Hmmmm …
Identity: Yar Kramer, tends to hang around RPGC mostly, and not entirely affiliated with any one group, but he likes to at least get to know others. Job class: Esper.
Personality: He’s a charismatic, easygoing wiseguy with very little respect for authority. If he’s in a situation where there’d be a conflict between those traits, go with “charismatic/easygoing” first, then “wiseguy”, then the “lack of respect” thing. However, he isn’t stupid; he knows when to at least affect respect for authority (he’s perfectly polite to police officers when he’s stopped, for instance). He dislikes drama to the point of interfering with peoples’ dramatic entrances (“MISSSter Kramer … we meet at last.” Yar: “Oh, hi, what’s up?”) … though he isn’t necessarily averse to making a dramatic entrance of his own. He tends to meet verbal drama with utter snark, though he’ll be sympathetic to people with genuine problems.
He’s definitely a good guy. While he does have a cynical streak a mile wide, he thinks that people who need help should be helped – and follows Zidane’s principle that “You don’t need a reason to help people.” He’s sort of like “the main character who forms a close circle of friends but whom everyone can rely on if they need it.” When speaking in public, or at least communicating with someone publicly, he tends to do so in the most amusing way possible whilst still retaining accuracy – usually (if it’s a conflict) by allowing the other party to trip themselves up. (An example of this kind of thing is in Jingo by Terry Pratchett, in which Sam Vimes screws with a fish merchant who’s claiming that the Klatchians stole “silks” from his boats, and then claims his ship has set sail under his first mate – who is currently in the Watch’s jail cells for being Naughtyily Drunk.)
He likes recognition for help, and visbility in general. If he can help, he will. If he can’t, well, he’ll at least try to be a visible presence there, to give the impression that he was involved, though he’ll back off if there are concerns that he might do more harm than good.
Speaking of backing off, he knows when he’s outclassed by a stronger opponent, and will readily flee to fight another day (and/or level up a bit longer, especially if the save point includes free HP/MP healing or he has Tents to spare).
He also has an occasional propensity for making atrocious puns, and knows this.
If he has one prejudice, it’s against prejudice. He absolutely cannot stand seeing injustice based on stereotypes, and is likely to become angry really quickly. Other things that make him really angry are when one group or individual attacks another group or individual who is unable to defend themselves.
He also doesn’t like killing people. He really doesn’t like killing people. His definition of “people” is broad, too – it includes sufficiently advanced androids, some demons, etc. Basically, anything that could have a meaningful speaking part if he wanted to have a conversation with them and met them outside of combat. He can, but he is absolutely serious about it, makes no wisecracks about it, and does it as quickly as possible with as few words as possible for the least amount of fear and suffering. Then he gets slightly depressed for a bit. He NEVER kills anyone unless he is 100% sure that the only solution is to kill them.
In short, try a twenty-year-old version of Samuel Vimes, with an actual sense of humor.
Except for the fact that he’s also one hell of a showoff. He sometimes plays around with his powers just for the hell of it, or does ridiculous stunts that would be extremely dangerous to most people simply because he knows he can use his powers to survive them. One example of general showoffery might be waking up in a hospital after getting taken there unconscious, then pretending to still be asleep and using his powers to determine everything he needs to know about everyone around him before they realize he’s awakened. Or saying “Pleased to meet you, Mister …” and quickly reading their name as it rises to their surface thoughts, then saying “… Anderson,” before they can react.
Appearance: A Caucasian human male around twenty-one years old, with black anime-spiky hair. He wears a pair of blue jeans and a black shirt (or T-shirt depending on the season), and a bright red jacket that seems to glow. It doesn’t actually do so, but if someone happened to look in his direction while he was in pitch blackness, the word “red” might cross their mind for no apparent reason.
When about to do something particularly dramatic, or at least badass, he may put on a pair of dark glasses.
Powers: Start with “generic psychic abilities” – telekinesis, telepathy, a “spider sense” that lets him know if he’s in danger and the general direction it’s coming from; he absolutely refuses to read someone’s mind against their will, however, and also doesn’t read the future, because (a) this ability is so unreliable, and (b) he’s seen Minority Report and doesn’t want to go off doing the heroic equivalent of arresting people for a future murder. He can, however, use a “bullet-time” ability, similar to Focus in the Matrix games, which allows him to dodge bullets for, say, ten subjective seconds. He finds it much more effective to use his danger sense to avoid being in the path of the bullets before the gun is fired, though. He can also use basic Final Fantasy spells (Fire, Ice, Thunder, Cure), via Materia.
A note on mind-reading: he considers emotions to be fair game, mostly because emotions are practically visible when he looks at someone’s face, and it’s hard not to read them. Especially if they’re extremely intense emotions; it’s the psychic equivalent of shouting.
He has a knack for getting people to pay attention to him, and listen to him. It would be wrong to say that he knows a bit of psychology; try “headology”. He knows how people work, and can carry an audience. He’s a stickler for detail when he wants to be, and if someone recounts an event to him, he might find himself starting to poke holes in the details, figure out the bits that don’t add up.
His primary weapon, apart from his psychic powers, is a Candleblade, called “Elegant WEAPON” – basically a lightsaber or beamsaber, but the core is black instead of white; it generally looks like an elongated candle flame. It has two Materia slots, and he rotates around which ones he wants to use, generally trying to complement whoever he’s working with.
He knows Kung Fu. If you want, he’ll show you. His primary melee combat capabilities (against nonhuman opponents, anyway) is with his sword, however. His preferred form of combat is fighting-game style instead of RPG style. Overall, when not using overwhelming power, his preferred method of combat is through speed. He can also use guns, when both range and speed are required (i.e. he isn’t close enough to use his sword, but needs to work too quickly to cast a spell).
Background: He used his powers to be a sort of plainclothes-superhero in his hometown, assisting the local law enforcement when monsters or villains attacked, but he got tired of sitting still in one place and just up and left one day, after arranging for someone else to cover for him. This was about five years ago; it led him to RPGC, which was bigger and more interesting than his hometown, so he pretty much decided to stay.
Plot: Recently, he met Everard, a business-suit-clad young man who resembled Itsuki Koizumi in both looks and personality, and demonstrated that if Yar’s a level 3 psychic, Everard’s level 60. He made vague allusions to an organization of Espers, and indicated that if Yar joined, he could develop his powers WAY more than they were currently. Everard has all Yar’s psychic powers, multiplied in strength or usefulness by a thousand, and could throw around Dark-elemental blasts besides. He demonstrated these when a group of demons attacked – and it wasn’t clear whether it was Everard or Yar they were after. So now, Yar’s going to try to find out about the Esper Organization, and the demons who attacked them, and whether or not the Esper Organization is actually morally superior to the demons. (I’ve got a couple other, more spoilerrific ideas, Wil – PM me if you’re interested.)
Apart from that, Yar’s probably going to try to get involved with at least three other peoples’ storylines (see above, on getting involved). In fact, that might be a good way to introduce him to the story. He’ll also want to level up his Materia, and get more of it, as well as upgreading to Candleblades with more Materia slots (i.e. usual RPG stuff). Apart from this, there will be no overt references specifically to Final Fantasy 7. Maybe subversions, like using a Life spell to revive someone who got killed in a “cutscene.” Or some kind of motorcycle chase scene.
Weiila is not only one of the nicest persons ever in RPGC, but a hard-working and helpful human being, who has earned my respect (and others’) for years. She’s been letting the Real World wear her down in recent times, but hopefully this will cheer her up a little.