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[couldnotfly]

[Player name] Silver
[Age] 19
[Personal Journal] saratogaroad
[Other characters currently played] N/A

[Character name] Zack Fair
[Age] 18
[Canon] Final Fantasy 7
[Point in time taken from canon] In the middle of The Nibelheim Incident, during his fight with Sephiroth.

[Background] Zack

[Personality] At first glance, Zack is cheerful and rather stubborn. He is friendly and easily approachable, easily making friends with almost anyone he meets, including the closed off General Sephiroth. This, along with the fact that he never holds still and his near unending cheer, has earned Zack the affectionate nickname of "puppy" among his close friends.

But that cheer and energy isn’t the only reason Zack is called “puppy”: Zack has the tendency to be very affectionate. His friends are often bestowed with hugs or shoulder pats, and his girlfriend is most likely the target of hugs and kisses whenever they get a chance. It also doesn’t matter if those friends are against physical contact, like Sephiroth or even Angeal, they’re going to get hugged at least once in all the time they know Zack. The puppy is just that stubborn.

On that note, Zack is stubborn to the point of recklessness, and confident in his own skills. This has gotten him into more trouble than he can pull himself out of on more than one occasion, but his friends are always willing to pull him out of it. Perhaps in conjuction with his stubborness and how much his friends care about him, Zack genuinely cares for and loves his friends, and is more than willing to put his life on the line and even die for them no matter the circumstance. This devotion is shown most clearly when Zack gives up his own life in order to keep himself and Cloud Strife from being captured by the Shinra Army.

Zack's relationships with his friends can seem a bit odd to anyone who doesn't know him or the people in question. His relationships with his friends can seem pure, cute, or one-sided from a distance, but once you get to know Zack, even just a little, you easily tell that he gives his all to each and every one of his friends, no matter how long or short their relationship has been. This is easy to see with Sephiroth, one of the most closed off men in the entire canon, because Zack doesn't care his early attempts at friendship go bad. He doesn't care that Sephiroth wants to be left alone. He just charges right through those walls and becomes one of the General's closest friends. All things considered, this is a pretty phenomenal accomplishment.

However, it's Aerith and Cloud in particular that show that Zack is more than just a SOLDIER if any proof is actually needed. Aerith is his first; his first crush, more than likely his first love, and the first person not from ShinRa to accept him as a SOLDIER without fear. Sure, she calls SOLDIERs scary and takes a little to truly warm up to him, but she's also pretty much the first sense of "normal" he's had since leaving his family at 13. And since she comes into his life at a time where his world is getting shaken sideways..well. It's pretty easy to see why he cares for her so much. She represents stability for Zack in a way that no one else can; she's his rock in the storm that is everything that happens in Crisis Core. It's safe to say that, without her, things would have been a lot worse.

Cloud is also a source of stability in Zack's life, but in a different way: Cloud lets him fully understand the teachings Zack's own mentor left behind, because he becomes Cloud's mentor. They don't have much time together in the short span of knowing eachother before things go sideways in Nibelheim, but in that time Zack matures to a great degree. One could say this is because his mentor/father figure just died and they wouldn't be wrong, but this is also due in no small part to Cloud. Zack remains his same outgoing self around the younger teen, but he now has a very protective edge to what he does, much like a mentor would. He trusts Cloud to get things done, but doesn't hesitate to throw himself into the line of fire to defend his friend, as shown at the very end of the game.

But despite his outgoing demeanor and general friendliness, Zack is also vulnerable to falling into funks that he can take some time to pull himself from. He is as vulnerable as any normal person, and this shows best after the death of Angeal. However, he never lets these funks last for a very long time, and when he emerges from one, he’s even more determined to go on and keep a smile on his face.

In contrast to his cheer, however, Zack has his moments of seriousness as well. He is a military man, after all, and this shows when he trains other SOLDIER hopefuls or leads a squad on a mission. While he's not as natural a leader as Sephiroth, he is someone that can rally the troops with only a few words and a kind gesture if needed. People look to him because he doesn't hold himself above them by thinking he's better than them, and he genuinely cares for the state of his men in the field. Zack is the kind of guy to say "we never leave a man behind" and mean it, by putting his life on the line to bring them back.


[Abilities] Zack's world is a little strange in comparison to others in the Final Fantasy series; no one is born with abilities, and they instead gain them by using little orbs of crystallized energy, called Materia. Like the rest of his world, Zack has no useable Magic or Abilities without the correct Materia, and therefore will have to rely on his swordsmanship to get through any fights he gets into. Training under Angeal has given Zack the basic swordstyle of horizontal and vertical slashes, but he has no special swordstyle to speak of. Also, while not specializing in it, Zack has been shown to be decently skilled in hand-to-hand combat which he does fall back on if he is without his sword. The Mako he’s been exposed to as a SOLDIER has also given him strength, stamina, and speed leagues above that of a normal human, which allows him to swing about a sword that’s about as tall as he is without any trouble at all.

[Other important stuff]

Note:Zack will be keeping his memories of his prior stay in Somarium. Because him coming in bleeding again is too much, even more me and my love of that canon point.

[Sample post]

[First Person]
[1:- What do you think of your home world?]

I never thought of it before, actually. I mean, I used to think it was the only world out there and it’s not like I can leave, so why think about it? But…we’ve got all these crazy places on it, places I really like, like home and Midgar, so...I think it’s a good place. It’s not perfect, and the people are something else, especially anybody connected with Shinra, and we’re probably always going to be fighting eachother over MAKO or land, but it’s home. That has to mean something, right? Especially with so many places out there!

2:- If you could go back home, would you? Why or why not? ]

...If you'd asked me this seven months ago, I'd have told you that I would have done anything to get back home. To finish what I was in the middle of because I was the only one who could, and I had to do it to save my friends. But not...now I'm not sure. I mean, I know I'm gonna die in a few years no matter what I do, so...what's the point of going back? Might as well live the rest of my life here with my friends, right? Make the most of the time I've got, if I can't change anything there. So, to answer your question...no. I don't think I would. Not anymore. I mean, if I get a chance, I'll probably go, but...if you asked me to choose right this instant...no. I'd stay here.

[3:- - Would you consider yourself a hero or a villain? Why? Neither is an option as well, but still tell why.]

Hero-in-training. I say that because heroes are supposed to be able to help people, and I...well, let's just say I'm working on that. Sure, I helped Cloud and Seph, but a hero helps more than just the people he loves, right? So, with a lot more work, I think I can be a hero. Probably, anyway. I know I'm never gonna be a villain, though. Hate hurting people.

[4:- Your country is in the middle of a war. What do you think of it? Do you support it or try to solve it yourself by going on an epic quest? Explain.]

Well, see, I’m already in the military, so I’d pretty much have to go and fight in the war anyway. But if I had a choice? I’d go find a way to stop it. That way nobody has to get hurt or lose friends because of it.

[5:- You are on the verge of death. You know there is no way to survive and there's no coming back. What is your last wish? ]

That one’s kinda tough. I mean, Cloud’s got the tendency to get in over his head sometimes, and gods know Sephiroth would hole himself up in his office for days again. So…yeah. My last wish would be that my friends take care of each other.

[6:- You have two options: either save your friend who is hanging from a cliff, or chase after the bad guy who put them in a position. If you choose the former, the bad guy will get away and it will be hard to catch him. If you choose the latter, the cliff will crumble and the friend will fall to the spiky rocks below. What do you do and why?]

Heh, finally a really easy one. I’d save my friend even if I never find the guy who got them into that mess. So long as my friend is okay, I wouldn’t care about getting revenge.

[Third Person]

Zack was…well, the right word wouldn’t be nervous. The nerves had faded a long time ago. Now it was just the terrified edge that he couldn’t shake as he walked through the streets of Somni towards his meeting place with Sephiroth. He’d taken a night to get here, and he’d thought along the way.

Mostly about what, exactly, he would do when he found the other man. He’d seemed to be his old self when they’d talked over the…Dreamberry things, but Zack was still wary. After everything that had happened back home, after facing down his friend in a fight that would have most likely resulted in Zack’s own death—

No. He couldn’t think like that. Sephiroth was his friend, godsdammit, and he wasn’t going to let what had happened in the Nibelheim Reactor get between them here. He couldn’t let that happen. Not after everything else they’d been through. They’d come this far, and they’d get farther. Zack was sure of it.

So, with his head held high, Zack kept walking, his trademark smile firmly back in place. Things would be fine. They’d make it work somehow. If they had the first time, even after Angeal had defected, they would make it here. He wouldn’t have it any other way.
….Even if the people here were staring at him like he was a crazy person for grinning so much for no apparent reason.

[Why do you want to play this character in Somarium?] My previous reason hasn't changed: still looking for a fun place to play Zack and Somarium was fun, so..here I am!

[Which rule was your favorite and why?] Your approach to OOC characters; everyone has slumps in character voice sometimes, and the fact that you give them a chance to rectify their characterization is a nice change from other games I’ve seen.

[Where did you hear about Somarium?] Been here before~ :3

[Any questions?] Nope~