Luceti Application

[vambraced]

PLAYER

Name: Sarah/Toasty
Journal Username: agkelikos
E-mail: blueseraph28@gmail.com
AIM/PLURK: BlueSeraph28 / Bratja @Plurk
Current Characters at Luceti:
Eleytheria | winds_voice

CHARACTER

Name: Jack Van Burace
Canon: Wild ARMs Alter Code: F
Gender: Male
Age: 27
Wing Color: Ice blue, flecked with gold

Canon Point: Shortly after returning from the Elw Dimension
Canon Point Explanation: At this point, Jack is beginning to realise that Lady Harken is Elmina, though the others in the group still don’t know about his past or relation to her. I’d still like to play him with that vengeful streak in him, before he realises what the ‘Absolute Power’ he’s searching for really is – the power to protect. It may also create some interesting conflict between castmates as they will know things that he doesn’t (this has been cleared with the castmates in question).

History:
Wiki Page here!

Personality:

Jack is superficially described as a treasure hunter, though he has a very definite goal in mind for much of his excavations. The purpose of his quests through the ancient ruins of the world is to locate something which he calls an “Absolute Power”. In doing this, he hopes to grow stronger so that he can use this newfound strength to seek his revenge against the race known as ‘Metal Demons’. This sense of revenge is a strong part of his character for much of the game, stemming from an intense feeling of guilt at his past failure to defend Arctica Castle when still working alongside the Fenril Knights, as well as failing to protect the “Sword Princess” Elmina, someone he has strong feelings for. Due to these events, Jack harbours an intense hatred for the beings known as demons, as they were responsible for taking away everything he stood for and what was most important to him. In particular he seems to have a personal grudge against the demon Alhazad and a rivalry with the Quarter Knight known as Lady Harken, who he later discovers is Elmina after having been altered by Alhazad into a demon herself.

Jack has a certain air of impatience about him at times. At the beginning of the game he is shown to be messing with technology in the Ruins of Memory without really understanding it, something that his wind mouse partner Hanpan chides him for before taking over himself. The mouse also comments on Jack apparently paying too much for the information to find the place, suggesting that the man underwent the transaction with little thought to what he was doing, just as long as it might help him to achieve his goal. His quest for power blinds him a lot early on in the game and it seems he will stop at nothing to get what he wants.

Jack takes a pragmatic approach to life, as opposed to Rudy and Cecilia. This can sometimes lead him to seem rather colder towards certain situations, particularly when paired against Cecilia’s empathy for others. However, he’s certainly not unnecessarily cruel, and is shown to offer support and care for his friends despite a rough demeanour. He especially has a certain fondness for Rudy, something which he comments on after Rudy injures himself at the Gate Generator and is shown several other times in canon. For example, he is shown to stand up for Rudy in the face of the Guardian Lords Justine and Raftina, after they question the nature of his humanity, telling them that Rudy is ‘human in the way that matters’. He also stands up for the boy during a return visit to Surf, where the villagers banished him for using a forbidden ARM. In Cecilia’s case, he’s a little slower to warm up to her due to his voiced distaste for royalty, however he witnesses the changes that she goes through and learns to appreciate that growth over time. It can also be said that animals have a certain fondness for Jack, as Hanpan suggests that he has many non-human friends after gaining aid from the spirit of a monkey who was present during the fall of Arctica.

The knight turned wanderer can be impulsive at times, particularly when he lets his heart rule over his head. The blind girl Aura senses that he is earnest and whole-hearted, yet suggests his heart is more easily wounded than the others, highlighting that despite his tough exterior, he can be sensitive, perhaps leading to his impulsive behaviour. His encounters with Lady Harken, particularly after he realises just who she is, exhibit a great deal of frustration from his end, leading him to lash out or lead the group into a trap in the case of Pandemonium, a fortress of the demons. It is here that Jack realises how pointless his revenge has been and that the only way to save Elmina is to destroy the demon she’s become. Upon putting his love out of her misery in what can be described as a mercy killing, Jack discovers the true meaning of courage and awakens the Guardian Lord Justine once again. Since the beginning, Jack has had a skewed vision of what courage really meant and became fixated on gaining power to face his enemies and wipe them out no matter how risky the decision. Instead he learns that true courage lies in the power to protect others and that meant putting them first instead of recklessly throwing himself into danger and throwing away his own life for the sake of revenge. It’s possible for him to go one step further than that as well. Optional events in canon lead Jack to use the power of the Time Guardian to reincarnate Elmina, and despite her reappearance as a now amnesiac, he still fulfils a distant promise, returning the ribbon she gave to him at Arctica Castle. To carry it for all this time and still fulfil it in such uncomfortable circumstances shows how loyal he is to those he cares about.

While these events do lead to his drive for revenge lessening a great deal, he still harbours a dislike for the demon race as a whole. For example, he’s quick to suggest that they kill the demon Zed upon meeting him later in the town Saint Centaur, though in truth he only says it in jest. Similar to that situation, Jack can come across as rather sarcastic and snarky at times, and especially enjoys bantering with his partner Hanpan, but usually it’s harmless providing an enemy isn’t involved. Some might not appreciate his sense of humour, however!

Strengths

Physical:
- A good swordsman who wields a blade much like a katana, and user of the “Fast Draw” technique, a style of swordplay similar to the gunslinger’s “Quick Draw” used in Westerns. During canon, the only person alive who still seems to use this technique is Lady Harken.
- To be good at this technique, Jack requires a certain amount of speed, so he’s rather quick on his feet as well. His speed is highlighted in canon by his high response time in the game and his ability 'Accelerator' which lets him move first in battle.
Mental:
- His pragmatic approach to situations helps to steady the emotions of others and keep them focussed. It can also help his friends to avoid bad decisions. For example, instead of offering to help others for free, he would make sure that they reward them for their efforts.
- He has a strong will and good determination, something which he had to develop after events at Arctica Castle. Without it, he would never have managed to undertake his quest in the first place.
- Many of the Fast Draw techniques he picks up come from observing the environment around him or an event that takes place. In order to translate such things into a fighting technique, Jack must have a certain degree of creativity when it comes to his training.
Emotional:
- Jack is very loyal to his friends. He’s quick to go to Rudy’s aid after his injury at the Gate Generator, and even after learning about his origins and his link to the demons, he doesn’t think any less of him. For someone with a serious grudge against the demons, this is quite a major development.
- He’s also loyal to his heart, despite the troubles it might cause him. He never gave up on his revenge and when faced with Lady Harken’s impossible recovery, he showed mercy towards her and ended her suffering. With this, he learned courage.

Weaknesses

Physical:
- Most of Jack’s physical weaknesses come from simply being human. He can be injured, fall sick and be killed just like anyone else.
- He’s also shown to have difficulty with flying targets, so he wouldn’t be as effective as others in a battle with something in the air.
Mental/Emotional:
- Despite the fact he tries to keep a level head for his friends, his drive for revenge does tend to cloud his own judgement, particularly when he encounters Elmina or the demons, or in fact any remnant of his past. This leads him to act rashly which can land him and his friends in trouble. This isn’t something strictly relevant to his life as Jack either. The game’s prologue shows that during the fall of Arctica Castle, Garrett (aka Jack) already has that drive to destroy the demons. It’s Elmina who tries to reason with him about the true nature of courage and why his fixation on power and destroying the enemy is wrong, before the two are finally separated.
- Jack voices a distaste for royalty when learning the truth about who Cecilia is and this seems to extend to his past life as well. This could obviously have an effect on any potential relationships he might develop with those of royal lineage, though he can also be rather sardonic towards his friends as well.
- Jack is especially secretive about his past, which could make it hard for people to trust him. He’s also gone so far as to call himself a hypocrite, since he didn’t react particularly well to Cecilia when he realised she’d been hiding her identity from them, yet continued to hide his own.

Anything else?:
Not that I can think of!

SAMPLES

First Person:

Training Wings Thread 1 | Training Wings Thread 2

Third Person:

[If it wasn't one thing it was another. They'd only just gotten back from another dimension, all of them were exhausted and their minds reeling from constant revelations. And now he was here, in what he could only assume was some kind of strange purgatory, with wings on his back the colour of gold-flecked ice and only himself for company. At least he still had his sword he supposed, and his clothes, which he was thankful for in the cold weather. Honestly, he hoped this was just a dream. Maybe he'll wake up soon. Maybe they got separated and they'd see each other again before long.

...but Jack knew that this could just be another card dealt by fate that he'd have to deal with, perhaps alone. How to deal with it? Well he'd spotted a bar in the nearby village. 'Good Spirits'. At least it advertised itself well. Besides the drink, bars were good places to gather information, so the man heads inside to see what they have on offer.

Of course, once inside it was hard not to noticed the plethora of different faces and forms in the establishment and after giving the available drinks a look over, it soon became clear that this really wasn’t anywhere on Filgaia. He had never heard of half of these beverages and many of the patrons taking a drink certainly didn’t look like natives from his world. Not to mention they all seemed to have multi-coloured wings of their own.

All right, plenty of them look human enough but what about the ones that don’t? I’ve got enough to worry about with the demons without making more enemies..., he thought to himself, deciding then that it would be best not to get on anyone’s bad side when he really didn’t know what he was dealing with here.

Those thoughts were halted however when someone came to take his order. Turning his attention back to the matter at hand, Jack made it:]

A glass of your best whiskey, neat. [They had whiskey right? No telling what kind though, he was easy. Though after a moment’s thought he adds.] Make it a double.