(no subject)
Out of Character Information
player name: Robin Terrae
player livejournal: robinterrae
playing here: No one!
where did you find us? marika_ikeda
are you 16 years of age or older?: Very much so.
In Character Information
character name: Lt. Col. Maes Hughes (until his death, then he gets promoted to Brigadier General)
Fandom: Fullmetal Alchemist [Manga/Brotherhood]
Timeline: Chapter 16 of the Manga
character's age: Roughly 29 at the time of his death
powers, skills, pets and equipment:
Hughes really doesn't have much in the way of 'powers', at least, not like the way the Alchemists of his world do. Hughes, is, however, a trained Military man who has gone through basic and the academy and is in the investigations department. His primary weapon of choice is his throwing knives, his second is a camera which he uses to snap countless photos of his wonderful daughter, Elicia and his beloved wife, Gracia. In terms of equipment, Hughes has the endless photos of his wife and daughter, his uniform, his knives and I'd imagine at least one gun on him as well, since he does have one.
canon history:
Not much is actually known about Maes Hughes prior to his meeting with Roy Mustang, except that he was born in 1885; and while it isn't known at what age he joined the Military Academy, he met Roy while there in 1903, when he was 18 years old. They were in the same class together, and formally met when Maes stole Roy's quiche out from under his nose in a thinly veiled attempt to antagonize him. For a little while, it appeared that Hughes would end up becoming Roy's tormentor, but instead, he ended up coming to Roy and a fellow cadet's rescue after Roy had come to the cadet's aid during an attempted hazing over the cadet who was Isbalan. And while they did get punished for beating up the others, digging a hole together just ended up affirming a friendship that would last for many years to come.
The next time we see young Maes, it is 1908, the year that the Ishbal Rebellion ended becoming the Ishbal Massacre, when the State Alchemists were called in. At some point before he was sent into Ishbal, Maes had met Gracia Locke, the woman who would end up become the love of his life and his beloved wife. Upon hooking back up with Roy in Ishbal, the two work together (this is also how they meet up with Riza Hawkeye, as the young sniper saves Roy's life from a Ishbalan, and Hughes recognizes her as the sniper known as 'The Hawk's Eye'), and then celebrate the end of the fighting, by watching the Fuhrer as he stares out over the gathered soldiers. This is when Roy expresses the desire to protect those under him, so that they, in turn, protect those under themselves and so on and so forth. Hughes then points out that the place to do this would be from the top, as he could protect the entire country that way. With this in mind, Hughes pledges his support to Roy's ideals, as he wants to see what Roy's naive idealism will change the country.
Following that, the war ends, the group returns home, Maes marries Gracia and at some point, their daughter, Elicia, is born. Also during this, Roy finds and manages to recruit one Edward Elric as the Fullmetal Alchemist. Then, in 1914, there rises the tale of a Ishbalan man with a scar on his face that is hunting and killing State Alchemists. Hughes travels from Central to East to warn Roy of this, and that's when Scar makes his appearance in East, although he goes after Edward first.
After the battle, Scar manages to escape and there's no trace of the man. After Edward returns home to Resembool for emergency Automail repair, he and his brother travel to Central to use the First Branch Library in order to look into Doctor Marcoh's notes concerning the Philosopher's Stone, only to discover that the branch has burned down. Then, they discover Sheska, who remembers every single book and paper she read while working in the library. They enlist her to rewrite all of Marcoh's research and during this, Hughes visits the brothers and vents that he has been overloaded with work because a lot of logs and records that they had were kept in the First Branch. The brothers get the bright idea of pawn Sheska off on Hughes, knowing that the young girl needs a job. So, now a delighted Hughes drags the girl off, happy to be able to get a jump on his work.
The next time you see Hughes is when he calls Roy to gush over his wife and daughter and to inform his friend about the fact that the person in charge of the State Alchemists had been killed off, so he should probably be prepared for a transfer to Central from East sometime soon, be aware that a lot of people probably won't like him, and to surround himself with people he can trust. Oh, and find a wife already geeze! He then realizes he forgot to tell Roy about Ed being in the hospital following the incident at Laboratory 5. Oops.
His arrival at the hospital coincides with Winry's house call to fix Ed's arm. Realizing that the girl has no place to say yet, he quickly kidnaps her to his daughter's birthday party, effectively opening his house for her to stay in during her visit and welcoming her into the family. During the party, Maes and Winry have a conversation about family, as Winry is worried about her boys and tells Hughes that sometimes, she needs things explained to her, and Hughes tells her that it's not that they don't want to explain, but that they don't want her to worry about them, and that they had assumed that she would understand without them having to explain everything. After all, men explain things through action and when they do finally decide to tell her their troubles, that's when they will need her to be there for him.
This then leads to another bonding moment between the two as they watch Ed and Al reconcile following their fight on the hotel roof, when Winry says that sometimes, there are some things that you have to say out loud to be understood. Hughes agrees with her.
Later, the Elrics, Hughes and Major Armstrong are discussing what Ed had seen in Lab 5 (the Homunculus and the secret of their existence, the Ouroboros tattoo and the circle for the Philosopher's Stone (it's made of people, don'cha know)) and discussing plans of actions when the Fuhrer arrives to order them off this train of investigation, as he says it's too dangerous, that they can trust no one and are to assume that the entire military is their enemy.
Soon after, the Elrics and Winry leave for Rush Valley and Dublith, and Hughes is sitting in his office, reading a paper, when something catches his eye: riots in Liore. One of his men points out that's not just the East that's been having skirmishes, but the North and West as well. Hughes then abruptly gets up, and tells the others that he needs to check some old files and in doing so, realizes that something sinister has been going on. Realizing that he has to tell the Fuhrer, he goes to leave, only to be confronted by Lust, who impales his shoulder. He manages to get away from her and goes to use the phone, only to realize that the military phones are mostly likely tapped, so instead, he leaves to find an outside line.
He makes it to a telephone booth outside Central Headquarters only to be met by 2nd Lt. Maria Ross holding a gun on him as he waits for his call to be connected to Roy Mustang. He realizes that it's not Maria Ross (as she has a mole under her right eye) and demands to know who it is. Envy, in the form of Ross, continues to taunt Hughes and he goes to pull throw a knife at the shape shifter, only to have Envy transform into his wife instead, knowing that Hughes would not be able to stab his own wife. This is the last thing Hughes sees before Envy shoots him, leaving him to die in the empty phone booth, his phone call having been answered as he lay there dying.
And then he wakes up in a place that he doesn't recognize when he knows he should be dead.
personality:
There are many facets to Maes Hughes, the first and foremost being proud and loving father and husband. He's not above shoving pictures in someone's face and gushing endlessly over the beauty of Gracia and the darlingness of his daughter, nor is he above tying up the military phone lines to call his best friend forever Colonel Roy Mustang and gush over them, especially during work hours. He's also not above playing parent and guiding force to those he believes needs it, such as the Elric boys or Winry, going so far as to, when he finds out that the girl has come to Central and has no place to stay, drag her from Edward's hospital room and put her up on his own home for the night, and all the while subjecting her to Elicia's birthday party.
It could also be said that he's rather overprotective of his daughter, since he pulls his gun on a bunch of boys he feels are getting too close to his daughter (forget the fact that it was her third birthday). He's also not above giving advice to those he believes needs it, like Winry, when she was upset over the fact that Ed and Alphonse never tell her anything and Roy, by advising him to get a wife and to watch his back, since a person so young with such a high rank would make a lot of enemies.
He's also a military man and war veteran, although he chooses to battle his demons and memories by concentrating on his wife and child, smiling for them and shielding them from the darker side of his chosen profession. While he currently has a desk job, that does not mean that he's a pushover. Hughes has dead on aim when it comes to his knives, and he's intelligent enough to one, be in investigations and two, figured out a piece of information that wouldn't be known to the rest of the good guys until much later in the series, even if this information is what ended up getting him killed later.
Because of what they saw in Ishbal, Maes supports Roy's ambitions to get to the top and become Fuhrer, going so far as to support his friend from the shadows, to ensure that Roy has the chance to see his ideals come to fruition and create a better future.
why do you feel this character would be appropriate to the setting?
Hughes was in the Military. While his later career was spent in investigations, he is a war veteran and has seen combat before. He would be the type to not only help protect those who couldn't protect themselves, but he would be more than willing to lend his mind to whatever investigative actions were needed as well. And, because it's Hughes, he would totally be up for adopting anyone he thought needed a father-type figure in his or her life.
Writing Samples
Network Post Sample:
[The forge clicks on accident as if someone is playing with it. Because, well, he is. They certainly didn't have technology like this in Amestris in 1914]
--no blood, no wounds. At least they saw fit to give me my uniform and knives.
[Some rustling as he digs through pockets]
OH! MY DARLING ELICIA! MY BEAUTIFUL GRACIA! They even left your pictures with me as well!
... I wonder if someone thought to bury me with a camera.
[Another pause, as now he's moving around the room]
Huh.
You know, I never thought that whatever happened after you died would look like this. A little apartment, some ominous mist...
Third Person Sample:
He hadn't expected to open his eyes. Actually, now that he thought about it, he wasn't sure what he was expecting. After all, he had just died, leaving his wondrous wife and most precious daughter behind. Not that he worried about how they would get along without him, he and Gracia had prepared in case something happened, he was, after all, military, and the chance of death was a wee bit greater in his field then in some others; but he was more worried about their future, everyone's futures. The Elrics had managed to get themselves into some very deep shit, hell, the country was in some very deep shit, and now Hughes couldn't even warn anyone. Especially when he was dead.
Hughes trusted in those boys, though, just as much as he did Roy, and he know that whatever would come down the line, they would overcome it.
Distancing himself from those thoughts about that which he was powerless to change (unless he figure out how to haunt Roy. Oooo.... there was an idea), he decided to take stock of where he was. At the very least, if this was supposed to be his home for the rest of eternity or whatever happened after one died, then he was determined to make the most out of it.
He had picked up the weird device he had found, and started absent-mindedly pressing buttons as his eyes traveled the room he had woken up in. Actually, it was more like a little apartment, and he wondered if this meant the afterlife was made up of apartment blocks. That would interesting.
Hughes started musing to himself. "Well, there's no blood, no wounds. At least they saw fit to give me my uniform and knives." A dig through his pockets turned up something even better, which made him squeal (in a manly way, of course), in delight. "OH! MY DARLING ELICIA! MY BEAUTIFUL GRACIA! They even left your pictures with me as well!" Which then caused him to pause, a thought passing through his mind. "... I wonder if someone thought to bury me with a camera."
He set those thoughts aside for now, however, as he continued his exploration of the room, and his musings. "Huh. You know, I never thought that whatever happened after you died would look like this. A little apartment, some ominous mist.."
Hughes let his voice trail off, his attention once again going to the device in his hand, wondering what it was for. There were no instructions, no indication of anything, but somehow he had the feeling that this little thing would at least provide some answers.
As soon as he figured out how to get them from it.
Anything else? I'm sure I'll think of something! <3