Counted Stars App.
Name or Handle:Stel, but I’ll also answer to Stormy or Susan
LJ: nobody_number_8
Email: gestaltgirl8201@yahoo.com
AIM/ MSN / Plurk name: Stelartron (MSN)
Any current characters here?: Nope.
Character Information:
Character Name: Axel, a.k.a. The Flurry of Dancing Flames, a.k.a. Organization XIII Number VIII. Goes by Axel.
Age: Never stated specifically, but as his Somebody was a young teenager in Birth By Sleep, I’d say mid 20’s
Canon: Kingdom Hearts (Chain of Memories, Re:Chain of Memories, II, 358 ½ Days Over 2, Birth by Sleep)
Appearance:
Axel is tall, lanky, and fairly thin, with long limbs. He has a widow's peak, rather small eyebrows and thick, shoulder-length, bright red hair styled into slicked-back spikes. His eyes are a bright emerald color and he has a purple reverse-teardrop shaped marking under each eye.
Personality:
When he is first introduced at the beginning of Kingdom Hearts: Chain of Memories, Axel has a mysterious, stoic, and calm demeanor on par with that of Marluxia. A very good liar, he makes a point of keeping himself difficult to read, coming off as fooling around when really his mind is at work manipulating the other members around him. Axel often makes witty conversation with Larxene while Marluxia is away, though is almost completely unfazed by her flirtatious behavior towards him. He also has friendly bets with Zexion as to which member will be defeated next, seeming amused at their deaths. Eventually, Axel betrays both with no remorse. Vexen's cries for mercy only receive a cruel "Aren't you happy [to die]?" and a cocky "Goodbye" before Axel incinerates him without any hesitation. This cruel nature persists even when Marluxia uses Naminé as a human shield against him: Axel confidently declares he would eliminate Naminé to get to Marluxia. He is a person who does what is necessary to keep his actions, like those in Castle Oblivion, unnoticed by the rest of the Organization, so that his and his allies' goals are attained smoothly.
Axel's personality changes drastically in between Kingdom Hearts: Chain of Memories and Kingdom Hearts II because of his friendship with Roxas and Xion. In Kingdom Hearts: 358/2 Days, he has a very sarcastic and laid-back, "go with the flow" outlook on many things, including missions and battles. He also is shown to have a very kind and protective side towards Roxas and Xion, which is ironic for a Nobody and his actions at Castle Oblivion. He acted like an older brother towards them, being their main source of advice and wisdom. In some cases he got them out of trouble even when it could and did earn him his own trouble, like his dismissal and eventual betrayal of Saïx to protect them both. Axel apparently does not like to talk about his past despite Saïx's insistence on its significance. Whenever Roxas or Xion asked him about it, he would give a brief or vague answer, then try to change the subject, often avoiding eye-contact when lying.
At his death, he was at least able to recall how Roxas gave him a "bizarre illusion of humanity". An important thing to note is that in Kingdom Hearts II Final Mix, when Axel bids his final farewell to Roxas, it can be seen upon closer inspection that the teardrop at the end of the scene belongs to Axel, which clearly displays his unusual emotional capacity. Even during the events at Castle Oblivion, Axel displays emotion and acknowledges it when he begins laughing, but catches himself and stops. He even mocks his ability to feel during his death. Whether he, Roxas, Naminé, and Xion all seem have something unusual in common regarding the heart, is unknown. But it has been hinted by Xemnas, and Axel himself, that by being close in contact with Sora's heart, Axel began to feel emotions of his own.
If you are apping a character arriving from another game: N/A
Background:
Axel, like all members of Organization XIII, is a Nobody. Nobodies are born when a Heart is swallowed by darkness and becomes a Heartless. They are the remaining parts left behind by the heart: the body, giving a Nobody form, and the soul, giving the Nobody life. However, only those with a strong will such as Sora are actually able to continue on as Nobodies. Those with the strongest wills manage to retain human forms (under special circumstances, sometimes the Nobody is formed with some slight changes to their appearance,) while the rest possess malformed, barely humanoid appearances; such examples as Nobodies like the Creeper and Dusk. Therefore, the more humanoid the Nobody, the stronger its will. This is opposite the nature of the Heartless, whose form is more monstrous the stronger the original heart is (with the exception of Ansem, who retained human form because he gave into the darkness willingly).
All Nobodies vanish from the Realm of Light upon their creation at the loss of a heart and the creation of a Heartless. They are born in a world in-between the Realms of Light and Darkness, such as Twilight Town or Castle Oblivion. However, because of this and their lack of hearts, they are shunned by both Light and Darkness, and do not truly exist.
Because of their missing hearts, Nobodies are said to be incapable of feeling emotions by every credible source. Some humanoid Nobodies pretend to possess emotions, fooling others as well as themselves. On the other hand, Nobodies manage to keep their memories of their former lives, but unusual Nobodies lack memories of their former selves. Through these memories, Nobodies are able to remember what it was like to have emotions, thus allowing them to respond correctly to specific situations.
Despite their lack of emotions, Nobodies are able to think for themselves and attack with definite planning (as opposed to the Heartless, which are mindless and function on pure animal instinct). Nobodies also seem to be able to experience physical sensations, such as pain, as they negatively react to taking damage, and Naminé passed out from the pain of being impaled on Marluxia's thorns (this was seen only in the Chain of Memories manga).
Although never stated, the events of the Battle of 1000 Heartless implied that Nobodies are stronger than Heartless, since the Nobodies were able to easily overpower the Heartless. At the very least, they are just as powerful, and the fact that they are much more intelligent than Heartless only heightens the threat that they pose.
Axel’s own story can be found here.
Canon point:
Axel was plucked from the point of his ‘death’ near the end of Kingdom Hearts II. Figured it’d be interesting, having a character who really has no particular reason to want to go back where he came from.
If you are apping a character arriving from another game: N/A
Special Abilities:
Canon Abilities- As the Flurry of Dancing Flames, Axel uses two uniquely shaped weapons called Chakrams, and specializes in Fire manipulation. He can summon pillars of flame at will and strike with rapid combos using his Chakrams. He can also surround his Chakrams in flame and throw them like boomerangs, spinning and looping them to hit opponents multiple times. In his one on one battle with Roxas in Kingdom Hearts II, Axel also summons a circle of fire to surround them and leaps into the flames to hide, emerging to strike with rapid attacks, and then leaping back to keep his opponents off their guard. Axel is a powerful member of the Organization, arguably even stronger, or at least a better fighter, than Saïx. This is seen when Saïx is defeated by Roxas, but Axel was able to defeat Xion at the Old Mansion, who at the time absorbed much of Roxas's power. However, Axel clearly put more effort into his battle, as he passed out after the fight, while Saïx remained conscious, though exhausted.
In Kingdom Hearts 358/2 Days, Axel has a Limit Break called Explosion. During Explosion, Axel throws his Chakrams at enemies while they're engulfed in fire, creating a small explosion of fire afterwards. While not being thrown, Axel's Chakrams spin rapidly, gathering fire. However, they can be thrown at any time, and do not need to charge.
During Axel's Final Limit, Axel combines his two flaming Chakrams into one enormous flaming Chakram, easily many times larger than the two Chakrams. The explosion after the attack is also much larger.
Axel utilizes two Chakrams, named "Eternal Flames". Each Chakram is circular and red, with silver spikes and circles around the edges, and two black handles shaped like crosses in the middle. Each Chakram has eight spikes, possibly referencing Axel's rank in the Organization. Axel is very adept in the use of his weapon; he can throw them, use them as shields, or use them as melee weapons. He performs some unique attacks, including juggling them against an opponent, or throwing one across the entire battlefield continuously.
He also uses them in conjunction with his fire abilities, setting the tips, or even the whole thing, on fire before throwing them. From a scene in Kingdom Hearts Re:Chain of Memories, it is shown that he can set his Chakrams on fire from afar, acting as a remote detonator.
In real life, chakrams are actually small razor-edged throwing disks used by warriors in ancient India. Axel's Chakrams bear more of a resemblance to Chinese wind-and-fire wheels, wheel-shaped weapons that are used strictly as melee weapons.
Adapted Abilities- I actually had to put a lot of thought into this. Generally, it seem magic abilities = Force abilities, however Axel is a Nobody. He has no heart (which in this universe would also means having no detectable physical heart pumping blood, despite his obviously being alive, as another point of Nobody weirdness) and, as stated above, is thus ‘shunned by both Light and Darkness, and does not truly exist’. So if he can’t access either light or darkness, yet has obviously magical abilities, what to do?
My solution, if the mods have no problem with it, is to only have him really be able to access the ‘physical’ aspects of the Force, which basically amounts to telekenisis and (possibly, after some practice) the Force Storm from the abilities page, in place of his fire magic. The mental/emotional aspects of it (sensing others, mind reading, Jedi mind trick, precognition, etc.) are difficult, if not impossible. He can’t ’feel the Force’ any more than he can really feel emotions; what control of it he has is brought about by force of will, and the explanation of the nature of Nobodies proves, Axel is very strong willed, since he was able to keep his human form. Also, given that he isn’t a complete being, it’s likely that other Force sensitives won’t be able to detect/read him either (or at least, it‘ll be much more difficult to do so); it’ll be like there’s just nothing there, or perhaps even that there‘s a void in the Force where he is. He’s still a solid object, though, so the physical aspects of the Force do work against him (he could be Force choked, Force lightninged, shoved back, etc.).
As for his giant Chakrams, well, in game they seem to be magically generated/summoned whenever he needs them, but that simply wouldn’t work here. If he wants to continue to use them here, he’ll have to buy some, either purchasing a set of similar weapons (if he can find them) or having some specially made. Once he has them again, though, his partial force abilities will give him a similar degree of control with them as he had back in his home universe, perhaps more so. If the mods allow it, he may eventually learn to do the Folding Space ability to summon them to him from wherever they are, once he gets some. If not, though, that’s cool too; he can deal with it.
Axel is still quite resistant to fire/burns (which I figured is a required, though not specified, secondary power he has, given some of his moves in game). He may eventually pick up some kind of fire-based weaponry also, but that’s pretty far down the road, if it happens at all.
Sect:
Civillian, to start with. Most likely’ll stay that way, since he doesn’t really fit anywhere else.
Job:
There’s a couple possibilities on the job list that look interesting, but we’ll have to see how things work out.
Samples:
First Person:
*Axel paces around the room, examining everything, seemingly unaware that the data pad is recording him. Eventually he stops in the middle of the room, crosses his arms over his chest, and shakes his head. He seems to have already located some clothes, as he‘s already dressed.*
Wow. If this is your idea of a punishment, Xemnas, you’re slipping. Though it’s better than that time you sent me on a mission to Atlantica; least this time I‘ve got some clothes. Well, whatever. Time to go to work, I guess.
*He attempts to portal himself out of the room, but no darkness rises to surround him. In fact nothing at all happens. He blinks, looks confused for a moment, then tries again, this time gesturing to create a portal in midair. Again, nothing happens.*
O-kaaay, that’s never happened before…
*He shifts his stance, holding his arms out a bit from his sides, and attempts to summon his Chakrams. Nothing happens. To anyone observing, it looks like his just flexing his hands slightly in midair.
He tries again, this time going for the full summoning sequence. He raises his arms, muscles taught as though trying to lift something heavy over his head, a look of concentration on his face. Then suddenly he bows partway forward, throwing his arms out straight to either side, his hands lifted to grip his Chakrams, but again, they do not appear. It looks like he’s just flexing his muscles, or performing some sort of odd martial arts move. Coincidentally(?), the sheets on the bed visible on one side of the screen seem to flutter a bit, as if a sudden breeze had blown across them, though Axel doesn’t seem to notice.
He stands straight again, looking more confused than before, and a little concerned. He flings an arm out in front of him hand raised, palm pointed at the opposite wall as he tries to summon some fire. Again, nothing happens.*
And that’s definitely never happened before… *Pause.* Unless… *His eyes widen and he abruptly raises a hand to his chest, holding it there for a few moments before his expression shifts to one of half-expected disappointment.* Nothing. Figures. *Lets his arms fall back to his sides before going over to sit on the bed with a small sigh.* Well… now what…?
Third Person:
Axel opened his eyes and found himself staring up at a fairly bland ceiling. He wasn’t certain what he found more surprising: that he wasn’t looking into that sad little spiky-haired face against the backdrop of swirling colors the constituted the scenery of Betwixt and Between, or the fact that he was still around to look at anything at all. He’d already been fading; opening the portal to The World That Never Was for Sora had taken his last ounce of energy. And Nobodies didn’t get a next life. They didn’t even really have a life to start with.
He sat up, looking around the room. There were three other beds there, besides the one he was sitting on, but he was currently the only one in the room. Some sort of electronic gizmo that sort of resembled a laptop computer lay on top of the chest type thing next to his bed, along with some sort of keycard. Glancing down at himself, he noticed for the first time that he was only wearing his dark red boxers with fire patterns on the legs. His Black Coat, his pant, his boots, and his gloves were all gone.
The situation was uncomfortably reminiscent of when he’d first woken up as a Nobody, after his heart had been taken. Except that this time, Siax wasn’t here too. He half expected Xigbar to come waltzing in through the door, sarcastically asking how he was feeling, and to experience that smothering, empty, hollow sensation he got in his chest when he first realized that he couldn’t feel anything. Not even anger at Xigbar, one of those who was responsible for his condition in the first place, nor relief that his friend Isa had also survived, if it could be called that.
‘What the hell have you gotten yourself into this time, Axel?’, he wondered.
Anything Else:
Since I don’t know where else to throw this, have a Jolee Bindo! And some blue milk to wash it down. Also, if my app is accepted, I’d like to request Tron as a roommate. I RP with Mel over at grid_lined, and enjoy it very much. Also she was the one who first got me interested in apping here. I asked her, and she’s cool with it if you are.