Caligo app test

[honkalypse]

>PLAYER

NAME/HANDLE: Bear
PERSONAL JOURNAL: naturalcyber
ARE YOU OVER 16? yes
CONTACT: realisticfakefish@gmail.com (AIM/plurk = naturalcyber)
OTHER CHARACTERS:

also apping Kanji Tatsumi

>CHARACTER

CHARACTER NAME: Gamzee Makara
SERIES: MSPA Wiki
CANON POINT: Act 6 intermission, before he disappears with the bodies
APPEARANCE: picture
--Human form: He won't be readily identified as any one ethnicity, but his skin will be a medium tone. And he'll have very dark brown eyes and curly black hair that's too long to curl and prone to being frizzy. He'll be way tall for a 13 year old (about 5'8 or 5'9) but very skinny and generally unhealthy looking. He'll also have three parallel gashes over his face that will eventually scar, and will usually paint his face with clown makeup.

PERSONALITY: Gamzee's personality isn't always readily intuited by looking at the surface, in part because in canon he spends much of his time high on a substance that is at the very least somewhat mind-altering, and quite probably a heavy sedative and anti-psychotic compound based on how canon describes its effects. He exhibits drastic, violent swings in surface personality that may seem contradictory, depending on circumstances.

The state he is in during most of canon is a passive and incredibly high one. Gamzee is friendly and laid back, frequently to the point of non-action. In spite of the copious swearing he retains a childlike wonder at the world. Everything is a miracle and he doesn't want to lose that awe. He is also very easily distracted, even by things as simple as flashing colors. He'll even space out at nothing at all, and does so frequently enough that even people he doesn't talk to often are aware of this.

Underneath that, is a kid who is desperate to please, and also a little lonely. As he was badly neglected by his lusus (the closest thing trolls have to parents) he is at a disadvantage with basic knowledge and in some ways, interactions. However, in spite of this, he never expresses anger or bitterness at his absentee lusus. He waits patiently for his lusus to come back every single night with an unfaltering hope that if he waits long enough, his lusus will, and expresses only sadness when his lusus is killed. This extends to his friends as well. As long as it doesn't go against what his heart is telling him is right, he'll readily agree to just about anything to please his friends. He even agrees to give up his drugs and favorite beverage because a friend says they're bad for him, and is confused when the order is taken back. He says later to said friend that making him smile would be the "best fuckin miracle I ever did part of," and spends his conversations with another friend laying on encouragements and praise very thickly. He's supportive and very easy to get along with, if possessed of some severely annoying habits.

In fact, even when people who aren't particularly close to him come to him needing advice, he does his best to give it. He isn't very good at giving advice, but he tries hard. Still, everything isn't all innocence and miracles with Gamzee. He's (well, was) a devout believer in a particularly violent and morbid religion. He enthusiastically fanboys evil, insane clowns, and believes in a paradise where everyone will "bleed as equals" brought about by slaughter. He'd much rather chill with even his enemies, but it must be stressed that he's just as capable of ultra-violence and murder while high as he is sober. He's just too relaxed and disconnected from emotion and reality to actually go about acting on things like that most of the time.

So, that's what he's like while high, but things change when he goes off the drugs. The simplest changes come first. Gamzee suddenly becomes more active and interested in things. While he was disinterested in trolling the humans while high, one of the very first acts he takes newly sober is to follow Karkat's order to troll them. He's quite excited about the opportunity, even if he's poor at the actual trolling aspect because he's too friendly toward the human he chooses to contact, even to the point of helpfully explaining the metaphors he's using. So that's the most obvious change, at least at first. Initiative, interest, and engagement with the world.

Then things go to hell in a handbasket for him, including the murder of one of his close friends that he had a crush on. Most importantly though, the human he tried to troll manages to shatter his faith with one simple link and he goes full of rage and withdraws hard from contact with others--something until that point he hadn't done before. In fact, while the other trolls keep their hording tendencies (piles of things) private, he keeps his in the public space they all use and encourages others to use it, apparently staying there nearly constantly to the point that it severely worries his closest friend when he leaves the room. When he appears again he's full of anger and obviously unstable mentally. He shows signs of a fragmented sense of self ("they were always both me :o) AND ALSO MOTHERFUCKING ME Do:"), claims to be hearing voices telling him to kill everybody, and has a drastic reversal of his former opinions on the troll caste system. He goes from barely being aware of it and disregarding it to fully supporting it and lording his place near the top of it over everyone else. He also develops a morbid obsession with corpses and painting with blood.

However, in spite of his claims to want to kill everyone, he waits at the very least nearly an hour after his first declaration to start killing, and even then only kills someone who was specifically sent to stop him and then someone who attacked him out of vengeance. It should be noted that he arranges that initial murder in a way to make the victim die smiling (remember that miracle mentioned earlier? Yeah, he fulfilled it). He had at least one chance to kill someone before this, as he was clearly watching someone while she was unaware. Instead, he spends most of this time with the corpse of his murdered friend, and proceeds to declare his revenge on the human who broke his faith and then to start flirting (specifically, hate-flirting).

Gamzee admits that his current state freaks himself out in one conversation before making the murder threats, and later proceeds to contact the same person again and encourage him to go up to where he'll be, specifically saying, "i wonder if you can all be at with me in time and make me get my reconsider on?" In light of the fact that when the friend in question does show up, he manages to snap Gamzee out of it completely, these statements become at least partially a cry for help. Gamzee is at least somewhat aware that there's something wrong with him and wants his friend's attention and companionship (if not to be stopped completely), even when he's angry enough to want to destroy the entire universe.

Other changes that become apparent when he's off the drugs is that he's much more observant and capable of thinking ahead. He arranges murder scenes to look like someone else did it, and is able to take advantage of another person's worries and biases to get an outcome that he's looking for. He puts his observational and planning skills to sinister use while he's snapped, but they're definitely there.

Lastly, his best friend does manage to bring him out of the crazy and raging state with what amounts to the powers of friendship. He doesn't seem to be one hundred percent back to sanity afterwards (especially as he still has the morbid obsession with corpses and painting with blood, though no longer showing interest in killing) but he shows concern for his friends again and is much calmer; willing and able to return the calming and comfort his friend gave him. Still very observant as well, because he's the first to notice that a seemingly dead friend isn't as dead as they thought and has shown up while everyone else is consumed with grief.

So taking that all into account, Gamzee's base personality under all the influencing circumstances and events is very friendly, and chill. He values being social (albeit is awkward at attempting it), and is devoted to at least his best friend. He is a little morbid and odd at the best of times, and certainly has underlying anger problems, if only due to his caste being predisposed to such issues, but he's also intelligent and capable of thinking ahead as well as planning on the fly. He will need a lot of time and care to fully recover from his mental break, but he's out of the worst of it. He is also, as shown in one log, unfortunately easy to manipulate. He doesn't seem aware that his mysterious adviser doesn't have his best interest at heart until he's told point blank that he's a "sucker." He certainly has a whole bunch of flaws, but he's no more predisposed to evil than any of the other trolls.

ABILITIES: Gamzee has basic abilities because of being a troll, namely keen vision suitable for a nocturnal species, probably keener senses all around, and generally being way tougher than a human of his size and age would be.

In terms of fighting ability, Gamzee is probably one of the strongest trolls, with the potential exception of Vriska (who is god-tier, with all the power that implies). He's physically strong enough to hold another troll off the ground with one hand around her wrist and effortlessly scratch his own face with the weapon she was wielding. He is able to wield a variety of weapons with crack skill (bow, clubs, hammer, and others) due to his strife-specibus (think rpg weapons class) of Jokerkind, but he does favor blunt force weapons like clubs and hammers. Additionally, he is insanely fast, capable of flash-stepping too fast to be seen.

In non-combat abilities, he has a sylladex, which functions like an rpg inventory/hammer space. Items are captchalogged (stored) in cards and retrieved through various methods. Gamzee actually has no idea whatsoever how to actually get things out of his sylladex with any predictability, or even the faintest clue how it works. Ergo, the reader doesn't either.

Gamzee has one additional ability, however, though it will remain entirely dormant until he's sober. This ability is a psychic one called "Chucklevoodoo" and it gives him the ability to discover and manipulate fear(s). The primary way to do this is via dreams, where he can alter the dreamer's subconscious to prominently feature the dreamer's fears to increase them to a potentially great extent. Word of god hints that the ability can also be used to manipulate those who are awake.

Except for learned abilities (such as his skill with bow, clubs and hammer) he'd lose pretty much all of this in the game.

POSSESSIONS:
--a bicycle horn
--a couple empty pie tins
--his facepaint (enough to last about a month or so)
--several changes of clothes (that are all exactly the same)
--an empty Faygo bottle
--a husktop (a laptop that's semiorganic and might not function)

>PERSONA

MAJOR ARCANA: Death, Judgement, The Tower
Death-- Death is appropriate not only for the grim overtones of doom and ending (after all, Gamzee tried to be an avatar of death when he flipped out) but the deeper symbolisms of change, cycle and transformation fit him too. He is changing and transforming, on the path to realizing his true potential. He's also still feeling very keenly the loss of almost everything he held dear.
Judgement-- For Gamzee, an arcana to "grow into" He's at a place where he could be reborn and find balance, if he makes the right choices. Karkat has given him a chance for redemption, but he needs to seek absolution and atonement, and learn to control his darker impulses which would definitely be a balancing act. He has to make a realization of who he truly is, and what his calling is.
The Tower--The Tower is where he's been. His whole worldview was shattered, and he was nearly completely destroyed with it. He experienced sudden, tumultuous change and learned the truth about himself. Probably the least suitable of the three.

SHADOW: Gamzee will have several issues brought up by his shadow. The first will be his own mental instability and the parts of his nature determined by his blood (Indigos being known for being violent and angry and unstable). He's terrified of his mental problems and the way he snapped/might snap again, but he also feels strongly drawn towards violence and morbid things. Blood especially calls to him and he wants to cover everything with all the blood colors ever. He dislikes this part of himself, and wants to hide it and ignore it entirely, but he can't. His chill and friendly nature is at war with this darker side of himself. He both wants and hates being a harbinger of death and destruction.

The next issue is guilt and the lack of it. He knows killing people was wrong, but has difficulty feeling guilt at all in one case, and alternately thinks he feels too much/too little in another. There is also the idea that guilt itself is an unnecessary emotion in troll society and that his social status gave him the right to kill which wars with the concept of being wrong and the guilt he does/doesn't feel. This is a very confusing topic for him.

Another is his relationship with Karkat. He desperately needs and depends on Karkat right now for his mental stability. Karkat is his rock, and his tie to sanity. But, he also feels like a burden, unable to return at all the benefits Karkat has given him. He feels like he's tying Karkat down and holding Karkat back, slowly strangling the life out of him, basically. He wants to be a good friend and moirail, but the problem is, he just doesn't know how.

The last are minor issues, and will probably just be mentioned in dialogue at best, but he's a sucker, and feels like he should have known better than to cling to a religion that proved false so closely and then to turn around and follow the orders of an arguably sinister stranger--especially when afterward he realized he ruined everything. He's also a recovering addict and really really wants a fix, even though he knows it's bad for him. He hates and loves the drug, and feels so weak for not being able to just put it behind him forever.

In terms of behavior, his shadow will behave a lot like he did when he was snapped and on his rampage. Violently angry and mentally unstable, taunting and waxing poetic about murder and blood and violence, but it'll also mood swing. The swings will be upset and weak and lost, begging for Karkat, or sopor slime, and talking about guilt and being so ignorant and easily fooled.

In terms of appearance, his dungeon will be a carnival ground, with tents and bright happy colors, until someone looks more closely and realizes that the colors are dripping blood. There will be carnival things and clown faces everywhere, but also bodies and bones and high pitched laughter and screaming that comes from everywhere and nowhere at once. And honking, lots of honking. So really cheerful on the surface and really, really dark and creepy right underneath.

His shadow's monster form will look like a skeleton with strips of rotting flesh leaking poisonous green slime. From the finger bones will constantly ooze and drip blood in every color, and it will be standing on a pile of nondescript heads that are badly mangled, with broken horns. Its skull will be only loosely attached by dangling sinews and rolling and bouncing back and forth as it moves. The skull will also be broken, split with a huge crack down the middle and one half seemingly constantly crumbling to dust. The intact half will have just enough flesh to suggest a corpse grin, and the other a frown. Inside the ribcage there will be a small figure in fetal position with no visible features except gray skin and tiny, nubby horns. It will be dangling from a noose that's bright indigo and bound, gagged and blindfolded by more ropes of the same color.

PERSONA:
Initial: Capricornus, the Seagoat (Null: Dark, Weak: Light)
Ultimate: The Grand Highblood, leader of the subjugglators (Null (reflect?): Dark, ?Weak: Light?. Resist: Ice)

Skills? Hrm, this is difficult. I think Gamzee would have a speedy build that has very high agility, pretty high magic and SP, and not bad strength, average HP, but only okay luck. Stats rise fairly evenly so the spread stays about the same. For offense: physicals, maybe elemental spells, and Mudo spells (maybe just single target for one or the other, so he isn't too overpowered). Also with debuffs (maybe debilitate at a very high level), status spells (probably fear and confusion), and maybe Ghastly Wail at a very high level?

Starting skills might be: Bufu, Skull Cracker, Evil Touch (around level 10-15ish)
- Mudo
- Mabufu
- Atom Smasher
- Mamudo
- Evil Smile
- Bufula
- Mudoon
- Vile Assault
- Mabufula
- Fear Boost
- Debilitate
- Mamudoon
- Bufudyne
- Blight
- Ghastly Wail
End-game skills might be: Evil Smile, Ghastly Wail, Mamudoon, Bufudyne, Debilitate, Vile Assault, Blight, Fear Boost

PERSONA ACQUISTION: Shadow and TV world. He'll need someone he knows giving him support, but with support he'll be able to accept his shadow.

>SAMPLES
(For panfandom apps, one of these must be set in the world of Caligo.)

FIRST PERSON ACTION, JOURNAL, OR PHONE SAMPLE:
Not sure which threads to use or if I should just write a self-contained sample.
with Terezi (short)
with Kanaya (short)
with Karkat
with Vriska (short)
with Kurt
with Yosuke
with Karkat and Equius
with Dojima
with Tavros
with Maya

THIRD PERSON SAMPLE: There was a mirror in the hotel room. Gamzee was trying not to look at it, but he knew he had to eventually. He felt strange and disoriented. These human lookstubs hardly worked at all, and he was sure something was wrong with the human hear-ducts too, but that was harder to tell. He felt entirely different, weaker and softer, and that was frightening in a way he'd never felt before.

And calmer, just a tiny bit. That was probably the only good thing about this change. The indigo in his veins had fueled the rage and anger and soft-loud voices inside his thinkpan and without it, the edge and urgency was gone. It was still there, full up in him, but not so...overwhelming. That was the only good thing. The only one.

This body didn't even have the mercy to stop shaking and hurting and screaming for Sopor, even though he was no longer a troll, and he knew humans didn't eat slime, or sleep in it either. They didn't sleep in the weird thing on the floor, as far as he knew, but maybe this place was just weird by human standards. There were a lot of things he hadn't been expecting, honestly. He wasn't pink, now that he was human. Most of the humans weren't pink. He'd expected pink, and Dave and Rose had been a sort of shade of pink (it had been hard to tell in the motherfucking Green light turning everything green too), even if it wasn't quite what he expected from the viewports and Karkat's descriptions, but here he'd seen more shades of humans among himself and the others that had shown up in this strange place with him than he'd thought possible. Enough to make him think of blood. Maybe humans humans had a skin-spectrum instead of a hemospectrum? How would they even organize such a thing?

Motherfucking hell, how did they even eat? The teeth in his mouth were so dull and useless now, and the pale, translucent nails weren't nearly as hard and tough as his nails had been. No way to file them to points to use as claws, not that he'd ever bothered with that, but right now he really wished he could. This body was just similar enough that he could almost forget he wasn't himself no more, but so different that he was immediately reminded some way or another whenever he did. Gamzee wanted out. He missed his skin, he missed his motherfucking bitchtits swirly horns, and fuck, he missed his indigo blood, even if it did come with more rage.

But at least he still had his makeup, still had his face. But he had to look in the mirror to put it on and-- motherfuck. He didn't think he could right now.