I know you're reading this.

Tue, 05 Feb 2008 17:32:04 GMT

I suppose there's no point in arguing with the pointless instructions given to me. Playing along is at least interesting, perhaps informative, and maybe I will discover who's toying with me.

And if I do...

Well.

That will be even more interesting.

This had better be good.

Mon, 04 Feb 2008 02:31:46 GMT

...yes? What's this, now?

Application!

Mon, 04 Feb 2008 02:27:34 GMT

OOC Information

NAME: Call me "Jessie" and I'll knock your teeth out. :)
PERSONAL LJ: lykomancer
CONTACT INFO (EMAIL/AIM/MSN/ETC.): Lykomancer@gmail.com. AIM: immortaloroborus
AGE: Old enough to know better, young enough to enjoy doing it anyway. (...26.)
TIME ZONE: Central.
ROLE PLAYING EXPERIENCE: Um.
Several years and hundreds of thousands of pages worth? Hell, I CAN EVEN RP WITH DICE. OLD SCHOOL REPRESENT.
I played Orochimaru briefly for an RP called Narutoplicity. The basic idea was that there were all the canon characters—of which my Oro was one—and then up to two out-of-character characters, so like a female Orochimaru, or one who didn't betray Konoha, etc.

IC Information

CHARACTER'S NAME: Orochimaru
CHARACTER'S AGE: 52
SIGNIFICANT EVENTS THAT HAVE OCCURRED OR NOT OCCURRED AT TIME OF RP INTRODUCTION: At this point, Sasuke's been in Sound 2 years (and it’s a year before Sasu-cakes decides he's tired of living with a pedophile).

CANON PERSONALITY:
Manipulative, driven, ambitious, cocky, confident, effeminate, commanding, powerful, ruthless, sociopathic, intelligent, cunning, egotistical, dangerous.
He's creepy; he's commanding. But in his own way, he has a sense of humor and he knows how to roll with things. His actions are controlled but tempered with curiosity; he likes seeing how people react, what choices they make.

He understands his opponents' minds. But not really. He seems successful in wooing Sasuke, but then his conversations with Sarutobi make it obvious that in some respects, he's an idiot. He's so damaged himself that he can't comprehend what his ex-teacher is trying to tell him; he was consumed by his own wretched poison from the inside out, unable to see past the pain of the loss of his own family.

Orochimaru is pathologically narcissistic-- ambitious and capable, [with] the inability to tolerate setbacks, disagreements or criticism... The interpersonal relationships...are typically impaired due to the individual's lack of empathy, disregard for others, exploitativeness, sense of entitlement, and constant need for attention-- and both a philomath and a polymath. He's incredibly intelligent and manipulative.

(There is a researched correlation between I.Q. and maladjustment, with some 37% of all gifted boys experiencing violent thoughts or fantasies by 13-14 years of age. Socio-emotional problems are more prevalent in geniuses with an IQ above 145, partly due from withdrawl from social activities and also due from an decreased number of those views as peers or equals.)

IS THERE ANOTHER CHARACTER IN THE GAME YOU'D MOST LIKE YOUR CHARACTER TO RP WITH? IS THERE A CHARACTER HE CAN'T LIVE WITHOUT?

He might be a little peeved in missing Kabuto, but that's fun, too.

WHY ARE YOU INTERESTED IN PLAYING THIS CHARACTER? IN OTHER WORDS, WHAT DO YOU FIND INTRIGUING ABOUT HIM OR HER?

For most of the series, Orochimaru completely lacked any kind of heartstring-pulling backstory. A lot of times, this lack makes villains flat and boring: great, they're evil. ok, who CARES? There's no humanity there to empathize with, no depth that makes readers understand the character as something more than a plot device.

But despite that, I adored Orochimaru. It seemed to me-- rightly, I know now-- that that lack of explanation wasn't because there was nothing to explain (which is why I think many 'pure evil' villains don't have backstory; even their creator doesn't understand them and their actions, but instead just uses them as tools to forward the plot), but was blank and open intentionally, for effect.

I'm fascinated with the relationships he used to have with people in Konoha: Tsunade and Jiraiya, Sarutobi, Anko. He delights in destroying them over and over again...but there's a tenderness there, a sort of twisted nostalgia-- he touches Anko so gently in the Forest of Death, looking at her like she's the most beautiful thing he's seen; he fights with Sarutobi with such lingering bitterness and pent-up, childish rage; he approaches Tsunade with something nearly like respect, and though he taunts her, he seems absorbed in simply being with her again (notice the way he lets Kabuto do most of the speaking in those scenes!).
I love his psychological warfare. I love the fact that he seems unsure whether to trust Kabuto but yet keeps him so close and tells him everything.

LIFE ALTERATION:
I DON'T think Orochimaru's real goal is to learn all the jutsu in the world. I think he's doing that as so not to be bored. (Seriously. ...mostly.) His definition of "ninja" is based on the idea that a "ninja" learns "ninjutsu" (indicating that he really doesn't prioritize genjutsu or taijutsu though he can obviously use them), as opposed to Jiraiya's (in my opinion, more correct) view that a "ninja" is "one who endures".

Orochimaru is too smart for his own good and I think he enjoys learning (and being smarter than everyone, hence his pissed-offedness when someone else shows off something he doesn't know or understand), but that's just a) a way of passing time, and b) a side product of trying to figure out an immortality jutsu.

The immortality jutsu isn't, as such. It's more of a rebirth jutsu, fitting for a skin-shedding snake and linked to Sarutobi's comment that Orochimaru's parents might be reborn someday.

I think that though he might have started with the idea of reuniting with his parents again that got lost along the way. It's still there, underneath it all, churning the wheels, but I don't think that's a major conscious driving force anymore.

You know what I think pissed him off more than anything?
Being turned down for Hokage.

I really believe that was the second major turning point for him.

Would he take the opportunity now, if he could?

Probably. He's power-hungry enough. But whether he would do it with the intent of deliberately destroying Konoha from the inside or whether he'd genuinely make an effort to rule as effectively as he could (...LOL), I don't know. I think he might try for the latter, and just simply fail, both because he doesn't understand how to really govern people (take a look at how Sound's run!) and because subconsciously he's still so hateful and bitter about being shot down the first time that he wants to see Konoha crushed to ash.

THIRD-PERSON WRITING SAMPLE:

Control wasn’t the real issue.

Motion and change were always more interesting and more powerful than stability, than useless, boring monotony, and Orochimaru did not mind change, even that which he himself did not being into being through his own strength or desire.

He wasn’t so bound in his own need to control everything that this newest change disturbed him.

It wasn’t distressing or alarming or even bewildering to wake up in a strange place—this definitely wasn’t any of his places, nor anywhere he was familiar—but it was annoying.

This wasn’t his bed, which was the last place he remembered before falling asleep, and this wasn’t Sound, in which every stone and blade of grass was his, and—he glanced around quickly, eyes narrowing—though there was a muted sense of distance chakra echoing (reverberating) through the foreign building, he was alone.

No Kabuto. No Sasuke. No pawns to use or play with.

This was…
…vexing.

Orochimaru took a deep breath of the cool, wet air, tasting it thoughtfully, eyes still narrowed. There was water close by. Very close. The light streaming in through the beautiful wooden shoji doors was dappled with sunlight and shadow; the trees outside shivered with the faint breeze and faintly he could hear the clatter of a bamboo wind chime.

There was no enemy scent lingering on his clothes; no sense of betrayal or hostility; nothing about his person was in disarray.

It was like…

Orochimaru snorted under his breath with something almost like laughter. He believed in no god but himself, and magic was just a word used by fools for things they didn’t understand.

There was a…logical…explanation for this. He would find someone, and they would tell him what he wanted to know.

A vexed Orochimaru was nothing to be trifled with.

FIRST-PERSON JOURNAL SAMPLE:
The atmosphere of this local possesses its own distinctive charm-- one that very much agrees with my sensibilities-- but still, I can't say that I am particularly pleased with my current situation.

I wonder what's happened to my dear little Kabuto in my absence...? Heh. If left alone, will he have the ambition and viciousness necessary to take command of Sound and carry out his own desires with the power barely leashed there? He's clever, to be sure, but could he...?

No matter.

At the moment, that is not important.

The wind is blowing over the moors.

I wonder what it is bringing with it.

First

Sat, 12 Jan 2008 01:13:30 GMT

The atmosphere of this locale possesses its own distinctive charm-- one that very much agrees with my sensibilities-- but still, I can't say that I am particularly pleased with my current situation. ~~Too cold, far too cold...~~

I am, for instance, keen to know where I might be and why I am am in this where, since this is not a place of mine nor one I recognise.

I wonder what's happened to my dear little Kabuto in my absence...? Heh. If left alone, will he have the ambition and viciousness necessary to take command of Sound and carry out his own desires with the power barely leashed there? He's clever, to be sure, but could he...?

No matter.

At the moment, that is not important.

Survival is important, however.
And more than survival...conquest.

The wind is blowing over the moors.

I wonder what it is bringing with it.

Glory to those who defy their fate...

I know you're reading this.

This had better be good.

Application!

First