havenmods | Applications Two

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applications

Applications Two

APPLICATIONS ARE CLOSED!
The next application opening date is Friday 16th January, 7pm EST.
The next application processing date is Friday 23rd January, 7pm EST.

IMPORTANT: PLEASE POST YOUR APPLICATIONS HERE ON THE NEW APPLICATION PAGE

We're so glad you're thinking of joining us in Haven, where we are all safe.

In order to apply for a canon character, please fill out the information below and post it in a comment in this entry. For an OC, please apply using the OC information. Please do not link to applications, all applications must be posted here. Please do not delete your applications; if you do not want it to be seen, you can request for it to be screened after a decision is made.

You may apply for two characters every application round, to a total of six characters. Only two of these may be from the same canon, and they cannot be too familiar with one another. Please make sure to mark the header of your comment(s) with RESERVED or NOT RESERVED, as well as the character name and canon. App challenges are not allowed currently.

Try to remember spelling and grammar are important, and in app length quality and not quantity is what matters. All parts of the application must be your own work, plagiarism will not be tolerated, though you are welcome to reuse your own old applications.

If you are asked for revisions, please don't panic! It doesn't mean the mods don't like you, only that we probably need more information before making a decision. If you are asked for revisions, you will have one week to supply them.

Applications are open on a monthly cycle, where they will be opened on the second Friday of every month for a week, and then processed on the third Friday of the month, before being closed again.

We now have a test drive community at haventest which is continuously open. Posts there may be used in lieu of a sample in the application. You may also link posts, logs, or threads from other games and memes in lieu of samples, though we ask that they be no more than one year old. As of November 22nd 2014, samples cannot be "where am I" intro posts. The reason for this is that we often find it hard to gauge characterization from those, as most people when immediately in a new surrounding are confused or frightened.

While we encourage players who have dropped to re-join us, we do not encourage the continual rapid dropping and re-apping of the same character in a short time period. You are welcome to request specific housing, and all attempts will be made to accommodate that request, but it may not always be possible.

To see what we are looking for:
Canon Characters:
Sample Application (Faith Lehane)
Sample Application (Iroh)

Original Characters:
Sample Application (Mors)
Sample Application (Vera de Barr)
Sample Application (Malkus Iverwelling)

Previous Game History:
Sample Application (Abel Nightroad/Mayfield RPG)
Sample Application (Bolin/Discedo)

The old application post can be found here if you would like to look through past accepted applications.

Applications will be open on the following dates (from 7pm EST):
12th-19th December
16th-23rd January

Applications will be processed on the following dates (at 7pm EST):
19th December
23rd January

To apply for a canon character, please fill out this form:
Name: Your name or nickname Contact Info: Email, plurk, IM... as long as there's a way to contact you, it's fine! Other Characters Played: Any other characters you play at Haven. Requested apartment: Please put N/A if you have no preference. Character Name: Names and nicknames, in Western order (first name, surname) Canon: Canon Point: Where in the series are you taking them from? Background/History: A link to a source about the canon is fine for this. Previous Game History: At least two paragraphs on important events for the character and how they have been shaped by the previous game. If this is not applicable, please delete this section. Personality: This is the most important section! There is no specific word count, but anything less than three paragraphs likely isn't detailed enough. Abilities/Powers: Please assume canon-blindness and explain in as much detail as possible. Items/Weapons: Which three items and/or weapons will your character arrive with? Sample Entry: At least ten sentences in first person/action bracket format, please. A link to a previous post or thread with the character is also acceptable. All links must be one year old or less. Samples submitted may not be in the form of a "where am I" intro, as these are hard to judge characterization from. All other scenarios are welcome. Sample Entry Two: At least two paragraphs in third person/prose format, please. A link to a previous log or thread with the character is also acceptable. All links must be one year old or less. Samples submitted may not be in the form of a "where am I" intro, as these are hard to judge characterization from. All other scenarios are welcome.

To apply for an original character, please fill out this form:
Name: Your name or nickname Contact Info: Email, plurk, IM... as long as there's a way to contact you, it's fine! Other Characters Played: Any other characters you play at Haven. Requested apartment: Please put N/A if you have no preference. Character Name: Names and nicknames, in Western order (first name, surname) Background/History: At least three paragraphs, please. Try to focus on events in the world history that have had an impact on the character. Previous Game History: At least two paragraphs on important events for the character and how they have been shaped by the previous game. If this is not applicable, please delete this section. Personality: This is the most important section! There is no specific word count, but anything less than three paragraphs likely isn't detailed enough. Abilities/Powers: Please explain in as much detail as possible. Items/Weapons: Which three items and/or weapons will your character arrive with? Sample Entry: At least ten sentences in first person/action bracket format, please. A link to a previous post or thread under a year old with the character is also acceptable. All links must be one year old or less. Samples submitted may not be in the form of a "where am I" intro, as these are hard to judge characterization from. All other scenarios are welcome. Sample Entry Two: At least two paragraphs in third person/prose format, please. A link to a previous log or thread with the character is also acceptable. All links must be one year old or less. Samples submitted may not be in the form of a "where am I" intro, as these are hard to judge characterization from. All other scenarios are welcome.

Threaded | Top-Level Comments Only

Personality:

"I've been on both sides."

Joel is, in his own words, "a survivor". That may seem simple enough on the surface of it, until one understands just what it is that he has survived - a horrifying pandemic that decimated the human population, caused panic all over the world, led to the institution of martial law, and Joel has lived through twenty years of it.

Everyone in Joel's world has suffered terrible loss, and he is no different. The death of his daughter Sarah in the initial outbreak - not to the fungus, but to a soldier's bullets - traumatized him severely, and to a large extent, it started him down the path he's been on. Joel became strongly averse to making emotional attachments, and in fact has gone to great lengths to keep himself at arm's length from other people. Death is a brutal, terrible fact of life in Joel's world, and strong emotional attachments are as much a liability as a strength.

In order to survive, he's unlearned most of what might be called conventional morality - he's not just killing infected on a daily basis - he's also not above brutally murdering other (non-infected) people when he perceives them to be a threat to his own survival (or the survival of those few people he cares about). Joel's mindset can be summed up quite simply as "kill or be killed". Needless to say, he is highly desensitized to violence. He drops numerous hints throughout the game of the various lengths he's gone through to survive, and also clearly has taken steps to justify those tactics to himself over the years - smuggling, weapons dealing, torture, assault and murder all seem to be part of Joel's repertoire. The ease with which he kneecaps a man he took captive for interrogation in the Winter chapter speaks to the kind of brutality he's become accustomed to.

Due to his mindset, most of Joel's relationships take a practical turn - temporary alliances borne of necessity, essentially business relationships. This is exemplified in his relationship with Bill, the half-crazy survivalist - their relationship is predicated on the exchanging of favors, and ends as soon as the business deal is complete.

But Joel isn't a completely heartless killing machine - if anything, the reason he has so carefully constructed this facade of hardness and brutality is because he still most definitely has a heart, capable of feeling fierce love for others. For one thing, he does seem to have a soft spot for kids (his early hostility to Ellie notwithstanding). He's pretty good with them on the whole, and finds the thought of hurting them particularly distasteful. Furthermore, Tess represents a rather large soft spot, if she can be called that, in his life. The two were a team, back in Boston, practically inseparable, and it's implied that they had some kind of romantic or sexual relationship at one point. Joel's refusal to speak about Tess after her death speaks to his feelings for her - unable and unwilling to grieve properly, he shunts those feelings away.

There's also Tommy, Joel's younger brother. Their relationship is quite rocky, but as with Tess, it's clear that Joel is very protective of him and does care about him a great deal. Tommy implies that Joel is the primary reason he survived the first years of the outbreak, though they often have very divergent moral viewpoints. Much like with Tess, the shared history he has with Tommy ensures that even after years of estrangement, their bond is still quite strong, and his protective instincts are still there, no matter how much Tommy may resent him for some of the things he's done.

And then there's Ellie. The fourteen-year-old girl Joel gets saddled with because the damn Fireflies can't seem to stay alive long enough to make the rendezvous. Joel has spent twenty years killing and smuggling and chipping away at his own conscience and carefully building up walls around himself, and then he finds himself on a cross-country trek to try and cure the whole damn disease and this one girl starts to methodically chip away at his defenses, one by one, drawing him out, whether he likes it or not.

It would be fair to say that Ellie becomes a substitute, in Joel's mind, for his daughter. Where he was unable to save Sarah, perhaps he can save Ellie - and he will go to any lengths to do that. Whether this makes him a better person is arguable - whether this is even healthy is pretty arguable, really. He doesn't necessarily become softer or less likely to kill people, particularly when he believes Ellie's life to be in danger. On the contrary, by the Winter chapter, he will go to extreme lengths to protect the girl. Whatever the case may be, his feelings for Ellie are fierce and undeniable: where once he was hostile to her, there is now a deep bond based on their shared experiences and, yes, he loves her. Their partnership is one of symbiosis - they're both aware that they probably wouldn't survive without each other. By Winter, she has become his primary reason to keep surviving.

Abilities/Powers:

Joel is a badass normal, with no magical or supernatural powers. That said, emphasis on the badass - he's survived the zombie apocalypse for twenty years, so he's got really good instincts, is highly clever and resourceful and can improvise tools, med kits, weapons, bombs, etc. with whatever he's got to hand. This guy is also nearing 50 and he's perfectly capable of beating men to death with his bare hands without skipping a beat. Tough is an understatement. He's also got nearly preternatural hearing - an absolute must when infected "clickers" are around.

Items/Weapons:

+ His ratty brown backpack.
+ His gas mask.
+ His revolver.

Sample Entry: here

Sample Entry Two:

There was something off about this place.

Okay, so on the surface of it, there wasn't a whole lot different about this place from anywhere else Joel had been lately - it had the same desolate, abandoned look to it, after all. That's not what was off about it. It wasn't a big town, but after hours of scrounging and mentally mapping the area, he hadn't managed to leave town. He should've been able to leave town, but somehow, he just kept going in circles.

That, and Ellie was no-fucking-where to be found, which was the most worrying part of all. The last thing he could remember was a burning building, and the girl viciously hacking away at - well. Joel, still trying to get his bearings and shake off the last vestiges of fever, had needed to pull her bodily off the corpse as she sobbed and struggled.

He didn't know what had happened to her, but whatever it was, clearly was something she should never have gone through. That was on him, and now she was nowhere to be found.

"Ellie?" he called, poking around yet another abandoned building. He swiped up a can of something - beans, maybe - automatically as he spotted it, but his focus was clearly elsewhere. "C'mon, Ellie, I ain't gonna let 'em hurt ya anymore," he insisted. Where the hell was she?

He was running out of steam, fast, and he really needed to sit down and take a look at his healing wound. But as long as he was stuck here, separated from the girl, Joel had unfinished business.

Name: Rae
Contact Info:

Crazy_Lazy
Other Characters Played: nope not at the moment
Preferred Apartment: none

Character Name: The Lone Wanderer, Paula
Canon: Fallout 3
Canon Point: After the last main quest: Taking it Back
Background/History: History
Previous Game History: n/a

Personality:

The Wasteland is a stressful place, but Paula has always been neurotic. Her anxiety flares up when she stresses out about certain things, and she's only really learned to get control of herself long enough to concentrate on not getting shot in the face during a firefight. When the chips are down she handles herself well enough, but make no mistake she’s internally trying to reassure herself so she doesn’t have a panic attack in the middle of a firefight. When things aren't going just so according to plan, it worries her. She's a creature of habit and anything that disturbs her routine turns her world around. Imagine how much having to leave the vault screwed with her. There is very little room for a nice and tidy schedule in the Capital Wasteland. As a result she tries to find comfort in bringing routine back into her life the best she can. For example, cleaning her guns every day at noon, ect. It’s a small comfort, but it’s something that helps her get through the day. Without constantly trying to find these small ways to cope, she wouldn’t make it out in the wastes. It can be an inconvenience to others traveling with her, as she will stop everything in the middle of nowhere to indulge in one of these habitual routines no matter what those around her says. It doesn’t matter if they’re on a time sensitive mission. If she can spare two minutes to check over her rations, take inventory, ect, then she will.

When Paula has her mind set on something, very little can break her concentration from that goal. Finding her father was less about being reunited with him (as she was positive she'd never even forgive him for leaving) and more about this need to find out why he left in the first place. Even if it got dangerous at times and she wanted nothing more than to cut her losses and go find a place to settle down, not knowing the reason her father/only parent left her was eating away at her. Her obsessiveness also tends to drag her into things she otherwise wouldn't be part of. She could accept a simple delivery job to make some spare caps, only to have it escalate into something more complicated. Her self preservation instincts tell her to forget it because living is far more important, but at the same time she started something and she wants to finish it. She has to know why this simple delivery turned into something more complicated, why the person who initially offered her the job lied, ect. Perhaps she’s crazy, but her obsessions have always been a good distraction for her. Because while she was obsessing over something, her mind was so preoccupied that she didn’t think about a lot of things; like her father, or the home she’d never go back to. It's the same with other things as well. If she starts reading a book, she must finish. If she hears a snippet of interesting rumors, she has to find out if they're true (that's what lead her to Oasis, after all). She obsesses over all these things and yet ignores the real problem. On the bright side to this, her obsessiveness makes her a good problem solver, mostly because she pulls out all the stops to overcome an obstacle. Over time she’s managed to grow an impressive attention to detail from constantly looking over things hundreds of times to avoid missing something. She wants things to be perfect in a stupendously imperfect world, which is both a strength and her greatest weakness.

One of of coping mechanisms aside from obsessively adhering to routine is humor. It's not always very good humor, but it's humor and the important thing is that she makes herself laugh if only a little to distract herself from the fact that there's a group of mercenaries out there with a bounty on her head. Or the fact that the next time she steps out into the open world she may very well get eaten by a deathclaw. Most times her humor borders on sarcastic and leaves a bad taste in others mouths, but this absolutely doesn’t deter here, nor does she generally care. This tends to happen most when she starts to get anxious and cracking a stupid joke or two doesn't seem to be cutting it. She feels if she can make jokes out of her life and make it seem like it's not that serious, things won't seem that bad. Because of this people often think that she doesn’t take a lot of things as seriously as she should, or that she just doesn’t care about the events going on around her. At times, this can be true, as Paula doesn’t generally care about problems that don’t directly involve her in some way or another. But it isn’t always. Joking around is just another one of the ways she keeps from breaking down.

Survival is the top most priority for Paula. She will kill if it lets her live to see another day. She may hesitate, she may not actually want to kill, but she will. She reasons with herself that it's better them than her, and when that doesn't work for her she'll go out and do a good deed -- begrudgingly, even, in a vain attempt to make herself feel better. But for the most part she's thinking about number one. There are times where she tries to be less selfish, but in the end she acknowledges that that's who she is and she can't really change, according to herself. When her journey had come to its final climax and one person had to go into the basin full of lethal amounts of radiation to activate Project Purity, her first words had been, "I'm not going in there!" Sarah Lions sacrificed herself for the wasteland when Paula wouldn’t, while she watched and thanked the stars it wasn't her. She didn’t care about this project, she had reasoned, why should she get herself killed for something her father dragged her into? Sarah and the rest of the Brotherhood are the ones that care, not her.

Paula isn't against trying to use people to get by; via her looks, money, ect. But given that her people skills are low as hell, it really only works against the truly stupid or perhaps those who have a soft spot for blondes. She's no good at pretending to be something she's not, whether that be interested in someone, or being a paragon of the wastes. She's honest in that her personality is right there for all to see, even when she tries to pretend and fails at it she gives up pretty quickly. She wears everything on her sleeve, which is probably another one of her greatest weaknesses. When she's mad, sad, happy -- you'll see it unless you're dense yourself.

Paula is very aware that she's a difficult person to deal with. Because of this, she's always been paranoid about her relationships with other people. Was her friend Amata mad at her or something else? Was she going to avoid talking to her because she snapped at her about something probably really stupid? She had to know where she stood with everyone always. Her father leaving her in the Vault didn't help this at all. Being all alone, she's a little on the desperate side for some kind of companionship. Relationships she forges don't tend to last long because of her difficult personality, so whenever she gets new ones she goes the extra mile to make sure they don't cut ties with her. Which...ends up adding to the problem, as she'll come off as clingy and needy because of this. And the relationships that do last? They’re usually not the healthiest, but as she sees it it’s better than being all alone. She lives in perpetual fear that whoever she gets close to in some way or another will leave her like her father. Paula doesn’t try very hard to change, though. She has resigned to the fact that this is who she is, even if she doesn’t care for it, and figures that she’s better off finding a way to make her personality flaws and quirks work for her instead of trying to become something she knows she never can be. “A decent human being,” is how she would put it.

Abilities/Powers:

* Paula is very good with using random crap and scrap metal around her to make all sorts of weapons, like a flaming sword with a gas take and a lawnmower blade, or a Rock-it-Launcher (a gun that launchers random objects) with parts from a leaf blower and some tinkering. This talent also extends to making traps, from pressure plate to trip wired triggered traps. Nothing is junk to her as she can probably use it for something.

* She's also good with guns, as is to be expected from someone surviving in a post apocalyptic wasteland. Though because she heavily relies on traps, explosives, and sneaking around, her skill with guns are usually passable but nothing extraordinary. She's a lot better with guns/weapons she put together herself because she's so familiar with them. But her real ability lies with finding a way out of situations most people get stuck in, mapping out escape routes in tense situations with quick observation, ect. She has a really good attention to detail which helps with this.

* She's a real science nerd, having inherited her father's love of science. She knows a lot of medical science but she strayed away from that and moved her interest into computers, energy weapons, ect. Her knowledge is limited by her somewhat brief experience in the wasteland so she's still learning.

Items/Weapons:

* Pipboy-3000
* Shishkebab/flaming sword
* Plasma Rifle

Sample Entry: Testdrive Post

Sample Entry Two:

Paula and her companion sat in uncomfortable silence outside the Citadel. Her gaze remained fixated on an invisible point in the distance as she refused to meet Charon's gaze. And she knew, really, that whether or not the ghoul had any opinion on what she just did, he would never outwardly express it. Because Charon was here because she held his contract, and he was honor bound to do what she said, and that included keeping his mouth shut about matters he had nothing to do with. But there was a big part of her that wondered what he thought; did he think she acted selfishly, or logically? If Charon were a mindless ghoul who did what she asked and felt nothing on the matter, it wouldn't bother her. But she knew he had morals of his own, ones he just kept to himself. That's why he killed Ahzrukhal immediately after he signed his contract over to Paula, right? Because he was "an evil bastard"? The very idea that Charon is sitting here judging her is very troubling. What if circumstances somehow landed Charon under someone else's employ next, and he decided to turn around and blast her head off with a shotgun for being such a selfish runt? For making Sarah sacrifice herself instead of her? For leaving all those people to die over the course of her time in the wastes because she didn't think trying to save them was worth almost getting killed? Or was he simply pissed that she didn't go into the irradiated filled chamber because so long as she's alive, he's bound by a contract? That was troubling, in of itself. What if he wants her to die? What if he wants to kill her?

What if he was thinking about how he'd do it right now?

Her gaze shifted to Charon warily. The ghoul was polishing his shotgun with an old rag, not paying Paula any mind at all, it seemed. He did that a lot. Completely ignored her until she had an order for him, or approached him with a question. Perhaps he had no opinion on her at all. He didn't seem to care about much besides whether or not his targets died fast enough. But not knowing his feelings on the matter was killing her. It could come back and bite her in the ass if she didn't know where she stood with him. And also, besides that, she just wants to know.

"Charon?"

There's a gravely grumble from the six foot ghoul, but Paula couldn't discern if it was a cue for her to talk or an annoyed sound at the fact that she was bothering him. Either way, he didn't look up.

"Do you think I did the smart thing, or the wrong thing?" She shakes her head, not liking that phrasing at all. "What would you have done if you had been there? In my shoes, I mean. I know you were outside taking care of the Enclave -- I mean, I'm not saying...I mean, I'm not blaming you for not being there at the time because you know, radiation heals ghouls and you would've been fine--" she cuts herself off and sighs, rubbing tiredly at one eye. "If you were me, what would you have done?"

The entire time Paula rambled at Charon, the ghoul continued what he was doing. By the time she was done he finally looked up at her wit his filmy blue eyes, expression impossible to read due to his face rotting far too much to express emotions naturally, mixed with Charon's entire stone cold demeanor. She instantly regretted asking this question. She didn't want the answer anymore and she was about to tell him to forget it when:

"That's not relevant."

Paula's brows knitted together as she regards him with a confused stare. "What?"

"What I think. It is not relevant to you."

When Paula stares wordlessly in surprise, Charon continues.

"You made your choices. Live by them."

Despite the fact that Charon's voice resembled a broken cement mixer, those words were music to her ears. She always stood by her choices, even when they made her feel guilty or upset, she always stood by them. His response, while not the direct one she was looking for, was akin to getting permission to not feel guilty about someone else dying in her place. It was all she needed to keep deluding herself into believing she did nothing wrong. And hey, if what he thought really wasn't relevant to her, perhaps that meant he wouldn't blow her brains clean out of her skull for all the decisions she's made since taking him on as her personal bodyguard.

"Uh, okay. Yeah. That's...that's all." She pushes herself to her feet and dusts off her pants. "I think I'll just...head back to Megaton."

Charon stood when she did, tossing the rag to the side and holstering his shotgun to the strap on his back. "And I will follow."

She nods at him, staring in contemplation. When the day comes, and she finds herself no longer in need of Charon's services...

...She'll mail him his contract and make sure she's nowhere near the grumpy ghoul when she releases him. Paranoia? Maybe.

Better safe than sorry.

Name: Nobu
Contact Info: opalrabbits (aim) |

bbeokigayo
Other Characters Played: N/A
Preferred Apartment: None

Character Name: Kurapika
Canon: Hunter x Hunter
Canon Point: Chapter 149, after he watches Light Nostrade have a meltdown about Neon and debt.
Background/History: Wiki
Previous Game History: N/A

Personality:
When it comes to Kurapika his personality could either be described as warm and friendly or the exact opposite where he can come off distant and cold-blooded. It all depends on the situation and the people he gets involved with. With random strangers he seems to leave an impression of someone who is just quiet yet polite when manners are needed, which isn’t far from the truth. He has no need to be rude after all and despite his clan being seen as monsters (because of their eyes being able to turn and glow a bright scarlet) he holds no ill will against anyone when it comes to that aspect. Though because of ignorant views as such he will sometimes wear black eye contacts in case something does end up upsetting him and make his eyes turn scarlet. However, when it comes to the contacts he’ll mainly wear them in major cities such as Yorkshin to not alarm anyone if his emotions took over him, especially since a lot of involvement with the Spiders had taken place there with the black market auctions.

In the beginning Kurapika came off as sort of a know-it-all and sometimes still can act that way. Because of such behavior he ended up feuding plenty of times with Leorio while Gon had to keep preventing them from fighting or arguing too much, lots of times by just being his innocent self which made Kurapika and Leorio put themselves in check with the lack of maturity they’d show. Kurapika is usually more of the loner type when it comes to getting things done or combat, but after meeting Gon he ended up being too interested in the boy’s behavior and instincts and wanted to observe how things would end up, thus got himself caught in a friendship with him. Some of his icy demeanor dispersed for a while because of this and also because of Leorio ending up following them as well. He didn’t really admit to them as being friends until Leorio pointed it out. Although Kurapika is an intelligent person sometimes he could be a little slow when it comes to positive emotions. His accepting that Gon and Leorio were his friends came with a moment of realization that seemed to have made Kurapika’s usual tense demeanor become more loose and natural. The same had occurred once he befriended Killua as well.

Although Kurapika can seem to be the most calm and collected one, there had been an incident during the Hunter exam that made others wary about him. During the trials of Trick Tower he was matched up to fight a cowardly prisoner by the name of Majitani. Their fight seemed simple enough until the prisoner made a mistake by showing Kurapika a fake spider tattoo, pretending to be a member of the Genei Ryodan (a.k.a. the Spiders) Kurapika’s usual calm behavior stopped and his entire demeanor turned into nothing but fury. His anger was high enough to turn his eyes a bright burning scarlet before his abilities seemed to have gotten a boost to take out Majitani in just one powerful punch in the face. Although he knew the tattoo was a fake, it was still a reminder of the Spiders that had wiped out his entire clan just to gouge out their eyes when they’d be in their scarlet state. After the fight when Leorio had asked if it was okay for anyone to even be around him after seeing how upset he was, Kurapika was back to his calmer self already and stated that just seeing spiders in general can make him have a red hazed frenzy and that he should probably be happy that his rage over the years hasn’t died down a bit. It made things awkward for a moment because of how casual he said it, but he was mentally exhausted at the time because of the event. However, because nobody had alienated him for it he seemed to grow closer to Gon, Leorio and Killua.

Kurapika has tendencies to space out a lot when nobody is talking to him, mainly because he has his unhealthy obsession and constant thoughts about his revenge. Though gradually some other things started to become more important than his anger, and that was protecting those he newly had in his life. His entire life after the massacre was to train and prepare himself to get rid of the Genei Ryodan, but if one of his friends had been in trouble that would be first priority (like when Killua went back home after Illumi had frightened him.) Everything going on around him had him gain a more open mind that there really was more to his life than only avenging his deceased clan. His plan was once the Spiders were gone and once he’d get his brethren’s eyes back, he would possibly join his clan in a death of his own, but being around the other three made him feel that perhaps it’d be something impossible and selfish to do in the end.

Other than being vengeful, he started to get almost parental types of feelings when it came to both Gon and Killua. He wasn’t like that initiatively, but the more trouble they would get into with the Genei Ryodan, the more protective Kurapika had gotten, like to make deals so they could both be safe rather than kill. Before then he didn’t think too much of them besides being really impressive for their age, but just seeing their childish behavior when things weren’t so serious made him remember that they really were just like ordinary kids while him and Leorio were older and probably should have shown some example, however sometimes it was the opposite and Kurapika and Leorio would be the immature ones with their bickering. Kurapika isn’t much of an argumentative person, he’s more straightforward or if annoyed enough he’ll walk away, but for some reason when it comes to Leorio his more immature side can come out, as well with Killua on some occasions, though he can never seem to get angry with Gon no matter what the boy does (besides a couple times when they first met.)

Kurapika has strong views and feelings when it comes to things like honesty, nobility and class, even though at some point he had to throw his own traits of such aside to get to his goal of trying to exterminate all of the Spiders and get his brethren’s eyes back at the same time. He wasn’t very happy about joining the mafia to get the advantage of doing so, but if stepping on his pride is something he needed to do to reach something he wanted then he isn’t afraid to do so and would pretend it’s no big deal while on the inside it would eat him alive. Behavior as such could be unhealthy for him sometimes though. He could still seem like himself on the outside, especially whenever he’d be around Gon, Killua and Leorio, but there had been incidents where he would catch himself slipping and have his sanity waver. If angered enough after bottling frustrations he could turn more violent than he ever imagined, though luckily a couple of times Senritsu and Leorio have been able to stop him from doing idiotic things while he’d be in his raged trances.

He doesn’t like to be seen as weak and doesn’t like when people worry about him too much. Although Kurapika may seem level headed most of the time, he is very emotionally driven and can make a complete 180 in his behavior if provoked in the right ways, such as ill words about his clan, dealings with the Genei Ryodan, or harming those he cares about. On the inside he’s not as stable as he may appear on the outside, though a lot of times throughout his character growth his almost parental type of care over Gon and Killua and close (yet dysfunctional) friendship with Leorio kept his feet on the ground. If it wasn’t for them, as well as Senritsu, his rage driven lifestyle might have already cost him his life. ~~Another thing that keeps him calm are books, but too bad for him in this case.~~

Abilities/Powers: Kurapika may not be the strongest physically when it comes to the four protagonists, but he is still a lot stronger than the average human being. When his eyes turn scarlet his strength only enhances as well as his agility. He is very flexible and nimble when it comes to his movements and reflexes which makes up for the lack of strength he may have, also he has great intelligence as well that gives him an upper hand in many occasions he faces.

He has a vast amount of knowledge about the world he's from such as history and foreign cultures. Even as a kid he was already considered a genius by his clan because he was a quick learner and despite living in the forest he still was fascinated about the world outside of their hiding area so any chance to read and learn about anything was something he'd take. His intelligence was able to outwit Chrollo's predictions that were supposedly 100% accurate. Also he has knowledge about forensics if a situation would call for it.

Although it doesn't seem like he had proper training, Kurapika is quite skilled with martial arts. Being the quick learner that he is, that probably helped a lot as well as with his nunchaku skills, though he prefers a nunchaku pair that resembles bokken swords that are linked.

Eventually he learned how to use nen (body aura/energy from life force) and is a conjurer, meaning he could materialize a weapon for himself, and with that he made his chains. However, because of his revenge driven lifestyle his chains have particular rules and can't be used whenever and however he wants. Each finger has a ring where a different chain would activate depending on what he needs. The abilities he has with them are the following;

•Holy Chain: This chain comes from the ring on his thumb and the end of it is shaped like a cross. It's used for healing physical injuries and more effective if his eyes were to be red, though it has it's limits.

•Chain Jail: This chain comes from the ring on his middle finger and has a hook-like shape at the end. It can restrain and force people into a state of zetsu, meaning making their powers useless so they can't break out from it no matter how strong they may be physically as well. The chain can be hidden and concealed while used so his opponent would have no idea they were already trapped before he activates it. However, its purpose is only to be used against the Genei Ryodan members and that is the strict rule on this ability. If Kurapika were to use it on someone that isn't one of the Spiders then a dagger at his heart will kill him instantly as consequence. ~~So basically he can never use it in game anyway because that'd be suicide.~~

•Dowsing Chain: It comes from the ring on his ring finger and the ability he uses the most. The chain serves as a whip with nen attached to it (sometimes not) and he uses it either to attack or reflect things such as bullets when swung fast enough. It has a ball shape at the end because it also serves for locating missing persons or to see if someone is lying to him or not. It will tilt toward the certain destination for the former and swing side to side for the latter.

•Judgment Chain: This chain comes from the ring on his little finger and has the shape of a dagger at the end of it. The dagger on the end will pierce a person and let a separate smaller chain wrap around their heart, blade pointed at it. Kurapika can set two conditions and if the victim fails at either of them then the chain and dagger wrapped around that person's heart will pierce the organ in an attempt to kill them. Kurapika himself has a judgment chain around his own heart to keep himself under control. One condition is that he can't use Chain Jail on anyone except the Spiders, the second condition he set for himself is unknown at the moment. He can only use this ability when his eyes are scarlet.

Another ability he has other than the chains is;

•Emperor Time: His eyes have to be scarlet in order to use this ability. It isn't exactly an attack, it's just a boost to his nen. It allows him to be at 100% of all nen branches. However, it doesn't mean the other fields of nen are stronger, it just boosts them to his personal capabilities. For example, he would be a 10 in the field of being a conjurer, but his weakest field of nen usage would be those of an emitter. He'd only be at a 4 when it comes to emitter abilities. Emperor time allows fields as such to be at 100% (as well as the other fields) but it'd still be a level 4, just at 100% capability of a level 4 instead of only being able to use 40% of what level 4 emitter skills could do as he would if his eyes weren't scarlet. The same follows for the levels of the other branches of nen respectively.

Basically if excited enough (anger, sadness, major paranoia, etc) his eyes will turn scarlet. Although it's helpful, it does backfire. If his eyes are scarlet for too long in one sitting or too frequently in a certain period of time his health would be put at risk and he could fall unconscious for days and get extremely high fevers. Because of that they pretty much only turn scarlet if it's forced.

Items/Weapons: The clothing on his back and a knife.

Sample Entry:
[He spends a little time looking through the strange type of phone he had suddenly received. Of course Kurapika knew what a phone was, but this one seems to not have names and just photos of people he didn't know. He notices a chance to make a video message instead.]

Um... although nobody I've seen on this list looks familiar, is it all right if I ask what's going on? [Still as polite as ever though some slight irritation strained his voice and he stares blankly at the screen. He sighs.]

If anyone answers I'd be most appreciative. [He shifts and tilts his head a bit pondering.] Well, if anyone is outside I'll be there. [Kurapika had the need observe around and he turned off the video before going off to do so, hoping someone would eventually answer him. The place looks pretty deserted, but if he had a working phone like that it couldn't be completely empty. Besides, who were the people in the photos?]

What a waste of time. [Kurapika mumbles under his breath to himself.]

Sample Entry Two:
Keeping up with the Yorkshin auction dates weren't too troublesome, but what was an issue was dealing with his boss' meltdown of power after Neon had lost the one thing that kept her father's wealth and position. Kurapika found himself in a rough spot having to go back and forth checking on the condition of the young daughter and his boss over and over again. What were they to do now? Mr. Nostrade was losing the money he needed to be able to even make face at the underground auctions and Kurapika needed him as a representative to even attend without seeming suspicious. Of course anyone that had the money to pay for such rare things could attend, but less questions were asked if the mafia connection was already there. He was only a bodyguard, but he was the leader of the bodyguards and now even his boss was begging him for answers on what to do. It certainly put a lot of stress on the Kurta, especially because he had to step on his pride even more to get things straightened out. He hated being involved in dishonest business, but he had already gotten deep and grew to actually care about his fellow workers. Abandoning everything wasn't an option.

Kurapika had stepped outside of the hotel everyone had been staying at in the city and needed fresh air to breathe. He leaned on a pillar and looked up at the night's sky as he inhaled and exhaled deeply to take everything in. It was certainly a strange time indeed. First he had gotten a call from Killua asking if Chrollo's nen bound was removed because of him and Gon seeing the familiar name in that Greed Island game, and now his boss who seemed to always act tough had finally fallen apart. Just what in the world was happening? He still wanted to capture and dispose the Spiders that had been involved with his clan's massacre, but the timing didn't seem right yet. Aside from Senritsu being with him, he was alone. If he were to lose his cool and get too vengeful he probably wouldn't have anyone to calm him. Senritsu was too sweet during the heat of the moments and Leorio had already left the city, so he wasn't going to be there to scold him if he lost his temper.

His eyes shut and without a care he slid down to sit on the concrete steps. A hand rose to rub at his forehead before he looked at the chains on his hand. There was no use leaving them out right at the time. His hunt would come to a pause, just for the moment. Kurapika made his chains disappear and it did feel a bit better to do so. Although the nen use to keep them out was meager, having them out so long for days had him feel a major difference once he put it away. Kurapika used to do nothing but preach about hunters being noble beings and respectable. Even though he learned that wasn't always the case a long while back, he felt himself slipping more and more into becoming the kind of person he despised the most and to make things worse, the anger he had felt like it was fading that night, which was a horrible thing in his own opinion. Kurapika figured it'd come back when appropriate, but feeling so lost was most uncomfortable for him.

Name: Mandie
Contact Info: TetraMandie @ AIM
Other Characters Played: N/A
Preferred Apartment: 6.006 with Jade, if not enough slots are available somewhere they can be placed together

Character Name: Emperor Peony Upala Malkuth IX
Canon: Tales of the Abyss
Canon Point: Post game, pre-epilogue
Background/History: Info links: Peony on Aselia Wiki, Tales of the Abyss on Aselia Wiki , also pulling heavily from Tales of Fandom 2 (translation available: here.)

Personality: When someone first meets Peony in a situation where he's comfortable, "he must be royalty" is generally not the first thing they think. His speech can be very informal (especially obvious in the Japanese version of the game). He keeps his hair long and somewhat shaggy, and even his clothing is loose and relaxed. He's a very easy-going man, comfortable with himself and in his interactions with others. When not formally acting as Emperor, Peony doesn't stand on propriety, treating people in a friendly manner regardless of their station. Of course, he does have a bit of a tendency to take his laid back nature too far. Peony's room is a disaster, quite literally a pig sty considering the fact that he lets his precious rappigs run loose in there. He doesn't care enough about the mess to clean it up himself or to ask a servant to do it, he would much rather let his babies have their fun. Who cares if it's a little disorganized? He sure doesn't!

He's also a lover of having fun. From teasing Jade publicly to forcing the entire party to wear the Abyss Man costumes (he loves Abyss men!), he seems to be rather shameless in his pursuit of a good time. He isn't above childishly "ordering" people to carry out silly tasks for his amusement either, though if someone displayed genuine discomfort he would most likely let them off the hook. Unless, of course, the person in question was Jade. The man takes himself far too seriously sometimes. Peony's childish enthusiasm can sometimes be taken to an extreme, though. Even when there was a known assassination plot floating about, Peony demanded to be allowed to go out and investigate, promptly donning casual clothes and a pair of glasses as a disguise for the occasion.

He has quite an adventurous streak edging just on the side of being a danger to his health that's persisted since his childhood. When Jade broke into his mansion as a child, Peony didn't react with fear - instead, he was delighted at the idea of someone breaking in and struck up a friendship with the other boy (somewhat forcefully, he threatened to tell on Jade if he didn't do as he asked), going so far as to have a tunnel dug into the manor so that he could get out to play with them. After reading a story about the pirate Aifread and how he hid his treasure in a seaside cave, Peony was chomping at the bit to head out to sea and hide some treasure of his own. He dragged Jade and Saphir along, heading out in a small boat at night on a very cold sea. Though Saphir nearly died from exposure, Peony still reminisces on it fondly. It was all in good fun, after all. Peony also collects weapons, and grows visibly excited at the thought of being able to visit the coliseum in Kimlasca.

Peony is a highly loyal man. Once someone has become a friend in his mind, he doesn't let them go. While this is easiest to spot in his friendship with Jade, it's actually quite evident with Saphir as well. Even though Saphir abandoned the country and acted against the best interests of the world, Peony still accepted him back with minor punishment - just imprisonment, nothing more. In Tales of Fandom 2, he still treats Saphir as a friend when he "visits" him (read: joins in on the interrogation of him) in jail. He teases him too, of course, but teasing Saphir is something that no one can resist. He can be loyal to the point where he has difficulty letting go, though. Peony had a rather extended affair with Jade's sister Nephry, continuing to exchange letters back and forth with her even after her Score-dictated marriage.

He can be quite willful when he wants to be. In the Peony gaiden, he demands to be allowed to continue his relationship with Nephry. When reminded of his position, he essentially tells his adviser that he's the emperor and he'll do what he wants. Even after Nephry's Score reading indicated that she would marry someone else, Peony went right back to Keterburg and told her to damn the Score and run away with him. Thankfully, Nephry kept her cool and reminded him of his people and the fact that he cared for them too much to abandon them like that.

As childish and laid back as he is most of the time, Peony can be extremely serious when the situation calls for it. In formal diplomatic relations, he takes on a more austere style of speech, and he's willing to make extremely painful decisions for the sake of his people. When presented with a situation where he was forced to choose between telling an eight-year-old boy to go sacrifice himself or the slow poisoning of the entire world, he asked the boy to go die with a straight face. He's dedicated to the well being of his subjects, even if ensuring their safety can sometimes hurt.

That protective streak is even more evident in his close relationships. Though he has a reckless streak that sometimes endangered those close to him when he was young, his desire to protect his friends is perhaps one of the only things that truly tempered his wild personality. After Jade and Saphir left Keterburg to join the military academy, Peony took it upon himself to watch after Nephry, later reflecting on the time he cared for her as when he became an adult. Even after it became evident that their relationship wasn't meant to be, he continued to watch out for her - in the game upon passing Peony's old manor and discussing the emperor's doomed romance, Jade states that Peony likely doesn't allow the over-development of Keterburg for Nephry's sake.

Though he's generally patient with his friends (going so far as to carefully walk Jade through his own emotions at the end of ToF2), Peony can reach a point at which he snaps. When Jade and Saphir were researching fomicry to try and bring Nebilim back, he waited it out for years despite disagreeing with the entire concept. Though he sent letters expressing his disapproval, he didn't force the subject. Even after arriving in Grand Chokmah and seeing for himself just what the replication experiments entailed, he still attempted to talk Jade down from it - though his words were getting somewhat harsh at that point. It wasn't until Jade severely injured himself that Peony finally ran out of patience, clocking Jade right in the face and reminding him how much he'd hurt the people that care about him if he were to die. His desire to protect his friend was what caused him to lose his cool.

Abilities/Powers: Not really applicable. He's got some talent for martial arts, though!
Items/Weapons: The bead he wears in his hair, a bundle of letters, and a sewing kit

Sample Entry: http://zodion.dreamwidth.org/647603.html
Sample Entry Two: Typically if someone found themselves suddenly awakening in a strange place with no memory of ever having fallen asleep, their reaction would be to panic. Peony has never been described as "typical" in any sense of the word. He was certainly confused to find himself suddenly in a dingy room rather than pacing around and waiting for news of Eldrant, but he wasn't particularly afraid. He spent a few quiet moments studying the surroundings. It seemed like the place was practically in ruins, but that didn't shake him. No, Peony wasn't afraid at all.

He was excited. This was just the sort of distraction he needed! Waiting to find out the results of the assault on Eldrant was incredibly stressful for the Emperor. He hated the fact that he couldn't actually do anything to help beyond sending military support. He wanted to help directly, to fight with his own two hands. He didn't doubt for a moment that Jade would survive the fight (or perhaps his mind simply refused to even acknowledge the possibility that his best friend could die), but he was definitely worried for the Gailardia and the other kids. Having something to do while he was waiting was a situation he would welcome with open arms.

Even if it seemed like he'd been kidnapped and dumped in... well, a dump. Compared to the palace, at least. Grinning to himself, Peony pushed himself to his feet and attempted to find a way out of the building he was in. He was going to have a little fun exploring this place. Jade would probably come pick him up and drag him back home soon enough, so he should probably get started.

Name: aaron
Contact Info: brewmegently @ AIM, plurk
Other Characters Played: Ganymede, Keith Anyan
Preferred Apartment: #6.006; or with Peony

Character Name: Jade Curtiss; born Jade Balfour; titles: Colonel, Doctor
Canon: Tales of the Abyss
Canon Point: immediately following Dist's death
Background/History: Jade Curtiss @ Tales of Wiki | Tales of the Abyss @ Tales of Wiki
Previous Game History: n/a
Personality: Jade is a complex man who shows very little of himself to the world around him. Though outwardly cheerful, teasing, and often taunting, he is internally a man who doesn't understand the people around him; jaded, bitter, and full of regret. Essentially, he is a very ugly person wearing a charismatic mask. He speaks very precisely and with a good vocabulary, showcasing his high intelligence.

While it could never be argued that Jade is a truly good person, he does have his strong points, most of them intellectual. He's extremely intelligent, a genius in his own right, highly qualified in both mundane and fonic artes - a type of "magic" done in his canon. He thinks quickly, and is a brisk and efficient, if extremely emotionally detached leader, having risen through the ranks of the Malkuth military to the rank of Colonel. In fact, the combination of his genius, fighting skills, and leadership potential probably should have netted him further promotions, to general or above, if he hadn't declined interest. Part of this success is probably related to Jade's high ability to read other people's intentions. Likely because of his own tendency to hide everything from his emotions to his true agendas, Jade is very good at reading between the lines and working out other people's true motivations and intentions, often putting two and two together to find out the things people are hiding. He is excellent at reading people, noticing details in what they say or do in order to paint an understandable picture, which paired up with his innate intelligence means he's often several steps ahead of everyone else, and very rarely surprised. Despite the layers he hides, Jade is exceptionally pragmatic, practical, always capable and willing to boil a situation down to a problem and a solution, regardless of whatever emotional entanglements might be involved.

Jade is intensely ambitious and driven. He thoroughly believes in his own reputation as Jade the Necromancer, a genius doctor and prodigy with the fonic artes. He sees himself as someone who is willing to desecrate dead bodies and push the limits of ethics to learn new things, perfect his theories into techniques, and produce results with his pet projects. Jade hates to fail, and this is one of his most major downfalls, his Achilles' heel. When he fails, he withdraws, he shuts down the attempts of anyone else to succeed where he hadn't, and tries dangerous things that end up getting people killed or himself nearly killed in order to push past his failings. While he claims to have no pride, he certainly does, and will generally protect it above all other things.

This leads in to Jade's more negative personality traits - most noticeable being that he has virtually no empathy. Jade has been high-functioning and bordering on sociopathic for most of his life - he simply doesn't understand or comprehend the emotions of the people around him. He's aware that they have them, certainly, and he's aware of how they motivate others, and how they can be manipulated, but he has virtually no innate understanding of how those emotions can and should be respected. He abuses his intellect and understanding of human motivation to manipulate those around him in the direction he wants them to go, uses their talents and emotions against them, and is often amused at least and disturbed at most about even the most emotionally devastating results. Pragmatic to a fault, he excels at finding the most efficient route to solving problems, and only declines to follow through because he knows intellectually that crossing certain boundaries is 'wrong.' This is something he's had to learn through trial and error - as a child, he frequently killed even harmless creatures for his own purposes, and viewed other humans as livestock that he couldn't connect with. This vicious pragmatism and lack of respect for others makes him come across as cruel, a ruthless monster with no concern for how his actions harm other people.

While Jade has an incredibly hard time connecting with others or understanding their feelings, he is slowly improving from the damaged and sociopathic child he once was. Though he isn't emotional on a general basis, he definitely has emotions and is affected by them. He feels close to several of his childhood friends, and is affected by the suffering of them and of his sister, Nephry. He is capable of caring for others and wanting to put their best interests first, even allowing his own ambitions to be put on hold partially because carrying on would hurt them. He tends only to show his more negative emotions - frustration, indignation, embarassment, and sometimes sadness, with his fondness and care generally masked or shown through sarcastic teasing. This is partially because Jade understands his own feelings as poorly as he understands others - while he is certainly capable of feelings, capable of being affected by them, he doesn't understand the complexities of why. He gives himself very little credit when it comes to emotions, assuming that because his own manifest in different ways than the ways he's learned are 'normal' that he is incapable of those feelings. When confronted with his own feelings, he withdraws, preferring to downplay his own capacity for them or his ability to understand the consequences of a situation that has led him to feel something intense. It is because of this failure to understand and properly process his own emotions that Jade is drawn to strong, open people who are capable of helping him understand the complexities going on under the surface - Peony is a prime example of this, though at times Anise, Luke, Guy, and many other members of the main party also function in this way.

It is because of this that Jade is not nearly the monster he thinks he is. While he has done many, many terrible things, and many others that skirted the line between ethical and unethical, he does hold himself responsible for his actions. He regrets crossing the line and killing the teacher he cared for so much, he regrets that he was unable to do anything to help her, he understands that his own death would hurt the people who care about him. He is capable of learning to care about others when he finds a reason to open his heart just a little, and while he will never be soft, compassionate, or tender, he is capable of growth. Because he is able to take these things into consideration, Jade isn't a villain, or fully a monster - he is a man with a very dysfunctional view of himself and the people around him. And he is learning.
Abilities/Powers: It's difficult to list off Jade's individual abilities, as he has a great many. He is the primary "mage" of his game, with a large number of various elemental and energy-based attacks that can deal a great amount of damage.

These attacks, however, are all based on Jade's natural ability to manipulate fonons, the basic particle of all elements on Auldrant, the planet Jade is from. Through this natural ability (not all characters from Auldrant are capable of doing so directly, having to rely on fontech, or machines that utilize fonons) and various chants he can perform a wide variety of attacks primarily related to the elements - darkness, earth, wind, fire, water, and light. Some of his attacks are energy beams and other similar energy attacks. He doesn't use dark or light attacks, and is unable to manipulate the seventh type of fonon, sound.

For more information on fonons, please see Fonons @ Tales of Wiki

For more information on Jade's particular fighting style, please see Jade Curtiss: Fighting Style @ Tales of Wiki

Jade has two additional fonic artes that only he has mastered. One allows him to break down spears into its basic elements and fonons to be stored against the skin of his forearm until it's needed and formed back into the shape of a spear. The other is his fonic sight, which allows him to absorb fonons through his eyes and which increases his casting power. Since his fonic sight can be extremely dangerous if not kept under strict control, he wears his glasses to seriously decrease the power of it.

Jade also has a Fonic Arte that only he has mastered that allows him to break down his weapon into its basic elements and fonons to be stored against the skin of his forearm until it is needed and formed back into the shape of a spear.
Items/Weapons: His spear, Dunamis; a bottle of cologne; a spare pair of glasses to keep his Fonic Sight in check
Sample Entry:

[The video post engages in an obviously staged sort of way. Jade is neatly centered in the feed, and he's wearing an almost blankly neutral expression. After a moment of contemplation, he smiles - it's obviously fake, there's obviously some kind of wound up tension behind it, in his eyes and in the way he holds his face. It shows for a few moments before he forces himself to relax and the smile becomes only a bare modicum more real.]

Good evening. My name is Jade Curtiss and I've recently heard rumors that, in this place, people are able to revive from death.

[He leans in more closely, and the light catches on his glasses, and the glare leaves his eyes impossible to see.]

I should like to speak to anyone who's experienced this - a sort of informal research into the phenomenon. It would certainly help if you'd be willing to share any memories or impressions of the time between death and awakening, and what it was like when you returned. This subject is of particular interest to me, and anything you have to offer would be most appreciated.

[He leans in just slightly more, his eyes becoming visible again, and while his mouth is still curved into a seemingly easy-going smile, his eyes are narrowed. There certainly is something beneath the surface, a deeper and more personal reason to ask these questions than idle curiosity - but for the moment, all he has to offer is that glib smile.]

Sample Entry Two:

He can feel it creeping up on him long before it settles into his bones - the paranoia that makes the hairs on the back of his neck stand up, the feeling of being watched from behind, the sensation of wondering at every moment if the person beside him, behind him, is intending to kill him. It's a familiar sensation, enough so that for the first several hours after it settles into him, he can almost completely ignore it. After all, especially in a place like this, the time spent reading is more important than comfort. Jade is quite accustomed to paranoia, after all, that feeling of being out of place, of needing to protect himself, to return to something, somewhere, after having fought hard to be where he is.

The only difference, really, sitting in this library in Haven North, is that he has a concrete idea, a mental image of the place he must return to in order to find safety, and that place is somewhere he can conceivably reach. It's just a matter of standing up and brushing off the tails of his jacket, of closing the book he's reading, putting in a placeholder, leaving it in a precise place in a precise section of the Library so it isn't disturbed, and fighting his way back to the apartment block. Back to the safety of his room, where he can collect his thoughts and process, categorize all the things he's learned in this particular reading session.

But he wants just a little more, to find another piece to this puzzle, and there is the constant sensation that if he turns just one more page he may find it, that if he closes the book and leaves it here, he may never discover it. After all, there were important things to do at home on Auldrant, and whatever he may learn in this Library may allow him, eventually, with enough research, enough effort, enough intelligence, enough fighting and killing to find a way for them to go home, to take Luke and the others home. It's worth it to fight this sensation, the creeping madness encroaching on the corners of his astute mind, clouding the edges of his reason, coloring his memories of what he's reading.

After all, he is used to this sensation, Jade the Necromancer, a man who endures things on a daily basis that would drive most men mad, had driven them mad, all for the sake of being the best and knowing the most. That much, in this place, will not change.

Edited (added in one small power limitation + spacing error) 2013-12-06 06:08 (UTC)

Name: VAL
Contact Info: white.reveries@gmail.com
Other Characters Played: n/a
Preferred Apartment: if there's still space in 2.002 that would be lovely; if not, any apartment will do!

Character Name: Peter Parker / Spider-Man
Canon: Marvel 1610 (Ultimate Spider-Man)
Canon Point: Ultimate Comics Spider-Man #156, + memories from Haven during his stay here (from about October-December 2012, if that's okay)
Background/History: TA-DA (tl;dr: WITH GREAT POWER COMES GREAT RESPONSIBILITY)

Personality:

Peter Parker is a lot of things. He's a loser at his school, who gets food thrown at him during lunch and insults tossed at him in the hallway between classes, and who puts up with it, because he knows there's nothing he can do about it. He's a boy who lost both parents at a young age, and recently lost his uncle in an accident he could have prevented. He's a straight A student with a genius intellect who constantly skips class to go out and be a teenage superhero and fight bad guys, simultaneously destroying parts of the city and racking up huge city bills while he delivers puns and jokes with the ease of a stand-up comedian, although probably with more Yiddish. He's socially awkward, not great with girls (despite managing to hook up with three different girls over the course of a year), and quippier than a gerbil on a sugar rush. (Blame that on too much late night TV.)

He's not perfect. He's far from perfect. Perfect people don't spend four months lying to their aunt about their "extracurricular" activities, perfect people don't hook up with shady masked thieves shortly after breaking up with their girlfriends, and perfect people most certainly do not let the people they love most die around them, one by one. But Peter's done all these things and more. He's rash sometimes, loses his temper a lot, makes decisions that he reverses only shortly after. Truth be told though, a lot of it isn't directly his fault. For all that he's only sixteen, he's already seen - and experienced - much more tragedy than any person five times his age would have seen six times over. And he makes it worse by constantly blaming himself for everything that goes wrong.

"Not everything in the world is your fault, Peter. Why are you making it your fault?"

That's what Mary Jane, Peter's best friend and girlfriend, asks him during one of his moments of self-loathing. Not only has he lost his uncle, two of his best friends, and almost lost both his aunt and girlfriend in the mix too, he's also been kidnapped, beaten senseless, and shot at more times that Teletubby episodes have aired on TV - all within the space of a year. And beatings and shootings aren't really his fault (hard to blame yourself when it's the other guy holding the gun), but the rest...the rest is all heavy weight Peter carries in his heart. It's a lot to hold in for kid, so is it really any wonder he breaks down and loses his temper every now and then? Because that's what Peter does, and what makes his life constantly miserable. He's proactive rather than reactive, spending his Friday nights slinging through New York looking for bad guy tuchis to kick rather than snuggling with his girlfriend on the couch. Everything that can and does go wrong can ultimately be traced back to some action by him, no matter the logical reasoning to the contrary.

But he's a good kid, a great kid. Despite the mistakes he makes - or rather, because of them - he's learned to take responsibility for his actions, to clean up his messes no matter how painful the process is. Double-standards are things he is absolutely not okay with, and he does what he thinks is right and not what happens to be the easiest course of action at the time, even if it means clocking Nick Fury, director of SHIELD, a good one on the chin when he doesn't seem to do all that Peter wants him to do. And for all that he's a superhero, he's also still a dorky teenage boy who thinks his aunt is the greatest person in the world. Sure, he thinks about running away a lot, and sure, most of the time he's scared enough of what he has to do that he almost pees his uniform tights, but when push comes to shove, Peter Parker steps up to the line and gives it all he's got. He's utterly devoted to the people he loves, willing to put his life down on the line and lie through his teeth again and again if it means being able to keep them safe. And throughout all this, he's still able to keep a smile on his face, and offer himself as a shoulder for others to lean on, even if he's the one that sometimes needs a shoulder the most.

He wasn't in Haven long enough to undergo any significant development, but he is a little more serious about things now after all the horrors he's seen.

Abilities/Powers:

Thanks to a bite from a genetically engineered spider, Peter's been gifted with a whole palooza of superhuman abilities beyond that of his already genius intellect. He has superhuman speed and stamina, and super strength to the point where he has to hold back while fighting foes of normal physical strength/endurance, as otherwise his punches would prove fatal. At his current age, he's able to lift and throw most cars with ease, and it's theorized that his strength will only increase as he grows and matures. He also has superhuman agility and reflexes, which allow him to dodge attacks and react at a lightning quick speed and jump and leap distances/heights that normal humans would never be able to accomplish. In addition, he's got an almost perfect sense of equilibrium, which means he can balance perfectly on anything, no matter how small/narrow. Several abilities that are entirely new are his so-called "spidey-sense", which allows him to sense danger to him before it occurs (though only up to about a second or two before it actually happens), as well as his ability to "stick" to walls with just his hands and feet. He can climb walls both barehanded/footed as well as with thin layers of fabric covering both his hands and feet.

And of course, you can't forget the fact that Peter is intellectually brilliant. He managed to crack a formula for a molecular adhesive his father was working on before he died, and then converted that formula into the formula he uses to make the webbing he swings from and uses to attack his foes. His IQ is said to be 143, and while the bulk of his intellect is in the physical and life sciences, he's also gifted in numerous technological areas. He was immediately picked up as an intern at the Daily Bugle for a reason.

Specific limits and numbers concerning his powers are given here, if that's helpful!

Items/Weapons:

1. A worn brown backpack containing:
2. The webshooters* that Tony Stark designed and made for him as a birthday gift, and
3. His Spider-Man outfit

He'll also be wearing his Spider-Man outfit at time of arrival.

*There are two webshooters in the set, so if they count as two separate things let me know and I'll update this list.

Sample Entry:

a really old haven post.
also a more recent musebox post although it's more log than network.

Sample Entry Two:

It wasn't until the wind stopped howling that Peter finally got the chance to look around him.

To his left, Black Cat, holding her head, face pained as though she'd been struck. To his right, the headless doofus, who he really hoped was a goner, but knowing him, was just playing possum. And then all around him....destruction. Buildings ravaged, cars flipped with their bellies facing the sky, smoke rising from the air, dark and apocalyptic. And he...he was the one who'd done all of this, all because he'd gone running in without thinking again. Without listening. Well, not like Black Cat is entirely truthful anyway. She hides everything she knows like a tube sock hides ugly ankles. But it was a half-hearted rationalization, stomped down hard on by the cold fear and regret of what he'd just done.

"I'm--I'm sorry...."

Not enough, never enough. It hadn't been enough when Uncle Ben had died, it hadn't been enough when he'd been forced to watch them kill Harry, hadn't been enough for Gwen, hadn't been enough for any of them.

His arm shot out, fingers stretched out to their fullest and opening so he could get the thing away from him. He watched it fall and hit the ground, his knees mirroring the same action as he collapsed to the ground, hands coming up to curl protectively around his head. He was glad for the mask now, glad for the protection that hid the clamminess of his skin and the widening of his eyes in shock.

Again. Again and again, no matter what he did, it always came back to bite him in the tuchis. He was sick of it, tired of it, tired of fighting a war it seemed like he was never going to win. All he wanted to was be home, with his girlfriend and his best friends, watching The Daily Show and begging his aunt to give them ten more minutes. A normal life.

But that was never going to happen. Couldn't happen, not anymore. He had power now, a lot of power now, and with it came....well. Even if he wanted to leave now, he couldn't. He'd made Uncle Ben a promise, and he was going to keep that promise for the rest of his life.

It took another moment, longer than he wanted to admit, before he could get up again, pull his hands away from his head so he could push himself up off the ground.

**This is the original third person sample I wrote; if you'd like something more recent please let me know!

Name: Babs
Contact Info:

togetic
Other Characters Played: Korra (

polar) || Legend of Korra
Preferred Apartment: None

Character Name: M'gann M'orzz
Canon: Young Justice (DC Animated)
Canon Point: End of "Endgame"
Background/History: Ta-dah!

Personality:

You know those types of people that are so sweet and optimistic that you either want to hug them or punch them? Yeah, at the beginning, that'd have been M'gann. Peppy and cheerful, Miss Martian was a girl ready to do her best at all times, be it making friends or fighting a villain. Since she was new to Earth, she came off as naive and inexperienced, which, to some degree, she was. A lot of customs and mannerisms were completely new to her, such as using telepathy without permission being an extreme invasion of privacy.

She was also eager to please people, strongly wanting to fit into her new home and with the Team. Attempting to help her new friends, she always tried to wear a smile and keep an upbeat attitude. As she put herself out there keeping others happy, she also opened herself up for disappointment when something didn't work out. If she was snapped at or snubbed, she took it personally and could be slightly depressed over it. However, she was quick to bounce back and try again. Missions and combat were no different. Being new to the hero scene coupled with lack of battle related power use, the martian made some rookie mistakes, much to her embarrassment. This fueled her determination to fit in even more.

With the eagerness came a penchant for forming quick attachments to people. Her teammates, especially Superboy and Artemis, were (and are) the prime examples of this trait. Despite working with them only a short while, M'gann was fast to proclaim sisterhood and determination to spend time together.

However, five years of growing and maturing can do a lot to a person, no matter what species they are, and M'gann is no exception to this. Her initial peppy and upbeat personality has greatly simmered, though she can still be playful and silly with those she's close to, like Beast Boy. The overeagerness has all but left her person and has been replaced with a serious resolve to accomplish the task or mission in front of her.

Over the years, Miss Martian has gained much more experience, and thanks to that, the initial desire to prove herself to everyone has disappeared. As one of the senior members of the Team, M'gann often leads squads and calls the shots once they're in motion. She stays calm and collected, whereas she might have previously panicked or fumbled her way through things.

Gaining the approval of others used to mean a lot to her, but that's another thing that changed. In fact, it seemed to have almost turned around for a while. Before, she might have looked to others for guidance on how to use her powers, but it appeared she had almost no regard for how others viewed her methods. Psychically ripping into the bad guy's mind to extract information is considered inhumane by some, yet she was convinced it's for the greater good. The fact this methodology has caused her to damage one of, if not the most significant relationships she possesses causes her pain, however, that alone wasn't enough to turn her off those techniques. It came down to shattering the mind of a "former" ally who had supposedly killed her best friend to help her realize the impact of her actions. Weeks of viewing and fixing the damage she caused instilled some doubt and hesitancy about using the telepathic abilities. Fortunately, with the help of the Team, she's gotten over those fears and now understands why what she did is unacceptable.

While M'gann's changed drastically in some respects, others remain very close to the same. She still cares deeply for those close to her, and she still retains the ability to be kind and nurturing to those in need. She praises Wonder Girl for a job well done during a mission, and then proceeds to join in a group hug once completed. Her joy at having Artemis return to the team was great, as was her grief at her apparent death. M'gann's emotional range is likely as broad as it was before, though she doesn't express it as loudly now.

Abilities/Powers: Overall; As a martian, M'gann has a number of default abilities that normal humans don't possess. These include: shapeshifting, telekinesis, telepathy, and camouflage. Additionally, she can phase through solid matter, an advanced technique that one has to work at to achieve.
Items/Weapons: None!

Sample Entry: Old Posts
Sample Entry Two: Old Log

Name: Christy
Contact Info:

swagu
Other Characters Played: Diva (

madamemoiselle), Xerxes Break (

madhatted), Merrill (

sylvanwood)
Preferred Apartment: #3.004

Character Name: Mary
Canon: Ib
Canon Point: Post-Canon, "Promise of Reunion" ending
Background/History: Here

Personality:
When it comes down to it, Mary is an archetypal Pinnochio. She's the child that isn't, but who wants to be. Mary is a painting who has been ambiguously brought to life, and living in a gallery, has gotten to observe what it means to be human. So it's only natural that she'd want to become human herself. She's the painting that wants to be a real girl, and it's that existence that makes up her motivations as well as her unique personality.

When you meet her, Mary comes off as no more than a weird little girl. She's flighty and playful, often ignoring the scary parts of the gallery in favor of something more whimsical. We learn throughout the game that this is because that that scary place is her "home," but still, her reactions don't always match the situation. When she meets Garry and Ib, she instead tells them about her favorite colors rather than pay attention to Garry's warnings. While it's assumed that she's supposed to be about the same age as Ib (9), she's not nearly as mature, as would be obvious with her outburst about her favorite colors. She has the mindset of a child, so in many ways, she's very innocent and straightforward. She loves coloring, playing with dolls, and making friends, which are all the sort of model activities you'd expect from an innocent little girl.

Though, that innocence only seems to go so far. Mary is absolutely determined to escape the gallery, and as is made clear in some endings, it's at any cost. The "rule" of the gallery is that she would have to take someone's place in the real world, and she doesn't seem to have any moral qualm doing so. In some endings, she kills Garry by plucking off the petals of his rose (which are tied to his life), and she does so with whimsy. Or regardless, she'll threaten both Ib and Garry with a (apparently very sharp) palette knife, and clearly seems to have intentions to kill them when she's provoked to do so.

However, though these actions may appear malicious on the surface, they're not. They're actions that are born of a flawed understanding and of a very different and separate morality than what would be assumed. Though her actions can be violent and seem very cruel, I would argue that they're not, or at least not in the traditional sense. Mary has no understanding of right and wrong, because her world only consists of the gallery. If anyone else entered the gallery before Ib and Garry, they're not mentioned, so we can only assume that they're the first people that she's ever interacted with. As such, a sense of right and wrong would never have had a context to develop, and through certain things she says, it's clear that she's not deliberately misleading Garry and Ib. For example, when the pair first meets her, it's Garry that makes the assumption that she's another trapped patron, even though she's very honest in hindsight ("I... I was looking to see if there was anyone else too... I wanted to get out... So I..."). To Mary, her desire to escape the gallery and become a real girl and/or a friend of Ib is more important than anything else. It's certainly wrong, but it's a view that's shaped by an understanding of the world that's lacking, and by the naive view that any cost is worth the outcome. As such, Mary is innocent, not in her actions, but in her mindset.

This lack of development is of course important in the context of her actions in the game, but it's also important to understanding the more innocuous parts of her personality. After all, even though she's a young girl, and children can say some strange things, certainly, Mary is weird even by this standard. She's seemingly shy, and tends to trail off her sentences (especially around new people), but she seems to simply not understand things as well. She's awkward and sometimes blunt and bossy, and when topics turn to things she doesn't like, she'll change the subject quickly and obviously. She's bad at lying, and generally is just a strange little girl. But this, too, is born from the fact that she's been isolated, and what she knows of real people and the world outside her odd, scary gallery is from observation rather than interaction. She's able to fake being a little girl to some degree of competency, but at the same time, there's always the prevailing sense that something is "off" about her, and it doesn't take much to figure out her true nature.

When it comes down to it, Mary is just someone that deeply desires a life that she doesn't have. She wants to live the life that she's observed as a painting, which is a life of friendship, fun, and happiness. Her perception is skewed, because she's created an ideal version of what it means to be alive, so when faced with conflict, her temperament inevitably turns sour and sometimes violent. She's shy, but friendly and playful once she warms to someone, and values them to the point of a jealous possessiveness. She's curious about the life that real people live, and she wants it for herself. Unfortunately, this desire is so strong that she's willing to do anything to have, which is what leads to her eventual downfall.

Abilities/Powers:
Since Mary is not exactly human, it also means she has some not exactly human attributes. Most of these have no bearing on Haven whatsoever, since they revolve around her connection to an art gallery that she obviously won't be able to access. However, since Mary is a painting rather than a true person, I'm assuming she's a little more durable than your standard nine year old girl. Small injuries are likely to heal pretty quickly, but anything major is a bit more normal.

Items/Weapons: A yellow rose, a palette knife, and a doll

Sample Entry:
[ When the video turns on, it's not entirelly clear what's being shown at first. There's clearly something pressed up to the camera, but rather than it being black, like someone's fingers are over the camera, it's white. In fact... Looking closer, isn't that paper?

But after a moment or two of staring at the blank paper, the broadcaster pulls it back. It's a young girl, but she looks very unhappy, since her mouth is set into an upset, pouting little frown. ]

What's wrong with it...?

[ It's like she's not aware that the camera is on, with how she says that, but then she looks directly at the camera again, holding up some crayons. ]

Are they broken? Every time I try and draw, my pictures just go away! I've been drawing reaaaaally good ones too, so I don't know where they're going... It's not like I'm erasing them or anything... I thought they were really good crayons, but this is a really mean trick!

[ She makes a little upset noise, then slaps the paper on the ground, drawing a red crayon across it pretty vigorously before holding it back up to see. ]

So, watch! I'm not joking, so tell me how to make it stop. I'll draw you something pretty for it, okay?

[ ...Yeah, no one filled her in on the "no writing" rule, so she'll hold that paper up to the camera until the red mark fades away. At which point, she'll get more upset and ball the paper up, tossing it at the phone. The phone was clearly propped up somehow, since it falls back and shows the ceiling instead, and... continues to. She's not going to turn it off, since honestly, she's not really sure how. ]

Sample Entry Two:
It's hot.

It's hot, it's hot, it's hot, and all she can really think about is how much it hurts. It's not as if flames are searing her body, but she can feel how flames lick the painting as if it were the same. Her portrait is burning up, so she's burning too. She's going to...die. She watches the flames take over her face in the portrait, and even though Mary doesn't know much, she knows that she's going to die.

And it's scary.

It's so scary, and it makes her scream, because things weren't supposed to end like this. She was supposed to be able to live and be a real girl. She could go see all the things she'd observed from her painting. She could go color real things, and eat ice cream, and have a family. She could be a real girl. That was how things were supposed to be, but... She's just a painting.

A real little girl wouldn't brandish a knife, or think about pluck, pluck, plucking the rose petals off that stupid man's rose so that he would just disappear. No, a real little girl wouldn't do those things. Her last look to the girl she'd so desperately wanted to befriend is one of pleading fear, but it doesn't matter.

A real little girl wouldn't turn to ash, would she?

Thank you for applying to Haven.
Your application is in the queue and will be processed on 6th December.

Name: Hotaru
Contact Info: allthetags@gmail.com / gekifire@dw&plurk
Other Characters Played:
Mu Alexius (Magi: the Labyrinth of Magic)
Habaki Chouza (Itsuwaribito Utsuho)
Hibari Kyoya (Katekyo Hitman Reborn!)
Preferred Apartment: Not really but a place with people who have supernatural/special powers would be great.

Character Name: Zed the Hero
Canon: Code:Breaker
Canon Point: Post Canon
Background/History: He has little history because ~~the most action he gets is groping action,~~ he appears in his three volumes. But I've written his canon history here, while there's a link to the wikia here.

Personality:
Zed's special power is ”death” but he couldn't be more the opposite of what you would expect of someone with such an ability. He's cheerful and friendly, maybe – no, not maybe, definitely – overly friendly. But then again, he spends a lot of time six feet under, though. It's not like a guy who looks like a mummified corpse most of the time has anything to do in their coffin, so he enjoys having fun when he's out of it. And fun, that's alcohol, women, more alcohol and mooore women. He's a cheerful guy though, who is an odd friend to have and someone you'd rather not have as an enemy.

Zed is a true gentleman. Well, not really, but he think that he is. He can be polite and all, but he tends to foget how ”polite” works. He's nice to just about everyone, especially to the ladies. Or any cute girl, really. You see, he loves women, and he does not hide it. He likes to get inside people's personal space, and likes to drape himself over them. He is very personal around the people that he likes. Not personal as in telling people loads about himself, but he is quick to bodily contact, and for example, he has the ability to know when a good woman is close, just from scent. What a good woman is can vary a lot, though. He's not very picky with it, he just likes girls. He is a ”Lover of Women” and likes to touch them. A lot of the time he likes touching their asses or breasts. On the bare skin if he can manage to. As for the girls, he might try to convince them into bed. There's nothing ambarrassing about sex, after all, and he's a corpse most of the time since he was born so he lives to have fun. It's really the goal of his life. Which is why he is most often hung over when he goes into Lost State and looks alive. So don't be rough when you wake him up, thank you~

He is generous, if you ask him. For example, he gives away other people's things to those who asks if those who asks are girls. Like Ogami Rei's Asmodeus Flame. He gave that one to Mishiru and didn't think much of it. It's not like Ogami will die if he doesn't get the last flame back. And it's just easy to avoid the Code:Emperor's attacks, so it's no big deal that it pisses the first flame power user off to the core. He'll just continue to tease him and laughing it off. Another example is when he uses his power on people's request. Like when he made Yukihina na Undead when Heike asked him to, or when he felt sorry for the Rare Kinds and made them Undead after they died and left Fussy Lunch alone.

It makes him sad being dragged from his ladies, and he'll cry in a pathetic way, and ignore people poking him with sticks. He's not that easy to upset otherwise, though, and he has never been seen getting angry. He's sort of a pacifist and would rather just share a bottle with people instead of fight them. But he cheers up pretty fast, so it's no big deal in the end. Though when he does he ends up teasing, and even more so if he goes ignored. He might stick his hand right through a person and pull out their soul just to tease. Most often he does this to Heike, but then he also plays randomly with Yukihina's soul, which is inside of Heike ever since Zed made Yukihina an Undead.

Then he also happens to be forgetful, but obviously it's just something to laugh off, isn't it? Because he remembers things later. When he's gotten it explained (though he doesn't listen) and has had an opportunity to search his mostly empty mind in the deepest depths after what whatever they're talking about is. And he might foreget to remember details. Like that part where he joined the Re-Codes, which is a group that's trying to take down this organization (that Zed is one of the founders of) called Eden. But he can't remember small details like that.

Threaded | Top-Level Comments Only

Page 26 of 133

Applications Two

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The Lone Wanderer | Fallout 3 | Reserved

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Kurapika | Hunter x Hunter | Reserved 1/?

Kurapika | Hunter x Hunter | Reserved 2/?

Kurapika | Hunter x Hunter | Reserved 3/3

Peony Upala Malkuth | Tales of the Abyss | Reserved

Jade Curtiss | Tales of the Abyss | Reserved

peter parker / marvel 1610 / not reserved / re-re-app (orz)

M'gann M'orzz || Young Justice || Reserved

Mary - Ib - Not Reserved

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Re: Kurapika | Hunter x Hunter | Reserved 3/3

Re: Peony Upala Malkuth | Tales of the Abyss | Reserved

Re: Jade Curtiss | Tales of the Abyss | Reserved

Re: peter parker / marvel 1610 / not reserved / re-re-app (orz)

Re: M'gann M'orzz || Young Justice || Reserved

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Zed | Code:Breaker | Reserved

Zed | Code:Breaker | Reserved