@ APPLICATION - gargleblasted
OOC:
Name: Li
Are you over 16?: YEs
Personal LJ: aztec
Email: shotgunnery[at]gmail
Timezone: EST
Other contact: AIM: shotgun lovely | plurk
Characters already in the game: grimreaping
How did you find us?: Already playing here.
IC:
Character name: Stork
Fandom: Storm Hawks
Timeline: Post Cyclonia War
Age: 18ish
~*Magical*~ abilities and strengths: None
How would they use their abilities?: N/A
Appearance: [ Merb racial description @ Storm Hawks Wiki ] Stork is not different from any typical Merb, having the same physical features as the rest of his race. Notably different from humans are his green skin, four-digit hands, elongated ears and face. He has two metal earrings pierced on the upper part of his left ear, and wears a sort of... metal-reinforced blue and tan body suit and no footwear. His hair is long and lanky, dark green in colour, and his eyes have yellow irises. ( Image (right) by Nastrond @ DA )
History:
Stork is a Merb, a species native to the world of Atmos, which is comprised of floating landmasses called terras. The only way to move between these landmasses is by airships such as carriers, or smaller personal aircraft known as skimmers. Each of these terras has its own climate and unique geographical features; Terra Merb is frequently beset by catastrophic natural disasters and this has led to the Merb species becoming typically defeatist and paranoid. Atmos is protected by groups called Sky Knights, who are accomplished pilots and renowned fighting skill. They organize themselves into groups called Squads and protect Atmos from the empire of Cyclonia whose goal it is to overthrow the current order of Atmos and rule themselves.
Stork's history as a Storm Hawk actually begins well before he meets the others, when Cyclonia invaded Terra Merbia, his home terra. Stork fled the terra and escaped to the Wastelands, the dangerous barrens that lay below the Atmos. There he found the Condor, once belonging to the original Storm Hawks squadron that was shot down during an attack a decade prior. Believing that he'd be safer in the Condor, decided to rig it with all manner of anti-Cyclonian booby traps. A Sky Knight hopeful, Aerrow, locates the ship and revives it with the intention of becoming the new Storm Hawks squad. Although they are not recognized by the Atmos council because of their young age, the five members (Aerrow, Finn, Junko, Piper, and Stork) continue to train and act as though they are an official squad. This includes leading dangerous missions into Cyclonian territory and taking on their champion, known as the Dark Ace.
Although Stork had originally stated that he was only joining the squad "until something better comes along", he has yet to leave. Proving himself an exceptional pilot, the others have actually found a way to use his pessimism and paranoia to their advantage. For example when they were trapped in the Black Gorge, Stork's inexhaustible knowledge of creatures and pitfalls turned out to be largely true and thus kept the squad from (serious) harm. When they were challenged by the Rex Guardians, Stork was able to build an entire skimmer from spare parts in just a few moments, a feat unheard of before. Finally, Stork's unusual inventions while supposedly for his own safety and use, often turn out to be useful in other ways.
Personality:
Stork is paranoid to the extreme, fearing both real and imagined everything. Most notably he is panthophobic or has the fear of diseases and contagions. He's extremely cowardly and prefers to hide rather than fight, going to great lengths to escape opponents rather than defend himself. Stork constantly predicts the worst possible outcome of every situation even when pessimism seems the most farfetched result. His cynicism is often mocking and sarcastic but expressed in a very dry way. Only rarely does he show extreme emotion, usually when he's terrified of something, and then he generally becomes a flailing ball of panic. Although this might make him seem unreliable and thus not a welcome member of his squadron, Stork has bizarrely proven himself to be loyal to them despite his frequent griping about their missions. He is insanely protective of the Condor, referring to it as "his" ship and rigging it with booby traps and secret stashes; it is on the Condor where he feels safest and he more often than not volunteers to stay behind while the fighters take on their challenges. When the Condor was eaten by the Leviathan, he goes into a state of "Sky Shock" where he moves through parodies of the stages of accepting death.
Stork enjoys doom poetry (probably Merbian origin) and tries to share it with the others from time to time, which is usually rebuffed most soundly by his teammates. It's a bit of a contradiction because Stork, while being extremely defeatist and pessimistic, does not generally fall into the category of morbid, wanting to avoid death at all costs. He has extremely limited contact with his home terra, although they apparently keep tabs on him enough to know when his yearly duties are due, and send him three Merb children to take on a camping trip.
His relationships with the other members of the Storm Hawks seem to vary, but he gets along best with Piper who is probably his intellectual equivalent, although for crystal mastery more than mechanical. He respects Aerrow and doesn't seem to mind Junko, although Finn he expresses worry over usually because Finn is the first to break his precious constructions.
As the war with Cyclonia progressed, Stork's personality presented even more complexity. When the Condor was destroyed he even went so far as to hunt down the Raptors on Terra Bogaton and dispatch them with very un-Stork-like ruthlessness. Facing the Raptor leader Repton, he even says he doesn't care that he's about to die since he no longer has the Condor. (Repton inadvertently reminds him he can rebuild it, giving Stork a belated epiphany and causing him to want to live again.) In the final war against Master Cyclonis he pilots the (rebuilt) Condor into battle without a trace of hesitance.
Extra:
Character Abilities: Despite his cowardice, Stork is a mechanical genius and an accomplished pilot. Having been given the task of making sure their carrier ship, the Condor, didn't fall apart he has learned all sorts of inventive ways to repair and fix. His skills also extend to other mechanics like skimmers, and a wide variety of (sometimes useless) gadgets. He's happiest with a wrench and spare parts; giving him some useless old piece of metal junk for him to tinker with is the nicest thing a person could do for him (short of leaving him alone). He has an extraordinary memory and is able to recall nearly anything he's every read or heard such as statistics (like how often people get sick and die from various things) or completely random things (like the Condor's 46-digit registration number).
Possessions: His toolkit.
Have you read up on how the game works?: Characters can earn money through missions, mooching off someone, or stealing it. The communication system is called FlamingFerret.
Samples:
1st person sample:
[writing is messy and in partial shorthand]
☑ Finish crystal matrix reharmonizer [output 28832173.yhz]
☑ Pick up new shipment of merb cabbage
☑ Read chapter 716 of "The Toxins of Atmos"
☑ Repair the Junko's skimmer-- replace port side weight stabilizer
☑ Polish the Condor
Finn says he wants to do the cooking tonight, something about wanting to try a new recipe he heard on a cooking radio show broadcast from Terra Noxia. I told him that Terra Noxia is infamous for its blood leeches which are capable of infesting food from extremely long ranges, but as usual he didn't listen and of course the others cheered him along.
I'm probably going to die from horrible intestinal poisoning within 48 hours. My updated will, version 492.7, is in its usual place.
But on the off-chance that we survive, Aerrow has called a meeting to discuss that Cyclonian carrier that we almost collided with yesterday. How did they alter their time-pulse signature that drastically? It's one thing to make a skimmer look like a transport, but...
Since it's almost a guarantee that the new mission will be to infiltrate and find out, I'll start working on my will, version 492.8, before bed.
---
3rd person sample:
Stork laid aside his buffing cloth and regarded the gleaming tack of the Condor's bridge. The instruments were all polished, freshly oiled, and in (almost) as good of working order as the day she'd been built. Through the wide panel glass that made up the central view port, he could see the others playing a game of Sky Shot Tag using a new sort of crystal generator Piper had commissioned. She'd asked him to make four small canon-like attachments, and now he saw why. She'd given each of them a shard of Glob Crystal, and it was firing harmless little coloured pellets.
"Hmph," he muttered, taking up his latest volume of Horrific Bodily Catastrophes: The Sequel and flipping to where he'd left off. "Don't they know that Glob crystal residue can absorb into the skin and cause Raztorian poisoning? They'll start turning colours from the inside out in no time!"
But... they looked like they were having fun, whooping and laughing, so after a moment he put his feet up and began reading.
SPLAT!
The Merb gave an all-over body twitch, lowering the book just enough to peer over the top and regard the huge spray of orange Glob across his newly cleaned windshield. Very precisely, he marked his place in the book and set it aside, then stalked to the nearest porthole and opened it. "HEY!" he yelled. "I JUST FINISHED CLEANING TH--"
SPLAT! A second Glob caught Stork full-on in the face, and now he was olive green skinned with neon green highlights.
"FINN! You're supposed to be the marksman!"
"Whoops," he heard Finn say, although not nearly as repentant as he should've been. Aerrow, Piper, and Junko were all trying valiantly not to snigger, but Radarr had given up all pretense and was now rolling around in his co-pilot seat. Dragging his three-fingered hand across his eyes to clear them, Stork muttered under his breath and closed the porthole.
He was so going to wind up with Raztorian poisoning out of this.
Questions?: None!
Did you put your characters name and fandom in the subject: Yes.