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Starter Pokémon! A compiled list of the starter Pokémon to choose from offered in Victory Road!
Player Name: Sailor G E-mail: sailorgundam06 [at] gmail Preferred Contact:sailorgundam06, Discord: SailorGundam06#2608, PM journal Timezone: Eastern (NY) Current Characters in Victory Road: none
Character Name: Romelle Series: Voltron: Legendary Defender Timeline: mid season 8... just after the episode "Clear Day" Canon Resource Links: - Voltron Wiki - Voltron: Legendary Defender Wiki
During season 8, Romelle joins the crew of the Atlas in the hope that she can help Allura unlock the mysteries of a strange new type of mech that has been draining quintessence from various planets. The mechs are all piloted by other Alteans from Romelle's colony, and, after enduring a bitter tirade about being a traitor to Lotor and her own people from Luka, the first pilot the team found, Romelle is able to learn that the mechs are being sent by Honerva in an effort to gather enough quintessence that she can open a rift to other realities.
She spends most of her time with the rest of the Altean pilots of these mechs that are recovered, hoping they will turn against Honerva. However, they are all infected with a parasite from within the rift that connects them to Honerva and causes them pain when they try. At a loss, Romelle steps back from her attempts and leaves dealing with the parasite to Allura, who is a powerful alchemist able to figure out a way to draw the parasites out.
Personality: Romelle can be headstrong, blunt, and stubborn. She's guarded, as her skepticism and questioning of blind faith made her something of a pariah among the other Alteans on the colony. When her parents are chosen by Lotor to go to the other colony, she begins to wonder if they're doing the right thing in just following everything Lotor tells them. Most of the other Alteans tell her not to worry and that being chosen is a great honor. This does not sit well with Romelle at all.
She can also be persuasive. Her discussions with her brother about where their parents went gets through to Bandor and he gives her a secret communicator to use when he is suddenly chosen for the other colony as well. This only strengthens her resolve. However, she realizes that she cannot tell the other Alteans when Bandor returns badly injured and dies. Lotor finds the wreck of Bandor's shuttlepod and covers it up, and Romelle knows that she will have to play along with the charade. None of the other Alteans are likely to believe her anyway without proof, and now she fears what might happen to her if Lotor finds out she knows. She hides the truth, even lying to others in order to protect herself.
Still, taking this stance against the beliefs of her people isn't easy for Romelle. When Luka calls her a traitor, Romelle takes it to heart, and is clearly hurt. In her mind, she was doing the right thing and trying to save them from this suspicious thing Lotor was doing to them. When Keith and Krolia arrive on the colony, Romelle sees her chance to gather proof and takes it. When faced with Lotor on the Castle of Lions, where Keith and Krolia had taken Romelle to get help from Voltron, Romelle shows how bitter and hurt she is at the loss of her family. She is disillusioned from Lotor's glossed over plans of restoration for the Alteans and the Galra, and is quite ready to speak her mind about how she feels about what Lotor's done.
Romelle's curious nature likely started her down the road to finding out the truth. As we get to know her during her journey with the Paladins to Earth, we see how she wants to learn about everything around her. She becomes a bit of a thorn in Lance's side as, while riding with him in the Red Lion, she ends up pushing too many buttons and filling the cockpit with some sort of mist or gas. She's also very pragmatic, pointing out just how weird things are, and that everyone just accepts it without question. She tends to mention the obvious in order to highlight this, like how Allura yanked Shiro's soul from the Black Lion, crammed it into the clone body, and everyone is just moving on to the next thing without blinking an eye.
Pokémon Information Affiliation: Trainer Starter: Stufful Password: Atomic Fireball
Personality: There is something to be said about a man who has earned the nickname Kusomatsu (literally, Shitmatsu) from his identical five brothers. Karamatsu is nothing, if not memorable, and, usually, it's in a negative way. He is flashy and over-the-top in not only his mannerisms, but also in his clothes. If he's not showing a little skin, it's not good enough. Karamatsu thinks of himself as the prime example of manly, opting to wear tight jeans, leather jackets, sunglasses, and toe-pinching shoes. Sometimes his pants have sequins.
He also believes he is kind, saying that he will run odd errands and do tasks for his other brothers. At the same time, he resents them for always talking down to him or making fun of him. Osomatsu, especially, earns Karamatsu's ire, since he is supposed to be the oldest, but is unreliable at best. When push comes to shove, Karamatsu fluctuates from being supportive and steadfast, to being a pushover constantly weighed down by the opinions of others. He is not weak-willed, but he does appear to be timid and unable to say no (again, unless you're Osomatsu). Karamatsu values validation. He likes to stand out, but that is because he is so worried about becoming invisible in a sea of faces that look exactly like him.
He is constantly the butt of jokes, though not by his own volition. In one episode, Karamatsu's only friend outside the family, Chibita, encourages Karamatsu to pretend he has been kidnapped by him, and that he is being held for ransom. Instead of running to his aid, his brothers ignore the danger, and, in the end, throw pots and pans at Karamatsu while Chibita is making noise outside their house. He returns at the end of the episode, bandaged and with a crutch, wondering why no one cares about him. There are other episodes where he injures himself (or others injure him), and his brothers don't bat an eye. He has also been known to say something relevant, or give good advice, only to be berated by one of his brothers (usually Ichimatsu).
But why are his brothers so mean to him, you ask. That could be because they know what a narcissist Karamatsu is, and don't approve of the methods he uses to make himself look good. He dresses flashy, draws attention to himself by being dramatic and speaking poetically and loudly, and he has a high opinion of himself (while still valuing the opinions of others... he's complicated). His confidence level is through the roof, and no one understands how it got that high. He simply started wearing shirts with his own face printed on them one day, and everyone began to avoid him like the Plague. Thankfully, Karamatsu is both tenacious and stupid, and can bounce back episode after episode, as though nothing was wrong. He tries hard, too hard, most of the time.
Still, even with his brothers constantly ignoring or going out of their way to bully him, they mean so much to him. Karamatsu has been known to be protective. His bond with Jyushimatsu is surprisingly strong; he is seen bribing his younger brother with sweets in one episode, but also he stepped in to punch Osomatsu when Osomatsu wrongfully bullied him in another. In the movie, younger Karamatsu cared so much about how his teenage brothers were going their separate ways that he was depressed and filled with anxiety. Both younger and older Karamatsu did not want to make waves, so they bottled up their feelings for a long time.
So, he has some good in him. In one of the more famous episodes, Ichimatsu finds Karamatsu taking a nap, and decides to try on his clothes because he actually likes them. Then, when Osomatsu discovers him, Ichimatsu pretends he is Karamatsu. When Karamatsu wakes up, he pretends he is Ichimatsu to help cover for him. In another episode, Osomatsu was blaming his brothers by saying they were stealing from him, and Karamatsu whispered to Osomatsu that his wallet was in his own pocket. Karamatsu did not ask for any compensation for either of these instances, and was simply helping his brothers out so that they would not be ashamed.
Above all else, what matters most to Karamatsu, is... Karamatsu. His driving force could be his narcissism. He doesn't want to be forgotten, he performs tasks for others so people will like him. This doesn't mean he is necessarily evil. He has been shown to have a good heart, though he's definitely not a pure gentle flower, or anything. Karamatsu is, objectively, one of the nicer Matsuno siblings (only surpassed by Jyushimatsu) but, when compared to the others, it's not a high bar to pass.
Pokémon Information Affiliation: Breeder Starter: Feebas Password: Atomic Fireball
Player Name: Roo E-mail: narsinator@gmail.com Preferred Contact: Disco: Rooibos#5175, CosmicRooibos Timezone: US Central Current Characters in Victory Road: N/A
Character Name: Larry Laffer Series: Leisure Suit Larry Timeline: After the events of Wet Dreams Don't Dry Canon Resource Links: Listen. The canon for this series is an absolute mess, and not just from a political/content standpoint. There is no fourth wall; he is aware that he's a video game character, while simultaneously being a living person. For example, he becomes programmer for Sierra On-Line, making games that he's the protagonist of within his own universe. Every time there's a death scene in the first game, he's shown to be liquidated and remolded into a new body in an underground lab, with no reasoning or backstory. The fourth game, or rather the lack of it, suggests that Larry loses his memory, and thus his character growth, simply because his development floppy disks went missing. He gets abducted by aliens at the conclusion of the seventh game, which never gets to see resolution due to massive layoffs at Sierra in 1999.
The more you know, the less it makes sense. With that said, here's links to the synopses of older games: 1, 2, 3, 5, 6, 7, Wet Dreams.
Personality: By far his most defining characteristic, Larry is permanently and relentlessly horny on main. He'll hit on any woman even if she wouldn't even give him the time of day. Cheesy pickup lines and double entendres abound and anything you say can and will be twisted into that's what she said. At least he has the decency to introduce himself before hitting on someone...well, most of the time.
You may be tempted to think that a series that is founded on a plot where you try to sleep with as many women as possible has a protagonist that is a frustrated incel that thinks that women owe him sex...but that couldn't be farther from the truth. Larry, while a far cry from being a classic textbook gentleman, is not hunting for conquest. When women rebuff his attentions -- or worse, take advantage of him -- regardless of how much he's done for them to win them over, he shrugs it off and moves on. Not a single time has he ever believed that a woman owed him something, nor has he ever flared a temper or held a grudge. While a persistent flirt and a single-minded pervert, Larry has always honored consent, holding both women and their autonomy in high regard...
...even if "yield" means "go" to Larry. He's rarely able to read between the lines, even when he tries to. If you're not interested, you must clearly say "no" or "I'm not interested". Ultimatums are taken as challenges and are worthless in trying to dissuade him. Likewise, attempts to insult or tease him frequently go right over his head. Most of the time, he can't tell when guys are hitting on him. Before he started his swinger lifestyle he used to be an extreme shut-in, and the lack of social skills that implies frequently rears its head.
Even though it's obvious that Larry thinks with his libido, it's clear that his heart is at least sitting in shotgun with the map. At his core, Larry craves genuine and meaningful emotional connections with people. Because he doesn't view sex as mere conquest, he doesn't try to force a connection when it's not there. This is the most significant reason why, despite his libido, he doesn't simply stick to transactions with prostitutes.
Unfortunately, Larry is the textbook example of "product of his time." Even though Larry has a gentle soul, he has some backwards conceptions about minorities and a tasteless sense of humor about them. None of it comes from a malicious or hateful place, but he thinks that it's harmless. He genuinely apologizes when someone makes it clear that he overstepped a line.
No matter how hard he gets shafted, he always retains an upbeat attitude. Let it be known that life loves to dump on Larry Laffer. With what could only be the cosmic karma for constantly trying to woo women, Larry finds himself frequently in unfortunate situations. Sometimes he ends up chained to a bedpost while the woman he thought he was about to have make love to steals his wallet, sometimes he gets kicked out of the bed (and onto the street) immediately after the act, and he's had several types of emergency services called on his behalf.
However, there's a hidden genius in this crouching moron. Using lateral logic problem-solving skills, Larry can MacGyver the most illogical items together into something useful to solve problems, navigate puzzles, and obliterate obstacles. In previous games, Larry -- despite being originally established as a programmer -- goes on to various career fields throughout the series and only notably fails at one of them. (Timeshare marketing, for those who are curious.)
On that note, If you have something Larry thinks could be helpful down the line, hopefully it's either (a) tied down, (b) cemented into place, or (c) too heavy for him to lift, because it's going to disappear. It doesn't matter how readily apparent the utility of the object is. He'll do it right under your nose, too. Catch him in the act and he's likely to try to bargain for it. The logic of an adventure game protagonist can be obtuse, but if he likes you (or, hell, even ambivalent towards you) it's likely to end up in your favor at the end.
Most importantly, a characteristic of his that significantly contrasts with his previous iterations in past games is that he's actually quite progressive. If anything, Larry now more accurately represents the attitude of the late 70s discotheque than ever before. Larry is particularly amicable to Dick and Lance, even after he realizes that he's being hit on (and the insisting that he's not into men), and expresses positive surprise to hear that gay marriage had been legalized.
Important Note: As you can see, Larry comes from a very adult-oriented canon, but with his level of meta-awareness (he'll immediately recognize that he's in another world that also runs off of Video Game Logic, and that this "video game" is meant for kids) combined his canon-implied proactivity in keeping his adult content away from kids' eyes, he will make an intentional effort to keep himself on a PG/PG-13-level filter. In other words, not only am I cognizant of Victory Road's tone and theme and wish to play within those boundaries, but Larry is on board with that as well. Think Brock-mode.
Pokémon Information Affiliation: Trainer Starter: Bounsweet Password: Atomic Fireball
Samples RP Sample:A Ryslig TDM (SFW but you might not want to show the hyperlinked image to friendly company)
Victory Road Sample: Network post:
[This video gets posted in the wee hours of the morning. It's not an hour too absurd, but if you keep to a decent sleep schedule you might not see this until you wake up. When Larry speaks, it's in a conspiratorial whisper:]
Hey guys. Larry -- eheh -- Larry Laffer here. I, uh, could use some help...
[He points the camera down and into his lap, where a battered and bruised Bounsweet -- despite her injuries -- sleeps peacefully in the cradle created by his crossed legs. She makes contented, dainty little snores all the while.]
This little guy here keeps running off and getting into fights she can't win! I know what she's trying to do, but we're not going to get anywhere like this.
I don't know what the point of these balls are if they can escape whenever they want...!
Heh, aaaaanyway --
[He brings the camera back up to his face.]
-- is anyone around that would --gently-- spar with her? I've...eheh, run out of money for healing items, and I can't get a stone's throw from town before having to bring her back to the Center! So, I'm stuck here for now. I guess I could use a travel partner--or a chaperone--but that'll just get me to the next town without fixing the problem!
I'm in -- [he throws a glance over his shoulder] -- Cherry...grove? Oh, what a cute name for a town-- if anyone's available to lend a hand.
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!
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!
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!
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!
Player Name: Airdra E-mail: kamenfirestorm at gmail dot com Preferred Contact:Airdra Timezone: CST Current Characters in Victory Road: Sento Kiryu
Character Name:Jules Thibault Series: Original Character (Changeling: The Lost) Timeline: He's from late 2019. Canon Resource Links: There is a fandom wiki here. Changeling: The Lost is a tabletop game that enters around Changelings, who are humans who were kidnapped by the True Fae and taken to Faerie to serve as whatever the Fae needed them to be. These Changelings have then escaped from the Fae and made it back to the human world, where they must now deal with what has happened to them and being something other than human. When the Fae took them, the Changelings lost a little bit of themselves, but gained something otherworldly--their own fae powers--in return.
Original Character Background: Jules grew up both loving computers and going without much in the way of proper adult supervision thanks to his parents paying more attention to his siblings than to him. He originally started out with small acts of digital mischief, which escalated to running a full-on botnet by the time he was in college. He got caught, much to his dismay, and ended up getting sent to jail for a variety of digital crimes. To make things worse, once he made it to jail, he also ended up getting taken by the True Fae.
The Fae came for him while he was in jail, snatching him out of his bunk in the middle of the night and replacing him with a Fetch, a simulacrum made in Jules's likeness so that a prisoner suddenly going missing didn't cause a fuss. The Fetch only needed to hold together for a week, at which point it died in a freak food poisoning incident at the prison. It might have been better off than Jules himself, who was stuck serving as a gargoylish captive bound to a shifting carnival maze with no memory of who or what he had once been--until a fleeting scent on the wind jarred his memory and spurred him into escaping. He found himself tumbling out of Faerie out into the real world of Houston, Texas, and into the local freehold's care.
Jules took up with the Winter Court there, and it didn't take him long to become the freehold's computer guy. He had the skills to set people in situations similar to his own up with new paperwork and new identities, thus making their existence in the human world a little easier. He fell in with a motley, a smaller group of changelings, of his own, and for a while, felt like he had friends.
But one of his motley, an ice Elemental named Crystal, had eyes for the Winter crown, and she framed Jules for a crime against the current Winter King, leading to the Winter King's demise, her ascension to Winter Queen, and Jules's having to make a break for it into the Hedge to save his own skin. He was mostly able to survive--some hobgoblins attempted to help him out and ended up giving him an extra foot of height in the process--but his friend Haru, an ogre, came looking for him and ended up rescuing him. She was angry at Crystal's actions, and she wanted to make things right...with her own brand of justice. Jules agreed to help her out, using one of his Contracts--Balm of Unwakeable Slumber--on Crystal so the Elemental would not be able to wake for whatever it was Haru was going to do. Murder, he knew it was going to be murder even if he denied it. In the process, Haru became the Winter Queen and Jules became her right-hand man. Neither of them is really sure how any of this happened.
Personality: Jules tends to be extremely high-strung, and he is pretty good about inadvertently letting people know this. He yells and otherwise loudly complains a lot about everything. This yelling ranges from loud complaining that onions were left on his burger after he explicitly asked for them to be left off to outright shrieking and screaming after being startled by something. (Bonus: his Lurkglider tail falls off when he's startled, and he can regenerate it in a couple of weeks. He hates that but such is his lot in life.) He's a complainer. He's good at finding flaws in everything and loudly sharing them with the class. There is always something wrong, nothing is ever perfect.
He's also not at all quick to become involved in anything. Part of this is thanks to the nature of his durance encouraging observation over action, but part of it is also a tragic pre-existing condition known as laziness. He'd rather skirt around along the edges of whatever's going on and avoid direct participation unless pressed into service. He will watch and file information away for later, but he won't volunteer any of it on his own unless he's pressed. He's very big into picking the course of action that means the least risk and work for him. And yet if he's not thinking too hard on the relative amount of work, he'll spend a great deal of time and energy on things that are designed to save him effort in the future.
More than anything, Jules can't handle combat. He is not a combatant by any means, and he will beg forgiveness or mercy or start crying hide or flee or do what he needs to do in order not to get involved. The man doesn't have much in the way of pride when it comes to saving his own skin. Subtlety is not something he's good at here. As much as he hates losing his tail, he will gladly drop it and run if it thinks it would be a sufficient distraction to spare him a really terrible fight. His gargoylish fae mien might be imposing to some, and he's aware of this on some level. But in practice, he's not good at applying that intimidation potential. He can work up a very good resting gargoyle bitchface if he has to, but any effect that has usually dissolves when he opens his mouth to speak or if he's confronted directly. It doesn't help that the human form of his Mask is scrawny and relatively unimposing despite now being seven feet tall.
Yet underneath the cringing, snivelling surface, he's got a surprising amount of determination. You don't escape from Faerie if you're a total weakling, and there is some sort of strength hidden deep in there. Jules can be patient when he needs to. Very patient. He'll use misdirection if he has to, channeling his complaining urges towards something less important in order to obfuscate his true concerns or intentions. It's a win-win scenario as far as he's concerned--he still gets to vent somehow, and he gets to keep his true intentions to himself. And hey, complaining is just a way to pass the time while you're waiting, right? But if things get serious enough, he knows when he should freeze and wait there in the dark, biding his time. He knows how he usually behaves and he knows what people expect of him, and it's when he gets a grip on himself and uses what he is to his advantage that he's at his most dangerous. He sees no problem in kicking up some kind of dramatic scene for use as a distraction or to cause people to underestimate him. (Dignity? Who cares?) Everything has its own series of costs and benefits. If he manages to calm down enough to think, he's capable of weighing those costs and benefits with surprising coldness. He's not inclined towards sentimentality, and his priority is simply to ensure his own continued survival--he's not particularly loyal to anything or anyone other than himself.
Pokémon Information Affiliation: Team Rocket Starter: Porygon and Scraggy Password: Atomic Fireball
Victory Road Sample: Jules hates this. He is going through actual effort here, but he's been a little bored lately. And staying occupied inside is far preferable to staying occupied outside in the tall grass where Pokemon might attack, so there he is, in the Goldenrod City Game Corner, very quietly moving to stand next to a slot machine at what is definitely not a suspicious angle. He's just testing the security, that's all. That is definitely what the program he's trying to dump into the slot machine is. A test. If it had been an actual attack, he tells himself, he would have just tried to do it remotely.
But he's well aware that as an overly tall and therefore memorable individual, he's quite likely to get caught. That's why he's come in here with a friend. The Whismur toddles into the center of the casino and looks around a bit before catching Jules's eye for the signal. When Jules gives it, it starts up with Uproar. "WAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHH!" Aw, poor little lost Pokemon.
Jules takes a moment to watch the chaos unfold as everyone in the area immediately turns to face that noise, and then gets to work.Thanks, little Whismur, you're a pal.
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!
Player Name: Star E-mail: thisisandroid18@gmail.com Preferred Contact: PM Timezone: CST Current Characters in Victory Road: Lydia, Jolyne Cujoh, Johann (I hate myself, it's fine)
Character Name: Robert E. O. Speedwagon Series: JoJo's Bizarre Adventure Timeline: After Phantom Blood, before Battle Tendency Canon Resource Links:Bless the wiki
Personality: On the surface Speedwagon seems to be a fairly simple character, the sidekick of the main character who comes across as seeming more ridiculous and less competent than how he actually is. Which is a fair enough assumption, given he's the one normal human of his part without any powers what-so-ever to speak of while being faced with supernatural foes of various degrees.
The first time he's met he comes across as a street thug that only wants to continue to survive on the streets, only to be revealed that he does care about those around him and has a sense of morality and judgement that isn't typically found with the type. For instance, once the rest of Ogre Street shows up after Jonathan kicked him in the face, he could have easily let the number of them tear the man apart. Instead, having seen the fact he could have been far more seriously injured but was spared, decided that it was a true move of a gentleman and to leave him be. Very potentially sparing his life and showing him that there are more people out there who have have a moral compass and work for those that they care for.
He seems to be almost obsessed to a degree with the concept of being a gentleman, which seems to be someone that has a moral compass to help those that are in need while living something of a righteous life. Which is ironic given the backstory we know with Speedwagon seems to allude more that he's always been a thief of some sort, while still traveling the world in some fashion or another. It probably makes him one of the more well traveled types, especially for his time period, and colors his actions. He tends to think more out of the box and quickly on his feet, probably due to necessity of having been in places he doesn't fit in with and having to survive.
Among his other traits, loyalty seems to be a particularly large one. Despite the meeting circumstances being strange, it didn't take much for Speedwagon to decide to follow and help Jonathan out with a situation completely and totally unrelated to him at first. But he's the one character that sticks around with him throughout the entire part and even when his friend passes, he still stays around to help Jonathan's then widow and child with whatever they might need. He also makes a foundation to assist that family as well as conduct research into bettering the world and studying the supernatural later down the road.
Speedwagon also tends to be the type to wear his emotions on his sleeve, which is also a little strange for the time period. He's seen crying over a friend's death in the series proper, as well as any fright or particularly stressful point very clearly painted on his face. He doesn't pretend to put on airs unless it's absolutely necessary, meaning that he's also pretty easy to read no matter what the situation may be. It's a particularly good and bad traits, because it lets someone know he's being honest with them while negatively can show an enemy just how much they're getting under his skin.
Which also ties into him being particularly hot-headed, not thinking much on a situation when it involves trying to save someone close to him or to keep an evil from getting out. Such as when he decided that taking a sledgehammer to a bunch of zombies was a grand idea, or narrating ridiculous fights that could also potentially backfire on giving the opponent information they might not have noticed otherwise.
Oddly enough, despite being considered a lower class member of society at the time, Speedwagon also comes off as rather intelligent at times. Whether this is simply street smarts when mixed with those that have book learning and no street smarts or simply him just being in the right place the right time is a bit of a toss up. But it's no secret that he has traveled to different countries around the world where he's studied things such as exotic animals in Africa, strange plants in Asia, and even tornadoes in the Carribean. It also becomes fairly obvious with his ingenuity in the existence of the saw blades concealed in his bowler hat and the fact he can maintain his speedwagon with such accuracy.
Pokémon Information Affiliation: ROCKET, ROCKET, ROCKET Starter: Mareep (Sophisticated Lady) and salandit (Candalera) Password: Atomic Fireball
Samples RP Sample: (Ignoring the fact he's a damn rabbit here, personality is the same.) Here go
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!
Player Name: Dante E-mail: theirradiated@gmail.com Preferred Contact:teenysanguini Timezone: EST Current Characters in Victory Road: Spinel, Padak
Character Name: Luz Noceda Series: The Owl House Timeline: After Episode 17 Canon Resource Links:Here Personality:
Luz is a strange teenager, who gets wrapped up too much in her own fantasy world. Her eccentric personality makes it difficult for her to make any friends, and she often ends up in the principle's office because she takes things too far. Such as including live snakes in her book report, making a griffin that spits out spiders, or pretending to die in a play by using sausages that come out of her as fake intestines. Her mother tries to send her to a summer camp to bring her back down to earth, but she ends up chasing an owl into a messed up fantasy world known as the Boiling Isles.
Luz can be very headstrong and tends to act first, think later, often to the point where it gets her in trouble. This includes Luz declaring a magic duel with Amity after Amity insults Luz and King, where Luz soon realizes she only knows one light spell - not nearly enough to take down a witch who's more experienced with magic. She even gets banned at Hexside, a magic school, for pretending to be an Abomination monster so she can sneak in and see the school for herself, which results in accidentally trashing the entire school. She similarly gets in trouble for breaking down the door to escape detention.
Along with being headstrong, Luz is determined to do things her own way. She ignores Eda's warnings not to fall for a wizard's scam, she hosts a Moonlight Conjuring even though she's told not to, and she even starts freeing prisoners and starts a riot in the Conformatorium. Luz is very much about following her own set of rules, regardless if they're right or not. Often times, that leads to Luz being in trouble, but every once in a while it does work out in her favor. She also has a need to befriend others. For instance, Luz sees Eda a lot like herself - both of them outcasts in their own worlds. And she even tries her best to befriend Amity, who outright seems to dislike Luz for all the chaos she creates wherever she goes.
As a teenager, Luz cares deeply about what other people think of her. Not enough to change who she is, but enough for her to get dragged into situations she wouldn't otherwise be in if she was more honest. An example of this involves Luz trying to learn a second spell, after she finds out she needs two spells to get into Amity's magic class. Instead of telling the truth - that she only knows one spell - and maybe having help learning a second spell, her pride gets the better of her. She ends lying about knowing two spells, and ends up stealing Amity's wand to learn magic because she wants to know two spells now, rather than be patient and learn it in a more natural way from Eda. She's also charmed by Amity's two siblings, who win her over by calling her cool and wanting to hang out with her.
Despite this, Luz generally always tries to do the right thing, even if she starts off by doing something selfish. During the magic duel with Amity, Luz tries to warn Amity about the magic traps scattered around the arena that were put there to help Luz win. When she breaks into the library with Amity's older siblings, she tries to stop them from making Amity's diary public to embarrass her. She also takes on the Bat Queen's "impossible trials" in order to earn the trust of Eda's staff, Owlbert, after accidentally hurting him while flying.
Luz has an obsession with learning magic. Part of it comes from wanting to be more like her fictional hero, the Good Witch Azura, and the other part is her wanting to be special. She admits to King she that she's a nobody back home, and that magic makes her feel like she's somebody. Magic is important to Luz, it makes her feel like she could be more than just a weird, outcast kid at school. Learning magic gives meaning to Luz's life, and gives her purpose. Luz is so in love with this idea of having a magical destiny, that she falls for a scam by a fake wizard, who tells her she's the Chosen One and has to go on a quest. She's so drawn into the idea of being a "Chosen One" that she fails to see it as a trap, and ends up getting captured and used as bait for Eda.
Luz is also creative, clever, and imaginative. She paints and draws in her free time, and often she'll do dramatic readings of the Good Witch Azura to King (and Eda, against her will). Her cleverness shows itself whenever she's either faced with a challenge, or sometimes for her own wants. She gets Eda to teach her a light spell by using Eda's love of sparkly things against her, promising her a shiny, sparkly pen in return for a magic lesson. When Eda turns into a giant owl monster, Luz and King come up with a plan for trapping her with a tarp, and using a giant light spell against her to turn her back to normal.
All Luz really wants is to be her own person, and be accepted for who she is. Despite her impulsiveness, she's a kind, caring individual who sees magic as a way for her to become something great.
Pokémon Information Affiliation: Trainer Starter: Cubone Password: Atomic Fireball Samples RP Sample:Luz wakes up in Ryslig.
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!
Player Name: Owl E-mail: kiyuuchan@gmail.com Preferred Contact:OwlKnight Timezone: EST Current Characters in Victory Road: n/a
Character Name: Princess Rapunzel of Corona Series: Tangled Timeline: post-Plus Est en Vous Canon Resource Links:Rapunzel @ Disney Wiki
Personality: In the series finale, Rapunzel jokingly refers to herself as a "free-spirited flower child". While this is clearly an attempt at a bit of self-deprecation to lighten up a dark moment, she isn't too far off the mark.
Rapunzel is a character who embodies the sun. Not just in the sense of her powers coming from the sundrop, but in her bright, sunny personality. Rapunzel has endured a lot of hardships in her life; kidnapped as a baby and raised by a terrible woman who preyed on Rapunzel's naivete, she initially starts off her life outside the tower absolutely terrified of everything. But what's able to outshine this fear is her absolute wonder when it comes to the world. See, Rapunzel is someone who truly enjoys life. She initially left the tower where Gothel kept her trapped not to escape, but to simply follow a childhood dream she had of watching the floating lanterns and finding out where they came from. She spends much of her first day outside simply running around the forest and embracing the feeling of nature around her, and it's only after she started to experience the real world that she realized she doesn't want to go back to her tower. Even later on in the series, Rapunzel wants desperately to find a way to see what's beyond the borders of Corona. She's been denied truly living for eighteen years, and fully intends to make up for lost time. She throws herself happily into anything she sets her mind to because of this; whether it's art, helping her friends, making NEW friends, or exploring, Rapunzel always puts herself a hundred percent into things.
This leads to a bit of an issue with being tied down. Rapunzel, understandably, hates the feeling of being trapped, and sometimes pushes back against others when things get too overwhelming for her. She dislikes the idea of being a princess content to live within the palace for the rest of her life, and is quite understandably terrified of her supposed "Destiny" to unite the sundrop and moonstone. She even rejects Eugene's marriage proposal, not because she doesn't love him, oh no! She loves Eugene dearly. But Rapunzel wishes to travel the world, to see things that she never could have seen from the window in her tower. Settling down... isn't in the cards for her just yet.
Of course, those eighteen years in a tower with only an abusive mother figure to talk to means that Rapunzel is... somewhat bad at social situations. She has no clue how to read the room or how to read people, and very often does or says something that causes harm that she sees no problem in. When conducting her first official meetings with other nobles, she introduces herself while barefoot, or hugs or otherwise invades the personal spaces of others in what should be a formal setting. She ignores the rules of proper events to make things more "interesting" and sometimes winds up making more trouble than fun for other people. But Rapunzel tries, because at the heart of all her awkward interactions, she just wants to make people happy and to help them have fun. She's just... a bit naive, that's all. To her, it doesn't matter that her best friend is a servant, or that her boyfriend doesn't initially do much around the castle; she doesn't see it as a problem, so why should that bother others?
Stemming from that, Rapunzel is... a bit bad at taking others' feelings into account. She often brushes her friends feelings aside to try and insist on how she feels about certain situations; when Cassandra and Eugene bicker, does she let them calm down and talk it out? No, she locks them in a prison cell and concocts an elaborate fetch quest to make them get along. When Cassandra expresses her worries that Rapunzel doesn't trust her anymore, does Rapunzel comfort her and insist she does? No, Rapunzel tells Cass that she needs to be okay with some decisions that Rapunzel makes that she might not agree with. Rapunzel's heart is absolutely in the right place when she wants to help her friends or try and talk things out with them when problems arise, but her execution can leave much to be desired. Thankfully, events in the Dark Kingdom and her later return to Corona help her reevaluate how she acts around others. She can't just expect them to understand her - she needs to take the time to understand them as well.
But despite all these complicated feelings and her trouble trying to navigate certain dynamics, at her heart Rapunzel is an intensely loving young woman. She believes wholeheartedly in her loved ones, and though she'll stand up when she's pushed too far, she absolutely refuses to give up on others. This is best seen in her relationship with Cassandra in the third season of the show. Cassandra betrayed Rapunzel, fought with her and hurt her friends and tried to kill her, but did Rapunzel give up on her? Hell no. Rapunzel could see that something was wrong with Cassandra, and she knew that deep down, Cassandra was still the same person who was her friend, the same one who helped her sneak out of the castle when she saw Rapunzel was getting overwhelmed by her new royal duties. Rapunzel's absolutely unconditional love for the people she holds close to her heart is one of her biggest strengths, and that love and belief in them is what helped change Eugene and Cassandra's lives for the better. No matter what, Rapunzel will always be there for the ones she holds close, and though she may not always address the situations perfectly, she'll try. Because it was the love of others that helped her break free, and she will always repay that kindness and spread it further.
Pokémon Information Affiliation: Breeder Starter: Galarian Ponyta Password: Atomic Fireball
Victory Road Sample: [Another day, another bizarrely-angled video of someone who's clearly never held a piece of technology before. The freckled face of a young woman with short brunette hair pops up on the screen, the curious tilt of her head and the angle of the camera making for an odd sight indeed. But despite a slight furrow of her brow, there's no overwhelming sense of panic in her expression. She looks fascinated, really, tilting the gear this way and that to get a better look at it.]
Wow. It's like... some kind of magic mirror, but not? Varian would go nuts over this.
[Maybe not the magic part, but it definitely looks like an incredibly refined bit of Demanitus tech. Varian would be itching to take it apart.]
So I just talk into it, and other people can see it? [There's some murmur of agreement from off-screen, from the poor patient soul who's had to give this new arrival the run-down on technology.] Great! Thanks a bunch!
[The video finally settles as the young woman stops fidgeting with the device, and she clears her throat before waving at the camera.]
Hello, people of... this land! [Oh boy she really needs to check out a map soon.] I'm Princess Rapunzel of Corona, and I'm... a little lost.
[...]
Okay, really lost. I mean, I'm not really a sleepwalker, but even if I was, I don't think I could walk off to a completely different region in one night! So, um... can anyone tell me what happened? And how I can get into contact with my friends? [...] Oh! Unless they're here too? Or can see this...
[She pulls the gear closer, not quite to the level of an unflattering angle, but it's almost like she's staring hard into the screen and willing faces to appear.]
Eugene? Pascal? Lance? Varian? [There's... a pause, where the princess looks somewhat uncertain, before calling out one more name.] Cass?
[It's a long shot. Cass has been off on the road for a few weeks now. But still...]
Player Drizz Name: Drizz E-mail: rightkindofrenmei gmail .com Preferred Contact:lightdrizzel Timezone: PST Current Characters in Victory Road: N/A
Character Name: Cassandra Series: Tangled: The Series Timeline: Post-series Canon Resource Links:A helpful disney wiki link!
Personality: On the surface, Cassandra is a bit like a rock; tough and cold. She tends to be blunt and headstrong, butting heads with anyone that gets on her bad side... which can happen easily if you push any number of her buttons. This, coupled with displaying an attitude that ranges from bitingly sarcastic remarks to chilling outbursts of anger can result in people brushing her off as simply a spiteful young woman.
But once you push past the cold demeanor, underneath is a strong, supportive friend who wants the best for those she cares for. She's just planted her feet firmly in the camps of "Not taking people's shit" and "Tact? What tact?" You likely won't get by with just a smile and a nod, Cassandra likes to tell it like it is. Even if you won't want to hear that. And it's usually good advice too, owing to how perceptive Cassandra can be. That perception doubles as a easy way for her to toss in some teasing snark and cynicism when she finds it appropriate.
And pushing past the friendly, caring side of Cassandra, you find... Someone very willing to prove herself. Someone who, from a young age, just wanted to be in the royal guard like her adoptive father, the Captain, to make not just him proud of her but everyone else. Cass devoted herself to hard work - to "earn her keep" - ever since, putting aside the desire for dreams to instead keep a practical outlook on life. Earning respect and a job that didn't leave her stuck as a handmaiden were always on her mind, but she hardly made a move to complain if that complicated things.
This gets into the main issue. Cass is very much like her dad, with her strong sense of justice and bravery, but at the base, there's a traumatized four year old. One that watched her birth mother abandon her for another child. One that was treated less as a daughter and more like a servant, teaching Cassandra that love came with strings and her worth was measured by those around her. And even though the memories of that time were repressed, the feelings remained, and that mindset stuck with Cass all her life... leading her to no end of frustration when she was stuck waiting on others for the respect she hopes for but ends up overlooked. She used to repress those feelings, too. Until it became too much.
Full disclosure, Cass was just through a months-long downward spiral of rage and resentment. Feeling ignored and always overlooked, she lashed out for the first time in her life in violent ways, planning to drive everyone away and burn the bridges so long as she finally got something out of it for herself. It takes one last betrayal for Cass to completely break down and allow herself to cry, finally making her issue of feeling worthless in people's eyes known.
She didn't bet on one person refusing to give up on her, though. Rapunzel's refusal to ever stop trying to get her back confused and frustrated her. No matter what Cassandra did. But it brought her back from the brink, proved to Cass that there was more in her than anyone thought, and convinced her to keep going - and ultimately saving the kingdom.
Now, Cassandra is better, not completely. But she is healing. While making the effort to repair the bonds she broke, Cass ultimately decided to something for herself again: by going out to seek her own destiny. Not stolen out of anger but a destiny entirely for herself.
Pokémon Information Affiliation: Trainer Starter: Rowlett Password: Atomic Fireball
Victory Road Sample: [The screen flickers to life, capturing a quick glimpse of the morning sky, bright and blue, before it quickly shifts in a blur of movement-]
-pretty sure it's working.
[And a voice comes through, very close. Thankfully a sign that the video is still going, seeing as now all that can be seen is a dark haze.]
Hello? Someone that isn't that weird woman in the house claiming to be my mother? [Which is a whole other can of worms she won't even touch, aside from the general information she'd gotten.] I mean, I heard the instructions, so I'm just guessing here. Most of the time I see things like this, they tend to explode!
[The screen shifts, again. On the upside, you can see the sunlight again! And now, a person, with a short bob of curling hair, and an unimpressed look staring down at you. A pokemon - Rowlett, to those familiar with the type - perches on her right shoulder, trilling as it rubs its face into her neck.]
I mean, how do I know if the light means it's working? This is my first time handling a magic mirror like this.
[Hoo? Goes Rowlett. Because it seems she's speaking to it. Such things are possible for Disney characters.]
Yes, sorry. It's technology. Alright? [A fown, a sigh, but she presses on.] Hello? If I'm reading the map correctly I'm in... the Kanto region? Don't exactly like how I can't remember getting here, or waking up in a bed I didn't pay for. So... yeah.
Player Name: Naem E-mail: gracefulgraveler@gmail.com Preferred Contact:mistytpednaem Timezone: WET (currently WEST) Current Characters in Victory Road: None
Just about everything from this point onward is a spoiler. The Boss's identity is a major mystery throughout most of Golden Wind, and his connection to Doppio is one of the first times the curtain is peeled back.
Character Name: Vinegar Doppio & Diavolo Series: Jojo's Bizarre Adventure: Golden Wind Timeline: Chapter 114/Episode 29 Canon Resource Links: It isn't accurate to say that Doppio and Diavolo are the same person. For one, multiple characters in canon state that he has Dissociative Identity Disorder (well, they call it Multiple Personality Disorder because the manga was written in the 90s, but You Know), in contexts that make it very clear this is the author telling his audience "yes, hello, my antagonist has a real condition and this is how it really works". For two, because souls are a thing in JJBA, they are also two separate souls inhabiting a single body.
There's also the absurdly drastic changes in appearance between the two, presumably stemming from Hirohiko Araki reading about how alters can have differences in posture or voice and whatnot and REALLY running away with it, but I could be here all day. The important bit is that these two are an intrinsically linked duo, and as such, I'm linking several pages:
(Doppio's history section summarizes what he goes through in canon, rather than providing any sort of background; this may be because, even though it's never stated which of the two was the "original" personality, if any, Diavolo is now clearly the dominant one, even though he's not the one who likes to show his face. Plus, uh, Diavolo's the main antagonist, so that's probably enough of a reason for the privilege.)
Personality: So, the main antagonist of Jojo's Part 5 has a "split personality". That's a statement that doesn't inspire much confidence, especially knowing that Jojo is a series that takes liberal inspiration from western media, including horror, and lord knows how horror movies tend to treat characters with DID. Heck, their names are Italian for Double and Devil, Diavolo is a mob boss, the exaggerated physical changes between the two are almost evocative of demonic possession...
And yet, it's not that straightforward. Yes, Doppio is nice, compared to Diavolo. Yes, Diavolo kills people. But Doppio is his underboss, and he knows damn well what his job consists of. Aside from the part where his conversations with the Boss are all in his head, anyway.
Now that that's out there, let's take this one man at a time - but let's start with Diavolo, actually.
Diavolo is a mysterious man, in several senses of the word "mysterious". The most obvious, of course, is his desire to be completely unknown. Even though he is the Boss of Passione, a powerful mafia gang, none of the gang's members know his name or his face, nor does he communicate directly with any of them. Only Doppio, his direct subordinate, speaks directly to him, presumably relaying orders further down the chain of command - but more on what Doppio does later. This obsession doesn't seem to have started with the gang's creation, though. As stated in his background, when Diavolo's adoptive father found his mother buried alive (which, no, is never explained), Diavolo's next course of action is to burn down the entire village and fake his death. This paranoia colours his every move to the point of irrationality; years later, when he learns he has a daughter, he conspires to kill her himself for fear that traitors within the gang might use her to learn his identity, even though he and his daughter have never met.
Despite this, when the heroes face Diavolo in combat, he seems to project an aura of confidence and pride. This may be in part because his Stand - an ability drawn from his soul which also has two faces, would you look at that - is ludicrously powerful, capable not only of manipulating time but also skewering people with a single blow. However... if Stands are a reflection of their user, then what does this really mean? Diavolo apparently sees himself as worthy of eternal glory, using and abusing King Crimson's abilities to foresee any events that may be unfavorable to him and erasing them, leaving only the results that he has skewed to his favour, but how does this power come from the soul of a man so paranoid that he no longer shows his face in public?
Some may call these inconsistencies. I call them a challenge. But let's talk about Doppio for a bit.
As mentioned, Doppio is the underboss/consigliere of Passione. While his job description involves mostly advising the boss, as the name implies, and relaying orders to lower-ranking members, the truth of the matter is that Doppio is Diavolo's eyes, ears, and... basically entire body on the streets. When Diavolo realises the protagonists have a very tangible way of learning what he looks like and declares that he has to handle the situation himself, it's Doppio that we see next - in fact, that is when we're introduced to him. Even though he's intrinsically linked to Diavolo, however, he is his own person as well, and Diavolo treats him as such.
An interesting consequence thereof is the following: although Diavolo trusts Doppio - and, in fact, calls him the only person he is able to trust - and Doppio knows himself to be Diavolo's closest subordinate in turn, that's all Doppio knows. Not that they share a body, or the reason why he's plagued with frequent headaches (caused by Diavolo coming to the forefront of their consciousness in some way, it seems), nor why he experiences blackouts and gaps in his memory. Funny definition of trust - and really another sign of Diavolo's intense paranoia - but Doppio seems perfectly content with his position.
In fact, not only does Doppio take pride in his job, he states at one point that serving and protecting Diavolo's interests is pretty much his sole purpose in life - which only makes sense, as his lack of awareness about his condition indicates that he most likely does not remember his past or maybe even anything from before he "joined" Passione. It's arguable whether he even knows how old he is, given that he's fine with letting people assume he's much younger than he actually is and seems to believe he couldn't possibly have a 15-year-old daughter, himself.
But yes, to loop back around to the start of this section? Doppio may be the pleasant and polite one, his demeanour fitting the description of young Diavolo as dim and timid, and Diavolo may be the man who rules the criminal underworld with an iron fist - but that doesn't mean there's a Good one and an Evil one. It means they are two individuals with different dispositions who, nevertheless, work together. More together than one of them suspects, but still...
One last important thing to mention is a trait that the two do seem to share: a violent temper. Reflected even in King Crimson's near-constant grimace, this is easily mistaken for a trait exclusive to Diavolo - perhaps because it often manifests when Doppio has the freaky green eyes going on, an apparent sign that the two of them are sharing consciousness at that point in time - that is not the case, as Doppio snaps several times without Diavolo's direct involvement.
Keeping Doppio away from a phone call - the framing device for his conversations with Diavolo - is a sure-fire way to provoke him, but he also shows intense frustration when a fight with an enemy Stand user turns overwhelmingly against him, eventually vowing to kill his opponent despite his boss's insistence that he needs to back down. He even yells at Diavolo when he gets a phone call at a very inopportune time.
Of course, as mentioned, Diavolo is violent and temperamental as well, as indicated by his outbursts when his identity is at risk and his willingness to brutally murder anyone who compromises it or his supremacy. The difference, then, seems to lie in how each of them expresses their temper. Looking at King Crimson, which is primarily Diavolo's Stand (Doppio can only use parts of it) it overwhelmingly strikes with single, powerful blows - directed anger, in contrast with Doppio's more erratic, uncontrolled fits. Diavolo even has to get him to back down on occasion, as mentioned above, or like when Doppio thought a taxi driver may have seen some compromising information and nearly gouged out the poor guy's eye. Diavolo uses Doppio for protection, yes, but Doppio seems to take to his role well.
So, let's try to summarise this mess. Diavolo is a man of contradictions: an obsessive, paranoid wreck who takes pride in his power and believes he deserves to rule uncontested. Doppio, too, is outright called a walking contradiction by another character: a young man (who's just as old as Diavolo, probably) of polite and cowardly disposition who will go to great lengths to obey a drug lord's commands. Not only that, but these two coexist. That's a lot of contradictions to deal with!
But somehow, they make a whole. A dubiously functional whole with a very peculiar dynamic, but a whole nonetheless.
Pokémon Information Affiliation: Team Rocket Starter: Morpeko and Magikarp Password: Atomic Fireball
Victory Road Sample: Vinegar Doppio wakes up on the floor with a fading headache (this is not an unusual occurrence). Unbeknownst to him, he is not the first person to wake up here, although the one who preceded him, Diavolo, was lucky enough to find himself on a bed. Small fortune, really, because between the two of them, the one who woke up first was exactly the one who didn't have a habit of finding himself in new locations without any memory of how he got there. It was an unpleasant awakening. The immediate fear that he had been found and brought somewhere for questioning, torture, or death. The inane letter. King Crimson's absence. But Doppio is privy to none of this, and as such, it doesn't matter.
The only thing that matters is that the phone is ringing, and Diavolo hopes beyond hope that Doppio goes for the obvious choice - of all possible times to make a scene, this would be the worst. He breathes a non-physical sigh of relief from the back of Doppio's mind when his counterpart reaches for the device he doesn't know is called a PokeGear, and the ringing stops before anyone in this "Team Rocket" can catch the sound of a grown man imitating a phone.
"Boss?! Doppio here! I-I've been waiting for your instructions."
Alright. Here they go. Diavolo prepared a rough cover story before giving Doppio the wheel, but his underboss can be... unpredictable. Hopefully he won't have to adjust too much on the fly.
"I know, my Doppio, but I'm afraid these are very unusual circumstances. Have you read the note yet?"
"Letter? Oh no, did I miss your instructions, Boss? I'm so sorry, let me...!"
Diavolo holds back a sigh. Things are already stressful enough. Better not to give Doppio further reason to believe he's already made a mistake.
"Welcome to... what?" Doppio's eyes scan the note Diavolo has already read and mulled over, increasingly bewildered - team-mates? In the balls? - and, frankly, he needs a minute before he's ready to ask the obvious follow-up question. "Boss, have I been kidnapped??"
"Yes, you have. Most alarming of all, they nearly caught me as well."
Doppio's eyes go very wide.
"What?! How is that possible, Boss? You're untouchable! E-Even if they got the best of me, they shouldn't have been able to defeat your stand!"
"Unfortunately, King Crimson doesn't appear to be available."
"HOW?!" Doppio's voice has turned into the kind of hysterical whisper that would be nigh-inaudible if the person on the other end of the line wasn't inside his head. Diavolo may not be aware of Doppio's precise train of thought - for a moment, he was hoping this might be some kind of deliberate setup, that the Boss may have placed him here to gather info and stamp out dissidents or opponents, or whatever - but his panic is palpable regardless. "But that means... This is terrible! You can't come get me?"
"Not without King Crimson, dear Doppio." Only sort of untrue.
"Then what do we do...?!"
Doppio isn't questioning where his Boss is, how he escaped, or what happened to the people who nearly managed to capture him. Good. It should be smooth sailing from here, then.
"This is no time to panic, Doppio. I believe you can do what you have always done best."
A swell of pride fills Doppio's chest. It may not calm him down, exactly, but it reassures him nonetheless.
"I want you to gather information for me. This Team Rocket appears to be an organization with some type of hierarchy, and as I'm sure you have gleaned from their helpful letter, they want us - you - to do something for them."
"So... You want me to comply?"
"Exactly. Earn their trust, and learn of their inner workings as thoroughly as if you were their loyal agent. Once the conditions are right, this organization will go the way of all others who have opposed Passione."
Doppio beams. Of course the Boss already has a plan - he may have said it's time for Doppio to do what he does best, but this is really about the Boss doing what he does best, isn't it? Crushing the enemy and rising to the top.
"Got it! I'll do everything they tell me - oh, but you're still the one I'm really serving, Boss!"
"Naturally, dear Doppio." There is a smile in his voice. "For now, following the instructions on that note should be enough."
"Even the training, Boss?" Because he's been at this crime thing for a while, really, assuming this is a criminal organization--
"Even the training."
"Right, of course. To get a feel for how this organization works." Now he feels silly for asking. He hopes the Boss can't tell.
"That should be all for now. Get ready to leave this room, and report back to me as soon as it is safe to do so."
"Yes, I'll keep you updated, sir."
That should be that.
"Er, Boss..."
Except Doppio has that one more thing kind of cadence going on.
"Are you sure you'll be okay?"
Ah, dear sweet Doppio. Always the concerned subordinate. Diavolo couldn't ask for a better right-hand man.
"I don't mean to intrude, obviously -"
Wait. Oh no.
He's going to ask.
"- but I still don't understand exactly what your current position..."
Now Diavolo hopes beyond hope for an interruption, even if explaining who Doppio was just talking to may invite its own problems.
Welcome to the Wonderful World of Pokemon! Congratulations, you have a fun and exciting adventure awaiting you.
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indigo_league) wrote2016-05-03 09:48 pm
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