iyashikei application

[heroicdream]

Player Information

Player Name: Zoki
Pronouns: she/her
Age: well over 18
Preferred Means of Contact: kharamagic, kharamagica @ discord, or PM here
Invitation: Current player
Other Characters In Game: Seto Kaiba
Do you have any plans for this character in the game? Zack is well-suited to the whole kindness thing, and it definitely beats being dead, so he's game to play along and make friends! He's going to do his best to encourage other people...and probably needs a *bit* of therapy for the trauma he's repressing.

Character Information

Character's Full Name: Zack Fair
Character's Pronouns: he/him
Character's Canon: Final Fantasy VII
Character's Canon Point: post final stand - end of Crisis Core
Character's Age: 23
Did your character willingly come to Iyashikei? If yes, why? Yes. He was about to die, and...well. He strives to be kind, it was his main goal as a hero, so if he can get away from death for a bit and do what he wanted to do? That's good with him.
Will they need any special accommodations upon arrival? Immediate hospital stay because he's pretty close to dead with all those bullet holes tbh

Character's History: Here

Character's Personality:

Questions:

1. Tell us about who your character is and what someone’s first impression would be upon meeting them. How would your character act once someone got to know them?

Zack initially appears to be an intimidating figure (6'1"/185cm), stocky and muscular build). Normally he'd be carrying an impossibly large sword, but it's been entrusted to someone special...so his shadow is a little less imposing than it used to be. There's a distinct X-shaped scar on his cheek and his eyes glow a strange unnatural blue-green. Another character might get the impression that he's a hardened warrior (and that's sort of true!), but Zack usually greets people with a wide smile to dispel the illusion.

There's a reason his seniors in SOLDIER used to call him 'Zack the puppy'. He's served in a military with reclusive men for many years, and he's an extrovert that headbutts against their emotional walls, asks them what's wrong, and bugs them to tell him how he can help. He greets people with a smile unless he has a good reason not to, and his friendliness can sometimes seep into flirtiness when talking to attractive people close to his age. (He had a girlfriend he loves very much, but, uh, he died on her?)

Once Zack bonds with someone, he is unerringly loyal. He will assist them at great cost to himself, he'll show great interest in what they're doing and follow them into any activity to support them (heck yeah we're picking flowers), and he'll talk their ear off possibly past the point of annoyance. He loves to spend time with his people, and any day he can escape the battle and be with his loved ones is a good day.

2. What is something unique and interesting about them, or what is a fun little tidbit that sets them apart from the crowd?

Zack is eager to tell everyone he can about the benefits of squats as exercise. It's a common exercise in SOLDIER training, it's a nervous tic for him when he has excessive energy to unleash, it's his go-to for keeping warm in cold environments, and it's his favorite leisure activity on the beach. Not sunbathing, not swimming, not beach volleyball, not talking to pretty girls...no, he wants to do squats.

It might have a benefit for his physique as well, but he's so into exercise as a release of endorphins that that part doesn't even register to him. He'll encourage anyone who's worried about their endurance or posture to join him in squatting---apologies in advance for anyone who gets roped in.

3. What does your character think their flaws are? What do they think their strengths are? What are their actual flaws and strengths? (cw: references to unethical experiments/torture)

Zack would tell you that he's a little forgetful, that he's not as strong as he needs to be to be a real hero, and that he's put trust in the wrong people too many times lately. He'd say his strengths are his adaptability, willingness to do the grunt work to help the team, and loyalty to his friends and loved ones.

His self-assessment is largely accurate, but he's missing a few key details:

The biggest flaw he hasn't acknowledged is that he's hiding behind his usual sunny personality to repress his trauma. He's recently spent four years imprisoned in a mad scientist's lab, being treated like an animal and watching helplessly as his more vulnerable friend was tortured. He escaped with Cloud and fought for months to keep him alive, too focused on desperate survival to process what happened.

He's spent the last few months telling himself that he needs to be Cloud's hero at any cost. Heroes don't cry, heroes don't have nightmares...heroes can't afford to break if they're fighting against the world alone. Once he's not running anymore, he might be headed for a breakdown (don't worry, Sephiroth knows all this and will haul his butt to therapy).

His biggest strength is that he excels at bringing hope to people. He encourages downtrodden allies, offers to help whenever he can, and earnestly believes in the people he cares about. He's too stubborn to give up or let his friends do the same: no matter the odds, if there's a chance, he's going to fight for them to live free and happy lives. Even after losing faith in the military he worked for, and in many of his superiors and former allies, he's never lost faith in people as a whole.

4. What is a common misconception other characters have about your character?

It's commonly believed that Zack is stupid. It's a fair assumption, given that he spends most of his time playing catch-up to his seniors and is locked out of the loop about most of Shinra's darker dealings, but it's not quite true. He's earnest, and he was naive about the nature of the beast he worked for for far too long, but he's exceptionally good at reading people. The default personality he projects is cocky and a bit too bright...but he can pick up on people's insecurities and handle those topics with more care.

Essentially, in DnD terms, his skill points went into charisma, not intelligence. SOLDIER has plenty of shrewd strategists (most famously Sephiroth), but they really need Zack for PR and to keep them in check. He's the one they send out to comfort crying children, to get witness testimony, or to inspire new recruits. Embrace your dreams...and whatever happens, protect your honor as SOLDIER.

Character Abilities: Zack has undergone the standard SOLDIER treatment, a process through which strong and mentally resilient young men are injected with the Planet's life energy to give them superhuman strength and endurance.

At home he normally wields the Buster Sword, a broad heavy weapon that's nearly the size of his body. That sword belongs to Cloud now, but he'll likely purchase one of his own: in the meantime, he has standard hand to hand training: not an expert, but enough to escape a simple attack.

In his world, magical spells are powered by small crystals called Materia: if a person has a Materia equipped and sufficient mana reserves, they can cast the spell within. Zack lost most of his materia when he passed his sword on to Cloud, but he has two that were slotted in his armor:

-Cure, a basic healing spell that closes wounds
-Blizzard, a basic spell that drops a large ball of ice on the target

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Any comments or questions you would like us to know? A funny meme is also welcome!