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Entry tags:
Stranger Games application
OOC
Player Handle: Ember
Aim/Plurk: My AIM is dragon.hearted, and my plurk is dragonhearted.
Time Zone: Eastern Standard, but I'm awake at odd hours.
Other: Preferred mode of contact is plurk and I have a small, pathetic cactus named Bob.
IC
Fandom: Naruto
World Setting: A militaristic ninja-based society with elements of myth, fantasy, modern technology and traditional Japanese culture.
Character Name: Sasuke Uchiha
Character Age: Sixteen, chapter 590 (right after Itachi's "I will always love you".)
Personality: Sasuke was a typical child--sweet, affectionate, outgoing, and energetic. Growing up in his brother’s shadow, he longed for acknowledgement from their strict, withdrawn father, and the lack of such gave him a stubbornness and drive for perfection. He was a diligent worker, and would often come home after long hours of practicing blowing fire from his mouth (a technique beyond his expected skill, but one his brother had mastered at his age) exhausted, lips blistered and cracked. This set him up for a shaky sense of self and lack of confidence in his own abilities--no matter what he did, it was always held up to the standards of his older brother. “Keep practicing, and you might be as good as Itachi someday.”
Though a little jealous, Sasuke adored and idolized his older brother, begging him to play or train together at any opportunity. Itachi was always distant, but would make an effort to give Sasuke attention when he could, until shortly after Sasuke entered the academy. He closed off and began acting strangely, even hostile.
Even at a young age, Sasuke was observant, and noticed that something was off with his brother fairly quickly. His worry was temporarily assuaged when he finally completed the fireball jutsu and heard his father’s praise for the first time--”as I thought, you’re my son”. In light of Itachi’s behavior, Fugaku transferred his hopes onto Sasuke to eventually take his place as the head of the clan, and Sasuke was eager to show his worth.
He never got the chance.
Sasuke was seven years old when he returned late from training to find everyone in the family compound--his aunts, uncles, cousins; men, women and children--slaughtered. Tearfully, he ran through the streets and past corpse after corpse until he reached his own home. His mother and father were dead on the floor, and the brother he had idolized was standing over them, sword bloody.
Sasuke’s first instinct was to freeze, but he ran when Itachi threw a knife at him and scratched his face--cried, screamed, begging to be spared.
Itachi caught up to him, and when asked why, he coldly informed Sasuke that he had slaughtered the clan to measure his own abilities, and that the affection he had shown Sasuke was an act to keep from being found out. He instructed Sasuke to run like a coward, to live, to flee and to cultivate his hatred. To seek Itachi out and kill him, avenging the deaths of the Uchiha clan, if he could--that he kept Sasuke alive for no reason other than to grow as another vessel against which to measure his strength.
Massive childhood trauma is enough to warp anyone, but Sasuke was also left alone to deal with the repercussions. Idolized by his teachers and classmates for being a “genius”, pitied by the citizens of the village for being the “last Uchiha”, Sasuke lost most of his sense of self in these concepts. Becoming The Avenger meant he didn’t have to be Sasuke, a grieving child who still longed for approval and affection, overwhelmed with loneliness and the pain of shouldering responsibility for avenging so many deaths, still missing the brother he thought he knew.
Sasuke’s emotional development was stunted here, and he withdrew into himself and put up walls to keep anyone from seeing who he really was. The concepts, Avenger, Top Rookie, Heartthrob, were used as a safety net to keep him from having to examine his own suffering, his own self. Most assumed he was just a cool, emotionless genius with a superiority complex, and this was an image Sasuke worked hard to cultivate and present.
In reality, he is a bull-headed perfectionist with very little self-esteem and astronomically high standards for himself and others, and sees anything less than perfection from himself as failure, unacceptable. This is partly to do with his upbringing, where anything less than perfection was given no notice at all, and exceptional performance was only rewarded with the most cursory of acceptance; he also feels immense guilt over being the only Uchiha left alive, and feels that he is only worthy of existing if he fulfills the purpose Itachi gave him.
Sasuke doesn’t particularly respect himself, but he doesn’t respect anyone else either, and is one of few characters in the series who doesn’t use honorific speech. Though quiet and introverted, when he does have something to say, he doesn’t bother to temper it. His words are often rude and cutting; this has the reverse effect of making him extremely popular with girls, although he shows annoyance rather than returned interest. The one topic he's liable to be verbose about is his clan, the slaughter and revenge thereof, and his hatred of the perceived perpetrators. Before his facade began to crack, it was also the only time he showed the strength of the emotions running under his surface.
It wasn’t until he was assigned to Team 7 that his walls started to crumble. Being treated as a human and not a concept, having an authority figure who paid attention to him and gave him praise, and eventually being crushed on for more than just his good looks and "cool" attitude had a profound affect on him, and he began to let his teammates in, to the point where he was willing to risk his life for their sakes. When Orochimaru initially placed the cursed seal, he resisted it, and allowed Kakashi to place another seal on it that would use his own will to keep it locked away. He was determined to beat his brother on his own power.
But as time passed, he began to get anxious. Pitted against Itachi once and losing sorely, along with Naruto's rapid improvement against his own relative stagnation, he started to doubt his own ability to avenge his family. Underneath this was still the traumatized seven-year-old, fearing nothing more than a repeat of what happened in his childhood. Loving people was dangerous, because he could lose them, and the risk of that pain was becoming unacceptable.
Corroded by terror, the little self-esteem and emotional growth he'd begun cracked and crumbled away. He left the village, citing a need for strength, saying that he would remain weak as long as he lived in Konoha. The relationships he'd made and the fear of losing them made him soft, made him lose sight of his goal. He severed his bonds, pushed away everyone who loved him, and shut himself down to keep away the pain of potential failure and loss.
Sasuke’s willingness to give Orochimaru his body as a vessel speaks to his self-hatred and the disintegration of his identity. He placed no value on himself beyond the concept of Avenger, and doesn’t seem to care what happens to him as long as he fulfills his goal. He molded himself into a weapon, pushed himself beyond his own breaking point, and smothered his humanity for the sake of power. Pouring himself into training allowed him to keep his mind occupied enough to cope.
There are several instances after his defection where Sasuke is given the chance to kill his former teammates, and while he insists that he could and even wants to, he never does. There is a part of him that can’t let go of that love, though he keeps it secret and hidden. His assurances that he could kill them serve more to prove to himself that he's extinguished his bonds with them, and will not let them in again.
After two years underneath him, Sasuke fights, absorbs and leaves Orochimaru. He says that he has surpassed Orochimaru in skill, that Orochimaru disgusts him, and forms his own team to go hunting independently for his brother. His facade of cold calculation is good enough to fool his new teammates, who he is careful to keep at arms-length, and the old ones except for Naruto--who still believes he can be healed.
Sasuke is fairly solitary, with the exception of his team, and doesn’t pick fights unless someone gets in his way, or kill just for the sake of killing. This shows he still has his morality, and although severely damaged, he knows right from wrong. He lashes out not for the joy of making others suffer, but as release for his own suppressed anger and grief. He takes time to morally justify everything he does, internally or to whoever he's fighting, while keeping up the mask of a cold, calculating assassin.
His final battle with Itachi is intense, beautiful and elemental. They are solidly matched--both of them are pushed to their limits at the end. Itachi eventually succumbs to weakness caused by illness, but not before removing the curse mark from Sasuke’s body and sealing Orochimaru away.
Once he succeeds in his goal of killing his brother, Sasuke goes into a sort of catatonia. Exhausted from the fight, and mentally incapable of processing the fact that his reason for living for the past nine years is now gone, there is nothing left for him to do, and so he does nothing. Weak and vulnerable, he is kidnapped by Madara, the main villain and Itachi’s accomplice on the night of the Uchiha massacre.
Intimately aware of Sasuke's fragility, Madara tells Sasuke that everything he has lived was a lie--that Itachi was a double-agent, and only killed the Uchiha to keep them from overthrowing Konoha in a coup d’etat and triggering the fourth ninja world war; that Itachi left him alive not as a vessel to measure his own abilities against, but because he loved Sasuke so much he was physically unable to kill him. Madara knows how Sasuke will take this--that he is a raw, blank slate, open to anything that will give him a reason to stay alive.
Sasuke initially responds with fury and denial, but eventually comes to accept what Madara is saying as the truth. Learning that everything he fought for was a lie, a waste of his time and power against the wrong target, that the ones who destroyed his family are still alive and well, is another major trauma. His ability to cope is overwhelmed, and Madara conveniently offers the suggestion that Sasuke avenge his brother and family by killing the higher-ups in Konoha who ordered the massacre. Sasuke takes it and runs with it, clinging to the only hand-hold he can see after being pushed over the precipice of sanity. It's his old coping mechanisms, shutting himself down and projecting his own pain onto the greater concept of his family while he seeks vengeance for their sakes--something he knows how to do. He slides into it like a comfortable old robe, and is so clouded he doesn't realize that he's been manipulated into bloodying his hands for Madara's cause.
His critical thinking remains intact to the point where he is willing to speak to Danzo, a village elder, before engaging him in battle, but once Danzo’s words confirm Madara’s story and give validity to what's keeping him from breaking down completely, Sasuke is quick to fight--to keep moving, to keep living.
Sasuke has become increasingly unstable and psychotic as time has passed, acting recklessly and attacking at any perceived harm. He placed his older brother and clan on a pedestal, allowing him to justify his actions. He’s always had rage boiling under the surface, and he is letting it show more and more, but he still hasn’t accepted the trauma as his own pain--still sees himself unworthy of being in pain. He suffers for his clan's suffering, he hurts for his brother’s wounds, and doesn't have to face the prospect of simply suffering. He can’t cope in a constructive way--was never given the support to do so. He still shows shades of his cool, emotionless mask, but he's slipping; he is extremely volatile and as likely to stare blankly into the distance as he is to set his surroundings on fire.
After speaking with Itachi, his worldview has been shaken, but his emotional state has stabilized somewhat. The words "I love you", something he's possibly been waiting to hear for a decade or more, had a very deep impact on his psyche. He has paused in his quest for revenge and is currently searching for meaning--why Itachi did what he did for the village that took everything from him, what a village means, what causes bonds of loyalty.
Habits/Quirks: He likes fluffy pillows and has a tendency to say "hn" or "ch" and toss his head to the side, rolling his eyes, nose up. He also changes costume more times than any other character in the series. He's a bit of a diva.
Appearance:
History: Here's his wiki article.
Fighting Abilities: Comprehensively listed here (jutsu)/, and here (tools).
Other Skills: He's a brilliant tactician and improviser, good at reading nonverbal cues and implementing inventive strategies on the fly. He learns fast and adapts what he's learned into bigger, bolder and grander techniques, effectively creating a good portion of the techniques he can use.
Questions:
Would you like your character to have a roommate? Probably single, but he might end up sleeping on Itachi and Shisui's floor more often than not.
Is your character going to need any special accommodations? No, but he probably shouldn't be around anything terribly flammable.
Will your character be participating in the Games? Yes.
Will your character be wearing the traditional collar control device, or an alternate design? Traditional collar.
What design would you like for your commlink? A simple, wide wrist cuff.
Choose some song lyrics, poem, or favorite quote that describes or defines something of your character:
I have an entire playlist.
Why Turning Tables:
Close enough to start a war.
All that I have is on the floor.
God only knows what we're fighting for.
All that I say, you always say more.
I can't keep up with your turning tables.
Under your thumb, I can't breathe.
So I won't let you close enough to hurt me.
I won't rescue you to just desert me.
I can't give you the heart you think you gave me.
It's time to say goodbye to turning tables.
Next time, I'll be braver.
I'll be my own savior
when the thunder calls for me.
Next time, I'll be braver.
I'll be my own savior,
standing on my own two feet.
I won't let you close enough to hurt me.
Why Hurt:
I wear this crown of shit
upon my liar's chair,
full of broken thoughts
I cannot repair.
Beneath the stains of time
the feelings disappear.
You are someone else.
I am still right here.
What have I become,
my sweetest friend?
Everyone I know goes away
in the end.
You could have it all,
my empire of dirt.
I will let you down;
I will make you hurt.
Why Breath Of Life:
I was looking for a breath of life,
a little touch of heavenly light,
but all the choirs in my head sang no.
To get a dream of a life again,
a little vision of the sun at the end,
but all the choirs in my head sang no.
But I need one more touch,
another taste of heavenly rush,
and I'll believe, I'll believe
it's so.
And I need one more touch,
another taste of divine rush,
and I'll believe, I'll believe
it's so.
Whose side am I on? Whose side am I--?
And the fever began to spread
from my heart down to my legs
but the room is so quiet.
And although I wasn't losing my mind
it was a chorus so sublime,
but the room is too quiet.
Why Animal I Have Become:
I can't escape this hell.
So many times I've tried,
but I'm still caged inside.
Somebody get me through this nightmare--
I can't control myself.
So what if you can see
the darkest side of me?
No one will ever change this animal I have become.
Help me believe it's not the real me.
Somebody help me tame this animal.
Why Faint:
I am
a little bit of loneliness,
a little bit of disregard,
a handful of complaints,
but I can't help the fact
that everyone can see these scars.
I am what I want you to want,
what I want you to feel,
but it's like no matter what I do
I can't convince you
to just believe this is real,
so I let go of watching you
turn your back like you always do,
face away and pretend that I'm not
but I'll be here 'cause you're all that I've got.
I can't feel
the way I did before.
Don't turn your back on me.
I won't be ignored.
Time can't heal
this damage anymore.
Don't turn your back on me.
I won't be ignored.
Why I'm In Here:
I'm in here.
Can anybody see me?
Can anybody help?
I'm in here,
a prisoner of history.
Can anybody help?
Can you hear my call?
Are you coming to get me now?
I've been waiting for
you to come rescue me.
I need you to hold
all of the sadness
I cannot live with inside of me.
I'm in here.
I'm trying to tell you something.
Can anybody help?
I'm in here.
I'm calling out, but you can't hear.
Can anybody help?
I'm crying out.
I'm breaking down
I am feeling it all,
stuck inside these walls.
Tell me there is hope for me.
Is anybody out there listening?
Why Seven Devils:
Holy water cannot help you now.
A thousand armies couldn't keep me out.
I don't want your money.
I don't want your crown.
See, I've come to burn your kingdom down.
Holy water cannot help you now.
See, I've come to burn your kingdom down.
No rivers, no lakes can put the fire out.
I'm gonna raise the stakes.
I'm gonna smoke you out.
Seven devils all around me.
Seven devils in my house.
See, they were there when I woke up this morning;
I'll be dead before the day is done.
Seven devils all around you.
Seven devils in your house.
See, I was dead when I woke up this morning,
and I'll be dead before the day is done.
Kokuten is his battle theme from Shippuden and is instrumental.
Why Blinding:
And I could hear the thunder,
and see the lightning crack,
and all around, the world was waking;
I never could go back,
'cause all the walls of dreaming,
they were torn wide open.
Finally, it seemed that the spell was broken,
and all my bones began to shake,
my eyes flew open.
No more dreaming of the dead
as if death itself is undone.
No more calling like a crow for a boy,
for a body in the garden.
No more dreaming like a girl so in love
with the wrong world.
Why Illuminated:
Swimming with your sorrows,
try delusion for a while;
it's such a beautiful lie.
You've got to lose inhibition.
Romance your ego for a while;
come on, give it a try.
Suddenly, my eyes are open;
everything comes into focus.
We are all illuminated,
lights are shining on our faces,
blinding.
Writing Samples
Third Person Sample:
He couldn't handle pacifism.
Inevitably, it was only a day or so until he started getting restless, his muscles tense and his mind racing, demanding physical exertion to calm the agitation. Any chance he'd had to be anything other than a weapon, a tool, had been lost a long time ago, and now it was so deeply embedded into his bones it had become a necessary component of his existence.
And it had been a while since the last one. He was moody, twitchy; went out every day to shatter rocks and smash his fists through trees, but no matter how big, none of the terrain had the same satisfying yield as human flesh. His clones were no replacement, either, disappearing into a cloud of smoke at the first hit. While it tided him over, he came back tired, angry and snappish, and it only made the craving for a brawl worse.
But the need would be sated soon. He was going to fight today, whether his partner followed through or he had to go looking for someone with a hot temper elsewhere. The risk was negligible, if that ended up being the case--he would rather suffer serious injury than another day of this tedium, gnawing at him, driving him into endless, anxious mental circles.
Freestyle Sample: (Third person, bracket style, present tense)
[He fought it at first--clawed at the attendant and tried to form seals, but then came the sensation of his chakra draining from his body and the realization that there was a collar around his neck.
He lay still after that.
Games, he repeated after the medic's offer, shooting over a narrowed glance.
Great. He'd been kidnapped. Knocked out and drugged, somehow, and now he was locked into some kind of chakra-sapping device in some foreign hospital. And to get out, he was going to be expected to play some kind of game--from the tone, he figured that they didn't mean a game like shogi--in order to "earn" his way back home.
The fastest way to deal with this would be to get himself alone, as soon as possible. So he remained quiet and compliant while the medic took him to what appeared to be his new room, outfitted with a bed and a locker. The door clicked shut behind him.
And here he is.
He touches the collar, trying to feel for a release. Before anything else, he has to find a way out of it, or his efforts will just drain his energy and eventually kill him.
His jaw clenches. He can't afford to be here--not now. He has a mission to finish; intel to gather. Every second he isn't working for it is another second his family's slaughter goes unpaid for.
Six hours, maximum. Then he will be gone.]
Player Handle: Ember
Aim/Plurk: My AIM is dragon.hearted, and my plurk is dragonhearted.
Time Zone: Eastern Standard, but I'm awake at odd hours.
Other: Preferred mode of contact is plurk and I have a small, pathetic cactus named Bob.
IC
Fandom: Naruto
World Setting: A militaristic ninja-based society with elements of myth, fantasy, modern technology and traditional Japanese culture.
Character Name: Sasuke Uchiha
Character Age: Sixteen, chapter 590 (right after Itachi's "I will always love you".)
Personality: Sasuke was a typical child--sweet, affectionate, outgoing, and energetic. Growing up in his brother’s shadow, he longed for acknowledgement from their strict, withdrawn father, and the lack of such gave him a stubbornness and drive for perfection. He was a diligent worker, and would often come home after long hours of practicing blowing fire from his mouth (a technique beyond his expected skill, but one his brother had mastered at his age) exhausted, lips blistered and cracked. This set him up for a shaky sense of self and lack of confidence in his own abilities--no matter what he did, it was always held up to the standards of his older brother. “Keep practicing, and you might be as good as Itachi someday.”
Though a little jealous, Sasuke adored and idolized his older brother, begging him to play or train together at any opportunity. Itachi was always distant, but would make an effort to give Sasuke attention when he could, until shortly after Sasuke entered the academy. He closed off and began acting strangely, even hostile.
Even at a young age, Sasuke was observant, and noticed that something was off with his brother fairly quickly. His worry was temporarily assuaged when he finally completed the fireball jutsu and heard his father’s praise for the first time--”as I thought, you’re my son”. In light of Itachi’s behavior, Fugaku transferred his hopes onto Sasuke to eventually take his place as the head of the clan, and Sasuke was eager to show his worth.
He never got the chance.
Sasuke was seven years old when he returned late from training to find everyone in the family compound--his aunts, uncles, cousins; men, women and children--slaughtered. Tearfully, he ran through the streets and past corpse after corpse until he reached his own home. His mother and father were dead on the floor, and the brother he had idolized was standing over them, sword bloody.
Sasuke’s first instinct was to freeze, but he ran when Itachi threw a knife at him and scratched his face--cried, screamed, begging to be spared.
Itachi caught up to him, and when asked why, he coldly informed Sasuke that he had slaughtered the clan to measure his own abilities, and that the affection he had shown Sasuke was an act to keep from being found out. He instructed Sasuke to run like a coward, to live, to flee and to cultivate his hatred. To seek Itachi out and kill him, avenging the deaths of the Uchiha clan, if he could--that he kept Sasuke alive for no reason other than to grow as another vessel against which to measure his strength.
Massive childhood trauma is enough to warp anyone, but Sasuke was also left alone to deal with the repercussions. Idolized by his teachers and classmates for being a “genius”, pitied by the citizens of the village for being the “last Uchiha”, Sasuke lost most of his sense of self in these concepts. Becoming The Avenger meant he didn’t have to be Sasuke, a grieving child who still longed for approval and affection, overwhelmed with loneliness and the pain of shouldering responsibility for avenging so many deaths, still missing the brother he thought he knew.
Sasuke’s emotional development was stunted here, and he withdrew into himself and put up walls to keep anyone from seeing who he really was. The concepts, Avenger, Top Rookie, Heartthrob, were used as a safety net to keep him from having to examine his own suffering, his own self. Most assumed he was just a cool, emotionless genius with a superiority complex, and this was an image Sasuke worked hard to cultivate and present.
In reality, he is a bull-headed perfectionist with very little self-esteem and astronomically high standards for himself and others, and sees anything less than perfection from himself as failure, unacceptable. This is partly to do with his upbringing, where anything less than perfection was given no notice at all, and exceptional performance was only rewarded with the most cursory of acceptance; he also feels immense guilt over being the only Uchiha left alive, and feels that he is only worthy of existing if he fulfills the purpose Itachi gave him.
Sasuke doesn’t particularly respect himself, but he doesn’t respect anyone else either, and is one of few characters in the series who doesn’t use honorific speech. Though quiet and introverted, when he does have something to say, he doesn’t bother to temper it. His words are often rude and cutting; this has the reverse effect of making him extremely popular with girls, although he shows annoyance rather than returned interest. The one topic he's liable to be verbose about is his clan, the slaughter and revenge thereof, and his hatred of the perceived perpetrators. Before his facade began to crack, it was also the only time he showed the strength of the emotions running under his surface.
It wasn’t until he was assigned to Team 7 that his walls started to crumble. Being treated as a human and not a concept, having an authority figure who paid attention to him and gave him praise, and eventually being crushed on for more than just his good looks and "cool" attitude had a profound affect on him, and he began to let his teammates in, to the point where he was willing to risk his life for their sakes. When Orochimaru initially placed the cursed seal, he resisted it, and allowed Kakashi to place another seal on it that would use his own will to keep it locked away. He was determined to beat his brother on his own power.
But as time passed, he began to get anxious. Pitted against Itachi once and losing sorely, along with Naruto's rapid improvement against his own relative stagnation, he started to doubt his own ability to avenge his family. Underneath this was still the traumatized seven-year-old, fearing nothing more than a repeat of what happened in his childhood. Loving people was dangerous, because he could lose them, and the risk of that pain was becoming unacceptable.
Corroded by terror, the little self-esteem and emotional growth he'd begun cracked and crumbled away. He left the village, citing a need for strength, saying that he would remain weak as long as he lived in Konoha. The relationships he'd made and the fear of losing them made him soft, made him lose sight of his goal. He severed his bonds, pushed away everyone who loved him, and shut himself down to keep away the pain of potential failure and loss.
Sasuke’s willingness to give Orochimaru his body as a vessel speaks to his self-hatred and the disintegration of his identity. He placed no value on himself beyond the concept of Avenger, and doesn’t seem to care what happens to him as long as he fulfills his goal. He molded himself into a weapon, pushed himself beyond his own breaking point, and smothered his humanity for the sake of power. Pouring himself into training allowed him to keep his mind occupied enough to cope.
There are several instances after his defection where Sasuke is given the chance to kill his former teammates, and while he insists that he could and even wants to, he never does. There is a part of him that can’t let go of that love, though he keeps it secret and hidden. His assurances that he could kill them serve more to prove to himself that he's extinguished his bonds with them, and will not let them in again.
After two years underneath him, Sasuke fights, absorbs and leaves Orochimaru. He says that he has surpassed Orochimaru in skill, that Orochimaru disgusts him, and forms his own team to go hunting independently for his brother. His facade of cold calculation is good enough to fool his new teammates, who he is careful to keep at arms-length, and the old ones except for Naruto--who still believes he can be healed.
Sasuke is fairly solitary, with the exception of his team, and doesn’t pick fights unless someone gets in his way, or kill just for the sake of killing. This shows he still has his morality, and although severely damaged, he knows right from wrong. He lashes out not for the joy of making others suffer, but as release for his own suppressed anger and grief. He takes time to morally justify everything he does, internally or to whoever he's fighting, while keeping up the mask of a cold, calculating assassin.
His final battle with Itachi is intense, beautiful and elemental. They are solidly matched--both of them are pushed to their limits at the end. Itachi eventually succumbs to weakness caused by illness, but not before removing the curse mark from Sasuke’s body and sealing Orochimaru away.
Once he succeeds in his goal of killing his brother, Sasuke goes into a sort of catatonia. Exhausted from the fight, and mentally incapable of processing the fact that his reason for living for the past nine years is now gone, there is nothing left for him to do, and so he does nothing. Weak and vulnerable, he is kidnapped by Madara, the main villain and Itachi’s accomplice on the night of the Uchiha massacre.
Intimately aware of Sasuke's fragility, Madara tells Sasuke that everything he has lived was a lie--that Itachi was a double-agent, and only killed the Uchiha to keep them from overthrowing Konoha in a coup d’etat and triggering the fourth ninja world war; that Itachi left him alive not as a vessel to measure his own abilities against, but because he loved Sasuke so much he was physically unable to kill him. Madara knows how Sasuke will take this--that he is a raw, blank slate, open to anything that will give him a reason to stay alive.
Sasuke initially responds with fury and denial, but eventually comes to accept what Madara is saying as the truth. Learning that everything he fought for was a lie, a waste of his time and power against the wrong target, that the ones who destroyed his family are still alive and well, is another major trauma. His ability to cope is overwhelmed, and Madara conveniently offers the suggestion that Sasuke avenge his brother and family by killing the higher-ups in Konoha who ordered the massacre. Sasuke takes it and runs with it, clinging to the only hand-hold he can see after being pushed over the precipice of sanity. It's his old coping mechanisms, shutting himself down and projecting his own pain onto the greater concept of his family while he seeks vengeance for their sakes--something he knows how to do. He slides into it like a comfortable old robe, and is so clouded he doesn't realize that he's been manipulated into bloodying his hands for Madara's cause.
His critical thinking remains intact to the point where he is willing to speak to Danzo, a village elder, before engaging him in battle, but once Danzo’s words confirm Madara’s story and give validity to what's keeping him from breaking down completely, Sasuke is quick to fight--to keep moving, to keep living.
Sasuke has become increasingly unstable and psychotic as time has passed, acting recklessly and attacking at any perceived harm. He placed his older brother and clan on a pedestal, allowing him to justify his actions. He’s always had rage boiling under the surface, and he is letting it show more and more, but he still hasn’t accepted the trauma as his own pain--still sees himself unworthy of being in pain. He suffers for his clan's suffering, he hurts for his brother’s wounds, and doesn't have to face the prospect of simply suffering. He can’t cope in a constructive way--was never given the support to do so. He still shows shades of his cool, emotionless mask, but he's slipping; he is extremely volatile and as likely to stare blankly into the distance as he is to set his surroundings on fire.
After speaking with Itachi, his worldview has been shaken, but his emotional state has stabilized somewhat. The words "I love you", something he's possibly been waiting to hear for a decade or more, had a very deep impact on his psyche. He has paused in his quest for revenge and is currently searching for meaning--why Itachi did what he did for the village that took everything from him, what a village means, what causes bonds of loyalty.
Habits/Quirks: He likes fluffy pillows and has a tendency to say "hn" or "ch" and toss his head to the side, rolling his eyes, nose up. He also changes costume more times than any other character in the series. He's a bit of a diva.
Appearance:
History: Here's his wiki article.
Fighting Abilities: Comprehensively listed here (jutsu)/, and here (tools).
Other Skills: He's a brilliant tactician and improviser, good at reading nonverbal cues and implementing inventive strategies on the fly. He learns fast and adapts what he's learned into bigger, bolder and grander techniques, effectively creating a good portion of the techniques he can use.
Questions:
Would you like your character to have a roommate? Probably single, but he might end up sleeping on Itachi and Shisui's floor more often than not.
Is your character going to need any special accommodations? No, but he probably shouldn't be around anything terribly flammable.
Will your character be participating in the Games? Yes.
Will your character be wearing the traditional collar control device, or an alternate design? Traditional collar.
What design would you like for your commlink? A simple, wide wrist cuff.
Choose some song lyrics, poem, or favorite quote that describes or defines something of your character:
I have an entire playlist.
Why Turning Tables:
Close enough to start a war.
All that I have is on the floor.
God only knows what we're fighting for.
All that I say, you always say more.
I can't keep up with your turning tables.
Under your thumb, I can't breathe.
So I won't let you close enough to hurt me.
I won't rescue you to just desert me.
I can't give you the heart you think you gave me.
It's time to say goodbye to turning tables.
Next time, I'll be braver.
I'll be my own savior
when the thunder calls for me.
Next time, I'll be braver.
I'll be my own savior,
standing on my own two feet.
I won't let you close enough to hurt me.
Why Hurt:
I wear this crown of shit
upon my liar's chair,
full of broken thoughts
I cannot repair.
Beneath the stains of time
the feelings disappear.
You are someone else.
I am still right here.
What have I become,
my sweetest friend?
Everyone I know goes away
in the end.
You could have it all,
my empire of dirt.
I will let you down;
I will make you hurt.
Why Breath Of Life:
I was looking for a breath of life,
a little touch of heavenly light,
but all the choirs in my head sang no.
To get a dream of a life again,
a little vision of the sun at the end,
but all the choirs in my head sang no.
But I need one more touch,
another taste of heavenly rush,
and I'll believe, I'll believe
it's so.
And I need one more touch,
another taste of divine rush,
and I'll believe, I'll believe
it's so.
Whose side am I on? Whose side am I--?
And the fever began to spread
from my heart down to my legs
but the room is so quiet.
And although I wasn't losing my mind
it was a chorus so sublime,
but the room is too quiet.
Why Animal I Have Become:
I can't escape this hell.
So many times I've tried,
but I'm still caged inside.
Somebody get me through this nightmare--
I can't control myself.
So what if you can see
the darkest side of me?
No one will ever change this animal I have become.
Help me believe it's not the real me.
Somebody help me tame this animal.
Why Faint:
I am
a little bit of loneliness,
a little bit of disregard,
a handful of complaints,
but I can't help the fact
that everyone can see these scars.
I am what I want you to want,
what I want you to feel,
but it's like no matter what I do
I can't convince you
to just believe this is real,
so I let go of watching you
turn your back like you always do,
face away and pretend that I'm not
but I'll be here 'cause you're all that I've got.
I can't feel
the way I did before.
Don't turn your back on me.
I won't be ignored.
Time can't heal
this damage anymore.
Don't turn your back on me.
I won't be ignored.
Why I'm In Here:
I'm in here.
Can anybody see me?
Can anybody help?
I'm in here,
a prisoner of history.
Can anybody help?
Can you hear my call?
Are you coming to get me now?
I've been waiting for
you to come rescue me.
I need you to hold
all of the sadness
I cannot live with inside of me.
I'm in here.
I'm trying to tell you something.
Can anybody help?
I'm in here.
I'm calling out, but you can't hear.
Can anybody help?
I'm crying out.
I'm breaking down
I am feeling it all,
stuck inside these walls.
Tell me there is hope for me.
Is anybody out there listening?
Why Seven Devils:
Holy water cannot help you now.
A thousand armies couldn't keep me out.
I don't want your money.
I don't want your crown.
See, I've come to burn your kingdom down.
Holy water cannot help you now.
See, I've come to burn your kingdom down.
No rivers, no lakes can put the fire out.
I'm gonna raise the stakes.
I'm gonna smoke you out.
Seven devils all around me.
Seven devils in my house.
See, they were there when I woke up this morning;
I'll be dead before the day is done.
Seven devils all around you.
Seven devils in your house.
See, I was dead when I woke up this morning,
and I'll be dead before the day is done.
Kokuten is his battle theme from Shippuden and is instrumental.
Why Blinding:
And I could hear the thunder,
and see the lightning crack,
and all around, the world was waking;
I never could go back,
'cause all the walls of dreaming,
they were torn wide open.
Finally, it seemed that the spell was broken,
and all my bones began to shake,
my eyes flew open.
No more dreaming of the dead
as if death itself is undone.
No more calling like a crow for a boy,
for a body in the garden.
No more dreaming like a girl so in love
with the wrong world.
Why Illuminated:
Swimming with your sorrows,
try delusion for a while;
it's such a beautiful lie.
You've got to lose inhibition.
Romance your ego for a while;
come on, give it a try.
Suddenly, my eyes are open;
everything comes into focus.
We are all illuminated,
lights are shining on our faces,
blinding.
Writing Samples
Third Person Sample:
He couldn't handle pacifism.
Inevitably, it was only a day or so until he started getting restless, his muscles tense and his mind racing, demanding physical exertion to calm the agitation. Any chance he'd had to be anything other than a weapon, a tool, had been lost a long time ago, and now it was so deeply embedded into his bones it had become a necessary component of his existence.
And it had been a while since the last one. He was moody, twitchy; went out every day to shatter rocks and smash his fists through trees, but no matter how big, none of the terrain had the same satisfying yield as human flesh. His clones were no replacement, either, disappearing into a cloud of smoke at the first hit. While it tided him over, he came back tired, angry and snappish, and it only made the craving for a brawl worse.
But the need would be sated soon. He was going to fight today, whether his partner followed through or he had to go looking for someone with a hot temper elsewhere. The risk was negligible, if that ended up being the case--he would rather suffer serious injury than another day of this tedium, gnawing at him, driving him into endless, anxious mental circles.
Freestyle Sample: (Third person, bracket style, present tense)
[He fought it at first--clawed at the attendant and tried to form seals, but then came the sensation of his chakra draining from his body and the realization that there was a collar around his neck.
He lay still after that.
Games, he repeated after the medic's offer, shooting over a narrowed glance.
Great. He'd been kidnapped. Knocked out and drugged, somehow, and now he was locked into some kind of chakra-sapping device in some foreign hospital. And to get out, he was going to be expected to play some kind of game--from the tone, he figured that they didn't mean a game like shogi--in order to "earn" his way back home.
The fastest way to deal with this would be to get himself alone, as soon as possible. So he remained quiet and compliant while the medic took him to what appeared to be his new room, outfitted with a bed and a locker. The door clicked shut behind him.
And here he is.
He touches the collar, trying to feel for a release. Before anything else, he has to find a way out of it, or his efforts will just drain his energy and eventually kill him.
His jaw clenches. He can't afford to be here--not now. He has a mission to finish; intel to gather. Every second he isn't working for it is another second his family's slaughter goes unpaid for.
Six hours, maximum. Then he will be gone.]