application for paradisa

[armagus]

NAME: Seiko
JOURNAL: gearcheim
EMAIL: seikobox@gmail.com
AIM: seikoinabox
WIKI NAME: N/A
CHARACTERS: N/A

CHARACTER NAME: Ragna the Bloodedge
FANDOM: Blazblue
CANON: Post Continuum Shift
WHAT THEY LOST: The loss of his memory of Saya as his sister. He is aware of Saya's existence by the end of Continuum Shift (where he's been pulled from), but his memory of a young girl that constantly haunts him and pushes him to end up in the trouble he is in in the first place will be gone. If a Noel Vermillion apps (she looks exactly like his sister), he'll probably try to remember something, but never quite make it that far.

So, to him in Paradisa, Saya is the Imperator of NOL*** (***The Novis Orbis Librarium, an organization that rules over the cities to keep a balance by controlling dangerous powers, keeping them from being misused) and nothing more. He'll remember his brother, Jin, as normal, though. It's a great loss for Ragna, particularly since his entire drive for revenge is to find her (if she's still alive) and Jin. Ragna doesn't like when information is missing (aka: doesn't like surprises such as information way too late to be useful), it'll bother him that he can't remember and so he can't even ask for assistance to be reminded of what he lost since he doesn't quite know he even lost something to begin with.

ABOUT THE CHARACTER:

჻ HISTORY ≡ CUE GROUND ZERO
Once upon a time, Ragna lived as an orphan with his two siblings-Jin and Saya-in a cute little church under the care of a nun known only as "Sister". Both younger siblings adored their older brother and his attention, and Ragna adored them just as much. He tended to Saya more than Jin because of Saya's physical frailty, which apparently caused them to have a special relationship that was lacking in with his and Jin's. And that was enough for Jin to eventually get so jealous and obsessive to have his brother's attention all to himself that he went so far as to become susceptible to possession and burn the church down with Saya inside.

Ragna lost his right arm in that incident and was left to die at the scene (a possessed Jin and unconscious/injured Saya were taken away by who is later revealed to be Terumi, the one who possessed Jin and had him act on all his crazy to begin with-well, we think or so we're told and explained. Let's not totally excuse the power of Jin's crazy on his own accord, either.)

Ragna is saved by Rachel, a vampire who acts on seeing his desire to live despite his inevitable fate to die (shit happens when you're arm gets sliced off and you're left bleeding) by using her vampire abilities to bite him and turn him into a vampire, as well. Although Ragna and Rachel are vampires, this is rarely brought up (Terumi only refers to the constant smell of "that shitty vampire" re: Rachel and Ragna doesn't seem to give off the same offensive odor, perhaps because he's technically only half?) as vampires in Blazblue don't act like regular vampires. Their "vampirisms" such as drinking blood and feeding are not necessary and treated like uncivilized urges and indulgences rather than necessities for their survival. (Since Blazblue takes place in the future, it's possible that somewhere along the way vampires evolved from their more "primitive" needs as parasites or it's just they were never like traditional vampires to begin with in the BB canon universe.)

After being saved, he is taken under Jubei's wing (mostly at Rachel's request for Jubei to take care of him) and learns how to use the armagus that he has come to acquire in the form of his right arm. Prior to this, he showed no talent or ability in being able to wield grimoires or do anything with ars magus, so this might be why he is left to die (both Saya and Jin seem to have shown considerable talent considering Jin was able to use Yukianesa when he was a child and Saya was taken to be used as the templates for the Murakumo Units).

Years pass and Ragna grows up, training with Jubei constantly until Jubei announces that he's taught Ragna all he can. Despite it being so long ago, and the reluctancy of both Rachel and Jubei, Ragna intends to head out to do what he started training with Jubei for: to have revenge for what happened to his life. Unable to get him to change his mind, Jubei presents him with a weapon (Bloodscythe) and the red jacket he's always in.

He heads off, now known as Ragna the Bloodedge, a name that soon everyone will know of by his attacks single-handedly on three cities already by the time of Calamity Trigger (1st game). His deeds become widely known as well as the highest bounty ever on his head posted by the NOL. He has destroyed three bases by the time the he reaches Kagutsuchi, the 13th Hierarchical City.

The beginning of Calamity Trigger starts, unknowing that his journey will forever change his life.


჻ PERSONALITY


THE BOY
As a child, Ragna had a rather endearing personality. He was carefree, kind (his siblings-both of them-meant the world to him) and he seemed quite happy with his going nowhere lifestyle of being an orphan.
That is, until his world went down in a ball of flames and he lost both siblings, the Sister he knew to be the closest thing to a mother he would ever have, and lost his right arm in the process.

Ragna's personality did a 180 then, although it particularly manifests itself much later as he grows older, the scarring effects taking their toll. While Ragna says after that fateful day he learned to hate everything, it's seen that Ragna isn't quite so cynical and dark until he reaches maturity. Even after the incident, despite his want for revenge, he's still just a kid (he even calls Jubei a big fluffy kitty when they first meet and he runs around playing with a tiny kitten version of Taokaka when they first meet as well) and has his innocent (and stubborn sides). As he grows up, that hatred seems to manifest, perhaps the gravity of the situation weighing down more heavily and realistically than it once did.

One thing that doesn't change is his rude bickering with Rachel, although he gets less tolerant and more rude as he gets older (and Rachel gets less teasing and more bitchy so maybe it's a mutual transition in an "adult relationship" for the two of them, who knows). The two of them do really care about one another, despite their usual fronts both to the public and to each other.

THE GRIM REAPER
Despite his master's concerns about Ragna himself and his grimoire, Ragna eventually took to starting his revenge, starting with destroying the N.O.L. one base at a time. At the start of Calamity Trigger, it already is shown that he has a temper problem. He had it even as a boy, but over time it seems to have only worsened. Besides a rather hot temper, Ragna is distant and often cold to those he meets, strangers meaning nothing to him. A classic loner.

However, it's eventually shown by the time he meets up with his brother, Jin, now a Major of the N.O.L., that he's not as distant from everyone and everything. He holds a different attitude towards his siblings (even Jin, never delivering a killing blow when he could have, doing his best to keep Jin uninvolved, and even in one game scenario he shows he still has faith in Jin and isn't just ready to give him up as another N.O.L enemy.

Ragna has always had a loud mouth, and he still does even though he often wants to be just left alone. He's blunt, to the point, and sprays vulgar insults every given chance. He's quite impulsive, often jumping too far ahead, but he's also determined like no one else to achieve his goal. (In his defense, no one ever tells him anything until its too late whether he asks for the help or not). There's a bit of a sarcastic side to him, as well, and one might say he probably isn't good with kids.

Most of all, Ragna has severe trust issues, these helping explain his moody loner self. He won't trust anyone on first meeting and he probably won't trust them on the 70th meeting, either. In order to be acknowledged and not receive the cold shoulder is a difficult task, even for those he knows quite well. Considering his sister is still missing, his brother is crazy and trying to kill him, and then another nuisance by the name of Hazama, his trust issues are certainly justified. Gain his trust, though, and you have it for life.

**Note Ragna also ends up with an obsession to not just to destroy the NOL, but find the "Captain" of the NOL's Intelligence department, Hazama. A very personal grudge stands and it is suggested that Hazama (really Yuuki Terumi) has just as much obsession with killing Ragna as Ragna does with him.
≡ THE BLACK BEAST
THIS IS WHEN -- oh

Although the history section "phase -0-" clarifies the whole "being the Black Beast" stigma for Ragna (...well, it kind of does, anyway), it's impossible to deny some base things such as Ragna's Grimoire definitely holding the power of the Black Beast and in both games him having endings where he is consumed by the Black Beast itself (and in CS, it's without Nu being anywhere nearby).

In terms of contributing to Ragna's personality, the Black Beast feeds off of Ragna's hate and dependence (greed, even) for power and his lack of ability to respect what he's given. The Black Beast comes about in times when Ragna fails to heed both Jubei and Rachel and their warnings of respecting and acknowledging what power is his and what power isn't. His lack of intuition and understanding of being allowed to tap a power that isn't his and that power being his is what ultimately dooms him and sends him to the bad endings of his storyline in game.

That said, while the Black Beast comes about from wrong decisions and thinking and bad paths taken by the player, the Black Beast is definitely the "dark side" to Ragna and not something to be ignored in terms of his personality and makeup. It's his own inner demon (as well as many others' outer demon and worst nightmare) and feeds off Ragna's inability to have control. Whether it's control over his emotions, his ambitions, his thoughts, or his opinions, it's a significant lack of control. His understanding may not be so much absent as it is simply smothered by his lack of control, but the lack of it for whatever reason certainly doesn't help bring him salvation. Considering Terumi feeds off of his hate in particular, the Black Beast part of Ragna is something that try as he might, probably isn't going to go away any time soon. And as seen from CS, even though they missed the supposed intial timeline point where the Black Beast is created and the loop starts all over again, that doesn't mean it's not still lingering somewhere with the chance to still create-or, rather, revive since it's already been around once before-itself.

Part of Ragna's growth as a character is learning to accept and acknowledge his own limitations without letting them hold him back. The Black Beast also represents that denial on some level, such as his refusal to acknowledge that the power of the Blazblue is, in fact, not his. He's using it and he's learned to wield it as well as use it to the point that even with a fake he can tap into the power of the genuine Azure, but it's forever important for him to continue to realize that it's not his and to not become so dependent on its power.

The Black Beast also comes about when Ragna abuses the use of his Grimoire (Canonly, despite player options for bad endings and twists and turns, begrudging accepts that he shouldn't use the blazblue unless absolutely necessary-and he holds to this quite well, despite being overenthusiastic in his decisions of when it's neccessary to use it in ... well, using it (case, point: encounter with Hazama in CS-immediate activation of the grimoire despite everyone telling him to not use it/rely on it and that he can't beat Terumi, anyway!!).


≡ THE BLOODEDGE
As the Bloodedge, Ragna's personality is different from his derpy self. He's more typical bad ass silent hero protagonist, loner, etc (less of a temper, you know, more ~*mature*~). He has a very morbid and serious weight to his persona, and judging from most people's lack of knowledge of him (having mostly known about him through Jubei and Rachel-although Nine and Caelica were quite familiar with him, as well) suggest he was quite content with no one ever knowing of his existence.

Jubei has a lot of respect for this man and persona of Ragna, so it's definitely safe to say without his memories he lost a good deal of his derpy brash side (although not enough of that brashness to avoid giving his life in the end without anyone even knowing who he was or what he was doing-talk about self sacrifice). This personality is probably much the same as the transition from Jin to Hakumen that Hakumen has to make, only is quite a bit more abrupt and sudden considering his particularly comes about through amnesia (and with no one or nothing to connect the pieces for him-that is, until he gets his power and memories back in vicinity of the Black Beast, there's no much for him to "transition" from especially being sent to such grim times).



THIRD-PERSON WRITING SAMPLE:


He's still somewhere in denial. It just simply can't be that he's in some bumfuck nowhere back ass city in a church he's never been in with a little rabbit cowering under the pews in the dark and with Jin. -Jin of all people, glorifying his traitorous, murderous self with mere sincerity and simplicity. The other's expression unnerves Ragna, enough to a point that, in this place (in this particular little place like a piece of home he'll never have again) that he's slammed into by a heavy dose of deja vu. It causes his vision to distort, and it blacks out once only for a second, a memory of a sick inhuman smile on a child's face (and he can feel his face muscles tense and his grip tighten his weapon's hilt). It flickers back to Jin as he is now and then again to the child (he's hallucinating, he knows this, and yet--).

Then one more time, this an aura of completely different caliber appearing; it's different than Jin smiling at any age-that fucking ghost of a man who took them both from him-

-he blinks and it's just Jin.

Ragna growls, his adrenaline up, his expression accusatory because how could he ever not be and when the fuck would Jin ever realize what he did to her (to them), ANYWAY?

(Don't smile at me, don't you ever smile at me, you bastard. After what you did...!)

But, Ragna's conflict halts itself, as always. It's too quick and too soft and too eager to blame someone else for losing his little brother to the mess he is now (because, you know it's easy to blame one who took his sanity and broke it apart--)

(--there I go again. But, if you think I'll forget just because I'm here and you're not--)

Ragna lowers Blood-Scythe to his side, away from its defensive position when it's clear Jin isn't coming forward with another attack. He stares through the poor lighting. His gaze hardens at the NOL major that addresses him so endearingly before it changes. His eyes turn apathetic, his stance becomes lax, and all the while even with Jin's step forward Ragna doesn't move. It's a display of outward disinterest in dealing with what is a bother (you're always a fucking bother--)

"Don't kid yourself."

His tone is impatient, so frustrated already by so little, voice echoing in impatience throughout the church.

They're standing all but in complete blackness, outside grey light shining through stained glass and a few high hung lanterns over the alter the only visual aid.

FIRST-PERSON WRITING SAMPLE:


This is really starting to get old. It's always the same people with different faces... or different people with the same faces as everyone else. Whatever. I still don't even know where the hell I am, let alone able to keep track of names and individualize people.

Also, this journal thing? It's starting to piss me off, too. What the hell is up with it? It's almost like a grimoire... except it's not.

Rachel would probably know, too bad she isn't-- whoa, did I really just almost say that? Geez, I really need to get the hell out.