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Terminal Tokyo Application
Apr. 5th, 2013 10:53 pmOOC Information
NAME; Greer
AGE; 20!!
OTHER CHARACTERS PLAYED; That's a solid 'no', Jim.
IC Information
CHARACTER NAME; Baroona
AGE; I'm going to go with 20 but canon givesnothing at all no canon age
CANON; Vagrant Soldier Ares
CANON POINT; In disguise, standing on a rooftop watching some guy giving a bounty on the Red-Eyed Swordsman.
FAMILY TYPES; Metal Empire, Dragon's Roar, Deep Savers
APPEARANCE;
The artist of Ares isn't really magnificent so despite the fact that Baroona is an ex-gladiator, he looks like a twink. He's got scraggy black hair that has no continuity ever, a thin everything (neck, torso, legs, arms, literally everything) and muscles somewhere. Maybe. He's got two tattoos of the same image (it's like a demented plus signs where the y axis is an hourglass and the x-axis ends in a scythe. Look, just look at the picture…), one on his back just beneath his shoulder blades and the other on his right shoulder. He'll come in wearing a stupid black cloak and a bronze helmet with accompanying mask shaped like a face. Underneath that he'll be wearing a striped short sleeved shirt and like cargo capris with lace-up black boots. At his hip will be this fanny-pack sort of bag that has his two daggers which are joined together by a steel cord that's pretty damn long. I've been a fan of this series for six years and I don't know what color his eyes are.
PERSONALITY;
First and foremost, Baroona is pretty much a mother hen. Throughout the manwha he is constantly looking out for his friends (mostly Ares) and doing his best to protect them either from violence or from hurtful information. It seems like his primary goals are to stay alive and keep his friends safe, something that becomes increasingly clear after Mikael's betrayal. After that turning point he is seen to be particularly protective of Ares-going so far as to follow him on his search for the Red-Eyed Swordsman in a disguise. The disguise was probably to keep Ares from being upset with him as it might be interpreted that he doesn't have faith in Ares and his abilities.
It's not true, of course. Baroona only has the utmost faith in his friends. Chances are, even if you don't fight, he trusts that you know how to take after yourself enough to not make him worry. He's protective-not smothering. He knows how to keep his distance and doesn't really over-worry. Baroona's way too easygoing for that.
Having gone through a lot in his life (slave, gladiator, like 4 wars), Baroona seems to have coped with all of it by (mostly) accepting it and moving on. He tries not to dwell in the past too much and seems to be much more about living in the moment and enjoying life. This probably comes from the lack of freedom he had at the beginning-now that he has freedom he spends most of his time enjoying it, either by hanging out with friends, by fighting, or just lying down in the grass and watching the sky. Basically, he likes to chill out.
Overall, he's a pretty mellow guy and one of few words, preferring to listen to people than to talk. One topic he usually doesn't bring up is his past, not because it's horrible (which it kind of is) but because it hurts his pride. This is shown in how he'll admit certain things about himself-the fact he was a gladiator is something he's pretty proud of. The fact that he was the champion even more so. But when Ares asks him about the slave tattoo on his back, he quickly tells him to buzz off. Unlike the other two things, the fact that he was a slave isn't something he's proud of. It's not an impressive feat he can show off later but more of a sign of weakness that he doesn't want to admit.
In fact, when it comes down to his core issues, denial is his strong suit. This is seen mostly in his fight with Ouranos and how he insists that he didn't kill his master/father figure when in reality he did. In cases like that, where the truth is just too much for him to handle, he places the blame on something else. In that instance, it's that Daraak forced him to do it, it was a life and death match, he would have killed me if I didn't kill him, etc. While they are valid excuses, they're still excuses he uses to block the fact that no, you did kill your master, Baroona.
Much like Tumblr, Baroona has his triggers. The one he reacts most violently to is the mention of his master, while others-such as slavery-get milder reactions. These can range from a closed fist to a stern warning to just looking sad. Either way, it's a good way to make him get away from his usual relaxed demeanor and, if one were to keep pressing the issue, a good way for him to dislike you.
In the end, Baroona is pretty much just a pretty great bro to have around. More than anything else, he's reliable and loyal with a side of caring and mashed potatoes. He's got his issues, like anyone else, but he doesn't usually let them consume him. He doesn't want them to, as that would be a waste of the life that he gained for himself.
HISTORY;
(The series has a wiki that's barely edited because it was made by me. I hope you don't mind a written history?)
Okay so. World first. The series of Ares takes place in a world heavily based in ancient times. The best way to describe it like this: Imagine a giant blender. Okay. Now throw in a hefty amount of Ancient Macedonia. I'm talking about Alexander the Great times here. Alright. Now, throw in a pinch of the Ancient Roman Empire. In this case, basically the colisseums and gladiator aspects and whatnot. You following me, app-reader? Okay. Lastly, you want to add in a pinch of modern-day knick knacks. Basically just modern-day clothes, coffee mugs, and cigarettes. No guns or cars or anything, though. Okay. Now, turn the blender on and when it's done you'll get the general sense of the world of Ares.
So now that you know what the world looks like, I'll go into the actual countries in it.
Okay.
So, there's this giant peninsula thing that has a random island sticking off of it. Although on the maps it looks sort of connected, oh well. We'll call it an island. So yeah, there's this island and a good chunk of this island is this Kingdom called Isiris which becomes a major plot-thing later on. And right next to Isiris are these two iiiiitty bitty kingdoms that it kind of swallows up later on. They're called Gillant and Mogkalla.
So. Island has Isiris, Gillant and Mogkalla, but Isiris is the only one that matters.
Moving on to the mainland-giant-peninsula-thing. On the very tip of the peninsula is this random kingdom called Eracleon. It's not that important. Right next to it is this huge mother of a country called Silonica who is semi-important later on. Now, next to Silonica is another huge mother of a country called Chronos. Pay attention to that name, I'll be using it a lot. Chronos is where Baroona and the other heroes are located.
Now, right above Chronos is this itty bitty island called Minos Island. It gets invaded early on. Isiris is right below Chronos so that will be a good plot point to remember.
Okay, so lastly there's this bumblefuck of countries right next door to Chronos on the big peninsula and they're all called the Radink Alliance. The biggest country out of all of them is the Kingdom of Daraak, which is another very important thing to remember.
Aaand, that's the map of the world. Okay.
Now the plot.
So. Baroona's background is different from the other two main characters, Ares and Michael. Each of them come from different countries, or so it seems. Michael's definitely from Isiris, since he's... kind of the Prince of it (but shhhhh, you're not supposed to know that until later). Ares seems to be born and raised in Chronos, and Baroona is from an area in the Radink Alliance, quite possibly some small city that Daraak conquered, since canon says Baroona was a slave and gladiator for Daraak.
So that's where we'll start this off.
Once upon a time in this big kingdom called Daraak, there was a slave. And that slave was also a gladiator, even though anatomically, he's far too skinny to be one. But he was. HAHA MANGA PHYSICS. Anyway. So, this little skinny scrawny slave kid is brought to Daraak's main colisseum and is told to be a gladiator. Somewhere along the line when he gets there, he meets this other gladiator in this cool helmet named Marino. So yeah, they click and Marino decides to take mini-Baroona up as his apprentice or something because gladiators totally do that. Whatever. So. This Marino guy is his master and is the one who teaches Baroona how to fight. He's also the one who gets Baroona addicted to smoking. Good job, guy. So. Blahblahblahbondingfest and then one day DRAMATIC THINGS HAPPEN.
The Dramatic thing is this: Baroona and Marino are sent out to fight one another.
Now, at this point it should be noted that somehow our scrawny little hero became the champion gladiator. So, back to the canon-did-not-cover-this fight. Baroona ends up killing his master/mentor in the arena, and even laughs as he stands over the guy's dead body. Yeah. I don't know either.
Well, anyway. I guess after that Baroona somehow managed to escape the colliseum and Daraak and somehow made it into Chronos. (Canon doesn't cover this, sorry).
So, while in Chronos he sees this ad on this billboard in some random town's square. The ad's for this well-known mercenary group called Temple Mercenaries. And it basically says "we offer free shelter, food, and all that good living stuff and all you do is fight for us!" So Baroona's like, "hey. I can do that." So he goes and takes the entrance test for the Mercenaries which includes facing off against a B-Rank mercenary in a ring with a bat. And you have to survive for three minutes. So he takes the test and passes it even though he doesn't fight back. Then he watches Ares and Michael (aka those two guys I mentioned beforehand) take the test and pass. And then they somehow become friends.
And then the first arc happens.
And the first arc takes place in this village named Jagsen village which is being attacked by bandits a la Seven Samurai. Unlike the Seven Samurai movie, these villagers actually scrounge up enough money to hire a whole lot of Temple Mercenaries, including the new C-Ranks, Ares, Michael and Baroona. So they go to this village and become friends with this coward named Gohu who's another mercenary even though all he does is hide how did he pass the test. But yeah, he's an artist and he paints/draws their fights throughout the manga, so that's cool.
ANYWAY. They're in this Jagsen Village which is getting attacked by bandits. The mercenaries were brought in to stop them. So the day after the mercenaries arrive in the village, the thieves come. The Temple Mercenaries have come up with this plan to cover three C-Ranks (aka Ares, Michael and Baroona) with a cloth-tarp-thing and say they're the goodies the bandits want. When they lift open the cloth, the mercenaries jump out and BAM FIGHT STARTS and then ends because dayum these guys are good. They leave one guy alive, though and he leads them to the bandit-headquarters.
When they get to the headquarters, half the Mercenary troop gets killed off because they're dumb and Baroona, Ares, and Michael and some other mercenaries fight the bandits. It's there they meet this guy named Carnival, who Michael faces off and who becomes a plot point later on. Anyway, they get into the main room, and the main boss fight happens and Baroona doesn't really fight that much in it so yeah. They all go back to the Mercenary HQ and await their next assignment.
And their next assignment is to be hired by this awesome Chronosian general named Icarus who has to clean up the insane Chronos-King's political mess by fighting a war! Huzzah! So, off go the Temple mercenaries to fight in this war against this little island called Minos. Now, before they leave for the island, they stay for a bit in this port city called Nix where Ares meets his girlfriend and Ares and Michael get a FORTUNE OF EXPOSITION DOOM. Which yeah, basically reveals the whole entire plot of the manga. So of course they don't pay attention to it.
So finally the day comes for them to set off to Minos Island, so they all pack up on ships and Ares, Michael and Baroona get into a fight with the punk ass mohawk general from Chronos' ally, Silonica. On the island, Ares goes off on his own which leaves Michael and Baroona alone for some bonding! And by bonding, I mean being left along in a tunnel against all of the Minos' king's guard and the best swordsman in the world.
Yeah.
Well, somehow they survive, and Michael finds out about Baroona being a gladiator-champion-slave thing because he has this tattoo on his back. Also: Michael kills the greatest swordsmen in the worldblahblah and Baroona kills all other 42 soldiers or whatever. Although, after the master swordsman is killed, the remaining 5 soldiers do try to surrender! And Baroona's all for letting them go, but Michael's a dick and kills them all.
Yeah, that's when Baroona first becomes suspicious of Michael. BUT THEY'RE STILL FRIENDS!
So anyway, the general Icarus guy comes and finds them both in this tunnel full of dead soldiers and is basically like "HOTDAYUM YOU GUYS ARE GOOD!"
Which means he hires them when he has to talk to an invading Daraakian troop. Because yeah, suddenly Daraak decided to break a truce with Chronos and Invade. Also, the crazy Chronos king died with no heir so now there's a struggle for power amongst the generals and they all want to kill Icarus. So yeah. He hires Michael and Baroona as bodyguards because he can't trust the other generals guards. And then Baroona and Michael ask to bring along Ares and Gohu, so they come along too. While on their little trip they first meet the evil Daraakian's elite fighting force thing, the Black Knights and basically come to the decision that Daraak and Chronos will have a war. Then, on the way back from that meeting, the other soldiers try to kill Icarus because the evil general asked them too. Baroona, Michael and Ares kill them all and Ares reveals that he's this master swordsman's pupil and asks for Baroona and Michael's help on getting revenge on the guy that killed his master. Michael and Baroona agree and then they go off and fight in the really short Chronos Civil War.
After the civil war, Icarus becomes king and then it's time for the war with Daraak to start. So, planning happens from both sides and they both decide upon a battlefield. The battlefield they pick is near these old random-ass pillars that kind of look like obelisks. Whatever. They're weird.
Anyway, since they're fighting Daraak, Baroona's on edge and is ready to kill some of the Daraakians that enslaved him. He doesn't really get the chance, though, since the Daraakian army sends out their gladiator champion, Ouranos, to kill some folks for a morale booster. Some random guys go out, accepting Ouranos' offer for a fight and Ourano's kills them all. Then Baroona steps out, and reveals himself to be the runaway gladiator Baroona. Ouranos gets serious and the two of them fight. Baroona offers Ouranos a chance to leave Daraak and fight for Chronos, but Ouranos refuses, saying that he's proud to be a gladiator. He then reminds Baroona of how he killed his master and Baroona gets pissed, but it doesn't really do anything. Ouranos is winning the fight. The only way Baroona can win is by stabbing the guy in the neck, which he does and finally the fight ends. But Baroona's in terrible shape, and sits out for the rest of the war.
After the war ends (with Chronos victorious), Ares, Baroona and Michael go back to the Temple Mercenary HQ, now A-Ranks. It's then that Michael gets reminded by his super royal spy reminder squad that he's a Prince of Isiris and it's about time for him to get back to his royal duties. So, Michael leaves the mercenaries and Baroona, Gohu, and Ares give him goodbye gifts.
And then a few months later, when Michael becomes king of Isiris, he comes back and invades Chronos. One of his first targets is Temple Mercenaries, which is where Ares is. Luckily, Baroona and this awesome archer character named Robin (HAHA CLICHE ARCHER NAME) are out-of-HQ and off being bodyguards for this guy on this bigass farm named Oakley Manor. So they get to miss the complete slaughter that happens at the Temple Mercenaries. So that's nice.
Also at Oakley Manor, Baroona meets this little servant girl that gets mistreated and basically becomes her guardian. He makes sure she gets educated (using his wily charms on the teacher lady to convince her) and is basically the sweetest thing ever to her. It's cute.
Too bad Michael passes through one day, with his little caravan of undercover Isiris-peeps. And they kind of almost trample Baroona's little girl which of course makes Baroona rush down. And he gets to hear Michael talk, and instantly recognizes Michael's voice. Of course, Michael recognizes Baroona too and apparently wants him dead. So he sends a troop of his soldiers to kill everyone at Oakley Manor. Luckily, a scout saw the troops coming and everyone evacuated. Everyone except Baroona's little girl, that is.
Upon realizing this, Baroona and Robin rush back to the farm which is already being occupied by Isiris troops, including their general Menase or something like that. Robin and Baroona sneak in undercover and then Baroona kicks down a door just in time to save his little girl from getting KA-AXE-CHOPPED. He kills the guy that was threatening her, and then he and Robin and the little girl get cornered. The Isiris general comes in and talks to Baroona, telling him that he knew Baroona's master, Marino. Baroona plays dumb and acts like he doesn't know what's going on, but in reality is kind of disturbed by the news. So, instead of talking the general any longer, he jumps out a window with Robin and the little girl and they run to safety.
Which means they go to catch up with Ares and Gohu, who are protecting Ares' girlfriend from Michael's goons in Nix City. Baroona gets into another fight with a guy who uses weapons like him, but ends up letting him go. Ares goes after him later and kills him mercilessly and Baroona finds out. Turns out the Temple Mercenary massacre really got to Ares.
Baroona turns his guardian-focus onto Ares then, leaving his little girl in the capable care of Ares' girlfriend, while he, Ares, Robin, and Gohu run off with the remainder of the Temple Mercenaries to go help Icarus' army. And to get revenge on Michael.
At one point, they reach a recently-vacated battleground and meet an old man that's kind of like Rafiki from Lion King. Except, instead of being a voodoo doctor or whatever he was, this guy is a excellent fighter. On the battlefield, Ares gets into a fight with a wandering swordsman and the two duke it out until it's kind of apparent one of them will die. Baroona's kind of tired of seeing this Ares-Is-Going-To-Fight-Everything thing happen and orders all the other mercenaries to dogpile Ares while Baroona apologizes to the swordsman. The swordsman leaves, and so does the random Rafiki-guy.
Who turns out to be a plot point.
Turns out Rafiki-guy was Michael's old master. So, what does he force the guy to do? Well, nothing says reunion quite like kidnapping Rafiki-Guy's granddaughter. Rafiki is outraged, but forced into going to assassinate Icarus, the king of Chronos if he wants to see his granddaughter alive again.
BUT ICARUS EXPECTS THIS and asks for Baroona, Ares, and this new guy named Douglas to protect him. So they do, but just barely. The fight against Rafiki is tough, even with all three of them fighting him at once. It doesn't help that Icarus refuses to leave the room. Anyway, the fight progresses and gets harder and harder. Douglas faints from blood loss after he gets slashed in the shoulder blades, Ares gets knocked away repeatedly, and Baroona's attacks aren't doing anything. But handling both Ares and Baroona is getting hard for Rafiki, so he decides to take Baroona out, stabbing him in the side of the stomach. Baroona goes down, unconscious from his excessive bleeding, and Ares gets scared that Baroona will die. Icarus tells him to stay calm and helps ensure that Baroona doesn't die from blood loss while Ares kills Rafiki. After killing him, Ares makes a promise to Rafiki's corpse that he'll go save his granddaughter.
So then Baroona, Ares, Robin, and Douglas all suddenly get better and somehow find out where Rafiki's daughter is being held. They rescue her and the itty bitty Daraakian princess who was with her and get the hell outta that town. They take wagons back to wherever and Rafiki's granddaughter gets lied to by Baroona (he says they didn't kill Rafiki and that she shouldn't go after the killers for revenge blahblahblah). Then he falls asleep and then funtimes.
Just kidding.
So after the fight with Rafiki, Icarus is all “sup guys tell the enemies I died because that will give us an advantage of them thinking of me as dead” and so Baroona and the rest are like “well if you say so…….” And then apparently after rescuing Rafiki’s daughter and shit cut to Michael going all “curse you people who saved the Daraak princess!! My plans are ruined!” And then after that it’s revealed that Chronos is getting Daraak reinforcements! Hooray for working together!
So cut to another scene and apparently the mercenaries are moving to a region called the Lauren Region. Which is someplace I don’t fucking know because the author has never brought it up before goddammit. But that doesn’t matter because they’re moving there to go build ships so that they, along with the Chronosian army and everyone else Michael has pissed off (aka, fucking everybody), can go invade Isiris (aka Michael’s homeland) in a decisive battle and shit. Also at this point Icarus comes back to be all I’M ALIVE and shit. So yeah. Good times.
So they all board the ships and sail off to Isiris and the wholly army gets split off into three sections, only to regroup later in some place called the Burokan Region. Turns out the Burokan Region is where most of Isiris’s supplies come from, so by taking it… well. You get it. Anyway, Baroona and the guys go with this other mercenary troupe called the Marlen Mercenaries and do their thing. After they take the Burokan Region, they head on to basically steal all the cows from all the villages on their way to some FUTURE BATTLEFIELD called the Daekim Plains.
On the Daekim Plains, Icarus and Michael meet before the fighting starts to talk and Icarus brings Baroona and Ares with him. Michael is basically like BLAHBLAHBLAHI’MADICK and Ares fumes a bit and then they both go back to their respective sides and the fight starts. The fight includes bulls and elephants and all around crazy shit until Icarus decides to split the army in two, using himself as bait to lead Michael to some place called the Sykhan Ruins which are these old ruins that Icarus uses to his advantage to hide in and do tactical shit. Baroona, Douglas and Robin the Archer are assigned to Icarus as his bodyguards so they go there too. Anyway, Michael follows the troops and fights happen and then he sends one of his best fighters, Carnival (remember that guy from like, really early on?) to go kill Icarus who is hiding in a bigass tower thing. Baroona is like “fuck that shit” and tries to stop Carnival, but Carnival is a sneaky bastard and slips past him and stabs Icarus in the shoulder. Baroona catches up, they fight, Baroona wins with the help of Icarus. And then he throws the king and himself out a window because there are enemy troops coming. So then they’re outside and they can see Michael all on his high horse and then Robin sneaks into the battle and fires an arrow that almost kills Michael. Of course he gets up close to do so, so he pretty much dies instantly. Baroona is all NOOOOO and then takes his body off the battlefield. Ares pops back in and does some shit in anger but that doesn’t really matter. Michael retreats because lol he’s dying and hurray! The battle has been won!
So they move on to their next challenge which is crossing this big fucking river in front of the Isirian army’s main fortress. While most of the army crosses in log boat things, the mercenaries for some reason or another get catapaulted across! Literally… catapaulted. Anyway they arrive across the river and Ares slips into the fortress (which is actually the capital city of Isiris, where Michael’s palace is) while Baroona and the rest are left outside. A while later, Baroona receives a message from Ares that says that Ares will open the gate that night for the Chronosian army to come in. Baroona gives the message to Icarus and they have a plan. So Ares opens the gate like promised and Douglas, Gohu and Baroona slip into the city. So the three of them rush to go help Ares out. After that, the gate closes and no more Chronosian soldiers can get in so shit sucks for that. But then a few minutes later Ares and Baroona along with this white haired Black Knight (aka elite Daraakian soldiers) reopen the gates and everyone’s all “yaaaay”.
So they leave that place they were and go towards the palace where Michael is until the only remaining Michael bodyguard (who is a lady!) is all “come here Ares I will take you to Michael so you can kill him… and shit” and Ares is like “dohokay”. Baroona, Douglas and Gohu chase after Ares because seriously... Unfortunately, they don’t get there in time and Ares is already inside some big chamber fighting Michael one-on-one so Baroona is left to fight the woman bodyguard and Douglas defends his back. So the fight’s a tough one, but Baroona manages injure her enough to incapacitate her and then it’s revealed that she’s actually the woman that Gohu is in love with! And then she gets kastabbed by this jerky king/general guy and the three mercenaries are like “dude you are such a dick”.
Then they all file into the big chamber where Ares is only to see that his fight with Michael is over and Michael is dead. Baroona comforts him, and then the boys pretty much defend Michael’s body from that jerky guy who killed Gohu’s love interest. Because Michael was a dick but still their friend. SHONEN MANGA VALUES!! Anyway, yeah that’s basically it. Michael’s dead, the war’s over. Icarus is still king. Life goes back to normal.
UNTIL PRESUMABLY A FEW MONTHS/YEARS LATER when we next see Baroona in a stupid cloak and weird ass mask standing on a rooftop and looking over some guy giving a bounty on the Red-Eyed Swordsman, Ares archnemesis. And that’s where the scanlations stop so that’s the point I’m taking Baroona from. Yup.
SAMPLES
FIRST PERSON; An old post from Cape and Cowl (his city-power was to charm women with his not-that-impressive smile)
THIRD PERSON;
He wakes up in a cold sweat some nights. He finds himself short of breath, breathing heavily as if air was something he had just discovered. His clothes stick to his skin, a second layer of flesh failing to protect him from memories infiltrating his dreams. The images stay with him, dotting his vision. He finds himself shaking.
Throwing the covers off, he sits up, stares at the ground. Curls his toes on the floor to remind him that it's real. His dream was the fake world. He feels the bedsheets, reminds himself that this is the type of world he lives in now. It's not home. There's a mattress underneath him, blankets and bedsheets and pillows surrounding him. The life of luxury. He is living this way now.
He gets up off the bed, retrieving his cigarettes and his blades from beneath his pillow. He stuffs the knives in their bag, wrapping the belt around his waist. He's still in his pajamas, but he goes out anyway. Opens the window and slides out, clambering onto the roof.
The sky is his only comfort now, it seems. He finds himself looking up at it daily, reminding himself that while the rest of the world changes the sky stays the same. He traces a constellation with his finger, finding his way to the North Star. When he finds it, his hand drops to the roof and he opens up his pack of cigarettes.
Marino told him that cigarettes perked him up; that was their point. He believed him then, although now Baroona knew it was really just his master himself that cheered him on. Made life bearable. But at the time he believed. Now it remained less of a pick-me-up and more as a tribute. No, not a tribute. An apology. A way to cope with the guilt he could never get rid of. Something to remember and honor Marino by. Continuing his legacy. Something. Doing something.
He furrows his brow at the stars. They were supposed to comfort, not encourage these feelings. Yet here he was, musing over his master again. He sits up, lighting a cigarette and looks out over the city instead. A sudden pang of intrigue strikes him as he watches a streetlight flicker on and off a few blocks away. He slips back down into his room, changes quickly, frequently looking out the window to make sure the light was still there. Still flickering. It was.
He gets attracted to these small differences sometimes. Gelled hairstyles, a flickering streetlight, the twist-ties on loafs of bread. Small things, things taken for granted. He likes to question them. It helps him understand the differences between his world and this one. Makes it easier to live.
He pulls on a sleeveless shirt, tugs on pants, ties up his boots and slips out the window again. He makes his way down to the ground skillfully and silently, still smoking his cigarette. Looking up at the North Star for guidance, he finds his way back to that flickering light.
He stays on the opposite side of the street at first, watching the lamp flicker on and off on and off with a sort of cautiousness. It reminds him of a candle, the unsteadiness of the glow. How the flame would move back and forth, shedding light on different areas at different moments. Here it was the same. He approaches it, slowly, standing under it and looking up during one of the lightless intervals. Then the light came on again and he looks away quickly, already seeing spots in his vision. He retreats from under the light to just outside it's reach. After awhile he sits down on the curb next to the light, watching it still. It calms him like the stars were supposed to, and he remains there for a long time.
NAME; Greer
AGE; 20!!
OTHER CHARACTERS PLAYED; That's a solid 'no', Jim.
IC Information
CHARACTER NAME; Baroona
AGE; I'm going to go with 20 but canon gives
CANON; Vagrant Soldier Ares
CANON POINT; In disguise, standing on a rooftop watching some guy giving a bounty on the Red-Eyed Swordsman.
FAMILY TYPES; Metal Empire, Dragon's Roar, Deep Savers
APPEARANCE;
The artist of Ares isn't really magnificent so despite the fact that Baroona is an ex-gladiator, he looks like a twink. He's got scraggy black hair that has no continuity ever, a thin everything (neck, torso, legs, arms, literally everything) and muscles somewhere. Maybe. He's got two tattoos of the same image (it's like a demented plus signs where the y axis is an hourglass and the x-axis ends in a scythe. Look, just look at the picture…), one on his back just beneath his shoulder blades and the other on his right shoulder. He'll come in wearing a stupid black cloak and a bronze helmet with accompanying mask shaped like a face. Underneath that he'll be wearing a striped short sleeved shirt and like cargo capris with lace-up black boots. At his hip will be this fanny-pack sort of bag that has his two daggers which are joined together by a steel cord that's pretty damn long. I've been a fan of this series for six years and I don't know what color his eyes are.
PERSONALITY;
First and foremost, Baroona is pretty much a mother hen. Throughout the manwha he is constantly looking out for his friends (mostly Ares) and doing his best to protect them either from violence or from hurtful information. It seems like his primary goals are to stay alive and keep his friends safe, something that becomes increasingly clear after Mikael's betrayal. After that turning point he is seen to be particularly protective of Ares-going so far as to follow him on his search for the Red-Eyed Swordsman in a disguise. The disguise was probably to keep Ares from being upset with him as it might be interpreted that he doesn't have faith in Ares and his abilities.
It's not true, of course. Baroona only has the utmost faith in his friends. Chances are, even if you don't fight, he trusts that you know how to take after yourself enough to not make him worry. He's protective-not smothering. He knows how to keep his distance and doesn't really over-worry. Baroona's way too easygoing for that.
Having gone through a lot in his life (slave, gladiator, like 4 wars), Baroona seems to have coped with all of it by (mostly) accepting it and moving on. He tries not to dwell in the past too much and seems to be much more about living in the moment and enjoying life. This probably comes from the lack of freedom he had at the beginning-now that he has freedom he spends most of his time enjoying it, either by hanging out with friends, by fighting, or just lying down in the grass and watching the sky. Basically, he likes to chill out.
Overall, he's a pretty mellow guy and one of few words, preferring to listen to people than to talk. One topic he usually doesn't bring up is his past, not because it's horrible (which it kind of is) but because it hurts his pride. This is shown in how he'll admit certain things about himself-the fact he was a gladiator is something he's pretty proud of. The fact that he was the champion even more so. But when Ares asks him about the slave tattoo on his back, he quickly tells him to buzz off. Unlike the other two things, the fact that he was a slave isn't something he's proud of. It's not an impressive feat he can show off later but more of a sign of weakness that he doesn't want to admit.
In fact, when it comes down to his core issues, denial is his strong suit. This is seen mostly in his fight with Ouranos and how he insists that he didn't kill his master/father figure when in reality he did. In cases like that, where the truth is just too much for him to handle, he places the blame on something else. In that instance, it's that Daraak forced him to do it, it was a life and death match, he would have killed me if I didn't kill him, etc. While they are valid excuses, they're still excuses he uses to block the fact that no, you did kill your master, Baroona.
Much like Tumblr, Baroona has his triggers. The one he reacts most violently to is the mention of his master, while others-such as slavery-get milder reactions. These can range from a closed fist to a stern warning to just looking sad. Either way, it's a good way to make him get away from his usual relaxed demeanor and, if one were to keep pressing the issue, a good way for him to dislike you.
In the end, Baroona is pretty much just a pretty great bro to have around. More than anything else, he's reliable and loyal with a side of caring and mashed potatoes. He's got his issues, like anyone else, but he doesn't usually let them consume him. He doesn't want them to, as that would be a waste of the life that he gained for himself.
HISTORY;
(The series has a wiki that's barely edited because it was made by me. I hope you don't mind a written history?)
Okay so. World first. The series of Ares takes place in a world heavily based in ancient times. The best way to describe it like this: Imagine a giant blender. Okay. Now throw in a hefty amount of Ancient Macedonia. I'm talking about Alexander the Great times here. Alright. Now, throw in a pinch of the Ancient Roman Empire. In this case, basically the colisseums and gladiator aspects and whatnot. You following me, app-reader? Okay. Lastly, you want to add in a pinch of modern-day knick knacks. Basically just modern-day clothes, coffee mugs, and cigarettes. No guns or cars or anything, though. Okay. Now, turn the blender on and when it's done you'll get the general sense of the world of Ares.
So now that you know what the world looks like, I'll go into the actual countries in it.
Okay.
So, there's this giant peninsula thing that has a random island sticking off of it. Although on the maps it looks sort of connected, oh well. We'll call it an island. So yeah, there's this island and a good chunk of this island is this Kingdom called Isiris which becomes a major plot-thing later on. And right next to Isiris are these two iiiiitty bitty kingdoms that it kind of swallows up later on. They're called Gillant and Mogkalla.
So. Island has Isiris, Gillant and Mogkalla, but Isiris is the only one that matters.
Moving on to the mainland-giant-peninsula-thing. On the very tip of the peninsula is this random kingdom called Eracleon. It's not that important. Right next to it is this huge mother of a country called Silonica who is semi-important later on. Now, next to Silonica is another huge mother of a country called Chronos. Pay attention to that name, I'll be using it a lot. Chronos is where Baroona and the other heroes are located.
Now, right above Chronos is this itty bitty island called Minos Island. It gets invaded early on. Isiris is right below Chronos so that will be a good plot point to remember.
Okay, so lastly there's this bumblefuck of countries right next door to Chronos on the big peninsula and they're all called the Radink Alliance. The biggest country out of all of them is the Kingdom of Daraak, which is another very important thing to remember.
Aaand, that's the map of the world. Okay.
Now the plot.
So. Baroona's background is different from the other two main characters, Ares and Michael. Each of them come from different countries, or so it seems. Michael's definitely from Isiris, since he's... kind of the Prince of it (but shhhhh, you're not supposed to know that until later). Ares seems to be born and raised in Chronos, and Baroona is from an area in the Radink Alliance, quite possibly some small city that Daraak conquered, since canon says Baroona was a slave and gladiator for Daraak.
So that's where we'll start this off.
Once upon a time in this big kingdom called Daraak, there was a slave. And that slave was also a gladiator, even though anatomically, he's far too skinny to be one. But he was. HAHA MANGA PHYSICS. Anyway. So, this little skinny scrawny slave kid is brought to Daraak's main colisseum and is told to be a gladiator. Somewhere along the line when he gets there, he meets this other gladiator in this cool helmet named Marino. So yeah, they click and Marino decides to take mini-Baroona up as his apprentice or something because gladiators totally do that. Whatever. So. This Marino guy is his master and is the one who teaches Baroona how to fight. He's also the one who gets Baroona addicted to smoking. Good job, guy. So. Blahblahblahbondingfest and then one day DRAMATIC THINGS HAPPEN.
The Dramatic thing is this: Baroona and Marino are sent out to fight one another.
Now, at this point it should be noted that somehow our scrawny little hero became the champion gladiator. So, back to the canon-did-not-cover-this fight. Baroona ends up killing his master/mentor in the arena, and even laughs as he stands over the guy's dead body. Yeah. I don't know either.
Well, anyway. I guess after that Baroona somehow managed to escape the colliseum and Daraak and somehow made it into Chronos. (Canon doesn't cover this, sorry).
So, while in Chronos he sees this ad on this billboard in some random town's square. The ad's for this well-known mercenary group called Temple Mercenaries. And it basically says "we offer free shelter, food, and all that good living stuff and all you do is fight for us!" So Baroona's like, "hey. I can do that." So he goes and takes the entrance test for the Mercenaries which includes facing off against a B-Rank mercenary in a ring with a bat. And you have to survive for three minutes. So he takes the test and passes it even though he doesn't fight back. Then he watches Ares and Michael (aka those two guys I mentioned beforehand) take the test and pass. And then they somehow become friends.
And then the first arc happens.
And the first arc takes place in this village named Jagsen village which is being attacked by bandits a la Seven Samurai. Unlike the Seven Samurai movie, these villagers actually scrounge up enough money to hire a whole lot of Temple Mercenaries, including the new C-Ranks, Ares, Michael and Baroona. So they go to this village and become friends with this coward named Gohu who's another mercenary even though all he does is hide how did he pass the test. But yeah, he's an artist and he paints/draws their fights throughout the manga, so that's cool.
ANYWAY. They're in this Jagsen Village which is getting attacked by bandits. The mercenaries were brought in to stop them. So the day after the mercenaries arrive in the village, the thieves come. The Temple Mercenaries have come up with this plan to cover three C-Ranks (aka Ares, Michael and Baroona) with a cloth-tarp-thing and say they're the goodies the bandits want. When they lift open the cloth, the mercenaries jump out and BAM FIGHT STARTS and then ends because dayum these guys are good. They leave one guy alive, though and he leads them to the bandit-headquarters.
When they get to the headquarters, half the Mercenary troop gets killed off because they're dumb and Baroona, Ares, and Michael and some other mercenaries fight the bandits. It's there they meet this guy named Carnival, who Michael faces off and who becomes a plot point later on. Anyway, they get into the main room, and the main boss fight happens and Baroona doesn't really fight that much in it so yeah. They all go back to the Mercenary HQ and await their next assignment.
And their next assignment is to be hired by this awesome Chronosian general named Icarus who has to clean up the insane Chronos-King's political mess by fighting a war! Huzzah! So, off go the Temple mercenaries to fight in this war against this little island called Minos. Now, before they leave for the island, they stay for a bit in this port city called Nix where Ares meets his girlfriend and Ares and Michael get a FORTUNE OF EXPOSITION DOOM. Which yeah, basically reveals the whole entire plot of the manga. So of course they don't pay attention to it.
So finally the day comes for them to set off to Minos Island, so they all pack up on ships and Ares, Michael and Baroona get into a fight with the punk ass mohawk general from Chronos' ally, Silonica. On the island, Ares goes off on his own which leaves Michael and Baroona alone for some bonding! And by bonding, I mean being left along in a tunnel against all of the Minos' king's guard and the best swordsman in the world.
Yeah.
Well, somehow they survive, and Michael finds out about Baroona being a gladiator-champion-slave thing because he has this tattoo on his back. Also: Michael kills the greatest swordsmen in the worldblahblah and Baroona kills all other 42 soldiers or whatever. Although, after the master swordsman is killed, the remaining 5 soldiers do try to surrender! And Baroona's all for letting them go, but Michael's a dick and kills them all.
Yeah, that's when Baroona first becomes suspicious of Michael. BUT THEY'RE STILL FRIENDS!
So anyway, the general Icarus guy comes and finds them both in this tunnel full of dead soldiers and is basically like "HOTDAYUM YOU GUYS ARE GOOD!"
Which means he hires them when he has to talk to an invading Daraakian troop. Because yeah, suddenly Daraak decided to break a truce with Chronos and Invade. Also, the crazy Chronos king died with no heir so now there's a struggle for power amongst the generals and they all want to kill Icarus. So yeah. He hires Michael and Baroona as bodyguards because he can't trust the other generals guards. And then Baroona and Michael ask to bring along Ares and Gohu, so they come along too. While on their little trip they first meet the evil Daraakian's elite fighting force thing, the Black Knights and basically come to the decision that Daraak and Chronos will have a war. Then, on the way back from that meeting, the other soldiers try to kill Icarus because the evil general asked them too. Baroona, Michael and Ares kill them all and Ares reveals that he's this master swordsman's pupil and asks for Baroona and Michael's help on getting revenge on the guy that killed his master. Michael and Baroona agree and then they go off and fight in the really short Chronos Civil War.
After the civil war, Icarus becomes king and then it's time for the war with Daraak to start. So, planning happens from both sides and they both decide upon a battlefield. The battlefield they pick is near these old random-ass pillars that kind of look like obelisks. Whatever. They're weird.
Anyway, since they're fighting Daraak, Baroona's on edge and is ready to kill some of the Daraakians that enslaved him. He doesn't really get the chance, though, since the Daraakian army sends out their gladiator champion, Ouranos, to kill some folks for a morale booster. Some random guys go out, accepting Ouranos' offer for a fight and Ourano's kills them all. Then Baroona steps out, and reveals himself to be the runaway gladiator Baroona. Ouranos gets serious and the two of them fight. Baroona offers Ouranos a chance to leave Daraak and fight for Chronos, but Ouranos refuses, saying that he's proud to be a gladiator. He then reminds Baroona of how he killed his master and Baroona gets pissed, but it doesn't really do anything. Ouranos is winning the fight. The only way Baroona can win is by stabbing the guy in the neck, which he does and finally the fight ends. But Baroona's in terrible shape, and sits out for the rest of the war.
After the war ends (with Chronos victorious), Ares, Baroona and Michael go back to the Temple Mercenary HQ, now A-Ranks. It's then that Michael gets reminded by his super royal spy reminder squad that he's a Prince of Isiris and it's about time for him to get back to his royal duties. So, Michael leaves the mercenaries and Baroona, Gohu, and Ares give him goodbye gifts.
And then a few months later, when Michael becomes king of Isiris, he comes back and invades Chronos. One of his first targets is Temple Mercenaries, which is where Ares is. Luckily, Baroona and this awesome archer character named Robin (HAHA CLICHE ARCHER NAME) are out-of-HQ and off being bodyguards for this guy on this bigass farm named Oakley Manor. So they get to miss the complete slaughter that happens at the Temple Mercenaries. So that's nice.
Also at Oakley Manor, Baroona meets this little servant girl that gets mistreated and basically becomes her guardian. He makes sure she gets educated (using his wily charms on the teacher lady to convince her) and is basically the sweetest thing ever to her. It's cute.
Too bad Michael passes through one day, with his little caravan of undercover Isiris-peeps. And they kind of almost trample Baroona's little girl which of course makes Baroona rush down. And he gets to hear Michael talk, and instantly recognizes Michael's voice. Of course, Michael recognizes Baroona too and apparently wants him dead. So he sends a troop of his soldiers to kill everyone at Oakley Manor. Luckily, a scout saw the troops coming and everyone evacuated. Everyone except Baroona's little girl, that is.
Upon realizing this, Baroona and Robin rush back to the farm which is already being occupied by Isiris troops, including their general Menase or something like that. Robin and Baroona sneak in undercover and then Baroona kicks down a door just in time to save his little girl from getting KA-AXE-CHOPPED. He kills the guy that was threatening her, and then he and Robin and the little girl get cornered. The Isiris general comes in and talks to Baroona, telling him that he knew Baroona's master, Marino. Baroona plays dumb and acts like he doesn't know what's going on, but in reality is kind of disturbed by the news. So, instead of talking the general any longer, he jumps out a window with Robin and the little girl and they run to safety.
Which means they go to catch up with Ares and Gohu, who are protecting Ares' girlfriend from Michael's goons in Nix City. Baroona gets into another fight with a guy who uses weapons like him, but ends up letting him go. Ares goes after him later and kills him mercilessly and Baroona finds out. Turns out the Temple Mercenary massacre really got to Ares.
Baroona turns his guardian-focus onto Ares then, leaving his little girl in the capable care of Ares' girlfriend, while he, Ares, Robin, and Gohu run off with the remainder of the Temple Mercenaries to go help Icarus' army. And to get revenge on Michael.
At one point, they reach a recently-vacated battleground and meet an old man that's kind of like Rafiki from Lion King. Except, instead of being a voodoo doctor or whatever he was, this guy is a excellent fighter. On the battlefield, Ares gets into a fight with a wandering swordsman and the two duke it out until it's kind of apparent one of them will die. Baroona's kind of tired of seeing this Ares-Is-Going-To-Fight-Everything thing happen and orders all the other mercenaries to dogpile Ares while Baroona apologizes to the swordsman. The swordsman leaves, and so does the random Rafiki-guy.
Who turns out to be a plot point.
Turns out Rafiki-guy was Michael's old master. So, what does he force the guy to do? Well, nothing says reunion quite like kidnapping Rafiki-Guy's granddaughter. Rafiki is outraged, but forced into going to assassinate Icarus, the king of Chronos if he wants to see his granddaughter alive again.
BUT ICARUS EXPECTS THIS and asks for Baroona, Ares, and this new guy named Douglas to protect him. So they do, but just barely. The fight against Rafiki is tough, even with all three of them fighting him at once. It doesn't help that Icarus refuses to leave the room. Anyway, the fight progresses and gets harder and harder. Douglas faints from blood loss after he gets slashed in the shoulder blades, Ares gets knocked away repeatedly, and Baroona's attacks aren't doing anything. But handling both Ares and Baroona is getting hard for Rafiki, so he decides to take Baroona out, stabbing him in the side of the stomach. Baroona goes down, unconscious from his excessive bleeding, and Ares gets scared that Baroona will die. Icarus tells him to stay calm and helps ensure that Baroona doesn't die from blood loss while Ares kills Rafiki. After killing him, Ares makes a promise to Rafiki's corpse that he'll go save his granddaughter.
So then Baroona, Ares, Robin, and Douglas all suddenly get better and somehow find out where Rafiki's daughter is being held. They rescue her and the itty bitty Daraakian princess who was with her and get the hell outta that town. They take wagons back to wherever and Rafiki's granddaughter gets lied to by Baroona (he says they didn't kill Rafiki and that she shouldn't go after the killers for revenge blahblahblah). Then he falls asleep and then funtimes.
Just kidding.
So after the fight with Rafiki, Icarus is all “sup guys tell the enemies I died because that will give us an advantage of them thinking of me as dead” and so Baroona and the rest are like “well if you say so…….” And then apparently after rescuing Rafiki’s daughter and shit cut to Michael going all “curse you people who saved the Daraak princess!! My plans are ruined!” And then after that it’s revealed that Chronos is getting Daraak reinforcements! Hooray for working together!
So cut to another scene and apparently the mercenaries are moving to a region called the Lauren Region. Which is someplace I don’t fucking know because the author has never brought it up before goddammit. But that doesn’t matter because they’re moving there to go build ships so that they, along with the Chronosian army and everyone else Michael has pissed off (aka, fucking everybody), can go invade Isiris (aka Michael’s homeland) in a decisive battle and shit. Also at this point Icarus comes back to be all I’M ALIVE and shit. So yeah. Good times.
So they all board the ships and sail off to Isiris and the wholly army gets split off into three sections, only to regroup later in some place called the Burokan Region. Turns out the Burokan Region is where most of Isiris’s supplies come from, so by taking it… well. You get it. Anyway, Baroona and the guys go with this other mercenary troupe called the Marlen Mercenaries and do their thing. After they take the Burokan Region, they head on to basically steal all the cows from all the villages on their way to some FUTURE BATTLEFIELD called the Daekim Plains.
On the Daekim Plains, Icarus and Michael meet before the fighting starts to talk and Icarus brings Baroona and Ares with him. Michael is basically like BLAHBLAHBLAHI’MADICK and Ares fumes a bit and then they both go back to their respective sides and the fight starts. The fight includes bulls and elephants and all around crazy shit until Icarus decides to split the army in two, using himself as bait to lead Michael to some place called the Sykhan Ruins which are these old ruins that Icarus uses to his advantage to hide in and do tactical shit. Baroona, Douglas and Robin the Archer are assigned to Icarus as his bodyguards so they go there too. Anyway, Michael follows the troops and fights happen and then he sends one of his best fighters, Carnival (remember that guy from like, really early on?) to go kill Icarus who is hiding in a bigass tower thing. Baroona is like “fuck that shit” and tries to stop Carnival, but Carnival is a sneaky bastard and slips past him and stabs Icarus in the shoulder. Baroona catches up, they fight, Baroona wins with the help of Icarus. And then he throws the king and himself out a window because there are enemy troops coming. So then they’re outside and they can see Michael all on his high horse and then Robin sneaks into the battle and fires an arrow that almost kills Michael. Of course he gets up close to do so, so he pretty much dies instantly. Baroona is all NOOOOO and then takes his body off the battlefield. Ares pops back in and does some shit in anger but that doesn’t really matter. Michael retreats because lol he’s dying and hurray! The battle has been won!
So they move on to their next challenge which is crossing this big fucking river in front of the Isirian army’s main fortress. While most of the army crosses in log boat things, the mercenaries for some reason or another get catapaulted across! Literally… catapaulted. Anyway they arrive across the river and Ares slips into the fortress (which is actually the capital city of Isiris, where Michael’s palace is) while Baroona and the rest are left outside. A while later, Baroona receives a message from Ares that says that Ares will open the gate that night for the Chronosian army to come in. Baroona gives the message to Icarus and they have a plan. So Ares opens the gate like promised and Douglas, Gohu and Baroona slip into the city. So the three of them rush to go help Ares out. After that, the gate closes and no more Chronosian soldiers can get in so shit sucks for that. But then a few minutes later Ares and Baroona along with this white haired Black Knight (aka elite Daraakian soldiers) reopen the gates and everyone’s all “yaaaay”.
So they leave that place they were and go towards the palace where Michael is until the only remaining Michael bodyguard (who is a lady!) is all “come here Ares I will take you to Michael so you can kill him… and shit” and Ares is like “dohokay”. Baroona, Douglas and Gohu chase after Ares because seriously... Unfortunately, they don’t get there in time and Ares is already inside some big chamber fighting Michael one-on-one so Baroona is left to fight the woman bodyguard and Douglas defends his back. So the fight’s a tough one, but Baroona manages injure her enough to incapacitate her and then it’s revealed that she’s actually the woman that Gohu is in love with! And then she gets kastabbed by this jerky king/general guy and the three mercenaries are like “dude you are such a dick”.
Then they all file into the big chamber where Ares is only to see that his fight with Michael is over and Michael is dead. Baroona comforts him, and then the boys pretty much defend Michael’s body from that jerky guy who killed Gohu’s love interest. Because Michael was a dick but still their friend. SHONEN MANGA VALUES!! Anyway, yeah that’s basically it. Michael’s dead, the war’s over. Icarus is still king. Life goes back to normal.
UNTIL PRESUMABLY A FEW MONTHS/YEARS LATER when we next see Baroona in a stupid cloak and weird ass mask standing on a rooftop and looking over some guy giving a bounty on the Red-Eyed Swordsman, Ares archnemesis. And that’s where the scanlations stop so that’s the point I’m taking Baroona from. Yup.
SAMPLES
FIRST PERSON; An old post from Cape and Cowl (his city-power was to charm women with his not-that-impressive smile)
THIRD PERSON;
He wakes up in a cold sweat some nights. He finds himself short of breath, breathing heavily as if air was something he had just discovered. His clothes stick to his skin, a second layer of flesh failing to protect him from memories infiltrating his dreams. The images stay with him, dotting his vision. He finds himself shaking.
Throwing the covers off, he sits up, stares at the ground. Curls his toes on the floor to remind him that it's real. His dream was the fake world. He feels the bedsheets, reminds himself that this is the type of world he lives in now. It's not home. There's a mattress underneath him, blankets and bedsheets and pillows surrounding him. The life of luxury. He is living this way now.
He gets up off the bed, retrieving his cigarettes and his blades from beneath his pillow. He stuffs the knives in their bag, wrapping the belt around his waist. He's still in his pajamas, but he goes out anyway. Opens the window and slides out, clambering onto the roof.
The sky is his only comfort now, it seems. He finds himself looking up at it daily, reminding himself that while the rest of the world changes the sky stays the same. He traces a constellation with his finger, finding his way to the North Star. When he finds it, his hand drops to the roof and he opens up his pack of cigarettes.
Marino told him that cigarettes perked him up; that was their point. He believed him then, although now Baroona knew it was really just his master himself that cheered him on. Made life bearable. But at the time he believed. Now it remained less of a pick-me-up and more as a tribute. No, not a tribute. An apology. A way to cope with the guilt he could never get rid of. Something to remember and honor Marino by. Continuing his legacy. Something. Doing something.
He furrows his brow at the stars. They were supposed to comfort, not encourage these feelings. Yet here he was, musing over his master again. He sits up, lighting a cigarette and looks out over the city instead. A sudden pang of intrigue strikes him as he watches a streetlight flicker on and off a few blocks away. He slips back down into his room, changes quickly, frequently looking out the window to make sure the light was still there. Still flickering. It was.
He gets attracted to these small differences sometimes. Gelled hairstyles, a flickering streetlight, the twist-ties on loafs of bread. Small things, things taken for granted. He likes to question them. It helps him understand the differences between his world and this one. Makes it easier to live.
He pulls on a sleeveless shirt, tugs on pants, ties up his boots and slips out the window again. He makes his way down to the ground skillfully and silently, still smoking his cigarette. Looking up at the North Star for guidance, he finds his way back to that flickering light.
He stays on the opposite side of the street at first, watching the lamp flicker on and off on and off with a sort of cautiousness. It reminds him of a candle, the unsteadiness of the glow. How the flame would move back and forth, shedding light on different areas at different moments. Here it was the same. He approaches it, slowly, standing under it and looking up during one of the lightless intervals. Then the light came on again and he looks away quickly, already seeing spots in his vision. He retreats from under the light to just outside it's reach. After awhile he sits down on the curb next to the light, watching it still. It calms him like the stars were supposed to, and he remains there for a long time.
