* This is an application I submitted for a Final Fantasy VIII messageboard roleplay a very long time ago, back in the EZBoard days. The setting was a newly reopened Balamb Garden several years after the events of Final Fantasy VIII.
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* I have no recollection of what the roleplay was called, and I don't think I ever did any actual roleplaying. Was my application not accepted, or did I just lose interest immediately?
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* My character was a pathological liar, who could have been fun to play! Given his complex over not standing out, I suspect he was heavily inspired by Nida. I'm going to guess that the roleplay didn't allow people to play canon characters, which is why I'm not just applying to play as Nida.
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* From the fact that my character is fifteen, I suspect I was also fifteen at the time.
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Your EZBoard User Name: Riona Leonhart
Your Character's Name: Risiko Grey
Character's Sex: Male
Character's Age: 15
Character's Height: 5'7'' approx.
Character's Appearance: Of medium build, dark brown hair, dark brown eyes. No particular distinguishing features, apart from a long scar on his left arm, which he has had for so long that he cannot remember how it got there (although he entertains hopes of it being from some dramatic battle, it seems hardly likely). Both aware of and irritated by the fact that he is utterly unnoticable, Risiko works as hard as he can to become a SeeD, desperate to prove - to himself as much as to others - that he is not just an average, boring person, destined to blend into the background for eternity.
Character's Background: Risiko's background seems to be conspiring against him, a desperate effort to thwart his plans to make a name for himself. Not that he's had a bad history - far from it. He had a quiet life with his family (mother, father, one elder sister) in Winhill until the age of eleven, when they moved to Balamb, partly due to the rumours at the time that Balamb Garden was going to re-open. There they lived quietly until it actually did, four years later.
The main problem with his background, in Risiko's eyes, is that it is far too quiet. There are no murders in it; no dramatic battles with rampaging herds of T-Rexaurs; no wandering off and discovering a new type of Cactuar, or getting drunk and finding oneself lying half-dead in the middle of Shumi Village the next day. With no real exciting incidents in his past to draw from, his desire to be noticed occasionally leads him to make them up. It's not unknown for Risiko to tell a new acquaintance a long and elaborate story about his multiple near-death experiences on the Island Closest to Hell, carefully evade any questions, and end up having to avoid that person for the rest of his life after they discover the truth.
He is currently trying to break this habit of making up histories, and he is improving. Risiko still has his moments of weakness, though.
Writing Sample:
"I fought a Ruby Dragon once."
The girl started, almost falling into the water, and spun to face the other inhabitant of the pier. They had both been standing there, silent, for several minutes - she certainly hadn't expected him to speak to her. He stared back at her, carefully keeping his eyes blank and expression neutral. It frightened her a little, but she tried not to show it.
"Um... when?" she asked at last, realising that she was probably expected to say something. The young man smiled oddly and turned back to the sea, squinting at the horizon through the lifting fog.
"Two years ago. I was going to visit the rebuilt Garden, but I ran into one on the way. In Trabia Canyon." He glanced at her. "Have you ever seen a Ruby Dragon?"
"Well, no... they aren't very common, are they?" She laughed a little, nervously. This young man unnerved her; she had the distinct impression that he knew it, and that he was doing it deliberately.
"It was terrifying. They're enormous things, and their attacks..." He shuddered and mouthed 'flamebreath'. "I thought I was going to die, y'know?" She noted with some relief that he was speaking a little more naturally now, not just in dramatic sentence fragments. It made him a little less frightening.
He turned away from her, shoving his hands into his pockets, and she caught sight of something on the inside of his arm. A scar, running almost from elbow to wrist.
"Did you get that from fighting it?" she asked, intrigued in spite of herself.
The young man looked at her strangely, then down at his scar. "Oh, you noticed that? Yeah, it's from the dragon... I'd rather not talk about it, really."
(Then why did you bring it up?) she wondered, but didn't say. "Why don't you cast curative magic on it?"
"Hmmm?"
"If it makes you uncomfortable, you could probably get rid of it. Just focus a Cure spell completely on the scar. I'll do it, if you want me to."
For a moment she thought she saw a flash of panic in his eyes, as if getting rid of the scar would be a crime inconceivable. Now that she thought about it, it seemed a little odd that he would be wearing a short-sleeved shirt in the middle of winter. It seemed as if he wanted her to notice the scar.
"I... I wouldn't want to bother you, really. Don't trouble yourself."
(He speaks more formally when he's nervous, it seems. Why does he want to keep the scar? A trophy, I suppose, from his battle. But then why would he be avoiding the subject now?)
"Never mind, then. Did you beat it?"
Confusion. "Beat what?"
"The Ruby Dragon," she said patiently, starting to think that this person was either lying or stupid. "Did you beat it?"
He stared blankly at her for a second more, mouthed '...dragon...', and then rolled his eyes. "No, I didn't beat it. That's why I'm dead."
"You really defeated a Ruby Dragon?" Skepticism fairly radiated from her.
He raised his spear. "These things are sharp, y'know."
(Wait, where did he get that from? Was he carrying it before?) "A two-sided spear? That's an unusual weapon."
"I'm an unusual person," he said instantly, so sharply that she really did fall into the water.
Risiko watched with some satisfaction as the girl scrambled onto the shore, cast one terrified glance back at him, and took off running.
(That's one person who won't forget me. Just the rest of the world to go.)
* And that's my teenage attempt at creating a Final Fantasy VIII OC! I've also managed to uncover the Garden admission interview I wrote as part of my application, so I'll put that up on this site soon.
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