OOC // Application for route_29

[best_laid_plans]

Player
Name: Fetchie
Personal Journal: made_in_wonder
E-mail: gibberditz39@yahoo.com
AIM/MSN: fetchie88 (AIM)
Timezone: EST
Current Characters in Route: Ken Ichijouji

Character
Name: Malik Ishtar
Series: Yu-Gi-Oh!
Timeline: Duelist volume 16/after losing control of Jounouchi
Canon Resource Links: Malik Ishtar grew up in a hole in the ground. And then it got worse.


Personality:
Malik Ishtar is the wronged scion of an oppressed people, nobly breaking his clan's laws to save them from tyranny and establish himself as the rightful ruler of the universe.

That's what he'll tell you, anyway. If it suits his purposes.

Possessive, perfectionist, and self-absorbed, once Malik sets his mind to a goal or a desire he's unstoppable. No plan is too cruel or calculating as long as it might work, nothing is too precious to throw away if it interferes with success. Plans failing will be met with frustration - then surmounted as a new plot develops to supplant the old one. If Malik Ishtar wants something - and he wants everything - he'll reshape the world (and twist logic to its boundaries) until it looks exactly the way he desires.

Oppressed his whole life by his family's laws and lifestyle, yet simultaneously the second-most important person in the Tombkeeper complex, Malik chafes against his upbringing even as he internalizes the sense of entitlement it's granted him. He's clearly compelled to fulfill his appointed destiny and avenge his father's death; but as he doesn't like said destiny, and said father abused him, he's rewritten the facts. The resulting mission aligns perfectly with a residual sense of family duty and his desire to enjoy and control the world: kill the Pharaoh who supposedly killed his father, and usurp his position by collecting the God Cards indicating the true king.

To fulfill this goal, Malik makes full use of the resources at his disposal. Obsessed with control and accepted by the Millennium Rod, which enables him to enslave others if his will overpowers theirs, he establishes a criminal empire of card-game cheats, counterfeiters, and thieves, the "Ghouls". Charming when it suits his goals, fey and sadistic when on a power kick, childishly petulant when his whims are thwarted, Malik himself becomes who the situation demands. There are no extras or frills in Malik's life - he rationalizes everything he does, even if he's allowed himself an indulgence. And, more likely than not, he'll talk about this reason if you're listening. Gloating is always a good idea.

In enacting these plans he puts absolutely no weight on the opinions or feelings of others. Malik seems to wholly lack empathy: people are pieces in this vast game he's playing, useful and intriguing but ultimately not something for whom he needs to make allowances. He does care deeply for his family - it's been ingrained into him that the family must always come first - but they are the only human beings about which he's seen to truly care. As he's an exceptional human being, it only follows that he should have the right to invade others' heads and order them about.

Despite the care he puts into his plans (he tests the waters first, always, by gathering information), and his ability to turn almost any situation into fuel for his revenge, when all else fails Malik comes to a screeching halt. He's obsessed with finding someone to blame for all the horrors in his life - it can't be him himself, after all, and an external force against which to rage is so convenient: external enemies can be defeated.

It's when the horrors of his life can't be fought that Malik's psyche shatters. After undergoing the Tombkeepers' initiation, Malik despairs over his future and the pain he'd suffered to the point of entertaining thoughts of suicide. Terrified by this - there's nothing Malik wants more than to live, and to live freely (which in his mind he can't do unless he controls everything) - Malik cut those feelings and all his guilty hatred of his father off from himself, developing a sadomasochistic double personality. This "darker half" remains locked in Malik's mind, unbeknownst to him; it'll only be let loose if Malik is brought to that great of a loss again. (In canon, this loss is brought about by the thought of his adoptive brother Rishid dying, on whose constant presence and loyalty Malik has become codependent. So long as the game lacks a Rishid, however, the darker side remains locked up unless Malik feels equally helpless).

Underneath all the layers of ruthless manipulator, backseat driver (he wants other people to do everything for him, yes, but it better be exactly what he says!), and frustrated sadist, Malik is an inquisitive, eager teenager. The world remains a beautiful place to him, and he retains a penchant even at his cruelest for modern technology and motorcycles - symbols of progress and freedom. Like most rebellious teenagers, he just wants to live the way he wants to. He just happens to believe he can't have the life he wants unless he rules the world and everyone who thwarts him, or exhausts their usefulness, is killed. And if they're going to go down - it's going to be quite the show! A punishment that doesn't fit the crime wouldn't satisfy.

He's willing to compromise on aesthetics, though. As long as the job gets done.

Strengths/Weaknesses:
+ Perceptive, even if he interprets what he sees in the manner most convenient for himself
+ Determined, even if he may abandon one specific approach in favor of another.
+ Fiercely loyal once he connects to someone.
+ Curious – both about the world and about other people
+ Loves to travel, and knows more than anyone ever should about Ancient Egypt.
+/- Perfectionist; coldly calculating
+/- Calculating and mercurial - can be incredibly charismatic
+/- His canon is set in the mid-90s, so any technology past that point will seem alien (but intriguing).
+/- Quirks: doesn’t eat meat, plays with ice cubes in his drinks.
- Arrogant
- Unused to fending for himself
- Does not empathize easily. Is, however, a backseat driver.
- Too serious, even when enjoying his plans
- Short-tempered and vengeful, bordering on sadistic
- If pushed to the breaking point, has sadomasochistic alter ego
- Phobias: darkness, imprisonment, being ordered around, burning flesh, things not going as planned.


Pokémon Information
Affiliation: Rocket
Starter: Mawile
Password: raspberry lemonade

Samples
First Person Sample:

[The broadcaster's voice rings out loud and clear, though he's chosen not to enable video for his transmission.]

Ah, good afternoon everyone! How are your journeys going?

I'm running into trouble with this Gym in Goldenrod, myself. That Miltank really is something, isn't it? Is there anyone that might be able to help me out? I've been hanging out at the department store - we could meet there, if that's okay.

Thanks in advance! I'll get the hang of this eventually...

[He then switches the Gear to the Rocket-only line, voice dropping coldly.]

Anyone still near headquarters? I've got some long-term business in mind. It's guaranteed to prove quite - profitable, for anyone interested.

You've got five minutes to decide. Let's make a deal.

Third Person Sample:

At least he'd already removed most of the jewelry.

Pulling on the standard issue gloves and sweeping his hair back so the hat would fit, Malik scowled down at his new uniform and snorted. It couldn't be helped. Better to be thrown into a brand-new world and then assigned a position in the local criminal organization, no matter how minor, than begin anew with no connections at all. He'd work his way back up. He always did.

But to start without the Rod, without the Ghouls, without Rishid - even his God Card, still safe in his pocket, was all but useless in a world like this. Lashing out, Malik sent one of his PokéBalls flying, knocked off the desk; Mawile popped out, regarding him with an innocent curiosity he'd already learned indicated the deepest disdain.

He ignored the stare, for now. Fine. This was the new hand he'd been dealt. Everything had to be scrapped and begun anew. Malik had to be a face in the crowd, until -

Until. Malik smiled cruelly at the thought. Experience had taught him how much more the criminals of a world understood than those who could freely walk in the light. How much easier, too, they were to persuade, each cunning in their own way but fallen due to unsurmountable weakness. He had resources here. He didn't have status, not yet, but that would come in time.

And then....who better to help him find a way back where he belonged than those without regard for any rules? What's more, if he assimilated this organization into his own...

Malik clenched his teeth to keep from laughing too loudly. And this place thought it could contain him. Well, he'd show them. He'd show them all.

And he'd make them pay dearly for this absurd little detour.