mayfield_ooc | Applications

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Applications

• Please read over all the rules and information before applying in order to minimize any confusion before joining.

• If applying for a character that has already been dropped, it would be a good idea, though not required, to know something of their previous interactions. You are also free to pick up a dropped character with no memories of their previous time in Mayfield.

• All content for the personality and sample entry in your app must be written or roleplayed by you; for the personality section in particular, we do not accept copied text from wikis or other sources. Obviously, you may not copy your app from other players, whether in Mayfield or other games. Application plagiarism will result in a ban from the game.

• If you wish for your character to be placed in a specific house, please mention this in the relevant section of the application and specify that permission was obtained by the PCs already residing in that house. We will be operating by the Honor System for this, and there is no need for others to comment their permission in this post!

• Other special requests would also best go in the beginning of the application. Remember, grammar and spelling are important -- if your app contains errors, you will be asked to revise.

• Please post all applications or canon updates in this post; posting them elsewhere and linking to them from here may cause them to get changed later. Posting them here keeps us from having to save them.

When Applying, Fill Out the Following:

Name: Not the character's name, but yours or however you'd like us to refer to you.
Personal Journal: If you have one; a journal on another website is fine.
Contact Info: Any other way of contacting you. IM screen names, e-mail address, etc. AIM appears to be the common link between most players, so having a handle on AIM is preferable.
Other Characters Played: Any other characters you play at Mayfield, if applicable.
Preferred Housing: We encourage random matches, but if there is a particular house you want, you will need to contact every person in the house for permission. Please post your app AFTER doing this. If you cannot get in contact with any one person, please wait a week after contact and we'll accept it as a good faith effort. It is not necessary for those you received permission from to comment; we believe you! If you have no housing preference, simply put "N/A".

Character Name: Names, nicknames, whatever is applicable. In western order, please. If the character has no last name (adult males especially), you are free to either make one up or let us do it.
Character Series: 
Character Age: 
Background: We will accept copy/pastes or links to Wikipedia or another source, provided that the source reasonably explains the canon. This section is necessary, so if you can't find an explanatory source, you'll have to write something up yourself.
Personality: The more detailed here, the better. This lets us get a good feel for the character. Please try to back up your details with canon examples when you're getting past their basic character and more in-depth. Generally, we want to see at least four good-sized paragraphs.
Abilities: This section may end up being optional for you. If your character has any abilities or powers, such as magic, they'll be taken away upon arrival in Mayfield. These will come back over time, though.
Sample Entry: Please write as if you've already been accepted and writing an ordinary post from your character during their stay in Mayfield. Using an "introduction" post is fine, but we tend to discourage it, as the typical "who am I where am I what is this crazy place" format doesn't really give us a good grasp of how your character will behave on a daily basis. If you have trouble writing sample posts, we allow links to museboxes or other RPs to demonstrate as a sample. However, you'll want to post with the account you'll be linking to in that situation. Please make sure that your app is written in first person (!!!), as that's the format that will be used in the roleplay. Generally, we want to see at least five sentences, if not more. Prose log style samples will not be accepted. If you're confused about the distinction, we will be happy to explain. Remember, we're looking for FIRST-PERSON format; prose narration is fine, but it cannot make up the bulk of the entry.

When Applying for an Original Character, Fill Out the Following

Name: Not the character's name, but yours or however you'd like us to refer to you.
Personal Journal:
Contact Info: Any other way of contacting you. IM screen names, e-mail address, etc. AIM appears to be the common link between most players, so having a handle on AIM is preferable.
Other Characters Played: Any other characters you play at Mayfield, if applicable.
Preferred Housing: We encourage random matches, but if there is a particular house you want, you will need to contact every person in the house for permission. Please post your app AFTER doing this. If you cannot get in contact with any one person, please wait a week after contact and we'll accept it as a good faith effort. It is not necessary for those you received permission from to comment; we believe you! If you have no housing preference, simply put "N/A".

Character Name: Names, nicknames, whatever is applicable. In western order, please. If the character has no last name (adult males especially), you are free to either make one up or let us do it. 
Character Age: 
Background: For OCs, we require a detailed background to be fully written out. Please make sure to describe both the character's specific, personal background, and the world the character is from. If it is exactly like the real world, you'll still need to describe the location and the specifics of the society the character lives in (also please note here that we no longer accept 'Canon OCs,' so if this world is not one invented by you, the character is not appable).

This section will need to be somewhat long; there's no specific length we want, but we want to have a very clear feel of the character's backstory, so that we can compare it to the personality section.
Personality: This section is probably the most important. We're looking for at least six or seven paragraphs, but what's more important is that this be comprehensive and detailed. We want to see what makes your character tick, and we want to see that you understand what makes them tick and have fleshed them out as a character. Some things we will need to see include their important relationships and the major events in their lives and how these have shaped them, how they tend to interact with others and the world around them, their strengths and weaknesses, and what motivates them, among others.

If we do not have a strong sense of personality or it doesn't seem to match up with the background or sample, we will not accept the character even if your writing is strong.
Abilities: This section may end up being optional for you. If your character has any abilities or powers, such as magic, they'll be taken away upon arrival in Mayfield. These will come back over time, though.
Sample Entry 1: We're looking for a first person sample here; prose or action log format is not acceptable. If you write a sample, please write as though your character has already been accepted and is in Mayfield. You may write an introduction or first post, but we tend to discourage this, as the typical "who am I where am I what is this crazy place" format doesn't really give us a good grasp of how your character will behave on a daily basis. You may also use a link to a post in a dressing room, another game, or a musebox. We're looking specifically for a clear sense of character voice; spelling and grammar are important, but showing strong voice and characterization is more important than anything else. Remember, we're looking for FIRST-PERSON format; prose narration is fine, but it cannot make up the bulk of the entry.
Sample Entry 2: In this sample, we'd like to see a different side of your character than we saw in your first sample. This sample also needs to be in first person, but you may do a sample heavily based on introspection and action as long as it shows us a different side of your character and your first sample was strongly focused on speaking voice. For this sample, we will ask you to write something out as though your character is already in Mayfield. Please do not link to a sample elsewhere or use their first post/waking up in Mayfield here. That can go in the first sample instead.

• Before applying, please look over any applications that were recently accepted to get an idea of what we're looking for.

• If you apply for a character that has already been reserved, we will inform you and ignore the application until the reserve runs out. You may not apply for more than two characters from the same canon. For the sample entry, you may write your own entry, or use a post from a musebox, dressing room, or other game. We recommend testrun_box if you prefer the latter!

• After you're accepted, please follow all of the instructions given. You will need to reply to the acceptance, post your journal to the friend add page and your canon post, join the communities, and use the friend add page to update your journal. Once you're accepted, please introduce yourself on the community when you're ready to play.

• If your app is "Pending", do not freak out! This means that we need you to make some revisions, and does not mean you're rejected. We generally give players a chance to revise before rejecting them, but we will reject apps that do not address the concerns stated when we asked for a revision. If you have been rejected, our reply will clearly state this to be the case. If we have not gotten back to you yet, under no circumstance does this mean you are rejected. If it has been over a week since our last reply, it would be a good idea to contact us with a reminder, otherwise, please be patient!

• If you have received a "Pending" notice, you will have one week to supply us with your revisions, or your reserve will be considered expired and that someone else is free to apply for the character.

• The typical wait for a reply on apps may be anywhere from a day to a little over a week. If any part of your application requires a pending, it may be another week after your reply to that before we can get to you. We process a high volume of apps every round, so please be patient.

• If you have not heard back on a pending for over a week after apps close, please send a PM directly to the mod account.

APPLICATIONS ARE CLOSED.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Name: Qu-ko
Personal Journal:

prisma
Contact Info: kaleidobeam [at] gmail.com / HighinQusitor (AIM) / quko (Plurk)
Other Characters Played: N/A
Preferred Housing: RANDOMIZE ME, CAP'N.

Character Name: Garnet til Alexandros XVII / Dagger
Character Series: Final Fantasy IX
Character Age: 16 during gameplay, assuming 17 by the end of it
Background: Garnet @ FFWiki

Personality: At first glance, Garnet til Alexandros XVII is royalty through and through. She has the beauty and the surface demeanor to suit the role; she is fairly mild-mannered and polite at all times. However, through the time she spent with Zidane and the rest of the team, Dagger has rounded out quite a bit in personality. In the beginning, she was the picture image of a sheltered princess, albeit with an undiscovered adventurous streak. Gradually, she began to take in everything about the world around her outside the walls of Alexandria Castle, and her true self started to shine through.

One thing about Dagger is that she is insatiably curious. As a child, she found academic studying as boring as any little girl might, but the ever-present love of learning about the world she exhibited persisted even into her teens. With that curiosity, too, comes an almost devious intelligence that's perfectly capable of taking what she learns and applying it resourcefully, and this trait has displayed itself a number of times throughout the game. Occasionally, her ideas may not seem befitting of a princess (drugging her comrades' food with sleeping weed in an effort to be able to leave Lindblum without trouble, and concealing herself in a bag of putrid Gysahl Pickles to sneak past gate guards, for example), but it suggests that the royal side of her is only one part of her personality, deeply ingrained but not even close to the whole.

Though she has trained herself to know when and how to speak formally and informally, and has picked up on the art of sarcasm and snark just as quickly, the part of Dagger that was reared to be Queen of Alexandria one day doesn't die so easily. Her sense of duty and responsibility tie her to both "worlds" at once -- the world of Queen Garnet, and the world of Dagger, Zidane's devoted friend(-slash-love-interest). She cares about both deeply, so deeply that it can cause trouble for her when she's inevitably torn between them. In the end, she'll always do what she feels is right for everyone, but such decisions aren't always easy to make when both options seem equally bad and good at the same time.

And with that mention of seemingly-perpetual juxtaposition she's locked in between her friends and life as a human being, and her duty to her kingdom, comes the topic of one of Dagger's biggest and most obvious facets: her sense of responsibility. Dagger is the type of person who holds herself fiercely, furiously to blame for whatever might go wrong; even accidents, even things no one could have predicted or prevented. She has an extremely strong sense of guilt that often overpowers rational thought at first, coupled with her occasional feeling of helplessness and powerlessness when it comes to supporting the people she loves. She has an arbitrary sense of caring for everyone around her, be they family, friend, or... love interest; so when those people she cares about most, the ones she most wants to support and protect, have problems that can't be solved, Dagger takes it very, very hard. She has difficulty giving up on such things, and just letting them die -- more often than not, she'll resort to blaming and chastising herself. She'll do the same thing when others go out of their way to help her in turn, although she understands much better now that it's a vital part of friendship. It never stops that tiny, nagging feeling of "this person is going to all this trouble for me, when I should be able to do it myself", though. Her thought processes when it comes to people actually taking a fall or two (or twelve, in some cases) for her sake are similar, as well -- the line between "couldn't do anything" and "didn't do anything" doesn't always separate so cleanly for Dagger, and she's hardly beyond what-ifs and shouldering the guilt for one or both, even if it's not objectively necessary.

She's learned over time that strength doesn't always have to be in taking burdens or blows for others, though. Dagger and Zidane in particular have a mutual loyalty to each other that manifests most strongly in their emotional support for one another. Like he was there for her when she clammed up tight, verbally and emotionally, after the destruction of Alexandria, she was able to do the same for him when he showed every sign of losing his way and giving up later on. She considers everyone she's traveled with a friend of some sort, though -- Dagger respects Vivi for his own emotional tenacity in the face of something so terrifying as the painful truth about himself and his origins; she has always respected and continues to respect Steiner for his willingness to put himself on the line to protect her and others; she respects Beatrix for being able to turn away from a path she found was no longer worth traveling, even if it was a difficult decision; she respects Freya for pushing on with honor and dignity no matter how many more precious things she lost by doing so; she respects Eiko for having been able to recognize what was right in her heart and stick with it, even at such a young age; she even finds things to like about the quirky, whimsical Quina and the standoffish Amarant. Yet, her own sense of self-worth occasionally suffers in the face of seeing these people and many more put themselves at risk in all different ways, directly or indirectly for her sake. Dagger would much rather spare them the heavy burden of the weight of her important life on their shoulders, and so finally resolves to use the power of her Eidolons to protect the things she cares about after regaining the ability.

Being through what she has certainly has its upsides, though. For one thing, Dagger is a sweet person at heart, and does her best to treat everyone with the same equal, pleasant consideration. As dedicated as she is to fretting about her friends, she's also far from a pushover when it comes to interacting with others. Unlike the stereotypical princess, she doesn't take kindly to being treated as a doormat, or regarded solely for her position -- sitting on her hands is the one thing she absolutely refuses to accept, a positive byproduct of the enormous guilt complex she harbors. She doesn't tolerate being spoken down to, or simply spoken to like someone's stringing her along for their own purposes. Not only is she easily smart enough to pick up on these things, but she's not afraid to speak her mind about them, either... in her own, refined way. Dagger's naturally inclined to be as civil as possible and to refrain from insults and nastiness, which is only further strengthened by her royal upbringing, but she still carries a will of adamantium that is not easily forced to bend. And if you try to trample it, you're crossing the line. Similarly, this strength of will is another reason she and Zidane tend to get alone so well: Zidane is good-naturedly playful and flirtatious, and although his advances usually slide right off Dagger or get subtly rebuffed, she occasionally manages to surprise him (case in point: shocking the hell out of him by agreeing immediately to get "married" at Conde Petie in a cultural ceremony so they could move past the blocked Sanctuary). Likewise, she can usually tell when Zidane's not quite himself without even consciously thinking about it, and won't let up until he opens up to her.

Overall, Dagger is a stellar example of a princess (now a queen, that is) who can't be forcibly set into the usual princess mold from fairy tales of old. While she will never really shake off those sophisticated, contained, and occasionally naive princess tendencies, she'll also never succumb to the stereotype of royals who would rather take the easy way out of being kidnapped and rescued by the knight in shining armor -- if her willingness to be kidnapped of her own volition to save someone she loved wasn't enough to display her lack of willingness to sit on her hands and wait for help to arrive, then the way she decided to carry on in spite of the traumatic destruction of her own kingdom and the emotional turmoil it thrust her into absolutely is. It's all summed up quite nicely with only a few words in her defining character quote: "Someday I will be Queen, but I will always be myself."

Abilities: Final Fantasy IX has two characters with more or less the same basic abilities in Dagger and Eiko. However, whereas Eiko leans more towards being a white mage than a summoner, Dagger is the opposite, and is a better summoner than white mage. While fully capable of both just as well, she has a much wider range of summons than Eiko, and her Trance mode amplifies her summoning ability as opposed to her white magic casting like Eiko's. Among the Eidolons she has access to:

- Shiva, ice-elemental
- Ifrit, fire-elemental
- Ramuh, lightning-elemental
- Atomos, gravity-elemental that cuts an enemy's HP by a fraction
- Odin, non-elemental that often deals instant death
- Leviathan, water-elemental
- Bahamut, non-elemental
- Ark, shadow-elemental

Her white magic abilities are slightly more basic than Eiko's, but include the ability to heal on various levels (the forms of Cure), revive the fallen (Life), remove a handful of abnormalities from allies (Panacea and Stona), inflict an even wider variety of states onto enemies (Blind, Silence, Mini, Confuse, Berserk), and set up forms of protection against attacks (Scan, Float, Protect, Shell, Reflect).

Sample Entry: [It's a written letter addressed to no one in particular... more like a diary entry, even. Dagger seems to think that sometimes, writing is easier and less awkward than speaking to a voice she can hear, but with a face and body she cannot see, from a device that was difficult to hold to her ear anyway.]

The technology here is strange. Strangely practical, but still strange. And yet the more I experience of it, the more I wonder what good uses these things could be put to in Alexandria, and all of Gaia itself.

For a long time, the continents of Gaia have been separated by disinterest as much as physical distance. Now, the gap has continued to slowly shrink as time passed and things happened. I think this place may be much the same. Things like the television, telephone, and radio surprised me at first, but now I think I understand the many uses people here have for them.

I watched one of the television segments recently. It's nothing like watching a play without the glass screen between you and the stage, catching all the nuances with your own eyes and hearing the voices so clearly, but the idea has merit. Something that can transmit sounds or entire scenes from one location to another, for communication or fun? It could change so much, and bring many people closer over long distances. Uncle Cid's true love will always be flight and engineering airships, but I wonder if he'd take to an idea like this...

...But somehow, watching the acting troupe who call themselves the "Three Stooges" cause collateral damage to everyone and everything around them will never look any less painful.

Someday, I'll bring these ideas with me back to Alexandria. From there, I hope all of Gaia can work together to make realities like the ones here just as real at home. If they can exist without magic here, bringing a piece of this world back would help so many people.

Not all of it, though. As many things as there are here that could be revolutionary for us someday, there's even more here everyone could do without. The unsettling ~~almost~~ outweighs the fascinating now. ~~I hope that~~ ~~I couldn't imagine if anyone else~~ I know ~~you may not~~ none of you will read this for a long time. But for everyone left behind, still in the place they belong, I wish you well enough to never have to leave the home you love.

~~Don't ever find yourself here, please. I'd never be able to, I couldn't~~

Welcome to 951 Beulah, Garnet Lassiter! Please reply here with your character journal. Once you've done that, complete the following:

• Join

mayfield_rpg,

mayfield_ooc,

mayfield_logs, and optionally

junefield
• Add your info to your canon post
• Add your info to your household! Use the street list to find your house.
• Make sure to tag your first post with the !intro tag, as well as your character's personal tag: c: garnet

Go ahead and introduce yourself in the main comm and tell people where your character will be living!

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Applications

Garnet til Alexandros XVII | Final Fantasy IX | Not reserved (by... me, anyway)

Garnet til Alexandros XVII | Final Fantasy IX | Not reserved (by... me, anyway)

Accepted!