OOC: Singularity Application
Player Information ;
Your Nickname: Ari
OOC Journal: digi_dragon
Under 18? No.
Email/IM: AriSaysGao
Characters Played at Singularity: None :O
Character Information ;
Name: Yoko Machi (known as Machi)(Personal name - family name, aka Western order.)
Name of Canon: Bokurano
Canon/AU/Other Game CR: AU
Reference: Wikipedia to the rescue!
Canon Point: N/A
Setting: In the Bokurano universe, there are infinite realities, infinite Earths. Most who live on them do not know this. These Earths can be extremely similar or wildly different. The most important part is, there is a version of each person on every single one of them. The universe is in a destruction epoch, where Earths must be destroyed at a rapid pace. Something exists that is come to be known as The Game among the group that the story follows, where people must pilot a robot (named Zearth in every one of the canons) to ensure their universe's survival, at the expense of the other universe. There can be as many battles as need-be, though the familiar number is fifteen. At the end of these battles, the pilots die, win or lose. While The Game creates new Earths as old ones are destroyed, making the characters "infinite," the general questions of whether it is right to kill another Earth so one's own can live are explored, as well as the idea of what you do when you know you're going to die. Can a child actually decide if it's right to kill someone else? If you're destroying a world where a version of yourself exists, are you just eliminating another possible life, or creating countless more? Can friendships last multiple lifetimes? These questions aren't quite answered, but rather mulled over amongst the daily lives of the children presented. In the AU setting, it's that this is just another version of the character, the same girl from another Earth.
The Earth that is followed in the main storyline is set in the year 2050, with marginally enhanced technology. Japan's military power is also more advanced than the Earth we know, as it can be assumed the Axis won World War II.
Personality: Before her encounters with the “parallel universe pruning,” Machi was, for all extents and purposes, a normal girl. She was cheerful, happy, and enthusiastic, always trying to have fun but knowing when to relax. Her brother made it…difficult to be bright and happy at times, considering how mean he was to her, but she knew deep down he was a good person. After her world got introduced to its robot, though, her happy carefree life disappeared. Thus, Machi still keeps a jovial attitude - somewhat perky when she needs to be, openly teasing those she’s comfortable with - but below it lurks a much more introspective side. She has guilt issues, for she still believes it was her fault her friends entered the contract and her fault they were the ones that had to pilot Zearth. She keeps these things to herself, though, and thoroughly tries to be an optimist, as she did back in their world. It is, truly, for their sakes at times. This optimism has influenced her beliefs as well: Though there’s not much evidence to it, she likes to believe in reincarnation. She has, in fact, forced herself to believe it’s possible, for if it’s not, her friends are truly dead and gone and if she ever accepts that, it may break her.
So more accurately, Machi is a very emotional girl. She tries and tries to be happy for those who need her, but when it gets too much she breaks down. She’s not afraid to speak her mind and stand up for what she believes in - she’s got determination to be rivaled. When she puts her mind to something, she’ll follow it through, even if it means her death - she did it once, after all. More than anything…she’s the kind of girl who just wants those around her to be happy. No matter what it takes.
It is hard to gauge Machi’s personality development during Bokurano because by the time the story starts, she has already been through the horrors of the game - quite recently too - but she is able to laugh and talk at least seemingly happily with the other kids. Because of how close she grows to them in such a short amount of time, it’s safe to assume that she values attachment, especially with the other kids from the summer nature school on Mitomo Island. (This may be because this group of kids has and will probably continue to pilot Zearth on different Earths in countless timelines for infinity - it is a deep connection that they all have that none of them are aware of.)
However, when Machi is not weighed down by the enormity of the situation she is in - when she is able to act like a kid again - she is actually a very fun-loving girl. Some of her favorite ways to interact with her friends are to tease and joke around with them, as evident by her very amusing behavior (in the manga) toward the end of her chapter sections where she tells Ushiro she wants to sleep with him - naturally joking, naturally - and then starts laughing at him freaking out. She loves to play around with people, and she has rather extreme reactions when she isn’t busy being reasonably depressed for her series.
Machi’s older brother Shirou is a huge part of her development, as mentioned earlier. He was, generally, a horrible older brother - he got into fights, tormented her in any way he could, went to prison - he was a horrible influence and regardless of all this, Machi loves him very much. It shows that like friends, she values family over everything. She believes that her brother loves her, deep down, and he actually has a good side. It shows Machi’s deep desire to see the good in people, despite experiencing humanity at its worst.
Be warned, her stubbornness is a killer. She is determined, yes, but she is also far too stubborn in any direction. If she puts her mind to, say, signing a contract that will kill her so she can atone for her "mistakes," then she will. Then again, if she is determined to track down the families of her dead friends and let them know what their children died for, then she’ll do that too. It’s a double-edged sword.
Abilities and Weaknesses: Machi's athletic and rather swift for her age (and has a mean right arm - dodgeball for the win). As mentioned in the personality section, Machi is determined. Like, freakishly so. If she gets it in her head that she must do something, she will find a way to accomplish it. Even if that something is to die. That leads into her greatest weakness. She is guilt-driven, to another scary extent.
Because of memories/experiences from other lifetimes, Machi has taken up learning how to use a knife. She's not exactly fantastic with it, but she can use it if push comes to shove. Also, she knows how to drive a motorcycle. Whether she will find one she can use or one that's short enough for her to get on, zing! is another issue.
In a sort of contradictory moment, one of her greatest fears is dying, justifiably. She is scared, generally, of being blamed, even though she does it to herself, and she is afraid of losing people close to her - because she's dealt with so much loss, this is a big part of her character. In short, she's got stubbornness that can lead her in either a positive or negative direction.
No matter how long she's been with a group of people, she always feels like she's a bit of an outsider. This is partly, in her group of friends, because she is literally an outsider, having been born on a different Earth in nearly every reality she can recall. It rolls around with her insecurities. Being in a new world with new people to meet, all from other worlds? She's bound to feel out of place.
And lastly, since Machi is a very, very short girl (145 cm, or 4'9" for a 13-year-old), she obviously has some issues with reaching height things. Which her friends love teasing her about.
Inventory: A cell phone, probably useless here. Bandages (because she's genre savvy by now). A knife.
Appearance: Here. Or. You know. One of the thousands of icons. Under the bandage is a scar, one that she seems to obtain in most realities. In this incarnation, it's a line, like a deep cut. She is, as mentioned, 4'9". Machi is tiny. One of her most distinguishing characteristics are her freckles.
Age: 13
OC/AU Justification ;
If AU, How is Your Version Different From Canon, and How Will That Come Across? As mentioned above, being a Bokurano AU means that the character is just another of the infinite versions that exist. So the setting itself is essentially canon. Machi being played here is extremely similar to the Machi of the main storyline; she still is from a different Earth, still has her biting snark and tendency to hide if she's feeling bad, etc. Her personality is entirely taken from her canon sources. However, the AU parts are thus: Her parents are dead. This is to 1) give her a closer relationship with her brother and 2) to deepen her fear of losing those she cares about. In the anime, she was an orphan anyway, so it's technically not an AU aspect, just mixing of canons.
As mentioned by the Waku applicant, the other part of the AU would be her relationship with Takashi Waku. The two seem to get along extremely well in the short times they interact, snarking back and forth and generally enjoying each other's company. In the manga, she admitted during a monologue that though he was loud (and odd), Waku was pretty cool. She took a liking to him, and the characters in general play well together. The two of us (the Waku mun and I) have played them off each other a lot in the past, and we believe it works very well with their characters.
Samples ;
Log Sample: What was this? Another reality? Another Earth?
Machi shook her head, leaving the chemical shower that she'd been subjected to. This wasn't like any of the other Earths that she could recall. This wasn't even Earth, as far as she could tell. That disturbed her. She was used to an infinite amount of Earths, an unlimited life, so to speak. But not space. If that's where she was, then it frightened her.
She looked at her cell phone. What was the last conversation she'd had on it? She couldn't remember. Her senses were dulled, blurred. She remembered old realities just as well as she could remember waking up for school -- in what she believed was the reality she had come from. It was like this more and more, and it made her feel old. So very old. In the deepest recesses of her mind, she worried that she had done something to end up here; she had messed with Zearth or maybe the God of their universe, whoever created The Game, had gotten tired of them, always knowing and remembering the past lives, using it their advantage. Maybe it had found out she didn't belong on that Earth. So it had sent her here.
Stop. That's stupid. She shook her head again. No thoughts like that. Positive. Gotta be positive.
So how did she get here? Why?
Were they here? Her friends? She would know if they were, wouldn't she? After so many different lives together, she wanted to believe she could feel them. But then she couldn't feel when they died. What made her think she could feel them when they were alive? Optimism. Right. That old thing.
Why would we create a place like this?
That wonder also itched at the back of her mind. She couldn't get to Zearth. As much as she willed it, the robot would not respond. Had this happened before? She thought it did, in a previous reality. But this felt different. Being cut off from the robot, the link between lives, made her feel very, very small and lost.
"I have to find them," she murmured, knowing very well that she could be alone here. "I have to..."
Aimlessly, she wandered.
Optimism, right?
Network Sample:
[Audio, all quite matter-of-fact, almost annoyed]
Hi. I'm Machi. How do I get home? This is a nice place and all, but I don't like to jump worlds. Much.
If anyone from Shinagawa's ladder school is here, answer right now. Or Oniichan. I'm in a freaking space station. Fix it. Fix it now.
Your Nickname: Ari
OOC Journal: digi_dragon
Under 18? No.
Email/IM: AriSaysGao
Characters Played at Singularity: None :O
Character Information ;
Name: Yoko Machi (known as Machi)(Personal name - family name, aka Western order.)
Name of Canon: Bokurano
Canon/AU/Other Game CR: AU
Reference: Wikipedia to the rescue!
Canon Point: N/A
Setting: In the Bokurano universe, there are infinite realities, infinite Earths. Most who live on them do not know this. These Earths can be extremely similar or wildly different. The most important part is, there is a version of each person on every single one of them. The universe is in a destruction epoch, where Earths must be destroyed at a rapid pace. Something exists that is come to be known as The Game among the group that the story follows, where people must pilot a robot (named Zearth in every one of the canons) to ensure their universe's survival, at the expense of the other universe. There can be as many battles as need-be, though the familiar number is fifteen. At the end of these battles, the pilots die, win or lose. While The Game creates new Earths as old ones are destroyed, making the characters "infinite," the general questions of whether it is right to kill another Earth so one's own can live are explored, as well as the idea of what you do when you know you're going to die. Can a child actually decide if it's right to kill someone else? If you're destroying a world where a version of yourself exists, are you just eliminating another possible life, or creating countless more? Can friendships last multiple lifetimes? These questions aren't quite answered, but rather mulled over amongst the daily lives of the children presented. In the AU setting, it's that this is just another version of the character, the same girl from another Earth.
The Earth that is followed in the main storyline is set in the year 2050, with marginally enhanced technology. Japan's military power is also more advanced than the Earth we know, as it can be assumed the Axis won World War II.
Personality: Before her encounters with the “parallel universe pruning,” Machi was, for all extents and purposes, a normal girl. She was cheerful, happy, and enthusiastic, always trying to have fun but knowing when to relax. Her brother made it…difficult to be bright and happy at times, considering how mean he was to her, but she knew deep down he was a good person. After her world got introduced to its robot, though, her happy carefree life disappeared. Thus, Machi still keeps a jovial attitude - somewhat perky when she needs to be, openly teasing those she’s comfortable with - but below it lurks a much more introspective side. She has guilt issues, for she still believes it was her fault her friends entered the contract and her fault they were the ones that had to pilot Zearth. She keeps these things to herself, though, and thoroughly tries to be an optimist, as she did back in their world. It is, truly, for their sakes at times. This optimism has influenced her beliefs as well: Though there’s not much evidence to it, she likes to believe in reincarnation. She has, in fact, forced herself to believe it’s possible, for if it’s not, her friends are truly dead and gone and if she ever accepts that, it may break her.
So more accurately, Machi is a very emotional girl. She tries and tries to be happy for those who need her, but when it gets too much she breaks down. She’s not afraid to speak her mind and stand up for what she believes in - she’s got determination to be rivaled. When she puts her mind to something, she’ll follow it through, even if it means her death - she did it once, after all. More than anything…she’s the kind of girl who just wants those around her to be happy. No matter what it takes.
It is hard to gauge Machi’s personality development during Bokurano because by the time the story starts, she has already been through the horrors of the game - quite recently too - but she is able to laugh and talk at least seemingly happily with the other kids. Because of how close she grows to them in such a short amount of time, it’s safe to assume that she values attachment, especially with the other kids from the summer nature school on Mitomo Island. (This may be because this group of kids has and will probably continue to pilot Zearth on different Earths in countless timelines for infinity - it is a deep connection that they all have that none of them are aware of.)
However, when Machi is not weighed down by the enormity of the situation she is in - when she is able to act like a kid again - she is actually a very fun-loving girl. Some of her favorite ways to interact with her friends are to tease and joke around with them, as evident by her very amusing behavior (in the manga) toward the end of her chapter sections where she tells Ushiro she wants to sleep with him - naturally joking, naturally - and then starts laughing at him freaking out. She loves to play around with people, and she has rather extreme reactions when she isn’t busy being reasonably depressed for her series.
Machi’s older brother Shirou is a huge part of her development, as mentioned earlier. He was, generally, a horrible older brother - he got into fights, tormented her in any way he could, went to prison - he was a horrible influence and regardless of all this, Machi loves him very much. It shows that like friends, she values family over everything. She believes that her brother loves her, deep down, and he actually has a good side. It shows Machi’s deep desire to see the good in people, despite experiencing humanity at its worst.
Be warned, her stubbornness is a killer. She is determined, yes, but she is also far too stubborn in any direction. If she puts her mind to, say, signing a contract that will kill her so she can atone for her "mistakes," then she will. Then again, if she is determined to track down the families of her dead friends and let them know what their children died for, then she’ll do that too. It’s a double-edged sword.
Abilities and Weaknesses: Machi's athletic and rather swift for her age (and has a mean right arm - dodgeball for the win). As mentioned in the personality section, Machi is determined. Like, freakishly so. If she gets it in her head that she must do something, she will find a way to accomplish it. Even if that something is to die. That leads into her greatest weakness. She is guilt-driven, to another scary extent.
Because of memories/experiences from other lifetimes, Machi has taken up learning how to use a knife. She's not exactly fantastic with it, but she can use it if push comes to shove. Also, she knows how to drive a motorcycle. Whether she will find one she can use or one that's short enough for her to get on, zing! is another issue.
In a sort of contradictory moment, one of her greatest fears is dying, justifiably. She is scared, generally, of being blamed, even though she does it to herself, and she is afraid of losing people close to her - because she's dealt with so much loss, this is a big part of her character. In short, she's got stubbornness that can lead her in either a positive or negative direction.
No matter how long she's been with a group of people, she always feels like she's a bit of an outsider. This is partly, in her group of friends, because she is literally an outsider, having been born on a different Earth in nearly every reality she can recall. It rolls around with her insecurities. Being in a new world with new people to meet, all from other worlds? She's bound to feel out of place.
And lastly, since Machi is a very, very short girl (145 cm, or 4'9" for a 13-year-old), she obviously has some issues with reaching height things. Which her friends love teasing her about.
Inventory: A cell phone, probably useless here. Bandages (because she's genre savvy by now). A knife.
Appearance: Here. Or. You know. One of the thousands of icons. Under the bandage is a scar, one that she seems to obtain in most realities. In this incarnation, it's a line, like a deep cut. She is, as mentioned, 4'9". Machi is tiny. One of her most distinguishing characteristics are her freckles.
Age: 13
OC/AU Justification ;
If AU, How is Your Version Different From Canon, and How Will That Come Across? As mentioned above, being a Bokurano AU means that the character is just another of the infinite versions that exist. So the setting itself is essentially canon. Machi being played here is extremely similar to the Machi of the main storyline; she still is from a different Earth, still has her biting snark and tendency to hide if she's feeling bad, etc. Her personality is entirely taken from her canon sources. However, the AU parts are thus: Her parents are dead. This is to 1) give her a closer relationship with her brother and 2) to deepen her fear of losing those she cares about. In the anime, she was an orphan anyway, so it's technically not an AU aspect, just mixing of canons.
As mentioned by the Waku applicant, the other part of the AU would be her relationship with Takashi Waku. The two seem to get along extremely well in the short times they interact, snarking back and forth and generally enjoying each other's company. In the manga, she admitted during a monologue that though he was loud (and odd), Waku was pretty cool. She took a liking to him, and the characters in general play well together. The two of us (the Waku mun and I) have played them off each other a lot in the past, and we believe it works very well with their characters.
Samples ;
Log Sample: What was this? Another reality? Another Earth?
Machi shook her head, leaving the chemical shower that she'd been subjected to. This wasn't like any of the other Earths that she could recall. This wasn't even Earth, as far as she could tell. That disturbed her. She was used to an infinite amount of Earths, an unlimited life, so to speak. But not space. If that's where she was, then it frightened her.
She looked at her cell phone. What was the last conversation she'd had on it? She couldn't remember. Her senses were dulled, blurred. She remembered old realities just as well as she could remember waking up for school -- in what she believed was the reality she had come from. It was like this more and more, and it made her feel old. So very old. In the deepest recesses of her mind, she worried that she had done something to end up here; she had messed with Zearth or maybe the God of their universe, whoever created The Game, had gotten tired of them, always knowing and remembering the past lives, using it their advantage. Maybe it had found out she didn't belong on that Earth. So it had sent her here.
Stop. That's stupid. She shook her head again. No thoughts like that. Positive. Gotta be positive.
So how did she get here? Why?
Were they here? Her friends? She would know if they were, wouldn't she? After so many different lives together, she wanted to believe she could feel them. But then she couldn't feel when they died. What made her think she could feel them when they were alive? Optimism. Right. That old thing.
Why would we create a place like this?
That wonder also itched at the back of her mind. She couldn't get to Zearth. As much as she willed it, the robot would not respond. Had this happened before? She thought it did, in a previous reality. But this felt different. Being cut off from the robot, the link between lives, made her feel very, very small and lost.
"I have to find them," she murmured, knowing very well that she could be alone here. "I have to..."
Aimlessly, she wandered.
Optimism, right?
Network Sample:
[Audio, all quite matter-of-fact, almost annoyed]
Hi. I'm Machi. How do I get home? This is a nice place and all, but I don't like to jump worlds. Much.
If anyone from Shinagawa's ladder school is here, answer right now. Or Oniichan. I'm in a freaking space station. Fix it. Fix it now.