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fiddlestick) wrote2017-08-25 05:56 pm
Recolle Information
| NAME. | Elliot Craig |
| NICKNAME. | -- |
| AGE. | 19 |
| BIRTHDAY. | June 25th |
| RESIDENCE. | Apprassage, Recolle, USA |
| HOMETOWN. | Queens, New York City, USA |
| FAMILY. | Carlos (Older Brother), Parents (Deceased), Extended Family (Unnamed) |
| OCCUPATION. | University Student |
| ORIENTATION. | Gay |
| DATING STATUS. | Single |
| HEIGHT. | 5'04" |
| BUILD. | Small |
| HAIR. | Red |
| EYES. | Green |
| PLAYER. | Yuff |
| JOURNAL. | randomtology |
| TIME ZONE. | US Central Standard Time (GMT+6) |
| APPLICATION. | Here |
♫ VISUAL. Carrot-top red hair and green eyes. Small and short stature, not at all athletic.
♫ FASHION. Some examples. He wears a lot of hoodies and hats. Tends to err on the old fashion or hipster sort of look, though overall his fashion sense is a bit more intune with the real world instead of a JRPG world.
♫ DEMEANOR. Timid but friendly. He doesn't like to fight and will try to get along with anyone. You might catch him muttering his breath sometimes though.
♫ AURAL. Voice Clip (Contains some spoilers). A somewhat hight and quiet male voice. American accent (New York), but it's pretty mild.
♫ OLFACTORY. Clean, but maybe a little wood smell from all his instruments.
♫ MENTAL INFORMATION. Regular guy, no psychic powers. He has confidence issues and tends to be pretty private about his personal issues.
♫ MAGICAL INFORMATION. Has potential but nothing currently.
♫ BACKTAGGING. I love backtagging! I have a tendency to let threads go after a month, but let me know if you want to keep it up and I'll be happy to do so.
♫ FOURTHWALLING. Not really applicable since this is AU.
♫ PHYSICAL AFFECTION. Fine by me! He'll might whine that it's embarrassing or try to evade hugs, but any physical affection is fine. It's pretty canon for his family to ignore his whining and hug him anyway.
♫ PHYSICAL VIOLENCE. Talk to me first, but probably fine! Elliot is weak physically, so he's easy to beat. Doing so may incur the wrath of his much stronger brother though.
♫ RELATIONSHIPS. He's a timid music nerd, but I'm open to the idea! Elliot is gay, so guys only.
For the most part, Elliot is a lot like his early canon counterpart. He's still a music obsessed nerd who tends to be on the meek side of things. But he hasn't had the chance to grow as a person as he did in canon. Thus, he doesn't have to self-confidence or determination to hold a strong resolve about his own future. Hopefully, this will change over the course of his stay in Recolle.
That said, there are still some minor changes to his personality.
As modern day America doesn't have such a strong class system as Erebonia, Elliot isn't concerned about social classes and how to act around them. Sure, he'll still get anxious about being polite to the rich and celebrities. But he doesn't feel pressured to lay low to avoid angering some rich noble's child. If someone used their status as a means to push him around? He'd be less inclined to sit back and take it beyond his usual meek attitude. Not only that, but the worry of his loved ones getting caught up in a civil war isn't preying on his mind.
In his Recolle backstory, both of his parents died when he was young instead of only his mother. He never had a chance to develop the father issues he deals with in canon. Instead, he remembers his father in a more idealistic light. His father was strong, loving, and brave. A wonderful father that Elliot can only hope would be proud of him despite their differences. Meanwhile, his family-related issues manifest when dealing with his still-living extended family. This results in him having even more strained relationships with them than his father in canon. While his extended family aren't bad or unloving people - they aren't as warm and affectionate as Olaf Craig is towards his children. Because you know, it's really hard to be as warm and affectionate as Olaf Craig.
Carlos is different from his sister Fiona in canon, so naturally the relationship is different. Both of them are doting and loving older siblings, but Carlos plays a much more active role in protecting Elliot. He saved Elliot's life and is always ready to jump in protect his brother. So Elliot's developed much more heroic admiration for Carlos. He's a firefighter after all, how much more heroic can you get? He's extremely proud of his big brother. But at the same time, he worries more about Carlos than he did Fiona. Firefighter is a way more dangerous job than a piano teacher, so the risk that something might happen to Carlos is much more real.
I mean, aside from that time his canon homeland broke out into civil war, and Fiona went missing until she turned up as a hostage. The risk was pretty real then I guess.
Having both his parents die and his older sibling move away, Elliot's had to grow up a bit faster than he did in canon. Because of that, he's more acutely aware of how easily you can lose people in your life. So his tendencies to fret over people has become a lot stronger. A frequent target of his fretting is his older brother Carlos, who puts everyone else before himself so often, Elliot can't help but worry. Other people who develops relationships with Elliot are also likely to endure the same treatment.
Elliot has a fear of fire in the AU that he didn't have in canon. Pretty understandable considering he lost his parents and almost his own life to one when he was a child. He won't get terrified if he sees someone lighting a candle, but he might get uneasy if it's being left unattended. To help cope, he's more or less memorized the fire code, and tries to follow it rigously in his own home. Safety first guys!!
Even if he's the black sheep of the family, deep down Elliot is still a Craig. He still has that inclination to protect and help people, and it frustrates him some that he's unable to do that like Carlos and his father could. He can't completely shake the feeling that there's something wrong with him. Because of that, he'll probably adapt to his regained abilities quicker, because he'll see it as a means for him to help -- even if it still takes some time to get him to stop screaming in terror about monsters.
With music, his obsession is still as strong as ever. He's still skilled with the violin and piano, and has learned the basics of several other instruments. The main difference is that having grown up in modern America instead of a fantasy land, he has much more exposure to a lot more music. He still loves classical, but he's also much more familiar of more contemporary genres. Rather than opera like in canon, he's much more into stage musicals as that's a better modern equivalent.
The final difference to address is his sexuality. In canon, they don't explicitly state his sexuality, but there's a lot hints. He ogles the guys during swim class, the girls say they aren't worried about Elliot acting like a pervert towards them while the other males are under suspicion, all his S-Crafts have a rainbow theme, he has no female love interest, and so on. So it's pretty safe to assume that Elliot is not straight. However, since this is an on-going canon there's always a chance the hints are misleading- so we'll just say for the AU itself? He's gay, regardless of what his canon-self turns out to be.
The main reason I mention this is because while for many characters sexuality isn't at all relevant, for a character whose as self-conscious as Elliot? It kinda is. Especially since he's at the young college age where your sexuality becomes a Bigger Deal. It's those years where you're on your own for the first time, so you start doing a deep dive to try to figure out your own identity and what that means. Whether it actually means he'll wind up in an actual relationship, it's hard to say. Gay or not, he's still a timid music nerd after all.
todefydestiny) whose ten years older.
The canon sections contains SPOILERS for Cold Steel 2 & 3
| NAME. | Elliot Craig |
| NICKNAME. | -- |
| AGE. | 19 (As of CS3) |
| FAMILY. | Olaf (Father), Mother (Deceased), Fiona (Older Sister) |
| EDUCATION. | Thors Military Academy, Heimdallr Music Academy |
| OCCUPATION. | Traveling Musician |
| HOMETOWN. | Heimdallr |
| ORIENTATION. | |
| DATING STATUS. | Single (as of CS2) |
| HEIGHT. | 5'06" |
| BUILD. | Small |
| HAIR. | Red |
| EYES. | Green |
In a military school class full of strong personalities, Elliot is a bit of an oddity. When you first meet him, he comes off as a rather timid and nervous person. He gets easily scared or startled in new situations. From his tiny stature to his meek demeanor, there's nothing about him that indicates he'd be good military material. If he was from a war movie instead of an RPG, he'd be likely be that young innocent solider that's killed early on for dramatic effect.
Sweet and kind are two words you can use to describe Elliot. He's nice to everyone he meets, and always tries to see the good in people. He's quick to give words of encouragement to his friends, or lend them an ear if they need someone to listen. If someone needs help, he'll agree to help with very little prodding. If there's not a clear answer to how to help a person, he'll fret about what to do to help them out, even when he has his own issues. Even when his own sister's being held hostage? He shows concern for Jusis, whose wracked with guilt from his family's involvement. He tells Rean that they need to rescue her not just for his sake, but for Jusis too.
Elliot doesn't enjoy fighting, so he tends to avoid if he can. When bullied at school for being a commoner, he reacts by not saying much and letting his friends do the talking. Even during battles, while his friends will shout intimidating boasts or threats at their opponents, Elliot is more inclined to politely plead them not to fight (it never works). At first, he resented the idea of attending a military because he had no desire to fight. It's only after making many great friends and having several world broadening experiences does he grow to appreciate his time at Thors.
That's not to say he's by any means a saint. He's quick to moan and groan about unpleasant tasks, muttering under his breath or complaining to friends. On occasion, he'll even say snarky remarks, though they tend to lack bite compared to his more snarky friends, erring more on the side of gentle ribbing. He has a tendency to lie or omit the truth on occasion, though it's usually well meaning. Since he's still a teenager, he easily gets embarrassed and annoyed by his father and sister's doting.
At the start of the series, one of Elliot's biggest flaws is his low self-confidence. He's convinced he's the weakest of his friends and holding the group back. At first, this had some merit, as he was the only one in the class with no previous experience of combat, and it shows. He gets winded during the first field study and scared at the idea of encountering monsters. Yet as time goes on, he grows stronger and less fearful and he grows strong enough to fight on the same level as his friends, his confidence takes much longer to improve.
Part of his confidence issues are a result of his background. Being the son of the famous "Craig the Red", a man so fierce he rides tanks like personal hoverboards, there was an expectation that Elliot would follow his mighty big footsteps. But as he got older, it became clear that he didn't have any of his father's physical abilities. Thus he's seen as something of a disappointment to many. This bothers Elliot enough that he hides his father's identity from his classmates for several months. When the truth comes out thanks to his older sister, he admits it: "Well, I'm not surprised you didn't peg me as Olaf Craig's son. I was kinda hoping you wouldn't find out...". While it's made clear that his father loves him? The idea that he doesn't live up to other people's standards still bothers Elliot a great deal.
But the other root of his confidence issues? Comes from the fact that Elliot is a sheer perfectionist when it comes to stuff he's passionate about. He holds himself to a very high standard, and is always pushing himself to do better. He doesn't just practice his violin, he'll practice his violin all day and then laments that the lack of soundproofing in the dorms prevents him from practicing all night too. When the class decides to put on a music concert for the cultural festival and puts Elliot in charge of the rehearsals, he goes into full drill sargeant mode and refuses to let anyone leave until they have a perfect run-through. He brings the same attitude towards his battle ability. Not because he's passionate about fighting, but because he's passionate about the people around him and wants to help them as much as possible.
While his perfectionist tendencies never go away? Over the course of the series, Elliot gains more confidence from his experiences. He goes from a meek kid who frets about making it through every monster fight to a young man who talks about finding a way to end a civil war so he can pursue his own dreams. This newfound confidence seeps into many aspects of his life. It gives him the strength and conviction to live his life how he wants, instead of how other people think he should live it. In one of his bonding scenes, he even speculates that maybe this was his father's intention all along:
"He wasn't against me going to the music academy because he was against me pursuing a career in music. He didn't want me to lock myself into it. He wanted me to be able to decide for myself just what path I wanted to follow. And more importantly, he wanted me to have the strength do so, even if people around me tried to stand in my way..."The truth is, Elliot's a lot more like his father than he realizes. Both of them are passionate when it comes to subjects they care about. General Craig's division is the best in the Imperial Army because he holds himself and his men to an incredibly high standard, just as Elliot does for music. Both of them are very open about showing their love and affection for the people they care about. They both prefer to think long and hard on important decisions, rather than rush them. And as Elliot's confidence grows, they only grow to be more alike as much like his father, there's little that can stop him from pursuing what he wants.
Elliot is a guy whose easy to befriend, but can be hard to get to know. When he talks about himself, it tends to be on "need to know" basis. It takes months for his classmates to find out anything in-depth about his life. Most questions asked receive vague answers or a simple "don't worry about it". When you first go to Elliot's house during a field study, he won't even let the other party members into his bedroom at first. It's only when he's mentally ready to share that part of his life with his classmates does he let them in. He's not actually hiding any terrible secrets, and he doesn't have any real trust issues. He's just both self-conscious and a private person. If he can? He'd rather handle his problems himself instead of burdening other people with them. He does tend to know when he's in over his head, and is capable of asking of help if needed. It can just take a bit of time for him to bring himself to do it.
His main element is water in the gameplay mechanics, and it's an element that suits him well. Despite his nervousness and complaints, he adapts to new situations rather quickly. At the start of the school year he expresses anxiety to Rean about interacting with nobles as he's never done that before. Yet by the next month, he's completely to adjusted, much to Rean's surprise, as it takes other members of the class several more months to adjust to the diversity represented in Class VII. He tends to go with the flow much easier than some of his classmates, but is a lot stronger than people first expect. When the civil war breaks out, he flourishes. He becomes a gungho member of the party; ready to do whatever he can to help stop the war while helping as many people as possible.
Music is an absolute passion for Elliot. To him, music is an inseparable part of his life, an obsession. He's happiest when he's performing music. Rean says you can hear Elliot's pure love of music in every note he plays. In the game's social link system, most of his bonding events revolve around music in some way or another. When he's forced to flee Trista at the start of the civil war, he couldn't bring himself to leave behind his violin. So he risked capture to retrieve it, even though he knew it was reckless. By the end of Cold Steel 2, he's fully embraced his passion of music. He decides to work towards finding a way to use music to bring peace and heal people. Which sounds naive by our world's standards, but you're talking about a guy who can kill monsters with fiddle playing. So you know....it's not completely implausible by his world's standards.
While he's friends with every member of Class VII, there's one friendship that's important enough to merit a mention: Rean Schwarzer. Rean is the main character of the canon, and so the player can pick and choose which characters he bonds with. Even if you choose not to do Elliot's bonding path, they still become close friends. Rean was Elliot's first friend at the academy, having become friends the first day of school. Elliot describes Rean as his opposite: he's confident where Elliot's insecure, outspoken while Elliot's soft spoken, and quick to take action while Elliot prefers to think things through while before acting. Even in gameplay, they are polar opposites. Rean is a swordsman with the elements fire and time (basically darkness), while Elliot is a mage with the elements water and space (basically light). The contrasts in their personalities compliment each other well. Rean encourages Elliot to be more bold and take action, while Elliot encourages Rean to stop and think more.
Rean is the one most supportive of Elliot pursuing music . At the start, Elliot is very reluctant. He keeps belittling his own skills and evades Rean's probing questions about his life. But Rean keeps trying. He listens to Elliot play, attends his concert, puts him in charge of running a concert by the class, and offers many words of encouragement. Over time, Elliot grows more comfortable and opens up to him more. During the war, Elliot feels confident and comfortable enough that he starts dragging Rean into doing street performing with him, as a way to get their minds off things between missions.
All in all, Elliot can be a rather timid person, but can flourish under the right circumstances. He'll never be one to get in the middle of fights, or shout fearful boasts- but you can count on him to rise to any occasion and support his friends as best he can.
Elliot is the son of Lt. General and a concert pianist who passed away when he was young. Despite his aspirations to become a musician, his father sent him to Thors Military School, where he took part of the experimental Class VII that focused on diversity and team-building through numerous field studies.
However about seven months into the school year, a civil war broke out in their country. Elliot along with the rest of his classmates enlisted into a neutral faction to protect civilians and help bring an end to the war. After the war ended, Elliot moved back home and transferred to the Heimdallr Music Academy. Once he graduated, he began living as a traveling musician.
For a more indepth history, check it out over here.
In Trails of Cold Steel, Elliot is your defacto healer and mage character. He's not at all physically strong, but he makes up for this by his ability at casting Arts (basically magic spells) and his numerous (mostly healing) skills.
ORBAL STAFF: Elliot's primary weapon. It's a staff that can shoot fucking bubbles energy projectiles at enemies from a medium range. The energy projectiles are effective against anything that can get hurt by magic damage. Elliot's staff is collapsible and can be used as a violin -- though that is not its recommend use.
ARCUS UNIT: A multi-purpose device. Primarily, an ARCUS unit is a type an orbment unit - a device that holds quartz (energy rocks like materia in FF7) which allow people to cast Arts (more on Arts in a bit). The ARCUS units differs from the regular orbment units in that they can act like as a communicator device (aka a cell phone). Beyond that, their crowning feature is the capability to form Combat Links.
Combat Links allow two ARCUS users to sync with each other in battle. They become aware of each other's movements at all times, even in a chaotic situation, and can move as one. While hypothetically any two ARCUS users can link, it's said you have to have a natural aptitude for it to work at all (so not just anyone can use it). Once formed, the strength of a Combat Link is based on the strength of the relationship between the two users. A close bond will allow the linked users to use an array of abilities to support one another, while users who dislike each other or are dealing with some relationship problems will have trouble maintaining a link at all.
In Cold Steel, strength of a relationship are measured by Link Level. Link levels grow by spending time together and battling together while linked. Elliot gains the follow abilities depending on his link level:
- Level 1 - Link Attack: If link partner strikes a blow that unbalances an opponent, Elliot will follow up with a second attack with his staff.
- Level 2 - Finishing Blow: If after a link attack, the opponent is near defeat, Elliot will swiftly finish it off.
- Level 3 - Auto-Tear: If link partner is injured, Elliot can immediately heal them a small amount.
- Level 4 - Arts Support: If link partner is about to cast a spell/art, Elliot will use his own energy to enhance the spell's power slightly.
- Level 5 - Rush 2: Causes more damage during a special group move - not really applicable to RP.
- Level 6 - Auto-Tear 2: Instead of a small amount, Elliot can now immediately heal partner a moderate amount.
- Level 7 - Overdrive 2: Causes more damage during Overdrive - not really applicable to RP.
Finally, experienced users of ARCUS and Combat Links can perform a special technique called Overdrive. When Overdrive is triggered, the link partners will be healed a small amount and will move so quickly they can get in three actions uninterrupted. Any arts cast during this time are instantaneous, and physical attacks will unbalance foes. In game, it takes awhile to fill the Overdrive gauge- so in RP I'd say they'd be able to activate it about once per day at most.
ARTS: If Elliot's ARCUS unit has quartz equipped inside, he is able to perform Arts - which essentially work like magic spells. Casting arts require using energy and can take some time to cast (the more powerful the spell, the longer it takes).
Quartz come in two different varieties: regular quartz and master quartz. Regular quartz work quite a lot like Materia in FFVII - they are special stones that when equipped in a quartz slot, give the user 1-3 spells to cast and/or some status buffs. Quartz come in 4 common elements (Fire, Water, Earth, Wind) and 3 rarer elements (Time, Space, Mirage). Elliot's ARCUS unit can equip up to 8 regular quartz, though these slots have to be unlocked, and two of the quartz must Space element and one must be Water. A list of usable Arts can be found here.
Master Quartz is a special quartz that is equipped in the center of the ARCUS unit. Unlike regular quartz whose abilities are static, Master Quartz has several spells and buffs in them, and will grow stronger the more you use them. Every ARCUS unit has one Master Quartz equipped. Elliot's default Master Quartz is "Canon", and has the following abilities:
- Tear: Heals single target a small amount.
- Aqua Bleed: Strikes a single enemy with a heavy mass of water.
- Teara: Heals a single target a moderate amount.
- Hydro Cannon: Shoots a huge blast of water, hitting anything in its path.
- Breath: Heals anyone in a medium area a small amount.
- Tearal: Heals a single target a large amount.
- Recuria: Cures anyone in a large area of ailments (poison, seal, temporary mute, temporary blindness, sleep, burns, being frozen, petrification, faint, confusion).
- Athelas: Revives an ally that's been knocked out and heals them a large amount (Note: does not work on dead people)
- Holy Breath: Heals anyone in a large area a moderate amount.
- Increases overall potency of healing arts (potency grows over time).
- Gives Elliot short term regeneration powers (for RP sake, it'd last from 1 to 5 minutes depending on the Master Quartz's power level). Cannot regrow limbs or come back from the dead.
- Arts range gets wider depending on Master Quartz's power level.
CRAFTS: While anyone can theoretically perform Arts, Crafts are abilities that are unique to each character. They take energy to perform, but don't have a casting time. Being the healer/mage of the group, most of Elliot's Crafts are support-based or afflict abnormal statuses, and also music themed because he's a band geek. His crafts are as followed, in order you receive them:
- Resounding Beat: Grants people in small area regeneration ability for 3 minutes as well as boosts their defense by 25%. Cannot regrow limbs or come back from the dead.
- Blue Lullaby: Lulls any foes in a medium area to sleep using bubbles. Causes some damage, and has a 30% chance of putting them to sleep.
- Detector: Can analyze a target to figure out their strengths/weaknesses.
- Holy Song: Heals anyone within proximity to him a moderate amount and cures ailments (see Recuria for which aliments).
- Nocturne Bell: Summons magic bells to cause damage to enemies in large area. Has a 30% chance of putting them to sleep, and a 50% chance of putting them to nightmare-filled sleep followed by a random status effect one they wake.
- Blue Lullaby 2: Upgrade of Blue Lullaby, increases chance of putting people to sleep to 60%.
- Resonance Beat: Upgrade of Resounding Beat. Increases effectiveness of regeneration power.
- Detector α: Upgrade of Detector. Not only will analyze, but will weaken foe's attack power by half.
- Nocturne Bell 2: Upgrade of Nocturne Bell. Higher chance of putting enemies to nightmare-filled sleep and causing random status effects when they wake.
S-CRAFTS: Basically the limit breaks of Cold Steel. These are extremely powerful moves. Basically RP wise they'd trigger whenever is best for drama and/or once per day. Elliot's are as followed:
- Seventh Rhapsody: Turns his orbal staff into a violin of death and basically fiddles his enemies to death. Affects a large area, causes damage, and inflicts confusion on any foe who hears the music.
- Remedy Oratorio - Summons an organ (because...anime) and plays a holy melody. Any allies in hearing range will be fully healed, revived from unconsciousness, cured of aliments, and afterwards have 2 minutes of extreme regeneration. Though still cannot regrow lost limbs or recover from death - he's not Wolverine dammit.
MUSICAL TALENT: If it wasn't obvious already, Elliot is an extremely gifted musician. His favorite instrument is the violin, but he's proficient in many other instruments. He's also a capable composer, being able to write two songs within a month in a genre he was just introduced to while keeping up with his schoolwork.
As seen with his Crafts, Elliot's music ability seems to go beyond just gifted and seems to step into almost supernatural. Not only does he have several special abilities that all involve music in battle, but outside of battle there's hints of this too. The most prominent example is after the village of Celdic was attacked, Elliot and a few other musicians are asked to perform to raise the spirits of the townspeople. The concert not only manages to calm the nerves of the traumatized townspeople, but rouse a couple people from comas. Elliot seems aware of this power, but he tends to attribute it more to the power of music in general rather than anything innately special about him. Yeah........okay. Sure Elliot.