mayfield_ooc | 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: Lan
Personal Journal:

so_low
Contact Info: AIM: OcularDoomsday; plurk: Hellglass
Other Characters Played: BLU Scout, Calleo Crowe, Theo Crawford, Quinn Hatch, Aurora Belle Jenkins, Jane Barton.
Preferred Housing: N/A, but I’d prefer a house with at least one other active player.

Character Name: Elmer C. Albatross
Character Series: Baccano!
Character Age: Over 300, but looks around 21.
Background: Baccano wiki link, general wiki link. Also the TV Tropes page has good info, it’s just hard to link directly. Here is the list, click on "Immortals" and scroll down till you get to Elmer (the 5th down). If you need more, I’ll be glad to write it. As far as a canon point, I’ll be taking him from 2001, after the events of The Children of the Bottle.

Personality: Outwardly, Elmer is a nondescript, average-looking man, with one noticeable feature: he’s always smiling. Always. In passing, this may come off well with others, bright and infectious. Those who know him call him Mister Happy End, or the Smile Junkie. But to anyone who spends time and gets to understand what’s going on inside will realize that there’s a lot more to that smile. His outlook on how everyone should be smiling and happy reaches lengths that are twisted and wrong.

“I'd sell the souls of all humanity to the devil if I thought it'd get us a happy ending.”

These words summarize Elmer to a T. Despite a life of hardships, bullying and torture, Elmer has remained positive and upbeat, knowing that anything bad can be overcome if you just smile and feel better about it. This has lead others to believe that he’s simple, or oblivious. To a degree, he does live in his own little world where everyone can be happy and get their happy ending. But this doesn’t mean he doesn’t understand the consequences of his action, or that he’s stupid. Quite the contrary – he’s described as calculating and conniving, thinking fast to plan. For example, he puts his life on the line just to prove a point to Czes. The only way to kill an immortal is to have another immortal “eat” them – placing their right hand on their head and imagining consuming them, which then happens, destroying the immortal. Upon first meeting again after 300 years, Czes places a hand on Elmer’s head, and Elmer doesn’t flinch. Later, when Czes asks him why he didn’t, Elmer simply grabs Czes’s arm and places his hand on his head, all in order for Czes to see he can trust Elmer, to make him see that there are worthwhile people in the world. Just to see if he would smile. Czes can’t handle this, though, and asks what if what would make him happy was if Elmer jumped off the roof they were on. Without a second thought, Elmer does just that. The levels he will go to make someone happy reach strange and twisted levels. Even when faced with the demon they summoned to gain immortality, he is told by the demon he would be granted any wish he wants – and Elmer wishes to see the demon smile genuinely. The demon remarks that this is the most difficult thing he’s ever done.

His constant smiling also makes his true emotions hard to read, or so people think. Maybe he is just blissfully happy all the time, or maybe he’s covering it up. Either way, he does show other emotions from time to time, usually surprising those around him. When Fermet, another immortal, comes across Elmer on a train, he tells him outright that he is afraid of Elmer because he never knows what he’s thinking. He’s also convinced that Elmer is an idiot, and won’t consume him because he’s afraid of Elmer’s personality influencing him. Elmer also physically throws Fermet off the moving train because he was making someone else nearby unhappy.

Elmer is also adept at reading other people. Being an expert in smiling, he can instantly tell when other people are faking it. It’s said he can spot a fake smile a hundred yards away. If you give him a fake smile in an attempt to placate him, he won’t leave you alone until he gets a genuine one from you. He might even give you an arbitrary time he’ll get one from you – something like “I’ll get you to smile in 3 days, 4 hours and 12 minutes!” - though this might not be arbitrary at all. He’s concocting a plan, and he thinks it will take that long to exact in order to get you to smile.

Being immortal gives you a lot of time to travel and see the world. Elmer is very knowledgeable about many cultures of the world. He’s especially fond of Asian traditions, and has learned a lot about Japan from his friend Denkuro, another immortal. He’s spent time there and knows a lot about their holidays, literature, etc. Despite his age, he’s also is up to date on modern culture, making many references to movies, books and even video games. For a guy who seems to live in his own little world, he sure knows a lot about the world going on around him.

No doubt Elmer’s time in Mayfield will be spent trying to get people to cheer up and smile in order to overcome the hardships they face, whether they like it or not. In a small town like this, they won’t be able to get rid of him either. Though it might take them some time to realize he’s not actually a drone at first…

Abilities: Elmer is an immortal. He never ages, and cannot die or get sick. When injured, his body will mend itself back together; blood flowing back in, missing body parts jumping back to reconnect.

Sample Entry:
[After a distressed-sounding call from the Mayor telling people to ignore the latest crisis, Elmer calls one and all to give his opinion. He sounds cheerful as ever.]
Say, that guy wasn’t helpful at all, was he? He’s supposed to be in charge, right? But he sounds scared to death! That’s no good. You can’t expect the people of his town to just keep calm and carry on when he sounds like he could fall apart at any minute!

I’d like to go talk to him. I’ve been in a similar situation before, and I bet I know how to cheer him up. I guess he’d be working out of City Hall, huh? Anyone else out there up for a visit, too? I’m sure he doesn’t get a lot of visitors, so coming by for a friendly Q-and-A session would be great! Maybe we can find out what’s bugging him, and help him feel better.

Welcome to 1670 Nelson, Elmer Albatross! 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: elmer albatross

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

Applications

Elmer C. Albatross - Baccano! - not reserved

Re: Elmer C. Albatross - Baccano! - not reserved

Accepted!