot Camp, Akari still has a long way to go before she can properly debut. She's having difficulty consistently performing Special Appeals, despite hours of practice and an extra training course with Johnny-sensei. If she can't pass the test, she won't be able to debut. In the midst of her extra practice, Akari goes so far as to injure her arm, which draws the concern of people around her. She has a series of talks with Ichigo, and in the end, the older idol gives her a piece of advice: the fact that she's worked so hard and hasn't achieved her goal has dulled Akari's ability to see her light. Ichigo reminds her that it's always going to be there, even if she loses sight of it. That advice is enough to motivate Akari; she develops her idol aura and becomes consistently able to perform Special Appeals.

At the start of the third season, Akari takes Ichigo's place as the main character. In the first episode, the ceiling of Akari's dorm room begins to leak. This means she and her current roommate, Yuu, have to split up and change rooms. Akari is paired with a girl named Hikami Sumire. Sumire seems cool and quiet at first, but the two become fast friends. Over the course of the next several episodes, Akari meets other Starlight middle school students - the stylish Shinjou Hinaki and the passionate Kureyabashi Juri. All the girls form friendships as they go about their idol activities together. Akari also meets the top designer for the brand Dreamy Crown, Tsubasa Sena. He agrees to make her a Premium Rare dress, and they collaborate several more times in the future.

There comes a point when Akari feels the need to specialize a bit more as an idol - Sumire is a talented singer, Hinaki is a model, and Juri is an actress. The one thing Akari knows is that she wants to make people smile in her own way. She auditions for a part as a television weather reporter, and takes the part when it's offered. This gets her image out in the open more, and her star starts to rise. She takes place in the Starlight Queen Cup for the first time, but is eliminated early on. This motivates Akari to try harder. She helps Ichigo out with her Great Starmiya Ichigo Festival, helping to track down Ichigo's friend and rival, Kanzaki Mizuki. At the end of the show, Ichigo gives Akari her Crystal Mic, encouraging her to come on up to the top, that she'll be waiting. Akari agrees, with a tearful smile.

Eventually, Akari forms the duo Skips with underclassman Amahane Madoka, and the trio Luminas with Sumire and Hinaki. Skips wins the yearly Unit Cup, and eventually Luminas goes on to tour Japan. They start in Hokkaido, where they meet Daichi Nono and Shirakaba Risa, convincing them to audition for Starlight Academy. The tour eventually goes on to Okinawa, Kyoto, and Osaka before ending at Starlight Academy in Tokyo. Once the tour ends, it's time to start preparing for the Starlight Queen Cup again. Everyone is nervous, but gives solid performances, until Sumire makes a mistake. Akari comforts her briefly, and then it's time to go onstage.

Akari gives the performance of her life, performing the highest possible rank of Special Appeal, and is crowned Starlight Queen. Ichigo crowns her, hugging her and congratulating her on making it to the top. At the series' end, Akari and Ichigo are seen performing on the same stage.

Personality: Akari starts the series as a very nervous, jittery girl who idolizes Hoshimiya Ichigo. She goes so far as to imitate her idol's hairstyle and mannerisms, to the point of accidentally introducing herself as 'Hoshimiya Ichigo' during her second audition for Starlight Academy. After passing, Akari is determined to be an idol just like Ichigo, but her idol stops her and asks Akari what, exactly, she wants to accomplish as an idol. This sparks a major change in her. She changes her hairstyle, realizing that it won't be enough to just copy Ichigo. She needs to seek out her own light.

Once she realizes that she needs to be her own kind of idol, Akari - for the most part - slowly gets over her nervousness. She becomes a much more confident idol, and she begins working hard to accomplish her dreams. She opens up to new friends more easily than before, and she starts supporting them wholeheartedly. This ranges from small things, like looking out for underclassmen and transfer students, to much larger things, like bungee jumping in an effort to find Mizuki for Ichigo. She's been known to go out of her way and inconvenience herself to help others.

Akari is a determined, hard-working girl. She knows that the only way to become the idol she wants to be is to work hard, and she's not afraid of doing this. Occasionally, this backfires a bit, as she hurts her arm during practice, but she's become better at balancing her work and relaxing. Akari's determination is shown early on - she fails her first audition at Starlight Academy, but she takes a tearful selfie, promising herself that she would make it in one day. Her determination and her hard work make her appreciate her achievements more. She doesn't want to forget the experiences that shape her as an idol and as a person. Even when she's at the top of the world after winning the Starlight Queen Cup, she doesn't get cocky. She knows she has and will make mistakes, but instead of letting them crush her spirit, she sees them as learning experiences that will push her even harder.

Strengths/Weaknesses:

+ Determination: Akari is nothing if not determined. She meets every setback she faces with the determination to do things better the next time.
+ Hard-working: This is linked with her determination; Akari puts a lot of work into her idol activities. She spends extra hours practicing and training.
+ Positivity: Idols are meant to bring smiles to everyone, and Akari believes this whole-heartedly.
+ Supportiveness: Akari will go to great lengths to support her friends. This goes so far as to include bungee-jumping and running all over town to support Ichigo in the movie.

- Nervousness: Akari can and does get nervous for things easily. She tends to try and push it down, but this isn't always successful.
- Clumsiness: Akari is getting better at controlling this, but she still goofs occasionally.
- Idol worshipping: Sometimes Akari focuses on this so much that she loses track of her own goals.

Pokémon Information
Affiliation: Breeder
Starter: Oshawott
Password: Peppermint Bark

Samples
First Person Sample:

[When the feed starts, it shows a smiling girl, waving at the camera.]

Hello, everyone. I'm Oozora Akari, and this is Ozorotter-kun.

[She pans the camera down, and the Oshawott waves its scallop shell.]

I have a few questions, if that's all right? First of all, that lady in the house calling herself 'Mom' - she's okay, right? I know she's not my real mom, she's back in Tokyo, but I'm a little worried.

Second, is anyone from Starlight Academy, Dream Academy, or any of the other idol schools here? If so, we should probably talk.

This last question is going to sound a little weird, but...

[Akari laughs.]

I'm an idol back home, and I'm wondering if the television or radio stations have programs I can audition for. I have acting and singing experience!

[She bows.]

Thank you for your time.

Third Person Sample: Akari can't help humming to herself as she approaches the exit from New Bark Town to Route 29. She turns, waving in the direction of 'Mom''s house. "You might not really be my mother, but thank you for your support. I'll do my best," she calls out. The lady doesn't respond, but that's not a big deal, as far as she's concerned. She has the feeling that deep down, she has 'Mom''s support, whether she says anything or not.

She hesitates for just a moment before stepping forward, taking a deep breath and taking in her surroundings. "Ozorotter-kun, you'll help me, too, right?" The Water Pokemon isn't in its ball - Akari doesn't really have the heart to keep him in there, no matter how many people have told her it's perfectly safe. It doesn't seem fair, in her mind, that she gets to have adventures while he's cooped up in his ball. If he's going to be her partner, she wants him to experience everything she does.

Her Oshawott responds with a pleased trill, and Akari smiles, bending down to pat its head. "Thank you. I'll be counting on you, all right?"

When she stands up, she has a determined look on her face. She taps her toes on the ground, one foot and then the other. "Are you ready?", she asks her Pokemon, and it answers with a nod and a strong-sounding "Oshawott!"

Akari smiles, nodding her head. She takes another deep breath, then begins to sing: "I've got the sensation I'll be reborn today, running at full speed to grasp my future!"

With those words, she does exactly that, running forward on the path. This might not be my own world, but that doesn't mean I can start slacking off. My new idol activities - Aikatsu! - are starting right now!, she thinks, smiling as she goes off to make her way in the new world.

[these_balls]

Before we make our final decision on your application, we would like a revised personality section and a revised first-person sample for Akari. As it stands, we feel that the current section is too short and only provides a somewhat shallow look at the various traits that make Akari a well-rounded character in her own right. In particular, we feel that the discussion of Akari's traits would benefit from being fleshed out and supplemented with more insight into her motivations, as well as expanded to explore and examine the sides of her character that are not directly related to being an idol. In the revised section, please provide a more thorough, detailed look into how Akari's traits, behaviors, and experiences have shaped who she is as a person, citing to canon events where relevant to illustrate how her personality has been demonstrated in canon.

We would also like a revised first-person sample for Akari. We feel the sample as it currently stands is generic and does not give us a clear look at who Akari is as a character in her own right. In the revised sample, please feel free to choose a different environment or scenario (still set in Route's game setting), if you feel that would better allow you to demonstrate more of Akari's character traits in the sample.

You will have one week to complete these requests before the character is available again.

Mai Takatsukasa | Kamen Rider Gaim | not reserved

[dancermai]

Player
Name: Mei
Personal Journal: Don't have one
E-mail: nekomiao@gmail.com
AIM/Plurk/Etc.: Plurk: nekomiao
Timezone: +8
Current Characters in Route: n/a

Character
Name: Mai Takatsukasa
Series: Kamen Rider Gaim
Timeline:Post episode 47
Canon Resource Links: http://kamenrider.wikia.com/wiki/Mai_Takatsukasa

Personality: Mai is the daughter of the priest at the shrine which was next to the giant tree in Zawame city. As such, she was inspired to dance from a young age as she wished to perform the ceremonial dances which would bring the town together. When the temple was raised (As Yggdrasil wanted the tree for their own purposes) Mai kept her passion for dance and found a street dancing group called Team Gaim. She believes that continuing to dance she can bring happiness to people and bring together the people around her. Even though it's a different medium, the passion in her dance still shows through. It's important to her that the people around her are happy and safe.

At the start of the show, it can be seen that Mai is quite hard on herself and doubts a lot of the things she does and unfortunately that self doubt lingers through the whole series. When the lock seed (item that summons Inves - aka monsters) is knocked out of her hand during a dance battle, she blames herself for not being strong enough. Later on in the series when she gains powers and strength, she still apologizes to Kouta for not being strong enough to change the hands of fate. She blames a lot of what happens on herself even though fate is set and nobody has the ability to change that.

Mai's passion for dancing and bringing happiness to people is based a lot on her belief in hope and trust. She believes that everybody deserves hope and a future which is the resounding theme through her character in the series as she fights (not physically) against the other characters who believe that weak humans should be wiped out etc. She questions the overlords when she meets them as to whether or not people should lose trust after one betrayal. Mai strongly believes that even though somebody betrays you, all you need to do is listen and understand them. She believes that once you gain this understanding then you can talk to them and bring them hope again. When this happens, they deserve forgiveness.

This also shows when Kouta admits to killing their good friend and leader of Team Gaim, Yuuya. When this happened, Yuuya had eaten the forbidden fruit and had turned into a monster. Kouta didn't know who he was killing but all he could tell Mai was that he was the reason Yuuya is dead. By this time, Mai had been searching for her friend since about episode 2 and this confession happens in episode 26. Her belief and trust in her friends helps her to quickly overcome and understand that Kouta has been hurting and she shows him love and forgiveness rather than hurt and betrayal. She is the same when talking to Kaito. Even though she knows that he wishes to kill the weak people of the planet (that's what he says out loud, his real idea was to make the world a more even playing ground so the strong no longer have the opportunity to prey on the weak), her trust in him helps her understand his view point and still accept him.

Mai's personality in the show is very innocent and childlike. She believes that if bad things are happening, everyone should know. She tried to announce to the city on a dance stage that monsters were invading and that Yggdrasil were to blame. She believed that once the dance teams stopped arguing, the city would trust in them again. This starts to change and mature about episode 24 when she's questioned about what her true strength is. Her initial answer being that she just wants to keep dancing to make people happy. At that point, she was told by Kaitou that he will only believe her if she can prove her strength to him.

Her personality still remains quite childlike through the rest of the show but her innocence changes as she begins to mature. She starts to understand that conflict needs to happen and that there can only be one victor to the final battle. She starts to question whether it is better to change the world completely or save the world as it is now. Even through all the hard questions, her loyalty to her friends remain. She questions her friends without judging about their intentions and has faith that at the end of the day, they are doing the right thing.

Mai has a determination to help, specifically to the people she believes are doing the right thing or to the people that she really cares about. When Kouta wanted to work to make money but was still busy trying to save the city from the monster invasion, Mai would cover his shift and work for free. She was put onto a train to escape the city without her knowledge, as soon as she found out it was a plan to aid her escape, she gets off at the next stop because she wants to help. This can also count as one of her less desireable points. It is due to her wanting to help all the time that she does end up in trouble and then she requires rescuing (which then results in a little self doubt and more apologising).

Due to her passion and her energy when she believes in something, she has a tendency to draw people together. When Yuuya disappeared, Mai became the natural captain in the dance team even though people didn't call her that as such. She was able to lead the team and they looked to her for advice for the next step when Kouta wasn't around. Mai doesn't put herself into these positions on purpose, she just finds herself in them. When the pre-invasion crisis with the Beat Riders (collective name for the dance teams) happened, she was the person who spearheaded the plan to get all the dancers dancing together without arguing on one stage. When people slowly started giving up due to nobody agreeing to the group dance stage, she still took it upon herself to go around and try to speak to Kaito (who everyone hated at the time) and declared that the stage will go ahead. She also puts a lot of energy into doing things that bring people together and help them feel happy. Such as organizing the Christmas dance stage even though the war was going on and getting cake for the team when they gather.

When pushed into a corner, Mai can react impulsively. Such as, when Micchi attacked Kouta for destroying Mai's happiness (telling her the truth so she can no longer live in ignorance), she slaps Micchi. At that time, tension was high and she felt that everyone was losing grip and she desperately wanted to bring it all back under control. Also, like the earlier example, when she was tricked into getting on the TOQ train, she decides to get off at the next stop angrily as decisions were being made for her to leave without consulting her first. Another example would be when she knew her three good friends were going to fight endlessly and they were all getting hurt for this war, despite warnings, she went back in time to try and changes things even though it was futile. The hands of fate cannot be changed. That last action caused her to be lost in time and land in an alternate universe. She was then forced to wait until the final battle was finished before she could join back into the fixed time line.

Strengths/Weaknesses:
+Belief in her friends/trusted people - when you have gained her trust, she believes that you are still a good person even if you betray her.
+Able to forgive and understand - even if you aren't her friend, she is still willing to listen to your side and try to understand you better (eg. when she was speaking to the overlords about trust and the fate of humans)
+Has strength/determination when needing to do things to aid others - She will step outside of her comfort zone and work to do what she believes is right.
+Confidence in her dance - This confidence can be instilled in other facets of her life once she's gained enough skill in that area. Dance has been a major focus point so this is where her confidence shows through. It means that once she's had enough practice at something, she's willing to use her skill and show off to anybody.
+Has a strong belief in hope - She doesn't give up and believes that in any kind of darkness, there is always a light at the end of the tunnel. She also doesn't believe it is fair for somebody else to make a choice that would take away hope.
+ability to bring people together with the passion she has - her passion and energy gathers people to listen to her and she speaks without judging which usually helps with people trusting what she says

-Has a strong belief in hope/naive and childlike - She believes in the inherent ability for people to do the right thing which didn't have any repercussions in the series but in another universe would affect her badly if she met someone who was actually just bad to the core
-Doesn't have as much confidence in herself/quick to apologise - Her only confidence would be in something she does often like dance. When it comes to new things (inves battles) she is quick to judge herself harshly when things go wrong or when she tries to help and fails, she is quick to apologise and admit she's useless.
-Forgets about herself and throws herself into danger/then requires protection - She will walk into danger if she believes it will help save somebody else. Even though she doesn't really have the power or ability to save herself if this is required. She has more care for other people than herself.
-reacts impulsively when emotional - If she is upset, she will react without thinking (this is touched on in the last paragraph in the personality section)
-Reliance on others after she has had her confidence knocked by a failure - Due to her self doubt and harsh self judgement, she relies on the people around her to pick her up and instill new confidence. Kouta does this at the end when he tells her that fate isn't her fault and Kaito does this as well when telling her that she really is a strong person after all.

Pokémon Information
Affiliation: Trainer
Starter: Aipom
Password: peppermint and bark

Samples
First Person Sample:
[The screen turns on and there is a slight muffled sound as Mai sets it propped up against a pillow on a table nearby. She smiles into the camera and waves a little.]

Hey everybody! I've finally found a place to stop for the day and I wanted to see how everyone's doing. Jam and I have been getting along really well recently.

[At this point, an aipom bounces onto her shoulder with a gleeful noise. She smiles towards him and then turns back to the camera.]

We've figured out some new dance moves together. Do you want to see?

[She was quite proud. With this endless music that seems to follow them everywhere, it was good to get her body moving if she ever felt nervous or homesick. Moving your body was always the answer. She stood and moved back to where she hoped the video framed her well. Then motioned towards the aipom to follow her.]

5. 6. 7. 8.

[She smiled at the camera and performed a very quick twenty second dance routing with her pokemon mimicking the same steps and finally ending up grabbing onto her arm with his tail as a finishing pose. After a second of the pose she moves back to her original seat and smiles into the camera again.]

What do you think? Travelling around by myself is a little hard sometimes so it would be great to meet up with somebody and have some fun together. Maybe there's a nice cake shop at the next town!

[She then waves and the video feed clicks off.]

Third Person Sample:
There was a soft groan as Mai sat up, her vision took a few moments after that to clear and it wasn't what she had expected. This wasn't where she went to sleep. There was music playing and she was in a strange building. Building? "Kouta...?" She called out hesitantly. She had travelled with him to another world to start a new life toge--. Mai stared down at her hands and grasped urgently at her clothing. She was wearing normal clothes not, not the white garb she had since she became the Woman of the Beginning. The young girl quickly glanced around the room and moved towards a mirror she found nearby. She stared into her reflection. Her eyes were now the same colour and it seemed her powers were also gone.

Mai was human again. She didn't know whether to be happy or to be sad that she seemed to be now so far away from everything she knew. She wondered if Kouta was okay or whether he worried about where she was.

Just what was going on here...?

There was a strange backpack on the table nearby. Mai moved slowly over to it. She was the only person in this room and maybe it would be able to provide some answers as to what was going on. She pulled out a strange electronic device from the bag, a red and white ball followed it without her noticing. It dropped onto the ground and rolled a short distance away. There was a quiet sound followed by a slight red light and a moment later, a purple monkey appeared.

"Pom...?"

The sudden voice caught her attention and she barely covered her mouth to muffle the shriek. There was a purple ...monkey thing in her room. What was it doing here? And why did it have a hand for a tail? Was it going to eat her? It looked cute but...she took a few steps backwards.

Instead of moving towards her, the aipom performed a little dance and then hopped into his tail in a mimic of a final dance pose. It held that pose a few moments before it sat on the ground, watching Mai quietly. She found that the movements were quite well reheared and matched the random music that was playing in the room. Mai took a hesitant step forward. "I'm...Mai..." She started to say and before she could finish the sentence, the aipom started another dance to the mysterious music that was playing.

Halfway through the second performance, Mai started to smile quietly. Dance connects people together. It brings smiles to people's faces and it looks like this little creature was trying to do the same thing. By the start of the third repition of the dance, Mai had picked up some of the aipom's moves and finished that performance with it. It was then that their relationship had started. The aipom took that moment to bounce up and sit on Mai's shoulder and the smile on Mai's face was now in full force.

"Is it okay if I call you Jam...?"

[these_balls]

Welcome to the Wonderful World of Pokemon!
Congratulations, you have a fun and exciting adventure awaiting you.

Now that you've been accepted...
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Thank you! See you in the Pokémon world!

Soos Ramirez | Gravity Falls | No Reserve

[in4apounding]

Player
Name: Phasma
Personal Journal: phas
E-mail: geoduelist87@yahoo.com
Plurk:
Skype: phasmu
Timezone: EST
Current Characters in Route:
Penny Polendina | RWBY | in4apounding

Character
Name: Soos Ramirez
Series: Gravity Falls
Timeline: After s2e20 “Take Back the Falls”
Canon Resource Links:
Soos on the Gravity Falls Wiki

Personality:
At first glance, Soos is the bumbling comic relief, the big dumb guy, that side character that gets eaten in the first fifteen minutes of a monster movie. It's an impression that's not entirely incorrect. Soos can definitely be childish and impulsive, taking genuine delight in things like the puns from a cheap, talking-skull candy bowl or a children's train ride. He has a tendency to roll with the weirdness of Gravity Falls that can be an asset -when Dipper tells Soos he suspects a new boyfriend of Mabel’s is a zombie, Soos believes it entirely possible but points out that Dipper needs evidence- but it also makes him prone to distraction. When needing to stealthily escape a monster, he deliberately set off the above-mentioned candy bowl because he “needed some levity,” going as far as replacing its batteries when they turned out to be dead. He is sometimes a little too relaxed in the face of danger, seeing no problem in pursuing a relationship with an emotionally unstable, machine-hopping AI program despite recognizing her talk of “deleting” her programmers as “a major red flag.” Even when he's cognizant of how dangerous or serious a situation can be, his priorities can be more than a little skewed; when mentally transferred into the body of a pig, he was more than happy with the situation until someone tried to eat him. It’s also entirely possible for him to actively make a bad situation worse; such as telling an enemy that he would never find his target, Stan, followed by Stan’s very specific location at the time.

Despite his sometimes bumbling nature and childlike attitude, Soos is highly competent as both a handyman and a paranormal investigator. He's been the Mystery Shack’s handyman since he was 12, and is able to successfully perform repairs on a wide rangevof devices, including the Shack’s golf cart and an old laptop retrieved from an underground bunker. He also frequently helped in Dipper and Mabel’s investigations, providing backup when they entered the above-mentioned bunker, and successfully working out a way to safely bypass a carnivorous pterodactyl chick. It's also heavily implied that he's highly creative, and may be responsible for a great number of the Mystery Shack's exhibits; when constructing a maze of mirrors, for example, Stan describes it as “[Soos’] best idea that I'm taken credit for yet.”

Ultimately, Soos just wants to help those around him – during the apocalyptic ‘Weirdmageddon’ that turned Gravity Falls into a literal hellscape, he ends up wandering around helping strangers, allegedly inspiring folk-songs about himself with his efforts; more mundanely, he frequently helps the Pines’ family outside of his official duties as a Mystery Shack employee, such as unsticking Mabel’s braces from a screen door, acquiring free snacks from the vending machine for the twins, or assisting Stan when he needed to “scratch in two places at once.” Soos is intensely loyal to the Mystery Shack and the Pines family in general, considering Stan to be a surrogate father figure after he was hired as handyman on the spot –at the age of 12- on the same birthday he realized his biological father had left for good. . Soos is aware of his awkward nature, as he claimed it might prevent him from successfully asking out a woman when his grandmother told him to find a date for his cousin’s wedding; despite this he manages to find confidence in the people that do appreciate him, eventually saying that he considers the Pines to be family, on top of finding a girlfriend who shared his interests. A longtime dream was to become Stan’s successor as the Shack’s proprietor, which Soos viewed as being entirely accepted by Stan; he eventually realized this goal when Stan and his twin brother left Gravity Falls to pursue supernatural occurrences elsewhere in the world. Soos has little social life outside the Mystery Shack, spending a good deal of his free time there, and is implied to have few to no friends outside of the Pines and Wendy; the only people he is depicted spending time with besides them are his grandmother, whom he lives with, and his long-distance girlfriend Melody. When not at the Shack, he spends most of his time playing video games; he has a large collection, and once stated that one of his major life goals was to receive the high score on a ‘Tumbleweed Terror’ pinball game.

Strengths/Weaknesses:
+ Mechanical Aptitude: If it’s broken, Soos can probably fix it. If it’s not broken, he can give it unnecessary but cool fins and flame decals.
+ Video Game Skill: Soos spends most of his free time playing video games; while he seems to prefer fighting games, it’s likely he’s very familiar with the type of RPG logic that dominates Johto and Kanto.
+ Multilingual: Aside from speaking English, Soos was raised by his Spanish-speaking grandmother and has demonstrated the ability to read at least some Japanese.
+ Musical Talent: Soos has successfully DJ’d in the past, as well as having a hand in making a techno remix of Dipper’s cracking voice.
+/× Roll With It: Soos is used to the strange and inexplicable happening around and to him. Unfortunately, this often leads him to be non-chalant or careless in the face of situations that need to be taken seriously.
+/× Loyal: It’s fairly easy to win Soos’ trust, and once it’s been won it’s hard to lose; even if the object of Soos’ loyalties isn’t the most trustworthy.
+/× I Can Fix That: Soos is willing and eager to help those around him, but his enthusiasm can sometimes make things worse before they get better.
+/× Creativity: Soos has a lot of ideas. Sometimes they result in a maze of mirrors or successfully escaping carnivorous dinosaurs. Sometimes it leads to Soos wearing a disturbingly-revealing question-mark costume and mentally scarring the people around him.
× Easily Distracted: It’s possible to successfully distract Soos for extended periods of time with a laser pointer.
× Socially Awkward: Soos can be incredibly childlike –or childish- in ways that can be off-putting to those around him.
× Needs Approval: Related to his awkwardness, Soos is afraid of rejection from those around him, leading him to sometimes tolerate verbal abuse or less than safe ideas in the name of being accepted.

Pokémon Information
Affiliation: Breeder
Starter: Slowpoke
Password: Peppermint Bark

Samples
First Person Sample:
Ha, hey, check it out dudes.

[The video feed is focused, a bit unsteadily, on a sign reading “New Bark Town: Winds of a New Beginning.” What’s so funny isn’t immediately obvious, even as a beefy forearm enters the frame to strategically cover part of the wording.]

“Newb Town.” Ha, oh man, I should be writin’ this down.

[The camera turns to reveal the one speaking, an overweight man in a suit and fez, eye-patch flipped up to reveal a perfectly functioning eye underneath.]

Okay but seriously dudes, I got no idea how I got here. It’s nice an’ all, but I kinda got responsibilities now, you know? Oh, and this thing’s been following me since that weird woman kicked me out of her house.

[The camera spins again to show a Slowpoke flopped down on the grass behind Soos, staring at nothing, eyes blinking just a bit out of synch with each other.]

I guess it’s some kinda mini gummy hippo thing? I figure it either thinks I’m its mom or something, or it wants to eat me.

[There’s a short, considering pause.]

Eh, I give it about a fifty-fifty chance. Those are good odds. And I think I could outrun this little dude if I had to.

Third Person Sample:
“Oh man, they weren’t kidding when they called this place ‘Dark Cave,’ huh?”

Soos’ flashlight didn’t do much against the miasma that seemed to fill the aptly named cave. It fell into a dim circle a few feet ahead of him and then seemed to fade off into the inky darkness of the cave. Soos patted at the baby-carrier hanging off his chest, holding his Slowpoke snuggly in place. He liked letting the rubbery pink Pokémon walk on its own when he could, but in here it seemed prudent to keep it within bodyguarding range. Soos had mastered the art of letting Little Dude follow at its own pace, fleeing back to his Pokémon when a wild one attacked, but here that seemed likely to end in a very painful meeting between his face and the rocky cave floor.

“…Slow.”

“I know dude, right? I keep expectin’ to see a grue or something. Ha, that’d be pretty old-school, right?”

There was a solid minute’s pause or so before Little Dude responded with a “Poke” and a long yawn.

“Aw, me too man. But this’d probably be a bad place to sleep. It’s probably got terrible back support.”

The flashlight beam, such as it was, shone around the area a bit, examining the rocky walls and outcroppings for places a rare Pokémon might hide. If there was anything Soos had learned from dungeon-crawling games, it was that the creepiest places usually had the strongest monsters and the best loot. Fortunately, in this case, the loot and the monsters were one and the same. A good breeder had to have a solid breeding stock of in-demand eggs, right? And if that meant scouring through a ridiculously-dangerous cavern system with an incredibly apt name, that’s what Soos was going to do.

“So if I were a super-rare pocketable monster that everyone wanted, where exactly would I be?”

“…Poke.”

“Fair point dude, I wouldn’t tell me either.”

[these_balls]

Welcome to the Wonderful World of Pokemon!
Congratulations, you have a fun and exciting adventure awaiting you.

Now that you've been accepted...
[○] Respond to this with your character's journal. This is a must!
[○] Comment in the Taken Characters post, alphabetized by series: # thru G, H thru O, or P thru Z.
[○] Comment to the Friend Add/Remove, and update your friends list.
[○] Join the following communities: route_29, route_006, route_1065, pokedaycare. Only Team Rocket personnel should join rocket_hq, but we ask that all Route members subscribe to it.
Note! You will not be accepted to the main or logs community until you've commented in the aforementioned places.
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[○] Please make sure to check out the Calendar for the weather and upcoming plots and swarms!
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[○] You can also find our mod plurk at RouteMods; if you have a Plurk, we suggest you become a fan!

We'd also like to take this moment to inform you of the Eastern Kanto Ferry! For only P2000, you can take a three day, all-inclusive ferry ride from New Bark Town to Pallet Town and begin a new pokémon journey in the Kanto region! Otherwise, feel free to start in Johto!

Thank you! See you in the Pokémon world!

hans | frozen | not reserved

[skujle]

Player
Name: Michelle
Personal Journal: xehanoot
E-mail: sweetstacking@gmail.com
AIM/Plurk/Etc.: sweetstacks
Timezone: Pacific
Current Characters in Route: Aqua

Character
Name: Hans of the Southern Isles
Series: Frozen
Timeline: End of the movie
Canon Resource Links: look at that smug jerk

Personality: Hans is charming, polite, and chivalrous. He listens well and takes genuine interest in whomever he's speaking to. More often than not, people take to Hans very easily--it's part of his easygoing charm and likability. Hans is good with people above all else. He appeals to them and makes them feel wanted and loved.

Hans is an amiable kind of guy, above all else. When he meets Anna, he acts the perfect gentleman, considerate and kind and a good listener. He's easy to get along with--his interests coincide with the interests of those he meets. Hans is accepting; when he meets Anna, he's willing to go along with her silly plans (sock sliding, for example). What Hans is incredibly talented at is adapting, too. Because Hans acts how he believes people will be most receptive to him, he's masterful at switching between personas. For the romantic Anna, he acts like a sweet, charming dork. For those who see him as a leader, he's unshakable in his resolve, stern, the perfect leader. Toward Elsa--who's closed-off and unsure of her interactions with others, he's warm and understanding. After all, Hans is excellent at reading people: He mirrors what they want to see, in order to gain their trust--a lesson taught to him by his father. This results in their doing just that: putting their trust in him (aside from Elsa).

He's trustworthy; therefore, people depend and rely on him. Hans shows the traits of an excellent leader. When Arendelle is in trouble, he rises to the occasion and ensures that everyone has warmth, food, and drink. Similarly, when he gives an order, people follow. Even when the prospect of danger is very much real, and Hans needs people to find Anna, they willingly step forward. This is also probably due to the fact that Anna is so loved, and Hans seems genuinely in love with her, too. That he has such a deep, strong relationship with Anna only benefits him, and makes him seem more trustworthy. It's likely because Hans connects to Anna so quickly and thoroughly that he comes off as a romantic--it helps Anna relate to him and feel a more intimate connection to him.

And Hans sincerely is in love with Anna. He enjoys his time at the coronation with her, and seems a kindred spirit to Anna. After all, he's been neglected by his own twelve brothers all of his life. He knows what it's likely to be lonely, and so he relates to Anna deeply. In Anna, Hans finds someone who truly does care about him, who teaches him how to let loose and have fun. And maybe it's because Anna draws out a new side of him that makes him seem so impulsive. He does ask Anna to marry him the evening they meet, but he's nothing less than absolutely secure and confident in his decision to ask her hand in marriage. Anna's own spontaneity rubs off on him, and she gets him to open up. She gets him to learn new things about himself.

But Hans's insecurity, originally placed there by his family's treatment of him, comes through once he meets Elsa. It's obvious that he's bothered by the fact that Elsa refuses to give the two her blessing. Hans is dismayed when Elsa hears news of their engagement. While Elsa makes it clear that her answer is absolute, Hans, in his desperation, tries to plead with her--but she shoots him down. Hans is mostly resigned, at this point--but still, desperate to get the blessing to marry the woman he loves, Hans tries to put Elsa at ease. He knows Elsa cares deeply about Anna--and he does his best to show that he feels the same, too. It's obvious that Hans really does care about Anna, after all. He's willing to go out of his way to help her. When he hears Anna's gone missing, he's very clearly concerned about her. Hans rallies the people to go find her; he's willing to brave the snow and ice to make sure she's safe and alive. Hans relates to Anna, in the end, and he feels a connection to her that he's not found elsewhere.

Of course, that's on the surface.

In reality, Hans is a narcissist, and extremely cold and calculating. Hans's goal, above all else, is to "find his own place"--that place being a kingdom of his own to rule. It's for this reason he travels to Arendelle, and the reason he charms his way into Princess Anna's heart. He appeals to her lonely nature; he promises her that he'll be there for her. Hans knows how people tick--he figures Anna out fairly quickly, and he preys on her insecurities. Hans knows he can get away with it, too, because he's so charming. It's that mask which allows him to freely manipulate people--they won't expect someone as kind and noble as Hans to betray them, so it's a non-issue.

Not so. Hans's major talent is manipulation. He has no qualms about hurting people, as long as he gets what he wants. In a matter of one short evening, he has Anna wrapped around his finger; he proposes to her, and because he's been so open and kind to her, she accepts immediately. Hans convinces her that what they have is true love, that he cares for Anna; but really, he cares only about himself. Hans has no problems lying or deceiving, even to the most unsuspecting people. His mastery of lying and manipulation make him a dangerous villain--if only because he seems so unassuming.

And that's another facet of his personality worth mentioning: He's good at making people feel wanted. Hans reads people as easily as he lies, so it allows him to get into their heads. Even the most innocent people can get ensnared in Hans's web of lies and manipulation. Of course, when someone seems to not trust him, they've immediately solidified Hans's dislike for them. And Hans believes that--that anything he does is not actually his fault. Hans doesn't take lightly to people distrusting him. For example, when Elsa expresses discomfort in regards to his and Anna's marriage, he's obviously bothered. (This may or may not have any bearing on his later plans to kill her...)

But as much as Hans lies and manipulates, he claims to dislike violence. It's not something that he respects; rather, he prefers cunning and brains over shows of brute strength. This results in his being a quick thinker and master planner. And Hans shows incredible restraint when it comes to his plans. He hides his glee over being told that Arendelle depends on him after Anna's "death." He even manages to cry--even if it takes him destroying the inside of his cheek to do so. Hans prefers to have options. To him, murder is messy, and it results in an incredible lack of options later. But even with his dislike of violence, when Hans has no other choice, he'll certainly resort to it--Hans doesn't want to look weak, after all, especially after making such an intense declaration: The queen must be killed.

Like said previously, Hans is a master liar and manipulator, but he also wields very high intellect. Hans's plan to take over Arendelle is not without its hiccups, but Hans adapts--such as when he meets Anna and not Elsa, when Elsa suddenly runs away, and when Anna is seemingly dead at her sister's hands. Hans is able to improvise on the fly, and his lies even then are no less impressive--he keeps a calm exterior, even when he's most annoyed. Hans knows how people work; therefore, he's able to get under their skin. He pulls no punches when he confronts Elsa on the frozen fjord. Without hesitation, he proclaims that her sister is dead and takes the opportunity to attempt to murder Elsa. Even though Hans does not feel remorse or true love for anyone, he still understands others' emotions--it's how he forges a seemingly strong, if shallow, bond with Anna. While Hans lacks any sort of empathy whatsoever, he's still able to act. He truly convinces everyone that he is genuinely remorseful and broken up about Anna's "death." He uses his image to his advantage: He states something along the lines that, since he's been pretending to be the doting fiancé, it's easy to pretend he's legitimately devastated.

Above all else, Hans does value intellect. He abhors feeling like a fool; when he confronts Oaken and is unable to retrieve an answer, he starts to feel angry. Angry, because he's not able to use his intellect as masterfully as he'd like, and because Oaken plain just won't cooperate with him. Hans hates being sidetracked in anything; his plans are incredibly important (to him) and anything else is just a distraction. And Hans uses his intellect to manipulate, too. "The more I know," Hans states in the novel, "the easier it is to manipulate." Hans himself is a sort of businessman: He tells people what they want to hear, gives them what they want--if only to benefit himself. He's willing to even pay a hefty amount of money in order to get what he wants. The slightest resistance--such as when he suspects Kristoff is trying to win over Anna and the throne--immediately draws his ire. But Hans eventually cools his head--and focuses on his plans.

So Hans is also a opportunist. The novel A Frozen Heart delves deeper into Hans's background and personality. Hans appeals to his father through a combination of sucking up and doing anything he's told to; something he absolutely hates. Yet Hans soldiers on, because his goal is more important than his pride. Of course, Hans is not without his pride. He believes he deserves the best, and he resents anyone who thinks otherwise--this is his narcissism at play, and he proclaims himself a "hero," even, when he betrays Anna. Hans also feels an immense amount of pride when the people of Arendelle express that they can count only on him--that he's their only hope. Because Hans is such an opportunist, he'll tackle any obstacle that comes his way--he himself states that he "didn't have a chance" to acquire a throne of his own without marrying someone.
Strengths/Weaknesses:
+ MANIPULATION: When Hans sees something or someone he can use, he manipulates the crap out of them. He's a puppetmaster in the truest sense; because Hans knows how people work, he uses that to his advantage.
+ COOLNESS: Hans can keep his composure pretty well. Even when Anna drags him around at the party, he still manages to stay calm--and act.
+ CHARISMA: Hans is outwardly a charismatic guy; he does his best to appeal to those he believes he can use. It usually works.
+ PEOPLE SKILLS: As a prince, Hans is good with people. He knows how they work, and he reads them very easily.
+ ACTING: Hans manages to act the part of a perfect, noble prince. He wins over Anna and the people of Arendelle easily, by putting up an amiable front.

+/- AMBITIOUS: Both a positive and a negative; while his ambition is impressive (since he went so long without his true goal coming out) it also leads to his downfall. His ambition is probably the root of all his problems: Hans wants to be recognized, Hans wants everything that rightfully belongs to him. ... Or, so he thinks.
+/- RELUCTANT TO ENGAGE IN VIOLENCE: Hans values intelligence more than brute force; therefore, he avoids violence unless absolutely necessary. He prefers to have a "way out" in order to benefit himself, and he's unsure about taking lives except when it's absolutely necessary. Of course, because he's reluctant to engage in violence, that's probably why he leaves Anna to die instead of finishing the job himself. That leads to her sacrifice, and Hans's failure.

- JERK: Hans has few truly redeeming qualities. From the start, he lies and manipulates just so he can claim a throne that does not belong to him. As such, this results in his having an utter lack of remorse and empathy. Hans doesn't care what must be done, as long as he gets what he wants.
- CAN'T TAKE A PUNCH: Hans is only human, of course; he can be felled with a single punch.
- NARCISSISM: There is one person that Hans truly loves: himself. Hans believes he deserves the best, and if anyone stands in his way, he's willing to take them down. Also, because Hans believes there is no one more clever than he, no one will be able to thwart his plans--especially if they rely on something like love.
- INSECURITY: Because Hans is essentially a punching bag for his brothers, he withdraws when he's around them. Hans becomes quieter, doesn't make biting remarks. Hans endures a lot of abuse from both his brothers and father--he doesn't believe it's worth it to make a fuss and suffer possibly worse consequences. Hans is bitter and lonely as a result of his brothers' treating him like the dirt on the bottoms of their boots. He also knows that his brothers and father do not think much of him: When Hans is ready to propose the idea for him to travel to Arendelle, he's nervous. Finally, Hans truly feels out of place--even at home, which contributes a lot to his general insecurity.
- IMPATIENCE: The few times Hans's plans don't go how he wants, his temper gets the best of him. He easily becomes frustrated--and he hates when people don't follow his orders. It's the easiest way to get on his nerves. Similarly, when Hans thinks he's got the situation all figured out and everything can work in his favor, he tends to get a little careless. He's convinced that Anna will end up dying--but he leaves before he can actually confirm that she's dead. Rather, he chooses to gloat about her foolishness and how clever he had been.
- INABILITY TO CONNECT: Out of all his brothers, there is a single one that doesn't hate him. Lars is willing to speak with him as a brother actually should, but instead of embracing this, Hans sees it only as an annoyance--it doesn't benefit him to listen to Lars's "rants."
- PLANS/MOTIVATION: Hans tends to make plans that are too big for him to handle--such as trying singlehandedly to claim Arendelle's throne for his own. Unfortunately, the scope of his goal is too big, and even though he's really good at planning, things ultimately blow up in his face. Similarly, because Hans craves attention and "his own place," once it's within his sights he ends up being more careless than anything. It's this carelessness that, in the end, proves to be his downfall.
- LACK OF EMPATHY: Because Hans does not have a bond like that of Anna and Elsa's, he's really incapable of understanding it completely. In what seem to be her final moments, Hans mocks Anna and her attempt to find Elsa; he considers Anna's love for her sister to be a weakness. Hans effectively jabs at Anna in ways he know will truly and completely hurt her. Hans doesn't understand love, after all; A Frozen Heart very frequently emphasizes the fact that Hans doesn't believe in it--he's in constant disbelief that his brother Runo could actually have a wife that truly loves him.

Pokémon Information
Affiliation: Trainer
Starter: Smoochum
Password: Peppermint Bark

[skujle]

Samples
First Person Sample: [ What's this? A young man looking rather thoughtful. Hans has one hand on his chin, and it's a while until he speaks. ]

I've been wondering how, exactly, our companions are decided upon our arrival. [ Is that a note of disdain? Annoyance? No, not at all--must be your imagination. Still, the most observant will notice a downward glance at the Smoochum next to him. Ridiculous. ]

Not that I'm complaining, however; this one seems to be a very valuable companion.

[ Which he will learn to control, completely and utterly. Too bad the little Smoochum has no idea whatsoever. ]

Tell me: What is your favorite? Is it their appearance, their moveset, their personality? I'm very curious.

Third Person Sample: Of course Hans would end up with the most asinine... thing. It's not even capable of saying anything other than its ridiculous name. Had Hans any knowledge of these creatures before arriving, he would have thought he deserved the best. Something strong, something formidable--something that commanded power. Something that let him be noticed and recognized.

Instead, he ended up with this purple... thing. Hans hates it. It's tiny and weak, and Hans hates the way it follows him around. Even its squeaking is irritating.

Of course, he puts on a perfectly calm and appreciative front: The simple townspeople coo over the thing, tell him how lucky he is to have such a cute Pokemon!

"Thank you. I'll do my best to raise her with love and care," he replies every time--though with a few variations--and flashes a dazzling smile. Certainly some of those women are positively swooning; Hans knows it, and he walks almost with a swagger. These people don't know him, and he plans to keep it that way, especially after the catastrophe in Arendelle.

It still leaves a bitter taste in his mouth. Hans blames not himself--no, of course not. He's never the one at fault. No, it had been the sisters' fault. And he had been so close. Hans still thinks about it whenever his mind wanders, whenever he's stuck doing manual labor. A punishment, Father had called it, but Hans doesn't know why he's not more impressed. He'd managed to charm the princess in the matter of a single evening. And he had been so close!

Figures that something as worthless as love would be his downfall. It's almost ironic, how he had failed so easily after Anna's return.

"My, dear," an old woman says, and Hans offers an easy smile, "what an adorable Smoochum you have! You know, those are particularly hard to find, especially for a beginner. And what a handsome one you are! It's lucky to have a trainer such as yourself."

"Not at all," Hans replies, the very picture of modesty, "I'm the lucky one, to have her as my constant companion. I only hope she will appreciate me as much as I appreciate her."

The lie comes easily--almost as easily as he steps out onto that new route.

Peridot | Steven Universe | Reserved/Re-apping! 1/2

[peridork]

Player
Name: Possum
Personal Journal: awkwardpossum
E-mail: impossumblerp@gmail.com
AIM/Plurk/Etc.: AIM: thesnarkypossum Plurk: awkwardpossum
Timezone: EST
Current Characters in Route: N/A

Character
Name: Peridot
Series: Steven Universe
Timeline: “Log Date: 7 15 2”
Canon Resource Links:

Steven Universe Wiki has a pretty in-depth history section now, but in summary:

Peridot was initially introduced as an antagonist, sent to Earth to case out the planet’s status and report back on the progress of some seriously nasty Gem experiments that were still going on there. When zapping to the planet using warp pads and conducting her work via remote controlled technology ceased to be a feasible option, she and two other gems arrived from Homeworld via spaceship, to complete the mission that was laid out for her by their leader, Yellow Diamond.

They were thwarted of course, as antagonists on kids’ shows often are, and Peridot was stranded on an unfamiliar alien planet in hostile territory, without her escort or her informant to help her. Eventually the Crystal Gems succeeded in capturing her (after several failed attempts), though she was almost immediately released by Steven. Trapped on Earth and with little other choice, she is now willingly working with the Crystal Gems to try and stop the earth-destroying menace that is The Cluster.

Personality:

Peridot has come quite a long way since she appeared for the first time. A younger gem with little life experience outside of the confines of her job, there is much we have learned about her since she began living on Earth and started working alongside Steven and the other Crystal Gems, and there’s a night and day difference between the Peridot of the past and the Peridot we see now.

In her first appearance, Peridot exuded a calm and detached aura. She was hyper-focused on getting her job done and getting it done well, doing precisely what she was assigned to do with swift efficiency. Being in a controlled environment where nothing immediately cataclysmic happened (and armed with the knowledge that, should something go wrong, it could be solved with a simple report back to her superiors for further instructions), she pulled the job off with little to no incident. She even reacted calmly in the face of minor snags on the way; discovering evidence that the site may have been compromised did not trigger a Chicken-Little style meltdown. On the contrary, because she knew what to do and how to handle things in advance, she very calmly pressed pause on her work and went to report the anomaly with haste.

In actuality, Peridot is not as calm or as experienced as she would like her enemies to believe. Though she is a naturally brilliant technician, she does not perform well under pressure and comes off more like a grad student sent into the field for the very first time, rather than a seasoned veteran; she’s all book smarts, and no street smarts. Unexpected turns and changes of circumstance throw her for a loop and lead her to panic and grow flustered very easily, and this is demonstrated with increasing frequency with each subsequent appearance that she makes through the series.

The change of attitude does not come without reasonable cause. Peridot is thrown way out of her depth when she becomes stranded on Earth, where she is in very serious danger and has very little idea of how to proceed. Far from the calm persona she projects when recording her log at the Galaxy Warp, the message she sends to her superior, Yellow Diamond, shows her growing steadily unhinged and desperate, starting out with her trying to craft a sensible request for help, and ends when it swiftly falls apart into a panicked plea for rescue.

These examples represent two extremes of Peridot’s complex personality, but it isn’t until Steven reaches out to her in “Catch and Release” that we get a good sense of what she truly is. Naturally suspicious, arrogant, boastful, and easily frightened by the unknown, Peridot is very much a product of the highly segregated caste hierarchy that Homeworld represents. She is extremely confident in her abilities as a technician and seems to revel in lording her skills over the others, firmly believing that she’s the only one of the five of them that’s capable of doing what she does, because she’s the only one who’s “officially” qualified for it – she initially can’t accept that Pearl might be as good of a technician as she is, because the intended function of a Pearl is as a more or less ornamental servant or vanity piece. Peridot outright refuses to treat her as an equal, even when Pearl proves herself an even match. After witnessing Steven and the other Crystal Gems defend and support Pearl so unconditionally, though, Peridot eventually reaches an understanding with the other gem, and she learns to work together with her with something more closely approaching mutual respect.

Respect is not something that Peridot easily affords to others unless they are of a gem type that outranks her, and humans are barely even worth consideration in her eyes; she is aggressively disinterested in their affairs, and blows off explanations of things that she deems irrelevant. She makes no attempt to hide her rather nasty personality around those she’s used to considering beneath her, and she has a tendency to be extremely snide and rude to most people as a result. On the other hand, she will act out and suck up in an attempt to gain the favor of those she does respect and/or see as an authority.

Slinging petty insults is a favorite tactic of hers, and Pearl mentions that she is prone to throwing “temper tantrums” when she becomes aggravated to the point of being overwhelmed. Desperately insecure in unfamiliar social situations, she’s impressionable, and will sometimes pick up gestures, language and habits and parrot them back at people in an attempt to seem witty or “in the loop”. We see this happen a few times, such as in “Catch and Release” when Steven uses the “What’s that on your shirt” bit to get her to look down so he can flick her nose. She attempts the same move a few minutes later, but messes up and says “What’s your shirt?” instead. This kind of behavior projects an image of immaturity, particularly by human standards. She is also incredibly defensive, and becomes infuriated when people fail to take her seriously. She does not enjoy being called “cute” or “harmless”, which hints at a strong, hidden desire to be respected, and that she considers such descriptors to be degrading.

Contrasting that, Peridot can be very cold and ruthless, which is another likely byproduct of her Homeworld influenced morals. In “Marble Madness”, she thinks very little of harming Steven, and would have crushed him with a giant remote-controlled hand without a second thought had Garnet not intervened. She also doesn’t have much concern for what the Cluster or the Kindergarten will do to Earth until she becomes trapped there and it directly affects her own safety. Often callous in social situations, she’s blunt and speaks in what she considers to be absolute truths, without any consideration for the damage her words may cause to the feelings of others. Emotions in general seem somewhat foreign to her, and when forced to talk about them she describes them in vague terms, like calling the sense of guilt that she felt after upsetting Amethyst as making her “feel small”. In general, she just doesn’t do very well with social interaction. Whether this is a result of her upbringing on Homeworld or merely an inherent facet of her personality is anyone’s guess, but the end result is the same: Peridot struggles greatly with engaging with people in abstract, emotional terms. She struggled so much with verbalizing her thoughts properly under the pressure of a face-to-face interaction that she had to record her apology to Amethyst on a tape recorder.

She’s also cocky, cruel, and tends to be a bit of a bully when she thinks she’s in a safe and untouchable position, or when she thinks that she has the upper-hand. Contrast that with the cowardice that she displays in “Keeping it Together”, wherein the Crystal Gems wound up chasing her all over the Kindergarten, while she evaded them with the increasingly ridiculous gadgets she had at her disposal. In this case, Peridot was clearly panicked and terrified (if her constant wailing and yelping as she tried to dodge their attempts to catch her are any indication), since she was physically in the same place as the lot of them and in very real, tangible danger.


Strengths/Weaknesses:

As a rather sheltered and inexperienced individual, Peridot has her fair share of weaknesses and nasty personality flaws.

Her social skills are pretty sub-par, even among other gems, though it’s especially egregious when it comes to interacting with residents of Earth. She displays a very linear way of thinking that can often lead to her misunderstanding and deeply upsetting others without her even meaning to, such was the case in “Too Far”. Amethyst found Peridot’s scathing descriptions of her fellow Crystal Gems to be hilarious and laughed uproariously at them, which encouraged Peridot to continue to behave that way. Of course, Peridot simply could not understand why Amethyst didn’t find it as funny when she moved on to targeting her with her rude jokes next. It’s as if Peridot views social interactions almost like they are mathematical formulas, where a certain combination of actions will always yield the same results. She fails to recognize a successful conversation as a shifting thing, containing infinite variables that one needs to learn to adapt to in order to achieve the desired results.

She is very efficient, and this kind of doubles as both a strength and a weakness. Peridot performs tasks quickly and without any nonsense or idling, but that same efficiency can lead her to be very terse and callous with people. She’s impatient to an extreme fault, and becomes aggravated when things don’t move at her pace, which causes her to get sloppy and make mistakes.

As far as practical skills go, Peridot is a capable technician. This is her function as designated on Homeworld according to her gem type, and she demonstrates it constantly by using and maintenancing advanced gem tech, and easily building advanced contraptions (such as a giant, pilotable robot, for example) with ease. Though this is a widely applicable and very useful skill, it’s also the only one that she knows. She’s extremely cocky and overconfident in her abilities, but also panics easily and, much like Pearl, has a hard time adapting to changes in plan. The argument she got into with Jasper over readjusting the parameters of the mission that they were both on highlights this pretty well.

Her greatest strength, on the other hand, is that she has the capacity and willingness to learn from the Crystal Gems, and shows a desire to desire to grow as a person. She is aware that she has a lot to learn about living on Earth, and openly expresses a desire to understand things better. Though somewhat set in the close-minded ways of her home planet, on multiple occasions Peridot has shown a willingness to compromise and/or readjust her views on things. Her relationship with Pearl is a great example of this.

As a final but important weakness, it’s necessary to note that her knowledge of Earth is completely abysmal. At the canon point I’m taking her from, she at least has the benefit of some basic experience under her belt. But, considering that before she started hanging out with the Crystal Gems she had no idea what simple things like thunderstorms, wheels, towels or toilets were, she’s still bound to struggle with some things. Human expressions and phrases also confuse her greatly, as she tends to take things very literally, but she usually catches on pretty quickly once the actual meaning is explained to her. Peridot is bright and inquisitive… she just happens to have lived a very sheltered life in a culture completely different from our own before she met Steven.

2/2

[peridork]

Pokémon Information
Affiliation: Trainer
Starter: I'd like for her to get her Elgyem back if that's ok!
Password: Pumpkin seeds!

Samples
First Person Sample:

[ The video feed starts with her face veerrryy close to the camera. She readjusts before starting: ]

Alright, which one of you dolts wants a horrible obnoxious bird--?

[ She’s cut off by the distinct voice of a chatot, which is echoing her last few words from where it’s perched in the background: “Obnoxious bird, obnoxious bird!” Peridot whips her head from the camera to glare over her shoulder at it. ]

GaaaaaAAHHHH, SHUT UP SHUT UP SHUT UP!!!!

[ “Shut up! Shut up!” The chatot chimes right back, making Peridot wince. She turns back to the camera, looking even more hassled than before. ]

Look, I caught this horrible beaked menace because it was following me around, mocking me and loudly repeating private conversations for everyone in the vicinity to hear. I had no choice. There was no other way to get rid of it!

[ “Get rid of it! Get rid of it!” Peridot pauses to take a deep, shaky breath before continuing, dragging her hands down her face.] Please… Please, someone just take it from me. [ When she removes her hands from her eyes the look on her face is one of sheer, pained desperation, a miserable grin plastered on her face. ] We don’t even have to trade, I’ll just give it to you! For free! [ “For free! For free!” Says chatot. The gem kind of looks like she wants to cry. ] The only condition is that you just get it as far away from me as possible. My number is attached to this message. PLEASE HELP ME--

[ Chatot takes this moment to launch itself at the camera, squawking raucously. Peridot is shrieking obscenities, unseen behind a wall of fluttering feathers. The video cuts off there. ]

Third Person Sample:

Gems don’t really do ghost stories. Gems don’t really do ghosts, because death is not as much of an inevitable conclusion for members of their race like it is for humans. Thus, Peridot has little context for these so called “ghost type” Pokemon that she’s been sent out to catch from Burnt Tower, of all places, in the middle of the flipping night, because apparently that’s the only time of day in which they’re guaranteed to appear.

She so misses the days when she didn’t need to sleep to survive.

“Diamonds it’s dark in here,” she grumbles to herself, eyes adjusting slowly to the inky black. She also misses the days when she still had her limb enhancers, instead of having to rely on multiple separate devices. She could have sworn that she packed a flashlight for this expedition, but when she’d dug through her bag to look for it moments ago, she’d come up empty handed. And so, instead of nice, reliable technology, she has…

“Can’t you do something about this?” she waspishly demands of her Elgyem, who is dutifully floating at her side as usual. It turns its expressionless gaze up toward her, blinking slowly, and then lifts up its stubby little multi-colored fingers. They glow softly and blink, casting an eerie, technicolor halo in a short radius around itself. It’s not very effective.

“...Wow. Thanks,” Peridot growls sarcastically, rolling her eyes. She hates this. Having to rely on other gems to do things for her was bad enough, but have to rely on these tiny little organic creatures that aren’t even sapient? She’s really out of her element in this world.

“What else what else what-- a-hah!” She gropes at her belt for another Pokeball, releasing the monster inside as soon as it’s in her grasp; Houndour emerges, nearly impossible to see against the gloom. “What about you. Can you lighten things up in here?”

There’s a pause, shortly followed by a burst of flame that illuminates the whole room. It just throws its head back and starts spewing fire straight up in the air??? Unbelievable??? WHY WASN’T SHE MORE SPECIFIC WITH HER ORDERS? Tongues of flame lick at the already burnt rafters above, and Peridot’s too shocked by her blunder to act for a moment.

“No no no no no no no no!!” the gem hisses frantically, voice cracking with panic, brain finally catching up. She forces Houndour back into its pokeball and stands there, stock still, bathed in darkness once more as she strains her ears, listening to see if that idiotic display managed to wake up one of the caretakers. Are those footsteps? Those sound like footsteps.

Screw it, she’ll take a failure for this job. It’s time to go.

She snatches Elgyem up under her arm and books it back outside, swearing under her breath and berating herself the whole way...

dirk strider | homestuck | no reserve 1/2

[brocrux]

Player
Name: Jackie
Personal Journal: poptarts
AIM/Plurk/Etc.: chickendance
Timezone: EST
Current Characters in Route: N/A

Character
Name: Dirk Strider
Series: Homestuck
Timeline: [S] Act 7
Canon Resource Links: Wiki entry.

Personality: Spoilers for the end of Homestuck may be within.
Dirk Strider can be viewed as an enigmatic person, almost intentionally so. Nobody would know at a glance that he's an intelligent person who loves deeply that can be an insufferable jackass, a huge dork and some kind of action hero depending on what's going on. His weapon is something that's repeatedly stated a being "unbreakable." Dirk is unyielding and seemingly unbreakable himself, like he's made of steel. He's outwardly so aloof that people would never know all of who he is by looking at him. Even people who know him best had still needed to put him together like a puzzle.

He knows he's cool. He doesn't pretend to be. He thinks he is to the point of having bragging rights about it. He thinks he's basically Batman, highly intelligent and badass. He has absurd hobbies and interests but he owns that he likes what he likes and can have people questioning if there's so many layers of irony that he made something horribly stupid cool. He has a lot of confidence when it comes to most of his abilities. He's a perfectionist and an overachiever, putting far more than 100% into everything he does. He sets the bar ridiculously high for himself and everyone around him, without thinking for a second it's unreachable until much later.

Nothing about Dirk Strider is "half-assed." One can count on him to put a lot of thought and effort into everything. He's either an unstoppable force or a complete disaster, sabotaging himself without knowing how to stop because he has to keep trying to perfect it. Very rarely is there an in-between. The most common middle-ground he's capable of is zoning out completely. He gets utterly distracted while trying to do everything at once and always ends up zoning out on one end to focus on the other. Despite claims and attempts to do so, he's not great at multi-tasking.

It's stated that Dirk has a usual way of getting exactly what he wants. He believes it's expected of him to do it all so he can be controlling and pushy. His method of doing things starts out as being viewed as the best possible method by himself, even if it can be completely insane to the normal person. For example, when teaching one how to fight, he assumes the best method of doing so is ambushing them and relentlessly beating the crap out of them until they land a hit back. His method of teaching someone how to ride a bike would be to put them on the bike and then forcefully shove them down a large hill.

His controlling can turn into playing mind games that border on manipulative. Putting his Auto-Responder on with Jake in order to keep him toes and insisting things are good when questioned. He assumes he is the one in control. He thinks of himself as a puppeteer, in every sense of the word (Holy SHIT does he love puppets). He grew up with puppets and robots both of which he himself are responsible for creating and have never refused an idea from him. The only exception to the rule is The Auto-Responder, who he still assumes to be predictable enough for a long time. Jane is given the title of leader but he assumes he is going to be the one pulling the strings in the background. He doesn't ask if they're okay with his plans or even sharing the details before enacting them. He phrases things as opinions to be considered but they are meant to nudge people into the direction he wants them to go. He assumes he knows what's best for people, knows what they need and where they need to improve. He likes to give his friends advice to aid their personal development by pointing out their flaws and explaining how to fix them, like telling Jake to be more skeptical and telling Jane to be less so.

His friends often have no idea what to make of his actions, assuming it might be part of some grand convoluted scheme they know they can't win. People don't know how to talk to him directly because figuring him out is a challenge. Roxy and Jake both express a fear of failing him, of telling him what they really think. People have a hard time saying 'No.' It's never his intention to be this way.

Dirk has a huge heart. He loves almost unconditionally. He honestly thinks he's being helpful until it becomes clear he's not. His habit of pushing his friends stems from wanting to witness them to succeed. He never gives the thought of day that they're incapable of doing so. He believes in them completely and holds the utmost respect for them, Roxy especially so. He thinks she is far stronger than he'll ever be. He sees her as the only one capable of overcoming her own flaws and the main glue that keeps them (him) together. He feels guilty his love is strictly platonic because he just wants to make her happy. Dirk confesses doesn't think he could ever actually intentionally cause her harm - which would undoubtedly carry over to any of his friends. He can't raise his sword to them, even if it he knew it they would be perfectly fine and it would result in their advancement. He wouldn't want to raise a hand to them either. He even hesitates to destroy his own creations or throw a lifeless puppet away. The thought of having to intentionally hurt terrifies him. He'd rather sacrifice himself than have someone/thing he cares about face pain. In a doomed timeline (resulting from [S] Game Over), realizing his friends are dead and he ultimately failed to do anything about it is the one thing that causes him to completely give up, too overcome with grief. He'd hate to be alone again.

He was alone for sixteen years. Dirk grew up in the middle of a flooded wasteland. The world had been a chaotic environment he could never venture out into. He managed to raise himself somehow. He had to be active and know how to take initiative because the other option was perishing. Without a human culture to dictate the norm, he picks it apart from the past, choosing to emulate the long-dead figure of his "Bro" (His universe's Dave) as much as he can. He's built up the legend in his head. This is his idol, the legacy of which he wishes to live up to and improve upon. He believes having this positive figure helped him become a better person than he would have been otherwise and set the standard for who he wanted to be. Being the overachiever that he is, he takes ironic gestures like interpreted acts of extreme masculinity displayed in archived data about this guy to an extreme. He's hyper-intelligent gay man with but refuses to make his orientation anything more than a footnote in order to act in loving mockery of a bro culture that existed centuries before him. The performance, as he words it, is difficult to break. He's been doing it his entire life. This wall of dudebro irony and stoic expression helps him control his world. It allows him to fit in better with Jake and Jane, who exist at the same time as his idol and don't understand his situation until it's explained to them later on. It also limits how visible his true thoughts and feelings are should he be monitored by the evil alien overlord while simultaneously honoring someone who dedicated his life to giving her a middle finger.

Dirk's only social contact for his time alone had been with people over the internet (only one of which exists in the same time frame and two of which are aliens sharing a body.) After starting the game, he's had a few months with fellow humans. This lack of contact along with his self-imposed emulation of his idol and a constant threat to their lives looming over, have reasonably lead to Dirk having difficulty properly expressing himself and knowing how to act around people. He fails spectacularly at making his first relationship anything but an emotionally draining one for Jake, not initially getting why they shouldn't spend every waking second together among many other issues.

It's joked by his friends that he could be an emotionless robot. He's had to put aside expressing things in order to protect himself and to focus on what needs to be done. Emotions can get in the way of thinking clearly and he thinks a lot. Any displays of affection are extremely difficult to express, even if it's with the person he spent his entire life protecting while she was sleep-floating in their dreams or an actual boyfriend. He won't tell someone how deeply he cares for them outright unless pushed to an extreme, choosing instead of convey it in a way that seems like he's joking or sharing the thought with someone else. He wants people to know what he's thinking and feeling, expects them to see through any ironic or subtle gesture but his cool composure doesn't falter enough to clue people most of the time unless he outright says what's on his mind. He's more or less emotionally unbreakable, like a really disciplined Vulcan. The walls remain firmly up and in place. This is true even while under the influence of Trickster Mode, something that alters inhibitions and has his friends loudly expressing thoughts and desires to eerie smiling extremes claiming it will solve their problems. He's terrified and yells at them but remains visually deadpanned under the influence himself and in control.

Dirk can often play the straight man (pun not intended) to his friends. His reactions to antics can be the equivalent of looking into the camera like he's on The Office. This does not mean he is not occasionally downright ridiculous himself. He's an intellectual and uses endless sarcasm, which displays at times as being an insufferable know-it-all. This is much like Rose Lalonde, technically his daughter, who Roxy comments directly to with "You're Dirk!" upon hearing her speak. He shares a verbose analytical way of talking to people and a habit of getting too long-winded with his writings. There's a similar sense of snarky humors, while he's still capable of going off on tangents and using inappropriate metaphors like Dave. He can be both very terse and very wordy depending on who he's talking to and the current comfort level. This can be demonstrated best while talking to Jake and Jane who have respectively been on the receiving end of getting blunt one-word replies laced with sarcasm and paragraphs of rambling filled with pop-culture and literary references. He's completely game for humorous fun, should nothing to too serious be happening. For instance, Dirk indulges Caliborn's request that he draw smut and the drawings end up including Jake eating a baby and Roxy comparing breasts to an ocean.

While he does act upon the art-form of 'irony,' there is sincerity in every action and he does know when to turn it off and get serious. He's willing to admit when things aren't as perfect as he wants them to be when deemed necessary, even in cases where he might justify the problems later. Dirk doesn't shy away from deep conversation. He goes the deepest when speaking to Jane and later on Dave, people who he feels the most comfortable with. He's completely upfront with Jane right from the start, the conversations being the most telling. He thinks she gets him the most. In a lesser instance, Calliope gets to see past the ironic facade because he goes to her for advice concerning things about the game. He is willing to share and offer genuine opinions, express fears and general thoughts and, perhaps most importantly, listen in order to offer support.

Growing up alone, Dirk has been with his own thoughts for a long time. He is also surrounded by versions of himself, constantly requiring him to look in the mirror and see his own flaws. He externalizes to the point where he often feels he is an outsider looking at himself. After finally being able to interact with people, he becomes more self-aware. He can witness his interactions with people. He does not believe himself to be a good person and is in a constant struggle to avoid being a worse one. His own worst enemy is himself, metaphorically and literally. This is made abundantly clear with how to reacts to the Auto Responder, an artificial intelligence that started out as a copy of his thirteen-year-old self's brain. Dirk allows him to pretend to be him and talk to his friends until he realizes his behavior is something he doesn't like, which of course, the AR points out is the same behavior Dirk would be having in the same situation. The AR is rude to him and he does it back because this is how he thinks he should be treated on a level.

His low opinions of himself leads to a distrust in others, at least when expressing opinions about him. He fears that sharing his deep respect and love would overwhelm Roxy, when in actuality it would be the other way around. It would overwhelm him to hear praise. Compliments may be dismissed because is not reaching his own personal standards and doesn't like what he sees. He thinks he knows best and what he knows is the he's the worst. He holds remorse for everything he does and everything every version of him does. While he owns up to what he does and says, he isn't sure how to approach fixing problematic areas without an act of self-destruction. He almost destroys AR but can't bring himself to do it.

He puts himself under a lot of stress. Dirk stated he does not sleep, trying to be alert at all times. He likely doesn't sleep much once he lacks a dream-self that allows a constant state of being awake. His life required him to be on guard and never learned how not to be. He more or less skipped childhood and assumed he had to take the position of main protector for the group like he had always been for himself. He idealizes his friends and genuinely feels he has to help them. This is the role he thinks he is best at and doesn't know what other purpose he might serve for them outside of it. He doesn't want anyone to see him fail because failure would mean a loss of purpose and thus a loss of self. The complete loss of control is the worst fear for him so he does what he can to keep it and remain functional. He keeps trying even if things are completely out of his hands. Dirk can't back down completely lest he completely shatter to pieces.

He's getting better at picking pieces back up. Very slowly. It starts with Dave, someone who isn't his idol but he thinks might be even better. Dirk gave up control for once and stopped being unbreakable.

dirk strider | homestuck | no reserve | 2/2

[brocrux]

Strengths/Weaknesses:
+ Your shit is wrecked. / 👉.👎.
Dirk WILL kick your ass. It's noteworthy to point out that his training regime is the exact same one Equius "Do-You-Want-To-Touch-My-Muscles" Zahhak has. They build murder robots to and fight them to the death.
He is at absolute best when all that matters is the love he has for someone and a clear goal to help them. He does not hesitate even a second to take action. When things really need to get done, he's going to get it done. He does excellently under pressure, rarely losing his cool. There will be a quickly formulated plan and it'll be put into action. Threaten or hurt his friends and he'll go into fight mode. He's willing to put his life on the line to defend and protect. There's no stopping him until everyone's moved to safety, the threat is eliminated, or he's knocked out/killed. He'll cut off your head. He'll cut off his own head! Do you think this is a game?

+ The Puppet Master. / I'm afraid I can't do that, Dave.
God damn. He loves puppets. Unlike his Beta counterpart, Dirk extends his fondness and talent for puppetry into a skill with robotics. He can build and program them (he highly enjoys creating their cognitive algorithms). He utilizes them to either fight, rap against him, or to be a helpful yet rambunctious rabbit guard. While he claims the talent is simply a by-product of being from the 25th century, he has enough skill with it that he managed to create an artificial intelligence in a pair of sunglasses using a captchalogue of his own brain.

+/- The Clingy Boyfriend.
Jake ponders that Dirk doesn't know how to deal with people without "suffocating them" and he wouldn't be an incorrect statement. He can be needy and attention seeking. He loves spending time with his people and interacting with them. Any one friend or person he cares for can easily become his main focus, which can be a bad thing if they don't want the attention but a good one if they need it. He can offer comfort and does it to the best of his ability, understanding grave situations. He may bother people simply for reassurance that they still acknowledge his existence.

+/- Ancient Alien Theorist. / I am the parent. It's me.
Dirk's an autodidact. He's self-functional, as someone who has completely raised himself from infancy. He will take the time to teach himself something. As hobby, he became a (self-claimed) expert in ancient civilizations, mythology, philosophy, and pop culture.

The risk of being self-taught is that one cannot guarantee anything being taught correctly. It is entirely likely he holds a pen wrong.

- Unbreakable Katana / All of those things were said by you.
He won't win every fight. He is definitely not as skilled as those who have been properly trained and had been able to hone their skills. The truth is that Dirk doesn't know what the hell he's doing. There was nobody around to teach him the art of swordplay but an empty juju and himself. It's a wonder he never accidentally sliced off his hand as a child swinging that thing around.

Dirk gets his ass kicked in comparison to Terezi and Dave during [S] Collide, both have years of practice with others. The blind girl can fight better. Awkward. But does he look cool holding a sword or what?

- People Have No Strings
He likes being in control. It's a comfort zone for him. This plays into how he approaches social situations. Large groups may leave him feeling less in control of a situation and make him uncomfortable. (See: Dirk appearing in the dream bubble with everyone. "Uh," he says eloquently.) His peers, however, will have him chatting them up until an interaction turns sour and he no longer knows how to properly respond. He might not know what to do with a singular person and will remain in awkward silence until someone speaks up.

- Infinite Showers.
Dirk will use all the hot water. All of it. He'll spend a really long time in that bathroom after the horrendously long shower to make sure his hair is perfect.

- Stone Cold Motherfucker. / Domo Arigato, Mister Roboto.
Emotional expression is certainly not his strong suit. He's emotionally driven and while his heart may be in it, he might not show it on his face and can be difficult to read. Difficult to talk to, depending. This can make him appear downright intimidating and like he just doesn't give a shit. Smiles can be rare. Laughter can be rarer. Crying is about as likely to happen as a unicorn kicking down the door and handing over the cure for cancer.


Pokémon Information
Affiliation: Trainer.
Starter: Mime Jr.
Password: Peppermint Bark

Samples
First Person Sample:
I certainly could not have foreseen such a universe being the result of our accumulated efforts. I believe not even the seers, the talents of which I have no reason to doubt, could have known this is where the end would be. It's startling. Yet, I feel as though there could be no other result. Roxy was ready for the end all her life. The extensive knowledge and talents of "The Nintendos" are now at the forefront. I have foolishly been viewing these skills as mere hobbies instead of seeing it for the actual training it was. I can only ponder how I could have helped pave the way better if I had realized. If not gaining proper access to The Nintendos, should I have watched more anime? This seems similar enough. I should have further extensively analyzed the psyche of ten-year-olds and the franchises involving animal companions prior to their degradation into the visual equivalent of fecal matter laced with alien propaganda. Would subs or dubs have prepared me better for what was to come? Was there a deep secret behind identifying rice balls as everything but? Nobody was going to fall for it and think they were jelly donuts. Nobody. What does it all mean?

I hadn't thought to seek knowledge guidance from Pikachu, that fucking smug little mouse. I had assumed the answer to questions regarding his existence didn't matter and would remain lost to at the bottom of the sea. Lost as the disintegrated game cartridges that birthed such a strange and yet prophetic being.

It is both a reward and a punishment. A beloved game has now become reality. We have gone from one to another. It is more enjoyable than the last to give the illusion of freedom but we are not free. The rest of this life is to be lived out with adorable creatures that we engage in the morally questionable activity of cock-fighting. That's right. Cock-fighting. I said it. Just because they're tiny elemental wizards instead of roosters doesn't mean a fucking thing.

They appear to be incapable of verbal communication other than reiteration of their species. The inflection and tone of each repeat, however, is clear to me. I know what my new companion wants from me — what this world wants. It wants my soul. In time, it may take it. It will have to settle for a complimentary hat for now. A rad hat that was bestowed upon me like a pair of magic pajamas to proudly display a new role yet I can never wear it. It is worn now by the companion. Who truly holds the role and can become the master? It's poetically symbolic, is it not? Beautiful and tragic.

I digress.

Hey, Poke Pals. Is this fucking bananas or what? As dictated by social conventions, I'm going to initiate an ice-breaker. Share some facts about this place. Completely frivolous details that are unhelpful yet hilarious are welcomed and encouraged.

Third Person Sample:

He stops short. Mime Jr, henceforth now known as Lil' Debbie, slams into the back of his leg after failing to notice the abrupt stop. Dirk almost spins around and kicks the poor (sweet precious) little thing into the atmosphere on a violent reflex. He wishes if it happened it would just be her disappearing into the skyline, with a small twinkle and a ding. She'd turn up later, unharmed. The reality, however, would be a crying baby on the ground instead.

He'd hate to wipe that smile off her cute little plush-looking face. It’s a face that keeps wearing a little smile when it’s not mimicking Dirk's expressions back at him. He finds the smile comforting. He's not sure why. She seems like he gets him. It might have something to do with being a physic, maybe. She's supposed to be able to pick up emotions. She's been a good sport so far, he assumes, dutifully following him and everything he tells her to do without a complaint. Not a single objection during the brief training session where he chucked a rounded rock at her head with little warning to get her to block it. The rock collided with her small (hat?) head instead and she fell backwards, sprawled out on the floor like a starfish. There had been small squeak of "Mime" being heard while Dirk winced. The training was cut short after that. He's still horrified about it. But she doesn't blame him. Probably. She should.

He mutters an apology that doesn't seem to matter to the being it's directed at. Dirk had quickly dismissed the idea of putting Lil' Debbie in a Poké Ball, finding it limiting to her future growth to remain in a seemingly confined space during hours when he doesn't immediately need her attention. At the moment, however, he's starting to think it might work as a suitable safety precaution. From him. He flexes his hands at his sides, exhales a breath. That's a debate for later. Right now there's a goal. "Pay attention. It's game time." It's declared in determined hushed tones. They don't want to scare the prey.

There's a wild avian, a Pidgey. It's a god damn pigeon. He's never seen an actual pigeon but movies seemed to imply they're rats with wings as if it was some sort of insult. He always thought they were kind of neat. Rats, he means. It must be their predisposition towards garbage. That's fine. He's gone literal dumpster diving himself. Diving, in this case, is literal and he actually went swimming down to the nearest dumpster.

Dirk is going to catch that god damn bird with his little puppet Pokémon.

He studied for this. Read as much info as he could get his hands on since arriving. It's been a single day. He's dedicated exactly all night to studying Pokémon, forgoing sleep for now. He'll pass out when he has something else to make fight besides a fucking baby that can't catch a rock. Poor Lil' Debbie. This can be the only one for a while. The info said it's docile and prefers fleeing. So they just have to catch it. He points at it, Lil' Debbie gives him a nod and slowly starts trying to sneak up on it. He's got this. This is happening.

Ten minutes later, Dirk and his Pokémon are sprawled out like starfish in the field - just lying there on the ground. His clothes are rumpled and windblown, a thin layer of dust covering them. The sunglasses on his face are askew until he reaches a pecked hand up and fixes them. An entire flock of Pidgeys, the presence of which had been unknown ten minutes ago, take off into the distance. Well. They caught one. Worth it.

"We must never speak of this."
"Mime."
"Word."
They fist bump.

Blake Belladonna | RWBY | Reserved

[blackcatrebellion]

Player
Name: Alexis
Personal Journal: shadowhope4ever
E-mail: shadowhope4ever@yahoo.com
AIM/Plurk/Etc.: Skype: shadowhope4ever
Timezone: US Eastern
Current Characters in Route:
None
Character
Name: Blake Belladonna
Series: RWBY
Timeline: Post-Volume 3
Canon Resource Links: http://rwby.wikia.com/wiki/Blake_Belladonna

Personality:
Blake was very distant, reserved, and very secretive in the beginning, and for good reason too. She was a Faunus, a former terrorist, had seen someone very important to her descend into extremism, hijacked a train with one of the head terrorists, and not too long ago had to cut ties and betray said person since they wanted to blow the whole train up along with the crew. Needless to say, she’s seen some stuff. This could been seen as another reason for Blake being one of the most jaded and cynical member of the main teams. After the middle of volume 1 happens and Blake has friends in Teams RWBY and JNPR, she gradually begins to indulge and go along with her teammate’s antics, and come volume three, Blake is cheerful, smiling, and acting more like the kid she never got to be.
What information we’ve been given, along with the lyrics of From Shadows, we can make a very good inference that Blake was born into poverty. Either way, Blake had to grow up fast and while some may have just accepted that that was the way things were, Blake was not one of those people. Blake is determined, perhaps overly so, as whenever she sets her sights on something, nothing will stand in her way. One of the ways this is shown negatively, is just how obsessed Blake got with finding and stopping Toarchwick, even neglecting her studies, social life, and health to do so. Blake knows how to cut her losses in a fight though, and is fully willing to make tactical retreats.
Blake considers herself a coward for as she puts it ‘always running away’. When things get emotionally stressful for her, Blake runs. A good example of this is when Blake let it slip to Weiss that she was a White Fang defector. Instead of trying to explain, Blake just bolts. Not explaining things is defiantly another bad habit of Blakes, as the second time she did such a thing, when Yang lost her arm to Adam, she left without explaining why. Of course, it is Blake trying to protect those she cares about by distancing herself from them.
Whenever emotions come into play, it is usually not a good thing for Blake. Blake is a very emotionally driven character, letting them strangle and hurt her, but are also a double edged sword, as Blake can be very passionate and driven by them. Bottling up all her emotions leads to them clouding Blake’s usual intelligence and foresight, leading her to make self-destructive decisions.
Another thing that motivates Blake as a character is the injustice and racism against the Faunus. Blake genuinely wants Humans and Faunus to get along, and soon quits the White Fang after they shift from peaceful protesting to terrorism. Blake hides her cat ears under a bow to allow her to been seen as who she is, and not just what she is.
Strengths/Weaknesses:
+ Blake is very good at stealth
+ Blake is dedicated
+ Blake is realistic about how life works
+Blake is a skilled fighter
+ Blake is intelligent
+Blake’s Semblance allows her to essentially make shadow clones of herself
+Well trained reflexes from her time as a White Fang and Huntress
- Due to Adam’s descent into extremism and how Faunus are treated in general, Blake has major trust issues, even with people she’s friends with.
- Blake is aloof
- Blake can push herself too hard
- Blake is not good with dogs


Pokémon Information
Affiliation: Trainer
Starter: Purrloin
Password: Peppermint Bark

Samples
First Person Sample:
[The PokeConnect beeped on as Blake’s face took up the screen.]
So this what we will be communicating through? Regardless. My name is Blake Belladonna and I have just recently arrived in this… place. If anyone could tell me what is going on, that would be great.
[Blake sighes and pets Gambol, who has been climbing all over her. The Purrloin makes a noise of approval as she rubs her head against Blake’s face. A small smile just barely forms on Blake’s face.]
You’re so needy Gambol… but cute. At least you’re not a Zwei.
[Blake turns her attention back to the PokeConnect.]
Anyway, contact me through this if you have any relevant information to my situation. That is all.
[With that said, the transmission ends.]
Third Person Sample:
Blake had so many regrets right now. So. Many. Regrets. Hearing the footsteps racing after her, she ducked into an alley and behind a dumpster.
“Oi, where’d the thief go!”
“I don’t know, you tell me!”
“Just keep looking you two, she’s got to be around here somewhere!”
Blake clutched a guilty looking Gambol to her chest as the voices faded away. Carefully looking around the corner, Blake waited for her followers to disappear from her sight. Once they were gone, Blake bolted. It was not long before she and Gambol were on the road again, traveling who knows where. Looking at her companion Blake said “Control yourself next time, I know that your species has a penchant for stealing, but you can be better than that.”
Gambol gave a noncommittal grunt as she pointedly looked at where Blake kept her earnings.
“Yes, I know we needed the cash, but now I have the law on my tail. Again.”
Blake was pretty sure a bow would not be enough of a disguise this time. At least it was just a stolen wallet and not like, hijacking a dust shipment. Of all the crimes Blake has been involved in, this was at the bottom of the scale.
Gambol simply looked away, not meeting her trainer’s eyes. Blake sighed and crossed her arms in thought. At any rate, they couldn’t return to that town anytime soon. That was fine. Blake honestly preferred the wilds to being surrounded by strange people from a world unlike her own. It was a bit easier to forget about everything when you had to focus on managing your supplies and surviving. Blake was snapped out of her thoughts by Gambol jumping on her. With reflexes honed from her experiences as part of the White Fang and as a Huntress, Blake easily caught the Purrloin in her hands.
“No walking for you?”
Gambol started purring. Blake laughed at this slightly.
“I’ll take that as a yes.”

[these_balls]

We're sorry for the lateness of this response, but as of May 30th, route_29 has closed. If you are interested in playing at the continuation of the game, please check out victory_road.

Unfortunately, Blake Belladonna is already taken at Victory Road, but you're welcome to apply with another character. Thank you!