APPLICATIONS

[indigo_league]

APPLICATIONS!
Currently: Open!
Applications are checked roughly weekly unless otherwise stated.

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

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

While players are welcome to play multiple characters (five characters maximum are allowed per player!), please only apply for one character at a time, and wait for a decision before submitting another application!

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

Please use the form below to apply! If you have any questions, feel free to ask any of the mods.

Helpful links!

Taken / Reserves
Please do not app a character from either of these unless you reserved them!

Starter Pokémon!
A compiled list of the starter Pokémon to choose from offered in Victory Road!

Word Count Tool!
Word count! It has other pointless stats too.

Navigation

<u><b>Player</u></b> <b>Name:</b> <b>Preferred Contact:</b> Plurk, AIM, personal journal, PM, etc. <b>Timezone:</b> <b>Current Characters in Victory Road:</b> <b><u>Character</u></b> <b>Name:</b> <b>Series:</b> <b>Timeline:</b> <b>Canon Resource Links:</b> Here we would have the links to wikis and other information sites. If none of those seem to provide enough information, feel free to add more about the character here. However, please do not use this section as a full history section unless your canon is ridiculously obscure. General rule of thumb: if there are a good amount of descriptive resources, please just link them and use this section to add in what may have been left out, as opposed to writing an entire history section. <b>Original Character Background:</b> THIS SECTION IS FOR ORIGINAL CHARACTERS AND CUSTOMIZABLE/SILENT PROTAGONISTS ONLY! In lieu of canon resources, please write for us at <i>minimum</i> 2-3 full paragraphs describing the following for your character: - Their world (OCs): Is it magic? Medieval? Futuristic? An Earth like ours? - Their history (OCs and customizable/silent protagonists): What have been the key events in their lives to date? What kind of background do they have? - For customizable/silent protagonists: How are you justifying your portrayal of the character? What is your in-canon evidence? Please explain how, if your character lacks dialogue or a set background, you determined their history and personality. <b>Personality:</b> Give us at minimum 2-3 full paragraphs of how you understand your character's personality. Talk about basic characteristics, any major developments over the course of their canon, their motives, their social behavior, strengths and weaknesses, and anything else you can think of that shows off your knowledge of this character. <b><u>Pokémon Information</u></b> <b>Affiliation:</b> What career path will your character be taking? Breeder, Trainer? Or maybe even down the dark path of becoming a member of Team Rocket? Note: All Rocket members start as grunts. (For right now, only those three positions are available, whether your character chooses to follow their assigned path or not.) <b>Starter:</b> What starter Pokémon do you want your character to have? Please use the list linked above to choose from. <b><u>Samples</u></b> <b>RP Sample:</b> The sample must be a thread, with at least five comments from you, that you have made anywhere with this character in the last four months at the canon point you have chosen for said character. Linking to a post or log containing multiple threads will also suffice, as long as at least one of the threads has the required number of comments. This thread sample can be in any format (e.g. network post, prose log, actionspam, Dear Mun post, and so on). While it does not have to be set in Victory Road's setting, you <i>can</i> use a Victory Road test drive thread for this sample, as long as it's a different thread than one used for the second sample below. What we are looking for here is grasp of your character's voice and a sense of how you operate as a role-player. If we feel that the sample provided is not adequate, we reserve the right to ask for another. <b>Victory Road Sample:</b> This sample must take place in Victory Road's setting and can be EITHER a written post OR another thread if you would prefer not to write a post. The minimum is 300 words for a prose sample, eight sentences for a network post/actionspam sample, or ten comments total (five from you) in an RP sample. What we are looking for here is how the character responds to the Pokéworld's setting. You can also use a Victory Road test drive thread for this sample, but you cannot use the same top-level for the first sample above.

Comments

Subaru Akehoshi ☆ Ensemble Stars! ☆ Not Reserved

[starrypoint]

Player
Name: Peace
E-mail: N/A
Preferred Contact: sundrymunity; discord sundrymunity#3386
Timezone: EST
Current Characters in Victory Road: N/A

Character
Name: Subaru Akehoshi
Series: Ensemble Stars!
Timeline: Horror Night Halloween
Canon Resource Links: School, character profile, and stories he appears in. Let me know if anything else is needed!

Personality: Subaru's personality definitely matches his looks: He's warm and cheerful, outspoken and outgoing, and friendly towards anyone he meets on first impression. He's very much a positive force, always looking at the brighter side of a situation if he can and holding on with single-minded determination to what he feels is "right" and "just". This can come with bad points, though, as he's not the type to give up, it's easy to more or less ruin himself... and with how much emphasis he puts on friendships, having them and making them, something like separation and loneliness destroys him pretty thoroughly.

However, he's also... like, stupid. Seriously stupid. It's mostly because he acts on his heart over his mind more often than not, always dashing ahead first to do what he can if a friend's in trouble or bothered, but it's not like he's a complete idiot either for what it's worth; Subaru has a knack of reading people and seeing through their words, able to get to the heart of it no matter how flowery or turnabout it can be. He's able to do it especially with people he knows well, but even in his first meeting with someone as tricksy as Natsume he was able to perceive the other with certain clarity.

That doesn't mean he's the type to quickly point it out though or anything like that. In fact, it's quite the opposite: If it's something that sounds pretty but isn't, like tempting offers or serious talks about this and that, Subaru's prone to claiming he doesn't understand such high talk and difficult concepts, when in reality he knows them very well. He's a sharp person, and his grades are one of the higher in his class on top of that, so it's very much a person who can do whatever he wants if he has an interest in it.

Speaking more on the determination bit, Subaru's a force of nature that'll stick to his guns no matter how unpopular the opinion is if he feels it's the right one. It's a trait he shares with his father, who refused to be helped through less than legal means to be freed from the prison that ultimately killed him, all because he knew it wasn't right to accept offers like that. Despite that, he's not one who holds grudges all that easily -- but he doesn't forget transgressions either, keeping a sort of wariness from memories.

This is most obvious in Autumn Live, when Ibara's schemes start to come to light in trying to essentially steal Trickstar from Yumenosaki and ultimately bring them into CosPro's agency as a continued powerhouse, a tactic that had been used in the past with students who thought the schools beneath its touch were the better future. While Subaru doesn't seem to hold it against Ibara, from then on he's pretty much never really wanting to be around the other because Ibara gives him "creepy feelings" and the like, which is about as much as you'd get on anyone Subaru disliked.

Other things that he dislikes, oddly enough, are things that he does himself? He loves to give people nicknames and act touchy with them, a very physical and affectionate person, but hates it when it's done toward him first. The important part, it seems, is that, that they act before he does. Chiaki Morisawa, the captain of his basketball team, is a very physical and touchy person just like Subaru himself, but Subaru always complains about it; the same is said about Arashi Narukami of Knights' clingyness, when he's just as clingy. It's an interesting contradiction which could be put down to a matter of control over a situation, as it's seen when Subaru starts to lose that due to outside forces he's rattled and prone to panic. A small symptom of a larger problem.

All in all, Subaru is but a teenage boy with little issue of personal space and a good heart, who wants the best for everyone and to spread smiles and happiness the way his father and other idols have, working hard so he can achieve a dream his father ultimately failed to grasp, SS... No matter how often he's thrown off his game, he has faith in his friends and in others to get by, and sincerely thinks that powering through as they've always done will eventually end up in victory, though he can recognize that that isn't always the case either (while his friends point this out, more or less acting as his reminder for things he knows but doesn't want to admit). For all his idiocy and all his stubbornness, there is a shining child who easily lightens the mood, who can befriend almost anyone in a day, who might've been afraid of being close to others due to the bullying of his past but envelopes himself in it now, that intimacy and love.

Pokémon Information
Affiliation: Trainer!
Starter: Rockruff
Password: Atomic Fireball

Samples
RP Sample: Text post

Victory Road Sample:
[What kid from Japan doesn't know Pokémon?

Like, the partner he has now isn't familiar to him at all game-wise, but Rockruff is so cool?! She's no Shiba the way his buddy back home is, but "Daikichi" extends beyond all known and unknown existences -- or so his Mom said, holding the pup in her arms after his father's Daikichi had passed a time ago. So this Daikichi was Daikichi nonetheless, and that suited Subaru just fine.]

You sure know your way around, Daikichi.

[The Rockruff pads confidently through the taller grass, sniffing every now and then at the new, interesting things, and Subaru trails not far behind her, keeping an eye out for Pokémon they can battle. That's one of the best things about this, he gets to be!! An actual trainer!!! Being an idol is always gonna be his number one goal but he is not going to pass up this chance.

Besides. Maybe there are PokéIdols. There's a lady on the radio that sings every now and then, so maybe if he went to that Goldenrod place... He could hit it there. With Daikichi as his partner.

His heart aches at the lack of his friends, of Trickstar and Anzu and all the others, but Subaru focuses on the more important now -- the Oddish that's sprung up from Daikichi's sniffing, a startled puff of powder blowing from its leaves and coating Daikichi's fur; Subaru pulls his arm over his mouth reflexively and steps back, grinning widely behind the cover.

Oh yeah, this was way cool.]

ACCEPTED!

[indigo_league]

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

Now that you've been accepted...
[○] Respond to this with your character's journal. This is a must!
[○] Comment in the Taken Characters post, alphabetized by series: Here.
[○] Join the following communities: victory_road, the_plateau, and ohmyarceus. Only Team Rocket personnel should join silph_co, but we ask that all Victory Road members subscribe to it.
Note! You will not be accepted to the main or logs community until you've commented in the aforementioned places.
[○] If you're still on the reserved list, please let us know that they've been accepted.
[○] Please make sure to check out the Calendar for the weather and upcoming plots and swarms!
[○] You can also find our mod plurk at victoryroad; if you have a Plurk, we suggest you become a fan!

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

Thank you! See you in the Pokémon world!

Connie Maheswaran | Steven Universe (Future) | Not Reserved

[conniemaheswaran]

Player
Name: Doom
E-mail: artemisrubey@gmail.com
Preferred Contact: TheDoomkiitten
Timezone: MST
Current Characters in Victory Road: N/A

Character
Name: Connie Maheswaran
Series: Steven Universe Future
Timeline: "Snow Day"
Canon Resource Links: Wiki

Personality: When Connie was eleven years old, she coped with her isolated, friendless life by burying her nose in fantasy novels, imagining herself in the shoes of their young protagonists. Then she met Steven, and her whole world changed. She was no longer merely fantasizing about going on magical adventures, she was living them, allowing the passionate spirit that dwelled beneath her meek upbringing to truly shine.

One of the expressions of this passionate spirit is half of a dichotomy that is one of Connie's essential traits: she is somehow both a rule-follower to a fault and rebellious to the core. As a consequence of her disciplined, strictly-regimented early upbringing, Connie learned that following the rules is one of the important things in life. She also learned that there were many technicalities and loopholes she could use to her advantage in most of the systems she operated under, and used said loopholes and technicalities to their utmost; a classic example of this is the early-series episode "Lion 2: The Movie," where she purchases unhealthy snacks on the way to the theater instead of at the theater to avoid her parent's ban on theater food. Later, to avoid getting banned from going to dangerous sword training, she simply neglected to tell her parents what she was doing at Steven's house, almost never outright lying to their faces.

However, as Connie grew, she became more and more willing to outright break rules that she perceived as unjust and harmful instead of twisting the system into knots. This is likely due to her exposure to the totalitarian, fascist Gem Homeworld and the harm it inflicted on its citizens and the rest of the galaxy combined with the steady stoking of her fighting spirit over the course of the series. Still, Connie thrives within systems with clearly defined rules that she can use to her advantage, and she sometimes gets flustered when placed in a context where she doesn't know how the system works—although her ability to think on her feet means that she usually adapts quickly.

Connie's fiery spirit also manifests in her intense desire to protect the planet she lives on and, by extension, her friends and family. When Connie learned of the dangers Earth faced, she managed to convince Pearl to train her in order to defend it despite her tender age and inexperience, and took to her lessons with a self-destructive fervor that was only strengthened by her immutable, uncompromisable moral compass. While time wore on and her fighting skills grew apace, Connie's iron will showed itself as she refused to back down even against vastly more skilled and strong opponents like the Topaz warriors Aquamarine brought to Earth, willing to fight to the last if it meant she could defend the citizens of Beach City.

Part of this fighting spirit is due to the intense loyalty Connie feels towards those she cares about. As her parents frequently moved around the country, Connie rarely had opportunities to make friends before they settled down near Beach City, and their strict overprotectiveness made this even worse. As such, Connie loves her friends and found family greatly (too greatly, in some cases), willing to risk almost anything for them. Thankfully, her analytical thinking helps her walk back from the edge of becoming overzealous or making unnecessary sacrifices. But due to this fierce loyalty, Connie feels deeply hurt if she's betrayed in some way by somebody she loves, such as when Steven turned himself in to Aquamarine out of self-hatred despite how hard everyone fought for him. When this happens, Connie withdraws while slowly spiraling into a cycle of feeling bad about not trying to make amends and being too busy wallowing in self-doubt to try to rebuild her relationship with that person. Given enough time, she'll work through these problems by herself and give whoever hurt her a second chance, but not a third if they betray her trust or hurt her again.

While Connie's physical abilities, training, and tenacity are formidble, her razor-sharp mind is her greatest asset. A childhood of subverting rules and reading doorstopper novels has left Connie just the right combination of imaginative and practical that's perfect for finding unorthodox, but simple and elegant solutions such as communicating from inside a soundproof bubble by fogging up its surface with her breath and writing on it backwards with her finger. Connie also has a vast breadth of knowledge on various topics, from types of boats to survival tips. Her penchant for trivia likely comes from a combination of academic scrutiny from her mother and a lack of anything else to do but read books during her early years, which eventually grew into a real passion for the pursuit of knowledge and a great natural curiosity.

When you come down to it, much of Connie's accomplishments, strengths, and weaknesses boil down to one trait, a passion that runs through every fiber of her being: to be the very best, like no-one ever was. Once she discovered that she could change and make a difference, Connie began striving to improve herself and prepare for whatever challenges might come her way in the future. From mastery of the sword to a desire to accumulate as much knowledge as possible to studying for college two years before a planned early graduation, all of her own volition, Connie's drive is extraordinary. This may be partially due to neuroses brought on by her parents' push for constant excellence in her childhood, but even if it was, Connie owns her own determination now.

Yet she isn't all honor and intellect and willpower. The truth is, Connie is still a teenager, with all the silliness and antics that entails. The same passion that drives her swordplay also causes her to gush about her favorite book series and obsess over book-accurate cosplay. When she isn't too busy trying to convince herself that she needs to be serious and responsible, Connie enjoys being patently ridiculous: singing stupid soungs, doing dumb bits with Steven, and running around and having fun.

After all, if you've fought so hard to live a peaceful life, why not enjoy it every once in a while?

Pokémon Information
Affiliation: Rocket
Chipped Starter: Shinx (Nicknamed "Nemean")
Secondary Starter: Alolan Vulpix (Nicknamed "Amaterasu")
Password: Atomic Fireball

Samples
RP Sample: Fourth Wall Toplevel

Victory Road Sample: [Connie satin the gym's lobby, drumming her fingers on her thigh and tapping her foot. Wow, two nervous tics. That's a new record; at least for her time in the world of Pokémon.]

[...what was she doing? Connie knew that she had this match in the bag. Her team was perfectly tailored for this battle. Her strategies were airtight, accounting for nearly every trick Falkner could have up his sleeve. She'd done hours of drills with her Pokémon every day.]

[So why did she feel so nervous?]

[No, not nervous. That wasn't it. The feeling was something else, something that had become a near-constant companion ever since Connie woke up tangled up in the sheets of her bunk in Goldenrod: guilt. It wasn't over anything in particular this time, like the way she felt her stomach drop when the more experienced grunts took her along on a trip to demonstrate how to properly mug someone. Or the way her insides twisted up into knots when she found herself drafting plans for her first heist. It was just a general feeling of unworthiness. Like she was disgracing the Gym Challenge by even stepping foot in Falkner's gym.]

[The journey was meant for people of all walks of life to find themselves, to become more in-tune with their Pokémon, to get a shot at fame and glory, not for criminals like Connie. She should just get up and leave. That was the right thing to do-]

[No. Connie took a deep breath, in and out. Then another. Then one more. What would feeling bad about herself do in the long run, really. Sure, she'd done some objectively terrible things for Team Rocket. But feeling guilty wasn't going to fix that. Taking on the Gym Challenge wouldn't either, but... it was something to feel proud of, if she succeeded. Connie needed something like that desperately these days.]

[Connie stood up, clenching and unclenching her fists.]

You ready, guys?

[The Pokéballs at her side—none of the ones that she stole or used for missions, that would just be cheating—vibrated with anticipation. Steeling herself, Connie walked towards the doors.]

Right. Let's do this.

ACCEPTED!

[indigo_league]

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

Now that you've been accepted...
[○] Respond to this with your character's journal. This is a must!
[○] Comment in the Taken Characters post, alphabetized by series: Here.
[○] Join the following communities: victory_road, the_plateau, and ohmyarceus. Only Team Rocket personnel should join silph_co, but we ask that all Victory Road members subscribe to it.
Note! You will not be accepted to the main or logs community until you've commented in the aforementioned places.
[○] If you're still on the reserved list, please let us know that they've been accepted.
[○] Please make sure to check out the Calendar for the weather and upcoming plots and swarms!
[○] You can also find our mod plurk at victoryroad; if you have a Plurk, we suggest you become a fan!

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

Thank you! See you in the Pokémon world!

Timothy Lawrence | Borderlands | Re-App

[secondhandsome]

Player
Name: Rem
E-mail: cureremaix@gmail.com
Preferred Contact: remaix or Remaix #1545 on Discord
Timezone: CET
Current Characters in Victory Road: none

Character
Name: Timothy Lawrence
Series: Borderlands
Timeline: Borderlands 3: Right before Handsome Jackpot DLC starts
Canon Resource Links: TPS @ Wikipedia for a general plot summary of the game.

Timothy's page on the Borderlands wiki is lacking information, so I'll provide a brief summary myself.

Now, we don't know a whole lot about his backstory, but what we do know is that Timothy originally hails from one of the Eden planets, where he lived with his mother. He went to college, where he got a degree in Creative Writing, as well a whole lot of debt due to student loans. To pay these off, he took on a job as a body double for Jack, who at the time was just a programmer. This involved completely altering his appearance and voice to match Jack, a process that he... may not have completely consented to. And which isn't reversible. Furthermore, Timothy Lawrence is now officially dead and erased, so his original identity simply doesn't exist anymore.

Not long after the procedure was completed, Timothy was called to Elpis, along with the other playable Vault Hunters. Which is where the game begins, of course.

After this, more stuff happens, where we don't really know what he's up to, but eventually Tim is sent to The Handsome Jackpot, a casino out in space. Then Borderlands 2 happens, Jack dies, and the casino goes into lockdown, leaving Tim stranded until Borderlands 3. So about seven years. We don't know a lot of what happens during this time, but mostly it involves a lot of people trying to kill him (they're not fond of Jack) and him making some new friends, before he's forced to go into hiding. And that's where the DLC begins. Literally of this is on the wiki so I'm just putting this here myself!

Handsome Jackpot DLC summary @ the Borderlands Wiki

Personality: So right off the bat, Timothy's very unlike all the other playable characters in Borderlands. Because he's very... normal. He's not a battle-hardened warrior, bounty hunter, or assassin, or a robot programmed for this. He's just a normal guy looking for a job to pay off his student loans. Because of this, his attitude throughout the game is very different than that of the others, as he's constantly in fear of everything. After all, he didn't sign up for people shooting at him, weird freaky aliens, and giant death lasers. And all the heights. Oh god, the heights. The poor guy screams every time he has to use a jump pad. Throughout the game, he keeps expressing his desire to just go home.

Even when not in mortal danger, though, Timothy's pretty nervous. He's easily intimidated and also just kind of an awkward mess. Unlike Jack, who's very confident and self assured, Tim always sounds kind of unsure about himself. The best he can do is faking Jack's confidence, which he's not... super good at. Actually, he's not super great at imitating Jack in general, often putting on a super forced Jack act which he only makes less convincing by adding stuff such as "I'm Jack" at the end of a sentence. Oh Tim. He's also very much not suave, as the awkwardness increasing tenfold when he's around a pretty woman. Put him around Moxxi and he can barely even get out full sentences anymore. So yeah, a ladies man he's not. Or a peoples' man.

Despite being so much of a mess, Timothy actually holds up surprisingly well during his adventures on Elpis. Maybe not so much emotionally, okay, but he makes it through the entire game alive and in one piece. He's spineless and very much aware of it, and just not super into violence, but he's much braver than he gives himself credit for. Sure, he doesn't have much of a choice, but he still manages to find the strength to get through the whole game, rather than just finding a place to hide on Elpis and hope Jack fixes everything himself somehow. Not to mention that surviving Elpis means he's killed a lot of really powerful people and given his lack of combat experience, that's quite impressive. Got to give him credit for adapting as well as he did.

Emotionally... Well. For a good chunk of the game, Timothy's pretty okay going along with Jack. He's not the guy's biggest fan, far from it. But mostly he just thinks Jack's a bit of a douche with an ego. Once it becomes clear what Jack's really like, though, he goes from nervous yet cooperative, to very... bitter. He's in over his head and he knows it from the start, but he gets more resentful about it the more everything goes to hell. This change happens gradually through the game, but becomes a whole lot more obvious after Jack spaces the Hyperion scientists. He expresses his dislike for Jack more and more towards the end, calling him a psychopath under his breath and just making it very clear he's not on board with what's going on anymore, even though he still has to go along with it.

Tim and Jack are really just... so different. Where Jack sees himself as a hero, yet is anything but, Tim doesn't consider himself anything impressive and yet... He's definitely waaaaay more moral than Jack, actually being horrified at the deaths of innocent people. And also just... death in general. You get used to it to an extent in Pandora's part of the galaxy, but he's much less okay with all the violence. Like, hey, maybe killing someone because they're a dick is kind of ridiculous? Maybe if you want to start a relationship with someone don't send someone over there to try and kill them? Hey, maybe let's not kill this injured soldier who's surrendering? That last example is probably the most interesting one, as it actually gets Tim to tell off Jack with a simple, yet very effective line; "I'm not you, Jack".

And he really, really isn't. Hell, you could say that Tim is the type of hero Jack pretends to be, it's just that he doesn't see himself like that. Or, well, he has the potential to be, anyway. Though he doesn't agree with all the morally questionable actions Jack takes and downright despises the guy at the end, Timothy just... doesn't have the courage to really stand up to him, in a truly meaningful way. He's simply too scared and you can't really blame him, considering the type of person Jack is. He hates it, but what are you gonna do, right?

Honestly, Timothy is probably one of the nicest player characters there is. Not into murder, generally not very rude. There's the bitterness, sure, but that's more towards his awful circumstances and Jack than anything else, he's not the type to take that out on anyone. He's friendly and very much a dork, who loves books and cats. Just a normal guy. Who had his life kind of completely ruined by Jack.

ENTER THE DLC!

So past the point of The Pre-Sequel, about a decade passes before we catch up with Tim again. Mostly he's the same scared nervous mess of before. Years of being forced to act like Jack and then being stuck in a casino in space where nearly everyone wants to kill him, though, has changed him a bit.

He's, if anything, more skittish than before, as well as a little less... stable? He's not quite together sometimes, rambling a lot and clearly being out of practice when it comes to dealing people. Not to mention sometimes he sure does talk an awful lot like Jack. Which no one hates more than he does, but it's instinct now. Same goes for some of Jack's more violent impulses. Blame than on being stuck in his role for so long, as well as Jack injecting his DNA into Tim... thanks, Jack!

On the flip side he's embracing being himself more, using his real name with everyone he meets and not trying to look just like Jack anymore. Though this is something he's actively working at, as he does have a note in his hideout to remind himself that he's not Jack. Hey, he's doing his best. At least the fact that he is making the effort is a good sign that he's still fully himself, otherwise, well. He wouldn't even give a shit at all.

The rest of him is mostly the same, just, you know. Overall more stressed. It's fine, he's fine!

Pokémon Information
Affiliation: Trainer
Starter: Mimikyu
Password: Atomic Fireball

Samples
RP Sample: dear_player post

Victory Road Sample: fourth wall thread

Hey, you know what people don't appreciate enough? Air. No, seriously, do you know how good it is to breathe natural air? Actual oxygen that's not pumped and filtered again and again for years and years? It's the little things, I tell you. Breathing! Breathing's great, fresh air's great, I...

...sssssssound like a crazy person, that got away from me there, sorry! Sorry. Shit, I'm out of practice.

[This post is going great already.]

Okay, but let's say someone's, hypothetically, been stuck in space for seven years and is finally getting an opportunity to be somewhere else. What do you think's a good place to start for some nice not-dangerous activities to ease back into the whole breathable atmosphere deal? You know. Nice normal things that don't involve getting shot at. Or worse.

Nothing that involves heights, I don't want to deal with that and neither does anyone else, trust me.

...I'm asking for a friend.

ACCEPTED!

[indigo_league]

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

Now that you've been accepted...
[○] Respond to this with your character's journal. This is a must!
[○] Comment in the Taken Characters post, alphabetized by series: Here.
[○] Join the following communities: victory_road, the_plateau, and ohmyarceus. Only Team Rocket personnel should join silph_co, but we ask that all Victory Road members subscribe to it.
Note! You will not be accepted to the main or logs community until you've commented in the aforementioned places.
[○] If you're still on the reserved list, please let us know that they've been accepted.
[○] Please make sure to check out the Calendar for the weather and upcoming plots and swarms!
[○] You can also find our mod plurk at victoryroad; if you have a Plurk, we suggest you become a fan!

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

Thank you! See you in the Pokémon world!

Greg Universe | Steven Universe | Reserved?

[cometkin]

Player
Name: bii
E-mail: all (dot] your {dot) beliefs [at} gmail {dot] com
Preferred Contact: plurk @ obiisama
Timezone: PST
Current Characters in Victory Road: none

Character
Name: Greg Universe
Series: Steven Universe
Timeline: After the Movie (but before Steven Universe Future)
Canon Resource Links: wiki page

Personality: Before we start, I’m going to disclose that I’m reusing part of this section from a much older Greg app that was written back when we were only two seasons in. However, I feel like my basic assessment of Greg’s personality from then still stands up. But since some of the episodes that have aired since then have elaborated on various aspect of Greg’s character, I’ll definitely be adding bits to this section where necessary to reflect that.

When we first meet Greg Universe in the second episode, we're already primed to think of him as another Bumbling TV Dad. He lives in a van instead of with his son, the Crystal Gems obviously don't think very much of him, and his very first appearance has him brandishing a waffle iron because he got woken up by Steven jumping up and down on the van's roof because nothing else was going to rouse him. He even looks like a cross between a heavy metal singer and Homer Simpson. Knowing that he's a failed rockstar only reinforces the knee-jerk perception that Greg is nothing but a useless deadbeat. Even he can't see what Rose saw in a “plain old dope like [him].”

But if you take a step back and really look at Greg Universe, what Rose saw in him is pretty plain to see. Greg, you see, is a no more and no less than a good man. Not a great one—no leader of men, no genius or trailblazer—but a good one. He's kind and generous and wants very much to help and take care of the people he cares about. And although Greg probably doesn't consider himself to be brave, he's very much willing to push beyond the things that frighten him in order to provide that help. And he respects women—not in a pseudo-chivalric way, but in a “women are people too” way.

He's a very good parent to Steven, despite not living with him. He's willing to give up living with his son in order that Steven gets the education in being a Gem that he needs. There are many men in fiction who upon losing their wife in childbirth either blame their child for her loss or lack the ability to see that child as anything of a reflection of the woman now gone. Some do both. Some do crazy and dangerous things to get their lost loves back. Greg does none of this. He sees Steven for himself and loves him for who he is. Though he will always love Rose and mourns her still, he doesn't let her loss get in the way of his relationship with his son.

Greg is not without his flaws, however. He has a hard time letting go of things, in both the literal and metaphorical sense. His storage unite is full of junk he doesn't need, because he can't bear to throw anything away. When there's something he doesn't want to talk about—especially if it involves baggage from the past—he goes out of his way to find excuses not to deal with it. He was willing to lie to Steven just to be able to stay with him in the temple after the mess with Lapis Lazuli. And, at least when he was younger, Greg was impulsive enough to abandon the future he'd been dreaming of just to stay with a woman whose name he didn't know. And when he was a young man, he was… honestly, he was fairly feckless. After babysitting Baby Sour Cream with Rose, he compares himself to a baby and he wasn’t entirely wrong. He was dependent on other people to take care of him. This realization, however, was his turning point and once he’s had it, he gets himself his job at the car wash and stops relying on busking and dumpster diving to get by.

Even though Greg abandoned his shot at stardom, he never did give up on his music. He might not tour the country, he might run a car wash as his day job, but Mr Universe is still making music. The encounter with Lapis Lazuli inspired him to work on a new album and—barring boat-related carwash accidents—he still does yearly beach concerts with Steven. His love of music is probably his oldest and most enduring love, followed by his love of space—though, of course, his love for Rose and Steven is stronger.

Despite everything that’s happened the last few seasons of Steven Universe, the essentials of who Greg Universe is really haven’t changed. Even after getting the royalty money from Marty and becoming a technical millionaire, he barely changes his lifestyle. Sure, he and Steven and Pearl have their fancy night out in Empire City where he blows thousands of dollars, but after that he settles back into his normal Beach City lifestyle of running a carwash and being a dad. Mostly, his funds get used to help Steven or the other residents of Beach City, like some kind of obscenely large rainy day fund.

He has, however, finally become friends of a sort with Pearl, something that would have seemed impossible when Steven was a child or before he was born. The conflict between Greg and Pearl was almost inevitable at the time. They were both Rose’s life partners, after all, and Pearl… wasn’t always the best about sharing her. Too, Greg didn’t particularly like being condescended to, which the Gems (and Pearl in particular) did to him almost unthinkingly. But the night in Empire City seemed to break a barrier between them and they finally sat down and talked, about Rose and how much they missed her even now.

He still misses Rose. He still loves Rose. Learning about her past as Pink Diamond doesn’t change that. Sure, she didn’t tell him about it, but he didn’t tell her about being plain old Gregory DeMayo--and she offered to tell him too. But Greg wanted to give himself a clean slate and he wanted to give Rose one too. Everyone does stupid things when they’re young and they don’t know any better. If she was far older than he ever was when she did her stupid things and they caused more harm than his did, well, that’s just because she’s so much older and more powerful than him in general. The same principles still apply.

Maybe being able to look at an eight-foot alien space goddess and decide that despite all that, she’s no more and no less of a person that you yourself are--and no more or less guilty or culpable--isn’t what a normal person does, but it’s what Mr. Greg Universe does. And if he hadn’t, well, we wouldn’t have had a show.

Pokémon Information
Affiliation: Trainer in name only tbh, I doubt he’ll battle much
Starter: Minior, which he’ll eventually name ‘Haley’
Password: Atomic Fireball

Samples
RP Sample: With Rose

Victory Road Sample:

Greg's not sure who the woman who was there when he woke up is. She called herself 'Mom' but she's definitely not Mrs DeMayo. Boy, that was awkward. He'd gotten himself out of the house as soon as he could and hit the road immediately, even if it was a lot colder out here than he's really dressed for.

He's not entirely sure of the name of his new floating rock friend, either, given that she's... pretty quiet compared to most of the Gems he's met. He's not entirely sure that she is a Gem, actually--but she's not any kind of ordinary rock either. She floats and she almost has a face and she seems to like him? There was a time when Greg would have said that was probably proof that she wasn't a Gem--well, maybe not said it, because that would have hurt Steven's feelings, but he might have thought it--but these days, he and the Gems got along pretty well as these things went. They were family.

(Not that there wasn't sometimes difficulties from time to time anyway, but that was family too. Just look at him and Andy.)

"Do you have a name, buddy?" he asks his new rock friend. She bobs a bit in the air, but otherwise doesn't say anything back, the way she's been the last couple times he's tried to talk to her. Greg shrugs and walks on.

Eventually, he finds himself humming along to the music that's... really just always there. Like he's playing a video game or something. Not that he's done that much in recent years, admittedly. Whenever he gets his hands on a system, it goes straight to Steven and they play together in Steven's room when he visits. Still, it's catchy.

"Sour Cream would love this," he tells his rock friend. "It's exactly the kind of thing he plays when he DJs. I'll have to tell him and the other Suspects when we get home."

Because they were going to get home eventually... right?

ACCEPTED!

[indigo_league]

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

Now that you've been accepted...
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[○] Comment in the Taken Characters post, alphabetized by series: Here.
[○] Join the following communities: victory_road, the_plateau, and ohmyarceus. Only Team Rocket personnel should join silph_co, but we ask that all Victory Road members subscribe to it.
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[○] If you're still on the reserved list, please let us know that they've been accepted.
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We'd also like to take this moment to inform you of the Eastern Kanto Ferry! For only P2000, you can take a three day, all-inclusive ferry ride from New Bark Town to Pallet Town and begin a new pokémon journey in the Kanto region! Otherwise, feel free to start in Johto!

Thank you! See you in the Pokémon world!

Pearl | Steven Universe | Reserved

[rebelmom]

Player
Name: Lauren
E-mail: unheard (dot) rain [at] gmail (dot) com
Preferred Contact: laverinth or PM
Timezone: central US
Current Characters in Victory Road: none

Character
Name: Pearl
Series: Steven Universe
Timeline: Steven Universe Future - Episode 10
Canon Resource Links: Her history is here, though write ups haven't been done for the movie or Steven Universe Future episodes. There are links to the individual episodes at the bottom that will have summaries.

Personality: Pearl is one of many, a type of gem created to serve those of a higher rank. This one in particular was made for Pink Diamond, who later became Rose Quartz. Her loyalty was unwavering by design, even after Rose basically gave her her freedom. She was so certain of her position as Rose's right-hand gem that she wouldn't believe the diamond would keep secrets from her - especially since she kept the most important secret of all: Rose's true identity.

Throughout the series, Pearl goes through a large amount of character development. At the beginning she still has the mindset that she's just a Pearl, and thereby not as capable as others at doing things on her own. She goes as far as to dupe everyone into believing Peridot is causing trouble when she isn't, just so Garnet will fuse with her. She's very capable on her own, however, as she proves numerous times. For a long while she harbored a lot of resentment toward Steven's father, Greg, as he was the first human that was a real threat toward her relationship with Rose. Eventually, with some help from Steven, she was able to move beyond that. She's her own gem, and her ability to evolve past her original "programming" is part of what makes her stand out from others of her type.

There will always be some heartaches that never truly go away, of course. Though she's courted the idea of having a relationship with a human herself, she's never followed through with it. (There are several phone numbers given to her from interested individuals stored in her gem.) It seems like she's still not quite ready for that yet. It took a game of Steven Tag to finally get her to shapeshift again after the traumatizing event that was "shattering" Pink Diamond in the form of Rose Quartz. When she confronts Pink's former pearl and is asked how she ever stopped hurting she states quite plainly that she didn't.

Pearl is a very organized individual - and something of a perfectionist. She takes pride in keeping all of her things sorted and is responsible for keeping the house tidy as well. She rarely eats, but she'll gladly do the dishes for everyone else. Even the items stored in her gem are kept in alphabetical order.

She can be very serious and motherly at times, but is also capable of being very overdramatic and panicky. She's been highly protective of Steven (to the point where she enjoyed watching him sleep) though she's learning to give him his space and trust in his abilities as he grows older.

Pokémon Information
Affiliation: Trainer
Starter: Chatot named Music Note
Password: Atomic Fireball

Samples
RP Sample: Here

Victory Road Sample: [Pearl clears her throat. She stands surrounded by a semi-circle of empty poke-balls (arranged neatly, of course) and in front of those are their pokemon occupants. They sit, watching her patiently - except for the chatot, which can't seem to sit still. It's good enough.]

Well! You may all be wondering why I gathered you here like this.

[She feels so ridiculous, but she reminds herself that she has to think of these creatures as gems of a sort. Less intelligent, potentially corrupted gems.]

I thought it would be a good idea for me to address you all at once, since you're so rarely out at the same time. Sorry, I've never had so many pe-- uh, pokemon. Or any at all, before recently.

[She shouldn't think of them as pets, should she? They were a little more than that. She's still not even sure why she needs to have any, aside from battling them in what seems like very unnecessary fighting matches, but it's part of the culture and one must always appreciate another world's culture. Within reason.]

So, hello! I'm Pearl and I'll be your trainer for... however long I'm here for. Now if you have any questions - oh, of course you won't. Food preferences? Stomp your foot twice when I feed you if you're unhappy with the menu. That's fair, isn't it? [Oh dear, they were a little creepy when they all stared at her like that. This is going to take some getting used to.]

[She could hand them all over to Steven and call it a day, couldn't she?]

Okay, dismissed! [Bending down for each poke-ball, she hastily recalls each of them and reminds herself not to do that again until she's had more time to adjust to the idea of controlling a small army of animals.]

ACCEPTED!

[indigo_league]

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

Now that you've been accepted...
[○] Respond to this with your character's journal. This is a must!
[○] Comment in the Taken Characters post, alphabetized by series: Here.
[○] Join the following communities: victory_road, the_plateau, and ohmyarceus. Only Team Rocket personnel should join silph_co, but we ask that all Victory Road members subscribe to it.
Note! You will not be accepted to the main or logs community until you've commented in the aforementioned places.
[○] If you're still on the reserved list, please let us know that they've been accepted.
[○] Please make sure to check out the Calendar for the weather and upcoming plots and swarms!
[○] You can also find our mod plurk at victoryroad; if you have a Plurk, we suggest you become a fan!

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

Thank you! See you in the Pokémon world!

Steven 'Sharpteeth' Durante (OC) | World of Darkness (Changeling: The Lost) | Not Reserved

[fingersandteeth]

Player
Name: bii
E-mail: all (dot) your (dot) beliefs (at) gmail
Preferred Contact: obiisama
Timezone: PST
Current Characters in Victory Road: Greg Universe

Character
Name: Steven “Sharpteeth” Durante
Series: Original Character (Changeling: The Lost)
Timeline: Roughly two months after his escape and return from Arcadia
Original Character Background: As a note, both this and the following section will be partially reused from a previous app I did for Steven over a year ago, although changed and expanded in some places as my concept of Steven as a character has changed and expanded.

So first off: the World of Darkness is a world that is much like our own, except everything sucks just a little bit more and also there are supernatural creatures running around everywhere. As far as this background is concerned, though, the main kind of supernatural creature you need to be concerned with are Changelings. Changelings are what happens when a magical, eldritch creature of incomprehensible power called a True Fae kidnaps a human for whatever reason and leaves behind a construct of whatever junk it had on hand, called a Fetch, to live their kidnapped human’s life for them. This human is then pulled through the magical Hedge and taken off to Arcadia, which is basically fairyland, where they are then changed by their environment and circumstances to something not-completely-human anymore: a Changeling.

Changelings are divided into six basic types depending on what Arcadia shaped them into: animalistic Beasts; beautiful Fairests; Elemental forces of nature; Wizened drudges; monstrous Ogres; and creepy Darklings. Sometimes Changelings manage to force their way back through the Hedge to their world, but not always. Plenty of Changelings who get taken are taken for good--and it’s often extremely hard for the ones who do make it back to get their old lives back. After returning to their world, Changelings often join one of the seasonal courts, each of which is governed by a different emotion, which function as support groups: Spring, the Court of Desire; Summer, the Court of Wrath; Autumn, the Court of Fear; and Winter, the Court of Sorrow.

(As a homebrewed OC built using tabletop rules, Steven’s own specific World of Darkness features my personal favorite iterations of the main World of Darkness gamelines. Which basically means that it’s mostly New WoD with the Old WoD vampire clans, because those are the most fun.)

A full character history for Steven can be found here. Since it’s long and I don’t want to make the app take up too many comments, I’ll summarize the key points in the next couple paragraphs.

The shorter version is this: Steven Durante was born in the year 1980 in San Diego, the first child of a pair of second-generation Mexican-American professionals. For a few years, his uncle lived with them while he attended college, until said uncle died in the AIDs crisis. When Steven was not quite ten, his little sister Charley was born. Despite the age difference, they were quite close. His family moved northward to a college town not far from Silicon Valley just before he started high school. At age seventeen, he came out as gay to his family, His parents initially freaked out, but quickly reconciled themselves to it and supported him afterward. After college, he moved back to San Diego and found work as a newscaster and later a news anchor. He remained publicly closeted for professional reasons, which ended up contributing to the break-up of his only long-term relationship.

In 2012, Steven misused his press pass while attending a wrestling match, hoping to be able to sneak backstage and meet his adolescent hero, El Diablo Verde. He never got a chance to, as a True Fae who called himself El Pecador was also skulking around illicitly and decided to kidnap Steven to Arcadia and make him both the overseer of his own wrestling stable of similarly kidnapped Changelings and also the fixer of his matches. Over the next five years, Steven would find his body altered to better suit El Pecador’s whims and needs, eventually ending up a Darkling of the Leechfinger kith: long-fingered ghouls that can sap someone’s life force with their touch. (Among other things, he ended up with extra finger joints and lots of really sharp teeth.) Eventually, however, about a dozen of El Pecador’s wrestlers decided to stage a break-out and return to the human world--and they took Steven.

Once back in his own world, Steven found out that in those five years, only three had passed in the world outside Arcadia. He also found out that the Fetch he’d been replaced with had made an absolute hash of his life, having gained both fame and fortune by becoming a local conservative pundit with a sizable following. As Steven was staunchly liberal, this infuriated him to no end and learning that the Fetch didn’t actually believe any of it, but had sold out for fame and fortune, didn’t actually help. Even worse, not quite a year ago, Charley had gone missing. But as the Winter Court, which Steven had joined shortly after reaching San Diego again, advocated that its Changelings leave the Fetch in their old life and try to make a new instead, Steven was left with not much he could do about that. Two months after his escape, he’s still chafing at the Winter Court’s restrictions, worrying about what happened to his sister, and resorting to day labor to keep himself fed. One good thing, however, has happened to him: he’s been invited to be a DJ on the local Winter Court’s private podcast: Radio Free Fae.

Personality: Steven Durante is a man who’s very conscious of appearances, of being Respectable. This is likely not surprising, given that he worked in television, but he really has both consciously and subconsciously bought into the idea that as long as he’s Respectable, he’ll be safer than he might be otherwise as a gay man of color. Thus he chooses to appear and act in a deliberately straight-laced manner. This involves a fair amount of self-censoring at times. (In general, except in private, with people he finds trustworthy, Steven tries not to say things that he could not get away with on broadcast television, although he’ll certainly think them.)

As well as trying to appear as Respectable as possible, Steven does his best to make sure people don’t see him as a threat--he’s not a small man and that can make certain people nervous. The last thing he wants is for someone to assume he’s a thug.

He’s very proud--it’s his besetting vice. He’s also more than a little self-righteous. And more than anything, Steven is conscious of his own dignity. It’s one of the reasons that the day labor he’s had to do since emerging from the Hedge has been so painful to him. He’s third generation American, with a college education--it infuriates him that the people he’s been doing work for probably assume he’s an illegal who’s only recently slipped over the border.

(More than anything else, Steven does not want to be a stereotype.)

He tends to compartmentalize things in his life, most especially his sexuality. Although his family knows he’s gay, he’s never really brought any of his boyfriends home. Even Steven’s younger sister, Charley, has only met one of them over the years (Liam, his only long-term boyfriend) and that when she was making an extended visit to Steven in San Diego.

Speaking of his younger sister, Steven’s relationship with her is a good example of his strong protective streak. He worried a lot about her and her unguarded heart, the opposite of his own. He worries even more now that he’s escaped from Arcadia and has to face the idea that she’s gone. Maybe for good.

That’s scary. Charley, and his relationship with her, had been a constant in Steven’s life ever since she stopped being just ‘the baby’ and started being her own person. Even after he graduated high school and moved away for college, they still skyped regularly and hung out when he came home to visit--and after he went to San Diego, Charley ended up visiting him for a few weeks every summer. Steven honestly believes that if he’d been there and not the fetch, Charley wouldn’t have gone missing.

From what he can tell from his old social media accounts--the fetch never did change any passwords--Charley didn’t have the same relationship with his replacement. Even if she didn’t know that the fetch wasn’t him, she could tell that ‘he’ was acting weird and began pulling away from him. While it breaks Steven’s heart that she had to, it’s also an incredible fucking relief that Charley, at least, could recognize there was something incredibly fucking wrong with the fetch, even if she didn’t know what.

Because yeah, Steven really, really wants to kill his fetch. The main thing stopping him from doing so is the rules of the Winter Court and his own tendency to follow the rules, spoken or unspoken, of any group that he’s a part of. He does understand why the Winter Court would want its members to cut themselves off from their own lives--it’s protection both for themselves and their loved ones--but it’s hard not to try to take his life back. It was a good life. It was his life. And now it’s not.

Part of him wants to blame his family for not realizing the fetch wasn’t him--but a lot of him blames himself. If he’d shared more of his life with them, would they have realized it wasn’t him? Sure, his parents and Charley were halfway up the state, but most of his mother’s family was still in San Diego. What does it say about him that even his grandparents, aunts, uncles and cousins in the same city didn’t realize it wasn’t him? That they’d really believed he’d sold out everything he believed in to chase success? He keeps thinking of all the accusations that his ex-boyfriend Liam threw at him during their break-up and it’s a disquieting thought that if he really had been the person Liam had accused him of being, the fetch’s actions would have been entirely in character.

What else? Steven has a strong sense of justice. He considered it a privilege of his former career to bring injustices to light and expose them to the world--well, San Diego. He’s an odd mix of a cynic and an idealist. He has those high ideals, but at the same time he recognizes that most of his high ideals aren’t likely to be put into practice and he’s better off being practical and engaging with the world as it is now, not as how he’d like it to be.

As noted before, Steven tends to follow the rules of the society he’s in, even if they make him miserable--both the written and unwritten rules. This can and does often come in conflict with his sense of justice, because he lives in the goddamn World of Darkness and it’s just like our own, only worse.

He’s not a romantic. Well, that is to say, he’s not a romantic when it comes to relationships, anyway. He’s all too capable of romanticizing ideas.

He’s an atheist or at most, a strong agnostic, but is very much quiet about it. (He is, however, culturally Catholic.)

He’s a giant nerd. He’s usually able to downplay it in normal company, but occasionally he can get pendantic when it comes to something he really cares about, like superhero movies or shonen anime or wrestling. He’s also excessively fond of the spooky and the macabre, which he also tends to downplay alongside normal people.

Deep down inside, despite the calm and sometimes cold front that he puts out, he’s angry. Angry that he was taken, angry that he’s lost so much and everything he told himself he was going home for is gone. Right now the sorrow he feels for his losses overwhelms that anger, but there’s more than one reason that the Winter Court is an imperfect fit for him as he currently is--but who knows if any of the other three Courts would be any better?

He uses sarcasm as a coping mechanism.

Pokémon Information
Affiliation: Rocket Grunt, the poor asshole
Starter: Misdreavus (plus Woobat for his bonus Rocket starter)
Password: Atomic Fireball

Samples
RP Sample: With a Fjord in the In The Dark test drive, with the caveat that although Steven is taken from the same point in time as he would be for route, more or less, the conceit of In The Dark is that all the characters are dead, so it’s technically same canonpoint + surprise death.

Also, some threads on the test drive!

Victory Road Sample:

It's not the first time in his life that Steven's woken up in an entirely unfamiliar place, with no idea how he's gotten there. This is not, in fact, his first kidnapping rodeo.

Last time was darker. Which doesn't mean El Pecador hadn't managed to get him back somehow. It just meant that if he had, he'd decided to dump Steven somewhere else, somewhere with a proper light source. In which case, the proper reaction was to--

Shit. He doesn’t-- he doesn’t know. How the hell’s he supposed to get out of here on his own? The only way he’d gotten out before was because he’d been in large group and even then, they’d lost part of the group in the process.

No. Breathe. He’s not going to get anything done if he panics.

He sits up and begins to automatically reach for his glasses on the table-- no, desk next to the bed… and then immediately stops himself because he can see just fine, his glasses are still on his face, and that does not make him feel any more positive about who must have kidnapped him, because wouldn’t a normal human know you don’t let people wear their glasses to bed?

Huh. Somebody left a note? And some… balls?

What on Earth is Team Rocket?

Skimming through the rest of the letter isn’t all that helpful either, really. There’s a uniform. He’s a ‘grunt.’ There are ‘admins.’ His ‘team-mates’ are in the balls. They’re called ‘Pokemon’ (and that really sounds like something Charley would have been into when she was eight or nine.)

Steven’s hands aren’t right.

It had taken him longer than he wanted to admit to notice, but once he does, he can’t-- it’s all he can notice. They’re shorter than they were before he passed out. They’ve got less joints than they had. They’re--

They’re normal.

He drops the letter. The letter doesn’t matter. His hands are normal again, like a regular human’s--maybe a little longer than they were originally, but that’s all. Like his Mask, he thinks numbly. This must be what they look like in his Mask.

Oh hell. Does that mean--

A short hunt for a reflective surface later and Steven can confirm it. He’s got his old face, his old body back. He’s--as far as he can tell--a normal human once more.

“What the hell--?”


[Note: Apologies for the edit, I realized I left the contact blank unfilled.]

ACCEPTED!

[indigo_league]

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

Now that you've been accepted...
[○] Respond to this with your character's journal. This is a must!
[○] Comment in the Taken Characters post, alphabetized by series: Here.
[○] Join the following communities: victory_road, the_plateau, and ohmyarceus. Only Team Rocket personnel should join silph_co, but we ask that all Victory Road members subscribe to it.
Note! You will not be accepted to the main or logs community until you've commented in the aforementioned places.
[○] If you're still on the reserved list, please let us know that they've been accepted.
[○] Please make sure to check out the Calendar for the weather and upcoming plots and swarms!
[○] You can also find our mod plurk at victoryroad; if you have a Plurk, we suggest you become a fan!

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

Thank you! See you in the Pokémon world!

Jolyne Cujoh | JoJo's Bizarre Adventure | Not Reserved

[strings_theory]

Player
Name: Star
E-mail: thisisandroid18@gmail.com
Preferred Contact: starshiranui (plurk), StarShiranui #1615 (Discord)
Timezone: CST
Current Characters in Victory Road: N/A

Character
Name: Jolyne Cujoh
Series: JoJo's Bizarre Adventure (specifically Stone Ocean)
Timeline: Hahaha, end of her part
Canon Resource Links: Here

Personality: Honestly, it's just easier to do sections based on strengths and weaknesses in her personality. Thus that's how I will do things since it includes canon-related information to back it up.

Self-assertion, undying loyalty, and determination.

With her self-assertion, it tends to show up rather quickly from the very beginning of things in the canon. Mostly that Jolyne is not going to allow herself to be pushed around and used by others in the prison, whether or not that ends up in her getting hurt for standing up for herself. She is her own person and she's going to make damn sure that everyone knows it and that she won't allow herself to be used like someone's pawn or paypig. This continues further with her in battles as well as she uses it to prove herself time and time again to make sure that whoever she's fighting knows damn well who she is and that she is not going to back down.

Undying loyalty is the odd one out with the way she shows herself otherwise. She doesn't tend to make a lot of friends or allies, but those that she does she will fiercely protect with her life and even her life after dying. Whether it's the friend's fault for whatever situation they're in or not doesn't matter to her, as far as she's concerned, they're always right and no one is going to push them around or harm them while she's around. The same also applies to her father once the whole peace bit has come around with him.

As for determination, this is probably the one we see the most of since it doesn't just include fights but also ties into her assertion as well as the way she acts around everyone else in the series. Jolyne does not back down and she does not give up, not until the very last of her resources has been expended. She will not lose, she will not fall, she will overcome whatever it is that's in front of her or it'll kill her. There's no turn away and run for her.

Violent tendencies, vindictive, confrontational.

It's kind of a given for a character in JoJo's to be violent, but Jolyne kinda of takes it to extremes. She will get into a fight with anyone if they give her any reason what-so-ever to do so. She also doesn't hold back in the way she fights and will absolutely kill someone if given the chance to do so in a fight. She's also ripped off fingernails, ripped out tongues, and slit someone's throat just because they had wronged her and she thought it was the best way to go about things. She absolutely doesn't shy away from these things and it... kind of sometimes makes her look a little psychotic and far out there in the "was it really necessary?" scale of things.

She's also extremely vindictive, she will absolutely get revenge on someone for any wrong committed against her. She cut out her former boyfriend's tongue for lying to her and flat out ignores her cellmate for the wrongs she did to her even after an apology and the like. She does not appreciate being betrayed and will very much let someone know about it if not by words then by actions. And it's not really hard to slight her, either.

Confrontational is a hilarious understatement as she is the first person to start an argument most of the time, especially to anyone that is in any sort of authoritative position or older than her. She has some... issues with that, due to her history, and it doesn't honestly fade much in the series at all. She doesn't appreciate being talked down to or treated like a lesser person. And that comes across with violence, most of the time.

Pokémon Information
Affiliation: Trainer
Starter: Sewaddle
Password: Atomic Fireball

Samples
RP Sample: (Technically an AU game but her personality is not much different between AU and canon.)

Here

Victory Road Sample: Well, what she can say is that this is absolutely not how she thought she would be opening her eyes again. The odd feeling of death, your entire body shutting down and just... nothingness greeting you. And then, suddenly, there's the sound of someone trying to wake you up. The voice almost familiar, but not quite, reminding her far too much of her days in school. 'Get up, it's time to get going!' Get going to what? She's an adult, school isn't something she does anymore.

Until she's finally coming to properly and managing to get a look around the room. This is... absolutely not her room, nor is that her mother. But the woman seems to act as if she's familiar with her and that's... well, okay.

One hand rubs at her face as she groans and moves out of the bedroom, barely listening to what's being said. She's not even noticing the strange creature gently chewing on the edge of her pants. Not... yet.

But one thing is certain, she hadn't expected to wake up in a place that is absolutely not some kind of purgatory. Had Pucci successfully managed to reset the universe and... this was what he'd come up with?

Perhaps it was time to hunt him down and give him a piece of her mind, even if she's noticing a distinct lack of a particular entity that was almost always beside her. "You have to be kidding me." She's groaning to no one but herself once she's outside, though a momentary glance down is alerting her to the creature gnawing on her pants.

That's.

A bug.

Great.

"You mind cutting that out?" Of course the tiny Pokemon is staring up at her with big eyes, but doing as asked, at the very least. Sentient in some form, understands human language. Is... this what her Stand was changed into? U g h.

ACCEPTED

[indigo_league]

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

Now that you've been accepted...
[○] Respond to this with your character's journal. This is a must!
[○] Comment in the Taken Characters post, alphabetized by series: Here.
[○] Join the following communities: victory_road, the_plateau, and ohmyarceus. Only Team Rocket personnel should join silph_co, but we ask that all Victory Road members subscribe to it.
Note! You will not be accepted to the main or logs community until you've commented in the aforementioned places.
[○] If you're still on the reserved list, please let us know that they've been accepted.
[○] Please make sure to check out the Calendar for the weather and upcoming plots and swarms!
[○] You can also find our mod plurk at victoryroad; if you have a Plurk, we suggest you become a fan!

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

Thank you! See you in the Pokémon world!

Runaan | The Dragon Prince | not reserved

[tokenelfcharacter]

Player
Name: Red
E-mail: afaslami@gmail.com
Preferred Contact: plurk @ redfirelight
Timezone: PST
Current Characters in Victory Road: Shiro, Shadowmaru

Character
Name: Runaan
Series: The Dragon Prince
Timeline: Pre-series, or episode 1, season 1.
Canon Resource Links: Wiki Article!


Personality:
You know the phrase “Ice Queen”? He’s like that. For most of the time we see him, he’s closed off, aloof. He is cold, in other words. Conversations are ritualistic and/or businesslike. Straight to the point. Even for those of his own kind, those he works closely with. We don’t really see a lot of how he is outside of the instances with his team of assassins (yes, assassins). But it’s usually a lot of leadership type speeches, orders, and the like. This is what we have to do, this is how we’re going to do it.

This is how he is for everyone… Except for the few people he’s closest to. We see a scene of him with his husband, before he leaves on a mission, and he’s like a different person. He’s warm, smiling. Even when he’s talking about the mission itself, he just seems softer. It’s reasonable to assume that’s what he’s like around those he truly trusts, those he absolutely cares for. The ice softens, he’s more able to be himself, more able to loosen up around certain people. But that’s kind of a rare thing -- unless you are those specific people. Namely, his husband, and, prior to everything that happened on their Final Mission, Rayla, who it’s said he thinks of as his daughter.

The power of DETERMINATION fills this dude. With a goal in mind, he does not sway from it. Maybe that’s stubbornness, but hey, we’ll call it determination. Torture, starvation, potential death? No big deal. Never once does he give up information on his people, or his mission. He’s got his guns, he’s going to stick to them. Metaphorically. He doesn’t have a gun. He has arrows.

And fantasy racism. He hates humans. Granted, there’s a pretty good reason, since they ended up throwing the world sideways by murdering the literal king of dragons, and are kiiiiind of responsible for starting a nasty trend of using black magic, which tends to involve more murder… but still. Humans are a “kill and/or maim first, interrogate later” species. There’s exactly zero love here. He doesn’t go out of his way to hunt them down, from what we see. But those who cross his way don’t usually end up well, afterward. He’s always quick to denounce them, to insult them. They are less than, well, human, in his eyes.


Give us at minimum 2-3 full paragraphs of how you understand your character's personality. Talk about basic characteristics, any major developments over the course of their canon, their motives, their social behavior, strengths and weaknesses, and anything else you can think of that shows off your knowledge of this character.

Pokémon Information
Affiliation: Trainer
Starter: Rowlet
Password: Atomic Fireball

Samples
RP Sample: Meme thread

Victory Road Sample: 4th Wall thread!

ACCEPTED!

[indigo_league]

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

Now that you've been accepted...
[○] Respond to this with your character's journal. This is a must!
[○] Comment in the Taken Characters post, alphabetized by series: Here.
[○] Join the following communities: victory_road, the_plateau, and ohmyarceus. Only Team Rocket personnel should join silph_co, but we ask that all Victory Road members subscribe to it.
Note! You will not be accepted to the main or logs community until you've commented in the aforementioned places.
[○] If you're still on the reserved list, please let us know that they've been accepted.
[○] Please make sure to check out the Calendar for the weather and upcoming plots and swarms!
[○] You can also find our mod plurk at victoryroad; if you have a Plurk, we suggest you become a fan!

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

Thank you! See you in the Pokémon world!

Jonathan Joestar | JoJo's Bizarre Adventure | Not Reserved

[standless]

Player
Name: Usagi
E-mail: usagisquared@gmail.com
Preferred Contact: Plurk usagisquared
Timezone: EST
Current Characters in Victory Road: Carly Nagisa

Character
Name: Jonathan Joestar
Series: JoJo's Bizarre Adventure (Phantom Blood)
Timeline: After Death :]
Canon Resource Links: Yayyy Wiki Please note that this wiki uses a tab set up; history will be in one such tab.

Personality: Jonathan Joestar- or 'JoJo' as some have called him- was and is the pinnacle example of a 'Gentleman'. Raised by those words and aspiring to live by them since a young age, he creates the image of a charming young man as a result; he is polite and courteous, considerate of the feelings of others and aware of his own manners in most situations. But Jonathan's charm is more than a mere matter of dressing well and speaking well; it lends itself even to his manner in combat. Numerous times, those who face him (and bear a semblance of soul themselves) pick him out as a true Gentleman- someone who treats even their enemy with respect and care. This manner of spirit is so ingrained into his being that before he announces his hatred for Dio and his desire to avenge his father and teacher, he admits such hate to be a shameful emotion...despite the fact that he still sounds like an honour-filled sort, his words 'properly put'.

To be a gentleman means more than surface acts and manners however, and Jonathan's heart is without a doubt what makes the title a thing he's worthy of. For many of the fans in the JoJo series, Jonathan is the 'most good' and for a doubtless reason. When it comes to his inner personality Jonathan is incredibly kind, and positive, with the tendency to cast doubt on himself before doubting another to that end. When encountering the thugs of Ogre Street as a strong example, he assumes that those attacking him would have families of their own, and therefore employs only the amount of strength necessary to knock them back when he could easily have killed them. His care and concern for those around him stretches far, and very often to those who do not even deserve it- while he can recognize the futility in many cases (zombies are a strong example, but of course, Dio in the later episodes qualifies as well), this care is what led to the infamous moment of Dio turning himself into a vampire. Jonathan after all spent seven years following Dio's string of crimes against him with the honest attempt to come to see him as a friend. For seven years, Dio played the part of a kind brother after all- and Jonathan even chastizes himself when he acknowledges that he simply cannot view Dio kindly. Even with these thoughts- and more importantly the burning anger that comes from seemingly killing Dio later- Jonathan cries, tears that he has cried for his father, his teacher, and even strangers in their own deaths as well. Even his dying thoughts while holding Dio, are somehow happy; a state of emotion that even Jonathan cannot identify the source for.

Ultimately it is clear to see that Jonathan is too kind for his own good. Admittedly his naive ability to trust the good in others works well in his favor more often than not- faith in Zeppeli's words regarding the Stone Mask and what must be done is what allowed Jonathan to train in the art of Hamon, and was what later caused him to take up Zeppeli's Wine Test without question to face Jack the Ripper. During his battle with Bruford the Black Knight it comes to a dangerous point however; going off one mere throw-away statement about pain, Jonathan takes the fact that his opponent can feel to mean that he's regained his sense of honor and soul- and will therefore stop the blade against his face rather than ending him on the spot. He even shows faith for those he has yet to properly meet- his first thought regarding a would be bag-thief in the Windknight's Lot being that they could potentially help them to navigate the area. To a fault, Jonathan puts fathomless amounts of faith and trust in the good in others- this very trust is what allowed Dio to not only convince Jonathan to let his guard down during the former's would-be-arrest, but additionally caused Jonathan to freeze with doubt and shock twice in the resulting fight. The first time allowing Dio to stab Jonathan's father, killing the recently cured man. The second, nearly causing his own death as he failed to fire a gun upon the man he called brother. For Jonathan, it is the heart that he believes in the most, and it makes it that much easier for him to be betrayed.

It comes to no surprise then that with such kindness in his heart Jonathan would be willing to sacrifice his all for the sake of another. One could argue that a more prideful flavor of honor colours Jonathan's actions of course- killing Dio after all was an openly admitted matter of vengeance for those whom Dio had wronged, but most chiefly those Jonathan knew personally. But for Jonathan his honor and dedication is most certainly genuine- yet another aspect of being a gentleman, Jonathan's honor is if anything a way of life. This ultimate and honor-bound dedication burns with a strength that Dio recognizes as an 'explosive power', a fuel for what it takes to press through each and every situation without losing his very self. It brings little to no hesitation in the face of fear and adversity, ensuring that not only will he simply come right back once pushed to the brink, but that he'll focus his sights on what needs to be done.

There are minor examples all through the series, forms of acceptable harm and injury that speak of a stalwart dedication toward an ultimate goal. When attacked on Ogre Street Jonathan grips the blade of a knife meant to stab him with his very hand, announcing clearly that the loss of his fingers would be nothing if it prevented the loss of his father's life. Likewise, the blades of Speedwagon's Hat digging into his arm to the bone are a similar matter- injuries that while dire, are worth taking if it means ending the fight quickly and finishing what matters the most. Such dedication to the swiftest- yet still honorable- path in a fight can be seen when tested by Dire as well. The man's strike requires that Jonathan flee, or so it seems. But Jonathan without hesitation instead smashes his head into Dire's own, injuring and stunning the opponent even at the cost of his own health.

Where then, does dedication become sacrifice? For Jonathan there is certainly a line, but it is a line he is more than willing to cross if need be. When the full scale of Dio's terrifying new form is seen in his home, Jonathan charges through the flames of their burning childhood home even with a spear in his shoulder to face the vampire, focused entirely on the task at hand. He spurs the flames higher and hotter, drawing Dio into combat while believing truly that he and Dio will both die right there; and if it means preventing Dio's terror, it is well worth it. This sense of self-sacrifice is seen again when he truly is upon his deathbed, his throat pierced by Dio's eye-beams and the ship overrun with the undead. With the last ounce of strength he has, he prevents his wife Erina's demise by unleashing a final attack upon Dio's servant- and when this results in the ship's mechanisms seizing and preparing to explode, he insists Erina live on without him. Not only for herself, but for the single other survivor on board- an infant nearby, whose mother was just killed in the onslaught. Jonathan uses all he has to make certain that his wife and that infant are able to escape in the very coffin that Dio intended for his own use, holding Dio's head close with the dying wish that his family be safe with his sacrifice.

This level-headed state of being that can be seen even in his dying moments is exactly what gives him such an advantage in the ultimate end of most of his fights. While certainly thrown off guard and taken by shock at many points in the series, Jonathan seems to adjust just as quickly. He's capable of facing off against others with relatively clear thoughts, enough to make observations about those he's fighting (Even if aloud). This is not merely in regard to how they're fighting, but how they're acting as well. It becomes key outside of battle, making it easier to face a surprise attack with little alarm and solve current issues- such as escaping Tarkus with the quick idea to magnetize leaves into a hang-glider- that much easier. This level-headed state is required as a user of Hamon, even; in order to be able to channel the energy of the Ripple, one must have a steady breathing pattern at all times.

It is fortunate then that Jonathan has cleverness to back up this level-headed way of being, especially in regard to battle. For every major problem that his opponent brings forward, Jonathan ultimately finds a solution- during his fight with Bruford, he finds an unexpected method of obtaining oxygen while underwater. He also successfully works around the disadvantage of barehanded ripple attacks being made useless by channeling it instead through the metal of a sword. When even this is defended against later, by Dio, he still manages to work out a solution to the matter- using the fire around their battle to heat the metal of his blade and therefore reverse the flash freezing that Dio put himself through. Without a doubt, he is intelligent to a point. Enough to have canonically worked on an archaeology degree and conducted his own research with the Stone Mask- research that had the masks capabilities determined almost entirely but for the unknown vampiric result (which of course, would have required actually placing on a person to discover as is).

But like many of the JoJo protagonists and supporting characters, Jonathan is prone to the same bizarre lapse of judgement which leads to foolhardy decisions for seemingly no reason beyond 'It seemed like a good idea at the time'. While many such decisions of course can be linked to his naive and trusting nature, or even the stalwart dedication to a cause that must be handled as swiftly as possible, moments such as his willingness to uphold Zeppeli's wine test against Jack the Ripper, as well as his decision to swim downward rather than up in his fight against Bruford the Black Knight bring to question just how much is cleverness regarding a subject and how much is just Sheer Dumb Luck with a Dumb Decision. This isn't helped by the way that Jonathan can let his train of thought run. During the fight against Bruford alone he successfully compares the man's hair first to an octopus, and then to a serpent when pondering how he's being brutalized, showing a legitimately ludicrous level of imaginative thinking. To give credit where it's due perhaps, that level of thinking is without a doubt required to survive most of the adventure- it's what allows him to make use of the roses against Dio, create a hang-glider of magnetic leaves to briefly escape Tarkus with his companions, and naturally what allows him to realize that the wine glass really does help with the use of Hamon. It's not necessarily a show of how clever he is...but it certainly shows how quickly he can accept the events of a situation enough to work with them (whether for combat or simply existing).

Pokémon Information
Affiliation: BREEDER
Starter: Growlithe
Password: Atomic Fireball

Samples
RP Sample: It's a Ryslig Game Thread oh boy also apologies for the format swap partway in,

Victory Road Sample: This can't Possibly go wrong

ACCEPTED!

[indigo_league]

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

Now that you've been accepted...
[○] Respond to this with your character's journal. This is a must!
[○] Comment in the Taken Characters post, alphabetized by series: Here.
[○] Join the following communities: victory_road, the_plateau, and ohmyarceus. Only Team Rocket personnel should join silph_co, but we ask that all Victory Road members subscribe to it.
Note! You will not be accepted to the main or logs community until you've commented in the aforementioned places.
[○] If you're still on the reserved list, please let us know that they've been accepted.
[○] Please make sure to check out the Calendar for the weather and upcoming plots and swarms!
[○] You can also find our mod plurk at victoryroad; if you have a Plurk, we suggest you become a fan!

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

Thank you! See you in the Pokémon world!

Diego Brando | JoJo's Bizarre Adventure: Steel Ball Run | Not Reserved

[scaly_monsters]

Player
Name: Neon
E-mail: murasakinome@gmail.com
Preferred Contact: demothi Demothi#1009
Timezone: PST (-8:00 UTC)
Current Characters in Victory Road: N/A

Character
Name: Diego “Dio” Brando
Series: JoJo's Bizarre Adventure: Steel Ball Run
Timeline: post death (chapter 76)
Canon Resource Links: Due to DW linking not working properly, urls are provided here.
https://jojo.fandom.com/wiki/Diego_Brando - Diego Brando’s Wiki
https://jojo.fandom.com/wiki/Steel_Ball_Run - Canon part overview

Personality:
Much of what we learn of Diego outside of the titular race (the 'Steel Ball Run') is provided to us through two fallible sources. One of which is a subjective narrator, who provides details of Diego's past at times, but is otherwise uncertain of deeper details. The other is a fellow racer who has a particularly large rivalry with Diego, and is prone to focusing on his negative outward traits- possibly exaggerating them. This said there is much we can see of Diego within the race itself, and by reading deeper into what these two sources provide, further understanding of this man can be gained.

One fact that is undeniable is that Diego is a man who is driven by a single purpose, a focus that he has held with him since childhood. In spite of the circumstances he grew up in, Diego's mother provided a bright light in his young life- filling it with love, and caring. As such, when she died from something that Diego was convinced came due to wounds she suffered at other's cruel hands, he became driven to find a way to make people see him in a position of power and respect. His goal is to become someone others are forced to acknowledge and follow, and to him, this is the ultimate satisfaction of his revenge for the fate that his mother suffered.

He is a sharp man, who is readily shown noticing minor details that other people otherwise miss. This is added to later by the power of his Stand, but far from exclusive to its existence; he is not only capable of gathering information (such as where a person is in relation to himself, or what someone has specifically dropped over time), but also of using that information to his advantage- determining if someone should be coming around a corner behind him, or if an item he was watching for has failed to appear as it should have.

Despite this skill, Diego has one major stumbling block. He can become hyper-focused on a path or a short term goal, and in such fails to see things beyond them. Within his focus his perception is a great help, but for matters outside his focus he does not take the time or energy to consider things in the way he otherwise would. This leaves him open to missing opportunities he would have otherwise taken, and on one such occasion it is not until he is forced to listen- and offered information he can use for revenge- that he considers working with another racer he had not partnered with before.

Diego is a very resourceful person, using the things (and even people) around him to his advantage. Within the race proper he does not cheat- this would be against his proud nature- but when he is in a fight or when there are no rules to govern him, he will use underhanded tactics to achieve his goal. An example presented by the narration is his marriage to a wealthy elderly woman, who died six months after. Speculation proposes that poison was involved, but it is clear that whether he did or did not murder her, he became involved primarily to acquire a tidy fortune within a short time.

Thanks in part to how his mother raised him, Diego has a large sense of pride. She taught him that even when they had nothing they should keep their pride, and he clearly lives by those words. It shows not only in his lack of cheating (despite many chances to do so- particularly after acquiring his stand), but also in his unwillingness to bend knee to even men of higher standing. Diego fully considers himself to be on equal standing at the least, and will not display otherwise.

To this point he tends to be overconfident, with his self-certainty becoming a bit of a limitation. He is so convinced that he knows what he needs to know, and is so right in what he is doing, that he does not stop to make sure that he is, in fact, right. He is not one to take criticism well, and can get short with people who contest his certainty.

Diego is not someone who allows himself to get too close to, or involved, with most people. He does not allow many near and of those that he does, he still keeps a reserved difference to them. People he works with are seen as useful tools more than companions, and while he does work well with them, there is clearly no strong emotional attachment. This isn't to say he is incapable of empathy, as he shows a great deal of it as a child. Rather, he has grown callous over time, and chooses to keep people at a distance to save the energy he would otherwise spend on such empathy for driving his own goals.

After the life he has lived, Diego has become rather misanthropic to this end- finding humankind as a whole to be less than they tout themselves to be, even going so far as to compare them to a flock of pigeons. He sees little value in humanity itself, and his greatest desire from it is to see people show him the respect and diffidence he feels he is owed. Otherwise, he is generally disinclined to associate with people as a whole.

Someone who manages to find their way beyond his hardened nature however, would find someone who cares deeply indeed. In contrast to his attitudes toward other people, he is shown to be quite caring toward his horse, ensuring she makes it through a leg of the race wherein she is injured, and even offering his services to another in order to obtain care for her. As a whole, Diego is a man who has dealt with a very negative experience with people over all, and in an understandable measure has become disillusioned with the idea of inherent kindness from others. He has closed himself off from people, choosing not to care about others or expect them to care about him, possibly to protect himself from experiencing disappointment in that again. Beneath this however is a person who wants to be valued- perhaps more-so to offset the devaluation he experienced in the past- and is willing to go to rather large extremes to reach his goal.

Pokémon Information
Affiliation: Trainer
Starter: Blitzle
Password: Atomic Fireball

Samples
RP Sample:
https://dear-player.dreamwidth.org/4744597.html?thread=107534997#cmt107534997 - First sample: DP Thread


Victory Road Sample:
https://ohmyarceus.dreamwidth.org/14899.html?thread=2759475#cmt2759475 - Second sample: TMD Thread

ACCEPTED!

[indigo_league]

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

Now that you've been accepted...
[○] Respond to this with your character's journal. This is a must!
[○] Comment in the Taken Characters post, alphabetized by series: Here.
[○] Join the following communities: victory_road, the_plateau, and ohmyarceus. Only Team Rocket personnel should join silph_co, but we ask that all Victory Road members subscribe to it.
Note! You will not be accepted to the main or logs community until you've commented in the aforementioned places.
[○] If you're still on the reserved list, please let us know that they've been accepted.
[○] Please make sure to check out the Calendar for the weather and upcoming plots and swarms!
[○] You can also find our mod plurk at victoryroad; if you have a Plurk, we suggest you become a fan!

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

Thank you! See you in the Pokémon world!

Tyler Huang | Changeling: The Lost OC | Not Reserved

[asmywitness]

Player
Name: Maniette
E-mail: rika(dot)tags[at]gmail(dot)com
Preferred Contact: maniette or PM this journal
Timezone: AEST (GMT+10)
Current Characters in Victory Road: None

Character
Name: Tyler Tian Huang
Series: "Changeling: The Lost" Original Character
Timeline: Three months after escaping Arcadia

Original Character Background: A more extensive and detailed history can be found here, so I'll try and keep it short here!

The World of Darkness tabletop universe is very similar to actual real life modern Earth, complete with all the pop culture references, with some small but major differences: everything has a much higher level of low-grade suck, and magic is real. Specifically in the iteration Changeling: The Lost, this means that Faeries are real, in the traditional Irish sense, and they're kidnapping bastards who grab people for completely random or nonsensical reasons, and keep them in the faerie realm known as Arcadia. This imprisonment, known as their Durance, twists and changes their captives until they eventually get turned into creatures called Changelings; not quite human, but not fully Fae either, able to hide among the former while using the glamorous magic of the latter.

There are six Seemings within Changeling communities; six different categories of recognised forms that their transformations may take. Tyler was turned into a Wizened - known as "subtle and ingenious crafters of Arcadia, the wise and cunning wondermakers". Think of stories about brownies fixing shoes in the dark of night, or faerie butlers that are always exactly where they need to be. Tyler's change was to that of the Kith (a subcategory of Seeming) known as Fatespinners, where he is able to tap into the narrative force that drives stories and forcibly apply it to reality, without being punished by a cruel twist of fate (which is literally a game mechanic).

Tyler's life before he was Taken was about as mundanely normal as a life ever is. The oldest of five siblings, he grew up on the outskirts of Melbourne, Australia, with a strong sense of responsibility and maturity - as he was forced to be an adult before his time, and learn four separate languages just to be on par with his peers when he entered primary school.

He took a shine to languages, though, and made English his primary study throughout high school, to the point of pursuing a Bachelor's degree in it, and moving on to a Masters in Publishing. He had actually finished his degree, and was hanging out with his friends at a local theatre club, when the seven of them got snatched up by a Faerie that had enjoyed their performance so much it simply had to keep them.

Tyler wasn't actually part of the troupe - he was only there because his boyfriend was - but he was snatched up all the same, and given the role of Author and Narrator, and made to both write and share stories that he wrote with his friends in specific roles: the Hero (the role his boyfriend, Nick, got trapped in), the Heroine, the Villain, the Monster (his ex-lover), the Old Crone and the Innocent. Alongside writing up these stories - and making sure each and every one was unique, so as not to face the wrath of their capricious Keeper's boredom, he also had to learn how to speak. With his mouth. Which he had to do very quickly, because he got punished severely for saying anything wrong during the show.

It took years of enduring this torture - not just that of his Keeper, but watching the people he cared most about mercilessly, mindlessly kill or fuck or torture each other - and countless stories and cruel punishments, before Tyler finally worked out a way to escape. He used his fate-twisting powers to change the story mid-way, to free himself, his boyfriend and one more friend, Mai - but his boyfriend attacked their Keeper to buy them time to escape, and they couldn't save him before they rushed out of Arcadia, through the soul-ripping Hedge and back into the real world.

Mai and Tyler stuck together, even though their methods of recovering from this horrific trauma differed wildly. For all the torment they went through, the outside world had moved on at a different speed - they were only gone for about one year outside. Tyler sought out his own family to check on them, and see whether his absence had gone noticed: but their Keeper, as most Faeries do, had replaced him and his friends with identical, magical clones known as Fetch. Tyler got back to his house and saw his and Nick's Fetch living ordinary, mundane lives: and the sheer rage this bought Tyler lead him to kill them both. Not then and there; he stalked them for months, before he found an opportunity to have Nick's Fetch killed in a car "accident", and at the funeral held for it, was confronted by his own Fetch and got into a fight, which narrowly ended with him murdering his Fetch directly.

He hasn't told anyone else about any of this, and it's about a week later that Arceus decides he'd be a totally great addition to Victory Road.

Personality: Before his Durance, Tyler was an exceptionally driven person. Growing up deaf with the multiple stigmas of disability, race and weight, he's always had a keen awareness of how the world sees him: through lack of accessibility; people trying to coddle him for it; minimal resources; and through how he sees his body type and race represented in the world. He's always felt a need to prove that he's more than what people assume of him, and to be the best at what he can do. Spite is a defining motivational factor in his life - and the sole reason he can do a backflip on command.

This hasn't changed after his Durance. But now the spite runs much, much deeper: what would otherwise be general impatience and an amiable unwillingness to suffer fools before, is now a deep-seated sharpness and zero tolerance policy for people who he can see clearly don't want to put in an effort for him, and Tyler will quite readily leave a conversation if he's annoyed at the person or people involved. His temper is much shorter, and he will openly lash out with violence at people who try and grab or even touch him unexpectedly.

Tyler also has a very tenuous sense of self these days. Thanks to being a favoured plaything of their Keeper, he was admired and adored, and there's a not-insignificant part of him that still loves that attention; but he hates having the spotlight thrust upon him, and tends to react poorly or outright panic under sudden attention. He genuinely thinks he's superior to other people, with who he is and what he's learned, but also has depression and some moderately severe dissociation spells. He has little to no issue with manipulating people to get what he wants, but can just as easily psych himself out of it through overthinking. He is also wracked with survivor's guilt, about leaving four of the people he cares about most to continue being tortured while he and another escaped - as well as losing his boyfriend during their egress. Basically; borderline narcissistic disorder, but anxious and self-aware enough that he's not completely insufferable.

It's not like all of his personality traits are negative ones, though. As mentioned earlier, he is extremely driven, and when he sets his mind on a goal he is utterly unshakeable. And while it takes him a while to actually warm up to people, once he considers them his then he's loyal, quite literally, to the death, and it would take a betrayal of huge magnitude to shake that. He is extremely observational, as much necessity as habit, and is very astute at noticing other people's tics and actions. While his sense of humour is quite dark and cutting, and he has a general unwillingness to pull or soften his blows (literal or otherwise) he does his best not to punch down. He is extremely intelligent, and has developed some obtusely creative ways of looking at reality; but thanks to his Durance he gets extremely anxious, sometimes to the point of panic, about deviating from a set plan, and has lost most of his adaptability when he's gotten settled in.

Pokémon Information
Affiliation: Team Rocket!
Starter: Big boy Natu and baby Houndour
Password: Atomic Fireball

Samples
RP Sample: Victory Road TDM sample!

Victory Road Sample:
It's taken a few months, but the small apartment that Tyler shares with Mai finally, in some little way, is actually beginning to feel real. It's been three months and it's still sinking in that they did it. They're safe and free and alive and they got out.

He rolls over in bed, feels the stiff pillowcase against his face, frowns, and opens his eyes - glazed and unfocused as they look, he can see just fine.

He can see that this is not his room.

A noise of pure distress drags from his throat as he throws himself upright, looking around sharply at the small room he's in - single bed, a small desk next to his bed, with some kind of ...phone? It looks like a Blackberry or something, and--

...no way. Those are Pokeballs.

He reaches out for them, and - stops. And stares at his hands. The skin is still sallow and dry, the ugly yellow of parchment, but it's not paper anymore, it's actual skin. His hands, always dripping with ink are-- still stained, but that's it. He's just... human.

He leans forward and takes one of the Pokeballs, and spots the letter as well.

He is human, he is in the Pokemon world, and - apparently - he is in Team Rocket.

What the fuck.

ACCEPTED (again)

[indigo_league]

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

Now that you've been accepted...
[○] Respond to this with your character's journal. This is a must!
[○] Comment in the Taken Characters post, alphabetized by series: Here.
[○] Join the following communities: victory_road, the_plateau, and ohmyarceus. Only Team Rocket personnel should join silph_co, but we ask that all Victory Road members subscribe to it.
Note! You will not be accepted to the main or logs community until you've commented in the aforementioned places.
[○] If you're still on the reserved list, please let us know that they've been accepted.
[○] Please make sure to check out the Calendar for the weather and upcoming plots and swarms!
[○] You can also find our mod plurk at victoryroad; if you have a Plurk, we suggest you become a fan!

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

Thank you! See you in the Pokémon world!


Note: We noticed that in your samples Tyler referred to having played the games back in his own world. This is absolutely fine, but please keep in mind that characters may only know about (and have played) Pokemon Red and Blue. We are properly Old School up here in this place.

Angel the Siren | Borderlands | No Reserve

[brokencode]

Player
Name: Aspen
E-mail: aking94rp@gmail.com
Preferred Contact: ashstriferous
Timezone: Central
Current Characters in Victory Road: N/A

Character
Name: Angel the Siren
Series: Borderlands
Timeline: Immediately post death.
Canon Resource Links: Wiki!

What both wiki pages lack is a more detailed description of her history with Handsome Jack, her father. Angel was abused by him in what appears to have been prior to the events of the series (as her voice is presented as far younger in this audio log. Angel also hints at his manipulation during the course of her death battle, saying, “That’s how he works – he’ll try to guilt you to make you think it’s your fault. Don’t listen.” In short, the wiki article misses the desperation Angel felt and just how willingly she accepted death.


Personality: Angel began her time in the Borderlands universe as a pawn, a tool used by Handsome Jack to reach his goals. Under Jack’s eye, and trapped in the prison that would slowly become her death chamber, she had little agency of her own. In fact, since indirectly causing her mother's death, she hasn't had a taste of freedom -- instead being confined to chairs and chambers that would suppress her abilities. Angel was driven by guilt, presumably over her mother’s death, and manipulated into believing that her father wanted what was best for both her and Pandora. With no other option, and no one else to turn to,she had no choice but to listen to Jack.

On the surface, Angel is an incredibly helpful. Whether or not it comes from her abilities, or perhaps from acquired knowledge, her experience with technology allows her to quickly unlock doors and allow for her allies to swiftly navigate the wilds of Pandora. Her days on Pandora usually consisted of helping wayward Vault Hunters and other souls on their missions. While Angel certainly does consider herself to be helpful in many ways, much of the work she did was far from selfless. Her guidance was a facade, one to further the goals of both her father and Hyperion.

Though she had no other options, she still holds herself accountable for what she did. Her machinations led to a great many deaths, many of which happened to those she might have considered her friends.

While it would be perfectly reasonable for Angel to excuse her behavior, at least given her lack of options, never once has she done so. It can be surmised that the same guilty conscience that kept her from refusing Jack is what led her to turn on him. In the end, Angel gave her life to make up for the damage she had caused by perpetuating his rise to power.

In spite of the trauma she has endured, there is still a level of childlike innocence to Angel, and an ability to see the positives in most anyone. While most of Pandora loathes the robot Claptrap, she considers him a “funny little robot.” Though she makes a few jabs at Scooter, she deeply respects his talents.

Despite her meek nature at times, and playful demeanor in others, when it comes down to it, Angel is also firm and unshakeable when she needs to be. During the last few minutes of her life, she does not hesitate to put Roland into his place, insisting he finish his duties and end her life. She is stalwart in the face of her death.

In speaking, even during times out from beneath Jack’s thumb, Angel still feels his influence. She often curbs her tongue, avoiding swearing and correcting herself whenever one does manage to make its way out. It is only fitting then that Angel’s final act of rebellion happened to be calling her father an asshole.

In the end, Angel's most prominent trait is her strength. Despite his every effort to manipulate Angel, to coerce her to his side and to make her believe in his genocidal wrath, Angel stood strong. Though she may have done a great deal of things she would come to regret, in the end, she died for what she thought was right.

Angel was strong enough to face death itself.

Pokémon Information
Affiliation: Breeder, again!
Starter: Snom.
Password: Atomic Fireball

Samples
RP Sample: Can be found Here

Victory Road Sample: [With all the pomp and circumstance of her arrival out of the way, all of her friends greeted with teary eyes and warm hugs, Angel sets out on her own little quest. She's heard of Lavender town, but never had the pleasure of actually visiting the place. Of course, some of her memories were on the fuzzier side, especially when it came to her earlier days in the land. As far as she could recall, though, the closest she'd ever gotten was the Power Plant, and those were memories she'd rather not consider. Now, though, she has all the reason to make the journey.

With Snom tucked into a newly fashioned sling, and Adorababy and Skagbait by her side, Angel sets out on her trip. She makes her way from the little refuge her found family had set up on the Sevii Islands. It seemed almost wrong to leave it behind so quickly, especially after how long it had taken to get back there. Her team is important, though, and there are several members missing from it now. That won't do, especially with all the other members of her makeshift family now united.

She expects the journey there to take no more than a week. Maybe she could have made it easier by requesting a Pokemon on which to fly, but she hadn't bothered. The idea of being so high above the ground for such a long period of time made her stomach twist and her toes tingle. Warping to Goldenrod from Olivine (with plenty of breaks in between) and then hopping on the Magnet train would take longer, but she'd have time to visit with her old friends and meet new ones along the way.

Sylveon and Skagbait are more than happy to make the journey. After their initial scramble to ensure that she was all in one piece and a near fight over who would get to curl up with her first (before realizing that she had two sides and hands with which to pet), they were more than happy to get back out on the road. Even now, as she settles on to the deck of the ferry, they flit around her with an energy she hardly remembers.

She's missed them, and she's excited to prove to them that she's not going anywhere any time soon.]

ACCEPTED (again)

[indigo_league]

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

Now that you've been accepted...
[○] Respond to this with your character's journal. This is a must!
[○] Comment in the Taken Characters post, alphabetized by series: Here.
[○] Join the following communities: victory_road, the_plateau, and ohmyarceus. Only Team Rocket personnel should join silph_co, but we ask that all Victory Road members subscribe to it.
Note! You will not be accepted to the main or logs community until you've commented in the aforementioned places.
[○] If you're still on the reserved list, please let us know that they've been accepted.
[○] Please make sure to check out the Calendar for the weather and upcoming plots and swarms!
[○] You can also find our mod plurk at victoryroad; if you have a Plurk, we suggest you become a fan!

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

Thank you! See you in the Pokémon world!

Lydia | The Adventure Zone: Balance | Not Reserved

[wonderland_vogue]

Player
Name: Star
E-mail: thisisandroid18@gmail.com
Preferred Contact: starshiranui (plurk), StarShiranui#1615 (Discord)
Timezone: CST
Current Characters in Victory Road: Jolyne Cujoh

Character
Name: Lydia
Series: The Adventure Zone: Balance
Timeline: Post Suffering Game
Canon Resource Links: Ignore the live show content, that's not canon

Personality: Perhaps the most obvious, first striking part of Lydia is the fact that she is always in fashion model mode. Bright lights, bright colors, striking outfits, speaking in the most haughty of manners along with just pure unadulturated class. It's most a lie, to put others off guard and distract from the reality of her personality.

That being she's an absolutely sadistic monster. Losing your sight, a cherished memory, your age, your beauty? All of it is eaten up with a child-like glee and a giggling tone as if it's nothing more than some sort of toy or entertainment. As long as it's not her then it's absolutely acceptable, particularly if it's damage and suffering she's inflicting onto whatever victim happens to come across her while in one of those moods. Suffering and sorrow are her major pushing forces and it all culminates in her taking delighted glee in it while not seeming to find any sort of second thoughts about any of it. If it works, if it fuels her, if it amuses her, then she'll absolutely be on board with whatever it is.

A direct result and comparison of her amusement of toying with others coupled with her need and love of suffering and sorrow can be found in one simple thing: Wheel of Sacrifice. Something akin to a raffle wheel that may as well be the star of the show of Wonderland. Something as happy and exciting as winning prizes twisted around into a dreaded game of loss and sacrifice. Every single thing that is seen on that wheel can be taken in multiple different manners simply due to each slice represented by an icon versus word, meaning the siblings can easily manipulate the result around to whatever they want at the time. Land on a picture of a hand? Oh, you could just lose some dexterity or you could just lose your entire hand instead. Don't like it? Well, have fun spinning that wheel a second time for what is probably going to be a worse result.

Not that everything is doom and gloom with her, she tends to play with her toys in the most irritating of manners. Simply by acting as if she's a game show host, having the charisma and tone to back it up even without an actual audience. Everything is a game, everything is for her entertainment whether or not others want to participate. It's more of a natural charisma and air about her that she twists and manipulates for her own purposes, because why not manipulate unwilling victims for your own precious entertainment?

Of course she's not a sadistic, manipulative, terrible person to everyone that was or is in her life. Family is always the exception to the rule. In fact, it's part of the reason why she is like she is. One doesn't just become a lich for no reason, after all, there has to be some catalyst for it. In Lydia's case it had to do with the love of her other brother, Keats. Not wanting to see her youngest brother die due to a disease, she turned her attention towards necromancy, a mostly frowned upon art, to try and save and heal him along with her other brother. This predictably fails but propels Lydia and her brother, Edward, into realizing their actual love of necromancy and pushing them to become liches, undead monsters, in order to make them more powerful. As it is with liches, they had to feed on strong emotions to keep their sanity and for a time she survived on the love of her youngest brother, until she discovered suffering was much stronger which began her descent into the sadistic creature she is now.

Pokémon Information
Affiliation: Team Rocket
Starter: Zorua - The reasoning here is that Lydia's whole shtick is illusion based, including Wonderland itself being all an illusion. Her whole lich life has revolved around looking as classy and beautiful as possible while in reality is just a sentient skeleton using illusion magic to not look like that. Also it would remind her of her twin brother.

Vulpix - Rocket starter
Password: Atomic Fireball

Samples
RP Sample: Here

Victory Road Sample: Here

ACCEPTED

[indigo_league]

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

Now that you've been accepted...
[○] Respond to this with your character's journal. This is a must!
[○] Comment in the Taken Characters post, alphabetized by series: Here.
[○] Join the following communities: victory_road, the_plateau, and ohmyarceus. Only Team Rocket personnel should join silph_co, but we ask that all Victory Road members subscribe to it.
Note! You will not be accepted to the main or logs community until you've commented in the aforementioned places.
[○] If you're still on the reserved list, please let us know that they've been accepted.
[○] Please make sure to check out the Calendar for the weather and upcoming plots and swarms!
[○] You can also find our mod plurk at victoryroad; if you have a Plurk, we suggest you become a fan!

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

Thank you! See you in the Pokémon world!

Law Trafalgar | One Piece | Not Reserved

[doctorheartstealer]

Player
Name: Dany
E-mail: danybel.haine@gmail.com
Preferred Contact: danybel|uchihas#1868
Timezone: EST
Current Characters in Victory Road: n/a

Character
Name: Law Trafalgar
Series: One Piece
Timeline: chapter 954
Canon Resource Links: History

Personality: Law is a serious man, with almost nothing that bothers him. On the outside, at least. He always seems sure of himself, fearless, and with a plan no matter what happens. In reality, Law is someone who's fearful of the future, and holding grudges from the past.

As a child, Law was sweet, caring, and very dedicated. He made sure to always study, and loved his family more than anything, but tragedy changed him. From a very young age he started holding a grudge against the people that murdered his family, and with that as motivation, he started training as a pirate. His whole life he's felt the rage that comes from the loss of the people he cares about, with even his father figure dying, and he wanted revenge more than anything.

As an adult, Law is calculating, a leader, someone who's not to be messed with. He puts on the act of being reckless and fearless, all while making sure that no one in his crew gets hurt. He appears to be cruel, to the point that he's known as The Surgeon of Death, but he has more empathy than most of the people he knows. He saved a man from slavery and immediately made him part of his crew, even though he didn't know anything about him, only because he felt the other was a good person. He showed up in the middle of a war to help someone he had barely met a few weeks before. Law is a good person, but doesn't like people thinking that he is.

He likes to think ahead to everything he does, and it's worked out for him since he learned how to do so. He likes to be at the sidelines, never the main character, and it's worked out for him everywhere he's been. Then he met Monkey D. Luffy and his life did a 180º. He had planned to mess up with some people, and then die fighting the person who killed his father figure. He had it all figured it out, then the Strawhat crew got involved and Law's resolves cracked a little. He was still serious and trying to think of possibilities, but with how unpredictable Luffy was, Law couldn't keep up unless he, too, became reckless for real.

Law, after so many years of keeping his composure and trying to be cold and distant, started to become more and more like he was when he was a young boy. Even though he had a death wish, Law left his feelings out of his chest and was able to survive against the person he hated the most, and a weight was lifted off his shoulders.

He's free, and even though he though he would die, he managed to survive thanks to a friend helping him, and now he has to deal with the consequences of his actions, which he faces head on and without fear. Sadly, there's no much planning anymore, but he's trying the best he can to get his revenge. After all, an empire isn't just one person, and if he can, he will bring them all down. Or die trying.

Pokémon Information
Affiliation: Breeder
Starter: Phantump
Password: Atomic Fireball

Samples
RP Sample: here

Victory Road Sample: What the--

[He had been looking for his crew, that he remembers. He had been running, in one of Wano's many places, and suddenly he's somewhere completely different. He's being ushered by a sweet lady out of his weirdly looking location (is it a room?) and now he's standing outside, in front of a cute little house. He reaches back for his sword and realizes it's not there. ALARMING. He looks around himself, but nothing, not a single trace of his beloved sword, maybe it's in the house? He tries to open the door, but it won't budge. He tries to make a Room, once, twice, thrice, but nothing.]

What is happening?

[He can hear something, a song maybe? He doesn't know, but he's pretty close to snapping, but, not knowing where he is makes it a bit difficult to run and fight. So he sits in place, on a patch of grass, crosses his arms and--]

Hmm?

[There's a tree trunk with a face and a floating body pulling at his arm.]

What the hell?

[He stares and stares at the tree trunk, and then it makes a weird sound, sounding annoyed or something, and pulls harder on him. Law moves his arms, reaching with one hand to touch the tree trunk, and huh... He feels strange. It's like touching a cloud. Maybe. He thinks that's what a cloud feels like at least.]

What are you?

[Then an idea occurs to him. Check the bag he's been given! So he does. He reads everything while petting the weird head of the monster he's with. Pokémon. And he's a breeder.]

I'm a monster mom.

[The tree trunk, Phantump, he learnt, makes a weirdly happy noise, and Law chuckles.] You need a name. [He looks at the Pokémon and chuckles again.] Trunk.

[He stands up, Trunk at his side, and he packs all the things back into his bag. He needs a better one, this one is too small, what was it? Made for a child? Law sighs, might as well start moving if he's going to get more answers.]

ACCEPTED

[indigo_league]

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

Now that you've been accepted...
[○] Respond to this with your character's journal. This is a must!
[○] Comment in the Taken Characters post, alphabetized by series: Here.
[○] Join the following communities: victory_road, the_plateau, and ohmyarceus. Only Team Rocket personnel should join silph_co, but we ask that all Victory Road members subscribe to it.
Note! You will not be accepted to the main or logs community until you've commented in the aforementioned places.
[○] If you're still on the reserved list, please let us know that they've been accepted.
[○] Please make sure to check out the Calendar for the weather and upcoming plots and swarms!
[○] You can also find our mod plurk at victoryroad; if you have a Plurk, we suggest you become a fan!

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

Thank you! See you in the Pokémon world!

Johnny Joestar | JoJo's Bizarre Adventure | Not Reserved

[joekid]

Player

Name: Lins
Preferred Contact: heylins @ plurk
Timezone: Central Standard Time
Current Characters in Victory Road: N/A

Character

Name: Johnny Joestar
Series: JoJo's Bizarre Adventure (Steel Ball Run)
Timeline: End of series, currently on a boat to Italy.
Canon Resource Links:
Here.
This wiki goes over almost every ridiculous thing that happens to Johnny in a decent amount of detail. Seriously, the 'History' section goes over every single fight the guy goes through, it's actually pretty impressive.

Personality:

Johnny Joestar is the poster child of a morally grey protagonist. He's selfish, and not very nice to most people, and he really does not care about the 'good' or 'bad' or 'just' aspects of a situation if he has to do something to get what he needs or wants. He'll be the first to tell you that, too, and he doesn't really see the point in feeling bad about it.

To say he had a rocky childhood would be an understatement. He didn't suffer in the sense of poverty or squalor, but he had been walking an emotional tightrope since a young age. An overbearing and emotionally abusive father, the death of a beloved older brother, and a shooting that stole his ability to walk turned Johnny into an incredibly jaded and bitter person. He knew he had talent, all the awards and accolades he had gained in the horse riding world were proof enough of that, but after being cast aside by his father and the entire world after his accident, talent meant next to nothing to him.

The Steel Ball Run Race was, in his own words, Johnny's journey to walking once more. Not only in the physical sense, although that did end up happening, but in the sense that he could emotionally stand on his feet again. 'Negative' to 'zero' in terms of personhood was all Johnny wanted, and he did whatever he could to achieve it. Johnny was, is, and always will be, kind of a selfish asshole. He can help other people, and he has given everything he worked for in order to save other people (his friend and mentor Gyro Zeppeli, namely), but this is reserved for people he is incredibly fond of or situations in which he knows he will ultimately benefit as well. Johnny Joestar did not fight the President of the United States out of the kindness of his own heart, even if the guy was sort of a prick and probably couldn't be trusted to do the things he was planning. He did it because the President was in his way, and was taking the only thing that was going to make his life worthwhile away, and that was not going to fly on Johnny's Joestar's radar.

Cue battle music.

But, seriously, when Johnny wants something, there aren't many things that are going to get in his way. Even before the race even started, Johnny managed to impale himself in the leg with a wooden stake trying to tame a horse in order to follow Gyro and incessantly nag him until he was taught the secret of Gyro's steel balls (I'm not kidding). Sure, he couldn't feel the huge chunk of wood just chillin' in his calf, but blood loss is still a thing worth being concerned about. Unless you're Johnny, who truly did not give a shit about that compared to maybe learning how to walk again. The conviction only ramped up as the stakes did as the race progressed. It became obvious to others that Johnny had a certain "dark will"; that is, the drive to do whatever was necessary in order to achieve what was desired. Someone getting in the way of Johnny's next goal? Gonna get shot. Might possibly be killed by that shot. It is what it is, to Johnny.

That isn't to say that Johnny is an evil, conniving, little jerk that treats everyone like garbage and takes everything for himself. To most people, he won't really have much to offer in any direction, be it positive or negative. Johnny does understand social graces, and he especially knows to act appropriately these days, considering the last time he decided to be a hot-headed jerk to someone who really didn't deserve it, it ended with a bullet in his spine.

Ah, humilty.

Depending on the situation, he might even be kind of nice to a person! He does tend to be a little protective of people he knows are defenseless or weak, shown by him telling off Gyro for telling a 14 year old Lucy Steel to do some pretty risky shit. Not that he really followed through on that, but his outcries did show he isn't entirely heartless to everyone. He can even joke around with people, although Johnny's sense of humor seems to lean more on the sarcastic side of the road. This isn't always true, and he has shown he can play off the more straight-forward jokes of others in conversations with Gyro, but most of Johnny's quips are just him sarcastically berating someone in a way that sounds like a compliment. Humor is subjective, let him have his fun.

Even with his funny side, it is worth nothing that is Johnny hates you, you will absolutely know it. And it probably won't let up, ever. Johnny holds grudges with a vice grip, no matter how petty they are, and he won't hesitate to talk about it. The most notable target of this playground bullying is Diego Brando. Starting from a very young age, Johnny had it out for Diego by way of being horse riding rivals, and considering Diego was always beating him and he would be chastised by his father about it, that painted a big ol' target on Diego's head in Johnny's eyes. Every rumor about Diego that would knock him down a peg, Johnny squirreled away in his mind until it would be relevant to slip into conversation. Bitterness runs deep in Johnny, and it certainly did not help the case when Diego ended up becoming a lethal opponent in the Steel Ball Run. Petty racing squabbles became actual life-or-death confrontations, so you can imagine how that relationship progressed. Hint: badly. Johnny doesn't let up on the things people do that make him angry, he will remember it for as long as he needs to.

And you can't talk about Johnny without bringing up the fact that he is just... very emotional. A lot of crying, a lot of yelling, a lot of quick trigger decisions that many might consider rash. Of course, this isn't helped by being a part of a cross-country race in which every other person is quite literally trying to kill you, but Johnny went through a lot before even finding himself at the starting line. Over the course of the race, he did find more strength in his own convictions and believed in himself more, but he still feels emotion in very raw ways.

All in all, Johnny is a person who isn't going to jump to be your best friend. He probably won't want to be your friend at all, at least not immediately. A lifetime of hurt built one hell of a wall that has only just begun to come down after a few months of rushing through what most would consider a living hell, and the Johnny on the other side of that wall still isn't a sweet and kind gentleman. He never will be, and he never needed to be.

At least he'll treat his Pokemon well!

Pokémon Information

Affiliation: Trainer

Starter: Mudbray to be named Tiny Dancer

Password: Atomic Fireball

Samples

RP Sample:
Example

Victory Road Sample:

A foal...? [[ johnny looks down at the mudbray that is staring up at him with those big, dopey eyes. ]] Maybe some kinda pony? What the hell are you? [[ he leans down a bit to get closer to the mudbray's face, trying to find any indicator of breed that he can hone in on. this isn't any type of horse he's ever seen before, that's for sure.

he glances down, making a face as he notices the rather... odd shape of the horse's legs and hooves. ]] What -- ? What is wrong with your legs? Are you even wearing shoes? [[ he takes hold of a front leg, urging it upwards to try and check the bottom of the hoof. mudbray isn't having that, though, and quickly backs up. at the same time, it snorts directly in johnny's face, who falls back and coughs at the smell of mudbray breath. ]]

Ugh! God, you smell like a horse, that's for sure. Jesus. [[ he glares at the creature, now a couple of feet away. it looks a little peeved, mimicking johnny's own glare as best it can with the face it has. it grunts, shaking its head slightly before setting its attention on a tuft of grass beside it. ]] Gotta say, though, you're probably the least weird thing about this place so far... At least I kinda know what you're supposed to be.

[[ he leans back, shifting his weight on his palms and staring up at the sky as two creatures that look like birds flutter by. as far as johnny recognizes, though, they're straight out of a fantasy picture book. ]] Well. This is great. No clue where I am, surrounded by shit I've never seen before. Pretty sure it ain't a Stand, either!

[[ letting his arms give, he flops back onto the ground and covers his own face with an annoyed groan. ]] I can't fuckin' believe this.

ACCEPTED

[indigo_league]

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

Now that you've been accepted...
[○] Respond to this with your character's journal. This is a must!
[○] Comment in the Taken Characters post, alphabetized by series: Here.
[○] Join the following communities: victory_road, the_plateau, and ohmyarceus. Only Team Rocket personnel should join silph_co, but we ask that all Victory Road members subscribe to it.
Note! You will not be accepted to the main or logs community until you've commented in the aforementioned places.
[○] If you're still on the reserved list, please let us know that they've been accepted.
[○] Please make sure to check out the Calendar for the weather and upcoming plots and swarms!
[○] You can also find our mod plurk at victoryroad; if you have a Plurk, we suggest you become a fan!

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

Thank you! See you in the Pokémon world!

Jiro Azuma | Black Torch | Not Reserved

[cicadashell]

Player
Name: Morgan
Preferred Contact: pm / hylidae (plurk)
Timezone: UTC-4/5
Current Characters in Victory Road: N/A

Character
Name: Jiro Azuma
Series: Black Torch
Timeline: ch. 18, after going through the torii portal to save Rago
Canon Resource Links: wiki


Personality:

On the surface, Jiro isn't a very likable person. He's mouthy and rude, and has no sense of civility in the way he addresses people. He makes disparaging remarks indiscriminately; insulting anyone from enemies, to teammates, to his grandfather. He'll deliberately provoke people into fighting him by jeering and name-calling, even upon a first meeting. When introduced to his teammate Reiji, Jiro immediately goes for mocking his appearance, background, and his attempt at flirting with their teammate, Ichika. Though often more in a good-natured bantering way of continual snark, Jiro's caustic comments can come off as disrespectful and dismissive. He refers to a family heirloom sword as a cheap knockoff after his grandfather gives him a lecture about bringing shame to his lineage. He generally can't make it through a conversation without derogatory statements, backtalk, or unnecessary bitching. Along with this off-putting manner of communication, Jiro has a tendency to yell and be outspoken about things. He'll say what he wants to say when he wants to say it, and he'll say it loudly, no matter the situation. After being possessed by a mononoke, and subsequently tracked down by the Bureau, they tell him in no uncertain terms that he'll be going back as their prisoner. Jiro calls them out, protesting that they have no authority to do whatever they want with him; and Ichika knocks him out with the hilt of her sword out half-way through his tirade just to get him to shut up.

His slights and taunts often present as childish and he has a juvenile sense of humor. He is viewed as immature and impertinent and isn't particularly liked by his teammates initially, even without his half-demon status. Jiro is frequently compared to a middle schooler when he doesn't take things seriously, makes stupid and obvious comments, or whines about mundane things like someone taking his food from the refrigerator. He also engages in sophomoric pranks, like shaking up a can of soda before giving it to Reiji. Jiro expresses his annoyance and irritation through outbursts of frustrated incoherent screaming or baseless recalcitrance; essentially a temper tantrum.

Jiro is very reactive physically in addition to verbally. He won't hesitate to engage in fights, and has a long history of doing so. This stems mostly from his childhood, and the way he was brought up. He was bullied as a child nearly every day; other kids at school would make fun of him and pick fights because they considered Jiro creepy and weird for being able to talk to animals. He lived with his grandfather, but it was the family dog who Jiro got the most consolation from. His grandfather instead put emphasis on getting stronger, which sort of backfired. Jiro learned how to fight from him, but considered that to be the primary way to resolve anything. He derives entertainment and gratification from inciting altercations, has little restraint, and will use the slightest provocation as an excuse for violence.

Despite outwardly showing little decorum or friendliness in general, Jiro is kind and compassionate at his core, especially with animals, whom he doesn't consider lesser beings than humans. Animals have always been his friends when he had no human ones, and Jiro frequently goes out of his way or puts himself in danger to help them. As a child, he would rescue cats from trees when they were scared and couldn't get down, but neither could he, and he'd fall along with the cat. His crusade expanded to things like confronting gang members because they were throwing bottle rockets at cats and crows under a bridge, and reassuring the animals that if there was retaliation, he'd be fine because he's used to it. Jiro is known for this protective streak, and the local crows seek him out when there's a problem. Alerted to an injured cat in the woods near his house, Jiro immediately runs out to find it and make sure its injuries are treated; before he has any idea that the cat is a mononoke named Rago. Once he does know, Jiro thinks no differently of Rago and follows him into the woods, despite Rago's protests, to save him again when he's attacked. When asked why, Jiro simply says that he doesn't need a reason to help people.

His consideration for others over himself makes him rather reckless and impulsive. Jiro's drive to assist anyone who needs help results in a tendency to charge into dangerous situations before taking stock of potential consequences. Saving Rago results in Jiro's death and subsequent possession, because he wasn't prepared for the encounter in the slightest. When Ichika is transporting Jiro to the Bureau, they're stopped by mononoke and Ichika leaves the vehicle to fight them alone. She expresses her hatred for Jiro only moments earlier, but he is adamant about going out to help her fight; even though he's both her prisoner and the mononoke's target.

Like with everything else, Jiro isn't quiet about what he sees as injustice and unfair practices and opinions. While Rago is more ardently pacifistic about it, Jiro speaks up on behalf of the both of them when they're being collectively dismissed as an object or tool under ownership of the Bureau. He refuses to allow himself to be treated like a monster because he's a demon by a technicality. When he and Reiji fight, Jiro refuses to "use" Rago like the weapon Reiji classifies him as. Jiro doesn't like anyone, human or mononoke or animal, being shoved into categories and generalizations.

Whether classified as independent, strong-willed, or stubborn, Jiro sticks with his convictions and ideals, and is confident in his ability to handle things on his own. After learning of his possession, Jiro's grandfather attacks him without holding back, asserting Jiro becoming a demon is an affront to everything he's worked for as a former member of the Bureau. Jiro insists on fighting the old man himself without Rago's power assistance, even though he'd likely be killed. That sentiment proves himself, and his grandfather relents. Later, when separated from Rago, Jiro is angry the Bureau isn't immediately going to find him and track down the mononoke responsible, telling them that he'll go himself, and intent on charging in alone if he has to. He spends only days trying to get control of the power Rago left behind, and can't, but he continues his rescue mission regardless.

While most people he interacts with have a starkly black/white morality, Jiro ascribes to a more grey area in the sense of not taking sides based on anything but the individual matter at hand without prejudice. His attitude and personality push him towards a chaotic alignment, and though rebellious, his principles place him on the side of good.


Pokémon Information
Affiliation: Trainer
Starter: Pyukumuku
Password: Atomic Fireball

Samples
RP Sample: previous game thread (Jan. 2020)

Victory Road Sample:

[The typical experience of a mother waking her kid up for school or whatever is something Jiro never had, and it's jarring to wake up to that. Who the fuck is this woman? He asks her exactly that, but she heads right back into the hallway, laughing good-naturedly like he'd said something ridiculous.

He doesn't spend much time investigating the room, but has more of a cursory look around. It's a normal bedroom, not much different from his own; a little more messy and with more things for younger boys. The woman is right back at it a minute later, sticking her head into the room and insisting he needs to get going.]

Who the fuck are you!?

[Apparently, she's his mother, which is bullshit. He's irritated and argues with her the entire time until she's somehow got him out the door with a backpack. The door shuts as the woman says her goodbyes, and Jiro finally has time to think. What the fuck happened? He did not end up where that portal should have gone; this place is far from what he'd been imagining a demon realm would look like. He digs through the backpack; clothes and incidentals pushed aside with little interest. The handbook is the only thing he pulls out.]

The fuck is a pokemon?

[In his peripheral vision, something moves when he speaks. It's some weird... slug thing, or maybe a rabbit. Those two things shouldn't go together.]

You a pokemon?

[Jiro's just going to talk to it. He's seen weirder shit. The pyukumuku does nothing in response, content to stay where it is after it's caught his attention. He assumes this creature is some kind of animal and therefore, it should be able to understand him.]

Hey! I asked you a question!

[It moves about an inch. Enough of this bullshit. Jiro stomps over to the thing and picks it up. It's all slimy and gross, and he immediately drops it again just in time for it to... turn inside out or vomit up something. What the fuck is it doing? Is that a hand?]

ACCEPTED

[indigo_league]

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

Now that you've been accepted...
[○] Respond to this with your character's journal. This is a must!
[○] Comment in the Taken Characters post, alphabetized by series: Here.
[○] Join the following communities: victory_road, the_plateau, and ohmyarceus. Only Team Rocket personnel should join silph_co, but we ask that all Victory Road members subscribe to it.
Note! You will not be accepted to the main or logs community until you've commented in the aforementioned places.
[○] If you're still on the reserved list, please let us know that they've been accepted.
[○] Please make sure to check out the Calendar for the weather and upcoming plots and swarms!
[○] You can also find our mod plurk at victoryroad; if you have a Plurk, we suggest you become a fan!

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

Thank you! See you in the Pokémon world!

Emporio Alniño | JJBA (Stone Ocean) | Not Reserved

[seacub]

Player
Name: Usagi
E-mail: usagisquared@gmail.com
Preferred Contact: usagisquared
Timezone: EST
Current Characters in Victory Road: Carly Nagisa, Jonathan Joestar

Character
Name: Emporio Alniño
Series: JoJo's Bizarre Adventure (Stone Ocean)
Timeline: Post-Canon
Canon Resource Links: ok I gotta apologize because I need to add...a Correction here...

- Background: it IS confirmed that Emporio's mother had some sort of stand as he outright says she was able to do the same thing he can, when she was alive.

From here Emporio's page unfortunately JUST...DOESN'T GO INTO DETAIL jojowiki why are you this way So I'm linking directly to plot summary of the manga itself.

Which is here! For some reason certain notable points; Emporio featuring heavily in the illusion from 'The Legacy of Dio', and later having an Entire Conversation with Jolyne regarding why she didn't escape when she could have, is one, and yet another is his attempt to explain why uhhhh Anasui is Not a great ally Foo, maybe ask someone else (The Maximum Security Ward arc).

Serious appearances are from 'Tracking Pucci - Prison Escape' onward however (his appearances until then are considered rather minor).

Personality: When it comes to series settings, there's a certain character type you generally expect to see- Emporio's is...Not. What you would expect to see in the setting of a massive prison, but that's just JoJo's for you. Initially shown in small amounts, Emporio is visibly a boy of caution. And one can't blame him for that- he's an eleven year old who's been hiding himself within the very walls of the building for as long as he can remember, and has very little reason to believe it'll go well if he were found. He hides about in objects resembling trash-cans, makes use of various passages and vents he's carved for himself, and all simply to keep himself alive. Even within more comfortable circumstance, he tends to take a more passive role. He's a boy surrounded by adults, and very dangerous ones at that. It would already be risky to try and argue someone to their side if he were the same size and strength- at the stage he is, it would be suicide.

Yet for all his timidness, he nonetheless has a sense of justice about him. His very first appearance is to warn Jolyne of Pucci (though readers will likely presume the warning is regarding Johngali A, the other antagonist of that particular arc), sneaking past Jolyne to warn her multiple times to that end. As well, he allows some of the prisoners allied with them to hide away in the ghost room he grew up in, and openly brings them there in order to further help them. Emporio's sense of fear is far from something that leaves him but in spite of that fear he keeps pressing forward more and more as the finale of the series approaches, to the point of voluntarily following the cast in a prison break; not necessarily because he himself is in danger, but instead because people he's come to care about are.

To the ends of the above it's no surprise that Emporio is not only incredibly intelligent, but self-sufficient as well. His caution and concern is well placed. Green Dolphin is a prison filled with Stand Users, the equivalent of super powered humans, and it's where his mother wasted away before his eyes. To avoid being caught, to avoid risking the worst, he's had to learn from a very young age to do more than simply provide for himself- he's had to learn to stay hidden, and avoid any conflicts he can. While he's certainly learned to do something to defend himself- at the very end of the series he pulls out a gun to this end- for the most part we see him employ strategy. ...Which is good, as many of his allies seem to lack that. Emporio learned to be smart, and it's easy to see how that could be. Any objects he had access to for self-learning are geared for adults, any books, any media, would either have come from the older prison's burned 'ghosts' or been pilfered from the present prison's storage.

This may be why when he has the chance to explain a matter, or a person, he explains in abundance. Emporio can be quite wordy when he's introducing someone- he acts, unintentionally, as a full narrator to the reader in this way, not merely stopping at name but detailing various other 'important' points about a person for the other to know. While he isn't one to needlessly spout trivia, he's more than once shown to make small talk along those lines- while flying a helicopter (yes he can fly a helicopter) he remarks on how autopilot seems to have created reliance on technolody, and that actual pilots could have trouble flying 'properly'. On a less 'small-talk' end of things, he explains things through battle as well- when he reveals to Jolyne the hidden use of 'binary' during her battle with Miu Miu, or more notably when he explains aloud what the stand Weather Report is doing to bring Pucci to his end. With the case of the latter in particular, it's no matter of pride or grandstanding- it's simply an explanation.

It's a trait that points to a sense of curiosity- for a world he's never seen, and a world he wasn't sure he'd ever see for that matter. Having a sense of peace and freedom, and the ability to act on curiosity is a very foreign experience for the boy, just as much as most things expected of his age group are. His experiences after all are restricted to interactions with a very small handful of not-so-outstanding people (They're Inmates, Jan,)...and they're interactions that were primarily under the lingering sense of their lives being in danger. The fact that Emporio has been able to come out of things with as great a heart as he has is perhaps the greatest surprise of it all. Over all, he's a very good person- case in point being what he puts on the line to help in the fight against Pucci, but even without that he tends to act in an effort to prevent trouble rather than encourage it. He deserves the chance to display that in a situation with less risk...even if he'll be overwhelmed by the optimism of it all.

Pokémon Information
Affiliation: Trainer
Starter: Dratini - originally I was going to include a funny edit here but alas I cannot, but anyway!

The goal for Emporio's starter was that it be something that can somehow reference his end fight in the manga, so I tried to look into weater focused pokemon; castform and the like...Didn't really carry along the idea. But Dratini's line it turns out covers not only that, but also the doubled 'rescue' symbolism of it all! Dragonair, its evolution, is said to cause changes to the weather, while Dragonite itself is known to rescue and guide people from water.

Which is. Painfully appropriate on a symbolic level (albeit for spoiler reasons, but you'll have seen those up in the history link while I cry into my hands)
Password: Atomic Fireball

Samples
RP Sample: It is genuinely distressing that this boy is this unused to nice things wow

Victory Road Sample: He closed his eyes for a minute, and then everything was gone.

It was like waking from a deep sleep- he was waking from a deep sleep actually, and for a moment he wondered if he had been so tired and overwhelmed that he'd simply passed out in Jol-

Irene's, car.

The last thing he'd remembered was seeing Weather (and what was his name now then? Was it still 'Wes'? Was it something else, something different yet not, like Irene and Anakiss and...). They were stopping again to let him in, and they were supposed to be driving to see Irene's dad (Jotaro? Or...).

...Maybe this was their house, he thought. Someone was playing music but for a little bit he just settled under the covers, shaking. It was so much. It was too much. They'd all been taken so fast, and when he'd managed to stop Him, the one who had done it, the one who had taken his mother (and no he had never had it confirmed not properly but with what little Pucci had acknowledged, and what little he remembered...)...

He'd Won, but they were still gone. There but not really, like a memory of themselves if they had had a better chance.

Like ghosts, he thinks, and as he trembles he finds his sheets and pillow moistening with tears.

"Miiiiii..?"

Quite abruptly, crying is (mostly) put aside. "AAAH-" Almost comically the boy leaps up from bed, launching back from the sound- something that isn't helped when he sees the source.

It looks like a snake- and yet somehow not. It has little wings and cute big eyes, and-

"A....a stand..? Is it a stand?!"

"Miiii?" The creature, confused, simply looks around- and as it does so, Emporio observes the rest of it.

It's a child's room, no doubt about it. It seems better suited to someone just a bit older than him; the bed has plenty of room, and there's even a TV and a computer desk. Maybe Jo- Irene's old room?

Maybe... "Are...you J...Irene's stand..? Does J...Does her dad and everyone still have..."

The creature simply chirps again, and Emporio sighs. Nothing is happening- nothing Will happen, it's over, it's okay and he's safe.

The creature even noses his hand, nuzzling it. "....If they can have stands like this...maybe it really is okay then..."

He really needs to tell them to turn the music down though...

[indigo_league]

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

Now that you've been accepted...
[○] Respond to this with your character's journal. This is a must!
[○] Comment in the Taken Characters post, alphabetized by series: Here.
[○] Join the following communities: victory_road, the_plateau, and ohmyarceus. Only Team Rocket personnel should join silph_co, but we ask that all Victory Road members subscribe to it.
Note! You will not be accepted to the main or logs community until you've commented in the aforementioned places.
[○] If you're still on the reserved list, please let us know that they've been accepted.
[○] Please make sure to check out the Calendar for the weather and upcoming plots and swarms!
[○] You can also find our mod plurk at victoryroad; if you have a Plurk, we suggest you become a fan!

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

Thank you! See you in the Pokémon world!

Akane Tendo | Ranma ½ | Unreserved

[uncutetomboy]

Player
Name: bii
E-mail: all (dot) your (dot) beliefs at gmail
Preferred Contact: obiisama
Timezone: PST
Current Characters in Victory Road: Greg Universe, Steven Durante

Character
Name: Akane Tendo
Series: Ranma ½
Timeline: immediately post-canon
Canon Resource Links: Wiki!

Personality: (Before we start, I’ll note that I’m recycling this section from when I played Akane in Cosmos before.)

“She's really a sweet girl. She's just a violent maniac.” (Thanks, Kasumi.)

Akane is pretty much the original tsundere. She's a very nice, friendly girl with a hair trigger temper and a tendency to assume the worst of people she doesn't like or trust. Included in this category are pretty much all teenage boys everywhere, although she's made great progress with her fear and hatred of teenage boys. Even so, she has a great deal of sympathy for those weak or unable to defend themselves and she will come to the aid of those she'd normal consider her rivals if it seems like they are in trouble.

She's amazingly easy to wind up, has a tendency to jump to conclusions and has a lot of issues involving gender roles, sex and the fear of perversion. A huge part of the fear of perversion probably comes from Kuno's sexual harassment and—although this is just speculation—possibly a fear of being assaulted or raped if one of the boys she fought every morning did manage to win against her. (She definitely does exhibit fears of being overpowered and being raped later on in the manga.)

Akane is deeply insecure, especially when it comes to her femininity. Japan, even today, is a sexist society. Back in 1987 (the year the Ranma ½ manga first began serialization) it was way more so. Given how difficult she finds most traditionally feminine things (her cooking is atrocious, her sewing laughable, her knitting ridiculous, and she's not even very good at first aid) and how much more easily “male” activities like martial arts come to her, it's not really surprising that she worries she's a failure as a woman.

Oddly enough, she's got a lot of very “girly” fears, being afraid of ghosts and reptiles and scary stories. But despite a tendency to get scared easily, Akane is capable of being very brave indeed. Over the course of Ranma ½, she risks life and limb repeatedly to help people, as neatly illustrated by the whole Orochi incident.

She takes a lot of pride in her position as heir to the Tendo Dojo. Fighting is what she's good at. Oh, she's no slouch at school, but her true talents lie in the realm of martial arts. In a way, this preys a little on her insecurities too because while she's very good at what she does, she's surrounded by a lot of overpowered people, the chiefest suspect of which is her fiance.

(Speaking of said fiance, Akane's feelings about him are enough for a whole new bundle of issues. She's in love with Ranma, but she has a hard time admitting it to herself, much less anyone else. And although she loves him, she has trouble trusting him.)

Pokémon Information
Affiliation: Trainer
Starter: Tepig, which she’s immediately going to name ‘T-chan’
Password: Atomic Fireball

Samples
RP Sample: TDM Threads

Victory Road Sample:

This isn’t Akane’s mother.

She doesn’t even look like Akane’s mother. And more importantly, Akane’s mother is dead. This isn’t funny and it’s only the fact that she’s still a little in shock about waking up in a strange place again, having been kidnapped yet again, keeps her from throwing a fit at the fake mom until she’s been hustled out the door and into the fresh air.

And once she’s out, no amount of banging on the door and yelling will let Akane back in to demand what the hell is going on.

Eventually, she gets tired of it and turns to head out. Maybe she can find someone who knows where she is. Maybe Ranma will show up to help her get away, like he always does. If he’s going to show up, she should probably get as far enough away from this place as she can, so that it’s not so embarrassing when he rescues her.

(She’s absolutely sure he will. No matter what else you can say about Akane’s fiance, he’s actually very reliable in the saving her department, as much as she really wishes he didn’t need to be.)

Once she’s a little further out of town, her attention goes to the little ball that the fake mom pressed into her hands, the one with the little button. She presses the button and--

“P-chan--?!?”

Except it’s not Akane’s erstwhile pet. Sure, it’s a tiny little piglet, approximately P-chan’s size, but P-chan was black except for the flat of his nose and this little guy is pink and black.

The little electronic device she was given, which she’d assumed was a weird kind of pager, make a little ping! sound and Akane opens it to reveal a screen that says…

“Tepig… the Fire Pig Pokemon?” The tiny creature oinks at her, pleased to be acknowledged. Akane smiles down at it and scoops it up into her arms. “Why don’t I call you T-chan?” she says.

“I hope you don’t get lost like P-chan always did,” she adds, giving him a little scritch between his ears. “One of us should know where we’re going.”

[indigo_league]

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

Now that you've been accepted...
[○] Respond to this with your character's journal. This is a must!
[○] Comment in the Taken Characters post, alphabetized by series: Here.
[○] Join the following communities: victory_road, the_plateau, and ohmyarceus. Only Team Rocket personnel should join silph_co, but we ask that all Victory Road members subscribe to it.
Note! You will not be accepted to the main or logs community until you've commented in the aforementioned places.
[○] If you're still on the reserved list, please let us know that they've been accepted.
[○] Please make sure to check out the Calendar for the weather and upcoming plots and swarms!
[○] You can also find our mod plurk at victoryroad; if you have a Plurk, we suggest you become a fan!

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

Thank you! See you in the Pokémon world!

Spinel | Steven Universe | Not reserved

[bendyandthepinkmachine]

Player
Name: Dante
E-mail: theirradiated@gmail.com
Preferred Contact: teenysanguini or PM
Timezone: EST
Current Characters in Victory Road: n/a

Character
Name: Spinel
Series: Steven Universe
Timeline: Immediately after the Injector breaks.
Canon Resource Links: Here.

Personality:

Spinel is a fun-loving gem and Pink Diamond's playmate. She loves games, she loves making people laugh, especially Pink Diamond, with her cartoony antics. When Steven reset Spinel's memories by using her Rejuvenator against her, she latched onto him as her "best friend". To her, friendship means a lot of physical affection, lots of play, and trying to get her best friend to laugh by goofing off or singing and dancing. She treats serious situations like a game too, because she doesn't know any other way to interact with the world. Her entire purpose is supposed to be fun and games. For example, when Steven is about to cry because he doesn't know how to save the world from Spinel's Injector, Spinel immediately tries to cheer him up by acting silly instead of acknowledging the stress that Steven feels. 

Spinel's world revolved around Pink Diamond. She was there when Pink Diamond was given her own planet. Spinel was delighted, because it meant a new place to play with  her best friend, Pink Diamond. Pink tells Spinel they're going to play a game, which involves Spinel standing very still in the garden. Pink Diamond leaves her behind to go to Earth, and Spinel never leaves her spot for the next 6,000 years. Spinel's game ends when she learns through a transmission that Pink Diamond never planned on coming back for her, that she no longer exists, and now all that's left is her son - Steven Universe. It's then that she realizes the truth, that she'd be left behind for thousands of years waiting for someone who had abandoned her. Spinel's gem turns upside down, she loses her heart-shaped pigtails, and she gets black lines down her face that resemble tears. Spinel's fun and happy personality was replaced by bitterness and jealously. Her need for revenge is what drives Spinel to go to Earth with her Injector, intending to destroy the planet and ruin Steven's life forever. 

Spinel develops a short temper after her transformation. She's always on edge, looking for the meaning in between what people say. She wants to hurt Steven, because it's her only way of lashing out at Pink Diamond for abandoning her. When Steven convinces Spinel to remove the injector, he says afterwards that they can go back to forgetting this incident ever happened. Spinel however, interprets this as Steven abandoning her. After all, Steven can't forget what happened and have his happy ever after with Spinel around. And after Steven accidentally drops Spinel's Rejuvenator, she assumes the worst. She thinks Steven is going to use it on her to erase her memories so she can go back to being the fun and cute Spinel again. She doesn't give Steven a chance to reason with her. After all, it's easy to assume the worst when she's been betrayed and left behind by the person she trusted most. Now, she has trust in no one.

Spinel also develops a fear of being abandoned, which she shows several times with Steven. She panics when Steven talks about forgetting the Injector incident, assuming that Steven is going to leave her on her own. Similarly, even with her memories erased, she still refuses to leave Steven's side. She even gets angry at Steven when he tries to make her stay. It shows that Spinel has a really hard time being alone, that she knows what loneliness feels like and never wants to experience it again. 

Spinel sees herself as a bad person and has a low opinion of herself. When Steven helps Spinel get her memories back, and reintroduces her to the Crystal Gems, she's hesitant because she's not sure if they'll like her in her current form. She's also hesitant about meeting the Diamonds for that exact reason. She started off as cute and innocent, and then became vengeful and bitter - so much so that it altered her form. She gets angry at Steven for telling her she can change, because he changes for the good, but Spinel will always change for the worst. She calls herself "no good" while fighting Steven. She feels like people like her better as the old Spinel, the fun and innocent one, and that no one will love her as the gem she is now, because she's "bad" now.

Still, Spinel is given a second chance when Steven introduces her to the Diamonds. The Diamonds are thrilled with Spinel, knowing that she was once Pink Diamond's friend, and invite her to live with them. Spinel agrees, and her broken heart is mended a little by having someone who wants her.

Pokémon Information
Affiliation: Team Rocket
Starter: Zorua. I picked Zorua because like Spinel, Zorua is also a shapeshifting trickster.
Password: Atomic Fireball
Samples
RP Sample: Dear Player post.
Victory Road Sample:

[The feed cuts to a close up to Spinel, who's currently grinning. It's hard to see, but if you look close enough you can see her Zorua in the background.]

Heeeeellooooo Johto! 

[She gives an enthusiastic little wave.]

So me and Obsidian here came up with a new trick! And we wanna show it to ya! Watch this!

[And with that, Spinel sets the camera down where it can still record her. While trying to stay in frame, she does a handstand. Her Zorua, Obsidian, proceeds to climb up Spinel, until he reaches her feet in the air. He balances himself on top of her feet, and then stands on his own hind-legs.]

Ta-daaaaa! What do you think? It's cool, isn't it? We've practiced all morning!

ACCEPTED

[indigo_league]

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

Now that you've been accepted...
[○] Respond to this with your character's journal. This is a must!
[○] Comment in the Taken Characters post, alphabetized by series: Here.
[○] Join the following communities: victory_road, the_plateau, and ohmyarceus. Only Team Rocket personnel should join silph_co, but we ask that all Victory Road members subscribe to it.
Note! You will not be accepted to the main or logs community until you've commented in the aforementioned places.
[○] If you're still on the reserved list, please let us know that they've been accepted.
[○] Please make sure to check out the Calendar for the weather and upcoming plots and swarms!
[○] You can also find our mod plurk at victoryroad; if you have a Plurk, we suggest you become a fan!

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

Thank you! See you in the Pokémon world!

Link 🗡Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild 🗡 No Reserve

[thestrongsilenttype]

Player
Name: Mochi
E-mail: mochihearts@gmail.com
Preferred Contact: Plurk @ Mochihearts
Timezone: CST
Current Characters in Victory Road: Allura

Character
Name: Link
Series: Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild
Timeline: Early game (ie. Feral Gremlin Link)
Canon Resource Links: Here for general Link info, here for Breath of the Wild info.

Personality: When asked to describe Link, many people would probably struggle to find just the right words. “Knight,” “Champion,” and “Hero” might all come to mind, but that doesn’t really fully encompass who he is as a person.

One pair of travelers might remember him as the man who charged in to save them when they were being attacked by monsters on their way through the forest. One group of gossiping villagers knows him as the youth who bought and refurbished the old house on the outskirts of town, who tumbles through long enough to sleep, eat, and buy supplies before riding off again. There’s one stable worker who would describe him as “that lunatic who thought he could catch a mountain spirit for a mount.” Still others will recall a kind stranger who went out of his way to help solve their problems. Many people recognize him as the one who appeased the looming threat of the Divine Beasts on their doorsteps.

Regardless of what they know of him, very few really know him. Link rarely stays in the same place long enough to forge any deep connections. He’s made new friends all across the map, to be sure, but everyone he remembers from his past is dead and gone, save for one, and even for her he was a bit of a tough nut to crack.

Growing up as the son of a knight, Link was a playful child who took up the blade as early as four years of age. He spent a fair amount of time in the Zora’s domain, befriending their Princess, Mipha. In one of her journal entries, she describes an incident where she mentioned a large monster near the palace that was threatening her citizens. Link’s immediate reaction was to charge off and kill the creature. There’s a fine line between courage and recklessness, or so he’s been told, and it’s a line he tends to cross fairly often. His bravery as the Champion of Hyrule has been written into song over the last hundred years, serving as both inspiration and a cautionary tale for those who came after.


When he was chosen by the Master Sword as the appointed Hero of Hyrule, as well as protector of crown Princess Zelda, he became withdrawn and taciturn, or so it seemed to most. Link preferred to keep his thoughts to himself, already feeling the pressure of the world’s expectations upon him. He had to play his role in defeating the Calamity Ganon--to appear like a strong and stoic knight ready to bear that burden, he intentionally chose to keep quiet. It was not a vow of silence, exactly, but he became known as a man of few words.

Then, the Calamity came, and none of them were really prepared. Link fell protecting Zelda, just like he’d sworn to do, and he woke up a new man in many ways.

Now that he’s lost his memory. Link is more open again, like he was as a child, if still a bit shy at times. He’s still got that same kind, courageous heart, but he’s more free to talk and act as he wishes. There’s a competitive streak that gets frustrated when he loses, driving him to practice and perfect his skills. He’s fiercely determined; if he’s knocked down one hundred times, he’ll get up a hundred and one times.

He also has a bit of snark to him: Link’s sense of humor is dry, but he enjoys a good laugh as much as the next guy. He can be pretty chill when he isn’t tearing across the countryside. A consummate outdoorsman, he’s almost terrifyingly athletic; he can scale mountains, sprint through fields, ford lakes and rivers, and forage food from even the unlikeliest of places. He likes to eat a lot and will eat as much and as frequently as he has the opportunity.

He’ll adapt quickly to the world of Pokémon, just as he adapts to every situation he finds himself thrown into. He’s still the same brave, steadfast young man as he ever was, with or without his memories. Maybe he’ll even be able to help some people along the way to becoming a Pokémon champion.

Pokémon Information
Affiliation: Trainer
Starter: Rockruff
Password: Atomic Fireball

Samples
RP Sample: Here!
Victory Road Sample: Here!

ACCEPTED

[indigo_league]

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

Now that you've been accepted...
[○] Respond to this with your character's journal. This is a must!
[○] Comment in the Taken Characters post, alphabetized by series: Here.
[○] Join the following communities: victory_road, the_plateau, and ohmyarceus. Only Team Rocket personnel should join silph_co, but we ask that all Victory Road members subscribe to it.
Note! You will not be accepted to the main or logs community until you've commented in the aforementioned places.
[○] If you're still on the reserved list, please let us know that they've been accepted.
[○] Please make sure to check out the Calendar for the weather and upcoming plots and swarms!
[○] You can also find our mod plurk at victoryroad; if you have a Plurk, we suggest you become a fan!

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

Thank you! See you in the Pokémon world!


Note: seeing as prom will be happening, Link will also find an invitation to the party in his backpack.

Brigid Tenenbaum | BioShock 2 | Not Reserved

[mothergoose]

Player
Name: Katie
E-mail: themadmaiden
Preferred Contact: themadmaiden
Timezone: AST
Current Characters in Victory Road: Rebecca "Newt" Jorden, Maya

Character
Name: Brigid Tenenbaum
Series: BioShock
Timeline: BioShock 2 : Post Minerva's Den DLC
Canon Resource Links: Brigid Tenenbaum

Personality:

To understand Tenenbaum’s currently personality you have to understand what she used to be like. In her past, from a very early age, she cared about nothing but science. She lacked empathy and only cared about results. She says that while it would be easy to blame the Germans in the concentration camps for turning her into a monster, she cannot because in truth she found kindred spirits there and not tormentors. Even at the young age of sixteen she had a calm calculated way of thinking. Pointing out the mistakes the German’s made simply because if they were going to do this then they might as well do it right.

It wasn't until years later in the underwater city of Rapture, her long absent or buried conscience finally made an appearance. And it did so in a slow process until one day she could no longer continue with her work because of it.

Guilt and remorse are two driving motivations behind Tenenbaum’s actions and are key to her personality. She created the Little Sisters and the need for them with their ADAM and while it took a while, she eventually realized what a horrible thing she was doing to them. She hates herself for it and refers to her actions as “her sins” and is willing to die or kill to correct them.

Despite her new-found conscience Tenenbaum is still similar to her old self in ways. She is still has a very logical mind that might seem cold to most people. Only the children she looks after seem to get her rare warmth and she’s uneasy with it. Not used to being a mother figure she does her best to work it out as she goes along. She's never been good with social things, normally focusing solely on whatever research or scientific work she was doing at the time. Science is still very important to her, it is just now what she tries to use to fix her mistakes not create more.

Her maternal instinct, when it finally appeared, was strong and fierce and she is highly protective of all of her little ones. Tenenbaum will kill anyone who tries to hurt the Little Sisters no matter who or what they are. The Big Daddies are hard for people with plasmids that give them superpowers to kill and Tenenbaum managed to steal away many Little Sisters without any of those. Her one goal is almost always towards their safety and protection. Now, despite being responsible for ADAM she doesn't show much sympathy for the addicted Splicers or the Big Daddies at first. It isn't until the second game that she shows anything but disgust and hatred towards the Big Daddies, even though they were people as well. This evolves over time. She goes from being willing to leave them all to die, to delving deeper into Rapture to find a supercomputer to help her find a cure for the ADAM sickness once and for all.

She is a very driven person and channels all her energy into solving her problems. When she discovered ADAM no respectable scientific institute would give her the time of day so she turned to smugglers to get what she needed. When she realized she was doing something horrible she worked to develop a way to free the Little Sisters from their condition. She then began stealing away Little Sisters and freeing them. Creating a hideaway from the chaos of Rapture and a place for them to be safe while she worked on fixing her mistakes. Years later, when she hears that children are being kidnapped from the surface she finds a way back to the underwater city and begins to free them once more. No matter what the obstacles in her way, she will not give up until she has fixed her mistakes or has died trying to do so.

Focused on science and learning, Tenenbaum has never payed much attention to simple things like her own appearance or clothing. She’s been known to wear ratty clothing and doesn't care what it is as long as it’s durable. It’s probably a good thing she has to look after the Little Sisters she frees because it means she will at least stop to eat. If only because she needs to get food for them. She also brings them toys and other things to occupy themselves with while she’s working.

Tenenbaum has been heavily influenced by Jack, the protagonist of the first game. He saved all of the Little Sisters he came across, instead of harvesting them and killing them. And through him Tenenbaum began to have hope that there was still good in people. Over the course of the game she was suspicious but eventually learned to trust Jack. She is more hopeful and optimistic about the world thanks to him. When she returned to Rapture to try and save the new Little Sisters, she brought his old wrench along with her as a reminder of him.

Pokémon Information
Affiliation: Breeder
Starter: Solosis
Password: Atomic Fireball

Samples
RP Sample: Test drive thread

Victory Road Sample:

[The feed will cut to a woman in a labcoat who is being hovered around by a Solosis. She's fairly serious looking but probably just looks tired. When she speaks, she has a thick German accent.]

It appears I am to be something called a pokemon breeder here. Perhaps my background in genetic will assist in that. Even though I am still finding it hard to believe there is a creature that appears to be of one cell floating around my head.

[Hearing themselves being mentioned said creature will float in front of the gear for a moment to show off before Tenenbaum carefully moves it away from them. There is at least a small smile on her face.]

Yes, yes little one. You are indeed a marvel.

[Once it floats back to her side she'll go back to her more serious expression.]

Now, what I really wish to know is where I can find more information or data about this task. Are there many other people studying in this field? I am not against working alone, however in such a place it seems very unlikely this is not a highly studied field.

Any information would be useful.

...thank you.

ACCEPTED

[indigo_league]

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

Now that you've been accepted...
[○] Respond to this with your character's journal. This is a must!
[○] Comment in the Taken Characters post, alphabetized by series: Here.
[○] Join the following communities: victory_road, the_plateau, and ohmyarceus. Only Team Rocket personnel should join silph_co, but we ask that all Victory Road members subscribe to it.
Note! You will not be accepted to the main or logs community until you've commented in the aforementioned places.
[○] If you're still on the reserved list, please let us know that they've been accepted.
[○] Please make sure to check out the Calendar for the weather and upcoming plots and swarms!
[○] You can also find our mod plurk at victoryroad; if you have a Plurk, we suggest you become a fan!

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

Thank you! See you in the Pokémon world!

Emet-Selch | Final Fantasy XIV | Reserved | linked because he's a spoiler

[amaure]

"But yes, moral relativism and all that. Case in point—I do not consider you to be truly alive. Ergo, I will not be guilty of murder if I kill you."

ACCEPTED!

[indigo_league]

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

Now that you've been accepted...
[○] Respond to this with your character's journal. This is a must!
[○] Comment in the Taken Characters post, alphabetized by series: Here.
[○] Join the following communities: victory_road, the_plateau, and ohmyarceus. Only Team Rocket personnel should join silph_co, but we ask that all Victory Road members subscribe to it.
Note! You will not be accepted to the main or logs community until you've commented in the aforementioned places.
[○] If you're still on the reserved list, please let us know that they've been accepted.
[○] Please make sure to check out the Calendar for the weather and upcoming plots and swarms!
[○] You can also find our mod plurk at victoryroad; if you have a Plurk, we suggest you become a fan!

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

Thank you! See you in the Pokémon world!

Estinien Wyrmblood | Final Fantasy XIV | Reserved

[stardiving]

Player
Name: Famine
E-mail: nova.puppets@gmail.com
Preferred Contact: novatierrie, timeskips#3493 on Discord
Timezone: Central
Current Characters in Victory Road: None

Character
Name: Estinien Wyrmblood
Series: Final Fantasy XIV
Timeline: Shadowbringers patch 5.1, after returning from Garlemald and reporting to the Scions
Canon Resource Links:
Estinien's Wiki page
The Dragonsong War (Heavensward story summary)

Personality:
Once, not so long ago, Estinien was a very intense man driven by a deep hatred for dragons and Nidhogg in particular, as well as grief for his lost family and a desperate desire for the war that took them and commanded every waking moment of his life to end. When first met by the player character (should they take the Lancer job and continue into the Dragoon storyline), Estinien has left his home to draw what he senses is an imminent attack away from Ishgard and its people. Just as much as he wished to avenge his family, he also wished to protect his home. To accomplish his goals, he trained furiously and, starting as a low-born orphan (possibly the worst starting point for someone from his society) he fought his way to the position of the Azure Dragoon, the pre-eminent warrior of Ishgardian society. Anything that didn't put him in a better position to fight their enemies was summarily dismissed. Also, anything that would help, even collaborating with an enemy, was considered. He spent as much time studying dragons as he has fighting them, anything to gain an edge--he's very observant, for how little he generally speaks of those observations.

Estinien has very, very little patience for social posturing, as he's found. He trained day and night to gain the strength to destroy Nidhogg and end the war, not spend time faffing about at parties. Despite being a high-ranked person, for all intents and purposes new nobility in a society that takes that very seriously, he spends all of his time either learning about dragons to best know how to defeat them, or actually out fighting. It's gotten to the point where no one expects him to show up, even at official functions where part of his responsibilities is to be there. Technically, he's the commander of an entire unit of dragoons, but you'll never see him at their head. Part of this is because of his loner nature, but he also doesn't want to drag anyone into danger if he can help it, and has more faith in his own strength than that of others. Part of his character arc throughout the main story of Heavensward is learning to rely on other people as he journeys with the Warrior, Alphinaud, and Ysayle. Even if he had other allies before, that he even trusted, he always held himself apart.

Between his antisocial nature and tendency to put his foot in his mouth or just be an asshole when he is interacting with people, you could be pardoned writing him off as just another overly confident, musclebound fighter--most people do. He certainly is confident--he has every right to be, he is an incredibly strong fighter, but he's pursued all his strength in service to his homeland and people, not just for its own end. In the end, all he wants is for the war to end by any means necessary. It's this want, the bone-deep tiredness of all the fighting and loss that he feels, that has him let his guard down for just long enough to Nidhogg's lingering spirit to take control of his body when the second eye is recovered.

This is a major turning point in his character--from the outside, it seems that Estinien himself simply ceases to exist. There's no sign of him fighting the possession, for months he is trapped within his own mind, doing everything he can to keep the last shred of himself from being destroyed by the overwhelming might of an ancient immortal dragon. Helpless to watch as Nidhogg continues the war--for all appearances to utterly destroy Ishgard this time. It takes all of his remaining strength to turn the tide for just a moment. And true to his form of doing anything in his power to end the war, he grasps his own throat with all his remaining strength and tells his friends to kill him to destroy Nidhogg.

They don't. They manage to rescue him. He...didn't plan for that.

When he awakens, the change in him is almost immediately evident. He starts by half-heartedly being an asshole, but right away apologizes and acts contrite, thanking the player and Alphinaud for saving him. He quietly reflects on how seeing Nidhogg's rage affected him, and how he saw his own heart in the dragon's grief, rage, and hatred. That the only difference between them is that Estinien consistently had people around him to draw him back from the edge. He can't feel joy that Nidhogg is dead, and feels no satisfaction from having his vengeance. He immediately sets aside the title of Azure Dragoon that he'd worked and struggled so hard to achieve, wishing only to rest.

...but he is terrible at that. He leaves on a journey of self-reflection, coming to peace with his place in a changing world, and swears to use his strength to defend both man and dragon, opposed to only hunting for vengeance. He journeys to the places where people were lost--the remnants of Ferndale, his home, to pray for the spirits of his parents and brother. Azys Lla, to leave flowers for Ysayle, who had once been his enemy and who he fought with almost constantly even as they traveled together with the player character, who also gave her life there for her conviction to end the war. Sohr Khai, to mourn Ratatoskr, Nidhogg's sister, whose murder had sparked the Dragonsong War. It's there that he decides on his path--with the blessing of Hraesvelgr, he takes up an ancient set of armor made for the original dragoons, men who fought alongside dragons, blessed with draconic power freely given. In sentiment and reflection, he named his armor Iceheart--Ysayle's alias--and took it to the battlefield to protect his comrades.

Estinien is certainly cold and prickly, but once past the surface he has a soft core of sentiment and empathy. Once you have his loyalty, he is incredibly steadfast, and once you have his respect, it is difficult (but not impossible) to lose it. Behind his sarcastic and off-color remarks, he is conscious when he's gone too far and immediately apologizes when he does, and he never truly means to be awful about it. (Unless your his enemy, but then he's just going to be fighting you.) He is confident in his strength and ability, but knows when he's outmatched. Really, he's just a tired soldier who can't put down the fight.

Pokémon Information
Affiliation: Trainer
Starter: Alolan Vulpix
Password: Atomic Fireball

Samples
RP Sample: Here

Victory Road Sample:
Estinien had gone to sleep in a simple room in Camp Dragonhead's barracks, intending to return to Foundation in the morning and check in. He'd woken up with most of his legs hanging off a tiny bed, in a room that might belong to a child, being prodded by said child's mother who spoke...far too familiarly. Despite his best attempts to get answers, he'd had a bag and a small white fox unceremoniously shoved at him and then shown the door.

Outside holds more surprises. Though he was expecting something odd, it wasn't a small collection of houses nestled in green trees, nary a snowflake to be seen. No one is armed, or armored, and there are more of the odd beasts running around. And now that he's paying attention, there's music playing from somewhere. It's omnipresent, growing neither louder or softer as he approaches and moves away from buildings and people.

What in the Fury's name.

He glances down at the pack in his hands, at the fox sitting curiously at his feet, and decides upon his course of action.

First, he leaves town--he doesn't wish to have people's eyes on him--and sits under a tree off the side of the path. The fox almost immediately curls up beside him and shoves its nose under his hand seeking attention. He nearly jumps back to his feet--he doesn't expect it to be cold, its breath chill as a Coerthan wind against his skin. After he gets over his shock, he gives the creature a cursory scratch, fingers dragging through ice crystals in its hair.

What.

After a few moments, he turns his attention to what he meant to examine--the bag he'd been handed. There's a neatly folded set of clothes, what looks to be smallclothes, neatly labeled soaps and towels, a bedroll...very little actually useful for being in the wilderness. How long are they expected to travel? Hmph. He reads through the given journal quickly, then picks up the...device, turning it over in his hands.

"I don't suppose that you know how this thing works, or even what it is supposed to be," he murmurs to the fox, certainly not expecting to be understood or recieve an answer. Much less for the little beast to snatch the thing out of his hands with its teeth and drop it to the ground, paw it open, and poke at it until a tinny voice rang out.

"Vulpix, Alola form. It exhales air colder than -58 degrees Fahrenheit. In hot weather, this Pokémon makes ice shards with its six tails and sprays them around to cool itself off."

...Finally, something that might start to give some answers. Now if only he knew how to work it.

ACCEPTED!

[indigo_league]

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

Now that you've been accepted...
[○] Respond to this with your character's journal. This is a must!
[○] Comment in the Taken Characters post, alphabetized by series: Here.
[○] Join the following communities: victory_road, the_plateau, and ohmyarceus. Only Team Rocket personnel should join silph_co, but we ask that all Victory Road members subscribe to it.
Note! You will not be accepted to the main or logs community until you've commented in the aforementioned places.
[○] If you're still on the reserved list, please let us know that they've been accepted.
[○] Please make sure to check out the Calendar for the weather and upcoming plots and swarms!
[○] You can also find our mod plurk at victoryroad; if you have a Plurk, we suggest you become a fan!

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

Thank you! See you in the Pokémon world!

Erina Joestar | JoJo's Bizarre Adventure

[puddlesoverdios]

Player
Name: Irene
E-mail: smallest.irene@gmail.com
Preferred Contact: Plurk (sentralia) Discord (Sweet Irene#7091).
Timezone: EST/EDT
Current Characters in Victory Road: None!

Character
Name: Erina Joestar (nee Pendleton)
Series: Jojo’s Bizarre Adventure
Timeline: Morning after marrying Jonathan Joestar, February 3rd 1889
Canon Resource Links:https://jojo.fandom.com/wiki/Erina_Pendleton#Anime

Personality: Erina was raised a proper Victorian-era lady. Like any young lady of means this meant she was educated. She also seems to have been by herself often as a child and dealt with some suspicion to her father’s practice (after a boy deemed him a ‘quack’), which visibly bothered her. Erina’s sense of propriety is also very in line with her era, as she chooses to dress and present herself in normal attire for her class.

Erina is also curious of others, going so far as to stalk admire Jonathan from afar when he saved her from bullies, but also taking the time to clean his dirty handkerchief and offering him fruit to cheer him up. She is very observant, noticing Jonathan’s loneliness as a child, and then later when she is a nurse and Erina’s choices after Dio also show a sense of bold, sly, fury by showing Dio that he was less worthy to be on her lips by cleaning them with dirty puddle water, despite knowing that very near to the scene of the crime was a much cleaner river. The move was calculated enough to get a rise out of Dio, but that it did at all spoke volumes of her planning in that moment.

She is very intelligent, evidenced by her bucking the typical trend of very minor schooling, and becoming a nurse to assist her father later in her youth.

As she grew into adulthood, these same traits were polished. Her words are often carefully chosen and measured (but moreso as an adult than a child), and her presence brings about a sense of calm for those she devotes her time to. Despite everything that could have had far worse consequences on her psyche as an adult, Erina retained her kindness and care for others (seen in her work as a nurse and willingness to help those in need). She became more vocal as an adult woman as well, chastising Baron Zeppeli when he appeared to harm Jonathan.

Erina is rather romantic as an adult, though she tends to keep that toned down some when in public spaces where such things may appear unsightly or unseemly. She is protective of him, and to this end her own stubborn and determined nature is clear as she allowed no one else into the room to see Jonathan while he was being tended to and pointedly turned away even his friend, Speedwagon. She spent perhaps more time than necessary with him as he recovered, and that spread even into taking walks with him during his recovery (and ostensibly deepening their relationship by talking). At the end of part one, she states that she would rather die with Jonathan than escape a doomed ship and be without him and must be convinced to live at Jonathan’s request.
She has no lack of devotion for her loved ones; she loves both her family, and Jonathan, and would do anything to keep them safe and well with everything in her power. To this end, Erina’s goodness and kindness are sometimes to her detriment, as she can let herself grow worn out, or even harm her own body to keep working on a worthy cause.

Erina is a woman who sets herself to do something and will complete it regardless of what it does to her.

Pokémon Information
Affiliation: Breeder
Starter: Pachirisu.
Password: Atomic, Fireball

Samples
RP Sample: https://ohmyarceus.dreamwidth.org/15698.html?thread=2917970#cmt2917970

Victory Road Sample: The pachirisu was darling. After a few uncertain pets, trying to remember how to handle an animal more energetic than a fat housecat, Peda found herself a comfortable perch on Erina’s side as they looked over her map together. At least it appeared that most everything was in a straight line. There was plenty of travel between much of the areas and that was bound to make her tired, but her walking shoes were comfortable, and it was good exercise.
And, despite the earlier parts of their where Peda broke into her food and ate so much of it she looked a bit like a sock with a ball inside of it, things were truly looking up for her. It was easier now to look forward to seeing her beloved Jonathan, and to meeting her distant family members.

That concept was still strange, but she was getting used to it. “Well, Peda,” she said after a few moments, turning to address the chubby pachirisu. “It will not be easy, I think, to travel alone, but if you keep me well protected, then perhaps at the end of this I will make sure you have your own, personal plate of berries.“

The bribe appeared to work, as Peda shimmied down the side of her skirt and hurried off down the path as fast as its legs would take it. Which, apparently was quite fast. Erina watched for a moment, amused, until she also hurried down the path after it. “Slow down, slow down, we have a very long way to go!”

Peda skidded to a stop and turned to look at Erina as she gamely caught up behind the pachirisu.

“Now, now, please do not look at me that way. I did tell you it would be a long walk, didn’t I? We must pace ourselves, so we are not overtired and out of sorts.” She was anxious to get to the next city, of course. But not making it there was a larger concern. Pade gave Erina a long, suffering sigh as she dropped into a not-quite walk.

ACCEPTED!

[indigo_league]

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

Now that you've been accepted...
[○] Respond to this with your character's journal. This is a must!
[○] Comment in the Taken Characters post, alphabetized by series: Here.
[○] Join the following communities: victory_road, the_plateau, and ohmyarceus. Only Team Rocket personnel should join silph_co, but we ask that all Victory Road members subscribe to it.
Note! You will not be accepted to the main or logs community until you've commented in the aforementioned places.
[○] If you're still on the reserved list, please let us know that they've been accepted.
[○] Please make sure to check out the Calendar for the weather and upcoming plots and swarms!
[○] You can also find our mod plurk at victoryroad; if you have a Plurk, we suggest you become a fan!

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

Thank you! See you in the Pokémon world!

Lio Fotia | Promare | not reserved

[burnishingmad]

Player
Name: Jack
E-mail: spaceconfessional@gmail.com
Preferred Contact: ratatosk
Timezone: PST
Current Characters in Victory Road: None!

Character
Name: Lio Fotia
Series: Promare (film)
Timeline: Immediately after Galo's Kiss Of Life (™) reviving him
Canon Resource Links: the wiki, it’s a big shounen movie from the directors of Gurren Lagann and Kill la Kill so like. It’s on the tin.


Personality: Lio is at first glance level headed and collected as he leads his people and his team to survival in the wastelands. His voice stays calm, and he has incredible control over his fire. Lio shows he can command a group easily and understands strategic value of where to send his men, when to draw back, what to protect.

He is extremely passionate about the Burnish plight and loyal to his two "generals". Lio values life above all else, hence his insistence they not only not kill needlessly but also to provide escape routes for anyone caught in their fires. He appears to be more in tune with the Promare with the way he talks about their fires to Galo when they meet the second time.

With his passion comes a lot of anger as well. Lio has some… anger issues, particularly where one Kray Foresight is concerned. He knows Kray is the reason the Burnish are being experimented on and killed, and will do whatever he can to get close to Kray and kill him. He loses control of himself when in Kray’s presence, doing whatever he can to get within punching distance of the governor.

After starting to work with Galo, Lio seemingly loosens up a bit! He’s less anger and more goes along with Galo’s stupid ideas. Once their ideals line up, Lio works very well with others; even if Lio comments that Galo’s ideas are stupid, he helps materialize what Galo says he needs for their confrontation. That said, he really only trusts his own Burnish generals and Galo; he’s been betrayed by far too many of non-Burnish and even one of his own. He comes across standoffish and cold in normal conversation, but it’s more that he does not trust anyone.

Pokémon Information
Affiliation: Trainer!
Starter: Vulpix
Password: atomic fireball

Samples
RP Sample: tdm sample

Victory Road Sample: network; video

The longer I'm here and read this network, the more I realize I am not the only one misplaced. I'll skip the inane questions and ask: has anyone seen or heard from Galo Thymos. There is. Quite literally no way you would miss him.

I'm looking for others as well. Meis, Gueira, if you're here, please answer me.

[He's... really worried okay.]

I will ask one question. Do people keep these as pets or as battle champions?

ACCEPTED

[indigo_league]

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

Now that you've been accepted...
[○] Respond to this with your character's journal. This is a must!
[○] Comment in the Taken Characters post, alphabetized by series: Here.
[○] Join the following communities: victory_road, the_plateau, and ohmyarceus. Only Team Rocket personnel should join silph_co, but we ask that all Victory Road members subscribe to it.
Note! You will not be accepted to the main or logs community until you've commented in the aforementioned places.
[○] If you're still on the reserved list, please let us know that they've been accepted.
[○] Please make sure to check out the Calendar for the weather and upcoming plots and swarms!
[○] You can also find our mod plurk at victoryroad; if you have a Plurk, we suggest you become a fan!

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

Thank you! See you in the Pokémon world!