Application

[twilight_boy]

Name: Lily
Age: 25 (at time of app)
Timezone: EST
Contact: mllelaurel[at]yahoo[dot]com
Dreamwidth code? None needed.

Character Name: Roxas
Canon: Kingdom Hearts
Reference Links: http://kingdomhearts.wikia.com/wiki/Kingdom_Hearts_Wiki

Character Info: Roxas is what happens when you take someone’s heart (Ventus’s, in this case) and store it inside another person, that person being Sora. These kinds of things happen in Kingdom Hearts. After Sora temporarily dies and becomes a Heartless, Ven’s heart is released and hides itself in Sora’s Nobody, making Roxas’s existence kind of a paradox. He’s a Nobody, yes, with seemingly little emotional access and affect, but he’s capable of caring for others and inspiring the same in return. He also has a complicated soul-heart-memories connection to Sora, Ventus, Xion, and probably other people. I’m sure they’ll add at least one more once KH3 comes out. That’s been their pattern, so far.

Roxas was first found in Twilight Town by Xemnas, the Superior of Organization XIII. At this point, he remembered nothing of who he was. In fact, his amnesia initially ran so deep he was effectively a zombie for his first two weeks or so of existence. Kind of hard to do anything or be anybody, when you remember nothing, have no concept of emotions, and probably can’t even recognize a table if you see one. He was placed under the care of Axel, another member of the Organization, and the two of them wound up developing an unlikely friendship. When Xion appeared, the friendship was extended to her as well, with Roxas acting as her guide to the Organization

So far so good, right? And this is where things begin to fall apart. Due to complicated metaphysical foo having to do with memories, as well as Xion’s mirror-element nature, she began absorbing memories from Sora, currently asleep after having his head seriously messed with in Chain of Memories, and from Roxas himself. This was, as far as I can tell, largely instinctive rather than intended on her part, but orchestrated by Xemnas, when he realized that if Xion absorbed Roxas’s abilities and self, thus keeping them from being shared with Sora, Sora would never wake up and become a threat to his plans. In the end, Roxas and Xion fought, and Xion tricked him into effectively killing her, allowing herself to be absorbed into him, rather than him into her. Again due to her nature, everyone including Roxas would forget that she had ever existed, though he held on to her memory as long as he could.

Realizing that the Organization was up to some truly heinous stuff, Roxas defected, aiming to learn about who he was and eventually bring them down. He didn’t get very far before being confronted and knocked out by Riku, who brought him to DiZ so that he could be integrated back into Sora and Sora could wake up. DiZ’s method for doing this involved putting Roxas into a virtual reality version of Twilight Town and replacing his memories with that of a normal boy, then slowly breaking that reality apart in an effort to make him question his own existence and weaken or break his will. For the most part, the attempt was successful, despite Axel breaking into the program and contacting Roxas.

Stuffed back into Sora’s head, Roxas spent most of KH2 pretty much unconscious, though his emotions did seem to bleed into Sora’s on occasion. He didn’t really ‘wake up’ until Axel, who had been looking for him, ran into Sora again – and wound up sacrificing his life to save Sora, and by extension, Roxas. This drove Roxas to finally lash out at Sora, fighting him within his heart, and winning for a while, though Sora was able to push him back. Roxas would have hit total despair at this point, if he didn’t get a vision/visit from beyond the grave from Axel, who had promised him that they would see each other again. Closure helped, and Roxas came to terms with Sora, saying that he’d “make a good Other.”

Though generally laconic and deadpan, Roxas is clearly capable of getting attached to others, forging pretty damn strong bonds. Even his virtual friendships in Twilight Town wound up becoming real enough that his friends’ real counterparts felt some kind of connection to Sora – like they’d met a part of him before. Roxas does lash out when he is hurt or threatened, and is not particularly quick to forgive a betrayal, but it’s worth noting that he shows damn good restraint when it comes to not venting his anger on those who don’t actually deserve it. Even though the Twilight Town stuff happened to him for Sora’s sake, he shows no sign of hating Sora, acting rueful rather than angry, when confronted with his unconscious body. He’s curious, tenacious and doesn’t leave well enough alone. He will chafe at not having his memories, and may or may not appreciate being brought to this world without being consulted.

Considerations: So, here’s the thing – canon provides us with a handy example of what Roxas is like when he has amnesia. Unfortunately, zombie state/catatonia isn’t hugely viable to play. So I’ll modify that to what Roxas acted like once he snapped out of that state. He’ll be pretty out of it, at first, but quickly adapt to the situation. We know from canon how adaptable and resilient Roxas is, going from nothing to a full personality and necessary skillset for the Org. This resilience and adaptability is an intrinsic part of who he is.

He’s a somewhat wary individual in canon, but that may be, in large part, due to him being raised Org. He’ll be more relaxed and trusting around others, until regained memories and/or experience render him otherwise – much more akin to his Twilight Town personality. He works well with others in both the Organization and Twilight Town, so he’s likely to be a team player, which is good for how this game works.

Skills ...eh, see the registry. I don't feel like copy/pasting it in two places.

Writing Sample - Option 3

Introduce yourself in a few sentences: Roxas. Also known as Number XIII. Also known as The Key of Destiny, thanks to Xemnas’s pretentious ass.

"The suffering of a few is okay if it benefits a great many" -- do you agree with this sentiment? Why or why not?: Anyone ever ask those few how they felt about it? If not, you don’t have the right to involve them, and you don’t get to be a sanctimonious hypocrite and pretend you’re doing it for the greater good. The why of it doesn’t matter. If the person you’re about to screw over wants to be all noble and self-sacrificing, then whatever, but if they don’t, expect a beating. You don’t get to randomly decide that some people don’t deserve to exist, or to live their own lives, just because there’s fewer of them, or it’s convenient. If you consider someone expendable, you deserve everything you plan for them.

What event from your past has impacted you the most? Please describe: Everything impacts you, to one extent or another. If you can remember it, it probably played a part in who you are now. Everything you do, every person you meet… Doesn’t mean it’s all good, but it’s all there and it’s all contributed to shaping your personality. And if you don’t remember, then you start fresh, and the new people, places and events form a new you.

That was a tangent.

Why is it that the things which immediately come to mind are all bad? Is bad stuff just that much easier to remember?

I could talk about meeting Sora, though it wasn’t what most people would call a real meeting. Seeing him floating there, in that pod thing, and realizing that I didn’t hate him, even though I was about to stop existing because of him.

I could talk about Axel dying, and maybe it’s that I was feeling things with Sora’s heart at the time, but it hurt. Because he was dead, and because I kept expecting him to betray me and he didn’t, and because I couldn’t do anything; couldn’t even move. Just watching from behind Sora’s eyes and barely registering the emotions as mine, as I lost my best friend.

I could talk about meeting Axel again, after he had died. Speaking with him one more time, on the clock tower, and realizing that he’d kept his promise after all. That a guy infamous for being a liar, for lying to me, had been telling the truth that time. It didn’t make him being dead any better, but it gave me something, at least.

But I don’t want to talk about any of that. Memories are private, and talking about them only cheapens and distorts them.

If you were a kind of food item, what item would you be and why? This question makes no sense. I can think of people who’d answer with whatever their favorite food was, but then we just enter a weird self-cannibalism place, and you know, I’m not touching that. So no, I’m not a bar of sea salt ice-cream, which on top of everything would imply that I’m drippy.

Three things you're good at? Fighting – particularly getting up again, after I’ve been knocked down. Struggle, which is a kind of sport. Also skateboarding, though I’m not sure those last two count, since they come from a fake life. But if I really had grown up in Twilight Town, I’d probably be good at skateboarding and Struggle, so I’m putting them down. Not falling off the clock tower, except for that one time? Um… I’m a pretty decent person, compared to a lot of people I know? There we go. Next question.

Three things you're not so good at? Cooking. That’s what Zexion was for, except then he got assigned to Castle Oblivion and died. The food quality went down after that. Falling off the clock tower that one time wasn’t so great for my dignity, even if it wasn’t real. Oh yeah, and I’m a Nobody. Not so great at the whole feeling emotions and dealing with them thing, but then, I’m not supposed to be, am I? I’d say I’m not that good at keeping people I care about alive, but Sora’s still breathing, so I’ll leave that one out.

Do you believe in soulmates or love at first sight? I’m not dignifying that with a response.

"Killing criminals is okay if they've committed a grave crime" -- do you agree with this? Why or why not? I don’t make great sweeping morality calls. But if someone threatened me or my people? Yeah, I’d kill them, or at least take them out of commission. It wouldn’t be right or wrong. Just necessary.

Do you consider yourself a strong person? Why or why not? Yes, I do, and not just because I’m a Keyblade wielder. Because I’m still here, and even if I’m hurt or beaten, even if I give up for a time, no matter what, I will eventually get up again. I won’t fade away, and I will not become someone I’d hate.

Free section: (Please put something which you think symbolizes you or is otherwise important to you.) I guess I’ll go with Twilight Town itself, for this. Like the name says, the world falls in the middle of darkness and light. It’s neither and both at the same time. You could say the same about me: literally, my body’s made of darkness, as all Nobody bodies are, but I wield light as my element. But more importantly, it’s where I was born. It’s where all my happiest memories take place, and even if I didn’t actually grow up there, it still feels like home, as much as any place does.