scelerata_mods | APPLICATION

Entry tags:

!application

APPLICATION

APPLICATIONS ARE OPEN

APPLICATIONS WILL BE PROCESSED ON WEDNESDAY to ensure everyone is accepted and has the same starting point upon entry rather than some being in immediately and getting activity while others trickle in after. It's not really fair to those having to wait on their apps.

Here is where we ask you to please post your applications. Applications will always be open at this time but will be reviewed each Wednesday. The latest an application should receive a response is Saturday morning. If there are any delays, it can be accounted to needing a second opinion or the mod is unfamiliar with your series and is asking for a second set of eyes.

We may ask that you submit a secondary piece of information (maybe an extended personality or a new writing sample) but chances are we won't. But should we ask that of you, we'll give you two days to do that from the time we respond.

Below is the application template we request you use, along with explanations for any first time roleplayers joining us. If you have any questions, please shoot them over to the FAQ page.

Name:
Journal:
Email:
Contact: [any faster, more instant way of contact like AIM messenger or plurk or whatever you cool kids are using nowadays?]
Currently playing: [hey this won’t apply to first time appers, this is for any characters you currently have in Scelerata]

Canon: [sup what are you playing from? if there are varying forms of medium, specify (comic vs movie, anime vs manga, etc)]
Character: [HEY WHAT’S YOUR CHARACTER’S NAME SO WE CAN TALK TO THEM]
Character Age: [how old are they come on spill the beans]
History: [you can either link to a source or you can be kickass and write it all here, whatever floats your boat]
Personality: [just some insight into who they are and what makes them tick, doesn’t have to be an essay or anything]
Abilities: [what are their strengths and what are they good at and do they have any special powers? NOTE: if a character has special powers, please dampen them a considerable bit. See the FAQ for details on that]
Canon point: [what point in their story are you picking them up from]

First person sample: [just a first person POV style journal entry, long enough that we get a feel for their voice and how their dialogue flows]
Third person sample: [prose or action spam, so long as it’s about 200 words and we see your writing and some introspection on how they mentally react to things and how that mental reaction affects their physical reactions]

[mod note: you can definitely recycle old apps to fit our format and link out to samples. It's preferred that you copy/paste your samples to our form, but not necessary.]

If you think you're ready, then copy and paste this application into a file and get to town! We do ask that you post your application in full to this post -- that is, we prefer that you do not link out for mod easy perusal.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Name: litzi
Journal:

oncest look at this username i took this is my personal now isn’t it gr8 omfg
Email: heart.shaped.locket@gmail.com
Contact: uber technology @ aim + litzplosion @ plurk
Currently playing: n/a

Canon: The Lorax (2012)
Character: The Once-ler
Character Age: 20
History: The Once-ler grew up in a farmhouse about a mile outside of a middle-class town. His father divorced his mother just after he was born. He, his mother and his two elder brothers moved in with his mother's sister, Griselda, and Griselda's husband, Ubb. His older twin brothers, Brett and Chet, are, in two words, incredibly stupid. Their mother, dreaming of a cushy lifestyle, named her third and final child "the Once-ler", hoping the name would motivate him to be the best (number one!). The Once-ler grew up in an emotionally abusive household, with his mother constantly pushing him to be successful and berating him harshly for his numerous failures. She eventually gave up on him, telling him he would never amount to anything. The Once-ler's entire family has no regard for his feelings and only cares about money.

As a child and teen, the Once-ler was too frail to work the farm, so while Brett and Chet did that, he was left to his own devices. He spent his time learning various skills in an attempt to impress his mother. While he was successful at learning, he failed miserably at getting his mother's attention. At school, he would flit from one social circle to another as he changed interests until everyone got sick of him by the age of 14. He was so wimpy and dorky he was bullied frequently, which stopped abruptly when he reached his maximum height of 6'4" at age 16. He graduated at age 17 in the middle of his class.

Fast-forward. The Once-ler is about 18 years old, and has designed something called a Thneed. To make it, he needs to find the perfect material. The Once-ler leaves home, a leaving-the-nest sort of thing, and ventures off into the world to find something worthy enough to become a Thneed. He travels for two weeks before he finds a forest of truffula trees—the tufts of which can be easily knitted into Thneeds. The Once-ler decides that This Is The Place, builds his little cottage, and starts making Thneeds.

Making Thneeds means cutting down truffula trees, which is bad. The Once-ler cuts down the first tree and summons the legendary Lorax, who speaks for the trees, and tells the Once-ler to leave. The Once-ler insists that cutting down a few trees isn't bad. In retaliation, the Lorax and the other woodland creatures wait until the Once-ler is asleep, then dump his bed in the river. Of course, his bed almost goes over a waterfall. There are shenanigans, and the Once-ler actually dies for a few seconds, but is revived by the Lorax. The Once-ler agrees to not cut down any more trees.

The next day, the Once-ler goes into town to try and sell his Thneed. Nobody buys it. Nobody buys it the second day, or the third, or the fourth, or… you get the idea. Frustrated, the Once-ler tosses the Thneed aside and goes back to the forest. The Thneed lands on a woman's head in a rather stylish hat shape. People finally see the Thneed for how great it is, and everybody wants one. The Once-ler calls his family to the forest to help him harvest the truffula tufts. Harvesting the tufts takes too long, so the Once-ler's mother suggests chopping down the trees. The Once-ler agrees, thus breaking his promise to the Lorax.

How bad could it possibly be?

The Once-ler's business flourishes until multiple factories are built all around the forest. Though in the film this takes places over a few minutes (the catchy musical number linked above!), it actually takes four years. The Once-ler builds more factories and chops down more trees. The Once-ler may be a businessman, but when the sun goes down, his life consists of parties, bitches and booze. He's one of the richest and most powerful men on the planet and intends to stay that way. The Lorax bugs him constantly, but the Once-ler just brushes him off. He simply doesn't care about nature boy's nagging. There are more important things to do than conserve the environment, y'know?

He has been in business for about two years when his reservation begins at the hotel.

Personality: At this point in time, the Once-ler is not particularly friendly. He is openly condescending and almost completely lacks a sense of compassion. "Selfish" doesn’t even begin to describe him, and he is not above using others to get what he wants. We're talking about a guy that lights Cuban cigars with hundred-dollar bills here. The universe itself revolves around him and he won't fail to let you know it, because that's what happens when people fight tooth and nail just to please you. The world is his oyster. You're just living in it.

In reality, the Once-ler's behavior before and during his success is very similar—it's just that when he became successful, his more negative, aggressive traits intensified to fit the portrait of young billionaire. He's always been defensive, he's always been charismatic, he's always been socially challenged, he's always been… kind of a dick, really. Now that he's in the public eye and actually feeling really good about himself, he's willing to be more bold with his words and actions.

The Once-ler can be very defensive when criticized, especially if he's proud of what he did. It's a hellish mixture of pride and greed that drove him into biggering his company until he could bigger it no more. He is easily provoked and doesn't seem to know when to shut up. The Once-ler is bitingly sarcastic and loves to snark, but he often doesn't realize that his scathing remarks are more insulting than he thinks they are. Either that, or he doesn't care.

Though the Once-ler is charismatic, he has crippling self-esteem issues. It depends almost entirely on the approval of other people, something he has craved since he was young. He values the opinions of others more than he does his own, and they can easily influence his decisions. When caught between two differing opinions he will panic, lash out, and pick a side without considering the repercussions. Even if he knows what he's doing is wrong he will try to rationalize his actions (in the case of cutting down the trees, he tricked himself into believing that what he was doing was okay because it wasn't illegal – though he has done his fair share of illegal things like forgery, bribery and fraud). Despite this, he is not just a figurehead for the company. He exercises his power to make the final decision, which isn't always what the lawyers or PR people want it to be.

He doesn't have any close friends—merely people to pass the time with (or fuck). Or, well, that's what he tells himself. The real reason he doesn't have friends is because he feels that if he gets too close to someone, they'll find some sort of fatal flaw and leave him. The friendships he does have he treats like they're made of glass. When he somehow manages to make friends he is fiercely protective of them and sometimes a little clingy. He has a tendency to shower his friends and family with gifts, because that's what makes people like you, right? Gifts? You should see his mother's jewelry box.

In his spare time, the Once-ler likes to write and compose songs. Those songs he sang in the film? Most of them actually happened, backup chorus and everything. He tends to scribble down lyrics beforehand, but he is fully capable of coming up with them as he goes. Singing and playing the guitar are his favorite things to do (after making money, that is). He is a performer by nature, hence his ventures into things like music and magic tricks. Being in the spotlight doesn't bother him in the slightest. He's very energetic and passionate about everything he does and isn't afraid to show it.

In terms of quirks, I couldn't really fit them into the above paragraphs, so here's a big list: the Once-ler can't sit still and is almost constantly moving his hands; he has an interest in engineering (he designed the Thneed factories and many of the harvesting machines); he occasionally gets so overwhelmed by conflicting emotions that he will lock himself in his office for hours on end and chain smoke cigars; his handwriting is very neat and large, signature illegible aside from a gigantic "O"; and sometimes he doesn't sleep for days, preferring to sit at his desk and… chain smoke cigars. He likes cigars. A lot.

Abilities: The Once-ler has spent his entire life trying to impress his family, so over time, he has acquired more than a few talents. The Once-ler can sew and knit (his latest venture), sing, play the guitar (electric and acoustic), dance, do magic tricks (mostly dealing with sleight of hand) cook, draw, build (engineering, gears and the like), and write. He also has the incredible ability to play the electric guitar without an amp. The Once-ler is actually pretty good at these things, but he believes he isn't due to his mother's disinterest. He's also really, really tall. Like, 6'4". I consider this an ability. He can also blow smoke rings!
Canon point: Circa year 2 of being in business

First person sample: This is the Once-ler. Seems like there's no complaint box anywhere, so I'm taking to whatever this is to vent my frustration. Keep up if you can.

For starters, this room is insufficient. It's small, and my hat almost touches the ceiling, which is an automatic no-no when it comes to architecture of any kind. I mean, come on, who designed this place? Anyway, secondly, there is a decided lack of cigars in here, and going without tobacco for too long makes me anxious. [More anxious than he already is, anyway.] And no, cigarettes won't do. Finally, a guitar. Electric or acoustic, it doesn't matter. If I'm going be forced to relax, I might as well do so with some background music.

All together now: bigger room, cigars, guitars. No rhyme intended. Chop chop.

Third person sample: Every day, it's the same shit. At least, it feels like every day—the Once-ler sits down at his desk and is about to get to work when the Lorax pops up from thin air with a speech on all that… nature stuff. The Once-ler will lean back in his chair, cross his legs and pretend to listen. Sometimes, this would be the highlight of his day—getting to occasionally nod and look contemplative while the Lorax goes on and on about his latest "dastardly deed" (Lorax's words, not his).

The conversation would end when the Lorax says: "Are you even listening to me?"

And the Once-ler would say: "Um, nnno."

He's sick of it.

"Hey—"

"Nope. Not today."

That's all. The Once-ler spins his chair around so he faces the wall. He can hear the Lorax stamp his foot on the desk in frustration. The Once-ler just rolls his eyes and lights a cigar. What a pain. The Lorax really doesn't know when to quit, does he?

"I didn't even know it was possible for a grown man to be so childish! Ignoring me isn't gonna make all this go away, and you know it."

"Sorry, did you say something?"

Silence. It's so thick you could cut it with a knife. The only sound is the crackle of the Once-ler's cigar when the end burns off. Ah, silence—what a nice thing. How refreshing, to have a break from the Lorax's hideous voice.

Of course, the silence doesn't last long.

"Hey—you remember a while back when I said 'you're better than this'? Y'know, as your aunt carried me away and threw me?"

The Once-ler's lip twitches into a sneer, and he turns his chair just enough to shoot the Lorax a sideways glance. He's going to regret entering this conversation, he can tell right now. "No."

(He does.)

"Well, I did. And you know what? I don't think you are." The Lorax crosses his arms. "You've sunk so low, beanpole. So low. Subterranean. Y'know, now that I think about it, you were never better than this. You're—"

"Go away." The Once-ler turns his back again and taps ash on the floor. Bet the Lorax is pissed about that, too. "I'm busy. I'm very busy. I really don't have time to listen to your complaints. What, should I make you a box?" The Once-ler drags on his cigar and exhales a smoke ring. He sounds as nonchalant as he can, but inside his blood is boiling. This mustache isn't qualified to pass judgment on him. "I can see it now! "Complaint box"! Nailed to a tree. Write me a heartfelt letter and I might actually glance at it before I set it on fire."

Silence. Permanent silence.

He can hear the Lorax jump off his desk and descend the stairs off the balcony. The Once-ler spins his chair around and kicks his feet up on his desk. That took much longer than he wanted it to. If it had gone on any longer, he would have tossed the Lorax off the balcony and closed the door. Finally, he's alone.

But, you know what—sometimes being left alone with your thoughts is a bad thing.

Welcome to Scelerata! Your character is now a guest at the Cardinal Glen Hotel and will be assigned Room 302. Please continue on with the following:

❧ join scelerata, scelerata_ooc, and scelerata_logs with your character journal (and your personal journal to the OOC community if you like!)

❧ respond here with your character journal and the listed form

❧ respond here with your character’s name and their room number

Thank you and enjoy playing! C:

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

APPLICATION

APPLICATIONS ARE OPEN

the once-ler | lorax 2012 | 1/6

the once-ler | lorax 2012 | 2/6

the once-ler | lorax 2012 | 3/6

the once-ler | lorax 2012 | 4/6

the once-ler | lorax 2012 | 5/6

the once-ler | lorax 2012 | 6/6

ACCEPTED despite that link to a musical number