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outpostmods) wrote2012-03-09 08:31 pm
Application format
OOC Info
Player name: (A nickname is fine here.)
OOC journal: (If applicable.)
Player age: (All players MUST be over 18!)
Contact information: (A way we can reach you offsite. Plurk, AIM, etc.)
IC Info
Name: (Your character's full name, self-explanatory.)
Canon: (If applicable.)
Canon point: (If applicable.)
Age: (Please include canon age if the character is being aged up.)
Sex/Gender: (If the character is gendered differently from their physical sex, please say so here.)
Appearance: (You may link to an image here instead of writing a description. For OCs, a link to a drawing is fine if you have one but it must either be your own original work or commissioned/gifted work of your own character and not something you found of somebody else's character on Deviantart.)
History: (You may link to an offsite resource detailing your character's canon history, however we prefer that you also give us a summary in your own words. If English is not your first language we will be flexible about the summary. For OCs, please succinctly summarize what your character's life was like before arrival to the Outpost.)
Personality: (This is the most important part of the app and ultimately determines whether or not your character will fit here. Give as much detail as possible to show that you really have a handle on the character. You do not need to provide us a novel if you feel your character can be summed up in two or three paragraphs, but we need more than a couple of lines.)
Powers: (If applicable. Your character won't be able to use them from the get-go due to the memory loss, but some powers can be recovered later. Keep in mind a mod may ask you to nerf this.)
DOTES animal: (Domestic cat or dog ONLY for newcomers. You may also choose a specific breed if you wish, or if you want it to be a surprise, the mods will assign you with an animal based on personality.)
Sample post: (This can be either in the form of actionspam or prose. You may use the prompts below, or come up with your own.)
Suggestion prompts:
1) Upon walking into the cafeteria for the first time, your character is hit in the face with a plate of food. There's a food fight going on! Does your character jump in on the fun, flee to the safety of his/her dorm, or something else?
2) After having spent a long time at the facility, your character has just recovered enough memory to know that their current romantic partner in the Outpost is actually their worst enemy from before, but s/he has no memory of their rivalry him/herself. Does your character tell him/her, or keep it a secret in hopes that his/her own memories don't return to keep the peace between each other?
3) Your character wakes up and it's a beautiful day, they're not in trouble, and they have all the resources of the Outpost to pick from. The pool is looking especially inviting, and over in the courtyard there's a group of fellow patients playing a game of ball. What does your character decide to do?
L Lawliet, 1/2
Player name: LexiL
OOC journal: *sadfaces because none right now*
Player age: 23
Contact information: AIM is "tinmaiden", and that's probably the best way to reach me! Plurk is LexiL.
IC Info
Name: L Lawliet is his real name, the one that killed him when Rem wrote it in her Death Note. Aliases include Hideki Ryuuga, Rue Ryuzaki, Eraldo Coil, and Deneuve. He has likely used others during his life and career. Since someone actually naming their child after a letter seems unlikely, even in the Death Note universe, where names are notoriously wtf, I write L as having no knowledge or memory of whatever his mother originally called him. His title is such a significant part of his identity that he has become his title, and his real name has changed to reflect that. His surname is his original one, but if someone with Shinigami eyes were to tell him, he wouldn’t recognize it. As far as the Shinigami realm and its denizens are concerned, he is human and therefore has a real name, but as far as L himself is concerned, it is buried to the point where he wouldn’t be able to tell anyone what it was, even if they attempted to employ hypnosis or torture.
Canon: Death Note the anime, simply because it’s the version I am most familiar with and I feel that L’s personality comes across vibrantly and concisely. I also consider the “rain scene” (episode 25) and “The Wammy’s House Lecture” (Re-Light: L’s Successors) really important parts of L’s character, and would have a more difficult time playing him without the depth they give him. Other details that are revealed in the novelizations and supplemental “Volume 13: How to Read” will also be used as canon in addressing things that were not shown in the anime, such as the existence of Beyond Birthday and the assertion in the novelization of “L Change the WorLd” that he has been a detective since he was eight years old. With the exception of his age, I’d like to retain the dates that were used in the manga (putting his death in 2004 rather than 2007) for less confusion among castmates.
Canon point: L would be coming from episode 25, right after his cryptic conversation with Light in the rain. The (in)famous “foot massage” has occurred, and he has announced that he intends to test the notebook to try the validity of the 13-day rule. Watari’s name has been written in Rem’s notebook; L’s has not. One more moment, and it would have been. L is aware that Watari is dead, and he is 85% certain that he would have died had he stayed longer.
Age: L has just turned 24 (his age in the anime is 23-24), but his wide eyes and scrawny build make him look like he could easily pass for someone a few years younger. This was very useful when L posed as a college student to investigate one Light Yagami. His birthday is on October 31.
Sex/Gender: Male, and he does identify as a man(child)!
Appearance: Don't let those eyes fool you, here there be monsters.
History: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/L_(Death_Note)
Personality: L is the main antagonist (or one of two antiheros) in Death Note. He is the source of conflict for the first two arcs of the story, opposing Light's dream of a united world under the rule of Kira, a self-proclaimed "God" who justifies the mass murder of criminals to create a subjectively perfect world. L is the young, eccentric genius responsible for solving over 1000 of the world's most difficult cases, working as a high-stakes international detective with only one man, Watari, operating as his liaison to the outside world. Given tremendous control over the world's police forces (and usually their unquestioning cooperation), L is known for his arrogance and his tendency to treat his profession as a game, only taking on cases that personally interested him. When the Kira killings (mysterious deaths of criminals caused by unexplained heart attacks) gain national attention, he decides to take the case almost immediately, confident in his ability to trounce any criminal mastermind he resolves to go after. He is continuously both thrilled and discouraged by the fact that, no matter what he does to back Kira into a corner, he is outmaneuvered. His main suspect, Light Yagami, is a brilliant and promising young student and the son of a police chief. Light has gleaming and idealistic visions of a world without murder, but without any concrete evidence, L’s gut feeling isn't enough to convict Light of anything, because the evidence, while compelling and offering a simple, perfect solution, isn’t complete.
During the course of the story, L is forced to reveal himself to Light and work alongside him when a second, copycat killer surfaces, and after imprisonments, countless hours of surveillance through cameras and being handcuffed to L himself, and repeated, blunt accusations, Light manages to kill L by convincing the Shinigami Rem that it is the only way to save the girl she loves. L is technically a part of the story until the bitter end since a "dead man switch" was planned years in advance and his successors took over the case, but as a character, his existence is ended by being just one step behind Light, despite starting with an edge over his younger, less experienced opponent.
L is a confident, morally grey, celibate professional, someone who has achieved much in his short life and never been asked or required to connect with other human beings in meaningful ways. He's grown accustomed to things being easy for him and welcomes the challenge and mental stimulation that comes with the Kira case, because being challenged is, in fact, very rare for him and creates an exhilarating rush that he craves. Being challenged in ways that demand skills aside from the purely analytical, however, put him out of his depth. Socially and emotionally, L is a stunted and strange creature, someone who sees himself as apart from humanity and has difficulty understanding it well enough to approach it and adhere to its conventions.
Very little is known about L in canon outside of his involvement with the Kira case. Contrary to popular opinion and his portrayal in the live action films, he is not fully Japanese; "Word of God" in Death Note Volume 13: How to Read" is that he's a mixture of Russian, English, Japanese, French, and Italian heritage. L is physically unimpressive at 5’10” and a wasted 110 lbs, with a very pale complexion, a spindly frame, and dark, bruised-looking circles under his huge, round eyes. Since he was taken out of his canon near the end of his involvement with the heavily taxing Kira case, he looks especially haggard and gaunt. In addition to appearing chronically sleep-deprived and malnourished, he further neglects his appearance by wearing simple clothes (the same outfit every day) and never bothering to comb his hair. Essentially, he is the stark inversion of the classic anime bishounen. He speaks in a quiet monotone that sounds a great deal like Alessandro Juliani's voice (his English dubbed voice in the anime.) L serves as a foil to Light. They each claim a strong sense of justice and are both arrogant, sociopathic, and opportunistic, but where Light is attractive and socially well-adjusted (on the surface, at least), L is drab, appears frail, and displays neurotic and phobic tendencies. His childish mannerisms, occasional irrational remark (“My reasoning ability would drop by roughly 40% if I didn’t sit like this”) and general disregard for etiquette and his own health and appearance seem to repulse Light over the course of the series, in part because logic dictates that someone like L should be easy to kill and take advantage of, and yet he remains untouchable for the first two thirds of the story, simply because he has more experience, surrounds himself with clever and powerful allies, and is arguably a better planner than Light, at least initially. The other part of this rival aversion, of course, is the simple fact that L reflects Light’s least human tendencies right back at him, in mockery or caricature, reminding him constantly (and annoyingly) that justice and morality, like humanity itself, are ambiguous, relative, and complex.
Based on evidence in the Re-Light specials, as well as in parts of the anime and the novel Another Note and the alternate-continuity novelization of L: Change the WorLd, we can conclude that his career as a detective began when he met Watari at the age of eight. His genius was recognized and nurtured (leaving other faculties like social skills radically underdeveloped), and over the next 16 years he successfully cracked 1000 of the world's most difficult cases, building the reputation and credibility that make things so difficult for Light in “Death Note.” During this time, an orphanage/school called Wammy's House was founded by his mentor for the sake of recreating a genius like L to take his place in the event of death or insanity. The house produced such characters as Beyond Birthday, Mello, Matt, and Near as notable alumni, and many others, all of whom regarded the idea of "being L" as a coveted ideal just within their ability to someday attain. L’s contact with them was limited to conferences on computer screens, in which his face was disguised but he answered questions and delivered lectures and insight. In Death Note: Re-Light II, he is shown giving such a lecture, and is asked by a child if anything scares him. He answers monsters, and goes on to reveal himself, and his eventual undoing, as "lying monsters."
"Lying monsters are a real nuisance.They are much more cunning than other monsters. They pose as humans, even though they have no understanding of the human heart. They eat, even thought they've never experienced hunger. They study, even though they have no interest in academics. They seek friendship, even though they do not know how to love. If I were to encounter such a monster, I would likely be eaten by it. Because in truth... I am that monster."
The lecture hints that L doesn't actually consider himself a human being, but something separate, something he dislikes, something that lies to itself as often as it lies to others. The fact that L pursues Kira, a "lying monster" anyway, knowing that there is a strong possibility it will result in his death, coupled with this inferred recognition and repulsion of himself, implies that he has some self-destructive, addictive, and escapist tendencies. He stays up for nights on end in ways that clearly affect his health and eats unhealthily in increasing amounts (over the course of the series, his appearance gets gaunter as the case wears on, and the quantity of sweets always at his side increases.) He cannibalizes other detectives like Deneuve, Coil, and even Beyond Birthday (who originally used the alias “Rue Ryuzaki”), taking on their names and roles as his own additional identities over the course of his career. Essentially, when he lies, to himself and others, it is an act of self-preservation. L's honesty is as dangerous as it is rare, and in the cryptic but exposed "rain scene" in the anime, he comes to terms both with Light's more solid sense of justice and his own mortality. He recognizes Light's commitment to a cause, commitment that L has always demonstrated but never felt. His own existence seems like a hollow pantomime in comparison to Kira's persistence and passion; L is a savant who has been utilized efficiently, not a fully realized human being who deeply understands his purpose. Near the end of his life is also where L appears to begin coming apart at the seams; whether he's really hearing bells that aren't there, or really reevaluating his own reasons for going after Kira, he is stressed, desperate, and possibly questioning his own sanity after the revelation of real shinigami and magical notebooks that kill people. Things that mess with L's perception of reality mess with L, and he responds by overindulging in sweets (the quantity by his side increases continually as the case wears on), cutting even more sleep (the circles under his eyes get darker and he’s drawn looking gaunter in later episodes), and mentally and physically withdrawing from the situation at hand (his retreat to the rooftop shortly before his death.)
L is not the most patient soul when it comes to the incompetence of others. He can easily spend hours working at one task, no matter how mundane it appears to others, as long as he deems it important. While L is an assertive boss and a controlling manipulator behind a computer screen, he is most comfortable when others control certain aspects of his life, such as his food, travel arrangements, and clothing, and it affects him adversely if people like this are absent. Incidentally, he cares little what others think of him, or how they receive and interpret his words and actions. His moods seem fairly static, ranging from bored to mildly interested, at least on the surface. Despite his affected aloofness, in the rare cases L’s interest is sincerely piqued, he can behave with dynamic unpredictability that serves to catch his enemies unprepared and keep his allies on their toes. His moral compass is famously flawed, and though he opposes the series' protagonist (or other antihero) in Death Note and is on the same side as Light's "good" father, one gets the impression that good, evil, and a "strong sense of justice" are frighteningly ambiguous to L himself despite the pretenses he acts under. He likes games, he likes to win, and if ethics get in the way, he prefers to arrange them like the sugar cubes he enjoys stacking near his keyboard.
L Lawliet, 2/2
L claims that he is dedicated to the pursuit of justice. The creators of the series have left this mostly up to fan interpretation, but much of what makes him interesting as a character and what makes him an effective foil for Light Yagami is the fact "Justice" as a concept holds little meaning to L. What is explicitly stated in canon is that "L is childish and hates to lose", "L only takes on cases that personally interest him", L is seen by the creators as "slightly evil", "L is exceedingly arrogant," and "L is a liar" (ironically confirmed by L himself with the "lying monsters" lecture analogy in the re-Light specials and the creators in Volume 13: How to Read.)
When L first shows his face to the police officers who will be helping him with his investigation, he reveals that he is “childish.” Though L asserts this himself and it could be therefore considered a lie, especially since it is blunt and contradicts the "arrogance" that others have asserted, it can be supported by the fact that his handler Watari arranges many aspects of his life and his demonstrations that, while he has a cynical and analytical understanding of "human nature", his social skills are abysmal and he probably couldn't get along very well without a support network (something he has in canon continuously from a very early age.) For as commanding and assertive as L can be, he is a dependent character. Furthermore, while L lies a great deal, his self-concept seems consistent with the way others perceive him. Perhaps it’s even harsher. While L admires his own intellect, he has no delusions of being a handsome or socially graceful man; he is painfully aware of his own awkwardness, and doesn’t see it as within his ability to change this about himself. The fact that he knows his strengths and can play to them is highly beneficial to him; he even uses his social awkwardness to his advantage at times, such as allowing himself to be ridiculed for grabbing Misa’s butt, in public, without permission, and in front of her boyfriend, to disguise the fact that he’s actually stolen her cell phone.
The fact that he “hates to lose” is taken to mean that he is dedicated to competition. This doesn't necessarily just mean that he loves to win, though. I think that L would rather be in an eternal stalemate with a worthy opponent (which is essentially his part in Death Note) than have a hollow, if complete, victory like his successor Near's. L's existence can actually be compared with his opposite successors’ to that effect; Mello is L's capricious, risk-taking side who is more obsessed with the process and the glory of the fight, whereas Near is L's more cautious, methodical side who is more concerned with the end result. That being said, it's also worth noting that Mello sacrifices himself knowing that it will help Near solve the case, and L might or might not have accomplished the "dead-man switch" intentionally. Their deaths both moved the investigation forward, but neither L nor his "reckless side" representing his willingness to act lived to see the results of their sacrifices. He and Mello both died young, and Near, the technical Wunderkind, was one of the few major characters to survive past the ending of Death Note.
The statement "L only takes on cases that personally interest him," implies heavily that L does not, in fact, have a strong sense of justice, despite his claims. If he was truly motivated by such a sense, the way Light Yagami is, he would work tirelessly to solve cases that might not be as complex or interesting simply because he desires to see good triumph over evil. A better example of a character motivated completely by a "strong sense of justice" in the series is Teru Mikami, who works as a prosecuting attorney and is hand-picked by Kira to aid in the "judgment and punishment of the wicked". Conversely, L is a detective; it's his job to solve puzzles, not to judge the wicked, and though he claims to "be justice", the methods he uses for choosing his cases spits in the face of this claim.
Though many fans insist that L is the “good guy” in Death Note, the creators of the series do see him as “slightly evil”. L is manipulative, and has used torture in the past to get confessions out of people. He's never employed these methods personally, though, leaving the mechanics to Watari. He isn't noticeably affected by the sight of human beings suffering. It's notable that in the series, L never kills anyone but he interrogates by using torture onscreen. Conversely, Light doesn't torture anyone; the Death Note works quickly and he is not shown to draw out any death (the actual death, not counting gloating and taunting) unnecessarily. It’s unknown whether his lack of a moral compass has more to do with nature or nurture, but it is nevertheless at the core of his character, neatly embodying the series’ entire theme. Morality, like human nature, is volatile, even in individuals who seem largely inhuman.
Powers: Since L has none, I'm going to write a bit about strengths and weaknesses.
L's raw intelligence is his major strength and an integral part of his character; he is extremely sharp, observant, and clever, as well as having a tremendous grasp of deductive reasoning. He is also good at hiding these things. This is described in "Volume 13: How to Read" as having the "powerful ability to act like a fool." L has a very smooth learning curve; he picks up new subject matter and skills as quickly as is believable (in the DN novel "Another Note" he learns Capoeira just by watching a few videos and having a move performed on him) and some things (like languages; he speaks many) even faster. He is ambidextrous and both right and left-brained, allowing him to excel at both analytical and creative endeavors.
L is highly intuitive, so much that his "hunches" often beat proof to the punch, but he always makes sure that he has at least basic evidence before doing something risky in a case. He can usually distance himself from his own emotions during crises or potentially upsetting events (in exchange for having occasional odd reactions like fear, amusement, or melancholy to things that seem inappropriate.) He is good at detecting patterns and likes numbers a great deal. He has a perfect memory, and can speed read several things (such as computer screens) at the same time. He has an analytic understanding of "human nature." (This covers motivation and behavior, rather than a deep understanding of emotion) as well as a great deal of experience as a detective. L is quite good at tennis, and is very flexible. He can also pilot a helicopter.
Character Weaknesses: Though L welcomes challenges with gusto, he responds to futility with depression and losing motivation to work on cases (confirmed in canon by his frank assertion right before his "handcuff fight" with Light. He then spends two entire months being unmotivated and not being of much use to the investigation; LITERALLY, we see a cut from the fight, with the caption “two months later”, and then Light gets a lackluster L’s attention with a new lead after starting his sentence with “Ryuzaki, I know you’re not feeling up to it, but...”)
Emotion is the hardest thing for L to understand, and as a dependent character, when it's the thing that isolates him from people who don't know or have reason to particularly care about his previous life, it threatens his very livelihood. Whether he never had the tools to begin with or lost them along the way, L's not really developed emotionally. He's opportunistic rather than sincerely compassionate, paranoid rather than willing to open up to others, and while he's really good at reading and understanding bad people, the types he's chased and apprehended, kindness and casual interest are not things he encounters on a daily basis. Count on him to misread social cues and general, everyday expressions of emotion. He is neurotic, evidenced by his many eccentric habits, rituals and routines that look a lot like OCD or an autism spectrum disorder.
He is vaguely self-destructive; It's pretty typical of L to talk out one story and act out another one entirely. In the Re-Light special part II, which he narrates, he makes an odd comment about regulating body temperature, saying that turning your thermostat too high is "not good for your health." When it comes right down to it, though, L behaves like someone who is apathetic about taking care of himself. He eats junk food with an addict's devotion, goes nights at a time without sleeping, and does things like stand out in the rain in November wearing only his shirt sleeves. The strongest argument for this is that he chases thrills in the form of cases that can challenge him, seeming to like the rush that comes with being in danger (but not actually confronting that "danger", keeping his face hidden and his name unknown.) While this might be reading too much into these behaviors, I attribute the analysis partly to the possibility that L never expected to live a long life. The "light that burns twice as brightly for half as long," that sort of idea.
L is paranoid, and that’s actually not all bad for him. It's likely saved his neck a few times. But it also makes it really hard for him to accept that people's motives aren't ulterior or sinister. It also prevents him from driving an automobile because he just can't trust other drivers. L is also cynical; he has spent most of his formative years and all of his life chasing twisted people for twisted reasons (for his own entertainment, rather than unshakable morality or a genuine dedication to "justice," though he claims this is his motivation.) Generally, his outlook on humanity isn't particularly optimistic. This feeds his paranoia, warps and biases his view of the world, and makes him difficult to get close to. It’s also another way he serves as a foil for Light; while Light has lofty goals of creating a “perfect world”, L understands that it’s not possible to eradicate crime in a world populated by human beings (who, by their nature, will always have a tendency toward depravity.)
L’s focus is legendary to the point of being considered obsessive. If a case interests him, you can bet that he'll stick with it until the bitter end, even if his entire world is uprooted and he finds himself in the middle of a war. If his suspect is present, his obsession will be. This can be a strength, but it’s probably more of a weakness since it saps energy away from other matters (like eating, sleeping, and bathing.)
L is childish. At a distance, he really does look like a kid. His thumb is often in his mouth, his bad posture is just begging for a matronly woman to straighten it out, that huge piece of cake that an adult would politely decline in favor of a smaller one is held delicately in long fingers. Once one gets nearer, it becomes disturbingly apparent that he's in his twenties, and he's already eaten half of that slice of cake. Going hand in hand with this frailty is the fact that L is not self-sufficient. Speculation on L's early childhood leaves room to guess and add fanon history for just how much he had to fend for himself, as very little is provided in canon regarding L’s past, but after the age of eight, it seems clear that Watari is his caretaker, arranging for food, clothing, and transportation. While L could probably learn how to take care of himself, it wouldn't be an automatic, smooth transition. It wouldn’t be easy for him to adopt a different lifestyle when he's had someone providing basic essentials to him for 16 years.
As far as personal relationships go, they're possible for him, but reliant on an incredible amount of understanding and patience from the other involved person (HINT: he responds well to nurturers or an opportunity for competition.) Despite his childish demeanor, he is well aware of his genius, and feels significantly isolated from the rest of the world. This can create difficulty in interaction with people L believes to be less intelligent than he is; he can come off as rude, arrogant, and insensitive, among other things, meaning that he makes enemies far easier than he makes friends.
L is physically frail; he doesn't move around much in canon, and while he demonstrates occasional agility or endurance (his fight with Light, his ability to stay up and up and up for nights in a row while crouched and balancing in a precarious position), he is a cerebral character who is not meant to take heavy blows or be put in their way. He fights his battles from behind a computer screen. If he does get into a physical scuffle, he could probably hold his own against someone similar to his height and weight, but he'd have a 60% chance of losing that fight. Anyone bigger, and he hopes that he can talk his way out of getting seriously injured.
DOTES animal: Cat, white cornish rex
Sample post: Rain on cold metal links, the sound of bells carried with the November chill to lonely rooftops. L's dreams were like this, lately, giving him occasional snatches of what he once knew. Just enough to tease and torment him, without providing him with what was required to create a full picture of what mattered to him before arriving here.
Light was there, this time. Light extending an invitation to come in from the cold, L's feet remaining rooted to the drenched concrete. Somehow, he knew that to embrace the warmth and safety was to accept his role as a lamb being led to the slaughter.
He startled awake, cold sweat beaded on his brow and between his thin shoulder blades. A hand, heavy with sleep, touched his leg, and he recoiled, even though that hand had stroked his hair and scratched behind his ears just hours earlier. Distant, but indulgent, all the same, little steps to earn scraps of trust.
L rose from the bed, leaving the other sleeper to his own dreams, going to the window and climbing out on the ledge. His balance was exceptional, and he didn't even need to glance at the street below to keep his light steps from faltering. And it was a good thing, too, because balance was the last thing on the young man's mind.
A brunette head leaned out the window, peering out at L, a mixture of concern and suspicion etched into the even, boyish features.
"Ryuzaki? What are you doing out here? You'll catch your death, come back to bed..."
"In a bit, Light. Sorry, I'd... just like to enjoy it for a bit longer."
ACCEPTED