PLAYER↴
Name: Usagi
Contact: ![[plurk.com profile]](https://plurk.com/favicon.ico) usagisquared
Other Characters: N/A
CHARACTER↴
Character Name: Carly Nagisa
Age: 19-20 (Assumed; no actual age given)
Species: Undead (Former Human/Technical Human)
Canon: Yu-Gi-Oh! 5Ds
Canon Point: 'Death' (End Ep 59; She would have been sealed with Aslla Piscu in the Netherworld)
Character Info: Here
Personality: Carly Nagisa, at first glance, is every bit the ditzy archetype one expects from her glasses. She stammers when she gets nervous, she fumbles and fails constantly, and more pathetically it seems that any chance she has to shine she finds herself turning into a sore thumb. But Carly stands as a surprising expansion on such a character, as not only is there more to her personality, but her seemingly trope-y aspects themselves have reason behind them.
The easiest thing to see in Carly is how she gets carried away. Be it by anger or happiness, or even sadness, Carly tends to exaggerate her emotions, grinning widely and smugly when she's won something over, while breaking into waterworks of tears if things have headed south and there's no visible way out. Occasionally this is played seriously; that in itself lends to this aspect of her being more than just humor, such as her incredibly honest breakdown after realizing she's become a Dark Signer.
Her anger by far is the thing she gets caught in the most, alongside superiority. When she's challenged, Carly has two responses, dictated entirely by the amount of threat power they have over her. When it's someone in her way, someone who has no hold on her for work or otherwise, she flares up-she protests any actions against her, either turning on them with accusations in her favor, or simply telling them off on the spot with hair-thin excuses. Anything that comes to mind-whether it makes sense or not-comes out of her mouth.
And this habit of hers has gotten her into trouble more than once. Carly speaks a little too freely-as much as she shrinks and apologizes profusely when she crosses the line or somehow upsets someone who does have power over her (or in the case of Jack, is merely someone she cares for), she still lets herself get carried away with the moment, openly commenting and protesting to various things or simply leaping into the moment ('IT'S MY TURN!' 'It's MY turn!' 'Sorry-!'). As noted, many of these moments end in her apologizing quite instinctively-lest she face some unknown punishment almost, her head ducked and her voice shrill.
Her apologetic nature can be understood as more than merely a defense against being fired or hurt, when it's realized how kind she is. One of her strongest traits, so strong that the Earthbound God Aslla Piscu needs to constantly have a hold over her, is her kindness. Carly's greatest dream even as a child was to simply witness others doing their best. She is someone who feels greatly for the struggles of others, and the truth in their pain, and wants to share it with the world. Carly's kindness is what allows her to put aside even her career for Jack's sake, before she realizes she's fallen in love with him-and it's more importantly what pushes her to give Jack the heartwarming idea of becoming a King for the People.
Of course, her kindness does not always define her actions-she can be selfish, as she was when initially trying to find Jack to interview him, or when trying to escape the scene of Yuusei's duel before the police arrived. The very reason she continued her investigations, and the wish that allowed her to rise from the dead are both incredible examples of her selfish desires! ...Desires that she regrets after the fact.
At the core of everything however, Carly is a kind-and more importantly, a strong, dedicated person. For all that she stammers when under pressure, for all that she can be carried away with excitement or fear, Carly sticks to her path once she gets on it. Her fortunes can only be used to move her forward (using good ones to boost her mood and looking at bad ones only to say that she 'can't let that stop [her]!'), and she has been seen using anything from bartering to disguise to pave her way toward the meat of her latest scoop. She has, in her own words, lived on the streets before-and in her own words, she has sworn to never go back.
In many ways Carly is like a child-selfish in her initial actions, quick to snap back or draw back, quick to grin over her achievements and more importantly quick to react. But her kindness, her dedication, and her hidden intelligence when it comes to what is needed to get a job done-even if it's as simple as catching that someone's anger is the key to making someone talk-show an innocent maturity that touches many. She is the one who would give everything for someone else to become 'something', even if she fails to say as much to start.
And that kindness is something that defies even the darkest things that lie in the earth's own heart.
Darkness can taint, however; while Carly herself is a woman of laughter, and care, the influence of Aslla Piscu tainted this significantly. During the first time she is infected with this darkness, Carly acts with only vengeance in mind. Her former, charming interest in drawing cards for fortune becomes an obsession with her opponent and murderer's fate, to the point where she ironically refers to the same ultimatum he gave to her; one turn to save themselves.
This poetic manner of taunting, and seeming glee in the suffering of the opponent under the hand of fate, carries on to how Carly acts when she is fooled into influence again. After asking Aslla Piscu to help her understand her purpose, she seems at least partially aware, and even ashamed of herself when she encounters Jack-a shadow of the true Carly, who could not bear the violence of her crimes in this state. When they duel however, this shadow is gone. Carly under the influence of the Earthbound God is hellbent on defeating Jack for the sake of being 'eternally bound' to him, claiming that fate will have Jack lose and be hers for all time. She relishes in his struggles, and is confident in his inevitable loss, violently clashing against him even physically.
Aslla Piscu himself is, from these points, clearly a poetic sort. When he takes absolute control of Carly in fact, casting aside everything about her to steer destiny himself, he is more than entertained by the idea of using Carly's hands to murder her beloved (or in his words, for Jack to have his soul claimed by his beloved). Aslla Piscu is every bit cruel and manipulative as he appears as a shadow through Carly's eyes, desiring absolute obedience when it comes to how he wants fate to proceed. His cooperation is a facade, meant only to continue his existence; and even his cooperation in itself, given his treatment of Carly, is little more than playing with his chosen envoy. Aslla Piscu after all, is a god-a god of death, and destruction. Humans in his eyes are beneath him, and his chosen servants are only tools for which he can walk among his 'subjects'.
How fitting then, that instead of returning to the world below as he inevitably will, he be forced to listen to his former servant's word instead. Thanks to the figurative chain created by the need to stay on the goodside of both Carly herself and the Ringmaster who allowed him to continue existing, Aslla Piscu tends to keep to himself for the most part in the carnival, preferring to speak if it means preserving 'their' (his and Carly's) lives. Over time in the Carnival however, he would have likely started to speak a little more out of the need to gain Carly's positive opinion, so with Carly in particular he focuses on her interests and desires, playing to them as if he were puppetting again. As his ability to do even this is limited however, he grows easily frustrated when something fails to go 'as planned' or 'according to fate', and on top of this, his typical mannerisms and attitudes make it nigh impossible to truly do something for free...making any conversation with other characters (which he really prefers not to do anyway) feel a bit like trying to bargain with a demon. Or, at the very least, a lawyer.
Abilities: Carly as a human was about as strong as a young human girl-perhaps weaker, in fact. While a Dark Signer (and therefore, now), she seems relatively unchanged in physical capabilities. She did, however, gain a shiny new deck, duel disk, and d-wheel, and as a Dark Signer she was able to inflict actual damage using these cards. The only ability she does receive is known as Future Sight, wherein Aslla Piscu themselves tells Carly what will come of a certain choice she or another makes.
Due to the power cap, and also to represent a sturdy leash being set on Aslla himself, she should be unable to regularly use the duel disk beyond 'normal' use...which is to say that unless she puts some focus and energy into it, matter passes through these holograms, and the bike should she ever retrieve it, is a bike (It wasn't exactly strapped to her wrist after all). Naturally, Aslla Piscu's 'Future Vision' in the meantime is restricted to the game's Fortune Telling rules.
TL;DR...
Real Damage Duel Monsters - Through the possession of her Dark Signer Duel Disk (which kinda came in with her attached to her arm), or D-Wheel (did not come attached to her arm), and cards, she would be able to summon them with enough mass to inflict actual damage onto others, as if the monsters were in fact real. In Lost Carnival, this will require a certain amount of focus, and summoning/losing monsters costs energy.
Future Sight - Aslla Piscu's ability, technically; he is able to loosely forsee the result of various actions, and from that result, predict an entire 'future'. He has the unfortunate habit of assuming one single path is 'destiny' despite seeing more than one outcome however.
BONUS - SHE CAN SEE, 20/20 VISION UP HERE, WOW, AMAZING (this is legitimately a thing that happened)
CARNIVAL↴
Soul Colour: Orange - Carly's soul is technically drawn from her Earthbound God, Aslla Piscu; this is because the EBGs themselves don't actually seem to be where the colours of their monsters come from. Carly herself was already associated with orange (her vest), and others were similar (Misty associated with Green, etc etc).
Purple is thus the colour of Aslla Piscu's soul; it's the colour of the flames and the Dark Signer marks, as well as the colour of Carly's eyes when Aslla Piscu takes full control in canon; additionally, their placement on the colourwheel emphasizes contrast between the two!
Ideal Job
Scout (Top Choice)
Lighting/Effects
Tailor
SUPER BACK UP RUNNER UP YOU WOULD THINK AFTER THREE YEARS SHE WOULD HAVE LEARNED HOW TO DO ONE OF THE ABOVE: Various 'Low Skill' Jobs (Ride Jockey, Cashier, etc.)
Relevant Experience: Carly was a Reporter in her life-while a seemingly poor one, she displayed a number of useful skills and adaptations that proved otherwise. She was able to whip up costumes easily despite being relatively low on funds, talk and negotiate with shadier sorts in order to pursue a lead, and short of dying for her efforts, successfully dug up enough dirt on Arcadia that she could likely have taken it down in one fell swoop if she was given the chance to write on it!
While working that job, her navigation and instincts were uncannily on point as well, and every step she took almost fatefully brought her toward the very 'scoop' she chased after. All the same, her experience as a Dark Signer brings an interesting spin on other opportunities-driving a D-Wheel through the wreckage of Satellite is no easy task, and could be comparable to proper motorcross. She might rely on flight more now, but she's practiced heavily with that since the moment she could do it. Another thing the Nightrider might have found useful when it comes to scoping out new lands! (and it'll be nice to not have someone destroying the 'evidence' of what she's found for everyone this time around.)
When it came to the camera on that note, she is shown (later in the series admittedly, though given the time that passed by then this can be assumed to be an already existing skill) to have some experience in presentation, as she edited her photos herself. In her initial appearance as well, she's seen attempting to self-record with her camera in order to prepare for an article; so she seems to have knowledge on the behind-the-scenes aspects of such things.
Carly was formerly a street reporter, and though luck often meant her 'scoop' failing to meet the deadline, she was skilled in navigation and tracking (she had a device that could detect active duels in fact, and collected info on their 'power output')
Related to that, she has experience snooping around where she likely shouldn't be, making deals with potential informants, and has a generally strong ability to notice the less than typical (IE 'why was Yuusei Fudou's arm glowing?').
She has a good ability to problem solve, assuming she isn't too flustered (and she has Aslla Piscu to keep her on task for THAT)
She has experience driving, both cars and bikes alike, and the added ability to become a hummingbird as of her second year start with the Carnival.
Various costume switches on the fly show that while her fashion might be crippled by her wallet, she can still whip up a good disguise if need be (nurse and cleaning lady being her biggest ones)-supporting her ability as a tailor.
Her work as a reporter involved working with cameras and a general ability to 'present', as her eventual works in photography are self-edited to show the best of what is there. (This alone would not qualify her for something like a Lighting Position, but it is worth noting more because after a few years she could have added to that training by working with other employees in the Carnival)
Carnival Experience: A point form version of this, written to assume Carly begins as a Scout, is located here. The below, written in prose, is left open to any position, and is additionally more vague & concise.
Carly was, and is, dead. Super dead. Double Dead, one could even say, what with dying after already being dead to begin with. The only reason she can visit the Carnival in the first place is because the place she ended up after dying happened to end up a location that it visited. Because of the whole being Dead deal though, there was little she wanted for herself-if she wanted anything at all. Hesitant as she would have been to make deals on her deathbed thanks to a certain bird, however, she could easily be charmed into the idea of making a deal with the Ringmaster when she arrived at the Carnival with nowhere to go and no idea what to do. Surely there would have been something worth a year and a day of work right? It's like a vacation!
Except with a contract.
Carly wanted more than anything to ensure Jack's happiness-but as the Ringmaster would have warned, that task, when phrased as Carly put it, is more in her hands rather than the Ringmaster's.
Assuming, of course, Carly remembers that much when she returns. Carly was, needless to say, made aware of the impending loss of her memories (whether through Aslla Piscu's warnings, or the Ringmaster's own-though realistically, it was probably the bird that started it and the Ringmaster who confirmed). With that knowledge in mind, Carly finds herself with incentive to work with the Carnival rather than accept death and rebirth-she asks the Ringmaster (now that her own life isn't in the equation) if it is possible to keep the memories of her time as a Dark Signer, and onward, even after she returns to life. The answer, naturally, is 'yes', though Carly gets the added point that she's welcome to, ahem. Come see her if her 'friend' gets out of line during that time.
...Along with the assurance that he won't be sticking around when she revives (that's the Crimson Dragon's doing though).
Being in the Carnival for the first year would have been almost frightening for dear Carly however. Her appearance as a Dark Signer never reverted, since she was brought there in that state. Her coming changes to adapt to the Carnival only reflected that even more, to the point where she considered fleeing the Carnival during their time with the Trees-something that a few others would have thankfully intervened on. Between any budding friendships and the 'surprising' turn around from Aslla Piscu after the fact (what with incurring debt with the carnival being the closest he's come to death AGAIN, according to more than a few potential futures he'd seen), Carly starts to recover from that moment on however.
In particular, as they reach the next destination, it's made clear that Carly's changes are hers and hers alone, and not the property of her hitch-hiking earthbound god. The Carnival even becomes fun once that fear fades-from chatting it up with people at the cash register, or enjoying the games and treats herself, it offers her something she only really had in Jack, and perhaps Misty in her world.
Family, and friends. By the time a full year passes, Carly doesn't want to leave-she's too attached to the people she's come to know, and to the things she's seen and done thus far. It's just enough weakness that Aslla Piscu can encourage it, albeit with more emphasis on her wants than on anything potentially malicious about it; time will pass no farther than the moment she left, until she returns. It's like being in a pocket!
So what's one more year, then?
Carly thus asks the Ringmaster if she could please stay another year more-and the Ringmaster, naturally, answers that she must make some sort of contract for it first. Carly therefore asks if she could have a quicker way to travel about, and much to her shock, gets something very different from a motorcycle for it! The new power comes in handy however, whether or not a slot opens on the Scout team under the Nightrider; perhaps after some practice and time, Carly earned herself the right to go ahead of the Carnival and scout out possible locations for new and exciting venues, a task that only endears her more to the Carnival as a whole. Alternatively, her hummingbird shape gives her access up and above in the wires of the lighting to brighten up the show for others, or just serves as a quicker way to get to and from some other eventual 'permanent' position.
A year and a day passes so quickly it might as well have been a blink; through the coming days, she finds herself combining forces and thoughts with Aslla Piscu a bit more on things as well, leading her to try and involve him a little more in what she does outside of dire situations. So when the time comes to finish the contract, Carly hesitates-Aslla Piscu will return underground when she returns home, and she will return to life. This is the Hummingbird's last time above ground-and for the last while, he's been far 'kinder' in her eyes than he was during those few days as a Dark Signer.
So with her mind made up, she makes a new contract to start year three with. To 'better understand Aslla Piscu'. Rather than peering into Aslla's mind or similar, Carly is granted access to some of the bird's former power; something to better make them work together, and learn from the other.
It came in handy when the Vampire War happened, to say the least. They grew close-and Carly grew more fond of the Carnival still, if it could even be possible. When the war occurred and ended, her final thoughts while standing at the Crossroads at the end of the year was...she couldn't leave her remaining friends, now, right after all that had happened.
And she was out of things to ask for. She couldn't ask to bring someone else there-Jack would never have liked that after all. But she didn't want to leave, not now. So when the time came to end, or renew her contract, she asked for the first thing that came to mind.
All this time, she has been working for the Ringmaster in her wonderful Carnival-helping her to even understand the one sharing her body.
...Could she then, perhaps, be allowed to know the Ringmaster more as well?
Existing Contract: 'I wish to be able to make Jack happy, no matter what!' (First Year of Service)
Details: It turns out canon events would make this very much Not Happen; Carly learns she would revive naturally, but forget everything that happened during her time as a Dark Signer. She thus made the contract with the agreement that when she does return and revive, she retains her memories and is thus able to continue her relationship with Jack that way. It's considered 'paid for', so this will come into effect as soon as she finally does choose to stop making New Contracts.
Existing Contract: 'If there is some way to be able to travel easier, that would be enough right?' (Second Year of Service)
Details: Carly was expecting a bike or something in return for a contract made half on a whim; what she got was a small spell, with which she can turn into a hummingbird and back. It's a very unique little hummingbird, largely black and orange with the feel of velvet. And the same metabolism as well, sadly. (EAT THEM BUGS, CARLY) Notably, the bird is palmsized.
Existing Contract: 'I want to understand Aslla Piscu more.' (Third Year of Service)
Details: Since Aslla Piscu benefits significantly from Carly NOT going back, even if it means little control over her (look, it beats being locked underground for 5000 years again), it's used the last two years trying to get on her good side. Very Confusing, but since she can't think of much else to use as an excuse to stay longer, figuring out what makes the bird tick makes sense!
What Carly receives is the ability to utilize some of Aslla Piscu's magic-the only downside being that she has to figure out the spells all on her own.
With that in mind, the Earthbound Magic is based in matters of cold fire-since sucking out souls would be Pretty OP, the fire naturally takes energy from anything it makes contact with, once that aspect of the magic kicks in. It can be manipulated over the body, or along lines to form a shape, naturally sapping the life out of whatever it directly touches-and in some cases, form a barrier blocking out intruders.
At the time of game start, Carly will able able to create a small flame in her hands, or light candles with it. She can also spread the fire over her arms and wings, creating a protective cloak, but she can't get it to stick along the ground yet, or make barriers! Also, since it is hers rather than Aslla Piscu's, the flames have an orange glow to the core of them.
Also it just Really Looks Cool.
Existing Contract: 'I would like, if I can, the chance to know you better Miss Ringmaster!' (Active Contract; 'Reward' yet un-received)
Details: Carly's request translates out to 'A fun day spent with the Ringmaster'! The best kind of reward isn't it? She can't claim this one for a long time, but this is what keeps her working for the next year and a day in the carnival!
Current Changes: An image can be found here. Note that the blackness of the eyes comes from being a Dark Signer.
Common: 8 Changes
* Fae Marks (Originated near her branded Dark Signer marks, appearing as squiggling, curling lines that eventually coat much of the body.)
* Orange tinted bodily fluids
* Long Hummingbird-like Tongue
* Patches of black 'feathers' (Aslla Piscu Style! Those ears of hers are actually still round.)
* Inhuman Eye features (An orange ring exists in her iris; it glows in the dark)
* Bioluminescent spots/stripes (Manifesting via the Fae Marks)
* Distorted Reflection (Occasionally shows Aslla Piscu, or a more 'villainous' her.)
* Abnormal skin colour/texture (appears black around the fae marks & feathers, feeling akin to velvet)
Uncommon: 3 Changes
* Bird-like feet
* A skirt-like, folding bird tail
* Shifting, 'independent' shadow (Hi Aslla Piscu)
Rare:
* Flight Capable Wings resembling Aslla Piscu's
Bonus Mental Changes:
* An instinctive fear of Iron. Comes with all the changes really.
* The tendency to prefer flying over walking, as well as using her tongue to drink.
* A lack of understanding toward matters conflicting with her own; for example, anyone who Really does not want to be at the Carnival would cause confusion, with Carly attempting to very much prove that it is Absolutely Really Great Here...since that's what she herself believes.
SAMPLES↴
Entry to the TDM, with multiple threads.
Carly & Yugi on the TDM! |
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