Operation OC-1 | "Application"

PLAYER INFORMATION

PLAYER: Sarah
ARE YOU AT LEAST 18 YEARS OLD?: Yes
CONTACT: slothplaying
CHARACTERS PLAYED: n/a

CHARACTER INFORMATION

NAME: Ethan
CANON: Arknights
CANON REFERENCE:
a brief synopsis of the world/story of arknights
chapter-by-chapter story summaries available here
ethan's in-game files
ethan's operator record, a side-story to provide more depth

Arknights is the story of the world of Terra and Rhodes Island, the pharmaceutical company and non-government organization that works within it. Rhodes Island works to cure Oripathy, a disease caused by mysterious-super-energized-fantasy-resource Originium, and to improve the lives of those with Oripathy, commonly called The Infected.

The events of the game are kicked off by rescuing a mysterious figure known as the Doctor. Their rescue mission unfortunately coincides with an attack by an organization of Infected known as Reunion. Reunion shows teeth it had concealed, taking over an entire city and pulling it into chaos. Rhodes Island, with its understanding of Arts and the combat techniques of those with Oripathy, is pulled into the conflict. Over the course of three months, Rhodes Island negotiates with major powers of the world to try and stop Reunion's attacks while trying to understand what drives the differences between their methods.

(In the events, the year following the Chernobog-Lungmen incident described above, Rhodes Island tackles multiple problems outside its usual wheelhouse including but not limited to: trying to stop an erupting volcano, going deep into the jungle to settle a turf dispute, encroaching capitalism within knight competitions, and the eldritch horrors of the sea.)

CANON POINT: Before the events of Episode 9*
*Arknights Episodes 1-8 take place within three months and all of the events released in EN currently take place in the year following the events of Episodes 1-8. Since Episode 9 takes place approximately a year after Episode 8, this includes all EN events up to Dossoles Holiday & Vigilo.
CRAU HISTORY: n/a
AGE: Early 20's (no canon age provided)
APPEARANCE: image.
Ethan is a Savra, a race of Terra that is closely linked to lizards, with his obvious inspiration being a chameleon. He can change the color of his skin/tail at will.
CONTRACT PAYMENT: A return to his position at Rhodes Island.

QUESTIONNAIRE:
(IN CHARACTER)

How do you define "success"? What is something you're ambitious about?

Success is a roof over my head and a good meal.

[He pauses for a moment, as if that were the most obvious answer and he shouldn't be expected to answer anything else. As silence reigns, he figures that isn't enough of an answer and shifts where he's sitting to continue,]

Look, I know on paper a lot of people talk about how they want people with ambition. For everyone one person with ambition, though, how many people do you think gotta stand behind them? I know people with ambition. I'm more than happy to do the sort of things I can so that they can make it there. Isn't that the sort of thing you want to hear as a boss?

Hey, it's Ethan, here to help you make your dreams come true, for the measly price of a salary~!

... hm? Am I happy to help this faction's ambitions? [a beat] Of course.

How do you define "failure"? How do you deal with the consequences of failure, from light to severe?

A failed operation is a failed operation, right? If we don't meet the objectives of a mission, it's a failure by your standards.

My standards?

[His grin freezes in place for a moment while he thinks. He knew how things worked back at Rhodes Island. If you were the type to say you'd rather die than fail a mission you'd get six people telling you to be more considerate of your life. Life was precious there. He just didn't feel like this was the case here. He was a Lost Soul, already dead, here to be churned around in the afterlife. Does he lie? Does he tell the truth?]

As long as I'm still standing, I can come back from a failure. I might have to lick my wounds for a bit but as long as you let me get back to my feet I can try again.

What is the most frightening thing you've ever done? What part of you did it test the most?

Honestly, the scariest thing was coming here and finding out my Arts are on the fritz! You said there was some way to get them working right again? I just follow your orders and I can get them back to normal? And that's not any of the contract business, that's just for working here?

[He digs into the issue a bit, poking, prodding with his words. It wasn't something that was enough to be his contract price. He wasn't going to be okay if he could get his power back. Rather, as long as he had his power, he was confident it would be okay.]

... as long as I can remember, I've been Infected. It's a long, boring story, you don't really wanna hear all of it. It's pretty normal for an Infected anyways. People are always hunting you, you don't have a safe place to live, it doesn't matter if you're a man, woman, adult, child, if you've got Oripathy then people don't want you around.

That same infection, though, that lets me survive.

[Right now he could just shift the color of his skin a little. With his Arts, he could adjust colors, textures, he could extend it over to his clothes, he could essentially be invisible. It didn't matter that people were chasing him, he could run. It didn't matter that he didn't have a home, he could swipe food. It didn't matter if other people hated him, he could help the other Infected. Oripathy would eventually kill him but it was threatening his life slower than plenty of other things in it.]

Anyways, if I get my Arts back in shape, that means I'll be able to do better work for the faction! That's right, we both win. So, ah, what was that question again?

An oni of the Shuten Clan has gone completely berserk, and is going on a violent rampage through the city. You can't stop him, but you CAN lead him elsewhere, but you only have two choices: a road by a discotheque with a large crowd in front, or the nearby park that you do not know is unoccupied, and may have children present. What do you choose, and why?

The park. [he answers quickly, used to having to make those kind of split-second decisions.]

I know the disco's crowded. With that kind of density, even one swipe in the wrong place is gonna end up with someone getting hurt. I can't deal with the oni while also trying to get a bunch of panicking dancers trying to cram themselves into the building.

Because, [he points, looking a little pleased with himself] I'm guessing, for the question, this is a strictly solo-work situation. When it comes to combat, you gotta send some other people with me to be the muscle. But, yeah, if this thing was happening when I was on the scene, I'm gonna have to do something about it.

Even if the park is crowded, it's likely to have a bigger area to work with than the streets. Kids are also easier to scoop up- eh- at least weight-wise. Maybe one of the little tykes would panic and kick me in the gut but it's better than any of them ending up getting hurt. I could also try getting the oni caught up on any of the park equipment. If I can tie him up until the rest of you get there, that's mission accomplished, right?

POWERS & ABILITIES:
• Ethan's main ability is his talent for Originium Arts. Imagine this as a kind of magic that's facilitated by the fact he's contracted Oripathy. The fact he has Originium in his bloodstream means that he's able to use these powers to a much stronger degree than normal people of Terra. He also has been identified as a person with high adaptability to Originium Arts; learning and using them comes more naturally to him.
• Ethan's main use of Arts is his Camouflage Arts. When he touches against a surface, he's able to quickly mimic the color of it and reflect that even over the tools he's carrying or clothes he's wearing. He is not perfectly invisible and can still be perceived with a careful use of senses but is very difficult to keep track of in a battle scenario. Attempting to change colors or reflect too rapidly tires him out and he's reported to have slept for hours after Rhodes Island scientists tested his ability.
• nerf note: Ethan still maintains the ability to change his own skin/tail color in a de-powered state. As he climbs the rankings within his faction, he will regain the ability to then reflect this to his clothes, reflect textures, and generally be a sneaky so-and-so.
• His combat technique involves tripping up and sealing the movements of enemy combatants using a yo-yo. It's unclear if his Arts are used to supplement this ability (in-game represented as the "Bind" status effect where enemies cannot move but can still attack if they are in range).
• nerf note: I am going with Ethan can channel his arts along his yo-yo and string, however the majority of his techniques here are literally just tripping people up. As he improves he may be able to actually use his Originium Arts to stop a person from moving or do increased damage along the wire of his yo-yo.

SUITABILITY:
Ethan grew up in the kind of situation where he never knew that things were going to be fine. His hometown is never established but he's bounced from place to place and brushed toes with all sorts of underground communities. He even joined up with the Reunion group and was, essentially, a militia member for a time. He says that he's done nothing that he holds guilt over and yet he has an understanding of the terrible things people do for themselves, their ideals, and their profits.

The factions of Jigoku-Cho aren't as magnanimous as Rhodes Island. Ethan was starting to enjoy working for a place that actually cared about him. He's not the type to refuse work, though, which means that whatever faction he ends up with will get his best efforts provided there aren't flat-out atrocities. if there are flat-out atrocities? That's why he starts to get cold feet. He's left a group before for committing acts he couldn't agree to but he's not a saint. Stealing and manipulating suit him more than outright violence and assertion of force.

Regardless of faction, Ethan will try to find a kinship with his fellow Lost Souls. They're the little guys, the pawns in the big game, and it's in his nature to try and have them all watch each others' backs.

FACTION SUITABILITY:
Shuten Clan is a bit of a hard match with Ethan. The most obvious is the fact that he's short, scrawny, and wins most of his fights via surprise tactics and trickery. Even when he wins, he's described as cutting a kind of pathetic figure. He would struggle with the Shuten's strong, stated hatred of lies. He doesn't consider himself a liar but he also doesn't consider a lot of small lies harmful. He omits the truth a lot. He says things without really thinking them through. An Ethan working within the Shuten Clan is nervous, constantly sure that at some point things are going to swing around and hit him. He can respect when members of the faction do their civic duties to protect the communities they operate in, at very least.

Tamamo Clan values a sharp mind, capable of scheming, and Ethan can respect that. While he isn't openly hedonistic, he does spend his free time with more basic pleasures of music and food. While the Tamamo clan isn't directly said to support the arts, he also has a passion for tagging that was born from his own lack of freedom. Any piece of freedom he could grab, he channeled into spray paint, where he was himself. He can see why Tamamo no Mae would have strove for that. He tends to shy away when it gets into pure, unreal pleasure. While he specializes in slipping away from people's sight he's much more comfortable with himself vanishing than ruining the perception of his target.

Sutoku Alliance is the on-paper clearest match. Their search for and value of information meshes neatly with Ethan's previous work. He's also used to working in a multi-racial environment, where everyone wants to maintain their identity while also sharing the identity of "Infected." When the members of the alliance start to chafe against each other, Ethan takes a step back. Rather than Rhodes Island, where everyone could come together under a singular goal, it reminds him a bit more of working with Reunion towards the end where most people were looking out for themselves under a shared banner.

Department of Enma is a bit of a complicated relationship for Ethan. The people who maintain "order" in Terra often also terrorized the Infected and slammed them under their boots. Still, Rhodes Island, who he trusts and has faith in, is also the kind of organization that follows the rules even when it's out of style. He respects the idea of order even if he's frightened by the people who execute it. Another conflict with Enma would be that Ethan, whether for ill intent or good intent, may interact with the other clans in a way that could get him in trouble. Rhodes Island knows he's ultimately not a traitor. The Department of Enma may struggle to see it the same way.

Regardless of assignment, Ethan will find work and do his best to fulfill the terms of his contract. He has fled an organization where he disagreed with the policies before. He's not above considering it, even here with his soul bound up in a contract. It will take significant events within the factions to get him to flee, though, especially considering there's no one here as directly in the right.

SAMPLES

TDM Thread #1
TDM Thread #2

TDM Thread EX*

*While not five comments from me at the time of posting the application, I included it for being a thread with a canonmate and showing a little more of Ethan's tactics.