Understand the secrets and have some fun

[these_balls]

APPLICATIONS!
Currently: Closed!
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.

Applications received after 11:59 PM EST on Saturday of the first and third weekend of each month will be checked the following app weekend unless otherwise stated.

We now ask that potential applicants post their application in comments rather than linking. If their application contains explicit references to 'hard' spoilers (character death, unforeseen plot twists, big reveals, he was evil all along etc), players should put the application in their own journal or their character's journal and link it, making sure to mention the presence of spoilers within. For further clarification on our spoilers policy and whether or not your application needs to be linked, please check this page. Thank you for your cooperation!

The comment character limit on dreamwidth is 16,000 characters so apps no longer need to be split into multiple comments; however this is at players' discretion.

Please use the form below and post your application in comments rather than linking if you can. If you have any questions, feel free to ask either of the mods. You can reach us through emails, IMs, or PMs.

A reminder for those waiting to hear back, please don't be worried if we skip yours while going through them. It only means we needed a little more time to research!

Helpful links!
Taken: 1|2|3 / Reserves
Please do not app a character from either of these unless you reserved them!
Starter Pokémon!
A compiled list of the starter pokémon to choose from offered in Route 29!
Word Count Tool!
Word count! It has other pointless stats too.
Navigation


<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

Rin Matsouka | free! | reserved

[sharkfinned]

Player
Name: Okami
Personal Journal: fairyblue
E-mail: ouuuuka [at] gmail [dot] com
AIM/Plurk/Etc.: ouuuuka / ruinga
Timezone: EST
Current Characters in Route: none

Character
Name: Rin Matsuoka
Series: Free!
Timeline: Post Season 2 (in Australia!)
Canon Resource Links: http://free-anime.wikia.com/wiki/Rin_Matsuoka

[sharkfinned]

Personality:

Competitive, friendly and bright, Rin is the type of person who has a big heart, but a tendency to get carried away with himself. It's not that he doesn't care about what someone else wants, but he gets so caught up with what he wants that he drastically looks over someone elses feelings or thoughts. Even when he was younger, Rin was pushy, even if he was nice about it and fully intending all positive things; that hasn't changed even now that he's older, but he's more mature about coming across his point. These are some of the key traits that have stayed with him from the flashbacks we saw as a child, through the first season and well through the second that I wanted to touch on first.

When Rin was initially introduced during season one, he was at a very low point in his mentality. He had been working so hard since he was young to become an Olympic swimmer, but going abroad introduced him to people who were faster than he expected, and it broke his spirit. It's not that he thought he'd be the absolute best, but the longer he was there, the more it became apparent that his best wasn't cutting it. He has talent, he is very good at what he does, but that overwhelming feeling of it not being enough is what Australia left him with. He got caught up in those feelings of inadequacy and feeling like he let his father down, and it developed negatively where it could have been a driving force; he stumbled and couldn't get back on his feet.

Throughout season one, there are several flashbacks of when Rin was in elementary school, before he took his trip abroad to Australia; this Rin was vibrant, excitable, and would talk your ear off if you let him. He bordered overfriendly in his approach to Haru and Makoto, but he was just so excited to swim relays with them. This is just at first look at how pushy he is, how he gets caught up in what he wants. Haruka was never interested in swimming a relay, but when Rin met him at a tournament, he knew he had to swim with him. So through most of the semester he was at Iwatobi, Rin had to outright beg Haru to swim in the relay, having gotten Makoto to swim backstroke and enticed Nagisa to be the fastest to get on their team. He finally got Haru to agree to swim with him by giving him a line of "I'll show you a sight you've never seen before". It's never really stated what he actually saw, but it was enough that they remained friends even after.

The Rin who came back in season one though, he was deeply hurt over his inability to swim like he wanted and took it out on his childhood friends, mostly just by being too blind to them trying to help him. He pushed and downright bullied Haruka into swimming against him again, and it's only then that he really got a spark back, that he remembered why he loved the sport so much. It was with their help that he regained his love for swimming with people, the whole reason he pushed so hard to swim in a relay with friends when they were kids; Rin is a people person. He gets his strength from them. Going at it with the idea that he is going alone just doesn't work for him.

During the second season, we see the Rin we always saw in flashbacks; he has been pulled out of that negative mentality of his best never being enough, that he was failing his father. Rin has regained his love for the sport, and the pressure has been relieved from his shoulders about failing. This is his own dream he's pursuing now, a dream where he swims for his friends, even if he is swimming at a way different level than they will be pursuing. He has matured a good deal, though he is still prone to bouts of yelling and silly immature behavior, but really, he drew shark faces on paper bags at the seasons end. He has learned how to become a captain for the swim team, to lead and inspire others, and despite his own worries about doing well, he works hard at it.

Something else to note that is of big importance to Rin being himself, is that he tends to wear his emotions on his sleeves. He has a big heart, and with it, a small issue of being over emotional to the point where he cries very easily. He has gotten a lot better about it since he's grown up, but he definitely still cries over things that touch his heart. For instance, his Iwatobi friends remembering that when he was younger, he wanted to swim in a pool of cherry blossoms... and then right into season two, they brought him to their pool where it had been full of cherry blossom petals; he had to fight tears for that, for how happy it made him.

Strengths/Weaknesses:
+ Friendly
+ Competitive
+ Energetic
+ Hard working
+ Open hearted
+ Physically so in shape he could run (and swim) a few miles without getting tired

- Huge crybaby
- Short tempered
- Overcompetitive
- Gets really pushy
- Gets caught up in his own emotions vs someone elses
- Wears his heart on his sleeve, it's impossible to hide how he's actually feeling

[sharkfinned]

Pokémon Information
Affiliation: Trainer
Starter: Ducklett
Password: spring rolls

Samples
First Person Sample:

So let me get this straight. [Sup, here's Rin on the Olivine beach, holding the phone so the view looks like selfie mode, the water behind him and a palm tree shading his face; the expression is purely excited.]

There's all this water, a great stretch from here to another town, and I need a Pokemon with the move surf to get across.... because I can't swim it? [He can't squint hard enough at the screen, JUST POINTING OUT TO SEA AGAIN with a wide smile crossing his face.] Yeah right. Challenge accepted, I'm swimming it. Whole thing.

[Someone stop him, doesn't that route take three days?!]

Third Person Sample:

Sure, it was confusing and baffling at first to be rushed out the door from an unfamiliar house, a woman that is definitely not his mother ushering him and saying Call me anytime, sweetheart before shutting the door. But once he got his bearings, Rin couldn't stop grinning from ear to ear, checking out the town and eventually rifling through his bag. This couldn't be happening, but it really was. It's no prank, he's not lost in Australia somewhere. It's way too cold to be Australia anyway.

Finally drawing out the only full pokeball from his bag, Rin tried to not feel far younger than he actually was when he tossed it up. What was he going to get? It's been so long since he's seen any of this stuff, Gou always liked the cute animals just a bit more than he did, and --

A duck stands there before him, quacking once before fluffing its feathers up and folding its wings.

Blinking, just staring the blue duck down for a few moments longer, Rin looked at the pokeball in his hand and back to the duck - it's a duck. Not some crazy out of this world looking critter, or even the turtle he'd at least slightly recognize, IT'S A DUCK. Sensing its trainers disappointment in that blank stare, the Pokemon puffs itself up just a bit more, letting out a louder, huffy quack.

"Ah --- No, wait, you're fine. Sorry, I just. Wasn't expecting you to be..."

Rin scratches the back of his head, frowning, but the words at least keep the Pokemon from outright walking away. Crouching down and finally giving an apologetic smile, reaching over to give the duck a nice pet and a flick of those feathers, Rin ends up with a little chuckle.

"Really, I'm sorry. Look, you're just fine, you'll be a great partner. Give me a bit to catch up and quit feeling like this is some dream and we'll be the best. You get me?"

To that, the Pokemon calms that huffy look, quacking in agreement and puffing its feathers out again with pride.

[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.
[○] If you're still on the reserved list, please let us know that they've been accepted.
[○] Please make sure to check out the Calendar for the weather and upcoming plots and swarms!
[○] Route 29 has an optional spam/meme community; it's slowpoke_gif!
[○] 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!

[sharkfinned]

Aw yea c: