The Velvet Key Application (Placeholder)
Player Info:
Nickname: Arinare
Age: 21
Personal LJ: tsukihimay
Method of Contact: AIM at tsunderp or Plurk
Characters Played: N/A
Character Info:
Name: Medusa Gorgon (alt. Rider)
Age: Thousand and thousands of years old... she looks in her early twenties though.
Canon: Fate/Stay Night
Pull Point: Post Heaven's Feel True End
Background Info:
History: Yo!
Personality: At first glance, you would assume Rider to be the type of person who is cold, uncaring, mysterious, and merciless. However, this is not the case. Rider falls under an archetype seen through a lot of the Servants in Fate/Stay Night. Rider has her emotions hidden away due to putting her Servant duties before anything else and because of this usually keeps them under wraps. Shirou in canon has stated that he can tell by her tone or the way her words feel that she does show emotion, this being my justification for the aforementioned fact. Rider is very protective of Sakura, her Master, though this goes far beyond the simple Master/Servant relationship. Instead, Rider decides to obey and protect Sakura because she reminds her a lot of herself due to their similar personalities. Rider is a very quiet individual due to the fact that she doesn't prefer conversation and it is stated in HF that this is one of the qualities that both her and Sakura hold. As well, both Rider and Sakura appear to be disheartened by their corrupted pasts, which shaped Rider into what she is today. Due to her quiet nature in the past, her sisters would frequently bully her, causing her to become even more reclusive than she initially had been. As well, combined with the fact that she was cursed with the Mystic Eyes of Petrification which caused anyone who looked upon them to turn to stone and the fact that her and her sisters' followers were turned against her, Rider turned cold to the world and angered to the point of devouring humans. The breaking point was when she ended up devouring both of her sisters despite the love and protective nature she had for them.
Despite being as 'cold' as she shows herself off to be, she has moments where she has shown anger and has even sulked before. Rider also has no qualms whatsoever in going against a direct order when it comes to the well being of Sakura. An example was how Sakura ordered her to protect Emiya Shirou. At the time, he had come to the conclusion to kill Sakura and Rider was put between a rock and a hard place. Sakura takes first priority over everything that Rider does, which is why she despised Shinji to the level that she had. Another personality trait accredited to Rider is the fact that she appears to be very formal and very polite when faced with someone around Sakura. She will show the proper respect, and generally be a bit warmer. However, Rider drops this respectful attitude when faced with someone she despises (such as Shinji), giving only blunt remarks about how she feels of them and leaving it at that. Rider looking merciless also has it's roots inside of her, as during the Heaven's Feel route, when facing off against True Assassin to protect Emiya Shirou under Sakura's orders, she whipped him around like a flail and bashed him against the nearby walls, breaking numerous bones during the process.
Rider is analytical and her pride allows her to retreat if the situation is a losing battle, though this would not be the case if she were guarding Sakura. It was stated in the Heaven's Feel route by Archer that Sakura (read: protecting someone) was also one of Rider's greatest weaknesses, due to her agile fighting style being limited when she has to protect her. Despite being respectful most of the time, Rider can also be very disrespectful in the sense that she will openly mock her opponents. Usually this occurs whenever Rider feels she is the current 'winner' of the battle's 'tug-o-war', but it doesn't reach the levels of boasting that Gilgamesh has. Rider is the kind of person that is also very 'to the point', not bothering with tact and is very picky about her conversations. Letting her battle skills speak for her, Rider will only respond if she feels the attempt at conversation warrants a response. Rider doesn't appear to have a specific sense of 'honor' either, due to the fact that she will go to whatever means necessary to defeat her opponent or to protect Sakura... or perhaps, even both.
In fact, Rider's loyalty for Sakura is so extreme that even though Sakura had turned into Dark Sakura and was going utterly insane with the possibility of death for everyone in the surrounding location, she still shielded her from harm and attempted her best to release the dark clutches that Matou Zouken had appeared to have around her. One last part of Rider's personality is how she feels about Matou Sakura's brother, Matou Shinji. Rider utterly detests Shinji, not only for the way he treats Sakura but for the way he seems to carry himself around. Rider openly admits that Shinji is nothing more than a coward and feels he is nothing but a pathetic excuse for a Master. Rider also stated that Perseus, the one whom slayed her when she was her Gorgon form, was a 'Shinji who succeeded', which is only another reason for her harsh hatred. Oh, and did I mention pissing Rider off is a bad idea? Rider will become even more cold if you do end up pissing her off, to the point where she will rid herself of the mocking tendency and just kill you as quick and as painful as she possibly can. An interesting fact to note is that Rider also appears to have a passion toward reading, which she is able to do due to the glasses she has that work against her Mystic Eyes in the same way Tohno Shiki's do.
Game Specific:
Arcana: Hierophant
Justification: The Hierophant symbolizes "education, authority, conservatism, and obedience to rules", all of which can sum up Rider to a point. She can take drastic charge of a situation and is one of the more level headed and obedient Servants in the series. There is also the connection to the divine, with Medusa being a Greek woman who was reverred as a Goddess.
Samples:
First Person Sample: This is quite the odd town I have landed myself in once again... I do not believe I know whom I have been summoned to once more, though it appears my connection to my former Master has been severed. I am unable to say anything further, lest wandering ears that should not be listening hear far too much. If you have a full understanding of the position I am speaking of, contact me immediately.
Third Person Sample: The first summoning of her Persona. It seemed to go off without a hitch, and Medusa was bedazzled by the effects. It had brought back an old acquaintance, someone she knew far too well. The battle went on silently, and Medusa's movements were as if a trained killer. She was analytic, mechanical, and reminiscent of a robot. There was a certain fire that hit those square irises of hers, however. One that could allow someone to see into her very soul and notice that she was initially frightened of this new world. As the last Shadow faded, Medusa took a moment mentally to gather herself. This was a very effective system invented in this world, though she did not have a full hang of it yet. Eventually she would be able to use it against her opponents, but for now it would be saved in the farthest reaches of the mortal-turned-Goddess' mind.