junior (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
minisupreme) wrote2018-12-25 01:59 pm
minisupreme) wrote2018-12-25 01:59 pm
application;
GENERAL
Name: Ashton Norris Jr.
Nickname(s): Ash, if you like him; Junior, if you don't
Gender/Pronouns: Male, he/him/his
Birthdate/Age: February 14th | 17 years old
Grade: Senior
Sexuality: Straight, and he wears heterosexual pride pin on his backpack. Between working the pageant circuit and going to Finchwood, it's only 95% ironic.
Major Arcana: The Lovers
Minor Arcana: Coins
Concept: Perpetual second-placer seeks affirmation and success, finds Shadows instead.
APPEARANCE
| Height: | 5' 9" | Hair Color: | Blonde |
| Build: | Average | Eye Color: | Blue |
Off the stage, his style has the vaguest overtures of burnout-grunge: flannel and "ripped" denim and a brand new pair of Vans. Clearly, someone told him that this look is "cooler" than whatever preppy nonsense he usually sports, but the spirit behind the aesthetic hasn't quite sunk in. Like... he wears periwinkle. A lot. His uniform is usually drier-wrinkled and untucked, although it's clean and he rarely goes so far as to not wear it.
When he's performing, he favours sequins and his makeup is immaculate. If anyone wants tips on applying liquid eyeliner, he's your man.
PB: Hunter Parrish
PERSONALITY
Likes: being liked, whatever you're into today, lemon-lime soda, wearing sweatpants, applause, 20th century country music, little baby ducks, cheese pizza, potato products, roller coasters, his new laptop, getting his hair cut, pageants
Dislikes: when people make fun of his pride pin, being less interesting than other boys, yelling, fighting, embarrassing his dad, putting petroleum jelly on his teeth, being forgotten, doing laundry, foods with too many colours, dancing, pageants
Ashton Norris Jr. is a coward.
Point it out and he'll deny it; after all, he's in here fighting Shadows, same as anyone. But frankly, he wouldn't fight you for long. While it's true that he can sometimes be whiny and temperamental, confrontations really aren't his style. Heck, even minor disagreements have him sweating. Being right, being good... those things come in a distant second to his greatest desire, being well-liked, and if you think that makes him shitty, well... haha, that's just fine! It doesn't matter what you say; Junior has the moral fortitude of wet tissue paper, an internal compass that points north, south, east and west with about equal frequency, and that's why it's fair to call him a chicken.
In his meagre defence, it's not that he's betraying his own ideals. Some people might accuse Junior of being 'fake," but the reality is that he's always had a hard time knowing who he was and what he liked. His father and sister's strong personalities tend to override any interests of his own, have done since he was very small, and as far as he can tell, before long, he'd just stopped having any. So, it's not that he's lying when he says he's into ABC or agrees with you on XYZ. In the moment, he really believes that, because... there's nothing underneath.
It troubles him, sometimes. In little ways: like when he's taking a Buzzfeed quiz and can't stop wondering if he's picking the "wrong" answer, or when he's thinking about the college and he realises that he has nothing he wants to major in, nothing he can offer the world. That's usually when he re-resolves to find himself — so far, to no avail.
Of course, there are some upsides to being a chameleon. If Junior were to see himself fairly, he'd realise that he was something of a jack-of-all-trades. Sure, he's mastered none, but while he's never been extraordinarily successful, he's never really failed either. It's his own insecurities that prevent him from realising it. He's not actually ambitionless! He's just never genuinely allowed himself to figure out what he wants.
And being hyper-attuned to other people's wants and desires has made him into someone most folks can get along with. Call him manipulative, a brown-noser, but honestly, he's able to wheedle a story out of a rock, smooth over just about any disagreement, and make connections to others where previously no one could. A genuinely talented performer, his talent for mimicry has gotten him delighted laughter on the stage and out of more than one tricky situation off of it. Plus, it's handy! If you need someone to call the principal pretending to be your dad, it's good to have a friend without scruples and with excellent control of his voice.
At his best, Junior is extroverted, amiable, occasionally even charming... although he does possess a playful sense of humour that can border on the irreverent. Tell them to cut it out and he will, but until then, be aware that nothing is really sacred.
Also, that without anyone to guide him, he has very bad taste.
Junior hates to make a fool of himself, and yet he's often the first to do so. Being suggestible and hungry for approval makes one an easy target for any less-scrupulous children who happen to enjoy teasing high school boys. Wear this silly outfit? Go stand at the back of the line? Put his hand in the alligator's mouth? Okay, if you say so.
So, who is Ashton Norris Jr.? It depends on who you ask. He's a patchwork of everyone he's ever spoken to for more than 15 minutes, a human being cobbled from his best guess at what people want to see. He's been called a little bitch baby, a beta cuck, and a second place loser. At his last school, he was anybody and here at Finchwood, it seems like he's a nobody. He is pathetically average and also not like anyone he's ever known, and it makes him feel totally empty at times.
Thankfully, someday he'll come to realise that this is just an essential part of being a teenager. He's still cooking. Come back and ask again when he's 25.
SKILLS
LANGUAGES: English, and? He got a B+ in Spanish III Honors, baby. He's not sure he's ever met a native Spanish speaker, but that's all right.
IMITATION: Ask him to do Iason, it's hilarious. He can do pitch-perfect impressions of people he knows... but more than that, he knows how to watch people and, resultantly, how to fit in. Or at least, he did. His tricks don't seem to work so well at Finchwood.
TRACK & FIELD: He's sampled every event and he didn't embarrass himself at any of them. Actually, he's quite skilled at both the long jump and the hurdles, which suggests that "hopping" might be the talent he's searching for.
PAGEANTRY: As a relatively handsome and outgoing young man who's been up on the pageant stage since he was 18 months old, no one should be surprised to hear that he's racked up a number of trophies and crowns over the years. Indeed, Ashton is unquestionably a pageant veteran... even if he isn't exactly a pageant winner. Take a closer look and you'll see that the overwhelming majority of his trophies are for a heartbreaking second place. Always a Mister Rising Star or a Theme Wear King and never a Grand Supreme...
PEDAL STEEL GUITAR: He's genuinely pretty great at it and he loves the instrument, but frankly, his dad was right — it's weird, and it's not fun to watch, and talent show folks would rather just see you play the acoustic. So, now he plays the acoustic. But he misses his old friend the pedal steel and can be caught practicing it at odd hours, when no one's looking.
ACOUSTIC GUITAR: Fine.
LASSO: He has a whole country western act, y'all.
HISTORY
Family:
FATHER: Ashton Norris Sr. - A former pageant king and current coach, Ashton Sr. is a business-savvy perfectionist and disciplinarian who relives his glory days judging regional pageants and training his children to smize. He loves his son, probably, but it's obvious to everyone that he takes every second-place trophy as a personal failure. Also, he has very white teeth.
MOTHER: Jenna Norris - Enjoys playing dress-up and taking half a Xanax before getting into a bubble bath. Affectionate, but not a strong presence in her children's lives.
LITTLE SISTER: Brooklyn Belle Norris - 13 and a burgeoning tomboy who rejected the pageant thing at age 5 in favour of ballroom dance, which was the only acceptable alternative in the Norris family. Junior likes to give her noogies and is taking bets on when she finally drops the hobby.
To understand Ashton Norris Jr., you have to first understand Ashton Norris Sr. And to understand Ashton Norris Sr., you only need to know one thing: He's a winner.
Ashton Norris Sr. was voted most likely to succeed in high school. Ashton Norris Sr. is a two time Pageant of Swans and Sparrows Male Devision champion, not to mention a Global Elite Mister International pageant runner-up. He owns a Mazda dealership and his own line of pageant-ready clip-in extensions. Being so busy and successful, it's no wonder that his time as a pageant coach and judge is highly sought after. But hey, he can't make everyone a star.
Which is why, be it through nature or nurture, everyone assumed his oldest child would be the same. Obviously, something things skip a generation.
In Junior's defence, he was never a bad kid. He was a perfectly serviceable baby — cute, chubby, a little slow to talk. He was fussy around strangers from an early age, something his parents were determined to repair via everyone's favourite outlet for overcoming shyness, the stage. Specifically, the pageant stage, where he can be described as "moderately good." He was usually in the top 3 cutest babies in the room, which ain't bad when you're at an animal show for cute babies.
It wasn't enough for his dad. When his infantile run of wins started to plateau and peter off, he decided that a private coach was probably the next step. As Junior entered elementary school, his routines got revamped, his Skills And Talents changed around. His High Glitz tux was updated to something a little more exciting. And to eager-to-please Junior's credit, he did get better. It's just that... so did the other kids.
It seemed like this was the pattern for Junior — no matter what he seemed to try, he was never #1. Not at pageantry, not in sports, and certainly not in school. He was a pretty good speller, but he was only runner-up in the 6th grade spelling bee, so he didn't go to state. When he tried out for his school musical, Once Upon A Mattress, in the 8th grade, he was cast as the Jester. And in 10th grade, Junior finally earned a superlative in gym class — "most likely to develop scoliosis in young adulthood," as per the series of questionably-scientific, government-mandated measurements they all had to go through before taking the President's fitness test.
He hated it, didn't know what was wrong with him. People around him wanted him to thrive so desperately, and he would have done anything, anything, to make that a reality for them. Even more than for himself, he wanted to be a winner to make them proud. Instead, he tried everything under the sun and he was always just... okay.
There's something to said for "rising to one's potential," but... what were you supposed to do when you didn't have that much potential to start with?
Junior couldn't take it anymore. His sister BB's birth and subsequent success in the world of ballroom dancing took some of the attention off of him, but it didn't alleviate any of the shame that came with being Ashton Norris Sr's second place son. If he hadn't heard of Finchwood, he would've had to join the Army, just to do something respectable, far, far away from his hometown scene.
Getting in felt like his first big break in a long string of failures. Finchwood Academy was prestigious. It was high caliber. It was elite. It was finally something Junior's father could brag about, and even learning about the school's true nature didn't take away that shine. Danger, shmanger. He didn't care. The Norris family didn't need to know he was running around fighting Shadows. All that mattered was that maybe they were finally impressed with him, and so long as that was true, he would never walk away.
COMBAT
Persona: Yehuiah
Element: Earth
ACADEMICS
Core Classes: English, Mathematics*, Science*, Social Studies, Training.
Elective Classes: Comp Sci, Music
Clubs: Dance
General Performance: Junior is doing perfectly adequately in school. He has Bs in every subject, even his two honours classes. None of his classes particularly thrill him, but he doesn't despise school either. He applied to college and is hoping to attend the University of Wisconsin in Madison, but his cumulative GPA (3.25) is a little below-average, so it's kind of a stretch. Hey! Maybe with Gladstone connections?
What would he study there, you ask? Uhhh... well, hopefully, he'll find something he's good at before he graduates. Computer Science doesn't sound very cool and impressive, so he can't do that. And he got an A in Chemistry last year, but that's even worse than Comp Sci somehow...
OOC
Player: cam
Email: captainkickflips @ gmail
CDJ: gooddogs
Other Contact: dropbox pls & ty
Time Zone: gmt.... for now.......
BATTLE STATS
Squad: 6
Squad Position: Member
Primary Weapon: Bolas
Combat Style: Highly dependent on the people he's fighting with. Junior performs best with those he knows well, and is most successful when he's able to deliberately think about, and play off of, his squad's strengths. Because he never second-guesses orders, he's most useful to a strong leader with clear, thoughtful plans; someone reckless, who needs their team to act as a "checkpoint," will get a dangerous yes-man in Junior.
Nimble and dextrous, he tends to hover on the edges of a fight until an opening emerges, at which point, he'll jump in and make a precision strike. His bolas, when wielded correctly, almost act like a third hand — allowing him to tie and grab and pull from a distance — and his favourite move is to yank his opponent's weapon out of their hands. He also likes to trip enemies, AT-AT style.
For someone who often comes across as a giant dingus, Junior is actually a relatively quick thinker in the heat of battle and, if left alone, can come up with creative solutions to difficult problems. Unfortunately, he can sometimes distract himself by trying to anticipate what his teammates want him to do, rather than what he should be doing. Sometimes, this means that he's perfectly and seemingly-intuitively in the right position, able to preempt his leadership's orders... but other times, he guesses wrong and is exactly in the way. This trick is not unhelpful in itself, and when he pulls it off, it's an incredible boon. It's just that, when he doesn't, it's likely exasperating.
Attribute: Speed
Persona Name: Yehuiah
Persona Appearance: You'd be forgiven for thinking missing Yehuiah on the battle field; at first glance, the angel of subordination really does look like nothing more than a small pile of sand — about three feet in diameter and 4-5 inches high. On closer inspection, however, and in the right light, it becomes clear that those little gravity-defying wisps at the apex are where sand fuses into glass.
Indeed, in reality, Yehuiah is a giant humanoid creature with a tendency to stand immediately behind Junior, wherever he goes. His otherworldly crystal-glass body isn't translucent at all; instead, it merely approximates invisibility by reflecting its surroundings... more or less. Say you're standing in an open field. If you look in Yehuiah's direction, you'll likely see whatever it is that's directly in front of him. Or, you may see something close — same flowers, same shrubs, but there's a little rabbit rubbing through his frame that definitely isn't there in the physical space.
Mostly, his mirror act stays very, very close, although there are two exceptions: In the midst of a battle, Yehuiah may reflect something completely unrelated and when Junior stands in front of him, he doesn't reflect anything at all.
Affinity: Earth
Weakness: Fire
Ailment Susceptibility: Mute