meridianmods | APPLICATIONS

Entry tags:

applications

APPLICATIONS

IF YOU ARE LOOKING FOR ORIGINAL CHARACTER APPLICATIONS, THOSE ARE OVER HERE.

Applications are always open, and accepted on a weekly basis, over the weekends. All applications will be on separate comments, with the header as follows:

Character Name || Canon || OU/AU || Reserved or Not Reserved
Additionally, as a mod can claim to having severe app-anxiety, we also allow those of you who are nervous as hell to post apps publicly to email them to us instead! In the subject line, put 'Character Application', so we can find you amongst all the spam. The first line of the email would be the same format as above, followed by the shenanigans below. And our email is meridianmods@gmail.com!

Clarifications

PLAYER INFO
Name: (Self-explanatory, whatever you want us to call you)
Main Journal: (Your journal, not your character journal)
Contact Info: (Email, AIM, Plurk, etc. Anywhere you'd be comfortable with us contacting you)
Played Characters: (Characters you currently have in the game, along with their versions)
AC Reminders: (While we don't expect this to be an issue, people are forgetful. And that's okay! During Activity Checks, when there are three days remaining, if you have not responded and you're not on hiatus or anything similar, we will send you a reminder through your method of choice. If you want reminders, put what means would be the most effective to get them to you - email, aim, plurk, LJ message, etc - along with the name. If you'd like to opt out, then just leave it blank, put an N, remove this part, call us names, whatever you like!)

CHARACTER INFO
Name: (Your character's name)
Age: (Their age. If their physical age differs from their mental age, this is the place to mention it!)
Species: (Are they a human, a robot, a ghost, a giant purple dinosaur?)

Series: (The TV show, video game, anime, cartoon, movie, book, comic book, webcomic, or nightmare your character comes from. If there's more than one version of your character's canon-- and these two versions are sufficiently different, specify which one you're taking them from.)
OU/AU: (We would hope you know this if you've gotten this far. This game allows for Alternate Universe characters, so here is where you'd specify that!)
Canon Point: (Where are you taking them from? After their first big adventure, after their death, after their pet hamster runs away, post-series?)

History: (You're allowed to link to a wiki for the history of OU characters! For AUs, we won't ask you for a specific amount of words or paragraphs. However, we want a good understanding of your AU. Just remember our mindset is 'longer is better', within reason. We want you to write enough for you to prove that you've really worked out your AU history well, but we won't ask you to just pad it either.)

Personality: (Again, like history. No mandatory limit, but longer is better. Especially here. The personality section is one of the two main ways to show us you know your character. Sell it to us. Prove to us that you understand your character.)

Powers: (Anything that's worth knowing. Anything at all. Can your character fly, teleport, leap tall buildings in a single bound? Does their singing attract small woodland creatures? Tell us about it! In the mod comment back to your app, we'll give you the breakdown on what powers are kept, changed, or removed, so no need to worry about writing which powers would and wouldn't work in the city.)

Weaknesses: (Again, absolutely anything that's worth knowing. Is your character deathly allergic to nuts? Does even looking at teddy bears and flowers make them fall away in a dead faint?)

Possessions: (Just a list of items the character will have when they show up. This includes weapons. Include a short description of each item and its abilities, if any. This is mostly for weapons though, since they'll fall under the same regulation as powers.)

Marking Location: (In response to your app, you'll be told if you are marked or not, but you're free to choose where your marking is, should you be marked. Self-explanatory, really.)
Miscellaneous: (Anything else you think is relevant!)

First Person: (A sample written in the first person. Action is allowed, yes, as there are no communicators in this game, but what we're looking here is for your character's voice!

Similar to history and personality, but the guidelines are much more lenient. Ten sentences is the recommended, but even as low as three is acceptable. We understand that some characters don't talk much, some almost mute with how little they speak. Hey, maybe they're actually mute! The point is that you convey your character, and if you can do it in three sentences, then hell yes!)

Third Person: (A sample written in third person. Show us your prose! Minimum 200 words.)

And there you have it!

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Name: Rae
Main Journal:

aircrash
Contact Info: AIM @ last laugh blues; gmail.com @ themeansbywhichallisrevealed; or LJ Message!
Played Characters: nooooobody yet! c:
AC Reminders: LJ Message @

aircrash would be fine!

Name: Beyond Birthday [aliases: B, Backup, Rue Ryuzaki, etc. - thinks of himself as B; usually introduces himself as Ryuzaki]]
Age: Never specified in canon; estimated around 20 years.
Species: Human, with minor shinigami traits.

Series: Death Note - Another Note [spinoff novel detailing events referenced in both the manga and anime versions of Death Note]
OU/AU: OU
Canon Point: August 22, 2002, just after parting ways with Naomi Misora to begin the “stakeout.”

History: There are articles at both Wikipedia (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Death_Note_characters#Beyond_Birthday) and the Death Note Wiki (http://deathnote.wikia.com/wiki/Beyond_Birthday), but neither is terribly complete or accurate; my own canon history write-up follows:

There are not many specific facts known about Beyond Birthday from the text of Another Note before the events of the story in question. What is known, however, is that both of his parents were killed when he was quite young - his father was murdered by a thug, his mother died in a train crash - and he was eventually brought to the Wammy’s House orphanage in Winchester, England, to participate in a rigorous detective training program as B - Backup for the genius detective L.

B was the second candidate enrolled in the program, a child with a brilliant mind and an eccentric demeanor; the first candidate, A, was unable to cope with the various pressures of the intense training program and committed suicide. B excelled in the program for many years, yet ultimately was not chosen as L’s successor, for reasons not specified. It is speculated, however, that the first generation of trainees was perhaps meant to act as prototypes for the program, never intended to actually succeed as a successor to L. B disappeared from the House around May of 2002 - again, for reasons not specified - shortly before orchestrating what would come to be known as the Los Angeles BB Murder Cases in July and August of that same year.

The series of elaborate, grisly killings involved three victims, each seemingly unrelated to the next, save for the fact that each was found in a room locked from the inside, a decreasing number of Wara Ningyo dolls was nailed to the walls of the rooms where the victims were found, and each victim’s first and last name began with the same letter. Believe Bridesmaid, a 44-year-old freelance writer, was drugged and asphyxiated to death with a rope, with post-mortem cuts made on his chest, a code designed to indicate the second victim. Quarter Queen, a 13-year-old girl, was drugged and killed via blunt force trauma to her head; her eyes were crushed in post-mortem. Backyard Bottomslash, a 28-year-old bank worker, died from severe blood loss when her left arm and right leg were hacked off; the arm was never recovered.

The serial murders attracted L’s attention, just as B intended, and L enlisted the assistance of a suspended FBI agent named Naomi Misora in investigating the murders. B approached Naomi at the scene of the first murder, introducing himself as an “unprivate detective” named Rue Ryuzaki who had been hired by the murder victims’ families to investigate the murder, independent of the police. Under the guise of cooperative investigation, B skillfully led Naomi through the obscure clues he’d left behind at the scene of each murder, pointing to the location of the fourth and final murder. B’s intent at the final scene was to commit suicide by setting himself on fire after setting it up to look like another murder, and thus leave L with a puzzle he could never solve. This, in B’s mind, would prove that he was better than L. Naomi, however, was able to piece together the final clues and determine Ryuzaki’s identity as the killer, B, and place him under arrest before he was able to succeed in his suicide plot, though not before B was able to badly burn himself.

B spent the next year and a half recovering from his extensive burn injuries while serving a life sentence in prison for his crimes and died of a mysterious heart attack on January 21, 2004, one of the many, many victims of Kira and the Death Note.

Personality: The primary thing to know about B is that he is a bona fide genius, albeit a peculiar one - at first glance, there’s just something a little bit off about him. His eccentric manner is heavily influenced by the fact that he has possessed the eyes of a shinigami since birth. The eyes of a shinigami, or death god, allow anyone who possesses them to view any live human’s name and natural life span. The ability to view life spans is the ability to view death, and B has been surrounded with reminders of death from the day he was born. As a result of both this and the fact he was orphaned at an early age, B’s world view is a little more emotionally distant and off-kilter than the average, well-adjusted person. B has experienced a great deal of loss in his life, so his personality - his true personality, which is almost always hidden under the facade of his “Rue Ryuzaki” persona in the novel - is a bit subdued and melancholy, with a tendency toward slow-boiling, intense anger. He will often appear emotionally detached in some aspects, but he is not entirely unfeeling - on the contrary, he feels quite a lot, but has been trained over the years to present a mask of impassivity to the world. In the novel, it’s only when B is alone that we get a few short glimpses of the person he truly is.

B does not, for the most part, maintain close relationships. Since he has been surrounded with reminders of death his entire life, and since he lost both of his parents at an early age, B learned early on in life not to allow himself to form attachments with many other people. He craves affection, attention, and meaningful relationships, however, precisely because he has not had them, and once he was brought to the Wammy’s House orphanage and enrolled in the training program there, B fixated on his absentee role model - the great detective L. L became the object of B’s attention in an obsessive, idol-worship kind of way; L was the only thing that mattered to B.

This sense of disconnect from other people and sense of loss in general is, among other things, a large part in why B’s personality is so obsessive in nature. He clings to things he holds dear because he knows he will, eventually, lose them.

B is also driven, rational and calculating - once he has a goal in mind, B does not give up. His determination is perhaps his greatest character strength. He has been trained to meet his goal by whatever means necessary, even if they are sometimes questionable [such as committing a series of grisly murders], but he is not amoral; B is neither a sociopath nor a psychopath.

Powers: Through the Wammy’s House program, B received extensive training in the investigative arts. He is adept at problem-solving, creative thinking, and logical reasoning, as evident in his prowess for both creating and solving puzzles, particularly crossword puzzles. B is an expert speed-reader, speaks both English and Japanese fluently, and demonstrates high proficiency in mathematics. Although it is not stated in the text of Another Note, it is likely B is also proficient in a number of additional languages and highly skilled in various types of computer work, including programming and hacking.

B is a skilled mimic and actor, capable of maintaining a convincing long-term public persona as an “unprivate detective” named Rue Ryuzaki with ease. Under the guise of Ryuzaki, B acts much less intelligent than he actually is, “playing the fool,” in effect, in order to gather information, subtly manipulate other people, and set his plans into motion. Even outside of this act, B lies, frequently and with precise calculation, and will not hesitate to give misinformation if it suits his purpose - and it generally does.

B is not particularly strong or trained in hand-to-hand combat, but he is stronger than his twig-like frame would suggest, and he’s incredibly quick on his feet. B does not generally instigate physical attacks, but when he does, it’s always a calculated maneuver, and he favors stealth and small, simple weapons, such as a club. In defense, B employs quick reflexes and flexibility to dodge.

As far as his personality is concerned, B’s greatest strength is his determination. He will do anything possible to achieve his goals - when his goal is to surpass L, B even turns to murder and becomes a criminal, in order to simply win and become better than L. Once he has a goal in mind, B does not give up. He is very smart, though perhaps misguided.

B’s only real otherworldly power would be his shinigami eyes. Unlike regular humans, who have the option of trading a shinigami this skill for half of their remaining lifespan, B was born with this ability at no additional upfront cost, and without the element of choice. With the shinigami eyes, B is able to see any live human’s true name and life span. This will only occur if B is able to see more than half of the face, usually the top half. Conversely, if more than half of the person’s face is covered, such as with a mask or large sunglasses, B will not be able to see that person’s name and life span.

Weaknesses: While he is stronger than he looks, B is still not particularly strong - no more so than the average person who spends most of the time indoors and does not train physically. He would be easily overpowered by a show of brute force, or an aggressive attack by someone trained in hand-to-hand combat or martial arts.

B’s greatest personality weakness is shortsightedness with respect to his obsessiveness; his eventual downfall is caused by the fact that he became so fixated on one thing - beating L - that he failed to consider anything else. For example, B underestimated Naomi Misora’s deductive abilities, and she was able to solve the mystery of his identity as the killer behind the series of murders and apprehend B before he was able to set the final stage of his murder plan into motion. B’s skewed world view is also something of weakness - though he is not prone to outbursts or displays of action not thoroughly calculated, B is still somewhat emotionally unstable, especially considering that the end result of the series of murders was intended to be a rather gruesome suicide.

Although not explicitly stated in canon, it’s most likely that B’s biggest fear is that of failure, on a general, all-encompassing scale. He’s dedicated a large portion of his life to training as a potential successor to L, and there seems to be a lot of personal investment in this one thing - that is, his sense of self-worth appears to be wrapped up in the idea of being good enough to be the next L, better than the other contenders. Failure in this respect amounts to a wholesale lack of purpose for B’s very existence, and it can thus be argued that this is a large factor in why B intended for his endgame to be his suicide.

Possessions: A standard cheap cell phone, circa 2002; a box of matches; a small stack of business cards.

Marking Location: Chest, right about where his heart’s located.

Miscellaneous: THE CITY DOES EXIST!!

First Person (recycled): [audio; English]

[The recording clicks on, and a flat, raspy, mildly surprised-sounding voice speaks:]

Oh, a recording device. Perhaps ... [The voice trails off underneath the scratchy sounds of shuffling, as the device is turned over and inspected.]

... Is this a transmitter, then? Very well - Misora? [The shuffling stops, and the voice becomes clearer, firm:] Misora, if you can hear me, please respond. Or, if there is anyone else transmitting on this frequency who can provide any information about my current whereabouts, I would appreciate if you would please respond immediately. I seem to not be where I was last, and I’m afraid I don’t know how I got here. This doesn’t look anything at all like Los Angeles.

[A brief pause, then:] Not even the bad parts of Los Angeles.

[There’s a longer, calculated pause, where the only audible sound is that of faint, ragged breathing, before the voice resumes:]

Additionally, I would like to speak with the party or parties responsible for my abduction. I’d like to begin negotiating the terms of my release as quickly as possible.

... I will say, though - if this is a kidnapping, it’s one of the more unorthodox ones I’ve encountered.

Third Person (recycled): B cracked his neck twice before pushing through the heavy wooden door of the cathedral and shuffling out onto the cement steps, blinking as his eyes adjusted to the overcast sunlight. He was careful to close the door silently behind him, out of habit - he’d spent half of his life training to slip in and out of places undetected; allowing a door to slam shut, even in a public space such as this, would be unacceptably careless. This was a new, unfamiliar location, and B couldn’t be sure what to expect. He frowned, thinking, and shoved both hands into his front jeans pockets; the fingers of his right hand brushed something small and metal. B drew the bit of metal - a key - out of his pocket and held it close to his face, inspecting. His eyes flickered over the address scribbled on the attached tag - was this a clue of some sort? It was just an ordinary key, but all the same, B was certain he’d never seen it before. It appears I am supposed to find this location, B pondered as he slowly ambled down the steps, toward the sidewalk, away from the church. Perhaps there will be an answer of some sort there.

To the average onlooker, B’s characteristic hunched-over posture as he walked down the street would appear as if he were staring at the ground, unaware of his surroundings, when in fact, B always carefully observed his environment through his peripheral view. In addition to the element of subterfuge lent to his observational mode, this stance allowed B to disregard the endless sea of names and numbers he would otherwise view above the heads of the people he encountered. All the death in the world, he occasionally thought in passing, a routine internal reminder, I see it all. This gift wasn’t something he had ever been able to explain, even to himself - B only knew that as far back as he could remember, he was able to tell a person’s true name and life span just from looking at him or her.

Something was different, however, in this new location. B noted as he passed a scattered half-dozen people on the street that the names were still there in plain view, but not everyone he saw had the accompanying numbers. This was not something he had ever encountered before, and B found it most peculiar.

B approached the next man passing by on the sidewalk and rasped out a flat, unruffled greeting. “Excuse me.” He once again retrieved the key from his pocket and held the tag with the address out for the other man to read. “Could you tell me how to get to this address?”

Congratulations! You've been accepted to Meridian! Please do the following:

Reply to this comment with the name of the journal you'll be using.
Join the communities: meridian_rpg, meridian_logs, and meridian_ooc.
Fill out the Permissions Meme here! Then comment to the taken post here!
Introduce yourself in the OOC comm!
Feel free to join us at our AIM chat "meridian" at any time! The game opens August 20th.

Your character is unmarked.

B's cellphone battery will be completely fried, and no replacements in sight. His Shinigami Eyes will see a blank space above the dead and all AU characters. NPCs will be completely scrambled and unreadable. In all other cases, the eyes work as normal.

Welcome to Meridian!

SO EXCITE

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

APPLICATIONS

Beyond Birthday || Death Note || OU || Reserved || Part 1

Beyond Birthday || Death Note || OU || Reserved || Part 2

Beyond Birthday || Death Note || OU || Reserved || Part 3

Beyond Birthday || Death Note || OU || Reserved || Part 4

Beyond Birthday || Death Note || OU || Reserved || Part 5/5

ACCEPTED

WOO