Application for Diatu
Jul. 20th, 2021 01:13 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
ronstadtPlayer
Name: Hazel
Contact: PM or![[plurk.com profile]](https://plurk.com/favicon.ico)
hopepunk
18+? Yes
Other Character: N/A
Character
Name: Ronstadt
Canon: Ronstadt (we got ourselves a protag here)
Canon point: S1E4: Hanging On The Telephone, at the end of the episode.
Age: Canon isn't clear, but I'd put him in his mid-to-late 20s.
History:
When we meet Ronstadt, he's working at a banana split stand in a farm town in the middle of nowhere, happy with his lot in life, working for and possibly living with an elderly woman he knows only as Nana. Unfortunately, in the middle of a shift, he suddenly develops a strange condition: a sensation that feels like "his blood is buzzing, replaced with mouthwash: and not the cheap kind either, we're talking industrial strength". The sensation fades, but the attacks start happening more and more, until Nana becomes concerned. Not wanting to scare her, Ronstadt bolts, and spends the next four months homeless, traveling to urgent cares, psychiatrists, and shamans to try and find out what is wrong with him. Around this time, he starts hearing a voice in his head: a Rastafarian he dubs HeadVox, who has no answers, just constant commentary like a robot out of Mystery Science Theater 3000. No one has a diagnosis or explanation, so poor stressed-out, broke, traumatized Ronstadt eventually winds up in Los Angeles, where he gets a job at an occult bookstore, hoping to find his answers in the pages of the books he sells.
A few months into his job, Ronstadt is sitting in the window of his hotel room when he sees a woman in a bathrobe step up onto the side of the building and start walking up it "like she's got velcro on her feet". When she passes the window, Ronstadt sees that she's undead ... this is the beginning of his powers truly manifesting. He begins to be able to see another side of reality: monsters, creatures, strange phenomena that seem to be invisible to everyone but him. He dubs the power his "craydar", but can't figure out quite how to put it to use. Eventually, he's fired from the occult bookstore for telling people not to buy the books because everything is bogus. He doesn't know HOW he knows the books are full of libel, but ... somehow, he's extremely certain. The bartender at his favorite watering hole, the Hula Shaker, tells him to 'go big' and be the psychic analyst to the stars, but Ronstadt admits he doesn't have that much ambition. He just knows there's someplace he's supposed to belong.
After a year in Los Angeles, he finally finds that place, through intuition and a crazy hunch: the Koreatown 911 Dispatch, where he's given a job answering what his boss (Timothy Oliver O'Leary, aka "Tool") considers crank calls. His office is a defunct elevator at the back of the dispatch floor, and he's given a neon pink phone as a sign that his job is considered nothing but a joke. Ronstadt takes call after call from people trying to report weird phenomena, and soon categorizes them: Bone Calls (bogus from people on too many pills or not enough), Dick Dialers (practical jokers), Daydream Believers (people who are so desperate to believe in the supernatural that they make things up), and Leshit Calls (ones he's not sure are legit or just plain full of shit). Not once has he had a Real Call about something that his craydar would verify ... until the night he meets the new 911 dispatcher, Estevez. Ronstadt and 'Vez hit it off during a break, and 'Vez takes a genuine interest in what he does, wishing he would get a real call as well. Toward the end of his shift, Ronstadt gets a call from a little girl who says she is being attacked by a shadow creature. His craydar goes off, and immediately, somehow, he knows what it is called - a Vile Lurk - and how to stop it. He guides the little girl through the call, and 'Vez triumphantly proclaims that Ronstadt has a superpower.
The next day, Ronstadt tries to hit on a girl in the subway, but is interrupted by the sight of a strange creature. Mystified, all he can say to her is "duuuuuuh", and by the time he comes to, she's gone. Luckily, it turns out that girl is the drummer in a band that 'Vez is friends with, and when he invites Ronstadt to go to a show, the two hit it off. The drummer, Faye, tells Ronstadt she wants to see him again, and he leaves on cloud nine. Unfortunately, a witch named Hattie Honeybutter saw him in the subway, too, and she corners him outside the Hula Shaker, looking for answers as to who he is and what he wants. When Ronstadt tells her he doesn't know anything and doesn't want anything, Hattie is stunned by his lack of knowledge and self-awareness, and takes him under her wing. She tells him that the things he has been seeing and hearing are collectively referred to as Side B: another dimension of the real world, hidden except to those gifted with magical power that lives directly in their bones. Magic is becoming scarce on Side B, she tells him, and there are several dangerous creatures and groups of magic-users trying to harvest it for their own gain. Hattie takes Ronstadt for a Side B tour of Los Angeles, and gives him a series of videotapes made by a famous witch that will help him study up on all the creatures and concepts he's discovering.
On his next date with Faye, he brings a VHS player along with the tapes, knowing that she'll find them a total hoot ... unfortunately, Faye can't see the footage Ronstadt is capable of watching, only static. They pass the night listening to music instead, and share their first kiss. Even happier than he was before, Ronstadt is on his way home when he sees a terrifying omen: a woman flying a disemboweled man through the sky like a kite. Remembering Hattie's warning, he flees, and hides in his apartment for about a week, only coming out to go to his job.
Concerned by Ronstadt's hermit-like tendencies, 'Vez invites him to a party at his family's house. Faye comes along, and after a brief encounter with Vez's Aunt Tina - who vaguely hints that she, too, can see Side B and sense Ronstadt's power - the three friends go into 'Vez's workshop, where he shows off his metal sculptures. 'Vez sets Ronstadt and Faye up like a pro wingman, then disappears to "help his family unload more food". Faye asks Ronstadt about his childhood ... and becomes severely disturbed when she realizes every single memory he's sharing is from something in popular culture. She insists he come back with her to her apartment to show him something, then pulls up clips from all his memories on YouTube. Home Alone, The Breakfast Club, Karate Kid, Teen Wolf, a 90s toothpaste commercial ... the entire life he thought he had up until the onset of his powers was fake.
Ronstadt goes home and calls Hattie with a distraught SOS. She shows up and takes him for a drive, telling him that magic is passed down from generation to generation, and his parents were likely just trying to protect him. She asks if he watched the videotapes, and when he says he did, she decides it's time for a test. Hattie takes out a three-ring binder - her family's spellbook, passed down through generations - and tells him to try a simple light-effect spell called Sparkle Party. It's meant to just create a few twinkling fairy lights for atmospheric purposes. As he calls up his power on purpose for the first time, Ronstadt falls into a trance and has a vision of what he realizes was his real life. He looks different, somehow, and he's fighting a stranger who tells him 'no one is ever really out'. When he comes back to himself, he realizes he's cast Sparkle Party ... but on a massive scale. The sky above him is filled with lights to rival the Aurora Borealis. He's thrilled, awed, pumped full of adrenaline ... but Hattie looks terrified. He turns to ask why she's not smiling ... and that's his canon point. Welcome to the wonderful world of Ronstadt episode cliffhangers!
CRAU History: N/A
Personality:
Always Keep In Mind: His complete lack of self-knowledge. Everything he had been assuming he was true about himself is a flat-out lie, and he has no idea what his real history is. No idea where his powers come from. He's flying blind and by the seat of his pants ... and before he had his 911 job he was barely clinging to the will to live. He feels like he needs to have a purpose in life, and maybe his magic is it - if it doesn't get him killed first.
Samples
Log Sample: Bakerstreet Otherworldly Meme. Also, if you need TDM Links: Top Level & Harry Potter & Crowley & Roisin Murphy
Questions: Write an IC answer to the following questions:
What do you want to study at Diatu Magicademy? Look, I've had this craydar and these crazy symptoms for almost a year and a half, now, and I'm not much closer to understanding 'em than I was when they first started. All I know is, I tried a spell that's supposed to be party atmosphere and I lit the sky up like the Northern Lights. Apparently that ain't supposed to happen. I'm scaring my friends. I could really hurt 'em if I'm not careful. I gotta get this under control. I don't know how I got here, but this is ... actually some really good timing.
If you knew you could go back to the moment you left, would you leave immediately or continue your studies for a while? Honestly, it'd depend. I'd want to learn, but ... I want to make sure the people I care about would be safe while I did. Hattie can handle herself, but ... I'd worry about 'Vez. And Faye. Especially Faye.
If your enemy was at Diatu Magicademy, how would you react? I'd probably run to the headmaster and tell her to break out the big guns. A Shadowmancer isn't anything I'm ready to mess with on my own.
When is it acceptable to resolve a dispute by force? I got no idea. I'd rather not hurt anyone unless I have to, but if it's the only way to keep someone safe, I guess I'd say ... only when it's my only option. I'd rather trick somebody or scare 'em off.
What should the supreme goal of any wizard be? Easy: knowledge and self-control. Havin' a crap-ton of power is doing me absolutely bupkis without knowing how to use it without melting someone's face off or getting myself killed. I've been doin' nothin' but lookin' for answers since all this freaky stuff started.
Special Considerations
Your Special Something: An Item of Power please!
Rank Your House Choice: 1st: Valhudor. 2nd: Aer et Calculum. 3rd: Gekronus Maius - though it's a far, far third and he wouldn't get along well with all the snobs.
Items:
Any of the following could appear... His pink 911 touchtone phone, nicknamed "Barbie". A gold medallion with a large, costume-jewelry sized red stone. A VCR. Copies of a tabloid called The Weekly Whisper. A signed poster for a punk band called Dot Polka. A set of 11 VHS tapes with blank labels. A hand-welded dagger with protective runes burned into it. A flask, also etched with protective runes (the potion inside can create a double of the drinker - up to mods if it remains usable). Matchbook from a tiki bar called The Hula Shaker.
Anything Else: As part of Ronstadt's powers, he has a voice in his head which he calls HeadVox: a disembodied presence that sounds like a stereotypical Rastafarian. He doesn't depart any NEW knowledge, just offers color commentary on things and occasionally helps Ronstadt remember things he's forgotten - like phone numbers. Would he still be able to hear HeadVox in Diatu?
Name: Hazel
Contact: PM or
18+? Yes
Other Character: N/A
Character
Name: Ronstadt
Canon: Ronstadt (we got ourselves a protag here)
Canon point: S1E4: Hanging On The Telephone, at the end of the episode.
Age: Canon isn't clear, but I'd put him in his mid-to-late 20s.
History:
When we meet Ronstadt, he's working at a banana split stand in a farm town in the middle of nowhere, happy with his lot in life, working for and possibly living with an elderly woman he knows only as Nana. Unfortunately, in the middle of a shift, he suddenly develops a strange condition: a sensation that feels like "his blood is buzzing, replaced with mouthwash: and not the cheap kind either, we're talking industrial strength". The sensation fades, but the attacks start happening more and more, until Nana becomes concerned. Not wanting to scare her, Ronstadt bolts, and spends the next four months homeless, traveling to urgent cares, psychiatrists, and shamans to try and find out what is wrong with him. Around this time, he starts hearing a voice in his head: a Rastafarian he dubs HeadVox, who has no answers, just constant commentary like a robot out of Mystery Science Theater 3000. No one has a diagnosis or explanation, so poor stressed-out, broke, traumatized Ronstadt eventually winds up in Los Angeles, where he gets a job at an occult bookstore, hoping to find his answers in the pages of the books he sells.
A few months into his job, Ronstadt is sitting in the window of his hotel room when he sees a woman in a bathrobe step up onto the side of the building and start walking up it "like she's got velcro on her feet". When she passes the window, Ronstadt sees that she's undead ... this is the beginning of his powers truly manifesting. He begins to be able to see another side of reality: monsters, creatures, strange phenomena that seem to be invisible to everyone but him. He dubs the power his "craydar", but can't figure out quite how to put it to use. Eventually, he's fired from the occult bookstore for telling people not to buy the books because everything is bogus. He doesn't know HOW he knows the books are full of libel, but ... somehow, he's extremely certain. The bartender at his favorite watering hole, the Hula Shaker, tells him to 'go big' and be the psychic analyst to the stars, but Ronstadt admits he doesn't have that much ambition. He just knows there's someplace he's supposed to belong.
After a year in Los Angeles, he finally finds that place, through intuition and a crazy hunch: the Koreatown 911 Dispatch, where he's given a job answering what his boss (Timothy Oliver O'Leary, aka "Tool") considers crank calls. His office is a defunct elevator at the back of the dispatch floor, and he's given a neon pink phone as a sign that his job is considered nothing but a joke. Ronstadt takes call after call from people trying to report weird phenomena, and soon categorizes them: Bone Calls (bogus from people on too many pills or not enough), Dick Dialers (practical jokers), Daydream Believers (people who are so desperate to believe in the supernatural that they make things up), and Leshit Calls (ones he's not sure are legit or just plain full of shit). Not once has he had a Real Call about something that his craydar would verify ... until the night he meets the new 911 dispatcher, Estevez. Ronstadt and 'Vez hit it off during a break, and 'Vez takes a genuine interest in what he does, wishing he would get a real call as well. Toward the end of his shift, Ronstadt gets a call from a little girl who says she is being attacked by a shadow creature. His craydar goes off, and immediately, somehow, he knows what it is called - a Vile Lurk - and how to stop it. He guides the little girl through the call, and 'Vez triumphantly proclaims that Ronstadt has a superpower.
The next day, Ronstadt tries to hit on a girl in the subway, but is interrupted by the sight of a strange creature. Mystified, all he can say to her is "duuuuuuh", and by the time he comes to, she's gone. Luckily, it turns out that girl is the drummer in a band that 'Vez is friends with, and when he invites Ronstadt to go to a show, the two hit it off. The drummer, Faye, tells Ronstadt she wants to see him again, and he leaves on cloud nine. Unfortunately, a witch named Hattie Honeybutter saw him in the subway, too, and she corners him outside the Hula Shaker, looking for answers as to who he is and what he wants. When Ronstadt tells her he doesn't know anything and doesn't want anything, Hattie is stunned by his lack of knowledge and self-awareness, and takes him under her wing. She tells him that the things he has been seeing and hearing are collectively referred to as Side B: another dimension of the real world, hidden except to those gifted with magical power that lives directly in their bones. Magic is becoming scarce on Side B, she tells him, and there are several dangerous creatures and groups of magic-users trying to harvest it for their own gain. Hattie takes Ronstadt for a Side B tour of Los Angeles, and gives him a series of videotapes made by a famous witch that will help him study up on all the creatures and concepts he's discovering.
On his next date with Faye, he brings a VHS player along with the tapes, knowing that she'll find them a total hoot ... unfortunately, Faye can't see the footage Ronstadt is capable of watching, only static. They pass the night listening to music instead, and share their first kiss. Even happier than he was before, Ronstadt is on his way home when he sees a terrifying omen: a woman flying a disemboweled man through the sky like a kite. Remembering Hattie's warning, he flees, and hides in his apartment for about a week, only coming out to go to his job.
Concerned by Ronstadt's hermit-like tendencies, 'Vez invites him to a party at his family's house. Faye comes along, and after a brief encounter with Vez's Aunt Tina - who vaguely hints that she, too, can see Side B and sense Ronstadt's power - the three friends go into 'Vez's workshop, where he shows off his metal sculptures. 'Vez sets Ronstadt and Faye up like a pro wingman, then disappears to "help his family unload more food". Faye asks Ronstadt about his childhood ... and becomes severely disturbed when she realizes every single memory he's sharing is from something in popular culture. She insists he come back with her to her apartment to show him something, then pulls up clips from all his memories on YouTube. Home Alone, The Breakfast Club, Karate Kid, Teen Wolf, a 90s toothpaste commercial ... the entire life he thought he had up until the onset of his powers was fake.
Ronstadt goes home and calls Hattie with a distraught SOS. She shows up and takes him for a drive, telling him that magic is passed down from generation to generation, and his parents were likely just trying to protect him. She asks if he watched the videotapes, and when he says he did, she decides it's time for a test. Hattie takes out a three-ring binder - her family's spellbook, passed down through generations - and tells him to try a simple light-effect spell called Sparkle Party. It's meant to just create a few twinkling fairy lights for atmospheric purposes. As he calls up his power on purpose for the first time, Ronstadt falls into a trance and has a vision of what he realizes was his real life. He looks different, somehow, and he's fighting a stranger who tells him 'no one is ever really out'. When he comes back to himself, he realizes he's cast Sparkle Party ... but on a massive scale. The sky above him is filled with lights to rival the Aurora Borealis. He's thrilled, awed, pumped full of adrenaline ... but Hattie looks terrified. He turns to ask why she's not smiling ... and that's his canon point. Welcome to the wonderful world of Ronstadt episode cliffhangers!
CRAU History: N/A
Personality:
- Hipster: Ronstadt loves all things retro, particularly his vinyl collection. He wears his blond hair in something that can barely be classified as a mullet, self described as "electrified linguini", and his prized outfit in his closet is a black slim-cut suit with a black-and-white checkered shirt and skinny black tie. He likes punk, new wave, and ska foremost, but all other music as well, and his mind filled in his amnesia with scenes from John Hughes movies.
- Awkward: Ronstadt doesn't really quite know how to start conversations with people. He can only get a few lines of small talk into a conversation before he starts feeling an urge to bolt. But if the other person is patient enough to lead him over that hurdle to something more personal, he can find his stride and start engaging about the subjects the person really cares about. Otherwise, depending on his mood, he might try to actively avoid situations where strangers or acquaintances will try to pull him in for a talk. His closest friend, Estevez, only got to know him because he cornered him in the men's room while they were both there and got him talking... and now they're bros for life. Ronstadt's a great friend, provided you're perseverant enough to make him into one. (Also, let's not forget that the first thing he said to his girlfriend was quite literally "Duuuuuuuuuuhhhh...")
- Loner: Despite his strong desire to have people around him and to not be alone, Ronstadt's powers seem to be working against him ... if he gets too close to someone, his powers activate and some buried part of his consciousness takes over, yelling at them to get out and to leave him alone. So far in canon, this has only happened to one person, but when she makes him aware that it happened, he's shocked ... but then, upon reflection, remembers it happening on previous occasions when he was younger. My theory is that it's a defense mechanism amped up higher than necessary to try and protect him from others who would hunt him for his magic.
- Addictive Personality: Once his powers manifest, Ronstadt starts to drown himself in mai tais to forget how awful he feels ... his bartender, Marti, remarks at one point that he's drank "thousands" of them over the course of a year, and at one point he drinks to the point of blackout. Once he starts learning his powers, however, performing spells and investigating Side B become his new drug of choice. He's also constantly waiting for the next Real call on his 911 shift, craving connections that validate his new power. The adrenaline rush of magic is unlike anything he's known, and he might get himself into a lot of trouble at Diatu if he's not careful about that.
- Bad Decisions: His mentor, Hattie, is constantly trying to limit Ronstadt because of the breadth and depth of his power - trying to keep him and others around him safe. Unfortunately he is far too fond of testing his limits: casting spells after being told not to, stepping through mystical doors that lead to Side B nightclubs, going off in search of a rare ghoul who can be seen by anyone regardless of power to try and make his boss believe what he's telling him about their 911 callers. If it's a bad idea, and it's related to the supernatural, Ronstadt will think "okay, so they said not to do this ... buuuuuuuuut ..." and then do it anyway. Every time. He's an idiot.
Always Keep In Mind: His complete lack of self-knowledge. Everything he had been assuming he was true about himself is a flat-out lie, and he has no idea what his real history is. No idea where his powers come from. He's flying blind and by the seat of his pants ... and before he had his 911 job he was barely clinging to the will to live. He feels like he needs to have a purpose in life, and maybe his magic is it - if it doesn't get him killed first.
Samples
Log Sample: Bakerstreet Otherworldly Meme. Also, if you need TDM Links: Top Level & Harry Potter & Crowley & Roisin Murphy
Questions: Write an IC answer to the following questions:
What do you want to study at Diatu Magicademy? Look, I've had this craydar and these crazy symptoms for almost a year and a half, now, and I'm not much closer to understanding 'em than I was when they first started. All I know is, I tried a spell that's supposed to be party atmosphere and I lit the sky up like the Northern Lights. Apparently that ain't supposed to happen. I'm scaring my friends. I could really hurt 'em if I'm not careful. I gotta get this under control. I don't know how I got here, but this is ... actually some really good timing.
If you knew you could go back to the moment you left, would you leave immediately or continue your studies for a while? Honestly, it'd depend. I'd want to learn, but ... I want to make sure the people I care about would be safe while I did. Hattie can handle herself, but ... I'd worry about 'Vez. And Faye. Especially Faye.
If your enemy was at Diatu Magicademy, how would you react? I'd probably run to the headmaster and tell her to break out the big guns. A Shadowmancer isn't anything I'm ready to mess with on my own.
When is it acceptable to resolve a dispute by force? I got no idea. I'd rather not hurt anyone unless I have to, but if it's the only way to keep someone safe, I guess I'd say ... only when it's my only option. I'd rather trick somebody or scare 'em off.
What should the supreme goal of any wizard be? Easy: knowledge and self-control. Havin' a crap-ton of power is doing me absolutely bupkis without knowing how to use it without melting someone's face off or getting myself killed. I've been doin' nothin' but lookin' for answers since all this freaky stuff started.
Special Considerations
Your Special Something: An Item of Power please!
Rank Your House Choice: 1st: Valhudor. 2nd: Aer et Calculum. 3rd: Gekronus Maius - though it's a far, far third and he wouldn't get along well with all the snobs.
Items:
Any of the following could appear... His pink 911 touchtone phone, nicknamed "Barbie". A gold medallion with a large, costume-jewelry sized red stone. A VCR. Copies of a tabloid called The Weekly Whisper. A signed poster for a punk band called Dot Polka. A set of 11 VHS tapes with blank labels. A hand-welded dagger with protective runes burned into it. A flask, also etched with protective runes (the potion inside can create a double of the drinker - up to mods if it remains usable). Matchbook from a tiki bar called The Hula Shaker.
Anything Else: As part of Ronstadt's powers, he has a voice in his head which he calls HeadVox: a disembodied presence that sounds like a stereotypical Rastafarian. He doesn't depart any NEW knowledge, just offers color commentary on things and occasionally helps Ronstadt remember things he's forgotten - like phone numbers. Would he still be able to hear HeadVox in Diatu?
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