Tower of Animus Application

[rookiemyass]

Player Information

Name: Mab
Personal Journal: mabaliciousness
Age: 25
Contact Info: ShinRaBadass (AIM), mabaliciousness (Plurk)
Other Characters Played: None so far.
Do you need an invite? Nope!

Character Information

Character Name: Diego ‘Rod’ Rodney
Character Series: Before Crisis: Final Fantasy VII
Character Age: Twenty-five (Or thereabouts; this is a rough estimate, since we only know that he’s over eighteen when he joins up with the Turks in Before Crisis.)
Character Gender: Male
Original Canon
Canon Point: End of FFVII, just before Meteorfall.
Background Link: http://finalfantasy.wikia.com/wiki/Rod_%28Male%29


Personality: Hailing originally from the rough backstreets of Midgar, Rod maintains a brash, headstrong demeanor and a cocky brand of confidence that stems from his stint as the leader of a biker gang. When his inflated ego landed Rod in over his head trying to steal a ShinRa motorcycle, his defeat at the hands of Reno merely fueled his drive to become the best of the best.

As a rookie Turk, Rod was always easily excitable and eager to please, determined to prove himself and aspiring to one day become the group’s leader. Used to calling the shots himself, however, and never having been one for protocol or formalities, at first Rod struggled immensely to acclimate himself in a highly-disciplined group like the Turks. Although he never quite managed to rid himself of certain habits – addressing everyone with the same gruff manner of speech – Rod’s ambition and dedication to seeing any mission through allowed him to refine his skills as a fighter, and he continues to strive for success in any endeavor. To the very end, Rod is a perfectionist; his sheer amount of confidence in his abilities allows him to take on challenges that others might be hesitant to face, and he will put his all into any mission thrown his way.

Despite the fact that he likes to put forth a bad-boy attitude, at heart Rod is the kind of person who wouldn’t hesitate to come to the aid of those who can’t look out for themselves. Coming from a gang background, he remains fiercely loyal to his own – unfailingly trustworthy for those on his side and protective of those under his watch. Unfortunately, Rod’s pride often gets the better of him, making him tend towards impulsive behavior and frequently leaving him unwilling to admit to those times when he might have taken on a bit more than he can handle. He likes to talk big and make it known that he’s willing take on any dare – a trait that has landed him in any number of awkward situations.

If there’s one person who can get Rod riled up like no one else, it’s Reno; after all, no self-proclaimed macho guy can ever completely let go of the grudge he holds against the first person who bested him, no matter how close they grow as friends and allies afterwards. While he trusts Reno completely, admiring him and even looking up to him as an older brother-type figure, for the same reasons, Reno can bring out the worst in Rod without even trying. People often tell Rod that he reminds them Reno, which pisses Rod off to no end, especially because he can see a lot of the similarities himself. As a result, Rod views Reno as a rival and constantly tries to one-up him, though more often than not Rod’s reckless, dare-devil ways just get him into trouble and leave him looking like an immature kid with a bad temper.

Abilities: Nothing superhuman per se, but the label ‘Turk’ certainly qualifies him as being considerably above average in the field of specialized combat. He can probably move quicker, jump higher, and tolerate more pain than a regular civilian. He’s also proficient in materia use.

Sample Entry: Waiting for orders was like waiting for old man ShinRa to give up and fucking get assassinated already. Crouched in a small alcove under the cover of a conveniently broken street lamp, Rod was bouncing on the balls of his feet, practically twitching with nervous energy and adrenaline that he was sure would drive him crazy if he didn’t get some action soon. He could see the target inside the large office building across the way, and he didn’t understand at all why they couldn’t just bust in there and start shooting, or at least put the guy out of his misery with a shot to the head right through the nice, big, brightly-lit window that he was currently standing in front of. One shot; that’s all it would take. Honestly, what the hell was Veld thinking? It wasn’t like they needed anything besides the disc in the guy’s pocket anyway, right? It would be so freaking easy to just do this and be done with it so he could go chat up that cute redhead he’d been sharking at the local club for the past few days.

Rod checked his watch, rolling his eyes and heaving a sigh. This was just stupid. If he was in Tseng’s place, he’d just tell the team to go ahead and do this thing already, but no. God damned protocol and hoops and all that beauromatic or whatever bullshit. No action, just time wasting. Well, he’d had enough. When the target started moving towards the doorway, he made up his mind to do this the right way: The Rod Way. He’d worry about all the trouble he was going to get in later, but it was now or never, and he had to move. Really, this job was too easy. He could have done it by himself, with a blindfold and his hands cuffed. Okay, well, maybe more like with an eye patch and a single hand tied behind his back, but details, details.

“Perfect opening – I’m goin’ in,” he muttered quickly into the tiny microphone attached to his collar, halfway across the street before he heard Tseng’s tense hiss of ‘I said, hold!’ transmitted through his earpiece. Heh. Oops. Too late now… The target – an older man with a pathetic comb over and a greasy forehead – looked at him with surprise when Rod waltzed straight through the door, self-assured smirk firmly in place as he hit his open palm threateningly with the tip of his metal rod.

“I hear you you got somethin’ that don’t belong to you…”

That was just the start of this whole smartass spiel he’d been working on while he’d been sitting there in the dark; honestly, he’d been waiting all night to find out if it sounded half as cool out loud as it sounded in his head. He was sure it would have been really badass, one way or another, but all of a sudden the old man was giving him this freakyass smile that immediately threw him way off his game. The awesome that clearly would have arisen from his carefully planned monologue and then the single-handed take-down of this target was cut short by an ominous click and the feeling of cold metal against the back of his skull.

Well, shit. This wasn’t going at all like he’d imagined, that was for damn sure.