Application - witchesreign
Name: Stephanie
Journal: elemental_shark
Contact: elemental_shark on Plurk, ElementalShark86 on AIM, LJ PMs
Character Name: Emil Castagnier
Series: Tales of Symphonia (the sequel, Dawn of the New World)
Gender: Male
Age & Canon Point: Over ten thousand, looks and mostly acts sixteen; taken from the best ending, after splitting but before arriving anywhere in his world
Requested Sponsor: Amethyst
Entry position (Cadet, SeeD, Instructor, other): Cadet
History: Have some wiki.
Garden History: N/A
Abilities & Physical Abnormalities:
Emil's become a pretty skilled swordsman, through fighting monsters and people for a couple months. He normally uses a one-handed sword, and can manipulate mana in some of them or use the power of Centurion underlings he's awakened to certain effects (shock waves, power boosts, etc.) up to the point where one of his/Ratatosk's signature moves, Ain Soph Aur, basically involves charging mana and flinging it at an enemy.
Also, he's pretty much a minor god given his triple-duty as tree spirit/lord of monsters/demon realm guardian. He and the Centurions he commands are the only ones at present able to regulate the world's mana, and part of the game's resolution involves a semi-literal deus ex machina via Emil rewriting the natural laws of mana. He's got power! A lot of his Ratatosk-related abilities don't really matter outside his world, however, so these won't really come into play; the only one that could apply is a general connection to the monsters under his command and the ability to make pacts with and raise those monsters as allies in battle.
On a more normal bent, he's not a bad cook and given the time he likes to make an art form out of out of his food-by the end of the game he's practically making miniature sculptures for meals.
Personality:
On the surface, Emil is a pretty nice kid. He's friendly and cares a lot for his friends; he judges people by what he sees rather than what person he hears about, and he can in fact be pretty perceptive sometimes. He's always willing to do some good for people, and he's dependable about it too. Definitely somebody who isn't too hard to trust. Scratch that surface, and...well. Below that is some of the same, and some not so same. To the average person Emil will just be Emil Castagnier, human kid; only those who know about who he is previously (i.e., castmates from Chapter 8/post-DotNW, but as far as I know there aren't any in the game right now so WHOOPS) or those he chooses to tell might know the truth. Emil is no façade, but it's hard to always be the same inside and out when you're an ancient spirit with a foot in the human world-which is exactly what Emil is.
Emil's had a lot of identity troubles in the past months, between developing a split personality and discovering he's the spirit he spent his entire journey trying to wake up. By the end of the game he's gotten over most of it, regaining his full power as the summon spirit Ratatosk and letting his two personalities become the Ratatosk he believes he was always meant to be. We don't see much of the more singular fully realized Ratatosk who's regained all his power, but he's not quite like either of his two personalities once you get past the questionably IC eye color/voice changes. (I interpret these as being more for the audience than real fact, since nobody ever acknowledges them and taking them as non-IC makes a lot more sense.) Emil is closer to this than the split personality now; traits of both personalities exist within him, but only because both personalities are him.
This leaves Emil as a strange mix of awkward teenage boy and ancient guardian spirit-a conflict between mindsets and goals rather than entire personalities or identities. Emil's come to terms with who he is as a person, but he's also a near-immortal entity with some human memories and many human attachments. The reason he's able to go out and live a human life is precisely because he wants that chance deep down; he knows he's not human and that it's not always going to be the same, but living as Emil Castagnier has given him a streak of human perspective and human desire that summon spirits (who basically exist to do their job for thousands upon thousands of years) typically do not have. This isn't necessarily a bad thing (and in fact one of the reasons he refrains from trying to off mankind again), and if anything it helps Emil appreciate his situation and his blessings that much more.
So what's left now? Emil's trying to be human, but that doesn't really change who he is fundamentally. Simply put he's Ratatosk allowing himself to enjoy life and live for himself-he's still the same person he's always been, for the most part.
A constant with Emil is that he feels attachments very strongly, first with the Giant Kharlan Tree he guarded for thousands of years as Ratatosk and then with the friends he made as Emil Castagnier. Emil values the people he has a lot, because having been a social pariah/bully victim/abused kid for half a year he knows what it's like to be alone and friendless. It was only because of his friends that he was able to stand up and believe in his worth as a person, and without them he believes he would be a much worse person than he is now.
For this reason, Emil is at his best for his friends and for other people, whether it's defying somebody he looks up to in order to save someone's life or searching for ways to stop a monster from plaguing a small town. He's not exactly book-smart and he has his not-so-bright moments, occasionally missing the point or otherwise stumbling over himself, but it's in spirit that Emil shines: he cares about his friends dearly, and he'll do whatever he can for them in their times of need. He's a fairly easy read to anyone perceptive enough to read him, but he can be perceptive and understanding himself as well. He judges his friends based on who they have been with him and has taken major revelations over their pasts with complete trust, though he can have his prejudices - he won't ever forgive his parents' murderer, whoever it is, because he owes the real Emil and his parents that much.
The ultimate example of this is easily two-way: "Courage is the magic that turns dreams into reality." Emil calls it his mantra once, and its inspirational ability really does work magic on him. Reminding him of this line always serves as the last push he needs to take that extra step ahead and face his fears to do what he needs to, even pulling him out of fear of destroying the world and suicidal self-blame. On the flip side he also uses it to encourage others, even stating to one friend at one point that "Courage is what helped me make true friends. That's why I'm giving my courage to you." If possible Emil would rather settle things peacefully than escalate into conflict, but if he needs to he'll keep pushing all the way to the end in order to achieve something-and if he has to fight, he will. He can be very single-minded with respect to this, although it's not always a good thing when his goals in question aren't necessarily good.
On the other hand, when Emil takes things personally he really takes them personally, assuming responsibility (and blame) for a lot of things even when most people wouldn't! Towards the end of the game Emil's normal personality planned to die at his friends' hands because he wouldn't be able to live with having killed Aster and sealing away his other self otherwise-and he nearly managed it, too. This doesn't change after his friends knock some sense into him, either: right before he's taken he's given the chance to go out and live a normal human life and even though it's something he wishes for deep down his automatic reaction is to reject it. The reason? He knows a lot of bad things have happened because of something he did, directly or indirectly, and he feels that he doesn't deserve that chance.
Thankfully, he's got good friends and he listens to them too. It's because of his friends that Emil's able to believe in himself much more than he used to. He can still be prone to negativity about himself (due to guilt over the things he's done and double-standards in regards to himself compared to his friends), but he's able to stand on his own much better than he was before he began his journey or even before he allowed himself to regain his full power as Ratatosk not that long ago. He's changed a great deal since he became Emil and started learning what it meant to be human, and he's become a better (and wiser) person because of it.
What are your plans for the character in-game? In general I really want to try Emil in various scenarios, serious or slice-of-life or otherwise! I'd like to explore how a character like him might feel and act from the perspective of someone who happens to be both near-human teenage boy and near-immortal tree spirit, because it's just interesting okay.
Anything else? COURAGE IS THE MAGIC THAT TURNS DREAMS INTO REALITY.
i) IC Questionnaire
What do you prefer to be known as?
I…Emil Castagnier.
How old are you?
Me? I'm sixteen years old.
Do you have any history in combat?
Yes, I do. I learned how to fight a few months ago, and since then I've gotten pretty strong.
If so, have you ever killed?
...Yeah. I have.
i) How do you feel when you get involved in some project that calls for immediate and rapid activity?
Well, I'd want to get started as soon as I can. Maybe I'd be a little nervous in some cases, but I'd definitely want to help. That kind of project would probably be something important, so of course I'd want to see it through.
ii) Do you organize and initiate leisure activities?
I haven't really gotten a chance to do that...I've always been traveling for the past few months, so there haven't been many chances to just take time and relax. I might have been able to in the future, but I'm here now so there's no use dwelling on that.
iii) What role do you take when working in a group?
Wow, I've never really thought about that. I usually just go along with things, I suppose. There have been times when I've been the one sort of leading too, but I wouldn't really call myself a leader.
iv) How talkative are you around other people?
Other people? I'm pretty comfortable with my friends. And I wouldn't talk to total strangers the same way I would them, but I don't have much problem talking to them either.
v) What three things would you want to have with you on a desert island? State your reasoning.
Three things...not people, right? Then I'd like a boat to get off the island, of course, and a paddle to steer it with. As for the last one, some drinking water to get me through the trip would be important too. That works, right?
vi) Is it important to be liked by a wide range of people?
It's nice, but...I think as long as you have even just one friend, somebody who cares about you and somebody who you care about, then that can be enough too.
vii) When the odds are against you, is it worth taking a chance?
That depends. What happens if I fail? I wouldn't want other people to suffer because I took that kind of risk, but...
Courage is the magic that turns dreams into reality.
Yeah. Sometimes, it really is worth it.
viii) Do you consider yourself to be an impulsive person?
I've had my moments. Hahaha...
ix) Would you agree that planning things ahead takes the fun out of life?
No, I'd say that it's really important sometimes. If you don't plan ahead, you could get yourself into a lot of trouble where things really matter.
x) Do you like surprises?
Not if they're bad surprises.
xi) Do you sometimes wonder if there is something wrong with you?
...
Not anymore.
xii) Do you consider yourself to be smarter than your superiors, and disagree with their decisions?
No, of course not! Well, I've never really had any superiors before, but if I did I wouldn't just assume I'm smarter than them. And maybe I could disagree, if they wanted me to do bad things, but-that's not going to happen here, is it?
xiii) Lastly, how do you feel about cabbages?
Cabbages? Huh? What does that have to do with this?
Well...they're not exactly my favorite, but they're all right.
ii) Prose sample (can be general or a response to the post's prompt).
When he first arrived, Emil thought of his friends and the people he missed. When he settled in, Emil thought of home and the things he missed.
It wasn't as if he'd been home for a while, he knew. Going back to Luin the other day had made him realize just how long it had been since he'd left the town, and he hadn't really expected to be back another time; he'd been planning to seal himself away at the time, and in the end he'd had to seal the Ginnungagap and take care of the world's mana. Home wasn't an option, nor was it something he'd ever expected to see again until Richter brought up his proposal.
That proposal. Emil sat down on the bed he'd been given, heaving a sigh as he thought of home. It was funny; he'd spent so much time saying goodbye to the world, but once the chance was offered to him again even that wasn't enough. Now that he thought about it, he really did want the chance to go back to Uncle Alba and Aunt Flora and show them he was all right now, and maybe to try rebuilding their relationship this time around. Aunt Flora had said they were waiting for him, after all. Thinking of them, of the human world, of the people he'd come to know over the course of his journey-it had made him happy right before he'd separated himself, because that world was going to be a part of his again if only for a little while.
But he'd landed in the wrong place, and this world was much different from the one he'd intended to go to. That hadn't been Verius's intention, could it? Or his, since it had been his heart Verius had followed.
Maybe he'd just gotten unlucky. That kind of figured. Emil laughed at that thought; it really would be his luck to want to go to one place and get dragged somewhere else entirely! Even now he could just hear Tenebrae making a joke somewhere, something to make him groan.
But even if he was unlucky, he thought, he had to get back. That was the way it went. It didn't matter whether or not nobody knew exactly how to accomplish it, because there had to be some method of getting home. And as long as there was, he'd find it. He didn't have a problem with helping the people here along the way- if they needed the help, there was no way he could just ignore them-but he couldn't live out the rest of his life (or his existence) here either. His friends and his duties lay at home, and he planned to get back to them no matter what happened.
"Right," he said to himself. "I'll find a way home somehow. I have to. I guess first, I'll have to find out more about this world..."
Well, he had free time for the day. No better time to explore than now!