Application - Zack Fair

[wingenvy]

OUT OF CHARACTER:
Name/Handle: Akai
Contact: fontechie@gmail.com / fontech / fontech
Reference: N/A
Other characters: Mikleo nerdeology, Ochako willynilly)

IN-CHARACTER:
Character name: Zack Fair
Character journal: wingenvy
Series name: Final Fantasy VII
Canon notes: He'll be coming from the end of Crisis Core.

Species: Mako-enhanced human

History:

Zack's wikia is here. but wikis are boring. CRISIS CORE IS ALSO DUMPSTER FIRE SO I'M GONNA DRAG THIS EGGY-STYLE, PLEASE ENJOY I GUESS

Born in a tiny hick town of Gongaga, Zack ran away from home to join the elite army group of SOLDIER when he was like, 13, and does training until he's SOLDIER 2nd Class, good for him. He's trained by this cryptic fella named Angeal who wears a sword that he never uses because he's legit too cheap to pay for the maintenance. What the fuck, Angeal. He says shit like "embrace your dreams" and "have you heard about dumbapples" completely out of context because he gets off on confusing the poor kid. The sword is kind of important, though; it's called the Buster Sword (probably sounded cooler when FFVII was made) and it ~symbolizes honourrrrr~.

So Zack does great in training but is kind of pissy since they're not sending him out on missions, but then it turns out that some asshole 1st Class (Genesis AKA Gackt) deserted and took a ton of underlings with him. Zack is sent out on a mission by Lazard, the director of SOLDIER, to find Gackt and maybe also stop the war with Wutai, because they're all about multitasking in ShinRa. Instead of finding him they lose Angeal. I mean I guess they kind of find him, in that they found some clones. There are a lot of clones in this game.

Zack meets Tseng of the Turks and Tseng is like "okay let's find this traitor for real this time" and they go to his hometown, Banora, that suspiciously does not exist in FFVII for unrelated reasons. It's full of dumbapples so they talk about dumbapples and how surprise, it's Angeal's hometown too. Zack meets Angeal's mom and she's all "omg look at the cute puppy". He and Tseng find Gacknesis who's like, "LOVELESS LOVELESS LOVELESS puppy MY PARENTS WERE ASSHOLES" and Zack is like "cool motive still murder" and Angeal shows up to stop the fight, says nothing, and leaves immediately, and it's like, why though.

Tseng calls in an air strike and Zack goes to save Angeal's mom....'s corpse, surprise, she was killed by Angeal for Reasons. Zack mad, Zack punch. Zack gets tripped by Gakuto who is all "LOVELESS LOVELESS LOVELESS bahamut" and flies off on a single black wing because one-winged angel VENI VENI VENIAS, and it's fine, nothing makes sense anyway. The town gets nuked and Zack is like "what the fuck is going on" and all the players in the world are all "same" but no one explains anything.

So Zack did such a good job on the mission he totally failed that he gets promoted to 1st Class. The ShinRa tower (and the city itself) gets invaded by more clones so there is fighting here, fighting there, and Zack meets Reno and Rude because Cameos(tm). He also meets Hot Lady Turk Cissnei who's all WEEEEELL WHEN I WAS A CHILD I WANTED WINGS and Zack is going through his edgy disillusioned phase and is like "nah monsters tho", because people with wings are assholes lately.

They find out that Angeal can make clones too, great. Sephiroth has a flashback where Giggity is like "LOVELESS LOVELESS LOVELESS sparring match" and fights Sephiroth one on one because he's so cool, you guys, he's so strong and handsome and don't need no partner. They literally slice the giant mako cannon to bits so they can measure their dicks, and some poor accountant in Midgar is like DO YOU KNOW HOW MANY SLUM CHILDREN HAVE TO DIE FOR THIS and his boss is like who even cares about slum children though.

Zack and Sephiroth bond over their mutual desire to Not Kill traitors and what a Team Mom Angeal is. They find the rebel scientist Hollander and Googlemaps is all "LOVELESS LOVELESS LOVELESS i'm jealous of u" and Sephiroth has no time for that shit. Zack tries to catch Hollander and Angeal stops him, goes "fight meeeeeeeeeee", and flies off on a single white wing because one-winged angel VENI VENI VENIAS, and Zack falls through the floor to the sector below.

He wakes up in a church, on a bed of flowers, and Aerith is all "congrats on not dying", and Zack offers himself up on a silver platter like some kind of star pick up artist and she's like "lol nah" but then they hang out for like another hour being cute nerds together. She agrees to go on a date at the park with him and is like "SOLDIER is some scary shit" and he's like "AAAAAACTUALLY" and it's awkward until she says he's pretty.

The clones attack ShinRa again and Zack's called in, and Angeal shows up like HONOOOOOOOUR and Zack agrees to help him do [REDACTED]. Zack meets asshole scientist #2, Hojo, and Geewilly shows up and is like "LOVELESS LOVELESS LOVELESS my motivation is very mysterious". There's some fighting, I guess.

Zack, Tseng, and some lil trooper kids go to Modeoheim and some braintrust crashes the helicopter, so they walk there. En route Zack has a bonding moment with trooper #1 who just happens to be a country bum named Cloud. Nothing at all comes of this friendship, surely.

They infiltrate a base and Grungematch actually manages to have a single conversation without quoting LOVELE- oh nevermind there he goes. "Nothing shall forestall my return" is his new catchphrase and he means it literally because this fucker just keeps on coming back. Anyway he loses a fight and whines a lot and Zack runs off to Modeoheim proper. He finds Angeal who's all of a sudden like "NOW WE FIGHT" and wants Zack to kill him because he's suffering or something, it's pretty bullshit. Then he turns into a monster that shoots ass lasers. He gives Zack the Buster Sword before he dies and is like "thanks for killing me bro" and it rains and it's sad, it's all very sad and would be more sad if it wasn't fucking bullshit, but anyway. Dream big, Zack. Also get a nice new haircut.

Zack gets sent on standby and is the crankiest vacationer ever. Angry squats on the beach all day. He's still like "what the fuck is going on" and we're still like "SAME BRO". Some clones show up and Zack fights them off with a beach umbrella because he doesn't give a fuck. They send him to some other places to fight more clones and pad the game time. Zack bonds with Cloud and Sephiroth, Aerith gets a pet flying monster dog. They go on a cute flower-selling date and then Sephiroth is like "okay buddies we're off to Nibelheim", and every player of Final Fantasy VII unanimously goes "OOOOOOOOOOOH SNAP".

so everything went A-OK in Nibelheim and there were no problems and no one got set on fire or stabbed and they all went home happily ever after

In Nibelheim they go to the mako reactor, guided by hotpants cowgirl Tifa, and Sephiroth starts suddenly freaking out about his mom and monsters or something, and then Googlyeyes shows up to ruin things all "LOVELESS LOVELESS LOVELESS lol your mom" and asks Sephiroth to share his cells because they're so super great, and Sephiroth is like "nah bro" and wanders off for a very serious research montage. Zack is still like "what the fuck is going on" and the players are like "SERIOUSLY, SAME" but the plot ignores our pleas.

Zack has a mild existential crisis and Sephiroth is like I CAN DO YOU ONE BETTER, SON and proceeds to lose his fucking mind. He burns Nibelheim to the ground and kills everyone, and Zack is like "DUDE WHAT THE FUCK" and Sephiroth is all "my mom tho" and Zack is so thoroughly unimpressed by his out-of-nowhere mommy issues that they fight to the death. Or the mostly-death. Seph just sort of falls into a pit. (Cloud helped.) Thanks to Sephiroth being so OP Zack and Cloud were too wounded to escape and were then captured by Professor Hojo for some basement experiment shenanigans, yay!!

TIMESKIP GOES HERE BECAUSE THE GAME IS TOO PG TO SHOW THE FUCKERY THEY WENT THROUGH FOR FOUR+ YEARS

So Zack escapes the lab with Cloud in tow, who is too messed up from the mass chemical overdose to function properly, but on the way out they're attacked by WOW SURPRISE EVEN MORE CLONES, how do they even find them. Gigglefied shows up and is like "LOVELESS LOVELESS LOVELESS I'm on a new diet" and one of the clones eats Zack's hair and turns into a frilly monster. Zack continues to be like "SERIOUSLY WHAT THE FUCK" and all the players have basically given up at this point.

Zack takes Cloud to Gongaga and Cissnei is there like "dumbass of course we'd come looking for you here", but she still lets him go with some intel: 1) his parents are awesome and 2) the Turks think Angeal is in the area. Zack is weirdly chill about that, probably because no one ELSE seems to ever die when they're killed, so why not Angeal too? He finds Grungematch with Hollander, who's ALSO infected with those pesky G-cells now, and Zack is basically 9000% done with everyone getting wings and going batshit buttballs. Gunkpile is like "LOVELESS LOVELESS LOVELESS listen even I don't understand this shit" and they decide that they're gonna steal Cloud's cells too. Zack is having none of this. He fights Hollander which should be easy but I guess his G-cells gave him fart breath and magic missile-firing pockets, not like anything else in this game makes any sense. He dies and Zack saves Cloud, in part thanks to Angeal, who is not Angeal, but Lazard. BECAUSE... BECAUSE???? WHY??? HE'S A CLONE NOW??? FOR REVENGE? WAIT REVENGE FOR WHAT??? oh my god

Zack's learned to stop asking questions and is like "WE CAN BE HEROES JUST FOR ONE DAY" and tracks the clone army to Dumbapple Land. He travels through the Most Annoying Dungeon in the Game(TM) and finds G-Spot's diary that details how gee golly he just wanted to make apple juice, and Zack suddenly wants to save him because he's such a nice guy.

He finds Gunkpile who is like "LOVELESS LOVELESS LOVELESS gift of the goddess" and Zack is back to going "WHAT THE FUCK THO" and players are just done, done. There's a few boss battles that are about as fun as an enema and twice as messy, Zack complains that everyone keeps making him do stuff but you joined the army, Zack, that's what happens in an army, Zack!!!

Anyway Zack takes Giffypop back to Cloud and Lazard for an open mic poetry night. It's LOVELESS, again. It's always LOVELESS. Fuck LOVELESS. Lazard dies. Genderbend dies, probably. Maybe. It's unclear. Aerith's dog is also there and dead, it's a big ol' dead pile. Zack finds a letter from Aerith that tells him how it's been 4 years (5 now, technically) and he's like WELL FUCK THIS PARTY I'M OUT, and off they go to Midgar

and then

AND THEN

(Gingerspice is picked up by a helicopter but who cares, literally no one cares, what the fuck was he even doing here, get out of my canon Gackt OH GOD HE'S QUOTING LOVELESS AGAIN, WHY, HE'S NOT EVEN HERE ANYMORE)

Directly outside of Midgar Zack hides Cloud away and faces off against like, half of the ShinRa army who now want to kill him. Sad music is playing during the fight and it's one of those tragic supposed-to-lose fights but GODDAMMIT YOU KEEP FIGHTING, YOU FIGHT AND FIGHT AND USE THOSE POTIONS LIKE THERE'S NO TOMORROW AND IT TOYS WITH YOUR EMOTIONS AND HE'S LIMPING ACROSS THE BATTLE FIELD AND IT'S THE WORST, THE WORST

so he loses and it starts raining because that's what happens when things are sad

Cloud finds Zack dying in a massive blood puddle and Zack's like "hey Cloud live for me little buddy" and Cloud is like "what's that did you say live AS you" and Zack's like "what" and Cloud's like "what" and Zack's like "/dead" and Cloud's like "WAAAHHHHHHH" and the background music is all "WHY-HYYYYYYYYYY"

"I won't forget," Cloud promises, and then forgets immediately because he literally just woke up crazy. Zack ascends to the heavens and becomes the first puppy angel ever and that is how this weird as shit game ends!!


Personality:

The easiest way to describe Zack is to do what the game itself did- point at a picture of a puppy and call it a day. This is obviously a cop-out, but it's worth noting that several characters refer to him as such, most notably Angeal, who treats him how a patient yet exasperated master might when dealing with a puppy who ought to act like an adult yet won't stop chewing on the furniture.

The most prominent personality trait of Zack is his overall friendliness. He's happy, peppy, cheerful, and playful, all rolled into one convenient little package. He lives and breathes enthusiasm, bouncing from one optimistic mood to another, for the most part. By nature he's a joyful person, making friends and rarely not smiling. He's extremely easygoing, reluctant to let the bad moods of other people affect him or bring him down. Zack can be a bit of a dork, finding the slightest things pleasing or amusing, and delighting in people who feel the same way- such as the jump he uses to get back to his feet when he's knocked down; he used this to impress Aerith once by showing he could do it on sand, too, just to make her laugh. Silly but meaningful peptalks and encouraging speeches are his forte, and whenever someone is down, Zack is an easy one to count on for moral support.

Zack has this incredible, innate ability to get along with practically everyone, provided they aren't violent to the innocent or something. He is surrounded by gruff, serious, or shy people, yet he is able to get along with and befriend the majority of them easily. Even Sephiroth isn't immune to Zack's oft-annoying yet somehow magnetic personality, opening up to him relatively easily and sharing his past, which is a mystery to most people due to his legendary-SOLDIER status. If you show even a flicker of good, Zack will find a way to weasel his way into your heart and try to get chummy with you, which is why he probably has as many friends as blood cells in Midgar. With Zack, it's also ridiculously easy to be considered a friend. In Before Crisis he mentions to the lead Turk that going on a single mission with someone was enough to make them friends, and he proves this with his relationship with Cloud as well- after the Modeoheim mission, he met up with Cloud again in Junon and not only remembered his name but enthusiastically offered to take him out for lunch to catch up. He has no issues with forming connections with people if they show even an ounce of willingness.

His friendliness doesn't mean Zack is a pushover- if someone does something he can't agree with, such as hurting or threatening people, he'll be the first to step in and try to put a stop to it. Genesis was always on Zack's bad side because the only thing he seemed to want to do was cause chaos and destruction, something Zack couldn't let happen no matter what. And when Angeal pushed him into a fight by becoming a monster, Zack barely hesitated to take him down in order to stop him from hurting other people, even though it pained him greatly to do so. He's one of those people who will do what needs to be done, however painful or difficult it might be, but not before exhausting all other options. He's a SOLDIER and he loves to fight, but he hates hurting people, so there's a lot of conflict in his life, especially considering the hard choices he's had to face.

Because Zack is so trusting (excessively so, really) he's very easy to hurt or betray. His trust in Angeal and then later, Sephiroth, wound up forcing him into battle with both of them, and he was genuinely shocked by their about-face. To him, the world was very much black and white, and Angeal's demise took a lot of his playful and bouncy spirit away. Not entirely, of course- he's still cheerful, relaxed, and optimistic 99% of the time, but there's a quiet nostalgia to him, and he seems to have better control over his unhappier emotions because of his experiences. He's taken it upon himself to act as an example in Angeal's stead while still being Zack, so it's a complicated balance.

Zack is something of a ladies' man; it's shown directly through Crisis Core (where he flirts with practically every attractive woman that comes along) and indirectly via Aerith's description of him in FFVII. Most of it is harmless flattery and amounts to nothing, and when he does officially hook up with Aerith, he sticks by her and doesn't flirt nearly as aggressively. He just can't help but compliment people, especially the pretty ones. He's just that kind of guy. He can be a little playfully egocentric about it, but people find it enduring enough that it's not annoying, more often than not.

As nice as he can be, Zack isn't the most attentive person ever. Multiple characters comment on his lack of focus, how easily distracted he is, how forgetful he can be, and how he can be lazy at times (such as his poor friend Kunzel's neverending attempts to get him to respond to his e-mails). He can jump to conclusions, he can be really impatient when he's worried or angry about something, and he can have a bit of a temper if he thinks someone is screwing with him. He's typically not the first person to raise a hand in violence but he's not shy about raising his voice, for sure.

Zack has an indomitable spirit that is such an ingrained part of him that in four years of imprisonment, experimentation, and mindnumbing chemicals, was still mentally as strong the day he escaped as the day he was captured. He has a willpower and a desire to live (and love every friggin' minute of it that he can) so powerful that it took an entire army of Shinra grunts and countless bullets to end his life. It's practically unfathomable that someone who has been through so much can still smile, laugh, and love life the way he does, yet Zack himself is living proof, at least in his world. In his last moments, he urged a friend to keep on living, and died with a smile upon his face. He's a tough cookie and a dreamer to the core.


Abilities:
Because of his SOLDIER status, Zack has mako enhancements, which boils down to him being stronger, faster, and more durable than your average soldier. He can wield a sword probably as heavy as he is, he can dodge and deflect bullets, he has an immense amount of stamina, and it basically requires a small army to take him down. He's withstood overdoses of mako chemicals (which make people incredibly sick, usually). In canon there are probably very few people who could take him down if he was being serious (though he usually isn't). Between the SOLDIER enhancements and his training, he's likely to have the upper hand in most normal fights.

Like all FFVII characters, he can built up power to attack in the form of Limit Breaks- his is called Digital Mind Wave which allows him to adopt abilities from other characters he forms strong connections with. It's about as absurd as any FF Limit Break attack is, but in following the same rule, it takes a while to recharge.

He technically has the ability to use magic, but only if he has materia on hand. Speaking of materia, he'll have Curaga, Thundaga, and Assault Twister since they were equipped on his armor prior to arrival. Any materia equipped to the Buster Sword is gone with the weapon itself.

Augment Skillset: Engineering

Sample: Test Drive thread!