Application ~ gargleblasted
OOC:
Name: Whitney
Are you over 16?: Yep
Personal LJ: iverin
Email: sharkinaditch at geeeeee mail
Timezone: US Central
Other contact: AIM: LadyIverin
Characters already in the game: Hot Pants (Steel Ball Run, a JoJo's alternate timeline), Maribel Hearn (Touhou Project)
How did you find us?: Touhou cast originally, then enabled by Freshy... Oh, look, quietly enabled by Freshy again B-)
IC:
Character name: Narancia Ghirga
Fandom: Jojo's Bizarre Adventure: Vento Aureo (aka Ougon no Kaze, Golden Wind)
Timeline: End of series; rather, after he's killed
Age: 17
~*Magical*~ abilities and strengths: HE HAS A STAND. It's a plane called Aerosmith. It can fly around and shoot bullets and missiles at people, as well as track them by their breathing (CO2 emissions). As per usual, most people can't even see it. 8D Its detection abilities also make it good for recon!
How would they use their abilities?: Self-defense, defense of his friends.
Appearance: Standing at a fabulous five and a half feet tall, Narancia is pretty much the most compact member of Passione. His big, soulful brown eyes are often filled with the threat of mischief and childish mirth. Despite having a difficult life, he's quick to smile around close friends when something good happens. He's never seen without his messy orange headband or a switchblade (or other suitably small knife). There's nothing about him that is overtly threatening until he really gets ready to attack. All of his emotions are plainly evident on his face, a childish manner that sets him apart from the other, more controlled members of Passione.
His Stand takes the form of a multicolored airplane called Aerosmith, and he often has a small visor or sight that hovers over his right eye when it becomes necessary to fight very seriously, or when the target is far away. This device helps him pinpoint the breath of his targets, so he can shoot them; however, Aerosmith is a generally imprecise Stand. He uses both bombs and missiles from it to attack wildly in the area of his target. When he recalls his Stand, it runs along one of his arms like a runway and disappears behind his back.
Background/Personality: As a member of the mafia group Passione, Narancia is a tough guy, at least on the surface. He wasn't always that way, and he wasn't always equipped for the life he ended up living.
When he was ten years old, his mother died of an eye disease. His father's subsequent neglect led Narancia to ditch school, steal food, and basically do whatever he felt like--as long as it wasn't being at home. Seeking a bond with other people, and deciding that friendship was the most important thing to gain, he managed to pick a really awful friend. This friend subsequently talked Narancia into doing something as harmless as bleaching his hair, which wound up making him a suspect for a crime, and before he really knew what was going on, Narancia was in juvenile detention.
During the year he spent there, he acquired an eye injury from repeated beatings that stemmed from him refusing to plead guilty to his charges or to give up any hint of the identity of who might have done it. When he got out, the other boys saw the injury and immediately--to Narancia's surprise--began to say he would infect them all with the same disease that took his mother. This had only been told the the very close friend who had him bleach his hair. For once, putting two and two together, Narancia figured out the source of his incarceration. Discouraged and terrified of dying from the eye infection, he began to wander the streets, eating from trash cans and scrapping for food and clothing. There was hardly a shred of hope left to even be wrung out of him.
This was when Fugo Pannacotta found him. Fugo, taking pity on him as someone around his own age, presented Narancia to Bruno Buccellati, the boss of their small group of the Mafia. Startled by the kindness and care he was given--including hospitalization and treatment for his injury--Narancia asked to join the group. Buccellati scolded him fiercely, telling him to return home and go to school; he did what he was told, but the reaction and words of Buccellati began to form something in his mind. Why had he been treated that way? What was he supposed to do in a place where he wasn't loved, appreciated, or cared for in any way? This new fire of determination that was lit in him by Buccellati's passion led him to the Mafia operative Polpo, whose job it was to find people capable of wielding Stands, and to draw out their power using the Golden Arrow. Now able to be on equal footing with Buccellati and the others, he joined Passione, determined to do his best and be respected by Buccellati--his hero and most admired person. He didn't trust easily, but the loyalty and respect Buccellati had earned for saving his life was enough to make Narancia want to become part of the group with all of his heart.
Perhaps typical of a child who is pulled into a group like Passione after being bullied and tormented, he's quick to anger and threaten, even if it is just posturing. He even pulls a knife on Fugo when he's scolded over incorrect math problems. (Of course, Fugo did stab him with a fork...) If something ticks him off, he lets it be known, and if he doesn't like what someone does, he won't hesitate to punish them in whatever way seems to fit. It isn't cruelty or hate so much as it is meting out proper retaliation for whatever wrong has been done. Oh, and he curses all the time.
He has an impish sense of humor, especially when egged on by his comrades. They form a sort of family unit that he will fiercely defend, so he finds it easy to relax around them and enjoy himself. With the gang members around him, he's generally cheerful (or being a brat), fond of food and music and childish games, and he'll pretty easily hop up to help one of the other members out if they ask. Overall, he is the most childish member of the group, sort of a little brother they adopted, and all of them are happy to let him occasionally run amok--despite his constant reminders that he's older than a few of them. He's quick to claim that he knows how they feel and think, but as the one who wants most desperately to belong with the group and stay with the group, it probably has some measure of truth. Each of them knows how to deal with him in their own way. Among them, Fugo especially fusses over him to the point of--and perhaps with the intention of--being completely obnoxious.
There is a touch of arrogance about him, or rather an inflation of his confidence in situations where he seems uncertain or feels he's worked very hard. He's proud of his incorrect math problems, for instance, though in the end he admits to Fugo that he's wrong and wants to try harder. Still, even Fugo points out (among other people) that Narancia just really isn't that bright sometimes--but he has his moments. His relationship with Fugo seems to be one of mutual antagonism, immediate forgiveness, and brotherly trolling affection. Fugo doesn't mind pushing him around a bit, nor pushing his buttons.
Of course, this also leads him to his first big conflict in the series. Impressionable and easy to persuade, he's sent out as the errand boy to gather requested items for Passione's charge, Trish Una (who, it turns out, is the mafia boss's daughter). He manages to get himself turned around a bit before heading back to the gang's HQ, and is confronted by Formaggio, the first of many assassins sent to try to assassinate Trish. Narancia is enraged by his initial ineffectual attacks and fights back furiously, but isn't much of a match for Formaggio's Stand. When cornered, he steadfastly refuses to betray his friends, the inner strength and loyalty that make him essential to the group shining through. A moment of surprising cleverness and memory recall leads Narancia to victory; he thinks tactically and with a degree of strategy when using his Stand that he hardly shows at any other time. It's still not always the best course, though...
His attachment to the group is easily seen in his reaction when Fugo basically says that he knew Narancia would screw up. The disappointment on Narancia's face, and the real grief he feels at having failed the group by revealing their hideout and task, is almost on the level of heartbreak; he really considers the group his family and best friends, and he cannot ever let them down.
The biggest turning point for Narancia that happens during the course of the manga is when Buccellati is attacked by the mysterious Boss. They had previously believed his intentions to be to meet his daughter, when it was instead to have her killed. Shocked by this, Buccellati announces that he is going to uncover the boss's identity and defeat him. He presents a choice to the group, to follow him and be traitors alongside him, or to stay with the rest of the Mafia, out of harm's way. Narancia is terrified, looking confused and distraught over this choice. Of course, he naturally wants to go with Buccellati, his hero, but he's terrified to go down a path that would almost surely lead to death. He pleads for Buccellati to order him to go, but Buccellati refuses, throwing Narancia into even greater emotional turmoil. It seems impossible for him to make such a life-altering decision so suddenly, and he's so used to following Buccellati's orders without question. Frantic, he watches the boat containing everyone but himself and Fugo pull away from the dock. His decision is finally made, though, when he realizes that he can't abandon his friends--his family--especially not when Trish's own father is leaving her for dead as his own father did. Tearfully, he swims to the boat, screaming that Trish is just like him, proving that little streak of a stalwart nature in his heart to have triumphed over his fears.
Unfortunately, Fugo stays behind, a lone figure on the dock. He and Narancia never meet again.
Soon thereafter, as they travel toward the boss's hideout, Giorno Giovanna (main protagonist of the series, who proved himself so impressive that he seemed to almost take the group lead from Buccellati) is abducted and gravely injured by two Stand users. Here, Narancia shows the ruthlessness of his newly bolstered protective side. One of the Stands causes Narancia to lie to his friends on irresistible impulse, and as he considers a way out of it, he becomes angrier and angrier, desperate and distraught at the fact that he cannot physically stop lying to his friends. When he finally--with the help of Giorno's Stand--sloughs off the effects of the Stand causing him to lie by cutting off his own tongue, the perpetrators are shown no mercy at all. In that scene, he seems almost to be one of the most brutal members of the group. No matter what they do to attack him, Narancia simply stands there, waiting for the right opportunity to kill them both.
Of course, strength and heart balance themselves out in Narancia. One of the integral group members, Leone Abbacchio, is violently killed by the boss's Stand, King Crimson. When Bucellati and Narancia return from scouting the area and find this, Narancia childishly begs someone to help Abbacchio, insisting that he's okay or will be okay. Visibly shaken, his heart is broken when they have to leave him behind; Abbacchio is part of the family they've built, and Narancia can't stand losing a single one of them. The only thing that makes Narancia relent is a reluctant, but firm order from Buccellati to leave the site. After this, he seems a little more apt to panic immediately than to try to think his way out of bad situations.
All the remaining group members travel together to the final showdown in Rome with the boss, revealed to be a man named Diavolo. They meet an ally of an earlier JoJo's protagonist, and in a series of bizarre events, every member of the group has their soul switched with someone else in the area. Giorno and Narancia switch souls, which isn't as dramatic as some of the other ordeals they've been through; they make it work, Narancia scouting the area from up high. Seeing no sign of Diavolo, the group begins to plan what to do and how to push him out of hiding. Assuming the Buccellati and Diavolo have switched bodies, they shoot Buccellati's body once it begins to move.
Time seems to stop. They speculate, for just a moment, that Diavolo's Stand has attacked.
Turning, Buccellati (in Diavolo's body), sees a fallen ladybug emblem from Giorno's suit and a stream of blood running down the wall. Narancia, in Giorno's body, has been thrust onto a broken gate by Diavolo's attack, its metal posts piercing his torso and arms. The group can do nothing but stare in horror as Giorno's Stand merely brings Narancia's body back to life, rather than healing him as it usually would. They switch back as he succumbs to the wounds he'd received, bringing the entire group to tears. As they head into the final battle, Giorno uses his Stand to sprout beautiful vines and flowers to conceal Narancia's body, vowing to take him back to his home after everything is over.
Have you read up on how the game works?: Flaming ferret; making money by working, mooching, stealing, accepting donations for his awesomeness
1st person sample:
[The feed starts off upside down, but the boy quickly turns it over, looking a little annoyed with it.]
There's just one thing I want to know. It's annoying, right?
...Why am I in the class with little kids? I'm seriously... [Yes, there's actually a pause while he counts...] I'm seriously six years older than them! It's annoying! I don't want to babysit a bunch of kids while I'm trying to learn this stuff so Fugo won't be a jerk... Can't I just have somebody tutor me?
Whoa, hey, wait. Don't show this to him. I mean it! I'm studying, it's just... They're little kids! It's hard...
[He glances to the left, and then to the right... Okay, no one's looking... And he whispers:]
Somebody help me learn this, already...
3rd person sample:
The boy leaning precariously into the dolphin pool seemed normal enough, though perhaps a bit tall for his age. Most people around might have seen him in the elementary school classes, scrunching his brow and tugging at his hair in frustration at times tables and long division. As he righted himself, laughing and pointing at one of the dolphins, it became clear that he was well over the age of elementary school--perhaps fifteen at best by visual reckoning.
Instead, and unknown to everyone around him, the boy laughing so heartily at the ship's most famous and intelligent residents was 17-year old Narancia Ghirga, a boy with remarkable powers that hardly anyone on the Thor could even know existed. Stepping back from the tank, he adjusted his headband and glanced around, as if looking for someone. If watched, it became clear that he was waiting for a meeting of some sort, or the arrival of a date.
Eventually, after several minutes of wandering around, peeking around bulkheads, and generally cursing a little more loudly than strictly necessary, Narancia sat down on the edge of the dolphins' habitat. Once again, he leaned over the tank, seemingly trying to talk to one of them.
"Huh? You're just saying stupid nonsense crap. I can't understand anything!" He dug his finger into his ear and poked far harder than necessary, trying to dislodge or otherwise con the Babelfish into working with the mischievous dolphin he'd acquainted himself with.
And then, out of nowhere, a strange boy in light clothing appeared, giving Narancia a gentle nudge into the water.
Questions?: When is Ant getting in my cast? I mean, let's talk about this, bro... NAW I'M KIDDING, but you should JOIN USSSSS.
Did you put your characters name and fandom in the subject: I REFUSE!