Application - RealityShifted
Player Name: Maggie (or Kya, if there's another Maggie around)
Player LJ: Sykkea
Email and/or AIM:
* email: mag{.}thomasson{@}gmail{.}com
* AIM: TharianDream
Timezone: US/canada Eastern (GMT -5, pretty sure)
Other Characters: No one currently. Returning player, though! ::Salute::
Character: Kuhn (offline: Tomonari Kasumi)
Series/Fandom: .hack//GU
Deviance: Deviance 1 (Canon). Also, post-game.
Age: 24
Gender: Male
Species: Human
Canon Used: What little he appears in .hack//ROOTS, as well as the game's (.hack//GU's) canon, of course.
Appearance: Kuhn went out of his way to make his character's avatar as attractive as he could. The result? Kuhn is a very poised-looking young man, lean and fit, with long blue hair and hazel eyes. His outfit consists of yellows, blacks and tans, which helps him stand out (along with that blue hair, of course). He has very distinct markings on his face: a blue line across his forehead and a round-shaped rune beside and underneath each eye.
Reference: http://ui02.gamespot.com/737/kuhn_2.jpg
Psychology: Kuhn, in the simplest of terms, is a flirt. At least he's actually charming to back up his lady-killing. He loves to spend time with those of the female persuasion, especially within The World. In fact, he has the private contact information of 972 different girls (with plans to make his friend Pi the 1000th). Womanizing aside, Kuhn is a very trusting (and trustworthy) person who quickly forms friendships with different kinds of people. He has a sense of loyalty that nobody can deny, and while he doesn't like the thought of putting other people in danger, he knows when someone can handle him/herself and will step back (or lend a hand, whatever the case may be). He's a bit of a knightly type, considering his drive to protect people and his need to prove himself. He's intelligent, when he bothers to be, and definitely a people person.
As for weakness... that would be Women, in a word. Kuhn gets distracted by pretty ladies quite often. In addition, he tends to do first and ask questions later, assuming he even remembers to ask questions. Usually, he doesn't even think before acting, at which point the asking questions business is right out. Kuhn can be very immature. He doesn't take some things as seriously as he should, and he can often drive others crazy by trying to keep them smiling. He can even be a little bit on the ADD side. Sometimes, he has an arrogant streak, especially when it concerns how attractive he is. Even so, he does have a good heart, and it does show.
It's said that his online flirtatious attitude and lady-killing hides an offline lack of relationships, since he's only ever had one serious girlfriend during his high school days. He does attend quite a few parties, though, so he clearly isn't friendless, just significant-other-less.
Other Skills/Abilities: Kuhn is a Steam Gunner, meaning he knows his way around a bayonet. Well, online, anyway. His skills and basic moves are more speed-based than strength-based, which helps when it comes to firing and striking in a short amount of time. Since his skills are done through a menu or the push of a button, though, pulling these out on the Plane could prove quite difficult. Good thing he's fit enough offline, too. Maybe it won't be too difficult. Then again, those are the famous last words of a fool...
Other Weaknesses: What he has in speed, he's lacking in actual physical strength. He prefers mid- to long-ranged combat, which can certainly get him into a lot of trouble when opponents get in on him.
History: Kasumi has played The World since its first version, which he joined when he was a teenager under the handle of "Sieg". He spent the days of The World R:1 building up friendships and quickly making himself known. In fact, he became the self-appointed rival of the Descendants of Fianna: Balmung of the Azure Sky and Orca of the Azure Sea. Though he never honestly surpassed them (and probably never honestly ended up on their level), he had his own circle of friends and really was on the fast track to becoming one of the greatest players in the game. Things were not always so casual, however. One night, when he and his girlfriend logged onto The World for some quick leveling, they came across a shining female character being chased by a monster with a red cross. Suddenly, he fell into a coma. It wasn't until after the legendary .hackers defeated the monster known as Corbenik that Kasumi was able to recover. Despite the scare, he continued to play in The World, still determined to surpass the Descendants of Fianna.
The World as everyone knew it ceased to exist, due to a company fire. Later, a new version was made: The World R:2. As a Part-time CC Corp. employee and former player of The World, of course he picked up the new version of the game. And, of course, he went out of his way to make his character just as attractive as his last. This one went by the handle of Kuhn. It's easy to form close relationships with people in a game just starting out, and Kuhn found himself starting a guild with another member, Gabi. Eventually, this would become the most populated Guild in the game: Kestrel, a guild overrun with PKs (Player Killers). Gabi thought it was "just another part of The World". Kuhn... didn't seem all that happy, and the following January, he left. Time passed, and Kuhn ran into a character named Phyllo. He was asked to help a trio of newbies learn how to play the game, and he accepted, albeit somewhat hesitantly. The session went remarkably better than he thought it would, and it left him inspired to help other newbies. He created his own guild, Canard, for that purpose.
During one of his adventures, Kuhn came across a very strange enemy. The attack was so startling that his avatar, Magus, appeared. He was later contacted by the members of the guild Raven, specifically Pi. He didn't like what he heard: that his character housed a dangerous power, and that what attacked him, AIDA, was creeping its way through the system. He did, however, appreciate the promise that Pi could teach him how to control it. And so, he left Canard and joined Raven, determined to master Magus. Through Raven, he met the other Epitaph Users like himself, and together, they did what they could to stop AIDA.
It seemed like one crisis after the other, however, and Kuhn found himself growing increasingly tired of the way Raven was being... "managed", if you could even call it that at that point. In a show of anger, he left, seemingly with no intention to ever go back. That all changed when he realized that Raven was his only way of actually helping to keep The World a safe place, so he returned, once again fightning alongside the others. When AIDA was vanquished, they found another problem: Cubia, the cause of the Network Crises that caused trouble on a global scale, and not just within The World. The final showdown proved difficult, but they triumphed. Once again, both the world and The World were safe.
Reality Description: Offline, Kuhn's world is our world, only in the future (2016, to be exact). He lives in Kanazawa, capital city of the Ishikawa Prefecture in Japan. It's a city on the coast, and I could continue spouting wikipedia.com facts at you, but I'm not sure that's all that important. What is important, however, is that computers are very prominent, and so is the internet. Nearly everything is run by computers. Until 2010, the OS of choice was ALTMIT (they may as well have had a monopoly). It is, however, unknown if this is still the OS of choice in 2016, but seeing as this is the OS The World R:2 runs on, it's likely they're still around. CyberConnect, or C.C. Corporation, is the company behind The World R:2, and is also the company that Kuhn works for.
Online, Kuhn's world is The World R:2, the MMORPG of choice globally. A fantasy setting with steampunk influences, The World R:2 is massive. There are four servers, each with a "Root Town" as its base of operations: Delta server with Mac Anu, Theta server with Dol Donna, Omega server with Lumina Cloth and Sigma server with Breg Epona. From there, players can go to areas by using the Chaos Gate, a large, swirling blue portal that teleports players to areas based on series of keywords. Each keyword gives certain qualities or values to an area, and combining these keywords in threes (Example: Hidden Forbidden Bulwark; Fading Tragedy's Exile; etc) makes for nearly infinite places to visit. Like any MMORPGs, there classes and races that allow for customization of characters, and also a storyline (http://dothack.wikia.com/wiki/The_World_R:2_History) for added intrigue. On the flip side, however, Kuhn is familiar with an even darker side of The World: AIDA servers and the Net Slum. AIDA servers are places created by the data anomaly by the same name, which amplify the negative emotions of those within, as well as trap the players there. The Net slum is a server within and yet outside of the boundaries of The World R:2, created by the hacker Zelkova. It's a collection of "trash", "recycled" or outdated data, and it acts as a safe haven when The World itself ends up thrown into Chaos.
Third Person Writing Sample: Some famous person once said that the hardest part of writing was to begin.
"What about beginning again?" Kasumi muttered as he popped the disk into his computer. The World R:2: the latest version of the most popular online game to ever exist. He was excited, but at the same time, he was a little bit worried. He'd finally risen to fame on the older version, what if he didn't manage this time? Would he be able to show his face online again anyway? Who's to say this would even go how he wanted it to? He had to do something to ensure that he would be liked. That he would be the talk of The World once again.
And that was the wrong shade of brown for the job.
A few adjustments later, he'd managed to pick an accent color for his avatar. The only problem was, he still didn't have a good enough main color, hair color, eye color or height. The latter was easy enough, he'd go with something slightly taller than average. Eye color could be adjusted last. The other two, however, stood out the most. They would take the greatest care. Kasumi had no idea which to start with. He cracked his knuckles, sitting back in his chair to eye the mostly-default character base slowly spinning on his computer screen. "I wonder," he mused aloud to himself, "how I can go about making him as strappingly handsome as he'll need to be." A few moments of "hmmm"ing later, he grinned and went right back to clicking.
Contrasting colors always stood out, as well as bright ones. Even though this was a fantasy-based world, the odds of people daring to give their characters odd-colored hair were extremely low, so that would definitely be a plus. Eye color, however, needed to be something a bit more neutral and common, but not too much. Blue was stereotypical. Brown and black were all too common. There must be something a little less common, yet just as alluring... hazel. That would work well. He could use blue for the hair, though. That definitely wasn't overdone! It would be tricky, but if anyone could do it, it would be him.
Kasumi looked at the finished product with a satisfied grin. If that didn't knock 'em dead (and he saw no reason why it wouldn't), then he'd just have to bust out some gamer skills instead. No problem. He confirmed his choices, and then stared at the final prompt... the character name.
He frowned and bit his lip. "Hunh." He stared at the screen for a minute, cursor flashing at him as his thoughts cycled through possibilities, all of them instanlty discarded. What seemed like ten minutes later, he sighed and stood. "Maybe I'll go make dinner first."
Player LJ: Sykkea
Email and/or AIM:
* email: mag{.}thomasson{@}gmail{.}com
* AIM: TharianDream
Timezone: US/canada Eastern (GMT -5, pretty sure)
Other Characters: No one currently. Returning player, though! ::Salute::
Character: Kuhn (offline: Tomonari Kasumi)
Series/Fandom: .hack//GU
Deviance: Deviance 1 (Canon). Also, post-game.
Age: 24
Gender: Male
Species: Human
Canon Used: What little he appears in .hack//ROOTS, as well as the game's (.hack//GU's) canon, of course.
Appearance: Kuhn went out of his way to make his character's avatar as attractive as he could. The result? Kuhn is a very poised-looking young man, lean and fit, with long blue hair and hazel eyes. His outfit consists of yellows, blacks and tans, which helps him stand out (along with that blue hair, of course). He has very distinct markings on his face: a blue line across his forehead and a round-shaped rune beside and underneath each eye.
Reference: http://ui02.gamespot.com/737/kuhn_2.jpg
Psychology: Kuhn, in the simplest of terms, is a flirt. At least he's actually charming to back up his lady-killing. He loves to spend time with those of the female persuasion, especially within The World. In fact, he has the private contact information of 972 different girls (with plans to make his friend Pi the 1000th). Womanizing aside, Kuhn is a very trusting (and trustworthy) person who quickly forms friendships with different kinds of people. He has a sense of loyalty that nobody can deny, and while he doesn't like the thought of putting other people in danger, he knows when someone can handle him/herself and will step back (or lend a hand, whatever the case may be). He's a bit of a knightly type, considering his drive to protect people and his need to prove himself. He's intelligent, when he bothers to be, and definitely a people person.
As for weakness... that would be Women, in a word. Kuhn gets distracted by pretty ladies quite often. In addition, he tends to do first and ask questions later, assuming he even remembers to ask questions. Usually, he doesn't even think before acting, at which point the asking questions business is right out. Kuhn can be very immature. He doesn't take some things as seriously as he should, and he can often drive others crazy by trying to keep them smiling. He can even be a little bit on the ADD side. Sometimes, he has an arrogant streak, especially when it concerns how attractive he is. Even so, he does have a good heart, and it does show.
It's said that his online flirtatious attitude and lady-killing hides an offline lack of relationships, since he's only ever had one serious girlfriend during his high school days. He does attend quite a few parties, though, so he clearly isn't friendless, just significant-other-less.
Other Skills/Abilities: Kuhn is a Steam Gunner, meaning he knows his way around a bayonet. Well, online, anyway. His skills and basic moves are more speed-based than strength-based, which helps when it comes to firing and striking in a short amount of time. Since his skills are done through a menu or the push of a button, though, pulling these out on the Plane could prove quite difficult. Good thing he's fit enough offline, too. Maybe it won't be too difficult. Then again, those are the famous last words of a fool...
Other Weaknesses: What he has in speed, he's lacking in actual physical strength. He prefers mid- to long-ranged combat, which can certainly get him into a lot of trouble when opponents get in on him.
History: Kasumi has played The World since its first version, which he joined when he was a teenager under the handle of "Sieg". He spent the days of The World R:1 building up friendships and quickly making himself known. In fact, he became the self-appointed rival of the Descendants of Fianna: Balmung of the Azure Sky and Orca of the Azure Sea. Though he never honestly surpassed them (and probably never honestly ended up on their level), he had his own circle of friends and really was on the fast track to becoming one of the greatest players in the game. Things were not always so casual, however. One night, when he and his girlfriend logged onto The World for some quick leveling, they came across a shining female character being chased by a monster with a red cross. Suddenly, he fell into a coma. It wasn't until after the legendary .hackers defeated the monster known as Corbenik that Kasumi was able to recover. Despite the scare, he continued to play in The World, still determined to surpass the Descendants of Fianna.
The World as everyone knew it ceased to exist, due to a company fire. Later, a new version was made: The World R:2. As a Part-time CC Corp. employee and former player of The World, of course he picked up the new version of the game. And, of course, he went out of his way to make his character just as attractive as his last. This one went by the handle of Kuhn. It's easy to form close relationships with people in a game just starting out, and Kuhn found himself starting a guild with another member, Gabi. Eventually, this would become the most populated Guild in the game: Kestrel, a guild overrun with PKs (Player Killers). Gabi thought it was "just another part of The World". Kuhn... didn't seem all that happy, and the following January, he left. Time passed, and Kuhn ran into a character named Phyllo. He was asked to help a trio of newbies learn how to play the game, and he accepted, albeit somewhat hesitantly. The session went remarkably better than he thought it would, and it left him inspired to help other newbies. He created his own guild, Canard, for that purpose.
During one of his adventures, Kuhn came across a very strange enemy. The attack was so startling that his avatar, Magus, appeared. He was later contacted by the members of the guild Raven, specifically Pi. He didn't like what he heard: that his character housed a dangerous power, and that what attacked him, AIDA, was creeping its way through the system. He did, however, appreciate the promise that Pi could teach him how to control it. And so, he left Canard and joined Raven, determined to master Magus. Through Raven, he met the other Epitaph Users like himself, and together, they did what they could to stop AIDA.
It seemed like one crisis after the other, however, and Kuhn found himself growing increasingly tired of the way Raven was being... "managed", if you could even call it that at that point. In a show of anger, he left, seemingly with no intention to ever go back. That all changed when he realized that Raven was his only way of actually helping to keep The World a safe place, so he returned, once again fightning alongside the others. When AIDA was vanquished, they found another problem: Cubia, the cause of the Network Crises that caused trouble on a global scale, and not just within The World. The final showdown proved difficult, but they triumphed. Once again, both the world and The World were safe.
Reality Description: Offline, Kuhn's world is our world, only in the future (2016, to be exact). He lives in Kanazawa, capital city of the Ishikawa Prefecture in Japan. It's a city on the coast, and I could continue spouting wikipedia.com facts at you, but I'm not sure that's all that important. What is important, however, is that computers are very prominent, and so is the internet. Nearly everything is run by computers. Until 2010, the OS of choice was ALTMIT (they may as well have had a monopoly). It is, however, unknown if this is still the OS of choice in 2016, but seeing as this is the OS The World R:2 runs on, it's likely they're still around. CyberConnect, or C.C. Corporation, is the company behind The World R:2, and is also the company that Kuhn works for.
Online, Kuhn's world is The World R:2, the MMORPG of choice globally. A fantasy setting with steampunk influences, The World R:2 is massive. There are four servers, each with a "Root Town" as its base of operations: Delta server with Mac Anu, Theta server with Dol Donna, Omega server with Lumina Cloth and Sigma server with Breg Epona. From there, players can go to areas by using the Chaos Gate, a large, swirling blue portal that teleports players to areas based on series of keywords. Each keyword gives certain qualities or values to an area, and combining these keywords in threes (Example: Hidden Forbidden Bulwark; Fading Tragedy's Exile; etc) makes for nearly infinite places to visit. Like any MMORPGs, there classes and races that allow for customization of characters, and also a storyline (http://dothack.wikia.com/wiki/The_World_R:2_History) for added intrigue. On the flip side, however, Kuhn is familiar with an even darker side of The World: AIDA servers and the Net Slum. AIDA servers are places created by the data anomaly by the same name, which amplify the negative emotions of those within, as well as trap the players there. The Net slum is a server within and yet outside of the boundaries of The World R:2, created by the hacker Zelkova. It's a collection of "trash", "recycled" or outdated data, and it acts as a safe haven when The World itself ends up thrown into Chaos.
Third Person Writing Sample: Some famous person once said that the hardest part of writing was to begin.
"What about beginning again?" Kasumi muttered as he popped the disk into his computer. The World R:2: the latest version of the most popular online game to ever exist. He was excited, but at the same time, he was a little bit worried. He'd finally risen to fame on the older version, what if he didn't manage this time? Would he be able to show his face online again anyway? Who's to say this would even go how he wanted it to? He had to do something to ensure that he would be liked. That he would be the talk of The World once again.
And that was the wrong shade of brown for the job.
A few adjustments later, he'd managed to pick an accent color for his avatar. The only problem was, he still didn't have a good enough main color, hair color, eye color or height. The latter was easy enough, he'd go with something slightly taller than average. Eye color could be adjusted last. The other two, however, stood out the most. They would take the greatest care. Kasumi had no idea which to start with. He cracked his knuckles, sitting back in his chair to eye the mostly-default character base slowly spinning on his computer screen. "I wonder," he mused aloud to himself, "how I can go about making him as strappingly handsome as he'll need to be." A few moments of "hmmm"ing later, he grinned and went right back to clicking.
Contrasting colors always stood out, as well as bright ones. Even though this was a fantasy-based world, the odds of people daring to give their characters odd-colored hair were extremely low, so that would definitely be a plus. Eye color, however, needed to be something a bit more neutral and common, but not too much. Blue was stereotypical. Brown and black were all too common. There must be something a little less common, yet just as alluring... hazel. That would work well. He could use blue for the hair, though. That definitely wasn't overdone! It would be tricky, but if anyone could do it, it would be him.
Kasumi looked at the finished product with a satisfied grin. If that didn't knock 'em dead (and he saw no reason why it wouldn't), then he'd just have to bust out some gamer skills instead. No problem. He confirmed his choices, and then stared at the final prompt... the character name.
He frowned and bit his lip. "Hunh." He stared at the screen for a minute, cursor flashing at him as his thoughts cycled through possibilities, all of them instanlty discarded. What seemed like ten minutes later, he sighed and stood. "Maybe I'll go make dinner first."