Application to Mayfield_RPG
Name: James
Personal LJ: truebluehorror
Contact Info: AIM - nathander2007
Other Characters Played: Pokey Minch, The Major, Old Gregg, Wilhelm
Preferred Housing: N/A
Character Name: Joshua "Rittz" Tibbits
Character Series: Boxer Hockey
Character Age: Not specified in canon, but he appears to be in his early to mid 20s.
Background:
The world of Boxer Hockey isn't too different from our own. The main difference is the titular sport. Boxer Hockey is a physical-contact heavy sport where violence, as long as it doesn't result in death (from what can be told so far), is encouraged, and players may only wear their boxers during play. It plays like a mixture of football, soccer, and hockey, with scoring being based around hitting a genetically enhanced frog into the other teams' goal. There's more detailed versions of the rules, but that's essentially the gist of it. Either way, Boxer Hockey is the leading sport in the world, and being a star in it is the dream of several young boys.
Needless to say, this wasn't young Rittz' dream. In fact, during his childhood, Rittz was a relatively miserable child. Overweight, socially awkward, and a latchkey kid, Rittz was a prime target for teasing and being taken advantage of by the other kids in his school. For his part, Rittz would give in to any requests asked of him by the other kids, such as one group of kids asking for his lunch while promising to treat him better in return. Of course, the kids intended to continue to treat him poorly regardless, despite the fact that Rittz' mother had just died (at this point, evidence points to her having died of cancer), further illuminating just how miserable Rittz' life was. His mother recently dead, his father detached, and having no friends, Rittz was all alone.
Until the day his lunch was stolen. Another child in his class, Skip Matthews, had been watching the incident and proceeded to follow and beat up the child who had taken Rittz lunch and returned it (sort of; Skip ended up eating the lunch, which was a bag of donuts, and replacing it with an apple). When Rittz asked Skip why he did it, Skip originally denied having gotten it back, and rather told Rittz Superman had gotten it back and then had to leave. Eventually, Skip admitted that he was Superman (and, in fact, had a Superman logo shirt underneath his regular shirt to emphasize the point). Skip had helped Rittz because, like him, he didn't have any friends and didn't want to see Rittz getting picked on. For the first time ever, it seemed Rittz had a friend.
And then Skip ended up tricking Rittz into helping him steal comics and candy from a convenience store under the pretense of "playing a game". The fact that he had both been tricked and had aided in theft hit Rittz' conscious, and he soon left Skip behind to go back home, intending to avoid Skip as much as he could. This wouldn't work particularly well, as Skip would follow Rittz to Rittz' mother's funeral the next day. Joining the congregation for the funeral, Skip confronted Rittz as to what he had done wrong, not understanding (or ignoring) what was clearly wrong with his actions and asking whether Rittz was just going to ignore him because he was bad. Rittz responded that he didn't think Skip was bad, but that the things he did were bad, and that he wanted to be his friend otherwise. Pondering, Skip told Rittz he'd try and do fewer bad things, but needed Rittz to be his friend in order to do it. Rittz, happy to hear this, agreed.
Little is known after this point and Rittz's adulthood. Skip and Rittz remained friends from grade school to adulthood, and much of what Rittz did seemed to have been either following Skip or attempting to get his approval. This included going on to join a Boxer Hockey team in highschool, and later going on to join his the Alabama Mechanical Penguins (or MecPens) as one of its runners along with Skip. The team would, recently, take the national championship away from New York and would go on to the international Boxer Hockey semi-finals against Japan (which they won, although Rittz ended up getting his tooth knocked out during the game) and against Australia in the finals (which they lost).
Since then, the Rittz and the team have returned home to relax and (attempt) to enjoy the off season. Unfortunately, this has been somewhat difficult as Rittz was recently attacked by the Japanese teams lead runner at home, who intended to make Rittz a "message" to Skip, claiming Skip had wronged him and that he had paid Skip off to throw the game and wanted revenge for being cheated. Rittz ended up being saved by a combination of good timing/luck with his teammate Billy having been in the area and noticed the Japanese team leader breaking into the house, and Rittz' own (surprising) capabilities as a fighter.
It's from this point in the story, shortly after the attack, that Rittz will be coming in.
Personality:
Considering he's a star in a sport known for incredible, excessive violence, saying there's something wrong with Rittz is an understatement.
At first glance, Rittz appears to be a friendly, if dull-witted, young man. Rittz actions are of one eager to please and make people happy, most often by doing things that he at least finds silly. More often than not, these things are annoying, such as making faces and telling either absurd (or unintentionally offensive) jokes, whose point even he fails to catch at times. Unlike the rest of the members of his team, he very rarely resorts to profanity, and he seems to be more outgoing or willing to talk to other people. Indeed, his general good disposition makes it seem odd that he's chosen the profession he has, considering the general need for violence that Boxer Hockey requires, and the fact that Rittz very rarely displays violent tendencies. He seems unsuited to his profession at most times, both due to his good nature and his tendency to space out, resulting in other players getting by him/hitting him. He's also shown to be physically clumsy a great deal of the time, as demonstrated by one instance where he managed to somehow bind his hands with the chain of his necklace.
Coupled with this friendliness is an incredible dullness. Rittz appears to not only lack general common sense, but any real idea of social propriety or acceptable behavior in general. Rittz tends to blurt out the very first thing that comes to mind, whether he means to or not, and fails to often recognize how awkward some of the things he says due to this can be. He doesn't really understand how to interact with most people, and despite his best attempts to deal well with social situations, he more often than not falls on his face entirely. It also doesn't help that Rittz appears to be incredibly detached from common knowledge, almost surreally so, to the point where even he doesn't know the meaning of some of the things he says. The best example of this is in regards to the goalie for his team, Charlie, who Skip and Rittz nicknamed Gay Chuck. In a later exchange, Rittz admits to not knowing what the word "gay" means, and has to have two increasingly detailed explanations given to him (at first being told it means you like guys, and then having it emphasized that it meant you were attracted to guys) before he got it. He is, in many ways, a man-child, copying those he hears in an attempt to fit in with them during social contact, or otherwise flailing about in an attempt to communicate with others and generally failing due to how awkward he is and the fact that he doesn't seem to possess knowledge about several simple concepts.
A big part of his social awkwardness most likely stems from the fact that Rittz has a very dependent personality. When he was a child, he displayed this with his mother, who gave him the nickname Rittz because she thought his actual name, Joshua, was a stupid name. It's worth noting that Rittz states that he thinks the name used to be the name of one of his mother's dogs, further emphasizing the dependency issue Rittz has. When his mother died and his father became increasingly detached from him, Rittz's dependency changed to his best, and only, friend Skip Matthews. Rittz is loyal and adoring towards Skip in a way that seems almost (although not entirely) blind to Skips' numerous faults. It's shown that Rittz can barely stand to be apart from Skip. The two of them share a house, and in one scene where Skip is going on a date, Skip has to trick Rittz into letting him leave the house (and Rittz later mentions he still hasn't "fully forgiven him for leaving me". A great deal of Rittz behavior is, in fact, aimed at pleasing Skip, and despite his friendly demeanor, Rittz often expresses distrust of other people or at least a tendency to judge others easily when they aren't Skip. This most likely stems as a combination from the poor treatment he received as a child from everyone who wasn't Skip and from Rittz's severe detachment from reality and social norms as everyone else sees them. It also doesn't help that Rittz often parrots Skip's opinions and beliefs, or at least the ones he views, and this also plays a part in Rittz's willingness to brush off most other people. In the end, Rittz needs an anchor, and when his current one is gone he'll replace it with the first viable substitute that shows up. Which is, of course, the first person that can show him some decency.
Rittz also appears to have quite a few image issues. Having been obese when he was younger, and tormented for being such, Rittz tries to take care of his body and image as best he can. This, in turn, leads to him being very sensitive about his appearance. During one sequence, he bothered and harassed Skip about whether he was ugly or not until Skip finally responded. While not a massive part of who he is, Rittz does desire to be seen positively by other people due in part to how negatively he was viewed through much of his young life. This may have been another reason (as well as emulation of Skip) that he chose to become a Boxer Hockey player; considering Boxer Hockey is the predominant sport in the world, being a superstar at it would certainly give people a better impression of him.
Despite the fact that he seems generally aloof and friendly, Rittz is a member of an international star team in a sport that emphasizes violence. And while he rarely shows it, Rittz does have a skill for it. He doesn't seem to crave violence (though, to be fair, relatively few of the actual players seem to out and out love the violent aspect of the game), but he does have a propensity for it. And like most of the things Rittz does in life, it's generally unthinking. That isn't to say he would ever just randomly hurt some one, but when put in a situation where violence might be necessary (like a fight) or on the actual field during a game, Rittz lets his reflexes take over. And he's quite good at being violent when it calls for it, friendly guy or not.
Abilities:
While he doesn't have anything that could be considered magic or supernatural, Rittz is very physically talented due to his profession. He's predominantly agile, most likely being the quickest of the three fielders on his team and thus the one most often expected to get the frog to the other goal, as well as possessing a fairly high level of endurance and pain threshold. He's also a surprisingly competent fighter and can hold his own in one if he doesn't happen to be spacing out at the moment. Needless to say, he more often than not is spacing out, and his use as a fighter limited due to such.
Sample Entry:
[Phone]
Hey! Hey did you guys know that Communists are red? I didn't know that, but I guess that's how you're supposed to tell them apart! Really, it ought to be pretty easy to go and catch them so we can get out of here, cause all we have to do is look for red people. It can't be that hard to spot them, because you could still see their faces and hands even if they're wearing clothes. Unless they had masks and gloves on.
Which is even more suspicious. You should never trust a guy with a mask. Unless it's Batman. Or one of the Robins I guess. But most guys with masks? Uh uh. You can't trust 'em.
Personal LJ: truebluehorror
Contact Info: AIM - nathander2007
Other Characters Played: Pokey Minch, The Major, Old Gregg, Wilhelm
Preferred Housing: N/A
Character Name: Joshua "Rittz" Tibbits
Character Series: Boxer Hockey
Character Age: Not specified in canon, but he appears to be in his early to mid 20s.
Background:
The world of Boxer Hockey isn't too different from our own. The main difference is the titular sport. Boxer Hockey is a physical-contact heavy sport where violence, as long as it doesn't result in death (from what can be told so far), is encouraged, and players may only wear their boxers during play. It plays like a mixture of football, soccer, and hockey, with scoring being based around hitting a genetically enhanced frog into the other teams' goal. There's more detailed versions of the rules, but that's essentially the gist of it. Either way, Boxer Hockey is the leading sport in the world, and being a star in it is the dream of several young boys.
Needless to say, this wasn't young Rittz' dream. In fact, during his childhood, Rittz was a relatively miserable child. Overweight, socially awkward, and a latchkey kid, Rittz was a prime target for teasing and being taken advantage of by the other kids in his school. For his part, Rittz would give in to any requests asked of him by the other kids, such as one group of kids asking for his lunch while promising to treat him better in return. Of course, the kids intended to continue to treat him poorly regardless, despite the fact that Rittz' mother had just died (at this point, evidence points to her having died of cancer), further illuminating just how miserable Rittz' life was. His mother recently dead, his father detached, and having no friends, Rittz was all alone.
Until the day his lunch was stolen. Another child in his class, Skip Matthews, had been watching the incident and proceeded to follow and beat up the child who had taken Rittz lunch and returned it (sort of; Skip ended up eating the lunch, which was a bag of donuts, and replacing it with an apple). When Rittz asked Skip why he did it, Skip originally denied having gotten it back, and rather told Rittz Superman had gotten it back and then had to leave. Eventually, Skip admitted that he was Superman (and, in fact, had a Superman logo shirt underneath his regular shirt to emphasize the point). Skip had helped Rittz because, like him, he didn't have any friends and didn't want to see Rittz getting picked on. For the first time ever, it seemed Rittz had a friend.
And then Skip ended up tricking Rittz into helping him steal comics and candy from a convenience store under the pretense of "playing a game". The fact that he had both been tricked and had aided in theft hit Rittz' conscious, and he soon left Skip behind to go back home, intending to avoid Skip as much as he could. This wouldn't work particularly well, as Skip would follow Rittz to Rittz' mother's funeral the next day. Joining the congregation for the funeral, Skip confronted Rittz as to what he had done wrong, not understanding (or ignoring) what was clearly wrong with his actions and asking whether Rittz was just going to ignore him because he was bad. Rittz responded that he didn't think Skip was bad, but that the things he did were bad, and that he wanted to be his friend otherwise. Pondering, Skip told Rittz he'd try and do fewer bad things, but needed Rittz to be his friend in order to do it. Rittz, happy to hear this, agreed.
Little is known after this point and Rittz's adulthood. Skip and Rittz remained friends from grade school to adulthood, and much of what Rittz did seemed to have been either following Skip or attempting to get his approval. This included going on to join a Boxer Hockey team in highschool, and later going on to join his the Alabama Mechanical Penguins (or MecPens) as one of its runners along with Skip. The team would, recently, take the national championship away from New York and would go on to the international Boxer Hockey semi-finals against Japan (which they won, although Rittz ended up getting his tooth knocked out during the game) and against Australia in the finals (which they lost).
Since then, the Rittz and the team have returned home to relax and (attempt) to enjoy the off season. Unfortunately, this has been somewhat difficult as Rittz was recently attacked by the Japanese teams lead runner at home, who intended to make Rittz a "message" to Skip, claiming Skip had wronged him and that he had paid Skip off to throw the game and wanted revenge for being cheated. Rittz ended up being saved by a combination of good timing/luck with his teammate Billy having been in the area and noticed the Japanese team leader breaking into the house, and Rittz' own (surprising) capabilities as a fighter.
It's from this point in the story, shortly after the attack, that Rittz will be coming in.
Personality:
Considering he's a star in a sport known for incredible, excessive violence, saying there's something wrong with Rittz is an understatement.
At first glance, Rittz appears to be a friendly, if dull-witted, young man. Rittz actions are of one eager to please and make people happy, most often by doing things that he at least finds silly. More often than not, these things are annoying, such as making faces and telling either absurd (or unintentionally offensive) jokes, whose point even he fails to catch at times. Unlike the rest of the members of his team, he very rarely resorts to profanity, and he seems to be more outgoing or willing to talk to other people. Indeed, his general good disposition makes it seem odd that he's chosen the profession he has, considering the general need for violence that Boxer Hockey requires, and the fact that Rittz very rarely displays violent tendencies. He seems unsuited to his profession at most times, both due to his good nature and his tendency to space out, resulting in other players getting by him/hitting him. He's also shown to be physically clumsy a great deal of the time, as demonstrated by one instance where he managed to somehow bind his hands with the chain of his necklace.
Coupled with this friendliness is an incredible dullness. Rittz appears to not only lack general common sense, but any real idea of social propriety or acceptable behavior in general. Rittz tends to blurt out the very first thing that comes to mind, whether he means to or not, and fails to often recognize how awkward some of the things he says due to this can be. He doesn't really understand how to interact with most people, and despite his best attempts to deal well with social situations, he more often than not falls on his face entirely. It also doesn't help that Rittz appears to be incredibly detached from common knowledge, almost surreally so, to the point where even he doesn't know the meaning of some of the things he says. The best example of this is in regards to the goalie for his team, Charlie, who Skip and Rittz nicknamed Gay Chuck. In a later exchange, Rittz admits to not knowing what the word "gay" means, and has to have two increasingly detailed explanations given to him (at first being told it means you like guys, and then having it emphasized that it meant you were attracted to guys) before he got it. He is, in many ways, a man-child, copying those he hears in an attempt to fit in with them during social contact, or otherwise flailing about in an attempt to communicate with others and generally failing due to how awkward he is and the fact that he doesn't seem to possess knowledge about several simple concepts.
A big part of his social awkwardness most likely stems from the fact that Rittz has a very dependent personality. When he was a child, he displayed this with his mother, who gave him the nickname Rittz because she thought his actual name, Joshua, was a stupid name. It's worth noting that Rittz states that he thinks the name used to be the name of one of his mother's dogs, further emphasizing the dependency issue Rittz has. When his mother died and his father became increasingly detached from him, Rittz's dependency changed to his best, and only, friend Skip Matthews. Rittz is loyal and adoring towards Skip in a way that seems almost (although not entirely) blind to Skips' numerous faults. It's shown that Rittz can barely stand to be apart from Skip. The two of them share a house, and in one scene where Skip is going on a date, Skip has to trick Rittz into letting him leave the house (and Rittz later mentions he still hasn't "fully forgiven him for leaving me". A great deal of Rittz behavior is, in fact, aimed at pleasing Skip, and despite his friendly demeanor, Rittz often expresses distrust of other people or at least a tendency to judge others easily when they aren't Skip. This most likely stems as a combination from the poor treatment he received as a child from everyone who wasn't Skip and from Rittz's severe detachment from reality and social norms as everyone else sees them. It also doesn't help that Rittz often parrots Skip's opinions and beliefs, or at least the ones he views, and this also plays a part in Rittz's willingness to brush off most other people. In the end, Rittz needs an anchor, and when his current one is gone he'll replace it with the first viable substitute that shows up. Which is, of course, the first person that can show him some decency.
Rittz also appears to have quite a few image issues. Having been obese when he was younger, and tormented for being such, Rittz tries to take care of his body and image as best he can. This, in turn, leads to him being very sensitive about his appearance. During one sequence, he bothered and harassed Skip about whether he was ugly or not until Skip finally responded. While not a massive part of who he is, Rittz does desire to be seen positively by other people due in part to how negatively he was viewed through much of his young life. This may have been another reason (as well as emulation of Skip) that he chose to become a Boxer Hockey player; considering Boxer Hockey is the predominant sport in the world, being a superstar at it would certainly give people a better impression of him.
Despite the fact that he seems generally aloof and friendly, Rittz is a member of an international star team in a sport that emphasizes violence. And while he rarely shows it, Rittz does have a skill for it. He doesn't seem to crave violence (though, to be fair, relatively few of the actual players seem to out and out love the violent aspect of the game), but he does have a propensity for it. And like most of the things Rittz does in life, it's generally unthinking. That isn't to say he would ever just randomly hurt some one, but when put in a situation where violence might be necessary (like a fight) or on the actual field during a game, Rittz lets his reflexes take over. And he's quite good at being violent when it calls for it, friendly guy or not.
Abilities:
While he doesn't have anything that could be considered magic or supernatural, Rittz is very physically talented due to his profession. He's predominantly agile, most likely being the quickest of the three fielders on his team and thus the one most often expected to get the frog to the other goal, as well as possessing a fairly high level of endurance and pain threshold. He's also a surprisingly competent fighter and can hold his own in one if he doesn't happen to be spacing out at the moment. Needless to say, he more often than not is spacing out, and his use as a fighter limited due to such.
Sample Entry:
[Phone]
Hey! Hey did you guys know that Communists are red? I didn't know that, but I guess that's how you're supposed to tell them apart! Really, it ought to be pretty easy to go and catch them so we can get out of here, cause all we have to do is look for red people. It can't be that hard to spot them, because you could still see their faces and hands even if they're wearing clothes. Unless they had masks and gloves on.
Which is even more suspicious. You should never trust a guy with a mask. Unless it's Batman. Or one of the Robins I guess. But most guys with masks? Uh uh. You can't trust 'em.