.brave new world

[egyptic]

PLAYER INFO

Name: Anna/Bananna
Contact Information: banannabreadtoast@gmail.com (AIM), wrinklefucker
Time Zone: Eastern Standard.
Characters Played: Not Applicable!


CHARACTER INFO

Character Name: Ankh
Character Canon: Kamen Rider OOO

History: Wikia!

AU History:

Simply put: Ankh's just kind of a Fletchling. He's a shiny and he's a shifter, though he's only ever shifted twice and doesn't really understand how it works at all. Thusfar it's been involuntary and it quite frankly freaks him out, so he doesn't really hope to get "good" at it (yet). He's lived around Union for most of his life, avoiding conflict and people and just sort of being a grumpy asshole Fletchling, up until the Lake Shrine drew his interest and he discovered he was a shifter. He's hung around that general area ever since, curious but wary of the concept of shifting into the form of a human.

To segue him into the game and its playerbase, Ankh pissed off the wrong Pokemon by being an asshole bird and spitting seeds at it, got into a fight he couldn't win, and got pretty badly injured. He was then found by a one Eiji Hino, who healed him and kind of kept him. Ankh doesn't exactly like Eiji, but recognizes the vague debt he owes him (and also he's useful if he winds up getting his ass beat again so it's totally pertinent to perch on his other shoulder, he's not just doing it because he wants to why would you think that).

Canon Personality:

Ankh is pretty much a textbook antihero/half-assed antagonist/rogue character. He is grouchy, unfriendly, a chronic turncoat, and a horrific brooder. If you somehow manage to worm your way into the nearly inaccessible dark dreary confines of his heart, he sure as hell isn't the type to ever tell you as much. He pushes people away and seems to actively dislike friendship and human interaction as a whole, though it's anyone's guess as to his specific reasoning. One could attribute it to the fact that he isn't human himself, or one could attribute it to him just being kind of an asshole.

That said... Ankh's not human! Let's talk about that. He is in fact what is called a Greeed, which amounts to a sentient collection Medals (small, disc-like objects used as an unusual form of specialized currency in OOO). Greeed are made up first and foremost of ten Core Medals, which are colored and pertain to three animals in a group. Ankh's, for instance, are red and feature the designs and traits of a Hawk, a Peacock, and a Condor. They are then comprised of any number of Cell Medals, which are simpler, silver medals that are used somewhat like game tokens in vending machines created by a large company in the series called the Kougami Foundation. When the Greeed were first created, their ten Core Medals allowed them to view the world as any human would, but they lacked their own sentience. The King who had them created then destroyed their tenth medal, leaving them with nine and allowing them to be birthed into sentience. Unfortunately for the Greeed, this came at a high cost. A Greeed's senses are severely dulled in comparison to that of a human's-- their sight desaturated and fuzzy, their taste bland, hearing muffled. This leads to the Greeed existing in a constant state of want and desire, making their name very literal.

Thus segueing into the fact that he's basically a huge grouchy baby that doesn't know how to share. He's literally never known how do behave other than as a nasty embodiment of desire, wanting and taking what he wants. There's also the fact that he wasn't really around for terribly long "living" before all the Greeed were sealed away for 800 years. No specific age is given for Ankh, but one could assume that he's somewhere between the human equivalent of 19-21 years old.

Except the funny thing about Ankh is that he's always been a little bit different from the other Greeed. He's always thinking, always scheming, and he's the singular one of them that completely willed himself into sentience after being sealed away for 800 years (or so it's assumed-- it's never really explained how he does it, he just kind of is). He also freed the rest of them, only to steal several of their medals and make off with them himself, not joining their ranks until it suited his needs. Instead, he seeks out Eiji Hino, who happens to have wound up in possession of one of Ankh's own medals through a bizarre happenstance that involves a part-time job that Eiji slept through. When Eiji proves able to use the OOO driver belt that was used to seal the Greeed away, Ankh deems him worthwhile and opts to use him to collect his medals since he isn't strong enough to do it on his own.

And he spends a good half of the series trying in vain to assert some form of dominance and prove that he's a big bad monster bird creature that is totally in control and failing miserably. As time wears on, Ankh seems to come to terms with the fact that Eiji is calling the shots, and just manipulates what he can to further his own ends. By the time the whole shindig comes to an end, one could even argue that he and Eiji are friends. Not that Ankh would ever admit to such a discredit, of course.

Through all this he upholds shady intent, withholds information like a cagey asshole, and goes as far as to betray Eiji and join his fellow Greeed right before the series finale. This of course speaks to the fact that Ankh, being a Greeed, is a creature of desire, but having possessed a human and thus experiencing life as one is suddenly no longer sure of precisely what it is that he wants. For a long time he claims that he wants a body-- specifically the one he's inhabiting. He then shifts to wanting a stronger body, and in the end just sort of resigns himself to no longer existing. A funny note about this is that there are two distinct scenes that characterize Ankh's capricious nature very poignantly. One of the other Greeed, Cazali, has the core containing his consciousness destroyed and he "dies". Doctor Maki, an antagonist of the show, presents Ankh with all of the medals that Cazali had in his possession and Ankh asks what happened to him. Maki claims the basic truth, that the core with his consciousness had been destroyed. Ankh reflects that he died, and Maki comments that Ankh had become more human than he had realized, as Greeed "could not die". They were just piles of medals, just things, and things could not die. Later, when Ankh's core has been cracked and he knows it will break, he speaks with Hina about it and she asks in horror if he is going to die. He seems to find the notion that Hina thinks he can die almost ironic, considering the previous conversation he had with Maki about only being a pile of medals.

As far as motivations go, Ankh's are pretty inconsistent. The one thing he is always doing and always striving toward is being "complete", though he seems to vacillate on what he believes would be completion. He does always strive to obtain his medals, which are about the closest thing to being complete that a Greeed can achieve, which is to say that if he sets his mind to something and decides he wants it he's going to simultaneously shove everyone out of his way to get it and drag people along and possibly down with him. Once he's decided he wants something, it stops being a desire and becomes something that he will obtain. This obstinance is both a strength and a weakness in his personality. He will stop at nothing to get the things he wants (seeing as it's a very intrinsic part of what he is, never mind who), meaning he is ambitious and driven, but also a real pain in the neck and very stubborn. A good example of this blind drive and desire is how many times he changes course on how to get what he wants-- he sticks with Eiji and Hina for most of the series, but then abruptly changes sides to work with the Greeed after he is restored from being absorbed by his other half. With three of his Core Medals destroyed he seems to think that the only way to become whole is to use Cores from the other Greeed, despite the fact that very shortly after rejoining them they're all fighting among themselves and trying to betray each other.

That isn't to say he's unchanging, though. He does go through a marked level of maturing through the course of the series, wherein he starts off as a petulant pet bird that bites everyone for any and all reasons and slowly but surely grows into maybe sort of having friends and not biting everyone all the time. ...This will be a comically literal parallel in Brave New World. He has far more negative traits than he does positive, and he doesn't have a great many strengths beyond intelligence and cunning. He is especially lacking in regard of physical strengths or prowess, though he tends to make up for that by staying the hell out of battle situations (which is to say, he likes to stand around and watch other people fight his battles for him). That aside, he is very intelligent and very observant, and very good at watching things from the sidelines and coming up with a quick tactical advantage even if he is rarely the one engaged in combat. He is also a very quick thinker, almost always at least one step above everyone else. When he is absorbed by his other half toward the end of the series, he both hides the case of Core Medals he is usually in charge of keeping so that Eiji can continue to be OOO, and gives one of his own Cores to Hina so that his other half is at a disadvantage so Eiji can beat him.

AU Deviation:

The biggest difference between canon Ankh and BNW Ankh is that he's. Actually fully and completely a bird here. While Greeed Ankh in Kamen Rider OOO does exhibit traits of a bird and is known as the "bird Greeed", he isn't actually a small feathery animal. He is a humanoid, birdlike monster created to embody desire. So he's not that here! He's literally just an angry grumpy asshole bird that probably doesn't interact with Enlightened or other humans other than to spit seeds at them from the safe confines of trees. So the bird is much stronger here. He will move much more birdlike, even when shifted into a human, he will probably still squawk on a semi-regular basis (and chirp, and maybe sometimes even sing), he may never learn to not bite people if they're doing things he doesn't like. He will still likely follow the general path of canon Ankh wherein he slowly (somewhat reluctantly) learns how to behave as a human, though not strictly for the purpose of becoming human. He also very starkly lacks a huge driving force in that he doesn't have something he's intensely desiring to obtain like he did in canon. This may change throughout the course of gameplay if he comes across something that he wants badly enough.

Canon Abilities:

Greeed are shapeshifters! Which is actually a skill that is almost never played with apart from the initial use. Ankh starts off as literally just an arm, for reasons that aren't explained until late in the series, and because of that he is very weak. For that reason he is unable to freely shapeshift like the rest of the Greeed, though when he uses his form to fuse himself to the body of an unconscious police officer he drastically changes the appearance of the officer (who goes from a generic brunette to having wild blonde curls and wearing guyliner). The rest of the Greeed, after realizing how difficult it is to integrate into modern human society looking the way they do, take on human forms that appear to be simple mimicry of finding a human they like the look of and basing themselves upon that. The full extent of this ability is never really explained.

Ankh being the bird Greeed has control of the three red, bird-like Core Medals. Hawk, Peacock, and Condor. The medals themselves aren't explicitly shown to have specific powers to the Greeed themselves, apart from that having more Cores in their possession makes them more "whole", and thus stronger. The medals are, however, used to manipulate the powers of OOO, the Kamen Rider suit that Ankh foists off on Eiji. Each of the three medals affects a different part of the suit. Hawk affects the head, and is stated to have an ocular ability that gives Eiji the power to see clearer, and in certain instances see medals in the other Greeed. Peacock affects the torso and arms, allowing OOO to gain wings and fly (despite the fact that peacocks are flightless birds) and providing a special weapon for an amplified attack. Condor affects the legs and seems mostly to provide talons that are effective in aerial attacks and just to beat the shit out of some bad guys with claws. Ankh does also exhibit an elemental use of fire, though that just seems to be supplementary and have little to do with the bird motif.

Ankh also shows a marked knack for information gathering and a very stark intelligence. He is very cunning and picks up on little things, and is the first of the Greeed to integrate himself into modern society by making use of his host body's electronics to learn more about humans and the world they currently inhabit. This provides him with a huge advantage over the other Greeed (he is shown searching social network sites to track the Greeed until they don human forms, and to just pick up on little nuances and subtleties that the others didn't). He also is shown to be very good at covering his own ass. He only ever sides with those that further his own ends in some way, and is quick to change that if he no longer feels they are doing as such. For a long time, he seems content to follow Eiji and Company, as Eiji being OOO is an efficient means of obtaining his missing Core Medals. After he is temporarily absorbed by "Lost" Ankh, the other half of him that was not sealed away when all the other Greeed were, he returns to quickly switch sides against Eiji. It seems like a part of this may be because just prior to being absorbed he had become notably close with Eiji and Hina, to the point that he seemed to feel threatened in his own skin. There is a scene while he is fighting on the side of the Greeed that he declares to Hina emphatically that he is a Greeed, suggesting that perhaps he had questioned this himself, and/or assumed that others questioned it.

Enlightened Abilities:

Ankh is a Fletchling Shifter! Thus he is a Normal/Flying type who will eventually evolve into Fire/Flying as he becomes a Fletchinder and eventually a Talonflame. He is currently a Lv10 Fletchling, giving him the starter abilities of Tackle and Growl, as well as Quick Attack learned at Lv6 and Peck learned at Lv10. He is a shiny! So he has that funny sand-colored variant that comes on Fletchlings instead of that grey-blue.

Visual denotations of Ankh the Ass Bird include but are not limited to: the bizarre curl of feathers on the right side of his head. Whereas his head as a Fletchling is that orangeish-red color, the ends of these curls fade out into the same sand-gold that the lower half of his body is, and the triangular marks to the sides of his eyes are black, mimicking the eyeliner Ankh wears in canon once he alters Shingo's form. He is also egregiously fluffy, though this is more due to a constant state of ruffled feathers than actually being soft or downy (though he is quite both of these things, if you are lucky enough for him to let you pet him without pecking your fingers bloody).

When shifted into a human, Ankh is a rather bizarre-looking young man. His ethnicity is hard to discern, with high cheek bones and a pointed nose but somewhat small eyes. He has a very pale complexion, which is mostly strange due to the fact that his hair grows at the same sandy-caramel shade of the lower half of his plumage as a Fletchling. His hair, like the wacky curl of feathers on his head as a Pokemon, curls almost violently to the right side of his head, is shaved on about a third of the left side, and sports a braid that starts at his hairline and carries on to his neck behind his ear. He has dark brown eyes commonly lined in what looks like black kohl liner, and several small moles in his human form, most notably just below the right half of his lower lip and on the right side of his neck. He is quite tall and very thin, to the point of looking nearly malnourished, with long limbs and knobby joints.

The more obvious of his visual oddities are in his birdlike features-- his arms starting just below the elbow become almost scaly and like bird's feet, gradually becoming rougher up to the ends of his fingers, which are clawed like talons. His feet are much the same, the rough scaling starting below his knees and continuing to his feet. He isn't quite digitigrade but he very rarely walks flat-footed, and if coerced into shoes he would probably be prone to wearing heels to maintain walking with his feet arched. He has red and sandy-caramel feathers that grow in among his hair like they belong, funny and curled just like they are on his head as a Fletchling. The birdlike qualities to him will probably become more prevalent as he evolves, in that he will probably be a pretty feathery human, quite possibly with a tail, by the time he reaches the Talonflame evolution.

Starter Pokémon:

No starter! Being that Ankh is a Pokemon shifter himself, he doesn't have any Pokemon companions. This may change in the future and he may wind up with a random flock of other bird-like Pokemon, but he will enter the game without any Pokemon allies.

Notes/Special Considerations:





This is literally his relationship with everyone Eiji and Hina.

Literally.

SAMPLES

First-Person:

- What would you say the role of Pokémon is in your life?

[A flat look.] Gee, I wonder. Given that I am one, what do you think?

- What do you seek for humanity’s future?

[A long moment of Ankh staring down the questioner like he thinks they're insane or have grown a second head. He then barks a short, loud laugh.] This question is funny. It's funny because you think I actually care.

- What would you say the most important occupation is within Union?

[He looks bored at this one, inspecting his fingernails.] Probably the guy that stocks the ice cream. He's really important.

- What does the story of the Savior mean to you?

[His hands clap together and the sound appears to startle him for a moment, but he grins crookedly when he starts to speak.] Oh this one. I like this one! [His expression falls and he looks bored and vaguely irritated.] Except for the part where we didn't actually erase mankind for their stupidity and their tendency to enslave things they deem lesser than them. It should have been a different ending, really. But nobody listens to me when I say that.

- What aspects and traits do you respect most in your individual fellow man?

[A quirked eyebrow.] I respect intelligence because it happens so infrequently in humans. However this question is inherently flawed in that you've assumed I'm a man in the first place. I'm a Pokémon, thanks.

- What do you look for in the Pokémon with whom you bond?

[He laces his fingers together.] There you go again, assuming things. I don't bond with them because I am one.

Third-Person:

As a whole, Union meant very little to him. The Old City and the lore behind it should have possibly been more important to him given what he was, but more often than not he just found himself apathetic. Initially upon hearing the story of the Savior in his younger years he'd been angry-- they should have obliterated the humans for their poor treatment, or better, enslaved them! But he had always been a hateful creature who believed that violence and revenge were the only ways to correct a wrongdoing. This was a lot of the reason he didn't have any comrades or companions. And really, with his own kind turning away from him for his disdain for humanity, he'd only become more hateful. In the end it became that he was always alone, spiteful and hating everyone regardless of behavior or species. It was no way to live, and even he knew that, but he had too much pride to back down and apologize for his ill-thought behavior.

And so he resigned himself to always live in the forest on the outskirts of the city, never spending time with another soul and always waiting to betray or be betrayed by anyone he ever did wind up around. He'd grown jaded in his age, and he wasn't even all that old. Passing humans received most of his scorn, but as time wore on he started picking on fellow Pokémon as well. He would taunt them, spit seeds at them, and rely entirely on his small frame and swift wings to get him out of harm's way before anyone who wanted to retaliate could get a hit in. He couldn't remember the last time he hadn't worn away his days in this fashion, flitting about through the forest just out of sight until he came upon some unsuspecting passerby.

He never really thought that one day that would all come back to bite him in the ass, much less did he ever think it would prove to be what changed him.

And a thread. This is mostly supplemental and sort of a pre-entry to explain how he met Eiji since if he makes the cut he will have this pre-existing CR with him.