[OOC] theoregontrail Application
PLAYER
NAME/NICKNAME: Fetchie
AGE: 23
PERSONAL LJ: made_in_wonder
TIMEZONE: EST
EMAIL ADDRESS: gibberditz39@yahoo.com
IM SCREENNAME AND SERVICE: fetchie88 @ aim
CHARACTER
NAME: Ken Ichijouji
AGE: 11
FANDOM/MEDIUM: Digimon Adventure 02 (animé)
CANON PULL-POINT: Post-series, post-drama CD
ABILITIES: Due to the Dark Seed implanted in his neck (see background), Ken gets headaches around “the powers of darkness” - this isn’t evil so much as concentrated negativity. I doubt it’ll come up unless some other world’s enemy is analogous, but it’s worth a note.
CHARACTER BACKGROUND: Digimon Wiki (uses dub terminology, but the plot is the same)
CHARACTER PERSONALITY: Ken is a constant, conscious work in progress. All his life, he’s observed and interpreted the world around him, trying to find his place within it and live up to the person he’d like to be. For the longest time, this person was his older brother Osamu - Ken denied himself and repressed his own self-hatred in an attempt to be a special, “perfect human” like he’d mistakenly believed his brother to be. Nowadays he’s realized the importance of accepting and liking himself, and is trying his hardest to discover exactly who “Ken Ichijouji” is.
As a result, he’s introspective: every new piece of information or detail Ken tries to relate back to his own situation, and he obsesses over his own behavior, picking himself apart inside. Though he possesses incredible attention to detail, he tends to lose sight of the big picture, or only grasps said big picture once a detail alludes to it. (For example, he doesn’t notice spring has come in the drama CD until he sees a cat sunning itself in the new warmth.) He also thought for the longest time that erasing the physical proof of the mistakes he’s made would set things right - even after rejecting the Kaiser persona, Ken’s desire to “reset” the world hadn’t changed. Accepting that such a “reset” is impossible, and learning to live with the consequences and guilt, has been one of his biggest challenges.
Earnest and serious, he’s also easy to rile: confronting him with his own weakness is a great way to get him mad, and if he thinks you have information he wants he’ll have no choice but to put up with you. Ken’s no genius anymore, but he wants to understand why things happen the way they happen. If an answer doesn’t satisfy him, he’ll keep prying for the truth. That things sometimes happen for no reason - and that it’s okay for something to have “no use” - has never crossed his mind. (Combined with his attention to detail, this obsession with reason, usefulness, and worth has made him quite the pessimist. Ken tends to draw the most negative general conclusion possible from disappointing specifics: because of his attention to detail, every molehill can seem like a mountain.)
Ken is also determined to do the right thing. He wants to be a good son, cherishing his parents’ love for him, and when given a purpose in life he’s unstoppable. Even his guilt over being the Kaiser can take on a noble tinge: because he’s the one who committed a terrible error, he’s also the one who needs to set things right. Ken simply won’t leave any issue alone until he’s satisfied with the results, and thrives on being able to make a difference. He’s got quite the “hero streak” accordingly, never one to sit on the sidelines when he sees something he can do. He just needs to work on telling his allies what he’s up to a bit more.
His social skills in general need improving. On the flip side of his stubbornness, Ken can become very avoidant in situations that make him uncomfortable, and as he hasn’t interacted much with other kids (or expressed his feelings to others, having bottled everything up for most of his life) when placed in new situations he’ll either blank out, try to leave as quickly as possible, or both. He also has a bad habit of not finishing his sentences when speaking of his own faults, though it’s unclear whether that’s because it hurts to admit things or whether he simply doesn’t feel the need to voice a thought he’s already thought through to its conclusion.
Ken tends to speak very brusquely, but not because he doesn’t mean to be rude. He’s just not always comfortable around other people yet, though since making friends with his fellow Chosen Children he’s improved by leaps and bounds. (That he also speaks after thinking things through, but without explaining his thought process, makes a lot of his pronouncements seem like awkward non sequiturs). New opinions and points of view may still surprise him, as he’s so used to only the thoughts within his own head, but he’s come to admire the traits in his friends that he doesn’t possess.
Though he needs to spend less time picking everything apart, Ken has come a long way, and truly makes a wonderful friend. His defining trait in canon is “Kindness”: though self-centered in his view of the world, he cares a lot about other people’s well-being, and feels terrible when he makes his family worried or sad. He’s thoughtful and considerate even in battle, though ruthless to his enemies, and has proven surprisingly good with younger children. (His partner Wormmon receives the most special attention: Ken treasures Wormmon like a family member, and will miss him terribly along the Trail). Ken’s a worrier, but it’s because he cares.
Most importantly, he’s embraced that he’s only human. Ken can’t get over being the Digimon Kaiser; that’s not something one can ever put behind oneself. But he can live accepting that he made a mistake, cherishing himself in spite of his flaws, and focusing on what he can do in the present instead of the errors he can’t erase in the past. This acceptance of his own normality (including weaknesses) and determination to live in the present day drives him now - he even admits he never believed acknowledging weakness could feel relieving -- and he’s focused on keeping his life that way.
WORLD: Ken comes from our world’s Japan, spring 2003. The only catch is that in his world, Earth has come in contact several times with a variety of alternate universes. Most commonly, gates have opened up to the “Digital World”, a land where digital data serves as atoms and sentient lifeforms called Digimon reside. Many Digimon are born to accompany a human partner, and spend their lives waiting for the children who give their lives meaning, and whose emotions give them the power to “evolve” into other, stronger Digimon. Earth is beginning to become more aware of the Digital World, as the frequency of humans and partners meeting increases. Most of note for this game, Ken is used to a powers system where emotions fuel strength (for good or ill), rarely adventures anywhere without his Digimon partner Wormmon (so being alone will prove a challenge), and has no issues at all with the concept of jamjars. Being transported to another world is all in a day’s work.
OCCUPATION: Journalist
SAMPLES
THIRD PERSON:
The curtain above him was swaying strangely.
Ken sat up, taking in his surroundings. Curved canvas stretched above him. The smell of grain and wood and sweat stung his nose. Something beneath him jostled roughly: wheels, he realized, I’m moving. This is a wagon.
Creeping to the front of the wagon, where the oxen strained, Ken poked his head out and stared up at the sky: blue, he thought. Above an endless plain. This wasn’t Tokyo. It wasn’t even Japan.
But if there were oxen, it also wasn’t the Digital World.
Ken sat back, checking first his Digivice, then his D-Terminal: nothing. No messages from any of his friends. He looked around the wagon, calling Wormmon’s name. No reply.
It’s like the Old West, he mused, from American history. I’ve been sent back in time. But why? And how?
If he didn’t know how, then he couldn’t return.
Ken stood, rummaging through the supplies, trying not to fall over as the wagon rattled beneath him. I’m stuck, he couldn’t help thinking. I’m stuck…and without Wormmon, I’m helpless. If Wormmon is here, he’ll think he’s all alone. If Wormmon’s not here, he won’t know where I went. Wormmon is going to worry about me. My friends are going to worry about me.
Gritting his teeth, Ken clutched his Digivice and tried to stay calm. He had to focus on the matter at hand. People would search for him. There were people who cared about his life. And he’d have to search too, on his own side, in his own way.
But the guilt still gnawed away at his gut:
He’d promised his parents he’d call if he’d be late coming home.
FIRST PERSON:
[The text on the screen is sparse and to the point.]
Good afternoon, everyone. Excuse the interruption.
I’m looking for a creature named “Wormmon”. He’s green, can talk, and looks like a bug. He's about the size of a small dog.
If anyone finds him, please contact me.
[And just like that, the transmission ends.]
NOTES: As per the game rules, Ken’s partner Wormmon has indeed not accompanied him! He does, however, have his “Digivice” on him, so if any canonmates show up he can use that to locate them.