The Velvet Key: Application
Player Info:
Nickname: Skyla Doragono
Age: 27
Personal LJ: skyla_doragono
Method of Contact: SkylaDoragono @ Plurk, AIM: AschLappyOfRAWR
Characters Played: NA
Character Info:
Name: Asch the Bloody (original Luke fon Fabre)
Age: 17
Canon: Tales of the Abyss
Pull Point: Post Akzeriuth, after beating the crap out of Luke.
Background Info:
History: Asch the Bloody was born Luke fon Fabre of the Kimlascan Duchy, and would have been heir to the throne of Kimlasca-Lanvaldear through his marriage to the Princess Natalia if he had not been kidnapped by his sword master, Van Grants. Taken away from his home and family at ten years of age, the original Luke suffered through countless experiments, until a replica of himself was created. While Luke was imprisoned by Van, the replica was sent back to Baticul to take his place, though when told this, the original refused to believe it.
Somehow, he was able to break out of the bowels of the Oracle Knights' Headquarters and escape from Daath. From there, Luke stowed away on a ship to Belkend, before traveling on his own through the Inista Marsh -- a place so dangerous that most people prefer to travel over the desert than through it. He struggled and fought through the monsters that dwelled there on his own, using a sword twice his size, while Van and Dist watched his progress from afar. Finally, dirty, bloody, and bruised, Luke made it back to his home in Baticul... only instead of being greeted by his family as he was expecting, he could only stand and watch as they fawned over the newborn replica that had taken his place.
Van was there at that moment, telling him of how cruel the world really was, and that he would always be there to take care of him. Luke returned to Daath with Van, taking on the name of "Asch the Bloody" and becoming one of Order's God Generals. On the outside, the God Generals faithfully served the Order of Lorelei and upheld the Score as the Oracle Knights were meant to. In reality, however, the God Generals sought to destroy the Score, and purge Auldrant of the very memory of its existence. At first, Asch served Van's ideals faithfully, but as he grew older, he began to realize that Van's intentions were not entirely honorable.
It was not until the mission to capture Ion that Asch really began to realize that something was wrong with Van's plans. While privately questioning why all Six God Generals were sent on the mission, Asch cooperated with the mission until he caught sight of his replica once again. After capturing the Malkuth landship, the Tartarus, Asch finally saw him, but the sight of the boy that had taken his life away from him -- cowering from just killing a man -- sent Asch into a rage. He attacked his replica, knocking him unconscious, and nearly killing him before he was stopped by Legretta, one of the other God Generals. Reluctantly he allowed Luke to live, though Asch's opinion of him had already been set in stone: he was weak and pathetic.
Not long after, the Tartarus stopped functioning, and Asch had to maneuver his way around to the port hatch to find the cause. He was about to aid Legretta in recapturing Jade Curtiss, who had cause the shutdown, when he saw that she had been escorting Ion around somewhere outside of the ship. This was against the orders he had received, and made him come to the conclusion that Van had decided not to tell him a very important aspect of the mission. After being told by Legretta that she would tell him in due time, that he had only to wait until then, Asch decided he would find out for himself what Van's true intentions were...
...and he had just been presented with the perfect tool to use against him.
After being thwarted by Van at Kaitzur, Asch convinced Arietta and Dist to cooperate with him, ordering the two to capture Luke at Choral Castle -- ironically, the same place where the replica Luke had been born. Dist opened Luke's synchronized fon slots, allowing Asch to communicate or control his replica whenever he wished. Before he had a chance to test it out, however, he received his next order from Van through Sync: recapture the Fon Master... in Baticul.
Asch was reluctant to step foot in his old home on his own. So, Asch sent an Oracle Knight to recruit their services and, wearing a cloak to conceal his identity to any passersby, he entered Baticul to give them further details on capturing Ion. That night, however, he was approached by Van, who revealed that he was leaving the unsealing of the Sephiroth at the Zao Ruins to Asch and the others, while he moved on ahead to Akzeriuth, where he would make use of the replica there. Asch knew at that point that he had to act, but unfortunately he still had to continue to pretend to follow orders, at least until he knew just what Van was going to use his replica for.
When Ion was finally captured again and presented to Asch, Luke appeared again, striking out to attack the original, and seeing Asch's face for the first time. Asch was insulted that someone so inferior would have dared to cross swords with him, but unfortunately, he could not act on his anger, as Ion was more important at the moment. Before he could leave, however, he caught sight of Natalia, the princess he was meant to marry, and the woman he still had feelings for, something he had insisted he should have forgotten, but could not.
After Asch and the God Generals escaped on the Tartarus, Asch confronted Ion, demanding to know why Legretta had removed him from the landship before. Ion, however, could not tell him much, other than the fact that he had removed a seal on a Sephiroth location. Asch realized then that having Ion in the care of the God Generals was not wise, and used the replica's synchronized fon slots to contact him and let him know where they would be taking Ion. As expected, his replica showed up in the Zao Ruins, though not before Ion had released the seal on the Sephiroth. After Sync and Largo were both defeated by the replica's little group, Asch comes after Luke himself, though he is further insulted by the idiot, since he can't seem to figure out why they're able to use the same moves. Sync, however, stops the battle before Asch can get out of hand, allowing Luke and the others to take back Ion.
Irritated from the confrontation, Asch took a moment to himself on the Tartarus, deciding to look in on the idiot and see what he was doing. Quietly watching from the back of his mind, Asch could only fume in silence as Luke acted like a complete ass to his companions... and also catching Luke thinking to himself, about how Van said all he had to do was use his power to neutralize the miasma at Akzeriuth and he would be a hero. Asch, on the other hand, already knew there was no way for that to be possible -- after all, they had the same powers.
Asch immediately jumped ship, traveling on his own to get to Akzeriuth before Luke did. Unfortunately, not only did Luke beat him there, but so did the Oracle Knights who, at the moment he arrived, had Tear surrounded. Irate as hell, Asch blasted all the soldiers to dust with one arte, saving Tear in the process. Because of her confusion, he was forced into a brief explanation of what Van was planning on doing, before the two of them made their way to Akzeriuth, Asch shouting at Luke through their connection the whole time.
Unfortunately, Luke would not listen, and by the time Asch arrived, it was too late: Van had already forced Luke to blast the Azkeriuth passage ring to hell, and the entire city fell into the Qliphoth. van made his escape on one of Arietta's griffins, forcing Asch to come along with him; and he could only watch helplessly as the mining city became a gaping hole in the earth, and he could only listen as Van told him how utterly vital Asch's powers were to his plans...
And then Van said that Asch would be a hero if he did as he was told.
Just as Van had filled his replica's head with lies, so too had he been doing the same thing to Asch since he was a child. Realizing this, and so utterly enraged at himself for not seeing it sooner, Asch stabbed his griffin and glided on its carcass, presumably all the way down to Yulia City in the Qliphoth beneath the surface of the world. He arrived just in time to confront his idiot replica; enraged with what he learned, what happened at Akzeriuth, as well as with how much denial was spilling out of Luke's mouth, Asch revealed just who he was as well as what Luke was. With everything that had happened just moments before, Luke snapped, lashing out at Asch, who beat his replica easily, and most likely would have killed him if he hadn't passed out.
For more details beyond this point, please refer to Asch's article at Tales Wikia.
Personality: At first glance, Asch comes off as an unpleasant loner. There are scarce few people he gets along with or will even tolerate, and most of those people are those that he has no choice but to work with. Even then, he is not very friendly, and the closest he comes to "pleasant" conversation is remaining stoically calm while issuing orders. However, not even that is a guarantee; he can also be exceptionally sarcastic, harsh, and just downright bitchy, even to those he actually cares about (like Natalia, whom he has also gotten snippy with despite their history). Asch is very easily set off, and the least little mistakes or unexpected events can get him irritated. He responds exceptionally poorly to stupidity, as well as anything having to do with Luke, whom he views as someone that took his place. He can be especially harsh to his replica, and his favorite word to use to refer to him is "dreck".
Asch has exceptional leadership skills, despite the fact that sometimes his judgment is slightly misguided, and is typically the one to take charge, even if there are others with more experience around. When there is chaos going on, he’s always the first one to step up and take charge, no matter how difficult the situation (and no matter if he's likely to get his ass kicked). He also has a bit of a manipulative side, though this usually comes out the strongest when Luke is involved, especially prior to Akzeriuth's fall (though this was mostly in a vain effort to stop the destruction). He also possesses a stubborn streak a mile wide; he never, ever backs down from anything once he sets his mind to it, unless someone tries to hold him back or knocks him out.
On the inside, a bit of his old life as "Luke" still lingers. Asch is still devoted to his home and family, though the hurt still remains over being "replaced" as he was; he also still loves Natalia, though he forces himself away from her because he knows he can never return to the life he was meant to have. He has also shown himself to be unintentionally kind, though he often quickly dismisses it by snapping at whomever is involved... while trying not to look embarrassed. This side of him makes him come off as a walking contradiction: he puts Luke down for being an inferior copy of him, but then gets pissed when Luke says he's not as strong as Asch, and then gets even more pissed when Luke declares himself independent of Asch; he was willing to die at one point, then he wants to live, and when he finally does die he's happy about it... the list goes on.
From this, it may seem like Asch is a largely static character, and for the majority of Tales of the Abyss, he is. He only really starts to turn around after the incident at the Tower of Rem, where he tries to sacrifice himself to rid Auldrant of the miasma, only to be thwarted by Luke. The brush with death helped open his eyes a little, and he became a little more subdued in regards to most everything. It doesn't last long, as he eventually blows up at Luke and his inferiority complex (as someone that's supposed to be him is not meant to be inferior), and it takes his replica beating him for Asch to finally accept Luke and himself as two separate beings, and eventually die with a touch of pride and faith in his replica.
Game Specific:
Arcana: Death
Justification: Both sides of Death describe Asch's life fairly accurately. Asch was given a new chance at life, an alteration to his existence, thanks to Van and the replica Luke that was made to take his place. But this was also a painful transition for him and left him emotionally scarred, something that didn't just go away when he's reunited with his family later in the game.
Samples:
First Person Sample:
[Hello, Prospero, your cell phones are being treated to the sight of a redhead who's face seems to be eternally twisted into a scowl. Said scowl is currently focused on Asch's own cell phone, a contraption that, if the angry button pressing is any clue, is completely foreign to him.]
Tch... how the hell do they expect everyone to know how to use this thing?
[Button, button; all of a sudden the cell phone let out a loud BEEP, startling Asch and almost making him drop it. After a moment, the scowl returned in full force, as did the angry button mashing.]
Don't talk back to me, you stupid piece of fonte--!
[And suddenly the feed cuts out. At least now Asch knows where the "off" button is.]
Third Person Sample:
He could feel it: the complete lack of fonic activity. Where Auldrant was lush and vibrant with life, fonons flowing from one thing to another in an endless fonbelt, this place just felt dead to him. It was obvious it wasn't dead, however, as life was clearly abundant all around him, even in the allyway he was standing in. Either this world existed on an entirely different set of principles, rendering fonons either useless or nonexistent, or he had somehow lost his ability to sense them.
Asch frowned bitterly, trying to push his body through the regular exercises of drawing in fonons and letting them cycle through the fonbelt in his own body. Without the ability to sense them, however, it was impossible for him to do any of it. So, after about the fifth time he tried to cast Explosion on the garbage can before him, he settled for kicking it instead, his foot impacting against it with a loud metallic sound that did little to ease his anger.
"Tch... dammit," he growled, turning his gaze up to the sky as if someone was up there. "You picked a hell of a time to do this to me! I need to go back! NOW!"
Naturally, there was no answer, and this time an innocent soda can was the victim of Asch's rage. The can pinged all over the walls, before settling next to an old piece of piping from a sink's water line. Asch paused, eyeing the length of pipe, before picking it up and giving it a test swing. Well, it wasn't exactly standard issue Oracle Knights, but it would do.
Asch put himself through several paces, the pipe swinging back and forth in the usual familiar motions. Each swing brought his anger down a peg, and though the fonically charged strike artes he knew did not have the power behind him, it was a relief to know for certain that he did not lose the knowledge to fight with a sword. He let out a breath when he came to the end of the final set, sweating now and a bit tired, but otherwise feeling better for it. Moving to leave, he hesitated for a brief moment, glancing down at the pipe in his hand and wondering if he would be able to sneak it into the hotel room. Ultimately, with all the strange things that seemed to go on in this weird as hell city, he decided it was worth the risk, and tucked the pipe into his belt, situating it into a familiar position before starting back to his room.
Nickname: Skyla Doragono
Age: 27
Personal LJ: skyla_doragono
Method of Contact: SkylaDoragono @ Plurk, AIM: AschLappyOfRAWR
Characters Played: NA
Character Info:
Name: Asch the Bloody (original Luke fon Fabre)
Age: 17
Canon: Tales of the Abyss
Pull Point: Post Akzeriuth, after beating the crap out of Luke.
Background Info:
History: Asch the Bloody was born Luke fon Fabre of the Kimlascan Duchy, and would have been heir to the throne of Kimlasca-Lanvaldear through his marriage to the Princess Natalia if he had not been kidnapped by his sword master, Van Grants. Taken away from his home and family at ten years of age, the original Luke suffered through countless experiments, until a replica of himself was created. While Luke was imprisoned by Van, the replica was sent back to Baticul to take his place, though when told this, the original refused to believe it.
Somehow, he was able to break out of the bowels of the Oracle Knights' Headquarters and escape from Daath. From there, Luke stowed away on a ship to Belkend, before traveling on his own through the Inista Marsh -- a place so dangerous that most people prefer to travel over the desert than through it. He struggled and fought through the monsters that dwelled there on his own, using a sword twice his size, while Van and Dist watched his progress from afar. Finally, dirty, bloody, and bruised, Luke made it back to his home in Baticul... only instead of being greeted by his family as he was expecting, he could only stand and watch as they fawned over the newborn replica that had taken his place.
Van was there at that moment, telling him of how cruel the world really was, and that he would always be there to take care of him. Luke returned to Daath with Van, taking on the name of "Asch the Bloody" and becoming one of Order's God Generals. On the outside, the God Generals faithfully served the Order of Lorelei and upheld the Score as the Oracle Knights were meant to. In reality, however, the God Generals sought to destroy the Score, and purge Auldrant of the very memory of its existence. At first, Asch served Van's ideals faithfully, but as he grew older, he began to realize that Van's intentions were not entirely honorable.
It was not until the mission to capture Ion that Asch really began to realize that something was wrong with Van's plans. While privately questioning why all Six God Generals were sent on the mission, Asch cooperated with the mission until he caught sight of his replica once again. After capturing the Malkuth landship, the Tartarus, Asch finally saw him, but the sight of the boy that had taken his life away from him -- cowering from just killing a man -- sent Asch into a rage. He attacked his replica, knocking him unconscious, and nearly killing him before he was stopped by Legretta, one of the other God Generals. Reluctantly he allowed Luke to live, though Asch's opinion of him had already been set in stone: he was weak and pathetic.
Not long after, the Tartarus stopped functioning, and Asch had to maneuver his way around to the port hatch to find the cause. He was about to aid Legretta in recapturing Jade Curtiss, who had cause the shutdown, when he saw that she had been escorting Ion around somewhere outside of the ship. This was against the orders he had received, and made him come to the conclusion that Van had decided not to tell him a very important aspect of the mission. After being told by Legretta that she would tell him in due time, that he had only to wait until then, Asch decided he would find out for himself what Van's true intentions were...
...and he had just been presented with the perfect tool to use against him.
After being thwarted by Van at Kaitzur, Asch convinced Arietta and Dist to cooperate with him, ordering the two to capture Luke at Choral Castle -- ironically, the same place where the replica Luke had been born. Dist opened Luke's synchronized fon slots, allowing Asch to communicate or control his replica whenever he wished. Before he had a chance to test it out, however, he received his next order from Van through Sync: recapture the Fon Master... in Baticul.
Asch was reluctant to step foot in his old home on his own. So, Asch sent an Oracle Knight to recruit their services and, wearing a cloak to conceal his identity to any passersby, he entered Baticul to give them further details on capturing Ion. That night, however, he was approached by Van, who revealed that he was leaving the unsealing of the Sephiroth at the Zao Ruins to Asch and the others, while he moved on ahead to Akzeriuth, where he would make use of the replica there. Asch knew at that point that he had to act, but unfortunately he still had to continue to pretend to follow orders, at least until he knew just what Van was going to use his replica for.
When Ion was finally captured again and presented to Asch, Luke appeared again, striking out to attack the original, and seeing Asch's face for the first time. Asch was insulted that someone so inferior would have dared to cross swords with him, but unfortunately, he could not act on his anger, as Ion was more important at the moment. Before he could leave, however, he caught sight of Natalia, the princess he was meant to marry, and the woman he still had feelings for, something he had insisted he should have forgotten, but could not.
After Asch and the God Generals escaped on the Tartarus, Asch confronted Ion, demanding to know why Legretta had removed him from the landship before. Ion, however, could not tell him much, other than the fact that he had removed a seal on a Sephiroth location. Asch realized then that having Ion in the care of the God Generals was not wise, and used the replica's synchronized fon slots to contact him and let him know where they would be taking Ion. As expected, his replica showed up in the Zao Ruins, though not before Ion had released the seal on the Sephiroth. After Sync and Largo were both defeated by the replica's little group, Asch comes after Luke himself, though he is further insulted by the idiot, since he can't seem to figure out why they're able to use the same moves. Sync, however, stops the battle before Asch can get out of hand, allowing Luke and the others to take back Ion.
Irritated from the confrontation, Asch took a moment to himself on the Tartarus, deciding to look in on the idiot and see what he was doing. Quietly watching from the back of his mind, Asch could only fume in silence as Luke acted like a complete ass to his companions... and also catching Luke thinking to himself, about how Van said all he had to do was use his power to neutralize the miasma at Akzeriuth and he would be a hero. Asch, on the other hand, already knew there was no way for that to be possible -- after all, they had the same powers.
Asch immediately jumped ship, traveling on his own to get to Akzeriuth before Luke did. Unfortunately, not only did Luke beat him there, but so did the Oracle Knights who, at the moment he arrived, had Tear surrounded. Irate as hell, Asch blasted all the soldiers to dust with one arte, saving Tear in the process. Because of her confusion, he was forced into a brief explanation of what Van was planning on doing, before the two of them made their way to Akzeriuth, Asch shouting at Luke through their connection the whole time.
Unfortunately, Luke would not listen, and by the time Asch arrived, it was too late: Van had already forced Luke to blast the Azkeriuth passage ring to hell, and the entire city fell into the Qliphoth. van made his escape on one of Arietta's griffins, forcing Asch to come along with him; and he could only watch helplessly as the mining city became a gaping hole in the earth, and he could only listen as Van told him how utterly vital Asch's powers were to his plans...
And then Van said that Asch would be a hero if he did as he was told.
Just as Van had filled his replica's head with lies, so too had he been doing the same thing to Asch since he was a child. Realizing this, and so utterly enraged at himself for not seeing it sooner, Asch stabbed his griffin and glided on its carcass, presumably all the way down to Yulia City in the Qliphoth beneath the surface of the world. He arrived just in time to confront his idiot replica; enraged with what he learned, what happened at Akzeriuth, as well as with how much denial was spilling out of Luke's mouth, Asch revealed just who he was as well as what Luke was. With everything that had happened just moments before, Luke snapped, lashing out at Asch, who beat his replica easily, and most likely would have killed him if he hadn't passed out.
For more details beyond this point, please refer to Asch's article at Tales Wikia.
Personality: At first glance, Asch comes off as an unpleasant loner. There are scarce few people he gets along with or will even tolerate, and most of those people are those that he has no choice but to work with. Even then, he is not very friendly, and the closest he comes to "pleasant" conversation is remaining stoically calm while issuing orders. However, not even that is a guarantee; he can also be exceptionally sarcastic, harsh, and just downright bitchy, even to those he actually cares about (like Natalia, whom he has also gotten snippy with despite their history). Asch is very easily set off, and the least little mistakes or unexpected events can get him irritated. He responds exceptionally poorly to stupidity, as well as anything having to do with Luke, whom he views as someone that took his place. He can be especially harsh to his replica, and his favorite word to use to refer to him is "dreck".
Asch has exceptional leadership skills, despite the fact that sometimes his judgment is slightly misguided, and is typically the one to take charge, even if there are others with more experience around. When there is chaos going on, he’s always the first one to step up and take charge, no matter how difficult the situation (and no matter if he's likely to get his ass kicked). He also has a bit of a manipulative side, though this usually comes out the strongest when Luke is involved, especially prior to Akzeriuth's fall (though this was mostly in a vain effort to stop the destruction). He also possesses a stubborn streak a mile wide; he never, ever backs down from anything once he sets his mind to it, unless someone tries to hold him back or knocks him out.
On the inside, a bit of his old life as "Luke" still lingers. Asch is still devoted to his home and family, though the hurt still remains over being "replaced" as he was; he also still loves Natalia, though he forces himself away from her because he knows he can never return to the life he was meant to have. He has also shown himself to be unintentionally kind, though he often quickly dismisses it by snapping at whomever is involved... while trying not to look embarrassed. This side of him makes him come off as a walking contradiction: he puts Luke down for being an inferior copy of him, but then gets pissed when Luke says he's not as strong as Asch, and then gets even more pissed when Luke declares himself independent of Asch; he was willing to die at one point, then he wants to live, and when he finally does die he's happy about it... the list goes on.
From this, it may seem like Asch is a largely static character, and for the majority of Tales of the Abyss, he is. He only really starts to turn around after the incident at the Tower of Rem, where he tries to sacrifice himself to rid Auldrant of the miasma, only to be thwarted by Luke. The brush with death helped open his eyes a little, and he became a little more subdued in regards to most everything. It doesn't last long, as he eventually blows up at Luke and his inferiority complex (as someone that's supposed to be him is not meant to be inferior), and it takes his replica beating him for Asch to finally accept Luke and himself as two separate beings, and eventually die with a touch of pride and faith in his replica.
Game Specific:
Arcana: Death
Justification: Both sides of Death describe Asch's life fairly accurately. Asch was given a new chance at life, an alteration to his existence, thanks to Van and the replica Luke that was made to take his place. But this was also a painful transition for him and left him emotionally scarred, something that didn't just go away when he's reunited with his family later in the game.
Samples:
First Person Sample:
[Hello, Prospero, your cell phones are being treated to the sight of a redhead who's face seems to be eternally twisted into a scowl. Said scowl is currently focused on Asch's own cell phone, a contraption that, if the angry button pressing is any clue, is completely foreign to him.]
Tch... how the hell do they expect everyone to know how to use this thing?
[Button, button; all of a sudden the cell phone let out a loud BEEP, startling Asch and almost making him drop it. After a moment, the scowl returned in full force, as did the angry button mashing.]
Don't talk back to me, you stupid piece of fonte--!
[And suddenly the feed cuts out. At least now Asch knows where the "off" button is.]
Third Person Sample:
He could feel it: the complete lack of fonic activity. Where Auldrant was lush and vibrant with life, fonons flowing from one thing to another in an endless fonbelt, this place just felt dead to him. It was obvious it wasn't dead, however, as life was clearly abundant all around him, even in the allyway he was standing in. Either this world existed on an entirely different set of principles, rendering fonons either useless or nonexistent, or he had somehow lost his ability to sense them.
Asch frowned bitterly, trying to push his body through the regular exercises of drawing in fonons and letting them cycle through the fonbelt in his own body. Without the ability to sense them, however, it was impossible for him to do any of it. So, after about the fifth time he tried to cast Explosion on the garbage can before him, he settled for kicking it instead, his foot impacting against it with a loud metallic sound that did little to ease his anger.
"Tch... dammit," he growled, turning his gaze up to the sky as if someone was up there. "You picked a hell of a time to do this to me! I need to go back! NOW!"
Naturally, there was no answer, and this time an innocent soda can was the victim of Asch's rage. The can pinged all over the walls, before settling next to an old piece of piping from a sink's water line. Asch paused, eyeing the length of pipe, before picking it up and giving it a test swing. Well, it wasn't exactly standard issue Oracle Knights, but it would do.
Asch put himself through several paces, the pipe swinging back and forth in the usual familiar motions. Each swing brought his anger down a peg, and though the fonically charged strike artes he knew did not have the power behind him, it was a relief to know for certain that he did not lose the knowledge to fight with a sword. He let out a breath when he came to the end of the final set, sweating now and a bit tired, but otherwise feeling better for it. Moving to leave, he hesitated for a brief moment, glancing down at the pipe in his hand and wondering if he would be able to sneak it into the hotel room. Ultimately, with all the strange things that seemed to go on in this weird as hell city, he decided it was worth the risk, and tucked the pipe into his belt, situating it into a familiar position before starting back to his room.