Application

[compass-ink.livejournal.com]

The Basics:

Name: Eileen
Age: 22
Location: United States
Occupation: College student
How did you find out about this community? Through fanfiction linked on ff_press. Mainly breyzyyin's FF3 stuff. (Pretty sure both of them at one point or another.)

Personality Questions:

1) List and expand upon your three best traits / strengths. (These should be personality-related, not physical.)

1. I'm good at listening to people and I do my best to be good to the people around me. I hate being unkind to people and try to be understanding of others' flaws (because goodness knows I've got my own).
2. That said, when someone does something that makes me angry or uncomfortable, I'm able to stand up for myself and tell them off in (what I hope is) a tactful way.
3. I'm good at starting projects in advance of the due date so that I'm not flailing around having to write the whole thing the night before it's due. Even when I procrastinate, I usually get things done at the time I'm supposed to.

2) List and expand upon your three worst traits / weaknesses.
1. Lack of self-confidence. I tend to be very hard on myself for very small things. It also leads to an instinct for being defensive about the things I do and like when there really isn't a need.
2. Shyness: It's a big problem for me. I have no idea how to make conversation, mumble, and generally avoid social interaction with people I don't know as much as I can. I do better once I'm more comfortable in the group (or if I have to be there), but being among people makes me uneasy.
3. I have a hard time self-motivating myself to do things like exercise and finish half-done stories. I can do it if I'm being relied on to by someone else, but it's harder for myself.

3) Rate yourself on the following traits by putting an 'X' in the box you think fits best. (E.g. if you are slightly more introverted than extroverted, put an 'X' in the second box.) Explain your choice as well.

Introverted [x] [ ] [ ] [ ] [ ] Extroverted
Explain: Even without my shyness, I'm usually pretty content with my own company and I'm generally not too conversational.

Cheerful [ ] [ ] [x] [ ] [ ] Gloomy
Explain: Generally I am an optimist! And I like laughing and making other people laugh. But I get unaccountably angsty at times too, so I think it's somewhere in the middle.

Reserved [ ] [x] [ ] [ ] [ ] Impulsive
Explain: Usually it takes a few days or weeks of mulling over for me to arrive at a decision. I like to investigate and inspect before I get into something. When I do make a decision, though, I tend to move quickly.

Energetic [ ] [ ] [x] [ ] [ ] Calm
Explain: Usually when I get tremendously excited about something, it's with someone else rather than by myself. I can work myself into peppy energy when I'm pursuing my own stuff, but not as often.

Logical/Thinking [ ] [ ] [ ] [x] [ ] Emotional/Feeling
Explain: I can be quite a literalist at times and try to look at things in a scientific way, but I'm very affected by the moods of the people I care about and can get worked up quite a bit over things that tick me off.

Grudge-holding [ ] [x] [ ] [ ] [ ] Forgiving
Explain: I try not to be, but I can really stew over things sometimes even if I know they aren't actually a big deal. I try to never let it bleed over into how I actually talk to someone and put it out of my mind.

4) Describe how you typically work in teams. Is it generally a good experience, or do you prefer working by yourself? Do you like to lead and make decisions or do you prefer to let others make decisions so that you can do the legwork? You may find it helpful to give an example of a team you worked on recently and how that went.

I'm usually a supporter or a worker when I'm in a team; I'm not very good at stepping forward and taking charge. I'll contribute to discussion and expand on suggestions, sometimes make them, but I'm not usually the person with the big ideas. Generally I like the bit where I do the work more than the planning on how to do it.

5) Spider-Man Decision: If you had to choose between saving two dozen innocent children and saving your best friend/significant other/person closest to you, which would you pick and why?

Honestly I don't think I can answer this unless I am in this situation, but I'm going to go with the person closest to me. Because well, they probably would literally be in close physical proximity to me in a life-or-death situation.

6) Your friend has had their feelings hurt and comes to you for consolation. What do you do? Let's say, two days later they come to you again still upset over the same issue. What would you do in that case?

First I'd try to be reassuring, listen a lot, and figure out how to prevent what went wrong from happening again or to at least mitigate it. When it happened again, I'd try to really figure out a way to solve the problem.

7) What interests/hobbies do you have? How do you like to spend your free time?

I like to write, play video games (well that's a given), watch science/nature documentaries, and read. Lots and lots of reading. I also spend a lot of my time just daydreaming, and I like walking too.

8) Describe one to three careers you would find ideal, with a little explanation of why it appeals to you.

1. Ecologist, as in monitoring and testing the health of various ecosystems. It's very important to know and understand how natural systems work and how their health impacts human health. (This is also the one I'm studying for now.)

2. Writer, more fiction than nonfiction. I love constructing characters and worlds and I really enjoy working with words. I wouldn't mind writing nonfiction either; putting more knowledge and thinking out there is important.


FF Questions:

9) List one to three favorite Final Fantasy games and why you like them. Sequels/spin-offs/non-numbered/KH/Dissidia games are okay.
FFV: Because it is hilarious and cute and then quite capable of punching you in the heartstrings. I love the way that the party are family--a very odd family, but definitely family nonetheless, and there's more focus on who they are and what they're doing now than on romance or their sad backstories (which are indeed sad). They're all very endearing. The writing is also just hilarious and refreshing in how it doesn't take itself seriously.

FFII: This game somehow manages to have a lot of emotional impact for me; even though the writing is rudimentary, the little characterization there is really good, and it is so damn melancholy. I don't know, something about this game just gets tome. (and okay it's legitimately hilarious to have characters stab each other for leveling up.)

Crystal Chronicles: I like the subseries as a whole. First, it is completely adorable, and second, it makes full use of that adorableness by grabbing you in the heart and punching through it with very sharp claws. These games make me laugh and cry waaaay too much and I love it.

10) List one to three of your favorite Final Fantasy characters and why:

1. Faris Scherwiz. Faris Scherwiz. First of all, she's a complete badass. She is not a cutesy, roguish pirate who is impressed by the heroes' pluck in challenging her; she's a selfish, mercenary swashbuckler who only decides not to hold one of them for ransom because she's more interested in learning about her past than money. Her reasons for joining are completely selfish, but then she has such wonderful character development. By the end of the game she's a true Light Warrior and accepts that she's a princess (not that it stops her from going back to piracy). She's a fantastically-written character, takes nothing from anyone, and manages to have some very touching moments.

2. Refia from FFIII. She doesn't put up with nonsense but at the same time is very caring. She's got complicated teenage feelings about her adopted father and isn't afraid to strike out on her own or do what's right. She also wears a completely sensible outfit for someone who works hard and goes on adventures.

3. Leon from FFII. Not that he gets a whole lot of lines, but I always got the impression that, while he may have been initially brainwashed, he's acting of his own volition when he confronts his former friends and tries to take the Emperor's throne. He's responsible for the awful things he does, not an evil spell. And that just makes his guilt afterwards stronger--when the game ends, things aren't neatly tied up and we don't know where he's going next.

11) One to three characters you relate to and why:

1. Arc from FFIII. When I was younger, I was pretty bad at not being an annoying know-it-all and standing up for myself, and then I'm also shy, and don't like the idea of getting hit and doing dangerous things very much. I also like reading more than doing active things.

2. Ritz Malheur from TA2. I'm not outspoken and assertive like she is, but she's very much the odd one out of her peers and searching for somewhere that she can fit in and be liked and respected rather than mocked, which is a position I was definitely in at her age. She just dealt with it by growing spikes rather than withdrawing.

12) The FF game you liked playing least: Final Fantasy Tactics, for gameplay reasons only. I love the story and the characters, but the battles are just so time-consuming for me; it's taking me ages and ages to make progress. Not to mention the frigging CHOCOBOS.

13) One to three FF characters you dislike and why:

1. Locke Cole. I find the whole Rachel thing to be really creepy. And yet the writers thought this guy was the perfect solution to Celes' emotional problems, which I thought hurt her own potential to have really interesting development with Terra and Cyan and the things she did in the past, plus I would have liked to know more about Locke's work with the Returners.

2. The kid who works for the Komodo Training Company in FFTA2. I like most of the quest NPCs in this game, but he's just too... I don't know. Cowardly, I guess, and he never gets over it. Stop freaking out, kid.

14) Favorite weapon in a Final Fantasy game: The healing staff. Cures confusion, charm, and injuries all in one go!

15) Your favorite Final Fantasy summon: Ultima from FFTA2. Full-healing, enemy-searing, and a fantastic attack animation. Her summoning accessory is pretty classy, too.

16) Your favorite spell/ability/technique that can be learned in a Final Fantasy game: Zeningage / gil toss in FFV. Yeah, it's an unsportsmanlike way of taking down bosses, but it's so very useful.

17) A Final Fantasy mini-game/sidequest you invested entirely too much time into: The Whyt minigames in FFIV DS.

18) Your favorite Cid: It's a toss-up between II and III's Cid. II because he's such an arrogant bastard, and III because he's such an endearing old fellow.