Application for Tower of Animus

[twentycoolpoints]

Player Information

Name: Lampdevil
Personal Journal: lampdevil
Age: 30
Contact Info: AIM: geenacorbell | Plurk: lampdevil
Other Characters Played: N/A (Although I have played in this game previously.)

Character Information

Character Name: Picky Minch
Character Series: Earthbound/Mother 2
Character Age: 18
Character Gender: Male
Alternate Universe
Canon Point: From after the Mother 2: Harmony winter special, which is about 12-13 years after the end of Earthbound/Mother 2.
Background Link: Picky Minch is the youngest child of the Minch family. His mother Lardna is a neglectful alcoholic, his father Aloysius is an abusive and greedy man, and his older brother Porky is a time-traveling alien-supporting world-threatening child tyrant.

Now, let's back this up a bit...

Once upon a time in Eagleland, a place that resembles nothing so much as an idealized America, a meteor fell from the sky. This meteor crashed just outside of the town of Onett, where Porky, Picky, and their neighbor Ness lived. Kids being kids, they all jumped out of bed, changed out of their jammies, and ran to the impact site. Well, not Picky. Mom and dad were off at an elegant restaurant. Picky was left behind to watch the house while his brother checked out the big deal at the top of the hill. With parents as brutally strict as the Minches, measures needed to be taken to keep from getting in lots of trouble. But alas, the Onett police department already had it barricaded the meteor off.

Ness gave up and went home to return to bed, while Porky had been waiting for this chance. When some of the police officers went back to town to deal with some delinquents, he rushed back home to get Picky. Picky had to see this. And Picky did see it, nice and up close with his brother... but this close? It was spooky. It was dark, the meteor was glowing, there were noises in the distance... Porky ran away. Picky remained at the top of the hill, not the least bit scared. Well... maybe a little scared. He was up there alone. And his brother was nowhere to be found. Exhausted, Picky settled himself down near some bushes, and drifted off to sleep.

He was woken up by Porky and his neighbor Ness, who had come looking for him. Picky, relieved and a little exasperated with his brother, got up, brushed himself off, and was ready to return home. But as they passed the strange glowing meteor again, they heard a faint buzzing. A light emerged from the rock, and with it a bee-like creature named Buzz-Buzz. It was from the future, it claimed, a future where something called Giygas had plunged the world into darkness. Three boys and a girl were fated to save the world, and their neighbor Ness was apparently one of them. Big brother Porky expressed shock and horror at the idea. And he hoped that he wasn't one of those boys. He wasn't up for that. Picky held his tongue. This was pretty scary, but... pretty cool, too.

Heroes and non-heroes alike, they headed back down the hill. When almost home, they were intercepted by some sort of silver spaceman, and attacked. Ness and Buzz-Buzz fought him off bravely. Picky made his best effort to help, throwing punches where he could. Porky mostly kept to the back, muttered anxiously, and did nothing of any use. The way was clear, the evening was saved, and the Minch boys returned safely home... to find their parents waiting for them. Uh oh. Without anything else being said, Porky and Picky were sent up to their rooms and harshly punished by their father. Picky, all fleeting thoughts of heroism and aliens and bees having been beaten out of his head, retreated to bed.

The next days were the same, and yet... not the same. Porky had begun to act strangely, muttering to himself and being withdrawn. He began to miss classes. Then entire days of school. And finally, Porky disappeared from the house entirely. The prospect of being left alone to deal with mom and dad was really scary... at least it eventually became only mom around the house. Dad had gone off to the big city of Fourside to, apparently, go into business with someone Porky knew.

Something wasn't right, but what could one little kid do? The sky over Onett grew dark. Something was very, very wrong. Strange and horrible things from space lurked, creatures sent by that Giygas... and where was Porky? Was Porky safe? Porky really wouldn't have anything to do with this, would he? A little brother's faith could go a long way. It could put up with all kinds of testing. Until when, as the skies cleared and the monsters retreated, the letter that showed up in the mailbox with his brother's handwriting on the front wasn't for him.

It was for Ness. From next door. Ness, the boy who really was a hero. The kid that everyone was saying beat back the monsters and saved everyone. What else could Picky do but deliver it? And the letter wasn't even an explanation or an apology. It was a call-out to Ness, a "come and get me, jerkface" message. What the heck had his brother been doing all this time? He never knew. He never found out. Porky never came home.

AU Background: Picky is being played based upon the events in Mother 2: Harmony, a fan comic that sets out to be a canon-consistent exploration of how Mother 2 and Mother 3 are connected. In it, Picky and Tracy are teenagers, Ness is grown up and has started a family of his own, and Porky... well, Porky is still at large, and makes a return.

After the end of story, life in the Minch household remained as miserable as ever. Picky was sure that he'd be facing it alone.... except he had a friend in his neighbor Tracy. Tracy was Ness's little sister, a girl around his age, and the one person in the entire neighborhood, the entire school, the entire town that would be his friend. They were am nearly pair. When his mother and father would ignore him or kick him out of the house, Tracy would be there to open the door and invite him over for dinner. When bullies at school would beat him up and toss him in the trash, Tracy would come and pull him out. Their friendship was just as strong as ever by the end of high school.

On a trip to Fiveton to take a tour of Fiveton University, things started to go strangely wrong again. There was a rift in the fabric of reality that destroyed a local ice cream shop. Inanimate objects started coming to life, and animals began to become violent. Picky and Tracy found themselves caught up in the middle of it all, and Picky was only saved from a big angry animated garbage dumpster by the intervention of Lydia Kylen, a time-traveling girl from the far, far future. She had come through the rift, traveling with her father, because something in the time stream had disrupted their journey and knocked them off course from their destination. Something spider-shaped.

Matters soon began to escalate. Prince Kang, the son of King Poo (one of Ness's companions on his big journey) teleported in with the intent of helping out. Tracy's headaches began to manifest as PSI powers, which she used to help battle the strange monsters. Jeff, another one of Ness's old companions, gifted some equipment of his to Picky so he could help fight, too. Included with this equipment was a bazooka. Lydia had awesome future tech to fight with. And so the four of them battled on, eventually taking down the One-Headed Cerberus that was controlling the animals and leading the odd rift-creatures.

And then, after a moment to catch their breath... along came Porky.

Emerging from the time rift in an enormous spider-like mech came Picky's big brother, aged and warped, but as childishly cruel as ever. He had come for Lydia, for he wanted to take the ability to travel freely through time from her. The regular time stream had begun to reject him, sealing off all of the possible places that he could go to amuse himself. Gigyas was still a part of him, it seemed, and reality itself was rejecting him. Only one final place was left, and he didn't want to go there... so this was his last chance to continue to skip through time, treating the inhabitants of each era like toys for the sake of his own amusement. And then, finally, to destroy the whole universe when it ceased to amuse him. He hadn't expected to return to this time, but now that he was here? He extended the invitation to Picky to join him.

Picky was flabbergasted. And for a moment, just a moment, considered the offer. Porky had been gone for 12 years, leaving him alone with a miserable family. He could, perhaps, finally be someone big, do something awesome... but not if it mean destroying the universe. He refused the offer, attacking Porky. What had this awful world given him, Porky asked? What was he fighting for? Picky declared that the world had given him a friend. Tracy was the bright spot in a life that might have otherwise been unbearable. And driven by that knowledge he rushed Porky's mech, scrambled atop it, and disabled its shield generator. And then the fight was truly on.

The four managed to destroy Porky's mech. However, inside of it was another mechanism, an armored and weaponized life support system for Porky's aged and decrepit body. The tide of battle seemed prepared to turn, even when Ness showed up to throw his bat into the battle. Porky continued to make wild offers to his little brother, to let him be the general of his forces, but Picky continued to refuse. As far as Picky was concerned, this Gigyas-posessed monster was NOT his brother, and he would not be convinced otherwise. Ness and Tracy co-ordinated their attacks, Picky let loose once again with his bazooka, and that damaged Porky long enough to stop him, and for the time rift to start sucking him back in. Along with a good portion of the gathered animals, some of the surrounding people, and Dr. Andonuts, Jeff's father. And then it sealed shut, leaving Lydia and her father stranded in this time.

The rest came and sorted itself out. Lydia and her father remained in Fiveton, with Mr. Kylen coming to teach at the university alongside Jeff Andonuts. Tracy and Picky returned to Onett, with the intentions of enrolling in Fiveton University come the fall. Kang teleported himself home. Ness also teleported himself home, as his wife Paula had gone into labor. And in the end, Picky and Tracy affirmed that no matter what happened, no matter what the future might bring, they would always be friends.

Personality: Picky is a lanky and unassuming looking young man. He kind of blends in with crowds, and he wears his clothing baggy and his hair shaggy. It's not so much that he purposely tries to be a loner. It's just... hard to make friends, when your family has a town-wide reputation for being terrible people. Porky's reputation for being a pain had begun to rub off on him, and he could see no way to counter it. By the time that Porky was long gone, it was too late. The mold had been cast and the expectation that Picky Minch was a lousy person was just a matter of undeniable fact.

He's a fairly decent young man, as far as young men go. He's kind and loyal to the friends that he does make, and cares for them deeply. He's vegetarian, which is one part from eating a really bad burger and ten parts having sympathy for animals and not wanting to harm them. He has fairly acceptable table manners, he's polite to the parents of his friends, and he makes some effort towards his schoolwork. Not too much, but some. He'll defend those he cares about from threats and danger... even if the threats and danger are something that's all in his head. Friendship is a big deal for Picky, and he's prone to anxiety about losing the friendship of those he cares about. He's also prone to jealousy when he feels that someone may be trying to take his place in the lives of his friends. He can become quite mean and irrational at times like these, and he may say or do things that could genuinely damage his relationships with others.

Picky still wants to be a "cool hero", just like he did when he was a kid. And while the stuff he did while fighting to save Fiveton and fend of Porky was pretty cool, he's sure he's got a ways to go yet until he's really cool. For as much as he tries to act strong, and look stylish in his synthetic leather jacket, he's a bit of a dork. He has goofy ideas, tells dumb jokes, can't make a Halloween costume to save his life, and has a chronic inability to put on any weight or muscle. But when things around him start going wrong, he's willing to step up and stand up for what's right, whether he's armed with a tiny cheddar army knife or a great big bazooka.

His brother Porky is still a sticking point and a delicate issue. For years, a part of him held out hope that Porky would come home, and maybe he wouldn't be so bad of a person, and maybe things could become better in the Minch household. Abusive and neglectful parents were no picnic, but it was somehow easier to deal with when there was a brother at your side. But over the years, little resentments began to grow. Porky was always the favorite son, and mom and dad made no secret of this. Picky never quite fit into his awful family. Porky did. And when Porky returned, more monster than brother, Picky's hopes that they could ever be proper brothers again were completely crushed. He hates his brother now, hates what his absence did to him and hates what he's become and hates what he represents.

Abilities: Picky is a normal human, with no powers to speak of other than his courage and determination.

Sample Entry: There was no use keeping to the safe and boring places forever. Nothing would ever happen if he spent all day up in his dorm, right? So, pockets full of nutrition bars and head alarmingly free of clues as to the kind of trouble he could be encountering, Picky had explored his way up to the 6th floor. When he saw that it was a forest, that piqued his interest and brought him off the staircase. Maybe there'd be something good out here? Something like...

"Oh, hey!" Like rabbits! There was one, right over there, a brown mottled bunny just hopping past. And it didn't even scamper away in fright, like Picky had expected it to. Maybe the animals were friendly here?

"Hey there, Mr. Rabbit. Hey. You hungry?" Slowly approaching, Picky slipped one of the nutrition bars from his pocket and unwrapped it. And then he knelt and extended his hand, offering the end of the bar. The darned things tasted enough like sawdusty oats and spongey nothingness that maybe a rabbit would find them a worthwhile treat. Or something different than grass to nibble on. "Yeah, it's alright. C'mon, have a bite." Maybe if it went well, he'd have a pet rabbit for himself. Could they keep pets in the dorm? He'd have to check with his roommates, he guessed.

Up bounded the rabbit, and it sniffed testingly at the nutrition bar. And then its mouth opened far too wide with way more teeth than a rabbit had any business in having. Before Picky could react, Mr. Rabbit had sunk those teeth right on into his hand.

"AAAAAAAAAHH!!! Get off! Get off of me! GET OFF!" The bar was dropped, Picky was back on his feet, and he shook his arm wildly to try and make it let go. It was a very tenacious teeth-rabbit, though, and only sank its fangs in all the further. And all the shouting and flailing was drawing the attention of other things in the forest, just as fuzzy and innocent-looking, just as fanged. Birds swooped in and perched in the nearby branches. More rabbits hopped on up, having scented blood.

"Gnnaah!" As much as he hated to hurt an animal, Picky reached out with his free hand and finally pulled Mr. Carnivorous Rabbit off his hand. "You little twerp! What the heck?! You're supposed to be eating carrots and grass and.... uh..." And that's when he felt all those beady little eyes on him. Oh. That was a lot of birds. And a lot of bunnies.

He dropped Mr. Not An Appropriate Pet Rabbit to the forest floor, and ran.